The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)

Joseph Cotten: Dr. Vesalius

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Quotes 

• Dr. Anton Phibes : I will have killed nine times in my life, Dr. Vesalius. How many murders can be attributed to you?

  Dr. Vesalius : None! I did not kill your wife!

  Dr. Anton Phibes : No?

  Dr. Vesalius : I tried to save her.

  Dr. Anton Phibes : With a knife in your hands? Doctor, I have no faith in your profession! I was told, after my crash, that I would never speak again. The doctors were, of course, wrong, for as you see and can hear, I have used my knowledge of music and acoustics to re-create my voice!

  Dr. Vesalius : You don't have to remind me of your ingenuity, Dr. Phibes. WHERE... WHERE IS MY SON?

• Dr. Anton Phibes : [on the phone to Vesalius after kidnapping his son]  Nine killed her; nine shall die!

  Dr. Vesalius : Is that you, Phibes? Phibes! Phibes!

  Dr. Anton Phibes : Eight have died, soon to be nine! Nine eternities in doom!

  Dr. Vesalius : Phibes, I must see you. Where are you, Phibes? I must speak... PHIBES! WHERE IS MY SON, PHIBES?

  Dr. Anton Phibes : The organ plays till midnight! The large house in Maldene Square. Come alone!

• Dr. Vesalius : Your wife, no, Phibes, but *you* I *will* kill!

  Dr. Anton Phibes : But you can't, Doctor: I-AM-AL-REA-DY... DEAD. Your son needs you.

• Dr. Vesalius : God's sake!

  Dr. Anton Phibes : Don't cry upon God, Dr. Vesalius. He is on my side! He led me, showed me the way in my quest for vengeance.

• Dr. Vesalius : Human error won't stop him.

  Inspector Trout : Why? Wha'chu mean?

  Dr. Vesalius : He's had years to hide, to plot this damnable thing. He's compelling himself to follow exactly the classic death pattern of the G'tach. It's the psychic force that holds that man together, this maniacal precision. If we could just throw it off, interrupt the cycle, then he might be stopped by his own inflexible standards.

• Dr. Anton Phibes : You will see your son under circumstances which may bring back memories to you.

  [lights brighten up in a room seen through a glass floor; in it lies Vesalius' son Lem on a table, at best unconscious] 

  Dr. Vesalius : What is it you want?

  Dr. Anton Phibes : The skill of your hands, Doctor. I am giving your son the same chance that my wife had. You need not be alarmed. He has already been anaesthetized.

• Dr. Vesalius : I'm going alone. Perhaps he'll trade my life for my son's.

  Inspector Trout : If you think you can reason with him, then you're as mad as he is!

• [last lines] 

  Dr. Vesalius : That still leaves the final curse.

  Sgt. Schenley : Darkness.

  Inspector Trout : Well, he'll be working on it, wherever he is.

• Dr. Anton Phibes : Work faster, Doctor! The acid is descending! My wife existed only six minutes on the operating table, and then she was dead. You murdered her...

  Dr. Vesalius : No!

  Dr. Anton Phibes : *MURDERED HER*... But *he* will have what *she* did not: a second chance!