Carnival of Souls (1962)

Frances Feist: Mrs. Thomas - Landlady

Photos 

Quotes 

• Mrs. Thomas : [to Mary, a line she will repeat]  You can take all the baths you want. I'm not one to fuss about things like that.

• Mrs. Thomas : [she runs the boardinghouse, she has just served Mary a late-night sandwich, and poured a cup of coffee, just before bedtime]  Now, you just go and eat that sandwich I made for you. Don't drink the coffee, if coffee keeps you awake.

  Mary Henry : It won't.

  [after Mrs. Thomas leaves the room] 

  Mary Henry : Coffee never keeps me awake.

  [quick cut to the next scene, Mary is lying in bed, owl-eyed, staring out the window, and unable to sleep.] 

• Mrs. Thomas : You just let your imagination run away with you.

• Mrs. Thomas : That experience must have been a serious emotional shock.

  Mary Henry : You think I imagined all of it, don't you? You think I'm insane.

  Mrs. Thomas : I didn't say that. I don't mean that.

  Mary Henry : I'm a competent person. If anything, I'm a realist. I'm not given to imagining anything.

  Mrs. Thomas : Hogwash. All of us imagine things. Have you ever heard two men talking behind your back and imagined they were talking about you? Have you ever imagined you saw someone you knew and walked up to them and found they were a perfect stranger?

  Mary Henry : I don't see what this has to do with it.

  Mrs. Thomas : The point is this. Our imaginations play tricks on us. They often misinterpret what we see and hear. Do you agree?

  Mary Henry : I suppose so.

  Mrs. Thomas : If that can happen in ordinary times, go a step further. Look what can happen in a high fever or following a serious emotional shock.

• Mrs. Thomas : Do you have a boyfriend here or back home?

  Mary Henry : No, I have no desire for one.

  Mrs. Thomas : Never?

  Mary Henry : No. I'm surprised by myself saying that, but it's true. I have no desire for the closed company of other people.

  Mrs. Thomas : Have you always felt this way?

  Mary Henry : I... I don't know.

  Mrs. Thomas : Don't you want to join in the things that other people do? Share the experiences of other people?

  Mary Henry : I don't think capable of being very close to people. I do feel that perhaps I am trying to reach out for those other things.