Daily Dialogue — April 6, 2015

MORTON: Who’s that? Who’s that officer? You, boy! Yes, you. Come here. Are you one of my officers?
PULVER: Yes sir.
MORTON: What’s your name again?
PULVER: Ensign Pulver, sir.
MORTON: Well, I’m glad to see there’s someone aboard this vessel knows how to salute. Pulver? How is it I don’t see you around much, Pulver?
PULVER: I’ve often wondered the same thing myself, sir.
MORTON: What’s your job, Pulver?
PULVER: Officer in charge of laundry and morale, sir.
MORTON: How long have you been aboard, Pulver?
PULVER: Fourteen months, sir.
MORTON: Fourteen months? Oh, spend most of your time in the laundry, huh?
PULVER: Well, yes sir, most of the time. Yes, sir.
MORTON: Well, you do a very good job, Pulver.
PULVER: Thank you, sir.
MORTON: Except for one thing.
PULVER: Sir?
MORTON: I don’t like starch in my pajamas. You’ll watch out for that, won’t you Pulver?
PULVER: Yes, sir.
MORTON: Fine. Doing very good work, Pulver. You must come to my cabin sometime and have dinner.

Roberts starts teasing Pulver as soon as the Captain leaves.

PULVER: Cut it out! Cut it out, Doug. Now, knock it off. Oh cut it out! Oh, wait ’till next week, Doug, you just wait. Wait ’till next week he gets his laundry, you wait and see. Doug, I’m gonna get some starch–you know, some of that real thick starch like the use on nurses’ unif–

— Mister Roberts (1955), screenplay by Frank S. Nugent, Joshua Logan, novel by Thomas Heggen

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Interrogation. Today’s suggestion by Will King.

Trivia: Before shooting the scene where Pulver identifies himself and tells Capt. Morton (James Cagney that he’s been on the ship for “14 months, sir”, Cagney realized that he would have to rehearse the moment with Jack Lemmon again and again so he wouldn’t burst out laughing during the actual filming. Lemmon agreed, and when the scene was filmed Cagney claimed he was just barely able to hang on with a straight face, even after all the rehearsal time.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Will: “We often think of interrogations as something used in torture scenes, police dramas and espionage films, but this scene, a comic moment in the dramatic film Mister Roberts, is just as intense for poor Ensign Pulver. Throughout the film, Ensign Pulver (Jack Lemmon) has pretended bravado against the ship’s egotistical Captain Morton (James Cagney), while at the same time desperately avoiding the captain in person. In this scene, Pulver accidentally comes face-to-face with the captain, and gets grilled because the captain doesn’t recognize him. Pulver’s veneer of bravado is stripped away and Mister Roberts (Henry Fonda) won’t let him live it down.”

If you have a suggestion for this week’s theme, please post to comments — and thanks!