"ARNOLD OF SARATOGA" Property of: January, 1965 HE SELZNICK COMPARY, INC.PRERATORY NOTE These notes are by way of introduction to the enclosed synopsis of @ property owned by The Selznick Company, Inc. celled “Sir Judas". ‘Thies property consists of a story written by Oliver H.P.Garrett; treatments thereof on which I collaborated with Garrett; and an enormous amount of research. The synops! contained herein vas hastily prepared, and obviously does not contain any of the magnificent detail that our research uncovered or that we created. Furthermore, the treatments vere written years ago; and in going to work on it anew (Garrett hae died) with another writer, I would propose ‘to keep the bones of the story as they are, but to bring the detail up to date, particularly in the characterizations and the character relationships. Benedict Arnold is, in my opinion, one of the most fascinsting - Decause of the many and contradictory sides of his character, and his genius - characters in Anerican history. As a military strategist, he ranks with Lee and MacArthur; and wow that times have changed and there is no longer the fairy tele approach to our history, there bas been increasingly recognized what the great Washington knew from the outset - that Arnold was ty a wide margin the best commander in the American Revolutionary Army. (This vas ful on the proven also when, following his treachery, he was equally succ British side, and repeatedly whipped the Americans in Connecticut and elsewhere. Had the British put him in comand of their forces, which of course vould have been unthinkeble to them, the entire history of America might have been changed, and we might today be a menber of the British Commonvealth. ) Arnold was « reckless gambler, a libertine, a nan of strong passions and emotions, an egomanisc. He felt, with considerable jistioe, that he vas unappreciated (except ty Washington), and he had many grievances - someo2- Justified, some not - against the Continental Congress, and his fellow leaders of the revolution. ‘The attempted delivery of West Point to the British was simply the climax of hie series of perfidious acts, including the graft and corruption thet outrageously characterized his tenure as Military Governor of Philadelphia. Dut of his military genius there cen be no doubt; end many historians can be found vho vould attest to the fact that the revolution might have been lost but for bis gifts, notebly including the successful outcome of his heroic and inspiring behavior, under Getes, at Saratoga. Someone vith a sense of drama has erected at Saratoga a statue of a leg: Arnold's leg that was wounded at this famous battle - of the leg, not of the man (I should love to try to find a way of using this in the opening or closing of the film). ‘This film mist be, to an extent far transcending anything revealed ‘vy the synopsis, and paralleling the renarkeble love triangle (Arnold, Pegey and Andre), the story of the relationship between two men - Washington and Arnold. Washington not only recognized, a5 his associates did not, Arnold's great military talents; he loved Arnolé as a brother or son. Arnold’ ‘treachery was unquestionably one of the greatest blows of Washington's life. Hot only did he lose the coumander thet he valued most; not only was he made to appear foolish in the eyes of those against whom he had defended Arnold; he vas personally crushed. And in the writing and making of the film, I would of course portray not only Arnold as a great but pitieble human being, in effect peychoanalysing him, and revealing him in modern terms (as with Rhett Butler in “Gone With The Wind"), but I would take Washington out of the stained glase windows, and reveal too the human being under the seemingly stern front (which, incidentelly, I believe was the model for MacArthur's public behavior). The story itself is one of those ¢ in which, to use a cliche, ‘truth is stranger than fiction. he melodrena, particularly in view of the stakes, transcends anything since the betrayal of Jesus. But for the werestseries of flukes - including the unexpected arrival of Washington at West Point the morning of the planned delivery, Andre's failure to follow his instructions as to clothing and as to his route along the Hudson, and the fact that two hoodlums vanted to steal a pair of boots - there would have been no United States of America. For the revolution was in a bad way; and the British strategy vas to split the American forces, which required the taking of West Point. The deal vith Arnold was for fifty thousand dol2ers (the equivalent, I shouldgeess, of five million dollers today, and therefore a steggering sum), plus @ major general's commission in the British Army. ‘They kept their bargain. They also refused Washington's urgent offer to trade Andre for Arnold. The triangle love story is dealt with most inadequately in the synopsis that follows these notes, It seems to me inevitable that the British chose the sophisticeted and charming Major General Andre as the intermediary because he had been Peggy's lover before she married Arnold. ‘There are many legends about Andre also. In some versions, he was a hono- sexual, in othere he vas a fop and dilettante; in others he vas charming, gallant British officer who performed his assignment couregeously but recklessly. ‘This mich is recorded: thet Washington had a great respect for Andre; visited him in his cell before the execution, to express his regrets and to make clear thet he had no alternative, particularly in view of the recent banging by the British of the celebrated American spy, Nathan Hale; and that scores of American soldiers and officers were seen weeping as they watched Andre go courageously to his death. So we have a fine character to deal with in Andre aleo, I have not yet come to any conclusions as to the character of Peggy, about whom there are also many conflicting stories. She mst have ‘been quite beautiful. She ws certainly cympatheti¢ to the Tory cause, herparents having been rich people who were loyalists to the throne. (We mst make clear that the colonists vere far from being all in favor of independence; a very large percentage wished to remein British. And of course ve mst remember, in the casting of the film, in the accents ve shall use, that the great revolutioniste were almost all of British birth or extraction - although of course there vere other blood strains also among the leaders, as among the people as a whole.} Her role in the most fanous attempted betrayal in American history mst have been a very large one; and I think it likely that, as neither ‘the synopsis nor the treatments themselves even touched, she must have been an intermediary between Andre and Arnold. 0 here too we have snother great charscter, msking a total of four important principals; Arnold, Washington, Andre, Peggy. I would propose to open the picture vith just a few minutes of the great country ve know today: New York with its statue of Washington in the heart of, ‘the monetary center of the world, Wall Street, mad with perheps other revolutionary relics and monunents...The great plains, the grest cities, the great industries: in short, a montage of the greatest and most powerful nation on earth today. ‘This would be eccompanied by a commentary taking us back to less than two hundred yea: ‘ago, when we were simply a few colonies on the Eastern seaboard, with a sparse and tiny population and a series of provincial villages. And while I would probably vant to finish at West Point, as noted below, I would like to get some link from the Philedelphia of today, great metropolis as it is, to the Philadelphia of that time, the revolution's capital, with ite muddy streets, ‘through which rides, horsebeck, Arnold on his way to challenge the Continental Congress. We should show the great city of Washington, named after one of our principals. But the most dramatic portion of this introduction would be West Point as it is today, with the sound track explaining to foreign audiencesthat here ie the vorld's finest military acadexy, the school of most of our great military figures, including those that the world knows, euch as Lee and Grant and MacArthur end Eisenhower. We vould see "Ihe Long Grey Line", the precisionist cadets on parade; and gradually our camera would spread to the ‘bluffs of the Hudson, ite ever gentle waters marking, at this very point, the critical scene of waether or not there would ever be a United States of America. ..And I would go along the thirteen plaques that have been placed at West Point, one for each of the major generals of the revolution. We ‘would go across these until ve came to the thirteenth, where instead of the nane of Arnold, the traitor, there has been inacribed only the words "Ihe Battle of Saratoga". This preface is intended only to indicate the fabulous nature of the story, and the mood in which I vould approach the film. I think it 1s potentially one of the biggest and best pictures ever to be made. Its value as an American document is obvious. Its commercial appeal would, I think, be enormous, made with 70 mm and designed for road show exploitation. It should ‘be as big in the British Commonwealth as in America, perbicularly bearing in mind the completely sympathetic portrait of the British; the identity between Americans and the motherlend whose laws and customs and language are today ‘asic in America - end the strength of which are astonishing in view of the relatively small population of the country that is of British origin. ‘Tne Royalist cause would be shown most sympathetically. There is the renous legend, which I think ve should use, of Arnold, as a business man in London long years’after the war, noting the flag at half-nast over the Houses of Parliament, asking who had died, and being told that the homage was to Washington. ‘here is the great character ot Burgoyne - Gentleman Johnny - ‘the sophisticate who fought the Americans down from Canada through the woods of Upper New York State, accompanied by nis mistress and a group of Redcoats carrying bis bathtub. (Snaw caught the quality of Burgoyne in “The Devil'sDisciple"; he vas a man of the greatest intelligence, sophistication, education and vit.) And, tor the rest of the worid, I think the subject dvarts in interest euch stories as that of Lawrence of Arabia - because it deals vith the birth of a nev concept of government, with the greatest events in modern history in ite ultimate outcome, with the inauguration of democracy, and vith the rights of all people to be Justly represented in ‘their government. It 1s of current and monumental significance everywhere in the vorld, from Southeast Asia to the new and struggling uations of darkest Arrica. The synopsis serves one purpose, and one purpose only, to demonstrate ‘that there are no major problems of story construction: history has given us the tale - with @ beginning and a middle and an end, and with figures that axe not unrecognizably larger than life, but which ere of flesh end blood, ‘vith all of the conflicting drives and strengths and weaknesses that characterize all of the best and the worst of us. ‘And 80, to the synopsi David 0, Selznick‘Through the streets of Philadelphia, astride bis horse, rides ‘the proud and angry Major General Benedict Arnold. He strides into the session of the Continental Congress which is in a furor over the "excessive" demands of General Arnold for monetary reimbursement and other payment for his contribution to the Revolution. The crowd is colorful with famous (and now historic) names, as elegant Tories and die-hard Revolutionaries buzz with the news about the latest private offence of the controversial military leader. Peggy Shippen, vhose family has fairly pronounced Tory leanings, feels in her element as she hears the voices of dissension clamor first over Arnold's "bully- ing" of Congress, then over the humiliating American defeat at ‘Riconderoga, gravely announced ty John Hancock. Peggy 1s a daughter of the Auerican Revolution - headstrong, often forvard, fiercely loyal to unpopular and revolutionary ideas and men end gallent in her holly feminine end delightful way. She has been waiting, etimlated dy thie atmosphere of tension end i11-concealed hatred, for Amold's expected arrival. Great leaders argue to and fro - is Arnold to be forever admired for a career filled with overly daring exploits thet add glitter to hie name at the expense of human lives - and even worse, is be to be PAID for this? ‘Ah, but he has lost a wife and a fortune - in that order, his enemies seem to intimate - fighting for the Revolution. Give him what he vants and let's put him to use, especially now that times are getting 80 bad...‘The machinery of new and experimental government and miserable end ill-equipped armies, forever creaking and stalling - now grind to @ halt as a man of impatience and undeniable will dares to stand up and defy the system. Benedict Arnold rises to speak and the assenbly falls silent. Contemptuous, overbearing, abrupt, compelling, Arnold ad- Gressed his peers, states his terms and lets his aide, Colonel Lamb - vith a pstch over one eye and honey in his words - sing the praises of Arnold's illustrious contributions to the fledgling American nation. ‘As the Litany swells, Arnold notices Pegey, and asks who she might be. ‘This done, be brusquely interrupts Lanb, states he had not cone here to importune, but to inform those present of his demands - and with that, he unbuckles hie eword, flings it at the feet of John Adams, and exits. Outeide, Arnold is accosted by Colonel Wilkinson of General Gates" staff, who obsequiously suggests that the Major General see @ certain General Convay, who hes a plan to propose that will"bring Congress around," - to which Arnold blasts that he is not in the habit of making hinself available for the convenience of his inferiors. However, when Conway is discovered to be lodging at the hone of the Shippens, Arnold is mollified somewhat, and the meeting is scheduled for that night. And it is not surprising that the fewning Wilkinson should ve the forerunner of news that smacks of intrigue: Convay suggests ‘that Arnold is being used most unfarly - agreed - and thet his“3- Congressional troubles could very easily be the result of “mis- menagement" not by politicians, tut by military men, especially those at the top. Quickly Amold grasps that this is a ploy to get Washington removed from office - to be replaced as Commander in Chief by Convey. And, with a reaction common to heroes and idealists - yet somehow foreign to our notion of him - Arnold blasts into Conway, divorces himself from the very notion, and storms out of the room. For all his hardheaded treatment of war as a profitable venture, and his impatience vith ideals and oratory, Benedict Amold's loyalties are not totally non-existent, and seen to be en- ‘tirely channeled in one direction: toward George Washington. Already he has risked looking the fool, and agreed to resume his post as a Major General in the Revolutionary Arny at the request of Washington's Leutenant, Colonel Joseph Reed. Now this violent reaction to Conway's suggestion. Another meeting takes place between Arnold and Miss Shippen - who, it appears, has been involved with a British Major named John andre. We move to a larger battlefield. ‘The Redcoats are advancing upon the American troops across the Hudson river, under the leadership of "Gentleman Johnny" Burgoyne, replete with ceravens of luggage, @ mistress, a rocking chair, and a crude bathing tub, And Burgoyne is 4n no mood te be hunored - he has just read the mocking note left by Amold which informs him that bis planned liaison with the forces under General St Leger cannot take place since the letter has been unexpectedly sent up to Canada. Will the British accept General Arnold's invitation to teke him on further up and across the Hudson,or Will they sensibly retreat? Much to bis aides" dismay, Burgoyne chooses to forge ahead end smash the Anericens as best he can. But at the American camp, things are not as complacent as Arnold's tone might indicate. Despite his urgent desire to push ahead and attack the British before they attack, Arnold meets oppo- stion from his superior, General Phillip Schuyler - and, suddenly, xrom the odious figure of General Gates, who enters unexpectedly and announces that he is providing both the reinforcenents and the Jeadership for the American side of this encounter, Arnold is furlous, recognizing this as a move to further Gates' ambition at the expense of not only Arnold but George Washington as vell. Helplessly Arnold watches bis plans being destroyed as Gates prances about making arrangements for what will occur when - not if - the Americans are toreed to retreat! The battle begins with the roll of drums and all the f1ourish end confusion that divided leadership can arouse, Burgoyne seizes every advantage - Gates is more than generous - and seems about to ve the victor, mch to his initial surprise, when Arnold, despite the code of military protocol and obedience, taxes over, directs the different wildcat troops and launches an offensive that is successful in its daring and its tierce energy. Burgoyne can only stand amazed at the cunning and panache of Arnold - an admiration shared ty all of England, we learn from his couments. ‘me battle thunders on, and the Americans energe the victors.But not in every respect: General Gates, despite his botch of the command, will reap the laurels; end General Arnold has fallen 4m the thick of the fight, wounded seriously in the sane leg that vas nearly shattered et Quebec. Arnold is recupersting from the vounded leg, but not too comfortably. The news that the injury might permanently remove him from active service he greets with his usual blast, but his sister Hannah reports that the weather at Valley Forge is doing more than all of Howe's troops ever could do to undermine the American forces. Amold arranges a rendezvous with Peggy, and mitual attraction turns into an affetr. - At Washington's quarters at Valley Forge we meet the man ‘behind the legend - a man who admits to some of the stolidity and lack of fire that history has cemented upon him, in @ curiously humble and engaging way. "Have you never noticed . . . that solid and reliable men like myself, equipped with mo more than common sense, often have vbat you call a ‘weakness! for erratic geniust. . - ‘Arnold is brilliant.” Ee knows that Amold is unhappy, that bis leg 4s troubling him, and that he needs rest, and a period of recupera- tion. Accordingly, although he is surprised by Arnold’s request that he be appointed, tor a brief time, Military Governor of Philadelphia, (Yor the British bave been driven out) he grants hie request - in a scene between the two men in which Arnold is touched by his great superior's complete faith and consideration, in which they drink and leugh together. Washington knove little of Arnold's