Mr. Forbush and the Penguins

Mr. Forbush and the Penguins (also known as Cry of the Penguins) is a 1971 British film about a womanizing biologist who studies life in a colony of penguins.

Directed by Arne Sucksdorff, Alfred Viola and Roy Boulting. Written by Anthony Shaffer, based on a novel by Graham Billings.

A Tip-Top Adventure At The Bottom Of The World! (taglines)

Richard Forbush

• [to the predatory skuas] Retribution is near my fine feathered friends. Make no mistake about that. [as he attacks the skuas with a catapult] You've asked for it, now you'll get it! Now it's your turn! You hear me? Go on, get out! GET OUT! ALL OF YOU! Die, damn you! Die! DO YOU HEAR ME? DIE! DIE!
• [after waiting for days and no penguins in sight] Well, if they're so strapped to the life force that they have to find their way back here to this refrigerated graveyard every year, that's their bad luck. God, I wish they'd get here and get it over. Oh, blast you all, wherever you are!
• [as he spots the first lone penguin waddling down a snowy hillside] Most revered and welcome bird! I greet you!
• [writing to Tara after a Navy chopper scares away all the penguins] The wretched birds have been scattered over this benighted landsacpe like bits of black pepper. They've used up so much of their courage already. Will they be able to find enough to come back? I wonder? I'm afraid.
• [In his final taped message to Tara] They'll be back again next year, struggling over the same barren stretch of ice to breed the next generation. And so it will go on, as long as there are penguins and skuas and the will to survive. And what have I learned from it all? That every living creature depends in some way on every other. Humans too. I'm not the same to myself anymore, Tara. Will I seem the same to you, and you to me?

Dialogue

[Richard is stocking up on food for the expedition]

Food-Store Clerk: May I put you down for a few jars of our best beluga caviar?

Richard: Yes! You may indeed.

Food-Store Clerk: Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. It should keep beautifully under all that ice!

---

Tringham: [in a flashback; voiceover] The skuas say in effect to the penguins, 'We'll keep the other skuas off in return for a fair share of your eggs and chicks.' In this way nature ensures the survival of a sufficient number of penguin chicks. A providence no to be despised by the thinking scientist.

---

Richard: [making radio contact with Scott Base or the first time] HELLO? THIS IS ZED-L-Y-R CAPE ROYDS CALLING ZED-L-Q SCOTT BASE. HOW DO YOU READ ME? OVER...

Scott Base Radio Operator: I'm reading you fine, Mr. Forbush. Only, mind my ears. Over.

Richard: MIND YOUR WHAT? OVER.

Scott Base Radio Operator: My ears, Bushy. You don't have to shout. Over.

Richard: Oh, sorry. Over.

Scott Base Radio Operator: Settled in yet? Just like home?

Richard: There are certain primordial differences.

Scott Base Radio Operator: Bet you're missing your electric blanket.

Richard: [laughs] That is the least of my regrets as far as bed is concerned.

Scott Base Radio Operator: Have the penguins shown up yet?

Richard: No, not a sign of them. Perhaps they won't show up this year. Perhaps they decided to spend the summer on Miami Beach instead.

Scott Base Radio Operator: Don't worry. They'll be there...

Taglines

• A Tip-Top Adventure At The Bottom Of The World!
• Can survival in the Antarctic Wilderness change a man?
• ...the zaniest bunch of birds on the South Pole!

Cast

• John Hurt as Richard Forbush
• Hayley Mills as Tara St. John Luke
• Dudley Sutton as Starshot
• Tony Britton as George Dewport
• Thorley Walters as Mr. Forbush Sr.
• Judy Campbell as Mrs. Forbush
• Joss Ackland as The Leader
• Nicholas Pennell as Julien
• Avril Angers as Fanny
• Cyril Luckham as Tringham
• Sally Geeson as Jackie
• Brian Oulton as Food-Store Clerk
• John Comer as Police Sergeant

External links

• Mr. Forbush and the Penguins quotes at the Internet Movie Database