MovieChat Forums > The Man Who Knew Too Much (1935) Discussion > Very funny line

Very funny line

posted 19 years ago by danieloneill
7 replies | jump to latest

He hasn't seen his kidnaped daughter in weeks and the first thing he says is, "I say! Thats an awfully nice dressing gown you have on!"

[–] beerandscratchings 19 years ago

He's probably trying to be reassuring by making a banal comment to distract from the situation.

Goodnight, good luck, and may your God go with you.

[–] danieloneill 18 years ago

She's been on her own, with her kidnappers for months (or whatever the time period was), it was unnecessary.

[–] beerandscratchings 18 years ago

What a particuarly stupid reply

Goodnight, good luck, and may your God go with you.

[–] danieloneill 18 years ago

Explain.

[–] Stink_Face 18 years ago

danieloneill - Don't worry about the previous post person slaggin your response off, they're just upset you made a bad comment on their lovely director.

danieloneill YOU are right it was a terrible line of dialouge, done in that stupid stiff upper lip English manner to diffuse the situation, there was a whole world of dialouge available to the script writer and they went with that pathetic attempt. The whole script for this film is appaling.

[–] peytonplace1 16 years ago

Stiff upper lip is right. You just knew this guy was never going to hug the kid then burst into tears.

[–] Igenlode Wordsmith 12 years ago

The child is sobbing her heart out and the last thing he wants to do is push her any further over the edge (not to mention that he's got Abbott anticipating with sadistic pleasure the spectacle of a 'touching' scene between doomed father and child -- he's determined not to give his tormentor that opportunity). He's trying to joke her out of it and reassure her back into normality: the little girl needs to be able to feel that her father is a bulwark of everday life, not be traumatized by having a grown man break down over her. And it works -- he does gradually manage to calm her down, with the aid of further soothing commonplaces.

What the character is actually saying in this scene (and elsewhere) is not necesarily related at all to his private emotions at the time, which is an approach that audiences would be expected to recognise from their own daily lives.

~~Igenlode, who deploys this same tactic all the time

Gather round, lads and lasses, gather round...