Miss Warriner Quotes in Desk Set (1957)

Richard Sumner: [watching the computer result on "Corfu", which is mistaken as "curfew"] What the devil is this?

Bunny Watson: [also having a look] It's the poem, "Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight." Isn't that nice?

Bunny Watson: [reciting] "Cromwell will not come till sunset, and her lips grew strangely white... as she breathed the husky whisper, curfew must not a-ring tonight."

Miss Warriner: [while Bunny goes on] Mr. Sumner, what can I do?

Richard Sumner: Nothing. You know you can't interrupt her...

[the computer]

Richard Sumner: ...in the middle of a sequence.

Miss Warriner: Yes, but, Mr. Sumner...

Richard Sumner: Quiet! Just listen.

Bunny Watson: "She had listened while the judges read, without a tear or sigh, at the ringing of the curfew, Basil Underwood must die."

Richard Sumner: Uh, how long does this go on?

Bunny Watson: That old poem has about 80 stanzas to it.

Richard Sumner: Where are we now?

Bunny Watson: "She has reached the topmost ladder. O'er her hangs the great dark bell, awful is the gloom beneath her like the pathway down to hell. Lo, the ponderous tongue is swinging. 'Tis the hour of curfew now, and the sight has chilled her bosom, stopped her breath and paled her brow."

[telephone rings]

Bunny Watson: "Shall she let it ring? No, never! Flash her eyes with sudden light, as she springs and grasps it firmly...

[answers the phone]

Bunny Watson: ...curfew shall not ring tonight!"

[audible click]

Bunny Watson: They hung up. And I know another one! "Out she swung, far out, the city seemed a speck of light..."