Lydecker: Did you ever know a woman who wasn""t a doll or a dame?McPherson: Yeah, one.But she kept walking me past furniture windows o look at the parlor suites.(Laura""s theme music underscores their dialogue.)Lydecker: Would you mind turning that off?McPherson: Why? Don""t you like it?Shelby: It was one of Laura""s favorite.[Not surprisingly, Sheldrake was the name given to another cold-hearted, philandering senior business executive in Wilder""sThe Apartment (1960).It also illustrated how archaic conservative attitudes and traditions, mostly regarding racial discrimination and bigotry, child-rearing, and a woman""s place, were being pushed aside by more progressive viewpoints.And even then, one of the main scientists was willing to betray his colleagues by siding with the alien monster for research purposes, claiming that the vegetative, multiplying organism was worthy of being preserved for further study and communication.Chronologically, the film was the first story in the Hannibal saga - a prequel toThe Silence of the Lambs (1991).