This Happy Breed (1944)
Celia Johnson: Ethel Gibbons
Photos
Quotes
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Frank Gibbons : What's the use of upsetting yourself? There isn't going to be another war anyway.
Ethel Gibbons : There'll always be wars as long as men are such fools as to want to go to them.
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Frank Gibbons : Poor old girl. You must be glad to have a 'ome of your own again. Living with your mother for four years can't have been all jam, I will say. I think I was better off in the trenches.
Ethel Gibbons : You ought to be ashamed saying such things!
Frank Gibbons : Your mother's alright in her way, but that house of hers in Battersea, oh dear. Gave me the willies after five weeks, let alone four years. At least we've got a bath here that doesn't scratch the hide off you.
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Frank Gibbons : Somebody once said we was a nation of gardeners, you know they weren't far wrong. We like planting things and watching 'em grow, looking out for changes in the weather.
Ethel Gibbons : You and your garden.
Frank Gibbons : What works in other countries won't work in this one. We got our own way of settlin' things. It may be a bit slow and it may be a bit dull, but it suits us all right and it always will.
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Ethel Gibbons : He's our only son, isn't he? He's going away from us, isn't he? It's enough to make any woman cry.
Frank Gibbons : Well, they'll be back from the honeymoon in two weeks and living just round the corner.
Ethel Gibbons : It's all very fine for you. You didn't bring him into the world and hold him at your breast.
Frank Gibbons : I should have looked the proper fool if I had!
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Ethel Gibbons : Poor old Sylvia, she's a bit of a trial sometimes.
Queenie : Well, I don't know how you stand her, Mum.
Ethel Gibbons : If it hadn't for poor Bertie getting killed in the war, she'd have been alright I expect.
Queenie : What was he like?
Ethel Gibbons : Bit soppy I always thought, still, she seemed to like him.
Queenie : How awful to be so dependent on a man living or dying it could ruin your whole life.
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Frank Gibbons : Here, let's have a look at you.
Ethel Gibbons : What for?
Frank Gibbons : Just to see what's happened to your face. You know, I don't seem to have had time for a really good look at it since I got back.
Ethel Gibbons : Oh, stop it. Leave go.
Frank Gibbons : Here, hold still a minute.
Ethel Gibbons : Now see here, Frank Gibbons.
Frank Gibbons : It's not such a bad face as faces go, I will say.
Ethel Gibbons : Oh, thanks very much I'm sure.
Frank Gibbons : Of course, it's not quite as young as it was when I married it.
Ethel Gibbons : Leave hold of me.
Ethel Gibbons : But taken by and large, I wouldn't change it.
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Frank Gibbons : Now, then.
Ethel Gibbons : Now then what?
Frank Gibbons : Give us a kiss.
Ethel Gibbons : I'll do no such thing!
Frank Gibbons : And why not, may I ask?
Ethel Gibbons : We haven't got no time for fooling about and well you know it.
Frank Gibbons : Oh, turning nasty, are we? We'll soon see about that.
Ethel Gibbons : Frank Gibbons!
Frank Gibbons : Shut up.
[kiss]
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Mrs. Flint : Mrs. Willcox moved into that house in Leatherhead and before she'd been in it for three months she was in bed with rheumatic fever.
Ethel Gibbons : That's right, dear. Look on the bright side.
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Ethel Gibbons : Have you got your mac, Queenie?
Queenie : It's not a mac, it's a Burberry.
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Ethel Gibbons : We haven't got any plans. We're just going to have a jolly good time.
Queenie : Well, are we going, or are we gonna stand here all day talking about it?
Ethel Gibbons : Don't be saucy, Queenie.
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Mrs. Flint : I'm sure I haven't said anything.
Ethel Gibbons : Oh, yes, you have. You're always giving Sylvia sly digs about Mr. Rogers. And if he's taken a fancy to her, so much the better. She's old enough to look after herself, heaven knows. And if he murdered his wife and strangled his children and ran off to Australia with her it still wouldn't be anything to do with you, so shut up.
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Ethel Gibbons : it's wrong, isn't it? All this "down with everything" business?
Frank Gibbons : Well, there's something to be said for it. There's always something to be said for everything. But where they go wrong is trying to get things done too quickly. We don't like doing things quickly in this country.
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Frank Gibbons : What's the betting they haven't been smoking themselves silly up in Reg's room?
Ethel Gibbons : Well, it is Christmas.
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Ethel Gibbons : You'll stay and have a bite with us, won't you, Bob?
Bob Mitchell : No, thank you, all the same, Nora's got something for me next door.
Frank Gibbons : Here, have a drink.
Ethel Gibbons : You've had quite enough to drink, Frank, and well you know it.
Bob Mitchell : Better not, old man. Ethel's quite right. Women are always right. That's why we cherish them. God bless 'em.
Ethel Gibbons : You'd better cherish yourself next door, Bob. Nora will be having one of her upsets if she's got something hot for you to eat and you're not there to eat it.
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Aunt Sylvia : I'll take my tea up with me.
Ethel Gibbons : That's right, dear. Nothing like a nice cup of tea in bed.
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Mrs. Flint : It seems only yesterday.
Ethel Gibbons : What does, Mother?
Mrs. Flint : The day you and Frank was married. I can see your poor Aunt Connie now, coughing her heart out in the vestry. It was only three months after that she was taken.
Frank Gibbons : That's right.
Mrs. Flint : I should be lucky if I last out another year.
Frank Gibbons : Oh, dear, oh, dear.
Mrs. Flint : I don't suppose anybody would mind much. There's many as might say it was a blessing in disguise, I shouldn't wonder.
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Ethel Gibbons : Oh, Mrs. Baker and Miss Whitney have just come out of number 12. Got up to kill, they are.
Aunt Sylvia : Mrs. Whitney, stuck-up thing.
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[last lines]
Frank Gibbons : I don't mind how many flats we move into, where we go or what we do, so long as I've got you.
Ethel Gibbons : Don't talk so silly.
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Frank Gibbons : You're a funny woman, Ethel, and no mistake.
Ethel Gibbons : I expect I am. We're as God made us. I suppose there's nothing much to be done about it.
Frank Gibbons : Well, I wouldn't be so sure.
