Tunes of Glory (1960)
John Mills: Lt. Col. Basil Barrow
Photos
Quotes
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[while watching the pipers practice, Barrow notes that some of the men are not wearing the proper caps]
Major Jock Sinclair, D.S.O., M.M. : Colonel, there's a tradition here...
Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : I'm all in favor of good tradition.
Major Jock Sinclair, D.S.O., M.M. : I've always let the pipers wear pretty well what they please at band practice.
Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : Because you've let them wear what they like just doesn't make it a tradition!
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Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : Do you really think I made it for my popularity? Do you really think that's why I made this decision?
Major Charles Scott, M.C. : My dear Colonel, we didn't know that you'd made any decision.
Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : But... you must have heard that the matter's not to go to Brigade.
Major Charles Scott, M.C. : Yes, we heard that.
Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : Well?
Major Charles Scott, M.C. : We thought that was Jock's decision. My dear fellow, we didn't even realize you were there.
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Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : When you're dying, when you really believe you're dying, you think of the most absurd things.
Capt. Jimmy Cairns, M.C. : In my war I never had time to think.
Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : Oh they gave me time, all right. Again and again. When I was in the prison camp, they nearly drowned me, then they brought me round. Then they put a wet cloth over my mouth and kept it wet until I nearly drowned again. And the only thing that pulled me through was the thought that one day I'd come back and sit in the middle of that table as colonel of this battalion, like my grandfather and his father before him. Only I was going to be the best of the lot.