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attended the seminary. I had wanted to become a priest. That was, of course, before I found a new faith to believe in. And entered politics.”
     
    “Yes –” Wise nodded. “I’ve heard some things about that new faith. You’ve changed it to am Anfang war die Tat . The deed, the action.”
     
    “Just so. And I would not have expected an American screenwriter to quote our Goethe.” The bright gaze grew sharper. “When you write a script, Herr Wise, when you first see that film inside your head – do you not start with an action? Something that happens, something that determines all that is to follow? That is why films are so important to people. They can see things happening. In that, there’s really no difference between the films made here, guided by National Socialist principles, and those you make in Hollywood. What is different here is that we are making a new world with them. Die Tat  – not das Wort .”
     
    Herr Wise seemed to be caught at a loss. To Marte, it appeared as if Joseph’s smooth words had overwhelmed the American visitor’s understanding of the language – as though again he had to take a few seconds to sort out the pieces he hadn’t caught immediately.
     
    “Perhaps,” continued Joseph, “you would find it interesting to work here in Berlin.”
     
    “What would I do?”
     
    “Make films, of course. What else does a producer do? Perhaps the Wise Studios might appreciate a European partnership.”
     
    Wise didn’t return the other man’s smile. “I’ve had partners before. Sometimes they work out.”
     
    “Yes? Was there one in particular?”
     
    “When I was a kid, back in Red Hook. I used to set up bare-knuckle matches for myself. Just to get something to eat. Won most of them. Another kid, this polack I was friends with, would hold the bets, and then we’d take our splits afterward.”
     
    “Ah. But something happened, I take it? To break this . . . partnership?”
     
    “Yeah.” Wise nodded. “I went the distance with a guy who stood a head taller, outweighed me by, I don’t know, maybe twenty pounds or so. The only reason I won the fight was that I was still standing at the end. When I got my eyes open again, I found that my partner had run off with the money, figuring I wasn’t going to make it to the other side. Took me two days to track the sonuvabitch down.”
     
    “And did you get your money, Herr Wise? Your winnings?”
     
    “Pretty much. But not without another fight.”
     
    “Ah.” The Reichsminister regarded him with renewed appreciation. “You are indeed a man of more than das Wort . Tell me, was this early partner of yours also a Jew, such as yourself?”
     
    “No.” A shake of the head. “I told you. He was Polish.”
     
    “Ah, yes.” Joseph smiled again. “They are beasts. We have our own problems with them –”
     
    “Your crowd seem to have problems with a lot of different kinds of people.”
     
    Marte watched Joseph’s smile tighten. “The things that one hears in America, Herr Wise, should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt. But you have my apologies; I have let our conversation stray from the more pleasing matters of art. One of which we are fortunate to have here with us. May I present to you Fraulein Marte Helle?” Joseph tilted his head toward her. “A great future lies before her. She has appeared in but one film – starred , as I believe you Americans would say – but the praise her talents have received has been most gratifying to me.”
     
    “It’s a pleasure, Miss Helle.” The American smiled and nodded at her, then turned his gaze back toward Joseph. “And you’re right, of course. When I saw her in Die Prinzessin  – that’s the movie you’re talking about? – I could see that she was a real find. A natural.”
     
    “I’m not sure what you mean, Herr Wise.” Joseph frowned. “How could you have seen Prinzessin ? The studio has not even yet released it to the theatres here in