Scripts: Vertigo (12/Sep/1957) - part 6
INT. MIDGE'S APARTMENT - (NIGHT) Outside the terrace darkness is falling, and the lights of the city have come on. In Midge's apartment the lights are on and soft music comes from the radio (possibly "progressive jazz" of the gentle George Shearing kind). Midge is painting at a standing easel; She has a palette; obviously she is painting in oils. We cannot see what she is painting; the canvas on stretchers has its back to us. Its size is about thirty by forty inches. Whatever it is, it seems to please her: she pauses in her work, picks up a highball from a table nearby, drinks and stares at the painting and giggles a little to herself than applies a few more daubs. Now she hears the outside gate slam. She puts down the brush and the drink, moves the easel a bit so that the canvas cannot be seen from the front door, picks up a water tumbler that contains a small nosegay, and hurries out to the kitchen with it. The door to the apartment slams. SCOTTIE (Calling) Midge? Midge hurries out of the kitchen. MIDGE Hi, Johnny! Did you get my message? She immediately goes to the small sideboard or table on which are bottles, glasses, and ice, and mixes him a highball. Scottie is at ease. He drops his hat on a chair near the door and wanders into the room. SCOTTIE I did. Since when do you go about slipping notes under men's doors? MIDGE Since I stopped being able to get them on the phone. For a man who has nothing to do, you're certainly a busy little bee. Where do you go, these days? SCOTTIE Just wander. MIDGE Where? SCOTTIE Around. MIDGE Oh? She hands him the drink. He takes a long pull at it as she watches him. SCOTTIE Mm. Better. MIDGE Did you need it? SCOTTIE Yeah. MIDGE Oh? She crosses the room to get her own drink, giving a flick of a glance at the canvas as she goes. Scottie watches her, slightly amused, knowing that her curiosity is working like mad. SCOTTIE What was this desperate urge to see me? MIDGE All I said in the note was: "Where are you?" That doesn't sound desperate to me. SCOTTIE Well, I detected an undercurrent. MIDGE I just thought if I gave you a drink and fed you some dinner, you'd be so grateful you'd take me to a movie. SCOTTIE Fair enough. What'll we talk about at dinner? MIDGE Oh... this and that. SCOTTIE What I've been doing? MIDGE If you want to. Naturally, we won't talk about anything you don't want to talk about. SCOTTIE Naturally. Pause. MIDGE (Innocently) What have you been doing? SCOTTIE (With small grin) Wandering. He takes another long pull and wanders over and sweetens the drink. Midge moves a little to block his view of the easel and canvas. SCOTTIE What have you been doing? He wanders back into the room. MIDGE Oh, I'm having a wonderful time! I've gone back to my first love... painting. SCOTTIE Good. I've always said you were wasting your time in the underwear department. MIDGE Well, it's a living. But I'm excited about this. SCOTTIE What is it, a still life? MIDGE No, not exactly. Want to see? Scottie moves toward the easel and Midge backs away, so that as he comes around to face the canvas she in beyond him, in back of him. As he moves toward the easel: MIDGE As a matter of fact, I thought I might give it to you. SCOTTIE (smiling, surprised) Oh? And now he comes around to face the easel and stops to look. Beyond him Midge's face has a great smile of anticipation. And now we see what he sees. The CAMERA RESTS on the lower half of the canvas and we see the folds of the blue and gold gown, and the two hands, one holding the nosegay. The CAMERA PANS UP to reveal that it is a hasty but quite creditable copy of the "Portrait of Carlotta", half size, but there is one difference. The face is Midge's face. INT. MIDGE'S APARTMENT - (NIGHT) Scottie staring at the portrait. Beyond him, Midge smiling with anticipation. Scottie's face is drained and expressionless, and a deep look of sadness and regret comes into his eyes. Pause. SCOTTIE (Softly) Not funny, Midge. Midge's smile fades. She is puzzled and surprised. Scottie puts down his drink gently and without looking at her, starts for the door. MIDGE Johnny! Scottie takes his hat from the chair and moves on to the door. Midge, completely taken aback, starts for him. MIDGE But Johnny, I thought you would -- She breaks off as he turns his head to look at her. He's not at all angry, but disturbed inside and sorry it happened. SCOTTIE (Nicely) We'll make that movie some other night, huh? And he goes out the door and closes it behind him. MIDGE (Desperately apologetic) But Johnny...!!! And she stares at the door with a "Well-I'll-be-damned" expression. And now, abruptly, she gets angry at herself. MIDGE Ah, no!! She turns away and moves toward the canvas MIDGE Oh! Marjorie Wood!! You fool!! She stops before the canvas and stares at her face in the portrait. And all her anger at herself comes out in one great blast of scorn. MIDGE (At the portrait) OH!!!!! And she picks up a brush and with three vicious daubs paints a moustache and a beard on her image. Then she throws the brush out the window. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. UNION SQUARE - (NIGHT) It is about 3 a.m. The Square is deserted -- perhaps an odd taxi or car drives by. We see Scottie, a solitary figure, walking. By his attitude, head down, hands thrust into his pockets, we see that he is lost in thought wrestling with his problem. DISSOLVE TO: INT. SCOTTIE'S APARTMENT - (EARLY DAWN) Scottie is in the easy chair facing the fire asleep. His tie is loosened, his shirt is open at the neck. It is clear that he fell asleep while sitting there thinking of Madeleine, and slept through the night. The fire is almost out. Through the window we can barely distinguish Coit Tower in the beginning of a grey dawn. The doorbell begins to ring instantly. There is a knocking on the door. Scottie awakens sharply, gathers himself together, hurries to the door and opens it. Madeleine stands there, looking shaken and white and frightened. She is wearing a black suede jacket and black slacks. Behind her, fingers of mist swirl in the lightening day. She stands there staring at him pleadingly. SCOTTIE What's the matter?... What time is it?... Madeleine, what's happened? He draws her in and closes the door and leads her into the room. MADELEINE (Barely) I should have phoned... but I wanted to see you... be with you... SCOTTIE Why? What's happened? MADELEINE I had the dream. The dream came back again... She is trembling, and he holds her closely. SCOTTIE It's all right. You're all right, I'll get you some brandy. He breaks away to a small cupboard nearby. MADELEINE (Sharply) No, don't go away! SCOTTIE Only this far. He gets out a bottle of brandy and a small glass and uncorks the bottle and pours the brandy as he comes back to her. SCOTTIE Here. Straight down, it's medicine. She takes a sip and puts the glass away. SCOTTIE Where's your husband? MADELEINE I didn't wake him. I don't want him to know... She is still shaking. SCOTTIE Here, now, it's going to be all right. Here. He gently pushes her down in the easy chair, turns swiftly and kicks up the fire and throws some wood on. He pulls the low stool up before her, sits on it, and takes her hands. SCOTTIE It was a dream, you're awake, you're all right, now. Can you tell me? MADELEINE It was the tower again... and the bell, and the old Spanish village... SCOTTIE Yes -- MADELEINE But clear... so very clear... for the first time... all of it... SCOTTIE Tell me. MADELEINE There was a village square, a green with trees... and an old whitewashed Spanish church with a cloister. Across the green: a big, grey, wooden house with a porch and shutters and a balcony above... a small garden, and next to it, a livery stable... with old carriages lined up inside. Scottie has been listening intently with growing awareness, and now as she mentions the livery stable, his eyes glow with the excitement of recognition. SCOTTIE Go on. MADELEINE At the end of the green there was a whitewashed stone house with a lovely pepper tree at the corner -- SCOTTIE (Finishing it) -- and an old wooden hotel of the old California days, and a saloon... dark... low-ceilinged... with hanging oil lamps. MADELEINE Yes?! But -- SCOTTIE (Gently) It's all there. It's no dream. Pause, as she stares at him, puzzled, anxious. SCOTTIE You've been there before. You've seen it. MADELEINE No, never! SCOTTIE Madeleine, a hundred miles south of San Francisco there's an old Spanish Mission, Mission San Juan Bautista. It's been preserved exactly as it was a hundred years ago as a museum. Now, think hard, darling. You've been there before. You've seen it! MADELEINE (Frightened) No, never! I've never been there! Scottie, what is it? I've never been there! Long pause as they stare at each other, he desperately trying to think it through, shes moved and frightened. He rises and moves away, anxious and shaken. SCOTTIE (To himself) Carlotta... He shakes his head angrily, fighting the idea. Madeleine watches him anxiously. SCOTTIE What was it he said? She came from somewhere south of the city... some say a mission settlement... He turns on Madeleine almost desperately. SCOTTIE Madeleine, think hard!! She shakes her head frantically, hopelessly, close to tears. Pause. SCOTTIE (Quietly) Go on with your dream. What was it that frightened you? MADELEINE I stood alone on the green, searching for something, and I started to walk to the church. But then the darkness closed in, I was alone in the dark, being pulled into darkness, and I fought to wake up... She looks at him, frightened again by the memory. He goes to her reassuringly. SCOTTIE You're going to be all right now, Madeleine. I've got something to work on now. I'm going to take you there -- to the Mission -- this afternoon. And when you see it, you'll remember when you saw it before, and that will finish your dream and destroy it. I promise. You'll be free. She looks up at him and tries to smile. SCOTTIE All right? She nods. SCOTTIE I'll take you home. If your husband is awake, say you couldn't sleep and went out for some air. And come back to me about noon. Come along. He raises her to her feet. She smiles up at him gratefully. MADELEINE No, I'll go alone. I'm all right. They stand there for a moment, looking at each other. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. HIGHWAY SOUTH OF SAY FRANCISCO - (DAY) Tall trees line the road on both sides and arch across to meet high above, forming a long shadowy tunnel shot through with streamers of sunlight. We are as though in the front seat, of a car, traveling fast, looking up and ahead to the distant end of the tunnel, and the trees flash by. EXT. THE HIGHWAY - (DAY) Another angle to show the green Jaguar traveling along the road through the tunnel of trees. INT. THE JAGUAR - (DAY) Madeleine and Scottie; he is at the wheel, staring straight ahead, lost in thought. Madeleine, now smartly-dressed in her grey suit, is staring up at the tunnel of trees. Scottie glances at her. She smiles at him timidly. EXT. THE HIGHWAY - (DAY) SHOOTING down the road toward the end of the tunnel of trees, and the Jaguar moving away fast. It sets clear of the trees and into daylight. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. THE HIGHWAY: A ROAD JUNCTION - (DAY) Side angle SHOT of the Jaguar as it turns off onto a side road. The CAMERA PANS the car, then loses it as it goes out of the SHOT, and HOLDS on a road sign that reads: MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA 3 MILES EXT. MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA - (DAY) We are looking along the cloisters, down the long corridor of arches. In the foreground a small sign a standard reads: EL CAMINO REAL MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA FOUNDED JUNE 24, 1797 The music of the Mission theme, mingled with Carlotta's theme, begins to drift in, an evocation of the past; a sighing that grows end seem to have behind it the echo of lost voices calling. The CAMERA MOVES AND EASES AROUND A BIT to look through the arches across the green toward the open side and the valley and the hills beyond. A lone nun is crossing the green to the church. A clock strikes the half hour. The CAMERA PANS to look at the large wooden two-story house on the far side of the green, then the little garden, then the Plaza Livery Stable, and the road alongside. The Jaguar stands there empty. The CAMERA CONTINUES TO PAN along the whitewashed stone Castro House, sees the pepper tree, MOVES along the Plaza Hotel, and comes to REST SHOOTING at the saloon that forms the far corner of the hotel. Three tourists exit from the entrance of the hotel, get into their car. The car moves toward the CAMERA, and goes past, and out of the SHOT. The CAMERA DOLLIES IN to the front door of the saloon. Over the door is a sign: PLAZA HOTEL BAR ROOM. On either side of the door are posters proclaiming rewards for the apprehension of bandits who have held up Wells Fargo Express Wagons. The CAMERA SHOOTS THROUGH the open door. INT. PLAZA HOTEL BAR ROOM - (DAY) Empty, silent; old pool tables in the foreground, the bar in the background. As the CAMERA SCANS the room: DISSOLVE TO: INT. PLAZA HOTEL FRONT PARLOR - (DAY) It too is silent and deserted. In the far wall, a fireplace, with an old clock on the mantel. In one corner, small old organ, with a hymnal open on the rack; in the other corner, a Victorian sofa. The flowered rug is faded, the furniture is shabby. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. PLAZA HOTEL - (DAY) Looking toward the lovely pepper tree and the whitewashed stone Castro Rouse, and the tall eucalyptus tree beyond. The CAMERA PANS SLOWLY past the empty Jaguar and come to REST on the dark opening of the Livery Stable and MOVES SLOWLY toward it. DISSOLVE TO: INT. LIVERY STABLE - (DAY)
...continue to part 7