Don`t make jokes about food.

I`m first and foremost interested in the story, the characters.

I think people remember pictures not dialogue. That`s why I like pictures.

I think people remember pictures not dialogue. That`s why I like pictures.

[on Anthony Asquith] A hell of a good director.

Film is a dramatized reality and it is the director`s job to make it appear real... an audience should not be conscious of technique.

Actors can be a terrible bore on the set, though I enjoy having dinner with them.

I`ve just begun to dare to think I perhaps am a bit of an artist.

Film is a dramatised reality and it is the director`s job to make it appear real... an audience should not be conscious of technique.

I wouldn`t take the advice of a lot of so-called critics on how to shoot a close-up of a teapot.

When the great actor says the line, you can put scissors precisely at the point A and it`s wonderful. When the star says the line, you can hold for four frames longer because something else happens.

[On the Academy Awards] "If you have no hope of getting one, they`re despised. But it you have, they`re very important."

Always cast against the part and it won`t be boring.

I like making films about characters I`d like to have dinner with.

[on Charles Laughton] Charm, you see, a terrific man to work with. You had to hold him down a bit. What a talent!

My distinguishing talent is the ability to put people under the microscope, perhaps to go one or two layers farther down than some other directors.

I rather like mysteries. But I do dislike muddles.