Dodsworth (1936) · 21 quotes
2nd most-quoted character in Dodsworth (1936): in 12 of its 21 quotes
Most scenes with: Sam Dodsworth (9)
Fran After 20 years of doing what was expected of us, we're free.
I'm just as keen on this trip as you are. I'm rarin' to go. I've always wanted to see London and Paris.
Fran I want much more than a trip out of this, Sam. I want a new life, all over from the very beginning. A perfectly glorious, free, adventurous life.
Fran Why, if we weren't tied to this half-baked Middle Western town...
Fran, don't start knocking Zenith.
Fran Darling, I'm not knocking Zenith. But have you ever thought what Zenith means to me? You go down to the plant and deal in millions and have a marvelous time. I go down to the kitchen and order dinner. Then there's the ladies' luncheon and bridge, always the same ladies. Then dinner... same people we dined with last week. After dinner, poker for the men and women for the women. There's talk of children and doctors and servants and the garden club...
Thought you liked the garden club.
Fran I can't go on liking the same things forever and ever. Oh, Sammy darling, I want all the lovely things I've got a right to. In Europe, a woman of my age is just to the point where men begin to take a serious interest in her. I won't be put on the shelf for my daughter when I can still dance longer and better than she can. After all, I've got brains and, thank heavens, I've still got looks. Nobody takes me for over 32. 30 even. Oh Sammy, darling, I'm begging for life. No, I'm not. I'm demanding it.
I see how you feel. All right, I'll enjoy life now if it kills me, and it probably will.
Fran Can't we stay and have our nightcap down here?
Why not?
Fran We can't go off and leave everything as perfect as this. That'd be ridiculous. I'd like to stay right here and see the dawn.
You don't think he'll roar around the ship and shoot when he finds me here?
Fran Who, Sam? Oh, no. No, he's got all the old-fashioned virtues, except jealousy.
You're taking a wickedly unfair advantage of me. I only thought I was doing what was expected of me.
Fran What I expected of you?
Not you alone, Fran. There's a tradition about this sort of thing. I thought civilized people knew where an innocent flirtation stops. For a civilized woman who's been married as long as you have, you're making a great deal of a small matter.
Fran It's not a small matter to me. I offer you my most abject apology.
If I might offer you one small word of advice, give up starting things you're not prepared to finish. It's quite evident they only lead you out of your depth.
Fran You think I'm not equal to your impudence? Look at the exhibition you're making of yourself.
I? Any modern schoolgirl could compete with this situation. You've got the most childish misconception of yourself. You think you're a woman of the world, and you're nothing of the sort.
Fran You've got to take care of me. You really have, Sam. I don't trust myself. I'm afraid of myself.
You're afraid, sweetheart?
Fran Yes, I am. I'm just a wooly American like you after all. If you ever catch me trying to be anything else, will you beat me?
Well, will I have to beat you very long at a time?
Fran Oh, Sam, come in and finish your breakfast.
I hadn't realized it was your birthday.
Fran No? Wish I hadn't. No woman enjoys getting to be 35.
When you're my age, you look back on 35 as a most agreeable time of life.
Fran I hope I look as young as you do when I'm your age.
You're almost sure to, my dear.
Fran Why don't you go home?
Without you?
Fran Yeah. Get yourself a new lease on life and come back here and join me. Why don't ya?
I wouldn't want to go home without you.
Fran I can see you're not enjoying yourself in Paris. I'm only thinking of your pleasure. If you've got a mind, you wouldn't ask me to leave. I just made nice friends.
I don't think they're so nice. I don't, and I don't see what you see in them.
...
Fran They all belong to the smartest crowd in Paris.
You think the real thing in Paris would hang out with a couple of hicks like us? What else are we? I'm just an ordinary American businessman and I married the daughter of a Zenith brewer who's flying high these days.
Fran I suppose you know what you mean by that.
Why won't you sit at a cafe with me?
Fran Smart people don't.
I'm not smart.
Fran I am.
You ought to be smart enough not to care what people think.
Fran Oh, you're hopeless. You haven't the mistiest notion of civilization here.
Yeah, well, maybe I don't think so much of it, though. Maybe clean hospitals, concrete highways, and no soldiers along the Canadian border come near my idea of civilization. There are 20 million automobiles in America. Now, I've contributed something to every single one of them from my own personal civilization. And if that isn't more than knowing how to order dinner as your friend the madam...
Fran You don't want to learn. I could teach you. I belong here. They accept me here.
Yeah? Well, I'm gonna get out of this town and back to doing something, and take you along.
Fran Well, I'm not going, Sam.
Oh, yes, you are.
Fran No, I'm not. I think you and I need a vacation from each other.
Well, I don't feel that way about it. I think I've been weak with you long enough.
Fran Besides, I've rented a villa with Renee for the summer at Montreux on Lake Geneva in Switzerland. I've signed the lease.
Well, I think you might have told me.
Fran I got my own money.
Fran, my darling, you're not drifting away from me.
Fran I hope not.
Oh, no. You and I, Fran, after all these years. All right, I'll give it up. I won't go home.
Fran But, you've, you've got to go home. You've simply got to. I can't stand being torn like this any longer. Oh, I'm sorry for all the mean things I've said to you. But if you and I are gonna go on together, you've simply got to let me alone this summer. Oh, don't look so hurt, and please don't be angry. Oh, be as angry as you like, if it does any good! Remember, I, I did make a home for you once, and I'll do it again, only you've got to let me have my fling now! Because you're simply rushing at old age, Sam, and I'm not ready for that yet.
You want to divorce me then?
Fran Why should I want to divorce you? You're my husband.
You couldn't very well divorce me if I weren't.
Have things got this bad, Fran? I'm too tired to talk tonight. If things have got this bad, they've got to stop altogether. Now, I'm willing to do anything I can to make you happy. I love you. You know that. But if we're going on together, as you said to me back in Paris, I'm saying it now, if we are going on together, we've got to beat it right back home where we belong.
Fran Is that your idea of making me happy?
I'm not taking any more chances on another Arnold Iselin. Oh, I know this friendship with Kurt is harmless enough, but you might get fascinated.
Fran You think I might? You really think I might? Well, I love Kurt, and Kurt loves me, and I'm going to marry him. He asked me tonight...You've never known me. You've never known anything about me, not what I had on or thought or the sacrifices I've made....I'll be happy with Kurt. I'm fighting for life! You can't drag me back!
Will you get your divorce here?
Fran Yes, I suppose so.
I wish you'd put it off for a couple of months.
Fran Why?
I'd like you to feel sure of Kurt. That's all.
Fran Well, it's my funeral now, isn't it?
Yes, I guess so. I'll have to get used to that idea. I guess I can.
Fran I do think you might meet me halfway. After all, as I look back, I don't blame myself. I can't really. You were a good deal at fault too.
Steward.
Yes, sir.
Take this check, go to suite seven on B deck...get the suitcase with that number on it and bring it here right away. [to Fran] I'm not sailing with you.
Fran You're not sailing?
No, I'm not. You and I can't make a go of things any longer.
Fran This is the man I loved for 20 years.
This is the man who's loved you. You haven't learned a single thing from all our sorrows. And I flattered myself you really wanted to come back to me.
Fran I tried, didn't I? I might've known you'd be just the same, yet I gave you another chance.
I'm not taking another chance, because I'm through, finished.
Fran What's going to become of me?
You'll stop getting younger someday.
Fran Are you going back to that washed-out expatriate in Naples?
Yes, and when I marry her, I'm going back to doing things.
Fran Do you think you'll ever get me out of your blood?
Maybe not. But love has got to stop someplace short of suicide.
But the gentleman will miss the boat!
Fran HE'S GONE ASHORE! HE'S GONE ASHORE!
