Samson and Delilah (1949)
Hedy Lamarr: Delilah
Photos
Quotes
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Delilah : You love him. Women cannot deceive each other. It is in your face when you look at him. You want him for yourself.
Miriam : Yes, I love him. In his face, I see all that is strong and good. His name is like a cry of hope for us. I've dreamed that someday Samson would take me for his wife. But he's never looked upon me as a woman.
Delilah : His face... his name... shadows on the wall. You think that is love? You worship him with prayers and downcast eyes. I love him as a man of flesh and blood!
Miriam : He is not leaving you for me. There is a higher voice that speaks through him, and he will always answer its call. Even your treacherous beauty cannot turn him from it.
Delilah : I cannot fight against his god. But no woman will take him from me.
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Tubal : [holding Delilah and trading her for Semadar] Look! Here! Samson. My other daughter. Take her. She'll make you a much better wife. She's fairer than Semadar, and much, much more beautiful.
Samson : You give me a turnip for a...
Tubal : Wait, wait Samson. This one is a queen among women. Samson, look. Look. Have you ever seen eyes like that? So full of love for you? See the whiteness of her skin, smooth as a young dove's. Oh she'll grow into a rare blossom.
Samson : She'll grow into a thornbush!
Delilah : [grasps Samson] Did a thornbush steal the chariot that took you to the lion? Did a thornbush tell the Saran how you killed it with your bare hands? No, I did, and he believed me, then you chose Semadar.
Samson : Take your claws out of me!
Delilah : You'll never get them out of you. I made Ahtur steal the riddle's secret from Semadar. I lied to stop you from marrying her. I'll kill to keep you. You're the only thing in the world I want.
Samson : [to Tubal] Hold this fork-tongued adder before I put a heel on her.
Delilah : If you crush the life out of me I'd kiss you with my dying breath!
Samson : [to Tubal] And you want me to marry this wild cat?
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Delilah : [looking upon Samson in the gristmill, not knowing that he has been blinded] He has not dared to look at me.
Saran of Gaza : He cannot see you.
Delilah : I'll make him see me.
[stands in front of Samson, slowly noticing his blinded eyes, which fill her with deep remorse]
Delilah : He's blind. He can never see me again.
Saran of Gaza : Does that disturb you?
Delilah : I had your promise.
Saran of Gaza : No blade has touched his skin. No drop of his blood was shed.
Delilah : [sobs] You... you played with words to rob him of his eyes.
Saran of Gaza : It was you who betrayed him, not I.
Delilah : He was captive, in chains, yet the Lord of the Five Cities could not show him mercy?
Saran of Gaza : Did you show him mercy, Delilah? You wanted vengeance. You have it.
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Delilah : [being tormented by the Saran's words that she "cannot undo" her betrayal of Samson, his subsequent blinding, and his bondage of grinding grain in the gristmill] I can! I can! Round and round, day after day, month after month. He never stops! I'm being crushed like the grain beneath the stone. This night must end sometime. O God of Samson, help me. He said you are everywhere. That you are almighty. Hear me. Give back the light to his eyes. Take my sight for his. O god of Samson... Help me.
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Delilah : They're devils.
Saran of Gaza : No, they're very human. The weak always ban together to pull down the strong.
Lord of Gath : Your lion has become a mouse.
Saran of Gaza : Changed by the magic of love.
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Saran of Gaza : Every cup of water, every morsel of food, must be guided into his hands. The mighty Samson, betrayed by a woman.
Delilah : No.
Saran of Gaza : Blinded, ridiculed, pitied.
Delilah : No, I did not blind him!
Saran of Gaza : [Delilah tries to go to Samson, but the Saran holds her back] Are you going to be as big a fool as you've made of him? He'd kill you. You cannot undo what has been done.
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Hisham : [From afar, Delilah observes her home going up in flames] Turn away, little mistress. Don't look anymore. All you have in the world is ashes and death.
Delilah : [turns around and sobs] Samson lives.
Hisham : May his flesh rot from his bones.
Delilah : Be still, old fool. If it takes all my life, I'll make him curse the day he was born.
Hisham : He called you a fork-tongued adder.
Delilah : He's going to feel its sting.
Hisham : [holds Delilah's hand] What strength can these hands have against him?
Delilah : Perhaps greater than a lion's and softer than a dove's. I'll find strength, Hisham. Strength to destroy him!
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Prince Ahtur : This Samson has some unknown power, some secret that gives him superhuman strength. No man can stand against him.
Delilah : Perhaps he'll fall before a woman. Even Samson's strength must have a weakness. There isn't a man in the world who would not share his secrets with some woman.
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Delilah : No man leaves Delilah.
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Samson : Delilah...
Delilah : No, I will not listen.
Samson : But you asked me to...
Delilah : I don't want to hear you.
Samson : Three times you plagued me to tell you.
Delilah : And three times you've lied to me. You said new ropes that had never been used would hold you.
Samson : Who knows the strength of a rope that's never been used?
Delilah : Then you told me your strength would go if I wove your hair to the web of my loom. Now look at my loom.
Samson : I'd rather look at you.
Delilah : It's no use, Samson. You'll always find a new trick to deceive me. The night I came to the Valley of Sorek, you wanted to send me away. You were right. It is better that I go.
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Samson : You could bind a man tighter than the Saran's chains.
Delilah : Could I bind you?
Samson : No, Delilah. You're going back to the Saran the only way you can be trusted.
Delilah : Oh? Will you kill me yourself? You could crush me between these two hands. Why don't you? I told you once I'd kiss you with my dying breath.
Samson : Your kiss has the sting of death.
Delilah : I don't believe you could kill me. You could try. You're afraid to kill me.
Samson : I'll let the Devil do that.
Delilah : I know you will, but don't make me eat supper alone.
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Delilah : [to Samson] I could have loved you with a fire to make all other loves look like ice. I would have gone with you to Egypt, left everything behind, lived only for you. But one call from that milk-faced Danite lily, and you run whining at her heels!
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Saran of Gaza : What is your plan, Delilah?
Lord Sharif : Would you drive a tent peg through his head, like Jael the Canaanite?
Delilah : [laughs] No, that was not my plan, Lord Sharif.
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Sohrab : Delilah, do you know a woman who can entice this barbarian, this killer?
Delilah : Yes, my lords. I can deliver Samson to you.
Sohrab : You, Delilah?
Lord Sharif : You, capture Samson?
Sohrab : This devil?
1st Prince of Gaza : Heaven protect her!
2nd Prince of Gaza : A dove against a bull.
Lord Sharif : Bring in a woman and you bring in trouble.
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Saran of Gaza : Such devotion is very touching. But what would you gain from his capture?
Delilah : My lord's favor.
Saran of Gaza : Is that all you want?
Delilah : Uh, no.
1st Prince of Gaza : Name your price and you shall have it. Perhaps some little bauble in the street of jewelers?
Delilah : [smiles] You're very generous.
[to Sohrab]
Delilah : Tell me, Sohrab, what value did you set upon your last caravan Samson raided near Gath?
Sohrab : Eleven hundred pieces of silver. Here is the reckoning.
Delilah : Then that is my price. Eleven hundred pieces of silver.
1st Prince of Gaza : Eleven hundred? Your price is high!
Lord Sharif : A pharaoh's ransom for a shepherd?
2nd Prince of Gaza : Better silver than blood.
[to Delilah]
2nd Prince of Gaza : We'll pay it.
Delilah : Eleven hundred pieces of silver, uh, from each of you.
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Saran of Gaza : [Delilah has just disrupted the council by declaring that she will capture Samson only if each Prince of Gaza pays her 1,100 pieces of silver] Silence! Calm yourselves.
[to Delilah]
Saran of Gaza : You drive a sharp bargain, Delilah.
Delilah : From you, my lord, I ask only a promise.
Saran of Gaza : A promise for a promise. What is yours?
Delilah : To bring you Samson, bound and helpless.
Saran of Gaza : [caresses Delilah's arm] Bound by these white arms? No. Too high a price for me to pay.
Delilah : My thoughts will be only of you.
Saran of Gaza : I suggest the Princes of Gaza find some other way to capture Samson.
Delilah : [looks at the Princes of Gaza] You've tried all other ways!
[stands before the Saran]
Delilah : When my father and sister lay dead in the ashes of our home, because of Samson, he laughed at my tears. You cannot refuse me, my lord.
Saran of Gaza : What promise do you ask?
Delilah : I will learn the secret of his strength. But when he stands captive and is weak as other men, no drop of his blood shall be shed, no blade shall touch his skin.
Prince of Gaza : By the sacred pillars of the temple, we demand his death!
Delilah : [stands and confronts the council] I want his life. Chain him in the gristmill; let him grind our grain like a beast. Let the people mock him and make sport of him until he draws his breath in agony and every word he speaks is a prayer for death!
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Saran of Gaza : Well, Delilah, you have your price and your promise.
Delilah : [Delilah is sitting beside the Saran, caressing his knee] My lord is the wisest of kings and the greatest of men.
Saran of Gaza : As a king, I have no choice. As a man, I'm letting you leave because you want to.
Delilah : [Delilah turns and looks at the Saran] King of my love, I go to destroy your enemy and mine.
Saran of Gaza : Delilah, Delilah.
Delilah : My love is only for you.
Saran of Gaza : A man who could stop the heart of a lion might stir the heart of a woman.
Delilah : [turns around and sits beside the Saran, with a serious look on her face] I will deliver Samson to you before the month of harvest.
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Samson : Even sparrows don't travel this far from their trade routes. Why did you?
Delilah : The jewel box is in that silver chest.
Samson : Where's your husband?
Delilah : I have no husband.
Samson : Then call your master.
Delilah : I have no master.
Samson : The table is laid for two.
Delilah : I'm expecting a caller.
Samson : Yes? Who?
Delilah : You, Samson.
Samson : You know my name?
Delilah : All Gaza knows yours name.
Samson : They don't like it, I'm told.
Delilah : They respected it, before the mighty Samson became a common robber.
Samson : And Delilah became the great courtesan of Gaza.
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Delilah : I'm stupid, Samson, to think I could deceive you. Steal what you like.
Samson : This is not stealing. These are taxes. Your Saran taxes us, I tax the Philistines.
Delilah : What pretty Danite girl will wear these taxes?
Samson : They'll buy armor...
[looks at Delilah]
Samson : They'll buy armor to protect us against Philistine spears.
Delilah : You need protection?
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[Semadar has left with Ahtur. Delilah throws a plum at Samson so he will notice her]
Delilah : I don't like Ahtur, either.
Samson : [unbends the javelin and pokes it into the ground near Delilah] Hunt your lions with that, nimrod.
Delilah : If you killed the lion, they'd call you great.
Samson : I can bend their spears but I cannot run their horses.
Delilah : I can get you there first. We have stables.
Samson : What's your price?
Delilah : Take me with you.
Samson : You're a bold little monkey. What's your name?
Delilah : Delilah.
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Samson : Look about you, Delilah. The moon that lights this oasis by night and the sun that lights it by day are not there by chance. In the beginning, there was only darkness. Until one power created light, shaped the earth and all the things that live upon it.
Delilah : Your invisible God.
Samson : My strength comes from Him.
Delilah : But how does His power reach you? Is He here with us now?
Samson : He's everywhere. The wind, the sea, the fire. In your heart if you believe in Him. His is the only power in the world that can break open a seed and raise it into that great tree.
Delilah : And can I share this power with you?
Samson : Anyone can share it. It's a gift that makes men greater than themselves. With it, some can stir the soul with music. Others can read the truth in men's hearts and forgive them. To me, it's the strength to break any bonds that can be put upon me.
