Editing Film (film) (section)

===The street===
The film opens onto a rippled image that fills the entire screen. Without colour, it is difficult to discern what is being shown, but it is alive. As it moves, it is shown to be an extreme close-up of an eyelid; it fills the entire screen. The eye opens, slowly, closes, opens again, blinks and then fades into a different rippled image, still somewhat organic but changed, still.<ref>"When the rushes of the first frenetic day's outdoor filming were viewed, it was clear that it had been an almost total disaster … Yet the budget did not allow for the scene to be reshot … Hours were spent getting the exact close-up that they required of Buster Keaton's 'creased, reptilian' eye to replace the abandoned outdoor scene with the extras." – Knowlson, J., ''Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), pp 523,524</ref> As the camera begins to [[Panning (camera)|pan]] right and up, it is discernable as a wall; we are outside a building (an old factory situated in [[Lower Manhattan]]). It is summer, though it is hard to tell. The camera's movement is not smooth. It is as if it is looking for something. Eventually, it loses interest and pans left and down back to the wall.

Suddenly, the camera (E) shifts violently to the left. A man (O) is hurrying along the wall from left to right. He pauses, hugging the wall, and E gets a chance to [[Focus (optics)|focus]] on him. He has on a long dark overcoat, the collar of which is turned up and his hat is pulled down over his face. (Keaton had asked Beckett what O was wearing underneath. "I hadn't thought of that," the author admitted and then proposed, "the same coat", which appealed to both men.)<ref name="FilmWest 22" /> He is hanging onto a briefcase with his left hand whilst trying to shield the exposed side of his face with the other. He realises he's been seen and cowers against the wall; E quickly shifts behind him.

No longer conscious of being observed, O starts off again, knocking over a trestle and stumbling over a railway sleeper—anything to stay as close as possible to the wall. He charges into a man and woman, knocking the man's hat off. E looks from the man's face to the woman's and back again. The man has a [[moustache]] and is wearing a [[pince-nez]]. They have been consulting a newspaper, which the woman keeps hold of. They both look appalled at what has happened.

E moves back to a long shot and watches O barge through and on his way. The man replaces his hat, takes off his pince-nez. and looks after the fleeing figure. The couple look at each other and the man "opens his mouth to [[wikt:vituperate#English|vituperate]]"<ref>Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 165</ref> but the woman shushes him, uttering the only sound in the whole play. Together they turn to stare directly at E as an open-mouthed expression takes over their faces; they can not bear to look at what they have seen and turn their faces away. But what had they seen?
The action shifts back to O just as he reaches and turns a corner. He heads off down the street until he realises he is at the right doorway. He enters.