Prefigures

INT: A RESTAURANT, OXFORD - EVENING
SANDY and BINNEY are leaning on the bar, drinking ale.  They are getting on well.  They are waiting for ODELL to arrive.
SANDY
This Odell chappie.  Tell me more.  He's been to Everest?
BINNEY
No, he's not actually been.  But I believe he wants to go.  The Everest team needs a geologist, and he's the best expedition geologist in Britain.  He's a jolly fellow.  Very quiet, but hard working and with a great sense of fun.  Very keen mind, and a wonderful observer.  He never misses a thing.  He can spot a trilobite at a hundred yards.
SANDY
(laughing)
Well, we don't want any old fossils on this trip, do we?
Just then, ODELL enters the restaurant, looking around.  He recognises BINNEY, and then catches SANDY's eye.
ODELL
(under his breath)
My goodness!
We see ODELL smiling to himself, a twinkle in his eye.
INT.  SAME RESTAURANT, SITTING DOWN AT DINNER - A LITTLE LATER
The three are clearly enjoying their meal, and one another's company.
ODELL
... And there I was sitting eating my sandwiches with my wife.  Enjoying the tranquillity of the Welsh mountains, relishing the peace and quiet and solitude.  And then we hear this THUNDEROUS DIN...
ODELL is exaggerating; there is a twinkle in his eye again.  He warms to his story.
ODELL
... and a figure from hell comes charging up the hillside on this mechanical monster.
He beams at SANDY, who is both delighted and embarrassed, and is trying to conceal both emotions.
ODELL
I send him on his way, for the poor boy clearly hasn't a clue where he is...
SANDY
I say...!
ODELL ignores the interruption.
ODELL
And now I find that he clearly has no idea what's going on here either, for he's just volunteered to spend six weeks in the coldest environment known to man being nothing but a packhorse.
(beat)
So either the boy has no sense, or he is an inspired adventurer.
ODELL looks SANDY in the eye.
ODELL
And possibly both.
ODELL grins.  He is enjoying himself.
ODELL
(more seriously)
And I must say, Mr. Irvine, it is my very great pleasure to welcome you to this expedition.  I think we shall get along extremely well.
MONTAGE
1) The team sails to Spitsbergen.
2) The team puts up tents under the midnight sun (SANDY: "What time is it?" ODELL: "Two in the morning." SANDY: "GOOD HEAVENS!" Both laugh)
3) ODELL and SANDY share a tent.
4) SANDY navigates across the glacier, using a compass.
5) SANDY's good cheer and encouragement when they are caught in a blizzard.
6) Hauling sledges across ice fields, mile after mile.
7) Manhandling the sledges repeatedly over ridges of ice a dozen feet high: backbreaking work. 
8) We see SANDY assemble an ingenious pulley system, improvised with heavy steel karabiners and ice axes embedded
in the glacier, to ease the work.  His colleagues are delighted and impressed
9) Crossing crevasses; here, ODELL takes charge.
10) ODELL shows SANDY how to use an ice axe, and how to belay
11) ODELL and SANDY climbing a small rock peak.  At the summit, they shake hands, both exhilarated.
INT.  ODELL'S AND SANDY'S TENT - EVENING
ODELL
Have you really never climbed before? You looked like an old hand to me today.  I can hardly believe you're a novice.
SANDY
I can assure you I am! I was very glad you were holding my rope.
ODELL
And you mine.  It was a good day.
(beat)
What do you know of oxygen?
SANDY
(beat)
Oxygen? Well, we breathe it.  Plants exhale it.
SANDY is unsure what ODELL is driving at.  He decides to make a joke of it.
SANDY
Today I needed it when we got to the top!
ODELL
(seriously)
No, I mean oxygen apparatus.  What some people are convinced is needed to climb Mount Everest.
SANDY
Well! I've read the expedition books...
ODELL
... you have?
SANDY
Oh, yes.  Every word.  I share the view that oxygen is needed.
SANDY
In my view it's no more artificial than taking rations.  There's neither food growing nor oxygen occurring naturally high on the mountain.  Our bodies need both, so we must supply both.  The real problems are within the apparatus itself.
ODELL
Really?
ODELL is pleased.  This was where he wanted to lead to.
SANDY
(enthusiastically)
Yes, I've made some sketches.  I have my notebook here.
SANDY delves into a huge rucksack where he pulls out every manner of useful object - pliers, wire, a G-clamp, a screwdriver, a tin of glue, a pair of rayon stockings, and a length of ladies' garter elastic - all mixed in with his clothing.
ODELL looks on, with wry delight and some amazement.  At the bottom of the rucksack SANDY eventually finds his notebook.  It is very battered.  It has a pencil tied to it with string.
SANDY catches ODELL's eye.
SANDY
Saves losing it.  What good is a notebook without a pencil?
ODELL
Garter elastic? Stockings?
His eyebrows are raised.
SANDY
Oh, stockings make a fabulous filter.  For water, diesel fuel - anything.  And I used garter elastic in my little windmill.  It powers the feedback device in an improvised ratchet mechanism that exaggerates the movement of the washing line.  Gets my socks dry in half the time.
ODELL
I was wondering how that thing worked!
(beat)
But come, you were going to show me something in your notebook.
SANDY's ingenious tinkering impresses and pleases ODELL, but he doesn't need to know the details.
SANDY
Yes...
SANDY opens his notebook.
SANDY
...Here, you can see some sketches I made.  I think the flow rate could be better controlled AND the weight reduced if the cylinders were inverted.  To do that, you'd have to modify the valves, and the frames themselves, but that's easy.  See...
DISSOLVE TO:
INT.  ODELL'S AND SANDY'S TENT - LATER THE SAME EVENING
ODELL
Well.  Mr. Irvine, I'm most impressed.  Have you told anyone else of your ideas?
SANDY
No; no-one's ever asked me.  It's a kind of hobby, I suppose you'd call it.  I like designing things.  Many things we pay a lot of money for are very badly designed: not properly thought out.  For example...
ODELL
(softly but firmly)
Sandy, would you be interested if I were to recommend that you join us on the Mount Everest Expedition next year?
SANDY is clearly both flabbergasted and overjoyed (and is trying, unsuccessfully, to conceal both emotions)
INT.  THE ALPINE CLUB, LONDON - MORNING
The EVEREST COMMITTEE is meeting.  ODELL is present, as are a number of other dignitaries and members of the Expedition: JOHN NOEL, EDWARD NORTON, BENTLEY BEETHAM, JOHN HAZARD, PERCY FARRAR, FRANCIS YOUNGHUSBAND, TOM LONGSTAFF, ARTHUR HINKS.  GEORGE is among them.  The expedition leader, GENERAL BRUCE, takes the chair.  He is a large, jolly fellow, with a round face, a large belly, and a substantial moustache.  His voice booms.  He is warm, confident, and a natural leader of men.
BRUCE
Gentlemen! Friends! Fellow soldiers!
BRUCE
(beat, for effect)
It is my very great pleasure to welcome you again to this Everest Committee.  For those of you who are new, we extend you an especially warm welcome.  For those of you who put up with me last year...
He eyes GEORGE, JOHN NOEL - the expedition cameraman, a tall intense, wiry man - and COL. EDWARD NORTON, a tall beanpole of an ex-soldier, with piercing eyes - and nods.
BRUCE
... I offer you commiserations.
(beat)
As you know, I've never been one for protocol.
BRUCE reaches into a bag at his feet, and dramatically produces a bottle of Scotch.  He beams.
BRUCE
Pardon my unorthodoxy.  Gentlemen, before we start the boring but necessary business of the day - and I know we have a great deal to discuss and decide - I would like to propose a toast.
He stands, and gestures the others to fill their glasses.  They do so.  Those who know BRUCE from before love and respect this great character immensely.
BRUCE
(roaring with enthusiasm)
GENTLEMEN! A TOAST TO KING AND COUNTRY!
ALL
To King and Country!
BRUCE
And - gentlemen, wait: I'm not finished yet
(beat)
THIRD TIME LUCKY!
ALL
Third time lucky!
They all raise their glasses and drink up.  Those who know BRUCE are happy to join in the fun; those who are new look bemused and a little nervous.
BRUCE gestures those present to be seated.  He surveys his team.  Again, he pauses for dramatic effect.  No-one dares interrupt the show.
BRUCE
Well now, gentlemen.  This is the year when we shall climb this beautiful, wonderful and Godforsaken mountain.  It is possible that I might not manage to do so myself...
Laughter.
BRUCE
... but I feel confident that here we have the team which shall place a man - or I should say, two men, and maybe more - on the very summit of the highest spot on God's Earth.
(beat)
We have learned a great deal last year and in the year before.  We believe we know our way to the summit.  Mr. Mallory here...
He nods to GEORGE, who is intensely focused on BRUCE and his words.
BRUCE
... can be relied upon to find the final solution.  Is that not so, Mallory?
GEORGE has no chance to reply.
BRUCE
The challenge before us is not the willpower we possess, or our commitment, or our dedication, or even our strength or the love for our country.  It is in logistics, and weather, and...
(beat)
... if there is enough oxygen in the air up there, where God's Earth touches His Heaven, to allow a man the chance to do his best.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT.  THE ALPINE CLUB, LONDON - LATER THAT MORNING
The assembled team now have cups of tea and coffee and sandwiches all over the huge table where they sit.  Diagrams have been sketched on a large blackboard which portray the distribution of successive camps up the mountain. 
There are scribbled but detailed calculations of the necessary numbers of porters, and the quantity of food and fuel required at every stage.
BRUCE rises to his feet.
BRUCE
Very well, gentlemen.  If we discuss any more of these logistical details I think I shall explode.
(beat)
And, I assure you, that would not be a pretty sight.
Laughter.
BRUCE
I know from my experience in the Army that one can only plan for so much.  We plan for the worst, and hope for the best, as the wise man said.  And then we pray that we may all acquit ourselves gallantly in battle.  What may actually transpire is beyond our gift to predict.  But we shall give this a jolly good whack.
(beat)
Now, we come to a matter which I must say interests me rather more than how many tins of pea soup we should carry to the North Col, or whether a man can breakfast satisfactorily on sardines.  That is the important issue of the make-up of our team.  I have received representations that we should invite an unusual young man to join us.  Odell, I believe you know him well.
He nods to ODELL.
ODELL
Yes, General, thank you very much.  I have written to each of you with my recommendation that we extend our invitation to one Andrew Irvine, who is a student of Engineering at Oxford.  I have also mentioned that he is a boat race blue, and acquitted himself splendidly on our expedition to Spitsbergen in the summer.
(beat)
On those grounds alone, there are possibly many strong, enthusiastic young men whom we could invite. 
ODELL
But I would like to take this opportunity to tell you rather more than I could easily communicate in a letter.
(beat)
Irvine is not only apparently indefatigably strong, and eternally cheerful whatever the circumstances, but he is the most ingenious man - of any age - that it has been my pleasure to meet.  He is able to mend anything, apparently with nothing.  He delights in finding clever improvised solutions to mechanical problems.  He is a natural athlete, and he showed me that he can climb strongly, swiftly, and without fear.  And here...
ODELL produces some large pieces of paper from a folder on the table.
ODELL
... are some engineering diagrams he has produced by way of proposal that the oxygen apparatus be modified to be significantly more efficient.  He made these designs for his own amusement, even before I ever met him.  He tells me he sent them off to Siebe Gorman in Germany, who produced the apparatus, but that they did not reply.
(beat)
As a matter of fact, he also told me that he had even designed a device that would enable an aeroplane to fire bullets through its propeller without causing damage.  He sent them off to the War Office, who also failed to reply.  Apparently that was at the age of fifteen, when he was a public schoolboy.
GEORGE is suddenly sitting bolt upright.
GEORGE
(under his breath)
Good Lord!
ODELL
I am no engineer, but the boy explained to me in detail how the flow rate would be controlled better AND the apparatus lightened if his
ODELL
proposals were to be adopted.  When I asked him if he could estimate the cost of the re-engineering, he told me he could do it himself in his workshop at home.
By now everyone is leaning forward with interest, except for GEORGE, who is gazing out of the window.
GEORGE
What fate leads us forward?  I should not have been surprised that I had met Sandy before, in Reading.  But I had not remembered it till then.  The boy was keen on us long before we knew of him - as how many? But he, unlike them, was perfectly suited, a young genius of all the right qualities.  And here was Odell, coming on him in an entirely separate context.  It gave me pause.  How much are we in control of our destinies? We like to think that we are supremely rational Man! But there are other forces at work in life which we cannot deny.
NOEL leans over to him.
NOEL
I say, Mallory, what's the matter?
GEORGE
(unnerved, murmurs)
Irvine turned up at one of my lectures late last year.  I just remembered him.
He runs his hand through his hair.  He looks at NOEL sharply.
GEORGE
Am I meant to go, John? Is that what this is saying?
NOEL raises an eyebrow and turns toward ODELL again.
NOEL
George, do you mean your karma? You'd have to ask Chomolungma about that.
NOEL glances at GEORGE keenly.  NOEL is a fellow mystic who has travelled widely in the East, and he understands the Lamaist religion.
INT.  GEORGE'S STUDY AT HERSCHEL HOUSE - NIGHT
GEORGE is sitting at the large desk with a lamp burning beside him, the rest of the room dark.  It is very late.  Before him is the large photographic map of Everest we saw before.  He is scribbling on it in blue pencil, changing pencils, writing figures on a piece of paper, muttering to himself.
The room is untidy, with books and papers heaped everywhere, fine art on the walls, an old overstuffed armchair is a jumble of overcoat, hat, papers, ice axe, pairs of crampons and a bill for their mending.
RUTH appears at the door in her dressing gown, squinting.  She is lovely and soft-looking, with long brown hair tied back with a ribbon.
RUTH
Darling, are you still here? I thought you were coming to bed.
GEORGE looks up with a start.
GEORGE
Hmm? Hullo!
He yawns.
GEORGE
There you are, dear girl!
He puts an arm about her as she comes over.
GEORGE
What time is it?
RUTH
Three.
She leans down and squints at the notes he is making.
RUTH
What's this?
GEORGE
Route-finding.
He speaks matter of factly, still in the thrall of his work, then catches sight of her expression.
GEORGE
I haven't decided definitely...
RUTH raises an eyebrow, smiling a little.
GEORGE
Really! I told the Committee today that I hadn't decided.
RUTH
(with gentle patience)
But you want to go.
GEORGE
YES!..  and no.
His face becomes troubled and he lays his head on her hip.
GEORGE
You must help me to decide, my angel, what is best, for us, for the country.  For by God, I don't know it!
She ruffles his hair.
RUTH
You'll know it, when the time is right.  But not in the middle of the night.  Come to bed, my darling, or John will come to find Daddy asleep at the desk again.
GEORGE smiles for her benefit, looking up at her.
GEORGE
I will, in a moment.  Go on.  I'll be right along.
RUTH goes, and we see GEORGE turn back to his map and his notes.  He studies it for a moment, then, with inspiration begins marking it again.
INT.  SANDY'S WORKSHOP IN THE BACK GARDEN OF HIS FAMILY HOME IN BIRKENHEAD - MORNING
SANDY is tinkering with something mechanical, working on a small lathe to machine a metal part.  He is wearing goggles.  The workbench is festooned with bits and pieces.  There are tools of every description hanging on hooks from the wall.  There is a map of Everest, recently tacked to the wall behind him.
There is a knock on the door.  SANDY does not hear.  The knocking is repeated, more loudly.  SANDY switches off the lathe, lifts the goggles to his forehead, and turns to the door.
SANDY
Hullo?
His MOTHER enters, apologetically but in some evident haste and urgency.
MOTHER
Darling... so sorry to interrupt.  But there's a telegram for you.
His MOTHER waits expectantly, suppressing her own excitement.  She is aware of the possible significance.  She holds out the unopened envelope with an outstretched hand.  She stands still.
SANDY pauses for a second, as the importance dawns on him.  Then he rapidly plucks it from his MOTHER's outstretched hand and opens it quickly.
SANDY's eyes scan the telegram.  There is perfect silence.  Then he looks up.  There is a tremor in his voice.
SANDY
It says: CONGRATS APPLICATION ACCEPTED WELCOME TO TEAM REGARDS BRUCE
(beat)
(with expression and excitement)
Ye Gods.  I'm going.  I'm going!
He turns to the map on the wall.
SANDY
(softly)
I'm going.
INT.  GEORGE AND RUTH'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
There are amber shaded lamps and simple furniture done in Arts and Crafts style natural colours.
GEORGE's POV: He is having a nightmare.  He is on a rock wall, climbing nimbly.  His handhold breaks away and falls into oblivion.  He wakes with a shout, starts, and fumbles for the lamp.  RUTH is awake beside him.  She lays her hand on his turned shoulder.
RUTH
Darling.
GEORGE is sitting up now, rather dazed and shocked, lighting a cigarette mechanically.  He is distracted.
GEORGE
I'm sorry to wake you.
He smokes the cigarette for a moment, trying to shake himself out of the grip of the dream.  He runs a hand through his hair.
GEORGE
Bloody dream.
RUTH
Again? My poor dear, will this never end?
He lays her head on his shoulder briefly.
RUTH
What was this one?
GEORGE
A rock wall, unroped.  Just falling off.
(beat)
How many ways are there for a man to die on a mountain? And am I to experience them all?
He runs his hand through his hair again.
GEORGE
WHY is this happening! I've never been afraid on  mountains in my life.
RUTH
You've had no proper sleep for a week.  It's only nerves.
GEORGE does not appear to hear her.
GEORGE
I wonder if Scott had this problem?
RUTH leans forward to look into his face.
RUTH
What?
GEORGE looks at her.
GEORGE
I was just wondering.  Everyone has said that Scott's expedition was doomed from the start.  I wonder if he knew it too, suspected, had premonitions.
RUTH
There's no way to know THAT.
GEORGE
Perhaps there is.
He reaches for another cigarette, tapping the case, thinking.
GEORGE
I could ask Kathleen.
RUTH
You mean Hilt's wife?
GEORGE lights another cigarette.
GEORGE
Yes.  She'd tell me the truth.  She's a frightful bitch, but she'd tell me the truth.
INT.  Sunny parlour of HILTON YOUNG's house in LONDON - DAY, SEVERAL DAYS LATER.
Present are GEORGE, KATHLEEN and HILTON YOUNG, ELEANOR and GEOFFREY YOUNG.  GEORGE and KATHLEEN are sitting on the sofa before the fireplace, others are standing about talking of other things.
KATHLEEN is a beautiful, tall, brunette, slightly stout woman with regal bearing and a haughty manner.  She has obviously been talking a long while, not getting to the point.
KATHLEEN
So when Robert said to my brother Wilfred that he was to go to Vladivostok, he was delighted.  They'd meet up with the Terra Nova on Quail Island.
GEORGE is suppressing his impatience.
GEORGE
It must have been a terrific adventure for him to get the dogs there... But Kathleen, if I may? Can you tell me if Robert had any bad feelings or premonitions about the expedition before he departed?
KATHLEEN looks him fully in the eye, sharply and directly.  She begins to speak.
INT.  TAXI DRIVING THROUGH LONDON TRAFFIC - IMMEDIATELY AFTER
GEORGE, GEOFFREY and ELEANOR YOUNG are all silent.  The atmosphere is tense.  GEORGE looks shocked, and is smoking distractedly.  He speaks suddenly.
GEORGE
I don't want to go back to Everest again.
He looks at GEOFFREY, his old friend, rather wildly.
GEORGE
I can't go!
GEORGE
(beat)
My God, Geoffrey...
GEOFFREY puts an arm about GEORGE's shoulder.
GEOFFREY
Steady on, old thing.  It's just shell-shock.  It'll pass.
He speaks quietly, but his face is troubled.  GEOFFREY's artificial leg is stretched out in front of him.
INT.  THE MALLORYS' PARLOUR - SAME NIGHT
GEORGE and RUTH are sitting at the table with the lamps burning low and softly, the clocks tick, the children are in bed.  In the background, the housekeeper rattles dishes in the dining room next door.  There is a letter on the table from GEORGE's MOTHER.
INSERT: NOTE FROM GEORGE's MOTHER
GEORGE'S MOTHER
We see in the papers that Willie Irvine's son has Andrew has been chosen for the Expedition.  It is the great news of Birkenhead that two of our young men are on this very important expedition.  I see Mrs.  Irvine very regularly and will congratulate her on their choice.  I assume you have met him.  He seems a nice young man.
GEORGE
... Everyone seems to be expecting that I go and I cannot deny that I do want to, but... but... but...
He takes her hands on the table.  They have been over this ground many times.
GEORGE
I cannot get round the difficulties we have had.  You have been so patient and I know it has been so hard.  I feel I've quite let you down.  And there's Cambridge!  To be away for so long from such a new post is impinging so on their good graces.
(beat)
And there is what Kathleen said.  Darling, I WILL NOT walk off blithely to die for King and country, not for this. 
GEORGE
I don't want to be a dead hero.  I don't want to leave you for so long and leave you alone.
RUTH
There's no proof that what Kathleen said was right or true, George.  There is no proof that it was Fate, as you say.  They were benighted.  No one could have foreseen such bad weather.
She smiles a little.
RUTH
As for you, my darling, I don't want you to go.  You know that. 
I hate it when you go.  But this is a kind of duty, like the war.  Is it not?
She inclines her head.
RUTH
A larger duty, not only to King and country, but the world.  We endured that, and won through.  You came home to me safe.  After all you have endured up there, you have come home safe.  I know you are not reckless George.  I know you value us and think of us here in every decision you make.
(beat)
Who knows the mountain better than you? Who has given more? It would be a bad show not to finish what we have begun.
GEORGE
Do you think?
RUTH
(bravely)
Yes I do.  Finish what we have begun, and put it away for ever.  THEN we can have our lives, our life that we have always wanted together, and you can write, and do all the things you want to do, with your duty behind you, with honour, knowing that you did not shirk it.
There is a long moment of silence between them.
GEORGE
I love you, darling.  My angel, you are the wisest soul! You have given me such clarity, with such grace.
(beat)
(softly)
I shall go then.  I shall write to Hinks tomorrow.
He looks at her wistfully.
GEORGE
Thank you, darling.
MONTAGE
1) RUTH is walking alone in the garden.
2) GEORGE is working feverishly into the night again.
3) RUTH pops her head round the door, but this time decides not to interrupt.  The clock on the mantelpiece shows how late it is.
3) GEORGE is working out in the gym again, this time alone.
RUTH (V.O.)
I would not complain that we have never had a proper life together.  First there was the war, and then his climbs in the Alps.  Then Everest, and all those lectures.  I did not know when he gave me Whymper's Scrambles Amongst the Alps that this was the sort of life it meant, I did not know what it meant to be married to a climber.  But he did, and was too kind or frightened to say for fear that he would lose me.  And now he nearly did, last autumn.  Clare and Berry and John hardly know him.  Money has been so difficult.  Were it not for Father, I don't know how we should have survived.  He means so very well, poor George, but things never transpire quite as he plans. 
(beat)
What shall we do, if he does not come back? I cannot think it.  But Kathleen's story of Scott having just the same sort of dreams George has had did unnerve me.  He cannot know it.  He has so much to do, there are so many he is responsible for.  I cannot add to his burden. 
RUTH (V.O.)
But I want my husband, the man I fell in love with in Italy, and the life we planned.  We deserve it.  When he comes home we shall paint and write and have holidays with the children, and no more separation...