A Streetcar Named Desire Page #3

You stay away from these things

before she comes out of the bathroom.

The Kowalskis and the DuBois

got a different notion on this.

Indeed they have, thank heavens.

I'm going outside.

Go ahead.

You come on out with me

while Blanche is getting dressed.

Now, since when

are you giving me orders?

Are you gonna stay here

and insult her?

You bet your life I'm gonna stay here.

Hello, Stanley.

Here I am, all freshly bathed and scented

and feeling like a brand-new human being.

Oh, that's good.

Will you excuse me

while I put on my pretty new dress?

Go ahead.

Oh.

Thank you.

I understand there's to be

a little card party here tonight...

...to which we ladies

are cordially not invited.

That's right.

Where...? Where is Stella?

She's out there on the porch.

I'm going to ask a favor of you

in a moment.

Well, now, what's that gonna be,

I wonder.

Some buttons in back.

You may enter.

How do I look?

You look okay.

Well, thanks. Now the button.

Well, I can't do no more with them.

You men with your big, clumsy fingers.

- May I have a drag on your cig?

- Yeah, have one for yourself.

Why, thank you. It...

It looks like my trunk has exploded.

Me and Stella was helping you unpack.

You certainly did a fast

and thorough job of it.

Well, certainly looks like you raided

some stylish shops in Paris, Blanche.

Clothes are my passion.

How much does it cost

for a string of furs like that?

Why, these were a tribute

from an admirer of mine.

He must have had a lot of admiration.

In my youth I excited some admiration,

but look at me now.

Would you think it possible that I

was once considered to be attractive?

Your looks are okay.

- I was fishing for a compliment.

- I don't go for that stuff.

- What stuff?

- Compliments to women about looks.

I never met a dame didn't know she was

good-looking or not without being told.

And some of them give themselves

credit for more than they've got.

I once went out with a dame

who told me, "I'm the glamorous type."

She says, "I am the glamorous type."

I says, "So what?"

- And what did she say then?

- She didn't say nothing.

- That shut her up like a clam.

- Did it end the romance?

Well, it ended the conversation,

that was all.

There's some men that are took in

by this Hollywood glamour stuff...

...and there's some men that aren't.

- You belong in the second category.

- That's right.

- I can't imagine any witch of a woman...

...casting a spell over you.

- That's right.

You're simple,

straightforward and honest.

A little bit on the primitive side,

I should think.

- To interest you a woman would have to...

- To lay her cards on the table.

Well, I never did care

for wishy-washy people.

That was why when you walked

in last night, I said to myself:

"My sister has married a man."

Of course.

- That was all I could tell...

- How about cutting the rebop!

Stanley!

Come on outside with me

and let Blanche finish dressing.

- I'm finished dressing.

- Then come on out.

- Your sister and I are having a talk.

- Honey...

...run to the drugstore and get me

a lemon Coke with chipped ice.

Will you do that for me,

sweetie, please? Please.

All right.

Poor thing was out there listening to us.

And I have an idea she doesn't

understand you as well as I do.

All right now, Mr. Kowalski, let us

proceed without any more digression.

I'm ready to answer all questions.

I have nothing to hide.

What is it?

In the state of Louisiana we got here

what's known as the Napoleonic Code.

Which says, what belongs to the wife

belongs to the husband and vice versa.

My, but you have

an impressive judicial air.

If I didn't know that you was my wife's

sister, I would get ideas about you.

- Such as what?

- Don't play so dumb. You know what.

All right. Cards on the table.

I know I fib a good deal. After all,

a woman's charm is 50 percent illusion.

But when a thing is important

I tell the truth.

And this is the truth:

I never cheated my sister, or you, or

anyone else on earth as long as I lived.

- Where are the papers, in your trunk?

- Everything I own is in that trunk.

What are you thinking of? What's in the

back of that little boy's mind of yours?

Let me do that.

It'll be faster and simple.

- I keep my papers mostly in this tin box.

- What are those underneath?

Those are love letters...

...yellowing with antiquity...

...all from one boy. Give those back.

- I'm just gonna have a look.

- The touch of your hands insults them.

- Now, don't pull that stuff.

Now that you've touched them,

I'll burn them.

What are they?

Poems the dead boy wrote.

I hurt him the way that you would

like to hurt me. But you can't.

I'm not young and vulnerable anymore,

but my young husband was, and I...

Never mind about that.

Just give them back to me.

Thank you.

What'd you mean by saying

you have to burn them up?

I'm sorry.

I must have lost my head for a moment.

Everyone has something they won't

let others touch because of their...

Their intimate nature.

Ambler and Ambler.

Crabtree.

- More Ambler and Ambler.

- What's Ambler and Ambler?

A firm that made loans on the place.

- It was lost on a mortgage.

- That must have been what happened.

I don't want if, ands or buts.

What's the rest of the papers?

There are thousands of papers

stretching back over hundreds of years...

...affecting Belle Reve...

...as piece by piece,

our improvident grandfathers...

...exchanged the land

for their epic debauches...

...to put it mildly.

Until finally, all that was left...

And Stella can verify that.

- Was the house itself.

And about 20 acres of ground,

including a graveyard...

...to which now all but Stella

and I have retreated.

Here they are, all of them.

All papers.

I endow you with them. Take them,

peruse them, commit them to memory.

I think it's wonderfully fitting

that Belle Reve...

...should finally be this bunch of old

papers in your big, capable hands.

I wonder if Stella's

come back with my lemon Coke.

I got a lawyer acquaintance,

we'll study this out.

Present them to him

with a box of aspirin tablets.

Under the Napoleonic Code a man has got

to take an interest in his wife's affairs.

And I mean especially now

that she's gonna have a baby.

Stella?

Stella, going to have a baby?

I didn't know

she was going to have a baby.

Stella.

Oh, Stella for star,

how lovely to have a baby.

Honey, everything's all right.

We thrashed it out.

I feel a bit shaky,

but I think I handled it nicely.

I laughed and treated it all as a joke.

I laughed and called him a little boy

and flirted. Here.

I was flirting with your husband, Stella.

The guests are gathering

for the poker party.

- Hi, Stella.

- Hi, Steve.

I'm sorry he did that to you.

Why, I guess he's just not the type

that goes for jasmine perfume.

Maybe he's what we need to mix with

our blood now we've lost Belle Reve...

...and have to go on

without Belle Reve to protect us.

Oh, how pretty the sky is.

Rate this script:1.0 / 2 votes