I've been reading through Lawrence Kasdan's first-draft script of Raiders (all hail Moedred for tracking that down!) and one thing jumped out at me.
In the early version the Belloq character doesn't give Marion a new dress, so she's not running around barefoot in a torn dress during the Well of Souls sequence. Instead, Marion's big costume change comes on the Bantu Wind, when she slips into a long white nightgown. Kasdan's first introduction of it describes Marion's nightgown as follows: "...the long, snow-white, high-necked nightgown she is wearing. It is very prim. Very innocent. And very sexy."
Over the remainder of the movie, her nightgown gradually disintegrates, getting ever more tattered and stained. It takes some damage during the submarine ride, and then much more during the opening of the Ark. (Which is immediately followed by the mine-cart chase that was later recycled in TOD.) But Marion keeps on wearing the increasingly torn nightgown almost until the very final scene of the film; she gets a decent outfit again only once she's back in Washington, DC.
The idea of putting Marion in a damaged white dress in the finale, as opposed to during the Well of Souls scene, probably has its roots in George Lucas's 1974 rough draft of The Star Wars. Princess Leia's costume was always going to be the white Madonna dress of the final film, but in the earliest script it got severely damaged by the finale. So much so that apparently Leia wound up barefoot and bare-breasted, like the False Maria/Whore of Babylon during the famous dance scene in Fritz Lang's Metropolis.
I suspect a similar cinematic reference was talking place with Marion's clothing damage in the early script. Certainly Kasdan's description of the conservative cut of Marion's nightgown evokes the Madonna outfit Leia wears in Star Wars. But instead of Metropolis' Whore of Babylon, the probable cinematic reference in the case of the damaged nightgown would be King Kong.
In the original script, when Belloq/Victor Lovar opens the Ark inside a tent, Marion is just outside, tied spread-eagled to two posts. When Lovar and the Nazis are killed by the power of God, Marion's nightgown is reduced to tatters.
In King Kong, Fay Wray is likewise tied spread-eagled to two posts by the natives of Skull Island as a sacrifice for Kong, whom they revere as a god. Later in the film, Kong peels off bits of her clothing, leaving her in a torn and tattered dress.
So, Marion was going to be disrobed by an act of God, rather like Fay Wray (only in a much more literal sense).
Fay Wray's torn dress after her encounter with Kong hangs off of one shoulder, much as, I suspect, Marion's nightgown would by the end of the script. After all, Kasdan describes the nightgown initially as "high-necked," which kind of implies that it would get much lower-necked later on.
In fact, in most of the original concept art for King Kong, Fay Wray's character isn't wearing a bra, leaving her with one breast exposed after Kong rips her dress. As I noted above, the rough-draft script for The Star Wars apparently featured similar nudity (as did that of Willow, for that matter). So I suspect that Lucas originally wanted Marion in the finale to have at least one bare breast. After all, she probably wouldn't wear a brassiere under her nightgown.
In the final film this was toned down for family audiences, but instead (by way of compensation?) Marion ends up barefoot in the Well of Souls snake pit, which didn't happen in the early drafts.
Also, there's the matter of Marion's hair color. The Raiders storyboards of artists David Negron and Ed Verreaux all depict Marion with brown or black hair. However, their storyboards date from relatively late in the writing process, as they incorporate the idea that Belloq gives Marion a dress (which was still absent in the revised third draft).
Earlier storyboards by famed Rocketeer artist Dave Stevens show Marion as a blonde. In this particular image, Stevens has drawn Marion and Indy escaping the Well of Souls--but, as per the early script, Marion is wearing a leather jacket.
Quite likely Lucas originally did envision Marion as blonde. In the Raiders story conferences, Lucas and Spielberg discuss making her look like Marlene Dietrich or Veronica Lake, both famous Old Hollywood blondes. But, of course, Marion being blonde would also give her a definite resemblance to Fay Wray in King Kong.
The first draft also gives Marion a line of dialogue to Indy that was cut later on: "You know what you did to me, to my life? You see what I am today. This is your handiwork. Do you know how many men I've known since you?"
Which confirms that A) yes, 25-year-old Indiana Jones did have sex with a fifteen-year-old Marion (ugh), and B) Marion worked as a prostitute in Nepal. The latter element is undoubtedly borrowed from the Whore of Babylon imagery associated with Princess Leia in the 1974 rough draft of The Star Wars.
By the way, as I noted in passing above, in the first draft Belloq's name is actually Victor Lovar. This may have been a bit too on-the-nose, given the way he hits on Marion (as it sounds like both lover and lothario).
In the early version the Belloq character doesn't give Marion a new dress, so she's not running around barefoot in a torn dress during the Well of Souls sequence. Instead, Marion's big costume change comes on the Bantu Wind, when she slips into a long white nightgown. Kasdan's first introduction of it describes Marion's nightgown as follows: "...the long, snow-white, high-necked nightgown she is wearing. It is very prim. Very innocent. And very sexy."
Over the remainder of the movie, her nightgown gradually disintegrates, getting ever more tattered and stained. It takes some damage during the submarine ride, and then much more during the opening of the Ark. (Which is immediately followed by the mine-cart chase that was later recycled in TOD.) But Marion keeps on wearing the increasingly torn nightgown almost until the very final scene of the film; she gets a decent outfit again only once she's back in Washington, DC.
The idea of putting Marion in a damaged white dress in the finale, as opposed to during the Well of Souls scene, probably has its roots in George Lucas's 1974 rough draft of The Star Wars. Princess Leia's costume was always going to be the white Madonna dress of the final film, but in the earliest script it got severely damaged by the finale. So much so that apparently Leia wound up barefoot and bare-breasted, like the False Maria/Whore of Babylon during the famous dance scene in Fritz Lang's Metropolis.
I suspect a similar cinematic reference was talking place with Marion's clothing damage in the early script. Certainly Kasdan's description of the conservative cut of Marion's nightgown evokes the Madonna outfit Leia wears in Star Wars. But instead of Metropolis' Whore of Babylon, the probable cinematic reference in the case of the damaged nightgown would be King Kong.
In the original script, when Belloq/Victor Lovar opens the Ark inside a tent, Marion is just outside, tied spread-eagled to two posts. When Lovar and the Nazis are killed by the power of God, Marion's nightgown is reduced to tatters.
In King Kong, Fay Wray is likewise tied spread-eagled to two posts by the natives of Skull Island as a sacrifice for Kong, whom they revere as a god. Later in the film, Kong peels off bits of her clothing, leaving her in a torn and tattered dress.
So, Marion was going to be disrobed by an act of God, rather like Fay Wray (only in a much more literal sense).
Fay Wray's torn dress after her encounter with Kong hangs off of one shoulder, much as, I suspect, Marion's nightgown would by the end of the script. After all, Kasdan describes the nightgown initially as "high-necked," which kind of implies that it would get much lower-necked later on.
In fact, in most of the original concept art for King Kong, Fay Wray's character isn't wearing a bra, leaving her with one breast exposed after Kong rips her dress. As I noted above, the rough-draft script for The Star Wars apparently featured similar nudity (as did that of Willow, for that matter). So I suspect that Lucas originally wanted Marion in the finale to have at least one bare breast. After all, she probably wouldn't wear a brassiere under her nightgown.
In the final film this was toned down for family audiences, but instead (by way of compensation?) Marion ends up barefoot in the Well of Souls snake pit, which didn't happen in the early drafts.
Also, there's the matter of Marion's hair color. The Raiders storyboards of artists David Negron and Ed Verreaux all depict Marion with brown or black hair. However, their storyboards date from relatively late in the writing process, as they incorporate the idea that Belloq gives Marion a dress (which was still absent in the revised third draft).
Earlier storyboards by famed Rocketeer artist Dave Stevens show Marion as a blonde. In this particular image, Stevens has drawn Marion and Indy escaping the Well of Souls--but, as per the early script, Marion is wearing a leather jacket.
Quite likely Lucas originally did envision Marion as blonde. In the Raiders story conferences, Lucas and Spielberg discuss making her look like Marlene Dietrich or Veronica Lake, both famous Old Hollywood blondes. But, of course, Marion being blonde would also give her a definite resemblance to Fay Wray in King Kong.
The first draft also gives Marion a line of dialogue to Indy that was cut later on: "You know what you did to me, to my life? You see what I am today. This is your handiwork. Do you know how many men I've known since you?"
Which confirms that A) yes, 25-year-old Indiana Jones did have sex with a fifteen-year-old Marion (ugh), and B) Marion worked as a prostitute in Nepal. The latter element is undoubtedly borrowed from the Whore of Babylon imagery associated with Princess Leia in the 1974 rough draft of The Star Wars.
By the way, as I noted in passing above, in the first draft Belloq's name is actually Victor Lovar. This may have been a bit too on-the-nose, given the way he hits on Marion (as it sounds like both lover and lothario).