Lady of the Tropics (1939)

Ernest Cossart: Father Antoine

Quotes 

• Bill Carey : Father... Father, help us.

  Father Antoine : My son, she goes where there is no east or west. And she will be judged by one who alone knows how great or how little were her sins.

• Bill Carey : Surely you don't think it wrong, Father, for people who love each other to marry, and marry decently and live happily forever afterwards?

  Father Antoine : I only think, monsieur, that you're marrying someone you love, but do not know - and will never know. Manon comes of a race older than ours, monsieur, a race whose heart is inscrutable and mysterious as its hats and its gods. You'll have only a half a bride, monsieur, eager and happy. The other half will always be far away from you. And I only fear that when sometimes this hidden one is revealed to you, you'll look with pain upon a stranger in your house, whatever your house be.

• Father Antoine : His father is French. His mother is a native.

  Countess Berichi : I adore half-caste! They're so vicious and fascinating.

  Father Antoine : No, no. They're not vicious. Somehow they remind me of, well, flying fish. Very harmless. Born to the water, they spend half their life trying to soar above it. Only to fall back again into the sea and die there.

• Bill Carey : Do the whites accept these half-castes?

  Father Antoine : No, they only create them.