Frankenstein Page #5

VICTOR:

Ah. An explorer.

WALTON:

Would-be. I'm plagued with my share of

difficulties just at the moment.

VICTOR:

I heard.

WALTON:

I can't say I blame them. We're trapped in this

ice and bedeviled by some sort of ... creature.

VICTOR:

Creature? A ... human like creature?

WALTON:

(stunned)

You know of it?

VICTOR:

Your men are right to be afraid.

WALTON:

Then explain it, whatever it is. It could save

the voyage. I've spent years planning this. My

entire fortune

VICTOR:

You'd persist at the cost of your own life? The

lives of your crew?

WALTON:

Lives are ephemeral. The knowledge we gain, the

achievements we leave behind ... those live on.

Victor reaches out with his blackened claw of a hand, pulls

him closer. Impassioned, intense:

VICTOR:

Do you share my madness?

WALTON:

Madness?

(CONTINUED)

10

CAMERA PUSHES SLOWLY on Victor's face ...

VICTOR:

We are kindred, you and I. Men of ambition. Let

me tell you all that I have lost in such pursuits.

I pray my story will come to mean for you all that

is capricious and evil in man.

WALTON:

(angry, frightened)

Who are you?

VICTOR:

(beat)

My name is Frankenstein

... and CAMERA proceeds into the bottomless depths of

Victor's staring eye, plunging us into:

TOTAL DARKNESS. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. A METRONOME fades up

before us.

WOMAN'S VOICE (O.S.)

Failure has no pride, Victor. You must try again.

LITTLE BOY (O.S.

Yes, Ma'am.

INT - GRAND BALLROOM - FRANKENSTEIN MMSION - DAY

We hear a HARPSICHORD begin playing as a WIDER ANGLE reveals

a huge, Magnificent room with vaulted ceilings thirty feet

high. Floor-to-ceiling windows. Hanging tapestries.

VICTOR sits at the harpsichord, a very serious 7 year-old in

his little gentleman's suit and stiff starched collar.

MRS. MORITZ, head of the housekeeping staff, conducts the

lesson. Her daughter JUSTINE, age 4, sits with her doll in a

huge wingback chair, making it dance to the music as she

listens ... but her eyes are on Victor. She adores him.

An enormous door swings open. Victor stops playing. His

PARENTS enter, ushering a somber and beautiful ELIZABETH,

age 6, across the vast expanse of floor. Victor slides off

the bench and faces them.

FATHER:

Mrs. Moritz, would you and your daughter excuse

us?

(CONTINUED)

11

MRS. MORITZ

Of course, Doctor. Madam. Come along, Justine.

Bring your dolly.

Mrs. Moritz takes Justine's hand. Justine gazes back at

Victor and Elizabeth as her mother whisks her off.

MOTHER:

Victor. This is Elizabeth. She's coming to live

with us.

FATHER:

She has lost her parents to scarlet fever. She is

an orphan.

MOTHER:

You must think of her as your own sister. You

must look after her. And be kind to her.

Victor stares at Elizabeth. She returns the gaze evenly,

self-possessed and dignified even at this young age.

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