MovieChat Forums > Bedlam (1946) Discussion > Very witty script

Very witty script

posted 13 years ago by PoppyTransfusion
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So many good lines and lots of humour interlaced throughout. Virtually every character is mocked: some more gently, such as Nell, others, like Lord Mortimer a lot more. I really enjoyed many of the lines Nell speaks and it was such a good role for a woman. Here are my favourites:

My heart is a flint sir, it may strike sparks but they're not warm enough to burn

Do you call that weak and watery vessel an eye?

This one is just so good!

I would not want to be a dull man forever in need of amusement

Curiously Simms's character is not really mocked. Nell gets the better of him many times in dialogue but their combats are more equal than those she levies at some others. I think that's purposeful because Simms is so sinister, maybe even evil.

The trick with the cockatoo was hilarious.

I'm a fountain of blood
In the shape of a girl

[–] moundshroud 13 years ago

Curiously Simms's character is not really mocked.

Pompey (Mortimer's servant boy) mocks Simms when he contorts his face and then tells Mortimer that he's trying to look like the man waiting outside (Simms), and other characters get some jabs in about Simms being unattractive.

Yes there's a lot of great witty lines in this movie, the viewer really needs to keep on his or her toes to catch them all. The dialogue made me think that this would be a great script for a purely audio adaptation.

[–] PoppyTransfusion 13 years ago

I thought he could have been mocked more for being a manipulative hypocrite. I know Nell does get the better of him at times regarding this, but still ...

Yes it would make a good audio adaption and would really highlight the dialogue. I would miss seeing the catatonic woman and when Simms revives as the last brick is put in place, effectively burying him alive in the wall. A scary moment.

I'm a fountain of blood
In the shape of a girl