"AFTERWARDS"
An Original Film Script
Maurice Rowdon


CHARACTERS
GLEN
JONATHAN CHANDLER WILLIAMS
MURIEL
PAT
JOHN PALERMO
JEAN DE LISLE SWIBURNE
SHOPKEEPER
KING'S COLLEGE PORTER
PROFESSOR' JE FI FERSON GRIGG
LOUISE GRIGG
MYRA
CHARLES DORNELLING
NANCY
VANCE
SHEPHERD
GREY-HAIRED WOMAN
GEI NERAL HEELEY
LEONARD HARCOURT SELSEY
PERCY KLYDONHALL
PEW
JACK RYAN
HOTEL PORTERS, RECEPTIONISTS, PARTY GUESTS, WAITERS,
CLUB COMMISSIONAIRE, etc.


INT. HOTEL CORRIDOR. EVI ENING
GLEN (as he will later become known) is walking behind a PORTI ER
who is carrying his cases. GLEN is a young man of about 25, bronzed,
good-looking, well-dressed. They enter one of the rooms.
CUT:
INT. HOTEL ROOM. EVENING
The PORTER and GLEN enter the hotel room. GLEN looks round,
satisfied. Flashing neon lights from outside the window in red show
the words AIRPORT TERMINAL. The PORTER puts the cases down
and GLEN nods Thank you. The PORTER leaves the key in the lock
and then goes. GLEN sits on the bed, rather tired, and opens his
jacket, feeling strange. He takes a letter out of his pocket and examines
GLEN gets up from the bed and begins unpacking his cases. When he
takes out his suits some studs fall to the floor and he makes a tt-tt of
annoyance and gropes for them. He hangs up his suits in the wardrobe.
He takes out a double-framed picture and puts it on the table by his bed.
A C.U. of this shows a handsome young woman on one side and a small
child of about two on the other.
He goes back to the bed, takes off his shoes, and lies back comfortably.
He takes up the room service telephone and waits for a reply.
GLEN
Hello. I'd like something to eat.
CUT:
INT. HOTEL ROOM. EV ENING
GLEN is in the same position on the bed, only in shirt sleeves now,
with a trolley of food before him, mostly finished. There is a bottle
of wine and he is just at this moment finishing a glass. He smacks his
lips. The titles of the film come up over him eating and drinking.
When they are finished he gets up from the bed with a sigh, pushes
the trolley away and begins to undress.
CUT:
INT. HOTEL ROOM. EV ENING
GLEN is in his pyjamas and switching out the lights. The trolley
tray is still there with dirty plates etc. He jumps into bed. In the
light from the neon sign outside we see him take the double photo-
graph and kiss it. He sleeps.
CUT:


INT. HOTEL ROOM. EARLY MORNING
GLEN is dressing. The trolley tray is no longer in the room. He puts
on his jacket and takes the letter he read the previous evening from the
bedside table and puts it in his pocket, after a glance at the address.
CUT:
INT. HOTEL CORRIDOR. MORNING
GLEN in a spring overcoat walking away from his room. He appears
fresh, optimistic.
CUT:
EXT. A LONDON STREET. MORNING
GLEN is walking along the street. It is a bright morning. He hails
a taxi and gets in.
CUT:
EXT. A STREET IN THE CITY. MORNING
A taxi draws up and GLEN gets out, pays. He turns and walks into a
doorway.
CUT:
INT. STAIRCASE OF AN OFFICE BUILDING. MORNING
GLEN walking up the stairs hurriedly.
CUT:
10. INT. CHANDLER WILLIAMS'S OFFICE. MORNING
We are looking at CHANDL: ER WILLIAMS behind his desk. The desk
is innocent of any signs of work.
CHANDL ER WILLIAMS is an amiable, rather helpless-looking
executive in his middle age. We are seeing him from GLEN'S P.V.
Behind CHANDLER WILLIAMS'S head there are a number of family
photographs hanging on the wall - - a wife, and several children.
CHANDLER WILLIAMS rises with his hand outstretched as the
CAMERA edges forward. He shakes hands with GLEN and motions
him to one of the armchairs in front of the desk. GLEN sits down.
CHANDLER WILLIAMS looks at GLEN with a smile and also some
misgiving. He blinks hesitantly. He smiles again. There is silence.
CHANDLER WILLIAMS
Did I write to you.
GLEN
Yes. So did John Palermo.


10. Contd.
CHANDLER WILLIAMS
You know John?
GLEN
(CHANDLI ER
WILLIAMS blinks
another message
of hesitancy)
John Palermo wrote to me in
Naples and here
(with a smile)
I am!
CHANDLER WILLIAMS
(brightening up)
You were there on holiday?
GLEN
No, I live there. I've got a job
there. With a shipping agency. I
answered your advertisement.
CHANDLER WILLIAMS
Ah, yes. I think I remember now.
John rang me about it. Yes. Well,
then!
CHANDLER WILLIAMS plants his elbows on the desk and simply looks
at GLEN. Another silence.
CHANDLER WILLIAMS (contd)
Yes, well, we're looking for some-
one who can come in with us: On a
sort of commission basis. Did John
tell you roughly what he wanted ?
GLEN
CHANDLER WILLIAMS
(looking at GLEN
with. a trace of
horror)
Of course, this is more John's
pigeon than mine. I only come in
on a sort of legal and accounts
side. He's a terrific chap! Yes!
So I think John should tell you all
about it, in his way. Actually, I
think you're the only chap he
troubled to get in touch with. You
can. stay in England, I hope ?
GLEN
Yes, I can.


10. Contd.
CHANDLER WILLIAMS
You married?
GLEN
Yes, I see you are too.
(glancing at the
photographs on
the wall)
Are those your children?
CHANDLER WILLIAMS
Yes.
GLEN
Nice-looking.
CHANDLER WILLIAMS
Thank you.
Another pause.
CHANDLER WILLIAMS (contd)
Yes, perhaps you'd better meet
John Palermo. Why don't you drop
round to his office right away?
(hands him a
card)
I think it's better than me going
through. a lot of explanations.
CUT:
11. EXT. A COVI ENT GARDEN STREET. MORNING
GLEN walking along a side street in Covent Garden area, glancing
at the shop numbers, the card in his hand. He finds a dark, open,
unpainted door, which seems to be the right one. There is a wooden
staircase, unswept and uncarpeted, beyond it, and no lights. He
hesitates then goes inside.
CUT:
12. INT. PALERMO'S OFFICE. MORNING
This is a foyer-cum-office, a warm little cubby hole with two desks
so close together that GLEN can hardly squeeze between them. There
is a a girl at each desk. One of them is dark with moody eyes. She
is cutting pictures out of magazines, and slips of paper are floating
on to the floor. She is MURIEL. The blonde girl is typing. She is
PAT. They both have an over-painted, misused look. GLEN squeezes
apologetically into the room. Neither of the girls looks up.
GLEN
Mr. Palermo here?


12. Contd.
DARK GIRL
Well, he came in. Unless he went
out by the window he's still here.
GLEN
Can I see him? Chandler Williams
sent me.
PALERMO (VOICE OV ER)
Show the gentleman in!
MURIEL shows GLEN through a door behind the desks into another
office. On the glazed glass of the door is written the name JOHN
PALERMO. Before GLEN reaches this it bursts open and JOHN
PALERMO himself is standing there. He is a dark man, prosperously
dressed. His eyes are dazzling, compelling. He half pulls GLEN into
the room with his handshake, smiling at him watchfully. He has some-
thing both rough and debonair in him. He has a defiantly crushed
expression, and a whining tone easily comes into his voice, even when
he is insulting. He is a Maltese Englishman. TRACK through to his
office. He puts his arm on GLEN's shoulder and leads him to a chair
in front of his desk. The room is hardly bigger than the other one and
even lacks a window. The desk is covered with clippings and india
ink sketches. GLEN sits down and PALERMO goes round behind his
desk, talking all the time.
PALERMO
Did Chandler Williams tell you I
was related to one of the Tsars
of Russia ?
GLEN
PALERMO
That my father was an Italian
commendatore?
GLEN
PALERMO
Or that I used to run a hotel in
Cairo and a damned good one
it was, too?
GLEN
PALERMO
Well, it's all true.


12. Contd.
PALERMO (contd)
(leaning back and
lighting a cigarette,
taking an enormous
puff)
And you're the chap from Italy?
GLEN
That's right.
PALERMO
Well, I suppose you know a bit
about personal management.
GLEN
(hesitating)
Oh yes.
PALERMO
(with an ironical
look)
Otherwise you wouldn't have travelled
all this way, would you' ?
GLEN nods silently.
PALERMO (contd)
Well, then, I won't bore you with
the details. You probably know
them better than I do. What you
don't know is me. I manage
celebrities on the way out, and
celebrities on the way in. I manage
anyone who needs publicity, as long
as they've got the money.
(with a sudden
burst of
affection)
Listen, if you really have given up
a job in Naples to come and talk
business with me, you've found
your man.
GLEN
Do you think you' 've found yours ?
PALERMO
(eyeing him)
All you need is neck and I don't
know whether you've got it.
GLEN
You need neck for everything.
They spar with each other through their eyes. PALERMO puffs at his
cigarette, his eyes narrowed. GLEN taps his foot on the floor.


12. Contd.
PALERMO
Listen, why don't we go downstairs
and have a drink?
(he begins to
close drawers
and locks them)
I never goes to bars usually, but
you ought to see the barmaid in this
one. You've never seen anything
like it in your life, not even in
Italy.
They both get up and GLEN helps PALERMO on with his overcoat,
which is black cashmere. They walk into the untidy feminine room
next door. PALERMO talks all the time.
PALERMO
As I said, the thing is
(as they pass
out of his
office)
persuasion, everything hinges on
that -
(as they walk
down the dark
stairs)
persuasion is the alchemy of the
big deal, mind the steps, old
chap, or you'll find yourself arse
over tit. Idid it once and they
had to remove my sex.
CUT:
13. EXT. STREET OUTSIDE. MORNING
On the entrance door of PALERMO's office, as PALERMO, followed
by GLEN, comes out and turns down the street, PALERMO still
talking.
PALERMO
(looking up at
the sky)
Some people have all the luck. My
wife, for instance. She's in the
south of France and I'm paying.
Just because she's jealous of these
girls in my office. Now, could you
be jealous of my girls?
GLEN
I might be.
PALERMO
Good God! How weak human
nature is.
CUT:


14. EXT. THE SAME STREET. MORNING
On the entrance of a pub further down the street, as PALERMO and
GLEN come into view, huddled against the cold. They duck into the
doorway.
CUT:
15. INT. THE SALOON BAR. MORNING
PALERMO, followed by GLEN, comes into the saloon bar of the pub.
C.U. of GLEN as he involuntarily glances towards the bar to. find the
barmaid. PALERMO is watching him.
PALERMO
There, now that's persuasion.
You're looking for the pretty bar-
maid, aren't you ? She exists, but
in another pub south of the River.
Now, if you'd been practising it all
your life you'd get a sort of flair -
(to the BARMAN)
Hallo!
The BARMAN comes into view, flushed, limping.
PALERMO
Jock, this is a business associate
of mine. He's in wine. Got any to
offer us ?
BARMAN
Well, it's rather duff. I got a nice
sherry. Dry and very pale.
PALERMO
Get out the whisky, quick.
(taking GLEN
by the arm
towards chair)
He's going to give us the finest
whisky in town, you can't even find
it in Scotland, except at the dis-
tillery itself.
GLEN
(as he sits
down)
I'll have soda as well.
PALERMO
No you won't. This is Mortlach -
Glenlivet. You can. get drummed
across the Border for watering it
down, eh, Jock?
JOCK takes no notice, preparing the drinks behind the bar.


15. Contd.
PALERMO
Another thing, tuck yourself under
somebody's wing who doesn't really
want you. If they hate you, you just
get closer, they'll learn to like it:
Hatred is a very malleable business
property, Glen - mind if I call you
Glen after this whisky, I can't stand
real names ?
GLEN
Alright.
PALERMO
As I was saying, when they want to
get rid of you it means you're be-
coming a force in their lives, how-
ever deadly, and it isn'tl long before
they begin to need you, they don't
know what they need you for but it's
up to you to tell them. You see,
Glen, they're missing something all
the time, everybody is, and you've got
to make them feel it's you. It can
happen in a minute. Girls have lost
their maidenheads and men their
fortunes in a minute.
The BARMAN puts the drinks down on the table and limps away.
PALERMO (contd)
You see, Glen, people need confidence,
these days. Their spirits are
horribly low and that's where my
pictures come in.
GLEN
What pictures ?
PALERMO
All life is pictures. A man has a
picture of himself, and a picture of
other people based largely upon his
picture of himself. I tell you, old
chap, I've worked it all out. A man
has a. picture of what his clerks and
typists think of him, and, as I said,
if he comes into the office hating
himself one morning, this is where
he needs me, he needs my picture
of him, the picture I know he needs
to have. I provide pictures.
(finishing off
his drink)
Let's have another, shall we ?


15. Contd.
GLEN
No, thanks.
PALERMO
Jock! This colleague of mine wants
to buy me another! Of course, you
have to give him the impression that
you're selling him to other people,
but in fact you're selling him to
himself. By the way, the journalist
is your best friend, never forget that.
Now, my client might not believe in
me but he believes in the picture I
give him. Because he needs it. He
looks down at me, he thinks I'm a
scrounger, which I am, but he takes
the picture I give him and he isn't
canny enough to see that I've made
it for him, by making him compare
himself favourably to me. He sees
bits in the paper which. refer to him,
and though he knows I put them there
he thinks they're the truth, he makes
himself think so, and even there I
help him. I know he needs to think
so and I encourage this as part of
my service. Now, there's the
important of selling a man to himself,
even though you sell someone that
doesn't exist. You see, Glen -
(as the new
glasses of whisky
come and GLEN.
pays)
the way people are formed in our
world their pictures are very poor,
they haven't the time to get the right
ones, and then if they did it would
all be a mess. But everybody thinks
he's something. This you can take as
your sketch and begin from there.
Naturally, the picture must be one
the man can deceive himself into
thinking is himself: the discrepancy
mustn't be too great. You can't sell
a fool as a clever man, however you
try. But you can sell a bad man to
himself as a good man, in fact that's
one of my principal sales.
PALERMO puts down his drink in one or two gulps and stands up,
taking no notice of the fact that GLEN has not yet started on his.
PALERMO grabs his overcoat and throws it over his own shoulders,
and GLEN gets up without having touched his drink.


15. Contd.
PALERMO
Goodbye, for now, Jock! And don't
tell me another time I can't sell your
whisky for you, you serve the worst
Scotch in London and I make it taste
like the best. Mortlach-Glenlivet
my foot! You see, Glen -
(as they turn
to go)
- they'd never have a picture if you
didn't give them one. They may
kick against the picture you give them -
(as they pass
through the door)
- but if it makes other people sit up
and take notice they'll love it, always
remember that!
A C.U. of the BARMAN's cynical face over the bar, with PALERMO's
voice over.
CUT:
16. EXT. STREET OUTSIDE. MORNING
On the pub doorway as PALERMO and GLEN come out and walk up the
street again, PALERMO still talking.
PALERMO
Never try to give a man what you
think his picture ought to be if he
were you. Let him walk into the
jaws of Hell, if he wants to, he
may like it there.
PALERMO has a characteristic way of hurrying along, bent forward,
his shoulders seeming to cringe from something behind him.
An attractive GIRL passes them, and he notices her at once.
PALERMO
(softly)
Going my way, Mouse ?
(the GIRL takes
no notice and he
continues at once
to GLEN)
Yes, you've got to develop an eye
for the man who lacks a picture
and has the money to pay for one.
CUT:
17. INT. PALERMO'S OFFICE. MORNING
PAT is smoking at the window while MURI EL is paring her finger-
nails at her desk, bent over them like a child, her mouth open.


17. Contd.
PALERMO enters, his face suddenly harsh, GLEN following.
PAT
It's lunchtime.
PALERMO
Well, get the hell out, then, and
eat some lunch.
PAT
That's what we're waiting for.
PALERMO makes a step towards his own door but the other girl
interrupts him.
MURI EL
Oh no you don't.
PALERMO
(stopping)
Don't what?
MURIEL
How do I pay for the food - with
these paper-clippings ?
PALERMO
Haven' 't you heard of monthly
salaries ?
MURI ÉL
At the end of the month it starts
being two-monthly! Come on, you
big pill, cough, we're hungry!
PALERMO
(with a sudden
mildness and a
smile at GLEN,
taking out his
slim wallet)
Will a quid be enough? Better be!
He hands her the money and immediately passes on to his office.
The GIRLS glance at each other.
PALERMO
(from the other
office)
Oh, Muriel, before you go -
MURIEL
(with irritation)
Here it comes.


17. Contd.
PALERMO
(still from the
other office)
Slip down and get Jack Ryan's mid-
day final, will you, darling? I've
got a horse running!
MURIEL
I hope it loses.
CUT:
18. INT. PALERMO'S OWN OFFICE. NORNING
PALERMO has taken off his overcoat and is sitting behind his desk
again. GLEN is in his overcoat and is also seated.
PALERMO
Now, Jack Ryan, he runs a news -
paper. He feeds more people with
dirty thoughts every morning than
anybody else in the game. Remind
me to talk to you about the dirty
picture, that's in a category of its
own.
PALERMO opens a drawer of his desk and takes out a bottle of whisky.
Two glasses follow. He wipes them carefully with a clean, folded
cloth which he also keeps in the drawer. We notice his delicate hands.
He pours the glasses and they silently drink to each other.
PALERMO
(with a long
calcula ting
look at GLEN)
You're not famous in any way, are
you?
PALERMO seems to be thinking something out to its conclusion, gazing
right through GLEN.
GLEN
PALERMO
(absently)
I just wondered.
MURIEL brings the newspaper and leaves again. PALERMO begins
reading it with great concentration, frown marks deep in his forehead.
PALERMO
(snapping suddenly
at MURI EL in the
other room)
You still there?


18. Contd.
MURI EL
(from the
other room)
Yes.
PALERMO
Take this down. No, better still,
give the buggers a ring. Professor
Grigg. Get his number. He's an
American. He's just arrived in
Cambridge and they're putting him
up at King's College. Say you're
The Times.
MURIEL
(from the
other room)
The Times!
PALERMO
Say Mr. Palermo, the features
editor, would be glad of a word
with him.
We hear MURIEL take up the telephone.
There seems to be some difficulty in getting the Professor's number.
All this time PALERMO continues to read the newspaper with
concentration.
MURIEL (VOICE OV ER)
This is The Times. I wonder if
your husband's free to have a word
with Mr. Palermo, our features
editor' ? Hello, one moment, sir,
I'll put you through to Features.
PALERMO leaps at his telephone, his face set like an animal's. He
begins saying 'Hello' before MURIEL has put the jack in.
PALERMO
Hello . hello . hello. Hello,
Features, here. Who? Who? Oh,
for God's sake, yes, Professor!
Good morning. I thought we'd
never get through. Well, now,
Professor, there's no point in
breaking it gently, I'll come
clean right away, I say, I didn't
get you out of bed, did I? No? --
Well, this is good news for the
academic world! Listen, I want
an interview. I'm sending a man
up this afternoon. He's medium
height and engaging. Tell him the


18. Contd.
PALERMO (contd)
truth, only not the whole truth, we
don't want to get into libel suits.
(some chuckling
at the other end)
And we're interested in your wife.
We're rather fascinated by all
Ame rican women, as a matter of
fact. I hope you won't mind her
coming into the picture, it
humanises things.
(a distant 'You're
telling me!" "from
the other end)
Can I send this lunatic of mine by
the next train, then ? And I want
to meet you myself. Now, seriously,
Professor, give us something good,
I want to get in before the tabloids.
If you wait till they create your
image for you, there's no telling
what might happen. Here's my
number, by the way. We're not
exactly in the Times Building, but
a stone's throw away.
(calling out)
Okay, Muriel. Give him the number!
(he puts the phone
down with a crash.
To GLEN at once)
Now then. He docked at Southampton
yesterday, but he. still may know
somebody on The Times. So you've
got to get there before the afternoon's
over. I don't want him connecting up.
We can make a few hundred quid out
of this. I'll fix everything from this
end. In fact, I'll have a private chat
with his wife while you're on the way.
GLEN
(in astonishment)
Do you mean to say you're sending
me ?
PALERMO
Of course I am? Who else is
there?
GLEN
But what the hell do I ask?
PALERMO
You don't ask anything. You state
and you lead, and you let him shoot
his mouth off. Listen, if you're not


18. Contd.
PALERMO (contd)
back by eight this evening I could go
to clink for this. It's an offence to
imitate newspapers.
GLEN
I can guess.
PALERMO
Now, if he starts probing don't try
and lie, just keep The Times playing
before his eyes. If he comes out
with a straight question about old so
and so on The Times, tell him the
secretary here madea mistake and
she never did say The Times though
she may have said the Church Times.
But always remember, a lie has to
come out on the spur of the moment,
never prepare one because this shows
in your face
GLEN
But - who is he ?
PALERMO
(throwing him
the newspaper)
Read that. I'll find out when the next
train goes. I'd go myself, only I'm
tied to my desk
(with. a quick
burlesque of a
man tied to a
desk)
GLEN begins reading the paper.
A C.U. of the newspaper shows a picture of a man and woman in their
middle age, and a quarter of a column about their arrival at Southampton
Docks the day before.
GLEN
(reading aloud
from newspaper)
Professor Grigg is here for a
series of lectures in Europe. He
once wrote a book on nuclear war-
fare in which he claimed that an
H-bomb war would not destroy the
world. He believes that pockets of
sub-human life would survive a
nuclear war and that out of these a
better if more violent civilisation
would be created.


18. Contd.
GLEN (contd)
(looking up with
surprise, then
reading again)
In this civilisation bombing would
become a kind of new play. The
Professor himself rather pooh-
poohs the book: 'One of many' he
says. He has also written about
Mexicans and the architecturally
perfect city. He believes the whole
world could become a city and
Nature virtually disappear.
PALERMO is dialling a number.
PALERMO
(into the phone)
Hello . sweetheart, I want to get
to Cambridge as fast as possible.
Three, fifty-nine - that's fine!
(slamming the
phone down again
and jumping up
from his seat)
Come on, we'll get a taxi downstairs.
(as GLEN does
not move
immediately)
Come on, what the hell are you
waiting for, do you want to get me
in prison ?
PALERMO rushes out of the office, half-dragging GLEN with him.
CUT:
19. EXT. THE STREET BELOW. MORNING
PALERMO and GLEN are standing at the kerb. PALERMO is hailing
a taxi. He takes out his wallet, and hands GLEN some money.
PALERMO
Here'stenquid. And I want the
change even if it's fivepence.
A cab draws up. PALERMO opens the door for GLEN, and GLEN,
thoroughly bewildered, gets in.
PALERMO (contd)
(to the CABMAN)
Drive this man to King's Cross,
will you, and see that he pays,
he's just escaped from prison.
O.K., Glen, see you tonight, and
Iwant a hot story! For God's


19. Contd.
PALERMO (contd)
sake don't come back like all the
beginners saying they're nice people
or something.
A C.U. of the CABMAN looking uncertain as to whether to be
suspicious or jolly.
CUT:
20. EXT. SAME STREET. MORNING
The cab draws away and GLEN pokes his head through the window,
shouting at PALERMO.
GLEN
What do we call ourselves ?
PAL ERMO
(shouting)
Say PRI or something! It doesn't
matter! And go to King's College!
CUT:
21. EXT. CAMBRIDGE STREET. LATE AFTERNOON
A taxi going along the King's Parade. There are cycling STUDENTS
everywhere.
CUT:
22. INT. TAXICAB. LATE AFTERNOON
From GLEN's P.V. inside the cab, the colleges along the King's
Parade - Peterhouse, St. Catherine's, King's College.
The taxi comes to a halt before the main gate of King's.
CUT:
23. EXT. KING'S COLLEGE. LATE AFTERNOON
The taxi draws up at the King's College gate and GLEN gets out, pays.
Then he walks across the cobbled entrance to the Porter's Lodge. He
stands at the window and the PORTER comes across to speak to him.
GLEN
Is there a Professor Grigg stay-
ing here, please ?
PORTER
Not that I can place, sir.
GLEN
But he arrived yesterday.


23. Contd.
PORTER
A professor?
GLEN
Yes, American.
PORTER
Not here, he didn't. Not this
college, mate.
GLEN
But the papers say he did.
PORTER
Go on!
(with a smile,
rather intrigued,
and stroking his
chin as he comes
nearer to the
hatch)
In the papers?
GLEN
I read it this morning.
PORTER
Wait a minute.
(going to the
wall-telephone)
I'll ask the Bursar.
(picking up phone
and dialling)
Hello, there's a gentleman here,
says a Professor Grigg took up
residence in College today. Yes,
I was going to say, we haven't had
that name, not as passed this
office, I thought I'd missed your
buttery list this morning or some-
thing.
(replacing the
phone and turning
to GLEN slowly,
out of breath)
Well, I've been. on to the Bursar
and he says, Yes, there's a
professor of that name, arrived
yesterday and the papers got it
wrong like they get everything
wrong, and he's staying in digs,
and the College never invited him
to give any lectures like the papers
said, in fact they doubt if he's a
professor. Anyway,
(with a fat smile)


23. Contd.
PORTER (contd)
he's not here and he's not ours, but
I think you'll find him in a little
block of flats behind Gonville and
Caius. I'll write it out for you.
(as he takes
the pencil and
begins writing
an address on
a pad)
You a reporter?
GLEN
Yes.
PORTER
You get around a bit, I dare say?
GLEN
That's right.
PORTER
Working for which paper, would
that be ?
GLEN
Well, an agency. The articles
are syndicated.
PORTER
Ah, yes. Nothing simple in this
world. I thought you were going
to say something glamorous like
The' Times.
(with a wink)
He hands the slip of paper to GLEN.
CUT:
24. EXT. CAMBRIDGE STREET. LATER AFTERNOON
GLEN is walking along a Cambridge street looking for the number.
He keeps glancing at the paper in his hand. He finds an. apartment
block with a glowing foyer and a porter's office. He enters.
CUT:
25. INT. FOYER. LATER AFTERNOON
GLEN walks across the close-carpeted foyer and goes up the stairs.
CUT:


26. INT. GRIGG'S DOOR. LATER AFTERNOON
The door of Professor Grigg's apartment is tall and white with a
plaster palladian frame all round.
GLEN comes up the stairs and rings the bell. He looks at this for
some time. The door opens and a woman bursting with action confronts
him. This is LOUISE GRIGG. She is so suddenly and stunningly there
that he steps back with surprise. There are great laughter lines
round her mouth, and her quick eyes give the impression of having
been much screwed up with emotion. She is at the middle and wildest
stage of her life. She is flushed, not strikingly healthy but strong.
There is a burning interest in her eyes that might be drink or erotic
appetite or just curiosity. She puts out a hand and smiles, showing
good teeth.
LOUISE
Are you the fake Times man?
GLEN
Yes.
LOUISE
Well, come in and have a drink.
The old man's waiting for you.
We passed tea a half-hour ago
and we're coming down the
straight to a gin and tonic. Where
the hell is he ?
GLEN walks in and she closes the door.
CUT:
27. INT. GRIGG'S APARTMENT. LATE AFTERNOON
The entrance hall. LOUISE is leading GLEN to the sitting room.
Her woollen dress is close to her hips and a bracelet clicks on her
wrist as she moves. The hall is brightly lighted, with mirrors and
large pots with pussy willows in them, and carpets galore.
LOUISE
He's always disappearing.
CUT:
28. INT. GRIGG'S SITTING ROOM. LATE AFTERNOON
LOUISE and GLEN come through the door.
LOUISE
Well, sit yourself down. You'll
roast, but we've been dreaming
of an English fire for years.


28. Contd.
She motions him to a settee in front of the large log fire that goes
together with the central heating. The windows are tall, in two great
panes, with curtains that stretch down to the parquet floor. The walls
are covered with whitewood panels. GLEN sits down.
GLEN
This your first visit?
LOUISE
Well, we haven't been over for
five or six years.
GLEN
See any changes ?
LOUISE
None. They still say braces for
suspenders!
(with a massive
laugh)
GLEN
How did you know I was fake ?
LOUISE
A real Times man called.
GLEN
Did he want an interview, too?
LOUISE
No, he went to college with Jeff.
GLEN
There was a mistake in the
office, I think. Some girl -
she's new - anyway, I didn't
get the details - she made a
mistake .
(he trails off)
LOUISE
That's, O. K., you don't have to
apologise, they call me the walking
lie detector. And by the wày, I
certainly got some hot talk from
your office - who is that guy?
GLEN
You spoke to Mr. Palermo?
LOUISE
You call him Mister! He sounded
like a dog!


28. Contd.
She goes to the table behind the settee, where the drinks are.
LOUISE
What can I mix you ?
GLEN
As I had three whiskies for lunch,
I suppose I'd better go. on.
LOUISE
Well, don't let me ram it down
your throat.
GLEN
Well, thank you very much. Yes,
I'd like some whisky.
LOUISE
(as she pours
a drink)
You two certainly make a rum
outfit! But my husband and I have
a taste for adventure.
(handing him his
drink over the
table and calling
out, in a stupen-
dous voice)
Jeff! The Press is waiting!
(then to GLEN)
He's just shy, that's all. Have
you always been in this line ?
GLEN
(hesitating)
Yes.
One of the doors opens and PROFESSOR GRIGG fills up most of the
frame.
GRIGG
Well, look at that. Wife drinks
with unknown visitor!
He comes forward, tall and long-limbed with the same deep lines
on his face as his wife. It makes them look uncannily similar, as if
they had used the same forms of suffering to carve the same wrinkles.
His skin is harder and drier than hers, his eyes a little watery.
LOUISE
What the hell have you been
doing, Jeff! I wondered where
you disappeared to, the moment
he comes!


28. Contd.
GRIGG
(giving her a
swift familiar
look, with the
slightest twinkle
of hatred)
As a matter of fact, I wonder you
didn't hear me pull the chain.
LOUISE
(offended)
GRIGG goes on scowling in her direction, while she continues to look
away like a frightened deer.
GRIGG
(to GLEN, in
a deep voice)
The hell of it! She'll be following
me round with bloodhounds next.
No, Imean it. That's women.
Or rather, American women.
LOUISE
(to GLEN)
That's something for you to print.
GLEN
I'll print what you say I can print.
LOUISE
(to GRIGG)
Well, our visitor's a gentleman,
at least.
GRIGG
Gentleman my arse! He's a
reporter! Anyway, get me a
drink, I've had an afternoon of
Cambridge dons and all they
drink is tea.
LOUISE
Get it yourself.
GRIGG
Why, yousoùnd high already.
LOUISE
I am.
GRIGG
Listen,
(going to the
drinks table
behind GLEN)
how many have you had?


28. Contd.
LOUISE
This is my first - and who's on the
trail with bloodhounds now ?
GLEN
(in a burlesque
sort of way)
Well, marriage is a trial by fire
and water.
GRIGG
You're telling me.
(pouring himself
a. stiff tumbler of
whisky and walk-
ing over to the
settee)
Now for the questions. What do
you want to know' ?
GRIGG sits down so heavily on the settee at GLEN's side, throwing
another scowl at his wife, that GLEN involuntarily jumps in his seat.
GLEN
Are you two always like this ?
GRIGG
Is that the first question?
(making a kind
of grinding
chuckle that is
swallowed in his
glass as he takes
a: gulp of whisky)
It's been like this for ten years
and we believe in it. Is that right,
Louise ?
LOUISE
(giving GLEN
her broad, dry,
flashing smile
which has no
happiness in it)
I guess it is.
GRIGG swills the whisky round in his glass, staring at it with his
watery eyes.
GRIGG
You know, when I'm standing
around with these English academics
it feels like they haven't arrived at a
problem yet, let alone a solution!


28. Contd.
LOUISE
(sitting down,
too, then to
GLEN)
Listen, what's your name ?
GLEN
(for a moment
confused)
Call me Glen.
GRIGG
(leaning back
suddenly, making
the settee give
heavily a second
time)
Listen, what paper do you work
for?
GLEN
The P.R.I. It's an agency.
GRIGG
Well, you sound quite a crew.
First you fake a call from The
Times, then your boss seduces
my wife down the phone. That
'was about the randiest phone
conversation I ever heard, what
do you say, Louise ?
LOUISE
(flashing another
smile)
I'm keeping quiet.
(then to GLEN)
Listen, can you stay to dinner?
GLEN
I'd love to.
LOUISE
(rising)
I'll tell the girl. The food's
simple but wholesom. She's Irish.
LOUISE leaves the room but suddenly pops her head round the corner
again.
LOUISE
Listen, Glen, do you like a sort
of beef stew? Well, it's more
like a pot au feu -
(JEFF chuckles
ironically at this
attempted French)


28. Contd.
LOUISE (contd)
I told her, salmon on toast followed
by schnitzel but she goes her own
way.
GLEN
I'll take anything. I haven't really
had lunch yet.
LOUISE
You haven't?
(zooming back
into the room)
Listen, would you like some
crackers? Come on!
She runs a plate of cheese fingers across to GLEN.
LOUISE (contd)
I should have offered them before.
GRIGG
(to GLEN)
Come on. Give me your glass.
Was that strong enough?
GLEN
I'll say!
GRIGG goes behind him and begins pouring new drinks.
GLEN (contd)
You'll get me drunk.
GRIGG
(seriously)
Just what I'm trying to do.
LOUISE leaves again and GRIGG seems deep in his own thoughts,
frowning, making a slight involuntary cough of concentration, his eye-
brows heavy over his eyes, as he brings the drinks round to the settee.
GLEN
You're giving a few lectures ? The
papers weré right about that, I
suppose? They were wrong about
your address - said you were at
King's.
GRIGG
Lectures ? Why, sure. I'll be on
and off that damned Continent for
a month or more. ."
LOUISE bursts back into the room, hearing his last sentence.


28. Contd.
LOUISE
Louise is going to feel lonesome,
all right.
GRIGG
Well,
(swilling his new
drink round with
surprising vigour)
you're not a stay-at-home girl. I
don't think you'll suffer.
LOUISE
Still, this isn't London.
GRIGG
You'll be there!
There is an intimate scowl between them and GRIGG puts down another
heavy gulp of whisky, sounding like water down a bung hole.
LOUISE
If you ever said anything new in
your lectures I'd come along with
you.
GRIGG
Do you expect a new lecture
every night, Louise ?
LOUISE
Well, I'm not going to sit around
listening to the same stuff every
night, just to keep myself out of
mischief!
GRIGG
That's dead right, mischief's the
right word, sweetheart.
LOUISE
(to GLEN)
Well, the children are grown up.
I don't feel like being a grand-
mother yet.
GRIGG
(with a laugh)
Grandmother! I'd like to see
you play that part!
(giving GLEN
an almighty
nudge)


28. Contd.
GRIGG (contd)
We' 've got two married daughters
and she's still the biggest kid in the
family.
LOUISE
I guess my life's work was bring-
ing them up, and that's over now.
GRIGG
You were always the same! You
never wanted to stay in the house,
you never went along with my work,
and I'll tell you why, because you
were dreaming of something else
all the time. God knows what it
was, but it wasn't me!
LOUIS E
Listen, this is getting personal.
GRIGG
I'm telling the truth! And accord-
ing to what you're always telling
me, you worship the truth - when it
goes against me!
GLEN
The same with most of us.
GRIGG
Like hell! She'll take things so
far - I've seen her lead a man! -
LOUISE
(with a really
menacing
look this
time)
Now can it, will you?
GRIGG
O.K., Louise. But just lay off
my work. Anyway,
(to GLEN)
let's say she's been about to
divorce me for twenty years.
GLEN
You know, that's probably what
keeps you out of the divorce
courts, telling the truth all the
time.


28. Contd.
GRIGG
God, do you think we'd ever get
ourselves in a divorce court, are
you crazy ? Divorcing somebody
means you think there's somebody
better. And we don't! No, you
don't get out of marriage by
divorcing, old son, you just get
into another one!
LOUISE
(in a better
frame of mind)
Well, there's something in that.
GLEN
You mean, every woman is woman
whoever she is and every man man,
and it doesn't much matter who you
marry?
GRIGG
(with a long
puzzled look at
GLEN and then at
the drink in his hand)
Well, I never thought of it just like
that, but it's a way of thinking.
(with a sniff)
LOUISE
(to GLEN)
He means you're drunk.
(with such a loud,
rasping cackle that
the panelling seems
to shake)
GRIGG
She has quite a voice, hasn't she' ? It's
been ringing in my ears since I was a
college kid. She even tried it in a
lecture of mine. I had a bit where the
words 'underbelly' and 'brief explosion'
came in the same sentence, and she
seemed to think that funny.
LOUISE
(with a bellow)
I never laughed so much in all my life!
They all start laughing.
GRIGG
Well, that's the first good laugh we've
had since we docked yesterday - glad to
have you here!
GLEN
Glad to have come.
CUT:


INT. GRIGG'S DINING ROOM. EVENING
The three of them are sitting round the table eating. This room is in
the same panelling as the sitting room. GLEN looks less steady than
he did before, and is attacking his food with enormous appetite, with
LOUISE's eyes on him from the other side of the table.
LOUISE
Don' 't they let you eat on your
job?
GLEN
(suddenly aware)
This was a rush one.
GRIGG
A rush one ? Am I SO important ?
GLEN
Well, things like the de: struction
of the world seemed important.
GRIGG
Listen,
(leaning forward)
how does the English Press see me ?
Can you, tell me that' ? You know,
that's my reason for coming over,
to hell with the lectures. I mean,
I got such a damned bad press over
here on this book of mine, it made
me wish I'd never written it!
GLEN
Which one ?
GRIGG
'Afterwards'. They just picked up
one or two of the ideas, I admit they're
important, but, God, they're not the
whole thing. That book's more or less
an academic study, you can't apply lay
standards to it, it's written for inforr ma-
tion, I won' 't say it's for the experts but
they should have the say on what kind of
a book it is, not any hack book reviewer
LOUISE
(to GLEN)
Don't take too much notice. He's over-
wrought, been working too damned
hard. Are you married, Glen?
GLEN
Yes.
LOUISE
Children?


Contd.
GLEN
One boy, two years old.
LOUISE
Oh well, that's nice.
GRIGG
(to LOUISE)
You know, this girl. can't lay
cutlery. Is that a peculiarity
of the Irish?
LOUISE
Probably.
They exchange another of their scowls.
GLEN
(looking round
the room)
There's plenny of panellin' in
this fla'. Mus' be worth somethin'.
(really drunk
now)
GRIGG
Why, sure, this is quite an
old house. The panelling was
by Verberckt.
GLEN
When was that ?
GRIGG
Not long before the French
Revolution. He did a lot of the
wood at Versailles.
GLEN
Oh yes?
LOUISE
My husband's a mine of cultural
tittle-tattle. He picked that up off
the janitor downstairs, he 'd never
heard the name in his life before.
GRIGG
Doesn 't make the information any
less because it comes from the
janitor. And who the hell ever heard
of a soup going before a stoo ?
(turning to GLEN)
Can you tell me what's happened to
women in our epoch?


Contd.
GLEN
They 've lost the touch, and I don't
blame them.
GRIGG
(to LOUISE, after
a wink at GLEN)
Oh, he's just singing for his supper.
GRIGG begins making absorbed sloop-slooping noises with his soup
as regular as a steam-engine, and doesn 't stop until his plate is dry.
LOUISE
(with GRIGG's
sloop-sloop OVER)
No, I'll tell you what happened.
I decided on soup, this morning,
when I thought we were going to
have schnitzel, and she decided on
stoo as the second cour se without
consulting me. That's what happened.
GRIGG
You two want to get together. If
you cut out the blarney about how
your great grandfather came from
Cork it might help.
(pushing his plate
away roughly)
Yes, this is quite an apartment.
As a matter of fact, a great friend
of mine owns it.
LOUISE
English, naturally. He's in the
Government, or something very
high up, anyway. He's quite a
sweetie when he' 's had a few.
GRIGG
(with a sudden
glare)
Glen's a pressman, Lou. You might
remember that. No, I mean it, you.
could start a whispering campaign
like that.
GLEN
Whispering campaigns start with
falsehood not truth.
GRIGG
You're dead right, Glen, that's how
they started over my book, falsifying


Contd.
LOUISE
Everything they said was true. They
just didn 't like it.
(with another
cackle):
GRIGG
(really angry
this time)
You mean, you like whispering
campaigns against your own husband?
That's a lack of self-respect, not just
respect for me.
LOUISE
(frightened by
his look)
Why, no, I'm not saying that, Jeff,
I was following the argument,
that's all.
GRIGG
Maybe you'd better keep off my
work once and for all, and off
British public figures.
GLEN
Oh - er - what's his name ? You
mean, your friend who owns the
GRIGG
(still without tak-
ing his eyes off
LOUISE)
He's one of the finest defence
spa.
brains you have in this country
- name of Dornelling. Anyway,
let's get on with business. I'd
just like to say this, Glen.
GRIGG - moving close to GLEN with energy and giving his: speech with
a certain demoniac force that makes GLEN flinch increasingly.
GRIGG (contd)
I wrote this book Afterwards to
save humanity in the event of a
nuclear war and that went all over
the world as my advocating nuclear
war. Now, I wouldn 't mind if people
knew what I meant by Afterwards, but
they don' 't, they think I mean after the
bomb falls in the future, but I don 't.
I mean now. Remember what Macbeth
said after his first murder - From this
instant there's nothing serious in mor-
tality' and then he said, 'All is but toys,


Contd.
GRIGG (contd)
grace and renown is dead' - they
weren' 't too hot on their grammar in
those days - 'the wine of life is drawn'.
Think of that, Glen. It's happened to
us, too. The wine of life is drawn.
Our murder was Hiroshima. We mur-
dered respect for the human creature.
We're living in the Afterwards of that
and we've got to go on and on like
Macbeth. The murders can 't stop.
I'm only facing facts, trying to see
some chance of survival in all this,
and even some hope. Old Macbeth had
to murder. Maybe we've got to do the
same. And that's hell. That's what
we're living in now - hell - the hell of
indecision - and people don' 't know it.
Leastways they have a hunch about it,
but mostly they prefer acting. They
think they're still in the Before and
everything's nice and cosy and being
looked after like it used to be. Now,
my book
(out of breath now)
tries to make 'em face up to hell
rationally. But people won' 't listen,
they'd rather call me a nuclear nut.
Since 1945 the human being's been
dead. That's my message, Glen.
Print that, if you like.
CUT:
INT. TRAIN COMP. PARTMENT. NIGHT
GLEN nodding asleep in a train roaring towards London. A book is
in his lap, the CAMERA PANS DOWN to a C.U. of this. It shows
the dust jacket: : AFTERWARDS by Jefferson Grigg, Author of
Mexico and The World City. GLEN blinks awake again, stares
before him, falls asleep.
CUT:
EXT. LONDON STREET. NIGHT
A taxi draws up outside PALERMO's office and GLEN gets out, pays
the driver off. He walks into the dark entrance and feels his way
along.
CUT:
INT. PALERMO'S OFFICE. NIGHT
Everything is dark. Suddenly the lights come on and GLEN walks
into the room. The copy of AFTERWARDS is still in his hand. He
is looking for PALERMO. He goes to PALERMO's desk and we see


Contd.
it from his P.V. PALERMO has given a can-can girl a big moustache
and he has printed, in Gothic characters, over her head, the following
sentence: : Press Relations Institute for Captains and Kings.
CUT:
INT. HOTEL ROOM. NIGHT
GLEN is standing in his pyjamas. The only light is from the neon
sign outside. He sways slightly. The ÇAM, PANS round to his
copy of Afterwards on the bed. He kisses the photograph on the bed-
side table and sleeps.
CUT:
INT. PALERMO'S OFFICE. MORNING
The two girls are typing as GLEN enters the office.
GLEN
Good morning.
Neither of them takes any. notice. He squeezes past them to JOHN
PALERMO's inner office. We hear PALERMO's voice.
PALERMO
(talking over
the phone)
I'll give you half, and that's over-
paying.
CUT:
INT. PALERMO'S INNER OFFICE. MORNING
PALERMO is just slamming down the receiver as GLEN comes in.
PALERMO looks the worse for wear; there are bulges under his
eyes and his lips are pale.
PALERMO
Muriel! Take this down to the
shop.
(looking up at
GLEN with a
brief smile)
Printers! I've never heard such
prices. What do you think of that,
by. the way ?
(flinging a newspaper
across the desk to-
wards GLEN)
From GLEN'S P.V. the newspaper with the following headline:
I ALWAYS SAY IT'S THE SHAPE THAT GETS HIM, SAYS MISSILE
PROFESSOR'S WIFE, then. a photograph of LOUISE.


Contd.
GLEN sinks down into a chair with the newspaper in his hand and
reads the column aloud.
GLEN
It's the way it goes up, and, of
course, the shape, said Louise Grigg,
46-year-old wife of American Professor
Jefferson Grigg, known in nuclear
circles as Mr. Afterwards when we
chatted over the phone today. She was
referring to the H-bomb mushroom.
Life with Jefferson hasn' 't always been
a bed of roses. Louise told me confi-
dentially. that they nearly ended in the
divorce courts twice in the last few
years and each time were saved by
the thought that though their marriage
smelt a bit high those of most of their
friends stank.
GLEN looks up at PALERMO with some astonishment and then goes
on reading.
GLEN (contd)
Husky, deep-voiced Jefferson Grigg
has made it his business to study all
the published data concerning the likely
results of the big flash when it comes.
(looks up again)
Jefferson Grigg was for two months
a Hollywood gag-writer. Ienjoyed
my chat with his pleasant wife today.
It humanised him for me. Take the
nuclear mushroom, she said. Now,
if that's not a symbol of something
my name's not Lou.
(putting the
paper down)
God! Where did you get all that?
PALERMO
(lighting a cigarette
and screwing up his
eyes)
What's that? Oh, the article. Don' 't
you think it's great? Jack Ryan
gave me -
The telephone next door rings, and one of the typewriters ceases for
a moment.
MURIEL
(from the other side
of the partition)
Hello . Yes. Of course. ' He's
in the office now.


Contd.
One of PALERMO's telephones rings and he snatches up the receiver.
PALERMO
Yes?
MURIEL
(from the other
side of the partition)
There's somebody for Mr. Glen.
I think it's from Cambridge.
PALERMO immediately thrusts the receiver across to GLEN.
PALERMO
It's for you.
GLEN takes the. receiver. PALERMO goes on quietly working.
GLEN
Hello.
GRIGG
(from the other
end of the line)
Is that Glen? - because I don t
know your other name. I guess
you know who this is.
GLEN
Is that Jeff?
GRIGG (VOICE OVER)
Jeff my arse! You can call me
Professor. You know what I think
of you.?
GLEN
GRIGG (VOICE OVER)
That's a lie. By the sound of
your voice, you glass-eyed phoney,
you know what I think of you and you
know I'm right. You can quote me,
too. Put that in your crummie paper,
and I hope it chokes you.
GLEN
Excuse me but
GRIGG (VOICE OVER)
What my wife thinks of you couldn't
even be put down on paper. Listen,
I'm very sorry about this. I don't
hate you, I despise you quite a bit,
but mostly I'm just darned sorry,
because I thought you were quite a
nice guy. How did you get caught up
in this job?


Contd.
GLEN
I don' 't know.
GRIGG (VOICE OVER)
You can always get out. There's
a story about the Emperor Constan-
tine - ever heard of him ?
PALERMO
(looking up quickly).
Tell him' 'yes!
GRIGG (VOICE OVER)
They say he came back from Rome
with all the crimes in creation on
his shoulders. He just about killed
everybody in his own family, and he
had a helluva big family. And that's
how he became a Christian. Some-
body told him this was the only
religion that forgave you everything
you: did. Think about that.
GLEN
I will.
GRIGG (VOICE OVER)
Well, I don' 't suppose we'll bump
into each other again, but if we
do, it'll be a big bump, and I hope
it hurts. A kick-in-the- -pants from
my wife, too. I just wanted you to
know you're a shyster, that's all.
GLEN
I didn' 't -
The receiver is crashed down at the other end. Silence. GLEN
slowly replaces his own receiver.
GLEN (contd)
Listen. Did you write all that?
PALERMO
(torn with
difficulty from
his work)
Of course I did - with Jack Ryan's
help. I asked for a hundred quid,
and he gave me seventy-five. Not
bad for a phone conver sation, eh?
GLEN
But they're nice people!


Contd.
PALERMO
I know! I fixed you a dinner with
them! Here, what's she like ?
Forty-six is just my dish. What
d'you say?
(with a wink)
Has she got 'it'?
GLEN shrugs.
PALERMO (contd)
I'll take her to the Mirabel,
then, like she asked me to.
GLEN
And I take the blame!
PALERMO
What the hell! You're working
for an agency; that's not your
responsibility.
GLEN
He said this would happen. Not
exactly in those words, but he
said I was a reporter, not a gentle-
man.
PALERMO
Oh, by the way, got any change
from the.ten quid?
GLEN
What about my share?
PALERMO
Why, you crooked bugger, you
didn't write the article, and your
conscience won 't let you have any
part of it, but. you want the wages
of sin? You can keep the change
and call it money well earned.
GLEN looks up at him steadily, but PALERMO is already touching
up another of his sketches.
GLEN
Do you know where I can find a
room ?
PALERMO
Not a hope. Itried last year when
my wife walked out on me. She
sold the flat from under my feet.
She's spending the money now, in
Cannes. Where are you staying ?


Contd.
GLEN
A hotel.
PALERMO
Well, isn't that good enough
for you?
GLEN
Yes, but I'm trying to earn my
living. Can 't you see that? I've
come over here to get out of the
shipping business. It was boring
me to death. And I want to bring
my wife and child over .
But PALERMO is deep in his sketches and the typewriters are
thundering next door.
PALERMO looks up suddenly.
PALERMO
Stand up.
GLEN
Stand up ?
PALERMO
Yes, go on - stand up.
GLEN stands up.
PALERMO (contd)
Now turn round.
GLEN
What for?
PALERMO
Just turn round.
GLEN turns round.
PALERMO (contd)
Yes. Alright.
(calling next
door)
Muriel! I think we 've found our
man.


INT. PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIO. MORNING
This is PALERMO's large photographic studio in the basement. It is
littered with old flats, camera equipment, stands, and lamps. There
are cables all over the floor. There is a cubicle for changing.
PALERMO is at this moment fixing one of the cameras, in his shirt
sleeves. PAT is fixing the scenery. GLEN is standing there with
nothing on except a flimsy dressing-gown.
PALERMO
This is something I've been work-
ing on for weeks. It's an apple
campaign.
GLEN
Apple ?
PALERMO
Yes. They told me, Give us a
bright idea and we 'll give you the
account. Well, you have the body.
In fact, it was the first thing I
noticed about you.
MURIEL emerges with only a flimsy dressing-gown on like GLEN's.
MURIEL
Why don 't you heat this place ?
PALERMO
(still fixing the
camera)
No fire.
GLEN
You wouldn 't like to tell me
what all this is for, before we
start would you?
PALERMO
I've told you already - I'm trying
to sell apples, and you're trying
to sell yourself. That's what you
told me - you wanted a job. Isn 't
that right? Now, just lay down,
both of you.
He sweeps MURIEL's dressing-gown off her shoulder as she sits
down on the floor in front of the flats, and motions GLEN to sit
behind her, both facing the CAMERA. GLEN does not remove his
dressing-gown.
PALERMO (contd)
(snatching off
GLEN's dressing-
gown)
Oh, come on! God, you must have '
undressed in front of a woman before.


Contd.
GLEN
Not a strange woman.
PALERMO
(quietly, as he goes
back to the camera)
I bet that's a lie.
(as he gazes through
the viewfinder)
Closer. These lights are marvellous.
Why they don 't burn the house down
I shall never understand. Alright,
now lean down on your elbow. That's
right, do the same, Muriel. This
is going to reach them.
(refocussing as
GLEN and MURIEL
lean on their elbows)
Bend your legs a bit. That's it.
A bit closer, Glen, that's it, Muriel,
just straighten your underneath leg;
that's it. Now you do the same,
Glen. Go on, a bit more. That's
it. Get a bit closer. Go on, that's
it. Boy, oh boy! O.K. Rest.
PALERMO begins fixing sprays of artifical flower S and twigs in
front of them.
MURIEL
I wish you'd buck up, I'm freezing.
GLEN
Your circulation must be all
wrong. I'm not even chilly.
MURIEL
You don 't sit behind a typewriter
all day.
PALERMO
(quietly)
Or a glass of Pernod all night.
(going back
to the camera)
Alright, keep it like that.
GLEN
What are we supposed to be ?
PALERMO
Adam and Eve, about to eat the
apple of temptation.
GLEN
Muriel'looks like Eve, but do I
look like Adam?


Contd.
MURIEL
(quietly)
Well, you've got it all there.
PALERMO
Listen to them both. They're
gètting funny. The only thing is.
(emerging from
the camera)
Adam never wore.swim-pants.
PALERMO goes over to GLEN and points to the discrepancy between
his middle and the rest of his body - white skin against brown.
PALERMO
See what I. mean? It's a different
colour from the rest. We can
smear on some tan.
PAT gets a big pot from one of the benches and hands it to GLEN.
GLEN
What d'you mean ? I smear this
over myself?
PALERMO
That's right.
GLEN eases himself away from MURIEL a little and unscrews the
lid slowly while the others watch. He begins creaming.
PALERMO (contd)
Further down.
GLEN goes S on creaming, making circular little movements until
the front is at least uniform.
PALERMO (contd)
Who's going to do the back? I
see mostly back from here.
MURIEL
I will. Get on your stomach.
He's got quite a figure. Did you
go in for athletics?
(as GLEN turns
over)
GLEN
PALERMO
(to GLEN)
You don't know what she means
by athletics.


Contd.
MURIEL takes the pot and then in the concentrated silence begins
creaming GLEN, making soft slapping noises.
MURIEL
How's that?
PALERMO
A bit lower down.
MURIEL
Where ?
PALERMO
That's right. Open your legs
a bit, Glen.
Here MURIEL ceases her circular movements and dives down
between his legs.
A C.U. of GLEN's face shows him in an equivocal state of mind.
PALERMO
(ducking towards
his camera agàin)
I reckon that's enough. Glen,
you'll have to get closer to Muriel -
I want you in the viewfinder.
GLEN moves up closer as before to MURIEL.
MURIEL
Here, like this.
She yanks GLEN with one swift movement towards her so that he
lies curved round her middle. There are the hollow clicks of the
camera working.
PALERMO
O.K., break it up!
MURIEL
(to GLEN)
I'm smeared all over with your
damned greasepaint. Just look!
GLEN
Yes, you're covered in it.
PAT throws them a towel.
MURIEL
(handing the
towel to GLEN)
Here, wipe me, will you?
(he begins to do
Never posed before ?


Contd.
GLEN
MURIEL
You're O.K. Not like some of
these new people who fling a
temperament.
PALERMO
He's an executive.
GLEN
I bet an executive never did that
before.
PALERMO begins working at one of the benches taking 35mm film
out of tanks and peeping into the dryer tanks. There are photographs
in piles, still curled and unpressed.
GLEN in his dressing-gown strolls over to him, looks over his
shoulder.
GLEN
This is all your work?
PALERMO nods.
From GLEN'S P.V. we see a picture of three naked men - one holding
a rolled umbrella, another with only a bowler hat on, the third with
a black bow tie: then the bold printed words running down the side,
GET THE REST FROM SNOWE'S OF SAVILLE ROW.
MURIEL come S up level with GLEN.
MURIEL
I knew you'd never done it before
by the way you were sort of all on
top of me. Suppose you had to hold
it for a couple of hours.
GLEN
(gazing at her)
I don' 't think I could. Not with you.
CUT:
INT. HOTEL ROOM. NIGHT
The CAM. DRAWS BACK to.show GLEN's bèd turned down.for ic
him and his copy of Afterwards on the bedside table laid open on
its face. He is in his pyjamas. He goes to bed. He is just lying
back on his pillow when the telephone rings. He takes up the receiver.
GLEN
Hello.
(nothing happens
at the other end)


Contd.
GLEN (contd)
Hello!
(still nothing
happens)
Hello!
LOUISE
(at the other
end)
Hello, bad boy.
GLEN
Yes?
LOUISE (VOICE OVER)
I'm with your boss. He's trying
to seduce me.
GLEN
LOUISE (VOICE OVER)
Listen, I hope you weren' 't too
cut up this morning about that
phone call from my husband. I
was listening on the bedroom line.
This is Louise.
GLEN
Yes, I recognised you.
LOUISE (VOICE OVER)
He flew to Paris this afternoon.
Lecturing to some NATO boys
about total destruction. He calls
it the North Atlantic Treason
Organisation.
GLEN
You'd better be careful I don 't
quote you on that, hadn 't you ?
LOUISE (VOICE OVER)
You're quite a couple of boys,
you and Palermo, aren't you?
GLEN
We do our best.
LOUISE (VOICE OVER)
You know the thing that really
got Jeff's goat was that bit about
having been a gag-writer. There
isn 't a soul in the States knows about
that, and he thinks you're as clever
as Satan. He gloats over you like some
people do over rats, with a fascinated
horror.


Contd.
GLEN
I sèe.
LOUISE (VOICE OVER)
Sometimes he wants to cut you up
into fine pieces, and sometimes he
wants you over for a drink. I've
been meaning to. say what that article
said for ten years. He thinks you and
I are in cahoots, by the way. That
excites him another way too - he
thinks there might be something kinky
there, between you and me.
GLEN
Really?
LOUISE (VOICE OVER)
Would you tell me one thing - how
did you get mixed up with these
people ?
GLEN
It's a long story. Or, perhaps a
short one.
LOUISE (VOICE OVER)
You mean you sort of fell into
GLEN
Yes.
LOUISE (VOICE OVER)
Well, you can fall out of it
at any time.
GLEN
That's what your husband said.
LOUISE (VOICE OVER)
Yes. What we have to do for
money. How did you find out about
him being a gag-writer ?
GLEN
As I didn 't write the thing, I
don 't know.
LOUISE (VOICE OVER)
Well, how did your editor find
GLEN
I suppose they have libraries and
things. I haven't got an editor.


Contd.
LOUISE (VOICE OVER)
Palermo says you've got about
the most dangerous tongue in Fleet
Street. And yet you wouldn' 't think
it, to look at you. You look as if
you've just come up from the country,
growing corn or something.
GLEN
That's not far wrong, either.
LOUISE (VOICE OVER),
And listen : if you've got a wife
why are you staying in a hotel?
Palermo gave me the number.
Excuse the familiarity, but you
started the habit, kid.
GLEN
Well, we live in the country, just
as you said.
And with this GLEN hangs up. He stares before him in the dimness.
He kisses the photograph on the bedside table and sleeps.
CUT:
INT. PALERMO'S OFFICE. MORNING
GLEN is sitting by PALERMO's desk. in his shirtsleeves. PALERMO
bursts into the room and throws a heavy packet on to the desk.
PALERMO
Have a look at this. By tomorrow
morning that'll be all over England.
(as GLEN opens
the envelope and
takes out photo-
graphs)
That friend of yours is quite a
girl, isn 't she ? Louise, I mean!
But GLEN is concentrating on the photographs. We see them from
his P.V. - several prints of yesterday's study from the Genesis.
The naked forms of MURIEL and GLEN shine through the leaves and
there is a boldly-printed caption: WHY DID THE APPLE TEMPT
EVE? FIND OUT BY EATING ONE.
PALERMO
This is going to make us in the
art world. As a matter of fact,
I've already thought of a whole
series called Adam and Eve. Just
nudes of you and Muriel.


Contd.
GLEN
(putting the
prints down)
Listen, I'm clearing out of that
hotel tomorrow. What about a
contract? Something permanent,
to give me security. I've got to tell
my wife something, an excuse for
coming over here.
PALERMO
(gazing at him
closely)
Chandler-Williams told me you 've
got 20 acres of vineyard.
GLEN
Yes, that's true. I bought it on
the cheap.
PALERMO
Then what are you doing over
here ?
GLEN
Oh, I suppose I needed London,
I needed to see it again.
PALERMO
You were born here?
GLEN
Yes.
PALERMO
And your wife ?
GLEN
Yes.
PALERMO
Why didn't she come too?
GLEN
Oh, there's the house, and then
the child. He's a bit young for
an upheaval. And anyway, I'm only
on leave.
PALERMO
Ah, so you're taking us on a' kind
of trial, are you?
GLEN
Well, if you like.


Contd.
PALERMO
And what do we have to prove
ourselves?
GLEN
I don' 't know. I just want a
different life.
PALERMO
You'll get that, alright.
PALERMO goes and sits behind his de sk.
PALERMO (contd)
Shall I tell you something,
Glen? You're the only person
who answered that advertisement.
GLEN
Am I really?
PALERMO
You see, not many people in life
want adventure, really.
MURIEL comes in with a.tray of two coffees, sets them down on the
desk.
GLEN
Thank you.
MURIEL
(to GLEN, with
a scowl towards
PALERMO)
You notice how nice he is to me ?
She leaves at once, while PALERMO goes on finishing one of his
sketches.
GLEN takes up the mid-day newspaper and gazes at it idly, stirring
his coffee and then lifting it to his lips. Suddenly he sees something
in the paper that makes him choke.
PALERMO take S no notice:
GLEN
What the hell's this!
We see the newspaper from his P. V. under a column titled HIT
LINES OF THE WEEK, with another grinning photograph of
JEFFERSON GRIGG. We see the beginning of a paragraph: 'One-
time gag-writer Professor Jefferson Grigg : 1 and GLEN begins
reading this aloud.


Contd.
GLEN
'One-time gag-writer, Professor
Jefferson Grigg, at present using
England as a launching -pad for
lectures on the Continent, is in the
news again. Said his wife, Louise,
cosily known in The States as Mrs.
Afterwards, Jeff flew to Paris this
afternoon : he's lecturing to some
NATO Boys about total destruction.
She added with a husky laugh: He
calls it the North Atlantic Treason
Organisation. ? Here! She said all
that to me last night. On the phone!
PALERMO raises his head, slowly, and stares at GLEN with his
mouth open, a photograph of an apple in his hand.
PALERMO
What's bitten you' ?
GLEN
This story! Look at it! He 'll sue
me, and that'll be the end of your
stories.
PALERMO
What story?
GLEN
Look at this!
He flings the newspaper across to him.
GLEN (contd)
Don't tell me you're not respon-
sible for that.
PALERMO
(screwing up his
eyes to read and
repeating the words
silently to himself)
Well, I can't see what's wrong with
that. Does this man pay me à cent
for getting his name in the papers
every day? But he's going to pay.
(adding quietly,
through pursed
lips, his eyes
narrowed)
Let me tell you something, Glen.
The Americans are the most unre-
bellious race on earth.
GLEN
Yes, but there are nearly two
hundred million of them, and you
might get some surprises.


Contd.
PALERMO
Oh don 't you worry. That man loves
every word we say about him.
(getting up from
pushing his chair
back noisily)
Don't you know there are thousands
of people who'd give their right
hands for an attack on them in the
papers? I know a dozen starlets
who at this moment are craving to
be smeared.
(taking his over-
coat down from
the hook)
Don't you realise what I've done
getting him to the top of the HIT
LINES column - and he's not paying
me a cent! If there's one thing I
hate, Glen, it's being used. I'll
be at the printers. Goodbye.
He goes, but pops back into the room at once.
PALERMO (contd)
Listen, Glen, I've got a job for
you tonight, but it's personal.
I shall be tied up with the printers
for hours, otherwise I'd do it my-
self. It's a girl, Glen. I was going
to take her out. You know, club, or
dinner, or something. Can you do it
for me ?
GLEN
But who is she ?
PALERMO
Meet her at the London International
at seven. Take her where you like.
I hope my friends are yours.
GLEN
What about money ?
PALERMO
I'll give you ten quid. That should
cover it.
GLEN
Ten!
PALERMO
Alright - fifteen. When it runs out,
you'll have to push hér off home, that's
all. If people don't pay me how can
I pay you?


Contd.
PALERMO leaves.
GLEN
(shouting)
What about the money?
PALERMO returns, irritated, and throws fifteen pounds on the desk,
He dashes out again.
GLEN (contd)
(shouting)
And what about her name ?
PALERMO
(from the other
side of the parti-
tion)
Get it from Muriel.
GLEN gets up and goes to the door. The CAM. follows him through.
The GIRLS have stopped typing now that PALERMO is out of the
office.
GLEN
(to MURIEL)
Do you know who he means?
MURIEL
Yes. It's somebody called Jean
de Lisle Swiburne.
GLEN
That's a funny name.
MURIEL
Well, I didn' 't give it to her.
She writes the name down on a piece of paper and hands it to GLEN.
We see it from his P. V. 'Jean de Lisle Swiburne'. .
CUT :
INT. HOTEL. ROOM. EARLY EVENING
GLEN is standing in front of the mirror putting on a fancy waistcoat.
He puts on a dark jacket over it. He checks that there is money in his
wallet, and then puts his overcoat on. He goes to the door and leaves,
but returns at once to give the photograph on the bedside table a look.


EXT. STREET. EARLY EVENING
GLEN is coming out of the hotel, and turns into the street. He walks
along quickly, smart and energetic.
CUT:
EXT. ANOTHER STREET. EARLY EVENING
GLEN walking along. He looks up with surprise. From his P. V. we
see a gigantic poster. It is the print of himself and MURIEL. He
stops and gazes at it with his mouth open. He looks at people walking
by and clearly it is passing through his mind that they take no more
notice of this vast poster than they would of any other. The caption
stands out clear on the poster: WHY DID THE APPLE TEMPT EVE?
FIND OUT BY EATING ONE. These last words seem to drill into
his mind.
CUT:
INT. A BUS. EARLY EVENING
GLEN on the top of a bus gazing down into the street. Suddenly he
looks surprised, gazing straight ahead. From his P.V. we see
another huge poster - himself and MURIEL again. This time he
seems pleased, he seems to be getting used to it.
CUT :
INT. A HOTEL FOYER. EARLY EVENING
GLEN walks into the hotel. A clock shows a few minutes after
seven. He goes over to the DESK PORTER.who leans forward politely.
GLEN
Miss Jean de Lisle Swiburne,
please.
Without a word the PORTER goes to the hotel telephone and dials
a number.
PORTER
A gentle man to see you, madam.
(turning.round to
GLEN and with-
drawing the phone
a little from his
mouth)
Your name, please ?
GLEN
(hesitating)
Glen.
PORTER
(holding out receiver
towards GLEN)
Miss Swiburne.


Contd.
GLEN
(taking the receiver)
Miss Swiburne, good evening.
JEAN
(at the other end)
Is that chaise-longue ?
GLEN
What's that ?
JEAN (VOICE OVER)
I suppose you're chaise-longue ?
GLEN
(out of his depth)
I'll be sitting under the clock.
JEAN (VOICE OVER)
Just two minutes.
She puts the phone down, and GLEN hands his back to the PORTER.
He strolls across to one of the chairs in the foyer, looking perplexed.
CUT:
INT. HOTEL FOYER. EARLY EVENING
The clock is now at seven-thirty. GLEN is still sitting in his chair,
nodding half asleep. Suddenly he is awoken by a young woman
standing immediately behind him.
JEAN
Hi, there!
GLEN
(jumping to
his feet)
JEAN has blonde hair full of ringlets. She is smiling, with blue eyes
that shift pleasantly like glass in water. Her coat is so immense that
she seems to have struggled to the top of it with great effort in order
to show her head. She is pale, but the pallor has a touching delicacy.
She wears no hat. Her earrings flicker in the light. She seems to
have thrown everything on from a careless distance. JEAN is
American.
JEAN
(with a flickering
smile)
Did I keep you waiting?
GLEN
John Palermo was very sorry
- tied up at the printers.


Contd.
JEAN
(with a very
quick stare)
Printers? Well,
(with a smile that
makes her face
flicker again)
where do we go, boss?
GLEN
I think a drink's a good idea,
don 't you?
She walks slightly in front of GLEN towards the hotel entrance, so
close that she nearly trips him up.
CUT:
EXT. OUTSIDE THE HOTEL. EARLY EVENING
GLEN and JEAN stand waiting for a taxi. JEAN has one ungloved
hand at her neck, holding the collar of her coat against the wind.
She keeps glancing at GLEN - casually, with the touch of a smile,
a sadly wistful expression of the eyes. Her talk drifts in..
JEAN
try and create an illusion,
I suppose.
GLEN suddenly wakes up to the fact that she has been talking to him
for some time.
GLEN
What was that?
JEAN
I'm saying, we try and create
an illusion, and what else is
anything, anyway?
The COMMISSIONAIRE gets them a taxi, and they get in.
CUT:
INT. TAXI. EARLY EVENING
GLEN is sitting next to JEAN. She puts her coat a little off her
shoulders, showing a woollen jumper underneath. GLEN leans
forward and speaks to the cabby.
GLEN
Could you just drive towards the
River, and I'll make up my mind.
He settles back in his seat.


Contd.
JEAN is now gazing out of the window at the pavement, a smile
softly and unsteadily on her lips. GLEN gives her jumper an
appreciative glance.
GLEN
How long have you known Palermo?
JEAN - screwing up her face as if he's said something unexpected
through the smile returns almost at once.
JEAN
Oh! Since I was born.
GLEN
Honestly?
JEAN.
If you like.
GLEN stares at her in puzzlement. The cab passe S down Regent
Street.
GLEN
How do you mean - if I like ?
JEAN
Well,
(her smile swelling
and making her
cheeks fat for a
moment)
if we're creating it all anyway
let's make up old friends, too.
He gazes at her helplessly.
GLEN
Are you here on work?
JEAN
(with even
fatter cheeks)
I was promised an anonymous
evening don 't forget!
GLEN
He's quite a character, isn' 't
he, Palermo?
JEAN
(laughing a pleasant
high-pitched rippling
laugh)
Have it your own way. Have it
your own way!


Contd.
She goes on smiling to herself, her cheeks fat, shaking her head
slowly with a certain surprise too.
The cab throbs in a traffic jam.
GLEN
Do you know London ?
JEAN
Tonight I don 't want to know
anything. I get tied up with
people. Yes, I do, honest. With
my husband, too.
GLEN
Oh! You're married.
JEAN
Yes.
The cab moves on, and GLEN leans forward to the cabby window
again.
GLEN
(to the DRIVER)
Villiers Street, please.
JEAN
You know, people are always
pouring out their hearts to me.
I just sit and let them pour and
I'm damn well not interested, I'm
not.
(turning to face
him fully, her
face very close
to his)
I guess you think I'm a nut. Oh,
yes, yes, sure. Listen, Mister,
do you believe in marriage ?
GLEN
Yes.
JEAN
I don't.
GLEN
What do you believe in, then,
as a substitute ?
JEAN
Being your self.
GLEN
Can't you be yourself if you're
married?


Contd.
JEAN
Of course you can't.
GLEN
Why not ?
JEAN
Because they try and own you,
and that's wrong. I'm independent
- I try to be.
GLEN
What about children?
JEAN
I haven' 't any.
(turning away as
if hè 'd stung her)
Having somebody else' 's name -
that's wrong.
GLEN
Is this your husband' 's name ?
JEAN
Which ?
GLEN
I mean - the name you have.
JEAN
Swinburne's my husband's name,
but I couldn't stand it, so I cut
out one 'N'. 'N' for nut. I'm like
that - yes, sure. I made him
change his name by deed poll.
GLEN
You did - to Swiburne ?
JEAN
Yes.
GLEN
Is he in London ?
JEAN
No, he's inside. Brixton gaol. I
think his parents are English and
his mother married again - some junk
I didn't care to go into. Listen, I'm
awfully sorry, I must sound terribly
disrespectful. The fact is, I respect
my husband more than anybody, but I
just have to be alone. I suppose that's
why I like hotels.


Contd.
GLEN
But is his name de Lisle, as well ?
JEAN
No, that's mine. I use both when
I'm travelling.
GLEN
So you're French as well ?
JEAN
No, I'm Scotch-American. Iwould
have been born in Detroit but my
parents were holidaying in Scotland.
It's a long story.
JEAN - suddenly disconsolate, her mouth drooping and for a moment,
looking not unlike Queen Victoria.
JEAN (contd)
Here, I'm sorry you 've got to
listen to all this.
GLEN
I enjoy it.
JEAN
You must get used to it, huh ?
JEAN - giving him another close look with her face once again very
close to his.
CUT :
EXT. VILLIERS STREET. EVENING
The cab comes to a halt, and GLEN and JEAN get out.
JEAN
Do you get trained for it?
GLEN does not answer being busy paying the cabby.
JEAN (contd)
No training?
CUT:
INT. SHERRY BAR. EVENING
In a crowded bar JEAN and GLENare seated on barrels, close together.
It is noisy and smoky.
JEAN
Well, look, this is quite a place.
Do you keep a kind of list, or
something?


Contd.
GLEN
(undecided as to
what to say)
JEAN
You know, this is the first
time I've done it.
GLEN
What?
JEAN
Okay, okay!
(with a wide
smile)
Have it your own way! Well,
I agree, it's the right way to
play it.
GLEN
(nodding towards
her coat)
Won't you take that off?
JEAN
No. It gives me security.
(with a pleas-
ant wink)
GLEN
But it's stifling here.
JEAN
I prefer to stifle.
GLEN
Will you have your sherry dry,
or sweet?
JEAN
Neither.
GLEN
Neither?
JEAN
Listen, if I drink all I want to do
is sleep.
GLEN
Can I get you a glass of water?
JEAN
I'd like a cake most, but they
won' 't have any.


Contd.
GLEN gets up with increasing puzzlement and goes to the bar. He
stands there waiting to give his order and casts a quick glance back
at her. A SHOT of JEAN shows her smiling vaguely towards him
though the smile could easily be a trick of her cheeks.
He orders his sherry, still casting back rather frightened glances.
Then he returns to his barrel. He finds that she is leaning slightly
at an angle and he has to more or less inch himself on to his seat SO
that she is leaning against him.
JEAN
Hey, do you do this every night ?
GLEN
No. Too much work.
JEAN
(looking at him
with surprise)
Oh. And Mr. Palermo?
GLEN
He's . fine.
She is still leaning heavily on him and he seems to be having difficulty
in getting the drink to his mouth. To make it easier for himself, he
begins leaning towards her, taking the weight so to speak. One of her
hands still secures the overcoat collar round her neck as if there were
a wind. To his surprise she looks down at his knees and carefully
plucks off a piece of fluff, but she does not move away from her rather
drowsy leaning position.
GLEN even begins to push at her slightly, but she does not seem
aware of any movement on his part. He is really getting squashed
into a corner. Then she suddenly smacks her lips together, like
someone waking up, and she sits properly, blinking, and turns and
smiles at him as if he were the head on the next pillow.
JEAN
You know, I'm only really
myself with my own family.
Honestly, I don't know why I
ever left them. I guess that's
why I left them.
GLEN
(quite out of
his depth)
What was that?
She continues to look at him with an almost eastern smile. Then she
turns away, looking down, with a new thoughtfulness. All round there
is wild and noisy talk from mostly young people.
JEAN
(looking at his drink)
That sherry certainly looks sexy.


Contd.
GLEN
(blinking towards
her)
Sexy?
JEAN
Why, yes. Heavy and oily.
Okay, okay!
(with the same
fat smile as
before)
You win! Let's play it that
way. You're trained to it,
after all.
(looking at him
closely again,
her nose almost
touching his)
Okay, okay!
GLEN decides to nod playfully and pat her knee. This is disastrous.
The moment she is touched she makes a sudden spring in the air with
an expression of horror, almost tipping his drink over, and says,
in a stage whisper.
JEAN
Don't do that! Don' 't do that
again! D'you promise me ?
GLEN
Do what ?
JEAN
Touch me like that! I'll run
out of here screaming!
GLEN
Alright.
She sits down again, gingerly, panting with a faint distress, her
mouth slightly open, her cheeks seeming to hang down over her
mouth.
GLEN
Your husband must have had
a hell of a time. Doesn 't he
ever touch you ?
JEAN
Husbands are different.
GLEN
They're human.


Contd.
JEAN
Well,
(turning away
from him)
as I see it every touch robs
you of just a bit more indepen-
dence,, and I like to be free.
You see, it's the heat, the heat
of the touch, and the lights being
on, and people standing around.
GLEN
What have lights got to do with
JEAN
It's like somebody's looking for
something, all over your body,
when they touch you like that.
Don' 't you feel it?
GLEN
JEAN
I told you I was different. I
like the way you carry your
shoulders, by the way. It think
a lot depends on shoulders:
everything grows out of them -
the head upwards, and the arms
sideways, and of cour se the
trunk downwards.
(nodding with
a wise look)
I'm only myself when I'm alone,
which makes you ask
(putting her
face close to
GLEN's again)
why I'm here. Well, I'm sold
on the way people look. I like
comparing noses and hands, and
that kind of thing.
GLEN
Yes?
JEAN
Eyes are hackneyed, and they move
too much. They're too much like
being touched. That's why I don 't
like most eyes - they touch you when
they look at you! I guess there's
something moral about eyes we can't
help looking at other people without
that moral indictment. Do you know
what I mean?


Contd.
GLEN
I think so.
JEAN
Sometimes I flatter myself that
there's nothing moral about my
eyes.
GLEN
I don' 't think there is.
JEAN
Really ? You don 't know how good
you make me feel! I'd regard that
as the greatest achievement of my
life, I really would. Yes, really.
(nodding)
It took me five years to look at
people the same way I look at
things when I'm alone, and that's
where you come in. I can be alone
and with you at the same time. You
don 't know who I am. I don't know
who you are, and I care less. You
could go out and walk under a bus,
and it wouldn't change my life.
Listen, if that sounds horrible,
you'd better excuse me.
GLEN
Oh, that's all right.
JEAN
I can be really alone with some-
body if he's the right shape. You
know.
(intimately)
I think you are.
GLEN
Suppose I hadn' 't been?
JEAN
Oh, I'd have gone back to my
room after one peep. That was
the understanding, anyway.
GLEN
Who with?
JEAN
Your boss.
CUT:


EXT. THE STRAND. EVENING
GLEN and JEAN are walking along the Strand towards Trafalgar
Square - she winding in and out of people haphazardly, and sometimes
pushing GLEN involuntarily towards the shop window, her head high
and her mouth slightly open, her eyes wandering from side to side,
slightly hunted, her shoulders hunched while GLEN does his best to
keep up with it all.
GLEN -
Where would you like to eat ?
JEAN
(focussing on
him slowly)
Oh - any place.
CUT:
EXT. CHARING CROSS ROAD. EVENING
GLEN and JEAN are walking along as before. Outside Wyndham's
Theatre she turns to him.
JEAN
I'd just as soon go back to the
hotel. We can be comfortable
there. How about that?
(giving him
another of her
intimate looks)
I mean, do you like having
waiters tread on your feet?
GLEN
Well, no, I'd just as soon be
quiet.
JEAN
Here, I don 't want you to think
I'm fresh. Oh, listen, you're not
getting the wrong idea, are you,
because if you are, I'd just as soon
say good night right now. .
GLEN
(hopelessly)
I'm not getting any ideas at all.


They hail a taxi.
CUT :
INT. HOTEL FOYER. EVENING
The clock in the foyer of the London International says half-past
nine.
GLEN and JEAN come into the hotel and the RECEPTIONIST looks
up briefly from his ledger to give her the key. They go to the lift.
INT. HOTEL CORRIDOR. EVENING
GLEN and JEAN get out of the lift. They walk along the corridor
CUT:
INT. HOTEL SUITE. EVENING
GLEN and JEAN come into a spacious and comfortable suite.
JEAN walks straight across the sitting room to her bedroom, and
almost closes the bedroom door behind her, while GLEN stands
in the middle of the room. She comes back.
JEAN
Make yourself at home. Really!
GLEN takes off his overcoat and hangs it in the little hallway near
the door.
JEAN come S back into the room without her overcoat, looking anew
person. Her feet are crammed into slim shoes, making a bulge along
the insteps. She walks towards the fireplace, gazing at GLEN
placidly, her head ducked a little, her shoulders hunched as before.
She has powerful shoulders. He looks at her with curiosity.


Contd.
JEAN
(smiling graciously)
Listen, just you get on that service
phone and order what you like -
how's that?
GLEN
What about you ?
JEAN
Oh, I'm fine as Iam; I've got
my cakes.
GLEN
Is that good for you ?
JEAN
Well, it's true, I ought to cut
down weight.
JEAN - looking down at herself, at her powerful breasts, her smile
gone, her mouth sagging with a touch of puzzlement as if she didn 't
belong to her own body.
JEAN (contd)
How old do you think I am ?
GLEN
Late-twenties.
JEAN
Boy, are you kind! I'm thirty-
six:
She sits down in one of the arn mchairs, her thick legs crossed.
JEAN (contd)
I've tried to cut down on cakes,
but I can't. Hey, stop looking at
me like that.
GLEN
Like what ?
JEAN
Like I'd be wrong to eat another
cake.
GLEN
Was that in my eyes?
JEAN
Listen, you 're quite interesting. I
struck lucky, I really did.
(another vivid and
gracious smile)
Listen, you get on that phone and
order what you like.
GLEN goes to the house phone, and waits for the RECEPTIONIST.


53. Contd.
GLEN
Hello e Could you send up a wine
list and a menu, please.
CUT:
54. INT. HOTEL CORRIDOR. EVENING
A NEAPOLITAN WAITER walks briskly along the corridor with wine
list and menu in his hand.
CUT:
55. INT. HOTEL SUITE. EVENING
GLEN and JEAN are both seated when the WAITER comes in.
GLEN takes the wine list from him.
GLEN
(to JEAN)
What wine do you like?
JEAN
(directing her
floating smile
towards the
WAITER instead
of GLEN):
Listen, just you go ahead and
order for yourself. Really, if
I take a sip of anything, I start
saying the silliest things.
The WAITER thinks she was addressing him.
WAITER
Pardon, madam?
But JEAN misses this.
GLEN
(to WAITER)
What about some Schwanen Riesling?
A bad year, but it can't be helped.
And I think I'll have salad and boiled
eggs followed by cheese with toast.
Will you bring the wine still corked
on ice, please?
WAITER
(with a haunted
glance at JEAN)
Yes, I will do that.
JEAN
(getting up)
I'll get things ready.


55. Contd.
The WAITER leaves.
JEAN'takes a cloth from the sideboard drawer and spread it on the table.
GLEN
Is that where you keep your cakes.?
JEAN
(turning round with
a rather screwed-up
expression, her brow
drawn in between her
eyes, mouth drooping
again)
Hey, listen! I wish you'd lay off
that. You really do want to mal ke
me feel bad about it, don't you?
(as she straightens
the tablecloth)
Listen, you're not the persecuting
type, are you?
GLEN
Not that I know of.
JEAN
Well, that's good to hear. Well,
(as she goes to
the sideboard again)
we don't have to be friends, if
we're incompatible.
GLEN
I don't care how many cakes you
eat.
JEAN
Listen, will you lay off cakes once
and for all?
(swivelling
round at him)
GLEN
(laughing)
Okay.
She sits down again and begins gazing towards him. Silence establishes
itself.
After a time he becomes aware that her gaze is set on his legs. He
looks at her, then down at his legs. He looks up again at her. She is
still gazing towards him with the same set and unblinking expression.
He begins to sit in rather a fixed position, aware of her eyes on his
lower quarters. He begins to stare at her.
This mime is interrupted by the entrance of the WAITER with a trolley.


55. Contd.
JE AN gets up again and makes herself busy setting knives and forks
and glasses.
The WAITER opens the wine in front of GLEN after showing him the
label. The WAITER wheels the trolley with the ice bucket towards the
table and then leaves the room, after another glance at JEAN. To
GLEN's astonishment JEAN now comes and sits down at his side on
the settee very close to him.
GLEN
(politely)
What about your cakes?
JEAN
(with a great sigh)
Oh, boy, oh boy, are you out to
get me tonight!
GLEN
Well, I mean you want to eat,
don't you?
JEAN
Okay, bring 'em over. They're
in there.
(pointing to the
sideboard)
GLEN gets up and goes to the sideboard, opens it. A SHOT of the
interior shows the cakes to be certainly there - a great platter full of
them, the kind of platter used for sucking pigs. There is every kind
of cake imaginable - pink and dark brown and white and spiralled.
and coned and cylindered and peppered with chocolate pieces and spiced
and ice-sugared and creamed and baked shiny. GLEN looks at this
mountain of confectionery with his mouth open. With some effort he
takes out the vast dish. For a moment he stands with it, not knowing
where to put it.
GLEN
What shall I do? Take some off,
or will you have the lot?
JEAN
Hey, what have you got there?
(springing up and
coming to his side)
You've got the whole damned works
there! Put it back go on, put it
back!
GLEN puts it back, sheepishly, and JEAN takes out a single normal
plate from the sideboard with three cakes on it - a chocolate meringue,
a pastry cake crowned with fluffed coconut, and a vanilla mousse,
which wabbles as she carries it over to her seat.


55. Contd.
JEAN
You certainly frightened me for
a moment.
She sits down. Without hesitation, she starts it on the chocolate
mousse with a teaspoon, putting it into her mouth with quick regular
motions, her eyes fixed before her.
GLEN pours out his first glass of wine. It seems that all three cakes
are gone from her plate before he has had time to take his first sip.
He watches her with awed fascination. It is like a mechanical show;
the meringue goes down with sullen crunches, while she holds her
left hand underneath to catch any crumbs. Gradually her chewing
becomes slower and then she stiffens altogether. She looks up at him.
JEAN
(in a whisper)
Don't
that.
GLEN
What?
JEAN
Don't
look at me. Go and
sit down. Go on.
GLEN sits down at the table and begins hel lping himself to salad.
She goes on chewing.
JEAN
Have you been to The States?
GLEN
JEAN
You should go there, some day.
But miss out Detroit. You see,
I've never been good at anything.
No, really, I mean it. You see,
my second name's Narcissus.
Why, yes, my face in the pool is
the only face I know, the only one
I'm interested in. I'm interested
in other people when they're
interested in me. And you're
interested in me. Am I right?
GLEN
Yes, of course.
JEAN
Not of course. If somebody's not
interested in me I see stràight
through them. I make an approach -


55. Contd.
JEAN (contd)
and boy, if that don't come off,
why, they could be a speck of
dust as far as I'm concerned.
My husband was so interested in
me he followed me all round the
world. He came to Colombo and
I'd just left, and the same in Hong
Kong: But he got me in the end.
He makes me feel real sexy when
he's around, but hell, I don't
wanna spend all my time in the
kitchen.
GLEN
What do you mean, exactly, by
sexy?
JEAN
You know cosy - when you curl up
and wanna sleep so much you stay
awake -
GLEN
Do other people make you feel
sexy?
JEAN
(puzzled)
How's that possible?
GLEN
Well, I mean - men.
JEAN
Men? How could they make me feel
sexy?
GLEN
Well, who else could make you feel
sexy other than men?
JEAN
Family, of course - I mean, any
family. Mums and Dads! Isn't
that agreed? I mean, what else
than family can make you feel sexy?
GLEN
But - just family?
JEAN
Just? What else is there? Hey,
stop looking at my hands. I know
they're awful.
GLEN
Why awful?


55. Contd.
JEAN
I do my own housework. That comes
from three dish washes a day and
sometimes the sheets.
GLEN
Here you do nousework?
JEAN
At home, I mean.
GLEN
Where's that?
JEAN
Oh, I travel all the time, looking
at my face in different kinds of
pools. You're a part. of that.
GLEN
Of what?
JEAN
The tour of Narcissus.
GLEN
How?
JEAN
Well, you're one of the pools.
GLEN
Oh .
JEAN
That's why you're here.
GLEN
Is Palermo a pool, too?
JEAN
He could be. But I'll tell you some-
thing - he's only interested up to a
certain point. I doubt ifI could have
a real deep conversation with him
like I can with you. Listen, I'm
sorry I jumped down your throat
about the cakes. I guess it must
be a hum-drum sort of life after
the first few times - huh?
GLEN
How do you mean?
JEAN
You're determined not to understand
anything, aren't you?


55. Contd.
JEAN (contd)
(with a laugh)
Okay, have it your own way! Here,
am I keeping you up? Because, look,
if you wanna call it a day I'll scrap
the contract.
GLEN
No, I'm not a bit tired.
JEAN
Well, would you like to see the bed-
room?
GLEN
(gulping down
his food)
Bedroom!
JEAN
Sure! Come on!
(she gets up)
I always like to show the guests
the house.
He follows her to the bedroom door.
JEAN (contd)
Come right in.
(as he hesitates)
No, come on in.
This is a pleasant room. A large teddy bear sits on the pillows.
GLEN goes to the bed and sits dewn on it.
JEAN
When I look at that bed I get so
excited I don't know how to hold
myself.
GLEN
Do you?
JEAN
You know what I mean? Just curl-
ing up - being alone and having
a book in your hand? Are you like
that?
GLEN
Sometimes.
JEAN
I don't often meet people who feel
the way I do. Mostly they're social,


55. Contd.
JEAN (contd)
though I'm not. Would you not look
at me for a: moment? Please.
GLEN
(turning away)
I'm sorry. I didn't know I was.
JEAN
I just feel I can't do a thing with-
out you pinning on to it. I just
don't care to move! Stay like that,
will you?
GLEN
Certainly.
Silence again establishes itself between them.
GLEN
(his head still
turned away)
May I go and get my wine, please?
JEAN
Why, S ure.
He goes next door to fetch his glass of wine and returns with it.
JEAN
(the moment he
sits down on her
bed again)
Listen, do. you mind getting off my
bed?
GLEN
(jumping up)
Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you
didn't mind.
JEAN
No, I don't mean that.
(her eyes cast down)
I like you sitting on my bed. I'd -
(hesitating while
he stands there)
Couldn't you please sit on a chair?
(imploring him,
almost crying):
And please don't look at me.
GLEN
(turning his
back on her)
I'm sorry. But there isn't a chair to
sit on.


55. Contd.
JEAN
Well, please get one from the other
room.
GLEN goes next door and brings back a straight-backed chair. He
places it by the dressing table but with the precaution of placing it
towards the window so that his back is half-turned toward her.
GLEN
(not looking at her)
How's that for bearings?
JEAN
(as he sits down)
You're sitting so funny.
GLEN
Why?
JEAN
Well, is that how you usually sit
in company? With your back
turned?
He turns to look at her, at once there is a cry.
JEAN (contd)
Please don't. I asked you not to
look at me. It makes me feel
like a cactus. It's horrible. How
did you get eyes like that?
GLEN
Nobody ever told me.
(as he. faces
the curtain again)
JEAN
Boy, do you take it out of women.
What is it - a revenge on our sex?
Do you dislike the look of it so
much you can't face round this way?
GLEN
Look of what?
JEAN
He turns round again, but this time takes the precaution of holding a
hand over his eyes.
JEAN (contd)
I didn'tmean you to sit with your
face in the curtains - just don't
stare at me so fixed, that's all.


55. Contd.
JEAN (contd)
(as he keeps his
hands over his eyes)
Okay, keep it that way.
He is now facing her, but with his hand over his eyes. She stares at
him, fixedly.
Silence again.
JEAN
(in a whisper)
You're conning me through your
fingers. Did you hear me?
GLEN
(also in a whisper)
JEAN
(her eyes fixed
on his trousers
again)
You're looking at me, aren't you?
GLEN
Yes. Through my fingers.
JEAN
Well, don't. That's a dirty trick.
Boy, am I undoing all my concepts
of the polite Englishman!
GLEN
You should have had Palermo, he 'd
have given you a run for your
money.
JEAN
I wish you'd leave my money out
ofit - this is your job and let's
leave it at that! Keep to the signed
clauses at least.
GLEN
(with a yawn)
I'll try.
JEAN
(another whisper)
Have you got your eyes closed again?
GLEN
Yes. I'm sleepy.
JEAN
That's good. Now talk. Go on.


55. Contd.
GLEN
What about?
JEAN
Anything.
GLEN
I can't think of anything.
JEAN
Talk about my body - say, it's big
here, thin there, that sort of thing.
GLEN
Ah, go to hell, I'm tired.
JEAN
Oh, that's really nice. Thanks for
a lovely evening.
GLEN
(changing hands
over his eyes)
But why should I - what's the point?
JEAN
You see
(in a pathetic
little voice):
ifI'm away from my husband and
alone all the time. I get no
guarantee of anything. I mean,
I wanna know I exist!
GLEN
Of course you exist, otherwise you
wouldn'tbe here. Somebody who
eats cakes must exist.
JEAN
Boy, have I debased myself for
you! I can even enjoy it. I guess
that's something in all women.
GLEN
(with resignation)
Your face is thin, but your cheeks
are fatter. You've got floating sort
of eyes, and thick legs, and your
hips are quite nice. I like your
powerful shoulders, too.
(adding, half to
himself)
Among other things.


55. Contd.
JEAN
Listen, I don't want a panegyric, I
want a statement: just tell me what
you see.
GLEN
Your cheeks are flushed.
JEAN
Yeah.
GLEN
Your feet stick out of your shoes.
JEAN
How's that?
GLEN
They just do.
JEAN
I'm not objecting. I'm just asking.
Hey, are you. looking again?
GLEN
Your shoes seem. to pinch.
JEAN
They do. I'm vain- about my feet.
You're dead right - I need a size
bigger but won't admit it.
GLEN peeps at her again, while her eyes are fixed as before on his
legs, her mouth open.
JEAN
Go on.
GLEN
I can't, ifI can't see you. I've got
nothing to work on.
JEAN
Okay, but don't look at my face.
GLEN
Alright.
(peeping again)
Your neck's nice and smooth.
JEAN
Cut out the 'nice'.
GLEN
But mostly hidden in a sweater.


55. Contd.
JEAN
I can't stand having my flesh looked
at, that's why. Why do we have. to
stick our stupid flesh in front of
other people's faces? It makes me
sick to look at myself. I get the
sensation of spreading all over the
place. I wanna stop myself spread-
ing.
GLEN
You've a right to your feelings.
He stretches his hand out blindly to his glass and takes a gulp.
JEAN
(moving closer to him)
What I mean is -. I want you to define
me, that's what would stop me
spreading. I only spread in my
mind.
GLEN
How - define?
So interested in this that he takes his hand down from his eyes
involuntarily.
JEAN
(at once)
Look out :
GLEN's hand shoots back to his eyes at once.
JEAN
You see, I wanna feel I'm alone
when I'm not. I feel myself when
I'm all alone, and I'd like to feel
the same with other people.
Listen, do you think we can be
friends?
GLEN
(with a shrug)
We haven't known each other long
enough to say.
JEAN
But I'll keep you on contract. You
don't have to worry about that.
I'll double the fee, if you like.
GLEN
What fee?
JEAN
Okay, play it that way, if you want


55. Contd.
JEAN (contd)
-to, but think it over. I've got to
have a stranger, you see, not a
friend.
GLEN
But, you just now said you wanted
me as a friend.
JEAN
Yes, but only as a stranger. I
mean, you know me alright, but
only like a stranger. I can't
pick one off the streets every
night and explain what I want to
each one, can I?
GLEN
No, you can't, very well.
JEAN
I wanna person but not so as I
feel his breath down my back,
if you get me. So, I'm free to
be strangers if you want to take
the chance.
GLEN
Well, thanks.
JEAN
I don't even wanna know your
name. You've told me what it
was but I don't remember, which
I do, but I'm forcing it out of my
mind. After all, that's why I
chose the chaise longue.
GLEN
What do you mean, exactly, by
chaise longue?
JEAN
That's it! That's it! That's well-
played. It's the kind of thing I want.
Boy, you learn fast. Don't under-
stand a thing I say, that's how I
want you to play it. But I'll just
say again, to get the practical details
fixed because you have your bread
and butter to consider, after all -
I'll signy you up for a couple of years
and double the fee if you like.
GLEN
I don't understand.


55. Contd.
JEAN
Thanks! Play it like that. You're
doing fine. Idon't understand
either. Listen, I want you to take
your hand down soon. Remember
you're a stranger, stranger. And
I'll never know your name.
(after a silence)
I want you to stare at me rudely.
GLEN begins moving his hand.
JEAN
(at once)
Not now! When I tell you!
JEAN gets up and goes to the other side of the room. She lifts her
skirt high above her knees, holding it with both hands. Her eyes are
fixed on his legs as before.
JEAN (contd)
Alright. Stare away. There!
Like in the street.
GLEN
(still behind
his hand)
I don't stare rudely in the street.
JEAN
Go on! At my legs! Legs!
GLEN lowers his hand, and tries the best he can to stare rudely at
what he sees before him. After a time, having digested his stare with
an appearance of shocked horror, JEAN lowers her skirt again.
JEAN
Okay. Close your eyes again.
She sits down on the bed, panting a little.
JEAN
(in a whisper)
Now, do you think you can be a
mirror?
GLEN
How? A mirror?
JEAN
Just reflect everything I say and
do, like you was putty. Take your
hand down.
(as GLEN does so)
Right! Let's go.
She now smiles at him in an exaggerated way, her teeth sparking.


55. Contd.
JEAN
(urgently)
Smile back!
(as. GLEN tries
to do.so)
Right! Let's go from there.
JEAN now frowns at him. GLEN frowns too. She waves at him with
a little flutter of her fingers and he does the same. She stares at him
lewdly, and he returns it, which brings her to a great pitch of excite-
ment. There is a peculiar authority in everything she does.
JEAN
(like a college girl)
Hi, there! Hi!
GLEN
(involuntarily looking
round as if to see
someone)
Hi, there! Hi!
JEAN's eyes narrow malevolently and GLEN gives her a nasty look
back. She gazes at his mouth and frames her own into a kiss and he
gives her a kiss back, a fruity one with noise thrown in, a small
raspberry. She bares her teeth, rocks with laughter, makes several
wild kisses into the air, some of them what we call French, with her
tongue out.
GLEN follows it all feeling more and more her partner. But she
suddenly leans forward and gives him a smart smack round the face
which provokes him to a kind of lascivious anger which he, least of
anyone, expects. Before he realises what he is at, he has caught her
hand on the rebound and begun dragging her towards him; with one
heave he pulls her on to his knees, grabs her shoulders and, before
she has even grasped the new situation, is planting hot kisses all over
her cheeks and her neck.
The effect on her is so drastic that at first she only stares before her
with rapt horror and cannot make a sound. But then she begins
screaming. She clings to him as if to achieve better screams. Then
her grip suddenly loosens and she goes with a mighty crash to the
floor so that the whole apartment shakes. Her panic-stricken screams
continue, as she remains on the floor a hand held up. to her mouth,
her eyes closed. And through the screams there are incoherent
phrases.
JEAN
You . you touched me. Oh .
oh : my dear sir, you touched
touched e
Tears begin to take the places of screams; they pour down her cheek,
in great, helpless cascades. Her finger points blindly to the door -
he is to get out, at once.


55. Contd.
GLEN
(pleading with her)
Please stop. Please.
But this has the effect of bringing the screams back, so he is quiet.
He jumps towards the door, he speeds through the sitting room, grabs
his overcoat in the hall, then he is out of the suite altogether.
CUT:
56. INT. HOTEL CORRIDOR. EVENING
GLEN is running away from JEAN's suite, alarmed and frightened.
Her screams can still be heard. He runs towards the lift. There is
commotion below. Someone is running up the stairs. GLEN, hearing
this, slows down to a calm walk, slips his overcoat on, smooths his
hair down, puts his hands in his pocket.
The HALL PORTER appears at the. top of the stairs stolidly puffing.
GLEN
(as he passes
the PORTER)
PORTER
(hardly looking
at him)
You're telling me it's number
twenty-two. It always is.
CUT:
57. EXT. STREET. NIGHT
GLEN is walking along a side street behind Covent Garden on his way
to Palermo's office. The street is deserted.
CUT:
58. EXT. OUTSIDE PALERMO'S OFFICE. NIGHT
GLEN reaches the,dark doorway. He sees with pleasure that there is
a light on upstairs. He goes in.
CUT:
INT. STAIRCASE. NIGHT
GLEN walks up the staircase to PALERMO's office. He pushes open
the door.
At once there is a shriek: it is a woman. From his P. V. we see
into PALERMO's office LOUISE GRIGG and PALERMO are close
together on his desk. They are kissing. She quickly pulls her


Contd.
blouse back over her shoulders and looks, in panic, at GLEN. He
backs out again apologetically and hurries down the dark stairs.
CUT:
INT. HOTEL ROOM. NIGHT
The CAM. PANS round from the bedside photographs to find GLEN
in bed reading Afterwards.
GRIGG's voice comes over. GLEN's eyes widen as he reads.
GRIGG'S VOICE OVER
Somewhere in a sealed room at the
end of deep, windowless corridors
where great doors turn on swivels
of steel so thick that they resemble
the wheels of steam engines, sitting
alone in the midst of devised and
noiseless iron and looking even
virginal with locks and seals is
the trigger itself which despite the
corridors and locks can be reached
in a moment, and when pulled will
turn all things in a flash, to hell -
CUT:
INT. PALERMO'S OFFICE. MORNING
Hands on typewriter.
The ÇAM. PULLS BACK to find PAT typing feverishly. MURIEL
is absent.
GLEN strolls in.
GLEN
Hello, all.
PAT
(without looking
up from her type-
writer)
Look out, the tiger's gone wild.
GLEN stands there for a moment, perplexed, and then walks through
to the inner office.
PALERMO is half-lying in his chair, his eyes fixed on the doorway as
GLEN enters. His eyes are black with anger.
PALERMO
(at once)
Listen! If I ask you to go out on
a job I expect you to do it properly.


Contd.
PALERMO (contd)
Get that? I specially said, No
monkey business, didn't I?
GLEN
What do you mean?
PALERMO
Oh, come off it, for God's sake.
It: was written all over your face
before you went.
GLEN
Went where?
PALERMO
To take out Jean de Lisle Swiburne.
GLEN
But I didn't do a thing.
PALERMO
Of course you didn't. Who could,
with de Lisle Swiburne? But you
had a damned good try!
GLEN
She's mad.
PALERMO
I don't care what she is. A job's
a job, and unless you can learn
that you can fou le camp - and you
know what that means in English!
(giving him a
sudden shrewd look)
If this job of yours in Naples was
so big, would you be over here
licking. your chops when I give you
two ten-pound notes, then drooling
over the first woman you see?
GLEN
I might. Yes.
PALERMO
(suddenly jumping
up and leaving the
office, pushing past
GLEN)
Ach!
GLEN goes and sits down in his usual seat. PALERMO returns to
the doorway and gazes down at him.
PALERMO
Listen, Glen, don't overplay your
hand. A man doesn't play all his
tricks in the first round.


Contd.
GLEN
You see, she was talking about
chaise longue, or something mad
all the time, and I didn't get it,
Most of the time, I just stared.
PALERMO
You know where her husband is,
don't you?
GLEN
In prison - she said.
PALERMO
That's right. And she put him
there.
GLEN
What?
PALERMO
For assault. Did you assault her
too?
GLEN
Well, she started to - it's a bit
difficult to describe. I hardly did
anything, really - just took her on
my knee.
PALERMO
You took her on your knee! de
Lisle Swiburne! My God, didn't
anybody warnyou - the Hall Porter,
or somebody?
(with immense admira-
tion coming closer to
GLEN)
You took her on your knee! I'm
going to use you, Ireally am.
You and me are partners from now
on. The first thing I'm going to do
is instal you upstairs. Come on!
Come with me.
He pulls GLEN to his feet, and they leave the office. He talks as they
pass the typing and go out onto the landing.
PALERMO
It's written all over her, man -
"Trespassers Prosecuted'. I mean,
that's what she put her husband inside
for. She didn't like his morals, she
said. She didn't realise he hadn't
got any. Just like you. Anyway,
you be careful she doesn't put you
inside, too.


Contd.
GLEN
Oh, I feel pretty safe about that.
PALERMO
Not by the way she talked this
morning, when she phoned Chaise
Longue.
GLEN
(stopping again)
Look, what is Chaise Longue?
PALERMO
It's a small company for chaperon-
ing lonely girls. We've got about
a dozen presentable young men on
our lists, but they were all out last
night, working on a busload of
Australians.
GLEN
That isn't true, is it?
PALERMO
Why?
(with a cynical look)
Are you shocked?
GLEN
Well, you might have told me that
before I started.
PALERMO
I might. And you might have
refused. Anyway, all I know is
she phoned our reception rooms
this morning and said you tried
to stuff, her.
(with a grating laugh)
You seem to rub all these women
up the wrong way. What do you do
- some little Neapolitan trick?
(winking at him)
She screamed at you, didn't she?
GLEN
Yes.
PALERMO
She screamed at him, too, just
before she put him inside.
They have reached a door on the attic floor. PALERMO kicks it open.
Before them there is a long bare room with dirty curtainless windows,
and no carpets on the floor, nor a stick of furniture.


Contd.
PALERMO
(as they walk in)
You know, you and he could be
twins. He's got the same pure
look. That's why I'm keeping
you on. People like you and
George are the cleverest twisters
of all. Well, how do you like it?
GLEN
It doesn't seem very warm, does
PALERMO
Okay, so you don't want it.
GLEN
Yes, I do. I'll fix it up. I'll
put a fire in.
PALERMO
And get some furniture. You'll
need some furniture.
GLEN
What about the rent?
PALERMO
You're the rent - your body, your
innocence, that's my rent, and by
God I'm going to see it's exorbitant,
too. I'm going to use you, Glen,
you've got the kind of touch I've
been looking for all these years.
I've never had a partner who really
worked. To be really gentle and
really crooked, like you, that's the
real McCoy.
GLEN stands staring at PALERMO as he clatters downstairs again.
After a time he follows him.
CUT:
INT. OFFICE. MORNING
PAT is still typing feverishly. GLEN stands in the doorway looking at
her.
GLEN
Did he go out?
PAT
(without looking up)
I think so.


Contd.
GLEN
You're alone, this morning.
PAT
Yes. Muriel took an overdose of
sleeping tablets. She's in hospital.
He's gone round to see her, but
they won't let him in.
GLEN
What?
PAT
Oh, she tried to cut her wrists
before. Nothing unusual.
She goes on typing while GLEN stares at her.
CUT:
INT. FURNITURE SHOP. MORNING
This is a second-hand furniture shop crammed with articles.
The door opens making the shop bell clang and GLEN comes in. He
begins looking round, searching among the wardrobes, mirrors and
chests of drawers for what he wants.
The SHOPKEEPER comes out of his cubby-hole; he has a wide flushed
face so fat that his mouth seems to have spread from ear to ear into a
smile like the folds of his chin. He is in his shirt sleeves. He lays a
fat hand on one of the bedsteads.
SHOPKEEPER
(smartly)
Well, sir?
GLEN
I'd like a bed. Maybe a chest of
drawers, ifyou've got one.
Nothing grand. And perhaps a chair.
SHOPKEEPER
(leaning forward,
straining his ears)
What's that, please?
GLEN
(raising his voice)
A bed! And a chest of drawers.
Maybe a chair.
SHOPKEEPER
A bed .
(stroking his chin,
and giving GLEN
fat glances)
Oh blimey!


Contd.
GLEN
(pointing to an
ugly iron bedstead)
There's that. I could paint it white.
SHOPKEEPER
Now, a bed.
(moving heavily
between some dusty
trunks)
There's this.
(pointing into the
darkness to a divan)
GLEN
Yes, that's the idea.
SHOPKEEPER
You'll need a mattress.
GLEN
Have you got a second-hand one ?
SHOPKEEPER
No, we don't do that any more,
mate. It's not hygienic, d'yer
follow me?
GLEN
I'll have to'buy a new one, do
you think?
SHOPKEE PER
Well .
(smiling coyly)
Iwon't say you'll have to but you'd
be well advised to - I mean, with
thirteen million inhabitants our
hopping friends thrive, eh?
(making a silent
trembling laugh
with his hand over
his mouth)
GLEN
I only want it for a few weeks.
SHOPKEE PER
I see. I might be able to lay my
hands on one if it's only a few weeks.
GLEN
You mean - you want it back?
SHOPKEEPER
No, mate.


Contd.
SHOPKEEPER (contd)
(again his trembling
laugh)
That'dbe good, eh? No, what I
mean is, if it don't have to be
special, I can suit you, I think.
It'll be clean, if used, as the
actress said to the bishop. Yes,
it won't be this week, though.
GLEN
I need it today. I've got nowhere
to sleep.
SHOPKEEPER
(his mouth. open)
You an actor?
GLEN
No. I'm here on business, and
everything's a rush.
SHOPKEEPER
I was going to say - I get actors.
Free tickets have come to me, that
way. They want bits and pieces for
their digs, and then they try to sell
them back. Being sympàthetic to
the art, I give 'em a good price -
more than I can afford -
(with a wink)
GLEN
Can we get the mattress today?
SHOPKEE! PER
We can try. I'll phone my dumb
friend in Nightingale Lane, and he
might be able to drive something
over.
GLEN
Will it cost a lot?
SHOPKEEPER
I can do you a divan and mattress
for twenty quid, and that's more or
less letting it go for the fun of it.
GLEN
I can't afford twenty.
SHOPKEE PER
Well o
(smiling, and running
his teeth over his
lower lip)
I might knock off a little bit, but
it won't be less than eighteen.


Contd.
GLEN
What about fifteen?
SHOPKEEPER
(laughing silently)
I'll tell you what - give me sixteen,
down now, and I'll deliver. the lot
by four this afternoon.
GLEN
I can give you ten deposit.
SHOPKEEPER
(stopping)
And what about the rest?
GLEN
The firm'l1 pay.
SHOPKEEPER
Famous last words. Then it'll have
to be seventeen, mate. I'm lenient
with individuals, but firms have no
faces, as I always say. Come in
here.
GLEN follows him into a dim, tiny room, with a frosted glass window.
SHOPKEEPER
Alright,
(giving GLEN a little
nudge in the side)
let's see the colour of your money.
GLEN counts out ten pounds, on the table. The SHOPKEE PER writes
him a little receipt in a laborious scrawl, heaving for breath.
SHOPKEEPER
(quietly)
You smoke?
GLEN
SHOPKEEPER
(opening a small
envelope and showing
GLEN some dark,
fluffy stuff)
Not this?
(closing the envelope
quickly again and putting
it in the drawer)
You never know when clients want
a puff. It may be their hour of need.


63. Contd.
SHOPKEEPER (contd)
(looking at the drawer
with strange yearning
eyes, almost feminine)
Where you from - the North?
GLEN
No. From Italy.
SHOPKEEPER
(pausing and looking
back into the shop)
There's many must be in need in
Italy, mate. Going back some time ?
GLEN
Yes.
SHOPKEEPER
Write me down your address, mate.
(pushing a scrap of
paper towards him)
GLEN
Where - Italy, you mean?
SHOPKEEPER
No, here. You said you wanted a
bed, eh?
GLEN
Oh yes.
GLEN takes a card from his pocket and scribbles JOHN PALMERO's
office address under his name.
GLEN (contd)
Just to show you we're above board.
SHOPKEEPER
(taking the card
with a smile)
Very boring, being above board.
'Ere, let's make ourselves com-
fortable.
(dragging two chairs
towards the table)
Sit down, and I'll phone my dumb
friend.
(pulling an old-fashioned
upright telephone from
under the table, and
planting it'on his knee
with a wheeze, then
dialling a number)
Hello, is that you?
(as a voice answers
at the other end)
There's a young man just come in -


Contd.
SHOPKEEPER (contd)
he wants to put in an order: Five
hundred rubber condoms with zips
up the back, please.
(with a wheezing laugh)
Listen, Arthur, get me out one of
them mattresses. I hope to God
they haven't been standing in the
rain. Get it round 'ere by twelve
noon, mate.
(putting the phone
down without waiting
for an answer)
He's had a nasty life, Arthur. Sea-
man. Hates and loathes the sea.
Had his tongue cut out. Got on the
wrong side of some sailors, one
night, in a row in Malaya. He
never talks about it -
(with another
wheezing laugh)
- for obvious reasons. Listen, I
don't like to let an intelligent man
slip through my fingers. I'll give
you bedand mattress for five quid,
if you'll come back and see me
before you go to Italy.
GLEN
Alright.
SHOPKEEPER
Don't let me down, though.
GLEN
You can't give me a chest of
drawers for, say, another five,
can you? Just to complete the
deal.
SHOPKEE PER
(getting up)
'Ere, you're selling your soul.
Alright, I'll tell you what - I'll
rake out a little chest of drawers.
I was keeping it for a piecan who
likes two hundred years of grime
in his furniture, and I'll send it
with the rest, and maybe a chair,
too.
GLEN
So what's the price?
SHOPKEEPER
(taking his arm as
they go towards the
exit)
Just you come round and see me


Contd.
SHOPKEEPER (contd)
before you go to Italy, mate.
Just before they reach the door the SHOPKEEPER turns round and
returns to his cubbyhole.
GLEN walks into the street.
CUT:
EXT. LONDON STREET. MORNING
GLEN strolling along whistling to himself, glancing in at the shop
windows, his hands in his pockets.
CUT:
INT. HOTEL ROOM. MORNING
GLEN is packing his bags. His last act is to take his copy of
Afterwards and slip it into a briefcase.
CUT:
INT. HOTEL FOYER. MORNING
GLEN comes down the stairs and goes to the Reception desk.
GLEN
(to the RECEPTIONIST)
Could I have my bill, please?
And my cases are ready,
upstairs.
The RECEPTIONIST nods and goes to his ledger. He takes out GLEN's
bill, and passes it across to him.
AC. U. of GLEN shows him to be rather alarmed by the bill, but he
puts as good a face on it as he can and takes out his wallet. He pays.
The RECEPTIONIST nods 'Thank you', and stamps his receipt on the
bill before handing it back. GLEN folds the bill and puts it in his
pocket.
RECEPTIONIST
(going to the
house phone)
I'll get your cases down, right
away.
GLEN turns from the desk and strolls to a chair.
CUT:
EXT. COVENT GARDEN STREET. MORNING
A cab draws up outside PALERMO's office and GLEN gets out.


Contd.
The CABBY helps him take his cases into the doorway. GLEN pays
him off.
CUT:
INT. STAIRCASE. MORNING
GLEN struggling up the stairs with his cases. He passes the
secretarial office. The feverish typing is still going on.
CUT:
INT. THE ATTIC ROOM. MORNING
This is the room above PALERMO's office.
GLEN pushes his way through the door with his suitcases and puts them
down. He stands looking round. He takes some paper tissues out of
his briefcase, and begins cleaning up the window.
There is a sound behind him. He turns. It is PAT, in the doorway.
PAT
Hello. There's a letterfor you -
from Cambridge.
GLEN
For me?
PAT
Yes. I've got it downstairs.
GLEN
I'll come down.
He follows PAT down the stairs.
CUT:
INT. SECRETARIAL OFFICE. MORNING
PAT comes in, followed by GLEN.
GLEN
I've cleaned myself right out,
buying furniture. I'm moving
in upstairs.
PAT
Are you?
GLEN
Does he pay you on time?
PAT
Not if he can help it.


Contd.
GLEN
Has he got money behind him?
PAT
He's got no money at all - except
what's in his wallet, and you can
never tell how much it's going to
GLEN
(sitting down)
I wish I knew where I stood.
PAT
(going behind
her desk)
I shouldn't worry. I don't know
where I stand, nor does Muriel.
She worries. That's why she
took an overdose. Fancy worrying
about a man like that.
GLEN
She worries about him?
PAT
She's in love with him. Wouldn't
you try and commit suicide if you
loved a man like Palermo?
GLEN
Yes, I suppose I would.
PAT
(handing him the
envelope)
Here's the letter.
GLEN
If it's from Cambridge, it won't
be good news.
He rips open the envelope and takes out the letter. A cheque is
clipped on to the letter.
PAT
(watching closely)
That's a cheque.
GLEN
I know. And it's for three hundred
pounds.
PAT
Well! and you complain about money!
Ibet he'd like to have cheques for three


Contd.
PAT (contd)
hundred pounds every morning. I
can see you've got the touch.
We see the letter from his P.V., roughly typewritten. He reads it.
GLEN
'I've found out the most generous
rate for a syndicated article and
I hope this refunds you for any
loss of copy on my account. For
God's sake take it, and don't
be squeamish. I shall return the
cheque again and again if you tear
it up. I know that everything's
finished if Jeff finds out about
last night! I'm scared of him!
And I don't want to lose him! I
don't know if that makes you feel
powerful, but I hope you have a
little Christian feeling You'll
think me very weak, which-I am.
If this cheque is all wrong - I
mean, if you want something else,
let me know. 1
PAT
Who's it from?
GLEN
Louis Grigg.
He gazes at the cheque and the letter, then he suddenly tears up both.
PAT
Hey! You shouldn't do that! That's
good money!
He throws the scraps of paper into the waste-paper basket.
PAT (contd)
Now what did you do that for?
GLEN
It was dirty money, that's why.
PAT
Still, you could always discuss
it beforehand?
GLEN
It was dirty money, I tellyou. I
saw her here last night with
Palermo. They were on his desk
together. And she wants to bribe
me to keep quiet. As ifl'd say
anything, anyway..


Contd.
PAT
But you should have taken it. He
does that sort of thing all the time,
and calls it journalism. You work
for him, you want to take his money,
why do you want to leave the dirty
side to him?
GLEN
Yes. I suppose I ought to take
some of the dirt on my shoulders
too, if I want his money.
PAT
Don't get upset about it. You'll
learn in time. I was young once
- about six months ago, whenI
met him. Then I learned fast .
If I'd got that letter I'd have rung
her up and made it six hundred.
You ought to have seen her last
night at the club.
GLEN
You know her, then?
PAT
Of course I do. She had a table-
cloth draped round her shoulders.
She was drunk.
GLEN
Was she with Palermo?
PAT
Oh, of course. Why do you ask?
That's why Muriel took an overdose.
CUT:
EXT. HOSPITAL ENTRANCE.. MORNING
PALERMO walks out of the hospital, rather gay.. He looks up and
down the street, and hurries off.
CUT:
EXT. COVENT GARDEN STREET. MORNING
PALERMO hurries along the busy street. He is still in a carefree
mood.
CUT:


INT. SECRETARIAL OFFICE. MORNING
GLEN is still sitting in front of PAT, while she types.
PALERMO pushes open the door.
PALERMO
Oh, here you are. I've got a job
for you.
GLEN
Another one?
PALERMO
Why - have you come into some
money?
PAT
(at once)
Yes, as a matter of fact he has.
But then he came out of it again.
He tore up a cheque for three
hundred pounds.
PALERMO stares down at GLEN. He has gone quite pale.
PALERMO
You did what, Glen? You tore
up a cheque? Never do that!
Glen, you must never do that
again. Never tear up cheques.
PAT
He said it was dirty money.
PALERMO
But, Glen, all money's dirty.
Didn't you know that?
GLEN
It was from Louise Grigg. Money
for seeing you and her on that desk
together.
PALERMO
She wants to pay you for giving me
pleasure? She must be mad: The
difference between you and me,
Glen, is that when a woman wants
to give me pleasure, I take it. I'm
ashamed of you, Glen. I'll get her
to write you another one.
GLEN
How's Muriel, by the way?
PALERMO
Oh, she always does this at the end


Contd,
PALERMO (contd)
of a heavy week - Thursday or
Friday. I can always tell when
it's coming. She's all right.
She's having a rest.
PAT
That's a good way of putting it.
GLEN
What's the job, then?
PALERMO
It involves you in another visit
to Cambridge.
GLEN
Not to Professor Grigg?
PALERMO
He's invited you up for a party,
tonight.
GLEN
Invited me? He wants to cut my
throat, and yours, I should imagine.
PALERMO
No, Glen. I arranged it. Well,
she did - Louise. You see, I've
got rather deep with that girl.
As you saw last night. The
position is this: I want her old
man to come inside and feel warm.
I mean, you could grease the rusty
joints and make a friend of him.
I can see you're good at that. You
don't succeed with women, but you
might with men.
GLEN
And how do I explain the newspaper
story?
PALERMO
You don't. And you'll get three
hundred pounds out of it.
GLEN
I don't want it.
PALERMO
You'll get it, just the same. Dark
suit o e begins at eight -
arrive
at nine. And I want a good report
tomorrow morning.
He leaves the office.
CUT:


INT. ATTIC ROOM. EVENING
There is still no furniture in the room above PALERMO's office.
One naked bulb is shining in the ceiling, and GLEN's suitcases are
open all over the floor. GLEN is just buttoning a white shirt. He
knots his tie trying to see himself in the reflection of the window.
He puts on a dark jacket. He is dressed for an evening out. He puts
his overcoat on, takes out his wallet. He counts - thirty pounds. He
takes up the book Afterwards, sees the double photograph and kisses
it quickly, with something like puzzlement. He leaves the room,
switching out the light.
The sound of a roaring train comes over.
CUT:
INT. TRAIN COMPARTMENT. EVENING
GLEN on his way to Cambridge. He is reading Afterwards. He is
about half-way through the book. We see the pages from his P.V. and
hear GRIGG's VOICE OVER while the train clatters in the background,
GRIGG (VOICE OVER)
The Before still beckons us with its
powerful centuries of habit. Surely
the world is safe, it says! Surely
it only has problems like it always
used to: Isn't there the same cosy
old furniture, the same murders in
Manhattan, the same elevated train
roaring over the Bronx, the quiet
train that stains the penthouse roofs,
the lonely walk through Grand Central
Station in the dead of night, the sound
of music in Carnegie Hall? And the
country, isn't that still there - Old
Greenwich, Stanford, the dark hedges,
the moon wandering at the edge of the
clouds, the sound of a window being
latched in the night silence, surely
that's all still there, as safe as un-
bombed houses? But just because it
seems so safe we know it has gone!
Afterwards has taken over! The
world isn't ours any more. Old Gran-
dad history is dead!
GLEN gazes before him.
CUT:
76. . EXT. CAMBRIDGE STATION. NIGHT
GLEN walks out of the station to a waiting taxi. It speeds away. A
tremendous wind.
CUT:


EXT. KING'S CROSS. NIGHT
The taxi is speeding along King's Parade, Cambridge,
CUT:
INT. THE TAXI. NIGHT
From GLEN's P.V. the colleges along King's Parade - Peterhouse,
St. Catherine's, King's.
CUT:
EXT. CAMBRIDGE STREET. NIGHT
The taxi draws up outside GRIGG' S apartment block. GLEN gets
out and pays. He enters the foyer, beat against the wind. A dustbin
lid is sent flying somewhere.
CUT:
INT. APARTMENT BLOCK FOYER. NIGHT
GLEN walks to the staircase tucking the book Afterwards into one of
his pockets. He walks up the stairs. Wind whistles.
CUT:
INT. GRIGG'S FRONT DOOR. NIGHT
OPEN on the door bell. GLEN presses the button. We PULL BACK
as the door is opened by LOUISE GRIGG. She is in a transparent
dress, low at the neck, sleeves high,
LOUISE
Well, look who's here!
Her smile gives way to the faintest of twitches as they shake hands
and she walks into the apartment. Beyond there is the faint hum of
talk.
CUT:
INT. GRIGG'S APARTMENT. NIGHT
GLEN and LOUISE walk from the front door.
LOUISE
Like to hang your coat, Glen?
GLEN
Thanks.
She takes him to a cloakroom leading from the wall. Its walls bulge
with furs and expensive overcoats.
LOUISE
(as GLEN takes off
his coat)
Just stroll into the lounge when


Contd.
LOUISE (contd)
you're ready, and-ifyou find a guy
with white gloves - why, he'll give
you a drink.
She walks abruptly away.
GLEN glances at himself in the mirror, then walks after her, none
too certain of himself.
CUT:
INT. LOUNGE. NIGHT
The lounge is crowded with well-dressed GUESTS. There are
gleaming-white collars. Several heads are all but shaved. And there
is long male hair too. There is a gaunt middle-aged MAN in military
uniform.
A WAITER comes round with a tray of drinks making a slight old-
world bow every time a GUEST takes a glass.
GLEN is not introduced to anyone. LOUISE has disappeared and GRIGG
himself is not to be seen. GLEN takes a drink. One of the GUESTS
laughs, lifting his chin, an easy laugh in great contrast to GLEN's
situation.
The ARMY MAN slips on to the sofa at a pretty woman's side, with
a glance round him as if he were doing wrong. One of the other
pretty WOMEN moves about with a tray of dainty canapés; her dress
is the darkest in the room, with a Vee-neck and flounced sleeves.
Her hair is dark too, and in the relative dimness of the room it frames
her pale face like black satin. Her name is MYRA.
MYRA
(to GLEN)
Are you English?
GLEN
Yes.
MYRA
I'm in the rag trade. What are
you? Forgive me asking. I know
it's rotten form and all that, but
I have to single you out from the
nuclear nuts.
GLEN
Why? Are all these people nuclear
nuts?
MYRA
(blinking àt
him as if they
had not spoken
before)
You said something about these
people being nuts?


Contd.
GLEN
Defence, I thought you meant.
MYRA
(leaning towards
him, screwing
up her eyes)
Pardon me?
GLEN
Defence?
MYRA
What about it?
GLEN
Are the other guests in it - most
of them, did you say?
MYRA
(pointing across
the room)
That's my husband.
GLEN
Is he one of them?
MYRA
One of the guests - sure. He's in
textiles.
GLEN
That's better than destruction.
MYRA
You never told me what you do.
GLEN
I grow wine, near Naples.
MYRA
You what?
GLEN
Ig grow wine.
MYRA
Well, listen to that! You got any
over here?
GLEN
MYRA
Well, listen to that! You ought
to connect up with my husband.


Contd.
GLEN
Why?
MYRA
(with a silent laugh,
showing perfect teeth)
He's trying to expand his Italian
market.
She winks at him, and walks away.
From GLEN's P.V. we see across the room to a flushed, plump
Englishman. This is CHARLES DORNELLING. He has fat gills from
more drink than he can comfortably take. He is roaring with laughter
at this moment.
DORNELLING
I couldn't agree more! I absolutely
couldn't!
LOUISE has reappeared and is bending down to take her drink from the
low table near the hearth. She shows mighty bosoms, and MYRA makes
a mock goggling movement towards them. They chuckle together like
college mates.
MYRA
(to LOUISE)
He's in wine. Now isn't that
something?
LOUISE
(looking bleak
for a moment)
Oh, is that what he told you?
GLEN
(to LOUISE)
A side you don't know about.
LOUISE
(with' a glance
at her friend)
Oh, there's a whole. lot I don't
know about you, I dare say. Well,
well, you're in wine now, are you?
Well:
(giving her friend
a pert look)
GLEN
That's right.
MYRA
In Italy. Listen, Louise, why don't
you take a seat? You'll start a riot
bending down like that.
They chuckle again together.
LOUISE
No, thanks, honey. I'll see to the
other guests. They're arriving fast -
in fact, they're cascading in.
GLEN
Where's Jeff?


83. Contd.
LOUISE
(as if another
word from him
will be the last
straw)
He's on a plane - coming from Paris.
GLEN
Oh, he's coming?
LOUISE
That's right.
(fixing him
with her eyes)
And I hope you get on together
Hear that, Glen? I hope you
get on.
GLEN
So do I.
LOUISE
Well, that's fine.
(really smiling
at him for the
first time)
Again we see the Englishman, CHARLES DORNELLING, from
GLEN's P.V.
DORNELLING is in a talkative group of people which includes a hippy.
He keeps glancing at the hippy whilst he talks, rather gingerly, then
at the other guests, as if getting permission from them to treat the
hippy seriously. We cannot hear what he says above the mounting
noise from the other guests.
MYRA has gone away.
The WAITER begins to lose his benign look and his old-world bow as
the orders for a gin and fizz or a highball or a Manhattan grow rougher.
The ARMY MAN has increased his public, and is talking with a bright
gleam in his eye, his lips pursed slightly, as if hammering something
home with a fine steel hammer.
MYRA appears again, silent as before. She sways, ever so slightly.
LOUISE walks past her and mutters something to her under her breath,
screwing her mouth up strangely to do so.
MYRA's eyes turn slowly and rest on GLEN. She walks slowly to his
side and almost pulls him down on to the settee.
MYRA
Lou tells me you're a liar.


83. Contd.
GLEN
How's that?
LOUISE
She says as for growing wine in
Italy - you don't know a grape from
a blackberry.
From GLEN's P.V. GRIGG suddenly fills up the doorway. There is a
great welcoming boom, male and female, from the guests, and
'Hi, Jeff!' with 'Hello, there!"' and 'How's it go, boy?' He waves and
gives a prolonged creased smile.
GLI EN is beginning to feel hot, sweat begins to show on his brow since
he and MYRA are facing the huge log fire. He takes out a handkerchief.
The ARMY MAN passes on his way out.
ARMY MAN
Well, Myra, I guess I'd better git.
MYRA
(looking up with
mocking curiosity)
A council of war?
ARMY MAN
A date, as a matter of fact.
MYRA
You exciting fella!
(turning to GLEN
again after the
ARMY MAN has
gone)
That man has orders to gas all
wine growers in Europe in the
event of a nuclear catastrophe,
did you know that?
(with a laugh)
One of the lights goes out.
GLEN looks up and round, but nobody else seems to bother.
MYRA slips off her shoes.
MYRA
Here we go!
GLEN
Go where?
She makes no reply to this, but gazes in front of her towards the log
fire.


83. Contd.
A couple drift over and after saying 'Hi! quietly to her, sit down
without a further word.
All at once GRIGG is behind GLEN, his great hand on GLEN's shoulder.
GRIGG
Mind stepping outside a moment,
Glen?
GLEN
(looking up
with surprise)
Oh? Why, certainly.
GLEN gets up and follows GRIGG into the hall.
CUT:
84. INT. THE HALL. NIGHT
GRIGG and GLEN sit down in a corner of the hall where a coffee table
and armchairs have been set.
GRIGG
I'm glad you could come. Your
wife never seems to be with you.
Are you happily married, Glen?
(with a wink)
GLEN
Yes.
GRIGG
Well,
(with a sudden
yawn)
I wish I was happily married
like that. Perhaps it's the only
way never see 'em.
LOUISE appears.
LOUISE
You can't sit there like that,
without a drink. Why don't you
take your jackets off, make yourself
comfortable?
GRIGG
(giving her parting
figure a long look,
his eyes half-
closed)
A good idea at that. Peel it off,
Glen.


84. Contd.
GLEN
It's certainly hot in here.
GRIGG
(as they stand
up to take off
their jackets)
And how's our amateur photo-
grapher - up in Town?
GLEN
Palermo?
GRIGG
Who else ?
(as they sit
down again in
their shirt
sleeves)
GLEN
He's all right.
GRIGG yawns again and sits, hidden in thought, staring at the coffee
table.
LOUISE comes ove r with a small tray, and sets two drinks down for
them.
LOUISE
Wake up, Dad, it's milking time!
She goes off again. We hear her voice in the other room.
LOUISE (VOICE OV ER)
Well, doesn't this look cosy.
GRIGG puts out a blind hand for his drink and more or less drains it
in one gulp.
GRIGG
(gazing at his
empty glass)
It's bad when you take this stuff
for medicine, like I do.
GLEN
How did they like the lectures
over there?
GRIGG
They just goggled! Chromosome
damage, alpha radiation, C.N.S.
- they know nothing, they know
nothing, they can't tell the difference
between 15 megatons and a lighted
match.


84., Contd.
GLEN
I bet they would if one went off.
GRIGG
That's about it. They've got expend-
able written all over them, Glen.
GLEN
What's C.N.S. mean?
GRIGG
You lose control over your limbs,
Glen. You get very excited, you
have difficulty breathing, you sort
of black-out now and then, and you're
dead in, say, either to ten hours.
That's C.N.S. -- central ner rvous
system syndrome. I gave a quickie
on vaporation. Some people call it
vaporisation - I prefer the other
word, it's more graphic - and it's
nearer what happens. Well, they
have the effrontery to be horrified.
The Germans, too. I don't just mean
by the facts but by me!
GLEN
What's vaporation?
GRIGG
Effect of the fire bomb. Everything
gets evaporated - buildings, people.
Nothing left, not even ruins.
The noise becomes greater from the lounge. DORNELLING's laugh
is heard. The ARMY MAN comes into the hall area.
GRIGG
(nodding towards
the ARMY MAN)
That guy is what you might call one
of our kept gentlemen. He collects
antiques.
GLEN
Who?
From his P.V. we see the ARMY MAN leaving the apartment after
shaking hands with LOUISE GRIGG.
GRIGG
The general. We like to get rid of
him and the butler early. It's his
butler, by the way. Without his
Sackville & Drummond and Sir
Philip Sidney he can't drop off at
night.


84. Contd.
GLEN
How do you mean ?
GRIGG
I mean, your English poets. It's
his affectation. He was born in Ohio.
The thing is, the poets mustn't be too
famous, then he feels O.K. And he
don't buy wine in a shop, not Chester.
He owns a vineyard. Hey, that was a
great gag of yours, Glen, saying you
grew wine. Louise told me all about
(laughing pleasantly
and huskily)
GLEN
It's true.
GRIGG
(consolingly)
Yeah!
(laying his hand
on GLEN's)
I guess we're both a couple of poor
hicks when you get down to it. You're
a hired shyster and so am I. Listen,
when you look round and think to
yourself what kind of a world we've
got - the crowds and the stink of auto-
mobiles and the whole phoney racket
- listen, you don't believe in the
racket, you leave that to the poops.
Now, is it worth preserving?
Wouldn't a damned good blast clear
the air a bit? Wouldn't it be a real
decent apology to God? Is there
anything in it you want to prese: rve?
Can you say what a nice place the
earth is ?
(as GLEN
hesitates)
There! You couldn't say Yes, right
on the dot, because though you want
to tell me Yes you don't mean Yes,
you don't register Yes right deep
down, and that's what I mean, Glen,
we need the power to blow the whole
damn lot to pieces!
(getting up)
Take the waistcoat off. You'll fry.
(waiting for
GLEN to do so)
I'll put it in the bedroom. Come on.


84. Contd.
GLEN gets up and takes his waistcoat off, then hands it to him. They
walk across the hall to a large silent bedroom. One of the bedside
lights with a soft, red silk shade is on. The window curtains reach
the floor, grandly.
LOUISE's dressing table is chaotically full of open pots and alabaster
bowls and perfume sprays.
There are piles of coats on the bed, and to GLEN's surprise GRIGG
begins taking them up into his arms and going to the wardrobe set into
the wall.
GRIGG
You never know!
(taking out
hangers and
draping the
coats on them)
People start sprawling about in the
early hours, and a fur can get in a
real mess.
GLEN sees a Madonnina on the wall, with a little red light under it.
He stops, surprised at this sudden little piece of Italy.
GRIGG
(watching him)
You Catholic?
(as GLEN hesitates
to say anything)
You don't seem sure about all the
things you should be.
GLEN
Are you a Catholic?
GRIGG
Iam.
GLEN
Your wife, too?
GRIGG
Sure.
They begin leaving the bedroom.
We TRACK AFTER THEM as they walk back to their place in the hall.
GRIGG
Park your arse, and I'll bring
you some fuel.


84. Contd.
GLEN sits down, rather exhausted by the heat. He loosens his collar
and takes out his handkerchief, staring before him.
Roars of laughter, gasps, comes from the lounge. GLEN seems
puzzled by it all.
GRIGG returns with the drinks.
GRIGG
Here, pour this down, foul mouth.
(sitting down)
Yes, we've got a helluva world,
and unfortunately guys like you with
brains on their shoulders spend their
time kicking guys like me.
(putting his face
close to GLEN's,
across the table)
I'll tell you something, Glen. You're
in my house because of your blabber-
mouth. You don't mind me saying
that?
GLEN
GRIGG
You were born with it, Glen, and
you know how to use it. Listen, you
look as drunk as a rat in a vat, Glen.
I'm surprised. Men don't drink on
duty.
GLEN
I'm not on duty.
GRIGG
Yeah? I bet tomorrow's evening
edition carries a contradiction of
that remark. But try and publish
the details of this party and, oh boy
(laughing and
sitting back so
suddenly that the
chair seems to
crack)
Listen.
(turning to
GLEN inti-
mately)
When you face up to the fact that
life's hell and we've got to make
it liveable you'll be a contemporary
of mine, not before. No good just
saying it's hell. We all know that.


84. Contd.
GRIGG (contd)
In fact,
(putting his face
close to GLEN's
again)
I wonder if you really know how
hellish it is.
GLEN
I bet I don't.
GRIGG
I bet you don't, too.
GLEN
(his head swaying
towards GRIGG,
his speech blurred)
I've been reading your book
wanted to ask you - Has that thing
called the Domesday Machine been
invented? Some people say it has
the thing that blows the whole
world up in one go .
GRIGG
(gazing ahead of
him seriously
weighing the
matter up)
It's the last logical step, yes. It's
got to happen! And to repeat some -
thing else I said in Afterwards: If I
had the decision as to whether to
make it or not, I'd say Yes.
GLEN
You'd make it?
GRIGG
Why sure. Because then we'd have
total responsibility. We'd have to
think so damned hard about war we'd
have one all the time, inside our
minds!
GLEN
But suppose somebody else produces
it - then two people have got total
responsibility.
GRIGG
Boy, you sound drunk. Yes, well,
that only means we've educated
others to develop responsibility, so
we have an increasing number of
total threats against everybody. We
threaten ourselves with murder!
That's'how you keep life moving!


84. Contd.
GLEN
It's a novel definition of education.
GRIGG
It's education to hell.
GLEN
Well,
(raising his glass)
here's to hell.
A C.U. of GLEN shows him looking down the hall with astonishment.
From his P.V. we see the Englishman, DORNELLING, coming out of
the lounge and crossing the hall towards the lavatory. He has no jacket
on, and no shoes. GLEN nudges GRIGG.
GLEN
Is that chap walking in his socks ?
GRIGG
(with a light
chuckle)
Could be. He's the guy who owns
this apartment. Charles Dornelling.
(calling out softly
to DORNELLING)
How' does it go, Charlie, boy ?
DORNELLING
(without turning)
Couldn't be better, Jeff.
The lavatory door closes behind him.
GLEN
Is he English?
GRIGG
(with a nod)
Owns this apartment.
GLEN
Embassy?
GRIGG
Iwouldn't have embassy people
here. Leastways, not after
eight in the evening. No, Defence.
He's a friend of mine.
(with a menac-
ing look)
A damned good friend.


84. Contd.
GLEN
But where does he come in - I mean,
about lectures on hell?
GRIGG
Let's say I need his co-operation.
GLEN
What - as a lecturer?
GRIGG
(with a grim
smile)
Listen, I don't know if this interview
is your editor's concoction or not. I
know he was enrolled in the
Communist Party for eight years,
but you could get your hands burned,
boy, and I wouldn't like that.
GLEN
Ihaven't got an editor.
GRIGG
We've got a dossier on him that
thick.
(indicating the
width of his
glass)
GLEN
Who's we?
GRIGG
(staring before
him glumly)
I guess I'm drunk, now, too. When-
ever I try to sound like the FBI it
means I'm drunk.
GLEN
(raising his glass
towards him)
You're down to the rocks, Dad.
Get yourself a refuel.
GRIGG raises himself up slowly.
GRIGG
(taking their
glasses)
I guess I'd better put the heating
GLEN
Up? You mean down!


84. Contd.
GRIGG
You've still got your shoes on.
GRIGG moves away heavily towards the bar.
GLEN
(calling after
him)
Why not?
GRIGG
Take 'em off! Everybody else
has. Rule of the game.
As he passes GRIGG looks into the lounge. We see him from
GLEN's P.V. GRIGG sways and bends forwards, his wrinkles like
thick brushmarks in the dim light.
GRIGG
(calling into
the Lounge)
How's folks for drinks, Lou?
LOUISE (VOICE OV ER)
Fine! Hey, Jeff, don't you think
it's kind of chilly?
GRIGG
Just what I had in mind.
GLEN's face registers further surprise. He begins trying to take off
his shoes. He makes several efforts humming softly.
At this moment LOUISE slips past him in stockinged feet towards the
bedroom. As she does so, she drapes something over GLEN's bowed
head. It makes him jump. (He is still aiming at his shoes)
GLEN
What the hell's that?
He puts his hand up and draws the object off his head. It is a white
bra. He laughs, and LOUISE makes a pale smile towards him.
LOUISE
You can keep it as a memento.
I'm glad you're making out with
Jeff.
GLEN
Who's is it?
At this moment GRIGG comes from the bar with two new drinks.
GRIGG
Looks like my wife's.


84. Contd.
GRIGG puts the drinks down, and then hands GLEN a tiny object on a
string.
GLEN
(blearily)
You two keep handing me things.
He looks at the object and finds that it is a disc with number 49 on it.
GLEN
What's this for?
GRIGG
That's your number tag.
GLEN
I see.
GRIGG
You'll find your sack in the
cloakroom.
GLEN
My sack?
GRIGG
(sitting down
heavily and
scowling side-
ways at him)
Sack! Sack!
(taking a quick
gulp of whisky)
GLEN has given up work on his shoes; they remain on his feet. He
returns to his drink and takes a sip.
More noise comes from the lounge and another of the GUESTS goes to
the lavatory, like DORNELLING, shoeless. He has no jacket on, nor
does he have a shirt, just a short-sleeved white undershirt with a
round neck. GLEN gazes at him blearily.
GRIGG
(calling out)
How you making out, Vance?
(VANCE simply
waves a hand
and goes on)
GLEN
What do I neëd a sack for?
GRIGG
Oh, can it, Glen you know the
rules as well as I do.


84. Contd.
GLEN
You actually put the heating up?
GRIGG
(with a yawn)
I actually did. You know, Glen -
He is interrupted by a phone bell from the bedroom. It is quickly
answered by LOUISE.
LOUISE (VOICE OV ER)
Hello?
She kicks the bedroom door closed with her foot before saying anything
more.
GLEN looks at GRIGG. GRIGG is straining to hear her beyond the door.
LOUISE comes out.
LOUISE
It's for you, Glen.
GLEN
For me ?
LOUISE
Don' 't sound so surprised, they
probably want your story.
GRIGG
(turning to him
quickly)
Mind what I said, Glen.
GLEN
(getting up
unsteadily)
Like to come and listen?
GRIGG
I will at that!
They go together into the bedroom - GLEN with LOUISE's bra in his
hand.
We TRACK AFTER THEM into bedroom, where LOUISE is sitting
at her dressing-table brushing her hair.
GRIGG sits down on the bed making it sag tremendously, while GLEN
answers the bedside phone.
PALERMO
(at the other
end of the line)
How's it going?


84. Contd.
GLEN
All right.
PALERMO (VOICE OVER)
I hear you're staying the night.
GLEN
Yes.
PALERMO (VOICE OV ER)
Louise got you a hotel room.
Accept it.
GLEN
Thanks.
GRIGG
(to his wife,
leaning forward
so that the bed
nearly tips GLEN
over)
Sounds like a code. What trash
you pick up with, if you don't mind
me saying so.
LOUISE
(firmly)
I'm married to trash, so I got
used to it.
GRIGG makes a disgusted noise.
PALERMO (VOICE OV ER)
Somebody's put a carpet in your
room - a Mr. Parsons. You seem
to have influence.
GLEN
A carpet?
PALERMO (VOICE OV ER)
And a chest of drawers. And a
chair. And a bed. Listen, Glen,
take the first train back in the
morning. Unless he murders
you, of course.
GRIGG yawns and gets up. He looks down at GLEN for a few seconds,
then leaves the room.
LOUISE turns and winks at GLEN, still slowly drawing a brush
through her hair.
PALERMO (VOICE OV ER)
Is the old man there ?


84. Contd.
GLEN
PALERMO (VOICE OV ER)
Listen, Glen. Get him to a party of
mine, tomorrow night.
GLEN
A party - where' ?
PALERMO (VOICE OV ER)
He knows all about it. He won't
come on my invitation. He's
watching her like a hawk.
GLEN
He's watching me, too.
PALERMO (VOICE OV ER)
Get him to that party. 8.15 at the
club, for drinks. And if you don't
succeed, you're out of a job from
tomorrow on.
GLEN
What are you going to do with
him when you get him there' ?
PALERMO (VOICE OV ER)
Fix him up with a nice girl.
PALERMO rings off at once, without saying goodbye.
GLEN
(to LOUISE, in
a low voice)
He wants your husband at a party,
tomorrow night.
LOUISE
So do I.
GLEN leaves the room, and she goes on combing.
CUT:
85. INT. THE HALL. NIGHT
It is the hall again, whei re they were sitting before. GRIGG is
listening at the bedroom door.
GLEN comes out straight into him.
GRIGG
Well, did you hand in your story' ?
You're all in this together, eh? i
that bitch as well!


85. Contd.
GRIGG (contd)
(nodding towards
the bedroom)
You know, I like you, you're such
a damned crook I'm not sure you
haven't made hell your home as
thoroughly as I have. Here, come
on, we're behind. Come on.
He puts a hand on GLEN's shoulder, and leads him down the hall to
the cloakroom, where there are not only coats and furs on hooks but
white canvas sacks hanging side by side, each with a number tag like
the one GRIGG gave to GLEN not long ago.
GRIGG stands in the doorway peering at the numbers, his-long hunched
back blocking the light.
GRIGG
(turning)
Gimme your shoes.
GLEN
I still got 'em on . I can't get
'em off.
GRIGG
Here, dammit. Can you read
the number? I need my glasses.
GLEN
(swaying forward)
Whata they for?
(as GRIGG looks
at him impatiently)
This one's
GRIGG
I'm in the twennies. Whatta
you?
GLEN
(pulling out his
tag)
Forty-nine.
GRIGG
Well, you're up there - close to
the door. Well,
(taking: down his
sack, and peering
into it)
sonovabitch if somebody hasn't
put his shoes in mine. That kinda
thing takes the whole night to work
out, and my experience is, it's like
a running sore.


85. Contd.
GLEN
(with appeal in
his voice)
What's it for?
GRIGG
Aw, come on, Glen, chuck yer
boots in and let's have yer shirt.
GLEN
My shirt?
GRIGG
Like this, crumb.
GRIGG takes off his shirt. After sweeping the strange shoes out on to
the floor, and putting his own in, he carefully folds his shirt and puts
it in the sack.
GLEN
You've already got my waistcoat.
GRIGG
You mean - vest.
GLEN
I got my vest on.
GRIGG
(staring at him,
drunkenly)
Like hell, you have. You're in
yer shirtsleeves, two-timer. Do
you have to lie about everything?
(making a leering
smile and swaying
perilously)
GLEN
I gotta vest under my shirt!
GRIGG
Yeah, and I got an overcoat under
my pants.
They both start laughing and at this moment LOUISE comes across
the hall.
LOUISE
Well, isn't this nice! I never
thought I'd see the day when you
two'd be club pals.


85. Contd.
GRIGG
(in a throaty
voice, and with
unexpected
intimacy)
Come in, honey. These Britishers
insist on calling their vests waist-
coats, and he starts telling me he's
wearing his waistcoat under his
shirt, believe it or not.
LOUISE
You're drunk.
(coming further
into the cloak-..
room)
Come on, Jeff, they're screaming
for us.
GRIGG
Okay, okay. I can't be rushed. I
don't even know how to stand,
honest, Lou.
To GLEN's astonishment LOUISE begins unbuttoning her dress and
slipping out of it. She folds it carefully and looks around.
LOUISE
(half to herself)
Now what number am I? Is it
21? No, I think it's 23.
She slips her dress into the No. 23 sack, and then takes her petticoat
off. She is suddenly naked except for stockings and girdle.
GLEN stares at her with an idiotic smile. She folds her petticoat
carefully and puts it in the sack.
LOUISE
(to GLEN)
Come on, you're behind.
GRIGG
(in the act of
taking his
trousers off)
Seems to me, Lou, nobody
briefed this guy, else he's playing
dumb.
LOUIS) E begins loosening her stockings from the girdle. She gives
GLEN a quick glance.
LOUISE
(to GRIGG)
He'll be telling us this is his first
one, next.


85. Contd.
GLEN
First what?
LOUISE
There! Listen to him!
GRIGG
(chuckling and
folding his
trousers care-
fully)
I reckon he's smarter than his
boss.
LOUISE
That's what his boss says, too.
GRIGG
(in a snarling
voice)
Well, you ought to know.
GRIGG is down to a pair of underpants now, and GLEN goes on smiling
at him.
GLEN
Am I supposed to do this, too?
LOUISE
(as she passes
him on the way
to the door)
Well, you're going to look like a
misfit if you don't.
GRIGG follows her out, naked, too. GLEN stares after them.
CUT:
86. INT. THE LOUNGE. NIGHT
The lights have been turned down, and the big room is crowded with
naked and half-naked forms. Music is switched on.
There are people sprawled on settees, on cushions on the floor,
DORNELLING is down to his undershirt. Most of the other MEN are
the same. ONE MAN has taken his trousers off, but still keeps his
shirt on, his underpants gleam white on the floor. The WOMEN are
in all states - some have pulled their dressed down to their waists,
others have simply taken off their shoes and stockings.
GLEN enters from the hall in his shirt-sleeves, shoeless. He stares
from one person to the other. It all seems quite a normal activity
to most of the others. They even show little or no physical interest
in each other.


86. Contd.
GLEN takes a seat on the floor, as far from the blazing fire as he can
get.
A sigh goes up from everyone as LOU and GRIGG appear. They begin
to dance together in a peculiar way that seems to be accepted by every-
one else.
All this is a montage of SHOTS which concentrates on faces, hands,
legs rather than overall nudity. It should avoid direct erotic suggestion.
DORNELLING is leaning against one of the WOMEN, who smiles broad
and delighted.
The dim light and the flickering flames make GRIGG look rough and odd
in silhouette.
Their first movements are rather like conventional ballroom movements,
but then they touch each other lightly with onehand, half-turned towards
the audience, which makes encouraging remarks, such as 'Turn right
round there!' and 'Attaboy, let's see that hip, Jefferson!' and
"Oh, Lou, you're pointing right at me', and, Wow! it's hurting me'.
And, from one of the MEN, urgently, 'Git! Git Jeff!"
A C.U. of this MAN from GLEN's P.V. shows his face fascinated and
gentle; now and then LOU makes a slight jump in her dance and there
is an appreciative groan from the MEN. The smack of their hands
against each others hips can be heard.
GRIGG
(out of breath,
as he dances)
Come and join us, folks!
The first MAN gets up to join them, tall and spare. He leaves his
trousers behind as he walks towards the hearth.
Then a WOMAN does the same leaving her skirt behind. GLEN
notices that a MAN at his side is still in his shirt and shoes.
GLEN
(to his neighbour)
You're beind.
NEIGHBOUR
(looking at him
slowly and
yawning)
I guess I'm off the game tonight.
The MAN who has joined GRIGG and LOU is taller than either of them,
and they dance together.
The two men have an accidental grace; they dance on their toes around
LOU, or rather walk and trot round her, making feminine movements
though they only seem feminine because they are graceful.


86. Contd.
The other WOMAN dances with them, and they are now four, the two
men dancing round the two women.
The music is soft and haunting.
In front of GLEN from his P.V. a rather ELDERLY WOMAN with bare
shoulders shows her bracelet to her neighbour and says, distinctly:
ELDERLY WOMAN
That ain't going in the sack!
The FOUR DANCERS beckon to others on the floor to join them.
DORNELLING stands up and jettisons his trousers; his white skin is
very white and contrasts greatly with the pink flush of his face. His
legs appear under-exercised. He threads his way among the sitters
with some applause from them. He joins the DANCERS, rather
grotesque and without the slighest sense of rhythm.
GRIGG
We need more women here.
LOUISI SE
Hell, we don't! I'm having a
whale of a time!
Everyone laughs, though GRIGG gives her a fierce and galvanizing look.
A MAN behind them looks at his neighbour with surprise, when she
takes off her blouse and drapes it over his head. He stays that way.
The dancing now begins to become general.
One of the WOMEN calmly lets her plaited hair down to her waist, and
as she whirls round it whirls round too.
MYRA joins the DANCERS without a word, looking rather like a girl
in her nakedness. She sways about with her eyes closed.
The DANCERS are getting closer and closer. They move gently,
talking and nodding in a polite way. Now and then a buttock is lightly
slapped and there is a chuckle:of laughter..
There are now only a few clothed people on the floor and GLEN is one
of them. They get up one by one and go across the hall to the cloak-
room and GLEN is the last to follow.
CUT:
87. INT. THE HALL. NIGHT
There is a queue outside the cloakroom. GLEN is the last in the
queue. The GIRL in front of him takes off her dress, but has
difficulty with her bra. GLEN helps her politely from behind, and
she turns to smile her thanks as the queue moves on.


87. Contd.
GIRL
What's your name ?
GLEN
Glen.
GIRL
Mine's Nancy.
GLEN
What's your number?
NANCY
Oh . the tag's in my
(taking the number
tag out of a tiny
pocket in her bra)
Cute idea, don't you think? Good
place for money, when abroad.
GLEN
(noticing her
number)
Two numbers away from me
NANCY
That's cosy.
They enter the cloakroom, and we TRACK in after them.
GLEN
(as they undress
further)
Known the Griggs long?
NANCY
My husband's in the same
line as Jeff.
GLEN
Nuclear physics ?
NANCY
Well . more the actual experi-
ments.
(with a pleasant
smile towards
him)
Having deposited their clothes in their sacks they go towards the
lounge again. As they enter LOUISE is close to the door.
LOUISE
(to NANCY)
You've got him! Right there - the
guy I was telling you about!


87. Contd.
NANCY
(looking first as
her, then at
GLEN)
What! The Tongue ?
LOUISE nods and gives her a slight warning look.
NANCY
(smiling at
GLEN placidly)
You're a low-down sonovabitch,
from what I hear.
They begin dancing together.
GLEN
(smiling back)
It isn't true.
NANCY
Why they let you in, I don't know.
This room must be hot with
secrets.
GLEN
I thought I was a friend of theirs.
NANCY
They have none. They're on the
make, like you.
GLEN
Does your husband have secrets ?
NANCY
(with a long
questioning
look)
Iv wonder if I'd trust you with your
clothes on. He's got the FBI to
keep him warm, honey.
GLEN
Are there FIB men in this room ?
NANCY
Well, what d'ya think? Where
secrets go, they go too.
The whole of the lounge is now dancing. There are naked couples
everywhere in the dim light. One tall MAN is smoking a cigar and
tilting it up from his mouth so as to avoid naked flesh. Now and
then a vast cloud of smoke emerges from him.
There is a cry of 'Food! from the doorway.


87. Contd.
LOUISE
Food up! Come and get it!
There is a drift towards the door to the time of the music.
A COUPLE still cling together.
The CAM. picks its way through the naked flesh to the hall outside
where a queue has begun to form into the kitchen.
The man with the uptiltèd cigar (SHEPHERD) is there. He calls out
to another man (VANCE) further down the line.
SHEPHERD
Why, hello, Vance. Weekend run?
VANCE
On the way to Germany, Shepherd.
Just stopping off. How's the kids ?
SHEPHERD
Pain in the neck.
(with a scowl
and a huge
cloud of cigar
smoke towards
the ceiling)
CHARLES DORNELLING is standing with the GREY-HAIRED WOMAN
of the bracelet. They are chattering and joking together in a social
way as if they were fully clothed.
MYRA is going from one person to another touching them lightly on the
shoulder, the buttocks, the stomach, a faint smile on her face, her
eyes half-closed.
GLEN is standing at the rear of the queue with NANCY. He starts when
he feels a hand on his shoulder. It is LOUISE, who clearly wishes to
prevent intimacy between him and NANCY.
LOUISE
Come and sit down.
(leading him
away)
Well, how do you like the
party.
GLEN
(reluctantly
moving from
NANCY)
Fine.


87. Contd.
They go towards the chairs which he and GRIGG occupied earlier. They
sit down and GLEN waits for her to speak.
LOUISE
(peering into
his eyes and
speaking in
a hushed
voice)
You haven't been phoning. your
boss again, have you? I mean,
your editor?
GLEN
Suddenly she pulls a chair round next to his and grips his arm.
LOUISE
Is it true you work for a male
chaperone outfit, Glen?
GLEN
Well, I didn't know what it was.
There was this mad woman.
LOUISE
(gripping him
so hard that
he screws his
face up with
pain)
She's not mad, Glen. I'd say she
was about one of the most quietly
gifted people I've met in a long
time.
GLEN
Jean de Lisle Swiburne ?! Do
you know her?
LOUISE
Why, certainly.
GLEN
But she's mad.


87. Contd.
LOUISE
And she says you're bad. No,
Glen, your smears justdon't
stick. There's some truth in
the world, and I think the truth
wins out in the end.
(patting his
naked knee)
That'll be to your advantage later
on because you won't be able to
live on smears all.your life.
There's not one card the Devil
éver offered you that you haven't
played, is there? Irealise, by
the way, that you procured me -
for John Palermo. You were dead
right - my legs went weak the
minute I clapped eyes on that man.
GLEN
I procured you for him ? Who told
you that?
LOUISE
(pulling him with
a slight hug
towards her)
Listen, Glen, he got a neat des-
cription of me from you. It
inflamed him, he said. And he
used those words! He said you
didn't say anything, but it showed
in your eyes. He could see me in
your eyes. Now, that's the smooth,
procuring job.
At this moment NANCY walks by with a drink. LOUISE looks up.
LOUISE
(with a keep-
away glare)
Hi, Nance!
NANCY passes on.
GLEN
He asked me if you were attractive,
and I suppose Imight have nodded
or something
LOUISE
He looked at you with a leer and
all you had to do was look him in
the eyes. That's what haj ppened.
There's a private language between
you two. And you don't even look
sorry.


Contd.
GLEN
Well, I can't tell when your legs
are going to go weak.
LOUISE
That's just what I think you can do.
I don' 't know what it is, Glen, perhaps
it's something old and ancient in you
that we Americans are too damned
innocent to fathom. One look at you
tells anybody with the smallest judge-
ment that you' 're none of thes se things
- not a smear reporter or a procurer
or even a male whore!
(as GLEN looks
at her hopefully)
You're playing, playing all the
time. Big stakes, too. I don't
know what they are and neither does
Jeff, but you're no small man. And
that's why you're here tonight, in the
hope you 'll make a friend in the end.
I suppose it's hopeless to try. I'd
like to. Frankly, you scare me - not
because you look scary, but because
you don't. I feel exactly like that
girl de Lisle Swiburne. We talked
about you for a couple of hours,
Jean and I.
GLEN
You did?
LOUISE
She wondered if you had a feeling
in your body. She said you seemed
in your seventh heaven just mocking
and pulling somebody down all the
time.
GLEN
Is that what I did to her?
LOUISE
The whole evening! Now, if she 's a
liar, she speaks with great conviction,
that's all I can say. You had her crying
out for mercy, she said. Now, women
are easy to pull down, Glen, don 't you
realise that?
(taking his hand
in hers and to his
surprise putting
it on her leg)
There! I don't know if you ever really
and truly experienced a woman, but
it's the only thing that could do you good.


Contd.
LOUISE (contd)
I just don 't believe a man can give
up being good. For one thing, my
religion doesn 't allow me to.
GLEN
Nor does mine.
LOUISE
(at once, quickly
and fiercely)
God in heaven! You're not
Catholic, are you?
(as he hesitates)
Glen, go and find a priest. I
can take you round to our little
church in the morning. Take
Communion.
(as GLEN gives
her a puzzled
look)
I mean, don' 't you ever ?
GLEN
Ever what?
LOUISE
Confess.
GLEN
To a priest? I haven't done.
LOUISE
Darling, you look miserable.
(suddenly giving
him a kiss on the
lips)
I'm not going to let you be damned.
Jeff even wouldn' 't want me to.
GLEN
(speaking through
the kisses)
God's the judge of that.
LOUISE
You think we 've got no power at
all? I'll show you that isn 't true.
I might save you. I'm weak and stupid,
but I could have a try. A woman's soft-
ness could do it, maybe. That might be
one weakness you' 've overlooked - that
every man is born of woman.


Contd.
GLEN
(his words again
punctuated with
kisses)
I did realise that.
LOUISE
Well, I'm going to have a try.
(as she gets up
and draws him
after her)
Come on! Let's grab a drink.
I wonder if you've heard a single
thing I said.
(stopping and
looking into
his eyes,her
own screwed up)
Honestly, I think you' 're the biggest
test I've ever had.
GLEN
Test?
LOUISE
Of my charity. And, perhaps,
my understanding.
They thread their way through the couples towards the kitchen.
We TRACK after them.
Most people are eating, either on their feet or seated. One or two
couples are on the floor of the hall, plates in their hands.
When LOUISE and GLEN reach the kitchen they find only one person
there. It is MYRA; she is going round the long buffet table, now
covered with the débris of lobster and salmon and caviare and empty
champagne bottles and salad. She is touching the plates lightly, her
eyes half-closed, just as she formerly did people.
LOUISE
(sharply)
Hi, there, Myra! Would you mind
vacating the kitchen a moment?
I'd like to use it.
MYRA
Why, sure, honey.
She drifts off with a wink at GLEN. LOUISE closes the door behind
her.
LOUISE
These damned tiles are cold on
the feet. Here,
(throwing him a
teacloth)
use that as a carpet. Sit down.


Contd.
She prepares him a drink as GLEN sits down and begins to nod
asleep. She brings the drink across to him, but instead of putting
it on the table for him puts it to his lips.
LOUISE
Come on. You need it. You're
falling asleep.
GLEN takes a sip and nods Thank you. But his eyes close again.
LOUISE stands gazing at him, close to him, bent forward. She
begins whispering.
LOUISE
You refused the cheque, didn' 't
you?
GLEN
Yes.
LOUISE
Why ?
At the same time she kisses him on the lips again, but GLEN persists
in falling asleep.
GLEN
(his eyes
still closed)
I'm not used to late nights.
LOUISE
(gently)
Did you want more - more
money' ? Four hundred?
As she lowers; herself on to him with her legs astride, her arms
round his neck, face to face with him, on the same chair.
LOUISE (contd)
Four hundred and fifty ?
(kissing him)
Five hundred?
(kissing him
again)
Five-fifty? Six hundred?
GLEN
(still half-gripped
in sleep)
I'm not interested in cash.
LOUISE
Listen. If Jeff gets to hear
there's no end to what he can do -
even to you.


Contd.
GLEN
Hear what ?
LOUISE
Don't let your tongue wag, Glen.
That's all I mean.
GLEN
About what?
LOUISE
I'm gonna soften you. You can 't
be hard all the way through.
LOUISE - kissing him fiercely and moving to and fro while he sits
there slumped and passive underneath her.
LOUISE (contd)
Is that your trouble, Glen?
(putting one of
her hands down)
GLEN
What are you talking about ?
LOUISE
Are you impotent ? I won' 't give
up though!
GLEN's sleepiness disappears rather quickly. He begins to respond
to her with kisses and to play his part in the rising and falling
motion. The chair begins to move.
C. U. of the chair leg demonstrates this.
Then suddenly the. door is pushed open with terrific force.
GLEN's eyes happen to be closed and he keeps them closed in
sheer fright. It is GRIGG standing in the doorway.
GRIGG
Comfortable?
GLEN opens his eyes.
GRIGG sways in the doorway, glowering across at them. LOUISE
does not move, only turns round to speak to him.
LOUISE
(in a level voice)
Now, Jeff! Take it easy!
GRIGG
(quietly)
Am I too early? Or too late ?


Contd.
LOUISE raises herself from GLEN, slowly, keeping her eyes on
GRIGG.
GRIGG inspects GLEN's body with a dry pair of eyes.
GRIGG
Too late, it seems.
(to LOUISE)
Congratulations.
LOUISE
(like a high-
school girl)
I haven't done anything!
GRIGG still looks down at GLEN, his teeth shut tight, and slowly he
comes into the kitchen. He does not trouble to close the door.
GRIGG
(to LOUISE)
I knew it was one or the other
- either him or Palermo. Tell
you the truth, I thought this one
was too damned normal for your
taste.
(standing directly
in front of GLEN)
Know what I'd like to do to you ?
I'd like to put your head in dark-
ness, and that's exactly what I'm
gonna do.
LOUISE
Now, Jeff!
He turns towards one of the kitchen shelves and on tiptoe takes down
a vast iron saucepan of the old fashioned type. It is so heavy that
he can hardly carry it alone.
GLEN jumps up, terrified.
GRIGG advances on him with the saucepan in his hand, his lips pursed
into a disgusted horse-shoe. Suddenly hé places the saucepan deftly
over GLEN's head so that in a moment GLEN is truly in darkness .
with the iron rim resting on his shoulder blades, and GRIGG now
presses him towards his chair and makes him sit down under the
weight of the saucepan.
LOUISE
Jeff!
GRIGG pushes harder and harder.
GLEN bows under the weight, doubled under it, and then manages
to slip himself off the chair on to the floor.


Contd.
GRIGG
(pressing down
with the handle)
Sonovabitch! Dirty, low-down,
two-timing male whore!
GLEN
(from inside the
saucepan as he
slips all over the
floor under its weight)
Now, look, Jeff!
His voice booms across the room.
GRIGG
Sonovabitch! Low-down crumb!
He goes on pressing.
GLEN has found a way. of pressing up with his arms So as to prevent
his body being pushed down completely on the floor. But he finds
himself being slowly manoeuvred across the room, pushed and
dragged in a to-and-fro motion which since he cannot predict he is
always surprised by. Gradually GRIGG gets him towards the door.
VANCE appears from the hall.
VANCE
Anything wrong, in here ?
GRIGG
(out of breath)
Sonovabitch here getting rough.
Help me pitch him out of doors,
Vance. The only thing that'll cool
him off.
Hearing that he is to be pitched in this state out of doors, GLEN
begins shouting incoherently inside the saucepan and hitting out
with his legs, but he now has two men on him.
The other guests are interested but do not come to his rescue.
GLEN's feet catch VANCE on the leg with a smack and VANCE draws
his breath in quickly with pain.
VANCE
Sonovabitch! Right on my
varicose veins. Sonovabitch!
And this brings a second helper to GRIGG. The three of them drag
and push at GLEN, GRIGG uses the saucepan handle as a man uses
the shaft of a cart, while the other guest grips him round the middle,
so that GLEN slides and bounces his way across the floor of the hall
towards the main door. The soft carpet gives him more levering
power and the three men have to pull all the harder, puffing and
groaning as they get him to the front door.


Contd.
GRIGG manages to pull the door open, and in a moment they have
him in one great heave outside and the door is pushed to.
CUT:
INT. THE STAIRCASE. NIGHT
GLEN is pitched out of GRIGG's door with the saucepan on his head.
He clatters into a heap as the door slams behind him. His first act
is to wrench the saucepan off his head and throw it to the ground with
a great çlang. Here it is desperately cold for a man without his
clothes. He jumps, beats his ar ms about, he runs up and down,
he searches for something to put round himself, he hammers at the
door, he shouts:
GLEN
Grigg! Louise!: Open up!
But it is too cold to stand hammering at the door for long.
He rings at the bell again and again, and then begins racing up and
down the stairs, to keep warm. He takes two steps at a time coming
up and one going down. He has his fists clenched like an athlete as
he runs. When he is warm enough he returns to the door, presses the
bell, hammers with the palm of his hand, shouts out again:
GLEN
Open the door! I'm naked! Open
the door!
He takes to running des sperately up and down the stairs again.
Once more he searches for something to put round his body. He
is getting close to panic. He succeeds in pulling up a foot or two
of carpet but the rest will not come away. He hammers at the door,
rings again, but nothing happens. His teeth begin chattering. He
jumps up and down. He kicks against the door hoping to push it down,
shrieking at the top of his voice.
GLEN
Louise! Louise! Let me in!
But still nothing happens. He begins to give up. He gives way to the
cold. He goes to a corner of the hall as far from the cold stair-
case as possible and lowers himself down all in a heap like a tired
dog, and he sits there gazing before him quite sober now, his knees
drawn up to his chin. There is silence. Some time passes. He is
watching the door. It opens, slowly.
LOUISE is standing there in a silk dressing-gown, her feet bare.
LOUISE
(quietly)
Jeez, I'm sorry. He disconnected
the bell.


Contd.
GLEN gets up, shivering, hunched together and goe: S into the flat.
The door begins to close.
CUT:
INT. GRIGG'S APARTMENT. NIGHT
GLEN comes in the front door, and LOUISE closes it behind him.
LOUISE
(in a whisper)
They're mostly asleep.
GLEN blinks into the dimness of the hall. From his P.V. we see
a pair of bare legs protruding from the lounge and one man with a
blanket over him, sleeping outside the cloakroom. There is silence.
GLEN
(in a whisper)
How did you get me back in?
LOUISE
(also in a
whisper)
Listen! You go in the kitchen.
She walks into the lounge while GLEN goes into the kitchen.
We TRACK in after him. He walks slap into GRIGG, who is still
naked. They make a fleshy thud together.
GRIGG
(putting a hand on
GLEN's frozen
shoulder)
Come in, Glen. Gee, I'm sorry.
GLEN
Everybody asleep ?
GRIGG
Seems like it. We cover them up.
Louise 'll be right back.
GRIGG looks yellow and creased from the effort of the recent battle.
GRIGG
(for something
to say)
That's right. Louise covers them
with blankets. Well, I mean, they
get cold. Sit down. We'll break
a bottle of claret, what say' ?
GLEN sits down but avoids the chair by the table in which he was
imprisoned by the saucepan.


Contd.
GRIGG
Kind of a misunder standing.
(taking down a
dusty bottle and
holding it out to
GLEN without
enthusiasm)
Charles Dornelling's cellar -
up here, behind the stove. Sold
it to me.
GLEN
What - the bottle, or the cellar?
GRIGG
(giving him a
quick, sour look)
The cellar.
GRIGG uncorks the bottle clumsily and gets the liquid all over his
hairy hand.
GLEN
It smells good.
GRIGG
Can you smell it that far ?
(with cynicism)
Oh, I forgot. You're a wine man,
aren't you? ?
He pours GLEN a glass.
GRIGG (contd)
There! That' 'll warm youup.
GLEN - after taking a long draft, with a great satisfied smack of
his lips and then holding the glass up to the light.
GLEN I
Wish I could get it like this.
GRIGG looks at him in a puzzled way.
LOUISE comes into the kitchen at this moment with soft steps.
LOUISE
They're all tucked up till lunch-
time, Dad.
GRIGG has sat down, and is taking a long pull at his wine. She bends
down and kisses him on the temple.
LOUISE
Feeling okay, now, honey ?


Contd.
GRIGG
(nodding in
rather a des-
olate way)
I think I'll throw myself down
somewhere.
He gets up heavily, having drained his glass. LOUISE takes him by
the arm, and they walk to the door.
LOUISE
I got the maid's room ready.
GRIGG
(calling back
to GLEN)
Kill that bottle!
GRIGG and LOUISE leave.
GLEN pours himself a glass full of wine and drinks half of it at once.
He holds up the bottle, looks at the label, nods to himself, smells
at the wine, then LOUISE returns silently and goes straight to a chair.
GLEN
How did you cool him down?
LOUISE
(with a certain
flat irony)
Well, as a matter of fact, I
gave him what he thought I'd
given you. Thanks, by the way,
for not letting it happen. I've
given up trying to save people
as from tonight.
GLEN
(aftèr pouring
himself another
glass)
I must be going, after this.
LOUISE
He made me swear on the Bible.
GLEN
Swear what ?
LOUISE
That itiwasn 't you.
GLEN
How do you mean - not me ?
LOUISE
Not you that I'm mixed up with.
He knows I'm mixed up with
somebody.


Contd.
Her eyes close and her head nods forward for a moment. She opens
her eyes again and blinks at him.
LOUISE
He took me to the Madonna in the
bedroom . made me swear it
wasn 't you. I swore it wasn't.
Well, I didn't sin there. Thank God
he didn' 't make me swear about
Palermo, that's all.
Another silence, and they both of them sleep for a moment, their
heads nodding.
He gets up from the chair. He walks into the hall. We TRACK after
him - through the hall into the lounge. He stands watching all the
sleepers like children on the floor, on settees, on divans, hunched,
spread out, on their sides, mouths open or closed, peaceful, fevered.
The dawn seems to be coming through the long windows giving dim
light to the room.
MYRA is there, her head slumped forward. One of the men has
covered himself with a carpet. GLEN turns and goes to the cloakroom,
he finds sack No. 49 and quickly puts on his shirt and trousers, knots
his tie clumsily, wrenches on his shoes.
LOUISE appears all of a sudden.
LOUISE
(in a whisper)
Come and say cheerio to Jeff.
He's still awake. Hope you
enjoyed it.
She leads him, his jacket on his arm, across the hall to the bedroom.
We TRACK after them, and find GRIGG in his pyjamas in bed.
GLEN shakes hands with him.
GLEN
Thanks for a nice party.
GRIGG
Like hell! Was it cold out there ?
LOUISE
(to GLEN, suddenly)
Didn 't you want to have Jeff in
town tonight?
(to GRIGG)
Party - at 8.15. Sounds like fun.


Contd.
GRIGG
(very quietly, and
warily)
Okay.
LOUISE
(to GLEN)
Can I bring friends' ?
GLEN
It isn t my party.
LOUISE
(giving him a
sharp look)
Thanks! I'll bring friends.
He shakes hands with LOUISE, and she accompanies him to the
front door. He goes out.
CUT:
INT. OUTSIDE THE DOOR. DAWN
GLEN putting on his overcoat as the door closes behind him, passes
the iron saucepan on the floor and gives it a look. He buttons up his
coat, hurries down the stairs.
CUT:
INT. APARTMENT FOYER. DAWN
GLEN hurries across the foyer to the street outside. It seems So
clean and merciful.
CUT:
EXT. CAMBRIDGE STREET. DAWN
GLEN strolls out of GRIGG's apartment block. He smells the air;
it feels good. He looks up at the sky. He looks all round him in
the silence. No one is about. He strolls off. It looks as if he has
all the time in the world on his hands.
CUT:
EXT. ANOTHER CAMBRIDGE STREET. DAWN
GLEN walking along, as before, towards the Backs.
CUT:
EXT. THE BACKS. DAWN
GLEN walking towards a bridge leading to the Backs by the Science
Building. He reaches the bridge. We TRACK after him in the great
silence. He stops, he leans on the parapet, gazes down into the rivèr


Contd.
which is like a pool. He looks up at the college, gazes across at
King's, and goes on with his walk. We watch him from the bridge
as he begins to walk along the path on the other side.
CUT:
EXT. THE BACKS. DAWN
GLEN strolls along the towpath, his shoes sounding on the gravel.
He reaches a bench, he sits down. He gazes across at the lawn and
quadrangle of King's College, at the Chapel itself. We see it from
his P.V. He yawns, he stretches, he puts out his legs, he turns up
the collar of his overcoat, he takes out his copy of Afterwards, he
begins to read, drowsily, and GRIGG's voice comes over.
GRIGG (VOICE OVER)
I see human creatures as naked.
We're naked because the world
doesn't want us any more.
Nature's all pooped out. One
satellite shot in the air can turn
summer into winter.
GLEN turns up his collar, glances up at the sky, shivers.
GRIGG (contd)
Earthquakes, floods, snow in
the middle of summer, it's all
gone mad! We' 'll be having plagues
soon! And our biggest mistake is
to take our little lives for real.
Only hell's for real! Only the
satellite's for real!
A ringing 'Morning' comes from a COLLEGE PORTER as he cycles
along the gravel path on his way to college.
GLEN looks up startled.
GLEN
Oh! Good morning.
COLLEGE PORTER
(as he cycles
away)
Bit nippy.
There is silence again.
GLEN smiles. He gazes at King's Chapel again. He closes the book.
King's Chapel in the dawn, serene and still, is a perfect picture
from the 'Before'.
CUT:


INT. PALERMO'S OFFICE. MORNING
We open on the standing figure of PALERMO behind his desk. He is
quiet, delicate looking, in a spotlessly-white : shirt that makes his
hands look frail and his lips fastidiously soft. He has no jacket on.
There is the sound of a typewriter behind. GLEN enters in his over-
coat, and stands at the door. PALERMO looks up slowly and nods a
chari ming Good morning, and signals him to a seat.
GLEN takes off his overcoat and hangs it up; he then sits down.
There is silence.
PALERMO
(quietly) '
All-night session?
GLEN
Yes.
PALERMO
She phoned me up, just now.
(lowering his
voice)
Asked for you.
GLEN
Why ?
PALERMO
(with a shrug)
Anyway, thanks. You'll hold
my hand, tonight, eh?
GLEN
I'm not going to any parties.
I've had enough of them.
PALERMO
It's a gathering at my club,
part of your work.
(looking at GLEN
in silence while
GLEN rubs his
sleepy eyes)
Get some sleep - upstairs. It's
all ready for you.
GLEN
My room ?
PALERMO
It's a luxury apartment. There's
even a lavatory.
GLEN
The furniture people came ?


96. Contd.
PALERMO
Oh yes. And there's a carpet down
- - persian. As I said last night,
you must have influence. How much
did all that cost you, by the way?
GLEN
Oh . about ten quid.
PALERMO
Then you certainly do have
influence. By the way, I opened
a bank account for you. Put three
hundred quid in.
GLEN
(wide awake)
What ?
PALERMO
I didn't know if you had an
account here, in London. Anyway,
it's the bank we use.
GLEN
What three hundred is that,
for God's sake ?
PALERMO
The advance I told you about.
GLEN
What advance ?
PALERMO
(with a lecherous
smile)
Why? Want me to take it back?
GLEN
(after thought)
PALERMO
Chandler-Williams and I had a
talk about it. Thought you were
worth it, so
(with a theatrical
shrug)
we did it. The only thing is, I
don't want you to think it's
Louise's money.
GLEN
Well, thank you.


96. Contd.
PALERMO
I'm under the weather, too.
GLEN
I notice you're not smoking.
PALERMO
(pointing to
his heart)
Ticker.
GLEN
You?
PALERMO
(with a nod)
I'm saving myself up for tonight.
Have to be careful.
GLEN
(getting up)
Looks as if you ought to be
in bed.
As GLEN leaves PALERMO calls out to PAT.
PALERMO
Pat, give Glen his nice new
cheque book.
CUT:
97. INT.
SECRETARIAL OFFICE. MORNING
GLEN comes in from PALERMO's room as PAT stops typing and takes
up a new cheque book. She hands it to him with a smile.
PAT
There, you got your three
hundred, after all.
GLEN
Yes. It seems I did.
He walks out.
CUT:
98. INT. - STAIRCASE. MORNING
GLEN walking up the stairs to his new quarters. He reaches the first
landing.
CUT:


99. INT. LANDING. MORNING
GLEN walks towards his door and pushes it open. We TRACK in after
him.
He stands there astonished to see his room clean and modestly
furnished with a chest of drawers, a double divan bed, a mirror; an
armchair, and a small carpet. His suitcases are neatly stackedalong
one wall. He goes to' a suitcase and brings out the photographs of his
wife and child, and puts the double frame on the bedside table. He throws
himself down on the bed. He is asleep at once, his new cheque book in
his hand. PAN across to the photographs under the sound of his breath-
ing. Some time passes. PAN BACK to find PALERMO sitting on the bed
in a dazzling suit, gazing down at GLEN. He shakes him gently. GLEN
opens his eyes and falls asleep again. PALERMO wakes him once more.
PALERMO
(softly)
We've got a jot to do, Glen.
The biggest I've ever had.
GLEN
A job?
PALERMO
It's only round the corner.
We'll take a taxi. Christ, that
woman's taking it out of me!
You see, Glen, I've always
wanted it like that.
CUT:
100. INT.. TAXI. MORNING
The taxi is travelling along the streets of Covent Garden, with GLEN
and PALERMO.
PALERMO now has his overcoat on.
PALERMO
And I can't stop. Icouldn't stop
for any man on earth. We'll be at
it tonight! And the day too, if the
old man's tied up! By the way, he
knows, doesn't he ?
GLEN
(still nodding
half asleep)
Not that I can see. He thought
it was me, for a time.
PALERMO
Well, he'd better find out, because
I can't stop. I'm going to get him
into it up to his teeth. In a day from
now Jefferson Grigg will be eatingrout


100. Contd.
PALERMO (contd)
of my hands, and wanting to kill
me at the same time. You'll see.
I'm working on something big.
(a beat)
She says the scandal's going to
kill him. Well, I don't reckon it
will. That's hopeful on her part.
You'll see. But don' 't talk. I'm
hanging on by a lifebelt. So are
you, for all you know. You do your
own swimming, cock, and I'll do
mine.
GLEN
(looking at him
puzzled)
How d'you mean ?
PALERMO does not answer; he is gazing out of the cab window, his
head bowed, biting his lip.
GLEN watches him with curiosity.
GLEN
You'll be with Louise tonight?
PALERMO
I was the first night, and I was,
mentally, last night, and, by
God, I shall be tonight! It's
going to be the finest yet. We're
not going to stop! She can't, and
I can' 't. We've found each other's
mark.
CUT:
101. EXT. CITY STREET. MORNING
The cab draws up, and GLEN and PALERMO get out.
GLEN
Shouldn 't I know what this
conference is about ?
PALERMO
Just don' 't talk, and you '11 be
all right.
PALERMO pays off the taxi, and they walk into a doorway where a small
woodens signjuts from the wall: SELSEY ASSOCIATES.
GLEN
(quietly)
But, what amI supposed to be ?


101. Contd.
PALERMO
They'll recognise you, don't
worry.
They enter the SELSEY ASSOCIATES door.
CUT:
102. INT. SELSEY ASSOCIATES. MORNING
There is a desk and a RECEPTIONIST. She jumps up from her
swivel seat.
RECEPTIONIST
(brightly)
He's with Mr. Klydonhall.
PALERMO makes an amazed Whew! under his breath, and straightens
his cuff. GLEN and PALERMO follow the RECEPTIONIST through
to another office.
There is a long corridor. The RECEPTIONIST has high, clicking
heels and pushes her hips from side to side. PALERMO walks behind
her imitating her quick steps and the roll of her behind.
Suddenly the door at the end of the corridor opens and a huge, beaming
red-faced fellow stands holding out his hand; his name is SELSEY.
He watches PALERMO's perfor mance:
SELSEY
(in an
enormous
voice)
Hello, old pal! Still up to your
dirty tricks ? Come and meet
my playmate.
He ushers PALERMO and GLEN into the room and nods Thank you
to the RECEPTIONIST who turns back.
CUT:
103. INT. SELSEY'S OFFICE. MORNING
SELSEY closes the door behind GLEN and PALERMO.
PALERMO
I've brought my stooge. Glen,
this is Leonard Harcourt Selsey,
the biggest hypocrite in the City.
SELSEY offers no hand to GLEN, only a quick nod.
SELSEY
Not in my game, is he ?
PALERMO
God, I should hope not!


103. Contd.
SELSEY
Oh, that's all right. Don't like
fellow dogs - feel inclined to bite
them.
There is laughter from the other side of the room, and we discover
another man. He is pale, thick-faced, with a ready smile, though
thin-lipped. A certain agreeable sparkle in his eyes never disappears.
He is a level young man, powerfully built, clearly used to making big
decisions and standing his ground. He has curly hair which gives
him the air of indeterminate late youth. His name is PERCY
KLYDONHALL. GLEN nods to him and gets a polite sparkle but
again no handshake.
PALERMO looks very gracious; he is all of a heap with awe ; he
keeps directing admiring glances at KLYDONHALL while the huge
Leonard SELSEY bubbles with professional laughter, going to an
untidy desk, rubbing his hands together, ducking his head in an odd
way with a little hissing sound through his teeth.
PALERMO and KLYDONHALL sit down in two upright armchairs,
and GLEN has to find himself a straight-backed chair from the wall.
SELSEY speaks.
SELSEY
(to KLYDONHALL)
The point about Palermo is he's
an amateur. Right, John?
PALERMO
(with a smile)
Right, indeed.
KLYDONHALL replies with his dazzling boyish look, nodding
encouragement at PALERMO but always with a certain level
scrutiny.
SELSEY
(walking up and
down, his hands
behind his back)
What I mean, John, is these com-
panies, big and small, have all got
hardening of the arteries, one way or
another. I mean, these big publicity
firms. Now, you're a human publicity
firm, you've got it in your blood. What
we want is a man working alone - just
like you. You see, Junior.
(addressing
KLYDONHALL)
it does depend on people, you simply
can't handle this kind of thing through
firms that ask you for a hundred thousand
dollars on the nail and then try and
interest you in a lot of blasted TV pre-
sentations.


103. Contd.
SELSEY (contd)
(more writhing
and hissing)
Now, as you know, John,
(turning back to
PALERMO and
flinging himself
with an almighty
crack into his chair,
then as quickly get-
ting up again)
we mustn 't lose money, John.
PALERMO
You're telling me!
SELSEY
We won 't lose money. Now, if
you' 'd like to take this thing on
your shoulders, O.K., but it has
to be faster than anything you've
done before.
PALERMO
This evening.
SELSEY
(clearly impressed
by this and giving
KL YDONHALL a
glance)
Alright, Percy' ? And, of course,
John, keep our names out of it.
If you can launch us safely, you'll
make a packet. I can promise you
that.
PALERMO
(with a touch of
vengeful grimness)
You'd better.
KLYDONHALL
(in an almost
fearfully level
voice)
Shouldn t there be something written?
SELSEY-
(a little danger-
ously)
I don' 't think so. John. and I have
trusted each other for years, eh,
John? And if we started playing the
cuss with each other now, the whole
boat's going to rock for both of us,
because we happen to be in the same
one.


103. Contd.
SELSEY - breaking into an easy laugh.
KLYDONHALL
(with a youthful
nod)
Alright. That's alright.
PALERMO
Thought it might be an idea
to bring you together, right
away, tonight. What about it?
SELSEY
Matter of fact, Charles Dornelling
and I were at school together.
We never met. He was in Lower
School. He was a crack-shot on
the range, I seem to remember.
PALERMO
What about my club - 8.15?
SELSEY
Alright. Eh, Junior ?
KLYDONHALL
I think so.
After a silence between them all, PALERMO rises. SELSEY comes
round his desk to usher them out again.
SELSEY
Yes. I just thought you ought
to meet Percy, beforehand.
We're terribly tied up this after-
noon, otherwise we could have
chewed the fat a bit more. By the
way, I don 't think your American
professor's had a very good deal
in the Press since he came over..
PALERMO
Oh, he' 'll get a better one from
now on, don 't you worry about
that.
SELSEY
(with a wink)
I bet. he will, once you get
working.
(turning to GLEN,
with a rather
abstract smile)
Cheerio. I only know you in the
nude, I'm afraid. I see you from
the bus, every morning.


103. Contd.
PALERMO and GLEN are suddenly through the door and the door
is closed.
CUT:
104. INT. THE CORRIDOR. MORNING
GLEN and PALERMO are walking away from the office.
GLEN
What did he mean by that?
PALERMO
(disregarding
this)
By God, I've got to the top now,
boy.
(as they pass
the RECEPTION-
IST)
Eh, darling ?
(winking at the
RECEPTIONIST
as they leave the
office)
I'm on the top, eh?
CUT:
105. EXT. STREET OUTSIDE. MORNING
GLEN and PALERMO are walking along together.
PALERMO
I reckon I worked that well,
don' 't you? That young chap's
a millionaire! He'll sign me a
cheque every time I turn over in
bed and fart, you see if he doesn't!
Old Selsey worked that. I knew he
would. I've been watching that pot-
bellied old tank for years, trying to
squeeze a really good contact out of
him. And I've got it now, by God!
Klydonhall's one of the richest men
alive, do you hear me ? He break-
fasts in London and suppers in New
York. He doesn' 't know whether he's
going to bed in Manhattan or Mayfair.
It's all the same to him. Some of the
jobbers call him Ariel, because you
never know whether he's going to turn
up in Wall Street or Threadneedle
Street. There isn't a pie on either
side of the Atlantic he hasn 't got a big


105. Contd.
PALERMO (contd)
fat finger in. And my finger's in
now, by God
(rubbing his hands
together)
if anybody had told me this was
going to happen a week ago I'd
have laughed in his face! I'm in
the money. And not only that -
there's nobody in the world wouldn't
like to know me. I'll make people
green with envy. It'l1 eat through
them, corrode their insides. And
you know the key name of all this?
(stopping)
GLEN
PALERMO
Charles Dornelling.
GLEN
He's the man who owns Grigg's
apartment in Cambridge. He was
there last night!
PALERMO
And I'm bringing him and Klydonhall
and Jefferson Grigg together!
Brains and money. When you got
those together, you make a big ex-
plosion. And that's what all three
of them happen to be interested in.
GLEN
What?
PALERMO
Explosions.
CUT:
106. EXT. SOHO STREET. EVENING
GLEN and PALERMO are walking along after dark. They are
smartly dressed. They stop at the entrance to the club which has
a plushy foyer and '1812' over the entrance in neon.
PALERMO
(before they
go in)
And shall I tell you something?
This doesn' 't interest me one damned
bit. That's how I can do it so easy.
Keep these words of mine in mind,
Glen. Never be too interested. Know
what I'm going to do?


106. Contd.
GLEN
PALERMO
I'm having Jefferson Grigg and
Klydonhall talking business within
an hour from. now, while I'm in bed
with the wildest creature on earth.
(with a glance
towards the
entrance)
It was she who got me into this
deal. A woman always lets some-
thing drop when she isn' 't thinking,
or rather when she's thinking some-
where else, such as between her legs.
She let something drop about Charles
Dornelling - a little project of his, a
project in his brain, a weapon, and I
could see it would probably stay in
his brain if he didn t meet the money
to develop it. So I'm providing the
money in the form of Klydonhall, and
who's to say I'm a rascal for doing
it? This isn' 't heaven we 're in. I
don 't say it's hell, either, but it isn't
heaven.
He begins to move towards the club, GLEN following him. But
he stops again.
PALERMO (contd)
And, listen, Glen. From now on
we sing hymns of praise for
Professor Jefferson Grigg. Alright?
If you know anything bad about him,
forget it. In fact, keep your mouth
shut altogether. I only want you to
use your ears, tonight.
(giving him a
long firm look)
Remember what I say, and keep that
cheque I gave you this morning
dangling in front of your eyes, be-
cause if you say a word out of turn,
you won't get another.
They walk into the club, and the COMMISSIONAIRE gives an airy Good
evening to PALERMO.
CUT:
107. INT. THE CLUB LOUNGE. EVENING
A burst of loud talk.
There is a bar along one wall of the room, getting a lot of custom
from well-dressed men; many of the comfortable chairs and
settees are occupied; the CAMERA TRAVELS leisurely round.


107. Contd.
We recognise no-one so far.
Young WAITERS, not in the least subservient, go busily to and fro.
There are chuckles, laughter, the chink of glasses, and at last we
reach the male group round a table where GLEN and PALERMO are
seated.
There are five men in the group, including GLEN and PALERMO.
Of these, PEWis plump and bald-headed, with a large belly and
wasted damp skin. He has a twitch of the eyes that accompanies all
his talk, even when nobody is listening to him. He is well-dressed
in a conventional City way, without flair.
PEW
Old jobber Carter-Staine: S grumbling
the other day, no bloody political
crises. Have to engineer one, he
said. If only the P. M. 'd be caught
in a toilet soliciting he could work
a nice day-crisis and have the
bloody share prices down in a jiffy,
but all the sex perverts in the
Cabinet seem to be in hiding the se
days.
The others sniff, smile, look in the direction of the bar, turn to
each other, mumble things.
PALERMO leans across to GLEN.
PALERMO
(under his
breath)
Biggest crooks in London, here.
You should be in your element.
(with a wink)
See the one by himself - corner
of the bar ? He doesn't look ruth-
less, does he ? No, Glen, the more
crooked, the more innocent the
expression, eh?
GLEN follows his gaze across the bar where A MAN stands talking
in a matter-of-fact way to the BARMAN, his expression quite un-
blemished. He is dressed in a fine suit, dark and smooth. We see
him from GLEN's P.V. for a moment.
PEW
I could have made a nice packet
out of that. I had it all over the
morning papers. Nasty lot of people,
stock jobbers. But I suppose I'm not
an angel myself.
(wheezing with silent
laughter so that his
belly shakes)


107. Contd.
The others mumble together, smile, scratch themselves, as before.
PALERMO
Well, look who's here! Another
rascal with an angel's face.
JACK RYAN walks into the FRAME, dressed unlike most of the
other men, in a sports jacket with a casual shirt. He is strolling
from the bar, his hands in his pockets. He is sharp, bright, attentive,
in his early middle-age. He nods Hello to PALERMO, who does
not rise.
PALERMO
This is Glen, by the way.
JACK
(as if he knew
GLEN already)
Hello, Glen.
PALERMO
Come and join us.
JACK
I'd like to. I've got to get
back to the office.
At this moment a WAITER brings drinks.. JACK turns away from
the party with a Goodbye wink to GLEN.
The party round the table take up their glasses with brief move-
ments, make 'Cheerio' to each other, and drink. They gaze around.
Suddenly PALERMO is galvanised into attention, his eyes change.
He gets up from his seat. From his P. V.. we see. the doorway.
LOUISE and GRIGG have just come in. LOUISE is in a gown fit to
kill, her shoulders are bare; GRIGG comes forward smiling,
seeming quite untired.
The two men who have not spoken drift off with polite bows in the
direction of LOUISE and GRIGG. LOUISE and PALERMO shake
hands, their eyes stay on each other, fascinated.
GRIGG blinks in their direction and nods casually towards GLEN.
LOUISE
Hello.
PALERMO
What can I get you both ?
(to LOUISE, under
his breath)
You look beyond all belief.
LOUISE
(flustered)
What you gonna have, Jeff?


107. Contd.
GRIGG
(mumbling as he
sits down)
Whatever it is, I'll take it neat.
PALERMO calls the WAITER as they all sit down again. LOUISE
is next to GLEN; she touches his arm softly, and leans towards
him.
LOUISE
(in a whisper)
I'm glad you took it, honey.
GLEN
Took what ?
LOUISE
The cheque.
GLEN
What cheque ?
LOUISE
(with sudden
anxiety)
Didn' 't he give it to you? The
three hundred pounds?
GLEN
He said it was for -
LOUISE
(gripping his arm
with a glance at
her husband)
Anyway, I'm mighty relieved.
So is Jeff. Have you used any
of it?
GLEN
A little.
LOUISE
That's good. Then it's too
late to be proud.
GLEN
Yes.
PALERMO looks up as the WAITER leaves with his order. MURIEL
is suddenly standing there, dressed in black which makes her look
like a child - very pale, with rather fuzzy hair, a Reynolds portrait.
She does not look at any of the others, only at PALERMO standing
quite still.


107. Contd.
PALERMO
Mouse!
(standing)
Come and sit down.
He indicates the chair next to GRIGG with a pointed expression. She
goes and sits down next to GRIGG mutely.
PALERMO
This is Muriel, Jefferson.
GRIGG, half-rising.
GRIGG
Hello, Muriel.
MURIEL nods slightly towards him, without a smile, and then gazes
blankly at the table before her.
LOUISE
(to MURIEL)
Hello, there.
MURIEL nods to her as well with the same blank expression.
PALERMO
(to MURIEL)
I got you a drink, Mouse. How
do you feel ?
MURIEL simply shrugs and continues to gaze at the table.
JACK suddenly appears again, strolling as before; he has apparently
returned from his office; he is smiling vaguely towards the group,
but bends down to GLEN.
JACK
(quietly)
I've got you a drink at the bar.
Come over and join us, old chap.
GLEN stares at him for a moment, then glances at PALERMO
whose expression tells him nothing. GLEN gets up and follows
JACK to the bar. PEW is standing there as well. We FOLLOW
GLEN. Drinks are waiting at the bar.
JACK
(with a smile)
You're Palermo's new acquisition,
I hear. He always seems to be
getting new men.
GLEN
Does he ?
PEW turns away and talks to the man at his side, in an undertone.


107. Contd.
JACK
Didn't mean to drag you away
from your friends. Cheers!
GLEN
(as he raises
his glass)
Cheers!
JACK
You'll be going on to a night-spot,
Il hear. Lucky people!
GLEN
Oh . I didn't know.
JACK gazes at him with a mixture of respect and admiration. He
seems full of sanity and health. He establishes an atmosphere of
decency and cleanliness and good sense.
JACK
I was with John Palermo last night.
At this bar; as a matter of fact,
but you weren' 't around. You-were
asleep, or something.
GLEN
No . I was at a party.
JACK
Oh yes?
GLEN
In Cambridge.
JACK
(decently)
Friends of yours ?
GLEN
The Griggs. Over there. The
couple.
JACK
Oh yes. They 've taken Charlie
Dornelling's place in Cambridge,
haven' 't they ?
GLEN
That's right.
JACK
Bes st defence brain the country's
got Charlie Donelling - at least, out-
side the Government.


107. Contd.
JACK (contd)
(giving GLEN a
slight brotherly
nudge as if to
deprecate brains
among sensible
people)
Never will go for Parliament, old
Charlie. Keeps his influence with
both parties, that way.
GLEN
Yes?
JACK
(another very
bright smile)
was it a nice party' ?
GLEN
It went on all night.
JACK
(a brotherly laugh)
What could be nicer than that ?
GLEN
Have another whisky.
JACK
Don't mind if I do.
(indicating the
BARMAN)
Better tell him you're not a
member of the club. He chalks
it up, and you pay at the end.
GLEN gestures the BARMAN over and orders two more whiskies.
GLEN
You're a member ?
JACK
Oh yes. They have to sweep me
out at dawn, sometimes. I've got
an office two yards away.
GLEN
That was a funny thing, last night.
I didn't get a wink of sleep all night,
but I felt as right as rain this morning.
Depends on the party, I suppose.
JACK
On the host, too.


107. Contd.
GLEN
(as the drinks
are placed down
on circular mats
as in a French café)
Mind you, he shouts his mouth off
a bit, old Jeff. You know what he's
over here for, I suppose ?
JACK
A lecture tour, isn 't it?
GLEN
That's right. He said what
Europeans know about thermonuclear
war could be got on a postage stamp
- he said they' 've got 'expendable'
written all over their faces. ;
JACK
(with a slight
wink and a laugh)
Did he ?
GLEN
He said, they had the effrontery
to be horrified when he gave a
lecture on vaporation, which means
vaporisation, when people and
buildings just melt into the heat.
He's a scream.
JACK
(with another laugh)
He sounds it.
GLEN
There was some General or other
there. Anyway, Jeff said he was
a crumb. He said, he reads the
English poets, rides a horse, and
buys his wine direct from the French
vineyards, and he said they only use
him as an advertisment. They wheel
him round the world with a nice white
glove over the mailed fist.
JACK
That wouldn 't be General Heeley,
would it?
GLEN
Yes. That's right. He called him
a chocolate soldier.


107. Contd.
They both laugh again. They sip their drinks, smile, gaze across
at the seated group: GRIGG with MURIEL, LOUISE with PALERMO.
GLEN
But he went early.
JACK
(as if he had
lost the trend)
Who?
GLEN
General Heeley.
JACK
Oh yes .
GLEN
It would have got a bit hot for
him, I think.
(with a laugh
while JACK
looks at him
expectantly)
They' 've certainly got central
heating in that apartment. We
stewed!
JACK
You did?
GLEN
Then everybody started taking
their clothes off, believe it
or not.
JACK
(with genial de-
tachment)
No .
GLEN
You started with your shoes, and
then he gave everybody a little
number tag, and this was the number
of your bag where you put your clothes.
Yes, we had a ripe old night.
(laughs again)
Well, a sort of dance started up, the
idea being that you couldn 't join in the
dance without being starkers. He and
his wife started off, and I can't reme -
mber who went up then. I think it was
that English chap.


107. Contd.
JACK
The defence brain?
GLEN
That's right. But I tell you something
- it's very funny, it didn't strike you
as lascivious or anything like that
I mean, you really got to know people
I mean, you saw them exactly as
they are, not as just faces, if you see
what I mean. I mean, I can well under-
stand people in ancient times like, say,
the Etruscans, going naked - climate
permitting, of course. I reckon this
central heating was equivalent to an
Egyptian August.
(enjoying it now)
Yes, it was an experience worth
having, but when he put a saucepan
on my head and started dragging me
ac: ross the floor -
JACK
GLEN
Yes. You see, his wife, Louise,
had the idea that I was always
writing to the papers, and, you
know, sort of spilling the beans about
their life. Completely ridiculous,
because I've never spoken to an editor
in my life, and apart from Palermo,
I've never met anybody even mildly
connected with the Press. But any-
way: she was convinced that I was out
for a story, and she was trying to
persuade me not to do it any more.
Well, anyway, there she was sitting
naked on my knee - you know, every-
thing quite harmless and above board
- but who should come in but the old
man himself. Of course, he jumps to
the inevitable conclusion.
JACK
GLEN
The first thing he sights is the
hugest saucepan you've ever seen -
one of those jobs they used when Mrs.
Beaton was putting 16 eggs in a souffle.
He puts it over my head - and I can tell
you, if you hadn't had that weight of
iron on your brain-box, it hurts some.


107. Contd.
GLEN (contd)
Then he starts calling me a crumb
like General Heeley and drags me
across the floor. And - this is
nothing yet - wait for it. He calls
in a friend who's about eight feet tall
in his socks to help throw me out.
And out they do throw me - saucepan
and all - stark naked and a firmly-
locked door between me and my clothes!
JACK
GLEN
You think I'm making it up, but I'm
not. There I was stuck outside. I
didn't know whether to run up or
down, and finally I plumped for doing
exercises to keep warm. Anyway, I
reckon I was out there for a full ten
minutes, and I started getting worried
by this time as to whether I was in for
pneumonia, but just then she opens the
door and lets me back in.
JACK
Good God!
GLEN
Listen. You haven' 't heard anything
yet. When she let me in, she told
me he took her over to the Madonna
- they've got a little Madonna in the
bedroom, they're Catholics
JACK
Oh yes -
GLEN
That's right. Anyway, he leads her
over there and makes her swear on a
Bible that she's never had anything
untoward with me, which she does
immediately, and as he knows she
wouldn 't risk hellfire for a small
mortal sin, being a Catholic, he
believes her and says he's sorry, and
lets her let me in again. And, of
course, in I come, blowing and hissing
like a night watchman, then they 're both
as nice as pie, and he breaks a bottle of
the finest Mouton Rothschild and we end
friends, and I leave feeling as if I'd been
on a cure at a German spa - apart from
a slight ache in my back and a few
scratches on my neck where his blasted
saucepan caught me


107. Contd.
JACK
Well,
(with a laugh)
that sounds quite an adventure.
Have another drink.
GLEN
Thanks.
JACK
(signalling to
the BARMAN)
Yes, it sounds quite an evening.
(to the BAR-
MAN)
Get my guest another drink, will
you.
GLEN
Aren't you having one too' ?
JACK
No. I'd better get off. Don't
worry about it, by the way. I'll
be getting in touch with you.
(with a confi-
dential nod)
JACK strolls away.
GLEN looks after him, frowning with puzzlement: What did Jack
mean ?
The BARMAN deposits his drink on the bar, GLEN takes it and
turns to PEW by his side, but PEW has his large round back in
his face. GLEN wanders back to his own seated group still
pondering JACK's last words.
A WAITER is just putting down a fresh order of drinks on the
table. GLEN sits down.
The BARMAN comes across with five drink discs in his hand and
puts them down in front of GLEN. He bends down to talk to GLEN.
BARMAN
Your five drinks, sir.
He walks away at once.
PALERMO is watching GLEN with a twinkle.
PALERMO
Glen, that's quite a collection you
have. They charge night-club prices
for non-members. Still, you' 're well
in the blue, aren't you? ?
(with a wink)


107. Contd.
GLEN
(after taking a
sip of whisky)
Yes, I dare say I can run to it.
PALERMO leans across to him.
PALERMO
(with a cautionary
glance at LOUISE
who is talking to
MURIEL)
Listen. How many times do you
sell your soul ? You've sold it three
times to my knowledge. Aren't you
afraid of going into liquidation ?
GLEN
What do you mean ?
PALERMO
Well, first you sold it to me,
didn't you? Then to dear good
Louise, here. And now to Jack
Ryan, which makes you the cool-
est bastard under the sun.
(with hissing
menace)
Now, what was the deal ?
GLEN
Jack Ryan ? Who's he ?
PALERMO
(imitating him)
Jack Ryan? Listen, what was the
big laugh about, eh? I just want
you to get one thing clear - all
stories go through me. You're not
smarming your way through all my
contacts, and you can take that as
final.
(with narrow
eyes)
Boy, I've had just about enough of
you! If it wasn' 't for what you did
for me last night I'd kick you out
of here right now.
(with a glance
across at GRIGG
to see that he is
listening)
GRIGG is indeed following PALERMO with appreciation.


107. Contd.
PALERMO (contd)
(still to GLEN)
It takes S you about two minutes flat
to get across the room if you see
an editor on the horizon, doesn 't
it? The only thing is I have to ad-
mire the way you do it, with that
innocent bloody expression that makes
everybody think you're mentally de-
ficient, but I bet you're not mentally
deficient when you' 're talking to a
news editor, and you know how to
make them laugh, it seems! Jeff
and I were watching you. You're
quite a performer, aren't you?
GLEN
But I didn't know who he was!
He just comes across here and
asks me to have a drink with him.
PALERMO
(with a sneer,
revolving his
hands like a man
playing a hurdy-
gurdy)
GLEN
Anyway, that three hundred
wasn 't yours to give.
PALERMO
(on the alert
at once)
Keep office business to office
hours.
GLEN
(seeing that he
has pacified him)
We'd better make that a pact,
then. One thing I did learn from
Jack Ryan is that you change em-
ployees like a man changes socks.
Well, you don't change me.
PALERMO looks at GLEN with quiet astonishment and GLEN seei ms
astonished at himself too.
PALERMO
(almost in a whisper)
I'll find out who's behind you, don 't
you worry about that.
But GLEN's remarks have clearly made him nervous of him and also
res spectful.


107. Contd.
PALERMO (contd)
(leaning closer
to him)
Another thing: don 't go bawling
your mouth off to Percy Klydonhall
when he comes. He's always got a
smile on his clock, but let me tell
you this: he's not a decoration in
this town, he knows a thing or two
about weapons, and I don 't mean
just weapons like yours, so mind
your tongue because that man can
destroy.
GRIGG
(gazing across
at them)
Sounds quite a recommendation.
Who you talking about?
PALERMO
(appreciating
the success of
his own remarks)
Percy Klydonhall's your biggest
contact of the year, if not the
decade, Jefferson.
GRIGG
(to GLEN)
I like to hear your boss chew
your balls off. Those your chips?
(pointing to
the five
discs in front
of GLEN)
GLEN
Yes.
GRIGG
Give them to me.
(moving the
lot over to
his side of the
table then calling
the WAITER)


107. Contd.
GLEN
Look here, I've got plenty of money.
This makes GRIGG laugh, and the lines on his face become deep and
dark, like crayon marks.
GRIGG
You're telling me! You got a
thousand bucks from me only this
morning.
(with a wink
at PALERMO)
The WAITER comes and GRIGG pays him with a generous tip.
PALERMO watches this with a sullen glower, trying to achieve the
maximum disapproval for GLEN.
GRIGG
(to LOUISE)
What say we move on to a
night-spot?
LOUISE
Okay.
(to MURIEL,
girl to girl)
Shall we go powder our
noses?
MURIEL nods mutely. The two of them get up and leave the
lounge.
GRIGG - leaning forward to PALERMO over the table and indicating
MURIEL.
GRIGG
Quite a girl! Been telling me her
life story.


107. Contd.
PALERMO
Glad you like her.
PALERMO says no more. He has: a reserved and fastidious look which
mal kes him seem ancient for a moment. GRIGG expects more informa-
tion, nods, and looks at PALERMO briefly, his eyes narrowed for a
moment, seeming to take stock of PALERMO's detachment.
GRIGG
I didn't say that, old son. I didn't
say I liked her. I meant she's a
nice girl, she has nice ways.
It's a pity she got mixed up in -
(with a gesture
across the room)
PALERMO
Oh, she enjoys night life.
(narrowing his eyes
too as he puts a cigar-
ette in his mouth)
GRIGG
(watching him closely)
Do girls take an overdose of sleep-
ing pills when they're happy?
PALERMO
(the cigarette alight)
Sometimes.
GRIGG
Sometimes? How do you make that
out, Mr. Palermo?
PALERMO
(shrugging, and not
looking at him)
If she has problems and needed the
problems. That happens, you know.
(suddenly looking at
him with his large
piercing eyes)
GRIGG
(slightly less
ethical now)
Didn't I hear she was Percy
Klydonhall's girl of the year?
PALERMO
(rising)
She could only have told you that
herself. She could be keen on
Lord Klydonhall, for all I know.
The three of them stroll across the lounge to join the women.


107. Contd.
GRIGG
(with special interest)
He's a lord?
PALERMO
That's right?
GRIGG
(excited.by the news
but wanting to talk
about something else)
Still, a damned nice girl.
PALERMO
Yes.
GRIGG
Does his lordship go in for
young girls on a wide scale, I
mean?
PALERMO
Well, we're all friends. He might
have slept with her. Any law
against that?
GRIGG
No. I just wondered what it had
to do with the taking of sleeping
pills, that's all.
(not really
interested any more)
PALERMO
It had nothing to do with it.
GRIGG
I see. You say this guy's Ame rican
then what's he doing being a lord?
PALERMO
He gave up the title but we still use
it, and he appears to like it.
PALERMO looks round anxiously, glances at his watch. His
GUESTS have not arrived.
CUT:
108. EXT. SOHO STREET. EVENING
The COMMISSIONAIRE of the 1812 Club is calling a taxi. It draws
to the kerb and he turns round to signal to PALERMO who is in the
foyer with the rest of the party.
CUT:


109. INT. CLUB FOYER. EVENING
PALERMO and the rest of the party are standing chatting together.
They are in their overcoats. MURIEL stands hunched and chilled,
holding her mink collar up to her neck.
PALERMO
(to GRIGG, as the
COMMISSIONAIRE
comes towards them)
What say you take the girls, and
I follow on with Glen?
COMMISSIONAIRE
Taxi's waiting, Mr. Palermo.
PALERMO
(to the COMMISSIONAIRE)
Tell him The Mimosa, will you?
GRIGG
(to PALERMO,
with a twinkle)
Why, have you got a little article
to write?
PALERMO
I've got my assistant to brief.
(with a grim look
at GLEN, sideways)
GRIGG
Oh, that. I guess it must be quite
an uphill job. Why, sure, I'll take
the girls, and see you later, John.
PALERMO
You'll find a table waiting for you,
and order what you like.
GRIGG
(taking out
his wallet)
I'll do that.
GRIGG pushes two pound notes into the COMMISSIONAIRE's hands,
replaces his wallet, and takes the women - one on either side of him -
to the waiting taxi. Once he is out of earshot PALERMO turns to
GLEN excitedly.
PALERMO
Do you realise I'm trembling?
Klydonhall and Selsey haven't turned
up, and I've got to play it cool. Do
I look cool?
GLEN
Yes, you do.


109. Contd.
PALERMO
They should have been here an hour
ago! Sometimes I wonder how my
nerves stand it. This might be the
death of a deal!
(gazing at him
with admiration)
You're really cool. You really don't
care!
CUT:
110. EXT. SOHO STREET. EVENING
GLEN and PALERMO are getting into the taxi with the COMMISSIONAIRE
behind them. PALERMO turns to the COMMISSIONAIRE.
PALERMO
(taking the
COMMISSIONAIRE's
arm and speaking
very close)
Lord Klydonhall is coming. At least,
I hope to Christ he is. Tell him
we're at The Mimosa. Put him into
a taxi.
He pushes some money into the COMMISSIONAIRE 's hand.
COMMISSIONAIRE
(with a confidential
nod)
You leave it to me.
PALERMO gets in the taxi. The door slams shut.
CUT:
111. INT. NIGHT CLUB. EVENING
The CAM. travels round the dim heavily-curtained, heavily-
carpeted night-club, its tables and armchairs raised on platforms -
one nook hidden from another by trellis work and potted plants. A
few couples are dancing on a lonely floor. The CAM. finds a table in
the corner with GRIGG, LOUISE and MURIEL sitting silent and rather
disconsolate with glasses before them and a bottle of champagne on the
ice.
WAITERS pass to and fro.
PALERMO and GLEN walk in. The party at the table does not seem
to brighten up. PALERMO and GLEN sit down. A WAITER at once
brings two more glasses and pours champagne.
GRIGG
What happened. to your good friends,
John?


111. Contd.
PALERMO
They'll be right over.
He leans back in the chair, apparently quite easy with himself,and
lights a cigarette.
LOUISE
(to GLEN)
Enjoying herself, Glen?
GLEN
I think so. And you?
LOUISE
(with a miserable
expression)
Whale of a time!
They sit there in silence.
Suddenly a WAITER comes to PALERMO.
WAITER
Lord Klydonhall, sir.
PALERMO leaps up. In the doorway are KLYDONHALL and SELSEY
with CHARLES DORNELLING.
GRIGG
(calling out)
Well, hello, Charlie!
CHARLES DORNELLING deprecates the shouting, but covers it with
a cheerful wave. He is torn between obsequious power-feelings for
GRIGG on the one hand and class-awe of KLYDONHALL on the other.
PALERMO does the introducing..
PALERMO
This is Lord Klydonhall, Mrs.
Grigg, Muriel. This is Professor
Jefferson Grigg and here's my old
friend Leonard Harcourt Selsey.
DORNELLING
(to PALERMO)
I'm not sure we 've met before.
PALERMO
(giving him a steely
and determined look,
very erect and holding
out his hand)
How d'you do?
They shake hands and DORNELLING winces from PALERMO's grip.


Contd.
GRIGG
(with creased
smiles all round)
Very glad to meet you all. Well,
Charles, boy, how far did you get
this morning, in that punt?
There is boyish laughter all round.
DORNELLING
As a matter of fact, we grounded
at Caius!
GRIGG plants himself next to KLYDONHALL and they begin a close
discussion with each other, their heads bent together.
PALERMO
(to MURIEL)
Why don't you take Glen round the
floor?
This looks like an order and she gets up waiting for GLEN. He rises
too, and they walk on to the dark floor.
CUT:
112. INT. NIGHT CLUB. EVENING
GLEN and MURIEL are dancing on the floor, neither of them very
interested in the dance.
GLEN
Do. you feel alright, now?
I heard about it - from Pat.
They dance on - she gazing ahead with disenchanted eyes.
MURIEL
You know what John Palermo said
to me one day? There are millions
of suicides, he said. Successful
ones. You meet them every day.
They did it so well there was no
body, not a mark to be seen.
Well, that's me!
She gazes into GLEN's eyes with a sad expression. They go on dancing.
The CAM.PANS round the night-club and once more finds our group in
the corner. It pushes in to find GRIGG, KLYDONHALL, SELSEY and
DORNELLING in close discussion, their chairs together. The CAM.
moves on to where LOUISE and PALERMO were seated. They are not
there.
CUT:


113. INT. GLEN'S ATTIC ROOM. NIGHT
The landing outside GLEN's room in darkness as a couple come up the
stairs, their shoes clattering on the bare boards. They stop to kiss.
The door of the attic room is open, and lamp comes through the window
from the street beyond. LOUISE and PALERMO arm in arm, clinging
to each other, reach the landing, They walk towards GLEN's room,
stopping constantly to kiss. He is already baring her shoulders. They
push the door, further open.
The CAM.TRACKS after them into the room. They fall on to the bed,
kissing and pulling each other's clothes off.
CUT:
114. INT. NIGHT CLUB. NIGHT
GRIGG, SELSEY, KLYDONHALL and DORNELLING are still talking,
though flopped out now in their armchairs, ashtrays full in front of
them, with bottles of wine, plates of sandwiches.
GRIGG
Yes, Harcourt, there's a helluva
lot in it, but you don't mind me
saying Massacre 2 is redundant.
SELSEY
I do mind, I do.
(with alarm and
some writhing)
No, Jeff. I can prove it works,
and Charles can give-you book,
bell and candle on it - I mean,
he's the brain, after all.
GRIGG
Well, what Charles has to say
is gospel for me, as you probably
know. But in this- case, I'm just
repeating what I heard back in
Washington.
DORNELLING
What you heard in Washington,
Jeff, was about Massacre I,
unless I'm mistaken. In fact, the
Under-Secretary said to me about
a week ago, I mean, this is off the
cuff and the record, he said
Massacre I as a weapon stank, but
it had been damned effective in
getting us noticed in the Pentagon.
(with a clubby laugh)
I'm not sure he had the ears of the
Minister there, but I've a damned
good idea they chewed it over about
a minute and a half before I came
into the room.


114. Contd.
GRIGG
Okay. I know your heart's in this,
Charles, and I don't need to tell you
I'm looking at it seriously all the
time. I'm open to persuasion. It's
a wonder weapon, and the cheapest
article of its size I've ever heard
about. Just to think - we're talk-
ing about total destruction - at a
decent market price! And people
say it isn't hell
SELSEY and DORNELLING laugh with polite indulgence.
KLYDONHALL
(nodding grimly)
If we don't produce it somebody else
will.
CUT:
115. INT. GLEN'S ATTIC ROOM. NIGHT
PALERMO and LOUISE are frantic with enjoyment as the CAM, comes
down to them, to STAY on them for a time.
CUT:
116. INT. NIGHT CLUB. NIGHT
GRIGG, SELSEY, KLYDONHALL and DORNELLING are still talking.
DORNELLING
(in a seventh
heaven of satis-
fied ambition)
What the devil was that hunch of
Joe's called - it was beyond the
trial stage in six months? Clever
blighter, that, though true enough,
what he has in elegance he loses
in sheer fussiness. I mean, take
the fuse attachment. I ask you.
PAN over to the dance floor, where MURIEL and GLEN are still
dancing. ZOOM IN as the dance comes to a close.
GLEN
I think I'll push off.
MURIEL
My night's beginning.
(with a glance
at GRIGG)
GLEN
Why do you stand for it?


116. Contd.
MURIEL
Money. Why do you ?
They walk off the floor.
CUT:
117. INT. a GLEN'S ATTIC ROOM. NIGHT
Back again to LOUISE and PALERMO who are in the calm after the
storm, kissing each other softly.
CUT:
118. INT. - NIGHT CLUB. NIGHT
GRIGG and MURIEL are sitting together, all the others have gone.
They are looking miserable in different ways: GRIGG creased and
tired, MURIEL apathetic.
MURIEL
(gazing down
at the table)
I thought it all out. The night I
took the pills. I thought, why do
away with your body, really,
because you haven't got a body,
anyway. It doesn't belong to you,
I don't feel it belongs to me. It
does things I don't want it to do,
with people I don't want.
GRIGG
(taking a drink)
Ya - ya. I get it. But nobody's
forcing you to anything.
CUT:
119. EXT. - COVENT GARDEN STREET. NIGHT.
GLEN is walking along a side-street alone, his overcoat open. The
dead of night.
The street is deserted. There is only the sound of his footsteps.
CUT:


120. EXT. COVENT GARDEN STREET. NIGHT
GLEN is approaching PALERMO's office. He walks into the dark door-
way, and we hear his feet clatter up the stairs.
CUT;
121. INT. GLEN'S ATTIC ROOM. NIGHT
We are on the landing outside GLEN's room, his feet come clattering
up. He reaches the landing. We TRACK in after him. He pushes open
the door and switches on the light, takes off his overcoat, hangs it on
a hook behind the door, looks at his suitcases, begins loosening his
tie, then he turns round and his eyes meet the bed. It is chaos -
sheets, pillows and blankets are mixed up everywhere, and dangling
towards the floor is the bra that LOUISE put on his head the previous
evening. He goes to the bed and sits down. He takes the bra and
holds it before him.
CUT:
122. INT. GLEN'S ATTIC ROOM. MORNING
An envelope is leaning against the beside photographs with 'GLEN'
in block capitals across it. The sound of a typewriter comes from
below. The CAM. PANS to find GLEN asleep on thel bed in his clothes
with the bra still in his hand. He wakes up. He looks round, he
notices the bra, blinks, puts it aside, stretches, begins to recollect.
He looks across the window with a rather wistful expression. Sunlight
is coming in. He puts the bra aside and begins to sit up with some
effort. He catches sight of the envelope. He takes it quickly, opens
it, and a C. U. of what he finds shows a cheque. It pays cash to the
sum of fifty pounds, and is signed JACK RYAN. GLEN puts it in his
pocket. He gets up, grooms his hair, looks at himself in the glass of
the window, he stretches again, then leaves the attic room.
CUT:
123. INT. PALERMO'S SECRE TARIAL OFFICE. MORNING
PAT is typing when GLEN, looking dishevelled, comes into the room.
She stops.
GLEN
I've just woken up. Did you bring
the cheque?
PAT
What, another cheque? You seem
to have golden fingers, honey.
GLEN
It was from Jack Ryan.
PAT
I tried to shake you awake, but
it didn't work. You seem to have
had a good night of it.


123. Contd.
GLEN
I don't know about good. Is he in?
PALERMO (VOICE OVER)
Yes, he is.
GLEN strolls through to the other office. We TRACK after him.
PALERMO is sitting behind his desk, idle, gazing before him,
rather sullen. He looks up at GLEN in a kindly way and gestures him
to sit down.
PALERMO
It was the tops, Glen. Never
had anything like it in my life.
I thought she was going to have
my blood as well.
GLEN
On my bed, too.
PALERMO
Where else do you think I'm
going? Hell, it's all my
property.
GLEN
Did you get your big explosion
last night, too?
PALERMO
(screwing up his eyes)
What big explosion?
GLEN
You said you were bringing brains
and money together, and that
always meant a big explosion.
PALERMO
(unwillingly torn
from his subject)
Oh, that. I expect they'll produce
a nice new weapon. It'll kill more
people in a shorter time than any-
thing before. Whereas I like to spin
it out, I like to go on for hours.
You see, they have to develop those
kind of weapons because they don't
know how to use their own. The
minute I clapped eyes on that
Charlie Dornelling I knew he'd never
really slept with a woman, so, of
course, he's got to develop a weapon
that's big and made of steel. But is
that any worse than what you do?


123. Contd.
GLEN
What do I do?
PALERMO
I'll show it to you in the morning
paper.
(taking the paper
and handing it to
GLEN)
GLEN
(taking it absently)
I grow wine, in Italy.
PALERMO
Yeah,
(with a smile)
and I grow toenails.
CUT:
124, INT. HOTEL ROOM. MORNING
This is a spacious hotel suite where the GRIGGS are staying.
TRACK through. to a double bed. LOUISE is dead asleep. GRIGG is
seated on his side of the bed in his dressing gown, rubbing his eyes
awake. He turns to look at LOUISE. He shakes her. She does not
budge.
GRIGG
(to himself)
Yeah, yeah!
He gets up, disconsolate, and walks into the other room where a break-
fast tray has been set on a low table together with the morning paper.
Here sunlight pours into the room. The light is painful for him. He
sits down with a yawn, stretches his legs, and pours himself a cup of
coffee. He gulps down a few mouthfuls and seems to feel some relief.
He takes up the newspaper, looks at it in an idle way, more yawns,
he opens it, clears his throat and then he is galvanised into life by what
he sees. He suddenly leans forward gripping the paper and from his
P.V. we see a picture of himself laughing and the bold headline:
THE NAKED TRUTH OF PROFESSOR'S PARTY.
CUT:
125. INT. PALERMO'S OFFICE. MORNING
We are on the same newspaper and the same piece of news, only
GLEN is reading it. He reads what he sees.
GLEN
(reading)
The guests at Professor Grigg's
party (his Cambridge apartment


125. Contd.
GLEN (contd)
belongs to Defence Brain, Charles
Dornelling) heard some naked
truths last night. I was one of them,
so I know
GLEN's voice trails on over the next scene.
CUT:
126. INT. HOTEL ROOM. MORNING
GRIGG is reading the same piece. He grips the newspaper in both
hands as if squeezing someone to death.
GLEN (VOICE OVER)
Listening to the Professor talking
naked is quite an experience. One
of the guests at the Professor's
party was Boston-born General
Heeley, famous in the last war for
smooth liaison work between British
and American headquarters. The
Professor, I noticed, waited for the
General to leave before he turned
the heat on, and it certainly would
have been a bit hot for any army
man, since the Professor has strong
views on the conventional chocolate
soldier. The great number of guests
last night presented in the Professor's
language a problem of identification,
and it was groovey to issue them with
number tags for their clothes. The
central heating was at the proverbial
American boiling point, or, should I
say, vaporation point? At the end,
close on dawn, I felt like a man with
his head in a saucepan, being boiled.
One thing I can say, the Professor
has a. cellar as well stocked with
surprises as his lectures. I tasted
his Mouton Rothschild, SO I know.
GRIGG suddenly brings the whole newspaper together with a bang,
and with a: few powerful movements crushes it into a ball and hurls
it across the room. He takes up the cream telephone at his side,
and with trembling self-control, gripping the phone so that his
knuckles are white, he speaks.
GRIGG
Give me the Receptionist. Good
morning. Ibelieve we know each
other. I'd like. you to do some-
thing for me. Give Mr. Palermo
a call, and tell him I'd like to have


126. Contd.
GRIGG (contd)
Glen
(almost giving way
to his feelings)
for tea today - here at this hotel.
Thank you.
He crashes the telephone down.
CUT:
127. INT. PALERMO'S OFFICE. MORNING
GLEN and PALERMO are still sitting there, GLEN has just finished
reading the article.
PALERMO
See what I mean? WhenI saw that
I came up to your room with the
idea of throwing you out of the
window - bed and all. And then
I looked at you, and I thought you
had something wise about you, and
then I thought, 'Well, he knows his
man, he knows Grigg's going to eat
out of his hand for this sort of
thing. f
The telephone rings. PALERMO takes up the phone.
PALERMO (contd)
Yes? I'll give him the message.
Thank you.
(putting the
phone down)
You see what I mean? - he wants you
for tea. Imagine that! A nice
English tea-party, for having knifed
somebody in the back. That's success-
ful journalism!
GLEN
Oh, I don't give a damn any more.
PALERMO
You never did, you never cared!
GLEN
(looking up, slowly)
No, I suppose I never did. I never
cared. I'm thinking about some-
thing else all the time.
PALERMO
That's why I took you on. I think
we make a marvellous'team. How
much did Jack Ryan give you, by
the way ?


127. Contd.
GLEN
Fifty.
PALERMO
I'll see he trebles that before the
week's out. I'll have to disapprove
of you a. lot, Glen, I'll have to tell
Louise I can't stand the sight of you,
and I'll have to promise Grigg that
I'm going to fire you. I'll have to
tell them that I'm afraid of you!
And sometimes when I look at you
I think I ought to be afraid. You
have something
(he stops, thinking)
something I've always wanted. I
don't know what it is.
(he looks at his
watch)
In half-an-hour from now they 'll be
having their conference on the new
weapon
(leaning back
with pleasure)
and tonight I'll be having my little
conference! My weapon doesn't
have to be financed, by anybody.
(cheerfully)
Women are the ruin of men.
GLEN
No woman ever ruined me, unless
I wanted her to.
PALERMO
But I want her to.
CUT:
128. INT. HOTEL FOYER. AFTERNOON
This is the spacious foyer of GRIGG's top category hotel. GLEN
comes in, looks about him, and goes to the desk.
GLEN
(to the RECEPTIONIST)
Professor Grigg, please.
RECEPTIONIST
He's through there - in the tea
lounge.
GLEN
Thank you.
He walks away.
CUT:


129. INT. THE TEA LOUNGE. AFTERNOON
GRIGG is seated in one of the comfortable chairs. There are a few
people taking tea. GRIGG is dressed with special care, his strikingly
white shirt with a tie-pin, a dark suit with black suede shoes. He has
a thick gold ring on his marriage finger, and he has clearly been to
the hairdresser.
GLEN walks into the lounge. GRIGG studies him as he approaches
without moving either body or face. GLEN stops in front of him.
GRIGG
Sit down, Glen.
GLEN sits down. GRIGG motions to a WAITER, who comes across
at once.
GRIGG (contd)
(to WAITER)
Tea and toast, for two, please.
And a double scotch.
GLEN
I expect you were steamed up
about that article. You see,
it wasn't my fault at all. Ijust
didn't realise -
GRIGG
(harshly)
Okay! Let's cut out the phoney
stuff! Of course, I was human
enough to want to drive red-hot
needles through your eyeballs,
kick you in the pants until steam
came off, and throw you out of
the top-floor window. In fact, I
nearly burnt this hotel down, but
it made me give Palermo my
personal account right away,
without even talking it over.
GLEN
GRIGG
Did he explain the work?
GLEN
GRIGG
Listen. Why don't you name your
price and be damned for it? You
got a thousand bucks out of Louise,
that was payment for procuring.
Well, you made two people very
happy. She came back this morning


129. Contd.
GRIGG (contd)
looking like a Roman empress when
the old man's been away at the wars
- knocked to hell. She rattled when
she sat down and she gave me a
chronicle of the whole thing. There's
nothing she didn't do to that man.
GLEN
Anyway, what's my work?
GRIGG
You name your terms, Glen, and
then we can start talking.
GLEN
But I don't know what work's expected
of me.
GRIGG
Okay, play it that way, if you want
to. I wanna story once a week, and
I don't mean the provincial press,
either.
GLEN
What kind of a story?
GRIGG
Well, hell, not the kind you let off
this morning.
GLEN
But, how do I know the papers are
going to be interested in what I
tell them - I mean -
GRIGG
(harsh again)
Listen, cut that out, will you!
And I wanna tell you one more
thing: You try and get a smear on
me in any newspaper. with a circula-
tion above a thousand, Glen, and
you're finished as fromtoday. I'm
in with your boss, and I'm deep in,
and Louise is paying with her body.
That's the kind of hell we live in.
The WAITER comes with the whisky. GRIGG grabs the glass before
the WAITER has time to take it from the tray. GRIGG has swallowed
half the whisky in a moment. The WAITER watches him with surprise.
GRIGG
By God, I needed that!
(to the WAITER,
holding his glass
up for soda)
Come on.


129. Contd.
The WAITER, who seems used to him, spurts soda into the whisky,
and then deposits the siphon on the table. He leaves.
GRIGG
When Louise came to me this
morning with her eyes popping
out of her head, looking like
she'd been knocked up once a
minute for a fortnight, I said,
Okay, Lou, do it all you like,
and I hope you get it out of
your system. Know what she
wants ?
GLEN
GRIGG
Just one night - a whole night
with John Palermo, not just a
couple or three hours after
dinner, but the whole damned
night from teatime on, diving
into that charnel-house. I
wonder where they get it all
from, I WO nder what they can
be doing to each other. Glen,
she needs it so bad it's like a
pain, and I love her so much
I want to spare her the pain.
So I say, Okay, Lou, you get
it out of your system. Ah, she
knows there's nothing between
me and Muriel. She knows it
gives me the biggest thrill of
my life thinking about her, and
that makes her even wilder to
get back on that bed with him.
You don't call that hell? What
they must be doing to each other
- sometimes it frightens me!
She told me they only have to
get inside a room and they just
kind of throw themselves in like
boxers - they're stripped off
before you can say Heironymus
Bosch!
GLEN
Yes. On my bed.
GRIGG
(nodding and
moving closer
to GLEN)
That's why we' 're here, that's why
you're staying with me all night.


129. Contd.
GLEN
All night?
GRIGG
I've promised to keep you out of your
bed till dawn, and I'm a man who
keeps promises.
GLEN
Till dawn! Listen -
GRIGG
I tell you what, Glen, you don't need
to sleep. Nature's a name for play-
ing it lazy, that's why this earth's
been standing still all these centuries,
nothing's been done because of some
darned frowsy idea that the old lady
called Nature is out there looking
after everything. And how do I
behave exactly when I'm natural,
can you tell me that? Have they
seen it - this Nature? - talked to
it? I tell you what, Glen, we 've got
further in ten years ofhitting Nature
round the face than they did in three
thousand, those Nature bugs, because
life's a fight every minute of the day.
You even gotta be careful whenyou're
asleep. Don't sleep while your enemy's
awake. Always remember those words,
Glen, No, I'd justlike 'em to tell me
what Nature is.
(finishing his drink
and then motioning
to the WAITER for
another one)
CUT:
EXT. COVENT GARDEN STREET. EVENING
A taxi draws up outside PALERMO's office. PALERMO and LOUISE
get out. He pays off the taxi and they walk in.
CUT:
131. INT. GLEN'S ATTIC ROOM. EVENING
PALERMO and LOUISE come up the stairs pausing to kiss and fondle
each other. They reach the first landing. We TRACK in after them
as before, They throw themselves on to the bed.
CUT:


132. INT. TEA LOUNGE. EVENING
GLEN and GRIGG are sitting with the tea things before them.
GLEN
Try not sleeping for a week, then
you'll find out what Nature is.
Nature's there all right. I can see
it in my vines, for instance.
GRIGG
(with a sudden happy
burst of laughter)
Those vines again:
(gripping GLEN's hand
with great enjoyment)
They came o'er my ear like the
sweet sound of breeze upon a
bank of violets, stealing and
giving odour!
(releasing another
rusty guffaw, ducking
his head and shaking
it with enjoyment)
GRIGG relaxes again, gazing into the distance, still shaking his head
lightly over the big laugh. He looks at GLEN in a soft way.
GRIGG
What d'ya think they're doing now?
Boy, I'm so randy sitting here I
could fertilise a stable full of
cattle out of season. Don't tell
me infidelity breaks up marriages,
Glen; it builds them into Paradise,
unless this is Hell. If it is, I'm
staying, because I like it.
(with sudden
resolution)
Come on! Let's pick up Muriel
and go to the club. We'll make a
night of it. Come on, Glen. Pick
yoursèlf out of Nature's chair.
Come on.
He pulls GLEN up with affectionate vigour and clutches his arm.
They march out of the tea lounge.
CUT:
133. INT. GLEN'S ROOM. NIGHT
There is the sound of kissing and sighing and we come down to PALERMO
and LOUISE on the bed making soft love.
CUT:


134. INT. NIGHT CLUB. NIGHT
GRIGG, MURIEL and GLEN are seated together at the same table.
they all occupied the night before. MURIEL and GLEN are looking
drawn and tired. There is a bottle of whisky and a soda siphon on the
table before them. GRIGG is talking rather unsteadily.
GRIGG
Yeah, our wives are unfaithful.
We feel damned insecure, and this
makes us do insecure things. We're
slipping, and hanging on to each
other, and pushing each other down.
We wake up in the morning feeling
like dead men, and we go to sleep
at night wanting to kill ourselves,
and just as your clever boss John
Palermo says, we kill ourselves
every day, and some people are
brave enough to go the whole hog
and cut their wrists or take an
overdose of pills, like the Mouse,
here, eh, Honey? How you making
out today, Muriel?
MURIEL
Okay.
They sit looking glumly before them.
CUT:
135. INT. GLEN'S ROOM. NIGHT
We are on the bronze Buddha. We come down to more love-making,
between LOUISE and PALMERO, less soft than before.
CUT:
136. INT. NIGHT CLUB. NIGHT
The same table with GRIGG, MURIEL and GLEN. GRIGG is drunk
now.
There are many more people than before. The dance floor is full.
There is a great noise round them. Our party has been drinking
champagne as well as whisky.
GRIGG
Tell yer something, Glen. Me and
this girl here's gonna sleep
together tonight. And we don't
even like each other.
(giving MURIEL a
pleasant look)
She's young, she treats sex like
Heaven, whereas I want the truth.


136. Contd.
GRIGG (contd)
Sometimes I wanna scream out at the
top of my voice: 'Why don't you all
come clean! What's all this embell-
ishment for?' Let's go back to my
hotel. Come on. I'd like to show
you two something. I'd like to show
you the truth. Come on.
CUT:
137. INT. GLEN'S ATTIC. NIGHT
PALERMO and LOUISE are lying together, naked, asleep, she on top
of him.
CUT:
138. INT. GRIGG'S SUITE. NIGHT
This is the sitting room of GRIGG's suite.
GRIGG, MURIEL and GLEN are there. GRIGG is in: the process of
unfolding a simply enormous blueprint of DORNELLING's projected
missile Massacre 2 across the floor. It nearly covers the entire
room. As he is fairly drunk he stumbles and gets the ends ruckled.
GLEN watches him from his armchair, his legs stretched out, his
eyes narrow with sleep. MURIEL stands gazing at the enormous
design, disconsolate. GRIGG keeps giving her quick upward glances
as he bends to adjust it with pride.
GRIGG
(unbending)
Well? How do you like it? That's
the egg you clever boss hatched up,
and you're wondering why I'm look-
ing proud and why I feel all of a
sudden peaceful because I know this
is something we need, this is some-
thing which gives us security, and
by God we all need that. Even you
need it, don't you, Glen?
GLEN nods,drowsily.
MURIEL stares down at the print and suddenly bursts into tears.
MURIEL
I don't want to see missiles!
GRIGG
(holding her)
Okay, honey. I'll fold it up.


138. Contd.
MURIEL
(looking over
GRIGG's shoulder
at GLEN)
And he's fallen asleep.
GRIGG
Ah, he's always been asleep.
That's why I like him. Iwish
I'd never woken up, either .
(gazing across
at the window,
stroking MURIEL's
hair)
Hey, look, dawn's arrived.
(to GLEN softly)
You can get back to your bed now,
Glen.
CUT:
139. EXT. COVENT GARDEN STREET. DAWN
GLEN walking along a deserted street huddled against the chill air,
gazing down at the pavement.
CUT:
140. EXT. ANOTHER STREET. DAWN
GLEN enters the doorway of PALERMO's office and walks up the
stairs.
CUT:
141. INT. GLEN'S ATTIC ROOM. DAWN
GLEN comes up the stairs with slow steps; he reaches the landing;
he walks slowly on to his room. The door is wide open. We TRACK
in after him. He stands in the doorway looking round. We follow his
gaze until it rests on the bed.
PALERMO is lying there on his back naked, a sheet half covering
him, one arm dangling down to the floor.
GLEN
(to himself)
Oh no!
He walks across the room slowly and sits down on the bed at
PALERMO's side. PALERMO does not move. GLEN gazes down at
him. He looks at him with a certain tenderness.
Some time passes. He touches PALERMO but PALERMO does not
move. GLEN shakes him slightly.


141. Contd,
GLEN
Hey, I want to sleep,too.
He shakes PALERMO again. He frowns. He looks at PALERMO
more closely. He shakes him harder.
GLEN
Palermo! Palermo!
But PALERMO does not move. GLEN feels PALERMO's shoulder.
He keeps his hand there, he gazes before him with fear. PALERMO
does not move. He i's dead.
GLEN
(with fear)
Palermo!
He withdraws a little from PALERMO, he continues to stare down at
him, he withdraws from the bed still looking at PALERMO's motion-
less body, he walks back to the doorway still staring across at the
divan. He bumps into the door, starts, looking round frightened.
Then he looks back again at PALERMO. He leaves the room. He
walks slowly along the landing, his overcoat open, his hands in the
pockets, gazing down, astonished, lost, almost crying. He walks
down the stairs. We hear his heavy, slow steps.
We STAY on the open door of GLEN's room until the steps have ceased.
CUT:
142. INT. DOOR TO THE STREET. DAWN
GLEN is leaning against the door frame, gazing into the deserted
streët. We see him from inside. He is quite motionless. There is
silence. The light is growing outside.
CUT:
143. EXT. COVENT GARDEN STRE ET. DAWN
MURIEL is walking along slowly, dishevelled, tears pouring down her
face, biting her lip.
CUT:
144. INT. DOOR TO THE STREET. DAWN
Again GLEN leaning against the door frame seen from inside, motion-
less as before. He looks down the street, he stirs. A flash of
MURIEL coming down towards him. Her steps sound in the silence
of the street. She reaches the entrance.
GLEN
I've got something to tell you.


144. Contd.
MURIEL
I know already. She came bac k.
Louise! She: rushed into the room
she said, 'He's dead. Palermo's
dead! He died underneath her.
Oh, Glen.
She collapses on to GLEN. They stay in the doorway.
GLEN
Has he got a wife?
MURIEL
Who?
GLEN
Palermo.
MURIEL
Yes, he's got a wife. It'sme.
GLEN
MURIEL
It wasn't much of a marriage -
They remain together, the deserted street beyond them.
GLEN
He said his wife was in the south
of France. Iremember.
MURIEL
That was the first one. I don't
know why he married me. He
was never nice to me. One of
us had to die.
GLEN
Why didn't you say you were
married - either of you?
MURIEL
Because we weren't proud of it.
GLEN
So why did you marry?
MURIEL
We loved each other. It's absurd.
(with a shrug)
I've given up trying to reason things
out.
GLEN
And you let him send you off to other
men?


144. Contd.
MURIEL
(giving him a long look)
I'm not nice, darling! Not all of us
are.
(touching his face)
In the next life I might be. What
are you going to do now - I mean
for a job and that?
GLEN
Go back.
MURIEL
Wher e?
GLEN
Naples.
MURIEL
What made you come?
GLEN
Curiosity.
MURIEL
And have you got a better world
over there?
GLEN
No. The same.
MURIEL
And you thought you'd find a better
life here?
GLEN
Yes.
MURIEL
Nice people are always fools.
GLEN
I know. I prefer it. 1 Being a fool.
MURIEL
We ought to call a doctor. The police.
GLEN nods. They walk slowly up the stairs. We watch them coming
up, then to the office. He goes to the telephone.
GLEN
(hisihand on the
telephone)
Did you sleep with Grigg?
MURIEL
No. He talked about hell all the time.


144. Contd.
MURIEL (contd)
(slumping into a chair)
He's right.
GLEN
Oh. Hell's inside. So is heaven.
He begins dialling.