TODAY'S NUGGET: The Jazz Singer (1980) - Bad Film, Good Script; When A Nice Couple Listens, But Does Not Hear

[Quick Summary: Against his father's wishes, a young cantor leaves his synagogue to take the shot to be a pop singer.]

This film, starring Neil Diamond (yes, you read that right), is a remake of the first talking film from 1927 film with Al Jolson.

Apparently it wasn't a hit with critics. ex. Roger Ebert's one star review which cites serious miscasting and shifting the story to the present time.

Yes, the story is somewhat unbelievable, but I thought the script was an absorbing read and I couldn't wait to turn the page.

A few reasons were:
- The characters' points of view - especially what they wanted - were very clear.
- I could see arguments for both sides.
- Very important: I felt the consequences of the decisions.
- Neither Jess or his wife Rivka is the bad guy. Both sides are listening, but not hearing each other.
- They are beginning to discover how far apart their goals are, and that conflict can't be resolved by staying together.

For example, in the scene below between Jess and Rivka:
- Jess has gone to Los Angeles. A big time rock star wants to perform Jess' song.
- Jess disagrees with the star and gets fired.
- Molly is the record label's artist relations manager.
- Molly has single-handedly been helping Jess get noticed.
- Rivka is Jess' wife who has stayed back home.
- I really liked that Rivka empathizes with Jess' feelings ("you go all the way out there..."), but also makes her stance clear without nagging ("you can bring it home as a souvenir").
- Jess also expresses his wishes to sing for audiences ("Maybe something'll happen....it sounds like a real record").
- Neither party is hearing the other person's underlying needs.

INT. SYNAGOGUE SOCIAL HALL - DAY

...RIVKA: Hello?

INTERCUT WITH: 

JESS ON PHONE

JESS: Hello from Hollywood.
RIVKA: Well, hello, stranger.
JESS: I'm sorry I couldn't call. You won't believe what's going on. I got fired.
RIVKA (genuinely sorry): Oh, Jess. I'm sorry. I really am.
JESS: No, no, it'll be okay.
RIVKA:  Some okay. You go all the way out there to turn around and come home.
JESS: I'm not coming home.
RIVKA:What?
JESS (quickly): I mean not right away. I moved in with Bubba. I'm staying the two weeks. Maybe something'll happen.
RIVKA:  Something did. You got fired.
JESS (good-naturedly): Yeah...but at least I got a pretty good demo out of it.
RIVKA:What's a demo?
JESS: Well, I sang at the Lennox session and they made a cassette out of it. You play it for agents, producers...it sounds like a real record.
RIVKA: Good. You can bring it home for a souvenir.
JESS: How's papa?
RIVKA: Counting the days. You want me to get him?

Molly drives up and honks her horn for him.

JESS (sees Molly) No, uh, look - I got to go now. Molly has an appointment to play my Demo for one of the biggest booking agents in town. I'll call you over the weekend. Bye.

He hangs up. 

ANGLE ON RIVKA

looking at the dead receiver.

RIVKA: Who's Molly?

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I really liked how real the dialogue felt.

Both sides of the conversation are figuring out, "Oh, our real goals are actually far apart," in real time, so they assume things, forget to mention things, etc.

The Jazz Singer (1997)(3/13/80 revised)
by Stephen H. Foreman and Herbert Baker
Based on the play by Samson Raphaelson

TODAY'S NUGGET: Joe's Apartment (1996) - An Unpredictable Introduction of the Roach Allies (Yes, Literally Roaches)

[Quick Summary: Straight from college, naive Joe has to share run-down apartment with singing, dancing cockroaches in New York City.]

I stumbled across this script in my search for anything else by writer-director Paul Brickman (Risky Business (1983)), who keeps a rather low profile.

To me, Brickman adds a wild, unexpected inventiveness to what otherwise might be predictable satires.

For example, in this scene below:
- Joe lives in a badly run down apartment. 
- The landlord wants to sell the building, but Joe is one of the remaining tenants.
- He sends his nephews Boris and Vlad, to scare Joe.  They break into Joe's apartment in the middle of the night.
- Joe sits up in bed, scared.
- What was interesting was how Joe's unlikely allies were introduced.  At first, they appear to be a mysterious, even a potential threat.

INT/EXT: JOE'S APT. WINDOW - NIGHT

CLOSE
Joe's eyes. He's beside himself with fear. The Nephews throw stuff around. Joe's eyes react to an unseen WHISPER.

WHISPER: Psst! Pick this up!

JOE'S POV
A dirty flashlight rolls by itself across the floor under the curtain. Joe's hand grabs it. 

WHISPER: Point it at your face. When I saw "now" -- turn it on.

JOE (Bewildered): Who--

WHISPER: Ssshh!

Vlad and Boris stomp around the practically empty apartment. They turn their backs to the curtain, behind which Joe huddles. The curtain trembles.

BORIS: Where is he?!

Joe SNEEZES behind the curtain. Slowly, murderously, the criminals turn to face the curtain. Their faces twist into hideous smiles.

They step forward and RIP the curtain open.

                                        CUT ON SOUND TO:

WHISPER: NOW!

CLICK! Joe turns on the flashlight. TWO DOZEN OR MORE LIVE ROACHES CRAWL ACROSS HIS FACE.

REVERSE ANGLE
Boris and Vlad, in shock. They SCREAM. They turn to look at each other and SCREAM again.

ANGLE
The ceiling above Boris and Vlad. It's SWARMING with COCKROACHES. Stirring Military MUSIC.

ROACH LEADER (Barking out an order): Paratroop Maneuver Alpha!

ROACHES (In military-style unison): SIR. YES, SIR!

ROACH LEADER: BOMBS AWAY!

The Roaches PEEL OFF the ceiling in flawless fighter/bomber formation. 

A HUGE ROACH lands on Vlad's RIGHT HAND. Vlad gasps in shock.

Another HUGE ROACH lands on Vlad's LEFT HAND. Vlad gasps again.

The ROACH LEADER lands squarely on VLAD'S NOSE.

ROACH LEADER: Gimme a kiss, asshole.

VLAD emits a HIGH-PITCHED, GIRLY SCREAM.

Boris, trembling violently, backs off.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: What kept me engaged was that Joe's allies were the opposite of what I expected (sweet vs. threatening). 

The unpredictability kept the tension up: What would happen next?

Joe's Apartment (1996)(5/10/4; 3rd draft, 2nd revision, "Incorporating many valuable ideas and suggestions from Paul Brickman" [sic])
by Joe Payson
Adapted from a short by Joe Payson

TODAY'S NUGGET: The Fight For Life (1940) - Rare Glimpses at a Director's Intentions for the Music

[Quick Summary: After an intern witnesses death in the pregnancy ward, he goes to a clinic in the slums to learn more about preventing maternal morbidity.]

Why was this respected documentary* included as the last script in a book of feature films? I found the script rather dry, with a long, dry preface/memo.  

The latter was the writer/director's instructions to the composer regarding what music he needed written. 

The key was in re-reading the memo. The film is silent for about 2/3. The writer/director cut the remaining 1/3 to unwritten music, which was only in his head. 

Aha!  So this script and memo are rare glimpses into the working relationship between writer/director and composer!

Here is the director's comments about this memo:

This memorandum never was intended for publication, but I asked the authors [of this book] to include it because The Fight For Life was so much a musical picture the bare text seems meaningless without at least some mention of the score and how it was created, and because I felt it might help explain the technical construction of the picture. 

...reading it now I find it not only an awkward bit of writing, but is such a shorthand description of the intent of the whole story I can understand why, when he first read it, Louis [Gruenberg, the composer] went reeling home talking to himself.**

THIS IS WHAT THE DIRECTOR'S MEMO SAID:

LIFE: ...The minute the child is born, the baby's fluttering heart dominates the beat, so for this transition, except for any passage you may like: a trumpet cry; a crescendo- any device you may wish to use for the birth pain -- is merely a cue for a different beat.

Within half a minute the doctor discovers the woman is dying; -- again the film is directed and cut to a specific time -- the heart is pounding to hang on -- the dramatic change in the score is that suddenly the mother's heart again takes over -- the slower heart surges under the baby's heart beat, and instead of growing weaker, musically, the heart grows in volume, if slowing in tempo -- it goes -- Bang -- BANG -- BANG ----the baby's counterpoint sound to hold our intern until he walks into the corridor and starts for the street.

DEATH -- Approximate time -- three minutes.

THIS IS THE PART OF THE SCRIPT THE MEMO APPLIES TO:

- Dr. Leetons is the attending physician. Mr. O'Donnell is the intern.

In the DELIVERY ROOM...And lifting the edge of the drape covering the patient, [the intern Mr. O'Donnell] takes the fetal heart tones, the Writing Nurse timing him, looking up at the clock on the wall, as the second hand of the clock is seen revolving. 

Now the nurse taps O'Donnell on the back to stop him, and he straightens up.

WRITING NURSE (removing O'Donnell's ear pieces): Baby's heart beat a hundred and fifty.

Leetons is in a waiting position while the patient's face is again seen to be distorted with pain. He looks up, spreads his hands, and nods to the Anesthetist, who then puts a mask over the patient's face. The Scrub Nurse now hands him a clamp for the baby's cord, and Leetons puts the used instrument into a pan at his right. He is also given scissors and a belly band. (The baby's heart tones start up at 150, in counterpoint to the mother's at 100.)

And now the Floating Nurse is wheeling in the baby's table, and Leetons puts the baby in. The nurse covers it with a towel and wheels the table around. We see the baby being placed in the crib, a heat crib, and being straightened by the nurse's hands. 

Now the Anesthetist takes the mother's pulse. The Scrub Nurse and the Floating Nurse push the table extension in place, lift the patient's drapes, and straighten her out. While the Scrub Nurse walks to the sink with the instrument tray, the Floating Nurse carries a basin to the sink, and returns for a second pan, stepping around O'Donnell, who is looking toward the baby. Then Dr. Leetons walks to the patient's side and putting a hand under the sheet, feels her abdomen. (The baby's heart tones fade, while the heat beat of the mother starts to speed up.)

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I liked how the writer/director was very specific about his intentions for the tempo, thoughts on cues, time limits, etc. 

It sheds light on what is more, or less important to the director.

The Fight For Life (1940)
by Pare Lorentz
Adapted from the Maternal Welfare Chapters of The Fight For Life by Paul deKruif

*A bit of random trivia: Apparently, the author of the book refused to sell it to the studios, and offered it free to the U.S. Government. It was the last sponsored government film.

**This film gave composer Louis Gruenberg his first Oscar nomination for Best Original Score. 

TODAY'S NUGGET: Yellow Jack (1938) - Using the Environment to Inform the Audience About a Character

[Quick Summary: Since no one believes that mosquitos are carriers of yellow fever, Major Walter Reed asks five U.S. soldiers in Cuba to become human test subjects.]

Q: How do you possibly make a standard biopic interesting?
A: For me, it lies in the character of Dr. Finlay, a cranky, irascible physician with a huge chip on his shoulder.  He's of Scottish-French descent, but grew up in Cuba.

Q: Why is he so cranky?
A:   No one will publish his theory about the transmission of yellow fever for the last 20 years, and the medical community have openly mocked him.

Q: What makes his introduction memorable?
A: The writers do a great job of using the environment to convey something about a character. It's spooky, odd, makes us uneasy, just like Dr. Finlay.

In the scene below:
- Major Reed has just asked Dr. Finlay for some of his unhatched mosquito eggs, in order to conduct human experiments.
- Reed, Agramonte, Lazear, Carroll are all U.S. soldiers.
- Notice how the writers use the environment to inform us about Dr. Finlay's character: musty books, shuttered windows, creepy cages of mosquitos speak to a research who cares about his work, not looks.
- It tells also draws us in, makes us curious.  What is this mystifying, unknown we're about to step into?

The scene dissolves into a close-up fo a CAGE OF LARGE STRIPED STEGOMYIA MOSQUITOES, which flash as they move about and give forth a curious droning sound. Then the view, drawing back, discloses DOCTOR FINLAY'S STUDY, a dimly lit room with curious angles. It has many cabinets containing the complex paraphernalia of a doctor and scientist...cases of musty books...a long table strewn with evidence of intensive and lonely study. In a corner near a shuttered window is the cage, placed on a table. Also on this table are several porcelain dishes covered with gauze. These contain dry eggs of the Stegomyia. DR. FINLAY leads MAJOR REED and his doctors up to the "menagerie."

FINLAY (pointing to the mosquitoes as they cling against the inside of the screen): You see her there... (He speaks with the purring affection of a connoisseur, relating the admirable qualities of his specimens.) My silver beauty...my spoiled darling! Do not think that she is a wild creature of the jungle. Ah, no....She is highly civilized. She would die wi'out your society - and epicure...feeding on the softest and tenderest parts of the human flesh...under the wrists or along the ankles...never on the face or the top of the hands. (With a soft chuckle) Those places are the most easily...slapped!

REED (peering closer to the screen): These are all females?

FINLAY: Aye...a bevy of bonny lassies, each wi' a kiss of death. The male is decent. He is not a vampire.

CARROLL (sharply): How did you pick this one out of eight hundred different kinds?

FINLAY: By her habits! She alone cannot live in the swamps. She alone can live only with human beings. She alone deposits her eggs only in clear pure water, in artificial objects - glasses, pitchers, flower pots....Is she not Greek in her purity?

REED: Amazing! 

AGRAMONTE: Horrible!

LAZEAR: Fascinating!

CARROL (to Reed): Let's get out of here.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I learned a lot about Dr. Finlay simply seeing his carefully curated cages of flesh eating mosquitos.  

And the fact that he's so proud of the mosquitos?  It's another level of depth. 

Yellow Jack (1938)
by Edward Chodorov
Based on the play by Sidney Howard, in collaboration with Paul de Kruif

* What is yellow fever?

It is a epidemic prone, viral disease that is spread by mosquitos.  Its symptoms are fever, muscle pain, headache, nausea and vomiting. A small percentage of people infected with the virus develop a life-threatening form of the disease that involves high fevers, internal bleeding, vomiting of blood and jaundice—which is where the “yellow” in yellow fever comes from. It has been estimated that for every 1 case of severe infection, there are between 1 and 70 infections that are asymptomatic or mild.

TODAY'S NUGGET: The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) - Seeing the Temptation Before Introducing the Tempter

[Quick Summary:  After a New Hampshire farmer exchanges his soul to the devil for money, his life spirals, and asks Daniel Webster to defend him in a trial.]

How do you introduce the Devil in an interesting way?

This script uses a great trick of psychology: show the temptation before introducing the tempter.

In the scene below:
- Jabez (protagonist) is a poor farmer, who is behind on payments to the landlord.
- He lives with his wife Mary and his mother.
- Mary has just taken ill.
- Jabez is now hurrying to pay the landlord.
- Jabez often pays with seed instead of cash. 
- Notice what showing the temptation first does to Jabez's psychology.  This "favor" puts him in a more receptive mind to listen to the Devil.
- This is also a good introduction for the Devil. We see why he's not to be trusted before we actually see him.

THE BARN: Jabez takes a sack of seed, throws it on his shoulder. At this moment the sack opens and all the seed runs out into a dirty pool of water.

JABEZ: That's enough to make a man sell his soul to the devil! And I would, too, for about two cents!

He stops abruptly, realizing what he has said and appalled by it. He looks around him, fearfully.

JABEZ: I guess nobody heard. I hope not.

Jabez jams his hands in his pockets and a horrified expression comes over his face. He slowly takes out his right hand. In the palm are two big copper pennies.

A VOICE (speaking smoothly): Good evening, Neighbor Stone.

Jabez turns around and sees a figure -- well-dressed, looking rather like a salesman. Jabez stares at him, speechless. 

THE VOICE: My name is Scratch -- I often go by that name in New England.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: This is another way to introduce a character that I'd not considered before, i.e., their actions first, the character second.

The Devil and Daniel Webster (a,k.a. All That Money Can Buy)(1941)
by Dan Totheroh and Stephen Vincent Benet
Based on the story, "The Devil and Daniel Webster" by Stephen Vincent Benet

TODAY'S NUGGET: The Good Earth (1937) - Cultural Details Give Context (& Maintain Relevancy)

[Quick Summary: After farmer Wang Lung marries O-Lan, a neighbor's servant, they face both famine and fortune during the birth of the Republic of China.] 

Q: What makes this 87 year old story* still relevant?
A: The cultural details.

Q: Big deal! Why can't you just look them up in an encyclopedia?
A: It's not just identifying them, but also explaining/interpreting/suggesting the thinking behind them and shed new light on the deeper meaning.

Q: Can you give an example from this script?
A: I've often heard Asian kids joke/not joke that one common trait of their Asian parents is that they're "not big on compliments." 

However, I'd never asked where do these cultural behaviors come from?

This script offered a possible answer: that a long-standing superstition had become ingrained into unconscious behaviors that we see today.

In the scene below:
-  This scene gave me a possible rationale for parents "checking" pride in their kids. 
- The rationale is that if a child boasts, he is likely to get "too big for his britches."  The parent seeks to appease the gods before they struck the kid. 
- Wang Lung and his family are celebrating Chinese New Year by bringing gifts to the gods at a shrine.
- They see hundreds of Northern travelers fleeing famine to the South.
- O-Lan's mother had previously sold her daughter to the neighbor for silver for food.
- Ching is Wang Lung's cousin.
- Notice what the Father is doing to protect his son.

 As they still stare with solemn faces, we see the ROAD BETWEEN THE HILLS where the procession winds wearily on, following which we again see the GROUP, with the FAMILY in the foreground:

O-LAN (in a low voice, to Wang): It was famine that made me a slave.

WANG: Oh, that's what happens when a man has only one field. (As he looks about him with pride) But I have five. (With unconscious, naive egotism) We must thank the gods for giving me such foresight.

But the villagers are obviously terrified.

VILLAGERS (muttering anxiously): We've had no rain-- The birds have gone --

WANG (cheerily): It'll rain, it'll rain! We've nothing to be afraid of. We're safe here -- there'll be harvest for all --

FATHER (terrified): What talk is this? (He looks up into the sky and shouts) Forgive my son! He's young and stupid and talks too much!

CHING: No, no - a man who can turn one field into five may speak for the gods!

VILLAGERS (relieved): Very true -- Wang knows -- We're safe here --

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: This script stands out because it did not just get the cultural behaviors right, but went deeper to give them context.

The Good Earth (1937)
by Talbot Jennings &Tess Slesinger, and Claudine West
Based on the novel by Pearl S. Buck

*FYI: The underlying novel is by author, Pearl S. Buck, whose parents were missionaries in China. Mrs. Buck's novels been widely praise, leading to her winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938 for “for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces”,

TODAY'S NUGGET: Juarez (1939) - The Best Way to Give Two Possible Endings

[Quick Summary: In 1863, Benito Juarez, the new president of Mexico who has taken land from the rich for the poor, is maneuvered out of office by unhappy Mexican politicians, and French Napoleon III, in order to install Austrian prince Maximilian von Habsburg as emperor.]

I admired, but did not like, this script, co-written by director John Huston.

It is essentially about historical political maneuverings, which is hard to make cinematic, unless it's about individuals (see my Reds review).

However, I found the ending interesting because:
1) It resolves how Juarez and  von Habsburg both had similar hopes for Mexico, but only one (literally) could survive.
2) The script include two possible, good options, for the ending, which is unusual.

In the ending below:
- Maximilian von Habsburg has just been shot.
- The first ending is more metaphorical, cinematic, and features children, i.e., the future of Mexico.
- The second ending is more conventional and simple (and probably cheaper).

A frightened DOVE is seen flying as the sound of a volley is heard This dissolves to a CHAPEL from the entrance a coffin is seen on a catafalque in the presbytery. A figure comes into view and goes slowly down the nave. It stands motionless over the coffin, and as the scene moves up to a close view BENITO JUAREZ is seen looking down into an open coffin in which rests all that is mortal of Maximilian von Habsburg. A look of pity softens his stone face, following which a wider view shows Juarez straightening up and starting from the coffin.  He continues up the aisle of pews. --He passes an Indian woman who is kneeling in prayer. On her back, int he folds of her serape, she carries her baby, a robust Indian boy of a few months. The baby sucks on his fingers as he gurgles to himself.

The moving scene stops with Juarez as, attracted by the sounds from the baby, he pauses to look at it, following, which a close view of the BABY shows its velvet black eyes fixed on Juarez, as its face crinkles into an ingratiating smile.  A close view of JUAREZ shows the stone mask of his face slowly softening and for the first time we see him smile. Then, the scene widening quickly and revealing both Juarez and the baby, Juarez squares himself and continues down the aisle as his short, squat figure disappears in the gloomy shadows of the church. The scene fades out. 

(ALTERNATE ENDING)

This dissolves to a CHAPEL and a coffin is seen on a catafalque in the presbytery. A figure comes into view and goes slowly down the nave. It stands motionless over the coffin, and as the scene moves up to a close view of BENITO JUAREZ is seen looking down into an open coffin in which rests all that is mortal of Maximilian von Habsburg, Emperor of Mexico and Archduke of Austria.

JUAREZ: Forgive me.

The scene fades out.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I liked how the writers had made a definitive decision about the meaning of the ending. The alternate was just another way to show it. 

I don't particularly enjoy it when the writers create "happy" and "sad" alternates in order to avoid taking a stance on their story.

Juarez (1939)
by John Huston & Aeneas MacKenzie, and Wolfgang Reinhardt
Based on a play by Franz Werfel, and the novel, The Phantom Crown, by Bertita Harding

TODAY'S NUGGET: The Life of Emile Zola (1937) - How to Use a Portrait To Elicit One's Past Courage --> Change One's Mind

[Quick Summary: Famous French muckraking journalist Emile Zola gets involved when an army soldier is sentenced for treason that it is really a political cover up.]

Q: Who is Emile Zola?
A: In the latter 1800s, he rose from poverty to become a celebrated French novelist and journalist. 

Q: Besides his novels, what is he best known for?
A: His involvement in the Dreyfus Affair (approx.1894-1906).  

Q: What was the Dreyfus Affair about?
A: Dreyfus was a Jewish army captain who was jailed for treason. Dreyfus's brother had proof of an army cover up, and asked Zola to help him get the case reopened.

Q: Why was the scene below your favorite one from the script?
A: Zola was older and didn't want to get involved.  I particularly liked the scene below because it captures the swing of emotions as he changed his mind.  

In the scene below:
- Dreyfus's brother has just pled his case and left, discouraged.
- The famous artist Paul Cezanne had given his old school friend Zola a portrait of his younger self, when they were both hungrier and more political.
- Note how the portrait is a touchstone.  It reminds Zola of his youthful ideals, which were shown earlier in the script.
- Notice the sequence in the change of emotions:  First we SEE Zola's upset first --> He sees the portrait and remembers --> Then we SEE him write the open letter that will turn the tide for Dreyfus.

And now ZOLA restlessly, angrily pacing, in dreadful turmoil, picks up the portfolio of evidence. He riffles it through as he walks up and down before the fire. Then the view drawing close, the curiously lifelike eyes of Cezanne's portrait on the mantel seem to follow his movements. With a sudden savage gesture he raises the portfolio to hurl it from him, but as he does his eyes suddenly catch the calm, gazing portrait eyes of Cezanne, and Zola's gesture abruptly is halted. He stares, fascinated, at the picture and slowly his arm drops before that mute but terrible accusation. He straightens suddenly, looks at the portfolio, then again at the portrait of Cezanne, and all indecision, all anger, are washed from his face. His hand reaches out --he touches the picture frame with a gesture at once tender and reassuring. 

ZOLA turns, with the portfolio in his hand, and walks purposefully across the room and into his study. He sits at his desk and swiftly empties the portfolio of evidence before him and examines it, a close view showing him now scanning the document with intent interest, then reaching for paper and pen. He dips his pen in the ink, and the view moves down to the SHEET OF PAPER as Zola's hand, with the pen, pauses for a moment, then -- with a bold, decisive movement -- begins to write: 

"M. Felix Faure, President of the Republic..."

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: One cannot jump from upset --> immediately into a change in behavior.  

One must first show his tussle of emotions --> The portrait that sparked his memories of his younger, fiery self --> Then show the change of decision.

Why? Audiences don't simply want to know what WHAT happened; they need to know WHY.  The portrait helps explain WHY he changed his mind.

The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
by Heinz Herald, Geza Herczeg, & Norman Reilly Raine
Story by Heinz Herald and Geza Herczeg
Based on the book Zola and His Time, by Matthew Josephson

*Interestingly, this script was Oscar nominated for both story and script, but only won in the latter category.

TODAY'S NUGGET: Fury (1936) - What Does "A Haunted, Remorseless Man" Look Like?

[Quick Summary: When a man is unjustly arrested and is attacked by a lynch mob in jail, he fakes his death, and succeeds in framing the mob for his murder.] 

Oooof! This is a biting noir film (maybe satire?) that made me wince!

Spenser Tracy stars as Joe, a mechanic who is traveling to go pick up his fiancee Katherine, and is mistaken for a criminal.  He is jailed and nearly mobbed to death.

It's rare to see a character this remorseless, this focused in his quest for vengeance.  What possibly could make Joe change his mind? *

It turns out Joe does have a conscience, which surfaces in the most inconvenient times as he tries to drink his problems away.

In the scene below:
- Katherine, Joe's fiancee, thinks he died in the jail fire. 
- The mob has been caught and tried in court.
- This scene happens while the jury is deliberating.
- 22 people's lives hang in the balance, hence the importance of 22 number.
- I really liked how the individual hauntings were SPECIFIC only to Joe and how they flowed from one to the other (night club girl --> taxi meter).

...the scene dissolves to a CHEAP NIGHT CLUB, and Joe is dancing with a girl in a crowd of dancing men and women, youths, older men, and girls in cheap evening dresses. He is laughing, as if forcing himself to. The music is cheap jazz from a mechanical piano. It finishes, and the crowd returns to the cheap boxes against the wall. Joe takes his girl to a box. There are two half-finished highballs on the table, and Joe drinks.

GIRL (looking at him curiously): Your face is kin o'familiar. Were you ever here before?

JOE: Not me. First time here. But you're okay, baby. What's your name?

GIRL (sliding her chair closer to him): It's "Joyce," here, but -- (intriguingly) -- It's "Katherine," to you.

JOE (jumping up): What d' y' mean, "to me"? Why'd you say that?

GIRL (staring at him): Because Katherine's my real name. Say, what's the matter with you?

JOE (confused and hurriedly explaining): Nothing -- except that liquor y' serve here maybe. It's so hot I think I'll -- go out for awhile.

As the girl gapes at him, he turns and hurries away.

Next Joe comes out of the ALLEY DOOR of the night club. A high wind has risen with the stopping of the rain, and Joe, in his raincoat, bucks against it with lowered head. Joe turns irresolutely, and seeing a taxi, calls.

JOE: Hey -- taxi! (He turns toward it.)

The driver of the TAXI is at the curb now getting out and opening the door as Joe approaches, bucking the wind.

JOE: Say, where can a guy have some fun?

DRIVER: Leave it t' me, Sport! Hop in!

Joe gets into the taxi, and the Driver slams shut the door. A close-up then shows Joe staring straight ahead. As the taxi starts, there is the sound of the Driver clicking the meter on, and the cab moves off. The tick-tick-tick of the meter comes in, until it is the only sound to be heard. Joe suddenly straightens, noticing something ahead of him: A close-up of the TAXI METER comes into view. The figures are 20. The 0 moves up, everything but these numbers growing dizzy as this last number becomes a 2 -- in his head. The 22 looms bigger and bigger as the tick-tick of the meter goes relentlessly on.

A close-up of Joe shows him blinking stupidly. He strikes his forehead with the heels of his palms as if to drive the number out of his feverish brain. He leans forward, calling to the driver:

JOE: Let me out!

The cab grates to a sudden stop. Then Joe piles out of the taxi at a STREET CURB, fumbling for change.

JOE (to the driver): I changed my mind. Rather t-take a walk. It smells good in your face after the rain. (He gives the driver some change and goes.)

DRIVER (looking after him, shaking his head): Screwball.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I was impressed that I saw a remorseless man, but felt his interior emotions.  I was able to experience his conscience through the hauntings. 

The setup: Joe cares about Katherine and principles.
The payoff: When his conscience is pricked by external clues (night club girl, taxi meter), we understand what is happening inside Joe.

Fury (1936)
by Bartlett Cormack and Fritz Lang
Based on a story by Norman Krasna**

*As a result of this focused quest, I was rather disappointed by the uplifting, happy ending.  I suspect this was a studio demand, as it doesn't seem to match the rest of the script. 

**FYI: This script was produced under the studio system.  At that time, Oscar categories were split into two categories: "story by" and "screenplay by."  Norman Krasna was nominated only for Best Writing, Original Story (and not "screenplay by").

TODAY'S NUGGET: Little Cesar (1931) - How Ruthlessness FEELS, i.e., Why Threatening an Old Friend Works Here

[Quick Summary: A small time criminal elbows his way into the big leagues with the help of his old buddies.]

Actor Edward G. Robinson is best known playing gangster Cesar Enrico Bandello ("Rico") in this film.* It would follow him for the rest of his life.

I found Rico interesting because he's ruthless, yet has a conscience.  

He's a contradiction: He's loyal to the boss, Big Boy, but has his eye on his job.  He'll shoot strangers, but can't shoot his old friend Joe.

One of my favorite scenes (below) demonstrates his ruthlessness is less about the threats, and more about how it FEELS to the audience. In this scene:
- Rico has finally pushed out Big Boss's right hand man. 
- Rico was promoted and has just moved to a new apartment.
- Rico wants to bring his old buddy Joe back into the fold. He invites him for a visit.
- Joe left the gangster life for Olga, a dancer. They are now professional dancing couple together.
- Notice how Rico first plays to Joe's loyalty, "can't quit the team" mentality. When that doesn't work, he moves to threats on Olga.
- Notice also how Rico shows his own vulnerabilities ("I need somebody I can trust.")

JOE (uneasily shifting in his chair as he is seen closer): We gonna start that again? Can't you just forget about me?

RICO (with a certain softness in his voice, as both men are seen in a close-up): How can I forget about my pal, Joe? We started off together -- we gotta keep on goin' along together. Who else have I got to give a hang about? (Now he jumps up and goes over to Joe.) I need you, Joe. Just before you came, I was over to see the Big Boy. He handed me the whole North Side. But it's too big for one man to handle alone...I need somebody -- a guy like you -- somebody I can trust, somebody to work in with me.

JOE (shaking his head): It can't be me, Buddy. I've quit.

Fierce rage takes possession of Rico's face and he grabs Joe by the shoulder:

RICO: You didn't quit! Nobody ever quit me. Get that! You're still in my gang. I don't care how many fancy dames you got stickin' on to you. That skirt can go hang. It's her that's made a softy outa you.

JOE (a menacing look coming into his face): You lay off Olga, Rico!

RICO (furiously): I ain't layin' off her. I'm after her. She an' me can't both have you. One of us has gotta lose -- an' it ain't gonna be me! There's ways of stoppin' that dame...!

As he says the last sentence, he makes his old significant gesture of reaching for his gun.

JOE (terror-stricken as he interprets the movement): You're crazy! Leave her out of this...

RICO (his face distorted with rage now; fairly shrieking): It's curtains for her, see? She's through...she's out of the way...that's what she is!

JOE (drawing back; almost insanely): You're lyin'. You wouldn't...

RICO: I wouldn't? I'll show you...that dirty, painted-up...

JOE (almost shrieking): I love her! We're in love! Don't that mean nothin' to you?

RICO: Nothin'! Less than nothin'! Love -- soft stuff! When she's got you, you ain't safe...you know too much. I ain't takin' no chances You're stayin' here!

JOE: I'm not!

RICO (gripping his shoulder): You move an' it's suicide...suicide for both of you!

A close-up of Joe alone shows him almost paralyzed with fear. He sinks back against the chair and drops into it. He shuts his eyes and puts a guarding hand up against his face.

JOE (hoarsely): No...no, no...

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: What makes this scene stand out is that:
1) It's emotional.  It's not just that Rico pokes at Joe's vulnerabilities, but he reveals his own too.
2) The story continues to rise in tension.  With this promotion, Rico has even more to lose and the stakes are higher. So it's not surprising that he lashes out at Joe when Joe refuses to come along.

Little Cesar (1931)
by Francis Edward Faragoh
Based on the novel by W.R. Burnett

*I myself also found him very compelling in Double Indemnity.