Man Hunt

London.

Heil Hitler!

Doktor.

Captain Alan thorndike, englander.

T—h—o-r-n—d-i-k—e.

Langsam. Langsam.

Please be seated, captain thorndike.

Thank you.

Have a cigarette.

Thank you.

You know, if you just walked up to this house in a normal way, instead of, uh-

you would've been invited to lunch by our fiihrer.

I've anticipated the pleasure of meeting you for years.

I'm afraid I don't know...

Like you, my dear thorndike, I had but one passion in life,

and that is the hunting of big game.

I'm convinced that I would've become more famous even than yourself...

If I hadn't renounced it in favour of politics.

Politics?

Yes, I, uh, find it a more exciting field of action...

My branch of it.

You're surprised that I know your name so well.

I was in Nairobi on my own safari the year that all Kenya rang with your exploits.

So you see, it's quite natural that I should know who you are.

Yes.

And also you've taken, uh,

my passport.

Nonetheless, my dear thorndike, I should've recognised you on sight.

A man whose brother was a guest in this house only last September.

So you know my brother?

When lord risborough was sent here by your prime minister on a mission of appeasement.

I found him a credulous simpleton.

Do you know, thorndike, that this is the most closely guarded house in the world?

Rather.

I would've staked my life that no living thing...

Could've entered this area without being seen.

But then, of course, we didn't count upon a creature...

That has learned to stalk the most cunning animal,

that can catch scents upon the wind,

that has mastered the trick of moving through a forest as if he were transparent.

Look out there. For 500 yards, not a tree, not a shrub.

A man running towards this house would be cut down before he'd taken five steps.

And yet on that ledge above...

Was a man with a precision rifle...

And a high degree of intelligence and skill that is required to use it.

Your judgment of distance is uncanny, thorndike.

The sights were set at 550 yards, only 10 feet short of the exact range.

Icheckedit

obviously, my dear thorndike, such a man cannot be allowed to live.

Surely you don't think I'm an assassin.

You were stopped before you could shoot.

But I could have easily.

Good heavens, man, I never intended to shoot.

I merely wanted to find out if it were possible.

That was the excitement of it- the danger, the fun.

It was that fellow jumping me that made my gun go off.

You disappoint me, thorndike.

I daresay I have been a bit thick,

but, well, from the way you talked about hunting and all that,

I assumed you knew it was a sporting stalk.

A what?

A sporting stalk. Stalking the game you're after for the fun of it. Not to kill.

Oh, I'm not begging off from any consequences,

but you will permit me to doubt your claims as a hunter of big game...

If you fail to understand the fascination for a man who's hunted all commoner game...

Of hunting the biggest game on earth.

That's it. Precisely.

The most dangerous of all animals: Man.

But you don't kill. The sport is in the chase, not the kill.

I don't kill any longer, not even small game.

I know what I can do with a rifle.

If I can stalk an animal and get within range, the rest is a mathematical certainty.

And that's sheer cruelty, and I don't like cruelty.

The real fun is matching my wits against the instinct of an animal...

That isn't going to let me get near enough to shoot.

Your conversation fascinates me, thorndike.

But this softness in your nature with regard to the ultimate purpose of firearms...

Betrays the weakness, the decadence, not only of yourself but of your entire race.

Yes, you're symbolic of the English race.

I'm beginning to think that you're symbolic of yours.

We Nazis are finding a new life, a new vitality for our people...

By returning to the primitive virtues.

Such as going back to the barbarism of decapitation?

We do not hesitate to destroy in order to create a new world.

God help it. I'm sorry for you.

And I for you, thorndike. You and your world.

Heil Hitler! Heil Hitler!

Heil Hitler!

You will leave this country a free man.

You can return to your position and friends in spite of what you've done.

On what condition? Your name signed to this.

Later, it will be witnessed by the chief of secret police and other officials.

What is it? A suicide note?

It is a confession that on this 29th day of July, 1939,

you have attempted to assassinate our fiihrer,

and that you have undertaken this crime with the approval of your government.

I what?

That you have acted as an assassin for the British government.

I can't believe you're serious. Do you expect me to sign a lie?

You still insist you had no intention to shoot?

Of course. I told you it was a sporting stalk.

- Then why didn't you leave your rifle behind? - Uh...

I've asked myself that.

And I think the answer is that...

That it wouldn't have been sporting, it wouldn't have been playing the game.

Nothing betrays the hypocrisy of the English more than their use of "playing the game."

One plays a game to win, thorndike. Nonsense.

I don't expect you to understand.

Even pulling the trigger on an empty gun was a...

Oh, a kind of cheating with myself.

- It didn't prove anything. I did, you know? - Oh, naturally.

It had to be a loaded rifle with my finger on the trigger...

With only my individual will, my civilised conscience...

Between me and the extermination of your strutting little Caesar.

Thorndike!

I mean no insult, but how do you expect me to describe a man who wants to play god...

And have everyone else in the world run around and say, "heil Hitler"?

- Thorndike, I warn you. - Oh, no, thank you.

For the last time, will you sign this document?

You are in no position to refuse.

That's for me to decide, isn't it?

You're thinking it is easy to throw away your life.

Yes, it is.

But, uh, how well do you stand pain?

If you won't listen to me, you'll have to talk it over with these men.

I would save you from their persuasion.

Very well.

Tell him his excellency, the German ambassador, desires to speak with him.

Of course he was there, sir. All the time.

- The German ambassador is on the telephone, my lord. - What?

Has a man no privacy even in his own home in the middle of the night?

I told him I would see if you were still up, my lord.

Oh, very well, very well.

Hello. Hello.

Yes, risborough speaking. Good evening, your excellency.

A pleasure, I assure you.

I heard some rumour that captain thorndike is visiting our country.

I'm sure I don't know, your excellency. Have you called his club?

I wish to telegraph my friends in Berlin to see that he's taken care of properly.

We cannot, of course, neglect any member of your lordship's family.

It's extremely gracious of your excellency, but I'm sure you're mistaken.

I haven't seen him for weeks.

Sportsman, you know.

Always running off to the end of the world to catch a fish or some such nonsense.

I'm positive he's not on the continent.

He may be on his ranch in Canada. Spends a lot of time there.

Not at all. Not at all.

Why, a great pleasure, I assure you.

The man is a fool, but absolutely honest.

The gestapo are a pack of...

- Send this message to berchtesgaden. - Yes, sir.

I should hesitate to question the efficiency...

Of the gestapo agent...

Who claims to be holding thorndike.

But after my conversation with lord risborough,

I am convinced thorndike cannot possibly be your man.

"Clearly a case of mistaken identity.

"Always glad to be of service." Idiot.

Doktor.

Thorndike.

Thorndike!

You're being exasperatingly stubborn.

You must realise that this cannot continue much longer.

Are you ready to sign?

Believe me, my dear fellow, I don't want you to die.

Just sign your name and it'll be important for us that you live.

You will receive the best of medical treatment.

You will be free to go home, free to live on that fine estate of yours,

free to do anything you like, except to leave england.

Are you being so foolish as to imagine yourself a martyr for england?

Is that why you refuse?

No. Why refuse then?

Why keep on torturing yourself?

Because I don't like force.

You force your own people to keep in line, and...

You think you can force everyone else.

Well, I'm one man saying you can't.

As you wish.

I'm not responsible for your suffering.

You are, in fact, taking your own life.

That's going to be hard to explain, isn't it?

What is? My suicide.

Lots of questions going to be asked.

- High places. - High places.

That's one place where no questions will be asked.

You've given me the key I've been searching for.

You won't change your mind about this?

Certainly not. Very well.

Identification is essential in the high places.

We'll give you back your passport and your wallet, clean you up and...

Doktor.

Doktor.

There are people in england that...

Know that men of my character don't do this sort of thing.

Men of your character have accidents.

Tomorrow the doctor and I will go hunting.

No one will question what we find when we've found it.

This ledge is treacherous.

The skipper ought to be back by now,

if we're going to sail tonight.