All That Heaven Allows (1955)
Screenwriter(s): Peg Fenwick

Salesman's Pitch for a New Television

The scene in which fortyish widow Cary Scott (Jane Wyman), after suspending her love affair with her handsome gardener Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson), was presented with a brand new TV set (adorned with red ribbons) as a Christmas present to keep her company - she saw her reflection on the screen as the salesman told her:

All you have to do is turn that dial and you have all the company you want right there on the screen - drama, comedy, life's parade at your fingertips...

Bride of the Monster (1955)
Screenwriter(s): Edward D. Wood, Jr., Alex Gordon

"I Have No Home"

In Ed Wood Jr.'s B-horror film, Dr. Vornoff (Bela Lugosi) gave an impassioned speech to Prof. Strowski (George Becwar) about his exile and plans for revenge:

...Home? I have no home. Hunted, despised, living like an animal! The jungle is my home. But I will show the world that I can be its master! I will perfect my own race of people. A race of atomic supermen which will conquer the world!

[The speech was recreated memorably in Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994) by Martin Landau, portraying Lugosi.]

East of Eden (1955)
Screenwriter(s): Paul Osborn

"It's Awful Not to Be Loved"

Abra's (Julie Harris) "It's awful not to be loved" speech to bedridden Mr. Adam Trask (Raymond Massey) regarding his relationship with son Cal (James Dean):

Mr. Trask, it's awful not to be loved. It's the worst thing in the world. Don't ask me -- even if you could -- how I know that. I just know it.

Guys and Dolls (1955)
Screenwriter(s): Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Very Valuable Advice: "You're Going To Wind Up With An Ear Full of Cider"

Sky Masterson (Marlon Brando) to fellow gambler Nathan Detroit (Frank Sinatra), who attempted to wager a bet to win $1,000:

On the day when I left home to make my way in the world, my Daddy took me to one side. 'Son,' my Daddy says to me, 'I am sorry I am not able to bankroll you to a very large start, but not having the necessary lettuce to get you rolling, instead I'm going to stake you to some very valuable advice.

One of these days in your travels, a guy is going to show you a brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is not yet broken. Then this guy is going to offer to bet you that he can make the jack of spades jump out of this brand-new deck of cards and squirt cider in your ear. But, son, you do not accept this bet, because as sure as you stand there, you're going to wind up with an ear full of cider.'

Marty (1955)
Screenwriter(s): Paddy Chayefsky

"Dogs Like Us, We Ain't Such Dogs As We Think We Are!"

Unmarried, lovelorn middle-aged, 34 year-old Bronx butcher Marty (Ernest Borgnine) (calling himself "a professor of pain") awkwardly attempted to make a dance date, an equally 29 year-old plain girl named Clara Snyder (Betsy Blair), feel better by telling her about his own rejections and ugliness:

And I also want you to know that I'm having a very good time with you right now and really enjoyin' myself. You see, you're not such a dog as you think you are. (Clara: "I'm having a very good time too.") So there you are. So I guess I'm not such a dog as I think I am. (Clara: "You're a very nice guy. I don't know why some girl hasn't grabbed you off long ago.")

Well, I don't know either. I think I'm a very nice guy. I also think I'm a pretty smart guy in my own way...You know how I figure. Two people get married and are gonna live together forty or fifty years, so it's gotta be more than whether they're just good-looking or not. Now you tell me you think you're not so good looking. Well, my father was a real ugly man but my mother adored him. She told me how she used to get so miserable sometimes - like everybody, you know? And, and she says my father always tried to understand. I used to see them sometimes when I was a kid sittin' in the living room talkin' and talkin'. And I used to adore my old man because he was always so kind. That's one of the most beautiful things I have in my life - the way my father and mother were. And my father was a real ugly man. So it doesn't matter if you look like a gorilla. You see, dogs like us, we ain't such dogs as we think we are.

The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Screenwriter(s): James Agee, Charles Laughton (uncredited)

An Insane Preacher's Prayer

The insane, memorable, and perversely-evil, chilling prayer of "Preacher" Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), a killer-evangelist with borderline sanity who glanced heavenward while driving:

Well now, what's it to be, Lord? Another widow? How many has it been? Six? Twelve? I disremember. You say the word, Lord, I'm on my way...You always send me money to go forth and preach your Word. The widow with a little wad of bills hid away in a sugar bowl. Lord, I am tired. Sometimes I wonder if you really understand. Not that You mind the killin's. Yore Book is full of killin's. But there are things you do hate Lord: perfume-smellin' things, lacy things, things with curly hair.

The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Screenwriter(s): James Agee, Charles Laughton (uncredited)

Tattoos and the Famous Tale of "L-O-V-E" and "H-A-T-E"

The Preacher's explanation of the tattoos on his fingers to little John Harper (Billy Chapin) and others listening in the Spoon's ice-cream parlor:

Ah, little lad, you're staring at my fingers. Would you like me to tell you the little story of right-hand / left-hand? The story of good and evil? H-A-T-E! It was with this left hand that old brother Cain struck the blow that laid his brother low. L-O-V-E! You see these fingers, dear hearts? These fingers has veins that run straight to the soul of man. The right hand, friends, the hand of love. Now watch, and I'll show you the story of life. Those fingers, dear hearts, is always a-warring and a-tugging, one agin t'other. Now watch 'em! Old brother left hand, left hand he's a fighting, and it looks like love's a goner. But wait a minute! Hot dog, love's a winning! Yessirreee! It's love that's won, and old left hand hate is down for the count!

Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Screenwriter(s): Stewart Stern

"Dirty Tramp" Speech

Judy's (Natalie Wood) "dirty tramp" speech about her father:

He must hate me. He hates me. I know he does. He looks at me like I'm the ugliest thing in the world. He doesn't like my friends. He doesn't like one thing about me. He called me - he called me a dirty tramp.

The Seven Year Itch (1955)
Screenwriter(s): Billy Wilder, George Axelrod

Summer Rituals in NYC

The comic opening voice-over monologue by the Narrator (Joshua Logan) told about the virtually identical summer rituals of the Manhattan Indians and Manhattanites 500 years later. Husbands would say goodbye to their wives, and then follow after attractive females a moment later:

The island of Manhattan derives its name from its earliest inhabitants - the Manhattan Indians. They were a peaceful tribe, setting traps, fishing, hunting. And there was a custom among them. Every July, when the heat and the humidity on the island became unbearable, they would send their wives and children away for the summer, up the river to the cooler highlands, or, if they could afford it, to the seashore. The husbands, of course, would remain behind on the steaming island to attend to business - setting traps, fishing, and hunting. [As soon as the Indian squaws were out of sight, the Indian chiefs followed an attractive Indian squaw.]

Actually, our story has nothing whatsoever to do with Indians. It plays 500 years later...We only brought up the subject to show you that in all that time, nothing has changed. Manhattan husbands still send their wives and kids away for the summer, and they still remain behind in the steaming city to attend to business, setting traps, fishing, and hunting. Now we want you to meet a typical Manhattan husband whose family is leaving for the summer...

The Seven Year Itch (1955)
Screenwriter(s): Billy Wilder, George Axelrod

Virtues of Nudity and Naturism

A plain and middle-aged waitress (Doro Merande) in a vegetarian restaurant on 3rd Avenue espoused the virtues of nudity and naturism to Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell). She explained that although she didn't accept tips, she did solicit contributions for a fund established for a nudist camp:

Nudism is such a worthy cause. We must bring the message to the people. We must teach them to unmask their poor suffocating bodies and let them breathe again. Clothes are the enemy. Without clothes, there'd be no sickness, there'd be no war. I ask you, sir, can you imagine two great armies on the battlefield, no uniforms, completely nude? No way of telling friend from foe. All brothers, together.

The Seven Year Itch (1955)
Screenwriter(s): Billy Wilder, George Axelrod

"What a Pretty Girl Wants"

The Girl (Marilyn Monroe) listened to neighbor Richard Sherman's (Tom Ewell) assertion about his vivid imagination: "It's just my imagination. Some people have flat feet. Some people have dandruff. I have this appalling imagination."

I think it's just elegant to have an imagination. I just have no imagination at all. I have lots of other things, but I have no imagination...Come on now, relax. You're just making this all up.

Sherman explained how his wife trusted him implicitly and took him for granted, not even suspecting lipstick on his collar after a Christmas office party - believing it was only cranberry sauce. He thought that women only wanted a man who looked like Gregory Peck ("Let's face it. No pretty girl in her right mind wants me. She wants Gregory Peck"). She bolstered his ego and showed some kindness to reassure him, ending with her ultimate compliment and unique accolade:

Is that so?...How do you know what a pretty girl wants?...You and your imagination. You think every girl's a dope. You think a girl goes to a party, and there's some guy - a great big lunk in a fancy striped vest, strutting around like a tiger, giving you that 'I'm so handsome, you can't resist me' look, and from this, she's supposed to fall flat on her face. Well, she doesn't fall on her face. But there's another guy in the room, way over in the corner. Maybe he's kind of nervous and shy, perspiring a little. First, you look past him, but then you sort of sense, he's gentle and kind and worried, and he'll be tender with you, nice and sweet. That's what's really exciting! If I were your wife, I'd be very jealous of you. I'd be very very jealous. (she kissed him) I think you're just elegant.