House of Usher (1960)

Mark Damon: Philip Winthrop

Photos 

Quotes 

• Roderick Usher : Last night you asked me about the singular aridity of the land around this house. Once this land was fertile, farms abounded. Earth yielded her riches at harvest time. There were trees and plant life, flowers. Fields of grain. There was great beauty here. At that time this water was clear and fresh. Swans glided upon its crystal surface. Animals came to its bank, trustingly, to drink. But this was long before my time.

  Philip Winthrop : Why do you tell me these things?

  Roderick Usher : And then something crept across the land and blacked it. The trees lost their foliage. The flowers languished and died. Shrubs grew brown and shrivelled. The grain fields perished. And the lakes and ponds became black and stagnant. And the land withered as before a plague.

  Philip Winthrop : [puzzled]  A plague?

  Roderick Usher : Yes, Mr. Winthrop: a plague of evil.

  Roderick Usher : [showing some pictures of his ancestors]  Anthony Usher: thief, usurer, merchant of flesh. Bernard Usher: swindler, forger, jewel thief, drug addict. Francis Usher: professional assassin. Vivian Usher: blackmailer, harlot, murderess, she died in a madhouse. Captain David Usher: smuggler, slave trader, mass murderer.

  Philip Winthrop : [reluctant]  Mr. Usher, I don't see that this has anything to do with Madeline and myself. I don't believe in the sins of the fathers being visited upon the children.

  Roderick Usher : [ironic]  You do not, Sir?

• Philip Winthrop : How long have you been with the Ushers?

  Bristol : Sixty years, sir.

  Philip Winthrop : Sixty years?

  Bristol : Since I was a boy.

  Philip Winthrop : Why, then this house is just as much yours as it is Mr. Usher's.

  Bristol : And Miss Madeline, sir.

• Philip Winthrop : [as the house starts to rumble]  How long has that been going on?

  Bristol : So long I'm hardly aware of it anymore. It's just the settling of the house.

  Philip Winthrop : That settling could cause this entire structure to collapse. That doesn't worry you?

  Bristol : Oh no, sir. If the house dies, I shall die with it.

• Philip Winthrop : You have murdered your sister, Mr. Usher, and I intend to see that you hang for it.

  Roderick Usher : Arrange it quickly then. The old house crumbles.

• Philip Winthrop : [as the house starts to rumble]  Don't you think that crack in the wall should be repaired?

  Roderick Usher : For future generations of Ushers?

  Philip Winthrop : For Madeline's safety.

  Philip Winthrop : While I was riding here I noticed a singular lack of vegetation, is there something wrong with the soil?

  Roderick Usher : The soil?

  Madeline Usher : Roderick please!

  Roderick Usher : [looking at Madeline]  As you wish.

• Philip Winthrop : Is there no end to your horrors?

  Roderick Usher : No. None whatever.

• Roderick Usher : Odors assail me constantly, and as I've said, sounds of any degree whatsoever inspire me with terror.

  Philip Winthrop : That's why your servant asked me to remove my boots?

  Roderick Usher : Yes... and even so I could hear you coming: every footstep, every rustle of your clothes. I could hear your horse approaching, hear the clatter of his hooves across the courtyard, your knock - the grating of the door bolt was like a sword-stroke to my ears...

  Roderick Usher : [lowers his voice to a whisper]  I can hear the scratch of rat claws in the stone walls!

  Roderick Usher : Mr. Winthrop, three-quarters of my family have fallen into madness, and in their madness have acquired a, a superhuman strength... so that it took the power of many to subdue them.

• Roderick Usher : [shouting]  Be done.

  Philip Winthrop : What?

  Roderick Usher : I think I rave.

  Philip Winthrop : You said be done.

• Philip Winthrop : Would you permit me to light a candle so that...?

  Roderick Usher : I think you had better leave, Mr. Winthrop.

  Philip Winthrop : I think you need some light in this house, Mr. Usher.

• Philip Winthrop : Do you not exaggerate, sir? Perhaps there have been in your family certain - peculiarities of temperament but...

  Roderick Usher : Peculiarities of temperament? How diplomatically you put it. Peculiarities of temperament.

• Madeline Usher : You don't understand. May you never see into the heart of this horrible house.

  Philip Winthrop : Darling, once you're with me, you'll wake up from this nightmare.

• Philip Winthrop : Well, now, to fill you with hot gruel - and good cheer.

• Philip Winthrop : You must Ieave the dead to themselves! Oh, Madeline, come away with me now.

• Roderick Usher : The House of Usher seems to you, then, normal?

  Philip Winthrop : The house, sir, is neither normal nor abnormal. It is only a house.

  Roderick Usher : You are very wrong, Mr Winthrop.

• Philip Winthrop : Madeline, I'll have no scrawny woman in my home. Open your mouth. Come on.

• Roderick Usher : Mr Winthrop, do you think those coals jumping from the fire onto you were an accident? Do you think that chandelier falling was an accident? Do you think that falling casket was an accident?

  Philip Winthrop : Are you saying the house made those things happen?

  Roderick Usher : Yes.