Since You Went Away (1944)

Robert Walker: Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd

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Quotes 

• Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : [starts to rain and Jane and Bill take refuge in an old barn]  Oh boy, we certainly made it just in time! Ho, Ho!

  Jane Hilton : How will we get home if this keeps up? It must be almost seven o'clock.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : [checks his watch]  Well, what do you know? You guessed it! It's just exactly 18 minutes to seven.

  Jane Hilton : Only five hours more.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Oh, I almost forgot for a little while.

  Jane Hilton : I didn't forget. Not for a minute. I've thought about it all day long.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Well, gee, I never thought anybody would care about me... anybody like you.

  Jane Hilton : Bill.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Oh, Jane! I don't want to leave you!

  Jane Hilton : It won't be for long, darling.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : It might be for months, or for years, maybe.

  Jane Hilton : It doesn't matter. I'll be thinking about you all the time. Someday the war will be over, and then we can be...

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Then we can be married, Jane?

• Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : You will marry me when it's over, won't you, Jane? You won't be mad at me because I didn't marry you now?

  Jane Hilton : Of course I won't be mad. But you take care of yourself.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : I will.

  Jane Hilton : You write to me.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : I will. You do understand, don't you?

  Jane Hilton : I think so.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : You know it's because I wouldn't want you to be - Well, you know, if anything happened to me...

  Jane Hilton : A widow, you mean.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Well, yes, but not only that. If something happened - I mean, if I was...

  Jane Hilton : If you were wounded? Oh, Bill, I'd take care of you the rest of our lives, always.

• Jane Hilton : I beg your pardon, Colonel Smollett. There's someone here to see you. Your grandson.

  Colonel William G. Smollett : William?

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Hello, Grandpa!

  Colonel William G. Smollett : To what peculiar combination of circumstances do I owe this visit, William?

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Well, you see, I was transferred out here to Chamberlain Field, and I found out at your office...

  Colonel William G. Smollett : Indeed? I wasn't even aware that the United States forces had been honored by your membership.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : I enlisted, sir. Last summer.

  Colonel William G. Smollett : So. I don't think we need trouble these young women with your autobiography. Let's go into the living room. If you will excuse me.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Excuse me.

  Colonel William G. Smollett : I presume you've come to me for help of one sort or another with your tail between your legs.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : No, sir, I thought you might like - Well, you see...

  Colonel William G. Smollett : Or is it money that you're after? Speak up, boy.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : I thought you might like to see me.

  Colonel William G. Smollett : A very mistaken notion if ever you had one, and you've had plenty as we're both well aware.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : After all, I thought we may not see one another again. I don't know when I'll be shipped out.

  Colonel William G. Smollett : Come, William. Let's not dramatize these things. There's no need for any pretense of affection between us. You've paid your courtesy call.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Well, all right, if that's the way you feel about it! I'm sorry to have disturbed you.

  Colonel William G. Smollett : You may drop me a line with your address. And if you have any affairs that require attention, I shall have my lawyers look after them. For your late father's sake. Now, I'm sure you will excuse me. I'm a bit tired.

• Hal Smith : You know, I've never been to the beach in my whole life.

  Jane Hilton : I've never seen the ocean.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : You haven't?

  Hal Smith : I never saw it till a couple of months ago.

  Jane Hilton : But you're a sailor.

  Hal Smith : I was brought up on a farm.

  Jane Hilton : Oh, I see.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : I've never been on a farm.

  Jane Hilton : You haven't?

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : I was brought up on an Army post.

  Jane Hilton : Oh, I see.

• Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Do you mind if I smoke?

  Jane Hilton : Of course not. Bill, why are you so... so timid about things?

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : What do you mean, Jane?

  Jane Hilton : Oh, I mean about asking if you can smoke. Well, nobody else does that. And, well, I mean everything. Is it... I hope you won't think I'm being forward, but is it something to do with your grandfather?

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : No, it isn't that. Although I suppose I've always been sort of scared of Grandpa.

• Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : You see, my father was a soldier. He was a colonel when he died. I guess all the Smolletts all the way back were soldiers. One of them was with Washington at Yorktown. Although sometimes I think Grandpa just made that one up.

  Jane Hilton : I'm sure he didn't. You ought to be awfully proud.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Oh, I'm proud, all right. But something went wrong with me. Mother died when I was born, so I never knew her. Well, of course I never knew her.

  Jane Hilton : That's a shame.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : She could paint pretty well, china and things. I hope I can show you her work sometime. That is, if Grandpa...

  Jane Hilton : If Grandpa what?

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Well, if I go home. You see, I haven't lived home since West Point.

  Jane Hilton : West Point?

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Oh, Jane, you don't want to hear all about this, do you?

  Jane Hilton : Not if you don't want me to, Bill.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Oh, but I do of course. There's no one in the whole world that I'd rather explain - that I'd rather tell.

• Jane Hilton : You were talking about how your grandfather always wanted you to be a soldier. Would you like a sandwich or something?

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : He wanted me to be a general.

  Jane Hilton : But didn't you want to be a general?

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Well, no I didn't.

  Jane Hilton : But why not, Bill?

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : I had an idea it was more important to build things. But, I don't mean it isn't terribly important being a soldier. I don't know how we'd keep the things we build without them.

  Jane Hilton : Of course. But you said you went to West Point. I should think you'd be a lot more than a...

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : More than a corporal, you mean.

  Jane Hilton : Let's have a picnic sometime. I'll bring a - Bill, I didn't mean that. It's wonderful being a corporal.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : No, you meant that if I went to the Academy, I ought to be more than a corporal. Well, you might as well know it. I - I was kicked out and I broke Grandpa's heart.

  Jane Hilton : I'm sure it wasn't your fault.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Yes, it was.

  Jane Hilton : Bill, come and sit down.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Look. Grandpa's father carried this watch at Vicksburg. Grandpa gave it to me on my tenth birthday. He had it engraved for me. Read it. I'll light a match.

  Jane Hilton : "To William G. Smollett, the Second, who will lead men to glory on the battlefield." You must have been terribly pleased.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : I said, "Grandpa, don't people hurt each other in war?" You see, I was only ten. He took the watch away from me. But he gave it back to me again when I entered the Academy. Aw, Jane, I did my best, but I could never make a good officer. I can't lead men, and I know it, so even if I led my class the way Grandpa thought I should...

  Jane Hilton : "Grandpa, Grandpa, Grandpa." What about yourself? Why is it so important that you satisfy him, the old...

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Because he loved me so. Yeah, I'm sure he did - once. But all through military school, from the time I was eight years old, I kept letting him down. I never even wanted to play with the tin soldiers he gave me. Grandpa kept telling me that if I was a Smollett I'd... But I gues I was always - well you know - weak. I was sort of a joke at the Academy, I only lasted a couple of months. Grandpa couldn't face his old cronies. Well, that's it. Now you can see what a mess I made out of everything.

  Jane Hilton : You've done no such thing! You're fine and strong, but you're just sensitive, that's all.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : But don't you think I'm a failure after everything I've told you?

  Jane Hilton : A failure? Just because you're not an officer? Why an officer I know, he said that you are the boys doing the fighting.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Lieutenant Willett?

  Jane Hilton : Yes.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : You think a lot of him, don't you?

  Jane Hilton : Of course, but what's that got to do with it? You're a soldier, and I'm - that is, we're proud of you. And I hope you never get promoted. All those officers strutting around with their gold braid and everything.

• Jane Hilton : How are things out at the field?

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Oh, they're fine, thank you. How's everything with you?

  Jane Hilton : Oh, just fine. I want to get a war job, but Mother won't let me.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Well, I think she's right. You ought to stay home...

  Jane Hilton : No, it isn't that at all. Mother wants me to go to college.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Oh. Oh, gee. That would take four years, wouldn't it?

  Jane Hilton : If I go.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : You don't want to go?

  Jane Hilton : No, it's so silly. If I were three or four years older, I could be a Wave.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Or a Wac.

  Jane Hilton : Or a nurse. That's what I'd rather be most. A nurse.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : That would be swell if I was wounded.

  Jane Hilton : You shouldn't say such things.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Oh. I won't be wounded. I'll be killed.

  Jane Hilton : Bill!

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Oh, Jane would you care?

  Jane Hilton : Well, of course I'd care, silly.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Well, gee, that'd be fine.

  Jane Hilton : What would be fine about it?

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Well, I thought that if - Well, what I mean is I would be glad if you were sorry if I were killed.

  Jane Hilton : What good would that do if you were dead?

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Yeah, I guess you're right.

  Jane Hilton : I don't ever want to hear you talk like that again.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Okay. I'm sure sorry I missed your graduation.

• [Bill and Jane are saying goodnight to the extremely handsome sailor they met at the bowling alley, of whom Bill is somewhat jealous] 

  Hal Smith : Well, good-bye, miss. My name's Harold E. Smith.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : I'm Bill Smollett, and this is Miss Hilton.

  Hal Smith : How are you?

  Jane Hilton : Jane's my first name.

  Hal Smith : Good-bye, Jane.

  Jane Hilton : Good-bye.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Bye, Harold.

  Hal Smith : Hal.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Oh. Bye, Hal.

  [Hal gets on the bus, leaving Bill and Jane alone] 

  Jane Hilton : He's nice.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Yeah, he's a nice fella.

  Jane Hilton : You were sweet to him, Bill. And I'm sorry about...

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : Oh, I acted like a fool.

  [dourly] 

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : He's good-looking, isn't he?

  Jane Hilton : [breezily]  Is he? I hadn't noticed.

  Cpl. Bill Smollett 2nd : [incredulous]  You MUST have noticed!