Thorwald Quotes

Jeff: Those two yellow zinnias at the end, they're shorter now. Now since when do flowers grow shorter over the course of two weeks? Something's buried there.
Lisa: Mrs. Thorwald!
Stella: You haven't spent much time around cemeteries, have you? Mr. Thorwald could hardly bury his wife's body in plot of ground about one foot square.

Unless he put her in standing on end, in which case he wouldn't need the knives and saw.

[Jeff dials the number for Thorwald's phone. Thorwald is seen from a distance walking over to the phone and standing by it]
Jeff: [quietly to himself] Come on, Thorwald, answer it. Come on, you're curious. You wonder if it's your girlfriend calling. The one you killed for. Go on, pick it up!
[Thorwald is seen picking up the phone]
Lars

Thorwald: [voice] Hello?
Jeff: Did you get my note? Well, did you get it Thorwald?
Lars Thorwald: [voice] Who are you?
Jeff: I'll give you a chance to find out. Meet me in the bar at the Albert Hotel. Do it right away.
Lars Thorwald: [voice] Why should I?
Jeff: A little

business meeting... to settle the estate of your late wife.
Lars Thorwald: [voice] I... I don't know what you mean.
Jeff: Come on, quit stalling or I'll hang up and call the police. Would you like that?
Lars Thorwald: [voice] I only have 100 dollars or so.
Jeff: That's a start. I'm at the Albert now.

I'll be looking for you.
[Jeff hangs up]

Jeff: Who said they left then?
Lt. Doyle: Who left where?
Jeff: The Thorwalds at six o'clock in the morning yesterday.
Lt. Doyle: The building superintendant and two tennants in the building lobby. Flat out statements with no hesitation. The Thorwalds were on their way to the railroad station.

Jeff: Now Tom, how could anyone possible guess that? Did they have signs on their luggage saying 'Grand Central or Bust'?
Lt. Doyle: The superintenant met Thorwald when he came back. When he asked where he'd been, Mr. Thorwald told him that he took his wife to Grand Central Railroad Station and put her on a train for the country. See?

Jeff: I see. This superintenant must be a pretty bright guy. Have you checked his bank statements recently? See if he was paid off?
Lt. Doyle: [bewildered] Huh?
Jeff: Well, what good is his information? It's a second-hand version of an unsupported story by the murderer himself: Thorwald. Now, did anyone actually see the woman that

Thorwald was with get on the train?
Lt. Doyle: Jeff, I hate to bring this up but this whole thing started because you said she was murdered. Now, did you or anyone else see Mrs. Thorwald being murdered?

Jeff: All right, Doyle. I take it that you didn't find the trunk. And all of this is just some speech you made up one night at a policeman's ball!
Lt. Doyle: I found the trunk, a half an hour after I left here this morning. It was at Grand Central Station.
Lisa: I suppose it's necessary for a man to tie up a trunk with heavy rope?

Lt. Doyle: If the lock is broken, yes.
Jeff: And what did you find inside the trunk? Surely no tomato paste to me?
Lt. Doyle: Mrs. Thorwald's clothes. Clean, well-packed, not stylish, but presentable.
Lisa: Didn't you take them to the police crime lab to have them examined?
Lt.

Doyle: I re-packed them and sent them on their merry and legal way.
Jeff: Why would a woman who is going away for a short trip does she take everything that she owns?
Lt. Doyle: [glares at Lisa] Let's let the female psychologist answer that.
Lisa: It's looks to me like she is never coming back.
Lt.

Doyle: Now, that is known as a private family quarrel.
Jeff: All right, but if she was never coming back, why didn't he tell his landlord that? I'll tell you why: Thorwald never told his landlord that his wife was never coming back. It's because he was hiding something in the apartment... or he still is.
Lt. Doyle: [stares at Lisa's

overnight bag nearby] Do you tell your landlord everything?
Jeff: [embarassed] Uh... I told you to be careful, Tom.