Comrade X (1940)

Hedy Lamarr: Theodore

Photos 

Quotes 

• Mac Thompson : I, uh, I got a confession to make. I lied to you.

  Theodora : What about?

  Mac Thompson : The USA. It ain't a spiritual desert. Say, it's pie a la mode, two-pants suits and the home of the brave, Pike's Peak and Coney Island.

• Theodora : Why did you do this to me, Mac?

  Mac Thompson : Why does a man lie to a woman?... because he loves her.

• Theodora : [to Mac]  You are the first American I have ever met with a soul. It has a strange effect on me.

  [They kiss] 

• Mac Thompson : Ever hear of the Brooklyn Dodgers?

  Theodora : No.

  Mac Thompson : They get murdered every day.

  Theodora : Murdered? What for?

  Mac Thompson : For making some little errors.

  Theodora : There must be a revolution soon in America.

  Mac Thompson : No, you can't have a revolution with people who believe in hot dogs and boogie woogie.

• Mac Thompson : American men are usually all alike. All interested in only one thing.

  Theodora : Money.

  Mac Thompson : Oh, worst than that. The rights of the masses mean nothing to them.

  Theodora : Like animals - without souls.

  Mac Thompson : Why, over there, men look on women as just toys to have fun with! Nothing more! Not to exchange views on economics with and things like that.

  Theodora : That's awful!

• Theodora : Under the Soviet, marriage is the same as any place else.

  Mac Thompson : Only shorter.

  Theodora : It is like going into partnership with somebody and opening a store. If business is bad, store closes.

• Theodora : [describing the crew of the Russian tank]  Pilot, co-pilot, co-copilot, co-co-co-pilot.

• Theodora : My name is Theodore!

  Mac Thompson : You don't look like Theodore to me.

  Theodora : I was named at the Workers Council.

  Mac Thompson : Somebody didn't have his glasses on.

  Theodora : It is not glasses, it is the law. Streetcars must be driven by males. That's why they change me.

  Mac Thompson : I'm glad they didn't graft a beard on you!

• Theodora : The problem of taking the masses away from the boogie boogie is a difficult one.

• Mac Thompson : You know what's been wrong with Communist propaganda in America?

  Theodora : What can be wrong with it?

  Mac Thompson : Too many cross-eyed people with whiskers peddling it.

  Theodora : Oh, you mean intellectuals.

  Mac Thompson : That's right. Comrade, it's an inspiration!

  Theodora : What is?

  Mac Thompson : One beautiful girl with a smile of an angel, whispering, "I love Russia." It's worth a whole wagon load of intellectuals.

• Theodora : We will walk.

  Mac Thompson : To Moscow? That's seven miles!

  Theodora : What does it matter? We have so much to talk about.

• Mac Thompson : Okay, Theodore, just when were you figuring on this marriage?

  Theodora : Tonight.

  Mac Thompson : Isn't it a little late?

  Vanya : Oh, no, Mr. Thompson. That's all right. The Marriage Bureau keeps open until 1:00AM. Statistics show that people want to get married at night more than in the morning!

• Mac Thompson : Charm, beauty, appeal! That's the way you're going to spread Communism in the new world. We both agreed on it. All right, here. Put this on.

  [gives Theodora a nightgown] 

  Theodora : I am going to spread Communism in this?

  Mac Thompson : Like a house afire. Now, go on. You've got a job to do, do it right!

  Theodora : I'm obeying you blindly, Comrade.

  Mac Thompson : Don't worry. I'm running this propaganda unit.

• Mac Thompson : Yes, she's very smart.

  Jane Wilson : To marry MacKinley B. Thompson, that's not smart, that's wizardry! Well, congratulations, my dear. I didn't think it could be done without a police warrant.

  Theodora : You are a sweetheart?

  Jane Wilson : Oh, relax honey. I'm one of the alumni.

• Mac Thompson : Give me that key.

  Theodora : Oh, no! You are going to have a talk with me. Right here! Right now!

  Mac Thompson : I don't talk to ladies that start yelling. It's a rule I've got. Now, be a good girl and give me that key.

• Theodora : What is love? An accident. Gorky says love is the failure of the mind to understand nature.

  Vanya : Gorky Schmorky, I say you should be lying in a field of daisies and look where I have brought you.

• Theodora : We are in the cell for the dead. Our time will come soon. Bastakoff will be proud of us.

  Mac Thompson : Hey, listen, baby. You're two jumps ahead of a butterfly net, like nearly all the Russians I know. They've all blindfolded themselves and they're hanging from the chandeliers by their toes, throwing rocks at each other.

• Theodora : You are telling me Bastakoff is a police commissar? No!

  Mac Thompson : He ain't nothin' else, but, baby.

• Mac Thompson : I got a confession to make. I lied to you.

  Theodora : What about?

  Mac Thompson : The USA. It ain't a spiritual desert. Say, it's pie a la mode. Two pant suits and a home of the brave. Pike's Peak and Coney Island. And I told you wrong about the Brooklyn Dodgers. They finished in second place!

• [last lines] 

  Vanya : Go on! Go on to third!

  Theodora : It's a homerun. Come on, Brooklyn!

  Vanya : May I ask, what is going on?

  Theodora : The Dodgers are murdering the Reds!

  Vanya : Ah-hah! The counter-revolution!

• Theodora : I read in Pravda, 10 million people starved to death last winter in the United States, and there was nobody to bury them.

  Mac Thompson : They don't bury people in the United States. They burn them.

• Mac Thompson : What is love - an accident?

  Theodora : Gorsky says love is the failure of the mind to understand nature.