Dames Don’t Care – Bound meets Indiana Jones
Dames Don’t Care
Back in ’98 I was digging through a pile of old postcards when I found one for a somewhat obscure 1955 movie. The title, Dames Don’t Care, was so evocative that a complete roaring 30’s storey popped into my head, and here it is, all 120+ pages (and the postcard’s on the left):
Download the pdf version [here]
Or read on for the first five pages:
FADE IN.
EXT. - OCEAN FLOOR - DAY
ACETYLENE TORCH causes brilliant glow. Fierce heat creates a
SCREAMING SOUND. Bubbles boil away to the surface. The cut is
only an inch from coming full circle on the door of a VAST
VAULT.
INSERT TITLES CARD
The Asiatic, 1937
Bubbles drift past the front portal of a DEEP SEA DIVING
SUITE'S brass helmet.
INT. - DEEP SEA DIVING SUIT HELMET - DAY
PROF. ALICE RAMSEY possesses a look as brilliant and intense
as the glow of her torch. Hazel eyes blink away sweat below
tied back brunette hair. Her exquisite features are frozen in
concentration.
Top teeth bight down on lower lip.
EXT. -- OCEAN SURFACE - SALVAGE SHIP DIMSK - DAY
Older BALD CREWMAN sleeps atop of the bridge's roof.
A TATTOO is visible on the back of his head in the shape of
a pyramid with brilliant gem at center.
A TEENAGE CREWMAN sleeps at the bow on a pile of rope.
They sleep through the AIR PUMP'S SPUTTERING, GRINDING
racket.
EXT. -- SALVAGE SHIP DIMSK - AFT - DAY
Two old AIR PUMPS shake violently.
Greasy smoke rises by the two cranes.
Affixed to one of them is a bell. A rope attached to its
clapper follows the vibrating air-hoses over the side and
beneath the waves.
EXT - SHIP WRECK VAULT DOOR - DAY
Alice completes her cutting, extinguishing the torch.
CAPTAIN IVAN IMOROV and Alice's huge iron-clad boots kick at
the door.
The SOUND of their KICKING is followed by that of WRENCHING
STEEL. The vault door falls.
A melee of bubbles is released.
EXT. -- THE DIMSK - BRIDGE ROOF - DAY
The bald Crewman bats away a fly.
Above the SOUND of AIR-PUMPS SOUND of BOAT-PLANE builds.
A boat-plane passes low over The Dimsk.
The Bald Crewman sleeps on.
INT. -- SEAPLANE - COCKPIT - DAY
RAGU IMALLY stops playing the ivory handle of his cane
against his lips, pouts and points it at The Dimsk. He looks
like he has seen the inside of altogether too many seedy bars
and awoke in as many gutters. He wears a suit that would kill
for. And he did.
THE PILOT nods and brings the Boat-plane back around for a
landing.
EXT. -- SALVAGE SHIP - BRIDGE ROOF - DAY
SOUND of BOAT-PLANE builds again. It passes so close over The
Dimsk that the Bald Crewman wakes with a start and is blown
from the roof.
He picks himself up from deck as Young Crewman runs up.
After screamed exchange, they run to the bridge.
INT. -- THE DIMSK - BRIDGE - DAY
The Bald Crewman hurriedly opens a chest. He passes the
Teenage Crewman a rifle and rounds, taking one for himself.
INT. -- SHIP WRECK VAULT - DAY
Flair ignited by Captain.
In its shifting light we a floor strewn crucifixes and
statues of holy figures. They lay mixed in silt around two
hip-high WOODEN CRATES.
Alice is at one. She unsheathes a LARGE DIVING KNIFE, pries
the lid open.
ALICE
(jubilantly)
Now that's a dame's best friend.
The Captain's big, toothy beard grins through the front
portal.
Alice, crying with joy, pulls his helmet to hers.
When the front portals of both helmets are flush against each
other she kisses her portal's glass.
The Captain sees her lips crushed against the glass. He
GUFFAWS.
EXT. -- SHIP WRECK VAULT - OPEN CRATE - DAY
An INTRICATELY DESIGNED CHEST lies at center. Complex gold
flourishes, encrusted with precious stones. Through the lid's
glass mid-section we SEE a green iridescent glow around a
large oily green gem.
It is THE EYE OF JUDAS.
Every facet's surface is in motion, like clouds beyond a
stain glass window. It is hypnotic.
EXT. -- THE DIMSK - BRIDGE DOOR - DAY
The BALD CREWMAN bursts through the bridge door onto deck,
screaming at Teenage Crewman.
They load and start firing at the Boat-plane.
The BOAT-PLANE as it taxies directly towards them.
The Crewmen stop to reload.
The plane's cargo door opens, revealing two of Ragu's
HENCHMEN, brandishing Thompson Automatics. They open fire.
Bullets cut through wood, glass and steel. They stitch across
the Bald Crewman's chest.
The Teenage Crewman runs to the forward. A second volley of
shots get him as he dives for cover.
One AIR-PUMP explodes, the second AIR-PUMP'S fuel tank is
punctured in several places.
EXT. -- OCEAN FLOOR - WRECK'S HULL - DAY
Alice and The Captain finish hanging the crates from a hook.
The Captain signals, thumbs up.
Alice allows the Captain to hitch her to the other hook.
He raps on the side of her helmet - thumbs up again - while
yanking on the Bell's rope.
Without warning the Captain doubles over. He is out of air.
Inside his helmet he yells, gasps. Utter panic spreads across
his face as he collapses.
Alice releases herself and kneels by him. She pulls his
helmet toward her. He is dead.
Hyperventilating, she returns to the hook, hitches herself to
it, pulls the rope, again and again, and again.
EXT. -- SALVAGE SHIP DIMSK - AFT - DAY
The BELL is wringing but can not be heard over the SOUND of
the Boat-Plane's ENGINES.
EXT. - OCEAN FLOOR - DAY
Alice realizes something is very wrong, draws the LARGE
DIVING KNIFE and plunges it into the fabric at her chest,
slitting the suit open from chest to crotch.
Takes three deep breaths, she swims out through the hole,
leaving the suit hanging from hook, following the rope to the
surface.
EXT. - BOAT-PLANE - DAY
The Boat-Plane pulls along side The Dimsk. Two Henchmen leap
aboard. One ties-off, the other protects him from any
surprise attacks.
Ragu steps over to The Dimsk. He tries to yell over the SOUND
of the BOATS-PLANE engines. Resorts to hand signals.
Ragu cautiously and his men move aft, guns drawn. He stoops
by the Teenage Crewman, studies a TATTOO, the duplicate of
the Bald Crewman's
EXT. -- DIMSK - AFT - DAY
AIR PUMP sputters to a halt.
RAGU
You imbeciles.
His voice is soft, affected. He slaps the nearest Henchman
around the face.
RAGU (CONT'D)
(to himself)
Can't find good help anymore.
(to his men)
For your sakes I hope they
completed their work.
Well, Gentlemen, time to do
some fishing.
Ragu throws a lever at the crane's base. The rusty cable
winds in.
The Henchmen laugh. They take aim at where the cable exits
the water.
Alice's helmet breaks the surface.
Ragu opens fire. The Henchmen follow suit. They only stop
when their magazines are spent.
The suit is riddled with holes and very empty.
Ragu looks disappointed.
We HEAR the A MACHINE GUN being COCKED.
They turn to see Alice's lithe form standing on top of the
bridge in wet, red long-johns.
ALICE
Sorry.
Party's over, boys.
RAGU
(mouthing cane)
Oh, please!
He uses the cane to indicate the boat-plane.
The Pilot stands in the door, gun aimed at Alice.
ALICE
Okay. Okay. You've got me.
She throws her hands into the air, steps pack. With her
second step backwards, she vanishes through a sky-light.
RAGU
I hate, dames. I don't
want her alive, boys.
The first Henchman climbs up on the roof, jumps into
darkness. We HEAR him SCREAM.
INT. - ENGINE ROOM - DAY
The second Henchman kicks open the door. He cautiously steps
through.
We SEE his colleague impaled on a wrack of whale harpoons.
ALICE (O.S.)
Psst.
The Henchman turns and receives a spare anchor full in the
face.
EXT. - THE DIMSK - AFT - DAY
The crates bursts from the water.
The Pilot uses a boat-hook to pull the crates into the boat
plane.
Ragu is dousing the ship in petroleum.
EXT. -- DIMSK'S HULL - PORT-HOLE - DAY
Alice pulls herself through a port-hole, into the water.
INT. -- DIMSK'S BRIDGE - DAY
Ragu picks up a can of gasoline and stops to look at his
reflection in a mirror. He sees an ornate SILVER LADY'S
COMPACT. He sucks thoughtfully on his cane.
RAGU
Waist not, want not.
He pockets the Silver Compact.
EXT. - BOAT-PLANE - DAY
Ragu jumps across from the ship to the boat-plane, grabbing a
small crow-bar. He then rips the top from the crate and
retrieves The Small Chest, using both arms to clasp it to his
bosom.
RAGU
The Eye and ...
(patting crate)
The Crown of Judas. All others
that sort to posses it have
perished. They were no different.
But me ...
(to Pilot)
Take us home.
PILOT
Right away, Mr. Imally.
The Pilot returns to the cockpit.
We HEAR the sound of the engines turn over and catch.
Ragu puts the chest back and uses the flare-gun from the
emergency case to fire at the deck.
The boat-plane lurches, lifts into the air.
The ship is consumed by flame.
Ragu is already off balance when both of Alice's bear feet
hit him square in the back.
He screams as he falls through the air.
INT. -- BOAT-PLANE - COCKPIT - DAY
The Pilot looks around as the cold steel of a pistol is
pressed against it.
EXT. - OCEAN'S SURFACE - DAY
RAGU
And people wonder why I
hate women.
Ragu flounders in the water.
An emergency raft and then the Pilot hit the water mere feet
from his side.
They are both distracted from the departing boat-plane by the
approaching shark's dorsal-fin.
