Rope (1948)

James Stewart: Rupert Cadell

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Quotes 

• Rupert Cadell : Brandon's spoken of you.

  Janet : Did he do me justice?

  Rupert Cadell : Do you deserve justice?

• Brandon : What are you doing?

  Rupert Cadell : It's not what I'm going to do, Brandon. It's what society is going to do. I don't know what that will be, but I can guess, and I can help. You're going to die, Brandon. Both of you. You are going to die.

  [opens a window and fires three shots] 

• Rupert Cadell : Did you think you were God, Brandon?

• Rupert Cadell : By what right do you dare to say that there's a superior few to which you belong?

• Rupert Cadell : [Phillip and Brandon have been arguing about strangling chickens]  Personally, I think a chicken is as good a reason for murder as a blonde, a mattress full of dollar bills or any of the customary, unimaginative reasons.

  Janet : Well, now, you don't really approve of murder, Rupert? If I may?

  Rupert Cadell : You may... and I do. Think of the problems it would solve: unemployment, poverty, standing in line for theatre tickets... .

• Rupert Cadell : You're quite a good chicken strangler as I recall.

• Rupert Cadell : After all, murder is - or should be - an art. Not one of the 'seven lively', perhaps, but an art nevertheless. And, as such, the privilege of committing it should be reserved for those few who are really superior individuals.

  Brandon : And the victims: inferior beings whose lives are unimportant anyway.

  Rupert Cadell : Obviously. Now, mind you, I don't hold with the extremists who feel that there should be open season for murder all year round. No, personally, I would prefer to have..."Cut a Throat Week"... or, uh, "Strangulation Day"...

• Rupert Cadell : Well, well, well, Kenneth Lawrence, how you've grown.

  Kenneth : Hello, uh, Mr...

  Rupert Cadell : Come on, Ken. School's out, you can say it.

  Kenneth : Rupert, you're the same as ever. It's awfully good to see you again.

  Rupert Cadell : Why?

• Brandon : But why should I want to come back?

  Phillip : Yes, why?

  Brandon : For the pleasure of our company, or another drink?

  Rupert Cadell : That's a very good idea. May I have one for the road?

• Rupert Cadell : You're more than usually allergic to the truth tonight, Phillip.

• Rupert Cadell : Brandon, till this very moment, this world and the people in it have always been dark and incomprehensible to me. I've tried to clear my way with logic and superior intellect. And you've thrown my own words right back in my face, Brandon. You were right, too. If nothing else, a man should stand by his words. But you've given my words a meaning that i never dreamed of ! And you've tried to twist them into a cold, logical excuse for your ugly murder ! Well, they never were that Brandon, and you cant make them that. There must of been something deep inside you from the very start that let you do this thing, but there's always been something deep inside me, that would never let me do it - and would never let me be a party to it now.

  Brandon : What do you mean ?

  Rupert Cadell : I mean that tonight you've made me ashamed of every concept i ever had of superior or inferior beings. But i thank you for that shame, because now i know that we are each of us a separate human being, Brandon. With the right to live and work and think as individuals, but with an obligation to the society we live in. By what right do you dare say that there's a superior few to which you belong ? By what right did you dare decide that, that boy in there was inferior and therefore could be killed ? Did you think you were God, Brandon ? Is that what you thought when you choked the life out of him ? Is that what you thought when you served food from his grave ? I dont know what you thought or what you are, but i know what you've done. You've murdered ! You've strangled the life out of another fellow human being who could live and love as you never could - and never will again

  Brandon : What are you doing ?

  Rupert Cadell : It's not what i'm going to do, it's what society's going to do. I don't know what that will be, but i can guess. And i can help. You're going to die, Brandon - both of you ! You're going to die!

• Rupert Cadell : I don't know what you thought, but I know what you've done. You've murdered! You've strangled a fellow human being who could live and love as you never could. And never will again.

• Rupert Cadell : Brandon, exactly what is this?

  Brandon : A cassone I got in Italy.

  Rupert Cadell : No, no, I mean why are we eating off it?

  Brandon : Oh, I've turned the dining room into a library.

  Rupert Cadell : Trust you to find a new use for a chest. One was always turning up in the bedtime stories he told in prep school. 'The Mistletoe Bough', that was always your favorite tale, wasn't it?

  Janet : What was that one about? I don't remember exactly how it started. It was about a lovely young girl...

  Mr. Kentley : She was a bride-to-be. And on her wedding day, she playfully hid herself in a chest.

  Rupert Cadell : Yes, that's right.

  Mr. Kentley : Unfortunately, it had a spring lock. Fifty years later, they found her skeleton.

  Janet : I don't think I'll get that playful.

• Rupert Cadell : You were really pushing your point rather hard. You aren't planning to do away with a few inferiors, by any chance?

  Brandon : I'm a creature of whim. Who knows?

• Brandon : Another drink?

  Rupert Cadell : Well, that's a very good idea. May I have one for the road?

  Brandon : Of course. A short one?

  Rupert Cadell : No, I'd prefer a long one if you don't mind.

• Rupert Cadell : There must have been something deep inside you from the very start that let you do this thing.

• Mr. Kentley : [after Rupert dissects the positivities of murder]  Probably a symptom of approaching senility, but I must confess I really don't appreciate this morbid humour.

  Rupert Cadell : The humour was unintentional.

• Rupert Cadell : I once went to the movies. I saw Mary Pickford.

  Mrs. Atwater : I was *mad* about her! Didn't you love her?

  Rupert Cadell : The Virgo type, rather, like all of these...

  Mrs. Atwater : Well, what did you see her in?

  Rupert Cadell : I don't quite recall. "The Something Something." Or was it just plain "Something"? Really something rather like that.

• Mrs. Atwater : He was thrilling in that new thing with Bergman. What was it called now? "The Something of the Something." No, no, that's the other one. This was just plain "Something." You know, it was sort of - you know?

  Rupert Cadell : Right - right on the tip of my tongue.

  Janet : Mine, too. It was just plain "Something." I'm sure. I adored it.

• Rupert Cadell : Sorry, knives may not be used on hotel employees. They are in the "death by slow torture" category. Along with bird lovers, small children, and tap dancers.

• Rupert Cadell : What is going on here?

  Phillip : A party.

  Rupert Cadell : Yes, but a rather peculiar party. What's it all about, Phillip?

  Phillip : What's what all about? Stop playing Crime and Punishment, Rupert.

• Rupert Cadell : Oh, you're as romantic as Janet.