From Here to Eternity Page #26

KAREN:

(smiles)

That sounds like Milt Warden, all

right.

He bends toward her to kiss her. She presses him back.

KAREN:

No, Milt. I don't want to kiss you

any more. I just want to remember

you. And you to remember me.

WARDEN:

Put it down. Put it down that on

December 6th, 1941, Milton Anthony

Warden told you he’d remember

you...

CAMERA PULLS BACK, PASSES a few pedestrians, Warden and Karen

remaining in b.g. of shot. They begin to talk again, quietly,

undemonstratively. We are too far away now to hear what they

are saying.

.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. ALMA'S HOUSE LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

MEDIUM SHOT PREW AND ALMA

Alma is reading a newspaper in b.g. Prew is disheveled and

slovenly, needs a shave badly. His face is lined with pain.

He is drunk from several days of steady drinking, stone

drunk, as if in a trance. He wears crumpled civilian clothes.

He is at a table laboriously writing out the Re-enlistment

Blues. He finishes writing a stanza and sings softly.

PREW:

Slep in the park that Sunday

Seen all the folks gain to church

Your belly feel so empty

When you're left in the lurch -

Alma looks up from the paper.

136.

ALMA:

Here it is -- they're putting it on

an inside page already.

(reads)

‘... still no clue in the fatal

stabbing of Staff Sergeant James R.

Judson...’

Prew, who has stopped singing but not turned his head,

resumes the song.

PREW:

Dog soljers don't own pews

Re-enlistment Blues...

ALMA:

(annoyed)

Did you hear me? Are you listening

or not?

Prew nods blankly. He rises slowly and walks across the room

toward Alma. But his eyes are fixed on a whisky bottle on a

table beside her. He moves stiffly, favoring his side, his

face contorted. He picks up the bottle, pours himself a

drink.

ALMA:

(coldly)

Are you trying to set a new world’s

record?

CLOSE SHOT PREW:

He smiles faintly, holds the glass high.

PREW:

Yeah... To the memory of Robert E.

Lee Prewitt, Holder of the New

World's Record...

TWO SHOT PREW AND ALMA

ALMA:

I want to know what you plan to do.

PREW:

Plan to do? When?

ALMA:

Any time. Now. Tomorrow. Next week.

PREW:

Lessee...

(counts on fingers)

(MORE)

137.

PREW(cont'd)

... One... two... three... four...

Four days I'm AWOL, ain't I?

(picks up paper, looks at

date)

... this is December sixth, ain't

it...?

ALMA:

(half-tirade, half-wail)

It's December sixth and you're so

drunk you're wall-eyed. And all

you've done since you fell in here

is drink and drink and drink and

try to remember that old song of

yours. And I want to know what

you're going to do!

Prew looks at her, hurt. He moves back to his table,

mumbling.

.

PREW:

... might ship out on a tramp and

go to Mexico and be a cowboy...

ALMA:

Oh, be sensible!

Prew sits at the table again, continues to mumble.

PREW:

... I'm goin back to the Compny...

soon's my side heals... Goin back

under my own power... Goin into the

Ordrly Room 'n' say hello, Warden,

Private Prewitt reportin...

ALMA:

(breaking)

Oh, Prew! Prew! Why did you have to

do it? Why did you have to kill

that man?

Prew shakes his head sadly as if he doesn't know the answer.

He picks up the paper he has been writing on, sings softly,

testing the last couple of lines affectionately.

PREW:

Recruitin crews give me the blues

Old Re-enlistment Blues...

DISSOLVE TO:

138.

INT. MESS HALL - DAY

FULL SHOT:

CAMERA FEATURES clock on wall reading 7:52. About half the

Company is at breakfast. There is considerable laughter and

horseplay. Near the kitchen a dozen men are in the chow line.

MEDIUM SHOT:

FEATURING Warden at the NCO table. He rises, carries his

plate with him towards the chow line. A sudden, deep-toned,

earthquake-like blast shudders through the room. The cups on

the tables rattle. Warden stops, c*cks his head. The men stop

eating, look at each other.

ANDERSON:

(to the room)

Must be dynamitin down to Wheeler

Field.

CHOATE:

Them engineers mighty ambitious

Sunday mornin before eight o'clock.

The men resume eating. Warden moves a couple of steps toward

the chow line when the second blast hits. It is much heavier

and fuller.

CLOSE SHOT WARDEN

He has a hunch about this now. He reaches out to put his

plate down, holding it very carefully in both hands. However,

he doesn't bother to see if there is anything under it. The

plate falls and crashes on the floor a fraction of a second

before the third groundswell of blast shakes the room.

EXT. COMPANY STREET - DAY

.

FULL SHOT NEAR MESS HALL

A man sprints toward the mess hall, yelling to right and left

at the top of his lungs. As he approaches camera we see it is

Mazzioli.

MAZZIOLI:

The Japs’re bombing Wheeler Field!

It's the Japs! They're bombing

Wheeler Field! The Japs! It's the

Japs! I saw the red circles on the

wings!

LONG SHOT SHOOTING UP CIRCLES ON UNDERSIDE OF MOVING PLANE

The roar of the plane over shot.

MOVING SHOT SHOOTING DOWN FROM JAP PLANE PAST PILOT

The figure of Mazzioli gets closer and closer as the plane

139.

dives toward him, machine guns spitting.

MEDIUM SHOT MAZZIOLI

as the Jap plane flashes by close above him. The stones in

the pavement pop up. Mazzioli flops on the street. The plane

zooms.

FULL SHOT MESS HALL

as the men rush out. In the front ranks are Warden, Karelsen,

Stark and Choate, Choate carries his half-filled plate in one

hand, a mug of coffee in the other. The men stretch their

necks, following the plane. Then they look back up the

street, CAMERA PANNING. Far in b.g, a column of black

mushrooming to the sky. Warden dashes to Mazzioli. CAMERA

MOVES IN to a CLOSE SHOT as Warden bends over him, hoists him

to a sitting position. He is extremely gentle. Mazzioli's

knee is laid open and is bleeding freely. Warden whips out a

handkerchief and starts to apply a tourniquet.

MEDIUM SHOT:

Some of the men continue to crane at the sky. A few pick up

metal links from the Jap bullets.

NAIR:

Say! This’ll make me a good

souvenir! A bullet from a Jap

plane!

WARDEN:

This ain't jawbone! This is for

record. Theme real bullets that guy

was usin. Get inside -- all of ya!

Warden gets Mazzioli to his feet, turns to first man in group

surrounding them. It is Anderson.

WARDEN:

Help him over to the hospital.

Anderson starts Mazzioli down the street.

LONG SHOT SHOOTING UP TO SKY

A pair of planes are diving toward the street.

WARDEN’S VOICE

GET INSIDE!

MEDIUM SHOT:

The men rush for cover, all except Choate who is left alone

in shot. He takes a big bite of his sausage and eggs, hastily

downs a swig of coffee. Then he throws the plate and cup into

the street and dives for cover as the terrifyingly loud noise

of the Jap planes indicates they are directly overhead.

140.

INT. DAY ROOM - DAY

FULL SHOT:

The men are pouring in from the Company street, all shouting

at once. Warden pushes his way through them and jumps up on

the pool table. His big voice booms.

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