Boy on a Dolphin (1957)

Clifton Webb: Victor Parmalee

Photos 

Quotes 

• Dr. James 'Jim' Calder : May I remind you of Paragraph 9 of the Penal Code of Greece:

  [reading from a book] 

  Dr. James 'Jim' Calder : "Any and all objects of a historical value cannot under any circumstances be removed from Greek territory or territorial waters. They...

  Victor Parmalee : [quoting by memory]  ... they are to be considered the property of the Greek nation." Yes, Jim, I know all about Greek Paragraph 9. *I'm* the reason they wrote it!

• Monk : [Upon meeting Parmalee, who has just ascended to the Meteora Monastery via a hand-operated "elevator"]  Welcome to Meteora.

  Victor Parmalee : May I ask, who carries your insurance?

  Monk : We put our trust in the Almighty.

  Victor Parmalee : A very safe company.

• Phaedra : He's important man, Mr. Calder, huh?

  Victor Parmalee : In his pedestrian way. "Incorruptible Jim," I call him.

  Phaedra : You know him a long time?

  Victor Parmalee : Our paths have crossed and re-crossed: in Dresden, Rotterdam, Florence - wherever the Nazis looted. Raphaels, Rembrandts, even down to a dreary little china pot, which belonged to Madame Pompadour... there was always Captain Jim Calder of the U.S. Army, restoring priceless objects to their rightful owners - a typical middle-class gesture.

• Victor Parmalee : Jim, you're talking to me as if I were a man of honor. I'm not!

• Victor Parmalee : You'll dive with Calder - dive all over the Aegean Sea. Except in one spot: the spot with the boy on a dolphin.

  Phaedra : But sir...

  Victor Parmalee : [Cutting her off]  Dive until he runs out of patience, runs out of ambition, out of money, oxygen, and hope!

  Phaedra : [Tapping her finger to her temple]  Oh, Mr. Parmalee, you have plenty of noodle, you know?

  Victor Parmalee : Thank you.

  Phaedra : Now, we all have wine!

• Victor Parmalee : Fall on your knees before it, child, and remember the Jockey boy of Artemision is 2100 years older than you are and infinitely more sublime.

  Phaedra : Mister, you're rich American?

  Victor Parmalee : A relevant question and a decidedly impertinent one. You may leave me alone now. Shoo!

  Phaedra : You shoo.

• Victor Parmalee : Well, I'm glad to find out that Jim has finally turned to something more earthy.

  Phaedra : Eh?

  Victor Parmalee : He has a date with a pretty girl instead of a marble bust.

• Victor Parmalee : A secret?

  Phaedra : It's not a secret!

  Victor Parmalee : I never pry. There's nothing more becoming than a woman with a secret.

• Victor Parmalee : For a practical man, Jim, you waste your time in an awful lot of nonsense. I like that about you.

• Dr. James 'Jim' Calder : I hate to see you go to jail, Victor.

  Victor Parmalee : As sentimentality is still your most enduring weakness, Jim, keep it up.

• Victor Parmalee : It's money. I presume you've heard of money. Don't try and be noble and turn it down. There's nothing as noble as money.

• Victor Parmalee : I am 100% guilty - of an unforgivable crime. A crime of failure.