right in their hands.
Have you any connections
with Manchester?
We have a lot of good connections
in England.
- Actually...
- I mean, with the Manchester people.
Please, we are here to discuss the merger.
Let us begin at the beginning.
PREYSING: Thank you.
Is Baron von Geigern in?
Too bad.
PREYSING: Since June 11 this year,
when the first negotiation...
I met him yesterday.
PREYSING: Between
our respective firms...
I’ve got a date.
PREYSING: This merger can result...
About 5:00.
PREYSING: All of us.
FLAEMM: Dancing.
GERSTENKORN: Tell us about Manchester.
PREYSING: Just a second.
Before I get through,
I’m laying before you here...
the last general statement of the concern.
The capital, the plant, the machinery...
For instance, we'll take mop rags.
FLAEMM: I'll call back.
GERSTENKORN: Tell us about Manchester.
Yes, Mr. Preysing,
that's what we want to know.
I would rather wait for Justice Zinnowitz...
before I commit myself, please.
Now, to go ahead with the merger.
You realize...
that this merger is a great advantage
to the Saxonians, of course.
Now, let's talk like adults.
- When you first approached us...
- We did not approach you.
MAN: This letter filed in September
exhibits you approached us.
That letter is a response
to a tentative feeler sent out by you.
Tentative, my foot!
A month before this,
your old father-in-law...
- comes to me privately, and scratches...
- Scratched?
PREYSING: We didn't take the initiative!
GERSTENKORN: You did...
PREYSING: We did not!
GERSTENKORN: You did!
Gentlemen, I see the conference
has already begun.
- I'm glad you're here, Justice Zinnowitz.
- Good morning.
ZINNOWITZ: Thank you very much.
PREYSING: I beg your pardon, please.
Excuse me, please. I am glad you're here.
These gentlemen have cross words.
Would you try, Justice Zinnowitz...
- and iron out the situation here?
- Certainly.
- Right here, on the top.
- If you will allow me.
Thank you.
Well, gentlemen, the situation
seems to be perfectly clear.
- Yes. And how clear is Manchester?
- Manchester?
ZINNOWITZ: Have you said anything
about Manchester?
Why, no, sir. I cannot commit myself
at this time about Manchester.
Quite right. Well, gentlemen,
since June 11 of this year...
when the first negotiations for a merger
were entered...
Now we're going to begin
at the beginning again.
As you remember it,
when you approached us...
GERSTENKORN: We did not approach you.
PREYSING: I'm sorry, you did!
GERSTENKORN: We did not approach you.
GERSTENKORN: You approached us!
ZINNOWITZ: Wait.
Can you imagine 100 girls
in a ballet school...
each thinking she would become
the most famous dancer in the world?
I was ambitious then.
We were drilled like little soldiers.
No rest, no stopping.
I was little, slim, but hard as a diamond.
Then I became famous soon.
But why am I telling you all this?
Last night I didn't know you at all.
- Who are you, really?
- What?
I don't even know your name.
[Baron laughing]
I am Felix Benvenuto Frihern von Geigern.
My mother called me Flix.
No. Flix.
That's sweet.
And how do you live?
What kind of person are you?
I'm a prodigal son,
the black sheep of a white flock.
I shall die on the gallows.
- Really?
- Really.
I haven't a bit of character. None at all.
- No?
- No. Really.
You know, when I was a little boy
I was taught to ride and be a gentleman.
Then at school, to pray and lie.
And then in the war, to kill and hide.
That's all.
And what do you do now?
Now I’m a gambler...
running at large, like a happy pig...
devouring everything of life
that pleases me.
I really belong in jail.
What a picture.
And what else?
What else?
BARON: I'm also a criminal
and a hotel thief.
That's not a funny joke.
You must believe one thing.
You must believe that I love you.
That I’ve never known love like this
until now.
What is it, Flix? What's the matter?
Hotel thief.
No.
Did you come here