The Man with a Cloak (1951)

Joseph Cotten: Dupin

Photos 

Quotes 

• Charles Theverner : She's after my money. Everybody is after my money.

  Dupin : You must've been after it yourself to have acquired so much.

• Dupin : It says in Timothy, that the love of money is the root of all evil.

  Flaherty : It's not that I love it, sir, it's just that it's a necessary evil. And to show you I have indeed read the book, it says in Ecclesiastes "Money answereth all things".

  Dupin : In bitterness, Flaherty, it was said in bitterness.

  Flaherty : That's the way I was asking for it.

• Mrs. Flynn, the housekeeper : You read like an actor... and you drink like one. Would you take advice from the likes of me?

  Dupin : Ma'am, I take advice as easily as I take a drink. The only trouble with me is I've never been able to make good use of either.

• Flaherty : Some men leave goodwill. Others just a will.

  Dupin : There are even some that leave two wills.

• Dupin : Try to get the murder out of your face.

• Mrs. Inness, landlady : It's the first of the month, you know.

  Dupin : I can understand your excitement, it happens only once every thirty days.

• Dupin : The sleeping fox catches no poultry.

  The Pharmacist : I'm not a fox.

  Dupin : ...now you're no longer sleeping. Open up! This is vital, a matter of life and death.

• Flaherty : Mr., eh?

  Dupin : Dupin.

  Flaherty : Oh, are you French?

  Dupin : No. I'm a fool.

  Flaherty : You could be a French fool.

• Dupin : A lovely girl is an uncommon sight in a place like this. In the face of loveliness, *all* men feel a little foolish.

• Madeline Minot : They say he is very rich.

  Dupin : They say worst than that. They he's a facsimile of the devil.

• Dupin : A connaisseur of wine, women, and wit. Now he's an ancient ruin with one arm paralyzed and one foot in the grave.

• Dupin : Could I serve you some tea?

  Lorna Bounty : Tea?

  Lorna Bounty : Well, some wine, perhaps?

  Dupin : You would be preserving my life.

  Lorna Bounty : A sufficient reason.

  Dupin : There are also sufficient reasons not to preserve it. But, I am not the man to disclose them.

  Lorna Bounty : That's understandable.

• Dupin : I've always found it wiser not to question the cause of anyone's bad temper.

• Dupin : Eavesdropping is one of the few unpunishable pleasures in life.

• Lorna Bounty : He is very old and very ill and last night he drank more wine than is good for him.

  Dupin : You can't imagine how impossible that sounds to me.

  Lorna Bounty : I don't have to imagine it. I can see it.

• Lorna Bounty : If I told you something flattering, would you believe it?

  Dupin : Only if it were flattering.

  Lorna Bounty : Then I'll be frank about it. I can't remember when I've met a man who intrigues me as much as you do.

  Dupin : Do you forget easily?

  Lorna Bounty : No, I don't.

  Dupin : Then I'll be equally frank and tell you that I - find you equally intriguing.

  Lorna Bounty : Well, at least we've broken the ice.

  Dupin : Now we can drowned together.

• Lorna Bounty : A man has a right to live as he pleases.

  Dupin : And die as he pleases.

• Charles Theverner : Who are you?

  Dupin : A man with an empty glass.

• Dupin : She's as courageous as she is foolish. This comes from a faith in life, Theverner. Something you and I both lacks. A dream that is not for sale - and never can be laughed away.

• Lorna Bounty : If I were your friend, I would help you. You owe money at the Tavern. You can't pay your rent.

  Dupin : A bribe?

  Lorna Bounty : That's not a very *friendly* thing to say.

  Dupin : A gift then.

  Lorna Bounty : Couldn't we call it a loan?

• Dupin : You've discovered both my weaknesses.

  Lorna Bounty : To understand another's weaknesses, is the first rule of friendship.

  Dupin : The second?

  [moves Lorna in close] 

  Lorna Bounty : To understand another's strengh.

  [Dupin kisses Lorna] 

  Lorna Bounty : That was very impulsive.

  Dupin : Under the circumstances, it was inevitable. I think I'd better say good night.

  Lorna Bounty : I suppose that was inevitable too.

• Dupin : How much more habitable the world becomes, just by dancing with you.

• Dupin : Do you know what you're doing?

  Madeline Minot : What am I doing?

  Dupin : You're dancing in a public place. You're no longer respectable.

• Lorna Bounty : Theverner made me feel I could be a great actress. In time, I would be Ophelia and Juliet.

  Dupin : And Lady MacBeth?

• Lorna Bounty : Preserving your life may become a little monotonous.

  Dupin : Not to me.

• Dupin : It's difficult to be the toast of an era and not be burned by it.

• Dupin : Someday I'll be a man not to hard to find. If anyone bothers to look.

  Lorna Bounty : Someone will.

• Dupin : Money - the corrupter of conscience and honor. It makes fire in men's minds. It makes friends - foes. And enemies - friends. But, having little, I'm not one to talk much about it.

• Dupin : Always remember that either in heaven or hell, someone thinks kindly of you.

• Dupin : [toast]  To the busiest man in the world.

  Flaherty : Who's that?

  Dupin : Death.