Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2019 October 22

Welcome to the Wikipedia Entertainment Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

October 22

Source of a film quote

Only one is a wanderer. Two together are always going somewhere was spoken by Kim Novak in Vertigo (film).

I know the names of the screenwriters and the writers who jointly wrote the original novel on which the screenplay was based.

I want to know whether this exact quote appeared in the original novel, or was an invention of the screenwriters. Short of getting hold of the novel (unlikely), or being lucky enough to find its searchable text online (even more unlikely), how would I find out? -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 09:05, 22 October 2019 (UTC)

I can't help you I'm afraid as I don't have the book, but why do you think getting hold of it is so difficult? It might be out of print, but second-hand copies are freely available on used book websites. I might also be able to access a searchable online version of it, if you give me a day or two. --Viennese Waltz 12:02, 22 October 2019 (UTC)

@JackofOz: Try asking at WP:RX if someone has access to the book. RudolfRed (talk) 16:27, 22 October 2019 (UTC)

Shmoop attributes it to Samuel A. Taylor:

"Coppel had worked out many of the specifics of the adaptation, but Taylor was the one who gave the film's dialogue its final form. Besides hammering out the zingers we know and love—lines like Madeleine's "Only one is a wanderer. Two together are always going somewhere"—Taylor made a crucial addition to the film: he created the character of Midge, who represents good humor, optimism and sanity in a film filled with its opposite." ([1])

That part is unfortunately unsourced. I found sources for Taylor having created Midge, but nothing more on the famous quote. It sounds like it wasn't part of the novel, but I can access neither the original nor a translation of D'entre les morts. ---Sluzzelin talk 17:41, 22 October 2019 (UTC)

• Thanks for your troubles, dear colleagues. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 21:28, 27 October 2019 (UTC)

@JackofOz:, I don't speak French so can't help with the original novel although it's not clear to me if any of Maxwell Anderson, Alec Coppel or Samuel Taylor did either. The Living and the Dead (Boileau-Narcejac novel) English translation came out in 1956, so probably more than enough time for the screenplay to be written based mostly on it rather than the French, especially since I guess they could have had access before release. Anyway for the English translation by Geoffrey Sainsbury, which is currently available including as an ebook (e.g. [2] [3]) under the title Vertigo by Pushkin Vertigo [4] the only mention I can find of wanderer is "Ah! Not to think! He was advancing towards the black abysses of unconsciousness like the wanderer who quickens his step nearing home." which doesn't seem to be the same thing. I also had a quick look for "together" and didn't find any dialogue which seems remotely similar. While I'm not sure if the Pushkin Vertigo edition has any changes from the original English translation, if that's an iconic line from the film adaptation it seems weird it would be removed unless by someone who hadn't seen the film. The translator is listed as Geoffrey Sainsbury so it's not a new translation. Nil Einne (talk) 11:26, 29 October 2019 (UTC)

Thanks, Nil Einne. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 14:02, 29 October 2019 (UTC)