Read Online The Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Wes Anderson
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up to the high window across the room. Herr Becker waits alone in the storage pantry with the ledger book under his arm. He checks his watch.
MR. MOUSTAFA
(
voice-over
)
The next morning, Herr Becker received a peculiar, last-minute notice from the office of Deputy Kovacs: postponing their scheduled meeting – in perpetuity.
Title:
THREE DAYS LATER
EXT. VILLAGE. NIGHT
A nearly empty bus squeals to a stop behind a quiet inn in the middle of a deserted hamlet and deposits Zero on the roadside. He carries a knapsack and is dressed like a vagabond. The bus drives off.
Zero wanders to the middle of the cobblestone lane. He looks down at a rusty manhole. He looks up at the prison-castle across the way, high above the village. He checks his watch.
INT. CELL. NIGHT
M. Gustave, Pinky, Günther, Wolf, and Ludwig all lie quietly in their bunks with the sheets pulled up to their necks. Faraway voices shout and echo eerily. A guard walks through the section slamming doors and throwing bolts. With a series of loud thumps, block by block the lights go out, and the prison goes dark. Silence. Ludwig whispers:
LUDWIG
Let’s blow!
The cell launches into soundless activity: bed linens are whisked away, the table is carried into the corner, and a row of floor-planks is carefully lifted. M. Gustave, Pinky, Günther, Wolf, and Ludwig are all dressed like vagabonds already and carry various sacks and baskets. One by one, they disappear into the floor. A pair of hands, at the rear, reaches up to replace the planks.
INT. CRAWL-SPACE. NIGHT
M. Gustave, Pinky, Günther, Wolf, and Ludwig advance on all fours, single file, through a low, moldy sub structure.
INT. TOWER. NIGHT
A small window in a stone wall. Ludwig gently taps loose four pre-cut iron bars with one of the small hammers.
Insert:
The stump of one of the bars. A little noose is fitted over it and pulled tight.
Günther assists Ludwig as they slowly feed an unfurling tangle of rope and rungs out the window, inch by inch.
Cut to:
M. Gustave, Pinky, Günther, Wolf, and Ludwig all on the rope ladder at once like a string of beads dangling down the outside of the tower, 325 feet above the moat with crocodiles gliding along the dark surface. The ladder twists and creaks as they descend. Suddenly, a sharp voice calls out above their heads:
CONVICT
How’d
you
get out there?
They all look up. An anxious convict with a missing ear stares down at them from a cell window. Ludwig whispers:
LUDWIG
Shut up!
The convict frowns. He turns to his unseen bunkmates and says loudly:
CONVICT
These guys are tryin’ to escape!
Ludwig looks furious. He whispers fiercely:
LUDWIG
What’s wrong with you, you goddamn snitch?
CONVICT
(
hollering
)
Guard! Guard! They’re gettin’ away! They’re –
A single, large hand grabs the convict with the missing ear by the neck, crushes the wind out of him, and rips him away from the window, out of view. Pause. The giant with the long scar across his face appears in the convict’s place, looking down at the dangling escapees. M. Gustave says, gasping:
M. GUSTAVE
It’s you! Thank you! Thank you, you sweet, kind man!
The giant nods sadly.
Cut to:
The bottom of the rope ladder which ends halfway down the tower. M. Gustave, Pinky, Günther, Wolf, and Ludwig step onto a narrow ledge and make their way, side stepping cautiously, around the circumference of the building. They arrive at a small sloped roof and open a trapdoor.
INT. DORMITORY. NIGHT
M. Gustave, Pinky, Günther, Wolf, and Ludwig all crouch on a beam in the upper eaves of a vaulted hall. In the dark below, there are twenty narrow cots in two rows. Next to each cot, there is a guard’s uniform on a coat-hanger, a billy-club on a peg, and a Luger pistol on the night stand. Asleep in each cot, there is a lightly snoring goon.
Ludwig gets a firm grip on a tarnished copper pipe. He turns to the others and nods. He swings out and makes his way, hand over hand, from pipe to pipe
MR. MOUSTAFA
(
voice-over
)
The next morning, Herr Becker received a peculiar, last-minute notice from the office of Deputy Kovacs: postponing their scheduled meeting – in perpetuity.
Title:
THREE DAYS LATER
EXT. VILLAGE. NIGHT
A nearly empty bus squeals to a stop behind a quiet inn in the middle of a deserted hamlet and deposits Zero on the roadside. He carries a knapsack and is dressed like a vagabond. The bus drives off.
Zero wanders to the middle of the cobblestone lane. He looks down at a rusty manhole. He looks up at the prison-castle across the way, high above the village. He checks his watch.
INT. CELL. NIGHT
M. Gustave, Pinky, Günther, Wolf, and Ludwig all lie quietly in their bunks with the sheets pulled up to their necks. Faraway voices shout and echo eerily. A guard walks through the section slamming doors and throwing bolts. With a series of loud thumps, block by block the lights go out, and the prison goes dark. Silence. Ludwig whispers:
LUDWIG
Let’s blow!
The cell launches into soundless activity: bed linens are whisked away, the table is carried into the corner, and a row of floor-planks is carefully lifted. M. Gustave, Pinky, Günther, Wolf, and Ludwig are all dressed like vagabonds already and carry various sacks and baskets. One by one, they disappear into the floor. A pair of hands, at the rear, reaches up to replace the planks.
INT. CRAWL-SPACE. NIGHT
M. Gustave, Pinky, Günther, Wolf, and Ludwig advance on all fours, single file, through a low, moldy sub structure.
INT. TOWER. NIGHT
A small window in a stone wall. Ludwig gently taps loose four pre-cut iron bars with one of the small hammers.
Insert:
The stump of one of the bars. A little noose is fitted over it and pulled tight.
Günther assists Ludwig as they slowly feed an unfurling tangle of rope and rungs out the window, inch by inch.
Cut to:
M. Gustave, Pinky, Günther, Wolf, and Ludwig all on the rope ladder at once like a string of beads dangling down the outside of the tower, 325 feet above the moat with crocodiles gliding along the dark surface. The ladder twists and creaks as they descend. Suddenly, a sharp voice calls out above their heads:
CONVICT
How’d
you
get out there?
They all look up. An anxious convict with a missing ear stares down at them from a cell window. Ludwig whispers:
LUDWIG
Shut up!
The convict frowns. He turns to his unseen bunkmates and says loudly:
CONVICT
These guys are tryin’ to escape!
Ludwig looks furious. He whispers fiercely:
LUDWIG
What’s wrong with you, you goddamn snitch?
CONVICT
(
hollering
)
Guard! Guard! They’re gettin’ away! They’re –
A single, large hand grabs the convict with the missing ear by the neck, crushes the wind out of him, and rips him away from the window, out of view. Pause. The giant with the long scar across his face appears in the convict’s place, looking down at the dangling escapees. M. Gustave says, gasping:
M. GUSTAVE
It’s you! Thank you! Thank you, you sweet, kind man!
The giant nods sadly.
Cut to:
The bottom of the rope ladder which ends halfway down the tower. M. Gustave, Pinky, Günther, Wolf, and Ludwig step onto a narrow ledge and make their way, side stepping cautiously, around the circumference of the building. They arrive at a small sloped roof and open a trapdoor.
INT. DORMITORY. NIGHT
M. Gustave, Pinky, Günther, Wolf, and Ludwig all crouch on a beam in the upper eaves of a vaulted hall. In the dark below, there are twenty narrow cots in two rows. Next to each cot, there is a guard’s uniform on a coat-hanger, a billy-club on a peg, and a Luger pistol on the night stand. Asleep in each cot, there is a lightly snoring goon.
Ludwig gets a firm grip on a tarnished copper pipe. He turns to the others and nods. He swings out and makes his way, hand over hand, from pipe to pipe
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