The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968)

Rossella Falk: Rossella

Photos 

Quotes 

• 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!

• Rossella : He may some small talent as a film director, but, his real strength lies in his amazing instinct for the jugular.

• Rossella : [Rossella describes her version of Lylah Clare's death]  Up till then, I mean, before she married Lewis, we had our own quarters together. The day it happened, she had moved her things up there.

  [points upstairs] 

  Rossella : She had gone for a drive along the coast. That afternoon, I was asleep. I heard a scream. Coming back at the front gate, this young man - wild, insane, hysterical - jumped onto her car. She drove fast up the drive to throw him off, but she couldn't: he clung like an animal. She ran up to the door. There, as she burst inside, she was screaming. He caught her on the stairs! She fought to get away from him! She ran to find Lewis; he chased after her. He was like a crazy man - he grabbed her. She cried out for help again and again, but... nobody came to help. Lewis was in another part of the house. At first he couldn't hear her. It was like a... nightmare, an insane dream! He wanted her as an animal wants, as an animal thinks! From somewhere, she found the strength to strike back at him, to push him away.

  [flashback voice of Lylah: 'Let go, keep your filthy hands off me!'] 

  Rossella : Suddenly, there was a knife. He started towards her, defiantly... showing her how foolish it was to try to stop him. Poor Lylah was so afraid, so terrified! 'He could do it, right there and then', he seemed to say as he caressed her stomach with the knife. But Lylah Clare was a movie queen, a love goddess; and he did not come to this house to kill a goddess. 'She must not be frightened of him', the boy seemed to be saying. He wanted her to understand how he felt: that she could trust him, that she had nothing to fear. He just stood there - arrogant, obsessed with lust. But Lylah was not a goddess, just a frightened girl; and in her terror, she stabbed him... stabbed him, again and again! He fell. Lylah couldn't believe what she had done. She stepped forward to look; I called out to her.

  [flashback voice of Rossella: 'Don't look, stop! Stop, stop!' as Lylah also falls off the tall staircase] 

  Rossella : [rushing over to her, the flashback voices of Lewis and Lylah: 'Lylah, I love you.'... 'I love you, Lewis.'] 

  Bart Langner : Her heights made her dizzy, she looked down.

  Rossella : It was their wedding day, Lewis and Lylah's.

• Rossella : [to Lewis and Bart]  Lover's quarrel? Maybe you two should move to England. They have legalized this kind of thing there. I always knew you were fond of each other, but this is too much.

• 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.

• Elsa Brinkmann : She's dead. I'm alive. You just got to have to get used to me.

  Rossella : I think that could be arranged.

• Rossella : You think you created her? Can create her again? No. You can't. She's - herself. Unique.

  Barney Sheean : Was.

  Rossella : Was? Is. Take a look around this house. She wouldn't leave us all. Supposing you did find some cheap imitation of her, don't you think the results might be a little dangerous? Dangerous for all of us. Reporters, photographers. They bring up all the old muck. The old lies.

• 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 : 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.

• Rossella : Sometimes even a dog needs to hear its name called.

• 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.

• Rossella : [massaging Elsa's back]  Sleep. Stay asleep. This is what you like, isn't it? Lylah used to like it too. It would make her forget. Relax. And finally... Elsa, if you can't stand it any longer, come to Rosella. She will help you to get away.

  [caresses sleeping Elsa's face] 

  Rossella : Lylah.

  [kisses sleeping Elsa's cheek] 

  Rossella : I love you. I always loved you. Lylah.

  [another kiss]