Camelot (1967)

Vanessa Redgrave: Guenevere

Photos 

Quotes 

• King Arthur : Proposition. It is far better to be alive than dead.

  Guinevere : Hmm. Far better.

  King Arthur : If that is so, then why do we have wars in which peopIe can get kiIIed?

• Lancelot Du Lac : Ginny, I - I love you. God forgive me, but I do.

  Guinevere : Then God forgive us both, Lance.

  King Arthur : [King Arthur runs into the room]  Ginny, Ginny! Oh, what a glorious day!

• Guinevere : How long before we get to Camelot?

  Lady Clarinda : Soon, Ma'am. But don't look out there. It's a ghastly forest.

  Guinevere : It's the most ferocious, savage, terrifying forest I've ever seen. I simply adore it.

  Lady Clarinda : Does your ladyship not realize that this forest is crawling with outlaws and dragons?

  Guinevere : Oh, Clari, do you think there's any chance of meeting one?

  Lady Clarinda : Don't say it, Ma'am.

  Guinevere : It would be marvelous.

• Guinevere : You could be my protector! You think of it? You could defend me all over the world in France and England, Mongolia. Scotland.

• Guinevere : I want you to go, Lance.

  Lancelot Du Lac : Ginny, Ginny.

  Guinevere : No, I do. I don't worry about the future, we have none. But, if anything happened to the past, any more shame and any more guilt, could make a ruin of it. The past is all I have. The past is all I have.

• Guinevere : Don't stare. It's rude. Who are you?

  King Arthur : ActuaIIy, they caII me Wart, actuaIIy.

  Guinevere : You sure you heard them properIy?

• Guinevere : [singing]  Where are aII the simpIe joys of maidenhood? Where are aII those adoring, daring boys? Where's the knight pining so for me? He Ieaps to death in woe for me, Oh, where are a maiden's simpIe joys?

• King Arthur : Wait, please. Don't run, I won't harm you.

  Guinevere : You Iie! You'II Ieap on me and throw me to the ground!

  King Arthur : I won't do any such thing.

  Guinevere : You'II sling me over your shoulder and carry me off!

  King Arthur : No, no, no, no. I swear by the sword ExcaIibur, I won't touch you.

  Guinevere : Why not? How dare you insuIt me in this fashion? Do my Iooks repeI you?

• Guinevere : Must we talk about Mordred? This is the first time in a month that he's not coming to dinner and not having him makes it seem like a party!

• Guinevere : Was there ever a more inconvenient marriage of convenience? Here am I, at the golden age of seductibility and is my fate sealed with a kiss? Is it? No. Sealed with a seal.

• King Arthur : Ginny, Ginny, suppose we create a new order of chivalry? A new order where might is only used for right! To improve instead of to destroy. Look, we'll invite all the knights, all the kings of all the kingdoms, to lay down there arms to come and join us. Oh yes, Ginny. I will take one of the large rooms in the castle, put a table in it, and all the knights will gather at it.

  Guinevere : And do what?

  King Arthur : Talk across it. Debate. Make laws. Plan improvements!

  Guinevere : But, Arthur, do you think all the knights will ever want to? To do such a ridiculously peaceful thing?

  King Arthur : We'll make it a great honor. Very fashionable! Everyone will want to join! Only now, the knights will whack only for good. Might for right. Might for right. Might - for - right. That's it, Ginny. Might. No, not might is right. Might - For - Right!

  Guinevere : It's very original.

  King Arthur : Yes. Yes-Yes. And civilized, Ginny.

  Guinevere : Arthur, it will have to be an awfully large table. Won't there be jealousy? All the knights will be claiming superiority and want to sit at the head.

  King Arthur : We'll make it - a round table. So, there is no head.

• King Arthur : Well, this is appalling Ginny! It will seem to the court that you are championing his defeat!

  Guinevere : We don't know if he'll be defeated. He knocked you unconscious. You woke up his bosom friend. Perhaps he'll knock them out too and they'll all take a house by the sea together.

  King Arthur : Ginny, I realize he's having a difficult time adjusting. He's a stranger! He's not even English. He's French!

  Guinevere : Well, he suffers in translation.

• King Arthur : Suppose we create a new order of chivalry?

  Guenevere : What?

  King Arthur : A new order where might is only used for right! To improve instead of to destroy! We'll invite all the knights, all the kings of all the kingdoms to lay down their arms to come and join us! Oh yes, Ginny. And we'll take one of the large rooms in the castle, put a table in it, and all the knights will gather at it.

  Guenevere : And do what?

  King Arthur : Talk across it. Debate, make laws, plan improvements!

  Guenevere : But Arthur, do you think all the knights will ever want to... to do such a ridiculously peaceful thing?

  King Arthur : We'll make it a great honor. Very fashionable! Everyone will want to join. Only now, the knights will whack only for good. Might for right.

  [pause, then whispering] 

  King Arthur : Might for right... Might for right! That's it, Ginny! Might... No, not might IS right. Might... FOR right!

• Guinevere : [singing]  It's May, It's May, The lusty month of May, That lovely month when everyone goes, Blissfully astray, It's here, It's here, That shocking time of year, When tons of wicked little thoughts, merrily appear...

• King Arthur : MerIyn. He's my teacher. He's the wisest man aIive. He'd know what to do. He Iives backwards.

  Guinevere : I beg your pardon?

  King Arthur : He Iives backwards! He doesn't age. He - 'youthens'. He can remember the - future, so he can teII you what you'II be doing in it.

• Guinevere : If the King wishes me to withdraw what I have given, let him command me and yours humbly will graciously obey.

• Guinevere : [singing]  You will bash and thrash him?

  Sir Lionel : I will smash and mash him!

  Guinevere : You'll give him trouble?

  Sir Lionel : He will be rubble!

  Guinevere : A mighty whack?

  Sir Lionel : His skull will crack!

  Guinevere : Ah, Mon Dieu...

• Lancelot Du Lac : [singing]  Oh, no, Not in Springtime, Summer, Winter or FaII, No, never could I Leave you, At aII.

  Guinevere : [speaking]  I want you to go, Lance.

• King Arthur , Guinevere : [singing]  The world is bright, And aII is right, And Iife is merry and gay...

• Guinevere : [singing]  The silence at Iast was broken, We flung wide our prison door, Every joyous word of love was spoken, And now there's: Twice as much grief, Twice the strain for us, Twice the despair, Twice the pain for us...

• Guinevere : I never wanted to Iove you. Your God arranged it. Your God must soIve it.

• King Arthur : What did you do today, Ginny?

  Guinevere : Oh, just trivial things.

  King Arthur : Ah, that's exactly what I want to hear about. Tempests and tea cups, mountains made out of mole hills, anything, anything. Anything you can think of - that is not fit for a king.

  Guinevere : [singing]  What do the simple folk do? To help them escape when they're blue? The shepherd who is ailing, The milk maid who is glum, The cobbler who is wailing, From nailing his thumb...