FADE IN:

EXT. BLAKE CASTLE, ENGLAND - NOON (1935)

A large, sprawling castle.

The approach to the castle is surrounded by a leafy forest.
Just inside the castle walls lies a vast, well-tended series of gardens.

A walled inner courtyard contains the castle building itself.

At the back of the castle lies a craggy cliff. Below this is a stony cove, and the sea.

Only the beating of the waves can be heard.

EXT. BLAKE CASTLE/GATE — NOON

Bright sunlight.

The castle looms up from behind a crenellated wall with an arched doorway. Big oak gates bar the way.

An elegant iron emblem hammered onto the panelled oak doors spells simply ”B”.

Abruptly, the gates swing wide open.

EXT. BLAKE CASTLE/INNER COURTYARD – NOON

EDWARD BLAKE and PETER PEAKE sit staring at each other on oppospring03 sides of the walled inner courtyard. They are motionless, as if in a trance. They sit in rocking chairs. The courtyard is deserted.

Edward is bearded, strong and burly. His black hair is long and windswept. He is wearing a voluminous loose-fitting shirt, slacks, and open-toed sandals. He’s in his mid-thirties.

Peter is a thin man with a longish nose. His hair is worn in an arty side-part. He has a faded, once fashionable suit. His demeanor is somewhat professorial. Peter is also in his mid-thirties.

MARY (V.O.)
In 1935, in the courtyard of a secluded castle in rural England, a strange battle of wits took place between two men.

The imperious face of Edward Blake.

MARY (V.O.) (CONT'D)
One of them was Edward Blake, a wild and elemental figure who had, in his youth, been a sculptor of some promise.

A fly settles on Edward’s beard, walks across it, and then departs. Edward does not move.

MARY (V.O.) (CONT'D)
The other man was a Mr Peter Peake. Mr Peake, an art critic, had once been a vitriolic opponent of Mr Blake’ work.

Peter’s mouth is frozen in a shocked expression.

A fly zips into his mouth, and out again.
The two men face each other, stock-still, across the courtyard.

MARY (V.O.) (CONT'D)
The two men sat, for the whole afternoon, immobile — locked in time, as it were.

Edward is frozen in the act of pointing at a stone statue which stands between them.

The statue is a of a young ballerina performing a pirouette. It’s a little like a Dègas painting worked in stone — delicate and elegant. The ballerina’s face, however, is fierce and warrior-like.

A huge tarpaulin lies on the ground beside the ballerina.
Peter sits frozen, staring at the statue, his mouth open.

MARY MULLINS, middle-aged, care-worn, and wearing a maid’s outfit, suddenly rushes towards the two men from a door in the castle building.

MARY (V.O.) (CONT'D)
When the maid — that’s me, by the way — discovered the two men, she let out a shriek.

MARY
Oh, Edward! What have you done?

Mary turns and rushes back into the castle through the door.

MARY (V.O.)
Fearing the two men dead, I called the authorities who, given the secluded location of the castle, took some time to arrive.