Peter O'Toole credited as playing...
Reginald Johnston (R.J.)
- Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: Words are important.
- Pu Yi, at 15: Why are words important?
- Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: If you cannot say what you mean, Your Majesty, you will never mean what you say and a gentleman should always mean what he says.
- Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: The Emperor has been a prisoner in his own palace since the day that he was crowned, and has remained a prisoner since he abdicated. But now he's growing up, he may wonder why he's the only person in China who may not walk out of his own front door. I think the Emperor is the loneliest boy on Earth.
- Pu Yi, at 15: Is it true, Mr. Johnston, that many people out there have had their heads cut off?
- Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: It is true, Your Majesty. Many heads have been chopped off. It does stop them thinking.
- Pu Yi, at 15: Who is this George Washington?
- Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: A famous American, Your Majesty. A revolutionary general, the first American president.
- Pu Yi, at 15: Ah, like Mr. Lenin in Russia?
- Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: Not quite.
- Pu Yi, at 15: Does he have a car?
- Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: He lived a long time ago, Your Majesty.
- Pu Yi, at 15: *I* want a car.
- Pu Yi, at 15: Where are your ancestors buried?
- Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: In Scotland, Your Majesty.
- Pu Yi, at 15: But then, where's your skirt? In your country, men wear short skirts, do they not?
- Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: No, Your Majesty, Scotmen do not wear skirts. They wear kilts.
- Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: I think your mouse is trying to escape, Your Majesty.
- Pu Yi, at 15: Please do not tell anyone about my mouse.
- Pu Yi, at 15: Are you a gentleman?
- Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: I would like to be a gentle man, Your Majesty. I try to be.
- Pu Yi, at 15: I'm not a gentleman. I'm not allowed to say what I mean. They are always telling me what to say.
- Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: It would be conveniently sad if he becomes blind. To the expense, Your Excellency. To the cost of maintaining one thousand two hundred eunuchs, three hundred and fifty ladies-in-waiting and one hundred and eighty-five cooks to buying a hundred and twenty sable furs a month and three thousand chickens a week. To the fact that eight hundred and forty guards and employees of the household department, plus one Lord Chamberlain, care only about one thing! Filling their own rice bowls!
- Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: Your Majesty, in my country, it would be usual to begin with some kind of an examination.
- Pu Yi, at 15: The Emperor cannot be examined.
- Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: Well, that may have to change.
- Pu Yi, at 15: Our official taster's a brave man. Many of my ancestors have been poisoned, you know.
- Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: Does Your Majesty have lunch like this every day?
- Pu Yi, at 15: Oh, yes! Every day! Like theater! I do not know why. It has always been like that.