[radio hissing, tuning in]
Downloaded from YTS.MX
[bright swing music]
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
[music distorts eerily]
[Broadcaster] It should go without saying that Santa Claus
has given these United States the best present possible
this Christmas, our first holiday season
with Hitler in the cold, cold ground,
and our fighting men back at home with their loved ones.
And what does Baby New Year have in store for 1946?
Prosperity, and hope for a brighter future!
[radio crackles]
♪ Listen, oh honey do♪♪
♪ Ida, I idolize ya♪
♪ I love you Ida 'deed I do♪
[radio crackles eerily]
[gentle big band music]
[car horns honking]
[car door shuts]
[Bob] Just let me help you babe. -Oh, come on.
I got it, Bob, don't worry.
I know you got it, but what kind of fella would I be
if I didn't at least offer a hand?
Well, you'd be like every other man on Earth.
You're adorable, that's why I married you. [laughing]
-[Arch] Heyo, lovebirds. -[Marla shrieking]
I thought you said we weren't gonna be seeing him anymore.
No, you said we wouldn't see him.
He's one of my best friends.
He's also a war criminal.
He didn't do it.
Marla the Merciless! [laughing]
[Marla and Arch laughing]
As I live and breathe.
How the hell are you?
[Marla] Oh, how the hell are you?
Ever vigilant, and the husband?
It's Bob.
[laughing] I know your name, Bobbo.
Just giving you the business. How you doing?
Just fine, it's just Bob.
You gotta tell me about that Kraut you cracked in Hamburg.
I read your interview in Yank,
but I've been waiting to get the details
straight from the horse's mouth.
You calling me a horse? [laughing]
-[Clive] No class, that fella. -[Marla and Arch laughing]
Look at my gal here! Tortured more secrets outta Krauts
than any woman in US history.
Uh, interrogation is not torture.
Whatever helps you sleep at night, Bobbo.
It's just Bob. I didn't think we'd see you here tonight.
Well thank heaven for small miracles, eh?
["Ida, Swwet as Apple Cider" by T. Hill & His Orchestra plays]
-You only brought one bottle? -Paulie's gonna love it.
Speaking of no class fellas, is he here yet?
What do you think?
DiFranco, get your ass out here.
[Paul] Oh, fuck you! I'm pouring a drink.
[Marla laughing]
He's been here since 2:00 PM.
Well, of course he has.
And we had a little business to attend to.
Of course you did.
-♪♪ Can't live without you♪ -Oh, Hock.
-♪ Listen, oh honey do--♪ -[music distorts eerily]
[eerily] ♪ Ida, I idolize you♪
♪ I love you Ida, 'deed I do♪
[continues playing over radio]
Paulie. [laughing]
[Marla] Paul. [laughing]
See? Now I told Hock you'd be late.
Darling, he said 7:00! We're here right on time.
Oh? Oh yeah, I guess my watch is a little fast.
Yeah, like five hours fast!
I heard you've been here all day, eager beaver.
-How you been, Bob? -Good Clive, thanks.
Life's been treating us very well.
Hm.
♪ I just can't live without you♪♪
She really happy at the Pentagon?
She loves it. She's got her own office... secretary.
-Office? -Hm.
She doesn't belong in an office.
You know, back in '43, I saw her bend a Kraut finger
so far back, the fingernail dug into the back of his hand.
That boy would not stop puking.
Still, he told us what we needed to hear.
Well, she's loving DC.
[Clive] Ah, well you were born there, Bob.
-Mm-mm. -You had no choice.
But I'll never understand how the hell
America's finest interrogator gave it all up
to move into that swamp.
[doors sliding shut] Well...
I think it worked out in her favor.
She's been to five continents, speaks six languages.
She's the sharpest mind in the military.
Don't I know it.
And I bet she never lets you forget.
[lock clicking]
Mm, so good to see you. [sighing]
Thank you for coming so early.
[Paul clearing throat]
♪ I know I'm to blame♪
♪ But ain't that a shame♪
You know when I got here, he was already two bottles in.
No.
He won't stop talking about Susan.
[Marla] Hm. [sighs]
I think maybe the holidays alone really broke him.
Yeah.
And he's been trying to tell me something all day,
but he can't seem to get the nerve up to tell me what...
what is, um... He's a mess. [chuckling]
[lively upbeat music continues on the radio]
[fireplace crackling]
-Major. -Major.
You're a good-looking son of a bitch.
Oh, thank you. Ooh! Ooh!
[lighter igniting]
How you holding up?
Meeting with the committee again next week.
We've done all we can.
Looks like it'll go to trial.
[sighs] First one of the war.
Press is having a goddam field day with it.
Thousand pinkos and Nazis on the lam,
but the Times sells more papers if the headlines read:
"Corn-Fed Nebraska Major Turns War Criminal."
My ma's having a hard time with it, you know?
Don't worry Archie, Hock and I,
we're gonna take care of you.
Your mom can bet the farm on that.
She might have to.
And you'll be fine Archie. Come spring,
The New York Times will be printing the biggest,
fattest apology in the history of journalism.
Hell yes they will, my pet! Absolutely.
Come here.
[laughing] God damn, it's good to see you guys.
When was the last time you all got together?
Oh, the last time we were all together?
-Hm. -Thanks.
Well shit, must have been your wedding.
Yep.
God damn, I think you're right, DiFranco.
We all needed to see that with our own eyes. [laughing]
"Marla the Merciless Weds Pentagon Clerk."
Now there's a proper headline for the Times!
Excuse me Arch, but when your base is bombed
and not a single God damn officer helps dig you out,
your opinions on men change awfully quick.
I mean, I got crushed.
I was calling out for help,
and all I could hear from my bleeding ears
were those feckless cowards just running away.
I got more respect for the Krauts
than the men at the base that day.
Fuck the Krauts.
Oh yeah, of course fuck the Krauts, Hock.
But while we're at it, can't we just fuck
the whole goddam war, hmm?
[Bob] The war's over.
And this is why I love you, [laughing], mm.
-Fuck 'em all. -Fuck 'em all.
See now, that's the faggots' credo, right Archie?
It was for a couple of years.
Then we had a meeting of the Nancies and we changed it to,
"Keep calling us faggots
and we'll feed you your goddam teeth!"
Um, guys please, could we-
[laughing] I almost kept a straight face.
Bullshit. You can't keep a straight anything.
Here, I'm tired of tending bar.
Freshen my drink, you fruit.
I ever tell you about the time I was stuck
out on the Elsenborn Ridge, and the only way
I could keep my lap warm was by spooning Orville Ketcham,
-that Tommy from London? -Vaguely.
Say what you want about the Tommies,
but they've got some warm rumps.
[chuckling] Okay.
Hard to believe that was a year ago.
I, I wanna thank you all for being here.
It's been a hard start to the winter without Susie.
-To Susan. -Hear, hear.
-To Susan. -To Susie.
Ah, Susie.
[sad music]
Well, it helps having you here.
I never thought I'd spend a Christmas without her.
None of us did, Hock.
It's been six weeks now since she... checked out.
I've been doing a lot of reading, you know,
to pass the time and keep the wits about me.
Started with psychology, you know,
thinking I could figure out why she did what she did.
But then I switched to metaphysics.
You ever heard that word? I hadn't.
Yeah, it's ghosts and hokum. Weird nonsense.
You know, just to keep hopeful.
-Hopeful? -Yeah.
Stories of, o-of fellas that can talk to the dead:
mediums... clairvoyants... spirit guides.
Grifters. During the Great War, my no-good uncle
charged folks a buffalo nickel
to give them messages from their dead kids.
They just wanna feel like something else is out there.
They're scared.
It's all hooey.
Ah well you know, but outta every hundred cases
that they debunk, all that hooey, one or two check out.
I mean, they got a whole society
that keeps tabs on it in the UK.
Come on Hock. Now I've known you
since we were eight years old.
You used to laugh at people who bought into this malarkey.
Well, I'm not saying that I believe it.
But listen... you're all here tonight and that's...
that's very special.
And I'm just wondering if you would humor me.
♪ He's harmless with his woo, it's only in his eyes♪
Now, you probably all think it's a load of bunk.
But, uh... this séance thing,
there's a lot of corroborating evidence.
Hock, I...
Colonel, I know it's been rough since Thanksgiving,
but this is not the answer.
So this, this is just... it's silly.
Sure, well maybe just for a laugh.
A laugh, Hock?
This isn't funny.
Listen, you can all roll your eyes
until they snap off inside your head.
But I started going to church
three days a week after Susie... left.
I was looking for answers.
You know, why she did what she did.
And afterwards, every time I would sit down
with the reverend and he would tell me
all about the afterlife.
He would go on and on about the glory of heaven
and the fires of hell.
He told me all about redemption,
and all the babies in purgatory, and everything in between.
And after going to mass for four weeks,
like some sort of brainwashed schmuck,
that holier-than-thou son of a bitch had the nerve
to say that what Susie did was unforgivable.
That my wife, a good church-going patriot,
was damned to hell because of what she did?!
I mean, do you know why she did what she did?!
It was because of the Krauts next door!
She knew they were spying for the Nazis!
And I didn't believe her. Nobody did.
And she couldn't take that.
She couldn't take that her friends
and her family didn't believe her.
But what was she gonna do?
She put it in the reports, and no one was listening.
And then on Thanksgiving morning,
right before I went out for a pack of Raleighs,
she said it again.
She said they were moving in on her,
that they knew that she knew.
And I, I jus- I, I laughed.
I just, I laughed at her.
And then when I came back, she was just all...
and that priest, he had the nerve to say
that she was damned to hell.
Well, I just walked out.
I mean, I gave up, quit believing in any of it.
I decided right there and then
that if Susie was damned to hell,
then the whole thing was fucking bullshit!
All of it! When you die, it's just... just nothing.
You're just fucking worm food.
And then I started thinking about that,
and that seemed [gasping] even scarier.
So t-t-there's just nothing? That Susie's just gone,
Gone forever because I didn't listen to her?
-I didn't believe her? -Hock.
[sigh]
Sweetheart, we all miss Susie.
Then please, will you humor me?
I mean, I think it's abundantly clear
that I'm not in a good place.
I've held out as much hope as any man can.
And now I just, I need you to do this.
I need this. I need this from you.
Here. Now.
Sir, we are here for you.
But not for this.
I am not comfortable right now.
Meet my friends, we're never comfortable.
[calming music]
Sit down, Paul.
Okay.
Don't you just hope after all this death, the war,
all the nightmares... that there's something else?
I already believe Hock, I don't need to see it.
You remember Jimmy Rogers?
That poor kid we tried to staple back together in Normandy?
Don't you just want to know that he's still
got that smile on his face out there somewhere?
What about you?
Don't you wish you had proof that all the other fellas
at your base, they didn't just burst into dust and flame
when those Kraut bombs came raining down on them?
-And your wife, Clive. -And my wife.
All right, so where,
where are you keeping the Ouija board?
Oh, well this is different, Arch.
See with Ouija, the spirits speak through the board,
writing messages and stories and such.
But with a séance, the spirits speak directly through us.
All you really need is a mirror,
and a couple of friends who aren't afraid to hold hands.
What do you say, Paulie? Will you hold my hand?
[laughing]
I need a scotch.
Ah, ah, ah... We're supposed to have clear minds.
Clear minds, Hock?
You're three fucking bottles in already.
[scoffing] Well, then we split this one.
[glass slammed onto table]
-[lights buzzing] -[soft uneasy music]
So they, they say if you have something
that belonged to the person you're trying to contact,
that it's a little easier.
Is that Susan's handkerchief?
Oh my God, Hock.
-Why'd you hold onto that? -[handkerchief ripping]
I, I wanna be clear.
I, I believe in the afterlife, I believe in heaven and hell.
I believe Susie's out there, but I don't believe in this.
-Look, -[necklace clanking]
if we can just make contact with anyone,
if we can just confirm that there's something else.
Whatever, Hock.
Just don't play us for a bunch of fools.
This ain't about that kid in Normandy,
and it ain't about Marla's fellas at the base.
No this, [finger tapping], this is about Susie.
All right. Fine.
[clears throat]
Okay, I don't exactly know what I'm doing,
but if there are any spirits here,
we'd love to talk to ya.
How do we, you know... know if it's working?
If it's gonna work, it'll work.
Okay but Hock, if it doesn't work,
I don't want you to stop believing
Susie is out there somewhere.
Faith is about what you can't see.
Yeah, well that's where we're different, darlin'.
I got no faith left.
If there are any spirits here...
Make yourselves known.
Spirits? Give us a sign.
Anything. Please.
Please! Give us a sign, anything!
Give us a sign.
-[door slams loudly] -Oh my God!
What the hell was that?
Hey, don't let go.
-You can't break the circle. -What?
We have to end the séance before we break the circle.
Otherwise, the door to the other side remains open.
And how exactly do you close the door to the other side?
Because I vote for that.
[door slams loudly]
What the hell is that?
Come on, Hock. Did you lock your cat in the closet again?
-[door thuds] -Nobody gets up!
Give us a sign!
That wasn't good enough for you?
It sure as hell wasn't good enough for me.
You're gonna have to do a lot better than that, ghosts!
[door slams]
All right, everyone just focus!
Focus?! Focus on what?
On the closet that none of us are allowed to check out?
Now you listen to me, Colonel.
I'm here for you... all the way.
But this, this isn't gonna fix anything.
Now, if you want to know if there's something
on the other side, that's fine.
But you're gonna have to dig a hell of a lot deeper
than some kind of parlor trick or something,
because I'm not gonna buy it.
-[soft ominous music] -[necklace rattling]
[high pitched ringing]
-[metal reverberating] -[soft uneasy music]
[candles whooshing] [Bob] Look!
[soft uneasy music continues]
[candle whooshing]
[necklace clattering]
Are those... trick candles?
You ever heard of candles that light themselves on cue?
I don't know, but I'd buy that more than--
[Clive] Spirits?
Spirits, please...
find a way to speak to us.
Join us here.
Force your way into our world, with all your might.
-[wind whooshing] -Look.
-[chandelier rattling] -Come in.
-Or maybe don't. -Come in.
Look into the mirror.
Marla, focus on the mirror, do you see her?
-I want to. -[door clattering]
-Again with the closet. -Forget the closet.
You know I don't, I don't think we should do this anymore.
-I'm gonna-- -Don't you dare get up.
-[door banging] -Hello?
I'm looking for Susan Hockstatter!
Is anyone listening?
She has brown hair and brown eyes,
and she cut her wrists on Thanksgiving morning.
This is her locket, this is her handkerchief.
And I miss her more than any man could ever miss--
[Marla] Hock, please.
-[spirit moaning] -Susie?
[candles whooshing]
-[Clive choking] -Hock!
Don't let go. [retching]
Everybody stay where you are.
Hock, you're sick.
-You need to go to the-- -I, I'm fine.
-You are not fine. -I'm fine.
-[Spirit] Clive... -Susie?
[Spirit] Why didn't you believe me?
I'm sorry.
[crying]
I'm sorry.
-[sudden dark music] -No, no, no.
-[Clive gasping] -What is going on?
No one lets go. No one lets go.
[soft ominous music]
-I love you. -That's Susie's voice.
I need to get out of here.
Susie? How are ya, baby?
["Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby" by Louis Jordan]
♪ I got a gal who's always late♪
♪ Anytime we have a date♪
♪ But I love her♪
♪ Yes, I love her♪
-♪ Yes I love her♪ -Are you hurting?
-Susie? -♪ I'm gonna walk right up♪
[music stops abruptly]
[Clive whimpering]
I'm ah, letting go.
It's okay, sweetie. It's okay.
Marla I... I knew Susie for 19 years.
I won't be damned if that was not her voice.
-Was it her, Mar? -That, that was Susie.
I, I can still smell her perfume.
I, I didn't finish the séance.
I broke the circle.
But that means, that means the door isn't closed yet.
That means we can get her back, right? Right?!
-Yeah. -Oh, Jesus Christ.
-Watch yourself. -What?
Well, if heaven and hell are real,
you might wanna start reining in the blasphemy.
I mean, I mean, they are, aren't they, right?
Heaven and hell? I mean, we saw that... tonight.
Yeah, we sure did.
It's real. There's really something out there.
There is, there, uh... absolutely seems to be.
[Clive panting]
-Ah, Paul? -Hmm?
This afternoon when you came,
I told you I needed you to do something for me and Susie.
I need you to take care of that...
before I can let you leave this room.
W-well, of course, Hock.
I mean, when we die...
We actually go somewhere.
We're reunited.
We get to move on.
[exhaling] We get to move on.
You okay, sweetheart?
Yeah.
I'm just...
moving on.
-[gun clicking] -No!!!
-[gun blasting] -[gun clattering]
[body thuds on table]
-[high-pitched ringing] -What just happened?!
-[door clattering] -[Bob gasping]
We have to get the hell outta here.
[doorknob rattling]
No! No!!! The door's locked! He locked us in here!
Why the hell would he do that?!
He must have the key, Paul.
-What? -Paul.
-What? -Honey, honey,
-look for the key. -Oh.
Oh God, [crying] what did you do?
What did you do?
Wait, wait... this... here, yes.
-[doorframe breaks] -[body thudding]
-[Hildegard gasping] -What is this?
[Hildegard gasping]
I have to get out of here, I have to get out of here.
Ach du meine guüte! He shot himself?
[Marla] Yeah.
Now, wait just a minute.
Meine guüte, verdammt nochmal.
Wait, what were you doing, what were you doing in there?
- ScheiBße! -You're a Kraut.
[lock clicking] [gun clicking]
Oh my God, Paul! What are you doing?
Take your hand off the door.
But, but we really need to leave.
We need to get outta here, Paul.
We need to call the cops.
[Paul] Take your hand off the door.
Am I the only Goddamn one here
who wants some fucking answers?
We all want answers, Paul.
Have you snapped your cap?
I just saw a ghost.
My best friend blew his brains out,
and now...
Some dizzy Kraut is hiding in Hock's closet.
So no, I don't think I'm overreacting, Bob.
Now, what's your name?
-Are we really doing this? -We are.
Sit down.
-[radio turns on abruptly] -Oh my God.
[lively swing music]
♪ I got a gal♪
My name is Hildegard Bauman.
-You're German? -By birth, yes.
You a Nazi?
Mein Gott, you're all the same.
The war is over.
Says who?
Answer the question.
I moved from Erlangen to New York in 1931.
My father-in-law owns the grocery two blocks away.
I work there.
I live three doors down from here
-with my husband and two girls.
Last September after the Jap surrender,
his wife decided that because I was German, I was a spy.
Ja, ich weiss.
- Was? -Oh, I know.
She rang me up, begging me to come
to the city and interrogate you.
She was losing it, she was saying
the Krauts were moving in on all sides.
-You never told me that. -I know.
She spit on my daughters. She spit on them!
-She was a patriot. -She was a lunatic!
The war was over, and she couldn't let it end.
It was only after she slit her wrists
that this bastard decided to believe her.
Last night after I was closing up shop,
I saw him sitting on his front stairs, shivering,
drunk as always.
He says he's sorry for everything that happened.
Offers me a whiskey.
I think, " Ja, why not?"
I mean, we put all of this behind us.
The next thing I know, I woke up in that closet.
That piece of shit drugged me!
Are... you... a Nazi?
-I am an American. -[radio buzzing]
My husband and my two girls,
they must be so worried about me.
To hell with him!
That's my best friend you're talking about there.
I don't want to fight with you.
I just want to go home.
How do we know you're not a Nazi?
I suppose you don't.
Susie thought you were.
And Clive didn't believe her.
None of us did.
You speak Kraut, Marla.
Why didn't you come up here and interrogate her
when Susie asked you to?
Because Susie was unwell!
Because the Germans lost the goddam war in May,
and because it's not my job to interrogate civilians!
It's not my job to interrogate anyone anymore!
I, I think that maybe we should--
I think maybe we should let the adults talk, Bob.
Don't you dare talk to Bob
as if he were less of a man than you.
And I don't need a gun to prove it.
Susie was all worked up because she thought
this dame was a Nazi! She cut her wrists!
What did that get her, huh?
-[Archie] And Hock. -Hock was not well.
He just shot himself in the head, Arch!
Hock was one of the smartest men I've ever known.
And Hitler was a fine painter.
[chuckling] Now is not a good time to be witty, Kraut.
Good men can change.
They can be blinded by hate.
We lived on this street peacefully for eleven years,
until one day his wife chose hate.
She chose it. It consumed her and it killed her.
Of course he would follow in her footsteps.
Of course, he would also choose hate.
You know, you're awfully observant.
Ja, this is New York. We see things.
We know what our neighbors are up to.
Yeah well see, now that sounds like spy talk.
Oh ja? Well if I was a Nazi, who would I be spying for?
Hitler's dead. Breslau's a pile of rubble.
Our allies died because of Nazi spies.
I am not a Nazi!
Paul, put the gun down.
We could all use a breath.
[gun clicking]
[cane tapping]
[whiskey sloshing]
What are you doing, Paul?
[bottle clanging]
Makin' a drink.
Well, slag off and open the door. We gotta call the police.
Then what, Marla?
The police show up, they throw ol' Clive in a body bag,
and then they let the Kraut walk free.
You know how this works.
We file a suspicion form and she gets checked out.
Susie filed dozens of those.
They don't do shit.
Hitler's dead, Paul.
You're fightin' a pile of ashes.
The war's over.
Says who?
I've interrogated a lot of spies.
That woman doesn't set off one single red flag.
Look at her.
Look, we loved Susie, but she was just gone.
And then Hock lost it after she died.
I mean, that's why we were called here tonight, right?
To calm him down?
You know, he may have lost it, but Hock was always Hock.
You're damn right he was.
What's your point Arch? Huh?
Let's say Hock and Susie were right, she is a spy.
We're not judge, jury, and executioner.
Our best friend is dead on the table.
We gotta get out of here.
You've done a hell of a lot of interrogating Marla,
but you've never been out there.
On the front lines, it's kill or be killed.
-Okay, yeah. -[cane taps on floor]
This isn't the front line, Archie.
This is Park Slope.
See, you've never been out there either, Bob.
You've never seen a squadron of Krauts charging at you,
death in their beady eyes, machine guns roaring.
You've never seen your friends... your brothers
pop like balloons full of blood.
I am grateful every day that I haven't seen
the horrible things that you've seen.
But that doesn't make me any less of a man.
[Paul scoffing]
We have seen some unbelievable things here tonight, Paul.
There's a very good chance that no one in this room
has their proper wits about them.
Speak for yourself.
You will stop talking to Bob like that.
We need to get out of here,
and we need to let the right people handle it.
What if we are the right people?
Come on, Arch.
Why did Hock lock us in here in the first place?
And why did he store a Kraut in his closet?
I mean, he's got a basement.
If he really wanted to keep her a secret,
he could have found a much better place to store her.
No, no... There was a method here.
-He wanted us to find her. -[Marla scoffs]
There's a reason he invited his best friend,
his interrogator, and his trigger man here tonight.
He wanted us to see what he'd done.
He wanted us to finish this.
That's why he wanted me to come here early today.
What?
That's what he'd been trying to tell me all afternoon.
-What? -He wanted me to kill this woman
before y'all even showed up.
And right, right before he popped himself,
he said he needed me to do something for him,
before he would even let me leave.
I don't get it. If he wanted to kill her,
why didn't he just do it himself?
Because Hock wasn't a killer.
I'm sorry, Colonel Clive Hockstatter wasn't a killer?
Oh, he had no problem with killing.
He just couldn't do it himself.
He'd freeze up, look like he was gonna heave.
Any time there was blood, he'd send in someone else
to get their hands red, someone like me.
-That's drivel. -No, it's true.
No, no fellas, all those stories he regaled to me,
-on and on and-- -Marla.
-What? -That was bunko.
You know how he felt about you.
He would say anything to put stars in your pretty eyes.
Excuse me... may we please get back to me?
-Sure. -Arch, knock it off.
No, I want some straight dope on why Susie and Hock
thought this dame was a Nazi.
Because, because I'm German... Archie?
Because I sound like the enemy.
Well, if it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck.
It could still be a goose.
You know, when we came to America...
It was for a better life.
They told us it was The Great Melting Pot.
A place where every race, every religion,
every language was welcome.
Silver-tongued government propaganda, all of it.
Hey! That's Hock's booze.
- Ja? well he owes me one.
[Hildegard clears throat]
It's easy to create an enemy.
All you need are slanty eyes, different color skin,
or an accent.
But it's always better if they speak
a different tongue, isn't it?
Must be easier to kill someone when you can't understand
their cries for help. -Shut up.
You've killed a lot of Germans, haven't you?
So what's one more?
But when was the last time you killed someone
who could tell you their husband's name,
or their children's favorite radio show?
[gun clicks]
I'm not some nameless soldier shouting fascist nonsense.
I'm a green grocer who came to New York
chasing the American dream.
My friends call me Hildy. My husband's name is Juürgen.
My girls go to PS 124.
And we let them stay up to listen
to "The Charlotte Greenwood Show".
-Goddamn it. -Are we good?
No, I'm not gonna shoot you, but I don't like you.
I don't like your name,
and I don't like you living in my country.
Well, suppose that's a start, isn't it?
Now, can we please open the door?
No, we cannot.
You know, y'all might fall for a solid
dog and pony show, but not me.
Let's see... when was the last time
I killed someone who spoke English?
Yeah, a year and a half ago in Salerno.
A weasely little Wop with big brown eyes...
Looked me up and down half a dozen times
before stammering out, "I l-l-love America."
[sips drink and sighs]
I stabbed that little Dago right in the mouth.
Do you wanna know why?
Because given half a chance,
he would've done the same Goddamn thing to me.
Or maybe he was just a scared Italian boy,
who secretly loved America.
Get those words outta your mouth, you dirty Kraut.
[glass hitting table]
You don't get to talk about my country. Neither did he.
This is my country!!!
Land of the free.
Pssh! She's a Nazi!
You say your last name's DiFranco?
What of it?
You boast of killing Italians, and yet you are one.
She's takin' us for a walk.
Jesus. Breathe, DiFranco.
After all we've seen tonight, she knows!
What? What have you seen?
You were in the closet, didn't you hear it?
Well, I, I was drugged.
I-I think I'm still drugged.
-Damn it. -I heard voices.
I heard Clive yelling and, and a gunshot.
I panicked, I started kicking harder.
There was a... a séance. [chuckling]
And we connected with, with-
Why are you telling her any of this?
It was Susan! She told Clive--
Shut up, Bob.
What are you trying to accomplish here Paul, huh?
Open the Goddamn door!
Or what, Marla? You going to break my finger?
Oh, I might.
Why don't you just try and interrogate it open?
Okay.
She's on the beam, Paul. Open the door.
Three minutes, Arch.
That's how long it's been since you've had your doubts,
and now you're willing to let this bitch stroll outta here.
Classic. Right when I need you, you turn faggot.
Excuse me?
You know what I mean.
Yeah, I do. But I'm gonna pretend like I don't
and we're still being cordial to one another.
Oh, for God's sake.
If you've got a problem Major, speak up.
But it'd better be about Brownshirts,
and not wearing I'm dippin' my dick.
We're on the same team, Paulie.
Thanks for the reminder... Baby Butcher.
-[tense ominous music] -What does that mean?
Nothin'.
What does that mean, Paul?
Well...
it might mean, that Archie here,
asked me to stand before the grand jury
and tell them that I did not see
what I definitely saw back in Berlin.
All to protect my friend,
and the reputation of this great country.
I knew it. Dammit, I knew you did it.
-Shut up. -Archie?
Paul... he did it?
[soft uneasy music]
You did it?
Archie was right, Marla.
You've never had two dozen Nazis charging at you.
He's not being tried for killing Nazis, Paul.
He's being tried for killing children.
[soft ominous music]
You're Archibald Stanton, from the news radio?
The Berlin Butcher?
You said the kid who who did it was, was dead.
Surprise.
Oh, I'm going to be sick.
Don't be so dramatic, Marla.
You're starting to sound like Hock.
Shut up.
I told you he did it.
You wanna know what happened, Marla? Huh?
We were being picked off by two Nazi sharpshooters.
One by one, kid after screaming all-American kid.
Hock knew we had to take that rooftop.
So he told Archie that if he led the charge
and saved even one more of our boys from sniper fire,
he'd have a hero's welcome when he got home.
He said he was my Colonel,
and that if anything went wrong,
he would take responsibility.
I didn't think about it.
In war, you don't have time to think.
You look at the faces of the men you've sworn to save,
and you race into hell.
And I... I ran straight for that building,
praying that if one of the countless bullets
I heard whizzing past my ears actually hit me,
that it'd be over quick, and I wouldn't be left
flopping around on the road.
And I pressed against that wall.
Oh God...
Broke the first window I came to and,
tossed a belt of pineapples into that building.
It wasn't until after the smoke cleared that we saw--
It was a kindergarten center.
I've been reading about this for weeks.
It was a children's shelter.
War isn't fair, Kraut.
I followed my orders to the letter,
I did exactly as I was told.
Our boys took the roof,
knocked off their snipers and saved our soldiers.
Fifty-six children.
[sighs]
You knew they were in there.
Everyone knew they were in there.
It was a registered shelter.
Hock knew. He just didn't care.
God... damn it.
When the press asked, he made up a story
about a trigger-happy private,
said he was killed in the blast.
But people started talking.
Soldiers started putting it together and I, I got worried,
but he said everything was gonna be okay.
He was gonna clear my name and keep me outta prison,
and that everyone was going to eat crow.
And that people would stop saying those awful,
awful things to my mama every time she left her house.
Well... Clive just blew his brains out, so...
-[dark music] -I'm a good man.
I mean, who, who... who are you?
I mean, what, what kind of man?
You can't say that.
You weren't there... It happens.
"It happens"?!
God, all those kids.
I mean, what kind of man, would--
[Hildegard] A good one.
In war, good men are tasked with doing terrible things
every single day.
This does not make them terrible people.
[Paul] And what do you know about war?
I know my family is still in Berlin.
My nieces and nephews...
They could have been in that school,
but somehow I cannot call you a monster, Major Stanton.
You were fighting for your country.
You were doing your job.
-[soft ominous music] -I was... I still am.
I'm not a bad man.
No, none of us are bad.
We simply do as, as we are commanded.
And just who is your Commander?
I thought you worked in a grocery store
with your father-in-law.
Ja, I do.
And you call him... Commander?
No, no, I do not call him Commander.
I, I work for him, so I do as as he commands.
Don't play with me, bitch.
I can see your mask slipping
every time you open your mouth.
I have tried to express to you that I do not believe
a man's singular actions make him evil.
Especially if that man believes
that what he is doing is moral.
I do not believe Major Stanton to be a bad man,
simply because he was following orders.
Just like I do not believe you to, to be a bad man,
because you are trying to protect your friend,
and your country.
Say it.
Some days I can even try to believe
that my mentally ill neighbors who were only acting
out of a crushing love for their government and homeland
were not bad people.
[Paul] Say it.
My name is Hildy Bauman. I moved to New York in 1931.
My father-in-law owns the grocery two blocks away.
I work there! I live three doors down from here
with my husband and my two girls.
-Say it. -[soft uneasy music]
-I am an American. -Liar!!!
Can we please just open the door and call the police?
-[radio screeching] -♪ Is you is or is you ain't♪
-Not again. -For God's sake.
[radio stops]
What are you gonna do, Paul? Huh?!
Kill her right here in Hock's brownstone?! Is that--
Just open the door, Paul!
They're right Major, open the door.
We're losing our heaven-sent minds.
You can't mean that.
Please, Major.
I can't believe what I'm hearing.
Archie, you are an American hero.
You're not the kind of man who lets
a Nazi spy walk out of a room.
-Marla. -What?
The Krauts bombed your base.
Yeah.
They burnt your pretty body and left you with a gimp leg.
They killed every friend you had outside this room.
I know.
-Bob. -Yeah?
Well, I don't know tits about what it is you do.
But somehow I doubt that the Pentagon would allow
a Nazi sympathizer to push their pencils.
Really? Nobody?
Well in that case Major, I'll make you a deal.
I give you the key, you give me the gun.
Absolutely not.
I am not speaking to you, Bob.
I'm sorry Major, but I can't do that.
Well then, I guess we'd better get cozy.
To hell with you then, and to hell with this!
Archie, what are you doing?!
[gunshots]
[grunting] God damn it!
[gasping] I- I don't understand.
-Why won't it open? -[gun blasting]
Check the rounds.
[gun clicking]
Well, the bullet Clive used sure worked!
Enough! Paul I need you to take the key
out of your pocket and open the goddam door.
This is not up for discussion,
and I don't want to point a weapon at my friend.
Oh, Archie...
Please, Major?
Fine. Fuck all'a ya.
But, if you make me open this door
and go against everything I am,
I will not take the stand for you, Archie.
Oh, I will stand, before my God and my country,
and I will tell them how you spinelessly
blew those toddlers limb from limb,
just like the newsmen say you did.
Hock had me come early before any of y'all,
to do what he couldn't do, what, what Susie couldn't do.
He wanted me to kill this woman.
And if you make me open this door,
I will follow that Nazi home and beat her to death
in front of her family.
-[gun clicking] -[soft tense music]
I am not a Nazi.
-[cane crashing] -That's it!!!
What's it?
You wanna know if she's a Nazi, Paul?
Huh? Is that it? You want proof?
Is that the only way you're gonna let us out
of this Goddamn room?
I already know.
You don't know squat.
And if you're not gonna help, and
if you're just gonna panic, I'm taking charge.
If this were my base, I'd demand all three of you
get out of this room, but apparently that's not an option.
-So get over there. -What?
Go over there, all of you.
What are you doing, Marla?
My job... my shitty job.
Marla. I don't think that's the best idea.
You know what? I'm all out of ideas.
This will confirm it one way or another, go on.
Go on.
Sit, Frau Bauman.
Um... why?
Because I told you to.
[soft ominous music]
[cane tapping]
I don't think you're a spy.
-Thank you. -Don't thank me.
We've apparently found ourselves in a situation
where you and I can't leave this room
until we are certain you're not a Nazi.
Hold my hand, Hildy.
[soft ominous music]
Fuck you, Paul.
What, what is-
Sh-sh-sh.
[speaking in German]
Hmm?
Mm-hmm.
Stay with me now, Hildy. Here we go.
You need to listen to me very closely right now Hildy, hmm?
If you stand up, you'll be admitting guilt.
If you attempt to break free, you'll be admitting guilt.
You will stay seated with your hand in mine,
until I tell you our time together is complete.
-But-- -You will answer
every question no matter how many times I ask it.
And although it might seem otherwise,
you and I are alone, quite alone right now.
Now, what is your full name?
Um, Hildegard Bauman.
Are you now, or have you ever been
a member of the National Socialist German Workers Party?
No, the Nazi party no longer exists.
That's not what I asked.
No, no, no, no, no. Mm-mm. No.
Who's your primary employer?
Bergen Street Grocery.
What's your husband's full name?
-Juürgen Bauman. -Mm-hmm.
What are your daughter's names?
Robin and Melissa Bauman.
Why did Susan Hockstatter believe
you were a spy for the German government?
Because she was a sick woman.
Bullshit.
Did you want me to stop, Paul?
Why did Susan Hockstatter believe
you were a spy for the German government?
-I told you. -You will answer.
Oh, no. [gasping]
All of my questions, no matter how many times I ask them.
Why did Susan Hockstatter...
believe you were a spy for the German government?
Because, because I have an accent.
Because she needed a personification of her fears.
Because she wasn't ready for this war to be over.
And her husband, Clive Hockstatter?
He- he didn't believe her when she was alive.
It was only after she died that he needed
a- a target to aim his guilt at.
I became that target.
You do realize the Hockstatters were not religious
or political fanatics, correct?
That they were high-ranking military,
and upstanding members of their community?
- Ja. -Yeah.
But they were sick people. [screaming]
Hildy! Fraäulein! Are you now,
or have you ever been a member of the Nazi party?
Nein... Nein...
Are you now or have you ever been a member
of the National Socialist German Workers Party?
What? ...No! [screaming]
Are you now, or have you ever been a member
of the National Socialist German Workers Party?
Nein... Nein.
What's your full name?
Hildy... [whimpering] Hildegard Bauman.
Verzeíhung.
[Hildegard gasping]
[cane tapping]
Open the door Paul. She's not a Nazi.
Open the door!
I can't believe what I'm hearing.
Is that all you're going to do to her?
You wanna do my job for me, Paul?
No, but I, I just-
That's all I needed to do, Paul.
I have my answer.
And if you have any respect for me whatsoever,
you'll take that as your answer too.
Earlier you said um, faith was about
what you couldn't see? About what you believe?
Well, I know what I believe.
Open the damn door.
[footsteps]
Marla, you are the finest woman
the US military has ever seen.
I'm not.
It's such a goddam shame you ended up
with this pencil neck.
[Marla scoffs]
[footsteps]
-[key clicking] -[strange, eerie music]
What the hell?
The, the key it just, it just disappeared.
Paul, don't you dare.
The door, the door just ate it.
[Bob] That's a load of baloney, Paul.
[Marla] What did you do?
I didn't do any, do you see it on me anywhere?
-Paul! -Come on.
I didn't do anything.
Well, somebody better do something.
[Clive] Somebody...
[ominous music]
[Clive breathing]
Somebody is,
going to do something.
[Hildegard gasping]
[Clive gasping]
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I, what?
[gasping] Somebody is going to
kill... that... Nazi.
Leiber Gott!
-Clive-- -He's dead, right?
-Clive? -He's very dead.
Well, he doesn't sound dead!
[soft ominous music]
Major...
No, no, no... This, this isn't, this isn't right.
-Help, somebody help! -Can anyone hear us?!
Help! Help! Help!
Ich muss hier raus, verdammt nochmal!
-Shut up... -Can anyone help me?!
Help! Help! Help!
Outta the way!
Shut up... shut up!
[poker clangs on floor]
Shut up!!!
Hock?
Oh, what is going on? [clearing throat]
-Colonel? -Be careful.
[soft ominous music]
Colonel?
Kill... her.
What?
Kill... the... Nazi.
[heavy breathing] [clears throat]
Okay.
No! Nein! No, no, no! Please.
-No, Paul. -Please, please.
You heard him.
Oh, this is hell, this room...
[soft ominous music]
And we're locked in it until one of us offs this Kraut.
There, there must be another way.
Oh, I pray there isn't.
There has to be.
This, this is why we are here tonight.
Not for support, not to save our friend.
He was dead before we even got here.
Hock needs one of us to get our hands red.
Wait... we finish the séance.
-What? -Yeah, we, we finish the séance.
We're, we're still in another realm.
Hock said if we uncoupled our hands during the séance,
that the door would stay open.
The door is locked, Marla.
Not the parlor door! The door to the other side, you know?
But if we can close that door,
whatever's keeping us in here has to go back, correct?
That's insane.
Our dead friend says we have to kill
a Kraut green grocer spy
in order to unlock his parlor room doors.
Now that, that right there is insane.
Okay, you kinda, you got a point.
Give me the gun Archie. I have to end this.
No.
Oh, you're protecting her now?
-Yeah. -Give me that goddam--
-Paul. -Oh, I don't believe
we're even having this conversation.
I say we try the séance.
Oh see, baby Bob agrees with Marla.
Big whopper of a surprise.
Why don't you cram it, Paul?
Nobody's gonna be killing anyone.
We try the séance and if that doesn't work,
we try something else, we just keep trying.
[chair slams]
Stay here.
We try it, and if it doesn't work, I give you the gun.
What, what? No.
You just stay right there.
I'll be with you in a minute.
Let's hope this works.
Oh, God damn it.
[chair scrapes across floor]
But whatever happens, still killing that Nazi.
-But I-- -Don't.
I don't know what to do.
Well, neither did he.
Yeah, and how did that turn out?
Just tell him to go away.
"Tell him to go away?"
That's pure poetry.
Uh, this is a message to the spirit world.
End this.
What Hock started, we're prepared to stop.
-We're through with you. -[Clive gasping]
Oh god.
Our friend Clive Hockstatter was hurting
more than any good man should.
And he wanted answers to soothe his pain.
He wanted to know that there is something else out there,
and now he knows, we all know.
So now this is over.
It's not over.
-Shut up, Hock. -It is over!
This madness is over this war, this fucking war is over!
Says who?
You don't belong here anymore you, you coward!
You need to leave us alone!
You're not gonna drag us into the dark with you.
That is my best friend you're talking to there, Bob.
Yeah? Well, he was a sad old bitter knob, just like you!
[Clive gasping]
Hock never liked you Bob,
and neither did Susie.
To hell with the both of them!
-[light shattering] -[group shouting]
-What happened? -The fuse blew.
[Bob] Was there a power failure?
[Archie] What do you think, Bob?
Hock, turn the lights back on.
[Clive] Go on, Susie.
[candles whooshing]
-You... -Susie?
-You... -Oh, Mein Gott.
Gehe weg!
[Susie] You did this, all of this.
You moved into my neighborhood.
You poisoned my city, you poisoned me.
No, stop it.
[Susie] You killed me.
-You crept into my house. -What?
-Pinned me down... -That's a lie.
And slit... my... wrists.
Absolutely not, you crazy bitch!
-[Susie shouting] -[Hildegard gasping]
[knife clattering]
She's lying! She's mad! She slit her own wrists!
Go on, show them how you did it.
Stop it, stop it!
-[radio hissing] -[Hildegard gasping]
Did you do it?
Did you kill Susie?
No, no... I've, I've, I've never killed anyone,
let alone a sick woman.
How about a sick woman who found you out?
Susie? Hock... let us go.
[Clive exhaling]
Hock, stop it.
Stop it.
Stop it!
We're not gonna kill her, Hock.
Yeah, speak for yourself.
It's not happening, Paulie.
I can't count the number of times
you made me kill for you, Hock.
You aren't doing it again.
You ain't doing it again!
-Archie! -Jesus, please.
Jesus, let me out.
Send me to prison... Send me to hell.
Just let me out. Please.
[lock clanking]
[gunfire blasting] Hilfe!
Close the door!
-[gunfire blasting] -[German children sobbing]
[Archie gasping]
That's it. I'm doing this for Susie.
-Paul, no! -Kill her.
-[Paul grunting] -[Hildegard gasping]
Let go, let go Paul.
-Oh, to hell with you. -[Hildegard gasping]
-[Clive groaning] -[soft ominous music]
-Let her go, Paul! -Whoa! Oh oh! Bobbo!
[Hildegard gasping]
Put the gun down, nobody's killing anybody.
-What a crock. -[Hildegard gasping]
You look away for one second, Bob,
I'm ripping that gun from your hands
and I'm shoving it down to her throat.
No, you're not.
That snatch killed Susie and Hock.
I'm still fighting this war Marla,
and I'll take you down if I have to, Arch.
[Marla] Paul.
I'll take everyone in this room down if I have to.
Are you listening to yourself, huh?!
Have you lost your Goddamn mind?
We're your best friends!
Calm down, Major.
I swore an oath to protect the United States of America.
And no one in this room is standing
between me and my country.
I'm doing this for Hock and Susie... just like he ordered.
[coughing] This is insane.
Shut the fuck up.
-Now... Bob. -Hmm?
I'm going to ask one more time, nicely.
Will you give me that God damn gun... please?
No.
We've clearly reached the end of our time here.
Paul, I've done terrible things.
You know that, now they know that, but I am done.
I can't be be a part of this anymore.
You? You can't be a part of killing Nazis?
Killing anyone Paul! That's not what I signed up for!
Protecting your friends and family from Nazis
is exactly what you signed up for!
No, she's not a Nazi.
The Nazis are gone.
We're fighting ghosts, Paul... ghosts like Hock.
You ruined my goddam life.
You told me to blow up a schoolhouse for America.
You told me you'd take care of me and then you,
you go and shoot yourself.
I'm not a bad man.
And the only person in this room
who seems to understand that is the Kraut.
[coughing]
Kill her!
Kill her, Paulie. Kill her, Paulie... Paul....
[coughing]
-Kill her! -I am trying, sir.
Kill her!
[head thuds on table]
Kill her!
♪ I got a girl who's always late♪
-[head smashing] -[swing music]
[head smashing]
No!
Hock, stop it!
♪ Is you is or is you ain't my baby♪
♪ The way you're acting lately makes me doubt♪
Well.
♪ Youse is still my baby, baby♪
You heard him.
♪ Seems my flame in your heart♪
-Stop. -♪ Done gone out♪♪
-Don't! -[gunshot blasting]
[screaming] You blew my fucking hand off!
-I'm gonna kill you. -Stop!
-[gun blasting] -[Marla gasping]
[body thuds on floor]
♪ You'll find you've gone and made a change♪
What did you do? [crying]
♪ Is you is or is you ain't my baby♪♪
Danke lieber Gott...
♪ Maybe baby's found somebody new♪
♪ Or is my baby still my baby true♪
Bob... Thank you. I thought he would--
[gunshot blasting]
[body thuds on floor]
What did you do, Bob?
[radio squelches off]
[gun clattering]
I had to do it.
[soft uneasy music]
[door clattering]
[soft uneasy music continues]
Open the damn door... Colonel.
Now!
-[door clanking] -[soft uneasy music]
[footsteps]
[door clattering]
[fireplace crackling]
[Bob crying]
[soft uneasy music continues]
-[door opens] -[wind whistles]
[soft somber music]
[door closes]
[lighter clicking]
Going into the Bureau tomorrow.
I'm gonna tell them what happened in Berlin.
What really happened.
Good.
It is.
What about them?
I'll take responsibility for what I've done. Will you?
I had to do it.
So did I, Bobbo. So did I.
Sorry Marla.
I love you.
I love you too, Arch.
-Abyssinia. - Auf Wiedersehen
See you in the papers.
[soft uneasy music]
I've got it.
I know you do.
[soft uneasy music]
[car door shuts]
Can't we just fuck the whole goddam war?
[sighs]
The war's over.
[wind whooshing]
[crying]
Says who?
[wind whooshing]
-[soft somber music] -[Marla crying]
["Alone in Brooklyn" by Jo Hill plays]