Pimpernel Smith (1941)

[Smith now caught by the gestapo]
Professor Horatio Smith: This must be a big moment for you.
General von Graum: A minor satisfaction... I wanted to get you out of my system before I turn my mind to more important matters. You've become a great nuisance to me, professor. Almost an obsession. But everything comes to an end.
Professor Horatio Smith: What particular end did you plan for me?
General von Graum: Need we go into details?... At least it will be quick.
Professor Horatio Smith: But violent, I suppose?... A strange end for one who despises violence... at the hands of those who worship it. The new German God...
General von Graum: Of course we worship it. Violence means power, and power crushes opposition. The epoch of the council chamber is over, professor. I'll tell you that power, strength and violence will rule the world!
Professor Horatio Smith: Why are you sweating, my dear general? It isn't very warm. Are you afraid of something?
General von Graum: Afraid? We Germans fear nothing
Professor Horatio Smith: Ah. Because you have a pistol?
General von Graum: Yes, I have a pistol. It has eight bullets. Eight lives.
Professor Horatio Smith: And I have twenty-eight lives.
General von Graum: Huh?
Professor Horatio Smith: Scientists, men of letters, artists, doctors... 28! Saved from your pagan pistol. And all you've got is my humble self. Not a very profitable transaction.
General von Graum: Mm. We can afford to make a loss, our profits will be tremendous. Tonight we march against Poland, and tomorrow we'll see the dawn of a new order. We shall make a German empire of the world... Why do I talk to you? You are a dead man
Professor Horatio Smith: May a dead man say a few words to you, general, for your enlightenment? You will never rule the world... because you are doomed. All of you who demoralized and corrupted a nation are doomed. Tonight you will take the first step along a dark road from which there is no turning back. You will have to go on and on, from one madness to another, leaving behind you a wilderness of misery and hatred. And still, you will have to go on... because you will find no horizon... see no dawn... until at last you are lost and destroyed. You are doomed, captain of murderers. And one day, sooner or later, you will remember my words...
[Train whistles]

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Professor Horatio Smith: I'm so glad to find you're not busy, because I've been doing a little research for you...
General von Graum: That's just what I wanted to do.
Professor Horatio Smith: ...On the identity of Shakespeare.
General von Graum: I'd like to know how you spent this afternoon.
Professor Horatio Smith: What's the matter with you? You seem upset. I spent the afternoon at the library at the embassy. Now this, this proves conclusively that Shakespeare wasn't really Shakespeare at all.
General von Graum: No?
Professor Horatio Smith: No. He was the Earl of Oxford. Now you can't pretend that the Earl of Oxford was a German, can you?
Professor Horatio Smith: [Speaking to the German Officer] Can you?
German Officer: No!
Professor Horatio Smith: Well there you are.
German Officer: I didn't come here to discuss Shakespeare. If you want me, you know where I am.
Professor Horatio Smith: The Earl of Oxford was a very bright Elizabethan light.

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General von Graum: But we have one problem. "To be or not to Be?" as our great German poet said.
Professor Horatio Smith: German? But that's Shakespeare.
Professor Horatio Smith: But you don't know?
Professor Horatio Smith: Why, I know it's Shakespeare. I thought Shakespeare was English.
General von Graum: No, no, no. Shakespeare is a German. Professor Schuessbacher has proved it once and for all.
Professor Horatio Smith: Yes, how very upsetting. Still, you must admit that the English translations are most remarkable.
General von Graum: Good night.
Professor Horatio Smith: Good night. Good night. "Parting is such sweet sorrow."
General von Graum: What is that?
Professor Horatio Smith: That's one of the most famous lines in German literature.

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Father Leslie Howard and his son Ronald Howard, both appeared in this film together.
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