Dead of Night (1945)
Frederick Valk: Dr. Van Straaten
Photos
Quotes
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Eliot Foley : Apart from my bit of nonsense, the curious thing is that all of you, even Sally, seems to have had one of these extraordinary experiences
Joan Cortland : Well, perhaps they aren't so extraordinary. Perhaps they happen to most people.
Eliot Foley : Oh, you mean there's a ghost as well as a skeleton in everyone's cupboard.
[laughs]
Eliot Foley : That's a pretty thought!
Walter Craig : And what's the ghost in your cupboard, Doctor?
Dr. van Straaten : Well, there was one occasion in my professional career that made me wonder. Made me wonder quite a lot.
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Dr. van Straaten : Of course! Dr. van Straaten. You're a psychiatrist. You always treat me. You'll treat me now, won't you?
Walter Craig : You must forgive me; I don't quite understand the joke.
Walter Craig : It isn't a joke. I only wish it were. I've seen you in my dreams. Sounds like a sentimental song, doesn't it? I've dreamt about you over and over again, Doctor.
Dr. van Straaten : That hardly turns you into a mental case. After all, recurring dreams are quite common.
Walter Craig : But how did I come to dream about you? I've never set eyes on you in my life.
Dr. van Straaten : It's very likely you've seen my photograph in the papers. That's why my face seems familiar to you.
Walter Craig : I don't think so. And even if it were, is that any reason why I should keep on dreaming about you? After all, you don't mean anything to me.
Dr. van Straaten : Huh. Well, maybe an association of ideas. I may be linked with something that means a great deal to you.
Walter Craig : Such as?
Dr. van Straaten : I should have to psychoanalyze you to find that out.
Walter Craig : But it doesn't end there. You see, everybody in this room is part of my dream. Everybody.
[the guests burst into exclamations]
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Dr. van Straaten : Mr. Craig, can you describe what happens in your dream?
Walter Craig : Well, not in detail. But it always starts exactly the same as when I arrived, just now. I turn off the main road into the lane. At the bend in the lane, the house comes into view, and I stop as I recognize it. Then I drive on again. And Foley meets me at the front door. I recognize him, too. And then, while I'm taking off my coat, I have the most extraordinary feeling. I nearly turn and run for it, because I know I'm going to come face-to-face with the six...
Sally O'Hara : Well, you've only come face-to-face with five of us so far, not counting Eliot.
Walter Craig : That's right, five of you. There is a sixth person who comes in later.
Dr. van Straaten : Can you describe this late arrival?
Walter Craig : It's an attractive girl with dark hair.
Dr. van Straaten : [laughing] Is that all you can tell us about her?
Walter Craig : She comes in quite unexpectedly and says something about not having any money.
Eliot Foley : A penniless brunette, eh?
Sally O'Hara : How romantic! Do you fall madly in love with her, Mr. Craig?
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Hugh Grainger : Let's get this straight, Doctor. You won't for a moment admit the possibility of foreseeing the future?
Dr. van Straaten : Not for a moment.
Hugh Grainger : Well, you'd say I'm a pretty ordinary, down-to-the-earth sort of person, wouldn't you?
Dr. van Straaten : I refuse to commit myself. Why?
Hugh Grainger : Well, when it comes to foreseeing the future, something once happened to me that knocks your theories into a cocked hat. Something I'll not forget to my dying day. As a matter of fact, it very nearly was my dying day.
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Dr. van Straaten : [removes his glasses] Ah. No doubt you thought it would be very amusing to watch my cherished disbeliefs being shattered.
Eliot Foley : [sarcastically] Mm, very clever of us, I must say. I wonder if we have any more surprises up our sleeves.
[the camera focuses on Dr. van Straaten's hands as he fiddles with his glasses]
Walter Craig : That's it - your glasses!
Dr. van Straaten : What about my glasses?
Walter Craig : It's later on. We're having drinks. You break those glasses of yours, and then, quite suddenly, the room goes dark. And then, Foley, you say something, something about the death of a man I've never heard of. And that's where my dream becomes a nightmare. A nightmare of horror.
Joan Cortland : Horror? What sort of horror?
Walter Craig : I feel my will power draining away. I feel I'm in the grip of a force that's driving me towards something unspeakably evil.
Dr. van Straaten : It shows that you have some heavy weight on your conscience. Now, in my opinion...
Walter Craig : I'm no longer interested in your opinion, Doctor. You shook me at first, with your ingenious theories. I thought perhaps the whole thing was a delusion. But Mrs. Grainger's arrival has altered all that. I have been here before, in my dreams. For some reason, I was given foreknowledge of the future. Why? I don't know. I want to know! I must know!
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Dr. van Straaten : Well, if I am a puppet and Mr. Craig's pulling the strings, the least he can do is to tell me a little bit more about the part he's giving me to play.
Walter Craig : I wish it were as easy as that. But trying to remember a dream is like, how shall I put it, being out at night in a thunderstorm. There's a flash of lightning, and for one brief moment everything stands out, vivid and startling.
Dr. van Straaten : And what have the lightning flashes illuminated so far?
Walter Craig : One thing is very vivid and very horrible. I hit Sally savagely, viciously.
Sally O'Hara : Oh, no you won't! I shall stick close to Mr. Grainger. He's bigger than you.
Walter Craig : Well, anyway, it isn't consistent. I shan't have a chance to, 'cause you leave here quite soon, quite suddenly.
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Walter Craig : Doctor, I dreamed I was on a train passing through a tunnel.
Dr. van Straaten : I'll need to see you three times a week.