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April 11, 2008

Less Dialogue is More

Vivien Leigh, Robert Taylor, Waterloo Bridge, 1940

I'm working on a script, specifically a scene where the main character, The Hero meets The Woman for the first time.

I've written this scene maybe ten times.

The dialog is clever and sharp and, and just this side of tender.

But something is wrong.

This has been going on for days.

I move on. I never stay on a scene that's not working. The rule is just keep moving forward, build the structure and then go back and rewrite.

But I wake at four in the morning—mind whirring away—the scene is driving me crazy.

Why can't I get it right?

Maybe I have no talent. Perhaps my entire career is an elaborate hoax.

And then last night I was watching Waterloo Bridge, and there's a scene where Robert Taylor meets Vivien Leigh for the first time, and you know what they say to each other?

Nothing.

They just look at each other and —

It. Is. Magic.

It. Is. Perfect.

Vivien Leigh, Waterloo Bridge, 1940.

I rush to my library, grab legendary director Mervyn LeRoy's autobiography, Take One, flip madly through the pages and find the following passage regarding production on Waterloo Bridge:

One of the key scenes was the one in a nightclub on New Year's Eve, in which Vivien and Bob were supposed to meet and fall in love. He was leaving the next day for the front. It was a scene that [screenwriter] Behrman, [producer] Franklin and I had spent a lot of time on, and the dialogue between the two was, we had all thought, beautiful and tender. But on the set it just didn't seem to work too well. I knew something was wrong, but I couldn't put my finger on just what it was.

At four in the afternoon, after some hours of fruitless fiddling with the scene, I told everybody to go home. I sat there, in that make-believe nightclub, with just one small work light to give me illumination. Over and over, I read the scene, read the words that Sam, Sydney, and I had labored to get right. I was still there at two in the morning, when suddenly the answer came to me.

“No dialogue!” I said, aloud. “No dialogue at all!”

I realized at that moment what silent directors had always known, and what I should have known too. Often, in great emotional moments, there are no words. A look, a gesture, a touch can convey much more meaning than spoken sentences. Since sound came in, we had become dependent on it, perhaps overdependent on it. It was time to go back to basic human behavior, and often human beings say nothing. This scene was one of those times when silence was more expressive than dialogue.

Oh my, nothing ever changes.

I've just rewritten my scene. Of course, there is no dialogue. And it works.

Only problem is, I don't have the durable Robert Taylor or the luminous Vivien Leigh to play the scene.

No, my actors will appear on Jay Leno and reveal themselves as dopey mortals; they'll show up in the pages of the National Enquirer as feature players in some sordid affair, or they'll travel abroad and make poisonous comments about America.

The power and glory of old time Hollywood stars is forever gone and because of this motion pictures have been reduced to the size of cancelled postage stamps.

Robert Taylor, studio portrait.

Most actors keep copies of their films. But Robert Taylor, always a modest man, was an exception.

In the last months of his life, dying of cancer, Taylor asked for just one print of one picture he had made—Waterloo Bridge. At the time, Taylor was under contract to Disney. The studio acquired a copy of the film for him, and with friends the dying star watched it over and over again.

Karen and I wish all our friends a lovely and meaningful Rest in Shabbat.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at April 11, 2008 08:47 AM

Comments

Seraphic Secret is private property, that's right, it's an extension of our home, and as such, Karen and I have instituted two Seraphic Rules and we ask commentors to act respectfully.

1. No profanity.

2. No Israel bashing. We debate, we discuss, we are respectful. You know what Israel bashing is. The world is full of it. Seraphic Secret is one of the few places in the world that will not tolerate this form of anti-Semitism.

That's it. Break either of these rules and you will be banned.

Absolutely beautiful post.

Posted by: ShrinkWrapped at April 11, 2008 11:22 AM

I echo shrinkwrapped. Here's your unique voice, providing a glimpse into the creative process that is solely your own. Political pundits are raging across the internet, but today's entry is original and special. No one else could write it so it shines.

Posted by: Karen Avrech at April 11, 2008 12:07 PM

Vivien Leigh looking at anyone or anything is pretty much all you need. She was awesome. I love the scene in "Gone With the Wind" when she's in widow's garb at the ball where she can't dance and is pouting horribly about it all. She's looking longingly at the dancers and the camera pans around to show her bottom half doing a jig.

Posted by: Alice at April 11, 2008 12:24 PM

Shrink:

Thanks so much. At the core, I'm a tortured screenwriter in need of shrinkwrapping:-)

Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at April 11, 2008 05:35 PM

Karen:

I live for your praise.

Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at April 11, 2008 05:36 PM

Alice:

Heck of a scene. Beautifully written, beautifully directed. There were like 8 uncredited directors on the film so good luck discovering who helmed that scene. Leigh was a great, great actress. So sad that she was bi-polar and alcoholic.

Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at April 11, 2008 05:40 PM

Robert,

It's neat to see a glimpse of the creative process that goes into making a script come alive.

I take away the message from your post that simpler is better; less is more.

This can be applied in so many areas of life.

Shabbat Shalom!!

Posted by: Lance at April 11, 2008 05:51 PM

A wonderful post, and I like Karen's public use of comments to echo those sentiments. (She could've walked into your office and told you, told you at the dinner table, emailed you or called you with her compliments!) If you live by the adage, "Less is more"... for a man of few words, you're doing pretty well for yourself as a screenwriter, as an essayist and as a blogger.

There's no hope for me in the screenwriting industry..."less is more" just ain't my style.

Posted by: Pearl at April 12, 2008 06:58 PM

Lance:

Less is definitely more in screenwriting. When i have a problem with a scene, the solution usually lies in cutting not adding.

Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at April 12, 2008 08:44 PM

Pearl:

Yup.

Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at April 12, 2008 08:46 PM

I wrote a poem with this movie in mind, only I hadn't seen it in a very long time and couldn't remember the name. Thanks.

Posted by: comerunning at April 15, 2008 07:18 PM

Comerunning:

Glad to be of service.

Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at April 16, 2008 10:03 AM

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