MovieChat Forums > 5 Fingers (1952) Discussion > The Dialogue

The Dialogue

posted 8 years ago by FearlessOneDay
1 reply | jump to latest

At the opening diplomatic reception, the Countess Staviska asks who is overseeing her estate in France. Count Von Papen says Field Marshal Goring. The Countess then says that people came to her estate to (sounds like) "Hand Wipe Pigs." (Can't be right). Then she says she did not like the idea of Goring killing wild pigs because it was too much like "brother killing brother."

Does anyone know what the "hand wipe pigs" line is?

Actually, that was quite an insulting line about Goring, given that she's offering herself up to work as a German agent.

I really like the subtle wit in this movie. In the Diello and Countess scenes together, the line "get me a drink" denotes the power struggle between the two, which keeps changing. Also, when Diello says he is Albanian, the Countess says that he is the only Albanian she has ever known. "When you know one, you know them all," says Diello.

[–] ScopeWatcher 8 years ago

The Countess then says that people came to her estate to (sounds like) "Hand Wipe Pigs." (Can't be right).

I think what she says is "...to hunt wild pigs."

And by the way, all of this film's dialogue was rewritten by director Mankiewicz without screen credit. That was at the insistence of Darryl F. Zanuck, since Mankiewicz wanted to make that picture but didn't intend to renew his Fox contract. Zanuck probably was willing to get one last movie out of Mankiewicz without letting him get the level of praise 5 FINGERS might earn him. (The Fox chief resented Mankiewicz's four Academy Awards in successive years for having written and directed A LETTER TO THREE WIVES and ALL ABOUT EVE, while Zanuck felt that he deserved more attention as producer.)

Sure enough, 5 FINGERS earned Oscar nominations for Best Director as well as Best Adapted Screenplay -- though without Mankiewicz sharing the latter. It lost in both categories; and Mankiewicz never made another film for Fox until the notorious CLEOPATRA 11 years later ... where he suffered even more under Zanuck's authority.

Most great films deserve a more appreciative audience than they get.