Vertigo Page #8

MIDGE:

The poor thing....

SCOTTIE:

And she died...

POP LEIBEL:

She died.

SCOTTIE:

How?

POP LEIBEL:

By her own hand.

(Pause. Smiles as

sadly)

There are many such stories.

SCOTTIE:

Thank you, Mr. Leibel. Thank you

very much.

Forgetting Midge, he turns and walks out of the store fast,

deep in thought.

MIDGE:

Hey, wait a minute! So long, Pop!

Thanks a lot! She dashes out after

Scottie.

EXT. SIDEWALK OUTSIDE ARGOSY BOOK SHOP - (DUSK)

Midge catches up with Scottie and stops him by grabbing his

arm.

MIDGE:

Now then, Johnny-O; pay me.

SCOTTIE:

For what?

MIDGE:

For bringing you here. Come on, tell!

SCOTTIE:

Nothing to tell.

MIDGE:

You'll tell, or you'll be back in

that corset! Come on!

SCOTTIE:

I'll take you home.

He starts off with long strides, and Midge hurries after

him.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. STREET OUTSIDE MIDGE'S APARTMENT - (EARLY EVENING) -

LONG SHOT:

Scottie's car draws up and comes to a stop.

INT. SCOTTIE'S CAR - (EARLY EVENING) - MEDIUM TWO SHOT

Scottie and Midge are looking straight ahead.

SCOTTIE:

Here you are.

MIDGE:

You haven't told me everything.

SCOTTIE:

I've told you enough.

MIDGE:

Who's the guy, who's the wife?

SCOTTIE:

Out. I've got things to do.

MIDGE:

I know. The one who phoned. Your old

college chum, Elster.

SCOTTIE:

Out!

MIDGE:

And the idea is that the Beautiful

Mad Carlotta has come back from the

dead, to take possession of Elster's

wife? Ah, Johnny! Come on!

SCOTTIE:

(Angrily)

I'm not telling you what I think!

I'm telling you what he thinks!

MIDGE:

Think? Well, what do you think?

Scottie is troubled, lost in thought.

Pause.

MIDGE:

Is she pretty?

SCOTTIE:

Carlotta?

MIDGE:

(Evenly)

No, not Carlotta. Elster's wife.

SCOTTIE:

Mmm, yeah, I guess...

Midge looks up at him from the corners of her eyes.

MIDGE:

(Wickedly)

I think I'll go take a look at that

portrait.

(With a bright smile)

Bye!

She opens the car door quickly and jumps out.

SCOTTIE:

(Outraged)

Midge!

MIDGE:

Bye-bye!

She slams the car door and runs into the house. Scottie glares

after her for a moment, then his face relaxes, and he is

lost in thought. He reaches into the glove compartment of

the car and draws out the catalogue of the permanent

collection of the Palace of the Legion of Honor. He opens it

to a page and stares down.

INSERT - THE REPRODUCTION OF THE PORTRAIT OF CARLOTTA.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. GAVIN ELSTER'S CLUB - (NIGHT)

Elster and Scottie are seated in the lounge of a San Francisco

Club - there are one or two members reading newspapers, etc.,

while a waiter moves by in the background serving drinks.

Elster is studying the reproduction of the portrait of

Carlotta in the catalogue that Scottie procured from the

gallery.

The waiter leans in and places two drinks before them.

Scottie watches Elster, waiting for him, to speak. Finally:

ELSTER:

(With a wan smile)

You've done well, Scottie. You're

good at your job.

SCOTTIE:

That's Carlotta Valdes.

ELSTER:

Yes.

SCOTTIE:

There are things you didn't tell me.

ELSTER:

I didn't know where she was going to

lead you.

SCOTTIE:

But you knew about this.

ELSTER:

Oh, yes. You noticed the way she

does her hair.

He places a finger on the reproduction of the portrait to

indicate the bun at the back of the neck. Scottie nods.

ELSTER:

Something else. My wife, Madeleine,

has several pieces of jewelry that

belonged to Carlotta. She inherited

them. Never wore them, they were too

old-fashioned... until now. Now,

when she is alone, she gets them out

and looks at them handles them gently,

curiously... puts them on and stares

at herself in the mirror... and goes

into that other world... is someone

else again.

SCOTTIE:

Carlotta Valdes was what: your wife's

grandmother?

ELSTER:

Great-grandmother. The child who was

taken from her whose loss drove

Carlotta mad and to her death - was

Madeleine's grandmother.

SCOTTIE:

(Confidently)

Well, that explains it. Anyone could

develop an obsession for the past,

with a background like that.

ELSTER:

But she doesn't know, about her

background.

(As Scottie stares,

narrowly)

She never heard of Carlotta Valdes.

SCOTTIE:

Knows nothing of a grave out at

Mission Dolores, or an old house an

Eddy Street, or a portrait at the

Palace of the Legion of Honor?

ELSTER:

Nothing.

SCOTTIE:

And when she goes to those places...

ELSTER:

She is not my wife.

The two men stare at each other directly, honestly.

SCOTTIE:

How do you know all these things she

doesn't know?

ELSTER:

Her mother told me most of then before

she died. I dug out the rest for

myself, here.

SCOTTIE:

Why did she never tell her daughter?

ELSTER:

Natural fear. Her grandmother went

insane and took her own life. And

the blood is in Madeleine.

(Pause)

Scottie, I ask you to watch her

closely.

Scottie raises his glass and drinks slowly, thoughtfully.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. PALACE OF THE LEGION OF HONOR - (LATE AFTERNOON)

The columns of the courtyard are back lit by the sun. There

is no sign of life. Near the steps, standing alone and empty,

is the green Jaguar.

LAP DISSOLVE TO:

INT. THE ART GALLERY - (LATE AFTERNOON)

SHOOTING through the columns in the foreground, our view of

the room is obscured momentarily by an elderly couple moving

toward the door. They go by to reveal Scottie standing by a

Rodin sculpture, looking into the room, and far beyond him,

at the end of the room, Madeleine seated on the bench before

the portrait staring at it. In her hand, resting at her side

on the bench, is once again the nosegay. Now she rises and

approaches the portrait and stands before it, the nosegay

clasped in her two hands before her, and stares up almost as

though in votive offering or in prayer. Finally she turns

and starts toward the entrance. Scottie slips away out of

sight. Madeleine walks slowly toward the CAMERA.

LAP DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. PALACE OF THE LEGION OF HONOR - (LATE AFTERNOON)

Madeleine approaches the green Jaguar, gets in, and the car

starts away. Scottie's car moves into the scene, following,

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. SEA CLIFF DRIVE - (LATE AFTERNOON)

We see the green Jaguar proceeding, the grey sedan at a

careful distance behind.

Beyond, looking northeast we see the Golden Gate Bridge in

the late afternoon sun, and Richmond and Berkeley in the

distance.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. SCOTTIE'S CAR - (SUNSET)

Scottie carefully looking ahead.

EXT. PRESIDIO DRIVE - (SUNSET)

Madeleine's car approaches along the drive to the gates of

the Presidio, and passes through the gates and is swallowed

by the trees. Scottie's car follows, and it, too, disappears.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. PRESIDIO - (SUNSET)

The two cars driving along the wooded road.

INT. SCOTTIE'S CAR - (SUNSET)

Scottie looking ahead.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. FORT POINT - (SUNSET)

Scottie's car is traveling down the slope toward the jutting

point of old Fort Winfield Scott. It comes to a stop in the

level clearing. The green Jaguar stands there, empty.

EXT. BRIDGE - (SUNSET) - MEDIUM SHOT

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