Daily Dialogue — October 2, 2013

Susan [on phone]: Don’t be irrelevant. The point is I have a leopard and the question is what am I going to do with it?
David [on phone]: Well, Susan, I regret to say the leopard is your problem. 
Susan: You mean you refuse to help me? But David, you can’t do that, you can’t leave me home with a leopard. No, I’m going to come and get you…

She trips and falls.

David: Susan, what happened? Is it the leopard?
Susan: No, nothing happened to me, David, I just… [stops and realizes something] I mean… the leopard. DAVID, THE LEOPARD! [knocks tray to the ground with a big crash].
David: Can you hear me, Susan,
Susan [dragging phone across wall] OHHHH!!!
David: Susan, be brave! I’ll be right there, Susan!

— Bringing Up Baby (1938), screen play by Dudley Nichols & Hagar Wilde, story by Hagar Wilde

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is witty banter, suggested by kevinpgoulet.

Trivia: The final shooting script of the film comes in at 202 pages, which would equal a running time of 3 hours 22 minutes. Whether this amount of footage accounted for the rough assembly cut of the film isn’t known.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Any dialogue involving a leopard in an apartment just sets itself up for witty banter. When the actors delivering the lines are Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn.

[I’m happy to continue my journey through screwball comedies, but I welcome your suggestions as we received zero this week.] 

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