Titanic (1943)
Hans Nielsen: 1st Officer Petersen
Quotes
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1st Officer Petersen : [enters a room]
Gloria : [behind a curtain] Is anybody there?
1st Officer Petersen : Yes, Petersen. Please put on your life jackets and go on deck immediately.
Gloria : Oh deck? Why?
1st Officer Petersen : I'm not authorized to give passangers audditional information.
Sir Bruce Ismay : [comes behind the curtain] One moment. But you will give ME information.
1st Officer Petersen : To you, as the president responsible for this, I WILL give information: The Titanic is sinking.
Gloria : The Titanic is sinking?
Sir Bruce Ismay : What are you saying?
1st Officer Petersen : The Titanic is sinking.
Sir Bruce Ismay : [laughs]
1st Officer Petersen : We collidition with an iceberg. The Titanic is ripped open from the bow till under the bridge.
Sir Bruce Ismay : Don't tell nonsense.
1st Officer Petersen : You'll soon see, thatever it's nonsense. In jsut a few hours it's all over and a few thousand will be on the bottom because of you
Gloria : But we have lifeboats.
1st Officer Petersen : The lifeboats will hold almost a third of the passengers.
Sir Bruce Ismay : I order you to secure a lifeboat for me immediately.
1st Officer Petersen : First: You can't give me orders, Second: according to the law: women and children go first and third I'll give you the advice to go in you cabin and get your life jacket
[about to leave the room]
Sir Bruce Ismay : Stay here!
1st Officer Petersen : What else do you want?
Sir Bruce Ismay : Please lets talk as man to man. Forget about the earlier momant this evening. I was nervous it was a momental excitement. I beg you: get me a lifeboat.
1st Officer Petersen : YOU should have been got the lifeboats.
Sir Bruce Ismay : No. Be reasonable. I'll give you five - I'll give you $10 000,-. Save me a place.
1st Officer Petersen : [pushs Ismay away and leaves]
Sir Bruce Ismay : We'll see if I'll come along.
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Sir Bruce Ismay : The White Star Line has no need of officiers who sow only unrest among the passangers.
1st Officer Petersen : And I have no need to serve on a ship that run not by sailors but by stock speculators.
Sir Bruce Ismay : I forbid you to use that tone. Go in your stateroom. I'm relieving you of your duty.
1st Officer Petersen : On board this ship you can neither relieve me of duty nor give me orders. To me you are nothing more than a passanger.
[leaves]
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1st Officer Petersen : [Approaches Sigrid who's waiting by one of the final lifeboats] Sigrid!
Sigrid Olinsky : Yes?
1st Officer Petersen : You're an amazing woman, my darling.
Sigrid Olinsky : I'd only done it for you.
1st Officer Petersen : Sigrid, you must get into this lifeboat and leave the ship.
Sigrid Olinsky : No. I'll go when you go.
1st Officer Petersen : As an officer, I must stay to the end. And it is in my capacity as an officer that I order you to get in the lifeboat. Those people need you to give them hope until rescue comes. I beg you... Go!
Sigrid Olinsky : [pause] So you're ordering me?
1st Officer Petersen : Yes. And it is the most difficult order I ever had to give.
Sigrid Olinsky : All right, then. I'll go.
[She reluctantly boards the lifeboat]
1st Officer Petersen : Lower away!
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1st Officer Petersen : Now money means nothing. Now it's just about survival.
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1st Officer Petersen : [First Officer Peterson addresses President Ismay and Captain Smith about the dangerous course the ship is on] There are warnings about drift ice, and even reports of icebergs.
Captain Edward J. Smith : What measures have you taken?
1st Officer Petersen : I've changed course and reduced our speed.
Sir Bruce Ismay : Why? You'll certainly recognize an iceberg in plenty of time.
1st Officer Petersen : Pardon me, but you're mistaken. Some icebergs are miles long, and 7/8 of them are underwater. There is the danger of colliding with the underwater mass.
Sir Bruce Ismay : Danger? That's ridiculous. The 'Titanic' is unsinkable.
1st Officer Petersen : Proof of that has not yet been provided.
Sir Bruce Ismay : [Getting impatient, he turns to address Capt. Smith] I demand you maintain direct course and full speed, Captain.
Captain Edward J. Smith : That is a great responsibility for me.
1st Officer Petersen : If I may be permitted to comment... such a responsibility is intolerable for any seaman.
Sir Bruce Ismay : [Annoyed] What is that supposed to mean?
1st Officer Petersen : Staying the course at full speed would endanger over 2,000 lives. In the event of tragedy, there isn't nearly enough room in the lifeboats for even a small portion of the passengers.
Sir Bruce Ismay : [Clearly getting impatient with the First Officer] Enough of your pessimism.
1st Officer Petersen : It's not pessimism. It's our duty to consider every possibility.
Sir Bruce Ismay : That's *intentional* pessimism!
1st Officer Petersen : What do you mean by that?
Captain Edward J. Smith : Please, Herr Peterson...
Sir Bruce Ismay : What I mean is that, as the only German officer on board, you have no interest in the 'Titanic' winning the Blue Ribbon.
1st Officer Petersen : You will account for that remark at the appropriate time.
1st Officer Petersen : [Turning to Capt. Smith] Captain, we await your orders on the bridge.
Sir Bruce Ismay : Captain, you know what the White Star Line expects of you.
Captain Edward J. Smith : I know very well, Mr. President.
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1st Officer Petersen : Who runs this ship? President Ismay or the captain?
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Aktionär Fränklin : I bid you $150.000,- for a place in a boat.
1st Officer Petersen : Not a chance, gentlemen. Women and children first.
Aktionär Fränklin : Why women and children? Don't be stupid, man. We can pay. I bid you a half million.
1st Officer Petersen : Here's some advice, take your life-jacket and go aboard.
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Aktionär Fränklin : I'll give you $150.000,- for a place in a lifeboat.
1st Officer Petersen : It's useless. Women and children will be saved first.
Aktionär Fränklin : Don't be stupid, man. We can pay. I'll give you half a million.
1st Officer Petersen : Here's some advice: Get a life-jacket and go on deck.
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1st Officer Murdoch : What wheater! It it stays calm, we'll be in New York at least a day ahead of schedule.
1st Officer Petersen : Meanwhile the engines are ruined.
1st Officer Murdoch : President Ismay surely knows what he's doing, ordering this speed.
[to the side]
1st Officer Murdoch : Sailor.
1st Officer Petersen : Who's running this ship? Ismay or the captain?
1st Officer Murdoch : The Captian naturally does what the president of the line requests.
1st Officer Petersen : And why does he request such rubbish?
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Sigrid Olinsky : [Sigrid Olinsky and Petersen are in the billiard room, where Astor and Ismay are playing] Sir Bruce? I have a big favor to ask of you, one which you cannot refuse.
Sir Bruce Ismay : Then of course I won't.
Sigrid Olinsky : I'd like to see the engine room.
Sir Bruce Ismay : That's a wonderful idea, we will all come along!
[to Astor]
Sir Bruce Ismay : Would you be interested?
John Jacob Astor : Of course, I'll just let my wife know.
[leaves]
Sigrid Olinsky : But we'll need an expert guide. Can't Offier Petersen come along? He's not on duty at the moment.
Sir Bruce Ismay : Of course he can.
[to Petersen]
Sir Bruce Ismay : Would you please show us the engine room?
1st Officer Petersen : Mr. President, I'm not authorized to do this.
Sir Bruce Ismay : Then I give you full authorization.
1st Officer Petersen : Mr. President, I am the First Officer, you cannot give me any authorization.
Sir Bruce Ismay : I see.
[to Steward Braun]
Sir Bruce Ismay : Mr. Brown? Please call the captain for me.
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Sigrid Olinsky : You take me for a spoiled, superficial woman who indulges her every whim, don't you?
1st Officer Petersen : Now, it would seem discourteous if I didn't insist on the contrary.
Sigrid Olinsky : Then I wouldn't want to disappoint you again, so you must be right. And my whim is to prove to you that I will do anything I want.
1st Officer Petersen : That won't be difficult since, as the First Officer, it is my duty to fulfill the wishes of the passengers as much as possible.
Sigrid Olinsky : But there must be things you're expressly forbidden to do.
1st Officer Petersen : Of course. For example, I'm forbidden to visit passengers in their staterooms or take them to the engine room-...
Sigrid Olinsky : That's perfect! I would like to see the engine room.
