alex_thorn

Hi folks!

There is a couple of lines in this brilliant movie that i just can't understand.
Could somebody help me out?

They are from the first scene in the jail where the hangman (Mr. Elliot) is conversing with the prison clerk and then the superintendent.

The first one is:

Been up to Manchester on Monday - a poisoner, baby farmer at Holloway this morning .......???

- After using the silken rope never again be content with hemp.
- .......???

- How will he approach it?
- I should think as the calmest you've ever known.
- .......???

And if you don't have the film handy i could send you these audio snippets by email. I'm just dying to find out what they really say!

Regards
Alex

Hugo

Your first gap:-
The governer says "Quite. Well here we are" and the hangman says "Oh thank you"

Your second gap:-
The hangman says "Noblesse obliged (and then a word I can't make out). A difficult client can make things very distressing".

This is of course a reference to the french saying "Noblesse oblige"
i.e rank imposes obligations

alex_thorn

Thanks alot Hugo.

How about the very first one - Manchester and Holloway?


Alex

Steve Crook

What is it you don't understand about it Alex? Manchester (Strangeways) is a large prison in the midlands. Holloway is a women's prison in London. In the bad old days while the death penalty was in effect the hangman would have visited both of them fairly regularly.

Steve

Rob Compton

They might be surprised in Manchester that you've moved it to the Midlands, Steve. And not best pleased, possibly...:rolleyes:

alex_thorn

No offense, but you're not being very attentive Steve.

We could even dwell on the subject and observe that Holloway has gone female in 1902. That's all on the internet. My concern is what does the Hangman say after "baby farmer at Holloway this morning". And that is something about these two cases being rather commonplace. But I can't make that out what exactly he does say. And that is bugging me.


Regards
Alex

Steve Crook

To a southerner - it's in the Midlands

Steve

Steve Crook

I am very attentive, but let's keep it polite.
I thought you meant you couldn't understand what was meant by the lines that you'd written out.

Steve

Hugo

I think the line is ". . . . baby farmer at Holloway this morning. Very ordinary crimes, both of 'em. "

The script of Kind Hearts and Coronets has been published, but I don't know where you could get a copy.

Hugo

alex_thorn

That must be it...

Thanks Hugo.

alex_thorn

I did not mean to be impolite Steve, just a bit too cynical maybe.:)

Alex

dylan

Is it "baby farmer" and "silken rope" you are still unclear about?

Baby Farmers were usually women who "adopted" illigitimate children for a price and then murdered them to cut their costs.

Members of the nobility were executed using a silken rope rather than a hemp one.

D.

Wee Sonny MacGregor

Silken or hemp, it was important for the hangman to ensure that the rope had been suitably stretched beforehand so that it was, to quote John Reid, "fit for purpose".

aaron

I think the word you can't make out is 'doubtless'. also, look out for the very obvious overdub voice on the words 'some of them' just afterwards....Ok, so i'm a trainspotter!!

'He who is not one up...Is one down'

Merton Park

It is interesting to note, that Noblesse Oblige is the French title of the film.