Dark Victory (1939)

George Brent: Dr. Frederick Steele

Photos 

Quotes 

• Dr. Frederick Steele : I'm leaving for Vermont in about fifteen minutes.

  Judith : Vermont! You don't mean that narrow, pinched-up little state on the wrong side of Boston?

  Dr. Frederick Steele : That's the one.

  Judith : No kidding?

  Dr. Frederick Steele : No kidding.

  Judith : What are you going to do there between yawns?

• Dr. Frederick Steele : I'm not quitting... I have a little laboratory on my farm up there in Vermont. The Medical Research Bureau is backing me. Fisher in Philadelphia is going to do the pathology, incidentally, the best man in the country... Brain cells. Why do healthy normal cells go berserk and grow wild?... Nobody knows. But we call them cysts and gliomas and tumors and cancers. And we operate and hope to cure with a knife and half the time we don't even know the cause. Our patients have faith in us because we're doctors... Someday, somebody will discover a serum that will be to these growths what insulin is to diabetes and anti-toxins to diphtheria, and maybe earn his title of Doctor of Medicine.

• Judith : [just before falling asleep in her hospital bed]  Doctor...

  Dr. Frederick Steele : Yes?

  Judith : Will you do something for me?

  Dr. Frederick Steele : Yes.

  Judith : When you get inside my head, see if you can find any sense in it.

• Dr. Frederick Steele : [as he enters their home]  How are you Ann?

  [Ann runs upstairs] 

  Dr. Frederick Steele : Did I stumble into something?

  Judith : Yes. We were on the verge of a jealous scene about you.

  Dr. Frederick Steele : What?

  Judith : [gently grabbing Frederick's hand]  Darling - poor fool - don't you know I'm in love with you?...

  [they enter the other room and order some tea from the maid] 

  Judith : ... Sorry.

  Dr. Frederick Steele : You couldn't have said anything I wanted to hear more. Judi dear, I love you so much.

  [they embrace tenderly and the scene fades out] 

• Miss Wainwright : [upon closing up Dr. Steele's medical practice]  What shall I do with this case of Dr. Parsons? He's dreadfully worried and he's asked me to hold you here by force if necessary.

  Dr. Frederick Steele : Well you tell Dr. Parsons I've waited nine years to catch this train, and I'm not gonna miss it just because some Long Island nitwit fell off her horse. Listen to this:

  [smirkishly reading the medical report] 

  Dr. Frederick Steele : 'Miss Judith Traherne, daughter of the late sportsman and wire manufacturer.' - Imagine putting that stuff in a case history, huh?

• Dr. Frederick Steele : Charles, what do you know about brain surgery?

  Dr. Carter : Well, I think if I had the surgical courage, I'd be in it. To go inside a human being's skull and tinker with the machinery that makes the whole works go - that is romance, isn't it?

• Judith : [Judith's overview of herself to Dr. Steele]  I'm 23 years old; an only child; I weigh 110 pounds stripped; I've had measles, mumps, and whooping cough all at the proper ages; I believe I have no congenital weaknesses... shall I go on?

  Dr. Frederick Steele : Yes, please.

  Judith : My father drank himself to death; my mother lives in Paris; I take a great deal of exercise; I'm accustomed to a reasonable quantity of tobacco and alcohol; I'm said to have a sense of humor... is that enough?

  Dr. Frederick Steele : Only inconsequential facts.

• Dr. Frederick Steele : [to Judith as he tries to get her to open up about her health problems]  That's why you held certain things back from Dr. Parsons: you're afraid to admit them. And that's why you didn't tell him you've been having these headaches for months, but you have; and lately they've been getting worse until now you're never free of them. And your eyes; they've been cutting out too - just like somebody shutting a pair of folding doors, until your vision is almost cut in half. You pretended it was your imagination, but it isn't. Then that queer doe feeling in your right arm - you can't laugh that off. And I'll tell you how you got those burns on your fingers - cigarette. You didn't feel the burns because your sensory nerves are paralyzed. Your memory's all shot to pieces, you can't concentrate - look at your Bridge scores. And you're irritable because your nerves are all on edge. You won't admit it, but you can't deny it, can you?

  [she reluctantly nods/shakes her head] 

  Dr. Frederick Steele : Now I think we'll get somewhere. Come on, come on.

• Dr. Frederick Steele : [Out to dinner, after Judith has inadvertently learned the truth about her health]  Would you mind telling me what this is all about?

  Judith : Why don't you tell me? Why *didn't* you tell me?

  [looks at the menu briefly] 

  Judith : Well I, I think I'll have a large order of *prognosis negative*!

  Ann King : What do you mean?

  Judith : You know, monsieur, s'il vous plaît. 'Prognosis negative'. You know what 'prognosis negative' means, doctor? Explain to her, or have you? It means a few months of pretending you're well, then blindness, then...

  Ann King : Wait, Judith, we can't talk in here.

  Judith : Oh yes we can. It was a question of humoring the patient, wasn't it? Give the poor dear anything she wants - time's so short, marry her if necessary. I know now why you went to his office that day: to beg him to marry me out of pity. You're kind, Dr. Steele, you're *both* so kind. So long my friends!

  [Frederick and Ann try to stop her, but she storms out of the restaurant] 

• Dr. Frederick Steele : [during their first meeting in Dr. Steele's office]  Does that light bother you?

  Judith : Not at all.

  Dr. Frederick Steele : Do you use your eyes a great deal?

  Judith : [dryly]  I generally keep them open, Doctor.