(1) TAKE MY LIFE (1947) : a transcript 0:00 TITLE + OPENING CREDITS 1:14 BLACK SCREEN VOICE-OVER: Between 10.30 p.m. and midnight on April the fifteenth last, a woman was strangled. 1:24 SHOTS OF AUDIENCE ENTERING THEATRE VOICE-OVER: Earlier that same evening, at the Covent Garden Opera House in London, a large audience was gathering for the first performance of a new opera. These two facts are not entirely unconnected, for the murdered woman and the man who is now accused of her murder were both in the theatre that night. 1:45 CAMERA FOCUSES ON AND THEN FOLLOWS A PARTICULAR MAN (NICHOLAS TALBOT) VOICE-OVER: For most of the audience, it was an evening like many others, but to the accused man it was something more than that; very much more than that. Nicholas Talbot was an ambitious man, but for many years fortune had eluded him. When he married a promising young opera singer and became her business manager, he believed that at last he had set his foot on the ladder to success. 2:16 PHILIPPA'S DRESSING-ROOM; TALBOT KNOCKS AND ENTERS PHILIPPA (TENSE, SNAPPY): Why'd you have to change everything at the last moment? If Guiseppe doesn't shut up, I shall scream. Nick, why didn't you come before? Where have you been? NICK: Counting the tiaras, darling. Good evening, Signor Paroni. PARONI (CONDUCTOR): Good evening, Mr Talbot. I am telling her, if you leave it to me, everything will be all right. Now the overture starts in two minutes, which, if you'll forgive me … NICK: Good luck, Signor Paroni. PARONI: Thank you, Mr Talbot. (EXITS) Nick Talbot (Hugh Williams) NICK: Lady Pratt's here. Do you remember her at Cannes? Magnificent bust, blazing with jewels. PHILIPPA: Nick, I've had nerves before, but never like this. NICK: Nonsense. You're always like this until you start to sing. PHILIPPA: But tonight it's so very important to us. If I flop this time … NICK: Why should you flop this time? PHILIPPA: Because it's my first time in London, because I'm terrified, because I've forgotten everything. I expect I'll sing Butterfly by mistake. Nick, put your arms around me very tight and tell me I shan't sing Butterfly by mistake. NICK: Well, Lady Pratt wouldn't notice if you did. She might stop talking just long enough to ask why you weren't in a Japanese costume, but that's about all. PHILIPPA: What about the critics? NICK: Oh, it'd take more than that to get them out of the bar. PHILIPPA: It's the aria that worries me. Paroni keeps altering the tempo. NICK: Now, has Paroni ever let you down? PHILIPPA: No, never, bless him. NICK: Very well, then. CALLBOY (OFF): Three minutes, please, Miss Shelley. PHILIPPA: Now for it. Off you go, and keep your fingers crossed. NICK: Wait a minute. (HE HANDS HER A LUCKY CHARM) PHILIPPA: Oh, Nick – I thought you'd forgotten. NICK: All right now? PHILIPPA: Yes, I'm all right. NICK: Sure? PHILIPPA: Sure. (NICK EXITS) 3:33 OPERA HOUSE AUDITORIUM; RIGHT-SIDE BOX; NICK JOINS A WOMAN (HIS SISTER JOAN) AND HER YOUNG SON (LESLIE) NICK: All right, Joan? JOAN: Hello, Nick. LESLIE: Hello, Uncle Nick. NICK: How's everything? JOAN: Splendid. LESLIE: I say! This is a ring-side seat. How did you manage it? NICK: Influence. I know the star slightly. JOAN: I expect she's nervous. NICK: A bit – but she never really flies off the handle until it's all over. JOAN: And when she does, what do you do? NICK: Duck! JOAN: (chuckles). 4.02 AS PHILIPPA SINGS, THE CAMERA PICKS OUT A CORPULENT AUDIENCE MEMBER WATCHING HER THROUGH OPERA GLASSES VOICE-OVER: It so happened that I was in the audience that night. Little did I realise then how closely I was later to be associated with the tragic events that were to follow. 4.48 AFTER TWENTY SECONDS OF THE PERFORMANCE THERE'S A TRANS- ITION TO ACT IV, SCENE III (I.E. ITS CLOSING MINUTES) VOICE-OVER: As the opera drew to its close, Talbot sat unaware of the presence of the woman whose death was to involve him so deeply. (THE CAMERA PANS TO FIND AND SETTLE ON A DARK-HAIRED FEMALE VIOLIN- IST.) She too had chosen music for a career. 5.36 NICK IS SUMMONED TO TAKE A TELEPHONE CALL, WHICH ENDS VERY QUICKLY. BUT AFTER HANGING UP, RATHER THAN RETURN TO HIS SEAT, HE REMAINS OUTSIDE THE AUDITORIUM TO SMOKE AS HIS WIFE CON- CLUDES HER PERFORMANCE WITHIN 6.39 BACK IN PHILIPPA'S DRESSING ROOM, NOW CROWDED WITH WELL- WISHERS AND ADMIRERS, MOST OF THEM ELDERLY WOMEN VOICE #1: It was too divine. I just can't tell you what I think about it. VOICE #2: Yes, honestly, Philippa, it was quite lovely. I've never heard you sing better. NICK (ENTERS): Very creditable, Philippa, a most adequate performance. PHILIPPA (TO NICK): I'm not sure I'm talking to you. You walked out in the middle of the aria. NICK: You shouldn't have been looking. PHILIPPA: I wasn't. Leslie told me. NICK: Oh, it was maddening. I had a call right … VOICE #3: Philippa, darling, you were wonderful. I couldn't have enjoyed it more. VOICE #4: How proud you must be of her, Nick. NICK: Yes, I am – very. JOAN: We really must go, Philippa, or we shall lose that train. I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed myself. And you have, too, haven't you, Leslie? LESLIE: It was wizard, Aunt Philippa. I enjoyed it very much. I could see it was awfully good music. NICK: I'll get you a taxi, Joan – it's pouring with rain. (HE EXITS) JOAN (TO PHILIPPA): Goodbye, darling. PHILIPPA: Good night, dear. (JOAN AND LESLIE EXIT) 7.14 DISSOLVE TO TALBOT'S RETURN VOICE-OVER: A few minutes later, as Talbot was returning to the dressing room … FEMALE VOICE: Nicky! Nicky! HE STOPS AND TURNS, AT WHICH ELIZABETH RUSMAN, THE DARK-HAIRED VIOLINIST, STEPS FROM THE SHADOWS TO JOIN HIM ELIZABETH: Nicky, I do believe you were going to cut me dead. NICK: No, I wasn't, I just didn't recognise you. ELIZABETH: Have I changed all that much? NICK: No, not a bit, but, after all, it's a long time. ELIZABETH: Yes, it is, isn't it? NICK: What are you doing here? ELIZABETH: Playing in the orchestra. NICK: I didn't see you at rehearsal. ELIZABETH: No, somebody went down with flu; I got the job at the last moment. What were you doing at rehearsals? NICK: Shifting scenery. ELIZABETH: Nicky, not really! Well, that's a joke, I suppose. What are you doing here? NICK: Just at the moment I'm waiting for Philippa. ELIZABETH: Philippa Shelley? Oh! NICK: She's my wife, you know. ELIZABETH: No. I didn't know. You've gone up in the world – but you were always lucky. NICK: Yes, I have been lucky. I hope things have been good for you, too. Elizabeth Rusman (Rosalie Crutchley) keeps Nick's pencil ELIZABETH: Me? I've had one smack in the eye after another. NICK: Oh, I'm sorry. ELIZABETH: But you don't want to hear about it, naturally. Hard luck stories are always boring. NICK: Not at all. If there's anything I could do … ELIZABETH (EARNESTLY): There's a lot you could do if you want to. Couldn't we meet somewhere? I've got so much to tell you. If I gave you my address, would you look me up? NICK: Well, I – I'll try. ELIZABETH: That means you won't. Oh well, I don't blame you, after five years. NICK: No, I will try, really, but I must go now, Elizabeth, really I must. Scribble your address on this. (HE HANDS HER A PROGRAMME.) Look, here's a pencil. ELIZABETH (WHILE WRITING): It's just off the Euston Road. I'm on the first floor. I'm afraid it's not much of a place. WHILE HE'S DISTRACTED, SHE LOOKS SEARCHINGLY INTO HIS FACE THEN QUICKLY WRITES UNDER HER ADDRESS "Alas the love of Women!" AFTER WHICH SHE HANDS BACK THE PROGRAMME BUT NOT THE PENCIL ELIZABETH: Nicky, I need you badly. You will come, won't you? PHILIPPA AND TWO WOMEN EMERGE FROM HER DRESSING ROOM. SHE SEES NICK AND ELIZABETH TOGETHER AND APPRAISES THEM COOLLY; SHE ALSO NOTES THE PROGRAMME CHANGING HANDS WOMAN #1: Yes, why don't we all have lunch somewhere? WOMAN #2: Yes, lovely. PHILIPPA (TO NICK): Here you are. I was wondering where you'd got to. NICK: I'm sorry, darling, I ran into an old friend. WOMAN #1: Good night, Philippa. PHILIPPA: Good night. WOMAN #1: Good night, Nick. NICK: Good night. (THE TWO WOMEN LEAVE) NICK: Elizabeth, may I introduce you to my wife, or have you met already? PHILIPPA: No, we haven't met. How do you do, Miss … ELIZABETH: Rusman. Elizabeth Rusman. How do you do, Miss Shelley. I'd no idea you were Nicky's wife. PHILIPPA: Do you mind if I drag him away? NICK: You'll excuse us, won't you, Elizabeth? ELIZABETH: Yes, of course. Good night, Miss Shelley, I'm glad to have met you. PHILIPPA: I'm glad to have met you. BUT SHE DOESN'T LOOK IT; ELIZABETH GLOWERS AS NICK AND PHILIPPA DEPART. 9.36 NICK AND PHILIPPA IN THE BACK OF A TAXI NICK: Well, you've really done it, my darling.