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Program Title
Credits Producer: Fernando Ghia Director: Alistair Reid Intro NOSTROMO/Episode 2/Intro by Russell Baker Joseph Conrad's epic novel "Nostromo" has more characters than a Charles Dickens blockbuster. There's Charles Gould: he's returned from Europe to re-open his father's ruined silver mine in the primitive South American country, Costaguana. Charles has brought his young wife Emilia with him, but he's begun to love the mine more than he loves Emilia. Several people love the mine now that it's turning out money. There are General Montero and his brother Pedro Montero. There is Colonel Sotilio. All three would kill for the mine, and do. Last time, we saw Montero murder Costaguana's liberal President, starting a rebellion. Charles Gould is in no doubt about the rebellion's purpose. He assumes the Montero brothers want his mine. And he's determined not to let them get it. Acting like king of the province where his mine is located, Gould is now bracing for war. He's preparing to dynamite the mine if he has to, to keep the Monteros from getting it. He has also imported a shipment of modern European rifles. There is one general Gould trusts -- General Barrios. So Gould arms Barrios's troops with the new weapons. The rifles were brought from Europe by Martin Decoud. Cynical, sophisticated -- a man who hates Costaguana -- Decoud stays on anyway because the woman he wants to marry won't return to Paris with him. Decoud is now editor of the local paper, writing inflammatory pieces that make him a prime target for killing by the Monteros. Finally, the man everybody calls "Nostromo": the fearless upright man they send for when there's a hard job to be done. Nostromo lives at an inn run by an Italian family. The mother of the family, Teresa, loves him as a son. Nostromo has promised to marry her older daughter, Linda. And afterward, to look after the younger daughter, Giselle. As we resume tonight, the Monteros are coming over the mountain and Colonel Sotillo is coming by sea, all desperados dreaming of fantastic wealth. Nostromo, Second Episode. Extro NOSTROMO/Episode 2/Extro by Russell Baker The mythical country Joseph Conrad created in "Nostromo" was like most real countries being run by the imperial powers at the end of the nineteenth century. Conrad had seen enough of them during his seafaring days. He knew what made them easy picking for Americans and Europeans. Imperialism ran on twin drives: One was a missionary impulse to civilize backward cultures. The other was greed. The typical target was an undeveloped country that offered foreigners a chance to develop it and get rich while civilizing the natives. Greed and goodness went hand in hand. Conrad made an American businessman the money power behind Charles Gould's operations in Costaguana. In the 1890s Americans were newcomers to the imperial way. The Western Europeans had been at it for centuries, but when Americans took the plunge, it was on the grand scale. American companies dominated many poor Latin countries with the support of the United States government… …And the always-present threat of American gunboats and United States Marines if the natives acted up. America's most grandiose adventure was the takeover of the Philippines. Americans were by no means unified about imperial glory. Mark Twain, for example, was bitterly outspoken against the Philippine venture, calling it a betrayal of American principles. Eventually. World War Two made America the world's greatest imperial power. By then, of course, it was the old European imperial powers, shattered by war, that needed saving from barbarism. For Masterpiece Theatre, I'm Russell Baker. Goodnight.  Episode number: 1 2 3
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