
The Public Eye
- R
- Year:
- 1992
- 99 min
- 391 Views
FADE IN:
BEGIN TITLESIn murky light, a piece of paper sinks in a shallow tin tub.
By degrees, faces and forms appear on the page: a swooning
woman, (circa 1940) a cop who tries to catch her, a crowd of
onlookers standing in the shadows of a tenement house in the
aftermath of a murder. Before the photograph has completely
developed, it seems to fade in a dreamy
DISSOLVE TO:
Another submerged page. A new images begins to appear: a
thick-ankled stripper (again, 1940) sleeping between shows
in her dingy dressing room. Before it has fully developed,
this photo also
DISSOLVES TO:
A new page on which appears a billboard attached to a burning
building. It advertises a 1930's sunburn medication: "Put
out the flames with SunzoCaine!" Painted flames rises from a
sunbather's burnt back, mixing with the real ones.
We continue sensuously to DISSOLVE THROUGH black and white,
high-contrast photos as they come hauntingly to life (all of
them depicting New York, at night, in the late 30's or early
40's) till we END TITLES.
We PAN TO the dim red darkroom bulb, under which we begin to
DISSOLVE TO:
...another red bulb, this one atop a patrol car.
EXT./INT. POLICE CAR [APRIL, 1942] - NIGHT
We hear a Dispatcher's monotonous voice over a hissing police
radio.
DISPATCHER (V.O.)
Signal 30. Two-three-six Thompson
Street.
Inside the car, the Young Cop who's driving angles forward
in his seat, pressing heavily on the gas.
His older partner stares forward, blankly.
CUT TO:
EXT. 236 THOMPSON STREET - SAME
A respectable working-class block. Neighbors are clustered
by the stoop in robes, pajamas, undershirts. A woman with
young children holds them to her nightgown. All watch as The
Cops pull up by the curb and rush from their squadcar. They
push their way through the crowd.
TEENAGER:
(in an undershirt,
grinning)
Third floor.
The Cops continue into the building.
INT. STAIRWELL - 236 THOMPSON
The Cops move stealthfully up the dim stairwell, guns drawn.
On the third-floor landing, a door is ajar. Light spills out
onto the floorboards.
As they ascend, the Cops can see the corpse of a smartly
dressed young man inside:
It lies face down, its features rudely pressed and bloody
against the floor. A freshly-blocked hat lies a few feet
from the dead man; he was shot as he came home.
On the landing, the Cops move carefully to the door, hugging
the wall.
They hear someone moving inside the apartment. They freeze,
barely breathing.
The older Cop cocks his gun, crosses himself, wraps his hand
around the doorframe. He jumps into
THE APARTMENT:
crouching, gun drawn. A crackling, blistering sound is heard
as a flash of light fills the room, blinding him.
COP:
(blinking as he stands)
Jesus.
REVERSE:
A flashbulb hits the floor hollowly.
BERNZY (whose real name is Leon Bernstein and whose
professional name is "The Great Bernzini") inserts a new
bulb in the giant chrome flash attachment of his Speed Graphic
press camera. A cigar is planted in the corner of his mouth.
Bernzy cuts a curious figure: He wears an oddly oversized
suit that has capacious pockets to accommodate camera lenses,
film plates and flashbulbs. His thick-soled shoes are sensible
to a fault. He wears a hat but no tie.
His face is alert and ironic, his movements rapid and
purposeful.
BERNZY:
(to the Cop, deadpan)
You scared me.
He reaches into his jacket to extract a new 4 x 5 glass film
plate (from a bag of plates hung over his shoulder) with a
well-practised, unhurried speed.
The older cop, O'BRIEN, is annoyed; his comment sounds like
an accusation.
(0.00 / 0 votes)
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:
"The Public Eye" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2021. Web. 5 Mar. 2021. <https://www.scripts.com/script/the_public_eye_1014>.