Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945)

James Craig: Nels Halverson

Photos 

Quotes 

• Nels Halverson : When you're demanding tolerance, where do you draw the line at giving it?

• Selma Jacobson : [riding down a country road in Nels's car]  Mother said Ingeborg Jensen isn't quite right.

  Arnold Hanson : That's because she's crazy. That means crazy in the head. That's because her father always beats her all the time.

  Selma Jacobson : He beats Mrs. Jensen too.

  Nels Halverson : Mrs. Jensen is very sick right now, so I guess he isn't beating her. And Ingeborg isn't crazy; it's just that she's not quite as smart as we are, that's all.

  Selma Jacobson : Arnold didn't know about Ingeborg not being right until I told him.

  Nels Halverson : Maybe somebody had to tell you too, Selma, before you knew.

  Selma Jacobson : I suppose so.

  Arnold Hanson : Yeah, see?

• Nels Halverson : You know Miss Johnson, it always makes a much better item to carry a little human interest along with their news: such things, for example, as, well, where does their new school teacher come from?

  Viola Johnson : Milwaukee.

  Nels Halverson : And then it's always proper to add something like this: 'When asked how she likes Fuller Junction, Miss Johnson said... '

  Viola Johnson : But Miss Johnson doesn't like Fuller Junction, and you wouldn't quote what she'd have to say.

  Nels Halverson : Oh, that bad?

  Viola Johnson : Well among other things, i-it's awfully small.

  Nels Halverson : Well so is a diamond, Miss Johnson. Tell me, what is there to find in Milwaukee that you can't find right here in Fuller Junction?

  Viola Johnson : Well Milwaukee's a city, it isn't dull. There's concerts and lectures and theatres, good magazine stands. There's too much activity for life to ever get dreary.

  Nels Halverson : If that's what you wanted, why'd you ever come here?

  Viola Johnson : I had to Mr. Halverson, it was no choice of mine.

• Nels Halverson : Trouble huh?

  Viola Johnson : [irritated with Kurt Jensen's staunch disapproval of his daughter attending school]  I've just had a sample of your rural life, and I don't like it.

  Nels Halverson : You'll find plenty of Jensens in the city if you just look around. I'm afraid you're running into life for the first time, that's all. It is a shock to find out they're not all perfect, isn't it.

• Viola Johnson : It's funny: you want to stay here, and yet you're planning to leave.

  [referring to Nels planning on joining the Army] 

  Nels Halverson : You want me to leave and yet you want me to stay.

  Viola Johnson : It's funny, isn't it.

• Nels Halverson : I'd like to marry you.

  Viola Johnson : And live here of course.

  [Nels nods] 

  Viola Johnson : Nels, I dont want to hurt your feelings but, that's like saying, 'I want to put you in jail; I want you to associate with dull, dreary people all the rest of your life; I want to deny you all the opportunities of a civilized world.'

  Nels Halverson : I thought I was saying, 'Let me make you happy; let's live where human nature's real; let's live close to people.' Funny how different the same words can sound to two people.

  Viola Johnson : Yes it is.

• Viola Johnson : [kissing outside the schoolhouse before leaving for the neighboring town of Aurora for a 'dinner and a show']  Nels, there's something I think you ought to know.

  Nels Halverson : What's that?

  Viola Johnson : I'm, leaving here as soon as the school term's over.

  Nels Halverson : Oh.

  Viola Johnson : I couldn't spend my life here, Nels. I'd suffocate, honestly. There's so many things I want to do.

  Nels Halverson : Well, we'll have a double celebration; we're both going away.

  [referring to his officially having been accepted and enlisted in the army]