211 quotes found
"Rosebud..."
"The news goes on for 24 hours a day."
"If the headline is big enough, it makes the news big enough."
"As Charles Foster Kane who owns eighty-two thousand, six hundred and thirty-four shares of public transit - you see, I do have a general idea of my holdings - I sympathize with you. Charles Foster Kane is a scoundrel. His paper should be run out of town. A committee should be formed to boycott him. You may, if you can form such a committee, put me down for a contribution of one thousand dollars."
"It's my duty and — I'll let you in on a little secret — it's also my pleasure to see to it that decent, hard-working people in this community aren't robbed blind by a pack of money-mad pirates, just because they haven't had anybody to look after their interests."
"You're right. I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars next year! You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year, I'll have to close this place in 60 years."
"If I don't look after the interests of the underprivileged, maybe somebody else will. Maybe somebody without any money or property, and that would be too bad!"
"I always gagged on that silver spoon."
"We have no secrets from our readers. Mr. Thatcher is one of our most devoted readers, Mr. Bernstein. He knows what's wrong with every issue since I've taken charge."
"I was on my way to the Western Manhattan Warehouse in search of my youth. You see, my mother died a long time ago and her things were put in storage out West. There wasn't any other place to put them. I thought I'd send for them now. Tonight, I was going to take a look at them. You know, a sort of sentimental journey."
"I run a couple of newspapers. What do you do?"
"[I entered this campaign] with one purpose only, to point out and make public the dishonesty, the downright villainy of Boss Jim W. Gettys' political machine, now in complete control of the government of this state. I made no campaign promises, because until a few weeks ago, I had no hope of being elected. Now however, I am something more than a hope. Jim Gettys, Jim Gettys has something less than a chance. Every straw vote, every independent poll shows that I'll be elected. Now I can afford to make some promises. The working man, the working man and the slum child know they can expect my best efforts in their interests. The nation's ordinary citizens know that I'll do everything in my power to protect the underprivileged, the underpaid, and the underfed."
"I don't think there's one word that can describe a man's life."
"A toast, Jedediah, to love on my terms. Those are the only terms anybody ever knows - his own."
"Don't worry about me, Gettys. Don't worry about me. I'm Charles Foster Kane! I'm no cheap, crooked politician, trying to save himself from the consequences of his crimes! [louder] Gettys! I'm going to send you to Sing Sing! Sing Sing, Gettys! Sing Sing!"
"You can't buy a bag of peanuts in this town without someone writing a song about you."
"Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Switzerland... he was thrown out of a lot of colleges."
"President's niece, huh? Before Mr. Kane's through with her, she'll be a president's wife."
"We never lost as much as we made."
"[to Jedediah Leland] Mr. Kane is finishing the review you started. He's writing a bad notice. I guess that'll show you."
"Old age. It's the only disease, Mr. Thompson, that you don't look forward to being cured of."
"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 haven't thought of that girl."
"I can remember everything. That's my curse, young man. It's the greatest curse that's ever been inflicted on the human race: memory."
"[referring to Kane's 'Declaration of Principles'] I'd like to keep that particular piece of paper myself. I have a hunch it might turn out to be something pretty important, a document, like the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution, and my first report card at school."
"I suppose he had some private sort of greatness, but he kept it to himself. He never gave himself away. He never gave anything away, he just left you a tip, hmm? Ha. He had a generous mind. I don't suppose anybody ever had so many opinions. But he never believed in anything except Charlie Kane. He never had a conviction except Charlie Kane in his life. I suppose he died without one. It must have been pretty unpleasant. Of course, a lot of us check out without having any special convictions about death, but we do know what we believe in, we do believe in something."
"He married for love. Love. That's why he did everything. That's why he went into politics. It seems we weren't enough, he wanted all the voters to love him too. Guess all he really wanted out of life was love. That's Charlie's story, how he lost it. You see, he just didn't have any to give. Well, he loved Charlie Kane of course, very dearly, and his mother. I guess he always loved her."
"You know, when I was a young man there used to be an impression around that nurses were pretty. Well, it was no truer then than it is today."
"Legendary was Xanadu where Kubla Khan decreed his stately pleasure dome. Today, almost as legendary is Florida's Xanadu, world's largest private pleasure ground. Here, on the deserts of the Gulf Coast, a private mountain was commissioned and successfully built. One hundred thousand trees, twenty thousand tons of marble are the ingredients of Xanadu's mountain. Contents of Xanadu's palace: paintings, pictures, statues, the very stones of many another palace — a collection of everything so big it can never be catalogued or appraised, enough for ten museums — the loot of the world. Xanadu's livestock: the fowl of the air, the fish of the sea, the beast of the field and jungle. Two of each, the biggest private zoo since Noah. Like the pharaohs, Xanadu's landlord leaves many stones to mark his grave. Since the pyramids, Xanadu is the costliest monument a man has built to himself. Here in Xanadu last week, Xanadu's landlord was laid to rest: a potent figure of our century, America's Kubla Khan, Charles Foster Kane."
"Kane helped to change the world, but Kane's world now is history. The great yellow journalist himself lived to be history, outlived his power to make it."
"Alone in his never-finished, already decaying pleasure palace, aloof, seldom visited, never photographed, an emperor of new strength continued to direct his failing empire, varyingly attempted to sway as he once did the destinies of a nation that had ceased to listen to him, ceased to trust him. Then last week, as it must to all men, death came to Charles Foster Kane."
"Mr. Rawlston: It isn't enough to tell us what a man did. You've got to tell us who he was."
"Walter Parks Thatcher: Mr. Charles Foster Kane, in every essence of his social beliefs, and by the dangerous manner in which he has persistently attacked the American traditions of private property, initiative, and opportunity for advancement, is in fact, nothing more or less than a Communist!"
"Politician: The words of Charles Foster Kane are a menace to every working man in this land. He is today what he has always been, and always will be: a Fascist!"
"Susan Kane: [referring to Xanadu] Oh, a person could go crazy in this dump with nobody to talk to, nobody to have any fun with. Forty-nine thousand acres of nothing but scenery and statues. I'm lonesome."
"Raymond: [last lines] Throw that junk in!"
"It's Terrific!"
"Everybody's talking about it!"
"The classic story of power and the press."
"I hate him! I love him! He's a scoundrel! He's a saint! He's crazy! He's a genius!"
"Some called him a hero. Others called him a heel..."
"Orson Welles - Charles Foster Kane"
"Joseph Cotten - Jedediah Leland"
"Everett Sloane - Mr. Bernstein"
"Dorothy Comingore - Susan Alexander Kane"
"Agnes Moorehead - Mary Kane"
"Ruth Warrick - Emily Monroe Norton Kane"
"Ray Collins - James W. Gettys"
"William Alland - Jerry Thompson"
"Paul Stewart - Raymond"
"George Coulouris - Walter Parks Thatcher"
"Philip Van Zandt - Mr. Rawlston"
"This isn't the real Mexico. You know that. All border towns bring out the worst in a country. I can just imagine your mother's face if she could see our honeymoon hotel."
"There are all kinds of policemen, sir. I don't have to tell you that. A few take bribes... Most are honest, yes, but even some of the honest men abuse their power in other ways."
"Listen, I'm no cop now. I'm a husband! What did you do with her? Where's my wife?"
"How can I leave here until my wife's name is clean? Clean!"
"There's an old lady on Main Street last night picked up a shoe. The shoe had a foot in it. We're going to make you pay for that mess."
"Listen, I got a position in this town, a reputation...somebody's gonna be ruined."
"[about his wife's killer] I followed around after him...ate my heart out trying to catch him but I never did. That was the last killer that ever got out of my hands."
"30 years of pounding beats and riding cars, 30 years of dirt and crummy pay. For 30 years, I gave my life to this department. And you allow this foreigner to accuse me. Answer, answer, why do I have to answer him? No sir! I won't take back that badge until the people of this county want me back."
"[about Vargas] He's a drug addict. He's got that young wife of his hooked too, but good. If I hadn't seen that hypodermic myself...That's how come he happens to imagine all those crazy things. It's typical. What that wife of his was doing on that dive on skid row. Both a couple of junkies. Course he's using the job as a cover-up."
"[to Menzies] Look out. Vargas'll turn you into one of these here starry-eyed idealists. They're the ones making all the real trouble in the world. Be careful, they're worse than crooks. You can always do something with a crook."
"Don't you think I could have been rich? A cop in my position. What do I have...after thirty years, a little turkey ranch - that's all I got. A couple of acres."
"[Quinlan fires a pistol at Vargas, not hitting him] That wasn't no miss, Vargas. That was just to turn you 'round, so I don't have to shoot you in the back. Unless you'd rather run for it."
"[after being shot by Menzies] Pete. That's the second bullet I, I stopped for you."
"I understand very well what he wants...Tell him I'm a married woman, and that my husband is a great big official in the government, ready and willing to knock out all those pretty front teeth of his."
"Of course, even on his honeymoon, the chairman of the Pan-American Narcotics Commission has a sacred duty to perform."
"Until he gets out, who's running this outfit?...Oh, what a set-up to work with! One brother in jail, two others dead, and nobody left to carry on the business for the bunch of nephews."
"We're gonna get him where it really hurts and without laying a hand on him. He's got a reputation. He's got a young bride. He's gonna leave this town wishing he and that wife of his had never been born."
"We are both after the same exact thing, Captain. If Vargas goes on like this, shooting his face off...Somebody's reputation has got to be ruined. Why shouldn't it be Vargas's?"
"Marcia Linnekar: I guess that's my father. I'm not acquainted with my father's girlfriends."
"Pete Menzies: [to Vargas, about Quinlan's bad leg] He got it in a gun fight...He was wounded stopping a bullet that was meant for me."
"Pete Menzies: [to Vargas, about Quinlan] Sure. You can smear him. Ruin his whole life's work. Vargas, I-I don't even know what he is. That's what you've done to him....He's on an important case and he's disappeared. Good and drunk probably."
"Charlton Heston - Ramon Miguel 'Mike' Vargas"
"Janet Leigh - Susan 'Susie' Vargas"
"Orson Welles - Police Captain Hank Quinlan"
"Akim Tamiroff - 'Uncle' Joe Grandi"
"Marlene Dietrich - Tana"
"Joseph Calleia - Police Sergeant Pete Menzies"
"Ray Collins - District Attorney Adair"
"Dennis Weaver - Mirador Motel night manager"
"Valentin de Vargas - Pancho, Grandi hood"
"Mort Mills - Al Schwartz, district attorney's assistant"
"I've always found it very... sanitary to be broke."
"New York is not as big a city as it pretends to be."
"When I start out to make a fool of myself, there's very little can stop me. If I'd known where it would end, I'd never let anything start, if I'd been in my right mind, that is. But once I'd seen her, once I'd seen her, I was not in my right mind for quite some time...me, with plenty of time and nothing to do but get myself in trouble. Some people can smell danger, not me."
"That's how I found her, and from that moment on, I did not use my head very much, except to be thinking of her."
"Personally, I don't like a girlfriend to have a husband. If she'll fool her husband, I figure she'll fool me."
"Talk of money and murder. I must be insane, or else all these people are lunatics."
"I never make up my mind about anything at all until it's over and done with."
"Once, off the hump of Brazil I saw the ocean so darkened with blood it was black and the sun fainting away over the lip of the sky. We'd put in at Fortaleza, and a few of us had lines out for a bit of idle fishing. It was me had the first strike. A shark it was. Then there was another, and another shark again, 'till all about, the sea was made of sharks and more sharks still, and no water at all. My shark had torn himself from the hook, and the scent, or maybe the stain it was, and him bleeding his life away drove the rest of them mad. Then the beasts took to eating each other. In their frenzy, they ate at themselves.You could feel the lust of murder like a wind stinging your eyes, and you could smell the death, reeking up out of the sea. I never saw anything worse... until this little picnic tonight. And you know, there wasn't one of them sharks in the whole crazy pack that survived."
"[describing Acapulco] There's a fair face to the land, surely, but you can't hide the hunger and guilt. It's a bright, guilty world."
"[voiceover] It was early October when we made San Francisco, and dropped anchor across the bay from the city in Sausalito. It had been a most interesting cruise, all very rich and rare and strange. But I had had no stomach for it. To begin with, living on a hook takes away your appetite. You have no taste for any pleasure at all but the one that's burnin' in you. But even without an appetite, I had heard it's quite amazing how much a fool like me can swallow."
"[Michael's pre-signed confession note] I, Michael O'Hara, in order to live in peace with my God, do freely make the following confession...We arrived at the boat landing at approximately 10:20. Mr. Grisby said he heard a sound, something suspicious. He said he was frightened of a hold-up and asked me to get the gun out of the side pocket of the car just in case. I reached in and got the gun, but I had hardly taken hold of it when the gun went off by accident in my hand, and I saw that Mr. Grisby was all covered with blood. It took me a minute to realize that Mr. Grisby was dead, to realize that I, Michael O'Hara, had killed him."
"[voiceover] I began to ask myself if I wasn't out of my head entirely. The wrong man was arrested. The wrong man was shot. Grisby was dead and so was Broome. And what about Bannister? He was going to defend me in a trial for my life. And me, charged with a couple of murders I did not commit. Either me or the rest of the whole world is absolutely insane."
"I was right. She was the killer. She killed Grisby. Now she was going to kill me. Her servant Li and his friends smuggled me out into the darkness and hid me where I'd be safe from the cops, not safe from her. One of the Chinese worked in an amusement park. It was closed for the season. An empty amusement park makes a good hide-out and she wanted me hidden. Well, I came to in the Crazy House and for a while there, I thought it was me that was crazy. After what I'd been through, anything crazy at all seemed natural. But now I was sane on one subject - her. I knew about her. She planned to kill Bannister, she and Grisby. Grisby was to do it for a share of Bannister's money. That's what Grisby thought, but of course, she meant to kill Grisby too after he'd served his purpose. Poor howling idiot, he never even did that. He went and shot Broome, and that was not part of the plan. Broome might have got to the police before he died. And if the cops traced it to Grisby, and the cops made Grisby talk, he'd spill everything and she'd be finished. So she had to shut up Grisby but quick. And I was the fall guy."
"I went to call the cops, but I knew she'd be dead before they got there and I'd be free. Bannister's note to the DA would fix it. I'd be innocent officially, but that's a big word - innocence. 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 trying."
"That's the first time anyone ever thought enough of you to call you a shark. If you were a good lawyer, you'd be flattered."
"Mike's got a lot of blarney but he knows how to hurt a man when he gets mad."
"[to Michael] This is one case I've enjoyed losing. I'm coming to see you in the Death House, Michael, every day. Our little visits will be great fun. I'm going to ask for a stay of execution, and I really hope it will be granted. I want you to live as long as possible before you die...I've got an edge. I know you're going to the gas chamber."
"I knew I'd find you two together. If I hadn't, Elsa, I might have gone on playing it your way. You didn't know that, but you did plan for me to follow you...I presume you think that if you murder me here, your sailor friend will get the blame and you'll be free to spend my money. Well, dear, you aren't the only one who wants me to die. Our good friend, the District Attorney, is just itching to open a letter that I left with him. The letter tells all about you, lover. So you'd be foolish to fire that gun. With these mirrors, it's difficult to tell. You are aiming at me, aren't you? I'm aiming at you, lover. Of course, killing you is killing myself. It's the same thing. But you know, I'm pretty tired of both of us."
"[to Elsa, as he is dying] You know, for a smart girl, you make a lot of mistakes. You should have let me live. You're gonna need a good lawyer."
"Mr. Bannister tells me you once killed a man. You are Michael, aren't you?...I'm very interested in murders. Forgive me if I seem inquisitive, but where'd it happen?...How'd you do it? No, let me guess. You did it with your hands, didn't you? Does it ever bother you when you think about it? What did he do to you?...You just killed him for the fun of it, eh?...Then it wasn't murder, I suppose. Tell me, would you do it again? Would you mind killing another man?...Would you kill me if I gave you the chance? I may give you the chance."
"This is going to be murder and it's going to be legal. I want to live, but I want to vanish. I want to go away and change my name and never be heard of again. But that costs money and it isn't as easy nowadays. If they're looking for you, they'll find you, unless they think you're dead. They'll find you even on the smallest island in the South Seas. That's where I'm gonna be, fella, on that smallest island...I want to live on that island in peace. That won't be possible unless the world is satisfied that I don't exist. You know, the law's a funny thing, fella. The state of California will say I'm dead, officially dead, if somebody will say they murdered me. [He chuckles.] That's what I'm paying you for...You swear you killed me, but you can't be arrested. That's the law. Look it up for yourself. There's no such thing as homicide unless they find a corpse. It just isn't murder if they don't find a body. According to the law, I'm dead IF you say you murdered me. But you're not a murderer unless I'm dead. Silly, isn't it?"
"Just tell 'em you're taking a little tarrrr-get practice."
"Mrs. Elsa Bannister: You need more than luck in Shanghai."
"Jake: What's a tough guy?...A guy with an edge...A gun or a knife, a nightstick, or a razor, somethin' the other guy ain't got. Yeah, a little extra reach on a punch, a set of brass knuckles, a stripe on the sleeve, a badge that says cop on it, a rock in your hand, or a bankroll in your pocket. That's an edge, brother. Without an edge, there ain't no tough guy."
"Bessie: You heard him, Mr. Poet. I need the money."
"Sidney Broome: There's gonna be a murder. Ain't gonna be no fake murder, not this time. Somebody's gonna be killed...Yeah, your husband. Maybe he's the one who's gonna be knocked off...Could be? You'd better get down to his office if you want to do anything about it."
"Sidney Broome: [to Michael] Get down to the office, Montgomery Street. You was framed. Grisby didn't want to disappear. He just wanted an alibi - and you're it. You're the fall guy. Grisby's gone down there to kill Bannister, now."
"I told you... you know nothing about wickedness"
"Do all rich women play games like this?"
"The Story Of A Reckless Woman!"
"Rita Hayworth - Elsa 'Rosalie' Bannister"
"Orson Welles - Michael O'Hara"
"Everett Sloane - Arthur Bannister"
"Glenn Anders - George Grisby"
"Ted de Corsia - Sidney Broome"
"Erskine Sanford - Judge"
"Gus Schilling - 'Goldie' Goldfish"
"Carl Frank - Dist. Atty. Galloway"
"Louis Merrill - Jake"
"Evelyn Ellis - Bessie (Bannister maid)"
"The magnificence of the Ambersons began in 1873. Their splendor lasted throughout all the years that saw their Midland town spread and darken into a city. In that town in those days, all the women who wore silk or velvet knew all the other women who wore silk or velvet and everybody knew everybody else's family horse and carriage. The only public conveyance was the streetcar. A lady could whistle to it from an upstairs window, and the car would halt at once, and wait for her, while she shut the window, put on her hat and coat, went downstairs, found an umbrella, told the "girl" what to have for dinner and came forth from the house. Too slow for us nowadays, because the faster we're carried, the less time we have to spare."
"In those days, they had time for everything. Time for sleigh rides, and balls, and assemblies, and cotillions, and open house on New Year's, and all-day picnics in the woods, and even that prettiest of all vanished customs: the serenade. Of a summer night, young men would bring an orchestra under a pretty girl's window, and flute, harp, fiddle, cello, cornet, bass viol, would presently release their melodies to the dulcet stars. Against so home-spun a background, the magnificence of the Ambersons was as conspicuous as a brass band at a funeral."
"And now Major Amberson was engaged in the profoundest thinking of his life. And he realized that everything which had worried him or delighted him during this lifetime, all his buying and building and trading and banking, that it was all trifling and waste beside what concerned him now. For the Major knew now that he had to plan how to enter an unknown country where he was not even sure of being recognized as an Amberson."
"Something had happened, a thing which years ago had been the eagerest hope of many, many good citizens of the town. And now it came at last: George Amberson Minafer had got his comeuppance. He'd got it three times filled and running over. But those who had longed for it were not there to see it. And they never knew it, those who were still living had forgotten all about it, and all about him."
"George Amberson-Minafer walked home through the strange streets of what seemed to be a strange city. For the town was growing... changing... it was heaving up in the middle, incredibly; it was spreading incredibly. And as it heaved and spread, it befouled itself and darkened its skies. This was the last walk home he was ever to take up National Avenue, to Amberson Edition, and the big old house at the foot of Amberson Boulevard. Tommorow they were to move out. Tomorrow everything would be gone."
"I know what your son is to you and it frightens me. Let me explain a little. I don't think he'll change. At twenty-one or twenty-two, so many things appear solid and permanent and terrible. Which forty sees are nothing but disappearing miasma. Forty can't tell twenty about this. Twenty can find out only by getting to be forty."
"[in a letter to Isabel] And so we come to this, dear. Will you live your life your way, or George's way? Dear, it breaks my heart for you, but what you have to oppose now is your own selfless and perfect motherhood. Are you strong enough, Isabel? Can you make a fight?"
"Fanny, I wish you could have seen Georgie's face when he saw Lucy. You know what he said to me when we went into that room? He said, "You must have known my mother wanted you to come here today, so that I could ask you to forgive me." We shook hands. I never noticed before how much like Isabel Georgie looks. You know something, Fanny? I wouldn't tell this to anybody but you. But it seemed to me as if someone else was in that room. And that through me, she brought her boy unto shelter again. And that I'd been true at last, to my true love."
"[to George] Ah, life and money both behave like loose quicksilver in a nest of cracks. When they're gone, you can't tell where, or what the devil you did with them... I've always been fond of you, Georgie. I can't say I've always liked ya. But we all spoiled you terribly when you were a boy... There have been times when I thought you ought to be hanged. And just for a last word, there may be somebody else in this town who's always felt about you like that. Fond of you, I mean, no matter how much it seems you ought to be hanged."
"You can't ever tell what will happen at all, can you? Once I stood where we're standing now to say goodbye to a pretty girl. Only, it was in the old station, before this was built. We called it the depot. We knew we wouldn't see each other again for almost a year. I thought I couldn't live through it. She stood there crying. Don't even know where she lives now. If she is living."
"Nobody has a good name in a bad mouth! Nobody has a good name in a silly mouth, either."
"Anybody that really is anybody ought to be able to do about as they like in their own town, I should think."
"Most girls are usually pretty fresh. They ought to go to a man's college for about a year. They'd get taught a few things about freshness. Look here, who sent you those flowers you keep making such a fuss over?"
"Real life screened more daringly than it's ever been before!"
"From the Man who Made "The Best Picture of 1941""
"Orson Welles' Mercury Production of Booth Tarkington's Great Novel"
"Joseph Cotten - Eugene"
"Dolores Costello - Isabel"
"Anne Baxter - Lucy"
"Tim Holt - George"
"Agnes Moorehead - Fanny"
"Ray Collins - Jack"
"Erskine Sanford - Roger Bronson"
"Richard Bennett - Maj. Amberson"
"Orson Welles - Narrator"
"Don Dillaway - Wilbur Minafer"
"Gus Schilling - Drug Clerk"
"James Westerfield - Policeman at Accident"
"Ladies and gentleman, by way of introduction, this is a film about trickery and fraud, about lies. Tell it by the fireside or in a marketplace or in a movie, almost any story is almost certainly some kind of lie. But not this time. No, this is a promise. During the next hour, everything you'll hear from us is really true and based on solid facts."
"Our works in stone, in paint, in print, are spared, some of them, for a few decades or a millennium or two, but everything must finally fall in war, or wear away into the ultimate and universal ash - the triumphs, and the frauds, the treasures and the fakes. A fact of life: we're going to die. "Be of good heart," cry the dead artists out of the living past. "Our songs will all be silenced, but what of it? Go on singing." Maybe a man's name doesn't matter all that much."
"I started at the top and have been working my way down ever since."
"Paris was suffering from August. This happens every year. It shuts down, closes up, and this is the time when an invader could take the country by telephone... if he could get somebody to answer it."
"For my next experiment ladies and gentleman, I would appreciate the loan of any small personal object form your pocket. A key, box of matches, a coin - ah, key it is, good sir. Hold it up 10 feet over your head and watch out for the slightest hint of hanky panky... and behold before our very eyes a transformation! We've changed your key into... a coin. What happened to the key? It's been returned to you. Look closely, sir, you'll find the key back in your pocket. May we see it please? What's that, sir? Did I used to be a magician, sir? I'm still working on it. As for the key, it was not symbolic of anything... this isn't that kind of movie. You'll find the coin in your pocket now, sir. Keep your eyes on that coin sir, while it's returned to you... as your key. Should we return you to your mother? Is this your mother? No, of course not. Open your mouth wide... and we'll return you your money. And by the way, have you ever heard of Robert Houdin, speaking of magicians, I mean. Oh no, of course not. But of course, you do know my partner François Reichenbach. Houdin was the greatest magician who ever lived. And do you know what he said? "A magician, he said, is just an actor - just an actor playing the part of a magician.""
"What we professional liars hope to serve is truth. I'm afraid the pompous word for that is "art"."
"[quoting a phenomenal art forger] Do you think I should confess? To what? Committing masterpieces?"
"At the very beginning, I - of all this, I did make you a promise. Remember? I did promise that for one hour, I'd tell you only the truth. That hour, ladies and gentlemen, is over. For the past 17 minutes, I've been lying my head off. The truth, and please forgive us for it, is that we've been forging an art story..."
"Art, [Picasso] said, is a lie — a lie that makes us realize the truth. To the memory of that great man who will never cease to exist, I offer my apologies and wish you all, true and false, a very pleasant good evening"
"Orson Welles – Himself"
"Oja Kodar – The Girl"
"Joseph Cotten – Special Participant"
"François Reichenbach – Special Participant"
"Paul Stewart – Special Participant"
"Gary Graver – Special Participant"
"Andrés Vicente Gómez – Special Participant"
"Oh, blast all this discussion! What good are words? I'm sick of words. Hang the repercussions and the responsibility! If I fail, I'm responsible. Leave the cell door open. Let him escape. Let him! It's our only chance! Let them threaten me with the bottom pits of hell and still I insist! This obscenity must be destroyed! Do you hear me? Destroyed!"
"Well, who but a Nazi would deny that Karl Marx was a German because he was a Jew?"
"In prison, in Czechoslovakia, a war criminal was awaiting execution. This was Konrad Meinike, one time executive officer for Franz Kindler. He was an obscenity on the face of the earth. The stench of burning flesh was in his clothes. But we gave him his freedom on the chance that he might lead me to Kindler. He led me here, Mrs. Rankin. And here, I lost him. Until yesterday. Your dog, Red, found him for me. But unfortunately, Meinike was dead and buried. Now, in all the world, there is only one person who can identify Franz Kindler. That person is the one who knows, knows definitely, who Meinike came to Harper to see."
"[to Judge Longstreet, about Mary] She has the facts now, but she won't accept them. They're too horrible for her to acknowledge. Not so much that Rankin could be Kindler, but that she could ever have given her love to such a creature. But we have one ally, her subconscious. It knows what the truth is and it's struggling to be heard. The will to truth within your daughter is much too strong to be denied."
"Why wasn't it I... Franz Kindler? Kill me. Kill me, I want you to. I couldn't face life knowing what I've been to you and what I've done to Noah. But when you kill me, don't put your hands on me! [Picks up a fireplace poker] Here! Use this!"
"Mr. Potter: [after Meineke's body is dug up] I knew darn well it was the same feller. 'Course, he's changed some. Uh, being buried in the earth does it."
"Orson Welles - Franz Kindler / Professor Charles Rankin"
"Edward G. Robinson - Mr. Wilson"
"Loretta Young - Mary Longstreet Rankin"
"Philip Merivale - Judge Adam Longstreet (Mary's father)"
"Richard Long - Noah Longstreet (Mary’s brother)"
"Konstantin Shayne - Konrad Meinike"
"Byron Keith - Dr. Jeffrey Lawrence"
"Billy House - Mr. Potter"
"Martha Wentworth - Sara"
"Before the law, there stands a guard. A man comes from the country, begging admittance to the law. But the guard cannot admit him. May he hope to enter at a later time? That is possible, said the guard. The man tries to peer through the entrance. He'd been taught that the law was to be accessible to every man. "Do not attempt to enter without my permission", says the guard. I am very powerful. Yet I am the least of all the guards. From hall to hall, door after door, each guard is more powerful than the last. By the guard's permission, the man sits by the side of the door, and there he waits. For years, he waits. Everything he has, he gives away in the hope of bribing the guard, who never fails to say to him "I take what you give me only so that you will not feel that you left something undone." Keeping his watch during the long years, the man has come to know even the fleas on the guard's fur collar. Growing childish in old age, he begs the fleas to persuade the guard to change his mind and allow him to enter. His sight has dimmed, but in the darkness he perceives a radiance streaming immortally from the door of the law. And now, before he dies, all he's experienced condenses into one question, a question he's never asked. He beckons the guard. Says the guard, "You are insatiable! What is it now?" Says the man, "Every man strives to attain the law. How is it then that in all these years, no one else has ever come here, seeking admittance?" His hearing has failed, so the guard yells into his ear. "Nobody else but you could ever have obtained admittance. No one else could enter this door! This door was intended only for you! And now, I'm going to close it." This tale is told during the story called "The Trial". It's been said that the logic of this story is the logic of a dream... a nightmare."
"You...! I make you very uncomfortable, don't I? It distresses you to find me in your company? Yes, I've been told about that! Before I thought you, you took me for a judge, or at least some official of the court! I even thought you were afraid of me, but what you're feeling is PAIN! You don't like what you see, do you? It's my mouth! You think you can tell from my mouth, that I'm condemned! That I'm going to be found guilty! GUILTY!"
"It's true, you know. Accused men are attractive. Not that being accused makes any immediate change in a man's personal appearance. But if you've got the right eye for these things, you can pick out an accused man in the largest crowd. It's just something about them, something attractive."
"To be in chains is sometimes safer than to be free."
"All these fancy electronics, they're all right in their place, but not for anything practical."
"You're not going to try and tell me you think you can diddle your way out of a criminal charge with an adding machine!"
"Anthony Perkins - Josef K."
"Jeanne Moreau - Marika Burstner"
"Romy Schneider - Leni"
"Elsa Martinelli - Hilda"
"Suzanne Flon - Miss Pittl"
"Orson Welles - Albert Hastler, The Advocate"
"Akim Tamiroff - Bloch"
"William Chappell - Titorelli"
"Madeleine Robinson - Mrs. Grubach"
"Paola Mori - Court archivist"
"Arnoldo Foà - Inspector A"
"Fernand Ledoux - Chief Clerk of the Law Court"
"Michael Lonsdale - Priest"
"Max Buchsbaum - Examining Magistrate"
"Max Haufler - Uncle Max"
"Maurice Teynac - Deputy Manager"
"Wolfgang Reichmann - Courtroom Guard"
"Thomas Holtzmann - Bert the law student"
"Billy Kearns - First Assistant Inspector"
"Jess Hahn - Second Assistant Inspector"
"Naydra Shore - Irmie, Joseph K.'s cousin"
"Carl Studer - Man in Leather"
"Jean-Claude Rémoleux - Policeman #1"
"Raoul Delfosse - Policeman #2"