Great Film Quotes - 1940s
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Great Film Quotes From the 1940s

- "Brothers. There is good cause to be thankful this morning. I have just received the good news that there is no longer a Protective Association and that we may again sell our flowers in the city. How this was accomplished, I cannot tell you. All I know is that Brother Orchid gave me his word it would be done and it was done. As you know, Brother Orchid is no longer among us. He has chosen the outside world. And none of us is wise enough to say that we are right and he is wrong. All we can do in our humble way is to wish him the utmost of health and the happiness and throughout our -- Brother Orchid. Have you changed your mind?"
- "Yeah. Brother Superior, all my life I'm such a guy that was lookin' for class. I once went halfway around the world tryin' to find it, cause I thought that class came in dough and nice clothes and society. Well, I was wrong. I sure traveled a long way to find out one thing: This, this is the real class."

Brother Orchid (1940)
Play clip (excerpt): Brother Orchid

"Can't you see it over there in lights? The guy swallows his coffee, and it says, ' If you don't sleep, it isn't the coffee - it's the bunk.' That's some slogan."
Christmas in July (1940)

"Perhaps their brave young spirits hear the bugles sing - go to sleep, go to sleep. Slumber well where the shells screamed and fell. Let your rifles rest on the muddy floor, you will not need them any more. Danger's past now at last, go to sleep. And up to Heaven's doorway floats from the wood called Rouge Bouquet, a delicate cloud of bugle notes, that softly say: 'Farewell, farewell. Comrades true, born anew, peace to you. Your souls shall be where the heroes are, and your memories shine like the Morning Star. Brave and dear, shield us here. Farewell.'"
The Fighting 69th (1940)
Play clip (excerpt): The Fighting 69th

- "I once thought this man was a coward."
- "A coward, sir? From now on, every time I hear the name of Plunkett, I snap to attention and salute."
The Fighting 69th (1940)
Play clip (excerpt): The Fighting 69th

"Well, maybe it's like Casy says. A fella ain't got a soul of his own - just a little piece of a big soul. The one big soul that belongs to everybody...Then it don't matter. I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be everywhere - wherever you can look. Wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready. And when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise, and livin' in the houses they build, I'll be there, too."
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

Play clip (excerpt): The Grapes of Wrath

"That's what makes us tough. Rich fellas come up and die and their kids ain't no good, and they die out. But we keep a-comin'. We're the people that live. They can't wipe us out. They can't lick us. And we'll go on forever, Pa... 'cause... we're the people."
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

Play clip (excerpt): The Grapes of Wrath

"...We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each others' happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world, there's room for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way."
The Great Dictator (1940)

Play clip (excerpt): The Great Dictator

"The last man who said that to me was Archie Leach just a week before he cut his throat."
His Girl Friday (1940)

Play clip (excerpt): His Girl Friday

- "He's got a lot of charm."
- "He comes by it naturally. His grandfather was a snake."
His Girl Friday (1940)

Play clip (excerpt): His Girl Friday

"Now get this you double-crossing chimpanzee! There ain't gonna be any interview and there ain't gonna be any story. And that certified check of yours is leaving with me in twenty minutes. I wouldn't cover the burning of Rome for you if they were just lighting it up. And if I ever lay my two eyes on you again, I'm gonna walk right up to you and hammer on that monkey skull of yours until it rings like a Chinese gong."
His Girl Friday (1940)

Play clip (excerpt): His Girl Friday

"And the last thing he said to me, 'Rock,' he said, 'sometime when the team is up against it and the breaks are beating the boys, tell 'em to go out there with all they got and win just one for the Gipper.'"
Knute Rockne: All American (1940)
Play clip (excerpt): Knute Rockne: All American

"With all my heart, I still love the man I killed!"
The Letter (1940)

Play clip (excerpt): The Letter

"Any time you've got nothing to do and lots of time to do it, come up."
My Little Chickadee (1940)

Play clip (excerpt): My Little Chickadee

- "Ah, what symmetrical digits! Soft as the fuzz of a baby's arm."
- "You're quick on the trigger."
- "Mmm, yes. Uh, may I [kiss them]?"
- "Help yourself."
- "Would you object if I avail myself of a second helping?"
- "Hmm. Don't ya think you're a little forward on such short acquaintance? You're compromisin' me."
My Little Chickadee (1940)

Play clip (excerpt): My Little Chickadee

- "Have you any last wish?"
- "Yes, I'd like to see Paris before I die... Philadelphia will do."

My Little Chickadee (1940)

Play clip (excerpt): My Little Chickadee

- "A magnificence that comes out of your eyes and your voice and the way you stand there and the way you walk. You're lit from within, Tracy. You've got fires banked down in you. Hearth fires and holocausts."
- "I don't seem to you made of bronze?"
- "No, you're made out of flesh and blood. That's the blank, unholy surprise of it. Why, you're the golden girl, Tracy, full of life and warmth and delight."
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Play clip (excerpt): The Philadelphia Story

"Put me in your pocket, Mike."
The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Play clip (excerpt): The Philadelphia Story

"Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again...We can never go back to Manderley again. That much is certain."
Rebecca (1940)

Play clips (excerpt): Rebecca (short) Rebecca (extended)

"You're overwrought, madam. I've opened a window for you. A little air will do you good. Why don't you go? Why don't you leave Manderley? He doesn't need you. He's got his memories. He doesn't love you, he wants to be alone again with her. You've nothing to stay for. You've nothing to live for really, have you? Look down there. It's easy, isn't it? Why don't you? Why don't you? Go on. Go on. Don't be afraid!"
Rebecca (1940)

Play clip (excerpt): Rebecca

"This is the Land of Legend, where everything is possible when seen through the eyes of youth!"
The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
Play clip (excerpt): The Thief of Bagdad

"I'm going to show you what yum-yum is. Here's yum. And here's the other yum. And here's yum-yum."
Ball of Fire (1941)
Play clip (excerpt): Ball of Fire

"Make no mistake, I shall regret the absence of your keen mind; unfortunately, it is inseparable from an extremely disturbing body."
Ball of Fire (1941)

Play clip (excerpt): Ball of Fire

"You're a vile and cheap and deceitful liar. Mustard! You've been eating! And you let me sit here thinking I was going to die!"
The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941)

"R-o-s-e-b-u-d."
Citizen Kane (1941)
Play clip (excerpt): Citizen Kane

"I think it would be fun to run a newspaper. I think it would be fun to run a newspaper. Grrr."
Citizen Kane (1941)

Play clip (excerpt): Citizen Kane

"You know, Mr. Bernstein, if I hadn't been very rich, I might have been a really great man...I think I did pretty well under the circumstances."
Citizen Kane (1941)

Play clip (excerpt): Citizen Kane

"A fellow will remember a lot of things you wouldn't think he'd remember. You take me. One day, back in 1896, I was crossing over to Jersey on the ferry. And as we pulled out, there was another ferry pulling in. And on it there was a girl waiting to get off. A white dress she had on. She was carrying a white parasol. I only saw her for one second. She didn't see me at all. But I'll bet a month hasn't gone by since that I hadn't thought of that girl."
Citizen Kane (1941)

Play clip (excerpt): Citizen Kane

"Old age, it's the only disease...that you don't look forward to being cured of."
Citizen Kane (1941)
Play clip (excerpt): Citizen Kane

"Five years ago, he wrote from that place down there in the South, uh, what's it called? Uh? Shangri-La? El Dorado? Sloppy Joe's? What was the name of that place, huh? All right. Xanadu."
Citizen Kane (1941)
Play clip (excerpt): Citizen Kane

"Everything was his idea...except my leaving him."
Citizen Kane (1941)
Play clip (excerpt): Citizen Kane

"What about me? I'm the one who's got to do the singin'. I'm the one that gets the razzberries. Why don't you leave me alone?"
Citizen Kane (1941)

Play clip (excerpt): Citizen Kane

"Throw that junk."
Citizen Kane (1941)

Play clip (excerpt): Citizen Kane

- "Mister, what does it mean when a man crashes out?"
- "Crashes out? That's a funny question for you to ask now, sister. It means he's free."
- "Free."
High Sierra (1941)
Play clip (excerpt): High Sierra

"And I'm going from my valley. And this time, I shall never return. I am leaving behind me my fifty years of memory. Memory. Strange that the mind will forget so much of what only this moment has passed, and yet hold clear and bright the memory of what happened years ago - of men and women long since dead. Yet who shall say what is real and what is not? Can I believe my friends all gone when their voices are still a glory in my ears? No. And I will stand to say no and no again, for they remain a living truth within my mind. There is no fence nor hedge round Time that is gone. You can go back and have what you like of it, if you can remember. So I can close my eyes on my Valley as it is today - and it is gone - and I see it as it was when I was a boy. Green it was, and possessed of the plenty of the earth. In all Wales, there was none so beautiful."
How Green Was My Valley (1941)

Play clip (excerpt): How Green Was My Valley

"Everything I ever learnt as a small boy came from my father, and I never found anything he ever told me to be wrong or worthless. The simple lessons he taught me are as sharp and clear in my mind as if I had heard them only yesterday."
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
Play clip (excerpt): How Green Was My Valley

"Men like my father cannot die. They are with me still - real in memory as they were in flesh, loving and beloved forever. How green was my valley then."
How Green Was My Valley (1941)

Play clip (excerpt): How Green Was My Valley

"What I am trying to say is--only I'm not a poet, I'm an ophiologist. I've always loved you. I mean, I've never loved anyone but you."
The Lady Eve (1941)

Play clip (excerpt): The Lady Eve

"You see, Hopsie, you don't know very much about a girl! The best ones aren't as good as you probably think they are, and the bad ones aren't as bad. Not nearly as bad."
The Lady Eve (1941)

Play clip (excerpt): The Lady Eve

"That's wonderful sir, wonderful. I do like a man who tells you right out that he's looking out for himself. Don't we all? I don't trust a man who says he's not."
The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Play clip (excerpt): The Maltese Falcon

"You bungled it. You and your stupid attempt to buy it. Kemedov found out how valuable it was. No wonder we had such an easy time stealing it. You, you imbecile! You bloated idiot! You stupid fathead! You..."
The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Play clip (excerpt): The Maltese Falcon

"By gad, sir, you are a character, that you are. There's never any telling what you'll say or do next, except that it's bound to be something astonishing."
The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Play clip (excerpt): The Maltese Falcon

"When you're slapped, you'll take it and like it."
The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Play clip (excerpt): The Maltese Falcon

"Don't be silly. You're taking the fall!"
The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Play clip (excerpt): The Maltese Falcon

- "Heavy. What is it?"
- "The, uh, stuff that dreams are made of."
- "Huh?"
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Play clip (excerpt): The Maltese Falcon

"You're walkin' along, not a nickel in your jeans, you're free as the wind. Nobody bothers ya. Hundreds of people pass you by in every line of business. Shoes, hats, automobiles, radios, furniture, everything, and they're all nice loveable people. And they let you alone. Is that right? Then you get ahold of some dough and what happens? All those nice, sweet, lovable people become heelots. A lotta heels!..."
Meet John Doe (1941)

Play clip (excerpt): Meet John Doe

"I was in love with a beautiful blonde once, dear. She drove me to drink. That's the one thing I'm indebted to her for."
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941)
Play clip (excerpt): Never Give a Sucker an Even Break

"I ain't-a goin' to war. War is killin', and the Book's agin' killin! So war is agin' the Book!"
Sergeant York (1941)
Play clip (excerpt): Sergeant York

- "Where'd you learn to shoot, York?"
- "Well, I ain't never learned, Sergeant. Folks back home used to say I could shoot a rifle before I was weaned. But they was exaggeratin' some."
Sergeant York (1941)

Play clip (excerpt): Sergeant York

"When I wanna kiss my wife, I'll kiss her anytime, anyplace, anywhere. That's the kind of a hairpin I am."
The Strawberry Blonde (1941)
Play clip (excerpt): The Strawberry Blonde

"There's a lot to be said for making people laugh! Did you know that's all some people have? It isn't much but it's better than nothing in this cockeyed caravan! Boy!"
Sullivan's Travels (1941)

Play clip (excerpt): Sullivan's Travels

"Walking through life with you, ma'am, has been a very gracious thing."
They Died With Their Boots On (1941)
Play clip (excerpt): They Died With Their Boots On

"Even a man who is pure in heart, And says his prayers by night, May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms, And the autumn moon is bright."
The Wolf Man (1941)
Play clip (excerpt): The Wolf Man

"I stick my neck out for nobody."
Casablanca (1942)

Play clip (excerpt): Casablanca

"I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here."
Casablanca (1942)

Play clip (excerpt): Casablanca

- "Play it once, Sam, for old times' sake...Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By.'"
Casablanca (1942)
Play clip (excerpt): Casablanca (short) Casablanca (long)

"You played it for her, you can play it for me!... If she can stand it, I can! Play it!"
Casablanca (1942)
Play clip (excerpt): Casablanca

"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."
Casablanca (1942)
Play clip (excerpt): Casablanca

- "I've often speculated why you don't return to America. Did you abscond with the church funds? Did you run off with a senator's wife? I like to think that you killed a man. It's the romantic in me."
- "It's a combination of all three."
- "What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?"
- "My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters."
- "The waters? What waters? We're in the desert."
- "I was misinformed."
Casablanca (1942)

Play clip (excerpt): Casablanca

- "If that plane leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it."
- "No."
- "Maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life."
Casablanca (1942)

Play clip (excerpt): Casablanca

"Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that."
Casablanca (1942)

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"Here's looking at you, kid."
Casablanca (1942)

Play clip (excerpt): Casablanca

"Round up the usual suspects."
Casablanca (1942)
Play clip (excerpt): Casablanca

"Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Casablanca (1942)
Play clip (excerpt): Casablanca

"Now, she lies in 1,500 fathoms. And with her, more than half our shipmates. If they had to die, what a grand way to go! For now they lie all together with the ship we loved and they're in very good company. We've lost her, but they're still with her."
In Which We Serve (1942)
Play clip (excerpt): In Which We Serve

"Here ends the story of a ship, but there will always be other ships, for we are an island race. Through all our centuries the sea has ruled our destiny. There will always be other ships and men to sail in them. It is these men, in peace or war, to whom we owe so much. Above all victories, beyond all loss, in spite of changing values and a changing world, they give to us, their countrymen, eternal and indominitable pride...God bless our ships and all who sail in them."
In Which We Serve (1942)
Play clip (excerpt): In Which We Serve

"Randy, Randy ! Where's the rest of me?"
Kings Row (1942)

Play clip (excerpt): Kings Row

"Why don't you get out of that wet coat and into a dry martini?"
The Major and the Minor (1942)
Play clip (excerpt): The Major and the Minor

"..Because this is not only a war of soldiers in uniform. It is a war of the people - of all the people - and it must be fought not only on the battlefield but in the cities and in the villages, in the factories and on the farms, in the home and in the heart of every man, woman and child who loves freedom. Well, we have buried our dead, but we shall not forget them. Instead, they will inspire us with an unbreakable determination to free ourselves and those who come after us from the tyranny and terror that threaten to strike us down. This is the people's war. It is our war. We are the fighters. Fight it, then. Fight it with all that is in us, and may God defend the right."
Mrs. Miniver (1942)

Play clips (excerpt): Mrs. Miniver (short) Mrs. Miniver (extended)

"I'm such a fool, such an old fool. These are only tears of gratitude - an old maid's gratitude for the crumbs offered...You see, no one ever called me darling before. Let me go."
Now, Voyager (1942)

Play clip (excerpt): Now, Voyager

"Shall we just have a cigarette on it?"
Now, Voyager (1942)

Play clip (excerpt): Now, Voyager

"Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars."
Now, Voyager (1942)
Play clip (excerpt): Now, Voyager

"But that's what's so irritating. To know that I could get you someplace without doing any harm either. You have no idea what a long-legged gal can do without doing anything. And instead of that, I have to watch you stamping around proudly, like Sitting Bull in a new blanket, breathing through your nose while we both starve to death."
The Palm Beach Story (1942)

Play clip (excerpt): The Palm Beach Story

"There are a lot of inconveniences to yachting that most people don't know anything about...Give me the peaceful train."
The Palm Beach Story (1942)

Play clip (excerpt): The Palm Beach Story

"Chivalry is not only dead, it's decomposed."
The Palm Beach Story (1942)
Play clip (excerpt): The Palm Beach Story

"That's one of the tragedies of this life, that the men who are most in need of a beating up are always enormous."
The Palm Beach Story (1942)
Play clip (excerpt): The Palm Beach Story

"People all say that I've had a bad break. But today, today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."
The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
Play clip (excerpt): The Pride of the Yankees

"So they call me 'Concentration Camp' Ehrhardt?"
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
Play clip (excerpt): To Be Or Not To Be

"Ladies and gentlemen. My mother thanks you. My father thanks you. My sister thanks you. And I thank you."
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
Play clip (excerpt): Yankee Doodle Dandy

"Oh, Roberto. I like... I don't know how to kiss or I would kiss you. Where do the noses go? Always I wonder where the noses would go. They're not in the way, are they? I always thought they would be in the way. Look, I can do it myself."
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
Play clip (excerpt): For Whom the Bell Tolls

"Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!"
The More the Merrier (1943)

Play clips (excerpt): The More the Merrier The More the Merrier

"There comes a time in every woman's life when the only thing that helps is a glass of champagne."
Old Acquaintance (1943)

"You think you know something, don't you? You think you're the clever little girl that knows something. There's so much you don't know. So much. What do you know, really? You're just an ordinary little girl living in an ordinary little town. You wake up every morning of your life and you know perfectly well that there's nothing in the world to trouble you. You go through your ordinary little day and at night you sleep your untroubled, ordinary little sleep filled with peaceful, stupid dreams. And I brought you nightmares! Or did I, or was it a silly inexpert little lie? You live in a dream. You're a sleepwalker, blind. How do you know what the world is like? Do you know the world is a foul sty? Do you know if you rip the fronts off houses you'd find swine? The world's a hell. What does it matter what happens in it? Wake up, Charlie! Use your wits. Learn something."
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Play clip (excerpt): Shadow of a Doubt

"Well, we've been shaken out of the magnolias."
Watch on the Rhine (1943)

"Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops."
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Play clip (excerpt): Arsenic and Old Lace

- "We can't leave a dead body in the rumble seat. You shouldn't have killed him. Just because he knows something about us, what happens?"
- "We come to him for help, and he tries to shake us down. Besides, he said I looked like Boris Karloff!"
AND
"Look at that puss. He looks like Boris Karloff."
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

Play clips (excerpt): Arsenic and Old Lace Arsenic and Old Lace

"Charge!"
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Play clip (excerpt): Arsenic and Old Lace


"I shall prepare at once for the journey."
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Play clip (excerpt):
Arsenic and Old Lace

"Bully! Bully! "
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Play clip (excerpt):Arsenic and Old Lace

"...I killed Dietrichson - me, Walter Neff, insurance salesman, 35 years old, unmarried, no visible scars... - until a while ago, that is. Yes, I killed him. I killed him for money and for a woman. I didn't get the money and I didn't get the woman. Pretty, isn't it?"
Double Indemnity (1944)
Play clip (excerpt): Double Indemnity

"It was a hot afternoon, and I can still remember the smell of honeysuckle all along that street. How could I have known that murder can sometimes smell like honeysuckle?"
Double Indemnity (1944)

Play clip (excerpt): Double Indemnity

"This is it, Walter, I'm shaking like a leaf, but it's straight down the line for both of us. I love you, Walter."
Double Indemnity (1944)

Play clip (excerpt): Double Indemnity

"I haven't been afraid since I've known you."
Gaslight (1944)

Play clip (excerpt): Gaslight

"If I were not mad, I could have helped you. Whatever you had done, I could have pitied and protected you. But because I am mad, I hate you. Because I am mad, I have betrayed you. And because I'm mad, I'm rejoicing in my heart, without a shred of pity, without a shred of regret, watching you go with glory in my heart!"
Gaslight (1944)

Play clip (excerpt): Gaslight

"You know, at one time I had, uh, quite a decision to make: whether to write the nation's songs or go my way."
Going My Way (1944)

Play clip (excerpt): Going My Way

"Get away from me. Don't touch me, you ape. You hairy ape!"
The Hairy Ape (1944)
Play clip (excerpt): The Hairy Ape

(singing) "To Jenny, I'm beholden. Her heart was big and golden. But she would make up her mind."
Lady in the Dark (1944)

Play clip (excerpt): Lady in the Dark

"This is the end. THE ABSOLUTE END!"
Lady in the Dark (1944)

Play clip (excerpt): Lady in the Dark

"I shall never forget the weekend Laura died. A silver sun burned through the sky like a huge magnifying glass. It was the hottest Sunday in my recollection. I felt as if I were the only human being left in New York. For Laura's horrible death, I was alone. I, Waldo Lydecker, was the only one who really knew her. And I had just begun to write Laura's story when - another of those detectives came to see me..."
Laura (1944)
Play clip (excerpt): Laura

"A doll in Washington Heights once got a fox fur out of me."
Laura (1944)

Play clip (excerpt): Laura

"I don't use a pen. I write with a goose quill dipped in venom."
Laura (1944)

Play clip (excerpt): Laura

"The best part of myself - that's what you are. Do you think I'm going to leave it to the vulgar pawing of a second-rate detective who thinks you're a dame? Do you think I could bear the thought of him holding you in his arms, kissing you, loving you?"
Laura (1944)

Play clip (excerpt): Laura

"It isn't a town, Mr. Neely. It's a city. It's the only city that has a world's fair. My favorite. Wasn't I lucky to be born in my favorite city?"
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Play clip (excerpt): Meet Me in St. Louis

"I can't believe it. Right here where we live. Right here in St. Louis."
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Play clip (excerpt): Meet Me in St. Louis

"Nobody believes good unless they have to, if they've got a chance to believe something bad."
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944)

Play clip (excerpt): The Miracle of Morgan's Creek

- "You'll never be ugly, Fanny. And I don't care how swollen you look. Fanny, a woman is beautiful when she's loved. And only then."
- "Nonsense. A woman is beautiful if she has eight hours' sleep and goes to the beauty parlor every day. And bone structure has a lot to do with it too."
Mr. Skeffington (1944)
Play clip (excerpt): Mr. Skeffington

"That is the last picture I do for Goldwyn."
The Princess and the Pirate (1944)

"Anybody got a match?"
To Have and Have Not (1944)

Play clip (excerpt): To Have and Have Not

"Say, was you ever bit by a dead bee?"
To Have and Have Not (1944)
Play clip (excerpt): To Have and Have Not

"You know you don't have to act with me, Steve. You don't have to say anything, and you don't have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together - and blow."
To Have and Have Not (1944)

Play clip (excerpt): To Have and Have Not

- "You know, Steve, you're not very hard to figure. Only at times. Sometimes I know exactly what you're going to say - most of the time. The other times, the other times you're just a stinker." (She kisses him)
- "What'd you do that for?"
- "Been wondering whether I'd like it."
- "What's the decision?"
- "I don't know yet. (She kisses him again) It's even better when you help."
To Have and Have Not (1944)
Play clip (excerpt): To Have and Have Not

"I want to say right here that if any of you are ever in trouble - no matter what - you just dial 'O' for O'Malley."
The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)

Play clip (excerpt): The Bells of St. Mary's

- "The United States government doesn't settle for a deal, Yamada."
- "Condon San. Condon San, you have saying: 'Forgive your enemies.' I am willing."
- "Sure, forgive your enemies. But first, get even."
Blood on the Sun (1945)

Play clip (excerpt): Blood on the Sun

"Whatever your dream was, it wasn't a very happy one, was it?...Is there anything I can do to help?...You've been a long way away...Thank you for coming back to me."
Brief Encounter (1945)

Play clip (excerpt): Brief Encounter

"It shrinks my liver, doesn't it, Nat? It pickles my kidneys. Yes. But what does it do to my mind? It tosses the sandbags overboard so the balloon can soar. Suddenly, I'm above the ordinary. I'm confident, supremely confident. I'm walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls. I'm one of the great ones. I'm Michelangelo molding the beard of Moses. I'm Van Gogh painting pure sunlight. I'm Horowitz playing the Emperor Concerto. I'm John Barrymore before the movies got him by the throat. I'm Jesse James and his two brothers. All three of 'em. I'm W. Shakespeare. And out there, it's not Third Avenue any longer. It's the Nile, Nat - the Nile, and down it floats the barge of Cleopatra..."
The Lost Weekend (1945)
Play clip (excerpt): The Lost Weekend

- "People drink a little. A lot of them get tight once in a while."
- "Sure, the lucky ones who can take it or leave it. But then there are the ones who can't take it and can't leave it either. What I'm trying to say is, 'I'm not a drinker - I'm a drunk.'"
The Lost Weekend (1945)

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"Personally, Veda's convinced me that alligators have the right idea. They eat their young."
Mildred Pierce (1945)
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"My mother - a waitress!"
Mildred Pierce (1945)

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- "Now on the St. Louis team, we have Who's on first, What's on second, I Don't Know's on third."
- "That's what I want to find out. I want you to tell me the names of the fellas on the St. Louis team."
- "I'm telling ya: Who's on first, What's on second, I Don't Know's on third..."
The Naughty Nineties (1945)

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"Bend down, Papa. My cup runneth over."
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
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"Then she tried to sit in my lap while I was standing up."
The Big Sleep (1946)

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"So you're a private detective. I didn't know they existed, except in books, or else they were greasy little men snooping around hotel corridors."
The Big Sleep (1946)
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"I don't mind if you don't like my manners, I don't like 'em myself. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings. And I don't mind your ritzing me or drinking your lunch out of a bottle. But don't waste your time trying to cross-examine me."
The Big Sleep (1946)
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"My, my, my! Such a lot of guns around town and so few brains."
The Big Sleep (1946)

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- "Well, speaking of horses, I like to play them myself. But I like to see them work out a little first, see if they're front-runners or come from behind, find out what their whole card is. What makes them run."
- "Find out mine?"
- "I think so."
- "Go ahead."
- "I'd say you don't like to be rated. You like to get out in front, open up a lead, take a little breather in the backstretch, and then come home free."
- "You don't like to be rated yourself."
- "I haven't met anyone yet that can do it. Any suggestions?"
- "Well, I can't tell till I've seen you over a distance of ground. You've got a touch of class, but, uh...I don't know how - how far you can go."
- "A lot depends on who's in the saddle. Go ahead Marlowe, I like the way you work. In case you don't know it, you're doing all right."
- "There's one thing I can't figure out."
- "What makes me run?"
- "Uh-huh."
- "I'll give you a little hint. Sugar won't work. It's been tried."
The Big Sleep (1946)
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The Big Sleep

"I liked that. I'd like more. That's even better."
The Big Sleep (1946)
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- "You've forgotten one thing. Me."
- "What's wrong with you?"

- "Nothing you can't fix."
The Big Sleep (1946)

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- "Pearl? You could be a woman of sin or a woman of God. Which is it to be?"
- "I want to be a good girl."
- "And remember that the devil is always aimin' to hog-tie ya. Sometimes he comes ghostin' over the plains in the shape of a sneakin' rustler. And sometimes, beggin' your pardon Laura Belle, he stakes out the homes of the worthy and the god-fearin'. Pearl, you're curved in the flesh of temptation. Resistance is gonna be a darn sight harder for you than for females protected by the shape of sows. Yes siree, bob. You gotta sweeten yourself with prayer. Pray till you sweat, and you'll save yourself from eternal hell-fire."
Duel in the Sun (1946)

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- "You always said you could shoot. I never believed ya."
- "Lewt, I love you. I love you."
- "Oh, don't cry, honey. Don't cry."
- "I had to do it, Lewt. I had to do it."
- "Of course you did. Let me, let me hold ya."
- "Just hold me. Hold me once more."
- "Little bob-cat."
Duel in the Sun (1946)

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- "Are you decent?"
- "Me? (pause) Sure, I'm decent."
Gilda (1946)

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"Didn't you hear about me, Gabe? If I'd been a ranch, they would've named me the Bar Nothing."
Gilda (1946)

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"I hated her so, I couldn't get her out of my mind for a minute. She was in the air I breathed, and the food I ate."
Gilda (1946)

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"Hate is a very exciting emotion. Haven't you noticed? Very exciting. I hate you too, Johnny. I hate you so much - I think I'm gonna die from it."
Gilda (1946)

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"George Bailey. I'll love you 'til the day I die."
It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

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"(What is it you want, Mary? What do you want?) You-You want the moon? Just say the word, and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey, that's a pretty good idea. I'll give you the moon, Mary."
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
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- "Bread, that this house may never know hunger. Salt, that life may always have flavor."
- "And wine, that joy and prosperity may reign forever!"

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
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- "It's this old house. I don't know why we don't all have pneumonia. Drafty old barn of a place. It's like growing up living in a refrigerator. Why do we have to live here in the first place, and stay around this measly, crummy old town?"
- "George, what's wrong?"
- "Wrong? Everything. Why, you call this a happy family? Why do we have to have all these kids?"
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
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"You see, George. You really had a wonderful life. Don't you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away?"
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

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"That does it! Out you two pixies go. Through the door or out the window!"
It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

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"Clarence! Clarence! Help me, Clarence! Get me back! Get me back, I don't care what happens to me! Get me back to my wife and kids! Help me, Clarence, please! Please! I wanna live again. I wanna live again. I want to live again. Please, God, let me live again."
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
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- "Look, Daddy. Teacher says, 'Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.'"
- "That's right...that's right. Attaboy, Clarence."
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

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- "Mac, you ever been in love?"
- "No, I've been a bartender all my life."
My Darling Clementine (1946)
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"Ma'am, I sure like that name - Clementine."
My Darling Clementine (1946)

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- "This is a very strange love affair."
- "Why?"
- "Maybe the fact that you don't love me."
Notorious (1946)

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- "I need your help."
- "Something is wrong?"
- "A great deal - Alicia."
- "I have expected it. I knew. I knew. What is it? Mr. Devlin?"
- "No. I am married to an American agent."

Notorious (1946)
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"You are protected by the enormity of your stupidity - for a time."
Notorious (1946)
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- "I've been waiting a long time for that kiss."
- "When we get home, Frank, then there'll be kisses, kisses with dreams in them. Kisses that come from life, not death."
- "I hope I can wait."
- "Darling."
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)

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- "I don't mind being alone. But I don't like to feel lonely."
- "There's a difference, isn't there?"
A Stolen Life (1946)
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- "Well, I guess that just about confirms everything I've heard."
- "What do you mean, Freddie?"
- "Rumors have been circulating that you are under the influence of a sort of a Rasputin of the paint pots!"
- "That's just about the kind of rumor I'd expect some people to circulate."
A Stolen Life (1946)

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"I think this is our dance, Mother."
To Each His Own (1946)

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"Not me, Mister. From now on, I'm a farmer."
Angel and the Badman (1947)

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- "You remind me of a man."
- "What man?"
- "A man with the power."
- "What power?"
- "The power of hoo-do."
- "Hoo-do?"
- "You do."
- "Do what?"
- "You remind me of a man."
- "What man?"
- "A man with the power."
- "What power?"
- "Give up?"
- "Give up. Let's go."
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)
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"Strike me pink!"
A Double Life (1947)

"Tell me something, gentlemen. Tell me, why it is that every man who seems attractive these days is either married or barred on a technicality?"
Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
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"Confound it, madam, my language is most controlled. And as for me morals, I lived a man's life and I'm not ashamed of it. And, I can assure you no woman's ever been the worse for knowing me - and I'd like to know how many mealy-mouthed bluenoses can say the same."
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
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"As for being a mass killer, does not the world encourage it? Is it not building weapons of destruction for the sole purpose of mass killing? Has it not blown unsuspecting women and little children to pieces? And done it very scientifically? Hah! As a mass killer, I am an amateur by comparison. However, I do not wish to lose my temper, because very shortly, I shall lose my head. Nevertheless, upon leaving this spark of earthly existence, I have this to say: 'I shall see you all very soon... very soon.'"
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)

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"Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Invisible Man."
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
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Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

"Want to buy some illusions? Slightly used, just like new. Such romantic illusions, and they're all about you. I sell them all for a penny, they make pretty souvenirs. Take my lovely illusions, some for laughs, some for tears." (sung)
AND
- "Want to buy an illusion?"
A Foreign Affair (1948)

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"But first and foremost, I remember Mama."
I Remember Mama (1948)

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"One Rocco, more or less, isn't worth dying for."
Key Largo (1948)

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"One thing I can't stand is a dame that's drunk. What I mean, they turn my stomach. No good to themselves or anybody else. She got the shakes, see? So she has a drink to get rid of 'em. That one tastes so good so she has another one. First thing you know, she's stinko again."
Key Largo (1948)

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- "Oh, Michael! l'm afraid. Michael? Come back here. Michael? Please! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!"
- "I went to call the cops, but I knew she'd be dead before they got there. And l'd be free. Bannister's note to the D.A. fixed it. l'd be innocent, officially. But that's a big word, innocent. Stupid's more like it. Well, everybody is somebody's fool. The only way to stay out of trouble is to grow old, so I guess I'll concentrate on that. Maybe I'll live so long that I'll forget her. Maybe I'll die tryin'."
The Lady From Shanghai (1948)

Play clip (excerpt): The Lady From Shanghai (short) The Lady From Shanghai (extended)

"Do me a little favor, will ya? The next time you're gonna do anything or say anything or buy anything, think it over very carefully. When you're sure you're right, forget the whole thing."
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
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"There are 8 million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them."
The Naked City (1948)
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"That's a good looking gun you were about to use back there. Can I see it? Maybe you'd like to see mine. Nice! Awful nice! You know, there are only two things more beautiful than a good gun: a Swiss watch or a woman from anywhere. You ever had a good Swiss watch?"
Red River (1948)

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"Cherry was right, you're soft. You should've let him kill me, 'cause I'm gonna kill you. I'll catch up with ya! I don't know when, but I'll catch up. Every time you turn around, expect to see me. 'Cause one time you'll turn around and I'll be there. I'll kill ya, Matt."
Red River (1948)

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"When we get back to the ranch, I want ya to change the brand. It'll be like this, the Red River 'D', and we'll add an 'M' to it. You don't mind that, do ya?...You earned it."
Red River (1948)

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- "And anyway, things seem different here."
- "Yes, they do."
- "Like the other night, last night. Yes, I heard a scream, and I didn't know if it was me who screamed or not - if it was I or not."
The Snake Pit (1948)

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- "If you are the police, where are your badges?"
- "Badges? We ain't got no badges! We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!"
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
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- "And after you shot him, how did you feel then?"
- "Hungry."
Adam's Rib (1949)

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"That's all I wanted to hear. Music to my tin ear. Licorice, mmmm. If there's anything I'm a sucker for, it's licorice."
Adam's Rib (1949)

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- "There ain't any of us don't have our little tricks, ya know."
- "All right, but, but what does that show? What have you proved?"
- "It shows the score."
- "It shows that what I said was true. There's no difference between the sexes. Men, women, the same."
- "They are, huh?"
- "Well, maybe there is a difference, but it's a little difference."
- "Ha, ha, ha. Well, you know as the French say..."
- "What do they say?"
- "Vive la difference!"
- "Which means?"
- "Which means hurrah for that little difference."
Adam's Rib (1949)

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"Could have been whole world - Willie Stark. The whole world - Willie Stark. Why does he do it to me - Willie Stark? Why?"
All the King's Men (1949)

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"What a dump!"
Beyond the Forest (1949)
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"I suppose you know you have a wonderful body. I'd like to do it in clay."
Champion (1949)

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"He must come. He must take me away. He must love me, he must....No, no, Morris must take hold of me. Morris will love me - for all those who didn't."
The Heiress (1949)

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- "Catherine, do you know what you're doing?"
- "Yes."
- "Poor Morris. Can you be so cruel?"
- "Yes, I can be very cruel. I have been taught by masters."
The Heiress (1949)

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"What I used to say still goes. Live fast, die young and have a good-looking corpse!"
Knock on Any Door (1949)
Play clip (excerpt): Knock on Any Door - 1949

"Never apologize, mister. It's a sign of weakness."
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

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"In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed - but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love. And in 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long, Holly."
The Third Man (1949)
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"Honest, sensible, sober, harmless Holly Martins. Holly - what a silly name."
The Third Man (1949)

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- "We could travel, buy things. That's what money's for. I look good in a mink coat, honey."
- "You'd look good in a shower curtain."
White Heat (1949)

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- "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" (explosions)
- "Cody Jarrett. He finally got to the top of the world. And it blew right up in his face."
White Heat (1949)
Play clips (excerpt): White Heat
(short) White Heat (extended)



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