Playhouse 90 (TV Series)
The Plot to Kill Stalin (1958)
Eli Wallach: Poskrebyshev
Quotes
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Poskrebyshev : If you keep lifting Comrade Molotov above you, he'll probably get grand ideas.
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Stalin : That is the pattern for the next decade - after they've murdered me.
Poskrebyshev : [nervously] Surely all of this is academic, Comrade Stalin. You're not going to be murdered.
Stalin : No, I shouldn't like to be murdered, Alexander. After all, if I'm murdered, what would happen to you, huh?
Poskrebyshev : I don't find the thought comforting.
Stalin : Of course, if you put in with them, that might save you. Have you considered that, Alexander Poskrebyschev?
Poskrebyshev : I find that suggestion unpleasant.
Stalin : That's no answer. Every man seeks to preserve his own life. Tell the truth. You considered it!
Poskrebyshev : Of course not!
Stalin : You're lying. The head! I can see it in your face!
Poskrebyshev : As God as my witness...
Stalin : God?
[Poskrebyshev turns away nervously]
Stalin : God as a witness?
Poskrebyshev : It amuses you to provoke me, Comrade Stalin.
[Stalin laughs knowingly]
Stalin : Poor devil. You don't have much to show for your loyalty, do you? You know, Alexander, in Scandinavia, the old custom was to bury the king with a dog at his feet. You will be my dog, Alexander, won't you?