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Program Title
Credits Producer: Fernando Ghia Director: Alistair Reid Intro NOSTROMO/Episode 3/Intro by Russell Baker In this final installment of Joseph Conrad's "Nostromo," lust for Charles Gould's silver controls all events. Gould is desperate to keep it from falling into the hands of General Montero's oncoming army. Last time we saw him load it onto a small boat in dead of night and ask Nostromo to take it out to sea and wait for an incoming ship to take it safely out of the country. Nostromo's willingness to take on this dangerous job put him in a moral crisis. When Teresa, a sort of surrogate mother to him, told him she was dying and begged him to find her a priest, Nostromo refused. Always eager to enlarge his reputation for dependability -- he told her if he took time to hunt for a priest, he couldn't get the silver safely out to sea before Montero arrived. Martin Decoud was with him when his boat shoved off. As the newspaper editor whose writing had enraged Montero, Decoud's only hope was to make the risky voyage with Nostromo. At sea in the pitch-black night, the boatload of silver was rammed by a paddle steamer commanded by Colonel Sotillo. Sotillo was rushing so furiously through the night to reach the silver ahead of Montero that he didn't realize he had run right into it. Now, as the story resumes, the silver is hidden on an isolated strip of land that Nostromo was able to reach with his damaged boat. Nostromo has sneaked back into Sulaco, leaving Decoud behind for his own safety. Decoud, however, is a gregarious city man totally without resources for surviving in utter isolation. With only Gould's silver for company, loneliness has started to overpower him. Back on the mainland, as Montero's troops run amok, Nostromo -- the only man who knows where the silver really is -- is on a long, hard trip looking for General Barrios. He's the last hope for saving Gould and his mine. Now, Nostromo, final episode. Extro NOSTROMO/Episode 3/Extro by Russell Baker Joseph Conrad never lets you off easy, and at the end of this story he confronts us with a moral puzzle. Was it the silver that corrupted Nostromo? Or was it his own pride in being incorruptible? His troubles begin, you recall, with Decoud's suicide. To make sure his body will sink, Decoud has weighted himself with 4 bars of Gould's hidden silver. When Nostromo comes back to the treasure he finds them missing. It is a terrible moment for him. He has spent his life building a reputation for being a man people can trust. Now if he takes the silver back to Gould, the shortfall will be noticed and Gould will suspect he's stolen it. The blow to Nostromo's reputation would be crushing. To preserve that reputation he decides to make the entire pile of silver disappear slowly. So in a series of voyages abroad, he gradually coverts the silver into money. In other words, he seems to be stealing to remain an honorable man. But then, wouldn't it have been easier to ferry all the silver into deep water and dump it? Nostromo doesn't do that. Can we therefore conclude that it was greed that made him a thief? Nostromo thinks so. What Conrad wants us to believe is not so clear. Conrad was fascinated by moral ambiguities. Was Nostromo the last honorable man in Costaguana, or just another case of money's power to corrupt the best of people? For Masterpiece Theatre, I'm Russell Baker. Goodnight.  Episode number: 1 2 3
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