Breakdown

BLITZ Written by Steve McQueen 9th July, 2022 All rights reserved

Black crosses litter the sky, a sky full of German bombers

EARLY MORNING anchor a tense moment at HANWAY HOUSE.

GERALD HANWAY, 50’s, Rita’s dad and George’s grandfather, at the upright piano, humming along

Rita opens her eyes

Gerald whistles as he cooks breakfast at the stove

George is dressing in his best

Rita stands on the landing, suitcase in hand, pausing to compose herself

Gerald serves up bacon and eggs from a frying pan

George comes out with Rita and Gerald

Rita and George enter the station

Children are boarding the train

George slumps in a window seat, looks straight ahead

Rita tries to board the train

George stubbornly keeps his gaze locked forward and pretends not to hear as a heartbroken Rita screaming his name is lost from view

A BBC Outside Broadcast truck and other BBC vehicles are parked outside

Cabling is tacked to the floor, a BBC sound cart is wheeled through the vast, cavernous interior

The sound of the AIR-RAID SIREN is loud and disorientating

They hurry towards two elongated igloo-like bomb shelters, surrounded by sandbags

A line of ARMED SOLDIERS, bayonets at the ready, guard the closed gates to the station

The crowd funnels down slippery steps to safety, Rita, Gerald and George in their midst

There’s a scramble to find space to bed down for the night

Factory Foreman CLIVE, 39, faux Clarke Gable look, right down to the trimmed mustache and razor-sharp side parting, inspects the line

Children of all ages crammed in the seats

A smartly dressed bespectacled man sits behind a large BBC microphone, briefing papers in hand

The factory has been transformed into a kind of make-shift studio and the place is packed to the rafters with WORKERS gathered wherever they can find space

The last of the outside broadcast paraphernalia has been removed and the floor is back to normal full operating status and deafening sound

The train transporting the evacuee children winds its way through verdant countryside

Kids in their seats argue about football teams, play cards, or sit in silence, homesickness and fear of the unknown

It’s the previous summer

Gerald’s fingers glide across the keys playing the Fats Waller number Ain’t Misbehaving

George snaps out of his memory

The train winds its way through the countryside

As the train slows, George throws his suitcase out and jumps down after it

George tumbles for a while bruising himself as he falls but is unhurt as he picks himself up

George emerges from a train tunnel into bright sunshine

George pulls the tag from around his neck and hurls it into the bushes

George tumbles inside, slides the door closed behind him

The train chugs through green landscape, smoke trailing from its funnel

Some time has passed now

Time has passed and the boys are back in the carriage asleep in a heap

George climbs over a brick wall and enters the back garden of a suburban house

Traumatized and fearful, George presses on

Rita removes her head scarf and takes off her grey overalls before making her way to a large sink where she joins other women and begins her routine of scrubbing her hands and arm…

Small, intimate, a nondescript space that has been converted into a makeshift night club, festooned with Chinese lanterns

The evening has drawn to a close

TILDA, RITA, DORIS anchor a tense moment at MUNITIONS FACTORY, LOCKER ROOM.

Our view is the top of a double decker bus entering into Central London

George is dirty and unkempt, his knees are scuffed and his shoelaces untied

Mechanical toys set up in the window display

George strolls aimlessly around the busy streets, hopelessly lost

George enters through a blasted out window

George strolls aimlessly around busy streets, not knowing which way to go

We see George’s worn shoes dangling as he sits on a stool in the warden’s office

Stardust Memories by Louis Armstrong plays from the wireless

The three women link arms, the sound of their high heels click-clacking along the street as they cross to the pub

A busy East End pub filled with locals, mostly elderly and middle-aged, drowning their sorrows

We hear the click-clack of high heels descending a concrete staircase

Rita crosses to where Mickey sits at a make-shift desk, shifting paperwork and allocating tasks

George with Ife on his nightly patrol

Ife and George arrive at a government shelter

A large but cramped concrete cavern, low ceilings supported by old wooden beams

We are now in a large grand cinema, seated with 200 people

The singing continues

The all-clear siren sounds

Flames and smoke disorientate us

Ife emerges from the bombed out house, coughing, his face and clothes covered with soot

The all clear siren continues to moan

George is met by the devastation of crushed, smoldering buildings from the previous night’s onslaught

Rita, now dressed for work, walks down the near-empty street

Rita passes an alleyway, A serviceman (his back to us) is having sex standing up against a wall

Rita approaches

A stethoscope is being pressed against a metal object

An almighty explosion rocks the air

We now find George looking worse for wear and walking purposefully down a market street

A long queue outside

Inside, at the counter, a beautiful YOUNG WOMAN (bi-racial) is being served

George walks forlornly down the street

Smokey, dusty, a scattering of punters, mainly older men, drinking and smoking in silence

The group walk briskly and purposefully down the street, Harvey dragging George along

George clambers through the dark hole

George drops to the floor

Now in a makeshift den in an abandoned warehouse, the gang empty the bag and look at the spoils of the robbery on an improvised table

Jess holds on to George’s hand tightly as she pulls him down the street

Production is in full swing, workers, including Rita, Doris, and Tilda, bent to their tasks

Inside, waiting, are two OFFICIALS, a woman and a man

Doris and Tilda and others watch as Rita strides out of Clive’s office and descends to the floor

Rita, coat on, back turned facing the window above the sink

Davies and Campbell and other firefighters are washing down vehicles and prepping for the inevitable evening raids

Jess crosses the street to the bakery where she and George first met, she’s holding tightly on to his hand

They enter and stand in line

George runs as fast as he can, as if his life depends on it

From the rafters we see the scale of the station as Rita and Jack, smartly dressed in his dark blue uniform, sash and soft cap, arrive at St Pancras station - a dramatic contrast …

Jack and Rita stand at the lost property booth

Jack with Rita as she walks slowly down the platform

It’s raining, murky water bounces off the pavement

Albert and the gang, Jess and George, scoff bowls of food

We see George’s feet come into view from above

Albert, Harvey and Beryl wait by a closed back door, smoking and pacing

As the gang, George in tow, descend either side of a grand double staircase, lanterns in hand, their image starts to dissolve as a raucous Café de Paris appears in full technicolo…

KEN ‘SNAKEHIPS’ JOHNSON (26) a tall, handsome black man, dressed in white morning suit

Harvey violently tugs at the ENGAGEMENT RING on the dead woman's finger

From the other side of the dance-floor we see the gang are enjoying emptying whatever bottles and glasses are left on the tables, joking, and mocking the dead

George is out in the open air, he runs at pace

We see an accordion, its lungs being squeezed, old fingers pressing the keys

We hear the far off hum of GERMAN BOMBERS

As soon as George reaches the bottom of the stairs into the empty ticket hall, there is a strong smell of urine

The crowd applauds as the song My Old Man reaches its stunning climax, bringing us back to the shelter

George stirs

George is startled awake and finds himself in the same position he fell asleep in (he has been dreaming)

Jack and Rita arrive home

Rita and Jack are both engaged in a passionate kiss

George opens his eyes and finds himself staring at the ceiling of a small bedroom

Ruby opens the front door to the man and woman from Children’s Evacuation

Ruby carries a steaming bowl of water carefully upstairs

Ruby comes in with the bowl of water

Cut to George shimmying down a drainpipe and running down the cobblestone alleyways behind the terraced houses

From a distance George spots the RED BRICK CLOCK-TOWER a few streets away

George now runs with baited anticipation

Two of the men lower George down slowly, a rope tied around his ankles, torch in hand, into the crumbling cavity below

We see George crawling again, digging as much as he can around Rita before tying the rope around her chest and arms

We see a stationary train beginning to leave a platform

Rita looks at George with a sense of pride