TODAY'S NUGGET: Stalag 17 (1953) - How to Avoid "Stagey" Adaptation of a Single Location Play

[Quick Summary: When two American soldiers are killed in an escape from a German POW camp, the soldiers suspect a mole in their barracks.]

Though plays are often set in a single location, it can seem stagey on film, i.e., artificial, claustrophobic, or simply boring for lack of movement.

So how did writer-director Billy Wilder avoid staginess in this famous film? 

1) THE STORY LENDS ITSELF TO CLOSE QUARTERS.  He chose this story which IS all about the claustrophobia and boredom of barracks.

2) CLOSE QUARTERS = PRESSURE. The soldiers need each other to survive.

This becomes even more apparent when they wrongly identifies one of their own as the traitor/mole. Suddenly, the barracks become a pressure cooker.

3) EXPANDING WHEN NECESSARY.  Wilder wisely added several outdoor scenes to give the audience room to breathe from the cramped indoor shots.

4) FRAMING.  I was very impressed by Wilder's use of the screen and space. Nearly every inch of the frame is stuffed with faces or some action.* 

So why didn't it feel stale or too busy?  He made sure there was constant movement: friction and action, people coming and going in and out of doors.

A good example is the scene below.  Note:
- This is an early scene which introduces all the characters. 
- Examine how there's constant movement between and among the characters. It feels less like the limits of a stage, and more like good use of a cramped space.

THE FAR END OF THE BARRACK

This is the strategic spot of the story. In the five tiers of bunks live our major characters.

In the upper bunk lies HOFFY. Little fellow. Plenty of authority. The Barrack Chief. His eyes are wide open. He is studying his wristwatch, the phosphorescent numerals shining in the dark.

In the other bunks lie the others, wide awake, tense:

DUKE, big bellyacher.

TRIZ, six-foot-three, ninety-eight pounds.

PRICE, the barrack Security Chief. Quiet, touch of class.

MANFREDI, no cover, fully dressed.

HARRY, bug-eyed, cocky.

BLONDIE, fair-skinned, boyish.

JOHNSON, fully dressed like Manfredi. Scared.

SEFTON, casual. In his mouth a cold cigar butt.

Hoffy again. Still staring at the wristwatch. This is the moment. He lifts the metal dogtags off his chest and jiggles them. This is the signal.

Duke instantly slides out of the bunk, grabs up his blanket and moves toward the window. A searchlight beam sweeps across. Duke goes flush on the ground. The light passes on. Duke gets up again and starts hanging the blanket over the window.

Now the others go into action, silently, efficiently. Except for Manfredi and Johnson they are all in long winter underwear, some in slacks and socks.

As for Sefton, he is lying in his bunk just watching them.

Blondie hangs a blanket over the window. Triz swings one over the clothesline to shield off their end of the barrack.

Hoffy and Price light a couple of handmade lamps: margarine in tin cans with the wick stuck inside.

Manfredi and Johnson are putting on their leather jackets.

Harry tries to awaken STOSH in the bunk above him. The wooden boards around Stosh's bunk are plastered with Betty Grable cheesecake. Harry pokes him. Stosh does not respond. Harry interlocks his fingers, puts them close to Stosh's ears and cracks them in a SHARP SALVO. Stosh opens his eyes, dazed. Harry pats Stosh's cheek.

HARRY (in a whisper): Get up, Animal! Betty Grable's on the phone!

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: If the play-to-be-adapted is in a single location, why? Pressure? Can it benefit a film? Or is expansion necessary to get that same effect?

Stalag 17 (1953)(shooting draft)
by Billy Wilder and Edwin Blum
Based on a play by Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski

*My favorite scene is where there are guys planning at a table in the foreground, and "guilty" Sefton in the background.  There are bunks to the left and right, so the men's faces are essentially lined up in a column, filling the screen from top to bottom.

TODAY'S NUGGET: The Wicker Man (1973) - Why "Recognizably Strange" is Effective Horror Behavior

[Quick Summary: After receiving an anonymous letter about the disappearance of a missing child, a by-the-book policeman arrives on a remote island to investigate.]

Q: What makes this odd film stand out? Why is there a cult like fan following?
A: It's a proper horror film, i.e., properly unsettling and weird.

Q: Horror films explore what we fear.  What is the fear here?
A: Something is very wrong when no one (except for the protagonist) is concerned about a missing child on a remote island.

Q: How did the writer make such a weird story, well, weird?
A: One of the keys was what one critic called, "recognizably strange" things. 

The script starts off with the typical straight-laced policeman. I recognize this character and how he'd respond in situations.  I identify with his reasoning. 

Then odd "recognizably strange" things start to happen to him, yet no one (but him) is alarmed.  They're just 15% or so off of normal. Just enough to dismiss him....

For example, in the scene below:
- Mrs. Morrison has just denied to Sgt. Howie that her older daughter is missing.
- She exits, leaving Howie with the her younger daughter Myrtle.
- We are unsettled by Mrs. Morrison's matter of fact reaction --> now add Myrtle's.
- Note how no one is trying very hard to convince Howie.  In fact, the indifference is frightening and infuriating to a by-the-book cop.

INT. PARLOUR OF SWEET SHOP - DAY

...We now see that the child is doing a drawing of a hare with huge ears and whiskers which she is copying from a copper mould that has plainly been used to make the chocolate hares. She looks up and hands Howie a dropping paint brush.

MYRTLE: Here you are. You can fillin the ears in grey.

Neat, clean Sergeant Howie is horrified to find his hand suddenly sticky with paint, and quickly takes the paint rag to clean himself. Carefully he selects a clean brush and starts on the ears.

HOWIE: Myrtle, do you know Rowan?

MYRTLE: Of course.

Howie is startled by the answer.

HOWIE: You do?

MYRTLE: Course I do, silly.

HOWIE: Where is she now?

MYRTLE: In the fields. She runs and plays all day.

HOWIE: Will she be back for tea?

MYRTLE (laughing uproariously): Tea? She doesn't have tea.

HOWIE: Why not? Doesn't she like it?

She stops laughing abruptly and stares at him contemptuously.

MYRTLE: Hares don't have tea, silly.

HOWIE: Hares!

MYRTLE: She's a hare. Rowan's a hare. She has a lovely time.

Howie sits thunderstruck. The door to the shop opens and Mrs. Morrison re-appears....

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I liked how the script lulled me in with recognizable behavior --> becomes "recognizably strange" --> bizarre frightening behavior.  

This gradual slide was very believable!

The Wicker Man (1973)
by Anthony Shaffer

TODAY'S NUGGET: Blackboard Jungle (1955) - How to Involve the Audience (2 +2)

[Quick Summary: A new English teacher at an inner city school is faced with unruly students and jaded faculty.] 

Early in my writing journey, I heard a lot of things about writing that I did not understand.  Several came from Billy Wilder's 10 rules. For example:

- The more subtle and elegant you are in hiding your plot points, the better you are as a writer.

- A tip from Lubitsch: Let the audience add up two plus two. They'll love you forever.

But how does one DO that? No one could tell me. I despaired.  (And by the way, the ONLY way I've learned is to read.*)

What does that LOOK LIKE?  Let's look at today's script, a deserving Oscar winner.

In the scene below:
- This is a 1950s, tough inner city school with students out for trouble.
- Lois Hammond, a fellow new teacher, is going to give Rick (protagonist) a lift home. 
- This scene sets up a connection between Lois and Rick, which someone will take advantage of later (plot point: team building hidden in a shared battle zone).
- Notice the shoes early + single shoe later = trouble (2 +2).
- Notice how you lean in when you spot 1st clue --> see 2nd clue --> what happened to Lois? This very fine writing is great suspense.

INT. STAIRCASE

...LOIS HAMMOND

She adjusts her second stocking. She starts down stairs. Her black-and-white pumps clack hollowly on stairway.

SECOND FLOOR CORRIDOR - RICK

He quickly approaches elevator. He pushes button. The elevator rises carrying half-a-dozen teachers. Among them are Josh Edwards and Jim Murdock. Their voices drift of of cage.

JOSH EDWARDS: Why -- they didn't even know their multiplication tables.

MURDOCK: 'Course not. All they can multiply is themselves. (general laughter)

JOSH EDWARDS: How are they ever graduated?

MURDOCK: Graduated? They got to be 18 and they're thrown out to make room for more of the same kind.

Rick watches elevator ascend. He decides to use stairway, starts down on the run.

STAIRWAY - SHOOTING DOWN

Rick descends. The stairway is deserted except for him.

FIRST FLOOR - FOOT OF STAIRS

Rick comes down. he stops. He looks down corridor for Lois Hammond.

CORRIDOR - RICK'S VIEWPOINT

It is empty, shadowy.

CLOSE - RICK

He looks in other direction toward exit. Lois Hammond is not waiting. He hesitates, shrugs, starts toward exit. MOVE with him. He passes the closed library doors. He stops, turns, looks down.

CLOSE - FLOOR 

Near library doors lies a black-and-white woman's pump. Rick leans in and picks it up.

CLOSE - RICK

He looks at shoe in puzzlement. He goes back several steps to the library doors. He looks thru glass portion of doors. 

Thru doors, at far side, between two walls of books, can dimly be seen two struggling figures.

Rick pushes at the doors. They are locked. He rattles doorknobs. They won't budge.

Holding the shoe by the sole, he smashes the glass with the high heel. He reaches in and opens door. He enters quickly.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: It's often trial and error to figure out exactly what info to give an audience.  In this case, the shoe was perfect, as it spiked our curiosity.

Blackboard Jungle (1955)(final draft, 8/10/54)
by Richard Brooks
Based on the novel by Evan Hunter

*Early in my journey, I heard "to write, you need to read."  

"Yeah, yeah, so what?" I thought, smugly to myself. "I already read a lot." 

What I did not realize is:

a) How MUCH I had to read.  It took me a few years for me to realize I wasn't reading enough scripts, then several more years to up my intake of a wider range of novels, plays, everything I could get my hands on.  

b) My job as a writer depends on reading. From the start, it was obvious to me that I needed to read to educate myself. 

However, it took me a long time to understand that a large part of my value as a writer is to have fresh, new IDEAS for the rest of the team.  I will only find those ideas by reading.

TODAY'S NUGGET: No Time to Die (2021) - Upending Expectations with a Character with a Different Energy

[Quick Summary: After Bond leaves MI5, he's drawn back in by the disappearance of a scientist who has stolen "Heracles" that leads to a very personal connection.]

BAD NEWS: I simply did not connect with this film, despite an abundance of top tier writers, beautiful cinematography, locations, action stunts, and actors.

If I had to boil it down, I'd say the story was not fun or as suspenseful as others. With reliance on tech, there was no need for Bond to figure his way out of a corner.

GOOD NEWS: However, there was one fun bit that I did enjoy: Paloma and the Cuba scenario.

First, she's a new agent who is not polished and does not make perfect decisions.  She's competent, yet she's still learning on the job and isn't afraid to admit it. 

Second, she brought a different energy that was very welcome. She is impatient, eager to get on with things, and we like her all the better for it.

Third, the Cuba scene became more entertaining because I didn't know what to expect from this character. She upends Bond's expectations.

In the scene below, we see the difference she makes: 

INT. WINE CELLAR - SANTIAGO BUILDING - NIGHT

Paloma stops at a wine cellar. She takes out a key, nerves still have her shaking as she unlocks the door.

BOND: This your room?

PALOMA (clearly it's not): It's a wine cellar. Okay, come here.

She starts undoing his shirt.

BOND: Don't you think we ought to get to know each other just a little before we...

PALOMA: Oh! No, no, no, no. I'm sorry.

She steps back, unrolls a suit bag she had stowed. It's a tuxedo. He smiles.

BOND: Alright.

PALOMA: You do it.

BOND: Do you min... (signals for her to turn around)

She turns her back. Bond starts to undress.

BOND (CONT'D): This is going to go brilliantly.

PALOMA: I know. (smiling) I've done three weeks training.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Paloma has a very different energy than most agents in this series.  She's not jaded or smooth or experienced, and that's fun to watch.

No Time to Die (2021)(undated)
by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and Cary Joji Fukunaga and Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Story by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and Cary Joji Fukunaga