Rear Window Page #2

THE CAMERA PANS to a nearby table on which rests a shattered

and twisted Speed Graphic Camera, the kind used by fast-action

news photographers.

On the same table, the CAMERA PANS to an eight by ten glossy

photo print. It shows a dirt track auto racing speedway,

taken from a point dangerously near the center of the track.

A racing car is skidding toward the camera, out of control,

spewing a cloud of dust behind it. A rear wheel has come off

the car, and the wheel is bounding at top speed directly

into the camera lens.

THE CAMERA MOVES UP to a framed photograph on the wall.

It is a fourteen by ten print, an essay in violence, having

caught on film the exploding semi-second when a heavy

artillery shell arches into a front-line Korean battle

outpost. Men and equipment erupt into the air suspended in a

solution of blasted rock, dust and screeching shrapnel. That

the photographer was not a casualty is evident, but surprising

when the short distance between the camera and the explosion

is estimated. A signature in the lower right hand corner of

the picture reads -- "L. B. Jefferies."

THE CAMERA PANS to a second photograph of a picket line at

an aircraft plant strike. Strikers, non-strikers and police

are embroiled in a bitter and confused riot.

Clubs, fists and truncheons swing, blood flows, faces twist

with emotion and fallen victims struggle to regain their

feet. The picture represents no distant, cautions photographic

observation, but rather an intimate report, so immediate and

real that the viewer has the nervous feeling the fight

surrounds him and he had best defend himself. The same

signature, "L. B. Jefferies," is in the corner.

THE CAMERA PANS TO another framed picture, this one a

beautiful and awesome shot of an atomic explosion at

Frenchman's Flat, Nevada. It is the cul-de-sac of violence.

The picture taken at a distant observation point, shows some

spectators in the foreground watching the explosion through

binoculars.

THE CAMERA MOVES ON to a shelf containing a number of cameras,

photographic film, etc. It then PAN ACROSS a large viewer on

which is resting a negative of a woman's head.

From this, THE CAMERA MOVES ON to a magazine cover, and

although we do not see the name of the magazine, we can see

the head on the cover is the positive of the negative we

have just passed.

THE CAMERA FINALLY COMES TO REST ON a pile of magazines --

perhaps a hundred or so. They are all of the same publication.

LAP DISSOLVE TO:

INT. GUNNISON'S OFFICE - DAY - CLOSE UP

The screen is filled with the top of a desk. In addition to

the usual telephones, blotting pad, etc., the most prominent

feature is the number of glossy photo prints, and even larger-

sized mat prints. Some of them have slips pasted over with

descriptions. The center of the desk is occupied by a large

layout of photographs on one magazine page. Behind this we

hear the murmur of two voices of men who can be vaguely seen

beyond the desk.

THE CAMERA PANS UP and we are now face to face with IVAR

GUNNISON and JACK BRYCE. Gunnison is sitting on a window-

ledge, and beyond him we realize we are high above the New

York streets. Bryce leans against a wall at right angles to

him.

Gunnison is holding a cablegram in his hand. Bryce has a

cigarette in his mouth. He scratches a match, and is about

to light it, when he notices that Gunnison, still reading

the cable, has reached into an inside shirt pocket, and

produced a cigarette. Quickly, Bryce moves over to light

Gunnison's cigarette. Then he settles back to light his own.

Gunnison doesn't even bother to thank him.

GUNNISON:

(Looks up)

Indo-China -- Jeff predicted it would

go sky-high.

BRYCE:

From the looks of Davidson's cable,

it might even go higher than that.

And we haven't even got a camera

over there.

GUNNISON:

(Stands)

This could go off in a month -- or

an hour.

BRYCE:

I'll pull somebody out of Japan.

GUNNISON:

(Heads for his phone)

Bryce, the only man for this job is

sitting right here in town.

(Picks up phone)

Get me L. B. Jefferies.

BRYCE:

(Puzzled)

Jefferies?

GUNNISON:

(To Bryce; still

holding phone)

Name me a better photographer.

BRYCE:

(He can't)

But his leg!

GUNNISON:

Don't worry -- it comes off today.

Bryce gives Gunnison a startled look.

GUNNISON:

I mean the cast.

(To phone)

INT. JEFF'S APARTMENT - DAY - SEMI-CLOSEUP

Shooting through the open window, onto Jeff. He is shaving

himself with an electric razor as the phone rings. He shuts

off the shaver, picks up the phone.

JEFF:

Jefferies.

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