Dead of Night (1945)
Googie Withers: Joan Cortland
Photos
Quotes
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[Peter is opening his fiancé's birthday present to him]
Peter Cortland : You haven't gone and had your portrait painted, have you?
Joan Cortland : [smiling fondly] No, I thought you'd like to look at yourself.
[he opens the package to find it is a mirror]
Peter Cortland : Darling, it's a beauty!
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Peter Cortland : Well, you know that mirror you gave me? You didn't get it at one of those joke shops, by any chance?
Joan Cortland : Of course not, why?
Peter Cortland : Well, when I was dressing this evening, just as I was tying my tie, I suddenly realized that the reflection was all wrong.
Joan Cortland : What do you mean, wrong?
Peter Cortland : It wasn't my room I was seeing; it was some other room.
Joan Cortland : Darling!
Peter Cortland : I told you it sounded silly. It only lasted for a moment, but I could have sworn I saw it. Some sort of optical illusion, I suppose.
Joan Cortland : [chuckles] All done with mirrors, in fact.
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[talking about their upcoming wedding:]
Joan Cortland : The cake's under control. Oh, and I've had a lot more answers. The Laughtons can't come, thank Heaven. And we've got some perfectly frightful presents. You know, darling, I really think we'll have to turn that spare room of ours into a Chamber of Horrors.
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Eliot Foley : Apart from my bit of nonsense, the curious thing is that all of you, even Sally, seems to have had one of these extraordinary experiences
Joan Cortland : Well, perhaps they aren't so extraordinary. Perhaps they happen to most people.
Eliot Foley : Oh, you mean there's a ghost as well as a skeleton in everyone's cupboard.
[laughs]
Eliot Foley : That's a pretty thought!
Walter Craig : And what's the ghost in your cupboard, Doctor?
Dr. van Straaten : Well, there was one occasion in my professional career that made me wonder. Made me wonder quite a lot.
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Peter Cortland : We should postpone the wedding.
Joan Cortland : Why?
Peter Cortland : It will take us five years to get a divorce.
Joan Cortland : Oh, dear. Let's get married and arrange the divorce after.
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Dr. van Straaten : [removes his glasses] Ah. No doubt you thought it would be very amusing to watch my cherished disbeliefs being shattered.
Eliot Foley : [sarcastically] Mm, very clever of us, I must say. I wonder if we have any more surprises up our sleeves.
[the camera focuses on Dr. van Straaten's hands as he fiddles with his glasses]
Walter Craig : That's it - your glasses!
Dr. van Straaten : What about my glasses?
Walter Craig : It's later on. We're having drinks. You break those glasses of yours, and then, quite suddenly, the room goes dark. And then, Foley, you say something, something about the death of a man I've never heard of. And that's where my dream becomes a nightmare. A nightmare of horror.
Joan Cortland : Horror? What sort of horror?
Walter Craig : I feel my will power draining away. I feel I'm in the grip of a force that's driving me towards something unspeakably evil.
Dr. van Straaten : It shows that you have some heavy weight on your conscience. Now, in my opinion...
Walter Craig : I'm no longer interested in your opinion, Doctor. You shook me at first, with your ingenious theories. I thought perhaps the whole thing was a delusion. But Mrs. Grainger's arrival has altered all that. I have been here before, in my dreams. For some reason, I was given foreknowledge of the future. Why? I don't know. I want to know! I must know!