IN
THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
Originally Broadcast November 11, 1960
ACT ONE
FADE ON:
- 1.
Standard opening
- With
human eye changing into setting sun. PAN DOWN TO OPENING SCENE
OF PLAY.
- 2.
Int. Hospital room Night
- (Production
note: Throughout the play until otherwise indicated, all characters
with the exception of Janet are played either in the shadows or
the camera is on their back, but never are actually seen
face first.) The CAMERA STARTS A SLOW DOLLY in over toward a bed
which, besides a bedstand, is the only furniture in an otherwise
bare and antiseptic-looking room. CAMERA STOPS on an ANGLE SHOT
LOOKING DOWN at Janet Tyler, whose face is entirely swathed in
a bandaged mask, with only a little slit left open for the mouth.
She remains motionless. Ever her hands are limp, unprotesting extensions
of herself, as if they too were resigned to a life of silent darkness.
There's the noise of a door swinging open and then the very slight
sound of glass medicine bottles rattling on a tray. The bandaged
face turns toward the sound:
CUT TO:
- 3.
Med. long shot across the room
- A
nurse has just entered and is placing the tray down near the door.
The position of the bedlight throws the far end of the room in
shadows, so that all we can see of the nurse is that of angular,
tall silhouette, her face invisible. Her voice, when she speaks,
has a brittle and professional quality, unemotional and with a
suggestion of boredom.
- Janet
- Nurse?
- Nurse
- Brought
you your sleeping medicine, honey.
- Janet
- Is
it night already?
- Nurse
- It's
nine-thirty.
- 4.
Different angle Janet
- As
her head turns to look up toward the ceiling.
- Janet
- What
about the day?
- Nurse
- What
about it?
- Janet
- Was
it a beautiful day? Was the sun out? Was it warm?
- 5.
Moving shot the nurse
- As
seen from behind her as she walks over to the bed, administers
to the bandaged woman. The camera remains on her back.
- Nurse
- Kinda
warm.
- Janet
- Clouds?
Were there clouds in the sky?
We can
see the nurse shrug. Her voice becomes even duller.
- Nurse
- I
suppose there were. I never was much for staring up at the sky
all the time.
Now the
nurse screws back the top on a medicine bottle, puts it in her pocket,
shakes down a thermometer.
- Janet
- I
used to look up at clouds a lot. If you stare at them long enough
they become "things." Do you know what I mean? Ships, people, pastoral
scenes...anything you want, really, if you stare at them long enough.
- Nurse
- Time
to take your temperature now.
She moves
the thermometer toward Janet's mouth.
- Janet
- Just
one other thing...?
- Nurse
- Well?
- Janet
- When...when
will they take the bandages off?
- 6.
Close shot thermometer
- It
stops, poised in mid-air, then travels in an arc back toward the
nurse's side.
- 7.
Different long angle
- As
seen from above. The nurse has turned away, obviously reacting
to the question. Janet's head follows her.
- Janet
- How
long?
- Nurse
- Until...until
they decide whether they can fix up your face or not.
- Janet
(very softly)
- Oh.
I guess it's...I guess it's pretty bad, isn't it?
- 8.
Different angle shooting over the nurse's shoulder toward Janet
- Nurse
- I've
seen worse.
- Janet
- But
it's pretty bad, isn't it? I know it's pretty bad. Ever since I
can remember...ever since I was a little girl...people have turned
away from me. The very first thing I can remember is a little
child screaming when she looked at me.
- 9.
Extremely tight profile shot of her bandaged face
- As
she once again turns away. Her voice is soft, but there is a sense
of desperation, of misery, of anguish that creeps in.
- Janet
- I
never wanted to be beautiful. I never wanted to look like a painting.
I never even wanted to be loved.
- (a
pause)
- I
just wanted...I just wanted people not to scream when they looked
at me.
- (now
the bandaged face turns once again toward the nurse)
- When,
nurse? When will they take the bandages off this time?
- 10.
Different angle the back of the nurse
- As
she once again leans over, puts the thermometer in Janet's mouth,
then turns, but so close to the camera that we are shooting her
body below the face. She passes the camera and moves again to the
opposite side of the room and into the shadows. The camera remains
on this shot.
- Nurse
- Maybe
tomorrow. Maybe the next day. You've been waiting so long now...it
really doesn't make too much difference whether it's two days or
weeks now, does it?
- 11.
Reverse angle looking back over to the bed
- Janet's
head moves from side to side, shaking her head "no." The nurse
looks down at her watch then once again moves away from the camera
over to the bed, takes the thermometer out, shakes it, then in
identical fashion to before, passes the camera and goes out of
the room.
CUT TO:
- 12.
Int. Hospital corridor Night
- This
is a long, bare, almost cavernous, tunnel-like hallway. The lights
are dim and, once again, the people who pass under them - a doctor,
another nurse, a patient - are in shadows and we cannot see their
faces. A few doors down from Janet's room is a kind of reception
desk. A nurse sits there, her back to camera.
- 13.
Long shot down the corridor looking toward reception desk
- As
Janet's nurse comes from behind the camera and starts walking toward
the desk.
- 14.
Med. long shot intercom
- On
the reception desk as the CAMERA MOVES TOWARD IT, staying on the
back of Janet's nurse.
- 15.
Close shot nurse's hand
- As
she flicks a button on the intercom.
- Nurse
- Dr.
Bernardi. Evening report on Patient 307. Resting comfortably. No
temperature change.
- Doctor's
Voice
(over intercom)
- Thank
you, nurse. I'll be down later.
The nurse
flicks off the button.
- Nurse
Two
- Ever
see her face? 307?
- Nurse
- Indeed
I have. If it were mine, I'd bury myself in a grave someplace.
Poor thing. Some people want to live no matter what!
- (a
pause)
- Got
a cigarette?
A pack
of cigarettes passes in front of the camera. Janet's nurse's hand moves
toward the pack and takes out a cigarette, then moves out of the frame.
There's the sound of match being struck o.c., then a cloud of smoke exhaled
into the air. The CAMERA MOVES AROUND so that it is SHOOTING THROUGH
THE SMOKE across the desk, down toward the corridor and Janet's room.
At this moment we FREEZE FRAME. Two nurses walking down the corridor
away from the camera stop and become immobile, and over this tableau
we hear Serling's voice.
- Serling's
Voice
- Suspended
in time and space for a moment.
Out of
Janet Tyler's room now walks Serling. Behind him we still see the stationary
figures of the nurses.
- Serling
- You
have been introduced to Miss Janet Tyler, who lives in a very private
world of darkness; a universe whose dimensions are the size, thickness,
length of a swathe of bandages that cover her face. In a moment
we'll go back into this room, and also in a moment we'll look under
the bandages.
- (a
pause)
- Keeping
in mind, of course, that we're not to be surprised by what we see,
because this isn't just a hospital. And this Patient 307
is not just a woman. This happens to be The Twilight Zone...and
Miss Janet Tyler, Patient number 307...with you, is about to enter
it!
FADE TO
BLACK:
OPENING BILLBOARD
FIRST COMMERCIAL
FADE ON:
- 16.
Int. Hospital room [Night] Extremely tight profile shot bandaged
face of Janet Tyler
- Beyond,
at the far end of the room, are the shadowy figures of the doctor
and the nurse. We hear them indistinctly and muffled. Occasionally
words like "temperature," "pressure," "thyroid," "injection" can
be heard above the general indistinct rumble of their voices. Finally
the doctor takes a step toward the camera and the bed, his face
still in the shadows.
- Doctor
(over his shoulder)
- Come
back about eleven, nurse. Give her the usual sedative then.
- Nurse
- All
right, doctor.
The CAMERA
ARCS AROUND so that it is shooting behind the doctor as he approaches
the bed. He reaches it, picks up Janet's arm, briefly checks her pulse
while he looks down at her.
- Doctor
- Warm
this evening, Miss Tyler.
- Janet
- I
thought it was. I couldn't be sure, though.
- Doctor
(running a hand through his collar)
- Very
warm. You can take my word for it. We'll have those bandages off
you very shortly. I expect you're uncomfortable.
- Janet
- I'm
used to bandages on my face.
- Doctor
- I've
no doubt. This is your...ninth visit here? Is it the ninth?
- Janet
- The
eleventh.
- (a
pause as she turns her bandaged face toward him)
- Sometimes
I think I've lived my whole life inside a dark cave. The walls
are gauze. And the wind that blows in from the mouth of the cave
always smells of ether and disinfectant.
- (a
pause)
- There's
a kind of a comfort though, doctor, to living in this cave. It's
so wonderfully private.
- (she
turns her head away)
- No
one can ever see me.
- (another
pause)
- It's
hopeless, isn't it, doctor? I'll never look any different.
- Doctor
(putting her wrist down)
- That's
hard to say. Up to now you haven't responded to the medication
or to the shots or any of the proven techniques. Frankly, you've
stumped us, Miss Tyler. Nothing we've done so far has made any
difference at all. But we're hopeful of what this last treatment
may have accomplished. There's no telling, of course - not till
we get the bandages off. Unfortunately your case is one that can't
be handled with plastic surgery. Bone structure, flesh type...many
factors prohibit this kind of approach.
He turns
away. The CAMERA ARCS AROUND with him so that he's never full on camera.
- Doctor
(continuing thoughtfully)
- Your
eleventh visit.
A pause.
He moves over to the table, taps on it tentatively.
- 17.
Close shot his fingers
- As
they tap.
- 18.
Angle shot looking across Janet toward the slouched figure of the
doctor
- There's
a silence and finally Janet breaks it.
- Janet
- No
more after this, are there? No more tries.
- Doctor
- Eleven
is the mandatory number of experiments.
- (he
shrugs)
- No
more are permitted after eleven.
- Janet
- Now
what?
- Doctor
- Well
you're kind of jumping the gun, Miss Tyler. You may very well have
responded to these last injections. There's no way of telling till
we get those bandages off.
- Janet
- But
if I haven't responded then what?
- Doctor
- There
are alternatives.
- Janet
- Like?
The doctor
starts to turn. WE CUT ABRUPTLY BEFORE HE GETS TO FACE THE CAMERA TO:
- 19.
Doctor's back
- (looking
across to Janet)
- Doctor
- Don't
you know?
- Janet
(very softly)
- I
know.
- Doctor
(approaching the bed)
- You
realize, of course, Miss Tyler, why these rules are in effect?
Each of us is afforded as much opportunity as possible to fit in
with society. In your case, think of the time and money and effort
expended to make you look-
He stops
abruptly. His head goes down as if searching for a word.
- Janet
- To
make me look like what?
- Doctor
(with a gesture)
- Normal.
The way you'd like to
look.
- 20.
Different angle Janet
- As
she rises in bed, supporting herself on her elbows.
- Janet
- Doctor?
May I walk outdoors? May I sit out on the lawn? Just for a little
while. Just to smell the flowers. Just to... just to feel the air.
Just for... just for...
- (she
bolts upright in bed now. Her voice takes on a different tone,
a strained, tight, close-to-breaking harshness)
- To
make believe, doctor! To make believe that I am
normal. If I sit outside in the darkness, then I know the whole
world is dark. I'm more a part of it that way. Not just one grotesque,
ugly, deformed woman with a bandage around her face... with a special
darkness that belongs to her.
The CAMERA
MOVES IN for a VERY CLOSE SHOT of her bandaged face and now her voice
is high, shrill, and unsteady.
- Janet
- I
want to belong! I want to be like other people.
Please help me, doctor.
- (now
her voice catches in a sob)
- Please
help me.
The CAMERA
MOVES AROUND so that it is SHOOTING TOWARD THE DOCTOR who stands in the
shadows. He is silent for a moment and then his voice is soft.
- Doctor
- You're
not alone, Miss Tyler. You realize that, don't you? You're hardly
alone. There are many others who share your misfortune. People
who look much as you do. One of the alternatives...should this
last treatment prove unsuccessful...well, this is simply to allow
you to move into a special area in which people of your own kind
have been congregated.
- Janet
(bitterly)
- People
of my own kind!
- (a
pause)
- Congregated,
doctor? You don't mean congregated, you mean segregated. You mean
imprisoned. You're talking about a ghetto now.
- (and
then plaintive, anguished, and more as a cry, she shrieks this
out)
-
A ghetto designed for freaks
!
- Doctor
(shouting over her)
- Miss
Tyler! The State is not unsympathetic. Your presence here in this
hospital attests to this. It's doing all it can for you. But you're
not being rational, Miss Tyler. You can't expect to live any kind
of life amongst...
- (again
he gropes, but picks it up quickly)
- Amongst
normal people.
CUT TO:
- 21.
Close shot Janet
- The
bandages twitch as if, underneath, her face were contorting.
- Janet
- I
could try. I could wear a mask or this bandage. I wouldn't bother
anyone. I'd just go my own way. I'd take a job. Any
job.
- (her
voice breaks again)
- Who
are you people anyway? What is this State?
Who makes up all the rules and the statutes and the traditions?
The people who are different have to stay away from other people
who are normal. The State isn't God, doctor.
- Doctor
(firmly and obviously concerned)
- Miss
Tyler, please!
- Janet
- The
State is not God.
It hasn't the right to penalize people for an accident of birth.
It hasn't the right to make ugliness a crime-
- Doctor
(now shouting)
- Miss
Tyler, I must ask you to stop this kind of talk immediately! Now,
Miss Tyler, now !
The CAMERA
MOVES BACK over to a SHOT OF JANET, who gets out of bed and stands there
for a moment motionless with her head down, then very slowly, a hand
out in front of her, she moves across the room over to a window. She
touches it, then puts her bandaged cheek against it.
CUT TO:
- 22.
Reverse angle looking at her through the glass
- One
hand moves down the pane until it reaches the open section at the
bottom. She moves her hand back and forth.
- Janet
(softly)
- I
feel the night out there. I feel the air. I can smell the flowers.
- (she
turns slowly to face the doctor. Both hands go up to touch the
bandage, in a very small, still voice)
- Please
take this off me. Please take this off me.
- (then
screaming)
- Take
this off me !
She starts
to clutch and scrabble at the bandage, screaming as she does so.
ABRUPT CUT TO:
- 23.
Int. Corridor room indicator on wall over reception desk
- A
light "307" flashes over and over again. In the b.g. we hear Janet's
screaming voice pleading for the removal of the bandage. The nurse
passes the camera hurriedly. CAMERA PANS AROUND SO THAT IT IS LOOKING
at her as she races down the corridor toward Janet's room.
ABRUPT
CUT TO:
- 24.
Int. Hospital room as seen through the window from outside
- The
doctor is holding a fighting, squirming Janet as the nurse barges
in, takes her other arm and the two of them move her back over
to the bed. The scene is played in pantomime and finally Janet
quiets down. We then see the nurse walk back over to the door and
exit.
CUT TO:
- 25.
Int. Corridor med. shot reception nurse
- Reading
a magazine that covers up her face. Janet's nurse walks in front
of camera so that we see most of her back and part of the nurse
sitting behind the magazine.
- Janet's
Nurse
- The
doctor's decided to remove the bandages in 307. He wants to have
the anesthetist stand by.
- 26.
Different angle the reception nurse
- She
turns just at the moment of the CAMERA CUT so that we actually
don't see her face.
- Nurse
Two
- Of
course, it's not for me to say, but I think they spend an awful
lot of time and trouble on some of these face cases - these throwbacks:
Why not ship them out in the beginning?
She reaches
for her magazine again and starts to turn in her chair, at which point
THE CAMERA AGAIN CUTS TO:
- 27.
Shot of her back
- Looking
over her shoulder.
- Janet's
Nurse
- Is
that what you'd want?
If it were you?
The second
nurse flicks the intercom impatiently.
- Nurse
Two
- Anesthesia,
please. Wanted for 307. Yes. She may get violent.
FADE TO
BLACK:
END ACT ONE
ACT TWO
FADE ON:
- 28.
Int. Corridor reception desk Night
- A
nurse and an orderly lounge around, backs to camera. The orderly
looks at his watch, then across at a large television set perched
on the far end of the counter which fronts the reception desk.
- Orderly
- Leader's
speaking tonight. Goes on in just a few minutes.
He rises,
flicks on the set, then lights a cigarette.
- 29.
Top hat shot the match
- As
it goes into the ashtray. Directly across on a direct line is the
front of the television set which shows an extremely long shot
of a desk with an official seal behind it. A man sits behind it,
too far off to distinguish clearly beyond a general outline. An
off-camera voice announces portentously.
- Announcer
- And
now, ladies and gentlemen, our Leader.
There
is cheering and offstage applause, and we now hear the stentorian tones
of the gentleman just announced.
- Leader's
Voice
- Good
evening, ladies and gentlemen. Tonight I shall talk to you about
glorious conformity...about the delight and the ultimate
pleasure of our unified society. You recall, of course, that directionless,
unproductive, over-sentimentalized era of man's history when it
was assumed that dissent was some kind of natural and healthy adjunct
to society. We also recall that during this period of time there
was a strange over-sentimentalized concept that it mattered not
that people were different, that ideas were at variance with one
another, that a world could exist in some kind of crazy, patchwork
kind of makeup, with foreign elements glued together in a crazy
quilt. We realize, of course, now, that...
His voice
continues underneath as the CAMERA MOVES AWAY from him and SHOOTS DOWN
THE HALL. The LEADER'S VOICE continues through the bandage-removal scene.
- 30.
Different angle the door of Janet's room
DISSOLVE
TO:
- 31.
Int. hospital room Night
- Janet
now sits in a chair in the center of the room. A single overhead
light has been turned on so that she alone is illuminated almost
as if by a spotlight. There's a low murmur of voices underneath
as other shadowy figures in the room walk back and forth in front
of her, their shadows playing briefly on her bandaged face as they
move. Behind this scene, intermittently, we can hear the voice
of the Leader on the television set outside. Then the voices of
the doctor and the people in the room die off. The doctor's body
steps in front of the camera. CAMERA PANS DOWN to a SHOT OF HIS
RIGHT HAND. It holds a scissors.
- Doctor
- Now
I have to ask you once again, Miss Tyler. I must insist that you
promise to remain rational. No tantrums. No temperament. And no
violence. You understand?
Janet
nods.
- Doctor
- Now
I'll tell you precisely what I'm going to do. I'm going to cut
the bandage at a point on the left side of your head. I'll start
to unwind the bandage very gradually. The process has to be slow
so that you can become accustomed to the light. As you know, the
injections may have had an effect on your vision. Now as I unwrap,
I want you to keep your eyes open and I want you to describe to
me the different shading of light as you perceive it as each layer
of bandage comes off.
- Janet
(softly)
- All
right.
- 32.
Different angle profile shot Janet
- We
see the doctor's body from the neck down, the scissors now helf
in front of him.
- Doctor
- Now
if you make any movement or if you start getting emotional on us,
Miss Tyler, I'm going to have to have the nurses hold you down
and have the anesthetist put you under sedation. Is that understood?
- Janet
(falteringly)
- I
promise...I won't.
- Doctor
- All
right then.
The scissors
come out in front of him and move toward the camera. From this angle
they are disproportionately large and almost fill the screen. We see
them perform some movement and the bandages start to move in sections
across the screen as if being unwound from a head.
- Doctor
- Do
you see any light now, Miss Tyler?
- Janet
- Just
a little. It looks...it looks gray.
- Doctor
- All
right now, just be very quiet.
Again
bandage swirls across the screen and then stops.
- Doctor
- Now,
Miss Tyler?
- Janet
- Much
brighter. Very bright.
- Doctor
- Look
up toward the light.
CUT TO:
- 33.
Angle shot looking up toward light
- A
diffuse sun as seen through layers of bandage.
- 34.
Reverse angle over the doctor's shoulder looking down toward Janet's
face
- As
once again he starts to unwrap bandage.
- Doctor
- How
about now, Miss Tyler?
- Janet
- It's
bright. It's very bright.
- Doctor
- Good.
- (he
continues to unwrap then stops)
- I'm
at the last layer now, Miss Tyler.
Janet's face
goes up.
- Janet
- I
can...I can just distinguish your outline. Just vaguely...but I
can see you.
- Doctor
- Now
I'm going to remove the last bandage, Miss Tyler. Now do you want
a mirror?
There's a
silence.
- Janet
- No.
No, thank you. No mirror.
Again she
looks up as if trying to scan the faces of the others in the room.
- 35.
Pan shot past the faces
- Of
the anesthetist, and two nurses in the shadows as they watch motionlessly
and tensely.
- 36.
Different angle Janet
- As
seen from the back of her head. The doctor once again reaches for
the last of the bandages.
- Doctor
- Now
I'm going to remove the last bandage, Miss Tyler. And I want you
to remember this please. Miss Tyler? Are you listening?
- Janet
- Yes,
I'm listening.
- Doctor
- We
have done all we could. If we were successful all well and
good. There are no problems. If, however, this final treatment
has not achieved the desired results, keep in mind that you can
still live a long and fruitful life among people of your own kind.
As soon as we discover these results, we'll either release you...
or
He pauses
for a moment.
- 37.
Another pan shot past the shadowy faces
- Of
the other people in the room, winding up on a SHOT OF JANET'S thinly
bandaged face through which we can now see the outline of her features,
eyes, nose, mouth, but no definitive portrait of a face.
- Janet
- Doctor?
- Doctor
- Yes.
- Janet
- If
I'm still... if I'm still terribly ugly, is there any other alternative?
Could I... could I be put away?
- Doctor
- Under
certain circumstances, Miss Tyler... the State does provide for
extermination of undesirables. There are many factors to be considered,
though, that bear on the decision. Under the circumstances, considering
your age... your general physical condition... I doubt very much
if we could permit anything but your transfer to a communal group
of people with your... your disability.
- Janet
- You'll
make me go then?
- Doctor
- That
will probably be the case. All right, Miss Tyler. Remain very quiet
please. Keep your eyes open.
- 38.
Different angle from behind the doctor
- As
he reaches forward and starts to unwind the last bandage. The first
strip of bandage comes off the top of her forehead, another layer
revealing her forehead, another layer uncovering just the upper
part of her eyebrows and eyes.
- Doctor
- All
right, Miss Tyler. Now here comes the last of it. I wish you every
good luck!
Again
he reaches over and starts to unwind as we
CUT TO:
- 39.
Shadowy faces of the other people in the room
- There's
a moment's absolute silence, then one of the nurses lets out a
gasp. Another involuntarily throws a hand and arm across her face
to blot out what is obviously an incredible spectacle.
- 40.
Flash close shot doctor's hand
- As
he drops the scissors and they land on the floor. He then steps
back into the shadows to stand close to the others.
- Doctor's
Voice
- No
change! No change at all!
- 41.
Closeup Janet
- She
raises her head. If she is not startlingly beautiful, we have missed
our point entirely.
- 42.
Different angle from behind Janet
- As
she slowly rises. Her hands come up from her side to touch her
face, then remain there as her head bends over and she buries her
face in her hands. In the silence we hear one rasping sob that
is finally and painfully controlled. Then she looks up, scanning
the faces that confront her, then suddenly she breaks away and
races toward the door. The doctor hurriedly and expertly steps
in front of her way and grabs her.
- Doctor
(curtly to the other man in the room)
- Needle,
please. I was afraid of this.
- (then
to the nurse)
- Turn
on the lights!
The shadowy
form of the nurse moves over to the light switch.
- 43.
Close shot her hand
- As
she turns on the switch.
- 44.-47.
Abrupt flash closeups of the two nurses, the anesthetist, and then
the doctor
- Each
face is more grotesque than the other. Noses, eyes, mouths, ears,
everything, almost as if they were cartoons; almost as if they
were caricature drawings come to life.
- 48.
Med. close shot the anesthetist
- A
syringe in his hand, as he walks slowly toward the struggling girl
whose face is buried against the doctor. He holds up the needle
and at this moment Janet breaks free, opens the door wildly and
races out into the corridor.
- 49.
Long shot as she races down the corridor
- Past
amazed nurses and doctors, each of whom has the same odd ugliness
of those we have already seen.
- 50.
Close shot door of Janet's room
- As
the doctor barges out.
- Doctor
(shouts)
- Stop
that patient! Stop her!
- 51.-53.
Series of shots of Janet
- As
she races down empty corridors.
- 54.
Close shot elevator operator
- He
opens the doors to the elevator just as Janet passes. He, like
all the others, is a cartoon-looking character.
- 55.
Close shot doctor
- Coming
out of operating room, removing his mask just as Janet runs by
him. His face is like that of the elevator operator.
(The following
covers Janet's running through the corridor.)
- Leader's
Voice
- I
say to you now...I say to you now that there is no such thing as
a permissive society, because such a society cannot exist! They
will scream at you and rant and rave and conjure up some dead and
decadent picture of an ancient time when they said that all men
are created equal! But to them equality was an equality of opportunity,
an equality of status, an equality of aspiration! And then, in
what must surely be the pinnacle of insanity, the absolute in inconsistency,
they would have had us believe that this equality did not apply
to form, to creed. They permitted a polyglot, accident-bred, mongrel-like
mass of diversification to blanket the earth, to infiltrate and
weaken!
- (now
he shrieks)
- Well,
we know now that there must be a single purpose! A single norm!
A single approach! A single entity of peoples! A single virtue!
A single morality! A single frame of reference! A single philosophy
of government!
- (shrieking
again)
- We
cannot permit...we must
not permit the encroaching sentimentality of a past age to weaken
our resolve. We must cut out all that is different like a cancerous
growth!
- 56.
Running shot Janet
- As
she races down the corridor.
- 57.-59.
Different angles television screens
- As
she runs by them. Each with a different angle of the face of the
Leader as he continues to speak, his voice droning, unintelligible,
but persistent and gradually taking on a build of excitement.
- 60.
Different angle Janet
- As
she stops in the middle of an empty hall and looks left, right,
in front and then back.
CUT TO:
- 61.-63.
Interspersed shots of the television screen
- As
each shot shows it in larger and larger perspective. The face of
the Leader is incredibly ugly as it shouts down at her.
- 64.
Zoom in to close shot Janet's back
- As
her hands go to the sides of her head, as if trying to shut out
the noises.
- 65.
Long angle shot looking down
- As
she races down the last corridor and turns a corner then stops
dead. WHIP PAN UP TO GIANT TELEVISION SCREEN. The Leader's face
fills it up entirely, screaming, ranting, contorting.
- 66.
Close shot Janet's hand
- As
she instinctively reaches for an ashtray near a bench which is
against one wall.
- 67.
Different angle
- As
she picks it up and flings it across the corridor.
- 68.
Extremely tight close shot television screen
- The
ashtray hits the face of the Leader head on and splinters the set,
and from the broken, smoking remnant of the machine, we hear the
voice of the Leader.
- Leader's
Voice
- It
is essential in this society that we not only have a norm, but
that we conform to that norm. Differences weaken us. Variations
destroy us. An incredible permissiveness to deviation from this
norm is what has ended nations and brought them to their knees.
Conformity we must worship and hold sacred. Conformity is the key
to survival.
The voice
persists as we
CUT TO:
- 69.
Different angle Janet
- As
she races down the corridor past the screen.
- 70.
Close shot double doors
- Unlabeled,
as Janet runs in and smashes through them.
- 71.
Int. room med. shot
- Janet
bursts in and recoils in shock and horror at something she sees
o.s. She shrieks and slides slowly down to the ground in a huddled
heap and begins to cry. The CAMERA MOVES DOWN. The legs and feet
of whatever monstrosity she has seen move into f.g. Janet is terrified.
Then the doctor enters from another direction and bends down to
her soothingly.
- Doctor
- Don't
be afraid, Miss Tyler. This is a representative of the group you're
to live with. Oddly enough, you've come right to him. Come on now
he won't hurt you.
He lifts
the terrified girl to her feet.
- 72.
Closeup Janet
- Forces
herself to look at the newcomer, her face full of revulsion.
- 73.
Full shot
- Walter
Smith steps into the light. We see a youthful, tremendously attractive
young man, dressed plainly in simple trousers and shirt.
- Doctor
- This
is Mr. Smith, Janet. Walter Smith. He's in charge of the village
group in the north. He'll take you there tonight. You can live
among your own kind now.
- 74.
Different angle Smith
- As
he walks over to Janet. We're looking across her back and up into
Smith's face. In addition to being attractive, it's a gentle face,
a compassionate face, an infinitely kind face. He smiles, his voice
is gentle and soft.
- Smith
- Miss
Tyler?
The girl's
head is raised.
- Smith
- We
have a lovely village and wonderful people. I think you'll like
it where I'm going to take you. You'll be with your own kind, and
after a little while - you'd be amazed how little a while
- you'll feel a sense of great belonging. You'll feel a sense of
being loved. And you will be loved, Miss Tyler.
The girl
remains motionless now. Smith looks up and gestures with his head.
- 75.
Different angle the room
- As
the doctor leaves and shuts the door behind him.
- 76.
Close shot Smith
- Smith
- Miss
Tyler? Would you get your things now? We can leave any time.
The CAMERA
STARTS A VERY, VERY SLOW ARC until finally it is shooting directly into
the face of Janet Tyler. She's like a beautiful living portrait. A face
carved into the mold of all things woman. Gentle, beautiful, feminine,
and young.
- Janet
- Mr.
Smith?
- Smith
- Yes?
- Janet
- Why...why
are some of us born so ugly?
- Smith
(smiles sadly)
- I
don't know, Miss Tyler. I really don't know.
- (a
pause)
- But
do you know something? It doesn't really matter. There's an old
saying... a very, very old saying. Beauty is in the eye of the
beholder. When we leave here... when we go to the village... keep
that in mind. Try, Miss Tyler. Say it over and over in your mind.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
- (a
pause as he takes her hand)
- Come
on, now. We'll get your things and we'll leave.
The two
of them walk to the double doors. He opens them for her and they walk
out into the corridor, a vast empty passageway that stretches out almost
to infinity. The CAMERA REMAINS STATIONARY as they walk away from it
down the corridor.
- Serling's
Voice
- Now
the questions that come to mind: Where is this place and when
is it? What kind of world, where ugliness is the norm and beauty
the deviation from that norm? You want an answer? The answer is...
it doesn't make any difference. Because the old saying happens
to be true. Beauty is
in the eye of the beholder. In this year or a hundred years hence.
- (a
pause)
- On
this planet... or wherever there is human life, perhaps out amongst
the stars.
- (a
pause)
- Beauty
is in the eye of the beholder. Lesson to be learned... in The Twilight
Zone.
FADE TO
BLACK.
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