TODAY'S NUGGET: Story of G.I. Joe (1945) - Feeling as if You Belong (Showing Camaraderie Without Words)

[Quick Summary: Near the end of WWII, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ernie Pyle follows troops, in the good and bad, as they liberate Italy.]

Journalist Ernie Pyle wrote in a way that brought his readers close to the troops.  I was surprised at how this script did the same thing for me.

I'm glad that the writers did not focus on politics or the problems of an on-going war.*  Instead, they focused on what these soldiers really fought for - each other.  

All throughout the script, there is this feeling as if you belong, i.e., camaraderie.  It shows up particularly in very small moments.

In the scene below:
- Notice how Murphy's death is handled tactfully, quietly.
- Mew, who has no family, had to fill out his insurance forms earlier.
- Notice how the scene speaks without words of taking care of each other.

Ernie looks at the corner where Murphy always sat. Then at Red's picture. Then at Mew, who slowly takes out his tattered insurance paper and a pencil, and starts to rub something out, following which we see the INSURANCE PAPER: Crossing out Murph's name, Mew changes the sum opposite Mrs. Murphy's name to $4000. The list now reads: Warnicki $2000; Junior $2000; Mrs. Murphy $4000.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I thought the Pyle character would be a throw away, but he was part of that camaraderie  He showed that it mattered to tell these soldiers' stories.

Story of G.I. Joe (1945)
by Leopold Atlas, Guy Endore, Phillip Stevenson

*When this film was made in 1944, WWII had not ended yet and Italy was still being liberated.

TODAY'S NUGGET: The Southerner (1945) - How Important is Being Important to a Character?

[Quick Summary: The kind, hard-working Tucker family arrives on rented farmland to grow cotton for the first time on their own.]

I was not keen on the only other Renoir script I've read,* but this one was heart warming in the best way. I knew why the characters felt/did not feel important.

The man who is robbed of the privilege of becoming important in his own esteem or in the society in which he lives, is a dangerous man. The importance of being important is second only to self-preservation. -Egri 

The best example of this "robbed man" is the scene below.  Note:
- Unwelcoming Mr. Devers has had an eye on the property Sam Tucker just rented.
- Devers has been trying to discourage Sam from staying.
- Devers cut the bucket rope from the common well, then allowed his animals to eat Sam's vegetable garden. Devers and Sam have just had a fist fight.
- Walking home, Sam saw the elusive catfish legend twitching on his line.
- Notice WHY Devers wants the fish. It's not to eat.

The scene dissolves to a close view of Lead Pencil, who is lying on the river bank, and then we see the three men squatting around the fish. Sam is winding up the cable which has served as a line to catch Lead Pencil. Devers is looking at the fish in almost insane admiration. Finally, unable to control himself any longer, he speaks.

DEVERS: Tucker. (As Sam doesn't answer) That's my fish.

SAM: So ya own the river too, huh/ But maybe the Law will call my hook 'n line an Act o' God.

DEVERS: Ya gimme that fish, 'n swear never t'tell ya caught it, 'n I'll give ya (hesitating) a dollar.

SAM (busy with the fish-line): I don' need no dollar. My folks likes fish.

DEVERS: All right. I'll keep the fish long 'nuf to take it to the store 'n shoe it fer a day or two, and you kin have it back.

SAM (still busy with the fish-line): It ain' likely to be very good eatin' after that.

DEVERS: All right. Lemme have the fish 'n ya keep yer mouth shut, 'n ya kind use outta my whole garden. 

Sam is seen close, working the hook out as delicately as if the fish were the frailest gossamer.

SAM (pleasantly): He sure taken a holt of it, didn't he?

DEVERS (frantic): All right, then. You kin have the whole durn garden.

SAM (looking up): 'N the well rope? How we gonna draw water?

DEVERS: All right, durn it. I gotta another rope in the barn.

Sam rises. Devers and Finley are looking at him anxiously. In the background, Nona and Becky come running. We understand that Becky has gone to get Nona. Sam looks at them. The two women stop short, amazed at the friendly attitude of the men.

NONA: Sam! What's happened? Becky tole me....

SAM (nonchalantly): Oh, it ain't nothin! I wuz jes' helpin' Devers here pull this big catfish outten the river! He done caught Lead Pencil!

DEVERS (after a pause): Yeah.

Devers looks closely at Sam, gratitude and friendliness in his eyes, as the scene fades out.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I like how the audience can see that Devers wants to feel important, but I don't think Devers really realizes how much he does.

The Southerner (1945)
Written and directed by Jean Renoir
Adapted from the novel, "Hold Autumn in Your Hand," by George Sessions Perry

*La Grande Illusion (1937) is #85 on WGA's list of best scripts.  My blog post on it is here.

TODAY'S NUGGET: None But the Lonely Heart (1945) - Hiding a Setup in Plain Sight for Later Betrayal

[Quick Summary: When a wanderer returns home to help his mother run a pawn shop, they both secretly turn to crime to make ends meet.]

I should've known that Clifford Odets* would deliver another complex stunner. 

His script here is extremely well-written. It reads fast, very free and natural. 

When I looked closer, though, I was amazed how difficult it is on a craft level (ensemble, deep themes, 2-3 story lines, etc.)

Today I will focus on his use of a setup for a later betrayal (I never saw it coming!)

In the story:
- Ernie has been wandering all over the UK. 
- He runs out of money and returns home to Ma, a tough, honest pawn shop owner. 
- Ma is brusque but kind to Ernie: You can either stay for good or go. 
- Ma tells Ike, a long time friend and fellow pawn shop owner, about the cancer, but not Ernie. Ike gives Ernie a job fixing a clock to give him some funds.

In the scene below:
- Notice how kind Ike is to everyone - Ernie, Lesser, a random old lady.
- Notice also we're focused on Ike's discomfort at relaying bad news AND he's doing Ernie a favor. How will Ernie take it?
- Notice that this DOES NOT look like a setup for a later payoff, i.e., There is plenty of drama to occupy our attention for now...only much later will we recall this scene and grasp it was a setup when Ernie betrays Ike later. 

Ike's assistant, little Mr. Lesser, comes in from the shop, a ring in his hand.

LESSER: She wants a quid on this - an old lady.

IKE (looking at the ring): Give it to her - an old lady, Mr. Lesser. (Sighing) Everything with a kiss.

LESSER (shaking his head as he walks out): Clocks, clocks...tick tock.

ERNIE: Best I could do with that old main spring.

IKE (as he picks up the clock, looks it over, and puts it down): Tick tock, tick tock... (Then) Did you ever realize your mother was once upon a time maybe the most beautiful woman in the East End of London? (Ernie looks up, surprised at this irrelevancy. Ike continues soberly and shrewdly.) In the old days, I mean.

ERNIE (puzzled): What about it?

IKE: Excuse me if I put a flea in your ear. Your mother is a very sick woman...

Ernie slowly stands up. He looks tightly at the old man.

ERNIE: You owe me two pounds, Mr. Weber. Pay it an' I'll be on my way.

Silently Ike takes some bills from his pocket and gives them to Ernie. Ernie puts on his cap and starts out through the front of the shop, the dog after him. He passes the counter where Lesser is polishing some rings. About to leave the shop, Ernie stops with his hand on the doorknob. Then he slowly turns, calling back sarcastically, hand still on the knob.

ERNIE: What's it she's got? A pain for her no-good son?

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: This is a very sophisticated setup because it doesn't look, smell, or sound like a setup.

In the age where audiences are always looking for something new, a twist, something NEW, this kind of craft can really set one apart as a writer.

None But the Lonely Heart (1945)
by Clifford Odets
Adapted from the novel by Richard Llwellyn

*He was a well-known playwright and writer of the famous film Sweet Smell of Success (1957) (my blog on it here).

TODAY'S NUGGET: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) - Emotion: Earning the Audience's Sympathy

[Quick Summary: In 1900s Brooklyn tenements, Francie Nolan (12) and her brother Neeley grow up with an alcoholic father and determined mother.]

I did not expect to cry, so I was surprised when I teared up around part 9 (this printed edition is divided into 10 parts).  How did this script earn my sympathies?

First, it showed me a "oh-I-know-that-character," Francie:

"[She is] about thirteen. She is a rather quiet child. She has inherited from Johnny, her father, a sensitiveness and an imagination that make her by the far the more difficult problem in parenthood for the Nolans."

Then it showed me an "oh-I-know-that-role" in her family's situation. 

This is best seen in the scene below:
- Francie is closer to her father Johnny, a loving father, but drinks because he cannot provide well. 
- The burden falls on her mother Katie, who is the janitor of their apartment building, and the kids to look out for Johnny.
- Note the recognizable dynamic: an overly responsible child who loves her still impractical parent.

Suddenly he stops at the window of the hardware shop as they pass it.

JOHNNY: Look at all the things they got. No use talkin', some day I'm gonna get you them skates.

FRANCIE (maternally): Mama said not to be late, papa.

JOHNNY: God invented time, Prima Donna, and whenever He invents somethin' there's always plenty of it. (Moving down the window) Look at them knives!

FRANCIE (gravely): Mama says time is money.

JOHNNY: Well, I guess maybe He wasn't worryin' about money right then.

FRANCIE (a little worried): There's your car, papa.

JOHNNY (looking, and grinning at her): Might as well catch it, I guess.

He kisses her quickly and goes toward the car. Francie calls "goodbye" after him and stands watching anxiously.

Johnny swings onto the car just as it starts to move on. He smiles back, then tips his hat with a fine flourish to Francie.

Nobody but papa has ever tipped his hat to her. She is so proud her eyes glisten suspiciously. Her concern is gone and nothing is left but worship. She waves till the car is out of sight. And the scene fades out.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: The audience will not sympathize if it cannot recognize a situation.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
by Tess Slesinger & Frank Davis
Adapted from the novel by Betty Smith

TODAY'S NUGGET: The Lost Weekend (1945) - Two Steps in Thinking About Emotion

[Quick Summary:  Don, an alcoholic, failed novelist, tries to survive the weekend alone at his brother's apartment.]

The premise of an alcoholic getting drunk over a long weekend? Boring, right?

I read this script and had to begrudgingly admit that the writers Wilder and Brackett got my emotions invested.  How? 

Lagos Egri said it best in his chapter "Emotion: The Source of Identification":

Here is where the writer's intelligence is tested to the full. The first step is to make your reader or viewer identify your character as someone he knows. Step two - if the author can make the audience imagine that what is happening can happen to him, the situation will be permeated with aroused emotion and the viewer will experience a sensation so great that he will feel not as a spectator but as the participant of an exciting drama before him. 

Here, the writers first establish how Don uses alcohol to numb him from fear as a failed writer (we ALL know that person).  

Don must, must have alcohol, but has not sold his precious typewriter or cheated on his faithful girlfriend Helen.  

But when his hits bottom (scene below) we all say, "That could happen to me too":

Don is shaking so that he can't pick up the glass. He bends down, sucks half of it, then lifts the glass and drians the rest. He holds out the empty glass to Nat, his eyes imploring.

NAT: That's all.

DON: Come on, Nat, come on. I'll let you have my typewriter.

NAT: I'm no writer. You're the writer. Now go. Go away.

DON: Nat --

NAT: I mean it. Get out.

Don takes the typewriter and drags himself out of Nat's place. Then we see Third Avenue, outside Nat's as Don emerges, and starts dragging himself up the street toward home. As he passes the antique shop, he suddenly stops. There stands the wooden Indian that Gloria spoke about, pointing up. That's where Gloria lives. Second floor, this same house. Don walks into the house.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I shall cogitate more about the second part ("could happen to me too") because it is the trickier bit for me.

The Lost Weekend (1945)
by Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder
Adapted from the novel by Charles R. Jackson

TODAY'S NUGGET: Henry V (1944) - Silent, Visual Cues

[Quick Summary: Young Henry V attempts to conquer France in 1415.]

Q: You've never read this play before.
A: No. 

Q: So given that, how was the adaptation? Could you follow it?
A:  It IS exactly the play, but well-edited.  And yes, I could follow it.

Q: So how was it as a script?
A: Honestly? I was bored.  I tend to agree with P. Mosdell who wrote, "Henry V is not particularly significant in the history of cinema," because it's a film of a play.*

Q: This was a well regarded film, done for cheap after the war.  Did the script have any cinematic merit for you?
A: I'm unsurprised by the absence of narrative flourishes that are common today.  After all, this was written by Olivier, for himself to direct and star in.

I did like how the script breaks illusion with a silent, visual cue to convey, "We know this is a play." At the beginning, it is a boy with writing on a placard.

Here is how they did it at the end, simply with make-up (underlined):

Henry and Katharine are crowned and joining hands walk away from the camera to two thrones in the b.g. CAMERA TRACKS FORWARD following them.

C.U. Henry turns round on reaching the throne. He is wearing the crude Globe Theater make-up.

                                                                     APPLAUSE IS HEARD.

CAMERA PANS R. to show a boy made-up as Katharine acknowledging applause.

M.S. Henry and the Boy as Katherine, CAMERA TRACKS BACK to reveal the Stage of the Globe Theatre. Chorus enters L. and pulls the curtain across.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Plays are heavy on the auditory, and films on the visuals. So when transferring a play to film, find where the visuals can carry for the auditory.

Henry V (1944)(continuity script)
by William Shakespeare and Laurence Olivier & Dallas Bower

*Canadian Forum, Oct. 1946.

TODAY'S NUGGET: Duck Soup (1933) - The Importance of Laughs in Parody (Inventiveness)

[Quick Summary: When inept Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho) is appointed dictator of Freedonia, he faces two enemy spies from Sylvania (Chicolini and Pinky).]

I love, love, love Airplane and Naked Gun, but could never figure out why that writing doesn't come naturally to me. 

Seasoned comedy writer Ken Levine explains that these are parodies/spoofs (vs. what he writers, which is more character based comedy):

Here are the pros and cons of parody/spoofs:

Pros: You can draw laughs from anywhere, any style.  Puns, wordplay, physical comedy, shock humor, absurdity — anything is fair game.  All the things you normally pitch in a room and wish you could do you CAN do.   And parodies give you a target right from the get-go. 

Cons: You’re only as good as your last laugh.  Stories are hard to construct because they mean nothing — just a coat rack to hang jokes.  So there’s no emotional investment.  The only thing keeping the souffle from collapsing is laughs.  So they better be damn good and lots and lots of them.

So what brings on the laughs? Inventiveness is definitely one key.

In this scene* from the Marx Brothers' famous Duck Soup:
- There is no real story.  It's just laughs.
- Note how inventive this reversal is: Chicolini and Pinky want to get inside the house --> both DO get inside the house --> then both end up outside.

In a longer shot, Chicolini pulls away and presses the buzzer on the door.

We now see a hedge in the foreground; Chicolini and Pinky hide behind it as the butler comes out of the front door and looks from side to side. Pinky dives for the front door, followed by Chicolini, goes in and slams the door in Chicolini's face while the butler looks behind the hedge. Chicolini hides behind the hedge again as the butler goes back to the door, finds it shut and goes off to the left.

Cut to show Chicolini as he goes up to the door, rings the bell and hides behind the hedge again. Pinky comes out and looks over the hedge, whistling. Chicolini dives for the door behind him and slams the door in his face. Pinky presses the bell and hides.

We see Pinky hiding behind the hedge as Chicolini comes out again and looks over it. The butler reappears in the background, goes in and shuts the door in the faces of Pinky and Chicolini.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  I glad that I finally realize that I'm not just the joke-joke-joke kind of writer that parodies require to keep from collapsing.

Duck Soup (1933)
by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby

*There is no official script available.  This one that was publish is likely the best approximation, and was cobbled together from dialogue continuity pages and shot-by-shot viewings of the film.

TODAY'S NUGGET: Monkey Business (1931) - The Rule of Three: In Word Play & to Show "I Like You"

[Quick Summary: On a transatlantic voyage, the Marx Brothers annoy everyone.]

As you may know, the Marx brothers films are light on plot, but heavy on fun.  

They understood what works in comedy, particularly the comedy rule of three, i.e., setup, setup, payoff.  I've begun to think of it as a rhythm thing.

This script* demonstrates the rule in a variety of ways:

a) In word play, which requires a knowledge of English:

CHICO: I was gonin' ta bring my grandfather, but there was no room for his beard.
GROUCHO waving his toothbrush: Why don't you send for the swine adn let his beard come later?
CHICO: I sent for his beard.
GROUCHO: You did?
CHICO: Yeah, it's coming by hairmail.

b) In action to show "I like you," where language isn't as important.

On the promenade deck, Zeppo skids past and through a doorway with Gibson in hot pursuit. He reappears through another glass door and crouches down, hiding from Gibson, as a girl - Mary - walks through. Zeppo springs up and strolls along beside her, taking her by the arm. Camera tracks ahead of them.

ZEPPO expansively: You know, there's some might pretty country round here. I've...

MARY: I beg your pardon?

She disengages herself and walks on. Zeppo strides ahead of her whistling. He drops his handkerchief, picks it up, and steps up to Mary again.

ZEPPO: Pardon me, is this yours?

MARY: Why no.

She walks on. Zeppo hesitates, then tries again.

ZEPPO: Are you sure?

MARY sweetly: I'm positive. 

A smile comes over her face as she walks on. She drops her own handkerchief and waits. Then as Zeppo hurries up again she picks it up and holds it out to him.

MARY: Is this yours?

ZEPPO pocketing the handkerchief. Yes, it is.

He takes her by the arms and they stroll on. 

ZEPPO: Well, as I was saying, there's some mighty beautiful country round here.

MARY enthusiastically: The trees are lovely.

ZEPPO: Oh, you bet they are. I love 'em.

They go off in the foreground.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Think in threes.  Also, I noticed that the economy of the dialogue and comedy is amazingly compact.

Monkey Business (1931)
by S.J. Perelman and Will B. Johnstone

*There is no official script available.  This one that was publish is likely the best approximation, and was cobbled together from dialogue continuity pages and shot-by-shot viewings of the film.

TODAY'S NUGGET: Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Unfulfilled Love as a Strong Theme

[Quick Summary: When college friends Vicky and Cristina spend two months in Barcelona, each falls in love with the same artist, whose volatile ex-wife returns.]

I was surprised that the theme was so strong in this Woody Allen script.

It made more sense when I considered that:
a) The theme is unfulfilled love, and
b) Every character WANTS the same thing (variations of longing for love), but NEEDS something else. *

One of the script's strength is how strong that WANT is, yet it remains unfulfilled.

For example, in the scene below:
- Vicky had a fiancee, and was unprepared for her connection with artist Juan. 
- They had a one night stand.  He moved on easier than she did.
- On a whim, Vicky's fiancee suggested getting married in Barcelona. 
- Vicky and Ben are in Spanish classes together.
- I thought this was a poignant conflict for Vicky who has attracted two guys, yet still feels unfulfilled because of a third guy.

INT. FRUIT STORE - CONTINUOUS

Ben reaches toward Vicky and clasps her hand.

NARRATOR (V.O.): ...he couldn't resist taking her hand.

VICKY: Uh...uh, no.

Vicky pulls her hand away from Ben.

VICKY (cont'd): Don't. I....

BEN: No?

VICKY: Ehhh, no. Yyyy-you-you-you do know...that I'm, I'm recently married.

BEN: Yeah, I...I guess I was under the impression that...maybe you jumped into it too quick, maybe you regret it...?

VICKY: Regret? Have, have I implied that?

BEN: Unless I read into it.

VICKY: No, I...I shouldn't tell you this. I, I, uh...you know what? I was always someone who thought I knew exactly what I wanted.

BEN: But you didn't.

Vicky shakes her head nervously.

VICKY: Well, no, I, I, I met somebody else and, uh...I'm not gonna get into that story.

BEN: So, this guy you met?

VICKY: The guy is, is living with my best friend. (sighs) You know? (chuckling) What am I talking about? When I...when I hear myself, it's just, it's just crazy. I just married the guy I wanted.

BEN: Did you?

VICKY: I thought so.

BEN: So? What happened?

Vicky shakes her head.

VICKY: One goddamned weekend in Oviedo.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I liked that each character wanted love, but a slightly different variation, which kept it interesting.

I also appreciate how Allen writes dialogue that stumbles around a bit, like people thinking aloud.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
by Woody Allen

*As a side note, I found that the comedy comes from characters choosing the wrong person to fulfill that want.

TODAY'S NUGGET: Brazil (1985) - When You Need Funny, Imaginative, Inventive Inspiration

[Quick Summary:  Sam, a lowly employee, disrupts the intrusive, bureaucratic Ministry of Information Retrieval, as he pursues a woman he had dreams of.]

Sometimes you just need examples of how far you could push being funny, imaginative, inventive.

If so, read this script. Here are three (I underlined my favorite parts):

FUNNY: 

CUT to group of tables with diners. At one of them sits a wealthy-looking OLDER WOMAN with a rather plain-looking DAUGHTER in her 20s. The OLDER WOMAN is easily distinguished from the other clientele by a large bandage that covers a goodish part of her head. The two of them (the MOTHER and DAUGHTER, not the MOTHER and bandage) are perusing the menus.

IMAGINATIVE:

Before he can really take in where he is the phone rings. He staggers over to it.

SAM: Hello...hello...

PHONE VOICE: Hello. Mr. Lowry?

SAM: Who's that? 

A sound at the kitchen door turns SAM'S head - and ours - just in time to half see a quick blurred movement, but then a rap voice in his ear-piece brings his head back.

PHONE VOICE: Put the phone down and your hands up.

SAM (into the phone): What? Who is this?

SAM realizes that the voice is also in the room behind him. He turns round and sees TUTTLE. TUTTLE is middle-aged, a short tough figure dressed in dark clothes suggesting a cross between a cat burglar and  a night-raid commando. In one hand he holds a gun pointed at SAM. The other hand is holding a telephone receiver which TUTTLE is in the act of placing in the large capacious bag at his feet. SAM puts down his phone, and his hands up.

INVENTIVE: 

From SAM'S POV, a piece of broken mirror lying on the floor reflects the hole in the ceiling...with JILL's head and shoulders framed in the hole. The moment is unreal for SAM in his dazed condition. The vision seems unreal too. JILL is staring at SAM out of the piece of mirror and she's very much the GIRL from his dream now.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Despite the heaviness of topic (bureaucracy), it was easy to follow because of 1) the simple thorough line (guy pursuing girl); 2) humor.

Brazil (1985)(1983 draft)
by Terry Gilliam