Major General Mann Quotes in The War of the Worlds (1953)

Major General Mann: Pattern-wise, one lands, then two, making groups of threes joined magnetically. Is that possible?

Dr Clayton Forrester: If they do it, it is.

Pastor Dr. Matthew Collins: I think we should try to make them understand we mean them no harm. They are living creatures out there.

Sylvia: But they're not human. Dr. Forrester says they're some kind of advanced civilization.

Pastor Dr. Matthew Collins: If they're more advanced than us, they should be nearer the creator for that reason. No real attempt has been made to communicate with them, you know?

Sylvia: Let's go back inside, Uncle Matthew.

Pastor Dr. Matthew Collins: I've done all I can in there. You go back. Sylvia, I like that Dr. Forrester, he's a good man.

Soldier: Who's that? What's he think he's doing?

Sylvia: Uncle! Uncle Matthew!

Major General Mann: It's too late now. He's too far away.

Pastor Dr. Matthew Collins: Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

Forrester: It's seen him!

Pastor Dr. Matthew Collins: Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord, forever.

[Martians kill Uncle Matthew]

Sylvia: [scream]

Col. Ralph Heffner: Let'm have it!

Soldier: Fire!

Major General Mann: They'll probably move at dawn...

Major General Mann: That skeleton beam must be what they used to wipe out the French cities.

Forrester: It neutralizes meson somehow. They're the atomic glue holding matter together. Cut across their lines of magnetic force and any object will simply cease to exist! Take my word for it, General, this type of defense is useless against that kind of power! You'd better let Washington know, fast!

Major General Mann: Guns, tanks, bombs - they're like toys against them!

Major General Mann: I'd say our effective losses were nearly sixty percent men, ninety percent materiel. Well, the jets went in, but not one of them came out. I watched high-level bombers drop everything they carried... They were knocked out of the sky and their bombs did nothing. Nothing was effective against them.

Forrester: Any news from abroad?

Major General Mann: Washington is in constant touch with the leaders of other nations. Apparently they're coming down all over. South America; Santiago has two cylinders. They're outside London. They're in Naples. We've got them between here and Fresno, outside Sacramento, two on Long Island.

Forrester: They're just coming down at random?

Major General Mann: No. According to information from foreign sources, they're working to some kind of a plan. Now what it may be isn't clear yet. Simply because once they begin to move, no more news comes out of that area.

Major General Mann: [handing binoculars to Dr. Forrester] Look at it will you!

Pastor Dr. Matthew Collins: Beings from another world.

Major General Mann: Is that some kind of a flying machine?

Forrester: No, no. It's supported from the ground by rays, probably some form of magnetic flux, like invisible legs. This is amazing. They must keep the opposing poles in balance and lift the machine.

Col. Ralph Heffner: All command posts - stand by to fire!

Pastor Dr. Matthew Collins: But, Colonel! Shooting's no good!

Col. Ralph Heffner: It's always been a good persuader.