Moby Dick (1930)

John Barrymore: Captain Ahab Ceely

Photos 

Quotes 

• Ahab Ceely : Ah, you cute little rascal. Hey, you're getting prettier every year. Hey, how old are you now, huh?

  Blonde on Dock : Eighteen - next Tuesday.

  Ahab Ceely : I'll see you Wednesday.

• Ahab Ceely : [to Derek about Faith concerning his disfiguring pigleg]  She's willing to be a dutiful wife even if she gags at the sight of me!

• Faith Mapple : I've heard lots about you.

  Ahab Ceely : Well, don't you believe a half of it.

• Ahab Ceely : Fat Fanny! Hey, baby, if they cut into you they'd certainly get plenty of blubber.

  [spanks Fat Fanny's fanny] 

• Ahab Ceely : [singing]  Oh, I like 'em white, I like 'em black, I like 'em pink or green, That's the cutest little son of a gun, That I have ever seen. La de doodle do do do...

• Faith Mapple : We just moved here from Boston.

  Ahab Ceely : You did? Well, wherever you're from they - they're sure missing you.

  Derek : And we'll be missing church if we don't hurry.

  Faith Mapple : Well, won't you come too?

  Ahab Ceely : Well, ma'am, right now, my thirst needs more looking after than my soul.

• Derek : You shouldn't make fun of religion, Ahab.

  Ahab Ceely : Don't know enough about it to make fun of it, son.

• Ahab Ceely : Thar she blows!

• Whale Oil Rosie : [admiring Ahab's arm tattoo]  Say, where's my name, dearie?

  Ahab Ceely : On the seat of my pants, sweetie.

• Ahab Ceely : [left alone in the Spouter Inn with only Queequeg and a drunken Whale Oil Rosie]  Nothing but that heathen and that little buttercup for company. I might just as well have stayed in Singapore. Sing-apore.

• Faith Mapple : [admiring Ahab's tattoos]  What are those? Names of boats you've sailed on?

  Ahab Ceely : Nope, just girls I've met. That's Steamboat Liz, she's in China. She's a nice girl, if she didn't hit the pipe... Rosie, here, is different. She's always full of rum. And Flora Bell, she's a cute little thing. You can't see her. She's in Japan. She's white, though - that is she's purty near white when she's cleaned up.

  Faith Mapple : You're trying hard to live up to your reputation, aren't you.

  Ahab Ceely : Huh? No, down to it. I'll be seeing them all again pretty soon, I guess.

• Captain Ahab Ceely : Go ashore and shake the vermin up! And the nearer to hell you get 'em from, the better.

• Derek : She's willing to keep her promise.

  Ahab Ceely : Which one?

  Derek : To marry you, of course. She won't go back on her word - if you want to hold her to it.

  Ahab Ceely : She told you that?

  Derek : She sent me here to tell you.

  Ahab Ceely : I see. Changing her name - from Faith to Charity. What does that make me? Hope?

  Derek : Well, I wouldn't hope for too much, Ahab.

• Derek : She's waiting for you at the the house.

  Ahab Ceely : So's Moby Dick! Down by the Seven Seas!

• Captain Ahab Ceely : Do we got a full crew?

  Stubbs : Shanghaied 'em, the lot, as you told me too, sir. They're more used to cuttin' throats than whaling.

• Captain Ahab Ceely : We ain't touching port - until we run down Moby Dick!

• Captain Ahab Ceely : We're in whaling water. I can smell it!

• Captain Ahab Ceely : You're a queer lad - you and your heathen god.

• Stubbs : No sailor worth his salt will sign onto the Shanghai Lady, sir.

  Captain Ahab Ceely : You remember her name. Shanghai a crew.

  Stubbs : In New Bedford, sir?

  Captain Ahab Ceely : Why not? There's just as many grog shops and brothels here as any other port.

• Captain Ahab Ceely : Good afternoon, gentlemen. You're the finest looking bunch of scuttling cut-throats - I ever had the honor to meet up with. You need to be, where we're heading.

• Derek : It's me. I'm not a ghost!

  Captain Ahab Ceely : How did you get here?

  Derek : Same as the rest of the crew got here.

  Captain Ahab Ceely : You mean they Shanghaied you too?

  Derek : Don't pretend you didn't order him to.

  Captain Ahab Ceely : My orders were to empty the grog shops and the *brothels* - not the church pews.

• Captain Ahab Ceely : You may head her about, Mr. Stubbs, and make for the China coast.

  Stubbs : Are you giving up the hunt for Moby Dick, sir?

  Captain Ahab Ceely : He's licked me, Mr. Stubbs.

• Captain Ahab Ceely : What does your wooden god say now, you jungle worshiper?

  Queequeg : He say...

  Captain Ahab Ceely : Ahhh! Shut up. The little heathen god's a liar.

• Captain Ahab Ceely : You didn't see nothing yet?

  Stubbs : No self respecting whale would come out in this weather, sir.

  Captain Ahab Ceely : Your jokes well timed.

• Captain Ahab Ceely : Head back from those boats! My crew only lowers for Moby Dick.

  Shanghaied shipmate : A fine lot of sperm this crew will get us.

  Captain Ahab Ceely : I'm running this ship! The sooner you get that through your thick skulls, the better. And if you don't like it - swim home.

• Singapore Poppy : For me, baby? Yes? My name's Poppy. Me, nice gal, too.

  Captain Ahab Ceely : I'm buying ships, not women.

• Ahab Ceely : [sees Faith for the first time]  Who the... who is she?

  Derek : A friend. I work for her father.

  Ahab Ceely : Huh? Why, you ain't, uhh...

  Derek : Certainly not.

  Ahab Ceely : Hmm... what's the matter with you?