Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes Quotes

  • Count Manfred Von Holstein: [reading from flight instruction manual] Number one: Sit down.

  • Count Manfred Von Holstein: There is nothing a German officer cannot do.

  • Count Emilio Ponticelli: It is a pity that the race will now be won by a Protestant.

    Mother Superior: Protestant?... Sisters, don't stand around gaping - this good Catholic needs our help!

  • Count Emilio Ponticelli: Like-a Caesar, we go to England!

  • Lord Rawnsley: The trouble with these international affairs is that they attract foreigners.

  • Captain Rumpelstoss: But... how will I learn to fly?

    Count Manfred Von Holstein: Same way as we learn everything else in the German army: From the book of instructions!

  • Colonel: [watching Mays take off after having helped him return to the race] I think I'll get one of those, Muriel.

    Colonel's Wife: I shouldn't, Willie - you're near enough to your wings as it is.

  • Sir Percy Ware-Armitage: I've given the Frenchman the address of a very lovely young lady.

    Courtney: Oh, ho, ho - I'll bet she's a bit of all right, guv'nor.

    Sir Percy Ware-Armitage: You should know - she's your daughter.

    Courtney: But guv'nor - she's an innocent young girl!

    Sir Percy Ware-Armitage: Not *is*, Courtney - *was*!

  • Fire Chief Perkins: Leave my fire engine alone!

  • Sir Percy Ware-Armitage: You dirty rotter! I *had* hoped that I should be dealing with a gentleman.

    Trawler Skipper: So had I.

  • [first lines]

    The Neanderthal Man: [watches a gull flying over a beach]

    Narrator: Ever since man started to think, he's wanted to fly. But flying was strictly for the birds.

    The Neanderthal Man: [flapping his arms enthusiastically, he leaps from a sandy bluff and falls onto the beach below]

    Narrator: And continued to be so for thousands of years.

    [in ancient Greece, a man wearing makeshift wings is forced at swordpoint off a temple roof]

    Narrator: Man, eternally optimistic, kept trying.

    [a man in medieval times, also in man-made wings, jumps from a cliff, after which a variety of failed experimental flying machines from the late 1800s are depicted]

    Narrator: Encouraged by his many successes, man kept trying. Through his genius and his inventiveness, he managed to get his machines off the ground - and sometimes, he brought them down again.

    [Count Emilio Ponticelli is seen starting his flying machine]

    Narrator: All over the world, early pioneers were making flying history. And in Italy, Count Emilio Ponticelli made what many people claim was the first long-distance flight.

    [the screen widens, as Ponticelli is seen crashing about 100 feet after taking off]

    Narrator: There was no doubt about it; by nineteen hundred and ten, flying had become the rage - man had conquered the air, and people everywhere were all agog about those magnificent men in their flying machines.

  • Lord Rawnsley: I believe if the Lord had intended me to fly, he would have given me wings.

    Patricia Rawnsley: You travel by train, father, but you haven't any wheels.

  • Patricia Rawnsley: "I absolutely forbid you to take my daughter flying, today or any day. Is that absolutely understood? Oh, yes, sir. Absolutely, sir." Three bags full, sir!

  • Captain Rumpelstoss: [reading letter] "His Imperial Majesty the Kaiser commands... that a German officer wins the London-Paris air race. You will make arrangements accordingly."

  • Count Emilio Ponticelli: Sophia? Look. I shall enter. I shall win... for Italia.

    Countess Sofia Ponticelli: But you promised.

    Count Emilio Ponticelli: Is postponed.

  • Sir Percy Ware-Armitage: I'm not only going to join it, dear boy. I'm going to win it.

    Patricia Rawnsley: Do you really think you have a chance, Sir Percy?

    Sir Percy Ware-Armitage: Miss Rawnsley, I never leave anything to chance.

  • Patricia Rawnsley: Look, Father! He's teaching her to fly!

    Lord Rawnsley: How ridiculous. Anyone can see that young woman... isn't in the least mechanically minded.

  • Sir Percy Ware-Armitage: [to Orvil] You caused me to crash my flying machine. I therefore intend giving you a jolly good thrashing. Ready?

  • Courtney: You're not going... You're not going to sabotage it, governor?

    Sir Percy Ware-Armitage: I certainly am not. You are.

  • Count Manfred Von Holstein: Ach, Schweinehund! Take up your flying machine at once... and show those French idiots what a German officer can do!

  • Count Manfred Von Holstein: Rumpelstrosse! Rumpelstrosse, save me!

  • Captain Rumpelstoss: It is impossible to cross, Herr Colonel.

    Count Manfred Von Holstein: Nothing is impossible for the fatherland.

  • Richard Mays: Uh, Newton, may I have a word with you? I think I should mention... that if you continue to make advances to my fiancée, I shall knock your block off. Champagne?

  • Courtney: He's right. This'll be the one to beat, governor.

    Sir Percy Ware-Armitage: In that case, we'll have to nobble the man and not the machine. Perhaps a little cascara in his chop suey.

    [both snickering]

  • Count Emilio Ponticelli: You are sure it will fly?

    Harry Popperwell: Of course it'll fly! What do you think it's gonna do, lay an egg?

  • Tremayne Gascoyne: The fabulous Sir Percy took off for Paris two hours ago. He's so far in the lead, nothing can stop him. Nothing at all. Ha! Vive Sir Percy! What am I saying? He's a most ghastly person.

  • Sir Percy Ware-Armitage: Blast!