The Twilight Zone (TV Series)

Judgment Night (1959)

Nehemiah Persoff: Carl Lanser

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Quotes 

• Lt. Mueller : I just, I just found it difficult to...

  Carl Lanser : To do what?

  Lt. Mueller : To reconcile the killing of men and women without any warning. Makes me wonder if we're not damned now.

  Carl Lanser : In the eyes of the British admiralty, we most certainly are.

  Lt. Mueller : I mean, sir, in the eyes of God.

  Carl Lanser : Oh, you're not only a fool, Leutnant, but also a religious fool, and perhaps a mystic at that. Suppose we are damned. What will happen then?

  Lt. Mueller : I've had dreams about it. Perhaps there is a special kind of hell for people like us. Perhaps to be damned is to have a fate like the people on that ship, to suffer as they suffer and to die as they die.

  Carl Lanser : You are a mystic, Leutnant.

  Lt. Mueller : We'd ride the ghost of that ship every night. Every night, Herr Kapitän, for eternity. They could die only once, just once, but we could die a hundred million times. We could ride the ghost of that ship every night. Every night for eternity.

• Captain Wilbur : Are you all right, Mr. Lanser? I mean, is there anything - well, anything that you want to tell us?

  Carl Lanser : There is very little that I can tell you, as I don't remember anything. I don't really know how I got on this ship. I don't recall anything about it. I seem to remember only odd disjointed things. I know, for example, that my name is Carl Lanser. I know that I was born in Frankfurt.

  Captain Wilbur : Go on, Mr. Lanser.

  Carl Lanser : Go on? Go on how? It seems to be all that I know.

• Carl Lanser : [at 1:15, when the U-boat arrives]  The U-boat's coming. We have to get the engines started. No, we must abandon ship. Yes! We must abandon ship, yes! We must abandon ship!

  [he goes outside of the cabin, only to see the light of the U-boat] 

  Carl Lanser : IT'S HERE! That's the U-boat out there! The U-boat's here! The U-boat's here! We've got to get out of here, everybody! We have got to leave the ship! Everybody! They're going to sink us! Don't you hear me? Are you out of your minds, all of you? There's a U-boat out there! I saw it! She's going to sink us! What do I have to do to you? Do I have to grab you and put you on deck? Do I have to grab you bodily and put you in the lifeboats? Do I have to knock you unconscious or...?

  [the passengers suddenly vanish] 

• Barbara Stanley : Mr. Lanser, are you all right?

  Carl Lanser : Yes, yes, I'm all right. It's just that I have these crazy feelings.

  Barbara Stanley : What?

  Carl Lanser : A feeling of doing things, saying things.

  Barbara Stanley : The feeling that you've done them before?

  [Lanser nods] 

  Barbara Stanley : I know that feeling. I've had it occasionally. Being in a room somewhere and being able to swear that you've been there before. Even the conversation will seem identical to another time.

  Carl Lanser : And the people?

  Barbara Stanley : Yes, and the people, too.

  Carl Lanser : How odd. I don't seem to recall. I don't seem to recall getting on this ship or anything else, for that matter. It's suddenly as if I woke up and found myself standing on deck and hearing your voices coming from the salon.

  Barbara Stanley : Like amnesia.

  Carl Lanser : No, not really. I know who I am. I'm Carl Lanser. I am Carl Lanser. I was born in Frankurt, Germany. I'm in the...

  [goes blank] 

• 1st Steward : [helping Lanser unpack his belongings in his cabin]  I believe that's it, sir. Anything else I can do to help?

  [sees a cap in a suitcase that he didn't notice before] 

  1st Steward : Oh, I didn't see this.

  [takes the cap out of the suitcase] 

  1st Steward : War souvenir, sir?

  Carl Lanser : Beg pardon?

  1st Steward : This, sir. I was wondering if it was a war souvenir.

  Carl Lanser : War souvenir?

  1st Steward : Yes, sir. German Naval Officer's cap, submarine commander, as a matter of fact, sir.

  Carl Lanser : [grabbing the cap]  Don't touch anything that doesn't concern you.

  1st Steward : Terribly sorry, sir. I thought I might hang it up for you.

  Carl Lanser : That won't be necessary. I'll hang it up mys...

  [looks into the lining of the cap and sees that sewn into it is his own name with the words "Captain-Lieutenant Kriegsmarine"; Lanser looks up, bewildered]