House of the Long Shadows (1983)

Richard Todd: Sam Allyson

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Quotes 

• Sam Allyson : [Ken gazes at Mary]  Don't tell me, love at first sight.

  Kenneth Magee : No, just feeling horny.

  Sam Allyson : [laughs]  I might have known I'd get an answer like that.

  Kenneth Magee : I believe in being realistic about these things.

  Sam Allyson : Oh falling in love is very realistic. People do it all the time.

  Kenneth Magee : Not in my novels they don't. I don't believe in it.

  Sam Allyson : Yes, that seems to be the current trend among you young writers.

  Kenneth Magee : Well it's a cynical age we live in.

  Sam Allyson : Don't I know it?

• Sam Allyson : The name of the place by the way is, I better write it down.

  Kenneth Magee : [reads the name]  Bllyddpaetwr.

  Sam Allyson : I told you it was in Wales, the nearest I ever got to pronouncing it was Baldpate... Baldpate Manor.

• Sam Allyson : When I think of Tolstoy, Victor Hugo, Charles Dickens, where are they all now I ask myself?

  Kenneth Magee : I think they're dead, Sam.

  Sam Allyson : You know what I mean. They dealt with people, human passions on the grand scale.

  Kenneth Magee : People have different behavior patterns now. They just don't go around acting like they're out of Wuthering Heights.

  Sam Allyson : Are you trying to tell me that Wuthering Heights with all its brooding intensity, isn't as involving and real as a contemporary novel?

  Kenneth Magee : It's over the top. I mean anyone can write one of those things. It's just a question of letting your imagination go bananas. Jesus! You want that kind of novel? I can knock it off for you in 24 hours.

  Sam Allyson : That I don't believe.

  Kenneth Magee : $10,000.

  Sam Allyson : Oh come now.

  Kenneth Magee : $10,000, I'll bet you.

  Sam Allyson : Kenneth I rea...

  Kenneth Magee : $20,000.

• Kenneth Magee : All I need is somewhere I can have total isolation, and above all atmosphere.

  Sam Allyson : Well there's this friend of mine, he's got a property in Wales, I gather it's in the process of being sold. How do you fancy an old manner house? Hasn't been lived in for years, it's certainly an isolated part of the country, as for atmosphere...

  Kenneth Magee : Sounds great.

  Sam Allyson : Now hold on, dear boy, I mean, it really has been empty for over 40 years. There'll be no electricity...

  Kenneth Magee : Even better, I can type by candlelight.

  Sam Allyson : You're joking.

  Kenneth Magee : It's perfect for what I've got in mind. I'm telling you it's perfect, Sam, fix it for me, will ya?

  Sam Allyson : You're mad, still if that's what you want, I'll give him a ring and try to arrange it, just as soon as I get back to the office.

  Kenneth Magee : I can't wait to get started.

  Sam Allyson : 24 hours remember, that means you deliver me a completed manuscript here, no later than, allowing you traveling time there and back, 3 o' clock Saturday afternoon.

  Kenneth Magee : I'll be here.