An Eclipse at Midnight by Michael Parsons | Script Revolution

An Eclipse at Midnight

Paris, 1936: A wholesome American movie star meets a handsome English prince. Can their chaperones keep them from creating a devastating scandal?

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SYNOPSIS FOR “AN ECLIPSE AT MIDNIGHT”

We start the script on the steps of the famous Hotel George V hotel in Paris. A Movietone film crew is there, capturing the arrival of American film star LILLY TEMPLETON (17) for the red-carpet premiere of her new film, "An Eclipse at Midnight," later that weekend. Lilly's bodyguard is a bulldog of a gumshoe, JONATHAN "JACK" JACKMAN, who gets out and starts clearing the path for Lilly to exit her car.

The situation is complicated by the arrival of another VIP - the Prince of Wales, PRINCE ARCHIBALD (17). "Archie" is led out of the second limousine by his own chaperone, EDWIN ROSE (35), the slim greyhound to Jack's bulldog. The two security men size each other up from a distance, but their moment is broken by the crowd surging forward to see the royal and the American film star. Both Lilly and Archie notice each other, a fact that Jack frowns upon. Jack's aggression knocks a PHOTOGRAPHER into the Movietone crew, sending people flying, which Edwin meets with disapproval. Struggling to keep the stars safe, Jack and Edwin manage to get their charges inside the hotel. Archie bets Ediwn 2 to 1 odds that Lilly likes him.

Later that afternoon, Jack receives room service for Lilly and tips the bellhop. As he walks into the penthouse suite, Lilly is the consummate American teenager, locked on the telephone in the room. She's betting someone twenty pounds and promising someone she will see them after the premiere. Jack takes in the opulence and remarks to himself what a crazy life this is.

Later that night, Lilly is up in her room, sleeping. Jack steps out into the night air and lights a cigarette. This draws the ire of Edwin, who has also stepped out for a smoke. The two verbally spar about forsaken duties and perceived lack of professionalism. Edwin doesn't like Jack's approach to his job, or his apparent disrespect for the prince; Jack notes that Edwin's new on the job -- he remembers seeing the prince, but with a different bodyguard. As they both are about to square up, they notice flashbulbs coming from the rooftop. It's Lilly's penthouse. Edwin comments that Jack should really get up there. Jack asks Edwin if he's so sure the prince isn't in there as well?

They both realize the same thing and take off up the stairs.

Edwin, fleet of foot and younger, gains a lead on Jack, taunting him. Jack redoubles his efforts. When they get to the penthouse, they find Lilly in a nightgown, in the arms of Prince Archie, who is clad in plaid pajamas. Lilly hides her face as the Photographer from before is on the balcony, taking photos as fast as he can wind and shoot. Edwin gets to the balcony door, realizes Jack has a full head of steam, and opens the door for Jack just as he leaps towards the photographer.

Jack slams into the photographer. The camera teeters on the balcony edge. Jack lunges for it, only to have it snagged by a bullwhip -- yes, a bullwhip! -- that the photographer has. Edwin and Jack work together to corner the paparazzi, who climbs over the balcony rail. He falls off it with a smirk, landing hard on the balcony one floor below.

Frantic to recover the film (and his prince's reputation), Edwin starts to climb over the railing to pursue the photographer. Jack tells him he'll end up killing himself. As he prepares to lower Edwin down by a sheet, however, something's nagging at the back of Jack's mind. Lilly, who has drunk two bottles of Dom Perignon, is giggly. She's won a small channel island from the Prince of Wales for successfully downing the Dom bottles. But Jack realizes the game that is afoot.

He goes back inside the penthouse and orders a bottle of champagne, a tin of caviar, and a bucket of ice for the room just below theirs. Edwin thinks Jack's gone mad, but Jack tells him that there is only one stuntman who can do the bullwhip trick and the stunt fall, and that stuntman is Lilly's good friend. He demands to know what is going on.

Lilly and Archie burst into smiles. This was all a ruse to get Jack and Edwin to meet each other. It's their meet-cute, because, as Lilly puts it, "we thought you'd like each other." It turns out both Edwin and Jack are gay, at a time when being out of the closet meant jail time, or an institution. Edwin is shocked that Archie knows he is a member of the "Order of the Green Carnation," as Oscar Wilde would put it. As for Jack, Lilly mentions that she once had Claudette Colbert try to seduce him; he didn't bat an eye. So she knew Jack was gay.

As confirmation, Jack walks over and kisses Edwin. Lilly pulls out a twenty pound note and hands it to Prince Archie.

Surprised at the revelations, the two bodyguards wonder what to do next. It turns out, their charges have a plan. They are merely good friends, but they are going to initiate a minor scandal - a rumored romance between the young star and the young royal - that will keep their names in the tabloids and their company close. And, within that scandal, they will safely eclipse a deeper scandal -- the relationship of their bodyguards. "So what do you say?" Lilly asks. "Shall we have an eclipse of scandals?"

For the first time, Jack and Edwin shake hands and smile. Jack says, "What a crazy life this is," as the camera fades to black.

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Submitted: January 14, 2025
Last Updated: January 14, 2025

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The Writer: Michael Parsons

Michael is an award-winning playwright who is making the transition over to screens big and small. The only two-time winner of the Rosa Parks Award in Kennedy Center history (for SUMNER FALLS and HOMELAND), Michael has also won the Kennedy Center’s John Cauble Award for the nation’s top collegiate one-act play, for THE LIGHTHOUSE. Now he is taking his stories to the cinematic mediums. Currently working without representation, Michael creates feature films, short films, treatments and teleplays. He lives with his wife and two children in Austin, Texas. Go to bio

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