Sabotage (1936)

John Loder: Detective Sgt. Ted Spencer

Photos 

Quotes 

• Ted Spencer : [trying to calm crowd down demanding their money back after a power outage]  It's an act of God, I tell you!

  Member of Cinema Crowd : And what do you call an act of God?

  Ted Spencer : I call your face one, and you won't get your money back on that.

• Mrs. Verloc : Thank you for your trouble. I'm sure you meant well.

  Ted Spencer : Not at all. I like trouble.

• Ted Spencer : [looking at a menu]  Now, Steve, setting aside the steak for a moment, we have here before us oysters, caviar, smoked salmon, fried, grilled or boiled sole...

  Stevie : I'll have a...

  Ted Spencer : Roast saddle of mutton, Kentish chicken pudding, boiled silverside, roast sirloin, chopped steaks, grilled kidneys or roast duck?

  Mrs. Verloc : I think Stevie'd like a nice poached egg on toast and I'll have a mixed salad.

  Ted Spencer : Here, drink this. Poached egg here at Simpsons? Why, that's enough to make the roast beef turn in its gravy. Three bullocks roasted whole, and a cup of coffee.

• Ted Spencer : There's a mystery about me! Come to think of it, there's a mystery about most people. Haven't you got some terrible secret?

  Mrs. Verloc : Never mind about that.

  Ted Spencer : What goes on after hours in that cinema of yours?

  Mrs. Verloc : [sarcastically]  Deeds of darkness.

• Superintendent Talbot : Well, what luck with Mrs. Verloc?

  Ted Spencer : She knows nothing, sir, nothing at all.

  Superintendent Talbot : What makes you think so?

  Ted Spencer : She has a straight answer to everything, besides her manner.

  Superintendent Talbot : Pretty woman?

  Ted Spencer : What's that got to do with it, sir?

  Superintendent Talbot : I know, I'm too tender-hearted myself, especially where women are concerned.

• Superintendent Talbot : The Home Office has been on and they're scared something worst than tonight's job may happen.

  Ted Spencer : What's the idea, sir? What's the point of all this wrecking?

  Superintendent Talbot : Making trouble at home to take our minds off of what's going on abroad. Same as in a crowd. One man treads on your toe and while you're arguing with him, his pal picks your pocket.

  Ted Spencer : Who's behind it?

  Superintendent Talbot : Ah, they're the people that you and I will never catch. It's the men they employ that we're after.

• Ted Spencer : If a plane were to come along and drop a bomb on you, that would be an unfriendly act within the meaning of the act. But, if the juice dries up on its own accord, that's an act of providence - as laid down in the Act of William the IV, where an act is defined as any activity actuated by actual action.

• Ted Spencer : Hello, Guv, going to the pictures?

  Karl Anton Verloc : As a matter of fact, I'm off to a trade show.

  Ted Spencer : Well, pick us a good one then, you know, with plenty of murders. This love stuff makes me sick.

  Karl Anton Verloc : The women like it, though.