Tunes of Glory (1960)

John Mills: Lt. Col. Basil Barrow

Photos 

2 more photos

Quotes 

• [while watching the pipers practice, Barrow notes that some of the men are not wearing the proper caps] 

  Major Jock Sinclair, D.S.O., M.M. : Colonel, there's a tradition here...

  Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : I'm all in favor of good tradition.

  Major Jock Sinclair, D.S.O., M.M. : I've always let the pipers wear pretty well what they please at band practice.

  Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : Because you've let them wear what they like just doesn't make it a tradition!

• Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : Do you really think I made it for my popularity? Do you really think that's why I made this decision?

  Major Charles Scott, M.C. : My dear Colonel, we didn't know that you'd made any decision.

  Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : But... you must have heard that the matter's not to go to Brigade.

  Major Charles Scott, M.C. : Yes, we heard that.

  Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : Well?

  Major Charles Scott, M.C. : We thought that was Jock's decision. My dear fellow, we didn't even realize you were there.

• Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : When you're dying, when you really believe you're dying, you think of the most absurd things.

  Capt. Jimmy Cairns, M.C. : In my war I never had time to think.

  Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : Oh they gave me time, all right. Again and again. When I was in the prison camp, they nearly drowned me, then they brought me round. Then they put a wet cloth over my mouth and kept it wet until I nearly drowned again. And the only thing that pulled me through was the thought that one day I'd come back and sit in the middle of that table as colonel of this battalion, like my grandfather and his father before him. Only I was going to be the best of the lot.

• Major Jock Sinclair, D.S.O., M.M. : Straight or with water?

  Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : I'd rather have a soft drink, if I may. Anything will do.

  Major Jock Sinclair, D.S.O., M.M. : Not a whiskey?

  Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : Not a whiskey.

  Major Jock Sinclair, D.S.O., M.M. : But we all drink whiskey in this battalion.

  Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : Yes, I remember that. Whiskey doesn't really agree with me, I'm afraid.

  Major Jock Sinclair, D.S.O., M.M. : A lemonade for Colonel Barrow.

• Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : The way we dance. I'm well aware that you all know the steps, but some, I feel, need reminding that dancing should be considered a social grace - rather than a noisy ritual. Therefore, starting tomorrow, each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning, at 0715 hours, there will be dancing for three quarters of an hour before breakfast. No one will raise his hands above his head except in the foursome reel. No shouting. No swinging on one arm. The Pipe Major will take the parade and you will report dressed as you are now, but with plimsolls on.

• Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : Strange I should stop at this spot. I used to come here sometimes.

  Capt. Jimmy Cairns, M.C. : When was that?

  Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : Oh, years ago - when the future was bright. I had one pip and no chips on my shoulder.

• Major Jock Sinclair, D.S.O., M.M. : What does commanding the battalion mean to you? Nothing.

  Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : Nothing? You may have come in here as a boy piper, Sinclair, but I was here before you. I was born with this regiment, born into an idea. The bandaged feet at Corunna, the square at Waterloo, the thin red line. the charge of our Highlanders hanging onto the cavalry's stirrups, and "Scotland the Brave." the mud at Passchendaele, in which my own father fell. And I've kept up with the history. I even know the chapter where you took over in the desert, sitting on the edge of a Bren gun carrier like a - bobby at a tattoo. Accuse me of anything you like, Jock, but don't accuse me of not caring. I've eaten, walked, slept and dreamt this regiment since my first toy soldier.

• Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : There's a world of difference between strength and obstinacy. I didn't want to take action just for the sake of showing it was in my power to do so. In a way, commanding a battalion is a question of compromise, keeping a team together.

• Major Jock Sinclair, D.S.O., M.M. : You won't regret it. You won't regret it, Colonel. I promise you that.

  Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : I hope you're right.

• Major Jock Sinclair, D.S.O., M.M. : I'll tell you who suffers most. Not Morag, not the Corporal, not me, but the, um, uh, you express yourself better than me. Uh, not just the battalion. What was it you said?

  Lt. Col. Basil Barrow : The idea.

  Major Jock Sinclair, D.S.O., M.M. : That's it. The *idea* of the battalion. The living and the dead, all together. The regiment. That's what suffers most.