She (I) (1965)

Peter Cushing: Holly

Quotes 

• Holly : Will you tell me something? This woman Ayesha, why do you all do her bidding without question?

  Billali : It has always been so.

  Holly : Yes, but why? She's only a woman and alone. You are men and many.

  Billali : And like all men we are born, we live a span and we die. But she has been here forever. She is like the mountains, like the desert. Changeless, ageless, deathless.

  Holly : That I cannot believe. In your fear, you have accepted the impossible as truth. No one lives forever. And no one was born to be the vassal of another. You know and feel this too, I've seen it in your eyes. Your body does her bidding but your spirit cries out to be free. Is that not true?

  Billali : Each one of us has his own destiny to fulfill.

  Holly : And yours, I suppose, is to fill the next alcove. I can't believe you're such a fool, Bellali.

  Billali : No, Mr Holly. I am not such a fool.

• Holly : I suppose there's a time in everyone's life when the idea of immortality seems very desirable. But now at my age I'd have to give it a great deal of thought.

  Leo : What's age got to do with it? You'd stay as you are.

  Holly : That's not what I meant, Leo. What one would accept eagerly at your age doesn't necessarily have the same appeal at mine. It's the age of the mind that's important, not the body. You see, you're young. Still on the threshold of life. The joy of living is not to be denied, but to know that it'll be there for all time, without change. Life at a standstill. It's not quite the same thing.

• Holly : [about the flame]  It'll come back some day.

  Leo : When, Holly, when?

  Holly : That I can't tell you, Leo. But you wanted immortality.

  Leo : When it comes back, it will find me waiting.

• Job : I'm glad I'm not an educated man, Sir. If that's what most of you got on a damn fool search for lost cities.

  Holly : Isn't that exactly what you're doing, Job?

  Job : Well, yes, Sir. But, I'm too ignorant to know any better.

• Holly : War seems to have shot away all our roots.

• Leo : Was that barbaric execution necessary?

  Ayesha : It was necessary!

  Holly : In God's name, why?

  Ayesha : As a demonstration of my absolute power! How else could I hold my soldiers and these pathetic creatures as my subjects? How else but by instilling fear and terror into their very souls.

  Holly : But nothing is gained by fear and terror.

  Ayesha : Is your world so much better? Your world where men kill each other in their millions in the name of freedom? Your world that has not long to live. A few decades only before it destroys itself. Then, what will be left?

• Holly : All my life I've dreamed of finding a city such as this. But now that I have, I'd like to see it destroyed and all it stands for.

• Holly : You can still go ahead and go. There's another boat next week.

  Job : Oh, no, I couldn't, Sir, not without you, Sir. I realize now that we aren't in the Army any longer you can't really afford a man-servant; but, one day you will be able to, Sir. And just think of all the back pay I'd have to cut.

• Holly : Don't worry, Job. We'll set you on course for Jerusalem. I'm sure the camel will do the rest.

  Job : Well, no aspersions, Major, but, I don't think I could have my two gentlemen traipsing about the desert without a proper valet. Why, people would think we are down right common, Sir. Here we are, Sir. Two nice warm whiskeys.

• Leo : It's as if something were calling me. A voice from the past, like - some sort of inherited memory.

  Holly : Inherited? Who from?

  Leo : I don't know. Maybe my ancestor was an Egyptian merchant who traveled this route.

• Holly : So, it's all true - and I shall live to see it.

• Holly : The deep, sincere love will last most people a lifetime. But, even then, changes from the frantic yearning of its beginnings to a quiet, unspoken understanding at its end. The physical side of human love wasn't designed to last forever.

• Holly : This is a great moment, Job.

  Job : Yes, Sir. If you say so, SIr.

• Holly : Incredible! What is that?

  Haumeid : It is the symbol of the power of She, the Queen of Kuma - known to us as: She Who Must Be Obeyed.

• Holly : Well, gentlemen, we made it. We found the lost city of Kuma.

  Job : Well, if I might say so, Sir, finding it is rather like finding a tiger in one's bed.

• Holly : Chaps, we survived the war, let's hope we survive this place.

• Holly : We still had some money then.

  Job : Yeah, that's another thing, Sir. Might I inquire what your plans are now that you haven't?

  Holly : Well, I'll use your's, of course.

• Holly : I have no desire to go back to Cambridge and teach a lot of pimply faced undergraduates the mysteries of the ancient civilizations. I always had a dream of exploring this part of the world myself. Putting some of the knowledge I gleaned from books into practical use. I know it's language and it's customs; but, if you add it all up in terms of raw experience, I had absolutely nothing.

• Holly : I say, chaps, just look at that!

  [Ustane enters] 

• Leo : This is a solo volunteer operation. No assistance needed.

  [stands up and walks towards Ustane] 

  Holly : A few years ago, I'd have given you a run for your money. Now, I think I'll just concentrate on the visual entertainments.

• Job : [joins Holly dancing with the belly dancers]  Are these girls athletic, Sir!

  Holly : Job, take your hat off.

  Job : What, Sir?

  Holly : Take your hat off - when dancing with the ladies.

• [as Ayesha begins throwing slaves into the lava pit] 

  Holly : We must stop this!

  Leo : How far do you think we'd get?

  Job : Don't forget, sir, they were going to take a knife and fork to Mr Leo.