From Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ===== Seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland is one of ten children of a country clergyman. Although a tomboy in her childhood, by the age of 17 she is "in training for a heroine" and is excessively fond of reading Gothic novels, among which Ann Radcliffe's Mysteries of Udolpho is a favourite. Catherine is invited by the Allens (her wealthier neighbours in Fullerton) to accompany them to visit the town of Bath and partake in the winter season of balls, theatre and other social delights. Soon she is introduced to a clever young gentleman, Henry Tilney, with whom she dances and converses. Through Mrs. Allen's old schoolfriend Mrs. Thorpe, she meets her daughter Isabella, a vivacious and flirtatious young woman, and the two quickly become friends. Mrs. Thorpe's son, John is also a friend of Catherine's older brother, James, at Oxford where they are both students. The Thorpes are not happy about Catherine's friendship with the Tilneys, as they correctly perceive Henry as a rival for Catherine's affections, though Catherine is not at all interested in the crude John Thorpe. Catherine tries to maintain her friendships with both the Thorpes and the Tilneys, though John Thorpe continuously tries to sabotage her relationship with the Tilneys. This leads to several misunderstandings, which put Catherine in the awkward position of having to explain herself to the Tilneys. Isabella and James become engaged. James' father approves of the match and offers his son a country parson's living of a modest sum, £400 annually, but they must wait until he can obtain the benefice in two and a half years. Isabella is dissatisfied, but to Catherine, she misrepresents her distress as being caused solely by the delay, and not by the value of the sum. Isabella immediately begins to flirt with Captain Tilney, Henry's older brother. Innocent Catherine cannot understand her friend's behaviour, but Henry understands all too well, as he knows his brother's character and habits. The Tilneys invite Catherine to stay with them for a few weeks at their home, Northanger Abbey. Catherine, in accordance with her novel reading, expects the abbey to be exotic and frightening. Henry teases her about this, as it turns out that Northanger Abbey is pleasant and decidedly not Gothic. However, the house includes a mysterious suite of rooms that no one ever enters; Catherine learns that they were the apartments of Mrs. Tilney, who died nine years earlier. As General Tilney no longer appears to be ill- affected by her death, Catherine decides that he may have murdered her or even imprisoned her in her chamber. Catherine discovers that her over-active imagination has led her astray, as nothing is strange or distressing in the apartments. Unfortunately, Henry questions her; he surmises, and informs her that his father loved his wife in his own way and was truly upset by her death. She leaves, crying, fearing that she has lost Henry's regard entirely. Realizing how foolish she has been, Catherine comes to believe that, though novels may be delightful, their content does not relate to everyday life. Henry does not mention this incident to her again. James writes to inform her that he has broken off his engagement to Isabella and that she has become engaged instead to Captain Tilney. Henry and Eleanor Tilney are skeptical that their brother has actually become engaged to Isabella Thorpe. Catherine is terribly disappointed, realising what a dishonest person Isabella is. A subsequent letter from Isabella herself confirms the Tilney siblings' doubts, and shows that Frederick Tilney was merely flirting with Isabella. The General goes off to London, and the atmosphere at Northanger Abbey immediately becomes lighter and pleasanter for his absence. Catherine passes several enjoyable days with Henry and Eleanor until, in Henry's absence, the General returns abruptly, in a temper. He forces Catherine to go home early the next morning, in a shocking, inhospitable, and unsafe move that forces Catherine to undertake the journey alone. At home, Catherine is listless and unhappy. Henry pays a sudden unexpected visit and explains what happened. General Tilney (on the misinformation of John Thorpe) had believed her to be exceedingly rich as the Allens' prospective heiress, and therefore a proper match for Henry. In London, General Tilney ran into Thorpe again, who, angry and petty at Catherine's refusal of his half-made proposal of marriage, said instead that she was nearly destitute. Enraged, General Tilney, (again on the misinformation of John Thorpe), returned home to evict Catherine. When Henry returned to Northanger, his father informed him of what had occurred and forbade him to think of Catherine again. When Henry learns how she had been treated, he breaks with his father and tells Catherine he still wants to marry her despite his father's disapproval. Catherine is delighted, though when Henry seeks her parents' approval, they tell the young couple that final approval will only happen when General Tilney consents. Eventually, General Tilney acquiesces, because Eleanor has become engaged to a wealthy and titled man; and he discovers that the Morlands, while not extremely rich, are far from destitute. ===== [Since the play's original run, Shaffer extensively revised his play, including changes to plot details; the following is common to all revisions.] The composer Salieri is an old man, having long outlived his fame. Speaking directly to the audience, he claims to have used poison to assassinate Mozart and promises to explain himself. The action then flashes back to the eighteenth century, at a time when Salieri has not met Mozart but has heard of him and his music. He adores Mozart's compositions and is thrilled at the chance to meet him, during a salon at which some of Mozart's compositions will be played. When he finally does catch sight of Mozart he is deeply disappointed to find him lacking the grace and charm of his compositions. Mozart is crawling around on his hands and knees, engaging in profane talk with his future bride Constanze Weber. Salieri cannot reconcile Mozart's boorish behaviour with the genius that God has inexplicably bestowed upon him. A devout Catholic all his life, Salieri cannot believe that God would choose Mozart over him for such a gift. Salieri renounces God and vows to do everything in his power to destroy Mozart as a way of retaliating against his Creator. Salieri pretends to be Mozart's ally to his face while doing his utmost to destroy his reputation and any success his compositions may have. On more than one occasion, only the intervention of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor allows Mozart to continue (interventions which Salieri opposes and then is all too happy to take credit for when Mozart assumes it was he who intervened). Salieri humiliates Mozart's wife when she comes to Salieri for aid. He smears Mozart's character with the Emperor and the court. A major theme in Amadeus is Mozart's repeated attempts to win over the aristocratic "public" with increasingly brilliant compositions, which are always frustrated either by Salieri or by the aristocracy's inability to appreciate Mozart's genius. Salieri attempts suicide with a razor in a last attempt to be remembered, leaving a confession of having murdered Mozart with arsenic. He survives and his confession is met with disbelief, leaving him to wallow once again in mediocrity. ===== Bette Davis as Margo Channing Margo Channing (Bette Davis) is one of the biggest stars on Broadway. But having just turned forty she is worried about what her advancing age will mean for her career. After a performance of Margo's latest play, Aged in Wood, Margo's close friend Karen Richards (Celeste Holm), wife of the play's author Lloyd Richards (Hugh Marlowe), brings in a besotted fan, Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter), to meet Margo. Eve tells the group gathered in Margo's dressing room—Karen, Lloyd, Margo's boyfriend Bill Sampson (Gary Merrill), a director who is eight years her junior, and Margo's maid Birdie (Thelma Ritter)—that she followed Margo's last theatrical tour to New York City after seeing her perform in San Francisco. She tells an engrossing story of growing up poor in Wisconsin and losing her young husband Eddie in the South Pacific during World War II. Moved, Margo quickly befriends Eve, takes her into her home, and hires her as her assistant, leaving Birdie, who instinctively dislikes Eve, feeling put out. Anne Baxter - in wig and costume for Aged In Wood, one of the plays that factor in the plot of the film - as Eve Harrington, Margo Channing's admirer, assistant, and eventual understudy Eve quickly manipulates her way into Margo's life, acting as her secretary and adoring fan. She seems to anticipate Margo's every need, including placing a long-distance phone call to Bill when Margo forgets his birthday. Margo becomes increasingly distrustful and bitter towards her, particularly after she catches Eve taking a bow to an empty theatre while pretending to wear Margo's costume for Aged in Wood. Margo asks her producer, Max Fabian, to hire Eve at his office, but instead Eve manages to become Margo's understudy without Margo's knowledge. As Margo's irritation grows, Karen feels sorry for Eve. In hopes of humbling Margo, Karen arranges for her to miss a performance of Aged in Wood, so Eve will have to give the performance in her place. Eve invites the city's theatre critics, including the acerbic Addison DeWitt (George Sanders), to attend that evening's performance, which is a triumph for her. After that evening's performance, Eve tries to seduce Bill, but he rejects her. Instead, Addison takes her under his wing and interviews her for a column that criticizes Margo for not making way for new talents like Eve. Margo and Karen are furious. That evening, Margo and Bill announce their engagement at dinner with the Richardses in the Cub Room of the Stork Club. Eve, who was dining at a nearby table with DeWitt, calls Karen into the ladies' room and, after first appearing regretful, tells her to either ask Lloyd to give her the part of Cora—the lead in Lloyd's next play, Footsteps on the Ceiling—or she will reveal Karen's role in Margo's missed performance. Before Karen can talk with Lloyd, Margo announces to everyone's surprise that she does not wish to play Cora and would prefer to continue in Aged in Wood. Eve is cast as Cora. Just before the out-of-town premiere of Footsteps on the Ceiling at the Shubert in New Haven, Eve presents Addison with her next plan: to marry Lloyd, who, she claims, has come to her professing his love and his eagerness to leave his wife for her. Now, Eve exults, Lloyd will write brilliant plays showcasing her. Angered that Eve believes she can manipulate him as easily as she does everyone else, Addison reveals he knows that her back story is all lies. Her real name is Gertrude Slescynski, she was never married, and she had been paid to leave town over an affair with her boss. Addison blackmails Eve, informing her that she will not be marrying Lloyd or anyone else; in exchange for Addison's silence, she now 'belongs' to him. Several months later, Eve is a shining Broadway star headed for Hollywood. At an awards banquet, she thanks Margo, Bill, Lloyd, and Karen with characteristic effusion, while all four stare back at her coldly. Eve skips a party in her honor, and returns home alone, where she encounters Phoebe (Barbara Bates)—a high-school-aged fan—who has slipped into her apartment and fallen asleep. The young girl professes her adoration and begins at once to insinuate herself into Eve's life, offering to pack Eve's trunk for Hollywood. While Eve rests in the other room, Phoebe dons the elegant robe that Eve wore to the banquet and poses in front of a multi-paned mirror, holding the award as if it were a crown. ===== The novel is framed as the unnamed protagonist delivering his personal report on "the IPCRESS affair" directly to the Minister of Defence, thus making the novel itself the 'IPCRESS File' of the title. The events begin soon after his transfer from military intelligence to WOOC(P), a small civilian intelligence agency reporting directly to the British Cabinet, where he works under the command of a man named Dalby. An intelligence broker code-named "Jay" is suspected to be behind a series of kidnappings of highly placed and influential British VIPs with the intention of selling them to the Soviets, and the protagonist is assigned to meet with Jay to secure the release of "Raven", a high-ranking scientist and his latest target. After meeting Jay at a sleazy Soho strip club to negotiate Raven's release, the protagonist is abandoned; investigating his surroundings, he discovers Raven's unconscious body in a back room and attempts to rescue him, but is unsuccessful. WOOC(P) receives intelligence that Raven is to be transferred to the Soviets in Beirut, and a rescue mission is organised with Dalby and the protagonist participating. The protagonist is assigned as a lookout while Dalby kills Raven's captors and rescues him. The protagonist is forced to kill the occupants of a car which suddenly arrives on the scene, to maintain the cover of the operation, believing them to be operatives working for Jay; they instead turn out to be members of the US ONI. The operation is otherwise a success and Raven is recovered, but the investigation into Jay continues. Dalby disappears, apparently going undercover, leaving the protagonist temporarily in charge of WOOC(P). At this point the protagonist's former superior from military intelligence, Colonel Ross, approaches the protagonist offering to sell him confidential information related to the affair. The protagonist rejects the offer in disgust, but begins to second-guess himself. Carswell, a statistician from another department assigned to the matter, begins noting a range of bizarre and seemingly irrelevant links between many of the kidnap victims. A break suddenly appears when Housemartin, one of Jay's high-ranking operatives, is arrested in Shoreditch for impersonating a police officer, but the protagonist and Murray, another operative assigned to the case, arrive at the police station only to discover he has been murdered in his cell. Information from the arrest enables WOOC(P) and the police to storm one of Jay's safe-houses, but it has been abandoned. To help with the administration of the department, the protagonist is assigned an assistant, Jean, a beautiful young woman towards whom he begins to develop romantic feelings. Dalby re-emerges, and reveals intelligence suggesting that Jay's operations will interfere with an American neutron bomb test in the Pacific. Dalby, Jean and the protagonist are sent to the test site as British observers, and while there the protagonist learns from an old friend, Barney, that the Americans suspect him of being a double-agent due to the deaths of the US operatives in Beirut. Jean reveals to the protagonist that Dalby has been visiting an abandoned Japanese bunker on the island. Soon after, Barney is killed in apparently suspicious circumstances, and while following Dalby to the scene the protagonist is present when the bomb test site is sabotaged, setting back the bomb test and killing a military police officer. The protagonist is arrested by the Americans and interrogated, before apparently being transferred to Hungary on suspicion of being a Soviet agent. There, he is drugged and subject to days of psychological and physical torture, and nearly cracks before eventually managing to escape—only to discover that he is in fact in London. The protagonist takes refuge with Charlie Cavendish, the father of a friend killed towards the end of the Second World War, and attempts to reestablish contact with WOOC(P) without being arrested for treason. Charlie is killed by Jay's operatives, forcing the protagonist on the run; he approaches Dalby at his home, but discovers Dalby meeting with Murray, Jay and another of Jay's operatives—confirming the protagonist's suspicions that Dalby is in fact the traitor. The protagonist is discovered by Murray, who reveals himself to be an undercover operative from military intelligence also investigating Dalby. The protagonist escapes, but is soon captured by Jay's operatives and taken to meet Jay—he has, however, allowed military intelligence to follow them, and Jay and Dalby are arrested by Colonel Ross. The protagonist reveals to Jean that Jay and Dalby were using a process called "Induction of Psycho-neuroses by Conditioned REflex with Stress" (IPCRESS) to brainwash the VIPs into loyalty to the Soviet Union, which they had also unsuccessfully attempted to subject the protagonist to. The seemingly irrelevant links that Carswell had discovered were in fact indicators of the personality traits that Jay had used to determine which VIPs would easily succumb to the process. Dalby was the one who had spied on the American bomb test, as part of Jay and Dalby's efforts to frame the protagonist. Colonel Ross reveals that his attempt to sell information to the protagonist had been a test of his loyalty, which the protagonist had passed by rejecting it. The novel ends with the protagonist concluding his report to the Minister, revealing that Jay has turned and began working for the British, while Dalby has ostensibly died in a car accident. ===== Dorothy McGuire and Gregory Peck Philip Schuyler Green (Gregory Peck) is a widowed journalist who has just moved to New York City with his son Tommy (Dean Stockwell) and mother (Anne Revere). Green meets with magazine publisher John Minify (Albert Dekker), who asks Green, a Gentile, to write an article on anti-Semitism ("Some people don't like other people just because they're Jews"). He is not very enthusiastic at first, but after initially struggling with how to approach the topic in a fresh way, Green is inspired to adopt a Jewish identity ("Phil Greenberg") and writes about his first-hand experiences. At a dinner party, Phil meets Minify's divorced niece Kathy Lacey (Dorothy McGuire), a pre-school teacher, who turns out to be the person who originally suggested the story idea. The next day, Phil tries to explain anti- Jewish prejudice to his young, precocious son – directly after displaying some anti-female prejudice of his own. Green tells his mother that he's struck by the odd notion that the idea for the article came from "a girl" at the magazine. His mother replies, "Why, women will be thinking next". Phil and Kathy begin dating. They agree to keep it secret that Phil is not Jewish. Phil has difficulty getting started on his assignment. He realizes he can never feel what another person feels unless he experiences it himself. He recalls having "lived as an Okie on Route 66" or as a coal miner for previous writing jobs, instead of tapping a man on the shoulder and making him talk. He then decides to write, "I Was Jewish for Six Months". Though Kathy seems to have liberal views, when he reveals what he intends to do, she is taken aback and asks if he actually is Jewish. The strain on their relationship due to Kathy's subtle acquiescence to bigotry becomes a key theme in the film. At the magazine, Phil is assigned a secretary, Elaine Wales (June Havoc), who reveals that she, too, is Jewish. She changed her name to get the job (her application under her real, Jewish-sounding name, Estelle Wilovsky, was rejected). After Phil informs Minify about Wales' experience, Minify orders the magazine to adopt hiring policies that are open to Jews. Wales has reservations about the new policy, fearing that the "wrong Jews" will be hired and ruin things for the few Jews working there now. Phil meets fashion editor Anne Dettrey (Celeste Holm), who becomes a good friend and potentially more, particularly as strains develop between Phil and Kathy. John Garfield and Dorothy McGuire Phil's childhood friend, Dave Goldman (John Garfield), who is Jewish, moves to New York for a job and lives with the Greens while he looks for a home for his family. Dave also experiences anti-Semitism, when some person in the armed forces tells him that he hates Jews, and gets into a brief fight before the prejudiced soldier is taken away. Housing is scarce in the city, but it is particularly difficult for Goldman, since not all landlords will rent to a Jewish family. When Phil tells Dave about his project, Dave is supportive, but concerned. As Phil researches his story, he experiences several incidents of bigotry. When his mother becomes ill with a heart condition, the doctor discourages him from consulting a specialist with an obviously Jewish name, suggesting he might be cheated. When Phil reveals that he is himself Jewish, the doctor becomes uncomfortable and leaves. In addition, the janitor is shocked to see that a Jewish name is listed on the mail box, instead of his Christian name. Also, when Phil wants to celebrate his honeymoon at a swanky hotel for rich people in the country, the hotel manager refuses to register Phil, because Phil is Jewish, and tells him to register at a different hotel instead. Tommy becomes the target of bullies when his schoolmates discover he is Jewish. Phil is troubled by the way Kathy consoles Tommy, telling him their taunts of "dirty Jew" are wrong because he isn't Jewish, not that the epithet is wrong in and of itself. Kathy's attitudes are revealed further when she and Phil announce their engagement. Her sister Jane (Jane Wyatt) invites them to a celebration in her home in Darien, Connecticut, which is known to be a "restricted" community where Jews are not welcome. Fearing an awkward scene, Kathy wants to tell her family and friends that Phil is only pretending to be a Jew, but Phil prevails on Kathy to tell only Jane. At the party, everyone is very friendly to Phil, though many people are "unable" to attend at the last minute. Dave announces that he will have to quit his job because he cannot find a residence for his family. Kathy owns a vacant cottage in Darien, but though Phil sees it as the obvious solution to Dave's problem, Kathy is unwilling to offend her neighbors by renting it to a Jewish family. She and Phil break their engagement. Phil announces that he will be moving away from New York when his article is published. When it comes out, it is very well received by the magazine staff. Kathy meets with Dave and tells him how sick she felt when a party guest told a bigoted joke. However, she has no answer when Dave repeatedly asks her what she did about it. She comes to realize that remaining silent condones the prejudice. The next day, Dave tells Phil that he and his family will be moving into the cottage in Darien, and Kathy will be moving in with her sister next door to make sure they are treated well by their neighbors. When Phil hears this, he reconciles with Kathy. ===== After he is called in to investigate the brutal murder of Joseph Samuels (Sam Levene), who was found dead at his home, police investigator Finlay (Robert Young) discovers there may be a murderer among a group of demobilized soldiers, who had been seen with Samuels and his female friend at a hotel bar that night. Meanwhile, Sergeant Keeley (Robert Mitchum), concerned that his friend Mitchell (George Cooper) may be the prime suspect, decides to investigate the murder to clear his friend's name. To both investigators, each suspected soldier relays his version of that night through flashback. The first to step up is Montgomery (Robert Ryan) and the rest are Floyd (Steve Brodie), Mitchell, and a possible witness named Ginny (Gloria Grahame). As Finlay and Keeley slowly piece together the fragments of that night, they realize there is one possible motive that may have driven the killer to beat an innocent to death, which prompts Finlay to set up a trap to expose the killer. ===== Brad Braden is the no-nonsense general manager of the world's largest railroad circus. The show's board of directors plans to run a short 10-week season rather than risk losing $25,000 a day in a shaky postwar economy. Brad bargains to keep the circus on the road as long as it makes a profit, thus keeping the 1,400 performers and roustabouts employed. Brad's first problem: his girlfriend, Holly, a flyer who expects to star in the show. He must tell her that she is out of the center ring. The management insisted on hiring the Great Sebastian, a world-class trapeze artist. Holly is furious. She is also heartbroken, because Brad refuses to acknowledge his love for her. Brad's second problem: Sebastian, a ladies' man whose affairs always cause trouble. His third problem: Harry, a crooked midway concessionaire who works for a gangster named Mr. Henderson. Trouble is also brewing for the beloved Buttons the Clown, who never appears without his makeup. During one performance, Buttons is warned by his mother that "they" are asking questions. Buttons' skill at first aid suggests a medical background. Holly finds a newspaper article about a mercy killer, but does not connect the doctor who killed his wife to Buttons. Sebastian arrives and is greeted by two former lovers: Angel, who performs in the elephant act with the pathologically jealous Klaus (Lyle Bettger); and Phyllis, who does a double turn as an iron jaw artist and a vocalist in a South Seas extravaganza. Sebastian is attracted to Holly and offers her the center ring. When Brad refuses, Holly vows to make her ring the focus of attention. The competition between the aerialists becomes increasingly daring and dangerous. The duel ends when Sebastian removes his safety net and suffers serious injuries in a fall. Buttons tends to him, and the show's doctor expresses admiration. Holly finally has the center ring and star billing, but not the way she wanted it. Brad cannot comfort her, because now she is in love with Sebastian. When Harry is caught cheating on the midway, Brad fires him. Harry vows revenge. He is seen now and then on the periphery of the show, shooting craps and sowing disaffection, particularly with Klaus. Several months later, Sebastian rejoins the show. His right arm is paralyzed. A guilt- ridden Holly professes her love for her former rival over the unfeeling Brad. Angel calls Holly a fool and makes a pass at Brad. Klaus cannot accept that she does not want him. One evening, Special Agent Gregory of the FBI asks Brad whether the circus doctor resembles a man he is hunting. Brad has never seen Buttons without makeup and does not recognize the man in the photo. (The audience does.) The detective boards the train to continue his investigation. When Buttons tells Brad that Sebastian has feeling in his injured hand – a sign that his disability is not permanent—Brad makes the connection and casually observes that the police will be taking fingerprints at the next stand. Harry and Klaus stop the first of the circus's two trains to steal the day's received . Klaus sees the second section coming and realizes that Angel is aboard. He drives the automobile head-on toward the train. The second section smashes the car and crashes into the first section in a spectacular collision that derails train cars, breaks animal cages open, shreds equipment, and injures people by the score. Brad is pinned in the wreckage, bleeding from an artery. Buttons tries to leave, but Holly pleads with him to save the man she loves. Buttons gives Brad a direct transfusion from Sebastian, who has the same rare blood type. Gregory assists. When Gregory reluctantly arrests Buttons, who tells Brad to tell Holly that he is keeping a date with his girl, suggesting that he faces the death penalty. Holly takes command of the show, mounting a parade that leads the whole nearby town to an open-air show. Brad now realizes how much he loves Holly, but ironically she now has no time for him because the show must go on. Sebastian proposes to Angel, and she accepts. The show begins, and the movie ends. ===== Joe Buck, a young Texan working as a dishwasher, quits his job and heads to New York City to become a male prostitute. Initially unsuccessful, he manages to bed a middle-aged woman, Cass, in her posh Park Avenue apartment. The encounter ends badly as he gives her money after she is insulted and throws a tantrum when he requests payment. Joe meets Enrico Salvatore "Ratso" Rizzo, a con man with a limp who takes $20 from him by ostensibly introducing him to a pimp. After discovering that the man is actually an unhinged homosexual religious fanatic, Joe flees in pursuit of Ratso but cannot find him. Joe spends his days wandering the city and sitting in his hotel room. Soon broke, he is locked out of his hotel room and his belongings are impounded. Joe tries to make money by receiving oral sex from a young man in a movie theater, but learns after the act that the young man has no money. Joe threatens him and asks for his watch, but eventually lets him go unharmed. The next day, Joe spots Ratso and angrily shakes him down. Ratso offers to share the apartment in a condemned building where he is squatting. Joe reluctantly accepts his offer, and they begin a "business relationship" as hustlers. As they develop a bond, Ratso's health grows steadily worse. In a flashback, Joe's grandmother raises him after his mother abandons him. He also has a tragic relationship with Annie, a mentally unstable girl. The film has successive flashbacks to an experience in which he and Annie were jumped while naked in a parked car and both raped by a gang of cowboys. The viewer gains more information about the experience as the flashbacks accumulate. Ratso tells Joe his father was an illiterate Italian immigrant shoeshiner whose job led to a bad back and lung damage from long-term exposure to shoe polish. Ratso learned shoeshining from his father but considers it degrading and generally refuses to do it, although he does shine Joe's cowboy boots to help him attract clients. Ratso harbors hopes of moving to Miami, shown in daydreams in which he and Joe frolic carefree on a beach and are surrounded by dozens of adoring middle-aged women. A Warhol-like silent artsy filmmaker/photographer (Hansel McAlbertson) and an outgoing passionate female artist (Gretel McAlbertson) approach Joe in a diner and take his Polaroid photograph and hand him a flyer inviting him to a Warhol-esque happening/party, that fleetingly incorporates some of the Warhol Superstars, including Viva, Isabelle Collin Dufresne (aka Ultra Violet), Taylor Mead, Joe Dallesandro and the Warhol-related filmmaker Paul Morrissey.Blake Gopnik, Warhol: A Life as Art London: Allen Lane. March 5, 2020. p. 629 Joe and Ratso attend, but Ratso's poor health and hygiene attract unwanted attention from several guests. Joe mistakes a joint for a cigarette and starts to hallucinate after taking several long puffs, along with some "uppers" he is offered. He leaves the party with Shirley, a socialite who agrees to pay him $20 for spending the night, but Joe cannot perform sexually. They play Scribbage together and the resulting wordplay leads Shirley to suggest that Joe may be gay; suddenly he is able to perform. The next morning, she sets up her friend as Joe's next client and it appears that his career is finally taking off. When Joe returns home, Ratso is bedridden and feverish. He refuses medical help and begs Joe to put him on a bus to Florida. Desperate, Joe picks up a man in an amusement arcade and robs him during a violent encounter in the man's hotel room where Joe brutally beats the man (it is implied that Joe may have killed the man). Joe buys bus tickets with the money so he and Ratso can board a bus to Florida. During the trip, Ratso's health deteriorates further as he becomes incontinent and sweat-drenched. At a rest stop, Joe buys new clothing for Ratso and himself and discards his cowboy outfit. On the bus, Joe muses that there must be easier ways to earn a living than hustling, and tells Ratso he plans to get a regular job in Florida. When Ratso fails to respond, Joe realizes that he has died. The driver tells Joe there is nothing to do but continue to Miami and asks Joe to close Ratso's eyelids. Joe, with tears welling in his eyes, sits with his arm around his dead friend, alone. ===== Photographer Clare (Frances Conroy) learns she has breast cancer and must have a mastectomy. Returning home post-surgery she struggles against her feelings of self-consciousness but tries to act as if all is normal in order to protect her daughter, Nina (Natalie Portman). However she begins to begrudge Nina and Nina, in turn, begins to resent being used by Clare as a model in her photographs. Clare puts together a show of her photographs mostly featuring Nina. The show is a success but Clare feels uncomfortable as people constantly mention both her illness and her surgery. At the gallery Clare and Nina fight when Nina accuses her of not letting her in and runs away. Clare then has a meltdown where she screams at a photographer covering the event after he takes numerous photos of her. Failing to find Nina after returning home, Clare begins to take self- portraits using a mirror, gradually stripping off all her clothes. After finally confronting her own image in the mirror Clare begins to cry profusely. Later, as she is developing her self-portraits in her darkroom Nina enters and apologizes for running away. Clare gives her a prolonged hug and Nina listens to her heart beat. ===== New York jazz pianist Willie returns to his hometown of Knight's Ridge, Massachusetts for his ten-year high school reunion, staying with his widower father and younger brother. He reunites with three old friends: Mo is a successful family man, while Paul and Tommy, who own a snowplowing business, are having relationship issues. Paul was recently dumped by his longtime girlfriend Jan because he refused her ultimatum of marriage. Believing that she is now seeing Victor the meat cutter, he vindictively blocks her driveway with snow every night. Tommy is cheating on his girlfriend Sharon with his married high school sweetheart Darian. Willie meets 13 year-old neighbor girl Marty, and they strike up a witty rapport. She presses him about his relationship: Willie has been with his girlfriend Tracy for a year, but is unsure if he wants to marry her. He is considering taking a steady job as a salesman, but Mo urges him not to quit his music. Paul desperately proposes to Jan, but she turns him down. Sharon argues with Tommy about his infidelity, and seeks advice from her girlfriends. The outspoken Gina advises her to break up with Tommy, but Sharon tries to salvage the relationship by planning him a surprise birthday party. When the attractive Andera comes to town from Chicago, the guys compete for her attention. The next day, Gina lectures Willie and Tommy about men's unrealistic expectations of women set by supermodels and pornography. Willie feels jealous when he sees that Marty has a boyfriend. Darian shows up at Tommy's surprise party drunk and openly tries to seduce him, causing Sharon to leave heartbroken. Tommy drives Darian home but refuses her advances, and unsuccessfully tries to patch things up with Sharon. Willie tells Mo about his feelings for Marty, but Mo reminds him how young she is and says that Willie just doesn't want to grow up. Willie again encounters Marty, who says that she has broken up with her boyfriend because she is interested in Willie, and asks him to wait five years until she is 18 and they can be together. Willie declines, saying that she will outgrow her feelings for him as she matures. Paul takes Andera out in an attempt to make Jan jealous. Andera plays along, but when Paul tries to kiss her she smacks him and leaves. Willie chastises Paul about his obsession with supermodels; Paul responds that beautiful girls represent hope and promise. Tommy breaks things off with Darian, but she states her intent to win him back at the reunion. Andera approaches Willie, turning down his flirtations but accompanying him to Paul's ice shanty, where they discuss their respective relationships. Willie misses the emotional rush of new love, but Andera feels truly happy with her boyfriend and returns to Chicago the next day. Tracy arrives from New York, and Willie's feelings for her are rekindled. Marty is downhearted by this, but Willie assures her that she will grow up to do amazing things. At the reunion, Darian is confronted by a former classmate who she bullied; he tells her that she was beautiful, but "mean as a snake". Tommy skips the reunion to avoid Darian, but encounters her husband Steve and his friends at a bar. Steve reveals that he knows about the affair; a fight ensues, and Tommy is badly beaten. Learning of this, the guys rush to Steve's house to confront him. Steve calls his friends, but Willie pushes their car into a snowbank using Paul's snowplow. Mo is about to beat Steve but stops himself when Steve's daughter comes to the door. Darian arrives home in the aftermath of the confrontation. Tommy ends up in the hospital with a concussion and two broken ribs. Sharon stays with him overnight, and they make up. Paul, overcome with emotion, clears Jan's driveway of snow. Willie says his goodbyes the next day, having decided to head back to New York with Tracy and not to take the sales job. Paul announces that Jan and Victor are engaged. Willie introduces Tracy to Marty, and kisses Marty on the cheek before departing. ===== The emotions of an extended upper-class family in Manhattan are followed in song from NY to Paris and Venice. Various friends, lovers, acquaintances, and relatives act, interact, and sing, in the three cities. These people include young lovers Holden and Skylar in Manhattan; Skylar's parents, Bob and Steffi; Joe, an ex-husband of Steffi; DJ, a daughter from the marriage of Joe and Steffi; Von, a lady whom Joe meets in Venice; and a recently released prison inmate, Charles Ferry, who is inserted between Skyler and Holden, resulting in their breakup. ===== In 1941, bugler and career soldier Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt transfers to a rifle company at Schofield Barracks on the island of Oahu. Because Prewitt was also a boxer, Captain Dana "Dynamite" Holmes wants him on his regimental team. Prewitt refuses because he stopped fighting after he blinded a friend. Holmes makes Prewitt's life miserable; and ultimately orders First Sergeant Milton Warden to prepare a court-martial. Warden successfully suggests doubling Prewitt's company punishment as an alternative. Prewitt is hazed by other non- commissioned officers and is supported only by his close friend, Private Angelo Maggio. Prewitt and Maggio join a social club where Prewitt becomes attracted to Lorene. At the club, Maggio gets into an argument with stockade Sergeant Judson. Later, at a local bar, Judson provokes Maggio and the two nearly come to blows before Warden intervenes. Warden, despite warning from another sergeant, risks prison after beginning an affair with Holmes' wife, Karen. Karen's marriage to Holmes is fraught with his unfaithfulness which was exacerbated after the stillbirth of a child and Karen's subsequent infertility. Karen encourages Warden to become an officer which would enable her to divorce Holmes and marry him. Maggio is sentenced to the stockade after walking off guard duty and getting drunk. This results in harsh treatment at the hands of Judson. Prewitt discovers Lorene's name is really Alma and her goal is to make enough money at the club to return to the mainland and live a proper life. Prewitt tells her his career is in the military, and the two contemplate if they have a future together. A sergeant named Galovitch, who is a member of Holmes' boxing team, picks a fight with Prewitt. The fight is reported to Holmes who observes it without intervening. Prewitt gets the best of Galovitch, and Holmes learns Galovitch started the fight, but Holmes issues no punishment. Higher-ranking officers observe Holmes' conduct and force his resignation in lieu of a court martial. Maggio escapes the stockade after a brutal beating from Judson. His injuries are aggravated during his escape and he dies in Prewitt's arms. Prewitt seeks revenge against Judson and the two stab each other in a back alley. Judson dies from his wounds and Prewitt, severely injured, goes absent without leave and stays with Lorene. Warden covers for his absence. The captain that replaces Holmes demotes Galovitch and affirms that boxing will not be used as a pathway to promotion. Warden tells Karen about Prewitt. Karen tells Warden that Holmes' resignation is forcing them back stateside; but Warden divulges he is not interested in becoming an officer. Karen walks away with both realizing their relationship has ended. The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. Warden keeps his head in the chaos. That night, Prewitt attempts to rejoin his company but is killed when he refuses to halt. Warden identifies him as a good soldier, but a hardhead. Karen and Lorene coincidentally stand next to each other on the ship that is taking them to the mainland. Lorene tells Karen that her "fiancé" died heroically during the Pearl Harbor attack and was awarded a silver star (none of which is true). She names Prewitt as the fiancé, and looks at his bugle mouthpiece which she is holding. Karen recognizes the name, but stays silent. Lorene says "Isn't that a silly old name?" ===== On Thursday, alcoholic New York writer Don Birnam is packing for a weekend vacation with his brother Wick. When Don's girlfriend Helen drops by with two tickets for a concert that day, Don suggests that Wick attend with Helen. Knowing they had disposed of all the liquor Don had hidden in the apartment and thinking he has no money for more, they go to the concert. After finding ten dollars that Wick left for the cleaning lady, Don heads for Nat's Bar, calling in at a liquor store to purchase two bottles of rye on the way. Don intends to be back home in time to meet Wick and catch their train, but he loses track of time due to his drinking. When he arrives home, he sees Wick leaving and Helen saying she will stay and wait for Don. Don sneaks back into the flat, where he hides one of his bottles of liquor and drinks the other one. On Friday, back at Nat's Bar, Nat criticizes Don for treating Helen so badly. Don tells Nat that he intends to write a novel about his battle with alcoholism, called 'The Bottle'. He recalls how he first met Helen at the opera-house, where the cloakroom mixed up their coats. He and Helen struck up a romance, and he remained sober during this time. When he goes to meet her parents, he overhears them talking about him being unemployed, wondering if he is good enough for their daughter. He loses his nerve and sneaks off. She goes to his flat, where Wick tries to cover for him, but Don confesses that he is two people: "Don the writer", whose fear of failure causes him to drink, and "Don the drunk" who always has to be bailed out by Wick. Helen devotes herself to helping him. After telling Nat the story behind his proposed novel, Don heads back home to begin writing it. However, his alcohol cravings get the better of him and he begins a desperate search for the other bottle from the previous night, which he knows he has hidden away somewhere. After failing to find it, he visits another bar, where he is thrown out after trying to steal from a woman's purse because he didn't have enough to pay the bill. Back in his flat, he finds the bottle he had hidden and drinks himself into a stupor. On Saturday, Don is broke and tries to pawn his typewriter so he can buy more alcohol, but the pawnshops are closed for Yom Kippur. Desperate for money, he visits a woman who has a crush on him. She gives him some money, but he falls down her stairs and is knocked unconscious. On Sunday, Don wakes up in an alcoholics' ward where nurse Bim Nolan mocks him and other guests at "Hangover Plaza". Bim offers to help cure his delirium tremens, but Don refuses help and escapes while the staff are occupied with a raving, violent patient. On Monday, Don steals a bottle of whisky from a store and spends the day drinking. Suffering from delirium tremens, he hallucinates a nightmarish scene in which a bat flies in his window and kills a mouse, spilling its blood. Helen then returns. Finding Don collapsed and in a delirious state, she stays overnight on his couch. On Tuesday morning, Don slips out and pawns Helen's coat, the one that had brought them together. She trails him to the pawn shop and learns from the pawnbroker that he traded the coat for his gun, for which he has bullets at home. She races to Don's apartment and interrupts him just before he is about to shoot himself. As she pleads with him, Nat arrives to return Don's typewriter. After Nat leaves, Helen convinces him that "Don the writer" and "Don the drunk" are the same person. He commits to writing his novel The Bottle, dedicated to her, which will recount the events of the weekend. He drops a cigarette into a glass of whisky to make it undrinkable as evidence of his resolve. ===== Police Sergeant Neil Howie journeys by seaplane to the remote Hebridean island Summerisle to investigate the disappearance of a young girl, Rowan Morrison, about whom he has received an anonymous letter. Howie, a devout Christian, is disturbed to find the Islanders paying homage to the pagan Celtic gods of their ancestors. They copulate openly in the fields, include children as part of the May Day celebrations, teach children of the phallic association of the maypole, and place toads in their mouths to cure sore throats. The Islanders, including Rowan's own mother, appear to be attempting to thwart his investigation by claiming that Rowan never existed. While staying at the Green Man Inn, Howie notices a series of photographs celebrating the annual harvest, each featuring a young girl as the May Queen. The photograph of the most recent celebration is suspiciously missing; the landlord tells him it was broken. The landlord's beautiful daughter, Willow, attempts to seduce Howie, but despite his inner turmoil he refuses her advances. He enters the local school and enquires about Rowan among the students, but all deny her existence. He checks the school register and finds Rowan's name in it. He questions the schoolteacher and she tells him about her burial plot. After seeing Rowan's burial plot, Howie meets the island's leader, Lord Summerisle, grandson of a Victorian agronomist, to obtain permission for an exhumation. Summerisle explains that his grandfather developed strains of fruit trees that would prosper in Scotland's climate, and encouraged the belief that old gods would use the new strains to bring prosperity to the island. Over the next several generations, the island's inhabitants fully embraced pagan religion. Howie finds the missing harvest photograph, showing Rowan standing amidst empty boxes; the harvest had failed. His research reveals that when there is a poor harvest, the islanders make a human sacrifice to ensure that the next harvest will be bountiful. He comes to the conclusion that Rowan is alive and has been chosen for sacrifice. Realising he is out of his depth, Howie returns to his seaplane only to discover it is no longer functional, preventing him from leaving or calling for assistance. Later that day during the May Day celebration, Howie knocks out and ties up the innkeeper so he can steal his costume and mask (that of Punch, the fool) and infiltrate the parade. When it seems the villagers are about to sacrifice Rowan, he cuts her free and flees with her into a cave. Exiting it, they are intercepted by the islanders, to whom Rowan happily returns. Summerisle tells Howie that Rowan was never the intended sacrifice: Howie himself is. He fits their gods' four requirements: he came of his own free will, has "the power of a king" (by representing the Law), is a virgin, and is a fool. Defiant, Howie loudly warns Summerisle and the islanders that the fruit-tree strains are failing permanently and that the villagers will turn on Summerisle and sacrifice him next summer when the next harvest fails as well; Summerisle angrily insists that the sacrifice of the "willing, king- like, virgin fool" will be accepted and that the next harvest will not fail. The villagers force Howie inside a giant wicker man statue along with various animals, set it ablaze and surround it, singing the Middle English folk song "Sumer Is Icumen In". Inside the wicker man, a terrified Howie recites Psalm 23, and prays to God before cursing the islanders as he and the animals burn to death. The head of the wicker man collapses in flames, revealing the setting sun. ===== Mob-connected union boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) gloats about his iron-fisted control of the waterfront. The police and the Waterfront Crime Commission know that Friendly is behind a number of murders, but witnesses play "D and D" ("deaf and dumb"), accepting their subservient position, rather than risking the danger and shame of informing. Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) is a dockworker whose brother Charley "the Gent" (Rod Steiger) is Friendly's right-hand man. Terry had been a promising boxer until Friendly instructed Charley to have Terry deliberately lose a fight so that Friendly could win money by betting against him. Terry coaxes Joey Doyle (Ben Wagner), a popular dockworker, into an ambush, preventing Joey from testifying against Friendly before the Crime Commission. Terry assumed that Friendly's enforcers were only going to "lean" on Joey to pressure him into silence, and is surprised when Joey is killed. Joey's sister Edie (Eva Marie Saint), angry about her brother's death, shames "waterfront priest" Father Barry (Karl Malden) into fomenting action against the mob-controlled union. Friendly sends Terry to attend and inform on a dockworkers' meeting Father Barry holds in the church, which is broken up by Friendly's men. Terry helps Edie escape the violence, and is smitten with her. Another dockworker, Timothy J. "Kayo" Dugan (Pat Henning), who agrees to testify after Father Barry promises unwavering support, ends up dead after Friendly arranges for him to be crushed by a load of whiskey in a staged accident. Although Terry resents being used as a tool in Joey's death, and despite Father Barry's impassioned "sermon on the docks" reminding the longshoremen that Christ walks among them and that every murder is a crucifixion, Terry is at first willing to remain "D and D", even when subpoenaed to testify. However, when Edie, unaware of Terry's role in her brother's death, begins to return Terry's feelings, Terry is tormented by his awakening conscience and confesses the circumstances of Joey's death to Father Barry and Edie. Horrified, Edie breaks up with him. As Terry increasingly leans toward testifying, Friendly decides that Terry must be killed unless Charley can coerce him into keeping quiet. Charley tries bribing Terry, offering him a good job where he can receive kickbacks without any physical work, and finally threatens Terry by holding a gun against him, but recognizes that he has failed to sway Terry, who blames his own downward spiral on his well-off brother. In what has become an iconic scene, Terry reminds Charley that had it not been for the fixed fight, Terry's prizefighting career would have bloomed. "I coulda' had class. I coulda' been a contender. I could've been somebody", laments Terry to his brother, "Instead of a bum, which is what I am – let's face it." Charley gives Terry the gun, and advises him to run. Terry flees to Edie's apartment, where she first refuses to let him in, but finally admits her love for him. Friendly, having had Charley watched, has Charley murdered that night near the apartment and his body hung in an alley as bait to lure Terry out to his death, but Terry and Edie both escape the attempt on Terry's life. After finding Charley's body, Terry sets out to shoot Friendly, but Father Barry prevents it by blocking Terry's line of fire and convincing Terry to fight Friendly by testifying in court instead. Terry proceeds to give damaging testimony implicating Friendly in Joey's murder and other illegal activities, causing Friendly's mob boss to cut him off and Friendly to face indictment. After the testimony, Friendly announces that Terry will not find employment anywhere on the waterfront. Terry is shunned by his former friends and by a neighborhood boy who had previously looked up to him. Refusing Edie's suggestion that they move far away from the waterfront together, Terry shows up during recruitment at the docks. When he is the only man not hired, Terry openly confronts Friendly, calling him out and proclaiming that he is proud of what he did. The confrontation develops into a vicious brawl, with Terry getting the upper hand until Friendly's thugs gang up on Terry and nearly beat him to death. The dockworkers, who witness the confrontation, show their support for Terry by refusing to work, unless Terry is working, too, and pushing Friendly into the river. Encouraged by Father Barry and Edie, the badly injured Terry forces himself to his feet and enters the dock, followed by the other workers. A soaking wet and face-scarred Friendly, now left with nothing, swears revenge on them all, but his threats fall on deaf ears as they enter the garage, and the door closes behind them. ===== Father Charles “Chuck” O’Malley, an incoming priest from East St. Louis, is transferred to St. Dominic's Church in New York City. On his first day, his unconventional style gets him into a series of mishaps; his informal appearance and attitude make a poor impression with the elder pastor, Father Fitzgibbon. The very traditional Fitzgibbon is further put off by O’Malley's recreational habits – particularly his golf-playing – and his friendship with the even more casual Father Timmy O’Dowd. O'Malley privately informs O'Dowd that he was sent by the bishop to take charge of the affairs of the parish, but that Fitzgibbon is to remain as pastor. To spare Fitzgibbon's feelings, O’Malley acts as if he is simply an assistant. The difference between O’Malley and Fitzgibbon's styles is openly apparent as they deal with events like a parishioner being evicted and a young woman named Carol James having run away from home. The most consequential difference arises in their handling of the youth of the church, many of whom are consistently getting into trouble with the law in a gang led by Tony Scaponi. Fitzgibbon is inclined to look the other way, siding with the boys because of their frequent church attendance. O’Malley seeks to make inroads into the boys’ lives, befriending Scaponi and eventually convincing the boys to become a church choir. The noise of the practicing choir annoys Fitzgibbon, who goes to the bishop and asks for O’Malley to be transferred away. In the course of the conversation, Fitzgibbon infers the bishop's intention to put O’Malley in charge of the parish. To avoid an uncomfortable situation, Fitzgibbon asks the bishop to put O’Malley in charge, and then, resigned to his fate, he informs O’Malley of his new role. A distressed Fitzgibbon runs away, returning late that night. O’Malley puts the older priest to bed, and the two begin to bond. They discuss Fitzgibbon's long-put- off desire to go to Ireland and see his mother, now over 90 years old. O’Malley puts Fitzgibbon to sleep with an Irish lullaby, “Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral”. O'Malley runs into Jenny Tuffel, an old girlfriend whom he left to join the priesthood. Jenny now has a successful career with the Metropolitan Opera, performing under the stage name Genevieve Linden. As she prepares to go onstage as the lead in a performance of Carmen, the two discuss their past, and she learns that her world travels with a previous opera company caused her to miss his letter explaining he had entered the priesthood. O'Malley next pays a visit to Carol, who is now suspected of living in sin with Ted Haines Jr., the son of the church's mortgage-holder. O’Malley describes to the young couple his calling in life to “go his way,” which to him means to follow the joyous side of religion and lead others to do the same. He sings them the song “Going My Way,” which he wrote on this theme. Jenny visits O’Malley at the church, sees the boys’ choir, and reads the sheet music of “Going My Way.” She, O'Malley, and O’Dowd devise a plan to rent out the Metropolitan, have the choir perform it with a full orchestra, then sell the rights to the song, saving the church from its financial woes. When the music executive brought on to hear the song does not believe it will sell, the choir decides to make the most of its opportunity on the grand stage, and sings "Swinging on a Star". The executive overhears and decides to buy it, providing enough money to pay off the church mortgage. With everything settled, O'Malley is transferred to a new assignment; O’Dowd will be Fitzgibbon's new assistant, with Tony Scaponi in charge of the choir. However, the church is damaged in a massive fire. On Christmas Eve, parishioners gather in a temporary church for a mass that also serves as O'Malley's farewell. As a going-away present, O’Malley has sent for Fitzgibbon's mother from Ireland. As mother and son embrace for the first time in 45 years, the choir sings “Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral”, as Father O’Malley quietly slips away into the night. ===== In the Mid-Coast town of Camden, Maine, Matt and Ruth Fowler enjoy a happy marriage and a good relationship with their son Frank, a recent college graduate who has come home for the summer. Frank has fallen in love with an older woman with children, Natalie Strout. Frank is about to begin post graduate school for architecture, but is having second thoughts and considering staying in town to continue working as a fisherman and, more importantly, to be near Natalie and her kids. Natalie's ex-husband, Richard Strout, tries to find a way into his ex-wife and children's lives, going to increasingly violent lengths to get his intentions across to Natalie, including assaulting Frank. Ruth is openly concerned about Frank's relationship with Natalie, while Matt thinks it is only a fling. Frank resists Ruth's insistence he report Richard's violence to the police, but neither she nor Matt call them either. Frank rushes to Natalie's home after receiving a frightened phone call from one of her children. He arrives to find the living room trashed, and Natalie in distress. She tells him Richard just left, and pleads with him not to call the police, but Richard returns almost immediately, still in a rage. Natalie takes the boys upstairs, and Frank insists through the locked front door that Richard leave. He feigns doing so, only to break in through the back door and kill Frank with a handgun. Though equally devastated, Matt and Ruth grieve in different ways, with Matt putting on a brave face while Ruth becomes reclusive and quiet. Richard is set free on bail, paid by his well-to-do family, and both Matt and Ruth are forced to see him around town. The couple retreat with friends Willis and Katie Grinnel to a secluded cottage for a weekend, but Ruth is distant; she rarely contributes to conversation, eyes Matt's drinking suspiciously, and sleeps most of the ride home. The next Saturday, Matt tells Ruth he's going into the office, but he instead goes to the convenience store where Natalie works. The two speak briefly, but Matt begins to become emotional, so he leaves. He goes fishing, and badly cuts his right index finger hauling lobster traps. The tension between Matt and Ruth increases when their lawyer informs them that the lack of an eyewitness to Frank's shooting means Richard will instead be charged with accidental manslaughter, and will likely only serve five to ten years in prison. Ruth is openly distraught by this, Matt seems deflated. He and Willis spend the evening drinking and lamenting the injustice of the situation. Natalie approaches Ruth at work and attempts to apologize, but Ruth slaps her before dismissively returning to her papers. Natalie leaves in tears. Later that same day, Ruth accidentally then runs into Richard again while buying cigarettes. When she returns home, an argument erupts between the couple in which each one confronts and emotionally savages the other. A little girl knocks on the door, interrupting them, and Matt buys $10 worth of chocolate from her. He returns, measured now, and apologizes to Ruth, who apologizes in turn and, breaking down, tells Matt about seeing Natalie and Richard. The two embrace. With the air cleared, the couple is finally able to find common ground in their grief. Matt then abducts Richard at gunpoint, saying he's arranged for Richard to jump bail and leave the state, so as to spare them the pain of seeing him in Camden. He forces Richard to “pack clothes for warm weather” and plants a train schedule in his apartment. He forces Richard to drive them out to the Grinnel cabin, where Willis is waiting with another vehicle. He begins to load Richard's belongings, but Matt hesitates - and then shoots Richard once in the shoulder and twice in the back, killing him. Willis is shocked, admonishing Matt for not following the plan. Matt responds simply that he couldn't wait. The two successfully bury Richard's body deep in the woods beyond the cabin, but are stuck unexpectedly at a bridge crossing on their return home. Willis laments that this cost them nearly an hour - meaning they arrive back in town just after sunrise at 4:00am instead of in darkness at 3:00am - and Matt apologizes. Matt returns home and wraps his clothes in an old blanket, before washing himself in the downstairs sink. He returns to the bedroom upstairs to find Ruth awake and smoking in bed. She asks him, "Did you do it?" Matt appears troubled and unresponsive. He climbs into bed and then turns away from her. Finally, Ruth gets up to make coffee. Matt rolls over onto his back and removes the band-aid from the finger he injured hauling traps - his trigger finger - to examine the healing wound underneath. Ruth calls from the kitchen, "Matt, do you want coffee?" Matt doesn't answer. ===== The prequel novel New Spring takes place during the Aiel War and depicts the discovery by certain Aes Sedai that the Dragon has been Reborn. The series proper commences almost twenty years later in the Two Rivers, a near-forgotten district of the country of Andor. An Aes Sedai, Moiraine, and her Warder Lan, arrive in the village of Emond's Field, secretly aware that servants of the Dark One are searching for a young man living in the area. Moiraine is unable to determine which of three youths (Rand al'Thor, Matrim Cauthon, or Perrin Aybara) is the Dragon Reborn, and leads all three of them from the Two Rivers, along with their friend Egwene al'Vere. Nynaeve al'Meara, the village wise-woman, later joins them. Gleeman Thom Merrilin also travels with the group. The first novel depicts their flight from various agents of the Shadow and their attempts to reach the Aes Sedai city of Tar Valon. Thereafter the protagonists are frequently split into different groups and pursue different missions toward the cause of the Dragon Reborn, sometimes thousands of miles apart. As they struggle to unite the various kingdoms against the Dark One's forces, their task is complicated by rulers of the nations who refuse to lose their autonomy; by the zealots styling themselves 'the Children of the Light', who do not believe in the prophecies; and by the Seanchan, the descendants of a long-lost colony of Artur Hawkwing's empire. The Aes Sedai also become divided on how to deal with the Dragon Reborn. As the story expands, new characters representing different factions are introduced. ===== The Eye of the World revolves around protagonists Rand al'Thor, Matrim (Mat) Cauthon, Perrin Aybara, Egwene al'Vere, and Nynaeve al'Meara, after their residence of "Emond's Field" is unexpectedly attacked by Trollocs (the antagonist's soldiers) and a Myrddraal (the undead-like officer commanding the Trollocs) intent on capturing Rand, Mat, and Perrin. To save their village from further attacks, Rand, Mat, Perrin, and Egwene flee it, accompanied by the Aes Sedai Moiraine Damodred, her Warder Al'Lan Mandragoran, and gleeman Thom Merrilin, and later joined by Wisdom Nynaeve al'Meara. Pursued by increasing numbers of Trollocs and Myrddraal, the travellers take refuge in the abandoned city of Shadar Logoth, where Mat steals a cursed dagger, thus becoming infected by the malevolent Mashadar. While escaping the city the travelers are separated; Rand, Mat, and Thom travel by boat to Whitebridge, where Thom is lost allowing Rand and Mat to escape a Myrddraal. In Caemlyn, Rand befriends an Ogier named Loial. Trying to catch a glimpse of the recently captured False Dragon, Rand befriends Elayne Trakand, heir apparent to the throne of Andor, and her brothers Gawyn Trakand and Galad Damodred. Rand is then taken before Queen Morgase , and her Aes Sedai advisor, Elaida; and General of Queensguard Gareth Bryne and released without charge, in spite of Elaida's grave pronouncements regarding Rand. Egwene and Perrin are guided separately to Caemlyn by Elyas Machera, a man who can communicate telepathically with wolves and who claims that Perrin can do the same. The three run afoul of the Children of the Light, where Perrin kills two for the death of a wolf at their hands, and is sentenced to death. Moiraine, Lan, and Nynaeve rescue Egwene and Perrin, and all are reunited with Rand and Mat. Thereafter Moiraine determines that Mat must travel to Tar Valon, the Aes Sedai's center of power, to overcome the influence of Shadar Logoth. Loial warns Moiraine of a threat to the Eye of the World, a pool of Saidin untouched by the Dark One's influence, which is confirmed by vivid and disturbing dreams Mat, Rand, and Perrin have had. The Eye of the World is protected by Someshta (the Green Man) and contains one of the seven seals on the Dark One's prison, the Dragon banner of Lews Therin Telamon, and the Horn of Valere. At the civilized world's border, the group enters the Blight (the polluted region under the Dark One's control) to protect the Eye. After a pursuit they meet the Green Man and he reveals the Eye. The group is then confronted by the Forsaken Aginor and Balthamel. As battle ensues, Balthamel and the Green Man slay each other. Soon after, Rand defeats Aginor and uses the Eye to decimate the Trolloc army and defeat Ba'alzamon. As a result, Moiraine concludes that Rand is Dragon Reborn, but her opinion and all other details of the final battle are kept from all the male members of the group except Lan. ===== ===== A Crown of Swords has three primary plotlines: * Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, prepares to attack the Forsaken Sammael in Illian while enjoying life with his friend, Min Farshaw, and attempting to quell the rebellion by nobles in Cairhien, during which Padan Fain severely injures him. After recovering, Rand, accompanied by Asha'man, defeats Sammael in Shadar Logoth, where Sammael is destroyed by Mashadar. Rand then takes the crown of Illian: formerly the Laurel Crown, but now called the 'Crown of Swords'. * Egwene al'Vere and Siuan Sanche attempt to manipulate the Aes Sedai in Salidar against Elaida's Aes Sedai in the White Tower. Investigating Myrelle Berengari, Egwene exploits the transfer of Lan Mandragoran's Warder bond from Moiraine to Myrelle, to force Myrelle and Nisao to swear fealty to her. * In the city of Ebou Dar in Altara, Elayne Trakand, Nynaeve al'Meara, Aviendha, and Mat Cauthon search for a ter'angreal, the Bowl of the Winds, to break the unnatural heat brought by the Dark One's manipulation of climate. They find it and enlist the help of the Kin and the Atha'an Miere. They also confront a Gholam. Mat is left behind and caught in the fighting as the Seanchan invade Ebou Dar. ===== Many of the events of Winter's Heart take place simultaneously with the events of the next book, Crossroads of Twilight. Perrin Aybara and his followers pursue the Shaido Aiel who kidnapped his wife, Faile Bashere, while Elayne Trakand attempts to suppress rebellious nobles. Mat Cauthon is trapped in the city of Ebou Dar in Altara, under Seanchan occupation. His escape is disrupted by a Seanchan noblewoman named Tuon, the heir to the Seanchan Crystal Throne; and Mat, having heard a prophecy of his own marriage to the Daughter of the Nine Moons, referring to Tuon herself, kidnaps her. Rand al'Thor is appointed a Warder by Elayne Trakand, Aviendha, and Min Farshaw; and later kills most of the Asha'man traitors in Far Madding. Lan also kills Toram Riatin in a duel. Caught by guards, he is imprisoned for a short time but is set free by Cadsuane and the other Aes Sedai. Rand and Nynaeve al'Meara Travel to Shadar Logoth. There, defended by Cadsuane Melaidhrin's Aes Sedai and loyal Asha'man against the Forsaken, Rand and Nynaeve use the Choedan Kal to cleanse saidin of the Dark One's influence. In the process, both Shadar Logoth and the access key to the female Choedan Kal are destroyed. ===== The story starts in London on Wednesday, 2 October 1872. Phileas Fogg is a rich British gentleman living in solitude. Despite his wealth, Fogg lives a modest life with habits carried out with mathematical precision. Very little can be said about his social life other than that he is a member of the Reform Club, where he spends the best part of his days. Having dismissed his former valet, James Forster, for bringing him shaving water at instead of , Fogg hires Frenchman Jean Passepartout as a replacement. At the Reform Club, Fogg gets involved in an argument over an article in The Daily Telegraph stating that with the opening of a new railway section in India, it is now possible to travel around the world in 80 days. He accepts a wager for £20,000 (£2,242,900 in 2019), half of his total fortune, from his fellow club members to complete such a journey within this time period. With Passepartout accompanying him, Fogg departs from London by train at 8:45 p.m. on 2 October; in order to win the wager, he must return to the club by this same time on 21 December, 80 days later. They take the remaining £20,000 of Fogg's fortune with them to cover expenses during the journey. {| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto; margin:auto;" |- |+The itinerary (as originally planned) | London to Suez, Egypt || Rail to Brindisi, Italy, and steamer (the Mongolia) across the Mediterranean Sea. ||7 days |- | Suez to Bombay, India || Steamer (the Mongolia) across the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. || 13 days |- | Bombay to Calcutta, India || Rail. || 3 days |- | Calcutta to Victoria, Hong Kong with a stopover in Singapore || Steamer (the Rangoon) across the South China Sea || 13 days |- | Hong Kong to Yokohama, Japan || Steamer (the Carnatic) across the South China Sea, East China Sea, and the Pacific Ocean. || 6 days |- | Yokohama to San Francisco, United States || Steamer (the General Grant) across the Pacific Ocean. || 22 days |- | San Francisco to New York City, United States || Rail. || 7 days |- | New York to London || Steamer (the China) across the Atlantic Ocean to Liverpool and rail. || 9 days |- | colspan="2"|Total || |- | colspan="3" style="font-size: 90%; text-align: center"|Map of the trip Map of the trip. Note that it is not a true circumnavigation as Fogg does not pass through two antipodes; he does not even leave the Northern Hemisphere. |} Fogg and Passepartout reach Suez in time. While disembarking in Egypt, they are watched by a Scotland Yard detective, Detective Fix, who has been dispatched from London in search of a bank robber. Since Fogg fits the vague description Scotland Yard was given of the robber, Detective Fix mistakes Fogg for the criminal. Since he cannot secure a warrant in time, Fix boards the steamer (the Mongolia) conveying the travelers to Bombay. Fix becomes acquainted with Passepartout without revealing his purpose. Fogg promises the steamer engineer a large reward if he gets them to Bombay early. They dock two days ahead of schedule. After reaching India, they take a train from Bombay to Calcutta. Fogg learns that the Daily Telegraph article was wrong; a 50-mile stretch of track from Kholby to Allahabad has not yet been built. Fogg purchases an elephant, hires a guide, and starts toward Allahabad. They come across a procession in which a young Indian woman, Aouda, is to undergo sati. Since she is drugged with opium and hemp and is obviously not going voluntarily, the travelers decide to rescue her. They follow the procession to the site, where Passepartout takes the place of Aouda's deceased husband on the funeral pyre. During the ceremony he rises from the pyre, scaring off the priests, and carries Aouda away. The twelve hours gained earlier are lost, but Fogg shows no regret. The travelers hasten to catch the train at the next railway station, taking Aouda with them. At Calcutta, they board a steamer (the Rangoon) going to Hong Kong, with a day's stopover in Singapore. Fix has Fogg and Passepartout arrested. They jump bail and Fix follows them to Hong Kong. He shows himself to Passepartout, who is delighted to again meet his travelling companion from the earlier voyage. In Hong Kong, it turns out that Aouda's distant relative, in whose care they had been planning to leave her, has moved to Holland, so they decide to take her with them to Europe. Still without a warrant, Fix sees Hong Kong as his last chance to arrest Fogg on British soil. Passepartout becomes convinced that Fix is a spy from the Reform Club. Fix confides in Passepartout, who does not believe a word and remains convinced that his master is not a bank robber. To prevent Passepartout from informing his master about the premature departure of their next vessel, the Carnatic, Fix gets Passepartout drunk and drugs him in an opium den. Passepartout still manages to catch the steamer to Yokohama, but neglects to inform Fogg that the steamer is leaving the evening before its scheduled departure date. Fogg discovers that he missed his connection. He searches for a vessel that will take him to Yokohama, finding a pilot boat, the Tankadere, that takes him and Aouda to Shanghai, where they catch a steamer to Yokohama. In Yokohama, they search for Passepartout, believing that he may have arrived there on the Carnatic as originally planned. They find him in a circus, trying to earn the fare for his homeward journey. Reunited, the four board a paddle-steamer, the General Grant, taking them across the Pacific to San Francisco. Fix promises Passepartout that now, having left British soil, he will no longer try to delay Fogg's journey, but instead support him in getting back to Britain so he can arrest Fogg in Britain itself. In San Francisco they board a transcontinental train to New York, encountering a number of obstacles along the way: a massive herd of bison crossing the tracks, a failing suspension bridge, and the train being attacked by Sioux warriors. After uncoupling the locomotive from the carriages, Passepartout is kidnapped by the Indians, but Fogg rescues him after American soldiers volunteer to help. They continue by a wind powered sledge to Omaha, where they get a train to New York. In New York, having missed the ship China, Fogg looks for alternative transport. He finds a steamboat, the Henrietta, destined for Bordeaux, France. The captain of the boat refuses to take the company to Liverpool, whereupon Fogg consents to be taken to Bordeaux for $2,000 ($207,540 in 2017) per passenger. He then bribes the crew to mutiny and make course for Liverpool. Against hurricane winds and going on full steam, the boat runs out of fuel after a few days. Fogg buys the boat from the captain and has the crew burn all the wooden parts to keep up the steam. The companions arrive at Queenstown (Cobh), Ireland, take the train to Dublin and then a ferry to Liverpool, still in time to reach London before the deadline. Once on English soil, Fix produces a warrant and arrests Fogg. A short time later, the misunderstanding is cleared up – the actual robber, an individual named James Strand, had been caught three days earlier in Edinburgh. However, Fogg has missed the train and arrives in London five minutes late, certain he has lost the wager. The following day Fogg apologises to Aouda for bringing her with him, since he now has to live in poverty and cannot support her. Aouda confesses that she loves him and asks him to marry her. As Passepartout notifies a minister, he learns that he is mistaken in the date – it is not 22 December, but instead 21 December. Because the party had travelled eastward, their days were shortened by four minutes for each of the 360 degrees of longitude they crossed; thus, although they had experienced the same amount of time abroad as people had experienced in London, they had seen 80 sunrises and sunsets while London had seen only 79. Passepartout informs Fogg of his mistake, and Fogg hurries to the Reform Club just in time to meet his deadline and win the wager. Having spent almost £19,000 of his travel money during the journey, he divides the remainder between Passepartout and Fix and marries Aouda. ===== The novel is set in South Wales during the reign of Queen Victoria. It tells the story of the Morgans, a respectable mining family of the South Wales Valleys, through the eyes of one of the sons, Huw Morgan. Huw's academic ability sets him apart from his elder brothers and enables him to consider a future away from the dangerous coal mines. His five brothers and his father are miners. After his eldest brother, Ivor, is killed in a mining accident, Huw moves in with his sister-in-law, Bronwen, with whom he has always been in love.Due to this character, the female first name "Bronwen" - hitherto known only in Wales - was introduced to the English-speaking public at large (see Sheard, K. M. (2011), , ). One of Huw's three sisters, Angharad, marries the wealthy mine owner's son – whom she does not love – and the marriage is an unhappy one. She never overcomes her clandestine relationship with the local minister. Huw's father is later killed in a mine explosion. After everyone Huw has known either dies or moves away, and the town is reduced to a contaminated shell, he decides to leave, and tells the story of his life just before going away. ===== In early 1943, British POWs arrive by train at a Japanese prison camp in Burma. The commandant, Colonel Saito, informs them that all prisoners, regardless of rank, are to work on the construction of a railway bridge over the River Kwai that will help connect Bangkok and Rangoon. The senior British officer, Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson, informs Saito that the Geneva Conventions exempt officers from manual labour. Nicholson later forbids any escape attempts because they had been ordered by headquarters to surrender, and escapes could be seen as defiance of orders. At the morning assembly, Nicholson orders his officers to remain behind when the enlisted men march off to work. Saito threatens to have them shot, but Nicholson refuses to back down. When Major Clipton, the British medical officer, warns Saito there are too many witnesses for him to get away with murder, Saito leaves the officers standing all day in the intense heat. That evening, the officers are placed in a punishment hut, while Nicholson is locked in an iron box. Meanwhile, three prisoners attempt to escape. Two are shot dead, but United States Navy Lieutenant Commander Shears gets away, although wounded. He wanders half-dead into a Siamese village, where he is nursed back to health before completing his escape downstream and eventually to the British colony of Ceylon. Meanwhile, the prisoners work as little as possible and sabotage whatever they can. Should Saito fail to meet his deadline, he would be obliged to commit ritual suicide. Desperate, he uses the anniversary of Japan's 1905 victory in the Russo-Japanese War as an excuse to save face and announces a general amnesty, releasing Nicholson and his officers and exempting them from manual labour. Nicholson is shocked by the poor job being done by his men. Over the protests of some of his officers, he orders Captain Reeves and Major Hughes to design and build a proper bridge, in order to maintain his men's morale and pride in their professionalism. As the Japanese engineers had chosen a poor site, the original construction is abandoned and a new bridge begun downstream. Shears is enjoying his hospital stay in Ceylon when British Major Warden invites him to join a mission to destroy the bridge before it is useful to Japanese forces. Shears is so appalled he confesses he is not an officer; he impersonated one, expecting better treatment from the Japanese. Warden responds that he already knew and that the American Navy agreed to transfer him to the British to avoid embarrassment. Realising he has no choice, Shears "volunteers". Meanwhile, Nicholson drives his men hard to complete the bridge on time. For him, its completion will exemplify the ingenuity and hard work of the British Army long after the war's end. When he asks that their Japanese counterparts pitch in as well, a resigned Saito replies that he has already given the order. Nicholson erects a sign commemorating the bridge's construction by the British Army, from February to May 1943. The four commandos parachute in, though one is killed on landing. Later, Warden is wounded in an encounter with a Japanese patrol and has to be carried on a litter. He, Shears, and Canadian Lieutenant Joyce reach the river in time with the assistance of Siamese women bearers and their village chief, Khun Yai. Under cover of darkness, Shears and Joyce plant explosives on the bridge towers below the water line. A train carrying important dignitaries and soldiers is scheduled to be the first to cross the bridge the following day, so Warden waits to destroy both. However, by daybreak, the river level has dropped, exposing the wire connecting the explosives to the detonator. Nicholson spots the wire and brings it to Saito's attention. As the train approaches, they hurry down to the riverbank to investigate. Joyce, manning the detonator, breaks cover and stabs Saito to death. Nicholson yells for help, while attempting to stop Joyce from reaching the detonator. When Joyce is mortally wounded by Japanese fire, Shears swims across the river, but is himself shot. Recognising the dying Shears, Nicholson exclaims, "What have I done?" Warden fires a mortar, wounding Nicholson. The dazed colonel stumbles towards the detonator and collapses on the plunger just in time to blow up the bridge and send the train hurtling into the river below. Witnessing the carnage, Clipton shakes his head, muttering, "Madness! ... Madness!" ===== Jessica Tandy, Kim Hunter and Marlon Brando in the original Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) After the loss of her family home to creditors, Blanche DuBois travels from the small town of Laurel, Mississippi, to the New Orleans French Quarter to live with her younger married sister, Stella, and brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Blanche is in her thirties and, with no money, has nowhere else to go. Blanche tells Stella that she has taken a leave of absence from her English-teaching position because of her nerves (which is later revealed to be a lie). Blanche laments the shabbiness of her sister's two-room flat. She finds Stanley loud and rough, eventually referring to him as "common". Stanley, in return, does not care for Blanche's manners and dislikes her presence. Stanley later questions Blanche about her earlier marriage. Blanche had married when she was very young, but her husband died, leaving her widowed and alone. The memory of her dead husband causes Blanche some obvious distress. Stanley, worried that he has been cheated out of an inheritance, demands to know what happened to Belle Reve, once a large plantation and the DuBois family home. Blanche hands over all the documents pertaining to Belle Reve. While looking at the papers, Stanley notices a bundle of letters that Blanche emotionally proclaims are personal love letters from her dead husband. For a moment, Stanley seems caught off guard over her proclaimed feelings. Afterwards, he informs Blanche that Stella is going to have a baby. This can be seen as the start of Blanche's mental upheaval. The night after Blanche's arrival, during one of Stanley's poker games, Blanche meets Mitch, one of Stanley's poker player buddies. His courteous manner sets him apart from the other men. Their chat becomes flirtatious and friendly, and Blanche easily charms him; they like each other. Suddenly becoming upset over multiple interruptions, Stanley explodes in a drunken rage and strikes Stella. Blanche and Stella take refuge with the upstairs neighbor, Eunice. When Stanley recovers, he cries out from the courtyard below for Stella to come back by repeatedly calling her name until she comes down and allows herself to be carried off to bed. After Stella returns to Stanley, Blanche and Mitch sit at the bottom of the steps in the courtyard, where Mitch apologizes for Stanley's coarse behavior. Blanche is bewildered that Stella would go back to her abusive husband after such violence. The next morning, Blanche rushes to Stella and describes Stanley as subhuman, though Stella assures Blanche that she and Stanley are fine. Stanley overhears the conversation but keeps silent. When Stanley comes in, Stella hugs and kisses him, letting Blanche know that her low opinion of Stanley does not matter. As the weeks pass, the friction between Blanche and Stanley continues to grow. Blanche has hope in Mitch, and tells Stella that she wants to go away with him and not be anyone's problem. During a meeting between the two, Blanche confesses to Mitch that once she was married to a young man, Allan Grey, whom she later discovered in a sexual encounter with an older man. Grey later took his own life when Blanche told him she was disgusted with him. The story touches Mitch, who tells Blanche that they need each other. Later on, Stanley repeats gossip to Stella that he has gathered on Blanche, telling her that Blanche was fired from her teaching job for involvement with an under-aged student and that she lived at a hotel known for prostitution. Stella erupts in anger over Stanley's cruelty after he states that he has also told Mitch about the rumors, but the fight is cut short as she goes into labor and is sent to the hospital. As Blanche waits at home alone, Mitch arrives and confronts Blanche with the stories that Stanley has told him. At first she denies everything, but eventually confesses that the stories are true. She pleads for forgiveness. An angry and humiliated Mitch rejects her. As Stella is checked-in to give birth, Stanley and Blanche are left alone in the apartment. Blanche has descended into another fantasy that an old suitor of hers is coming to provide financial support and take her away from New Orleans. Stanley goes along with the act before angrily scorning Blanche's lies, hypocrisy and behavior, and advances toward her; in response, she threatens to attack him with a broken bottle, but is overpowered. Blanche collapses on the floor and Stanley is last seen taking her unconscious into his bed. At another poker game at the Kowalski apartment, Stella and her neighbor, Eunice, are packing Blanche's belongings while Blanche takes a bath in a catatonic state, having suffered a mental breakdown. Although Blanche has told Stella about Stanley's assault, Stella cannot bring herself to believe her sister's story. When a doctor and a matron arrive to take Blanche to the hospital, she initially resists them and collapses on the floor in confusion. Mitch, present at the poker game, breaks down in tears. When the doctor helps Blanche up, she goes willingly with him, saying: "Whoever you are – I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." The play ends with Stanley continuing to comfort a crying Stella, while the poker game continues uninterrupted and one of the players says: "This game is seven-card stud." ===== In the future, eugenics is common. A genetic registry database uses biometrics to classify those so created as "valids" while those conceived by traditional means and more susceptible to genetic disorders are known as "in-valids". Genetic discrimination is illegal, but in practice genotype profiling is used to identify valids to qualify for professional employment while in-valids are relegated to menial jobs. Vincent Freeman is conceived without the aid of genetic selection; his genetic profile indicates a high probability of several disorders and an estimated lifespan of 30.2 years. His parents, regretting their decision, use genetic selection in conceiving their next child, Anton. Growing up, the two brothers often play a game of "chicken" by swimming out to sea as far as they can, with the first one returning to shore considered the loser. Vincent always loses. Vincent dreams of a career in space travel but is always reminded of his genetic inferiority. One day, Vincent challenges Anton to a game of chicken and beats him. Anton starts to drown and is saved by Vincent. Shortly after, Vincent leaves home. Years later, Vincent works as an in-valid, cleaning office spaces including that of Gattaca Aerospace Corporation, a spaceflight conglomerate. He gets a chance to pose as a valid by using hair, skin, blood and urine samples from a donor, Jerome Eugene Morrow, a former swimming star who was paralyzed after being hit by a car. With Jerome's genetic makeup, Vincent gains employment at Gattaca, and is assigned to be navigator for an upcoming trip to Saturn's moon Titan. To keep his identity hidden, Vincent must meticulously groom and scrub down daily to remove his own genetic material and pass daily DNA scanning and urine tests using Jerome's samples. Gattaca becomes embroiled in controversy when one of its administrators is murdered a week before the flight. The police find a fallen eyelash of Vincent's at the scene. An investigation is launched to find the owner of the eyelash, considering them the top suspect. During this, Vincent becomes close to a co- worker, Irene Cassini, and falls in love with her. Though a valid, Irene has a higher risk of heart failure that will prevent her from joining any deep space Gattaca mission. Vincent also learns that Jerome's paralysis is by his own hand; after coming in second place in a swim meet, Jerome threw himself in front of a car. Jerome maintains that he was designed to be the best, yet wasn't, and that is the source of his suffering. Vincent repeatedly evades the grasp of the investigation. Finally, it is revealed that Gattaca's mission director was the killer, with the administrator's threats to cancel the mission as a motive. Vincent learns that the detective who closed the case was his brother Anton, who in turn has become aware of Vincent's presence. The brothers meet, and Anton warns Vincent that what he is doing is illegal, but Vincent asserts that he has gotten to this position on his own merits. Anton challenges Vincent to one more game of chicken. As the two swim out in the dead of night, Anton expresses surprise at Vincent's stamina, so Vincent reveals that his strategy for winning was not to save energy for the swim back. Anton turns back and begins to drown, but Vincent rescues him and swims them both back to shore. On the day of the launch, Jerome reveals that he has stored enough DNA samples for Vincent to last two lifetimes upon his return, and gives him an envelope to open once in flight. After saying goodbye to Irene, Vincent prepares to board but discovers there is a final genetic test, and he currently lacks any of Jerome's samples. He is surprised when Dr. Lamar, the person in charge of background checks, reveals that he knows Vincent has been posing as a valid. Lamar admits that his son looks up to Vincent and wonders whether his son, genetically selected but "not all that they promised", could exceed his potential just as Vincent has. The doctor changes the test results, allowing Vincent to pass. As the rocket launches, Jerome dons his swimming medal and immolates himself in his home's incinerator; Vincent opens the note from Jerome to find only a lock of Jerome's hair. As the movie ends, Vincent muses that "For someone who was never meant for this world, I must confess, I'm suddenly having a hard time leaving it. Of course, they say every atom in our bodies was once a part of a star. Maybe I'm not leaving; maybe I'm going home." ===== Part One follows several different people over the same period of several days. Several of the characters from the two previous books appear, including Armand, Daniel Molloy (the "boy reporter" of Interview with the Vampire), Marius de Romanus, Louis de Pointe du Lac, Gabrielle de Lioncourt and Santino. Each of the six chapters in Part One tells a different story about a different person or group of people. Two things unify these chapters: a series of dreams about red-haired twin sisters, and the fact that a powerful being is killing vampires around the world by means of spontaneous combustion. Pandora and Santino rescue Marius, having answered his telepathic call for help. Marius informs his rescuers that Akasha has been awakened by Lestat de Lioncourt, or rather his rock music, for he has joined a rock band with mortals Alex, Larry and Tough Cookie. Having been awakened by Lestat's rebellious music, Akasha destroys her husband Enkil and plots to rule the world. She is also revealed as the source of the attacks on other vampires. Part Two takes place at Lestat's concert. Jesse Reeves, a member of the secret Talamasca Caste and relative of Maharet, is mortally injured while attending the concert, and is taken to be made into a vampire at Maharet's compound in California's Sonoma Mountains. The vampires from Part One later congregate in the compound. Meanwhile, Akasha abducts Lestat and takes him as an unwilling consort to various locations in the world, inciting women to rise up and kill the men who have oppressed them. Part Three takes place at Maharet's compound, where Maharet tells the story of Akasha and the red-haired twins, Maharet and her sister, Mekare to the other characters. Also present are Mael and Khayman, who already know the story. In Part Four, Akasha confronts the gathered vampires, explaining that she plans to kill 90 percent of the world's human men and establish a new Eden in which women will worship Akasha as a goddess. If the assembled vampires refuse to follow her, she will destroy them. The vampires refuse, but Mekare enters and kills Akasha by severing her head and consuming her brain and heart. Amel passes into Mekare, thereby saving the lives of the remaining vampires. She becomes the new Queen of the Damned. In Part Five, the vampires leave the compound and assemble at Armand's island resort in Florida to recover. They eventually go their separate ways. Lestat takes Louis to see David Talbot in London. After their brief visit with Talbot they depart into the night, an incensed Louis and his angry words filling Lestat with glee. ===== The Dukes of Hazzard follows the adventures of "the Duke boys", cousins Bo Duke (John Schneider) and Luke Duke (Tom Wopat) (including Coy and Vance Duke for most of season 5), who live on a family farm in fictional Hazzard County, Georgia (the exact location of which was never specified, though Atlanta was mentioned several times as the nearest big city), with their female cousin Daisy (Catherine Bach) and their wise old Uncle Jesse (Denver Pyle). The Duke boys race around in their customized 1969 Dodge Charger stock car, dubbed (The) General Lee, evading crooked and corrupt county commissioner Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke) and his bumbling and corrupt Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane (James Best) along with his deputy(s), and always managing to get caught in the middle of various local escapades and incidents. Bo and Luke were previously sentenced to probation for illegal transportation of moonshine; their Uncle Jesse made a plea bargain with the U.S. Government to refrain from distilling moonshine in exchange for Bo and Luke's freedom. As a result, Bo and Luke are on five years' probation and not allowed to carry firearms—instead, they often use compound bows, sometimes with arrows tipped with dynamite—or to leave Hazzard County unless they get probation permission from their probation officer, Boss Hogg. The exact details of their probation terms vary from episode to episode. Sometimes it is implied that they would be jailed for merely crossing the county line; on other occasions, it is shown that they may leave Hazzard, as long as they are back within a certain time limit. Several other technicalities of their probation also come into play at various times. Corrupt county commissioner Jefferson Davis (J. D.) "Boss" Hogg, who either runs, or has his fingers in, virtually everything in Hazzard County, is forever angry with the Dukes, especially Bo and Luke, and looking for ways to get them out of the picture, for their habit of foiling his crooked schemes. Many episodes revolve around Hogg's attempts to engage in some such scheme, sometimes with aid of hired criminal help. Some of these are get-rich-quick schemes, though many others affect the financial security of the Duke farm, which Hogg has long wanted to acquire for various reasons. Other times, Hogg hires criminals from out of town to do his dirty work for him, and he often tries to frame Bo and Luke as part of these plots. Bo and Luke always seem to stumble over Hogg's latest scheme, sometimes by curiosity, and often by sheer luck, and put it out of business. Despite the Dukes often coming to his rescue (see below), Hogg never loses his irrational dislike of the clan, particularly Bo and Luke, often accusing them of spying on him, robbing or planning to rob him, and other nefarious actions. The role of Boss Hogg was played by Sorrell Booke, who performed frequently on radio, stage, and film prior to his role in The Dukes of Hazzard. Boss Hogg is one of only two characters to appear in every episode of the TV series, the other being Uncle Jesse Duke. The other main characters of the show include local mechanic Cooter Davenport (Ben Jones), who in early episodes was portrayed as a wild, unshaven rebel, often breaking or treading on the edge of the law, before settling down to become the Duke family's best friend (he is often referred to as an "honorary Duke") and owning the local garage. Enos Strate (Sonny Shroyer) is an honest but naive young deputy who, despite his friendship with the Dukes (and his crush on Daisy), is reluctantly forced to take part in Hogg and Rosco's crooked schemes. In the third and fourth seasons, when Shroyer left for his own show, his character was replaced by Deputy Cletus Hogg (Rick Hurst), Boss's cousin, who is slightly more wily than Enos but still a somewhat reluctant player in Hogg's plots. Owing to their fundamentally good natures, the Dukes often wind up helping Boss Hogg out of trouble, albeit grudgingly. More than once Hogg is targeted by former associates who are either seeking revenge or have double crossed him after a scheme has unraveled in one way or another. Sheriff Coltrane also finds himself targeted in some instances. On such occasions, Bo and Luke usually have to rescue their adversaries as an inevitable precursor to defeating the bad guys; in other instances, the Dukes join forces with Hogg and Coltrane to tackle bigger threats to Hazzard or one of their respective parties. These instances became more frequent as the show progressed, and later seasons saw a number of stories where the Dukes and Hogg (and Coltrane) temporarily work together. ===== thumb|Locations visited by Gulliver, according to Arthur Ellicott Case. Case contends that the maps in the published text were drawn by someone who did not follow Swift's geographical descriptions; to correct this, he makes changes such as placing Lilliput to the east of Australia instead of the west. ===== On Christmas Eve, Della Young discovers that she has only $1.87 to buy a present for her husband Jim. She visits the nearby shop of a hairdresser, Madame Sonofrie, who buys Della's long hair for $20. Della then uses the money to buy a platinum pocket watch chain for Jim. When Jim comes home from work that evening, Della admits to him that she sold her hair to buy him the chain. Jim gives Della her present-- a set of ornamental combs, which she will be unable to use until her hair grows back out. Della gives Jim the watch chain, and he tells her that he sold the watch to buy the combs. Although Jim and Della are left with gifts that they cannot use, they realize how far they are willing to go to show their love for each other and how priceless their love really is. The story ends with the narrator comparing these sacrificial gifts of love with those of the biblical Magi. ===== Celie is a poor, uneducated 14-year-old girl living in the Southern United States in the early 1900s. She writes letters to God because the man she thought was her father, Alphonso, beats and rapes her. Alphonso has already impregnated Celie once, a pregnancy that resulted in the birth of a boy named Adam, whom Alphonso also abducts, and Celie thinks he killed him. Celie then has a second child, Celie's ailing mother dies after cursing Celie on her deathbed. The second child was a girl she named Olivia, but Alphonso took the baby away shortly after her birth. Celie and her younger sister, 12-year-old Nettie, learn that a man identified only as Mister wants to marry Nettie. Alphonso refuses to let Nettie marry, instead arranging for Mister to marry Celie. Mister, a widower needing someone to care for his children and keep his house, eventually accepts the offer. Mister physically, sexually, and verbally abuses Celie, and all his children treat her badly as well. Shortly thereafter, Nettie runs away from Alphonso and takes refuge at Celie's house, where Mister makes sexual advances toward her. Celie then advises Nettie to seek assistance from a well-dressed black woman that she saw in the general store a while back; the woman has unknowingly adopted Olivia and was the only black woman that Celie had ever seen with money of her own. Nettie is forced to leave after promising to write. Celie, however, never receives any letters and concludes that her sister is dead. Time passes and Harpo, Mister's son, falls in love with an assertive girl named Sofia, who becomes pregnant with Harpo's baby and, despite initial resistance from Mister, Harpo marries Sofia. Harpo and Sofia have five more children in short order. Celie is amazed by Sofia's defiant refusal to submit to Harpo's attempts to control her. As Harpo is kinder and gentler than his father, Celie advises him not to try to dominate Sofia. Harpo temporarily follows Celie's advice but falls back under Mister's sway. Celie, momentarily jealous of Harpo's genuine love of Sofia, then advises Harpo to beat her. Sofia fights back, however, and confronts Celie. A guilty Celie apologizes and confides in Sofia about all the abuse she suffers at Mister's hands. She also begins to consider Sofia's advice about defending herself against further abuse from Mister. Shug Avery, a jazz and blues singer and Mister's long-time mistress, falls ill, and Mister takes her into his house. Celie, who has been fascinated by photos of Shug she found in Mister's belongings, is thrilled to have her there. Mister's father expresses disapproval of the arrangement, reminding Mister that Shug has three out-of- wedlock children, though Mister indirectly implies to him that he is those children's father. Mister's father then leaves in disgust. While Shug is initially rude to Celie, who has taken charge of nursing her, the two women become friends, and Celie soon finds herself infatuated with Shug. Frustrated by Harpo's domineering behavior, Sofia moves out, taking her children with her. Several months later, Harpo opens a juke joint where a fully recovered Shug performs nightly. Shug decides to stay when she learns that Mister beats Celie when she is away. Shug and Celie grow closer. Sofia returns for a visit and promptly gets into a fight with Harpo's new girlfriend, Squeak, knocking Squeak's teeth out. In town one day, while Sofia is enjoying a day out with her new boyfriend, a prizefighter, and their respective children, she gets into a physical fight with the mayor after his wife, Miss Millie, insults Sofia and her children. The police arrive and brutally beat Sofia, leaving her with a cracked skull, broken ribs, her face rendered nearly unrecognizable, and blind in one eye. She is subsequently sentenced to 12 years in jail. Squeak, a mixed-race woman and Sheriff Hodges' illegitimate niece, attempts to blackmail the sheriff into releasing Sofia, resulting in her being raped by her uncle. Squeak cares for Sofia's children while she is incarcerated, and the two women develop a friendship. Sofia is eventually released and begins working for Miss Millie, which she detests. Despite being newly married to a man called Grady, Shug instigates a sexual relationship with Celie on her next visit. One night Shug asks Celie about her sister, and Shug helps Celie recover letters from Nettie that Mister has been hiding from her for decades. The letters indicate that Nettie befriended a missionary couple, Samuel and Corrine, the well-dressed woman that Celie saw in the store, whom Nettie eventually accompanied to Africa to do missionary work. Samuel and Corrine have unwittingly adopted both Adam and Olivia. Corrine, noticing that her adopted children resemble Nettie, wonders if Samuel fathered the children with her. Increasingly suspicious, Corrine tries to limit Nettie's role in her family. Through her letters, Nettie reveals that she has become disillusioned with her missionary work. Corrine becomes ill with a fever. Nettie asks Samuel to tell her how he adopted Olivia and Adam. Realizing that Adam and Olivia are Celie's children, Nettie then learns that Alphonso is actually her and Celie's stepfather. Their biological father was a store owner whom white men lynched because they resented his success. She also learns that their mother suffered a mental collapse after the death of her husband and that Alphonso exploited the situation in order to control their mother's considerable wealth. Nettie confesses to Samuel and Corrine that she is in fact the children's biological aunt. The gravely ill Corrine refuses to believe her until Nettie reminds her of her previous encounter with Celie in the store. Later, Corrine dies, finally having accepted Nettie's story. Meanwhile, Celie visits Alphonso, who confirms Nettie's story. Celie begins to lose some of her faith in God, which she confides to Shug, who explains to Celie her own unique religious philosophy. Shug helped Celie to realize that God is not someone who has power over her like the rest of the men in Celie's life. Rather, God was an “It” and not a “Who”. Celie, having had enough of her husband's abuse, decides to leave Mister along with Shug and Squeak, who is considering a singing career of her own. Celie puts a curse on Mister before leaving him for good. Celie settles in Tennessee and supports herself as a seamstress. Alphonso dies, Celie inherits his land, and moves back into her childhood home. Around this time, Shug falls in love with Germaine, a member of her band, and this news crushes Celie. Shug travels with Germaine, all the while writing postcards to Celie. Celie pledges to love Shug even if Shug does not love her back. Celie learns that Mister, suffering from a considerable decline in fortunes after Celie left him, has changed dramatically and Celie begins to call him by his first name, Albert. Albert proposes that they marry "in the spirit as well as in the flesh," but Celie declines. Meanwhile, Nettie and Samuel marry and prepare to return to America. Before they leave, Adam marries Tashi, an African girl. Following an African tradition, Tashi undergoes the painful rituals of female circumcision and facial scarring. In solidarity, Adam undergoes the same facial scarring ritual. As Celie realizes that she is content in her life without Shug, Shug returns, having ended her relationship with Germaine. Nettie, Samuel, Olivia, Adam, and Tashi all arrive at Celie's house. Nettie and Celie reunite after 30 years, and introduce one another to their respective families as the novel ends. ===== Hermia and Helena by Washington Allston, 1818 The play consists of four interconnecting plots, connected by a celebration of the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazon queen, Hippolyta, which are set simultaneously in the woodland and in the realm of Fairyland, under the light of the moon. The play opens with Hermia who is in love with Lysander, resistant to her father Egeus's demand that she wed Demetrius, whom he has arranged for her to marry. Helena, Hermia's best friend, pines unrequitedly for Demetrius, who broke up with her to be with Hermia. Enraged, Egeus invokes an ancient Athenian law before Duke Theseus, whereby a daughter needs to marry a suitor chosen by her father, or else face death. Theseus offers her another choice: lifelong chastity as a nun worshipping the goddess Artemis. Peter Quince and his fellow players Nick Bottom, Francis Flute, Robin Starveling, Tom Snout and Snug plan to put on a play for the wedding of the Duke and the Queen, "the most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisbe". Quince reads the names of characters and bestows them on the players. Nick Bottom, who is playing the main role of Pyramus, is over-enthusiastic and wants to dominate others by suggesting himself for the characters of Thisbe, the Lion, and Pyramus at the same time. Quince insists that Bottom can only play the role of Pyramus. Bottom would also rather be a tyrant and recites some lines of Ercles. Bottom is told by Quince that he would do the Lion so terribly as to frighten the duchess and ladies enough for the Duke and Lords to have the players hanged. Snug remarks that he needs the Lion's part because he is "slow of study". Quince assures Snug that the role of the lion is "nothing but roaring." Quince then ends the meeting telling his actors "at the Duke's oak we meet". The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania by Joseph Noel Paton, 1849 In a parallel plot line, Oberon, king of the fairies, and Titania, his queen, have come to the forest outside Athens. Titania tells Oberon that she plans to stay there until she has attended Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding. Oberon and Titania are estranged because Titania refuses to give her Indian changeling to Oberon for use as his "knight" or "henchman", since the child's mother was one of Titania's worshippers. Oberon seeks to punish Titania's disobedience. He calls upon Robin "Puck" Goodfellow, his "shrewd and knavish sprite", to help him concoct a magical juice derived from a flower called "love-in-idleness", which turns from white to purple when struck by Cupid's arrow. When the concoction is applied to the eyelids of a sleeping person, that person, upon waking, falls in love with the first living thing they perceive. He instructs Puck to retrieve the flower with the hope that he might make Titania fall in love with an animal of the forest and thereby shame her into giving up the little Indian boy. He says, "And ere I take this charm from off her sight,/As I can take it with another herb,/I'll make her render up her page to me." Hermia and Lysander have escaped to the same forest in hopes of running away from Theseus. Helena, desperate to reclaim Demetrius's love, tells Demetrius about the plan and he follows them in hopes of finding Hermia. Helena continually makes advances towards Demetrius, promising to love him more than Hermia. However, he rebuffs her with cruel insults. Observing this, Oberon orders Puck to spread some of the magical juice from the flower on the eyelids of the young Athenian man. Instead, Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius, not having actually seen either before, and administers the juice to the sleeping Lysander. Helena, coming across him, wakes him while attempting to determine whether he is dead or asleep. Upon this happening, Lysander immediately falls in love with Helena. Helena, thinking Lysander is playing a trick on her, runs away with Lysander following her. When Hermia wakes up, she sees that Lysander is gone and goes out in the woods to find him. Oberon sees Demetrius still following Hermia, who thinks Demetrius killed Lysander, and is enraged. When Demetrius goes to sleep, Oberon sends Puck to get Helena while he charms Demetrius' eyes. Upon waking up, he sees Helena. Now, both men are in love with Helena. However, she is convinced that her two suitors are mocking her, as neither loved her originally. Hermia finds Lysander and asks why he left her, but Lysander claims he never loved Hermia, just Helena. Hermia accuses Helena of stealing Lysander away from her while Helena believes Hermia joined the two men in mocking her. Hermia tries to attack Helena, but the two men protect Helena. Lysander, tired of Hermia's presence, insults her and tells her to leave. Lysander and Demetrius decide to seek a place to duel to prove whose love for Helena is the greater. The two women go their own separate ways, Helena hoping to reach Athens and Hermia chasing after the men to make sure Lysander doesn't get hurt or killed. Oberon orders Puck to keep Lysander and Demetrius from catching up with one another and to remove the charm from Lysander so Lysander can return to love Hermia, while Demetrius continues to love Helena. A drawing of Puck, Titania and Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream from Act III, Scene II by Charles Buchel, 1905 Meanwhile, Quince and his band of six labourers ("rude mechanicals", as they are described by Puck) have arranged to perform their play about Pyramus and Thisbe for Theseus' wedding and venture into the forest, near Titania's bower, for their rehearsal. Quince leads the actors in their rehearsal of the play. Bottom is spotted by Puck, who (taking his name to be another word for a jackass) transforms his head into that of a donkey. When Bottom returns for his next lines, the other workmen run screaming in terror: They claim that they are haunted, much to Bottom's confusion. Determined to await his friends, he begins to sing to himself. Titania, having received the love-potion, is awakened by Bottom's singing and immediately falls in love with him. She lavishes him with the attention of her and her fairies, and while she is in this state of devotion, Oberon takes the changeling boy. Having achieved his goals, Oberon releases Titania, orders Puck to remove the donkey's head from Bottom, and arranges everything so Helena, Hermia, Demetrius and Lysander will all believe they have been dreaming when they awaken. Puck distracts Lysander and Demetrius from fighting over Helena's love by mimicking their voices and leading them apart. Eventually, all four find themselves separately falling asleep in the glade. Once they fall asleep, Puck administers the love potion to Lysander again, returning his love to Hermia again, and claiming all will be well in the morning. The fairies then disappear, and Theseus and Hippolyta arrive on the scene, during an early morning hunt. They find the lovers still sleeping in the glade. They wake up the lovers and, since Demetrius no longer loves Hermia, Theseus over-rules Egeus's demands and arranges a group wedding. The lovers at first believe they are still in a dream and can't recall what has happened. The lovers decide that the night's events must have been a dream. After they exit, Bottom awakes, and he too decides that he must have experienced a dream "past the wit of man". At Quince's house, he and his team of actors worry that Bottom has gone missing. Quince laments that Bottom is the only man who can take on the lead role of Pyramus. Bottom returns, and the actors get ready to put on "Pyramus and Thisbe." In Athens, Theseus, Hippolyta and the lovers watch the six workmen perform Pyramus and Thisbe. The performers are so terrible playing their roles that the guests laugh as if it were meant to be a comedy, and everyone retires to bed. Afterwards, Oberon, Titania, Puck, and other fairies enter, and bless the house and its occupants with good fortune. After all the other characters leave, Puck "restores amends" and suggests that what the audience experienced might just be a dream. ===== Self-made billionaire Wilton Knight rescues police Detective Lieutenant Michael Arthur Long after a near fatal shot to the face, giving him a new identity (by plastic surgery) and a new name: Michael Knight. Wilton selects Michael to be the primary field agent in the pilot program of his public justice organization, the Foundation for Law and Government (FLAG). The other half of this pilot program is the Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT), a heavily modified, technologically advanced Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with numerous features, including an extremely durable shell and frame, controlled by a computer with talking artificial intelligence. Michael and KITT are brought in during situations where "direct action might provide the only feasible solution". Heading FLAG is Devon Miles, who provides Michael with directives and guidance. Dr. Bonnie Barstow is the chief engineer in charge of KITT's care, as well as technical assistant to Devon (April Curtis fills this role in Season 2). ===== Professional thief Neil McCauley lives by a personal code: have nothing in your life you cannot leave behind if you need to escape the police. He and his crew – right hand man and closest ally Chris Shiherlis, enforcer Michael Cheritto and Trejo – hire Waingro to help rob $1.6 million in bearer bonds from an armored car. During the heist, Waingro impulsively kills a guard. A second guard is shot when he attempts to pull his concealed weapon. Since they are now all guilty of felony murder, McCauley gives the order to execute the remaining guard so as not to leave an eyewitness, but he is incensed with Waingro for the needless escalation. McCauley's crew prepares to kill Waingro, but are distracted by a passing police cruiser, and he escapes. McCauley begins a relationship with Eady. His fence, Nate, suggests he sell the stolen bonds back to their original owner, money launderer Roger Van Zant, who could profit by claiming the insurance on the bonds. Van Zant agrees, but instructs his men to ambush McCauley at the meeting. Aided by his comrades, McCauley dispatches the assassins and vows revenge against Van Zant, threatening him by telephone. LAPD Major Crimes Unit Lieutenant Vincent Hanna investigates the robbery with Sergeant Drucker and Detectives Casals, Bosko, and Schwartz. An informant connects Cheritto to the robbery, and Hanna's team surveils him. Hanna's team stakes out the crew's next target, a precious metals depository; when a careless officer makes a noise, McCauley makes the crew walk off the job. Hanna lets them go so he can continue gathering evidence, rather than arrest them on a minor breaking and entering charge. Despite the increased police surveillance, McCauley's crew agrees to one last bank robbery worth $12.2 million. Hanna pulls over McCauley on the 105 Freeway and invites him to coffee. They talk about their commitment to their fields and limitations of their personal lives. Hanna says that his third marriage, to Justine, is near failure, and McCauley confides that he is similarly isolated. They both acknowledge that they will kill the other if necessary. When Hanna returns to his office, he learns that McCauley's crew have slipped their surveillance. Waingro, having made a deal with Van Zant to help eliminate McCauley's crew, tortures Trejo for information. Acting on a tip from Van Zant's bodyguard Hugh Benny, the LAPD intercept the crew as they are leaving the bank, resulting in a massive shootout in Downtown Los Angeles. Bosko is killed and many police officers are also killed or wounded, while McCauley escapes again, Shiherlis is severely wounded and McCauley's alternate getaway driver Donald Breedan is killed in the crossfire. Cheritto also attempts to escape by taking a child hostage, but is ultimately killed when Hanna intercepts and shoots him in the head. McCauley arrives at Trejo's house to find Trejo's wife Anna murdered. A dying Trejo reveals Waingro's involvement, prompting McCauley to kill Van Zant. Eady realizes that McCauley is a criminal but ultimately agrees to flee the country with him. Shiherlis attempts to reconnect with his wife Charlene, who is helping the LAPD in a sting operation to capture him. She changes her mind and helps him escape, albeit without a way to keep their son Dominic in his life. Hanna finds his stepdaughter Lauren unresponsive in the bathtub after a suicide attempt and rushes her to the hospital. He and Justine comfort each other after learning that she has survived. Meanwhile, McCauley drives to the airport with Eady to flee to New Zealand, but learns of Waingro's location and abandons his usual caution to seek revenge. The LAPD learns of McCauley's arrival at Waingro's hotel. McCauley kills Waingro, but before he can return to Eady and escape, he is spotted by Hanna and flees alone on foot. Hanna pursues McCauley onto the tarmac at LAX and shoots him after a cat-and-mouse pursuit, mortally wounding McCauley. Hanna takes his hand as McCauley succumbs to his injuries, while Hanna watches, weary and resigned. ===== C.C. "Bud" Baxter is a lonely office drudge at a national insurance corporation in a high-rise building in New York City. In order to climb the corporate ladder, Bud allows four company managers to take turns borrowing his Upper West Side apartment for their various extramarital liaisons, which are so noisy that his neighbors assume that Bud is a playboy bringing home a different woman every night. The four managers write glowing reports about Bud, who hopes for a promotion from the personnel director, Jeff D. Sheldrake. Sheldrake does promote Bud, but he knows why they were so enthusiastic and demands exclusive privileges to borrow the apartment himself, starting that same night. As compensation for such short notice, he gives Baxter two tickets to The Music Man. After work, Bud catches Fran Kubelik, an elevator operator he has had his eye on, and asks her to go to the musical with him. She accepts, but first has to meet a former fling. He is Sheldrake, who convinces her that he is about to divorce his wife for her. They go to Bud's apartment as Bud waits forlornly outside the theater. Later, at the company's raucous Christmas party, Sheldrake's secretary Miss Olsen drunkenly tells Fran that Fran is one of many female employees Sheldrake has seduced into affairs with the false promise of divorcing his wife, including Miss Olsen herself. At Bud's apartment, Fran confronts Sheldrake, upset with herself for believing his lies. Sheldrake maintains that he genuinely loves her, but then leaves to return to his suburban family as usual. Meanwhile, Bud accidentally learns about Sheldrake and Fran when he notices Fran's broken hand mirror, the same one which he returned to Sheldrake. Heartbroken, he lets himself be picked up by a married woman at a local bar. When they arrive at his apartment, he is shocked to find Fran in his bed, fully clothed and unconscious from an intentional overdose of his sleeping pills. He sends his pick-up away and enlists the help of his neighbor, Dr. Dreyfuss, to revive Fran without notifying the authorities. To protect both his and her jobs, Bud takes advantage of his playboy reputation, letting Dreyfuss believe Fran had accidentally swallowed too many pills after a lovers' quarrel with him. Scolding Bud for his apparent philandering, Dreyfuss advises him to "be a mensch, a human being." Fran spends two days recuperating in the apartment, while Bud does his best to entertain and distract her from any suicidal thoughts, and a bond develops between them. He tells her he once attempted suicide himself over unrequited feelings for a girl who now sends him a fruitcake every Christmas. They begin playing a game of gin rummy as Fran reveals that she has always suffered bad luck in her love life. Bud dissuades her from phoning her family until her head is clear, before preparing a romantic dinner for her. During this period one of the executives arrives with a woman; Bud sends them away, but the man sees Fran. Then Fran's brother-in- law Karl Matuschka comes to the office looking for her. Resenting Bud for denying them access to his apartment, the executives direct Karl there. When Bud again takes responsibility for Fran's actions, Karl punches him. Fran kisses Bud on the forehead for not revealing her affair with Sheldrake and, sensing that she now cares for him, Bud smiles and says it "didn't hurt a bit." Sheldrake rewards Bud with a further promotion, and fires Miss Olsen for what she told Fran. Miss Olsen retaliates by revealing the years of affairs to Sheldrake's wife, who promptly throws her husband out. Sheldrake moves into a room at his athletic club, but now figures he can string Fran along while he enjoys his newfound bachelorhood. However, when Sheldrake asks Bud for the apartment key, Bud instead gives back the key to the executive washroom, announces he has decided to become a mensch, and quits the firm, no longer willing to participate in the corrupt executives' exploitation of women, especially Fran. That night at a New Year's Eve party, Sheldrake indignantly tells Fran what happened. Realizing she is in love with Bud, Fran abandons Sheldrake and runs to Bud's apartment. At the door, she hears a loud noise like a gunshot. Fearing that Bud has attempted suicide again, Fran screams his name and pounds on the door until Bud opens it, holding an overflowing bottle of champagne which was the source of the noise. Bud has been packing, planning to find a new job and a new home, and is surprised and delighted to see her. Fran insists on resuming their gin rummy game, telling Bud she is now free as well. He asks, "What about Mr. Sheldrake?" and she responds, "We'll send him a fruitcake every Christmas." He declares his love for her, and she replies lovingly, "Shut up and deal," which he does as they smile adoringly at each other. ===== Villa San Girolamo in Fiesole (Florence) The novel's historical backdrop is the North African/Italian Campaigns of World War II. The story is told out of sequence, moving back and forth between the severely burned "English" patient's memories from before his accident and current events at the bomb-damaged Villa San Girolamo (in Fiesole), an Italian monastery, where he is being cared for by Hana, a troubled young Canadian Army nurse. The English patient's only possession is a well-worn and heavily annotated copy of Herodotus's The Histories that has survived the fiery parachute drop. Hearing the book constantly being read aloud to him brings about detailed recollections of his desert explorations, yet he is unable to recall his own name. Instead, he chooses to believe the assumption by others that he is an Englishman based on the sound of his voice. The patient is in fact László de Almásy, a Hungarian Count and desert explorer, one of many members of a British cartography group. Caravaggio, an Italian-Canadian in the British foreign intelligence service since the late 1930s, befriended Hana's father before the latter died in the war. He learns that Hana is at the villa caring for a patient. He had remained in North Africa to spy when the German forces gain control and then transfers to Italy. He is eventually caught, interrogated, and tortured; they even cut off his thumbs. Caravaggio bears physical and psychological scars from his painful war experience for which he seeks vengeance. Two British soldiers yell at Hana to stop her from playing a piano since the Germans often booby-trapped them. One of the soldiers, Kip, an Indian Sikh, a trained sapper, specializes in bomb and ordnance disposal. Kip decides to stay at the villa to attempt to clear it of unexploded ordnance. Kip and the English patient immediately become friends. The English patient, sedated by morphine, begins to reveal everything: he fell in love with the Englishwoman Katharine Clifton who, with her husband Geoffrey, accompanied Almásy's desert exploration team. Almásy was mesmerized by Katharine's voice as she read Herodotus' Histories out loud by the campfire. They soon began a very intense affair, but she cut it short, claiming that Geoffrey would go mad if he were to discover them. Geoffrey offers to return Almásy to Cairo on his plane since the expedition will break camp with the coming of war. Almásy is unaware that Katharine is aboard the plane as it flies low over him and then crashes. Geoffrey is killed outright. Katharine is injured internally and Almásy leaves her in the Cave of Swimmers. Caravaggio tells Almásy that British Intelligence knew about the affair. Almásy makes a three-day trek to British-controlled El Taj for help. When he arrives, he is detained as a spy because of his name, despite telling them about Katharine's predicament. He later guides German spies across the desert to Cairo. Almásy retrieves Katharine's dead body from the Cave and, while flying back, the decrepit plane leaks oil onto him and both of them catch fire. He parachutes from the plane and is found severely burned by the Bedouin. The novel ends with Kip learning that the U.S. has bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He departs from Villa San Girolamo, estranged from his white companions. Returns to India, marries and has two children though he still thinks of Hana. ===== Cover of the November 1896 edition of McClure's, which began the serialisation of the novel. The ship We're Here Protagonist Harvey Cheyne, Jr., is the son of a wealthy railroad magnate and his wife, in San Diego, California. Washed overboard from a transatlantic steamship and rescued by the crew of the fishing schooner We're Here off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, Harvey can neither persuade them to take him quickly to port, nor convince them of his wealth. Harvey accuses the captain, Disko Troop, of taking his money (which is later revealed to be on the deck from which Harvey fell). Troop bloodies his nose but takes him in as a boy on the crew until they return to port. Harvey comes to accept his situation. Through a series of trials and adventures, Harvey, with the help of the captain's son Dan Troop, becomes acclimated to the fishing lifestyle, and even skillful. Great stories of the cod fishery with references to New England whaling and 19th-century steam and sailing are intertwined with the We're Here's adventures during a season at sea. Eventually, the We're Here returns to port and Harvey wires his parents, who immediately hasten to Boston, Massachusetts, and thence to the fishing town of Gloucester to recover him. There, Harvey's mother rewards the seaman Manuel, who initially rescued her son; Harvey's father hires Dan to work on his prestigious tea clipper fleet; and Harvey goes to Stanford to prepare for taking over his father's shipping lines. ===== {| class="infobox" |- ! Actor ! class="unsortable" | ! Role |- | | | |- | | | |- | | | |- | | | |- | | | |- | | | |- | | | |- | | | |} Lester Burnham is a middle-aged magazine executive who despises his job and is unhappily married to Carolyn, a neurotic and ambitious real estate broker. Their 16-year-old daughter, Jane, abhors her parents and has low self-esteem. The Burnhams' new neighbors are retired US Marine colonel Frank Fitts, his near-catatonic wife, Barbara, and their teenage son, Ricky, who obsessively films his surroundings with a camcorder, collecting hundreds of recordings on video tapes in his bedroom, while using his part-time job as a waiter to serve as a front for dealing cannabis. Frank is a strict disciplinarian who has previously forced Ricky into a military academy and a psychiatric hospital. Jim Olmeyer and Jim Berkley, a gay couple who live nearby, welcome the family to the neighborhood; Frank later reveals his homophobia when angrily discussing the encounter with Ricky. Lester becomes infatuated with Jane's vain cheerleader friend, Angela Hayes, after seeing her perform a half-time dance routine at a high school basketball game. He starts having sexual fantasies about Angela, in which red rose petals are a recurring motif. Meanwhile, Carolyn begins an affair with a married business rival, Buddy Kane. When his boss informs Lester that he is to be laid off, Lester blackmails him and quits his job, taking employment at a local fast food restaurant. He buys his dream car and starts working out after he overhears Angela tell Jane that she would find him sexually attractive if he improved his physique. He begins smoking cannabis supplied by Ricky, and flirts with Angela whenever she visits Jane. The girls' friendship wanes after Jane starts a relationship with Ricky. They bond over what Ricky considers the most beautiful imagery he has ever filmed: a plastic bag blowing in the wind. Lester discovers Carolyn's infidelity, but reacts indifferently. Buddy ends the affair, fearing an expensive divorce. Frank becomes suspicious of Lester and Ricky's friendship and later finds his son's footage of a nude Lester lifting weights, which Ricky captured by chance. After watching Ricky and Lester through Lester's garage window, Frank mistakenly concludes they are sexually involved. He later confronts and beats Ricky for their supposed affair, accusing him of being gay. Ricky falsely admits the charge and goads his father into expelling him from their home. Distraught, Carolyn is shown sitting in her car, where she takes a handgun from the glove box. Ricky goes to Jane, finding her arguing with Angela about her flirtation with Lester. Ricky persuades Jane to flee with him to New York City and tells Angela she is ugly, boring and ordinary. Frank seemingly goes to confront Lester, under a heavy rain, but then breaks down crying, hugs him and attempts to kiss him; Lester gently rebuffs the colonel, who flees. Lester finds a distraught Angela sitting alone in the dark. She asks him to tell her she is beautiful; he does, and they kiss. As they are about to have sex, Angela admits she is a virgin and Lester decides not to go through with the act. Instead, they talk and bond over their shared frustrations. Angela goes to the bathroom and Lester smiles at a family photograph in his kitchen. An unseen figure points a gun at the back of Lester's head; a gunshot sounds and blood sprays onto the wall in front of him. Ricky and Jane find Lester's body, while Carolyn is seen in the closet, discarding her unused gun, hugging Lester's shirts and crying. A bloodied Frank returns home where a gun is missing from his collection. Lester's closing narration describes meaningful experiences during his life; he says that, despite his death, he is happy because there is so much beauty in the world. ===== Set in the mid through late 19th century, the film depicts Zola's early friendship with Post- Impressionist painter Paul Cézanne, and his rise to fame through his prolific writing. It explores his involvement late in the Dreyfus affair. In 1862 Paris, struggling writer Émile Zola (Paul Muni) shares a drafty Paris attic with his friend, painter Paul Cézanne (Vladimir Sokoloff). His fiancé Alexandrine procures him a desk clerk job at a bookshop, however he is soon fired after he arouses the ire of his employer and an agent of police with his provocative novel, The Confessions of Claude. He then witnesses many injustices in French society, such as a crowded river slum, unlawful mining conditions and corruption in the French army and government. Finally, a chance encounter with a street prostitute (Erin O'Brien-Moore) hiding from a police raid inspires his first bestseller, Nana, an exposé of the steamy underside of Parisian life. In spite of the pleading of the chief censor, Zola writes other successful books, such as The Downfall, a scathing denunciation of the French High Command whose blunders and disunity led to a disastrous defeat in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. He becomes rich and famous, marries Alexandrine (Gloria Holden), and settles down to a comfortable life in his mansion. One day, his old friend Cézanne, still poor and unknown, visits him before leaving the city. He accuses Zola of having become complacent because of his success, a far cry from the zealous reformer of his youth and terminates their friendship. Meanwhile, a French secret agent steals a letter addressed to the military attaché in the German embassy. The letter confirms there is a spy within the French General Staff. With little thought, the army commanders decide that Jewish Captain Alfred Dreyfus (Joseph Schildkraut) is the traitor. He is court-martialed, publicly degraded and imprisoned on Devil's Island in French Guiana. Later, Colonel Picquart (Henry O'Neill), the new chief of intelligence, discovers evidence implicating Major Walsin-Esterhazy (Robert Barrat), an infantry officer of Hungarian descent, as the spy. But Picquart is ordered by his superiors to remain silent to avert official embarrassment and he is quickly reassigned to a remote post. Four years have passed since Dreyfus's degradation. Finally, Dreyfus's loyal wife Lucie (Gale Sondergaard) pleads with Zola to take up her husband's cause. Zola is reluctant to give up a comfortable life, but she brings forth new evidence to pique his curiosity. He publishes an open letter, known as "J'accuse", in the newspaper L'Aurore accusing the High Command of covering up the monstrous injustice, which causes a firestorm up and down Paris. Zola barely escapes from an angry mob incited by military agents provocateurs as riots erupt in the city streets. As expected, Zola is charged with libel. His attorney, Maitre Labori (Donald Crisp) does his best against the presiding judge's refusal to allow him to introduce evidence about the Dreyfus affair and the perjury and biased testimony committed by all the military witnesses, except for Picquart. Zola is found guilty and sentenced to a year in prison and a 3000 Franc fine. He reluctantly accepts his friends' advice to avoid risk of becoming a martyr and instead flee to London, England, to continue the campaign on behalf of Dreyfus. With the demand for justice reaching a worldwide level, a new French Army administration finally proclaims that Dreyfus is innocent; those responsible for the cover-up are dismissed or commit suicide. Walsin-Esterhazy flees the country in disgrace. Zola dies of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning due to a faulty stove the night before the public ceremony in which Dreyfus is exonerated and inducted into the Legion of Honor. His body is buried in the Pantheon in Paris, to a hero and warrior's farewell. ===== The film opens with two men in boxing gloves and trunks sparring vigorously. One knocks the other squarely down, concluding their session. Changing out of their exercise gear, the latter dons a natty suit, the former a priest's collar. The first man is "Blackie" Norton (Clark Gable), a saloonkeeper and gambler. He owns the Paradise Club on Pacific Street in the notorious Barbary Coast. The other is Blackie's childhood friend, Father Tim Mullen (Spencer Tracy), a Roman Catholic priest. Blackie hires Mary Blake (Jeanette MacDonald), a promising, but impoverished, classically trained singer from Benson, Colorado. She becomes a star attraction at the Paradise, especially for singing "San Francisco" (a song composed for the movie, which became one of the city's official anthems). The club piano player, "The Professor" (Al Shean), can tell Mary has a professionally trained voice. Mat (Ted Healy), Blackie's good friend at the Paradise, wisely predicts that Mary is not going to stay on the "Coast". Father Tim makes several attempts to reform Blackie, while the other nightclub owners urge him to run for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in order to protect their crooked interests. Encouraged by Father Tim, who believes Blackie can use the supervisor position to implement reform, Blackie decides to run for office. Despite Father Tim's best efforts, Blackie remains a jaunty Barbary Coast atheist, although Blackie secretly paid for the new organ in Father Tim's church. Blackie's feelings for Mary intensify, but complications arise when she is offered an opportunity to sing in the opera. Although she initially refuses to break her contract with Blackie, she later leaves the Paradise Club due to the overtly sexual manifestation of Blackie's feelings for her. Mary is hired by the Tivoli Opera House on Market Street. There she becomes involved with Nob Hill scion Jack Burley (Jack Holt). Blackie wants to stop Mary singing at the Tivoli: he arrives the night of her premiere with a process server in tow to shut down the show. However, when he hears her sing he decides not to stop the opera. After her performance, Blackie visits Mary in her dressing room. Realizing she still loves him, Mary forwardly asks him to marry her. Blackie agrees, but their reunion is soon interrupted by Burley, who had proclaimed his love for Mary and proposed to her prior to the show. Blackie, seeing Burley as competition for Mary's affections, is happy to tell him of their intent to marry. However, as Blackie gloatingly tells Burley of their plans, it becomes clear that Blackie intends to take Mary away from the Tivoli and put her back on stage at the Paradise. Burley appeals to Mary, but Blackie presents Mary with an ultimatum by asking if she wants to marry him or stay at the Tivoli. Mary's choice is to return to the Paradise. Backstage, before the opening night of her return performance, she asks Blackie if they can set the date for their wedding. Blackie agrees, but wants to postpone getting married until after the election. Father Tim drops in, and is angered by Mary's skimpy stage costume. He defies Blackie to put her on the stage in front of the rowdy Paradise audience. Mary observes Blackie's reaction to Father Tim's statements, and decides to leave with the priest after Blackie strikes him in the face. Mary goes back to Burley and eventually meets his mother (Jessie Ralph) at her Nob Hill mansion. In a private conversation, she confesses her unworthiness, but Mrs. Burley informs Mary that she started out in 1850 as Massie, a simple washerwoman in Portsmouth Square. Mrs. Burley also empathizes that she also once had a "Blackie" in her younger days, but chose to marry the more steadfast elder Burley. This cements Mary's decision to accept Burley's proposal of marriage. It is now the evening of April 17, 1906. Burley has called in some favors and had the San Francisco Police Department raid the Paradise, destroying its gambling equipment and running off the patrons. Blackie, distraught about the future of his club, ends up at the city's annual Chickens Ball. Mary and Burley are in attendance. After performances by acts from the other Barbary Coast clubs, the MC requests the Paradise's entry. When no one steps on stage, Mary, just having learned of the club's closing, enters the Chickens Ball competition for the Paradise. She rouses the audience to join in a chorus of "San Francisco", and wins. However, Blackie angrily refuses the prize money, tossing the prize cup and gold coins to the stage floor. He angrily states that Mary had no right to sing on behalf of his club. Embarrassed, Mary is about to leave the ball with Burley. Then, at 5:13 a.m. April 18, 1906, the earthquake hits the city. The city is devastated and hundreds are killed. As Blackie wanders the city searching for Mary, he walks to Nob Hill, where he sees Mrs. Burley, who senses her son has died. (Blackie did indeed witness the dead Burley when wandering the devastated streets.) She leaves the area as US Army troops from the Presidio blow up her mansion in preparation making a firebreak. Blackie then comes upon Mat, who was injured at the destroyed Hall of Justice on Washington Street. A nurse indicates to Blackie that Mat is dying. Before he dies, Mat tells Blackie he was wrong about his feelings toward Mary. Blackie later meets Father Tim, who takes him to Golden Gate Park, where there is a tent camp for the homeless. There, Blackie hears Mary's voice lifted in song "Nearer, My God, to Thee" with those in mourning. After seeing Mary, Blackie falls to his knees and thanks God for sparing Mary's life. From a distance, Mary sees Blackie praying, and as she walks toward him, word spreads through the camp that "The fire's out!" As people shout about building a new San Francisco, Blackie and Mary join the crowd (a surprisingly multi-racial group, given the era of the film) as they leave the park marching arm-in-arm, singing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". The film ends with a dissolve from the smoldering ruins into the "modern" San Francisco of the mid-1930s. (Each year when the film is shown near April 18 by Bay Area television stations, the scenes of the 1930s city are replaced with stock news footage of the city in the current year.) ===== The story traces Peter's journey from self-sufficient fisherman to his dependency on a risen Christ. It also presents another story of redemption and forgiveness, as he takes in a young Arab/Jewish girl, Fara. As they both learn of Jesus, it changes their lives. The young Fara discovers that she is the daughter of Herod Antipas who married and shortly discarded her Arab mother in favor of Herodias. Disguised as a boy, Fara goes to Galilee to assassinate Herod in revenge. Robbed by bandits, Fara is discovered by John the Baptist who advises her to listen to the great teacher, Jesus. She comes under the protection of Peter but vows to kill Herod. She manages to be employed in Herod's household to translate a series of prophecies. Fara and Peter hear Jesus teaching. Fara turns away when he urges nonviolence. Peter is initially cynical, but in stages is drawn to become his disciple. Fara gains an opportunity to kill Herod, and reveals her identity to him. As Peter watches, Herod urges her not to sink to murder. Fara recalls the words of Christ, and lowers her knife. Peter declares her free of her own chains. Peter takes Fara to Arabia where they rescue Voldi, an Arab prince who wishes to marry her. However, Fara realises that her mixed race would jeopardize his future rule, so she leaves with Peter to spread the word of peace. ===== Amélie works at the Café des 2 Moulins in Montmartre. Amélie Poulain is born in June 1974 and brought up by eccentric parents who – incorrectly believing that she has a heart defect – decide to home-school her. To cope with her loneliness, Amélie develops an active imagination and a mischievous personality. When Amélie is six, her mother, Amandine, is killed when a suicidal Canadian tourist jumps from the roof of Notre-Dame de Paris and lands on her. As a result, her father Raphaël withdraws more and more from society. Amélie leaves home at the age of 18 and becomes a waitress at the Café des 2 Moulins in Montmartre, which is staffed and frequented by a collection of eccentrics. She is single and lets her imagination roam freely, finding contentment in simple pleasures like dipping her hand into grain sacks and cracking crème brûlée with a spoon. On 31 August 1997, startled by the news of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, Amélie drops a plastic perfume-stopper, which dislodges a wall tile and accidentally reveals an old metal box of childhood memorabilia hidden by a boy who lived in her apartment decades earlier. Amélie resolves to track down the boy and return the box to him. She promises herself that if it makes him happy, she will devote her life to bringing happiness to others. After asking the apartment's concierge and several old tenants about the boy's identity, Amélie meets her reclusive neighbour, Raymond Dufayel, an artist with brittle bone disease who repaints Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party every year. He recalls the boy's name as "Bretodeau". Amélie quickly finds the man, Dominique Bretodeau, and surreptitiously gives him the box. Moved to tears by the discovery and the memories it holds, Bretodeau resolves to reconcile with his estranged daughter and the grandson he has never met. Amélie happily embarks on her new mission. Amélie secretly executes complex schemes that affect the lives of those around her. She escorts a blind man to the Métro station, giving him a rich description of the street scenes he passes. She persuades her father to follow his dream of touring the world by stealing his garden gnome and having a flight attendant friend airmail pictures of it posing with landmarks from all over the world. She starts a romance between her hypochondriacal co-worker Georgette and Joseph, one of the customers in the bar. She convinces Madeleine Wallace, the concierge of her block of flats, that the husband who abandoned her had sent her a final conciliatory love letter just before his accidental death years before. She gaslights Collignon, the nasty greengrocer. Mentally exhausted, Collignon no longer abuses his meek but good-natured assistant Lucien. A delighted Lucien takes charge at the grocery stand. Mr. Dufayel, having observed Amélie, begins a conversation with her about his painting. Although he has copied the same painting 20 times, he has never quite captured the look of the girl drinking a glass of water. They discuss the meaning of this character, and over several conversations, Amélie begins projecting her loneliness onto the image. Dufayel recognizes this and uses the girl in the painting to push Amélie to examine her attraction to a quirky young man, Nino Quincampoix, who collects the discarded photographs of strangers from passport photo booths. When Amélie bumps into Nino a second time, she realizes she is falling in love with him. He accidentally drops a photo album in the street. Amélie retrieves it. Amélie plays a cat-and-mouse game with Nino around Paris before returning his treasured album anonymously. After arranging a meeting at the 2 Moulins, Amélie panics and tries to deny her identity. Her co-worker, Gina, concerned for Amélie's well-being, screens Nino for her; Joseph's comment about this misleads Amélie to believe she has lost Nino to Gina. It takes Dufayel's insight to give her the courage to pursue Nino, resulting in a romantic night together and the beginning of a relationship. Amélie finally finds happiness for herself. ===== 17-year-old and seven- months-pregnant Novalee Nation (Natalie Portman) and her boyfriend Willy Jack Pickens (Dylan Bruno) are moving from Tennessee to California. Willy Jack abandons Novalee at the local Walmart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma when she uses the restroom and buys new shoes. There, she meets Thelma "Sister" Husband (Stockard Channing) who presents her with a buckeye tree, and Moses Whitecotton (Keith David), a local photographer who advises her to give her baby a strong name. A sickly and homeless Novalee is forced to live in the Walmart, undetected. Novalee also becomes acquainted with surly librarian Forney Hull (James Frain) who cares for his alcoholic sister Mary Elizabeth (Margaret Hoard). During a thunderstorm, Novalee, alone at Walmart, goes into labor. Forney, who has followed Novalee to the Walmart, smashes through the Walmart window to help deliver her child, whom she names Americus. Novalee instantly becomes a media darling, and while in hospital, is befriended by Nurse Lexie Coop (Ashley Judd). Her estranged mother, Mama Lil (Sally Field), visits after seeing her daughter on television, but disappears with the money donated by well-wishers. Sister Husband arrives and offers to take in Novalee and Americus. While Christmas tree shopping with Forney, Novalee is reminded that it is Americus' five-month birthday. Realizing this, Novalee races to Sister's house to find that Americus has been kidnapped. A couple (Mark Vogues and Angie Hughes) from Mississippi, who had previously written an ugly letter to Novalee saying that Americus was an abomination because she was born out of wedlock, kidnapped Americus and left her at the church in the nativity scene. Three years pass and Novalee, with Moses' help, learns to be a photographer. After a spell in prison and traveling to Nashville, Willy Jack becomes a one- hit-wonder after a slow start with "Beat of a Heart," a song he wrote in jail. He teams with cranky music agent Ruth Meyers (Joan Cusack), who gives him a makeover and the stage name "Billy Shadow." When a tornado blows through Sequoyah, Sister Husband is killed. In her memory, Novalee shoots a picture of Americus and the still-standing buckeye tree amidst the damage from the storm. After the funeral, Novalee finds out that she is the beneficiary of Sister's estate, totaling around $41,000. Novalee builds a new home for herself and Americus on Sister's land. Novalee arrives in Las Vegas to accept an award for a photo contest she has won, narrowly missing Willy Jack, who happens to be in the same hotel. Ruth later breaks into his hotel room to inform Willy Jack that his old cellmate Tommy Reynolds is suing him, claiming that he, not Willy, wrote "Beat of a Heart". Ruth drops him as a client. Upon her return to Sequoyah, Novalee discovers Lexie has been attacked by a new love interest who molested her two eldest children, nearly beating her to death as she attempted to protect them. Lexie's injuries hinder her nursing job, and she and her children have to move in with Novalee and Americus. Lexie breaks down, feeling guilty and angry, tearfully regretting her choice in men. Forney's sister, Mary Elizabeth, later passes away. When Forney does not appear at the funeral, Novalee finds him in a hotel and comforts him. They act on the feelings they have denied for so long and spend the night together. Forney confesses his love for her, but Novalee confides in Lexie she has never considered herself good enough for Forney and is confused about her feelings for him. Her continued feelings of unworthiness become overwhelming when he says that he intends to stay with her rather than resume his studies at Bowdoin College in Maine. Believing his life would be a dead end with her in Sequoyah, Novalee struggles to lie to Forney saying she does not love him. Heartbroken and rejected by Novalee, Forney returns to college in Maine. Novalee learns that Lexie is seeing Ernie (Bob Coonrod), an exterminator who does not possess the physical attributes that have in the past attracted her interest, but she falls in love with him after learning he gave his ex-wife his restored 1967 Chevy Camaro in exchange for custody of his stepdaughter, whom he adopted as his own. The couple marry, and Lexie tells Novalee that she's pregnant. Severely depressed at his ruined career following the lawsuit, Willy Jack becomes a depressed alcoholic while driving with a woman across country. He wanders off drunk and collapses on a railroad track where he is unable to move as a train approaches. On Americus's 5th birthday, Novalee picks up a newspaper and sees an article about Willy Jack having lost his legs some months before and recently being robbed of his wheelchair. Novalee visits Willy Jack in the hospital and he confesses his whole life would've been different if he hadn't left her. She sees how Willy Jack is a changed man and is able to finally forgive and let go of him, but she warns him never to contact Americus. After dropping Willy Jack off in Tennessee upon his release, Novalee realizes now her lies are similar mistakes with Forney. She drives Willy Jack home to Tennessee and continues to Maine to find Forney at Bowdoin. Novalee tells him she really does love him and they return to Oklahoma and marry. The final scene is of their wedding, which takes place in a Walmart. ===== The son of a highly respected music professor, Florenz "Flo" Ziegfeld Jr. yearns to make his mark in show business. He begins by promoting Eugen Sandow, the "world's strongest man", at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, overcoming the competition of rival Billings and his popular attraction, belly dancer Little Egypt, with savvy marketing (allowing women to feel Sandow's muscles). Ziegfeld returns to his father and young Mary Lou at the Chicago Musical College, and departs to San Francisco, where he and Sandow are deemed frauds for putting on a show in which Sandow faces a lion who falls asleep as soon as it is let out of the cage. Flo travels to England on an ocean liner, where he runs into Billings again who is laughing at a newspaper article denouncing him as a fraud. Flo discovers that Billings is on his way to sign a contract with beautiful French star Anna Held. Despite losing all his money gambling at Monte Carlo, Flo charms Anna into signing with him instead, pretending that he doesn't know Billings. Anna twice almost sends him away for his rudeness and for being broke, before revealing that she appreciates his honesty. Ziegfeld promises to give her "more publicity than she ever dreams of" and to feature her alongside America's most prominent theatrical performers. At first, Anna's performance at the Herald Square Theatre is not a success. However, Flo manages to generate publicity by sending 20 gallons of milk to Anna every day for a fictitious milk bath beauty treatment, then refusing to pay the bill. The newspaper stories soon bring the curious to pack his theater, and Ziegfeld introduces eight new performers to back her. Audience members comment on how the milk must make her skin beautiful and the show is a major success. Flo sends Anna flowers and jewelry and a note saying "you were magnificent my wife", and she agrees to marry him, flaunting her new diamonds to her fellow performers. However, one success is not enough for the showman. He has an idea for an entirely new kind of show featuring a bevy of blondes and brunettes, one that will "glorify" the American girl. The new show, the Ziegfeld Follies, an opulent production filled with beautiful women and highly extravagant costumes and sets, is a smash hit, and is followed by more versions of the Follies. Ziegfeld tries to make a star out of Audrey Dane, who is plagued with alcoholism, and he lures Fanny Brice from vaudeville, showering both with lavish gifts. He gives stagehand Ray Bolger his break as well. Mary Lou, now a young woman, visits Ziegfeld, who doesn't recognize her initially, and hires her as a dancer. The new production upsets Anna, who realizes that Flo's world does not revolve around just her, and she becomes envious of the attention he pays to Audrey. She divorces him after walking in on Flo and a drunk Audrey at the wrong moment. Audrey walks out on Flo and the show after an angry confrontation. Broke, Flo borrows money from Billings for a third time for the new show. Flo meets the red-headed Broadway star Billie Burke and soon marries her. When she hears the news, a heartbroken Anna telephones Flo and pretends to be glad for him. Flo and Billie eventually have a daughter named Patricia. Flo's new shows are a success, but after a while, the public's taste changes, and people begin to wonder if the times have not passed him by. After a string of negative reviews in the press, Flo overhears three men in a barber's shop saying that he'll "never produce another hit". Stung, he vows to have four hits on Broadway at the same time. He achieves his goal, with the hits Show Boat (1927), Rio Rita (1927), Whoopee! (1928), and The Three Musketeers, and invests over $1 million (US$ in dollars) of his earnings in the stock market. However, the stock market crash of 1929 bankrupts him, forcing Billie to return to the stage. Shaken by the reversal of his financial fortunes and the growing popularity of movies over live stage shows, he becomes seriously ill. Billings pays him a friendly visit, and the two men agree to become partners in a new, even grander production of The Ziegfeld Follies. But the reality is that both men are broke and Ziegfeld realizes this. In the final scene in his apartment overlooking the Ziegfeld Theatre, in a half-delirium, he recalls scenes from several of his hits, exclaiming, "I've got to have more steps, higher, higher", before dying in his chair. ===== In the novel, renegade biotechnologist Vergil Ulam creates simple biological computers based on his own lymphocytes. Faced with orders from his nervous employer to destroy his work, he injects them into his own body, intending to smuggle the "noocytes" (as he calls them) out of the company and work on them elsewhere. Inside Ulam's body, the noocytes multiply and evolve rapidly, altering their own genetic material and quickly becoming self-aware. The nanoscale civilization they construct soon begins to transform Ulam, then others. The people who are infected start to find that genetic faults such as myopia and high blood pressure get fixed. Ulam's eyesight, posture, strength, and intelligence are all improved. The infected can even have conversations with their noocytes, some reporting that the cells seem to sing. Through infection, conversion, and assimilation of humans and other organisms, the cells eventually aggregate most of the biosphere of North America into a region seven thousand kilometers wide. This civilization, which incorporates both the evolved noocytes and recently assimilated conventional humans, is eventually forced to abandon the normal plane of existence in favor of one in which thought does not require a physical substrate. The reason for the noocytes' inability to remain in this reality is somewhat related to the strong anthropic principle. The book's structure is titled "inter-phase", "prophase", "metaphase", "anaphase", "telophase", and "interphase". This mirrors the major phases of cell cycle: interphase and mitosis. ===== Brontë Parrish (Andie MacDowell), a horticulturalist and an environmentalist, enters into a Green Card marriage with Georges Fauré (Depardieu), an undocumented immigrant from France, so he may stay in the United States. In turn, Brontë uses her fake marriage credentials to rent the apartment of her dreams. After moving in, to explain her spouse's absence, she tells the doorman and neighbors he is conducting musical research in Africa. Contacted by the Immigration and Naturalization Service for an interview to determine if her marriage is legitimate, Brontë tracks down Georges, who is working as a waiter. Although the two have little time to get their facts straight, the agents who question them appear to be satisfied with their answers. But when one of the agents asks to use the bathroom and Georges directs him to a closet, their suspicions are aroused, and they schedule a full, formal interview to be conducted two days later at their office. Advised by her attorney she could face criminal charges if their deception is uncovered, Brontë reluctantly invites Georges to move in with her. They try to learn about each other's past and their quirks and habits but quickly find they can barely tolerate each other. Georges is a fiery-tempered selfish slob and smoker who prefers red meat to vegetarian food, while Brontë is shown as uptight and cold, obsessed with her plants and wrapped up in environmental issues. Brontë's best friend Lauren Adler's parents plan to leave New York City and may donate their trees and plants to the Green Guerrillas, a group overseeing the development of inner city gardens. Brontë is invited to a dinner party to discuss the issue and discovers Georges is there, having been asked by Lauren. He so impresses the Adlers with an impressionistic piano piece set to a poem about children and trees that they agree to donate their plants to the Green Guerrillas. When Brontë's parents later arrive at the apartment for an unannounced visit, Georges pretends to be the handyman. When Brontë's boyfriend Phil returns from a trip, Georges reveals he is her husband. Brontë angrily kicks Georges out, but the pair nonetheless appear at the immigration interview the next day. The two are questioned separately, and when Georges is caught out by the interviewer, he confesses the marriage is a sham. He agrees to deportation but insists Brontë not be charged for her role in the charade. He lets Brontë believe the interview was a success and the two go their separate ways. A few days later, Georges invites Brontë to join him at the cafe where they first met. When she notices one of the immigration agents is waiting outside, she realizes Georges is being deported, and finally aware she loves him, tries to stop him from leaving as they finally realize they are in love with each other. Georges promises to write every day asking the same question "When are you coming, Cherie?", a line he had also used when describing their fabricated courtship to the INS. Just before he leaves with the immigration agents, Brontë asks if he still has their wedding rings; he pulls them out of his pocket and they quickly exchange rings again, laughing and kissing, then Georges departs with the immigration agent as Brontë watches from the sidewalk with a smile, knowing they'll meet again. ===== In 1995, Chuck Noland, a time-obsessed systems analyst, travels the world resolving productivity problems at FedEx depots. He is in a long-term relationship with Kelly Frears, with whom he lives in Memphis, Tennessee. Chuck's busy schedule often interferes with their relationship. During the family Christmas dinner, Chuck is summoned to resolve a work problem in Malaysia. Flying through a violent storm, his FedEx cargo plane crashes into the Pacific Ocean. Chuck escapes with an inflatable life raft, though the raft's emergency locator transmitter is ripped off. The next day, Chuck in the damaged raft, washes up on an uncharted and uninhabited island. Several FedEx packages from the crashed plane also wash up on shore, as well as the corpse of a flight crewman, which Chuck buries. He tries signaling a passing ship and makes an unsuccessful attempt to launch the damaged life raft, but the incoming surf is too strong, tossing Chuck onto a coral reef and injuring his leg. He is able to find sufficient food, water, and shelter. He opens the FedEx packages, finding a number of potentially useful items. He leaves one package, with a pair of wings painted on it, unopened. While attempting to build a fire, Chuck cuts his hand. In anger he throws several objects from the packages, including a Wilson Sporting Goods volleyball, leaving a bloody hand print on it. He then draws a face into the smeared blood, and names the ball Wilson, which he regularly talks to. Over four years, Chuck survives and has since taken shelter inside a cave. Wilson is his only companion. After a large section from a portable toilet enclosure washes up on the island, Chuck decides to build a raft, using a section of the plastic wall from the enclosure as a sail. He successfully launches the raft that he has stocked with food, water, and the one unopened FedEx package. After some time on the ocean, a storm damages his raft. The following day, Wilson falls off the raft and is lost, devastating Chuck. Soon after, a passing cargo ship rescues the barely-alive Chuck. Upon returning to civilization, Chuck learns that he was given up for dead and his family and friends held a funeral; Kelly has since married and has a child. Chuck and Kelly reunite and profess their love for each other but knowing Kelly cannot abandon her family, they part. Kelly gives Chuck the keys to the car they once shared. Chuck drives to Texas to return the unopened FedEx package to the person who had sent it. Finding no one at home, he leaves the package at the door with a note saying that the package saved his life. He departs and stops at a remote crossroads. A young woman in a pickup truck stops and gives information about where each road leads. As she drives away, Chuck notices the wing graphic painted on her truck is similar to the one on the parcel. He looks down each road, then at the one the woman took, and smiles. ===== The novel tells the story through a fictional first-person narrator by the name of Roger Byam, based on a crew member Peter Heywood. Simon Winchester.The true story of the Mutiny on the Bounty.The Daily Telegraph.December 7, 2015. Byam, although not one of the mutineers, remains with the Bounty after the mutiny. He subsequently returns to Tahiti, and is eventually arrested and taken back to England to face a court-martial. He and several other members of the crew are eventually acquitted. ===== Spoiled heiress Ellen "Ellie" Andrews has eloped with pilot and fortune-hunter King Westley against the wishes of her extremely wealthy father, Alexander Andrews, who wants to have the marriage annulled because he knows that Westley is really interested only in Ellie's money. Jumping ship in Florida, Ellie runs away and boards a Greyhound bus to New York City to reunite with her husband. She meets fellow passenger Peter Warne, a newspaper reporter who recently lost his job. Soon, Peter recognizes her and gives her a choice. If she gives him an exclusive on her story, he will help her reunite with Westley. If not, he will tell her father where she is. Ellie agrees to the first option. As they go through several adventures together, Ellie loses her initial disdain for Peter and they begin to fall in love. When the bus breaks down and they begin hitchhiking, they fail to secure a ride until Ellie displays a shapely leg to Danker, the next driver. When they stop en route, Danker tries to steal their luggage, but Peter chases him down and seizes his Model T. Near the end of their journey, Ellie confesses her love to Peter. The owners of the motel in which they stay notice that Peter's car is gone and so expel Ellie. Believing Peter has deserted her, Ellie telephones her father, who agrees to let her marry Westley. Meanwhile, Peter has obtained money from his editor to marry Ellie but he misses her on the road. Although Ellie has no desire to be with Westley, she believes that Peter has betrayed her for the reward money and so agrees to have a second, formal wedding with Westley. On the wedding day, she finally reveals the whole story to her father. When Peter comes to Ellie's home, Andrews offers him the reward money, but Peter insists on being paid only his expenses, a paltry $39.60 for items that he had been forced to sell to buy gasoline. When Andrews presses Peter for an explanation of his odd behavior and demands to know if he loves her, Peter first tries to dodge the questions but then admits that he loves Ellie and storms out. Westley arrives for his wedding via an autogyro, but at the ceremony, Andrews reveals to his daughter about Peter's refusal of the reward money and tells her that her car is waiting by the back gate in case she changes her mind. At the last minute, just before she says "I do", she decides not to go through with the wedding. Ellie dumps Westley at the altar, bolts for her car, and drives away as the newsreel cameras crank. A few days later, Andrews is working at his desk when Westley calls to tell him that he will take the financial settlement and not contest the annulment. His executive assistant brings him a telegram from Peter: "What's holding up the annulment, you slowpoke? The walls of Jericho are toppling!" That is a reference to a makeshift wall to give them privacy made of a blanket over a wire that was tied across the rooms that they slept in between them. With the annulment in hand, Andrews sends the reply, "Let 'em topple." The last scene has Peter's battered Model T parked in a motor court in Glen Falls, Michigan. The mom-and-pop owners talk and wonder why, on such a warm night, the newlyweds (he had seen the marriage license) wanted a clothesline, an extra blanket, and the little tin trumpet that he had gotten for them. As they look at the cabin, the toy trumpet sounds a fanfare, the blanket falls to the floor, and the lights in the cabin go out. ===== In Arizona, a bandit known as The Cisco Kid robs a stagecoach. Word of this deed reaches to Sergeant Micky Dunn, who gets tasked by his superior to bring in The Cisco Kid dead or alive, with a $5,000 reward promised once he succeeds. They meet in a barber shop, though Dunn is unaware of The Cisco Kid's true identity and passes him off as a friendly civilian. When he leaves, the local blacksmith tells him that was The Cisco Kid, much to Dunn's chagrin. The Cisco Kid is in a relationship with Tonia Maria, and visits her often. He loves her, but she has frequent affairs without his knowledge. Dunn and Maria meet each other and begin an affair. Dunn tells Maria that once he takes down The Cisco Kid, he will give the $5,000 reward to Maria, making her fall in love with him. They express their love for each other while The Cisco Kid secretly watches and listens nearby, learning of her betrayal. She writes a secret letter to Dunn telling him to come that evening to take down The Cisco Kid before he makes his escape. However, The Cisco Kid finds this letter and replaces it with a fake letter "from Maria" which he wrote. His note says that he will be dressed up in Maria's clothes in an effort to disguise himself from Dunn, while Maria is actually in The Cisco Kid's clothes riding away. Dunn receives this fake letter, believing it to be from Maria. When The Cisco Kid leaves her house, Dunn shoots Maria, believing her to be The Cisco Kid in disguise. Now farther away, The Cisco Kid laments that "[Maria's] flirting days are over, and she can finally settle down". He then makes his escape. ===== Greta Garbo and John Barrymore in Grand Hotel Wallace Beery and Joan Crawford Doctor Otternschlag, a disfigured veteran of World War I and a permanent resident of the Grand Hotel in Berlin, observes, "People coming, going. Nothing ever happens" — after which a great deal transpires. Baron Felix von Gaigern, who squandered his fortune and supports himself as a card player and occasional jewel thief, befriends Otto Kringelein, a dying accountant who has decided to spend his remaining days in the lap of luxury. Kringelein's former employer, industrialist General Director Preysing, is at the hotel to close an important deal, and he hires stenographer Flaemmchen to assist him. She aspires to be an actress and shows Preysing some magazine photos for which she posed, implying she is willing to offer him more than typing if he advances her career. Another guest is Russian ballerina Grusinskaya, whose career is on the wane. When the Baron is in her room to steal her jewelry and she returns from the theatre, he hides in her room and overhears as she talks to herself about wanting to end it all. He comes out of hiding and engages her in conversation, and Grusinskaya finds herself attracted to him. He spends the night with her. The following morning, the Baron returns Grusinskaya's jewels, and she forgives his crime. She invites him to accompany her to Vienna, an offer he accepts. The Baron is desperate for money to pay his way out of the criminal group he has been working with. He and Kringelein get a card game going, and Kringelein wins everything, then becomes intoxicated. When he drops his wallet, the Baron stashes it in his pocket, intending to keep not only the winnings but the funds that will see Kringelein through the last weeks of his life. However, moved by the sight of Kringelein’s despair, the Baron – who desperately needs the money, but has become very fond of Kringelein – pretends to have discovered the wallet, and returns it to him. As part of a desperate merger plan, Preysing must travel to London, and he asks Flaemmchen to accompany him. Later, when the two are in her room—which opens onto his—Preysing sees the shadow of the Baron rifling through his belongings. He confronts the Baron; the two struggle, and Preysing bludgeons the Baron with the telephone, killing him. Flaemmchen sees what happened and tells Kringelein, who confronts Preysing. He insists he acted in self-defense, but Kringelein summons the police, and Preysing is arrested. Grusinskaya departs for the train station, expecting to find the Baron waiting for her there. Meanwhile, Kringelein offers to take care of Flaemmchen, who suggests they seek a cure for his illness. As they leave the hotel, Doctor Otternschlag again observes, "Grand Hotel. Always the same. People come. People go. Nothing ever happens." ===== ===== Humanity has lived for 40 million years on a planet called Harmony, after leaving an Earth that has been destroyed by human conflict. In order not to repeat the mistakes that led to the destruction of civilization on Earth, a computer, known as the Oversoul, was left as guardian of this planet. Its main mission was to prevent humans from developing technologies that could make wars a global affair. For that, humans were genetically modified so they could communicate with the Oversoul. The Oversoul uses this connection to make humans quite easily distracted when thinking about forbidden technologies, leading them to forget that train of thought. However, after this long time the Oversoul is beginning to fail, and it chooses a group of humans to return to Earth in search of the Keeper of Earth, in the hopes it will be able to find a way to maintain power over the people on Harmony. To this end the Oversoul recruits Volemak, father of the protagonist of the story, Nafai. Nafai and Issib, his brother, begin to try and defy the Oversoul's capability to override thought. Through this they learn of the danger that it is in. Nafai begins hearing the Oversoul's voice in his mind. The first book focuses on the family's eventual betrayal, the taking of the Index, and the downfall of the man Gaballufix, who had been planning to ally the city of Basilica, the home of the main characters and the setting of the first half of the book, with a malignant nation. Nafai, Elemak and Mebbekew, his older half brothers, Issib and his father Volemak are eventually forced to leave the city. They come back to retrieve the Index of the Oversoul, which allows them to communicate with it directly. Because of Nafai's careless blunders and miraculous successes, Elemak, Nafai's oldest brother, begins to hate him, a theme that will play out throughout the rest of the saga. ===== Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, also known as Prince Eddy, marries and fathers a child with Annie Crook, a shop girl in London's East End. Prince Eddy had visited the area under an assumed name and Annie is unaware of her husband's royal position. Queen Victoria becomes aware of the marriage and has Albert separated forcibly from his wife, whom she places in an asylum. Victoria then instructs her royal physician Sir William Gull to impair Annie's sanity, which he does by damaging or impairing her thyroid gland. The prince's daughter is taken to Annie's parents by the artist Walter Sickert, a friend of Eddy's who had accompanied him on his trips to the East End. Annie's father believes the child to be his through an incestuous relationship with his daughter. Sickert reluctantly leaves the child with Annie's parents. The potentially scandalous matter is resolved, until a group of prostitutes — Annie's friends Mary Kelly, Polly Nichols, Anne Chapman, and Liz Stride — who are aware of the illegitimate child and its royal connections, attempt to blackmail Sickert to pay off a gang of thugs who are threatening them. After Queen Victoria learns of the blackmail attempt, Gull is once again enlisted, this time to silence the group of women who are threatening the crown. The police are complicit in the crimes — they are granted prior knowledge of Gull's intentions, and are adjured not to interfere until the plot is completed. Gull, a high-ranking Freemason, begins a campaign of violence against the four women in Whitechapel, brutally murdering them with the aid of a carriage driver, John Netley. While he justifies the murders by claiming they are a Masonic warning to an apparent Illuminati threat to the throne, the killings are, in Gull's mind, part of an elaborate mystical ritual to ensure male societal dominance over women. While targeting Kelly, Gull also kills Catherine Eddowes, who was using Kelly's name as an alias. As the killings progress, Gull becomes more and more psychologically unhinged, until he finally has a full psychic vision of the future while murdering a woman he believes to be Kelly. The story also serves as an in-depth character study of Gull; exploring his personal philosophy and motivation, and making sense of his dual role as royal assassin and serial killer. Though rooted in factual biographical details of Gull's life, Moore admitted taking substantial fictional license: for example, the real-life Gull suffered a stroke; Moore fictionalises this event as a theophany, with Gull seeing "Jahbulon", a Masonic figure, fundamentally altering Gull's world view and indirectly leading to the murders. Gull takes Netley on a tour of London landmarks (including Cleopatra's Needle and Nicholas Hawksmoor's churches), expounding on their hidden mystical significance, which is lost to the modern world. Later, Gull forces the semi- literate Netley to write the infamous From Hell letter which lends the work its title. Following this, several people write letters to the police claiming to be the murderer, and the nickname "Jack the Ripper" becomes a household name. Gull has a number of transcendent experiences in the course of the murders, culminating with a vivid vision of what London will be like a century after the last murder. It is implied that, through his grisly activities, male dominance over femininity is assured, and the 20th century is thus given its dominant form, though Gull finds it disgusting nevertheless. Inspector Frederick Abberline, who once patrolled Whitechapel as a police officer, investigates the Ripper crimes without success. He meets Robert James Lees, a fraudulent psychic who acts as a spiritual advisor to Queen Victoria. Lees, acting on a personal grudge, contacts Abberline and identifies Gull as the murderer. Abberline and Lees confront Gull, who instantly confesses. Abberline reports the confession to his superiors at Scotland Yard, who cover up the discovery. The police inform both Abberline and Lees that Gull was operating alone, and was gripped by insanity. Abberline later discovers through chance Gull's actual intentions to cover up the matter of the royal "bastard" fathered by the Duke of Clarence. He resigns from the Metropolitan Police in protest of the official cover-up of the murders, and contemplates leaving England to join the Pinkertons. Gull is tried by a secret Masonic council, which determines he is insane. Gull refuses to submit to the council, informing them that because of his accomplishments and his visions, no man amongst them may be counted as his peer and cannot judge the "mighty work" he has wrought. A phony funeral is staged, and Gull is imprisoned under a pseudonym "Thomas Mason." The Freemasons frame boarding school teacher Montague Druitt as a suspect, killing him and making his death look like suicide. Years later, and moments before his death, Gull has an extended mystical experience, where his spirit travels through time, observing the crimes of the London Monster, instigating or inspiring a number of other killers (Peter Sutcliffe, Ian Brady), causing Netley's death, as well as serving as the inspiration for both Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and William Blake's painting "The Ghost of a Flea". The last experience his spirit undergoes before it "becomes God" is visiting a woman living in Ireland who, in the novel's appendices, is implied to be Mary Kelly. The woman has four children who are named after the women murdered by Gull in Whitechapel. She is apparently able to see Gull's spirit, and abjures him to begone "back to Hell." ===== A top secret research facility hidden in the Colorado mountains is the last remaining outpost of the United States Army after its defeat by the PanAsians. The conquerors had absorbed the Soviets after being attacked by them and had then gone on to absorb India as well. The invaders are ruthless and cruel. As an example, they crush an abortive rebellion by killing 150,000 American civilians as punishment. Noting that the invaders have allowed the free practice of religion (the better to pacify their slaves), the Americans set up their own church in order to build a resistance movement... a "sixth column", as opposed to a traitorous fifth column. The laboratory is in turmoil as the novel begins. All but six of the personnel have died suddenly, due to unknown forces released by an experiment operating within the newly discovered magneto-gravitic or electro-gravitic spectra. The surviving scientists soon learn that they can selectively kill people by releasing the internal pressure of their cell membranes, among other things. Using this discovery, they construct a race-selective weapon that will stun or kill only Asians. ===== The opening installment of The Puppet Masters took the cover of the September 1951 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction In the summer of 2007, Earth is under clandestine attack. Slug-like creatures, arriving in flying saucers, are attaching themselves to people's backs, taking control of their victims' nervous systems, and manipulating those people as puppets. The Old Man, the head of a clandestine national security agency called the Section, goes to Des Moines, Iowa, with Sam and Mary, two of his best agents, to investigate a flying saucer report, but much more seriously the ominous disappearance of the six agents sent previously. They discover that the slugs are steadily taking over Des Moines, but they cannot convince the US president to declare an emergency. Sam takes two other agents and returns to Des Moines to get more evidence of the invasion. They fail and are obliged to leave the city quickly, but in the confusion of their fleeing the city's television center a slug sneaks onto one of the agents. Back in Washington the team discovers the slug and captures it, but later it escapes and attaches itself to Sam, using Sam's skills and knowledge to make a clean escape. Thoroughly puppetized, Sam begins to infiltrate more slugs into the city, using the Constitution Club as a recruiting center. The Old Man captures him, takes him to Section's new headquarters, and coerces Sam into being taken by the slug again. Under drug-induced hypnosis Sam reveals that the slugs come from Titan, the sixth moon of Saturn. Being forced into a traumatic situation strains Sam's relationship with both Mary and the Old Man. Later, Sam finds that the President and Congress are ready to accept the idea that the United States has been infiltrated and they mandate a law that requires people to go naked to demonstrate that they are not carrying slugs. As the US Army prepares a counter-attack in the most heavily infested areas, Sam goes alone to Kansas City to get an estimate of the number of slugs involved. There he learns that he can kill a slug by crushing it with his hand. He also discovers that the slugs reproduce through fission. Escaping from the city, he returns to Washington too late to stop the counter-attack, which fails. After a short leave, during which they get married and kill a slug that seems to have been targeting Sam for repossession, Sam and Mary return to work. Together with the Old Man, they go to Pass Christian, Mississippi to inspect a flying saucer that had made a bad landing. Inside the alien ship Mary is overwhelmed by repressed memories from the time she was a child on Venus and had been possessed by a slug. The slug had died from Nine- day Fever, a severe disease native to Venus, but Mary, luckily, had survived the disease. Adopting biological warfare, the authorities culture Nine-day Fever and its cure in bulk sufficient to cover the country, and then infected slugs are allowed to escape into the heavily infested areas. Several days later thousands of medics are landed in those areas to give the cure to those people whose slugs have died. Sam and the Old Man join the effort in Jefferson City, Missouri, but the Old Man is possessed by the last healthy slug in the city and he knocks Sam out. Sam regains consciousness in an air-car that the Old Man is flying to the Yucatán, where the slug intends to restart its effort to conquer Humanity. With the car on autopilot, the Old Man slumps over the steering wheel and the slug begins to fission so that it can possess both the Old Man and Sam. In desperation, Sam kicks the controls, causing the air-car to accelerate so sharply that the Old Man is slammed back against the seat forcefully enough to crush the slug. The air-car's emergency system mitigates the resulting crash and Sam and the Old Man wait to be rescued. Some years later Sam and Mary board a spaceship headed for Saturn on a mission to exterminate the slugs (or at least deliver a serious blow and blunt their appetite for conquest). Sam expresses the hope that a way would be found to save the small elf-like inhabitants of Titan, whom the slugs enslaved before they turned their attention to other planets and with whom Humanity "might get along". While the invasion was decisively defeated in the US territory, the situation in the rest of the world remains unclear. There is a reference to the slugs having invaded and effectively taken over the Eastern Bloc, some months before invading the United States - but their ignoring basic hygiene had caused a major outbreak of Bubonic Plague, leading to a total breakdown of public order in both Russia and China. It remains unclear, however, if that had the same effect of eliminating the slugs as the planned biological warfare resorted to by the Americans. Sam is seen remarking cynically that "it makes no real difference" - evidently, whether or not the Soviet Union is dominated by slugs, the Cold War will continue. There is also a reference to Britain refusing to follow the US in having its citizens strip down - though the King was willing to go along, the Anglican Church put a veto on the idea - which means that Britain might be taken over by the slugs. The book makes no mention of what the US would do about that. ===== London, 1536. Henry VIII considers whether or not he should sign the warrant for the execution of his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Nine years earlier, Henry has a problem: he reveals his dissatisfaction with his wife Catherine of Aragon. He is enjoying a discreet affair with Mary Boleyn, a daughter of one of his courtiers, Sir Thomas Boleyn; but the king is bored with her too. At a court ball, he notices Mary's 18-year-old sister Anne, who has returned from her education in France. She is engaged to the son of the Earl of Northumberland, and they have received their parents' permission to marry. The king, however, is enraptured with Anne's beauty and orders Cardinal Wolsey, his Lord Chancellor, to break the engagement. When news of this decision is carried to Anne, she reacts furiously. She blames the cardinal and the king for ruining her happiness. When Henry makes a rather clumsy attempt to seduce her, Anne bluntly informs him how she finds him: "I've heard what your courtiers say, and I've seen what you are. You're spoiled and vengeful and bloody. Your poetry is sour, and your music is worse. You make love as you eat—with a good deal of noise and no subtlety." Henry brings her back to court with him, and she continues to resist his advances out of a mixture of repugnance for Henry and her lingering anger over her broken engagement. However, she becomes intoxicated with the power that the king's love gives her. "Power is as exciting as love," she tells her brother George Boleyn, "and who has more of it than the king?" Using this power, she continually undermines Cardinal Wolsey, who at first sees Anne as a passing love interest for the king. When Henry again presses Anne to become his mistress, she repeats that she never will give birth to a child who is illegitimate. Desperate to have a son, Henry suddenly comes up with the idea of marrying Anne in Catherine's place. Anne is stunned, but she agrees. Wolsey begs the king to abandon the idea because of the political consequences of divorcing Catherine. Henry refuses to listen. When Wolsey fails to persuade the pope to give Henry his divorce, Anne points out this failing to an enraged Henry. Wolsey is dismissed from office, and his magnificent palace in London is given as a present to Anne. In this splendour, Anne realises that she has finally fallen in love with Henry. They sleep together, and after discovering that she is pregnant, they secretly are married. Anne is given a splendid coronation, but the people jeer at her in disgust as "the king's whore". Months later, Anne gives birth to a daughter: Princess Elizabeth. Henry is displeased because he was hoping for a boy, and their marital relationship begins to cool. His attentions are soon diverted to Lady Jane Seymour, one of Anne's maids. Once she discovers this liaison, Anne banishes Jane from court. "She has the face of a simpering sheep," she informs Henry, "and the manners, but not the morals. I don't want her near me." During a row over Sir Thomas More's opposition to Anne's queenship, Anne refuses to sleep with her husband unless More is put to death. "It's his blood, or else it's my blood and Elizabeth's!" she cries hysterically. More is put to death, but Anne's subsequent pregnancy ends, resulting in a stillborn boy. Henry demands that his new minister Thomas Cromwell find a way to get rid of Anne. Cromwell tortures a servant in her household into confessing to adultery with the queen; he then arrests four other courtiers who are also accused of being Anne's lovers. Anne is taken to the Tower and placed under arrest. When she is told that she has been accused of adultery, she laughs. "I thought you were serious!" she says, and then she is informed that it is deadly serious. When she sees her brother being brought into the Tower, Anne asks why he has been arrested. "He too is accused of being your lover," mutters her embarrassed uncle. Anne's face shudders with horror before she whispers "Incest?... Oh, God help me, the king is mad. I am doomed." At Anne's trial, she manages to cross-question Mark Smeaton, the tortured servant who finally admits that the charges against Anne are lies. Henry makes an appearance, then visits Anne in her chambers that night. He offers her freedom if she will agree to annul their marriage and make their daughter illegitimate. Anne refuses, saying that she would rather die than betray their daughter. Henry slaps her and tells her that her disobedience will mean her death. Moving back to 1536, Henry decides to execute Anne. A few days later, Anne is taken to the scaffold and beheaded by a French swordsman. Henry rides off to marry Jane Seymour, and their young daughter, Elizabeth, toddling alone in the garden as she hears the cannon firing to announce her mother's death. Anne's voice is heard reciting a prophecy she spoke to Henry in the Tower: "Elizabeth shall be a greater queen than any king of yours. She shall rule a greater England than you could ever have built. My Elizabeth shall be queen, and my blood will have been well spent." ===== ===== ===== In the year 2022, the cumulative effects of overpopulation, pollution and some apparent climate catastrophe have caused severe worldwide shortages of food, water and housing. There are 40 million people in New York City alone, where only the city's elite can afford spacious apartments, clean water and natural food, and even then at horrendously high prices. The homes of the elite usually include concubines who are referred to as "furniture" and serve the tenants as slaves. Within the city lives NYPD detective Frank Thorn and his aged friend Sol Roth, a highly intelligent analyst, referred to as a "Book". Roth remembers the world when it had animals and real food, and possesses a small library of reference materials to assist Thorn. Thorn is tasked with investigating the murder of the wealthy and influential William R. Simonson, and quickly learns that Simonson had been assassinated and was a board member of Soylent Industries. Soylent Industries, which derives its name from a combination of "soy" and "lentil", controls the food supply of half of the world and sells the artificially produced wafers, including "Soylent Red" and "Soylent Yellow". Their latest product is the far more flavorful and nutritious "Soylent Green", advertised as being made from ocean plankton, but is in short supply. As a result of the weekly supply bottlenecks, the hungry masses regularly riot, and they are brutally removed from the streets by means of police vehicles that scoop the rioters with large shovels and dump them within the vehicle's container. With the help of "furniture" Shirl, with whom Thorn begins a relationship, his investigation leads to a priest that Simonson had visited and confessed to shortly before his death. The priest is only able to hint at a gruesome truth before he himself is murdered. By order of the governor, Thorn is instructed to end the investigation, but he presses on. He is attacked during a riot, by the same assassin who killed Simonson, but the killer is crushed by a police vehicle. Roth brings two volumes of oceanographic reports Thorn had procured from Simonson's apartment to the team of Books at the Supreme Exchange. The books confirm that the oceans no longer produce plankton, and deduce that Soylent Green is produced from some inconceivable supply of protein. They also deduce that Simonson's murder was ordered by his fellow Soylent Industries board members, knowing he was increasingly troubled by the truth. Roth is so disgusted with his life in a degraded world that he decides to "return to the home of God" and seeks assisted suicide at a government clinic. Thorn finds a message left by Roth and rushes to stop him, but arrives too late. Roth and Thorn are mesmerized by the euthanasia process's visual and musical montage—long-gone forests, wild animals, rivers and ocean life. Before dying, Roth whispers what he has learned to Thorn, begging him to find proof, so that the Council of Nations can take action. Thorn boards a truck transporting bodies from the euthanasia center to a recycling plant, where the secret is revealedhuman corpses are being converted into Soylent Green. Thorn is spotted and kills his attackers, but is himself wounded. As Thorn is tended to by paramedics, he urges his police chief to spread the truth he has discovered and initiate proceedings against the company. While being taken away, Thorn shouts out to the surrounding crowd, "Soylent Green is people!" ===== Jannings' character is a doorman for a famous hotel, who takes great pride in his work and position. His manager decides that the doorman is getting too old and infirm to present the image of the hotel, and so demotes him to a less demanding job, of washroom attendant. He tries to conceal his demotion from his friends and family but, to his shame, he is discovered. His friends, thinking he has lied to them all along about his prestigious job, taunt him mercilessly while his family rejects him out of shame. The doorman, shocked and in incredible grief, returns to the hotel to sleep in the washroom where he works. The only person to be kind towards him is the night watchman, who covers him with his coat as he falls asleep. Following this comes the film's only title card, which says: "Here our story should really end, for in actual life, the forlorn old man would have little to look forward to but death. The author took pity on him, however, and provided quite an improbable epilogue." At the end, the doorman reads in the newspaper that he inherited a fortune from a Mexican millionaire named A. G. Money, a patron who died in his arms in the hotel washroom. The doorman returns to the hotel, where he dines happily with the night watchman who showed him kindness. On their way to the carriage, the doorman gives tips to all the service personnel from the hotel, who quickly line up along his way. In the final scene of the film, when both the doorman and the night watchman are in the carriage, a beggar asks the doorman for some money. The doorman invites the beggar to the carriage and even gives a tip to the new doorman, who is now in charge of bringing the guests inside. ===== Robert Neville appears to be the sole survivor of a pandemic that has killed most of the human population and turned the remainder into "vampires" that largely conform to their stereotypes in fiction and folklore: they are blood-sucking, pale-skinned, and nocturnal, though otherwise indistinguishable from normal humans. Implicitly set in Los Angeles, the novel details Neville's life in the months and eventually years after the outbreak as he attempts to comprehend, research, and possibly cure the disease. Swarms of vampires surround his house nightly and try to find ways to get inside, which includes the females exposing themselves and his vampire neighbor relentlessly shouting for him to come out. Neville survives by barricading himself inside his house every night; he is further protected by the traditional vampire repellents of garlic, mirrors, and crucifixes. Weekly dust storms ravage the city, and during the day, when the vampires are inactive, Neville drives around to search them out in order to kill them with wooden stakes (since they seem impervious to his guns' bullets) and to scavenge for supplies. Neville's past is occasionally revealed through flashbacks; the disease claimed his daughter, whose body the government forced him to burn, as well as his wife, whose body he secretly buried but then had to kill after she rose from the dead as a vampire. After bouts of depression and alcoholism, Neville finally determines there must be some scientific reasons behind the vampires' origins, behaviors, and aversions, so he sets out to investigate. He obtains books and other research materials from a library and through gradual research discovers the root of the disease is probably a Bacillus strain of bacteria capable of infecting both deceased and living hosts. His experiments with microscopes also reveal that the bacteria are deadly sensitive to garlic and sunlight. One day, a stray, injured dog finds its way to his street, filling Neville with amazed joy. Desperate for company, Neville painstakingly earns the nervous dog's trust with food and brings it into the home. Despite his efforts, the sickly dog dies a week later, and Neville, robbed of all hope, resignedly returns to learning more about the vampires. Neville's continued readings and experiments on incapacitated vampires help him create new theories. He believes vampires are affected by mirrors and crosses because of "hysterical blindness", the result of previous psychological conditioning of the infected. Driven insane by the disease, the infected now react as they believe they should when confronted with these items. Even then, their reaction is constrained to the beliefs of the particular person; for example, a Christian vampire would fear the cross, but a Jewish vampire would not. Neville additionally discovers more efficient means of killing the vampires, other than just driving a stake into their hearts. This includes exposing vampires to direct sunlight or inflicting wide, oxygen-exposing wounds anywhere on their bodies so that the bacteria switch from being anaerobic symbionts to aerobic parasites, rapidly consuming their hosts when exposed to air, which gives the appearance of the vampires instantly liquefying. However, the bacteria also produce resilient "body glue" that instantly seals blunt or narrow wounds, making the vampires bulletproof. With his new knowledge, Neville is killing such large numbers of vampires in his daily forays that his nightly visitors have diminished significantly. Neville further believes the pandemic was spread not so much by direct vampire bites as by bacteria-bearing mosquitos and dust storms in the cities following a recent war. The inconsistency of Neville's results in handling vampires also leads him to realize that there are in fact two differently-reacting types of vampires: those conscious and living with a worsening infection and those who have died but been reanimated by the bacteria (i.e. undead). After three years, Neville sees a terrified woman in broad daylight. Neville is immediately suspicious after she recoils violently in the presence of garlic, but they slowly win each other's trust. Eventually, the two comfort each other romantically and he explains some of his findings, including his theory that he developed immunity against the infection after being bitten by an infected vampire bat years ago. He wants to know if the woman, named Ruth, is infected or immune, vowing to treat her if she is infected, and she reluctantly allows him to take a blood sample but suddenly knocks him unconscious as he views the results. When Neville wakes, he discovers a note from Ruth confessing that she is indeed a vampire sent to spy on him and that he was responsible for the death of her husband, another vampire. The note further suggests that only the undead vampires are pathologically violent but not those who were alive at the time of infection and who still survive due to chance mutations in their bacteria. These living-infected have slowly overcome their disease and are attempting to build a new society. They have developed medication that diminishes the worst of their symptoms. Ruth warns Neville that her feelings for him are true but that her people will attempt to capture him and that he should try to escape the city. However, assuming he will be treated fairly by the new society, Neville stays at his house until infected members arrive and violently dispatch the undead vampires outside his house with fiendish glee. Realizing the infected attackers may intend to kill him after all, he fires on them and in turn is shot and captured. Fatally wounded, Neville is placed in a barred cell where he is visited by Ruth, who informs him that she is a senior member of the new society but, unlike the others, does not resent him. After discussing the effects of Neville's vampire-killing activities on the new society, she acknowledges the public need for Neville's execution but, out of mercy, gives him a packet of fast-acting suicide pills. Neville accepts his fate and asks Ruth not to let this society become too heartless. Ruth promises to try, kisses him, and leaves. Neville goes to his prison window and sees the infected staring back at him with the same hatred and fear that he once felt for them; he realizes that he, a remnant of old humanity, is now a legend to the new race born of the infection. He recognizes that their desire to kill him, after he has killed so many of their loved ones, is not something he can condemn. As the pills take effect, he is amused by the thought that he will become their new superstition and legend, just as vampires once were to humans. ===== In January 1994, the U.S. USS Montana has an encounter with an unidentified submerged object and sinks near the Cayman Trough. With Soviet ships moving in to try to salvage the sub and a hurricane moving over the area, the U.S. government sends a SEAL team to Deep Core, a privately owned experimental underwater drilling platform near the Cayman Trough to use as a base of operations. The platform's designer, Dr. Lindsey Brigman, insists on going along with the SEAL team, despite her estranged husband Virgil "Bud" Brigman being the current foreman. During initial investigation of the Montana, a power cut in the team's submersibles leads to Lindsey seeing a strange light circling the sub, which she later calls a "non-terrestrial intelligence" or "NTI". Lt. Hiram Coffey, the SEAL team leader, is ordered to accelerate their mission and takes one of the mini-subs without Deep Cores permission to recover a Trident missile warhead from the Montana just as the storm hits above, leaving the crew unable to disconnect from their surface support ship in time. The cable crane is torn from the ship and falls into the trench, dragging the Deep Core to the edge before it stops. The rig is partially flooded, killing several crew members and damaging its power systems. The crew wait out the storm so they can restore communications and be rescued. As they struggle against the cold, they find the NTIs have formed an animated column of water that is exploring the rig. Though they treat it with curiosity, Coffey is agitated and cuts it in half by closing a pressure bulkhead on it, causing it to retreat. Realizing that Coffey is suffering paranoia from high-pressure nervous syndrome, the crew spies on him through a remote operated vehicle, finding him and another SEAL arming the warhead to attack the NTIs. To try and stop him, Bud fights Coffey but Coffey escapes in a mini-sub with the primed warhead; Bud and Lindsey give chase in the other sub, damaging both. Coffey is able to launch the warhead into the trench, but his sub drifts over the edge, crushing him when it implodes. Bud's mini-sub is inoperable and taking on water; with only one functional diving suit, Lindsey opts to enter deep hypothermia when the ocean's cold water engulfs her. Bud swims back to the platform with her body; there, he and the crew administer CPR and revive her. One SEAL, Ensign Monk, helps Bud use an experimental diving suit equipped with a liquid breathing apparatus to survive to that depth, though he will only be able to communicate through a keypad on the suit. Bud begins his dive, assisted by Lindsey's voice to keep him coherent against the effects of the mounting pressure, and reaches the warhead. Monk guides him in successfully disarming it. With little oxygen left in the system, Bud explains he knew it was a one-way trip, and tells Lindsey he loves her. As he waits for death, an NTI approaches Bud, takes his hand, and guides him to an alien city deep in the trench. Inside the city, the NTIs create an atmospheric pocket for Bud, allowing him to breathe normally. The NTIs then play back Bud's message to his wife and they look at each other with understanding. On Deep Core the crew is waiting for rescue when they see a message from Bud that he met some friends and warns them to hold on. The base shakes and lights from the trench bring the arrival of the alien ship. It rises to the ocean's surface, with Deep Core and several of the surface ships run aground on its hull. The crew of Deep Core exit the platform, surprised they are not suffering from decompression sickness. They see Bud walking out of the alien ship and Lindsey races to hug him. ===== Basil is a British-Greek writer raised in Britain who bears the hallmarks of an uptight, middle-class Englishman. He is waiting at the Athens port of Piraeus on mainland Greece to catch a boat to Crete when he meets a gruff, yet enthusiastic Greek-Macedonian peasant and musician named Zorba. Basil explains to Zorba that he is traveling to a rural Cretan village where his father owns some land, with the intention of reopening a lignite mine and perhaps curing his writer's block. Zorba relates his experience with mining and persuades Basil to take him along. When they arrive at Crete, they take a car to the village where they are greeted enthusiastically by the town's impoverished peasant community. They stay with an old French war widow and courtesan named Madame Hortense in her self-styled "Hotel Ritz". The audacious Zorba tries to persuade Basil into making a move on the much older Madame Hortense, but when he is understandably reluctant, Zorba seizes the opportunity, and they form a relationship. Over the next few days, Basil and Zorba attempt to work the old lignite mine, but find it unsafe and shut it down. Zorba then has an idea to use the forest in the nearby mountains for logging, (his specific plan is left ambiguous, but it seems he thinks the timber can be used to shore up the tunnels). The land is owned by a powerful monastery, so Zorba visits and befriends the monks, getting them drunk. Afterwards, he comes home to Basil and begins to dance in a way that mesmerizes Basil. Meanwhile, Basil and Zorba get their first introduction to "the Widow", a young and attractive widowed woman, who is incessantly teased by the townspeople for not remarrying, especially to a young, local boy who is madly in love with her, but whom she has spurned repeatedly. One rainy afternoon, Basil offers her his umbrella, which she reluctantly takes. Zorba suggests that she is attracted to him, but Basil, ever shy, denies this and refuses to pursue the widow. Basil hands Zorba some money, and sends him off to the large town of Chania, where Zorba is to buy cable and other supplies for the implementation of his grand plan. Zorba says goodbye to Basil and Madame Hortense, who is by now madly in love with him. In Chania, Zorba entertains himself at a cabaret and strikes up a brief romance with a much younger dancer. In a letter to Basil, he details his exploits and indicates that he has found love. Angered by Zorba's apparent irresponsibility and the squandering of his money, Basil untruthfully tells Madame Hortense that Zorba has declared his love to her and intends to marry her upon his return, which makes her ecstatic to the point of tears. Meanwhile, the Widow returns Basil's umbrella by way of Mimithos, the village idiot. When Zorba eventually returns with supplies and gifts, he is surprised and angered to hear of Basil's lie to Madame Hortense. He also asks Basil about his whereabouts the night before. That night, Basil had gone to the Widow's house, made love to her and spent the night. The brief encounter comes at great cost. A villager catches sight of them, and word spreads, and the young, local boy who is in love with the Widow is taunted mercilessly about it. The next morning, the villagers find his body by the sea, where he has drowned himself out of shame. The boy's father, Mavrandoni, holds a funeral which the villagers attend. The widow attempts to come inconspicuously, but is blocked from entering the church. She is eventually trapped in the courtyard, then beaten and stoned by the villagers, who hold her responsible for the boy's suicide. Basil, meek and fearful of intervening, tells Mimithos to quickly fetch Zorba. Zorba arrives just as a villager, a friend of the boy, tries to pull a knife and kill the widow. Zorba overpowers the much younger man and disarms him. Thinking that the situation is under control, Zorba asks the Widow to follow him and turns his back. At that moment, the dead boy's father pulls his knife and cuts the widow's throat. She dies at once, as the villagers shuffle away apathetically, whisking the father away. Only Basil, Zorba and Mimithos show any emotion over her murder. Basil proclaims his inability to intervene whereupon Zorba laments the futility of death. On a rainy day, Basil and Zorba come home and find Madame Hortense waiting. She expresses anger at Zorba for making no progress on the wedding. Zorba conjures up a story that he had ordered a white satin wedding dress, lined with pearls and adorned with real gold. Madame Hortense presents two golden rings she had made and proposes their immediate engagement. Zorba tries to stall, but eventually agrees with gusto, to Basil's surprise. Some time later, Madame Hortense has contracted pneumonia, and is seen on her deathbed. Zorba stays by her side, along with Basil. Meanwhile, word has spread that "the foreigner" is dying, and since she has no heirs, the State will take her possessions and money. The desperately poor villagers crowd around her hotel, impatiently waiting for her demise so they can steal her belongings. As two old ladies enter her room and gaze expectantly at her, other women try to enter, but Zorba manages to fight them off. At the instant of her death, the women re-enter Madame Hortense's bedroom en masse to steal her valued possessions. Zorba leaves with a sigh, as the hotel is ransacked and stripped bare by the shrieking and excited villagers. When Zorba returns to Madame Hortense's bedroom, the room is barren apart from her bed (where she lies) and the parrot in her cage. Zorba takes the birdcage with him. Finally, Zorba's elaborate contraption to transport timber down the hill is complete. A festive ceremony, including lamb on a spit, is held, and all the villagers turn out. After a blessing from the priests, Zorba signals the start by firing a rifle in the air. A log comes hurtling down the zip line at a worrying pace, destroying the log itself and slightly damaging part of the contraption. Zorba remains unconcerned and gives orders for a second log. This one also speeds down and shoots straight into the sea. By now the villagers and priests have grown fearful and head for cover. Zorba remains unfazed and orders a third log, which accelerates downhill with such violence that it dislodges the entire contraption, destroying everything. The villagers flee, leaving Basil and Zorba behind. Basil and Zorba sit by the shore to eat roasted lamb for lunch. Zorba pretends to tell the future from the lamb shank, saying that he foresees a great journey to a big city. He then asks Basil directly when he plans to leave, and Basil replies that he will leave in a few days. Zorba declares his sadness about Basil's imminent departure to England and tells Basil that he is missing madness. Basil asks Zorba to teach him to dance. Zorba teaches him the sirtaki and Basil begins to laugh hysterically at the catastrophic outcome. The story ends with both men enthusiastically dancing the sirtaki on the beach. =====