Red Joan

Inspired by a true story

Joan Elizabeth Stanley, you are resident at this address?

Special Branch, you are under arrest!/ What's going on?!

You are being charged with 27 breaches of the official secrets act..

..you must come with us now.

In other news, The investigation is continuing...

...into the death of the former head of the Foreign Office, Sir William Mitchell...

...a statement will be made to Parliament on Friday.

Sit here, please.

I don't want a lawyer.

I haven't done anything wrong.

Mrs. Stanley, you are being charged with treason!

What?!

Unless you can prove to the contrary, your name will be released to the House of Commons on Friday.

Why?

There is a case against Sir William Mitchell, which strongly implicates you.

If you are going to present a defense, then you must do it before Friday.

I have nothing to defend!/ There's a file on you.

Starting in 1938, when you went to Cambridge University.

Mrs. Stanley?

My room is on the third floor.

I can't climb that high!

I have been out on the razzle.

Are you also a first year ?

English Literature?/ Natural Sciences, Physics

I was fooled by your cushion covers.

Modern languages.

Can I borrow a dressing gown?

If a bulldog catches me, I can say we were drinking cocoa.

Is that a mink?

Hideous isn't it? My mothers cousin brought it by.

No, it's not hideous..

..it's different.

I'll bring it back tomorrow.

Thank you so much.

Oh, wait a second.

Hello!

That's the girl I was telling you about. I climbed into her window.

It's all been a bit of a scramble.

My mother was so busy ordering me my college trousseau, that..

..we didn't buy any of the practical science equipment, let alone the set texts.

So, are your parents against you coming here?

My father was delighted.

Yours?

I am an orphan.

Oh, I'm... I'm so sorry.

No, it happened a long time ago.

Flu.. Russia..

So I went to live with my cousin, Leo, in Germany.

He had just moved there.

And when Leo came here, I followed him.

He is a student here too?/ St. John's.

You know? I guess I am just making up excuses, why we are older than everybody else.

Russia, Germany, That's why modern languages.

After the first three, it all gets really easy.

We're Jewish, by the way.

I have never met ../ Mazel tov!

Pardon?

Would you like to come to a film night with me tomorrow?

I would love to, but I have my tutor's sherry evening.

Let's go!

That's William! ...William Mitchell

He's a viscount or something.

Kharak is a Mahārāja./ Are we the only ones here without a title?

William! Kharak! Wonderful to see you.

That's my cousin, Leo.

Fancy for film night!/ Socialists can't have glamour?

You must be Joan.

I'm.. Leo

Sonya says you saved her life.

Not exactly.

I hope you enjoy the film..

...Joan.

Beneath its shade we'll live and die, Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer, We'll keep the red flag flying here.

Mrs. Stanley?

At Cambridge, you were known to consort with Communists,

and attend their meetings and their film showings.

Oh, is that what this is all about? Everyone did it back then.

Even if the films were dreadful! Not that you could say it, but ...

It was the in thing.

The world was so different then.

You have no idea.

So, tell me, Mrs. Stanley..

Would you describe your father as a socialist?

Goodness!

Well, he was a headmaster.

He cared for the ordinary man.

He'd seen the Gyro marches pass through the town.

But a socialist? No!/ So, who politicized you, then?

That's a peculiar way of putting it.

My family escaped anti-Semitism in Russia to settle in Germany

It was not the best decision.

By the time I was at university, Hitler's thugs were unstoppable.

But I would not hide from them.

Not because I was a hero! But because if I did not stand up to them, who would?

Well said, sir ./ My small action..

could join with a small action of another until we had a movement!

Yes. / That's right, yes.

Compelling, isn't it?

All of us have to decide..

..which side we are on.

Yes! / Warmonger!

Let him speak. / The war has already begun,

While they are saying "Peace at all costs".

We are being dragged into the future by dark forces.

We have to stand together.

Banish our enemies of apathy and hatred.

Rally our allies of hope!

Yes!

Courage and honor

- Take action! Yes!

Join us!/ Yes!

Great speech, Leo./ Well done, old man.

They tried to drown him, you know.

The Nazis?/ They beat him up..

..and threw him off a bridge.

What did you think?

Very moving./ Moving?

I wanted it to be rousing!/ Extremely good show, Leo!

Thank you./ Yes, well done, old chap.

If I hadn't already, I'd sign up on the spot.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

It was the age of wisdom. It was the age of foolishness.

It was the epoch of belief. It was the epoch of incredulity.

It was the season of light. It was the season of darkness.

The tale of two cities, book one. Recalled to life!

That's communism./ That's Dickens.

And I thought far too English for you.

So, what made you want to read physics?

The clever answer is, when in 1932, they discovered the Neutron..

..and the whole world changed, and I wanted to be a part of that.

But the reality is.. tadpoles.

When my sister and I were little, we used to go down to our local pond, and take them home with us.

They were a bit smelly, so we gave them a nice hot bath..

..and accidentally boiled them alive!

You are a monster!/ - No!

It made me want to understand.

And now I'm here studying physics.

I want to show you something.

Let's go!

This way.

Tell me, if all of this..

Whole world is going to be destroyed..

What would you save?

The Pyramids.

The Eiffel Tower, perhaps?/ Why those things?

Why any of them?

Maybe it's a chance to rebuild a civilization from scratch.

A completely new way.

My little Comrade.

See you at the meeting?

Mrs. Stanley?

I, Zinoviev, would like to repeat, that I am fully and utterly guilty..

I am guilty of having been the organizer, second only to Trotsky of the attempted killing of Stalin.

Do you think Stalin forced him to confess?

Of course not! These confessions are freely given.

The only people who claim otherwise, are members of the Western press,

out to discredit the USSR.

But surely you can see why they say some of the confessions aren't credible.

Who is they?/ Most people in England.

Then they are playing into the hands of criminals, and enemies of the state who plant confusion.

The final words of his co-conspirator, Kamenev, say it all:

"Whatever my sentence may be, I consider it just ..."

... together with the people, follow where Stalin leads!"

Thank you.

How funny! About you and Leo.

What about us?

Are you sleeping together?/ Sonya!

What are you waiting for?

You will laugh but..

I think people should be in love.

See?

You silly goose! Love?

This isn't how Leo works.

If you wait for him to loves you, you'll die a virgin.

Anyway, it doesn't matter now, does it?

What do you mean?

He's going next week./ Where?

Russia? For three months?

We can write.

No, I think it's a wonderful opportunity.

I'm giving a lecture, and then I'll be taken on a tour of the factories for my thesis.

Leo..

I'll miss you.

My little Comrade!

Hello! Mum?

Mum!

There you are! Listen, I've heard the strangest thing.

I have been calling you.

Is your Sciatica back?

I got a call in chambers.

It's a tip-off from the CPS,

who'd somehow heard this from MI-5.

It's utterly ridiculous; you will laugh.

I don't supposed you've heard about a man called Sir William Mitchell.

Who died recently?

Well, they think he was a communist.

And might have been part of some Cambridge spy ring.

But that is not the funny part, this is: they think you might be involved.

That's nonsense, isn't it? Isn't it?