The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968)

Peter Finch: Lewis Zarken, Louie Flack

Photos 

Quotes 

• Lewis Zarken : [Upon nearing a large greenhouse, while giving Elsa a walking tour of his estate]  You might say that that greenhouse is something of a memorial to her. We had a Japanese gardener that used to look after it. Nice little fellow - quiet as a cherry blossom. Worked out here the best part of ten years, then suddenly one day we were at war. And the Government - who know a dangerous man when they see one - gave him a few hours to pack up before they shipped him off to some god-forsaken concentration camp in the middle of a desert. Lylah was so upset, she came down here to say good-bye to him. You can take my word for it, that gardener had the most *unexpected* going away present he ever had in his life.

  Lewis Zarken : [pauses, noticing that Elsa looks somewhat taken aback]  Don't look so shocked... She wasn't married at the time.

• Lewis Zarken : I've never seen a woman yet who hasn't got a whore locked up inside her somewhere.

• Elsa Brinkmann : Do you really believe that you have a licence to ask any dirty question that slimes into that snake's nest between your ears?

  Lewis Zarken : Elsa, be careful, don't...

  Rossella : Brava.

  Elsa Brinkmann : And nobody challenges you. Why? Because they are gentleman?

  [guttural laugh] 

  Elsa Brinkmann : I'll tell you why. Molly Luther's magic wand.

  [twirls Molly Luther's cane] 

  Elsa Brinkmann : It keeps keeps her safe from

  [two thumps against Molly Luther's leg brace] 

  Elsa Brinkmann : dragons!

• Lewis Zarken : [Talking about choosing a stage name for Elsa]  Elsa Brinkmann. "John Foster Brinksmanship." It's horrible. We'll have to change your name.

  Elsa Brinkmann : Thank you, but I'm happy with the name I have.

  Lewis Zarken : Well, I'm not! And neither will the public be! Anyway, what's in a name? Why are you so sensitive? If it's any consolation to you, I rejoiced in the name of "Flack." Louie Flack, F-L-A-C-K, Flack. How does *that* grab you? Then one day I saw this magician: "Zarkan the Magnificent." He was a terrible act. I think he finished up cutting his throat in a Hungarian boarding house. Anyway, I lifted his name. Sounds a bit like a Transylvanian pox doctor, but it serves to impress the natives. We'll do the same for you.

• Lewis Zarken : Very interesting. Oh, that's really brilliant. We are moving like a deeply offended Tibetan yak! Aren't we?

• Bart Langner : I found Lylah, remember? Maybe you don't want to remember. Too long ago, huh? The first time I saw her in that little Berlin butcher shop, I said that...

  Lewis Zarken : Oh, come on! Butcher shop! You lifted that straight out of he official biogragraphy. You found her in a brothel - and one that specialized in catering to some pretty peculiar fantasies. As a matter of fact, I've always meant to ask you, what were you doing there?

• Lewis Zarken : [to Bart]  Stop pouncing about like an over-sexed dwarf. We're about to interview an actress, not test her sexual capabilities.

  Rossella : You are looking unusually hopeful, too, Mio Caro.

  Lewis Zarken : Don't be so superior, Mia Cara. Maybe there's something here for you, too.

• Lewis Zarken : Happiness is word for idiots. I haven't used it for years.

• Lewis Zarken : The illusion of power is sometimes much more dangerous than the real thing.

• Lewis Zarken : Without a Director, you're just a vulgar little exhibitionist. You haven't the remotest idea what you're doing.

  Elsa Brinkmann : You really believe that, don't you, little man? Alright, little man, I'll show you. We'll see who's number one.

• Lewis Zarken : Alright, Bart, if it'll make you happy. Trot out your Cinderella. Chances are she'll turn out to be one of the ugly sisters anyway.

• Bart Langner : That's what I've been trying to tell you all night. I found someone. I found someone. I can show her to you.

  Lewis Zarken : No. I've seen it before. Dreary little pussycats come mincing in here like bitches in heart - move over there - billing their dirty little business up-and-down.

  Bart Langner : Don't tell me you haven't enjoyed yourself with them on occasion.

  Lewis Zarken : That's hardly the point.

• Lewis Zarken : Take your coat off. Well, you're not being asked to strip. Take your coat off.

• Bart Langner : Shoulders, hips, cheek bones - just like Lylah's. It's uncanny.

  Lewis Zarken : Stop weeping into your strawberries.

• Lewis Zarken : Oh, my God! You've discovered a spastic Catherine the Great.

• Lewis Zarken : Nobody ever finds a star. You didn't find Lylah.

  Bart Langner : Then who did? Who?

  Lewis Zarken : You found a moderately attractive piece of clay. I admit she had some basic qualities, but it took my work to bring out the finished product.

  Rossella : You delude yourself. It was all there in the first place. Any one of a dozen competent Directors could have given her the necessary polish.

  Lewis Zarken : On the contrary, any one of a dozen competent Directors would have ruined her before she began.

• Lewis Zarken : How much can you see without those glasses you keep trying to hide? Never mind. Hair, teeth, that's easy. Wardrobe, we can fix that. I've had your clothes moved. You'll live here.

  Elsa Brinkmann : You've done what?

  Lewis Zarken : You'll live here!

  Elsa Brinkmann : Look, I decide where I live. My things belong to me!

  Lewis Zarken : If you're not interested, there ae the stairs.

  Elsa Brinkmann : I'm wrong. You don't want *me*.

  Lewis Zarken : No. I want someone that'll walk, talk, and go through the motions that I taught Lylah. It'll be a 24-hour job. I'll rummage through your soul like a pickpocket through a stolen purse. "Always Beloved," 1937.

• Lewis Zarken : A young lady like you, who wants to make a sale, the buyer has a right to examine the goods.

  Elsa Brinkmann : Let go of me!

  Lewis Zarken : Did you hear that, Bart? She has dramatic talent. She doesn't wanna be touched!

  Elsa Brinkmann : Keep your filthy hands off me!

  Rossella : Lylah.

  Elsa Brinkmann : I'm not her. I'm not.

  Lewis Zarken : No, you're not, are you. But, you'll do for now.

• Elsa Brinkmann : Don't worry. I'll curtsy and say my peace.

  Lewis Zarken : Do and I'll kiss your hand.

  Elsa Brinkmann : As Lylah would say, it won't be my hand you can kiss.

  Lewis Zarken : Don't try to be funny! You haven't the brains for it!

• Molly Luther : Another staircase entrance?

  Lewis Zarken : Mind the step, please.

  Molly Luther : Aren't you borrowing a little heavily from "Sunset Boulevard"?

  Lewis Zarken : I've always said, there's nothing like a staircase for a grand entrance.

  Molly Luther : Really, I thought DeMille said that.

• Lewis Zarken : The Studios still believe in her - defenders of cinematic rigor mortis.

• Lewis Zarken : What makes you think you're involved in a business that's concerned with innovation? The only thing invented in the last 30 years is buttered popcorn and cross-collateralization. Anything novel is anathema!

• Lewis Zarken : [walking int the garden with Elsa, wearing a bra - no shirt - and pants]  That kind of semipublic exposure never troubled Lylah.

  Elsa Brinkmann : You mean she was never ashamed of anything?

  Lewis Zarken : In the ancient tradition, she wasn't coy, no girdles, deodorants. Proud of what she was - a woman. Whatever a man needed of her, she gave.

  Elsa Brinkmann : Of course - the mermaid. Every man thinks he wants one of those.

• Elsa Brinkmann : I'm sure they all think I'm your mistress, hmm?

  Lewis Zarken : Don't flatter yourself. The ones that know me know that I never sleep with my leading ladies - at least until after the last day of shooting. It gives them too much power.

• Barney Sheean : I don't have to take this crap!

  Lewis Zarken : No, you don't. You just have to make pictures. Oh, I beg your pardon, you manufacture devices - devices that are eventually sold by film foot to TV and we all milk white before they get to market. The budget is falsified. Whether we have foreign distribution, music corporations, publicity, prints, popcorn, popsicles, and everybody cheats on those! Murder's out and thievery's in, isn't it?

• Barney Sheean : You've always got to be knocking something, haven't you? Look, if you don't like this country, what made you come here in the first place, huh? Yeah, and I seem to remember you were pretty happy putting our dollars in your pocket.

  Lewis Zarken : Here's the blackmail section of the conversation. It's unpatriotic to argue with Barney Sheean. It's downright un-American to be unkind to him. We're not talking about the country, we're talking about you!

• Rossella : I'm still a woman. I am! I am! Please, touch me. I'll show you. Just touch me.

  Lewis Zarken : You don't need me. Go and play with some of your little toys.

• Lewis Zarken : She was - the most remarkable woman I've ever known. So what do you do? You spend the rest of your life trying to find her again. You know you can't.

• Lewis Zarken : Don't pout. It's attractive, but, it ages you - you'll find.

• Lewis Zarken : For God's sake! You're behaving like a lady wrestler in drag!

• Lewis Zarken : It's a perfectly simple action. I don't see why you can't follow orders.

  Elsa Brinkmann : It's not simple! I don't know what I'm supposed to be - thinking. What am I feeling, out there, the day I've been married? Why? What am I supposed feel?

  Lewis Zarken : Feel? You stupid cow! All you got to do is do as I say and then our feeling will be up on the screen. All I need is your face! I don't want your good will or your understanding. Think of something! Uncle Bart dying of cancer. That's the expression I need on you.

• Lewis Zarken : Paolo, do you think you could be persuaded to resume your - hor-ticultural activities now?

  Elsa Brinkmann : [guttural laugh]  Why Lewis, that's rather funny.

  Paolo : You want I should go now?

• Lewis Zarken : We make the legend. The legend becomes truth! If it's good enough for Churchill, Albert Schweitzer, and Hitler, it's good enough for you and more than good enough for the public.

• Lewis Zarken : Who are you?

  Elsa Brinkmann : I'm somebody that you wanted to make love to! Some people might think that had a certain amount of responsibility.

  Lewis Zarken : Oh, would they? You don't own me. You don't control me. On the contrary. You be on the set at 9 o'clock in the morning and do exactly as I say. Because, you're an illusion. Without me, you don't exist. You're nothing! Do you understand? Nothing!

• Lewis Zarken : Without an ending, you have no picture.

• Lewis Zarken : You're a cuckold. So was I. She betrayed you, too. Love's old sweet song.

• Lewis Zarken : You're like any vulgar little shopgirl. You'd sooner gape at some romantic picture book than really try and do something with your life.