TODAY'S NUGGET: The Firm (1993) - How Robert Towne Sneaks Something Extra Into A Montage

[Quick Summary: When a white shoe Memphis law firm seduces a new law school grad, he discovers that it is not the trustworthy firm that he had thought it to be.]

Q: What is the purpose of montages? 
A: Most writers use them as fast and quick information dumps, ex. back story, additional facts, minor characters, etc.

Q: You mean there are other uses?
A:  Experienced writers will make them do double duty, ex. add motives in subtext. 

But exceptional writers will sneak something unusual into them. For example, in today's script, writer Robert Towne shows the characters' emotional progression.

In the scene below:
- Mitch is beginning to work at The Firm. 
- Previously, he and his wife Abby were living in a small Boston apartment, but very happy.
- Yes, this is a standard information dump of their new lives in Memphis.
- But it also shows what motivates the couple (wealth, connection).
- And most impressively, it moves us through emotional changes through increased separation, physically (spending time apart) and emotionally (not a team).

MONTAGE - DAY

A. Mitch's office: An exquisite cherrywood desk is put in place.

B. School Classroom. Abby writing on the blackboard, "My name is Abigail McDeere."

C. Mitch's office. An Early American painting being carefully hung on the wall.

D. Mitch's face watching luxurious items put in place in the office.

E. Tailor shop. Through the window we see Mitch being fitted in new clothes. Avery, arms folded, watches.

F. The Firm. Mitch at the huge library table, pouring over various volumes.

G. McDeere House. Abby, propped up in ed alone, grading papers.

H. Mitch's fingers as he runs them along the leaded panes of an imposing breakfront.

I. Mitch's office -- transformed. Oliver beams at Mitch, behind his exquisite desk, in his perfect office.

K. McDeere house. Night. Mitch rushes in, looks for Abby. Hearsay comes bounding up, jumps on Mitch.

Mitch notices a note wrapped around his collar. He unrolls it. WE SEE it reads: GAVE UP WAITING. SHARE BOWL OF KIBBLE WITH BEARER OF NOT. YOUR FIRST WIFE  ABBY.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: The level of difficulty in this montage reminds me why Robert Towne was so sought after for his craftsmanship.

First, it is simple to read. Second, I marveled at depth of the emotional arc, while still maintaining the speed of the narrative. It still felt like these are real people, in a real relationship. Third, it's cinematic. 

The Firm (1993)(12/2/92 draft)
by Robert Towne & David Rayfiel
Adapted from the novel by John Grisham

TODAY'S NUGGET: Frantic (1988) - "Lean & Economical"Jealousy for BOTH Parties in One Scene

[Quick Summary: After an American doctor and his wife arrive in Paris for a cardiac conference, she is kidnapped, setting him off on a wild chase to free her.]

This script was co-written by Roman Polanski, and re-written by his Chinatown writer, Robert Towne. 

I thought the first third of the script was great, but the rest was somewhat predictable.  Or, as Roger Ebert always puts it best:

It’s a professional comeback for the director of “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Chinatown,” who was recently reduced to serving as gun-for-hire on the dreary “Pirates.” Every scene of this film feels like a project from Polanski’s heart – a film to prove he is still capable of generating the kind of suspense he became famous for. And every scene, on its own, seems to work. It is only the total of the scenes that is wrong. The movie goes on too long, adds too many elaborations and tacks on too many complications, until the lean and economical construction of the first hour begins to drift into self-parody. (emphasis mine)

I attribute that "lean and economical construction" to Towne because it contains: 
a) his trademark clever observations of human emotions; and
b) fully rounded parts. No one is simply there to prop up the protagonist. 

For example, the scene below is about jealousy -- for BOTH parties:
- Dr. Richard and his wife Sondra arrive at the hotel.
- At the desk, he is given a message from a Dr. Alembert to confirm a lunch.
- No one is supposed to know when they're arriving.
- Sondra resigns herself that Richard is going to choose the doctor over her.
- Not how quickly the tables are turned for both of them. This appears often in Towne's scripts and it's difficult to do.

INT. SUITE - BEDROOM - WINDOW

...Again she indicates the note in Richard's hand.

RICHARD: Don't confirm the lunch.

SONDRA (furious): Why not? You did tell Alembert when we were arriving a day early, didn't you, obviously you want to see him -- come on now, Richard, give me the note and don't mess around. [She feels hurt and jealous, assuming his work is more important.]

She goes for it with a swipe and misses. Richard puts it in his mouth and chews it. [I love this action because it was so unexpected from a serious doctor.]

RICHARD (as he chews): ...I didn't tell him when we were arriving...Maurice Alembert is chairman of the convention...(having some difficulty) ... not only that --  [I like this added bit of humor.]

SONDRA: Richard, don't swallow it, you'll choke -- [She is more concerned about his welfare than her feelings.]

RICHARD (still chewing): -- Oh now. [More humor.]

SONDRA: Well at least let me get you some water to wash it down.

RICHARD (following her into the bathroom): ...Not only that, Maurice Alembert doesn't give a goddam about me ever since he saw you at the Berkeley seminar last year. 'Ow is your charming wife? Be sure and bring Sondra when you come..' I'm not the only man in Paris who wants to sleep with my wife! [It's amazing at how quickly Towne turns the tables on Sondra because Richard is jealous too. This is not a one sided relationship. ]

Sondra pauses, glass in hand over the bathroom sink.

SONDRA: -- At the Berkeley seminar? ...Was he the one with the long legs who took is shoes off when he spoke? [More humor because she didn't realize who Alembert was, or her effect on him.]

RICHARD: Never mind. You're not spending the day with anybody but me.

He takes her in his arms, pausing to spit out the last of the Alembert note in the sink. Sondra suppresses a giggle and kisses him.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Towne's craft for construction is on full display here.

It's not that both parties are jealous, or that the tables are turned for both of them, but that it all happens in ONE scene in such a crisp, but emotional, manner.

Frantic (1988)(final draft, 4/10/87, with revisions)
by Roman Polanski & Gerard Brach (uncredited: Robert Towne, Jeff Gross)

TODAY'S NUGGET: Personal Best (1982) - What the "Weather of These Women's Hearts" with Power Dynamics Looks Like

[Quick Summary: Complicated power dynamics arise when Chris, a second string female college athlete, gets involved with Tory, her bisexual female friend/competitor/role model.]

Q: Why are writer Robert Towne's scripts still so great?
A: He combined two things writers have in short supply: confidence, and an understanding of people that he was able to express on paper.

Q: I understand people. Why aren't my characters as well-rounded?
A: Roger Ebert explains what makes Towne so good:

What distinguishes “Personal Best” is that it creates specific characters–flesh-and-blood people with interesting personalities, people I cared about. “Personal Best” also seems knowledgeable about its two subjects, which are the weather of these women’s hearts, and the world of Olympic sports competition. (emphasis mine)

Q: You mean fickle feelings? What's the big deal?
A: Towne is exceptionally good at knowing how to play humans against each other.  He can tease several strands of human emotion into one coil.*

It is evident in the scene I've chosen below, as well as the scene prior.

In the prior scene:
- Chris meets Tory's ex-boyfriend Willie Lee at a party after an Olympic trials meet.
- Tory drinks and dances with Willie Lee, smokes a joint, and takes coke.
- The coach (another of Tory's ex-flings) enters and sees Tory is unwell.
- He tells Tory to go to bed, but Tory refuses to go without Chris.
- Chris is happy talking with friends.
- Tory tells Chris it's "time for bed," but Chris isn't ready to leave.
- Angry Tory yanks Chris, ends up hitting a fellow competitor.  She is escorted out.
- The coach pulls Chris aside to asks her to continue to look out for Tory.
- Wow, look at all the various strands of emotion that Towne pulled! EVERYONE had different secrets (agendas, addictions, crushes, etc.)

In the scene below:
- The next day, Tory apologizes to Chris, who doesn't understand why Tory was so angry.
- Notice here that Chris begs Tory to stay together.  Later, when Chris is stronger, and Tory wants to help her, Chris will push her away.
- Also note the ebb and flow of the power dynamics.  In the previous scene, Tory was the needy one.  Now it has flipped and Chris is the vulnerable one.

INT. FALCON - CAL POLY TRACK PARKING LOT - DAY

TORY: You worry about what everybody thinks - why should you be different with me?
CHRIS: I guess I'm not.

She starts out of the car.

TORY: There's only one thing to do Chris - see other people.
CHRIS: See other people? What are you talking about?
TORY: Either we're together or we're not together.
CHRIS: Jesus Chris, Tory, we're friends.
TORY: Yeah, we may be friends but every little once in a while we also fuck each other - and you can't face that.  It hurts - and pain is pain and to do anything you got to live with it and you can't and I can't make you. Either we move out or I move out and we really are friends.
CHRIS:  -  no.
TORY: No?

Chris is clearly stunned by Tory. 

CHRIS: - I..I..need to be around you. I need to know you're there..I..Just need to be around you.

Tory smiles tightly.

TORY: Oh hell, don't worry. We'll still work out together.
CHRIS: No that's not it you make me feel like I can really do something, like I'm really gonna do..I just need you...

She trails off clutching at Tory's hand. Tory stares at Chris' white-knuckled hand over hers. WIth mild disgust: 

TORY:  - for what?

Chris continues to stares at her own lap. Tory impatiently turns away and looks out the window. Finally, a whisper: 

CHRIS: I just need you.

Tory mutters 'oh, fuck' at the seeming tepid response and starts out of the car. She's jerked back by the fierce grip Chris has on her hand. Surprised and annoyed she turns on Chris.

CHRIS

stares back trembling, then finally has to look down again - still grips Tory's hand.

TORY

tries to hold out but her resolve finally breaks.

TORY: All right, weirdo, let's go work out. C'mon, c'mon, c'mon - 

Chris nods gratefully and the two bound out of the car.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I didn't find the characters talking about feelings boring here at all. I think it's because they made unexpected, yet very honest choices, with stakes.

Personal Best (1982)
Written & directed by Robert Towne

* As a sidebar, I will note:
1) Showing these patterns of behavior often requires more time, i.e., higher page count.

2) I was surprised that I did not feel any dragging in the 172 pages of this script. 

3) Towne wrote AND directed this script, so was likely not hemmed in by someone else demanding fewer pages.

TODAY'S NUGGET: Days of Thunder (1990) - What Readers are Looking for in a Writer's Voice (Confidence)

[Quick Summary: A rookie stock car driver gets his chance at the big leagues.]

Both last week (written by Walter Hill) and this week's (written by the late, great Robert Towne) scripts are ACTION films, but they're written very, very differently. 

So WHY do they work so well? What can we learn?

1) FIT THE STYLE TO THE STORY. As we saw, Hill's single line, haiku style is well suited to the kind of stories he wants to tell, i.e., to the point, muscular, blunt.

Towne is writing about the stretch-and-pull of relationships in an action packed NASCAR season.  He writes in paragraphs, though they are engrossing.

2) CONFIDENCE IS EVERYTHING. Though they have very different styles, why do I think Hill and Towne are confident writers? That I'm in "good hands"?

First, the scripts sets out early what they're trying to accomplish, and then delivers it. The writers clearly know what the brief is.

Second, the scripts are easy to follow with a light touch. It takes a lot of experience not to over explain or leave logic gaps.  

Third, there is a panache, a showmanship that is unique to the writer.

An example from Towne is the scene below:
- Harry retired from building race cars, after getting unfairly blamed for a crash.
- Harry gets a second chance and build a new car.
- Note the visuals that Towne uses to unconsciously remind us of the stakes involved for Harry, ex. scythe over his head, "dreaded template."
- Note the logic is easy to follow.  A busy shop = full of the energy and promise a new car brings.
- Note the last line. Instead of saying "MONTAGE," Towne gives us more literary flourishes: "impressionistic, like time-lapse photography," "birth of a living thing, opening of a flower."

INT. HARRY'S GARAGE (EARLY MORN)

Harry comes in and turns on the light. He looks up at the silver scythe hovering over his head and in a fuller view it can be seen as the dreaded template, the profile of the car he must now build.

Henry looks to the roll-cage and suspension bare bones, and the only thing on the floor beneath it.

Sunlight flashes through the window and hits the roll cage. It seems to set off the welding and pounding and grinding of shiny steel, the precision cutting and buffing and fitting of fiberglass moldings as Harry furiously works with at least half a dozen men. DISSOLVE through as CAMERA moves around the rollcage and it becomes progressively encased in its silver skin - the car becoming slowly recognizable. 

Periodically the template is lowered and men painstakingly check to see the car fits into the template silhouette and swear when it's off a few millimeters. A mock engine is mounted to provide clearance for the hood differentials and gear-boxes fill the air, the pictures of fine southern ladies on the calendars change as the weeks go by and the work progresses. DISSOLVE THROUGH. The car is being painted a day-glo green and yellow with City Chevrolet painted in the primary sponsor's spot across the hood. This entire process of the car's creation should be impressionistic, like time-lapse photography - as though we're looking at organic growth, the birth of a living thing, the opening of a flower. 

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I particularly liked that last line.  I understood Towne was approximating the scene to the best of his ability, but also felt like he was giving other crew permission to dream too. 

That's confidence in the material, as a screenwriter.

Days of Thunder (1990)(11/20/89, 1st draft)
by Robert Towne

TODAY'S NUGGET: The Driver (1978) - Three Helpful Tips on Attempting Walter Hill's Minimalistic Style

[Quick Summary: A very successful getaway driver, who is set up by a detective, decides to turn the tables on him.]

THREE THOUGHTS:

1) STYLE IS NOT ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL. Over the years, I've been impressed by Walter Hill's terse, every-line-a-shot style.  But why couldn't I imitate it well?

Hill illuminates here that it's not a style that fits all materials:

"The Driver, which I think was the purest script that I ever wrote, and The Warriors. The clean narrative drive of the material and the splash-panel approach to the characters perfectly fit the design I was trying to make work. Of course all this depend on the nature of the material; I don’t think the style would’ve worked at all had I been writing romantic comedies.” (emphasis mine)

2) WHAT IS HILL'S MINIMALISTIC STYLE? The best description I've found is when Hill descries the feeling he got from reading the script Point Blank (1967):

"Alex’s script just knocked me out (not easy to do); it was both playable and literary. Written in a whole different way than standard format (laconic, elliptical, suggestive rather than explicit, bold in the implied editorial style), I thought Alex’s script was a perfect compliment to the material, hard, tough, and smart—my absolute ideals then." (emphasis mine)

3) WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MINIMALISTIC STYLE?
- It is well suited to action films.*
- Everything is purposeful, even the punctuation.**
- Because this style is so terse, words are precious. 
- Since there are so few words, information is only given on a need-to-know basis.
- Since information is on a need-to-know basis, the story relies heavily on the reader to supply additional information.
- Since the reader has to supply certain information, the writer must respect what are common understandings. 
- In other words, any kind of wild non sequiturs that require long explanations are forbidden, otherwise the reader will revolt and stop reading.

For example, in the scene below:
- PURPOSEFUL WORD CHOICE: "Wrecking yard" instead of "junk yard" sets up our expectations (see 4th point below).
- PURPOSEFUL PUNCTUATION: "Pulls up, stops" are two actions in a whole shot.
- NEED-TO-KNOW: I didn't know the Driver had a coat on until he takes the hammer out. This didn't disturb our understanding, as it is a minor detail.
- SUPPLY ADDITIONAL INFO: Note that Hill doesn't tell you there's an overhead crane ahead of time. But it's not bothersome to the reader because we EXPECT a crane in a wrecking yard.
 

WRECKING YARD - NIGHT

A Camaro parked along the otherwise deserted roadway.
Lights of the city beyond.
The LTD pulls up, stops.
Blue Mask and Green Mask climb out.
Head for the Camaro.

THE DRIVER

Gets out of the car.
Takes a ball-peen hammer out of his coat pocket.
Walks around the LTD, breaking out the windows and headlamps.
Throws the tool inside.
Attaches hooks from an overhead crane to the LTD's roof.
Hits the button.

THE LTD

Lifted off the hillside.
Carried out over yard.
The Driver hits a second button.
The LTD crashes a hundred feet below.
Becoming one of the myriad abandoned vehicles.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: This style relies heavily on action and information within a common understanding (ex. crane in a wrecking yard).  

It wold not work as well for material that relies on complicated emotions, ex. push-pull of a relationship.  

The Driver (5/23/77 final)
by Walter Hill

*Hill said movies favor the action genre: “I love comedies, musicals, and thrillers like everybody else, but I confess to believing action pictures are what movies are most essentially all about. It’s the work they do best and uniquely best. I don’t mean action movies are better; in fact, most of them are actually a lot worse than the norm. But the few that really work are sublime."'

** “My scripts have always been a bit terse, both in stage directions and dialogue. I think I’ve loosened up in the dialogue department, but I still try to keep the descriptions fairly minimal, and in some cases purposefully minimalist. I still punctuate to effect, rather than to the proper rules of grammar. I occasionally use onomatopoeias now, a luxury I would certainly never have allowed myself when I was younger. My favorite description of the dilemma of screenwriting comes from David Giler, ‘Your work is only read by the people who will destroy it.’” (emphasis mine)

TODAY'S NUGGET: Reality Bites (1994) - How to Keep Momentum Rising in a Rom-Com During Dreaded Act II

[Quick Summary: After college, a Gen X documentary filmmaker and her friends face the reality of juggling the realities of love, work, and family.]

The most romantic thing about this script is that it's not all about the romance.  It's also ABOUT something, i.e., the importance of dreams.

The protagonist, Lelaina, hopes to become a documentary filmmaker after college. She constantly videotapes her friends. She gets a job at a tv station and gets fired. 

There are two very different men.  Both were oddly supportive and unsupportive:

- Troy, an old college friend who reads and thinks about philosophy.  He has no direction in life and works at the Gap store. He tried to make her laugh.

- Michael, a new VP at In Your Face TV, who meets Lelaina and sees she has ideas.  He tries to help in his own way (scene below) but has his own dreams too.

What made Act II interesting to me (and keeps momentum rising) was how the writer captured the see-saw, give-and-take of relating, as in the scene below:
- Lelaina has just been fired and Michael spend the night together.
- She shows him her film about her friends, a work-in-progress.
- Michael likes it for the wrong reasons and wants to take it to New York to show executives.
- Lelaina is not so sure it's a good idea.
- Michael also wants to take her to New York to meet his dad. He offers to pay for her ticket.
- She is flattered, but wants to pay her own way and turns down the money.
- Notice that Lelaina is trying to protect her dream and Michael doesn't quite get it. Michael has his dreams too, but Lelaina is not where he is.
- Also notice they're being open and vulnerable, but they're simply not aligned.

INT. HOTEL SUITE - MORNING

...MICHAEL (almost frustrated): What is it? --Is it that, I mean, is Troy gonna get pissed off that you're actually doing something fun and not being all like miserable with him or--

LELAINA (very irritated): What are you talking about? My God, this has totally zero to do with--I mean, Troy doesn't have anything to do with anything at all, Jesus Christ.

MICHAEL: "Jesus Christ." Okay. Alright, I was just... (sighs) I probably shouldn't even try to give you this. [He's vulnerable enough to admit he misread her. He tries to repair the situation.]

Michael hands her the cassette he made. 

MICHAEL: I don't know, this whole thing has just been--I haven't made anyone a tape since I don't even know when, when I was seventeen and acne and here I am, twenty-six. I just, I never met anyone like you before. [Again, he's vulnerable and lets her into his emotions. I really want to like this guy at this point.]

Genuinely touched by the gesture, she kisses him softly. [This is a moment of connection when she acknowledges his gift and bid for attention.]

MICHAEL: It's got KISS and I don't know why, but I stuck the Hershey's jingle on there: (sings) Nothin' like the face of a kid eating a Hershey's bar, nothing like it you'll...

She reaches out and gently touches his face, charmed.

LELAINA (soft): --Michael, I love this. But I just can't go, okay? I just can't do it. I'm sorry.  [I can't fault her because it costs her something to be this honest.]

MICHAEL: Alright, forget it. I just though it would be fun and funny and you and me, that's all.  [He's really trying but it's not what she needs right now.]

He starts out, hurt. She looks over and sees that snow is still on the TV. She turns the set off and follows him.  [They're both trying to connect, but clearly they're not on the same page.]

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I liked that the couple veered widely in emotions, even in the same scene, because I could never predict where the scene would go

Reality Bites (1994)(12/5/92 draft)
by Helen Childress

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.

TODAY'S NUGGET: Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) - Show-Not-Tell: A Mother Sacrificing Her Own Comfort in an Uncomfortable Situation

[Quick Summary: After an elderly couple lose their home, they are separated between their five children, who aren't able to take both of them in.]

I think it says something that director Leo McCarey (An Affair to Remember, The Awful Truth) thought that this was one of his best films.* 

It is sad,** but don't be fooled by its simplicity. 

To write emotion this well requires a high level of craft. ***

What makes this story so powerful? Roger Ebert said it best: 

What's so powerful about the film is its level gaze. It calmly, almost dispassionately, regards the situation and how it plays out. No spin.

In the scene below:
- Father and Mother had to sell the house.  Father isn't in the best of health.
- None of their five children could support two additional mouths to feed, so they were split up between children's households.
- Mother is staying with her son George, his wife, and granddaughter Rhonda.
- Mother has already heard that a friend, who is at the Cadwallader Home, is very unhappy there.
- Notice how the writer shows Mother spying the letter (she KNOWS what is up) --> then later, she requests to be placed at Cadwallader Home --> we know she has taken the emotional hit and sacrificed her own comfort.
- Also note the tone that Ebert speaks about.  It is calm, real, without spin, i.e., TRUTHFUL.

RHONDA (without letting up in her dancing):  I'm sorry Grandma, did I wake you up?

MOTHER: That's all right...any mail?

Rhonda, still dancing, points tot he table on which there is some mail, and Mother goes to it. A close-up shows Mother at the table, looking over the mail, rather casually, until she comes to a certain letter. She looks at it for quite a long time. We see the LETTER, which is addressed to GEORGE COOPER, and in the left-hand upper corner is printed the place from which it came, in bold type: CADWALLADER HOME FOR THE AGED.

Mother shakes her head in sober thought. It is all she can do not to open the letter. She finally puts it back on the pile unopened but all too well she senses its contents. All the while out of sight, the radio has been "jazzing it up" and RHONDA can be heard chiming in with the music of the radio. Then Mother mechanically goes over to a chair, sits down, and starts to knit. Her mind is still on the letter...

[George tells Mother that her daughter Addie can't take her and Father, so he is going to live with Cora, another daughter in California, because of his declining health. Mother is ok, as long as she can see him to say goodbye.]

[George] turns to an ashtray to put out his cigarette, then lights another one immediately. He gets up and starts to pace the floor, puffing nervously at his cigarette.

Mother, seen alone, suddenly know that the hour of doom has struck. Everything has become painfully, blindingly clear to her. For a moment she looks frightened and heartsick - but while GEORGE smokes, she gets herself under control. Then they are seen together, Mother watching him closely. She is ready.

GEORGE (sitting beside her on the couch): Mother, I've something else to tell you, too.

MOTHER (after studying his unhappy face): There's something I'd like to tell you first.

GEORGE: Let me while I can, Ma. Tell me later.

MOTHER: It's simply this. I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I haven't been too happy here. It's lonesome in this apartment all day with everyone gone. Would you mind terribly if I decided to leave you and go to the Cadwallader Home?

GEORGE (thunderstruck): Mother!

MOTHER: It's a fine place and I'd make friends my own age --

GEORGE: Mother, I--

MOTHER: Let me finish, dear. Once I thought your father and I would be able to get together again. I see that it's never going to turn out that way. And so I want to go to the home. (He looks at her with his heart in his eyes - as Mother smiles bravely.) I'm glad that's over. I hated to tell you as much as you would have hated to tel me anything like that. (After a pause) Oh, there's just one thing more, dear. I'd like to stay here till your father's on his way to California. He's funny about some things, you know. He'd never believe that the home's a grand place. He's a little old-fashioned, your father is. Those places seem terrible to him. (After pausing) Don't let him know I'm going. Tell Nellie and Cora and the others that he must never know. This is one thing that has to be handled my way.

GEORGE: Yes, Ma. Anything you say.

MOTHER: Let him think I'm staying on with you and Anita. You can always forward my letters to the home. It'll be the first secret I've ever had from him and it'll seem mighty funny. (She looks at George but he does not meet her gaze. He is too miserable. Mother is silent for a time, but when she speaks it is with the same lightness she has used throughout the scene.) I think I'll go to bed now if you don't mind, dear. I'm very tired. (She stands up and stoops to kiss him on the forehead.) Here's another secret just between us two. You were always my favorite child. Goodnight. George, weak and looking beaten, stares up at her.)

Mother stands, straight and strong, with courage in her eyes and on her smiling mouth. She turns and starts from the room. But she sways a little as she reaches the archway. George sees this - leaps to her side and puts an arm about her. Mother smiles a little apologetically.

MOTHER: Floor's a little slippery, I guess.

In the hallway, George leads her gently to her room, and she goes in without a word.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Because it was opposite of what I expected, Mother's calm, dispassionate reaction showed me more about her emotions than if she'd spoken them.

Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
by Vina Delmar
Based on the novel, The Years Are So Long, by Josephine Lawrence, and a play by Helen and Nolan Leary

* When director Leo McCarey received his Oscar for The Awful Truth (1937), he reportedly said he had gotten it for the wrong film, i.e., it should've been for this film. 

**Orson Welles gave this film the highest compliments: "that [it] would make a stone cry," and “the saddest movie ever made."

*** I want to note that this story was battle tested and worked on by THREE sets of writers (play, novel, script) before it reached the screen.   

TODAY'S NUGGET: This Land is Mine (1943) - "I Don't Love You" Moment That's Really "I've Never Seen You Before" (Aha! Moments in Subtext)

[Quick Summary: In WWII, a cowardly school teacher, who lives with his domineering mother in a German occupied town, is tempted to join the Resistance.]

This script takes awhile to get to the point.

It's due to a rather intricate set up and the close connections between characters:
- Albert Lory, the timid protagonist, and Louise Martin his neighbor, are grade school teachers.
- Albert has a secret crush on Louise, but lives with his overbearing mother.
- Their principal and mentor is Prof. Sorel.
- Louise is engaged to George Lambert, who works in the railroad terminal office.
- A member of the underground Resistance has been plaguing the town with bombs.

However, it's worth the wait.  I liked how it delivers an emotional punch, often through nuanced subtext, such as this aha! realization in the scene below:
- The police have just jailed Prof. Sorel as the suspected bomber.
- Louise now goes to see George, who speaks against the bomber.
- The secret bomber is actually Paul, Louise's brother.  He works at the railroad switch tower under George.
- I liked that Louise is working out her confused feelings for George in real time. ex. She admits her confusion to George ("Maybe I'm still in love with you.")
- This conversation about the bomber has brought Louise to an aha! revelation emotionally, i.e., she sees that she and George do not think alike.
- Notice the button on the scene (last few lines), which:
a) shows how far apart they are emotionally; and
b) is ironic, as Paul is the bomber that George has just been dissing.

INTERIOR GEORGE LAMBERT'S OFFICE - AT FRIGHT TERMINAL - DAY

...[Paul] leads [Louise] over to his chair and she sinks into it, glad to be weak for a change and have someone to comfort her. He takes his handkerchief and dries her eyes.

GEORGE (continued)(as to a child, tenderly): There now, is that better?

LOUISE: George, I'm frightened. I'm scared to death. Life is getting horrible. I don't know what to do. I need you.

GEORGE: Of course you need me, darling. That's what I'm here for. I love you.

As she relaxes, comforted:

GEORGE (continued): I know all about Sorel. They also took that fellow that runs the store across the street from you - Lorraine, and eight other men. One of them worked here in the yard. (petting her comfortingly) But nothing can happen for a week. If they find the man who threw the bomb they'll all be released.

LOUISE (half out of her mind): But that's just it. You don't understand. The man who threw the bomb -- Oh, George, I'm in an awful situation.

GEORGE (comfortingly): I know, dear, I know. The man who threw the bomb is a criminal.

Louise draws back and looks up at him as if she couldn't have heard right but in his indignation he doesn't notice it.

GEORGE (continued): If he has a spark of courage he'll come forward and admit his guilt - save innocent men.

LOUISE (staring at him): You really think he's a criminal?

GEORGE (righteously): Look Louise, all fo us hate this Occupation. I stood up to Major von Keller and told him to his face I didn't like it. But we have to face facts: They have the power. If one of us wants to resist, and get killed, that's foolish but courageous. He takes the risk and punishment himself. But the man who secretly resists, with acts of sabotage, is a coward; he escapes and innocent people die.

LOUISE (staring at him): You believe that?

GEORGE: It's obvious, darling.

LOUISE (looking at him strangely): You mean everyone who resists the enemy should give himself up, George?

GEORGE: I think so.

LOUISE: Then there is no more resistance.

GEORGE: Then we'd have peace. Wouldn't we be better off? Our duty now is to keep alive. To exist. What becomes of a nation if its citizens all die? Do you want to die? Do I want to die?

LOUISE (quietly; looks at him as if she had never seen him before): I saw them take Professor Sorel. He's not afraid to die.

She gets up and looks out the window, suddenly a million miles from him.

GEORGE: But he's old. We're young. Life means everything to us.

LOUISE (looking out at the switch tower): I know young men who aren't afraid to die. [She means her brother Paul.]

GEORGE (goes to her): Nothing is worth the sacrifice of your life, Louise. We have everything ahead of us - love, marriage, children --

LOUISE (turns on him): No, George.

He looks at her blankly as she takes off the ring and drops it on his desk.

LOUISE (continued): I was in love with you. Maybe I'm still in love with you. But I begin to feel as if I'd never looked at you before. This is the first time you've been frank with me. My mind's confused -- I haven't the right answer yet for the things you've said, but I feel -- I know you're wrong.

Her eyes widen as the door swings open and Paul walks in, his usual gay self.

PAUL: Hello, folks. (grins) I don't know how you do it, George. I can't get my girl to come down here and visit me.

Louise walks straight past him and exits. He looks after her curiously, then at the discomfited George.

PAUL (continued): Hey, what's the matter?

GEORGE (trying to cover up, hiding the ring in his hand): Oh, she's just upset. She'll get over it. You know women.

PAUL (laughs): I sure don't.

FADE OUT

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: The subtext here works because:
- George and Louise fundamentally have opposing views on the Resistance.
- George is missing information (doesn't know the secret about Paul).
- This moment comes at a crucial turning point (there are stakes).

In addition, I also liked how the subtext is also about other things: the bomber (surface); Prof. Sorel; young vs. old; the line of sacrifice; vulnerability; need; status.

This Land is Mine (1943)(anthology with only the script)
This Land is Mine (1943)(script + introduction)*
by Dudley Nichols

*This is a stand-alone publication includes the script plus an introduction with interesting details about where this film falls in history, the RKO studio, the director Renoir, and star Charles Laughton.

TODAY'S NUGGET: How Green Was My Valley (1941) - How to Show Theme in Story & Subtle Visuals

[Quick Summary: Told through the eyes of the youngest son, a Welsh mining family has split opinions over a mining strike.]

This is a famous film from director John Ford that has influenced many others.  For example, see the classic, powerful framing in these stills: here, here, and here. 

Though it's not one of my favorite stories, I was impressed how the writer brought out the theme of family in the story and subtle visuals.

For example:
- The scene below occurs after mother Beth has spoken up at a strikers' meeting,
- The strike has pitted her husband (anti-strike) against her adult sons (pro-strike).
- She spoke up in support of her husband, who was not present.
- She and her youngest son, Huw (protagonist) begin walking home in bad weather.
- Her other adult sons, Ianto and Davy, attended the meeting separately.
- She falls through the rotting bridge.
- The theme of family in the story: mother vs. sons at the meeting.
- The theme of family in the visuals: mother falls through the bridge; mother separated from sons; sons coming to aid of estranged parent.
- Note how theme is also in the conflict: Huw's brothers dismissed their mother's plea in the previous scene.  Now, through Huw's point of view, we see he's barely hanging on. Where will his brothers' loyalties lie when there's an emergency?
 

The scene dissolves to a MOUNTAINSIDE. It is still night. Huw and Beth, almost totally exhausted, are stumbling down a steep place. It is raining fiercely and the wind shrieks through the trees above them. Beth is failing visibly. Huw puts his arm around her, struggling to support her.

HUW'S VOICE: Hours it seemed and no feeling or sense was in me - but I was crying to God to help me save my mother and I was helped sure or I could not tell where I found the strength -

The scene dissolves to a BRIDGE, as Beth and Huw stagger toward it. They reach the bridge. Beth clutches at the rail for support. The wood is rotten and breaks under her weight. She pitches forward into the icy water a few feet below the bridge. Huw gives a frightened gasp and throws himself in after her.

In the water Beth, inert, is slung around by the swift current. Huw struggles closer to her, as the current brings her up against a rocky point. Gasping with the cold Huw brings her head and shoulders clear of the water. He cannot leave the water himself, but must push against her with all his might to hold her clear of the racing stream.

HUW'S VOICE: So strong was the cold that for minutes I couldn't breathe--

Huw, his face contorted, is struggling to hold his mother up as he stands shoulder deep in the icy black water.  A faint light appears upon Huw and the inert figure of Beth.

HUW'S VOICE: How long it was I cannot tell, but there was a weariness of time before I saw a light--

Huw is desperately holding on as the light grows stronger and dark figures appear in the rain. It is a group of men from the meeting, headed by Davy and Ianto. They have a lantern.

Huw turns, his eyes glistening in the light, and opens his mouth to shout.

HUW'S VOICE: I tried to shout but my voice was gone from my throat.

Davy, Ianto and the men, not seeing Huw and his mother, start to cross the bridge. Huw's mouth is open. He is trying to shout against the wind, but he cannot make himself heard. He begins to fail, to slip. Beth's head rolls and she almost goes under the water.

Ianto and Davy with the other men are on the bridge. They are about to leave the bridge and pass on when Ianto almost casually notices that the rail is broken. He stops for a second look, holding the lantern high. Huw is straining mightily to hold Beth above the water. Ianto starts to move away, then raises the lantern once more As he looks down the stream, his eyes widen in horror. He turns and shouts into the wind.

IANTO (shouting): Davy--

He puts down his lantern and plunges forward into the water where Huw is giving his last ounce of strength to hold up his mother until Ianto reaches them. As Ianto pulls them to the bank, Davy and the other men are there to help them to safety. The scene fades out.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: You don't have to hit the audience over the head with theme. Here, it is subtly baked into conflicts and drama. 

In fact, it's so good that I didn't notice the subtle metaphor of the rotting bridge until much later. 

How Green Was My Valley (1941)
by Philip Dunne
Based on the novel by Richard Llewellyn

TODAY'S NUGGET: Wuthering Heights (1939) - I Don't Want Him, But I Don't Want You to Have Him Either

[Quick Summary:  A servant recalls the story of her master Heathcliff's doomed love for his childhood sweetheart Cathy.]

MY TWO THOUGHTS:

1) OLIVIER. This film and Rebecca (1940) gave actor Lawrence Olivier his first two Oscar nominations, in back-to-back years. 

I like to think it's partly due to the excellence in writing.

2) PING-PONG CONFLICT & MOTIVES = CRUCIBLE. I really liked how the writers juggled Cathy's various internal/external conflicts & motives.  

Heathcliff loves Cathy, but she knows he's not good for her and decides to marry neighbor Edgar. Rejected, Heathcliff starts to court Isabella, Edgar's sister.

In this love triangle, Cathy ping-pongs between several internal/external conflicts: 
- She half-wants him; she doesn't want him.
- She sees he is a wrong fit for Isabella; she doesn't want Isabella to have him.
- She's newly married to Edgar.
- She's trying to establish a relationship with new sister-in-law Isabella.  

When they're mixed, they create a crucible, like in the scene below:
- Edgar and Cathy's house is next door to Heathcliff's estate.
- Isabella lives with Edgar and Cathy.
- This scene occurs in Isabella's room.
- Cathy's goal is to warn Isabella, but Isabella is suspicious of her motives. 
- Notice that in this crucible, we don't really know which of Cathy's conflicts are motivating her.
- Is her concern for herself, Isabella, or Heathcliff? (internal)
- Does she love Edgar, or is she still in love with Heathcliff? (external)

Isabella has risen, and moves as if to pass Cathy. Cathy takes her by the shoulders, shakes her.

CATHY: You fool! You vain little fool!

ISABELLA: Let me pass.

CATHY: I won't be silent any longer. I'm going to tell the truth. You're old enough to hear it. You're strong enough.

ISABELLA: Let me pass, Catherine.

CATHY: Not till I open your eyes.

ISABELLA: My eyes are quite open, thank you.

CATHY: He's been using you...Don't you see what he's been doing - using you to be near me, to smile at me behind your back - to try and rouse something in my heart that's dead...dead! I'll not have it any longer!...And I'll not allow you to help him any longer....

ISABELLA (softly): It's you who are vain and insufferable. Heathcliff's in love with me.

CATHY (wildly): It's a lie!

ISABELLA: It's not a lie. He's told me so. He's kissed me...

CATHY (seizing her arm, digging her nails into her wrist): He's what!

ISABELLA (exulting): He's kissed me. He's held me in his arms. He's told me he loves me!

CATHY: I'm going to your brother.

She almost throws Isabella down in a gesture of rage.

ISABELLA (hitting every raw nerve): Go to him. He's asked me to marry him...Tell Edgar that! We're going to be married! That Heathcliff's going to be my husband!

CATHY (a moaned guttural): Isabella, you can't. Heathcliff is not a man but something horrible and dark to live with.

ISABELLA (slowly and cruelly): Do you imagine, Catherine, I don't know why you are acting so -- Because you love him...

CATHY (flaming): How dare you say that!

Cathy flies at Isabella and slaps her viciously. Isabella doesn't flinch.

ISABELLA: Yes, you love him! And you're mad with pain and jealousy at the thought of my marrying him! Because you want him to pine for you and dream of you, to die for you...while you live in comfort and security as Mrs. Linton.

CATHY: You little fool

ISABELLA (unflinching): You don't want him to be happy. You want to hurt him, destroy him. But I want to make him happy --and I will..I will!

There is a knock at the door.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: It's natural that this many strong conflicts/motives within a single character will lead to such an explosive situation. 

However,  it's rare to hit on the right combination of conflicts like this so well.  This is a very high level of craft.

Wuthering Heights (1939)
by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur
Based on the novel by Emily Bronte

TODAY'S NUGGET: Rebecca (1940) - Foreshadowing with the Sly Inuendos

[Quick Summary: The second Mrs. de Winter struggles not to be intimidated by the shadow of the first Mrs. de Winter.]

TWO THOUGHTS:

1) PROTAGONIST W/O A NAME. This is the first script that I've seen in which the main character has no name and is never called by her name.* 

2) FORESHADOWING.  I think this is still one of Alfred Hitchcock's most famous films** because of its foreshadowing what "I" is about to face.

Why does it work? One element is the atmosphere of unresolved feelings. 
ex. Everyone else has opinions about Rebecca, the first Mrs. de Winter, except the protagonist and the audience.  It feels like we are lagging behind.  

How does it work? I think it's a snowballing of a string of hints and clues. 
ex. The protagonist only gets pieces of the story.  It keeps the audience engaged to try to put them together and see what comes next.

For example:
- The protagonist, "I", has been paid companion to Mrs. Van Hopper.
- She and Maxim de Winter have just announced their engagement to Mrs. Van Hopper in her hotel room.
- Maxim leaves the room to make wedding arrangements.
- Mrs. Van Hopper is the first to drop sly innuendos that can be taken two ways.
- She plays with "I's" fears of losing Maxim.
- The scene below is from the shooting script. The "official" script in the anthology is slightly different.

[NOTE: I have bolded several innuendos and hints below.]

Mrs. Van Hopper walks to "I", dropping all pretense.

MRS. VAN HOPPER: So this is what has been happening during my illness! (She smiles unpleasantly.) Tennis lessons my foot! (she goes close to "I") I suppose I've got to hand it to you for a fast worker. How did you manage it? Still waters certainly run deep! But it's a lucky thing for you that you haven't a family to ask embarrassing questions. When did you first meet him?

"I": The day after we arrived here.

MRS. VAN HOPPER: Really! And all this time you've been listening to me talk about him - and never a peep out of you. And I took you for an innocent, unsophisticated child!

She takes a few steps away from "I" CAMERA FOLLOWING HER, then turns quickly round.

MRS. VAN HOPPER (taking a cigarette out and lighting it): You realize that he's much older than you.

SEMI CLOSE UP

"I" slightly on the defensive.

"I": I'm old for my age.

Mrs. Van Hopper comes back into the picture and laughs.

MRS. VAN HOPPER: You certainly are.

She leans closer to "I" and speaks in a lower tone.

MRS. VAN HOPPER: Tell me, have you been doing anything you shouldn't?

She looks "I" up and down appraisingly like a judge at a cattle show. "I" backs away from her

"I" (with some indignation): I don't know what you mean.

Mrs. Van Hopper shrugs her shoulders. Her cigarette still in her mouth, she takes out a compact and starts to powder her nose.

MRS. VAN HOPPER: Oh well - never mind. I always did say Englishmen have strange tastes. But you'll certainly have your work cut out as mistress of Manderley. To be perfectly frank with you, my dear, I can't see you doing it. (she strolls out of picture)

SEMI CLOSE UP

She strolls into picture by the mirror as she continues:

MRS. VAN HOPPER: You haven't the experience, you haven't the faintest idea what it means to be a great lady. Personally, I think you're making a big mistake - one you will bitterly regret.

Through the mirror we see "I" watching her unhappily, and Mrs. Van Hopper starts to adjust a few stray hairs under her hat.

MRS. VAN HOPPER: Of course, you know why he's marrying you, don't you? You haven't flattered yourself that he's in love with you. The fact is, that empty house got on his nerves to such an extent he nearly went off his head. He just couldn't go on living alone.

SEMI CLOSE UP

During the last long speech we cut in a flash of "I" getting more and more unhappy and angry.

"I": You'd better leave, Mrs. Van Hopper. You'll miss your train.

CLOSE UP

Mrs. Van Hopper turns and faces "I". A queer, twisted smile crosses her face.

MRS. VAN HOPPER (with withering sarcasm): Mrs. de Winter. (With a sour laugh) Good-bye, my dear, and good luck. 

She turns and flounces out. The slam of the door is heard.

CLOSE UP

"I's" worried face as she looks after her.

                                                                                                  FADE OUT.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: The hints and clues don't need to be obvious. Just enough to play with the character's weakness or fears.  It can then escalate from there.

Rebecca (1940)(shooting script, 3/26/40)
Rebecca (1940)(anthology)
by Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison
Based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier

*The editors of this anthology note: "This story is the dramatization of a first person narrative related by the second Mrs. De Winter. Except for her formal name, later in the story, she can be known to us only as "I" and is therefore so called throughout."

**This was Alfred Hitchcock's first American film, and garnered 11 Oscar nominations, including one for best screenplay.