Le masque arraché (1952)

Jack Palance: Lester Blaine

Photos 

Quotes 

• [after being rejected for a romantic role because of his looks] 

  Lester Blaine : Miss Hudson, in your own native city of San Francisco, there's an art gallery in the Legion of Honor in which there's an oil painting of Casanova. It's quite obvious that you have never seen this painting. For your information, Miss Hudson, this is what Casanova looked like: he had big ears, a scar over one eye, a broken nose, and a wart on his chin, right here. I suggest, Miss Hudson, that when you return to San Francisco, you visit this gallery and see this painting!

• Lester Blaine : Why do you look at me like that?

  Myra Hudson : [Ambiguously]  I was just wondering what I'd done to deserve you.

• Lester Blaine : I like to look at you.

  Myra Hudson : You couldn't possibly at this hour of the morning.

  Lester Blaine : Oh, anyone can look at you in the afternoon.

  Myra Hudson : But I haven't even got my lipstick on! A woman has to wear lipstick. I feel positively naked without it.

• Myra Hudson : Remember what Nietzsche says "Live dangerously!"

  Lester Blaine : You know what happened to Nietzsche?

  Myra Hudson : No, what?

  Lester Blaine : He's dead.

• Lester Blaine : [Stopping short when he sees the drop alongside the steps of the summer house]  Whoa...!

  Myra Hudson : What's the matter, Darling?

  Lester Blaine : [Frightened]  It's a precipice!

  Myra Hudson : [laughs]  I've been running up and down these steps ever since I was twelve.

  Lester Blaine : Don't you ever do it again!

  Myra Hudson : Why not? Remember what Nietzsche said: Live dangerously!

  Lester Blaine : You know what happened to Nietzsche?

  Myra Hudson : What?

  Lester Blaine : He's dead!

  Myra Hudson : [laughs] 

• Lester Blaine : [Quoting Myra's play]  When I wake in the morning, when I go to sleep at night, I think of you. You're like the air which surrounds me, the sky which spreads above me, the earth beneath my feet. When I hear music, when I see beauty, when I breathe in the sunlight, I think of you. You are the sister I never had, the mother I have almost forgotten, the wife I have always dreamed of. There isn't a relationship you can name which exists between a man and a woman of which I wouldn't say let it be you. Let it be you.

• Myra Hudson : Welcome to my home, Lester.

  Lester Blaine : It's quite a cozy home.

  Myra Hudson : Cozy enough to take your coat off?

  Lester Blaine : Delighted.