what makes a thought start?
When a doctor is taunted for his lack of knowledge of consciousness and the soulThis abridged version of my essay first appeared in New English Review
What makes good dialogue in a film? For me, good dialogue is like great poetry where the real meaning can sometimes be hidden or disguised beneath the words. It should also avoid being pretentious when pondering on the meaning of life and the suffering we face during our daily struggles.
The Body Snatcher (1945), directed by Robert Wise, is based on a story by Robert Louis Stevenson, and screen-written by Phillip MacDonald. This little movie gem from the 1940s is quite wicked and darkly complemented with eerie, foggy night street scenes, albeit studio-staged, of early-19th century Edinburgh. In this scene below, a grave-robber named John Gray (Boris Karloff) walks into a local inn where the doctor he supplies bodies to, ‘Toddy’ MacFarlane (Henry Daniell) is at a table having a drink. Gray, who recognises his own evil deeds, starts to taunt MacFarlane and his lack of knowledge of consciousness and the soul.
INTERIOR. AN INN. EDINBURGH CITY. NIGHT.
(GRAY approaches MACFARLANE sitting at a table and sits down beside him. During the conversation, GRAY turns aggressive, taunting MACFARLANE and telling him he’s no doctor, as MACFARLANE tries to defend himself)
Edited:
MACFARLANE
…I am a doctor. I teach medicine.
GRAY
Like Knox taught you? Like I taught you? In cellars and graveyards? Did Knox teach you what makes the blood flow?
MACFARLANE
The heart pumps it.
GRAY
Did he tell you how thoughts come and how they go and why things are remembered and forgot?
MACFARLANE
The nerve centers – the brain.
GRAY
But what makes a thought start?
MACFARLANE
(fuzzily)
In the brain, I tell you. I know.
GRAY
You don’t know and you’ll never know or understand, Toddy. Not from me or from Knox would you learn those things. Look – He points to a mirror behind MacFarlane’s head.
GRAY (CONT’D)
Look at yourself, Toddy, could you be a doctor – a healing man – with the things those eyes have seen? There’s a lot of knowledge in those eyes, but there’s no understanding. You’d not get that from me.
