Double Indemnity Page #23

Yeah. I remembered all right. Just

as I remembered what you had told

me, Keyes, about that trolley car

ride and how there was no way to get

off -- until the end of the line.

DISSOLVE TO:

D-11 INT. NEFF'S OFFICE - (NIGHT)

Neff is dictating into the dictaphone.

NEFF:

Yeah, I remembered it all right.

Just as I remembered what you had

told me, Keyes, about that trolley

car ride, and how there was no way

to get off until the end of the line,

where the cemetery was. And I got to

thinking what cemeteries are for.

They're to put dead people in, I

guess that was the first time I ever

thought about Phyllis that way. Dead,

I mean, and how things would be if

she was dead. Because the way it was

now she had me by the throat. She

could hang me higher than a kite any

day she felt like it. And there was

nothing I could do, except hold my

breath and watch that day come closer

and closer, and maybe pray a little,

if I still knew how to pray... I saw

Lola three or four times that week.

I guess it sounds crazy, Keyes, after

what I had done, but it was only

with her that I could relax and let

go a little. Then one night we drove

up into the hills above Hollywood

Bowl...

DISSOLVE TO:

D-12 HOLLYWOOD HILLS (NIGHT) (TRANSPARENCY)

Neff and Lola are climbing over a low hill in the foreground.

The sky is starlit and music from the Bowl comes over the

scene from below (Cesar Franck D Minor Symphony). As he helps

her climb up, CAMERA PANS with them and shows the expanse of

the Bowl below, a packed audience, and the orchestra on the

lighted shell.

They sit down on the grass. Neff sits near her, not too close.

It is very dark and they are silhouetted against the shell

lights. Neff puts a cigarette in his mouth and strikes a

match. The flame lights up Lola's face. Neff glances at her.

She is crying. He lights his cigarette and blows out the

match. A pause follows.

NEFF:

Why are you crying?

Lola doesn't answer.

NEFF:

You won't tell me?

LOLA:

(In a choked voice)

Of course I will, Walter. I wouldn't

tell anybody else but you. It's about

Nino.

NEFF:

Zachetti? What about him?

LOLA:

They killed my father together. He

and Phyllis. He helped her do it. I

know he did.

NEFF:

What makes you say that?

LOLA:

I've been following him. He's at her

house, night after night. It was

Phyllis and him all the time. Maybe

he was going with me just for a blind.

And the night of the murder --

NEFF:

You promised not to talk that way

any more.

LOLA:

-- he was supposed to pick me up

after a lecture at U.C.L.A. -- but

he never showed up. He said he was

sick. Sick! He couldn't show up,

because the train was leaving with

my father on it.

She begins to cry again.

LOLA:

Maybe I'm just crazy. Maybe it's all

just in my mind.

NEFF:

Sure, it's all in your mind.

LOLA:

I only wish it was, Walter, because

I still love him.

Over Neff's face, as he listens to the music, comes the

commentary.

DISSOLVE TO:

D-13 LOBBY OF PACIFIC BLDG. (DAY)

NEFF'S VOICE

Zachetti. That's funny. Phyllis and

Zachetti. What was he doing up at

her house? I couldn't figure that

one out I tried to make sense out of

it and got nowhere. But the real

brain-twister came the next day. You

sprang it on me, Keyes, after office

hours, when you caught me down in

the lobby of the building.

About 5:
00 P.M. or a little later. A stream of office

employees is coming out of an elevator; a second elevator

reaches the lobby and some more office employees come out,

among them Neff, wearing his hat and carrying his briefcase.

CAMERA PRECEDES HIM as he walks toward the entrance doors.

He is stopped by Keyes' voice, off to one side.

KEYES' VOICE

Oh, Walter, just a minute.

Neff stops and looks towards the cigar counter, as he moves

towards him. Keyes is standing there buying cigars. He is

stuffing them into his pockets.

NEFF:

Hello, Keyes.

KEYES:

Hang onto your hat, Walter.

NEFF:

What for?

KEYES:

Nothing much. The Dietrichson case

just busted wide open.

NEFF:

How do you mean?

KEYES:

The guy showed. That's how.

NEFF:

The somebody else?

KEYES:

Yeah. The guy that did it with her.

NEFF:

No kidding?

KEYES:

She's filed suit against us, and

it's okay by me. When we get into

that courtroom I'll tear them apart,

both of them. Come on -- I'll buy

you a martini.

NEFF:

No thanks, Keyes.

KEYES:

With two olives.

NEFF:

I've got to get a shave and a

shoeshine. I've got a date.

KEYES:

Margie. I still bet she drinks from

the bottle.

He bites off the end of the cigar and puts the cigar into

his mouth. He starts tapping his pockets for a match, as

usual. Neff strikes a match for him.

NEFF:

They give you matches when they sell

you cigars, Keyes. All you have to

do is ask for them.

KEYES:

I don't like them. They always explode

in my pockets. So long, Walter.

Keyes goes toward the street and OUT OF SCENE. Neff moves

back into the lobby, CAMERA FOLLOWING HIM. As he reaches the

elevator, he looks back over his shoulder, to make sure Keyes

is gone, then steps into the empty elevator.

NEFF'S VOICE

You sure had me worried, Keyes. I

didn't know if you were playing cat-

and-mouse with me, whether you knew

all along I was the somebody else.

That's what I had to find out, and I

thought I knew where to look...

NEFF:

(To elevator operator)

Twelve.

DISSOLVE TO:

D-14 ENTRANCE - OFFICE. 12TH FLOOR RECEPTION ROOM (DAY)

Neff comes out of the elevator. The receptionist is just

tidying up her desk. She has her hat on and is preparing to

leave. Neff passes on through the swinging doors to the

twelfth floor balcony.

NEFF'S VOICE

Upstairs, the last of the people

were just leaving.

D-15 12TH FLOOR BALCONY

Neff enters from the reception room. A couple of belated

employees are leaving for the day. Neff goes toward Keyes'

office, looks around to make sure he is unobserved, enters.

NEFF'S VOICE

I made sure nobody saw me go into

your office.

D-16 KEYES' OFFICE (DAY)

Neff has just come in. He goes over to Keyes' desk and

searches the papers on it. He tries the desk drawers and

finds them locked. His eye falls on the dictaphone on the

stand beside the desk. A record is on it, the needle is about

two-thirds of the way towards the end. He lifts the needle

and sets it back to the beginning of the record, sets the

switch to playback position. He lifts the arm off the bracket

and starts the machine. Keyes' voice is heard coming from

the horn:

Rate this script:3.5 / 8 votes