Scripts: Rear Window (final draft, 01/Dec/1953) - part 9
INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP Doyle starts to pace up and down, throwing out a hand in careful explanation. DOYLE I checked the railroad station. He bought a ticket. He put her on the train ten minutes later. Destination: Merritsville. Witnesses. This deep. (He holds his hand a few feet off the floor) INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP Jeff and Lisa. LISA It might have been a woman -- but it couldn't have been Mrs. Thorwald. That jewelry -- INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP Doyle comes up to the CAMERA, looking at Lisa. DOYLE Look, Miss Fremont. That feminine intuition sells magazines -- but in real life, it's still a fairy tale. I don't know how many wasted years I've spent running down leads based on women's intuitions. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP Jeff is resentful of Doyle's comments to Lisa. JEFF I take it you didn't find the trunk -- And this is just an old speech you once gave at the Policeman's Ball. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP Doyle has turned away into the center of the room. He swings around. DOYLE I found the trunk -- a half hour after I left here. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP Lisa speaks again with continuing sarcasm: LISA Of course, it's normal for a man to tie his trunk up with a heavy rope. DOYLE (Off) When the lock is broken -- yes. JEFF What was in the trunk? A surly note to me? INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP Doyle comes toward the CAMERA again. DOYLE (Carefully) Mrs. -- Thorwald's -- clothes. -- Clean -- carefully packed -- not too stylish -- but presentable. LISA (Off) Didn't you take it to the crime lab? Doyle gives her a scathing look. DOYLE I sent it on its merry and legal way. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP Jeff challenges Doyle: JEFF Why -- when a woman only goes on a simple trip, does she take everything she owns? INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - CLOSEUP Doyle, with a studied, gracious gesture, to Lisa. DOYLE Let the female psychology department handle that one. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP Lisa answers, but very coldly: LISA I would say that is looked as if she wasn't coming back. DOYLE (Off) That's what they call a family problem. JEFF (Persisting) If his wife wasn't coming back -- why didn't he tell his landlord? -- I'll answer it for you -- because he had something to hide. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - CLOSEUP Doyle hesitates a moment, and lets his eyes wander, to: INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - CLOSEUP The overnight case, with Lisa's lingerie. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - CLOSEUP His eyes going back to Jeff. DOYLE (Blandly) Do -- uh -- you tell your landlord everything? INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP Jeff replies, pointedly: JEFF I told you to be careful. Lisa looks down at Jeff, not comprehending. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP Doyle points to one of the photographs on the wall. DOYLE If I'd been careful piloting that reconnaissance plane, you wouldn't have taken the kind of pictures that got you a medal, a big job, fame, money -- JEFF (Expressionless) All the things I hate. Doyle has a complete change of manner. He relaxes and smiles. DOYLE Now -- what do you say we sit down to a quiet, friendly drink or two -- forget all about this, and tell lies about the old days in the war? Hmmm? He looks from one to the other. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP Neither Jeff or Lisa display even the slightest friendliness. Their faces are cold and set. Then Lisa speaks, icily: LISA You're through with the case? INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP Doyle is relaxed. DOYLE There isn't any "case" to be through with, Miss Fremont. Now let's get down to that friendly drink. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP Jeff and Lisa remain unmoved. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP A little self-conscious, Doyle checks his watch, and says with a pleasant laugh: DOYLE Maybe you're right. I guess I'd better get home and get some sleep. He waits. No response comes across. His face sobers a little, he reaches for his unfinished drink of brandy. He tries to toss it off like a straight shot of liquor. Part of it shoots out of the brandy snifter, down each side of his face, and into his suit. He sputters a little, and puts the glass down. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP Jeff and Lisa deadpan. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP Doyle is wiping his coat lapels with a handkerchief. He looks at them pleasantly. DOYLE I'm not much of a snifter. He starts away toward the door. DOYLE If you need any more help, Jeff -- consult the yellow pages of your telephone directory. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP Lisa, still burning: LISA I hate funny exit lines. JEFF Who was the trunk addressed to? INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - MEDIUM SHOT Doyle picks up his hat. DOYLE Mrs. Anna Thorwald. He starts up the steps to the door. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - CLOSEUP Jeff points out a challenging finger. JEFF Let's wait and see who picks it up. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-LONG SHOT Doyle poises on the step. He snaps his fingers. DOYLE Oh -- that phone call! (To Jeff) I gave them your number -- hope you don't mind. JEFF (Off) That depends on who "they" were. DOYLE (Pleasantly) The police Department at Merritsville. They called to report. The trunk was just picked up -- by Mrs. Anna Thorwald. He puts on his hat, smiles, and says. DOYLE Don't stay up too late. He quietly closes the door behind him. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP Lisa and Jeff. Jeff turns his chair around, and looks out to the neighborhood. Lisa stands glumly behind him. EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD - NIGHT - MEDIUM SHOT The song-writer's party is now in full swing, and fairly crowded. It is a happy, gay affair. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP None of the gaiety is reflected in Lisa and Jeff. Some new music is heard coming across the courtyard and Jeff turns toward it with some irritation. EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD - NIGHT - SEMI-LONG SHOT Miss Torso's apartment has the door closed, and all that we can see of her, as she is lying on the divan, is her legs swinging in arcs as she exercise to record music. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP Lisa is not looking in the same direction as Jeff. All during this, she has been staring out at Thorwald's apartment. Now her eyes are looking at the apartment underneath. She murmurs to Jeff: LISA Look. Jeff turns his eyes in the same direction as hers. EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD - NIGHT - SEMI-LONG SHOT A light has gone on in Miss Lonely Hearts' apartment. They look. Surprise of surprises, she has returned with a lover hooked. He is much younger then she, and a little more keyed up to the promise of an adventure still fresh to him. Her actions are coy, and over-feminine. She slips away from his hasty embraces and exploratory kisses with the proper flush of confusion and nervous giggle that seems to say, "It's quite a surprise you find me so desirable, but me mustn't do anything improper, you know. After all, we're practically strangers -- and what would you think of me?" She pours a drink for each of them with gestures over-genteel. As she sips her drink and look at him over the rim of the glass, he tosses his off with nervous dispatch. He moves toward her, this time more cautiously. An embrace, a long kiss. She puts her drink down on the edge of the chair. It spills over onto the rug. He begins kissing her cheek, her ear, her neck. Suddenly and fiercely she pushes him away. Slaps him across the face. He moves back with shock as she loudly and emphatically orders him out, out, out. He flushes with anger and embarrassment, and his mouth twists into unpleasant shapes as he slaps degrading words back at her, telling her what she is. She screams at him to get out. He leaves, slamming the door behind him. She goes back dumbly to the spilled liquor, makes a futile effort to clean it up, and the collapses onto the rug sobbing hard enough to shake her whole body. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - MEDIUM SHOT Lisa turns away from Jeff's chair to get a cigarette from the table. She lights it, as Jeff turns his chair back to the room. JEFF As much as I hate to give Thomas J. Doyle too much credit, he might have gotten a hold of something when he said this was pretty private stuff going on out there. He indicates the outside neighborhood with a movement of his head. She doesn't answer, but studies the photographs on the wall of his room. JEFF Do you suppose it's ethical to watch a man with binoculars, and a long- focus lens -- until you can see the freckles on the back of his neck, and almost read his mail -- do you suppose it's ethical even if you prove he didn't commit a crime? LISA I'm not much on rear window ethics. JEFF Of course, they have the same chance. They can look at me like a bug under glass, if they want to. LISA (Turns to him) Jeff -- if anybody walked in here, I don't think they'd believe what they see. JEFF Huh? LISA You and me with long faces -- plunged into despair -- because we find out that a man didn't kill his wife. We're two of the most frightening ghouls I've ever known. Jeff starts to smile at the realization. LISA You'd think we could be a little bit happy that the poor woman is alive and well. Jeff smile is broad, and he starts to chuckle. She relaxes and joins him. She sits on his lap, her arms around his shoulders. LISA Whatever happened to that old saying "Love Thy Neighbor." JEFF I think I'll start reviving it tomorrow, with say -- Miss Torso for a start? She gets up, goes to the blinds, and proceeds to lower them one by on. LISA (As she get up) Not if I have to move into an apartment across the courtyard and do the dance of the seven veils once an hour. (As she lowers the blinds) Show's over for tonight. He smiles. She goes to the table, picks up he overnight case. LISA Preview -- of the coming attractions. She goes to the kitchen entrance, pauses. LISA Did Mr. Doyle think I stole this case. JEFF (Mock seriousness) No, Lisa -- I don't think he did. She shrugs, goes into the kitchen, the CAMERA PANNING her. LAP DISSOLVE TO: INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - SEMI-CLOSEUP Jeff is sitting on the wheelchair near the bar, a drink in his hand. He starts to take a sip from the glass, when Lisa comes out of the kitchen. She is an ethereal beauty, in sheer peach nightgown, covered by a gossamer matching kimono. She turns gracefully in front of Jeff. He lowers his drink. LISA (Softly) What do you think? Jeff puts his drink on the bar. He tries to decide how to answer her question. He can't. LISA I'll rephrase the question. JEFF Thank you. Lisa holds out the folds of her kimono. LISA Do you like it? JEFF (Studying it) Well, -- if there was one less thread this way -- (motions horizontally) -- and two less that way -- (Motions vertically) -- I might give up bachelorhood. Lisa turns playfully toward the kitchen. LISA I'll be right back. Blood-curdling scream from the courtyard outside suddenly cuts through the night. Startled, both Jeff and Lisa move quickly for the window -- Lisa lifting the blinds up. The long scream subsides into near-hysterical sobbing. EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD - NIGHT - LONG SHOT We get a high comprehensive view of all the apartments. Light are going on in some windows, shades are lifted on others, people are beginning to lean out looking for the source of the cream and sobbing. The song-writer's party comes to a sudden halt, as his guest crowd to the window. SEMI-LONG SHOT Lisa and Jeff at the window, looking out, startled. SEMI-LONG SHOT The landlord, beneath the newlyweds, looks out. Tilting his head up toward the center of the yard. SEMI-LONG SHOT A couple comes out on the high balcony to the right. Look down. MEDIUM SHOT The newlywed's blinds come up, and for the first time we see both of them at the window, the girl looking over the boy's shoulder. SEMI-LONG SHOT Some members of the song-writer's party move out to the patio- balcony, to get a better look down in the yard. SEMI-LONG SHOT The bird woman comes to the window. Her white face looks forward toward the center of the courtyard. SEMI-LONG SHOT Miss Torso, pulling a around her, comes out onto her porch, and looks to her left. SEMI-LONG SHOT Miss Hearing aid comes quickly into her backyard. SEMI-LONG SHOT The couple who own the dog are standing on their fire escape. They are both looking down, but while the husband is quiet, the wife is holding her hands to the side of her head, sobbing loudly. We have heard her sobbing since the moment of the scream which she uttered. SEMI-LONG SHOT Lying near the sidewalk in the backyard below the couple's fire escape, is the silent body of the little dog they own. Miss Lonely Hearts comes running out of the basement door. She goes directly to the dog, picks it up in her arms. Then she slowly turns and looks up at the sobbing woman above her. LONELY HEARTS (Her voice clear) It's dead! It's been strangled and the neck is broken! SEMI-LONG SHOT Instead of increasing her sobbing, this news quiets, momentarily, the woman who owned the dog. Her hands go down to the railing of the fire escape, gripping it fiercely. She lifts her face to the neighborhood, her lips set and her eyes burning. Her chest moves convulsively from the crying. SIFFLEUSE Which one of you did it? (Loud) Which one of you killed my dog? (No one answers; her voice is acid) You don't know the meaning of the word "neighbor". Neighbors like each other -- speak to each other -- care if anybody lives or dies. But none of you do! You don't talk, you don't help, you -- you don't --- (Fighting tears) Even see. But I couldn't imagine any Even of you being so low that you'd kill a little helpless, friendly dog! The only thing in this whole neighborhood who liked anybody! SEMI-LONG SHOT The guests at the song-writer's party begin to move silently back to the studio apartment. SEMI-LONG SHOT The people move off their balcony into the apartment. SEMI-LONG SHOT The woman almost screams at the people now, as she looks up at the apartment. SIFFLEUSE Did you kill him because he liked you? Just because he liked you? She breaks out sobbing anew, and returns to her apartment and out of sight, the crying growing fainter with her retreat. The husband leans over the fire-escape, and motions Miss Lonely Hearts to place the dog in the basket, which is already lowered. SEMI-LONG SHOT Miss Lonely Hearts puts the dog in the basket, and watches as the husband draws it slowly up. SEMI-LONG SHOT The bathing beauties go inside their apartment. MEDIUM SHOT The newlyweds draw their shades again. MEDIUM SHOT The landlord moves away from the window. SEMI-LONG SHOT The dog moves closer to the fire escape, slowly, the husband pulling the rope in hand over hand. SEMI-LONG SHOT Miss Torso goes back to her apartment. SEMI-LONG SHOT Miss Hearing Aid turns down the volume of her hearing aid and goes back to her apartment. SEMI-LONG SHOT The dog reaches the fire escape, and the husband tenderly takes it out of the basket. He turns to carry it's into the apartment. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT MEDIUM SHOT Jeff and Lisa are at the window. He is holding on of hands. Jeff speaks without looking up. JEFF For a minute, Doyle almost had me convinced I was wrong. LISA But you're not? JEFF In the whole courtyard, only one person didn't come to the window. (He points) EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD - NIGHT - SEMI-LONG SHOT Thorwald's apartment. It is dark. The only light that can be seen in it is the glowing end of a cigar in the center of the room, back from the window -- as if Thorwald was sitting quietly on his sofa, smoking. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - MEDIUM SHOT Lisa looks down at Jeff. LISA Why would Thorwald want to kill a dog? (Almost a laugh) Because it knew too much? He nods solemnly and then turns back to the window, as both he and Lisa look again towards EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD - NIGHT - SEMI-LONG SHOT Thorwald's apartment. Still dark, and only the unmoving glow of a cigar showing in the center of the apartment. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - DUSK - MEDIUM SHOT Jeff, Stella and Lisa are grouped at the window, looking out. THE CAMERA is behind them. Jeff holds the long-focus lens to his eye. EXT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - DUSK - CAMERA SHOT We wee the upper part of the bedroom window, belonging to Thorwald. The lower part of the window is covered by a wall. In the bathroom, Thorwald is wiping the enameled wall with a damp cloth. He rubs at particular spots now and then. Over this we hear: JEFF Do you think this was worth waiting all day to see? LISA Is he cleaning house? JEFF He's washing down the bathroom walls. STELLA Must have splattered a lot. INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - DUSK - MEDIUM SHOT We now see their faces. Jeff lowers the camera with a long- focus lens. Neither he nor Lisa make any comment. Finally Stella blurts out: STELLA Well, why not? That's what we're all thinking. He killed her in there, and he has to wipe up the stains before he leaves. Lisa turns away from the window. LISA Stella, your choice of words -- Stella also turns, interrupting her STELLA Nobody's invented polite words yet for killing.
...continue to part 10