Chapter 17 of 18 · 5'04"
Hartwell and his men storm the press room hunting the escaped Earl Williams. They find a gun on Hildy and recognize it: "this is the gun that Williams shot his way out with." Walter insists he gave it to her for protection, and the fight turns on who owns it.
❝ Monologue · 4 lines Walter stands his ground
Accused and cornered, Walter stays formal and turns the room against his accuser.
The Sheriff Finds the Gun
The Sheriff Threatens Walter
Hartwell and his men burst into the press room looking for Earl Williams. They take a gun from Hildy Johnson and say it is the one Williams used to shoot his way out. Walter Burns claims he gave it to her for protection. Then the sheriff threatens to impound the desk that is hiding Williams.
The gun is the whole scene in miniature. Hildy is holding the weapon Earl used to escape, and Hartwell treats that as proof that the Morning Post has been hiding a fugitive. Walter's defense is technically true and completely beside the point — he did give her a gun, just not this one — and he keeps talking his way through it: "My good man, are you trying to make me out a liar?" The real contest is over the desk, and everyone in the room knows Earl is inside it. Hartwell's threats — a fine, impounding the paper's property, putting Walter behind bars — are the bluff of a man who cannot prove what he suspects. Meanwhile Mrs. Baldwin is dragged in claiming she was kidnapped, which turns the raid into farce.
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
“I don't care if you've been after her. Our lives are at stake!”
It slams private romance against life-and-death urgency, and the priority is unmistakable.
Informal
“Are you going to let a woman come between us?”
It turns a rivalry into a wounded question, and the guilt trip is both funny and desperate.
Informal
“You and the Post are obstructing justice.”
One legal charge turns a personal feud into a crime, and the threat lands hard.
Formal
“You say that again, I'll kick you in the teeth!”
A threat with a comic snap, angry and funny in the same breath.
Informal
“My good man, are you trying to make me out a liar?”
Polite address wrapped around an accusation, menace in a gentleman's tone.
Formal
Make your accusations in the proper manner. Otherwise, I'll have to ask you to get out. Ask me to what? Get out.
Up next · 18whistle in the darkThe scene: Earl Is Captured in the DeskThe scene shows it is the gun Earl Williams used to shoot his way out of jail. Walter says he gave Hildy a gun to protect herself while interviewing Williams, but the sheriff says this is the same weapon.
Because he suspects Earl Williams is hidden inside it. He threatens to hold Walter in contempt, fine the Post $10,000, and seize the paper's property to force the truth out.
It means the questioner is looking in the wrong place. When the sheriff demands to know where Williams is, the answer is that he is chasing the wrong target.
She is Bruce Baldwin's mother, Hildy's future mother-in-law. She is dragged into the press room claiming she has been kidnapped, and she points out the man she says ordered it.
Yes. The desk in the press room is hiding Earl, which is why Walter will not let it be moved and why the sheriff's raid matters. The gun Hildy has came from Earl's escape.
