SCRIPT PIC- INGLÊS

THE SPECKELED BAND

Heloisa

Isabela

Laura

Thayza
 ACT 1
SCENE 1
(Camera moves slowly around the apartment. Watson is reading a newspaper. Holmes plays
the violin. There are loud knocks on the door)

(Door opens. HELEN enters, pale, visibly shaken and frightened.)

HELEN:

"IM AFRAID! I’m afraid of death Mr. Holmes!" "I’m not even thirty and look at my GREY HAIR!"

HOLMES (calm):

"Sit down. Tell me everything from the beginning."

(Close-up on Helen as she begins to speak.)

HELEN:

"My name is Helen Stoner."

SCENE 2
As Helen tells the story, the facts appear on screen.

HELEN:

"And I live with my stepfather, Dr. Grimesby Roylott, near a village in the country."

(A memory-like video other stepdad appears, just to show how he is, then, scene cuts to Helen
once again)

HELEN:

"His Family was once very rich, but they had no money when he was born. So he studied..."

(Cuts to him studying)

HELEN:

"And became a doctor, and then went out to India."

(Cut to Helen)

HELEN:
"He met and married my mother there when me and my sister were very Young. My father
was dead, you see."

HOLMES:

"Your mother had some Money, perhaps?"

HELEN:

"Yes, she did. So my stepfather wasn't poor anymore."

HOLMES:

"Tell me more about him, Miss Stoner."

HELEN:

"Oh, he is a very violent man. He once killed his Indian servant, and had to go to prison, and
then we had to come back to England." "Mother died in an accident, so he got all her Money.
But, if we marry, he must pay us 250£ every year."

HOLMES:

“And you now live with your stepfather.”

HELEN:

“Yes, but he stays at home and never sees anybody! He is more violent now, and sometimes
fights with people in the village! That’s why everybody is afraid of him AND his Indian animals.
Poor Julia and I had very unhappy lives. We had no servants because they were all afraid of
him. She was only thirty when she died, and her hair was already gray, like mine is now.”

HOLMES:

“When did she die, Miss Stoner?”

HELEN (SAD):

“Two years ago, right after she got engaged.”

(She starts to tear up and puts a finger beneath her eye.)

HOLMES:

“Tell me everything about her death.”

SCENE 3
(Close-up on stepdads strong cigarettes, then on Julia getting up from her bed and goes to
Helens room.)

HELEN:
“Can’t sleep huh?”

JULIA:

“Not with the smell of those cigarettes!”

(They both laugh)

(The sisters are talking, but the audience can’t hear it)

They stop talking and hug, Julia gets up and goes to the door, as she is about to leave she says:

JULIA:

“Helen, have you ever heard a whistle at night?”

(Helen nods negatively surprised)

JULIA:

“It’s strange, sometimes I hear it, but can’t find out where it comes from. Don’t you hear it?”

HELEN (laughs):

“Well, I do sleep better than you”

Julia laughs, then goes to her room and we hear a lock noise

(Cut to Sherlock)

HOLMES:

“Why did you lock your doors?”

HELEN:

“We were afraid of the animals”

HOLMES:

“All right, please go on”

(Dark environment, rain in the background. Helen is sleeping, but wakes up with a women’s
shout. She gets up and runs to Julia’s room, she unlocks the door and falls to the ground)

JULIA (in agony):

“HELP! HELP ME HELEN IM DYING!”

(Quick cut to Helen’s face, she gets to the ground and hugs her sister)

JULIA (crying):

“It was... the speckled band!”

(Cut to Helen telling the story)

HELEN:

“And so, my dear sister died.”

HOLMES:

“Are you sure about the whistle and sound of falling metal?”

HELEN:

“I think so, but it WAS a stormy night. I could be mistaken. The police didn’t understand why
she died, and what was the speckled band after all? What do you think, Mr. Holmes?”

HOLMES (Confused):

“Hmm, that is a difficult question, but please go on”

HELEN:

“It has been two years since her death. I have been very lonely since then, but a month ago my
friend asked me to marry him. Stepfather has agreed, so I am to be married. But two days ago I
moved into my sister’s room. And started to hear that whistle again. I DON’T WANT TO DIE
LIKE MY SISTER!”

HOLMES:

“We must move fast. If we go to your house today, can we look at these rooms?”

ACT 2
SCENE 4
(Holmes and Watson are talking at a car, before they went to see the house)

HOLMES:

“You see, our dangerous friend Roylott needs the girls money, he only gets 750£ a year from
his dead wife. I found out that this morning. I think we have our answer on who killed the girl.”

(They arrive)

(Helen shows the way to the house to the men)

HOLMES:

“Why are they mending your bathroom wall? There is nothing wrong with it.”
HELEN:

“You’re right. I think it was a plan to move me into my sister’s room.”

HOLMES:

“Nobody could come from the OUTSIDE. Why is that bell rope there? Just over the bed?”

HELEN:

“My stepfather put that two years ago. They are for calling servants which is weird because we
don’t have them. He also put that vent in the wall just between his room and this one.”

HOLMES:
“But it doesn’t work. How strange! It is also over the air-vent. Why does he has an air vent on
an inside wall? They are usually on outside ones.”

(They go to roylotts room)

(Holmes gets a large box near the wall)

HELEN:

“That’s where he keeps his paperwork.”

HOLMES:

“Does your stepfather keep a cat in there too? Look! There was some milk on a plate on top of
the box”

(He puts the box on the ground)

HOLMES:

“Now, miss stoner, I believe your life is in danger. So, me and Watson will spend the night in
your sisters room.”

(Watson and Helen look at him surprised)

A FEW HOURS LATER…..

SCENE 5
(Watson and Holmes are walking at a park)

HOLMES:
“Tonight will be dangerous, Watson. Roylott is very violent”

WATSON:

“But if I can help, I shall come with you.”

“Thank you Watson. I’ll need your help. Now, I knew about the hole in the wall before we
came. Otherwise, how could Julia feel the smell of cigarettes? ”

WATSON:

“OH! I understand it now! What a terrible crime he has committed!”

SCENE 6
(Watson and Holmes are climbing the bedroom’s window)

(Holmes examines the room: the camera follows his eyes in detail.)

(They see a light from Roylott’s room)

(Camera focuses on the top of the wall: a COBRA slithers down the rope.)

(Holmes strikes the snake with his cane. The snake recoils. Distant scream. Quick cut).

SCENE 7
HOLMES:

“Did you hear that? We should check it out.’

(They go to roylotts room. They open the door and see that Roylott is sitting in a chair, dead. A
snake is wrapped around his neck.)

WATSON:

“The speckled band was a snake! An Indian snake!”

HOLMES:

“We must put it back in its box.”

SCENE 8
HELEN:

“Thank you, Mr. Holmes. I can tell you happily that I am married and trying to forget the
terrible things that happened.”

WATSON:
The truth always comes out, Miss Stoner. And justice... sometimes have fangs.

(Camera slowly pans away as the music rises.)

END.