Strangers on a Train Page #6

CLOSE UP MIRIAM:

She watches Bruno.

CLOSE SHOT:

Bruno looks down at his hands.

INSERT:

Bruno's two strong hands - as he holds them palms tilted

upward and fingers curled in.

CLOSE UP:

Bruno, as he smiles faintly, glancing across at Miriam.

CLOSE UP MIRIAM:

She gives a faint smile in return.

CLOSE SHOT:

With a studied movement, Bruno picks up the handle of the

hammer and swings.

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CLOSE SHOT:

The register shoots up to the 100 mark and rings the bell.

MEDIUM SHOT:

Bruno drops the hammer and glances around at Miriam again.

Her two boy-friends are calling for her from a little

distance.

BOY'S VOICE

Come On, Miriam. Come On!

CLOSE SHOT MIRIAM

She turns away and is lost in the crowd.

MEDIUM SHOT OVER BRUNO'S SHOULDER AT MERRY-GO ROUND IN

BACKGROUND:

Bruno turns to follow Miriam, his manner casual. As he takes

a few steps, WE PAN ACROSS with him until, over his shoulder,

we see a merry-go-round in the background. Miriam and the

two boys are aboard and climbing onto horses. As Bruno goes

toward the merry-go-round, the CAMERA MOVES UP A LITTLE with

him. The merry-go-round starts to move slowly round as Bruno

hops on.

MEDIUM SHOT ON MERRY-GO-ROUND

Bruno begins to look around for Miriam, who is apparently on

the other side of the merry-go-round. He starts to thread

his way through the horses which are beginning to move up

and down. CAMERA FOLLOWING HIM. He passes one or two of

the oncoming heads before he reaches Miriam. She is on an

outside mount which is high in the air when she sees Bruno

facing her. Her laughter dies for a moment and she smiles

at him coyly. Bruno passes her and gets on the horse directly

behind her, Miriam glancing at him as her horse comes down.

MEDIUM SHOT BRUNO ON HORSE

With horse's head in foreground, as it is coming toward us.

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SIDE VIEW MIRIAM

Miriam on her horse, moving from left to right. Miriam,

holding the reins, glances back with a gay laugh.

SIDE VIEW BRUNO:

Bruno on his horse, as though he is chasing Miriam. He is a

little more open now in his laughter.

GROUP SHOT MIRIAM AND TWO BOYS

Miriam and her boy friends begin to sing the song being played

on the calliope.

CLOSE UP MIRIAM:

As she starts to sing, she glances back.

CLOSE UP BRUNO:

He is starting to join in the singing.

MEDIUM SHOT:

The horses of the merry-go-round are filling the screen as

they whizz by, and again we get the picture of Bruno chasing

Miriam as they rush past the CAMERA, the music and tempo at

a high speed.

LAP DISSOLVE TO:

EXTERIOR OF BOAT LANDING ON SHORE OF ARTIFICIAL LAKE

Across the water may be seen a small wooded island. Between

this and the boat landing there is an artificially constructed

"Tunnel of Love".

We see Miriam and her companions approach the boat concession

and CAMERA FOLLOWS THEM onto the little landing stage. CAMERA

MOVES UP SLOWLY over the boy's shoulders until we get MIRIAM

IN CLOSE UP. She glances back. Her expression changes to a

coy smile of satisfaction as she sees:

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MEDIUM SHOT (FROM MIRIAM'S VIEWPOINT)

Bruno is approaching the pay box.

MEDIUM SHOT:

Miriam and her companions are escorted to a small boat with

electric motor. Once they are seated the boat chugs away

from the landing stage and off into the darkness.

Bruno steps into the foreground and gets into the next boat

which floats alongside. He, too, moves away into the

darkness.

ENTRANCE TO THE TUNNEL

As Miriam's boat passes through, she gives another little

glance over shoulder before her boat disappears into the

darkness of the tunnel.

After a brief moment Bruno's boat comes into the picture,

and it, too, goes into the tunnel.

INSIDE THE TUNNEL

We see the silhouettes of the occupants of Miriam's boat on

the wall of the tunnel, lit dimly from the light coming from

the tunnel exit.

The silhouette of Bruno in his boat, lit by the tunnel

entrance, gradually approaches the other three. When the

silhouettes are almost touching, we -

CUT TO:

EXIT OF THE TUNNEL

It is empty. There is a sudden piercing scream from inside,

followed after a second or two by protestations and giggling

as Miriam's boat emerges into the light. She is pushing one

of the boys away from her.

MIRIAM:

(squealing)

George, stop it, I tell you!

Their boat moves out of the picture, toward the island.

Presently Bruno's boat comes smilingly following and he,

too, moves on out of the picture.

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MEDIUM SHOT ISLAND

The group of Miriam and her companions are scrambling out of

their boat and moving onto the island, one of the boys trying

the boat on the shore. They disappear into the Woods of the

island.

Again Bruno's boat comes into the picture. He steps out,

lift the prow of the boat a little onto the shore.

LONG SHOT ISLAND

We see the amusement park lighted beyond the lake.

Silhouetted in the foreground, the trees and foliage of the

island. Nearby we see the silhouetted figures of Miriam and

her companions move across the scene, right to left.

is pushing George away from her.

Miriam

MIRIAM:

(protesting

perfunctorily)

George, no!

She backs away from him and the boys go on picture. Miriam

goes in another direction, around, the bushes. George

obviously misses her, for we hear his voice call out:

GEORGE'S VOICE

Miriam!

Miriam backs out of the bushes until the back of her head is

in CLOSEUP in the foreground of the shot. Suddenly she hears

steps in back of her and turns her head toward CAMERA. Her

face changes as she recognizes someone offscene.

MIRIAM:

Oh!

She gives a coy smile of recognition. CAMERA PULLS BACK to

reveal the mad and shoulders of Bruno between Miriam and the

camera. His hand holds Guy's lighter which he flicks on as

he raises it above Miriam's face. 0f Bruno, we see only the

back of his head and shoulders.

BRUNO:

Is your name Miriam?

MIRIAM:

(with surprise)

Why yes. How did you -

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We see Bruno's gloved hands dart quickly to Miriam's throat.

The lighter falls down out of picture, and as Bruno's hands

grip her throat, his head moves slightly to blot out Miriam's

face. His head moves a bit farther until Miriam's face is

nearly uncovered at the other side of the screen, and we see

her glasses fall off.

CLOSE SHOT:

Miriam's glasses hit the ground. The shadows of their

struggling figures over the shot.

CLOSE UP:

The screen is filled with one of the lenses of the glasses.

They are of the diminishing type. Against the moonlit sky

we see reflected, the elongated struggling figures, as though

we were shooting up at them. Suddenly one of the figures

falls forward.

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