Phoebe Frost Quotes in A Foreign Affair (1948)

Captain John Pringle: How is good old Iowa?

Phoebe Frost: Sixty-two percent Republican, thank you.

Phoebe Frost: How do you know so much about women's clothing?

Captain John Pringle: My mother wears women's clothing.

Phoebe Frost: There. Now we're getting someplace. I wonder what holds up that dress...

Captain John Pringle: Must be that German willpower.

Phoebe Frost: Really, Colonel Plummer... you should have your brakes relined!

Col. Rufus J. Plummer: [as she leaves, he scratches his nose with the middle finger, apparently flipping her off. it WAS Billy Wilder, after all]

Phoebe Frost: We'll go there right now!

Captain John Pringle: Where?

Phoebe Frost: To the files!

Captain John Pringle: In the middle of the night? Shouldn't we get permission?

Phoebe Frost: Did we get permission to land in Normandy? Let's go!

Captain John Pringle: You dressed for me and to me you look good.

Phoebe Frost: John, where did you learn so much about women's clothes?

Captain John Pringle: My mother wore women's clothes.

Captain John Pringle: You don't want to go to that sewer?

Phoebe Frost: Yes, I do. I want it dark and gay and with music.

Phoebe Frost: [Addressing her fellow committee members, as she and a Congressional committee are in a plane on the approach to Berlin] Perhaps I should remind you why we were sent to Berlin... We're here to investigate the morale of American occupation troops, nothing else. 12,000 of our boys are policing that pest hole down below and according to reports, they are being infected by a kind of moral malaria. It is our duty to their wives, their mothers, their sisters, to find the facts. And if these reports are true, to fumigate that place with all the insecticides at our disposal.

Captain John Pringle: Sorry. I guess this is where the funny man says, "Shall we dance?"

Phoebe Frost: You are not a funny man, Captain Pringle. But you are quite a dancer. What a waltz we had. Good night.

[walks out]

Phoebe Frost: Colonel Plummer, in your eloquent speech, which I'm sure you've made 50 times, you used the phrase "Some of our boys may get out of line sometimes." That, gentlemen, is a masterpiece of understatement.

Col. Rufus J. Plummer: What are you driving at, Miss Frost?

Phoebe Frost: In your admirable effort to civilize this country, our boys are rapidly becoming barbarians themselves.

Col. Rufus J. Plummer: I explained on that tour...

Phoebe Frost: Yes, I know all about those tours. You put blinkers on us. You maneuver us around. You make sure we only see what you want us to see. Then you give us pamphlets, statistics, and a rousing speech and ship us back a little more bamboozled than when we came. We could have stayed at home and learned as much from Reader's Digest.

Giffin: Miss Frost. Congresswoman Frost?

Phoebe Frost: Present.

Giffin: We're flyin' over Berlin.

Phoebe Frost: Fifteen minutes ahead of schedule.

Giffin: Well, don't you want to see it?

Phoebe Frost: One thing at a time.

Giffin: You got quite a sight comin'. Looks like chicken and its fryin' time.

Phoebe Frost: Considering the amount of taxpayers money that was poured on it, I don't expect it to look like a lace valentine.

Mike: You know, you're a nice little strudel!

Joe: Hey, hands off! I saw her first.

Phoebe Frost: Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha

Phoebe Frost: Are there any other sewers like this in Berlin?

Captain John Pringle: Three or four, maybe. But, this is the best sewer.

Phoebe Frost: Col. Plummer, I didn't go for the blinkers. Now, don't try a muzzle! The last time someone wanted to gag me, he tried it with a mink coat.

Phoebe Frost: I suppose I trust you because we're both Iowans.

Captain John Pringle: Right back at you, Miss Frost!

Phoebe Frost: They certainly fiddled big while Berlin burned.

Phoebe Frost: [Looking at an old Nazi newsreel with Erika, in strapless gown, at the Opera] I wonder what holds up that dress?

Captain John Pringle: Must be that - German will power.

Phoebe Frost: I suppose I do look awful without makeup.

Captain John Pringle: No, you don't!

Phoebe Frost: We were only allowed 60 pounds of luggage. We had to eliminate unessentials.

Captain John Pringle: Never listen to another woman, if you want to know how you look. Ask a man!

Phoebe Frost: I want to make sure he's not doing something subversive.

Phoebe Frost: I loved him, insanely. I loved the southern syrup in his voice, his mint julep manners, the way he'd look at me through his long, thick eyelashes.

Captain John Pringle: Now, Congresswoman, may I have the floor?

Phoebe Frost: You are entirely out of order.

Captain John Pringle: Objection overruled.

[Kiss]

Phoebe Frost: I know he's not pretty, but he's beautiful.

Erika von Schluetow: It's give and take if we are to survive.

Phoebe Frost: What have I to give? And what do you want to take?

Phoebe Frost: Exactly what is it you want from me Fräulein von Schluetow?

Erika von Schluetow: Let's go up to my apartment. It's only a few ruins away from here.