La vie privée d'Henry VIII (1933)

Gibb McLaughlin: The French Executioner

Photos 

Quotes 

• French executioner : There is a blade for you fit for a king! Or in this case, a queen, n'est-ce pas?

  English executioner : Not fit for our Queen!

  French executioner : No? Why not?

  English executioner : She is an English Queen, ain't she? Well, what's wrong with English steel? And come to that, what's wrong with an English headsman?

  French executioner : Ah, meaning yourself?

  English executioner : Why not? I was good enough to knock off the Queen's five lovers, wasn't I? Why'd they want you, a Frenchman from Calais?

  [spits] 

  French executioner : I will tell you...

  English executioner : No, I'm telling you. It's a crying shame. 'N half the English executioners out of work as it is!

  French executioner : And why are they out of work? Because they are only fit to sever the bull necks of their countrymen with a butcher's cleaver. But a woman's neck, a Queen's neck: that calls for finesse, for delicacy, for chivalry... in one word, a Frenchman!

  English executioner : I could think of another word.