The Reluctant Dragon (I) (1941)

Nana Bryant: Mrs. Benchley

Photos 

Quotes 

• [first lines] 

  Mrs. Benchley : [Reading]  "So they set off up the hill, arm in arm, the knight, the dragon, and the boy. The lights in the little village began to go out one by one."

  [Is interrupted by a toy rifle going off] 

  Mrs. Benchley : "But there were stars and a late moon as they climbed the downs together."

  [Toy rifle again] 

  Mrs. Benchley : Robert, please.

  [Pan to Robert Benchley lying on a raft in the pool, with the toy rifle] 

  Robert Benchley : Go on, I can hear in any position.

  [Shoots a dart at a duck decoy in the pool] 

  Mrs. Benchley : [Continues reading]  "And as they turned the last corner and disappeared from view, snatches of an old song were borne back on the night breeze. I can't be certain which of them was singing, but I think it was the dragon."

  Robert Benchley : Go on, I'm listening.

  Mrs. Benchley : That was the end, and a very lovely end, too.

  Robert Benchley : Yeah, charming, charming. It's funny. No matter which way I aim, I always hit the same duck.

  Mrs. Benchley : Robert, I have a wonderful idea. We'll sell this book to Walt Disney.

  Robert Benchley : Well, you can't. It belongs to your nephew.

  [Looks at rifle] 

  Robert Benchley : So does this, too. I wonder what he'd take for it.

  Mrs. Benchley : I mean the idea, for a movie. I'm sure if you went to his studio and suggested it to him, he'd jump at it.

  Robert Benchley : Me suggest a story to Walt Disney? Why, I hardly know him.

  Mrs. Benchley : Well, you hardly knew me when you suggested marriage.

  Robert Benchley : Yeah, look at the trouble I got into. He can't listen to every crackpot with a wild idea.

  Mrs. Benchley : You might be the exception. All you would have to do would be to go to his studio and show him the book.

  Robert Benchley : I wouldn't dream of it!

  Mrs. Benchley : They're always open to new ideas. Get your things on, and stop shilly-shallying.

  Robert Benchley : [Stands up on raft]  I am not shillying and I am not shallying. But once and for all, I will not go to the studio. I will not make myself look ridiculous.

  [Falls through] 

  Robert Benchley : [Bubbles come out of his mouth]  And that's final.

• [last lines] 

  Mrs. Benchley : So while you were shilly-shallying, they made the picture. I never knew it to fail. In all the years that I've known you, you've always been too late. Really, Robert, I can't understand why you're forever letting these opportunities slip through your fingers. Anyone would've thought of it in time, months ago. But you...

  [sighs] 

  Mrs. Benchley : Well, why don't you say something?

  Robert Benchley : [as Donald Duck]  Aw, phooey!

  [quacking furiously] 

  Robert Benchley : Phooey!

• [Robert Benchley and his wife are driving to the Disney studio] 

  Robert Benchley : It's a wild goose chase, that's what it is. I don't imagine he's out here in the first place.

  Mrs. Benchley : Where else would he be?

  Robert Benchley : You know these movie producers; New York, Saratoga, Palm Beach...

  Mrs. Benchley : Hollywood.