The Day the Earth Stood Still Page #28

KLAATU:

(refusing to be put

off)

Did you believe what he told you?

(Helen hesitates,

trapped by uncertainty)

I have a reason for asking this -- a

very important reason.

MED. SHOT

They are approaching the elevator at the end of the corridor.

There is a large crowd of lunch-goers milling around the

elevator, which is quickly filled. Half the crowd is left as

the elevator doors close and it descends.

TWO SHOT - HELEN AND KLAATU

Nervous and distracted, Helen doesn't want to get caught up

in this jam.

HELEN:

There's another elevator we can use--

She nods toward a side corridor and starts for it, Klaatu

following.

MED. SHOT

CAMERA FOLLOWS them as they turn into the side corridor.

Helen leads the way to a small, automatic elevator. She

presses the button and the doors open. Klaatu follows her

in.

INT. ELEVATOR

As Helen presses the first floor button, the doors close and

the elevator starts down. She turns to face Klaatu.

HELEN:

(her nerves raw and

edgy)

What is it you want?

KLAATU:

Before I ask you to be honest with

me, perhaps I should be completely

honest with you--

Without warning the elevator comes to a jolting, jarring

stop as the power is cut off and the lights go out. The car

is illuminated faintly and eerily by light that seeps through

the ventilating grills from a skylight in the shaft. Helen

is terrified.

HELEN:

(gasping with fright)

What happened?

KLAATU:

(a moment's hesitation;

then he remembers)

What time is it?

Helen fumbles to get her wrist watch into a faint beam of

light.

HELEN:

Just twelve.

KLAATU:

We'll be stuck here for a little

while -- about thirty minutes.

HELEN:

(preoccupied with her

own thinking)

We could try pushing the other

buttons.

(digging in her purse)

I have a flashlight in my purse.

KLAATU:

It won't work.

Helen has the flashlight out and is snapping it on, but it

doesn't work. She looks up at him blankly.

HELEN:

Why not?

KLAATU:

(after a moment,

quietly)

You see -- the electricity's been

neutralized -- all over the world.

The impact of this calm, quiet statement is shattering. Helen

stares at him awe-struck. Then she speaks numbly, almost

inaudibly.

HELEN:

Bobby was telling the truth -- wasn't

he?

Klaatu stares at her evenly, as we--

DISSOLVE TO:

MED. SHOT - STREET

All vehicular traffic in the street is at a dead stop.

Automobiles, busses, trolley cars -- all are stalled. Drivers

and passengers are climbing out of the vehicles in utter

bewilderment. Except for the people, it is as though the

street had been frozen in motion.

INT. CITY POWER PLANT

The great generators and dynamos are silent and motionless

in the dim, unlighted plant.

INT. FACTORY

A huge automobile or airplane assembly line, with nothing

moving, no machinery going.

INT. PRESSROOM - METROPOLITAN NEWSPAPER

The giant presses are threaded with newsprint, but they are

silent and motionless.

INT. CONTROL ROOM - RADIO STATION

A couple of engineers are working feverishly over a huge and

complicated control panel. They are working by the light of

two incongruous and ineffectual candles.

INT. NEW YORK SUBWAY KIOSK

People carne pouring up the stairs wildly, feverishly anxious

to escape the darkness below. Their eyes blink weakly in the

unaccustomed sunlight.

EXT. SHOT - NEW YORK STREET

Cars, taxis and busses are stalled, their frenzied drivers

unable to figure out what's happened. A junk peddler with a

broken-down horse and wagon moves grandly and leisurely

through the stalled vehicles. The peddler bears a happy grin

of superiority. This is his moment of triumph over modern

civilization.

LONG SHOT - TIMES SQUARE

with all traffic stalled.

MED. CLOSE SHOT - TIMES SQUARE

of two cab drivers whose taxis have stalled beside each other

in traffic. One has gotten out of his cab. The other is seated

at his wheel, looking around in awe and terror, his tough

Manhattan heart shaken.

CAB DRIVER:

My ol' lady was right. We shoulda

got a place in the country.

LONG SHOT - PICCADILLY CIRCUS - DAY

with all traffic stalled. (It is about 5:00 P.M.)

TWO SHOT - TWO COCKNEYS

standing on the sidewalk, awe-struck at the weird sight before

them. One of them speaks in terror, hardly daring to

articulate his thoughts.

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