Cromwell (film)

Cromwell is a 1970 British historical drama film based on the life of Oliver Cromwell, who rose to lead the Parliamentary forces during the later years of the English Civil War and, as Lord Protector, ruled Great Britain and Ireland in the 1650s.

Written and directed by Ken Hughes.

Oliver Cromwell

Away with this Popish idolatry

Put your faith in God and keep your powder dry

Every man who wages war believes God is on his side. I'll warrant God should often wonder who is on his.

O Lord, thou knowest how busy I must be this day. If I forget thee, do not thou forget me.

Was not Gideon outnumbered by the Amalekites? It is not numbers that count, but speed and surprise. Let no man move, except upon the word of his commander! Though we be outnumbered, we shall win this battle! I promise you! So now put your faith in God and keep your powder dry.

In the name of God! What are we all? Men? Cowering and quivering like downtrodden serfs. The king is not England, and England is not the king! It is not the survival of the king that is at issue here. It is the survival of England. And this king, by his dishonesties, by his treasons, and by his secret treaties with foreign powers, has shown himself to be ill-fitted to govern this great nation!

Gentlemen, an immovable Parliament is more obnoxious than an immovable king! You are drunkards, tricksters, villains, whoremasters, godless, self-seeking, ambitious tricksters. You are no more capable of conducting the affairs of this nation than you are of running a brothel!

King Charles

I go now from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown.

Dialogue

Priest: Let us pray. Almighty God, look down upon this thy house and we, thy humble servants. Grant us the spirit of thy grace through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Cromwell [rising from his pew]: Who has done this? Answer me. Who has done this?

Priest: An edict, squire, from the archbishop himself and by order of the king.

Cromwell: By order of the king. Is the Church of England not a Protestant church? Would the king turn the house of God into a Roman temple?

Priest: Mr. Cromwell, I beseech you.

Cromwell: Does the king think that God can be bought with gold, trinkets and gilded rubbish?

Priest: I know only that I have been instructed.

Cromwell: Has this king forgotten the Reformation?

Priest: Mr. Cromwell—

Cromwell: Away with this [overturns the altar crucifix] Popish idolatry! Did the Lord not say unto Moses: "Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image nor bow down to them"? Has this king forgotten the Spanish Inquisition? Is the Roman Catholic Church to have a seat in Westminster?

King Charles: I do swear that I hold this England and its laws dearer to my heart than any here. But gentlemen, if you were to reduce me to a figurehead, a puppet king manipulated by Parliament, how then would I serve my country? What manner of king would I be?

Cromwell: I am persuaded, Your Majesty, that England must move forward to a more enlightened form of government based upon a true representation of a free people. Such an institution is known as democracy, sir.

King Charles: A democracy, Mr...?

Cromwell: Cromwell, sir.

King Charles: Democracy, Mr. Cromwell, was a Greek drollery based on the foolish notion that there are extraordinary possibilities in very ordinary people.

Cromwell: It is the ordinary people, my lord, who would most readily lay down their lives in defence of your realm. It is simply that being ordinary, they would prefer to be asked and not told.

King Charles: Mr. Cromwell, you are impertinent.

Cromwell: Such issues are beyond good manners, sir. Catholicism is more than a religion, it is a political power. Therefore, I am led to believe there will be no peace in Ireland until the Catholic Church is crushed.

Cromwell: Your Majesty, it is my most solemn duty to place you under arrest.

King Charles: By whose command, sir?

Cromwell: By the command of Parliament, sir.

King Charles: I know of no authority in England above that of the king.

Cromwell: It is upon that issue that this war was fought.