So Proudly We Hail! (1943)

Claudette Colbert: Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson

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Quotes 

• Lt. Olivia D'Arcy : Stop prying into things that don't concern you.

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : Maybe it does concern me. It concerns me that the morale of this group remains high. Until you joined up, it was. You're just a troublemaker. I-I don't really care what's bothering you at all. I don't like you any more than the rest of the girls do.

  Lt. Olivia D'Arcy : I'm supposed to be a nurse and that's all.

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : No. There's more than that now that we're at war. Maybe you don't know what's up. Maybe you don't know what we're doing here.

  Lt. Olivia D'Arcy : You think I don't know. All right, I'll tell you. I know what I'm doing, I know why I'm here. I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to kill Japs.

  [stands up] 

  Lt. Olivia D'Arcy : Every blood-stained one I can get my hands on!

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : [hushed]  Olivia!

  Lt. Olivia D'Arcy : That doesn't sound nice coming from a nurse, does it? We're supposed to be angels of mercy, we're supposed to tend to the wounded and take care of the sick. We're supposed to be kind and tender and serve humanity in the name of humanity. What humanity? Jap humanity?

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : Olivia, be quiet!

  Lt. Olivia D'Arcy : No, you asked me, you wanted to know, you pried into things that didn't concern you.You wanted to know that this is - look! Look at that!

  [opens a locket Davidson was asking about] 

  Lt. Olivia D'Arcy : Do you know what it is? I'll tell you, it's a boy.

  [door opens, two other girls look in] 

  Lt. Olivia D'Arcy : Come in, both of you, you wanted to know too. Today is Christmas, isn't it? The time for cheer and good fellowship, and for peace. Well, today's my wedding day.

  [holds out locket] 

  Lt. Olivia D'Arcy : You see that? He and I were to be married today, in Saint Louis. And why weren't we? Because he's dead. He died that first morning. They killed him. I saw him. He was running across the field to his plane and they killed him. Sixty bullets - sixty! By the time I got to him he was dead. His face was gone - I couldn't see him any more. Just blood - blood all over!

  [bursts into tears] 

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : [rushes to her side]  Oh, Olivia!

  Lt. Olivia D'Arcy : Let me go. Let me go. They must be punished, and I'm going to punish them! He was dead. It was ended for him...

  [cries] 

  Lt. Olivia D'Arcy : I wanted him... He was all I had... I loved him so much...

• Ensign : When people get to know you awfully well, what do they call you?

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : Lieutenant.

• Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : [Giving Lt. Summers a sponge bath]  All right. Turn over and get your back done.

  Lt. John Summers : Ooo. This isn't as humiliating as I thought.

  [starts to turn over] 

  Lt. John Summers : Hey, that's nice. Do it again.

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : Get down.

  Lt. John Summers : Since you like this so much, I'm gonna let you do it every day.

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : [sarcastically]  Oh, that'll be such fun.

• Ensign : No female's going to bathe me.

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : Your mother did.

  Ensign : Only until I was big enough to knock her down.

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : All right now, which is it to be, the sheet or your arm?

  Ensign : Angels of mercy, huh? You're a bunch of wrestlers.

• Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : Has she ever opened up? Ever give you a hint of what's wrong?

  Lt. Joan O'Doul : There's nothing wrong. She's just naturally a frozen-faced ghoul!

• Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : You talk like a bunch of old women. You know what I think? I think you better all give up thinking for the duration. We haven't lost Honolulu, and there's been no bombing either in Los Angeles or San Francisco.

• Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : It's our own fault.

  Lt. Joan O'Doul : Our fault? What did we do?

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : Because we believed we were the world. That the United States of America was the whole world. Those outlandish places: Bataan, Corregidor, and Mindanao. Those aren't American names. No, they're just American graveyards.

• Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : The two years will go by like wildfire.

  Ensign : Yes, the years are short, its the days that are so long.

• Lt. Joan O'Doul : Davy, you got to help me. I'm in a terrible jam.

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : What's the matter?

  Lt. Joan O'Doul : Two of my fiancés came down to the dock.

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : Two?

  Lt. Joan O'Doul : Well, you know how hard it is for me to say no.

• Lt. Joan O'Doul : He's never seen you out of uniform.

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : Who?

  Lt. Joan O'Doul : Who do you think?

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : You mean Lieutenant Summers?

  Lt. Joan O'Doul : It's still formal with you two. Well, you better get informal with him, or other people will. He's a pretty cute guy, you know.

• Lt. John Summers : The boat might sink.

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : Oh it might.

  Lt. John Summers : If it does, we might never see each other again.

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : That's possible.

  Lt. John Summers : Perhaps someplace in the hereafter, but then I wouldn't have my body. What's more important, you wouldn't have yours, either.

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : That might be *very* interesting. Well, I'll see you there sometime.

• Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : We've been ordered to a place called Bataan, Bataan Peninsula. It's in command of General MacArthur.

  Lt. Elsie Bollenbacher : Well, if it's good enough for a general, it's good enough for me, as long as they got plenty to eat.

  Lt. Tony Dacelli : I only hope it's got a decent beauty parlor. My hair's a mess.

• Col. White : You're in the Army, too?

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : Yes, and very happy. Happier still that you're our CO.

  Col. White : I'm a terribly strict disciplinarian, Janet.

• Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : Girls, this is Mr. Ling Chee who's going to be with us for the rest of the trip. Now, each one find her own duffel bag.

  Lt. Joan O'Doul : Heap big war. Him near here, savvy?

  Dr. Harrison : I'm a Chinese, Lieutenant, not an Indian. The war is just beyond the mountains.

• Flight Lt. Archie McGregor : Flying with the infantry now.

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : How did that happen?

  Flight Lt. Archie McGregor : We just got caught with our planes down.

• Capt. 'Ma' McGregor : It's all over. He never saw his father, and his son will never see him.

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : He has a child?

  Capt. 'Ma' McGregor : Three months old. It's a pattern that will go on, I suppose, until we do make the world a decent place to live in.

• Col. White : Don't worry, Janet. When the time comes, I'll get you out. Otherwise I'd never be able to look my wife or any other woman in the face again.

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : I don't envy you, Colonel.

• Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : Ling Chee! Ling Chee! Ling Chee! Ling Chee!

• Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : Beasts, the slimy beasts!

• Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : Why? Why isn't there any quinine? Why isn't there any food? Why aren't there any supplies? Why are we waiting here like rats in a cage waiting for the man to come and pour scalding water over us? Why was nothing done? Why?

• Kansas : I can't believe it. I just can't believe it!

  Lt. Joan O'Doul : What?

  Kansas : The Marines, they have landed! And I've been ordered off.

  Lt. Joan O'Doul : Oh, but it's not permanent. It's not the end of the fight.

  Kansas : Yeah, but imagine it happening to us, Americans!

  Lt. Janet 'Davy' Davidson : All right, all out, everybody!

  Lt. Joan O'Doul : We've been out on our feet before. Remember Valley Forge? That was no strawberry festival.