How to flirt with Cary Grant on the train to Chicago

A scene from the film "North By Northwest"

• Transcript
• Language functions, role-play situations, and vocabulary
• Handout 1: Transcript, Language Functions, and Role-play Situations
• Handout 2: Vocabulary
• Handout 3: Comprehension Questions

Part 1: At the Station:

• (Roger bumps into a young woman (Eve) as he walks down the train corridor.)
• Roger: Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
• Eve: My fault...Bye.
• (Roger disappears into a compartment to hide.)
• (The police enter. Eve points in the opposite direction to help him.)
• Eve: He went that way. I think he got off.
• Conductor: All aboard!
• Roger: Thank you.
• Eve: It's quite all right.
• Roger: Seven parking tickets.
• Eve: Oh

Part 2: In the dining car:

• (Roger enters the dining car. The waiter shows him to his seat. A beautiful young woman is seated opposite him. It's the same woman he bumped into in the hall earlier, the woman who helped him, Eve. They begin talking. We join them in the middle of their conversation.)
• Roger: (Regarding women)...somehow they seem to put me at a disadvantage.
• Eve: Because you're not honest with them.
• Roger: Exactly.
• Eve: Like that business about the seven parking tickets.
• Roger: What I mean is, the moment I meet an attractive woman I have to start pretending that I have no desire to make love to her.
• Eve: What makes you think you have to conceal it?
• Roger: She might find the idea objectionable.
• Eve: Then again, she might not.
• Roger: Think of how lucky I am to have been seated here.
• Eve: Luck had nothing to do with it.
• Roger: Fate?
• Eve: I tipped the steward five dollars to seat you here, if you should come in.
• Roger: Is that a proposition?
• Eve: I never discuss (unintelligible: love?) on an empty stomach.
• Roger: You've already eaten.
• Eve: But you haven't.
• Roger: Don't you think it's time we were introduced?
• Eve: I'm Eve Kendall. I'm 26 and unmarried. Now you know everything.
• Roger: Tell me, what do you do besides lure men to their doom on the Twentieth Century Express Limited?
• Eve: I'm an industrial designer.
• Roger: Jack Phillips. Western Sales Manager for Kimberly Electronics.
• Eve: No you're not. You're Roger Thornhill of Madison Avenue and you're wanted for murder on every front page in America and don't be so modest.
• Roger: Whoops.
• Eve: O, don't worry. I won't say a word.
• Roger: How come?
• Eve: I told you. It's a nice face.
• Roger: Is that the only reason?
• Eve: It's going to be a long night...
• Roger: True.
• Eve: ...and I don't particularly like the book I've started.
• Roger: Ahh
• Eve: You know what I mean?
• Roger: Now, let me think... Yes, I know exactly what you mean.
• Eve: (Interlude. He hands her his business card. It has the letters "R.O.T." on it.)
• Roger: My trademark: rot.
• Eve: (Reads the card.) Roger O. Thornhill. What does the the "O" stand for?
• Roger: (Unintelligible: Use your imagination and come up with a substitute.) I'd invite you to my bedroom, if I had a bedroom.
• Eve: (Unintelligible, perhaps: Do you have seat?)
• Roger: Nothing, not even a ticket. I've been playing hide-and-seek with the pullman conductor ever since the train left New York.
• Eve: How awkward for you.
• Roger: Yes, isn't it. No place to sleep.
• Eve: I have a large drawing room all to myself.
• Roger: That doesn't seem quite fair does it?
• Eve: Drawing room E. Car 3901.
• Roger: Such a nice number.
• Eve: It's easy to remember.
• Roger: 3901.
• Eve: See.
• Roger: No luggage.
• Eve: So?
• Roger: Well, you wouldn't happen to have an extra pair of pajamas would you?
• Eve: Wouldn't I? Incidentally, I wouldn't order any desert if I were you.
• Roger: I get the message.
• Eve: That isn't exactly what I meant. This train seems to be making an unscheduled stop and I just saw two men get out of a police car as we pulled into the station. They weren't smiling.
• Roger: (Roger runs back to her room and hides from the police in her bunk-bed. He manages to evade capture, but there's evidence further on in the film that he slept on the floor.)

Information:

• Functions: flirting (smalltalk between two people of the opposite sex), innuendo, excusing yourself when you bump into someone, helping someone evade capture, introducing yourself, being modest, telling someone that they shouldn't be modest, politely imposing on someone
• Role-play Situation 1: You got in an argument with your roommate and the roommate managed to kick you out of the house and lock the door so you can't get back in. You go to the house of another friend of yours and while you're talking you try to drop hints that you need a place to sleep tonight, that you might even need a pair of pajamas to sleep in. You try to be indirect because you don't want to impose on him or her.
• Role-play Situation 2 Your son runs into the house and says he's being chased by some gang members. You look out the window and see some scary looking guys with ski masks on their faces. You quickly try to find a place where your son can hide. The guys with ski masks break the window of your house and enter. You tell them, pointing to the backyard, that you just saw a boy jump over the backyard fence. They run off in that direction. You pull your son out and ask him what happened. When he explains, you can tell that he is lieing. You demand the truth.
• Role-play Situation 3 You're sitting by yourself eating your lunch in the company cafeteria when you look up from your plate. There's a beautiful woman (handsome man) sitting in front of you. They ask if it's all right if they sit there. You say yes. You go back to eating your lunch, but the person in front of you asks you a stupid question the sole purpose of which seems to be to get you to talk. You jump on the opportunity and give a very long answer and a follow-up question to keep the conversation going. You're continually on the look-out for an opportunity to suggest a future meeting.
• Role-play Situation 4 You're the president of a company and you're eating lunch in the company cafeteria today. A new employee right out of college sits down in front of you and tries to strike up a conversation. You're glad to have an opportunity to have a face-to-face talk with someone who doesn't treat you different because you have a lot of power. When he asks you which department you work in you tell a little white lie, that you're the assistant manager in the mailroom, but the more questions the new recruit asks the more obvious it becomes that you are a powerful person in the company. Finally, you admit that you are actually the president.
• Vocabulary: wanted by the police, stab in the back, bump into (both meanings: meet accidentally and hit with body), corridor, it's my fault, a compartment, it's all right, he went thatta way, All aboard!, parking tickets, dining car, sleeping car, tip the steward, then again..., do business on an empty stomach, lure men to their doom, the Twentieth Century Express Limited, industrial designer, Western Sales Manager, Madison Avenue, wanted for murder, front page, don't be so modest, whoops, don't worry, I won't say a word, How come?, business card, trademark, rot, hide-and-seek, pullman car, conductor, how awkward for you, a drawing room, that doesn't seem fair, luggage, you wouldn't happen to have a..., I wouldn't...if I were you, I get the message, that isn't what I meant, an unscheduled stop.

Vocabulary grouped by the schemas they might invoke:

• CRIMES: wanted by the police, parking tickets, wanted for murder, front page, he went thatta way
• TRAINS: corridor, compartment, All aboard!, dining car, sleeping car, pullman car, tip the steward, the Twentieth Century Express Limited, an unscheduled stop, a drawing room, conductor, luggage
• BUSINESS: Western Sales Manager, Madison Avenue, industrial designer business card, do business on an empty stomach, trademark
• ACCIDENTS: whoops, bump into, it's my fault
• BAD THINGS: stab in the back, lure men to their doom, rot
• ADVICE/COMMENTS:how awkward for you, don't be so modest, I wouldn't...if I were you, don't worry, it's all right, that doesn't seem fair
• UNDERSTANDING/MISUNDERSTANDINGHow come?, I get the message, that isn't what I meant
• OTHER: I won't say a word, you wouldn't happen to have a..., then again..., hide-and-seek