movie within a movie

[Double Indemnity.  1944 film directed by Billy Wilder.  Listed by the U.S. Library of Congress as one of the hundred best films of the Twentieth Century.

The term "double indemnity" refers to a clause in certain life insurance policies that doubles the payout in cases when death is caused by certain accidental means.]

___________________________________________

[Manhattan Murder Mystery]


MARILYN
It starts in a little while.

INT.  Movie theater - Night

Up on the screen, Edward G. Robinson (portraying "Barton Keyes") and Fred MacMurray as "Walter Neff."


BARTON KEYES
I'd have the police after her so fast, it'd make her head spin.  They'd put her through the wringer.  And brother, the things they would squeeze out.

WALTER NEFF
We haven't got a single thing to go on, Keyes.

KEYES
Oh, not too much, I guess.  Just twenty-six years' experience... all the percentage there is, and this hunk of concrete in my stomach.

                      The third character in the sequence, Phyliss Dietrichson, played by Barbara Stanwyck, is hiding behind a door.


NEW YORK
EXT.  Liptons' residence street - Night

FULL SHOT of the street.  Carol and Larry walking toward the CAMERA, which is by their apartment building entrance.

CAROL
God, that movie was great, wasn't it?

LARRY
Yeah, I... it was one of my favorites.

CAROL
I loved it.

LARRY
It just... they were all so wonderful, in the picture.

CAROL
You know, who could we fix Ted up with?  I mean, there must be somebody in your office.

LARRY
Ted?

CAROL
Yeah.

LARRY
Well, I don' t know.  Ted... I always thought Ted had a crush on you.

CAROL
Me?

                               She laughs.  They enter their building.  In the glass door we see the reflection of flashing ambulance light.

LARRY
Yeah.  Why are you so stunned?  I think that...

CAROL
Please.  I mean, you know, I adore him, but you know, he's like a girlfriend to me.

LARRY
Uh -- now he's divorced, you know?

CAROL
Do I detect a note of jealousy?

INT.  Elevator

Carol and Larry standing inside.

INT.  Hallway

As the Liptons step out of the elevator, we see a small, haphazard gathering of people.

NEIGHBOR (voice over)
I had to come up here and call nine-one-one.

   ^  So what's the trouble?

   ^  Oh, is that the -- the E.M.S.?

   ^  The doctor and the E.M.S.

                 CAMERA follows Larry walking toward the group in the hall.  The door to the Paul and Lillian House apartment is wide open.

LARRY
What's the matter?  What's going on?  What happened?

TALL MALE NEIGHBOR
She had a heart attack.

CAROL (voice over)
Oh my God!

TALL NEIGHBOR
She's -- dead.

                           Ambulance people coming out with the stretcher.  Doctor with his black leather case.

LARRY
She's -- she's dead?

CAROL
Dead?

NEIGHBOR
They're giving Mr. House a sedative right now.  He was running around like crazy.

                      The CAMERA turns back to the tall neighbor standing near the Houses' front door.  A policeman enters the apartment.

TALL NEIGHBOR
I called E.M.S. and they got here as soon as they could, but it was too late.

LARRY
She -- We just met her last night.

ELDERLY FEMALE NEIGHBOR
Awful, just awful.

LARRY
What happened?

DOCTOR
Well, it was a classic coronary.  She just went like that.

CAROL
Is there anything we can do?

LARRY
Oh -- my God.

DOCTOR
You can be good neighbors.  You know, we calmed him down, uh...

LARRY
Th-th-th-The first time we saw them was last night.  We just met them.  W-We had... They invited us in for coffee.

TALL NEIGHBOR
Such a -- such a nice lady.


FEMALE NEIGHBOR
Nice lady.

OTHER NEIGHBOR
Sweet person.


EXT.  NEW YORK - Liptons' street - Night

FULL SHOT on the entrance of their apartment building.  Larry and Carol are exiting, going out for the evening.

____________________________________

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we should be so lucky

[she's seriously thinking of starting a little restaurant]

LARRY
Oh, she's a great cook, though, really.  Her duck and fennel omelette on a bed of scallops and hollandaise sauce with truffles and sweetbreads'll make you snap into a fetal position and have you in bed screaming for a month.

CAROL
He loves to tease me, but actually, he really loves exotic food.

LILLIAN 
My weakness is any rich dessert, cream, butter, anything with fat.

CAROL
Oh, really?  Oh well, let... listen... I'll fix you a dessert that'll make your eyeballs roll up.  You'll have to exercise for a month to work it off.

LILLIAN
Ah!

PAUL
We're going to Le Cirque for our anniversary.

CAROL
No, really?

LILLIAN
Yes.  Twenty-eight years.  November.

CAROL
Really?

PAUL
Well, what do you buy the woman who buys everything?

LILLIAN
We already have twin cemetery plots.

LARRY
Well, it's... I always think a Bentley is in good taste.  You know, or you can go the route that I went with her.  On our twentieth, I got her some very lovely handkerchiefs.


CAROL
Yeah.  Oh no, but, you know -- they had my initials on them.

LARRY
Yes, it was a very, very high-class item.  I didn't even know her size!

Carol bursts out laughing.

CUT TO:

Black Screen.

INT.  Larry and Carol Lipton's apartment - front hall - Night

We hear a door opening.

LARRY
Jesus, couldn't you keep the conversation going a little longer in there?

[Lights are turned on.]
He's holding the door for her as they enter.

LARRY
I was signaling you frantically.

                      He closes the door.

CAROL
I was just trying to be neighborly.

LARRY
Neighborly?  If this guy showed me his stamp collection one more time... I mean, my favorite thing in life is to, you know, look at canceled postage.

                         CAMERA follows Larry walking in the corridor toward:

INT.  Bedroom - Night

CAROL (voice over)
Oh, come on Larry -- it was sweet.  They, you know, they're looking forward to their anniversary.

                     Larry, taking his jacket off -- puts it on a chair.

LARRY
Yeah, and I'm looking forward to seeing that Bob Hope movie.  I don't know why they put it on so late.

                       CAMERA on Carol, still in the front hall.

CAROL
You know, do you think that's gonna happen to us?

LARRY (voice over)
What?

                   Carol walks down the corridor, toward the bedroom.

CAROL
Well, that we'll become like them.  You know -- just another dull, aging couple, you know, with our little walks, you know. ...

                      She enters the bedroom.

LARRY (voice over)
We are a dull aging couple.

CAROL
With our TV, our lox and bagels.  And... and our twin cemetery plots?

                     [Larry is seated on the bed.  Carol looks at some pill bottles on the night table.]

LARRY
No, we should be as lucky as them.  To, you know, to be in their physical shape, at their age?  They look great.  Did you see the dumbbells this guy lifts?  If I lifted dumbbells like those, I would get a hernia the size of the San Andreas Fault.


CAROL
How often do you think they make love?

                      She goes out of the main part of the room, and the CAMERA follows her.  She's taking her shoes off.


LARRY (voice over)
Oh, you know, probably more than we do, in their shape.  You know -- I'm sure as much as once a week.

CAROL
Larry?

LARRY (voice over)
I'm exhausted.  What?

CAROL
Do you still find me attractive?

LARRY
Of course.  What kind of question is that?  Of course I do.

                            Carol crosses the room.  In the shot is a large, round clock on the wall -- the kind of clock you see in an office or classroom.

CAROL
Yeah but we're not turning into a pair of comfortable old shoes, are we?  Do you think?

LARRY
(with a light laugh in his tone)
Never comfortable.

CAROL
No?

LARRY
I don't think you have to worry about that.

CUT.

EXT.  Market Place - Day

MED.-LONG SHOT:  outdoor antique and craft market, very colorful.

We hear the voices of Larry and Carol, and another couple with them, in Voice-Overs.

LARRY
How you guys doing?

SY
We're fine.

MARILYN
We're good.

SY
We like that.  We're gonna get this one.

MARILYN
That's very nice, actually.

LARRY
So -- umh --

MARILYN
Listen, are we going to see you at Elaine's Thursday?

CAROL
Oh, no.  Thursday's our Wagner opera.

                          ["Vog - ner"]

MED. SHOT:  Larry, Carol, Sy and Marilyn, standing.

MARILYN
Uh..uhm... you know -- Ted's coming to Elaine's with us.

CAROL
Ted.

MARILYN
Yeah.

CAROL
How is Ted?

MARILYN
He's... he seems to be doing well.  I mean, I... I actually think he's glad... I think he's glad he's divorced.

SY
Well, I don't think he's... no, he's not doing... Come on, he's not doing well at all.  He's not used to it.

MARILYN
Well he looks... I think he looks, you know, like he's glad.

                        Sy looks at some of the arts and crafts items displayed on a nearby vendor's stand.

SY
Yeah, yeah.  This.

LARRY
So what do you want to do?  You guys gonna browse, or...

SY
No, we're gonna go to a movie.

MARILYN
Yeah, we're gonna go see Double Indemnity.

CAROL
Oh, really?

MARILYN
Yeah.

SY
Why don't you come with us?

__________________________________

{Manhattan Murder Mystery, 1993.  Directed by Woody Allen.}

-30-

that was many years ago

News / Laquan McDonald

reprinted from the Chicago Tribune

Live updates:  Chicago police use-of-force expert takes stand for prosecution in Laquan cover-up trial

NOVEMBER 28, 2018, 1:30 PM

A key witness could take the stand as soon as Wednesday as the historic trial of three former and current Chicago police officers accused of a cover-up in Laquan McDonald's shooting enters its second day of testimony.

Chicago police Officer Dora Fontaine is expected to testify that then-Detective David March attributed statements to her in his reports that she never actually made.

March, ex-Officer Joseph Walsh and Officer Thomas Gaffney are believed to be the first Chicago cops ever to face criminal "code of silence" charges stemming from an on-duty shooting.  They are charged with official misconduct, obstructing justice and conspiracy.

Fontaine has been on paid desk duty since telling investigators that she did not make statements attributed to her in March's police reports.  Prosecutors said her fellow officers consider her "a rat" and have told her that she would not be safe on street duty.

________________________________________
_____________________________________

INT.  The apartment of Paul and Lillian House - Night

Lillian and Carol by the treadmill.

LILLIAN
Have a look at the instructions.  They drive me crazy.  You know?  I don't know what I'm doing at all.  Let's look...

CAROL
No -- please -- it's easy.

                     Lillian picks up a book from a table near the bed.

LILLIAN
Wonderful book they've given me.  Now I'm at Level Five.

CAROL
What?  You're that advanced?

LILLIAN
Well, yes.

CAROL
God, I only got to Level Two.

LILLIAN (looking in the book)
Look at these diagrams.  Do you believe this?

CAROL
That's amazing.

LILLIAN (with the book)
I can't understand this, even.

CAROL
Let me see.

LILLIAN
Yes, well.  See this?

CAROL
Okay.


INT.  Mr. House's study - Night

The room is decorated in traditional fashion, with antique furnishings, lots of pictures on the walls; cozy lighting.

Mr. House is bringing a stamp book over.

PAUL
Now, let me show you a mint 1933 airmail.  Very rare... and very beautiful.

                          They sit.

LARRY
Yeah.

                    Paul picks up a special philatelist magnifying glass and holds it in front of the stamp, for Larry to view.

PAUL
Look at that.  And this plate block is quite unique because it has a flaw in the engraving.  See if you can see it.

                              Larry, a bit lost, scratches his head.

LARRY
Uh, it's hard for me.

PAUL
Actually I'll give you a little hint.  Right down here in the corner.

LARRY
That tiny thing there?

PAUL
Interesting, yeah.

LARRY
Ah, you have a really...

PAUL
That makes it quite valuable, you see.  And I just got a commemorative set of issues that are going to be quite valuable, too.

                             He picks up a transparent envelope containing several stamps.

LARRY
Yes.

PAUL
Look at the color, right there.  All these are gonna become a real...

LARRY 
(standing up)
Well, listen -- we're probably keeping you up, right?

PAUL
Oh, no-no-no.  This is wonderful.

LARRY
I should be going.

PAUL
What do you do, if I may ask?

LARRY
Me?  I'm in book publishing.  I work up at Harper's.

PAUL
Are you really?

LARRY
Yeah.

PAUL
I own an old -- cinema.  Having it re-done.

LARRY
Oh.

PAUL
Used to have a string of three, but, you know -- business is not what it used to be.

                            He picks up some more stamps from the table.

PAUL
Now, look at these presidentials.  Look at the color work.  Even the perforations are still intact.

LARRY
Where's Carol?

PAUL
All the...

LARRY
Because I should really be going, actually.

PAUL
Oh, really?

LARRY
Yeah.  I mean so, we...

                  In the background we see Carol and Lillian entering the room.

LILLIAN
Coffee's ready!

LARRY
Oh, coffee.  I forgot coffee.

PAUL
Good.  We can get back to this later.
(putting his hand on Larry's shoulder)
Come on in.

CUT TO:
INT.  Living room

Paul and Lillian sitting in chairs;  Larry and Carol are on the sofa.

LILLIAN
Well, we've never had any children, but it's easy to empathize.  Umh -- what college does your son attend?

CAROL
Brown.

LILLIAN
Oh.

PAUL
Nice color.

                          They all laugh.

LILLIAN
Paul never attended college.  He'd self-made.

PAUL
Always regretted it.  I think knowledge is the second most important thing.  First is health, then knowledge.  Then money.

LARRY
(putting his cup down on a low table)
You know, it's amazing how time, we -- we'll just...

LILLIAN
And, do you work?

                     Larry stands up.

CAROL
Huh?  do I?

LILLIAN
Yes.

                      Larry looks at Carol and sits back on the sofa.

CAROL
Oh, well, I actually, uhm -- I used to work at an ad agency, but that was many years ago.

                      CAMERA moves closer to Carol and Larry.

CAROL
But... You know, I've been seriously thinking of starting a little restaurant.  But -- well, Larry -- he's trying to talk me out of it.

_____________________________

{Manhattan Murder Mystery.  Directed by Woody Allen.  Screenplay by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman.  1993}

-30-

come in for a drink

"Hold the elevatorrrrr!"


LILLIAN (voice over)
I'm coming.

                         Inside the elevator, Larry and Carol Lipton wait; Larry puts his hand on the edge of the door to keep it from closing.

PAUL (voice over)
Hold the elevator.

Paul and Lillian enter the elevator.  They are a middle-aged couple.  He is bald and tall, and very smiley.  She is small, with salt-and-pepper hair arranged in a neat bun.

LILLIAN
That's right.

PAUL
Thank you.

                       Lillian has a broad smile when she recognizes Larry and Carol.  The elevator door slides shut.  Lillian looks at Carol.

LILLIAN
I, uh, I see you at the gym sometimes.

CAROL
Oh, you do?

LILLIAN
Yes, we live in the apartment down the hall.

CAROL
Oh, well, I go whenever I have the discipline.

LILLIAN
It's important to put that time in.  It does wonders.

CAROL
Oh, yeah -- I agree with you.

LILLIAN
Exercising changed my life.

CAROL
Well, geez --

LARRY
I prefer to atrophy.  I'm not a very -- exercise person.

PAUL
We bought a treadmill last week.

CAROL
Oh, well, we had one.  But you know, we got rid of it because it was just taking up too much space.

LILLIAN
Oh, it -- it -- umh --

LARRY
Because you have to turn it on and get on it once in a while...

LILLIAN
Hey, I -- exactly, I... and it's so confusing, with all those buttons and computerized programs.  I'm just never gonna get that.


INT.  HALLWAY - NIGHT

Elevator door opens; the two couples exit.  They talk back and forth together.

CAROL
Oh, I know.  It's late.

LILLIAN
It's so wonderful, meeting.

CAROL
Oh, well, yeah.

PAUL
It is just like New York.  You have neighbors.  You never meet them... You guys...

LILLIAN
...I've seen you so many times in the hallway, you know...and I've always wanted to come up and say hello.

PAUL
Well, anyway... good night.

                     Larry and Carol walk away toward their apartment.  

CAROL (voice over)
Good night.  Such a lovely couple.  You know that...

                                    Paul bends down to pick up something on the carpet.  Lillian walks one step back down the hallway.

LILLIAN
Oh, uh, say, hello?

                    Paul starts opening their apartment door, just across the hallway from the elevator.

CAROL (voice over)
Huh?  Yeah?

LILLIAN
Uhm listen -- why don't you come in for a -- a second, and have a drink with us.  I mean, we'd really love that.

                      The camera pans around the corner, to Larry and Carol -- Larry makes a negative sign with his hand.

CAROL
Oh, oh well, that'd be fine...

PAUL (voice over)
She makes great Irish coffee.

                          Muted conversation between Carol and Larry.  Larry doesn't want to accept the invitation, but Carol does want to.

LILLIAN (voice over)
Oh, please?  I -- want you to give me a treadmill lesson.

LARRY
There's a movie on television I want to watch.

                                           Carol starts walking toward Lillian and Paul's apartment, followed reluctantly by Larry.

As they enter the apartment, Carol is speaking to Lillian:  "Oh, about the tread-- oh, well, if I can figure it out, then believe me, anybody can!"

                           She laughs, with the other couple, and Larry gives a forced, polite, social chuckle.

-30-

obsequious instrument of his pleasure

     You can't hire the "fox" to guard the "hen-house," and that's why in the Constitution there is the "Advise and Consent" provision.

     Three U.S. Senators have a lawsuit filed, because of President Trump's appointment of Matthew G. Whitaker as Attorney General, following the forced resignation of Jeff Sessions.


     Mr. Whitaker had spoken openly on TV shows, saying he didn't think this president should be investigated.  After Pres. Trump heard what Mr. Whitaker said, he gave the A.G. job to Mr. Whitaker.

     (Nothing like being obvious.)

     That's like saying the president of U.S. is "above the law"!  It is a notorious step forward on any nation's road to fascist or communist dictatorship.

--------------------- The hypothetical "fox-henhouse" scenario is addressed in the Constitution, & the Blumenthal-Whitehouse-Hirono lawsuit bases its questions on this:

     [excerpt] ------------------ The constitutional requirement that principal federal Officers be appointed only with the Senate's "Advice and Consent," U.S. Const. art. II, § 2, cl. 2, was adopted by our nation's Founders as an important check on the power of the President.  

Recognizing that giving the President the "sole disposition of offices" would result in a Cabinet "governed much more by his private inclinations and interests" than by the public good, and could result in the appointment of Officers who had 

"no other merit than that of . . . possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of his pleasure," 

The Federalist No. 76, at 457-58 (Alexander Hamilton) (Clinton Rossiter ed., 1961)... ------------------------------ [end, excerpt]

_______________________________________

____________________________________

     At the beginning of the movie, Manhattan Murder Mystery, a song called "I Happen To Like New York" (written by Cole Porter, sung by Bobby Short) plays over the opening credits.

     After a cheerful, tinkling, slim few notes to begin the song, the vocal comes in very strong and clear -- almost shouting out the lines like in opera, the lyrics a determined declaration!...


I happen to like New York, I happen to love this town

I like the city air, I like to drink of it

The more I see New York, the more I think of it

I like the sight and the sound and even the stink of it

I happen to like New York



I like to go to Battery Park -- and watch the liners booming in
I often ask myself why should it be
That they come so far across the sea?
I suppose it's because they all agree with me
They happen to like New York


Last Sunday afternoon, I took a trip to Hackensack
But after I gave Hackensack the once over
I took the next train back
I happen to like New York...


NEW YORK - AERIAL VIEW - EXTERIOR.  NIGHT

While the camera is flying over New York, we hear the song; the camera reaches a round building that looks like a stadium and starts moving around the building.

[Song ends.]
HOCKEY GAME - INTERIOR.  NIGHT

[Immediately after the end of the song, the noise of hockey game replaces it, with sudden chaotic audio energy.]

Long shot on the skating rink.  A hockey game is in progress on the rink.  The camera follows a player, and then pans on the audience.

MED. SHOT of Larry and Carol, a couple in their early fifties.  Larry seems fascinated by the game, but Carol appears to find it boring.  She looks at the ceiling, and then puts her hand over her mouth to suppress a yawn.  Larry turns toward her.

LARRY
Come on.

CAROL
What?

LARRY
You promised to sit through the entire hockey game without being bored, and I'll sit through the Wagner opera with you next week.

CAROL
I know, honey, I promised.  I know.

LARRY
I already bought the earplugs.

CAROL
Yeah.  Well, with your eyesight, I'm surprised you can see the puck.

                            The crowd starts yelling and we guess that one of the players has done something really good.  Carol mockingly claps her hands:

"Yay, hooray."

                      Then she raises her eyes to the ceiling....

APARTMENT BUILDING - NIGHT.

Larry and Carol Lipton walking into the lobby, from the street.  She's reading a newspaper.

LARRY
I can't wait to get into bed and stretch out.

CAROL
Yeah.

LARRY
You know, there's a Bob Hope movie on television later.

CAROL (still reading)
I know.  Can you believe this guy in Indiana?  Killed twelve victims, dismembered them, and ate them.

LARRY
Really? -- Eeh -- it's an alternative lifestyle.

CAROL
Yeah, I'll say.

                         They walk into the elevator.  We hear a voice from the hallway:

PAUL (voice over)
Hold the elevator!

____________________________________

     When he says that, it's in a cheerful, eager voice, and he kind of draws out the last syllable as if he's singing... "Hold -- the elevatorrrrrr!"

     When Larry (played by Woody Allen) says "Wagner," he pronounces it  Vog - nah...

-----------------------------------------

{Manhattan Murder Mystery, 1993.  Producer:  Robert Greenhut.  Director:  Woody Allen.  Screenplay written by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman.  Dist. TriStar Pictures.}

-30-