Double Indemnity Page #24

KEYES' VOICE

(From Dictaphone)

Memo to Mr. Norton. Confidential.

Dietrichson File. With regard to

your proposal to put Walter Neff

under surveillance, I disagree

absolutely. I have investigated his

movements on the night of the crime,

and he is definitely placed in his

apartment from 7:15 P.M. on. In

addition to this, I have known Neff

intimately for eleven years, and I

personally vouch for him, without

reservation...

Neff stops the machine. He sits down slowly, still holding

the horn. He is deeply moved. After a moment, he presses the

switch again.

KEYES' VOICE

(From Dictaphone)

...Furthermore, no connection

whatsoever has been established

between Walter Neff and Mrs. Phyllis

Dietrichson, whereas I am now able

to report that such a connection has

been established between her and

another man. This man has been

observed to visit the Dietrichson

home on the night of July 9th, 10th,

11th, 12th and 13th. We have succeeded

in identifying him as one Nino

Zachetti, former medical student,

aged twenty-eight, residing at Lilac

Court Apartments 1228. N. La Brea

Avenue. We have checked Zachetti's

movements on the night of the crime

and have found that they cannot be

accounted for. I am preparing a more

detailed report for your consideration

and it is my belief that we already

have sufficient evidence against

Zachetti and Mrs. Dietrichson to

justify police action. I strongly

urge that this whole matter be turned

over to the office of the District

Attorney. Respectfully, Barton Keyes.

Neff sits, staring blankly at the wall. The cylinder goes on

revolving, but no more voice comes -- only the whir of the

needle on the empty record. At last he remembers to replace

the horn. He hangs it back on its hook. The machine stops.

Neff gets up from the chair, walks slowly to the door and

goes out.

D-17 12TH FLOOR, BALCONY

Neff has just come out of Keyes' office. He walks slowly

back towards the reception room entrance, then stands there

looking out through the glass doors. All the employees have

now left. Neff is entirely alone. He moves as if to go out,

then stops rigidly as his face lights up with excitement of

a sudden idea. He turns quickly and walks on to his own office

and enters.

D-18 NEFF'S OFFICE (DAY)

Neff walks across to his desk, lifts the telephone and dials

a number. (During the ensuing telephone conversation, only

what he says is heard. The pauses indicate speeches at the

other end of the line).

NEFF:

Phyllis? Walter. I've got to see

you... Tonight... Yes, it has to be

tonight... How's eleven o'clock?

Don't worry about Keyes. He's

satisfied... Leave the door on the

latch and put the lights out. No,

nobody's watching the house... I

told you Keyes is satisfied. It's

just for the neighbors... That's

what I said. Yeah. Eleven o'clock.

Goodbye, baby.

Neff hangs up and stands beside the desk with a grim

expression on his face, takes a handkerchief out and wipes

perspiration from his forehead and the palms of his hands.

The gesture has a symbolic quality, as if he were trying to

wipe away the murder. Over his face comes the commentary.

DISSOLVE TO:

NEFF'S VOICE

I guess I don't have to tell you

what I was going to do at eleven

o'clock, Keyes. For the first time I

saw a way to get clear of the whole

mess I was in, and of Phyllis, too,

all at the same time. Yeah, that's

what I thought. But what I didn't

know was that she was all set for

me. That she had outsmarted me again,

just like she always had...

D-19 HALL STAIRWAY OF DIETRICHSON HOME (NIGHT)

The lights are turned on. Phyllis is coming down the stairs.

She wears white lounging pajamas, and she is carrying

something small and heavy concealed in a scarf in her right

hand. She reaches the front door, opens it slightly, fixes

the catch so that the door can be opened from outside. She

switches off the porch light and the hall light. She moves

towards the living room, where there is still light on.

NEFF'S VOICE

She was all set and waiting for me.

It could have been something in my

voice when I called her up that tipped

her off. And it could have been that

she had the idea already. And an

idea wasn't the only thing she had

waiting for me.

D-20 LIVING ROOM

On the long table behind the davenport, one of the lamps is

lit. The only other light in the room is a standing lamp

beside the desk. A window toward the back is open, and through

it comes the SOUNDS OF MUSIC, probably a neighboring radio.

Phyllis enters and crosses to the table. She puts out the

lamp, then moves over to the desk and puts out the lamp there.

The room is filled with bright moonlight coming in at the

windows.

Phyllis crosses to the chair by the fireplace (the one she

sat in the first time Neff came to the house). She lifts the

loose cushion and puts what was in the scarf behind it. As

she withdraws the scarf, there is a brief glint of something

metallic before she covers the hidden object with the cushion

again.

She turns to the low table in front of the davenport and

takes a cigarette from the box. She takes a match and is

about to strike it when, just then, she hears a car coming

up the hill. She listens, motionless. The car stops. A car

door is slammed.

Calmly, Phyllis strikes the match and lights her cigarette.

She drops the match casually into a tray, goes back to the

chair, sits down and waits, quietly smoking. There are

footsteps outside the house.

Over the chair in which Phyllis is sitting, the hallway is

visible through the arch. The front door opens. Neff comes

in, he is silhouetted against the moonlight as he stands

there. He closes the door again.

PHYLLIS:

(In foreground)

In here, Walter.

Neff comes through the arch and walks slowly towards her.

NEFF:

Hello, baby. Anybody else in the

house?

PHYLLIS:

Nobody. Why?

NEFF:

What's that music?

PHYLLIS:

A radio up the street.

Neff sits down on the arm of the davenport, close to her.

NEFF:

Just like the first time I was here.

We were talking about automobile

insurance. Only you were thinking

about murder. And I was thinking

about that anklet.

PHYLLIS:

And what are you thinking about now?

NEFF:

I'm all through thinking. This is

goodbye.

PHYLLIS:

Goodbye? Where are you going?

NEFF:

It's you that's going, baby. Not me.

I'm getting off the trolley car right

at this corner.

PHYLLIS:

Suppose you stop being fancy. Let's

have it, whatever it is.

NEFF:

I have a friend who's got a funny

theory. He says when two people commit

a murder they're kind of on a trolley

car, and one can't get off without

Rate this script:3.5 / 8 votes