Wikisource:WikiProject Film/Intertitles from GeoCities/Through the Back Door
Through the Back Door 1
FOREWORD.
This is a love story --
A vision seen through
the tears of a mother -- and a forgotten child --
[dissolve to:]
2 It echoes the story God whispers
to each tiny soul before He
blesses it with the miracle of Life -- The story of mother-love.
3 In the summer of 1903,
Ostend, on the coast of
Belgium, the playground
of the rich.
4 Mme. Louise Bodamere,
a widow with a child,
who is too modern to be a mother, too rich to be contented and too attractive to be single.
5 And so Elton Reeves
has decided she is
going to marry again.
6 Jeanne Bodamere, one of those lucky children of the rich, who can have anything the heart desires -- except a mother.
7 Marie Gaston, a good
old soul, who is
old-fashioned enough to really enjoy children.
8 "No one must ever come
between us, dear. It'll be just we two -- and the rest of the world."
9 "Louise, I'm fond of the baby
too -- but -- well -- frankly -- I'm jealous of her."
10 "Don't be unreasonable, dear
-- we probably won't see her more than once a day."
11 "Why -- you don't intend
to take her on the boat, do you? Imagine a honeymoon with the bride and groom nursing a five year old child!"
12 The sweet misery of good-bye
-- when Louise sacrifices
the joy of being a mother for the privilege of being a wife.
13 "Don't neglect Jeanne's English
-- and if we shouldn't return as soon as Mrs. Reeves expects -- just try to make her happy."
14 "Mama's playing with me
-- she's hidin'."
15 "Mama - - you're
forgetting me!"
16 "Poor little baby --
don't cry -- some day she may be sorry."
17 Five years later, on Marie's
little farm in Belgium,
Jeanne now calls her old
nurse Mamma Marie.
18 Marie's husband, Jacques.
19 Jeanne Bodamere .....
Mary Pickford
[dissolve to:]
20 Born to the chase -- to the
shoot -- to the hounds,
even the limitations of the farm have not dulled the instincts that make little Jeanne a great sportswoman.
21 "Any luck?"
22 "I'll kill that cat! He ate
our fish! Hurry and catch him before he chokes on a bone!"
23 "It's from Jeanne's mother
and was sent from Paris."
24 "She's coming tomorrow to
take my Jeanne away. It's cruel! She didn't come back as she promised -- She didn't care!"
25 "Perhaps she's sorry now
-- and wants her child."
26 "She bore Jeanne, but I
have reared and loved her as my own and she rightfully belongs to me."
27 "Jeanne!"
28 "Jeanne -- come here to me!"
29 What we produce belongs
to the world -- --
What we possess, we work for.
=============
This being Marie's contention
she found courage to form
a desperate plan to hold
Jeanne for her own.
30 "Go to the Vanderbrockens'
for the day -- but remember Charlotte's temper and be careful not to make her angry."
31 "I don't have to make
her angry -- her bunions do that."
32 "Are you sending Jeanne
away today -- and her mother coming from Paris?"
33 "Please, dear, leave
this matter to me."
34 The Vanderbrockens',
a typical Belgian home,
where cleanliness is seen
and not heard.
35 "It sounds like it's going to
be a hot day - -
Let's go someplace."
36 "Don't worry, it'll brush off
-- it's just clean mud."
37 "Scrub that floor until it's
as clean as you found it."
38 "I'd like to do it for you
-- only Mama Marie needs me right away."
39 "I've brought some new
clothes for Jeanne to wear back to America."
40 "Where is she?"
41 "Why don't you answer
me, Marie?"
42 "Little Jeanne -- is dead."
43 "I did write you, madame,
only last week."
44 "I'll never forgive myself
for letting my husband persuade me to wait -- and wait -- and wait ---"
45 "I never should have
left my Jeanne at all. I didn't know how much she meant to me."
46 "Where is the grave?"
47 "It was -- the river --
We never found her."
48 The surest way to lose
your husband's devotion
for you is to lose your
devotion for him.
49 "Come, dear -- you've cried
now for three days -- don't you think I deserve a little consideration?"
50 "What consideration did you
show my baby?"
51 Never be deceived by
the looks of a mule --
always expect the worst.
52 "Take me home and
I'll let you sleep in the carrot-bin."
53 Five years later.
54 AUGUST
1914
55 Braving the anguish of
separation, Marie sends
Jeanne to America --
and safety.
56 "I -- I don't think I can go
-- unless you promise --- to come to me later."
57 "When Belgium no longer
needs me --"
58 "This is my complete confession
-- witnessed by the good Father Laison. It will tell your mother who you are, with the word of the Church behind you."
59 "Good-bye."
60 "Good-bye."
61 The leaden light of a weary
dawn, with the roads
of Belgium echoing to the tread of homeless feet.
62 "Mama went to sleep last night
at the side of the road -- and we couldn't wake her up."
63 "I'll take you with me to
my mama in America."
64 Nearing America, the shelter
which strangers think of
as the place where dreams
come true.
65 As Jeanne pictures her mother
-- genial, open-armed,
warm-hearted, broad-bosomed and --- well, just a mother.
66
ELLIS ISLAND.
The back door to America.
67 Imported Americans.
68 The desire to smuggle is felt
by all and indulged by
the few - - - who travel.
69 The Reeves Estate
on Long Island.
70 "Crawford, in the future
confine this sort of
thing to the servants'
quarters."
71 "Where can I find
Madame Reeves?"
72 "Mo--M--Madame Reeves."
73 "Crawford, I can't be annoyed
with these children now -- Please see that they are fed."
74 "Not that way - -
through the back door."
75 "I -- I knew Madame
Reeves in Belgium -- I am -- a friend of hers."
76 "You'd better not remind
her of it -- you're not
the sort of person she's
supposed to have known
over there."
77 Visions evaporated, hopes
collapsed, plans twisted,
Jeanne realizes that by living in a world apart from her mother she has grown to be the daughter of the peasant woman Marie.
78 "I am Belge too."
79 "I wanted to speak to
Madame Reeves."
80 "Impossible -- but I can
give you a job."
81 "How about my children?"
82 "You can hide them
over the garage -- but don't tell the housekeeper."
83 Installed as a maid, Jeanne
takes advantage of her first opportunity.
84 "Madame Reeves -- I -- I have ---
something important --- to ----"
85 Billy Stokes, the boy
next door, who has
radical ideas about life, neckties and women -- You had them too at 17.
86 "I saw you fall --
are you hurt?"
87 "No thanks -- just muddy."
88 Wondering where in the world
he ever got the idea
that women were an awkward
inconvenience in life.
89 By an uncanny coincidence,
Billy Stokes stumbled
upon Jeanne again that after- noon. This time it was Billy
who fell.
90 "You really weren't hurt
this morning, were you?"
91 "Hasn't it been a
wonderful day?"
92 "Yes -- all day."
93 "Whose children are those?"
94 "They're mine."
95 "YOURS!"
96 The idle rich, who have
time to waste, generally
waste it --- An edifying "Saturday to Monday" at
the Reeves home.
97 Laugh and your husband laughs with you, weep, and he laughs
with somebody else.
98 Out of the West had come
Margaret Brewster --
99 -- and her brother, Jim.
100 "You know, I'm glad
I met you - - you're changing my ideas about women."
101 "I don't think your mother
would approve of this,
Master Stokes."
102 "If you talk much longer
you'll be late for dinner."
103
Tonight Mrs. Reeves does not dress for dinner - - she dresses for her husband.
(The women will understand this.)
104 "What's that Brewster girl
after you for - - a Wall Street tip for her brother?"
105 "Possibly she enjoys
my company."
106 "Surely you don't think
the young simpleton is really infatuated by a middle-aged, and rather fat man, like you!"
107 By another uncanny
coincidence, they
deliberately met again
in the evening.
108 "I brought a cake for
- - your children."
109 "Why do you insist upon
using perfume -- and especially that sickening Jasmine?"
110 "I've been wanting to
ask you something terribly embarrassing ---"
111 "---- are those children
really yours?"
112 "Yes -- I found them."
113 "Oh -- that's good."
114 "What delightful perfume!"
115 "Yes -- it's Jasmine."
116 "Dinner is served."
117 At that feeble hour of the
evening when guests
begin to wonder what time
it's getting to be.
118 "When are you thinking of
getting married?"
119 "Constantly."
120 Finding courage in the
absence of the awesome
Mrs. Reeves to deliver the confession of Mother Marie.
121 "I -- I just left something ---"
122 "Have you been using
my perfume?"
123 "It was spilled -- I just
sponged it up."
124 "Your brother tells me you
cannot stay as long as you had planned -- and are leaving in the morning --"
125 "--- so I'll say
good-bye now."
126 "Sh-h -- Don't shout
-- Be sensible."
127 "You're the one who's
not sensible - - objecting to my kissing that flabby-lipped Reeves."
128 "I'm objecting not only
because you're my wife -- but you're spoiling our game."
129 "For Heaven's sake, Louise,
be sensible."
130 "Either that woman leaves
this house in the morning - - or I do!"
131 "Very well -- if that's
your choice."
132 "--- But it's a safe bet
Reeves won't pay it
to keep us from telling
his wife something she
already knows."
133 "I'm not worrying about
the money -- When I'm Mrs. Elton Reeves I'll have plenty."
134 "Won't it be a little
inconvenient -- to have two husbands?"
135 "Why -- I expect to
divorce you, Jim."
136 "I don't care what you do
after we put this over -- but you're going through with my game first -- understand?"
137 "And just to make sure
that you'll be true to me, my dear, I'll lock you in for the night."
138 The Reeves' "Saturday
to Monday" having
developed a satisfactory amount of scandal to last from Monday to Saturday,
the guests depart.
139 Uneasy lies the head
- - that rests on
a pair of shoe trees
all night.
140 "Your infernal whimpering
has driven me to look
elsewhere for congeniality
-- you can blame yourself
if I have compromised that
girl -- and if I have to
make amends."
141 "Amends! -- to her --
but what of me?"
142 "Your vanity has been hurt --
but her honor is at stake."
143 "The Brewsters aren't
honorable - - they're married."
144 "What are you talking about?"
145 "He called her his wife!
-- I heard him! -- And they're trying to get your money."
146 "You're lying! Someone put
you up to this -- you --"
147 "Elton, please reserve
your temper for me."
148 "Please -- lady -- don't cry.
You still have me."
149 "Did you get my letter?"
150 "No -- please go away."
151 "Oh, lady --- I'm ---
we're -- related."
152 "Please -- go -- and
let me be -- alone."
153 "Aren't you going home
in my car?"
154 "No."
155 "I told you once
I'd divorce you -- and I meant it."
156 "You might save time by
using one of our cars, Mrs. Brewster."
157 "It's been very nice
to know you."
158 Her passport to America
-- the only remaining proof of who she is.
159 "Jeanne -- my Jeanne."
160 "My own, dear, little girl
-- why didn't you tell me before?"
161 "I -- I was afraid you'd
be ashamed of me."
162 Marie Gaston, in Belgium,
receives news that cheers her heart.
163 If it were not for New York
hotels, where would
elopers, divorcees and red plush furniture go?
[dissolve to:]
164 At the Hotel Knickerbocker.
165 "Mother! Mother!"
166 "Now what do I do?"
167 Mrs. Stokes took heart-sick
Billy to New York to
convalesce -- and walked him right up the corridor
to a relapse.
168 "This is my daughter Jeanne.
She has been at school in Belgium for several years."
169 "Has Billy ever been
in Belgium?"
170 "You know -- I lo-- I mean
-- you're -- you're the --"
THE END