Berlin Express (1948)

Robert Coote: Sterling

Quotes 

• Sterling : Only a Russian would be so distrustful as to arrive with a small platoon.

  Lt. Maxim : And only a Britisher would object.

  Sterling : Oh, you speak English?

  Lt. Maxim : Comes and goes, Tovarish.

• Robert Lindley : I know. We don't have any more German enemies, do we?

  Sterling : No authorized ones, anyway.

• Robert Lindley : [looking at two Germans in the train]  I wonder how they'll handle it.

  Sterling : Truthfully, I hope. Otherwise I'm wasting my valuable time. I'm in re-education. Seems pretty hopeless at times. I mean, what is more important than giving them the light to see?

  Robert Lindley : Giving them something to eat?

  Sterling : Your field?

  Robert Lindley : I do sleight of hand. We're supposed to make fifteen hundred calories look like an eight-course meal... and prevent things like plague and starvation.

• Perrot : What chance has a European got with an American around?

  Robert Lindley : I'm afraid you overestimate us.

  Perrot : Huh, not at all. How can we compete with your American charm, your chocolate...

  Sterling : Your soap?

  Perrot : Your cigarettes?

  Robert Lindley : Well, it's more blessed to give than to receive.

• Robert Lindley : I had a kid brother that fought close to a British outfit in Italy... the turning point of the war.

  Sterling : So, that's how American history will record it?

  Robert Lindley : What do you mean?

  Sterling : Well, the actual turning point of the war was El Alamein.

  Robert Lindley : Oh, you're quoting English history now.

  [they both chuckle]