Frankenstein Page #8

He waves them dismissed. They laugh and exit, relieved.

Waldman squeezes Victor's elbow. Well done. Victor stiffens

at Krempe's approach.

KREMPE:

You seem to be adapting well to the approved

curriculum.

VICTOR:

Despite the lack of challenge.

Krempe reddens, but says nothing. He gives Waldman a curt

nod and walks off.

WALDMAN:

Victor. He was trying to be gracious.

VICTOR:

The strain was evident

HENRY:

Come now, you must take some satisfaction. You've

risen to the top of your class. A position of

prominence and regard.

Victor weighs this, glances at both of them, smiles.

VICTOR:

What keeps me going are my friends.

He throws his arm around Henry's neck, pulls him into an

affectionate headlock. Henry struggles and laughs:

HENRY:

Leave off!

(CONTINUED)

36

JEWELER'S SHOP - DAY

Victor is gazing with reverence at a gorgeous oval locket

dangled before him by a smiling JEWELER. He glances to Henry

for an opinion.

HENRY:

Your Elizabeth must be quite a treasure, Victor

(pointedly to jeweler)

... to justify these prices.

The jeweler's smile goes frosty.

WALDMAN'S WORKSHOP - DAY

TIGHT ANGLE ON the locket lying open against canvas,

dangling from an easel frame. TILT DOWN to reveal a

magnificent miniature oil portrait of Victor in progress, no

more than three inches high within its penciled oval.

Waldman paints with an extraordinarily delicate touch,

jeweler's glasses riding low on his nose, eyes unnaturally

large behind the magnifying lenses. Victor sits patiently

for the portrait, suffused with daylight.

Henry leans in over Waldman's shoulder, studying the

portrait. Waldman stiffens a bit, aware of his presence. He

clearly hates people looking over his shoulder.

HENRY:

(deadpan)

Shouldn't the nose be above the mouth?

Waldman heaves a long-suffering sigh. He abruptly jabs his

brush at Henry's nose, daubing it with paint. Dignity upheld

he resumes his careful work as Victor laughs.

INT - WALDMAN'S HOUSE - DINING ROOM - NIGHT

Victor, Waldman, and Henry are gathered around the remains

of a meal, laughing uproariously, enjoying one another's

company. Cigars are lit, wine is flowing. Conversation is

fast and loose, intense and passionate:

WALDMAN:

I'm quite serious. Look at all the charity and

clinic work we do. Up until thirty years ago, the

concept of vaccine was unheard of.

HENRY:

You're saying all disease will eventually be

eradicated?

(CONTINUED)

37

WALDMAN:

I'm convinced. Not by treating symptoms, but by

diving nature's most jealously-guarded secrets.

HENRY:

(turning serious)

Do you foresee this happening in our lifetimes?

WALDMAN:

No. But someday.

HENRY:

Thank goodness. We'd be out of work

A HOWL OF OUTRAGE AND LAUGHTER. Victor flings his napkin in

Henry's face.

VICTOR:

Only you would think of that!

HENRY:

(laughing)

Somebody has to!

Victor raises his wine glass. The others join. A toast.

VICTOR:

I tell you what we need, my friends. Forget the

symptoms and diseases. What we need is a vaccine

for death itself.

WALDMAN:

(laughter)

Oh, now you have gone too far, There's only one

God, Victor.

HENRY:

(raises his glass)

And here's to Him. Everything in moderation,

Frankenstein.

VICTOR:

(grins)

Nothing in moderation, Clerval.

INT - POOR HOUSE - DAY

CAMERA, TRACKS the gritty reality of a big-city poor house,

crammed with society's dregs: the poor, the uneducated,

wailing babies, stampeding children. Absolutely jangling

with noise and confusion ... loud and stifling ... people

getting eye-ear-nose-throat exams ... being vaccinated ...

(CONTINUED)

38

The "doctors" in attendance are all Ingolstadt STUDENTS

performing community service, none of whom look like they're

enjoying it. Schiller looks particularly harried

We find Victor and Henry giving out vaccinations. They keep

glancing over their shoulders at Waldman as he gets further

embroiled in a no-win argument with a wiry, ferret-faced MAN

terrified about getting his vaccination:

MAN:

Yer not stickin' it in me! Got pox in it, I hear

tell!

FAT WOMAN:

Pox? They givin' us pox?

Ripples of panic spread. Waldman is as tense and clipped as

we've ever seen him, valiantly trying to control his temper

amidst the surrounding cacophony and ad-lib dialogue:

WALDMAN:

No, it's not pox, it's a vaccine ...

FAT WOMAN:

Vaca-what?

WALDMAN:

... vaccine, from the Latin vacca, meaning cow

(glances at her girth)

... or vaccinia, meaning cowpox ...

MAN:

I told you there was pox in it I

WALDMAN:

... no, no, cowpox in a minute quantity,

perfectly harmless, gives you a natural immunity

to small ox, which is the point of this whole

bloody exercise ...

Victor and Henry are pausing work. Concerned. Drifting

closer. The ferret-faced man is cornered.

MAN:

You doctors kill people! I don' care what you

say, you ain't stickin' it in me!

WALDMAN:

I most assuredly am! It prevents disease and it's

the law! Why am I explaining myself? Somebody

restrain this damn fool!

(CONTINUED)

39

It happens this fast: There's an innocuous blur of motion as

the man seems to tap Waldman lightly in the stomach, then he

darts away, slamming past Victor and Henry. Victor looks

after him running away, hears something clatter to the

floor. He glances down. A thin knife. Victor looks to

Waldman. Puzzled. It still hasn't really dawned.

Waldman turns to them, face drained of color, hand pressed

to his sternum, lips tight. He looks more annoyed than

anything else. He exhales slowly.

HENRY:

Professor?

WALDMAN:

(softly)

Oh God

That's when the blood starts pumping through his fingers.

They catch him as he collapses, cradling him as he sprawls

to the floor. People are pushing and crowding to see.

EXT - POOR HOUSE - DAY

A cobblestoned street-scene. carriage. A delivery wagon.

Vendors. Pedestrians.

The doors of the poor house burst open, releasing a frenzy

into the street:
Victor and Henry carrying Waldman by his

arms and legs, all the students running alongside, some of

them weeping with panic, the crowd at their heels still

trying to catch a glimpse, pedestrians scattering, the

students dwindling up the long winding street, bearing their

professor toward the school, shouting for help...

INT - UNIVERSITY CHAPEL - DAY

Krempe delivers the eulogy before the open casket. The

chapel is full. Victor is seated near the back. Dazed. Henry

comes up the aisle and slides in next to him. Victor doesn't

even glance over. Henry whispers:

HENRY:

They just caught the man who did it.

VICTOR:

He was a frightened soul who acted out of fear

and ignorance.

HENRY:

They'll hang him all the same.

VICTOR:

Good. I'll be there to hear his worthless neck

snap.

(CONTINUED)

40

People glance back. Henry lays his hand on Victor's elbow.

HENRY:

Keep your voice down. You don't know what you're

saying.

VICTOR:

It was wrong, Henry! It shouldn't have happened!

The bastard deserves to die.

Victor is causing ripples of attention throughout the

chapel. Even Krempe falters briefly in his eulogy. Henry

pulls Victor from the pew, drags him up the aisle ...

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