"You interest me strangely!" This line was in a 1930s-40s movie (the
type Conrad Nagel would be in) that I once saw on TV. As I recall, two
men in business suits were in a study or gentlemen's club. One said
something intriguing, and the other answered with this line, followed
by something like "Do go on." I love the line, and have been using it
ever since-- much to the tentative unease of those to whom I say it.
Can you help me find at least the name of the movie?

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Request for Question Clarification by xemion-ga on 05 Jul 2002 15:15 PDT

Could you please clarify whether or not ryanbin's comment answered
your question?  If it's the wrong show or series, then I can look for
a different one.  Otherwise, I won't bother researching your question
any further.  Thank you.

xemion-ga

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Clarification of Question by evergreen-ga on 06 Jul 2002 20:16 PDT

Thanks to all -- I'm astounded how many people found so many leads in
such a short time with so little to go on!

xemion, I think it's been found, but I welcome your comments.

lrargerich's Batman reference is, I think, too recent; but it does
show that the phrase has lodged in _others'_ psyches!

pinkfreud, thanks for the Rohmer reference. I've heard of but never
read his work, and now want to. But the silent movie wouldn't have
been my source. As _ultimate_ source of the remark, Sherlock seems a
shoe in! (Say _that_ three times, fast!) Thanks also for the useful
Wodehouse references.

ryanbin, you seem to have put in the final nail. It probably was from
"Thank You, Jeeves" (cited by pinkfreud). And if "You interest me
strangely" is indeed common in Wodehouse books, it is still likely to
have been in a Jeeves movie. Notwithstanding the complaint of the imdb
"critic" that the movies were inauthentic, the remark itself is a
catchy phrase bound to be included regardless.

To further back this choice ("Thank You, Jeeves"): It fits the
business suit/gentlemen's club motif well. I love English comedy,
including Wodehouse, and used to watch (and read, and listen to) all I
could find. (I especially remember Arthur Treacher.) Plus, a few
decades ago local TV stations in Los Angeles padded their schedules in
non-prime-time hours with English films of the '30s, '40s and '50s --
especially Ealing Studios comedies (including Alec Guinness's
masterpieces!) and World War II prison camp escape dramas. (Apparently
they were plentiful and low in rental/royalty fees.)

Thank you all! This was my maiden voyage with Google Answers, and I am
well pleased. I'm not sure where the fee goes, but it was certainly
worth $30.50 to me to find out a source. I love saying the line, even
though (or maybe especially) because it freaks people out a little...
but the first time I use it with someone I'm obliged to explain it. My
explanation used to be, necessarily, long and lumpy; but now I can
just say "It's from Wodehouse/Jeeves/an English comedy," as
appropriate.

I searched on your quotation and tracked it back to P. G. Wodehouse,
the famous author.  It's a line that one of the characters in his
books, Bertie Wooster, apparently used alot.

The only screen adaptation I could find of Wodehouse in black and
white is a British TV series called "World of Wooster."  My guess is
that is what you saw.

Here's a link to a description of the series.  It has a black and
white picture of the characters so you should be able to tell if they
are who you remember seeing.  Let me know if I helped at all.

ryanbin-ga

http://freespace.virgin.net/lol.marcus/wooster.htm

You are not the only one who loves that line. 
I found many movies where this line is said, but I think it is just a
quotation from a classical text.
Read for example this dialogue from Batman: 

Batman: "What's your name?" 
Molly: "Molly." 
Batman: "You interest me, strangely." 
at
http://members.tripod.com/~AdamWest/b-women.htm

Your question, evergreen, interested me strangely...

There have been numerous discussions of this phrase in the
alt.fan.wodehouse newsgroup. Several posts speculated that Wodehouse
was not the first to use the phrase, attributing it to Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle and to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, but no exact citations
were given by the posters.

A similar phrase, "Your remarks interest me strangely," appears in Sax
Rohmer's novel "The Yellow Claw," which was made into a silent film in
1920:

http://www.classicreader.com/read.php/sid.1/bookid.439/sec.27/

Two old B&W films adapted from Wodehouse, "Step Lively, Jeeves" and
"Thank You, Jeeves," both starring Arthur Treacher, could be possible
sources for the "You interest me strangely" quote.

Any response from the initial poster?  Thanks to the other commenters
for weighing in.  I don't think it's Batman, however, given the
initial description.  And the first movie the final commenter noted
doesn't even have a Wooster character in the movie (and it's clear
from Wodehouse's books that he is the originator of the "strangley
interesting" comment.  The second movie looks more promising
initially, except for the disparaging user comment I found on imdb.com
which claims the movie is not faithful to Wodehouse's books.

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0028353

That seems to rule it out for me.