9.5A Extra Credit

Humphrey Bogart dark passage botched plastic job.with Houseley Stevenson.

First, describe Act 1 of the Classical Paradigm. What happens?

This scene from Dark Passage appears in Act I of the screenplay. How does the form of this scene fulfill the conventions/expectations established by the Classical Paradigm in regards to ACT 1? How does this plot contradict those conventions?

My response post which was Saturday night and might have been two days late - we'll see if I get any credit.

Regarding Act 1 that we have seen of Dark Passage (Delmer Daves, 1947), our text Monahan says, “a movie’s first few minutes lay out the rules of the universe (or at least witness) for the next couple hours.” In the first few minutes of Dark Passage one wonders, why is the narrator the camera mimicking the protagonist whose name we do not know?  It is making pan movements following his hand putting money on the table or following the visual track of what should be his eye. The towel is even put over the camera’s lens to mimic a face?

It is an innovative plot form in which to tell a story. An interesting way to show how a simple dialogue can become very mysterious based on the plot form the screenwriter chooses.

Our class presentation notes say that in Act 1 the “character must be established.” How can we do that at this point? So, we gather hard to get clues. Why does he have to get plastic surgery from a cash-only doctor with a revoked medical license? He must be some kind of criminal to have gotten this underground referral from “Sam.” Who needs to get a face change?  Someone hiding their identity probably, which can’t be good. At this point, I will say that we have an anti-hero as a protagonist. His actions and those to whom is associated don’t appear worthy and brave but less than noble.

The next few minutes get more information to confirm this when the doctor says, “fear is why men have lived so long.” Our anti-hero says, “I HAVE lived.” The tone in his voice gives us the impression that there is pain behind his words.

Further information is revealed about the anti-hero in a surreal vision when he is under medication.  Until this time we have only had diegetic sounds of the actions of rinsing out a towel and other natural sounds from the room. The surreal vision begins with dramatic nondiegetic spooky music added from production to match the imagery. There are several images of a few seconds done in a in a kaleidoscope circular view. First there is a skinned face. Then Lauren Bacall is looking nice but tough, giving him a sultry message that he’ll be alright. It gives another insight that there must be a woman in his past that cares about him.  

This is followed by a rough looking guy hitting him (or is it him hitting someone) in the face continuously. We hear non-diegetic punching – he’s punching air. The mean witch mom from Bewitched, Agnes Moorehead, knocks on the camera lens or his inside brain saying, “Let me in…let me in!” She still looks scary. The knock is nondiegetic as there is no door. Same nondiegetic music in the background but now someone holding a lighter. Is it a vision of himself in the mirror? Then the sadistic doctor stroking a knife asking if he’s got the money. Ever see a botched plastic job?  multiple faces spinning.

After the surreal sequence, the nondiegetic music ends. The next shot is a two shot close up of the doctor and a man with a cap. We don’t know what kind of service man this is and his relationship to the anti-hero. In a reverse shot, we finally see the protagonist anti-hero wrapped up in face bandages looking at both men. There is silence. A reverse shot to the doctor and service man in a medium two shot. Parting directions are given by the doctor, “do you have someone to take care of you, blinks yes?

This is the universe that we assume that we inhabit for two hours. Our anti hero has gotten a face lift which may or may not be botched. He has gotten it by a back-alley doctor for a lot of cash. He dreams of a beautiful comforting woman but there are many more people against him and he does have somewhere to go where someone will take care of him after surgery.

The movie tone is serious and dangerous. It looks right now like a crime drama. We are interested in this imperfect character as the surreal dream brings up a mystery and we want to know more about it. We want to know why he had to change his face also. We have learned some information that is needed for Act one.

However, in the first act we also need an inciting incident that leads to a character’s goal in the film. The goal our character has now is getting from the doctor’s office to his friend’s home and following the doctor’s orders to get his new face healed. The bigger goal must be the reason why the character is getting the plastic surgery, but it is not explicit. We are left unknowing what the goal is which goes against the Act 1 structure of the three-act model. We do not know the nature of the pursuit of the character and we do not even know the character’s name. In these ways the plot contradicts the classical three-act model.

Teacher Glowing Notes:

OMG Ida,

Yours is the most extensive, in-depth answer ever. This extra credit is written in the form of a discussion, and not a quiz, so I do not know how long it to you to complete your answer. I mention time because for the final I want to give you enough time for you to feel you have completed your essay questions thoroughly. We should talk, or email.

Anna

Anna Geyer , Oct 31 at 9:01pm

My response: 

Thank you so much for your comments Anna. I really enjoyed this. This was my Saturday night fun activity. Really spending time and analyzing this for hours. I did write it on word and then cut and paste it into the module. 

I am a terrible test taker, I definitely  ponder questions too long and yes, I'm worried about the final. 

However, I changed my grade to pass/fail so I could really enjoy the class and do my best and If I don't do well on the final - that'll be ok. But yes- to your question, extra time would help me at the final to complete my thoughts which would be satisfying in completing this class. 

Thanks Anna

out of a possible 3 she gave me 4