Build a movie plot around this: Who is outside on the steps of a church? a starving mother with a child
A Kafkaesque story set in a dark, nameless city in a time that might be the 1920s or '30s. A killer (Michael Kirby) walks the alleys and underground passages. He corners a man and strangles him with piano wire.Max Kleinman (Woody Allen) is roused from a sound sleep in the middle of the night by a group of his fellow citizens who want Kleinman to help them catch the killer. Despite his protests of uselessness, the vigilantes tell Kleinman to get dressed and meet them outside. Kleinman's landlady (Camille Saviola) comes in to help him, suppressing his objections as she bustles about. He worries that he might run into his boss, who is considering him for a promotion, and make a bad impression. She suggests that he marry her, which would make him half owner of the rooming house so he would no longer need his job. Before he goes she gives him some pepper and tells him to blow it in the killer's eyes if he needs to get away. When Kleinman comes outside, the vigilantes have gone. He wanders around looking for them.Irmy (Mia Farrow), a sword-swallower with the circus, and Paul (John Malkovich) the clown, her lover, are talking in their caravan after the show. Irmy reminds Paul of their plans to quit the circus, get married and have children. He replies that he's an artist and needs to concentrate on his work until he can make a name for himself. She says that if she doesn't have a baby soon, she might not be able to, and starts to cry. The clown tries to comfort her. Then he says he'll talk to the head of the circus and goes out to find him. On the way he's distracted by Marie (Madonna), the tightrope walker, and goes into her caravan, where her husband the strongman is asleep. But Irmy sees him go in and comes raging to the door, catching the couple in flagrante. She's furious; she pushes Paul around and tells him she doesn't want his baby.Kleinman stops to see the doctor (Donald Pleasence) in hopes of learning where to find the vigilantes. The doctor has performed autopsies on the killer's victims -- apparently...