Davy accompanies Gloria to pick up her pay from her boss before leaving town with her. The young woman goes into the building alone, taking the stairs that lead to the dance hall.
At the top of the stairs, the fixed camera, which films Gloria's climb, gives an overhead, even vertiginous, view of the stairwell. This framing effaces the steps, showing only the landings, and allows for accentuating the strict symmetry that governs the image. The plan shot is structured by a set of lines, beginning with those, doubled by the railing, that repeat the layout of the staircase on each of the facing walls. Their shiny surface reflects the décor and character, splitting them in two. Splashes of light echo each other on each wall, creating a contrast between the areas of shadow and light, a characteristic of the film noir genre. The draughtboard pattern of the landings emphasises the overall symmetry of the shot.
Symmetry is also found in the construction of the sequence: this same shot is repeated identically a few minutes later when Gloria again goes upstairs, called back by her boss's henchmen. By placing his camera at the top of the stairs, Kubrick seizes the ascending or descending movement of the characters in a set shot, contrary to a camera quite often in motion in the rest of the film.