Their Dying Words

[Freddy]

Quillers topic 'Richard Burton, thesping it up a bit' started me thinking.



In Saving Private Ryan, Tom Hank's manages to say a few words before dying but I am having difficulty in remembering any British war film where a 'Tommy' gets to make a moving soliloquy before death.

The RAF achieve it with Alec Guiness in 'The Malta Story' and John Gregson in 'Angels One Five' although both were through the loudspeaker in the ops room.

David Niven appeared to have a rather lengthy discourse in AMOLAD but he survived. None of these though were visual.



regards



Freddy

[Quiller]

Hmmmm, I'm sure there's a few British deathbed moments out there in our classic films.



A sort of dying moment that left me near to tears and feeling very British was at the end of The First of The Few, where Niven flies his Spitfire over a dying Leslie Howard as he watches the sky. I think there's a narration by Howard, which is akin to his lasts words in a way. One of the powerful moments of British cinema.



There must be loads out there.



Odd Man Out - doesn't Mason have a dying speech before he hits the snow? That also nearlly left me in tears. Christ, these classic films knew how to work their audience.