Dead of Night (1945)

Ralph Michael: Peter Cortland

Photos 

Quotes 

• [talking about the mirror:] 

  Peter Cortland : But in a queer sort of way, it fascinates me. I feel as though that room, the one in the mirror, were trying to... to claim me. To draw me into it. It almost becomes the real room, and my own bedroom imaginary.

  [he takes a drag of his cigarette with a shaking hand] 

  Peter Cortland : And I know that there's something waiting for me on the other side of the mirror. Something evil. Monstrously evil. And if I cross that dividing line, something awful will happen.

• [Peter is opening his fiancé's birthday present to him] 

  Peter Cortland : You haven't gone and had your portrait painted, have you?

  Joan Cortland : [smiling fondly]  No, I thought you'd like to look at yourself.

  [he opens the package to find it is a mirror] 

  Peter Cortland : Darling, it's a beauty!

• Peter Cortland : Well, you know that mirror you gave me? You didn't get it at one of those joke shops, by any chance?

  Joan Cortland : Of course not, why?

  Peter Cortland : Well, when I was dressing this evening, just as I was tying my tie, I suddenly realized that the reflection was all wrong.

  Joan Cortland : What do you mean, wrong?

  Peter Cortland : It wasn't my room I was seeing; it was some other room.

  Joan Cortland : Darling!

  Peter Cortland : I told you it sounded silly. It only lasted for a moment, but I could have sworn I saw it. Some sort of optical illusion, I suppose.

  Joan Cortland : [chuckles]  All done with mirrors, in fact.

• Peter Cortland : We should postpone the wedding.

  Joan Cortland : Why?

  Peter Cortland : It will take us five years to get a divorce.

  Joan Cortland : Oh, dear. Let's get married and arrange the divorce after.