Curse of the Demon (1957)

Dana Andrews: John Holden

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Quotes 

• John Holden : Sit down. Your generosity is becoming overwhelming as it gets closer to ten o'clock. You're staying with me, Karswell. You've sold your bill of goods too well, because I believe you now. I believe that in five minutes something monstrous and horrible is going to happen. And when it does, you're going to be here so that whatever happens to me will happen to you.

• John Holden : I see you practice white magic as well as black.

  Doctor Julian Karswell : Oh yes, I don't think it would be too amusing for the youngsters if I conjured up a demon from hell for them.

• John Holden : Joanna, let me tell you something about myself. When I was a kid, I used to walk down the street with the other kids and when we came to a ladder they'd all walk around it. I'd walk under it, just to see if anything would happen. Nothing ever did. When they'd see a black cat they'd run the other way to keep it from crossing their path. But I didn't. And all this ever did for me is make me wonder why, why people get so panicky about absolutely nothing at all. I've made a career studying it. Maybe just to prove one thing. That I'm not a superstitious sucker like ninety per cent of humanity.

• Doctor Julian Karswell : Do I believe in witchcraft? What kind of witchcraft? The legendary witch that rides on the imaginary broom? The hex that tortures the thoughts of the victim? The pin stuck in the image that wastes away the mind and the body?

  John Holden : Also imaginary.

  Doctor Julian Karswell : But where does imagination end and reality begin? What is this twilight, this half world of the mind that you profess to know so much about? How can we differentiate between the powers of darkness and the powers of the mind?

• [last lines] 

  John Holden : [to Joanna]  You were right. Maybe it's better not to know.

• John Holden : Well, what do you expect me to do? Nobody's free from fear. I have an imagination like anyone else. It's easy to see a demon in every dark corner. But I refuse to let this thing take possession of my good senses. If this world is ruled by demons and monsters we may as well give up right now.

• Doctor Julian Karswell : Ha ha, snakes and ladders. An English game, you wouldn't know it. You see, if you land at the foot of the ladder you climb all the way to the top. But if you land on the head of the snake, you slide all the way down again. Funny thing, I always preferred sliding down the snakes to climbing up the ladders. You're a doctor of psychology, you ought to know the answer to that.

  John Holden : Maybe you're a good loser.

  Doctor Julian Karswell : I'm not, you know. Not a bit of it.

• John Holden : All good scientists are from Missouri: in other words, they should continually be saying, "Show me."

• John Holden : Well, after this afternoon, I must confess there are a few things I don't know.

• John Holden : [after a windstorm conjured by Karswell has forced Holden and Karswell indoors]  I didn't know you had cyclones in England!

  Doctor Julian Karswell : We don't.

• John Holden : It would be easier to stop Karswell's demon than a woman with her mind made up.

• Maggie Meek : Don't turn the light on, he's in a trance!

  John Holden : Trance my eye.

  Mr. Meek : Maggie, I feel sick.

  John Holden : You're not the only one.