Dark Victory

Hello there, is this the house? I've been trying to get you.

Michael, do you realize it's 5:30 in the morning?

- Who is it, Agatha? - That Michael.

We had a party last night and the last guest hasn't driven out of the driveway.

Take it. Take it.

Hello? Kitchen.

- Lucy speaking. - Yes, I know. I know.

Yes, Miss Ann.

What's that racket? The telephone's been ringing all over the house.

I'll talk to him.

Michael, what do you mean at this unholy hour of the morning?

Oh. Well, good morning, Miss Ann.

Cheerful morning now, isn't it? I was wondering if I might talk to Miss Judith.

No, you certainly might not. She hasn't had two hours' sleep yet.

I wouldn't disturb her for the world.

Oh.

This is Miss Judith Traherne of the sleepy Trahernes.

Is it, now? Well, this is Mr. Michael O'Leary of the wide-awake O'Learys.

You have a cash customer for that colt. We can get 10,000 if you're quick.

If you mean Challenger, not ten and not 20.

My head's just woozy, not vacant.

If you don't mind my saying so, Miss Judith,

it might be better for you to take charge of the ribbons

and leave the handling of the horses to me.

I do mind your saying so. I gave you your orders last night, Michael.

I ought to slap that man's face.

He's impertinent sometimes, but what can we do?

He's about the best trainer money can buy.

- I suppose he is. What time is it? About 5:30.

Good morning, Martha. Hello, Daffy, come on.

- We're going to the stable, Martha. - Are we?

Couldn't you go back to bed and get a little sleep?

- Will you get us some coffee, Martha? - Yes, miss.

Well...

Here we go. Come.

- You asleep? - It's a nice world if we can stay in it.

- What do you mean? - You better let me drive.

- No! - Give me that.

I will not.

Good morning, ladies.

- Oh, I managed to get you up, did I? Don't be fresh.

I hear you've got the finest horses in the country.

Least you could do is let them have a look at you.

Surely if the horses can get up early to run and jump for you,

you can get up to watch them.

Michael, really!

Hello, Judith. Hello!

Hello, Jones! We're gonna be killed someday.

Ann, come here. - Thanks for the lift.

Take it away, Bob.

- I wouldn't stand for it. - I won't.

- He's got to be fired. - He's going to be.

And right now.

Thinks he can lead us around like horses. Ann, fire him.

Me? I'm not the mistress here, I'm only the secretary.

But, darling, you have the character. You're always telling me so yourself.

Judy! - Hello, everybody.

Good morning, Alec!

- Oh, what a party. - Glad to see you're still on it.

All ready for tonight. All I gotta do is change the orchid. See?

- Good morning, Ann. Nice, sensible Ann. - Good morning, parasite.

Why don't you go to bed before they put you there for good?

Well, now, confidentially, it's a scheme.

Your man Michael told me he'd give me a nice fat commission

if I can get our sweet Carrie to buy your colt, Challenger.

- Michael? And I can use the cash.

- This is the end! Judy, darling.

I will take that colt off your hands if you'll let me have a bargain.

I won't sell the horse, but I'll sell his trainer.

That's who she really wants to buy, but he won't even look at her.

- I've never heard of such a thing! - Judith,

- do you want to sell that colt? - No, I do not! Colonel, dear.

I think you ought to buy him, colonel. He's a perfect darling.

You can even invite him for tea.

He could play on your front lawn with your children and your dogs.

He's a love. He whinnies.

Unfortunately, a steeplechaser has to have more than just a pretty smile.

Colonel Mantle, my father held that foal up in his arms and said,

"Judy, here's a champion. By Victory..."

"Out of Field Nurse by Man O' War. Let's call him Challenger."

You catch that horse at the two-mile pole

with his heart bursting and he'll fold up on you.

Michael, you might fold up, and I might fold up...

but that horse has the breeding.

That was for me, I take it, Miss Judith.

I told you I wanted to run him. Where is he?

- He's in his stall having his morning tea. - Well, go bring him up here.

When I tell you to do something, do it.

Yes, mum.

That head again?

It comes and goes.

- I'll show him if that horse has courage. What are you going to do?

Michael...

how long have I had you?

- One month and three days. - Remind me to think about firing you.

I don't think you'll be firing me. We're going to get on together.

Just because I called your little darling a coward...

Someday, you'll learn that courage is in the blood.

Now, take your little horse and run along.

Good riding, Judy!

What's the matter with him? I haven't seen...

- Well, how are you feeling now? - Oh, fine.

- How's the shoulder? - All right.

How you escaped being hurt, I'll never know.

- Ann, do you know something? - What?

That colt didn't throw me. I threw him.

- What are you talking about? - You know what happened?

I saw two jumps. I tried to take him over the wrong jump.

You saw two jumps?

Yes, that's what it was.

It was the ghastliest feeling. Everything went fuzzy.

Judith, why didn't you tell Dr. Parsons these things?

Oh, poor old befuddled Parsons. You know what he always says,

"My dear, you've been staying up too late smoking."

And the house is always filled with gangs of people and...

If only he knew what happened last week at the Colony.

What happened at the Colony?

An old lady was coming through. I knocked her umbrella out of her hand.

- Why? - Someone said I was drunk.

Another time, coming out of Helene's on Park Avenue,

I ran into a woman with her dog on a leash.

- I ran right into the leash. - Oh, Judith...

Oh, I didn't hurt the dog, but the woman was furious.

Confidentially, darling, this is more than a hangover.

If you don't tell Parsons these things, I will.

No you won't, Ann.

You're my best and my truest friend, and you won't tell a soul.

I wouldn't have told you except...

Well, I won't have a dumb animal blamed for my mistake.

Yes, Elizabeth, what is it?

- Dr. Parsons is here. - Dr. Par...

Look, I promised him you'd go to a specialist about that giddiness.

But I haven't any time for doctors. Martha, bring my things, will you?

Listen, darling, you may be really ill.

But I haven't time to be ill. It's just some minor nonsense.

Very well then. If you're going up to town, I'm going.

I won't have another tumble ruin your pretty clothes.

Don't be silly. I'm perfectly all right alone.

Oh, you're as stubborn as a mule.

Are we ready? - She says she's not going.

Thank you, Martha.

Darling, I've got so much to do.

You have the big specialist examine her.

Goodbye, children.

Careful.

No, I'm sorry, Dr. Parsons, I'm afraid it would be useless.

Dr. Steele has closed his office, you know. Uh-huh.

Permanently. No, he's not coming back.

- You're welcome. Bye. - Sounds good, eh, Wainwright?

- I'm gonna cry in a minute. - I gotta be out in 45 minutes.

What shall I do with this case of Dr. Parsons'?

He's worried. He asked me to hold you here by force if necessary.

You tell Dr. Parsons I waited nine years to catch this train.

I'm not gonna miss it just because some nitwit fell off her horse.

Listen to this,

"Miss Judith Traherne, daughter of the late sportsman and wire manufacturer."

- Imagine putting that in a case history. - You have Dr. Carter waiting for you.

Oh.

Say, I'm awfully sorry, doctor. I believe when I left, you were calling me an idiot.

- The boys at the club were talking. - Were they?

- They won't believe it. - What?

A man in your position giving up a practice like this.

Joe, what do you know about brain surgery?

Well, I think if I had the surgical courage, I'd be in it.

To go inside a human's skull

and tinker with the machinery that makes the whole works go.

- That is romance, isn't it? - Romance, huh?

There's your romance.

- Mmm. Florist bill? - Yes.

Flowers for my last patient. He was a gifted young composer.

The night before the operation, he started a new composition.

He didn't finish it.

- Maybe you read about it in the papers. - Yes.

Yes. The operation was a brilliant success.

But the patient just happened to die.

- That's a pretty old joke, Fred. - Is it?

Look at any brain surgeon's mortality rate...

you'll find out just about how unfunny it is.

Are you quitting because you've lost your nerve?

What?

- What else can a man think? - I'm going back to medicine.

- What do you mean, medicine? - A little laboratory on a farm in Vermont.

Medical Research Bureau is backing me. Fisher will do the pathology.

Incidentally, the best man in the country. So that's that.

How many men would give their eyeteeth for a practice you're throwing away?

- What is this research, actually? - Cells.

- Cells? - Brain cells.

Why do healthy, normal cells go berserk, grow wild? Do you know?

- No. - Nobody knows!

But we call them cysts and gliomas and tumors and cancers.

We hope to cure with the knife when we don't even know the cause.

Our patients have faith in us because we're doctors and...

You can tell the boys they can split up my practice. And welcome.

You and Pasteur.

Someday, somebody will discover a serum that will be to these growths

what insulin is to diabetes and antitoxin is to diphtheria.

And maybe earn his title of Doctor of Medicine.

- Yes? - Dr. Parsons is here.

- He is? He insists.

Well, I suppose I should be polite.