Twentieth Century Page #8

Synopsis: Broadway director Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore) is a bigger ham than most actors, but through sheer drive and talent he is able to build a successful career. When one of his discoveries, Lily Garland (Carole Lombard), rises to stardom and heeds the call of Hollywood, Oscar begins a career slide. He hits the skids and seems on his way out, until he chances to meet Lily again, on a train ride aboard the Twentieth Century Limited. Oscar pulls out all the stops to re-sign his former star, but it's a battle... because Lily, who is as temperamental as Oscar is, wants to have nothing to do with her former mentor.
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Director(s): Howard Hawks
Production: Sony Pictures Entertainment
  1 win & 1 nomination.
 
IMDB:
7.8
Rotten Tomatoes:
88%
Year:
1934
91 min
576 Views


He's part of something horrible in my life.

George, don't leave me with him.

What an exit. Not a word.

Thas what we should have had

in The Heart of Kentucky...

when Michael leaves Mary Jo in the first act.

Go and crawl back under your stone

or wherever you came from.

I'll be back in a few minutes

with a little surprise.

Something I've been promising you

for seven years.

Owen, I've just played a scene.

Sardou might have written it.

I have her in the perfect mood,

and we must strike at once.

Where's Oliver with that contract?

Let' s hurry. Come on. We've got to get at it.

- You're back all ready to forgive me.

- No.

I don't care to be forgiven by you.

You won't be. I came for my hat.

- Get it and get out.

- It happens that you're sitting on it.

Why do people keep hammering at me?

Hammering and hammering...

- You're hysterical.

- It happens I'm as calm as a fish.

Lying to me. Swearing on your love

and honor. You're a fake.

I'm a fake?

What are you laughing at?

- I'll tell you. I have lied to you.

- What?

All those opera tenors, acrobats,

that Italian bicycle rider I told you about.

They're all lies. The only man in my life...

- was that cavalier in there, Oscar Jaffe.

- What are you telling me?

- I was completely loyal to him.

- Loyal?

Of course. He watched me like a hawk.

And you wanted my respect.

Who cares about your respect?

I'm too big to be respected.

Men I've known have understood that.

- Men you've known? Jaffe, you mean.

- Yes, Jaffe.

He'll tell you what I am:

a first-class passenger entitled to privileges.

Oh, an artist.

You're darned tooting I am.

George, you bore me.

Don't worry. It won't be for long.

My last words to you are that I hate you.

I despise you.

Now get out of...

Why do they keep hammering at me?

Hammering and hammering...

- Sadie, I'm all...

- Come on.

Give me my makeup. Stop pushing me.

Come on, Owen. We've got to find that.

That eliminates the lover. Come on, Owen.

Get Oliver with that contract.

I'll do my best, sire, but we've

crossed the river and I've lost the scent.

Hello, Sadie.

I'm surprised

you haven't been around to see me.

Same old rosy cheeks.

Miss Garland is taking a nap.

Poor child. No one understands her.

Now listen, Sadie. Always take care of her.

Promise me that.

She's very delicate. I think I'll sit.

I'm sorry if I woke you up.

- Get out of here, Sadie.

- He sneaked in through that door.

I know. I'll call you if I need you.

What do you want, scorpion?

If it makes you any happier

to call me names, go ahead.

Oscar, you're complete.

The most horrible excuse for a human being

that ever walked on two legs.

You've always misunderstood me, Lily.

No matter what I said, if he'd been a lover...

a real man...

he'd have taken you in his arms,

he'd have been tender.

Instead of that, he stalked out of the room...

like a Reverend Henry Davidson in Rain.

Your philosophy of love doesn't interest me,

Mr. Jaffe.

I wish I could dismiss it like that, but I can't.

When I love a woman, I'm an Oriental.

It never goes. It never dies.

Phooey.

Love blinded me. That was the trouble

between us as producer and artist.

So thas what it was, was it?

How about your name in electric lights

bigger than everybody's...

your delusion

that you were a Shakespeare...

and a Napoleon and a Grand Lama of Tibet

all rolled into one.

- You're absolutely right.

- What?

I'm big enough to admit it.

I never appreciated your real greatness

till I lost you.

How small, how cheap,

what egotism not to know...

that it was Lily Garland

instead of Oscar Jaffe that really mattered.

When you ran around telling people...

that you put chalk marks on the stage

so I'd know where to stand...

that you had to teach me to talk,

like a parrot.

It was despicable.

- I could cut my throat.

- If you did, greasepaint would run out of it.

That' s the trouble with you, Oscar,

with both of us.

We're not people. We're lithographs.

We don't know anything about love

unless is written and rehearsed.

We're only real in between curtains.

- Why, Lily, you're crying.

- Sure.

I turn on a faucet. It' s that sort of scene.

- That' s the devil of it.

- That' s the pity of it, you mean.

Those movies you were in, a sacrilege

throwing you away on things like that.

When I left that movie house...

I felt some magnificent ruby

had been thrown into a platter of lard.

You put yourself back 10 years,

but we can mend all that.

You'll be greater than ever, Lily Garland.

Listen, if all this adagio is...

by any chance preliminary to a contract,

you can save your breath.

- Contract?

- What are you talking about?

You'd give anything

to get my name on a contract.

I came in here with a dream

we both had long ago:

the last step of the golden stair.

The courtesan, the great courtesan role.

"Look out. Look out."

What is it this time...

the big drama about Hairpin Annie,

the pride of the gashouse?

No, Lily.

This happens to be

about the greatest woman of all time.

Just her memory...

has kept the world weeping for centuries.

- The Magdalene.

- You mean that play by Sudermann?

Sudermann? That German hack?

Listen to me. I'm going to put on

the Passion Play in New York...

with Lily Garland as the Magdalene.

I've had it up my sleeve all this time,

waiting for the right moment.

The wickedest woman of her age...

sensual, heartless...

but beautiful,

corrupting everything she touches...

running the gamut from the gutter to glory.

Can you see her, Lily?

This little wanton...

ending up in tears at the foot of the cross.

I'm going to have Judas

strangle himself with her hair.

No, wait.

Why not have Judas drink the poison

that was intended for me?

Lily, that' s an inspiration. Go on,

while you're in the creative mood.

I'll tell you how I can see the whole thing.

I can see the Magdalene...

as a woman who was an aristocrat

at the beginning...

and after being heartbroken

by some man she loved madly and trusted...

she went down...

down...

Into the depths.

Hating and despising all men.

Laughing at them, so cruel, so terrible.

Lily, if this play runs for five years,

I won't make a dollar.

You can have all the money.

All I want to do is to stagger New York.

A desert scene, with a hundred camels.

And real sand, brought from the Holy Land.

I'm going to have a Babylonian banquet

with your slaves around you.

You're covered in emeralds in that scene,

from head to foot, and nothing else.

Suddenly you catch sight

of your greatest menace...

the soothsayer.

$40 a week.

Nevertheless, you go directly into

your snake dance.

It' s terrific, but it' s nothing compared

to the finish, where you stand in rags...

and the Emperor Nero himself

offers you half his empire.

You answer him

with one of the greatest speeches...

ever written in the history of literature...

with all the lights pouring down on you...

transfigured by love and sacrifice.

And the last we see of you

Rate this script:4.0 / 2 votes

Ben Hecht

Ben Hecht (1894–1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist and novelist. A journalist in his youth, he went on to write thirty-five books and some of the most entertaining screenplays and plays in America. He received screen credits, alone or in collaboration, for the stories or screenplays of some seventy films. more…

All Ben Hecht scripts | Ben Hecht Scripts

0 fans

Submitted on August 05, 2018

Discuss this script with the community:

0 Comments

    Translation

    Translate and read this script in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Twentieth Century" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/twentieth_century_22384>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest writers community and scripts collection on the web!

    Watch the movie trailer

    Twentieth Century

    The Studio:

    ScreenWriting Tool

    Write your screenplay and focus on the story with many helpful features.


    Quiz

    Are you a screenwriting master?

    »
    What does "CUT TO:" indicate in a screenplay?
    A A transition to a new scene
    B The beginning of the screenplay
    C The end of a scene
    D A camera movement