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Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news-out.cwix.com!newsfeed.cwix.com!wn3feed!wn4feed!worldnet.att.net!207.24.196.41!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: eleeper@jagon.lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.movies.misc,rec.answers,news.answers Subject: rec.arts.movies.past-films Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Supersedes: <8j2d2u$8ha@nntpa.cb.lucent.com> Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.movies.misc Date: 25 Jul 2000 05:12:42 GMT Organization: Lucent Technologies, Columbus, Ohio Lines: 1515 Approved: eleeper@lucent.com, news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Expires: Mon, 31 Dec 2001 00:00:00 GMT Message-ID: <8lj7ka$6eg@nntpa.cb.lucent.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: jaguar.stc.lucent.com Keywords: monthly Originally-From: steves@cica.indiana.edu (Steve Scher) Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu rec.arts.movies.past-films:179870 rec.arts.movies.misc:42824 rec.answers:59893 news.answers:188345 Archive-name: movies/faq/past-films Last change: Mon May 22 11:27:59 EDT 2000 This FAQ is cross-posted to rec.arts.movies.past-films and rec.arts.movies.misc. Copies of this article may be obtained by anonymous ftp to rtfm.mit.edu under /pub/usenet-by-group/news.answers/movies/faq/past-films. Or, send email to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with "send usenet-by-group/news.answers/faq/past-films" in the body of the message. Questions include: 1) "Does anyone know this movie?" <plot summary follows> 2) "What stories/movies/tv shows are about X?" 3) How can I get an address &/or a phone number for (some famous star)? 4) "Does anyone want to talk about X?" 5) Did Audrey Hepburn do the singing in MY FAIR LADY? Did Andy Williams dub Lauren Bacall's singing voice in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT? How come Julie Andrews did not reprise her Broadway performance of Eliza Doolitle? 6) What movie did the quote: "Badges?? Badges?? We don't need no stinkin' badges?" come from ?? 7) What is the earliest *numbered* sequel? 8) What is letterboxing? 9) Why are clips of old films always fast? 10) What are the Hitchcock cameos in all his movies? 11) What are the references to "See You Next Wednesday" in John Landis's films? 12) What does the number at the end of the end credits mean? 13) What "ethnic" actors have won/been nominated for Academy Awards? 14) What are all the James Bond films and who played Bond? 15) What are those funny dots that blink on in the upper-right corner of films? 16) What is the secret of THE CRYING GAME? (rot13'd) 17) What are the top twenty grossing films of all time? 18) What is a director's cut? 19) Are there any Web sites for movie scripts? 20) What is the poem in FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL? 21) What is the significance of the stones at the end of SCHINDLER'S LIST? 22) Where in THE CROW did Brandon Lee get shot? Did they leave it in? And how did it happen? 23) Is it true that a hanged person (munchkin) is visible in the background of one scene in THE WIZARD OF OZ? 24) What are some movies that were better than the books/stories they were based on? 25) What was the first PG-13 movie to be released? Topics include: 1) Colorizing -- various legal and moral issues 2) Product placements in movies 3) Has anyone seen this great movie I just saw called HEATHERS? 4) What's this talk about a ghost in THREE MEN AND A BABY? 5) Can someone explain BARTON FINK? For the following items, see the rec.arts.movies.current-films FAQ (there is some overlap): 1) "Does anyone know this movie?" <plot summary follows> 2) "What stories/movies/tv shows are about X?" 3) How can I get an address &/or a phone number for (some famous star)? 4) "Does anyone want to talk about X?" 5) What is letterboxing? 6) What does the number at the end of the end credits mean? 7) What "ethnic" actors have won/been nominated for Academy Awards? 8) What are all the James Bond films and who played Bond? 9) What are those funny dots that blink on in the upper-right corner of films? 10) How do films, actors, etc., get nominated for Academy Awards? 11) What are the top twenty grossing films of all time? 12) How can I find out where a certain movie is playing? 13) What is a director's cut? 14) Are there any Web sites for movie scripts? 15) What is Roger Ebert's CompuServe address? 16) Is Jodie Foster gay? For the following items, see the rec.arts.sf.movies FAQ: 1. Star Trek. 2. The animated LORD OF THE RINGS by Ralph Bakshi covers only the first half of the trilogy. Bakshi did not make the second half. 3. Frequent subjects. 4. Abbreviations commonly used in this group: 5. BLADE RUNNER: the sixth replicant, why voice-overs, and Deckard a replicant? 6. "Can the X beat the Y?" where X and Y are mighty ships or alien races from different space opera movies/series. 7. Is the movie HEAVY METAL out on video? 8. Why is there an acknowledgment to Harlan Ellison in the credits of THE TERMINATOR? or Doesn't THE TERMINATOR have the same plot as a TWILIGHT ZONE episode? 9. What about the relationship between HAL (the computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey) and IBM? (If you add 1 to each letter in HAL you get IBM.) 10. Who was the voice of the seductive Jessica Rabbit in the film "WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?" 11. What are all of the "cute" gimmicks in the film BACK TO THE FUTURE? 12. What role did Jamie Lee Curtis play in THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION? 13. When is George Lucas going to make more STAR WARS films? What will they be about?? 14. In OUTLAND and TOTAL RECALL, astronauts exposed suddenly to vacuum promptly explode. In 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, a few seconds' exposure to vacuum doesn't bother one at all. Which is right? 15. What does "FTL" mean? 16. I was told that the director's cut of DUNE was seven hours long, and did a much better job of portraying the novel. Where can I find it? 17. What are the two minutes of new footage on the STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY videocassette? 18. What are the various Quatermass films and the names they go under? Items covered in the rec.music.classical FAQ (cf): Q6. What is that [classical] music in [insert TV show/movie here]? rec.arts.movies.* are newsgroups devoted to discussions of movies. They are high-volume newsgroups and this article is intended to help reduce the number of unnecessary postings, thereby making them more useful and enjoyable to everyone. If you have not already done so, please read the articles in news.announce.newusers. They contain a great deal of useful information about network etiquette and convention. Before we begin, two pieces of net.etiquette. Both of these are mentioned in news.announce.newusers, but since they are so frequently violated, and at least one of them is particularly relevant to this group, we mention them here: SPOILER WARNINGS: Many people feel that much of the enjoyment of a film is ruined if they know certain things about it, especially when those things are surprise endings or mysteries. On the other hand, they also want to know whether or not a film is worth seeing, or they may be following a particular thread of conversation where such information may be revealed. The solution to this is to put the words SPOILER in your header, or in the text of your posting. You can also put a ctl-L character in the *first* column for your readers who are using rn. Some people think that spoiler warnings are not necessary. We don't understand why, and do not want to discuss it. Use your best judgment. REPLIES TO REQUESTS AND QUESTIONS: When you think that many people will know an answer to a question, or will have an answer to a request, RESPOND VIA E-MAIL!!! And if you don't know the answer, but want to know, DON'T POST TO THE NET asking for the answer, ask VIA E-MAIL! If you think a lot of people will want the same information, you might suggest that the person summarize to the net. Even if you don't see an answer posted, and you have the answer, please send it e-mail. The thirty other people who answered may have already sent it, and your site just hasn't gotten it yet. It clogs the net and gets very tedious to see 30 people answer the same question, and another 30 people asking for the answer to be posted. All of that should be done via mail. The net is a highly asynchronous medium. It can take several days for an article to make it to all sites. It is also quite common for followups to messages to reach a site before the original. Please keep in mind two points: 1. Always remember that there is a live human being at the other end of the wires. In other words, please write your replies with the same courtesy you would use in talking to someone face-to-face. 2. Try to recognize humor and irony in postings. Tone of voice does not carry in ASCII print, and postings are often snapped off quickly, so that humorous intent may not be obvious. More destructive and vicious arguments have been caused by this one fact of net existence than any other. It will help if satiric/ironic/humorous comments are marked with the "smiley face," :-) The first part of the list is a compendium of information that has been posted to rec.arts.movies.* many times in the past. If you have received this list through e-mail, without requesting it, this is most likely because you posted one of the questions on the list. The second part of the FAQ list contains a series of topics that are repeatedly discussed, along with a bit of editorial comment on each one. The reason for including this information is merely to provide new readers with some background and context. In no way do we mean for this to preclude anyone from discussing these topics again. While the items listed in part one are (indisputable??) facts, the topics in part two are objects of opinion. As such, they can be discussed ad infinitum without any resolution. Do so if you wish. Remember the first amendment... The last part of the FAQL contains a few further bits of information for readers of rec.arts.movies.*. This includes several other lists that are kept by members of the group, trivia contests etc. Interested readers should seek out the companion FAQ in rec.arts.sf.movies. If you have any questions about this list, or if there is something you think should be added, you can contact me through e-mail at: evelynleeper@geocities.com Now, here are some frequently asked questions... PART ONE: Frequently asked questions, and some answers (and some of them may be right). 0) "What movies has X appeared in/directed/written etc.?" The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) can answer a huge range of movie related questions, so it's always worth checking out before posting to the groups. The IMDb has over 1,000,000 filmography entries for more than 75,000 movies. It includes filmographies for actors, directors, writers, composers, cinematographers, editors, production designers, costume designers and producers; plot summaries; character names; movie ratings; year of release; running times; movie trivia; quotes; goofs; soundtracks; personal trivia; alternative names; certificates; color information; country of production; genres; production companies; sound mix; reference literature; filming locations; sequel/remake information; release dates; advertising tag lines; detailed technical data; box office grosses, language and Academy Award information. Many thousands of movies are covered completely from the major actors to the minor bit players. The IMDb FAQ contains full details and is posted weekly to the many of the groups, alternatively copies can be obtained by anonymous ftp to rtfm.mit.edu under /pub/usenet/news.answers/movies/movie-database-faq or send e-mail to <mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu> with: send usenet/news.answers/movies/movie-database-faq in the body of the message. Here's a quick summary of how to access the database: (a) Web access: http://us.imdb.com/ (USA) http://uk.imdb.com/ (UK) (b) To use the e-mail interface, send a message with the subject: HELP to <mail-server@imdb.com> and the movie mail-server will respond with a copy of the help file. (c) For local interactive access to the database, the FTP site uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu has software for several operating systems: Unix in /pub/info/imdb/tools/moviedb-3.2f.tar.gz MS-DOS in /pub/info/imdb/tools/msdos/cb153.arj Amiga in /pub/info/imdb/tools/MovieMUI3_2.lha 1) "Does anyone know this movie?" <plot summary follows> When making this kind of request, ask that all responses be e-mailed back to you. After having found out what it is, then post the correct answer to the net. If you know the answer but are unable to send a message to the requester, wait a few days. It's likely that someone else will post the correct answer, thus sparing you the effort. Do not post messages like "I want to know, too" to the net. E-mail the person who asked the question and request that they send you any information they get by e-mail. Only if you cannot reach the person by e-mail *and* no one has posted about the request after several days should you post. 2) "What stories/movies/tv shows are about X?" When making these kind of requests, ask that all replies be e-mailed to you and that you will summarize. Note that a summary is not just concatenating all the replies together and posting the resulting file. Take the time to strip headers, combine duplicate information, and write a short summary. 3) How can I get an address &/or a phone number for (some famous star)? You *can't* get phone numbers. But you can often get contact addresses (usually an agent or publicist), by calling the Screen Artists Guild at 213-954-1600. They will give you a phone number and/or address for the agent. The agent can provide you an address to write and may send pictures on request or provide the publicist's addresses. Another method (if the star has written a book) is to send mail in care of the publisher of that book. 4) "Does anyone want to talk about X?" If nobody seems to be discussing what you want to talk about, post a (polite) message opening the discussion. Don't just say, "Does anyone want to talk about X" or "I really like X" however; try to have something interesting to say about the topic to get discussion going. Don't be angry or upset if no one responds. It may be that X is just a personal taste of your own, or quite obscure. Or it may be that X was discussed to death a few weeks ago, *just* before you came into the group. (If this is the case, you'll probably know, though, because some rude fool will probably flame you for "Bringing that up *AGAIN*!!!" Ignore them.) 5) Did Audrey Hepburn do the singing in MY FAIR LADY? Did Andy Williams dub Lauren Bacall's singing voice in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT? How come Julie Andrews did not reprise her Broadway performance of Eliza Doolitle? Hepburn's singing was dubbed by Marni Nixon, who also did the singing for Natalie Wood in WEST SIDE STORY and Deborah Kerr in THE KING AND I. (Nixon also appeared in person as Sister Sophia in THE SOUND OF MUSIC.) Bob Morris (morris@sce.carlton.ca) says, however, "Have recently spoken with Robert Harris re Audrey Hepburn in MY FAIR LADY. She does indeed sing snippets here and there, which will probably be identified in deluxe laserdisc. ...apparently Hepburn made attempt to "prove" that she could do all the singing, but without convincing producers. Nonetheless, Harris has pieced together a couple of "complete" MFL songs from Audrey Hepburn which will appear as extras on deluxe laserdisc." However, Hepburn sang "Moon River" in BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S. She also sings some of the lead lines in MY FAIR LADY. (Yuzuru Hiraga, hiraga@Csli.Stanford.EDU) On the 30th anniversary restored laserdisk edition, Hepburn can be heard singing "Wouldn't It be Luvverly" and "Show Me" on alternate tracks. Although the legend about Andy Williams and Lauren Bacall is so deeply entrenched that you'll find it repeated even in some film reference books, it's not true. Director Howard Hawks, when asked about this, explained that he had indeed planned to have Andy Williams sing for Bacall, but after hearing Bacall sing during the rehearsals for the scene he abandoned that plan and ended up using Bacall's own voice. (Source: Hawks on Hawks by Joseph McBride [Berkeley, University of California Press, 1982] p.130.) (Jon Corelis, jon@lindy.stanford.edu) Andrews was not considered popular enough (by Jack L. Warner) to be cast in the movie of MY FAIR LADY. 6) What movie did the quote: "Badges?? Badges?? We don't need no stinkin' badges?" come from ?? This quote was originally spoken in the film "Treasure of the Sierra Madre", written and directed by John Huston. A band of Mexican bandits approaches Humphry Bogart and crew (Walter Huston & Tim Holt) claiming to be federales. When Bogart asks to see their badges, the head of the band says: "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges!" This quote has been satirized in a number of films, perhaps most famously in Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles." By the way, this version of the quote has been verified as the exact transcription from the film by Wayne Hathaway and Jerry Boyajian. It is not, however, *exactly* the same as the book. In THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE by B. Traven (1935), the bandit says, "Badges, to god-damned hell with badges! We have no badges. In fact, we don't need badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges, you god-damned cabron and ching' tu madre! Come out there from that shit-hole of yours. I have to speak to you." (page 161 of the Modern Library edition) (For the Spanish-deprived among you, "cabron" is cuckold, "chingar" is "fuck," and "tu madre" is "your mother." Clearly the dialogue was cleaned up for the film.) (See the rec.arts.books FAQ for more information about Traven.) 7) What is the earliest *numbered* sequel? THE GODFATHER, PART II (1974) certainly started the modern wave of numbered sequels, followed by (just up to 1980): 1975 THE FRENCH CONNECTION II 1976 THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT! PART 2 (Jerry Boyajian thinks they really missed the boat on this one by not calling this THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT, TOO! and wants it stated for the record he thought of this *before* LOOK WHO'S TALKING TOO came out.) 1977 EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC 1978 DAMIEN: THE OMEN II 1978 JAWS II 1979 ROCKY II 1980 SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT, PART II 1980 HIGH NOON, PART II: THE RETURN OF WILL KANE [TV movie] But it was no means the earliest numbered sequel. The second runner up for that prize is: 1957 QUATERMASS II [US title: ENEMY FROM SPACE, though released on laserdisc in the US under the original title] which is a film version of the British television serial of the same name, and a sequel to the serial and feature film THE QUATERMASS [E]XPERIMENT [US title: THE CREEPING UNKNOWN]. At one time we thought the winner was: 1946 IVAN THE TERRIBLE, PART II (Eisenstein started, but did not complete, a PART III the next year.) However, we later found out that Akira Kurosawa made SANSHIRO SUGATA, PART TWO in 1945 (the original was filmed in 1943) and Jerry Boyajian has confirmed that it is, in the original Japanese title, indeed a "numbered" sequel as well. R. L. Lahey [rlahey@mail.atcon.com] writes "The first sequel with the number 2 of which I am aware is Leni Riefenstahl's OLYMPIA: THE FILM OF THE XI. OLYMPIC GAMES. PART II (1938) Although the OLYMPIA films are usually referred to together and both were from 1938, they were issued separately, several months apart. The first film was titled OLYMPIA: THE FILM OF THE XI OLYMPIC GAMES, BERLIN, 1936. The second film is clearly called Part II. The first had no number." This is (to me) questionable as to whether the second film can be called a sequel in the usual sense in which that term is used. While issued separately, the films were made together, and the action of the second if not particularly subsequent to the first. So everyone can make their own determination as to whether to count this. (Recently in alt.cult-movies, in a discussion of Fritz Lang, someone had suggested that an even earlier numbered sequel was DR. MABUSE, DER SPIELER PART 2 (a.k.a. DR. MABUSE, KING OF CRIME), made in 1922. I suppose a case can be made for it, except that the two parts were originally made and exhibited together under a single title. Only in more recent times have the two parts been shown as individual works.) [Thanks to Jerry Boyajian for this answer.] And the latest entry in this contest is from Mark Brader, saying that Gosta Ekman starred as King Karl XII in Karl XII (1925) Karl XII, del II (1925) both directed by John W. Brunius. And, yes, "del" is Swedish for "part". This is the answer accepted by the IMDB. 8) What is letterboxing? Short answer: In case you hadn't noticed, movie screens have a different shape than television screens. This means that when a movie is shown on a television screen, it doesn't fit. Up until recently, this meant that either the left and right ends of the picture were cropped off, or the picture was "panned and scanned" (the camera would seem to go back and forth between the left and right sides, usually done for scenes in which the two characters speaking were at the far left and right of a scene), or that the picture was warped so that everyone looked tall and thin (this was usually done for credit sequences so the full names could fit on the screen, or you would think you were watching "partac"). Now some companies are releasing "letterboxed" versions of films on videocassettes and videodisks. These have a black bar at the top and bottom of the screen, allowing the full width of the picture to be included, but resulting in a smaller picture--that is, a character ten inches tall in a non-letterboxed version might be eight inches tall in a letterboxed one. Long answer: From Matthias Walz (b228@mail.fh-wuerzburg.de) Some remarks related to the pan&scan-theatrical-format-confusion in several film-related groups (sorry for being lengthy, but the matter is complicated): Once or twice a week I'm working as projectionist in a repertory cinema, where four (!) different formats are used for projection (1.33:1, 1.66:1, 1.85:1 and CinemaScope, 2.35:1). My job includes assembling the different reels (usually five for 90-100 minutes) of the film before showing it the first time. During this process, the projectionist has to figure out which picture format to use for projection. This is sometimes quite confusing - a few remarks about the topic: 1. Up to the Fifties, all films were shot in 1.33:1 and also intended for projection in this aspect ratio. 2. Since the Fifties, many films were still shot in 1.33:1 (probably for financial reasons), but most of them are intended to be shown in 1.66:1 or even 1.85:1. If you'd show them in 1.33:1, you'd see exciting things like dolly tracks at the bottom or microphones and even studio lights at the top of the picture. Once I used 1.33:1 (by mistake) for Hitchcock's "North By Northwest", with the result that in the forest scene preceding the Mt.Rushmore finale, studio lights as well as the top of the stage decoration depicting the forest became visible. This ruined the effect of the scene completely - the magic was gone. 3. To make things even worse, sometimes different aspect ratios are used in one and the same film - up to three (the reason for tgis? I'm not sure. Maybe the film studios use up film material that's left over from other projects). I can remember a print which contained shots in all three "normal" formats: 1.33:1, 1.66:1 and 1.85:1. In this case, you have to show the print in the widest format (1.85:1), otherwise you'd have a "letterbox effect" on the screen during scenes shot in 1.33:1 or 1.66:1 ! 4. The reason why film companies don't bother about using different formats for the same film lies in the fact that most cinemas use only two different formats for projection anyway (one theater-specific lens in the range from 1.66:1 to 1.85:1, and 2.35:1 for anamorphic projection). Therefore, if a 1.33:1 film is shown in such a theatre, portions of the picture are cropped at the top and the bottom of the screen. Now to the film-on-tv-thing: The normal TV screen has an aspect ratio of about 1.3:1. If the network wants to show the film in the format intended by the filmmakers, it has just the same problems as the poor theatre projectionist dealing with four different formats. If the network doesn't care too much for artisitc subtleties and follows a "full screen"-policy (as some German commercial networks do), you'll see effects like the above-mentioned (North By Northwest). Conclusion: If the film is shown on TV in the aspect ratio it was intended to be shown, it has to be letterboxed, except for the 1.33:1 films. In the case of CinemaScope films, there's definitely nothing hidden by the black bars. In all other cases of letterboxing, there may be something hidden behind the bars - but something you wouldn't care for anyway. I hope this brings all this nonsense (B. Faber et al.) about censorship by letterboxing to a well-deserved end in cyberhell. Letterboxing is the only way to show a film on TV as it was meant to be shown. 9) Why are clips of old films always fast? Persistence of vision (which makes still film frames appear to be in motion) only requires 16 frames per second to fool the eye, so that was the speed used for early films. When sound was introduced, the 16-frame-per-second speed caused warbling, so the standard was increased to 24 frames per second. [Harris Minter claims that the standard silent film speed was 18 frames per second.] [Parenthetically, 16 fps means about 60 feet per minute. This is useful to know, since silent film lengths are often given in feet rather than minutes. Sometimes they are given in reels, which are 1000 feet. So a one-reeler would be about 16 minutes.] When you see a silent movie, shot at 16 frames per second, projected at the faster rate, it looks "faster" but only because there aren't many 16 frame-per-second film projectors around. With modern videotape systems, the films-on-tape can be slowed back down. To complicate matters more, the early cameras were hand-cranked: if the cameraman cranked too slow, the projector made the movie look too fast...and vice versa. Early cameramen had to keep a steady rhythm. However, this is complicated by the fact that in the silent era, there was no universally "correct" film speed. The introduction of the 24-fps rate used today had to do with sound, as was said, not with the images. In the silent era, cameras were hand-operated, and so were most projectors. In addition to the obvious difficulties of maintaining a perfect rate by hand, the ability to speed up or slow down the progress of the film through the camera and projector was used for artistic effect. By undercranking (turning the crank slower and thus taking fewer frames per second) on shooting while projecting at normal speed, the action would speed up as more seconds of photographed time were compressed into a given number of seconds of projected time. Alternatively, overcranking would give the opposite effect -- slow motion. By cranking faster, the projectionist could speed up the action, while cranking slower on projection would slow down the action. The classic example of projectionist overcranking is during chases or other exciting scenes, to make the fast action seem even faster. I have heard that some films were even released with advice about how fast to crank during certain parts of the film. Also, shooting film undercranked would be used for certain stunts and special effects, giving the illusion of speed that wasn't actually present. [Another source reported that a PBS documentary series said films were sometimes undercranked to save film costs.] One side effect of this method of shooting silent films is that any serious film guide that discusses silent films will not give running times for them, as that time could vary depending on the talent and mood of the projectionist. While the difference might be only a couple of minutes out of a couple of hours, printing a particular number of minutes as a running time for a silent film is misleading and can cause confusion. Typically, lengths are given in number of reels, or, when they really want to be careful, number of feet of film. It's worth noting that the technology hasn't been forgotten, though, given one of the uses it's put to, maybe it should have been. Network TV is fond of slightly speeding up the rate at which they show films, thus permitting them to squeeze a long film into a time slot without cutting anything. This practice gets filmmakers very angry, as it damages any pacing or rhythm they put into the film. [Thanks to Douglas Ferguson, ferguson@andy.bgsu.edu, and Peter Reiher, reiher@ficus.cs.ucla.edu, for this answer.] 10) What are the Hitchcock cameos in all his movies? THE LODGER (1926): At a desk in a newsroom and later in the crowd watching an arrest. EASY VIRTUE (1927): Walking past a tennis court, carrying a walking stick. MURDER (1930): Walking past the house where the murder was committed, about an hour into the movie. BLACKMAIL (1929): Being bothered by a small boy as he reads a book in the subway. THE 39 STEPS (1935): Tossing some litter while Robert Donat and Lucie Mannheim run from the theater, seven minutes into the movie. YOUNG AND INNOCENT (1938): Outside the courthouse, holding a camera. THE LADY VANISHES (1938): Very near the end of the movie, in Victoria Station, wearing a black coat and smoking a cigarette. REBECCA (1940): Walking near the phone booth in the final part of the film just after George Sanders makes a call. FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940): Early in the movie, after Joel McCrea leaves his hotel, wearing a coat and hat and reading a newspaper. MR. AND MRS. SMITH (1941): Midway through, passing Robert Montgomery in front of his building. SUSPICION (1941): mailing a letter at the village postbox about 45 minutes in. SABOTEUR (1942): Standing in front of Cut Rate Drugs in New York as the saboteurs' car stops, an hour in. SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943): On the train to Santa Rosa, playing cards. LIFEBOAT (1944): In the "before" and "after" pictures in the newspaper ad for Reduco Obesity Slayer. SPELLBOUND (1945): Coming out of an elevator at the Empire Hotel, carrying a violin case and smoking a cigarette, 40 minutes in. NOTORIOUS (1946): At a big party in Claude Rains's mansion, drinking champagne and then quickly departing, an hour after the film begins. THE PARADINE CASE (1947): Leaving the train and Cumberland Station, carrying a cello. ROPE (1948): His trademark can be seen briefly on a neon sign in the view from the apartment window. UNDER CAPRICORN (1949): In the town square during a parade, wearing a blue coat and brown hat, in the first five minutes. Ten minutes later, he is one of three men on the steps of Government House. STAGE FRIGHT (1950): Turning to look at Jane Wyman in her disguise as Marlene Dietrich's maid. STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951): Boarding a train with a double bass fiddle as Farley Granger gets off in his hometown, early in the film. I CONFESS (1953): Crossing the top of a staircase after the opening credits. DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954): On the left side of the class-reunion photo, thirteen minutes into the film. REAR WINDOW (1954): Winding the clock in the songwriter's apartment, a half hour into the movie. TO CATCH A THIEF (1955): Ten minutes in, sitting to the left of Cary Grant on a bus. THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY (1955): Walking past the parked limousine of an old man who is looking at paintings, twenty minutes into the film. THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956): Watching acrobats in the Moroccan marketplace (his back to the camera) just before the murder. THE WRONG MAN (1956): Narrating the film's prologue. VERTIGO (1958): In a gray suit walking in the street, eleven minutes in. NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959): Missing a bus during the opening credits. PSYCHO (1960): Four minutes in, through Janet Leigh's window as she returns to her office. He is wearing a cowboy hat. THE BIRDS (1963): Leaving the pet shop with two white terriers as Tippi Hedren enters. MARNIE (1964): Entering from the left of the hotel corridor after Tippi Hedren passes by, five minutes in. TORN CURTAIN (1966): Early in the film, sitting in the Hotel d'Angleterre lobby with a blond baby. TOPAZ (1969): Being pushed in a wheelchair in an airport, half an hour in. Hitchcock gets up from the chair, shakes hands with a man, and walks off to the right. FRENZY (1972): In the center of a crowd, wearing a bowler hat, three minutes into the film; he is the only one not applauding the speaker. FAMILY PLOT (1976): In silhouette through the door of the Registrar of Births and Deaths, 41 minutes into the movie. I've seen it stated in several sources that he appeared in all of his movies from THE LODGER (1926) onwards, so he definitely doesn't appear in: THE PLEASURE GARDEN (1925) THE MOUNTAIN EAGLE (1926) However, the following movies (mostly early British ones) are missing from the above list: Champagne Downhill Farmer's Wife, The Jamaica Inn (1939) Juno and Paycock Man Who Knew Too Much, The (1934) Manxman, The Number Seventeen Rich and Strange Ring, The (1927) Sabotage Secret Agent Skin Game, The (1931) Waltzes from Vienna Hitchcock almost definitely does not appear in "Adventure Malagache" or "Bon Voyage", two short films he made (in French) for propaganda purposes during WWII. Also, Peter Reiher didn't spot him in MARY, his German-language version of MURDER: "Shot with an entirely different cast, but, as far as I can tell from memory, using pretty much the same sets, costumes, props, shots, and editing.) There are a lot of crowd scenes in MARY, however, so I could have missed him in that film. Also, I didn't check to see if he appears at the same point as in MURDER. I would guess that he does." [Thanks to Colin Needham and Peter Reiher (reiher@ficus.cs.ucla.edu) for this answer. See the IMDB for more Hitchcock links.] 11) What are the references to "See You Next Wednesday" in John Landis's movies? (Jerry Boyajian says it should be noted that the *original* "See you next Wednesday" line comes from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. But Dianne Cosner (dcosner@tcsc3b2.tcsc.com) reports, "The line "See You Next Wednesday", is used when John Landis uses an idea from a screen play that he wrote when he was 15 that was called "See You Next Wednesday." At a convention, Landis said that the movie was very adolescent, just like something a 15-year-old boy would write, and he will never make this film, but he does use ideas from it sometimes, and when he uses an idea from that screen play he gives it credit by inserting a reference to it when he uses it. It's not from 2001, that's just coincidence.") There are actually three trademarks in Landis's movies: Steven Bishop ("Charming Wildcard"), "See You Next Wednesday" previews, posters, or references, and "Girl from Ipanema" music in the background. SCHLOCK (1971): Two promotional blurbs for SYNW during a newscast for the "movie at 6 on 6" and on a poster in a theatre lobby (the real poster was for "King Kong vs. Godzilla"). KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE (1977): Steven Bishop plays the "charming guy": "Show me your nuts!" "oooo, hey, how ya doing? Surfing U.S.A..." SYNW is the title of the "Feel-a-Rama" movie. ANIMAL HOUSE (1978): Bishop plays the "I gave my love a cherry" man. The credit is "Charming Guy," as usual. SYNW does not appear anywhere in this film. However, that is not to say there is no reference to Landis' SCHLOCK, which was the only film he made before ANIMAL HOUSE. [Moderator's note--not true; he also made KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE.] The actress who plays the girl with whom the Schlockthropus (a "missing link"/ape type) falls in love also appears in ANIMAL HOUSE as the girl who is at the desk of the girls' school dorm where Otter (Tim Matheson) and company go to pick up dates on their road trip. In a later scene, she is asked what she is studying and she replies, "Primitive cultures," which has to be a reference to SCHLOCK. At the end of ANIMAL HOUSE when the one or two lines describes the future of each character for Nedermeir (sp?) it said that Nedermeir was "killed by his own troops in Vietnam." During the part of TWILIGHT ZONE when the person is in a swamp in Vietnam and some US troops come by they can be heard to say "I told you we shouldn't have shot Neidermeyer." THE BLUES BROTHERS (1980): On a billboard where two Illinois state troopers are lying in wait. It's only there for a second as Jake and Elwood are speeding away from Bob's Country Bunker. The billboard also pictures a large ape and looks like an ad for a bad horror flick. Bishop plays the Charming Trooper in the mall chase. "Girl From Ipanema" is playing in the elevator as they go to the office with Spielberg (someone else claims it's Frank Oz, but Frank Oz is the one who plays the prison official right at the beginning of the movie who returns "one prophylatic, used" [along with his other disreputable belongings] to Jake) in it. (Also: on the laserdisc version, after the credits, there is a plug to go visit Universal Studios with the line "Ask for Babs" (a reference to the "Where are they now" part of ANIMAL HOUSE)) AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981): SYNW is the name of the porno film that is playing in the Picadilly Circus theatre where David meets with Jack and his zombie friends. The movie bill also appears in the London underground when the man is killed. TRADING PLACES (1983): SYNW is on a poster in Jamie Lee Curtis' apartment. No ape, just the silhouette of two people. Michael Jackson's "Thriller" (1983): SYNW is in lines of dialogue from the movie within the video. "...scrawled in blood...", "What does it say?", "It says, 'See you next Wednesday'." (Also, if you look close enough, there is a poster for SCHLOCK in the lobby as Michael and his date leave the theatre.) TWILIGHT ZONE - THE MOVIE (1983): Steven Bishop plays "Charming G.I." (bad pun) INTO THE NIGHT (1985): There are actually two posters in INTO THE NIGHT for SYNW. Both are in the movie producer's office where Michelle Pfeiffer and Jeff Goldblum make a phone call about a half hour or so into the film. SPIES LIKE US (1985): In one scene, Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd are in the office of the commander of the army training post that is the site of their training. There is a shot of the commander lecturing them, and on the office wall behind him is a recruitment poster bearing the legend "See You Next Wednesday." COMING TO AMERICA: A movie poster in the subway station where the Prince's bride-to-be returns her earring gift. (The movie claims to star Jamie Lee Curtis, who starred in TRADING PLACES.) Later, the Prince, to prove to his girlfriend that money isn't important to him, gives his sizable roll of pocket money to a pair of street people, who turn out to be the Duke brothers (Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy) from TRADING PLACES. They even appear in the credits! You might recall that the Dukes are destitute at the end of TRADING PLACES, so the plotlines are consistent. It is also amusing that Eddie Murphy, who made them poor in the former movie, made them rich in the latter. INNOCENT BLOOD: The marquee across the street from the Melody Lounge exotic dance bar. (Visible over the shoulders of the Mafia folks the first time they enter the bar.) (Interestingly, that was not the only movie marquee set up to display the SYNW title. The "car crash at the Shadyside gas station" scene was filmed down the street from Stewart M. Clamen's residence (in Squirrel Hill), and the nearby multiplex changed its marquee appropriately every night after closing. The movie itself featured no footage of that theatre (or the street on which it resides), although it is possible that it was edited out. This leads one to believe that Landis inserts many SYNW references in the backgrounds of his scenes, so as not to constrain himself (and his film editor) during editing.) THE STUPIDS (1996): There's a poster on the back of the bus that the kids chain their bikes to. The Ipanema music is playing when a woman gets into her car, just before she sets off an explosion with her cigarette lighter. Didn't notice a Charming Wildcard in the credits. In Landis's "Dream On" series on HBO there are two references (according to Jeff Greenstein, Supervising Producer "Dream On," sjg@netcom.com): "The first is in the episode "The Trojan War", from 1990, our first season. The phrase "See You Next Wednesday" is written on a chalkboard in a delicatessen in an early scene. God knows why. The second time is in the episode "Futile Attraction", from 1991. John plays Judith's therapist, Herb. At the end of their session, I believe he tells her "See you next Wednesday." Interestingly enough, John didn't direct either one of these episodes." [Thanks to Randy Spencer, spencer@usc-oberon.UUCP, Stewart M. Clamen, clamen@cs.cmu.edu, Jerry Boyajian, and others for this answer.] [And regarding the John Landis stuff, I wonder if anyone has compiled a list of the films that feature the "When In Hollywood Visit Universal City Studios (Ask for Babs)" card at the end of the closing credits.] 12) What does the number at the end of the end credits mean? The Motion Picture Association of America (the MPAA) is responsible for assigning these numbers. It is part of their film rating service. Any film can be submitted to the MPAA for rating (the G/PG/PG13/R/NC-17 ratings Americans are familiar with), for a small fee. Any film rated by the MPAA is issued a unique number. Any film can be submitted, but many aren't, including most adult sex films, many foreign films, industrial films and other training and educational films, television films, and some independently made films. The rating service (and the numbering associated with it) was started in 1968. There is no publicly available list of films and numbers, and the MPAA information office does not have the title of the film issued certificate #1 readily available. [Joshua Kreitzer, gromit82@hotmail.com, later pointed out that according to Mark A. Vieira's SIN IN SOFT-FOCUS, the first film to receive a certificate under the Production Code was John Ford's THE WORLD MOVES ON (1934).] Films before 1968 were assigned numbers based on their agreement to the Production Code, instituted July 1, 1934. Under that scheme, the film SHE, released in 1935, has number 985. Rod McKim (Rod@usenet.despot.com) reports that THE SCARLET EMPRESS, released in 1934, has number16, the lowest by far that he has seen. Reports of any other low number spottings would be appreciated. Given that the current number is in the 30,000, I believe the current numbers are continued from those, rather than restarted in 1968. A word or two more about MPAA ratings. The ratings are assigned by a board composed of "ordinary citizens", largely parents, as the intent of the rating system is to protect the tender minds of children from harm. The board watches the film and collectively assigns a rating. If the producer doesn't like the rating, s/he has a couple of options. The rating can be appealed to the MPAA official in charge of rating films. On a few occasions, the appeal has been successful. Not too surprisingly, appeals by large studios tend to have a better success rate than appeals by smaller studios. Alternately, the producer can recut the film and resubmit it. The MPAA rating board will tell a filmmaker what caused a film to get a rating, but they never actually tell a filmmaker that if this scene is cut, you will get that rating. Somehow or other, though, the information tends to get to the filmmakers, so that Alan Parker, for instance, somehow knew that cutting a few seconds of Mickey Rourke humping Lisa Bonet while blood drips from the ceiling changes ANGEL HEART from a film no child should see to a film merely requiring parental presence. While we're at it, what is the MPAA? It's an industry organization for the American film production business, particularly for the major studios. Its members are Disney, Columbia, MGM, Orion, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Universal, and Warner Brothers. These companies pay fees to the MPAA that are used as the primary source of financing for the organization. In addition to the ratings, the MPAA performs other services for their members, including lobbying the government. (They prefer to refer to this service as "working on issues important to the film industry.") Jack Valenti, the head of the MPAA, is a prominent spokesman who speaks for "Hollywood" as a whole, generally on issues important to all the studios, like film piracy, trade disputes with other countries, and censorship. The MPAA was founded in 1922, so it's been doing this sort of thing for quite a while. [Thanks to Peter Reiher, reiher@ficus.cs.ucla.edu, for this answer.] 13) What ethnic actors have won/been nominated for Academy Awards? (This question seem to come up every year at Oscar time.) "Actors of ethnic extraction other than European/Mediterranean--but for some reason Hispanic is included because people seem to separate that out--who have been nominated for Academy Awards" (so we don't start quibbling over Omar Sharif). I'm not a big fan of groupings by race, and I seem to keep adding more and more explanations and qualifiers to this section, but people do keep asking. In borderline cases, I have gone by the "as generally perceived" standard--thus no Ben Kingsley, who seems thoroughly British despite the fact that his father was Gujrati, and none of the many American actors who proudly say they're "part Indian" when they mean 1/16 or 1/32. With that ponderous preamble out of the way, here's the list: BLACK Hattie McDaniel 1939 supp Gone with the Wind WON Dorothy Dandridge 1954 lead Carmen Jones Sidney Poitier 1958 lead The Defiant Ones 1963 lead Lilies of the Field WON Juanita Moore 1959 supp Imitiation of Life Beah Richards 1967 supp Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Rupert Crosse 1969 supp The Reivers James Earl Jones 1970 lead The Great White Hope Paul Winfield 1972 lead Sounder Cicely Tyson 1972 lead Sounder Diana Ross 1972 lead Lady Sings the Blues Diahann Carroll 1974 lead Claudine Howard E. Rollins Jr 1981 supp Ragtime Louis Gossett Jr. 1982 supp An Officer and a Gentleman WON Alfre Woodard 1983 supp Cross Creek Adolph Caesar 1984 supp A Soldier's Story Whoopi Goldberg 1985 lead The Color Purple 1991 supp Ghost WON Margaret Avery 1985 supp The Color Purple Oprah Winfrey 1985 supp The Color Purple Dexter Gordon 1986 lead Round Midnight Morgan Freeman 1987 supp Street Smart 1989 lead Driving Miss Daisy 1994 lead The Shawshank Redemption Denzel Washington 1987 supp Cry Freedom 1989 supp Glory WON 1992 lead Malcolm X Jaye Davidson 1992 supp The Crying Game Laurence Fishburne 1993 lead What's Love Got to Do with It? Angela Bassett 1993 lead What's Love Got to Do with It? Samuel L. Jackson 1994 supp Pulp Fiction Cuba Gooding, Jr. 1996 supp Jerry Maguire WON Marianne Jean-Baptiste 1996 supp Secrets & Lies Denzel Washington 2000 lead The Hurricane Michael Clarke Duncan 2000 supp The Green Mile ASIAN (including Polynesian) Miyoshi Umeki 1957 supp Sayonara WON Sessue Hayakawa 1957 supp The Bridge on the River Kwai Mako 1966 supp The Sand Pebbles Jocelyn LaGarde 1966 supp Hawai`i Haing S. Ngor 1984 supp The Killing Fields WON Noriyuki "Pat" Morita 1984 supp The Karate Kid [whatever your term is for] PRE-EUROPEAN NORTH AMERICAN Anthony Quinn 1952 supp Viva Zapata WON Anthony Quinn 1956 supp Lust for Life WON Chief Dan George 1970 supp Little Big Man (Squamish) Graham Greene 1991 supp Dances with Wolves (Oneida (Iroquois)) HISPANIC Rita Moreno 1961 supp West Side Story WON Norma Aleandro 1987 supp Gaby--A True Story Andy Garcia 1991 supp The Godfather Part III Rosie Perez 1993 supp Fearless Fernanda Montenegro 1999 supp Central Station (Although Anthony Quinn is often listed as Hispanic, comments by him about his ancestry on "The Actors Studio" lead me to list him as "Pre-European North American." I will not entertain arguments about whether Montenegro is Hispanic or not--there are at least several definitions that would include her, and I'll fall back on "generally perceived.") Note that John Singleton is now the first black to be nominated as best director (1991, BOYZ N THE HOOD). [Thanks to Jon Conrad, conrad@sun.acs.udel.edu, for bulk of this answer. John Cawley, johnmike@news.delphi.com, maintains a list of Native American actors and their tribes.] 14) What are all the James Bond films and who played Bond? "Casino Royale" episode of CLIMAX TV series 1954 Barry Nelson Dr. No 1962 Sean Connery From Russia With Love 1963 Sean Connery Goldfinger 1964 Sean Connery Thunderball 1965 Sean Connery Casino Royale 1967 David Niven* You Only Live Twice 1967 Sean Connery On Her Majesty's Secret Service 1969 George Lazenby Diamonds Are Forever 1971 Sean Connery Live and Let Die 1973 Roger Moore The Man With the Golden Gun 1974 Roger Moore The Spy Who Loved Me 1977 Roger Moore The Strange Case of the End of Civilisation as We Know It 1977 x Moonraker 1979 Roger Moore For Your Eyes Only 1981 Roger Moore Octopussy 1983 Roger Moore Never Say Never Again 1983 Sean Connery The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. 1983 George Lazenby+ A View to a Kill 1985 Roger Moore The Living Daylights 1987 Timothy Dalton Licence to Kill 1989 Timothy Dalton "Diamonds Aren't Forever" episode of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS 1989 George Lazenby= GoldenEye 1995 Pierce Brosnan Tomorrow Never Dies 1997 Pierce Brosnan The World Is Not Enough 1999 Pierce Brosnan * Woody Allen plays his nephew, "Jimmy Bond" + Only a cameo--Lazenby drives an Aston Martin with license plate "JB" in this made-for-television movie and is clearly supposed to be Bond, though he is never called by name. = Lazenby plays "James ... [sic]" x Bond does not appear, but "Miss Moneypacket" drives a car with a "JB 007" license plate. (Many people say that CASINO ROYALE is not a real Bond movie, but rather a parody. NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN is a movie not made by Broccoli & Co, but otherwise has the usual look. "The Strange Case...," "The Return of ...," and "Diamonds Aren't Forever" are also not part of the "main line" of Bond films.) (Michael Golan mentions also CANNONBALL (1976), but in that Roger Moore is explicit that he is *Roger Moore*, not James Bond, in spite of all appearances. Still, some may want to count this. "M" and "Miss Moneypacket" appear in "The Strange Case of the End of Civilisation as We Know It," a 1977 British television production starring John Cleese; they were played by Kenneth Benda and Charlotte Alexandra respectively.) Bruce Long (bruce@asu.edu) says, "The 'Hostage'" episode of 'The Master' (series starring Lee Van Cleef) has George Lazenby and David McCallum as guest stars. Each of them are obviously supposed to be his famous character (but McCallum is the villain, as though Kuryakin had become cynical in his later years)." 15) What are those funny dots that blink on in the upper-right corner of films? These are cue marks, or "reel-change dots," signaling the projectionist that it is time to change reels. There is actually a set of dots. Four consecutive frames are marked with a little circle in the upper right-hand corner of the frame. The first set (4 frames) of cue marks (the motor cue) is placed 198 frames before the end of the reel. (198 frames is 8.25 seconds, or 12.375 feet.) There are 172 frames between the first set of cue marks and the second set of 4 frames, the changeover cue. There are 18 frames between the changeover cue and the runout section of the trailer (or foot) leader. The projectionist threads up the next reel of film so that he has about nine feet of leader between the lens and the start of the film. At the first cue mark, he starts the motor on the second projector. This gives the projector time to get up to to speed and for the speed to stabilize. On the second cue mark, he throws the switches that change the picture and sound sources. In some old films on TV, you'll see long changeover cues since some projectionists were paranoid that they would not see the marks. Video versions usually do not have these dots because when the transfer was made, the original negative was used, or a postive that was made from the original negative was used. Sometimes an interneg is used. In any event, only prints that make it to the theatre have the change-over dots. For older movies, sometimes the only available print is a release print, which means the dots will appear. (Paul Parenteau [dog@sequent.COM], Ron Birnbaum [ron@osf.org], Harris Minter [harris.minter@datadim.com], Jeffry L. Johnson [ac717@cleveland.freenet.edu], and Mike Brown [vidiot!brown%astroatc.UUCP@spool.cs.wisc.edu]). 16) What is the secret of THE CRYING GAME? (rot13'd) Spoiler for THE CRYING GAME follows in "rot13" format. If you don't know what else to do with this to read it, save the three lines in a file and filter it through 'tr "[a-zA-Z]" "[n-za-mN-ZA-N]"' (on SysV systems, you may have to use 'tr "[a-z][A-Z]" "[n-z][a-m][N-Z][A-N]"'). Vf Wnlr Qnivqfba n zna be n jbzna? Naq vs n zna, qvq ur hfr n obql qbhoyr? Wnlr Qnivqfba vf n zna. Ur qvq abg hfr n obql qbhoyr. Vg unf orra fnvq gung ur vf n genafirfgvgr, ohg guvf vf abg pregnva. 17) What are the top ten/twenty grossing films of all time? This data can be found at: http://us.imdb.com/Charts/usatopmovies (for USA box office), http://us.imdb.com/Charts/intltopmovies (for non-USA box office), and http://us.imdb.com/Charts/worldtopmovies (for world-wide box-office). http://mrshowbiz.go.com/reviews/moviereviews/numbers/top100adjusted.html is a constantly updated list that is adjusted for inflation. 18) What is a director's cut? Contracts under the terms of the Hollywood Director's Guild allow about six weeks for a director to assemble a cut without studio interference. This is fully edited and has a synchronized sound track, however, it is usually not color-corrected nor density-corrected and may not have the final music and effects track. In more recent times due to an expanding video aftermarket, the term director's cut has acquired a popular meaning that implies a finished final print, different from the [original] theatrical release, that the director has complete artistic control over. [Murray Chapman] Bob Morris (morris@sce.carlton.ca) believes the first widespread use of the term was with the 1989 re-release of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. 19) Are there any Web sites for movie scripts? The following is one WEB site i know of: http://pobox.com/~drew/scripts.htm. There are probably others. There may be also scripts at sites with archives related to specific films or sub-genres. Don't forget that most scripts are copyrighted. Scripts may be obtainable by stores dealing in movie materials or books; see the rec.arts.books FAQs on bookstores for some suggestions. 20) What is the poem in FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL? The poem is by W. H. Auden. Like many of his other works, it is known by its first line, "Stop All the Clocks"; it is also known as "Funeral Blues." Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, Silence the pianos and with muffled drum Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead, Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves, Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves. He was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and my Sunday rest, My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song; I thought that love would last forever; I was wrong. The stars are not wanted now; put out every one: Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun; Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods: For nothing now can ever come to any good. Thanks to Janna Ore Nugent for this. 21) What is the significance of the stones at the end of SCHINDLER'S LIST? It is a Jewish custom to place small stones on the graves or tombstones when one visits them. I have heard at least two explanations for why: 1) It is symbolic of fulfilling the mitzvah (commandment) of helping to bury the dead. (It also shows that the grave is being maintained.) 2) It is forbidden to kill any living thing as a memorial to the dead (this in reaction to pagan practices of the Middle East during Biblical times) and so flowers are not permitted. Hence unliving things (i.e., stones) are used instead. 22) Where in THE CROW did Brandon Lee get shot? Did they leave it in? According to Raymond Johnston (raymond.johnston@rex.com): The same gun was used earlier, a week or so earlier, and since it was a revolver, they needed for it to look loaded. The prop guy emptied the gunpowder out of some bullets and loaded the gun. During that scene, a second unit scene, a bullet head got stuck in the barrel and nobody noticed. It remained stuck for a week, then they had to have a scene where blanks were fired to make noise and a flash. The gunpowder of the blank shot out the jammed bullet head, and it hit Lee. People on the set thought he was acting and kept the camera rolling. He never recovered. The gun was not actually technically loaded, but Lee was hit with a bullet full force. That part of the scene is not used, but some things filmed that day are used. The scene where the gang kills Lee and his wife is the scene involved. The film includes up to a gang member pointing the gun at Lee. Some of this scene then used a double filmed from the back. In the film, he then falls out of a window, this was to not recreate the or use a scene of Lee being shot. The film was almost completed. Only a few flashbacks remained to be shot. In the Crow, the flashbacks are very disjointed and this was a way of dealing with the fragmented flashbacks that they had to work with. The role of the little girl was beefed up to cover up the lack of some plot material and character development. I have heard since that the film of the actual shot was destroyed. Personally, I thought they used too much of the scene in the film. Apparently, though, Lee's mother at first wanted the film canned, not released, but when she saw her son's work, she wanted it finished and put out so people could see he had some true talent. 23) Is it true that a hanged person (munchkin) is visible in the background of one scene in THE WIZARD OF OZ? No. This is an urban myth which circulates widely and often turns up on the past-films newsgroup. Sometimes a number of circumstantial details are added to the story, depending on how big a liar you heard it from. In the scene in question (where Dorothy and her friends are in the forest) one can see an object hanging from one of the background trees, but careful examination reveals it to be a large bird. It is said that this bird had escaped from some other part of the soundstage, and was hanging from a branch of the "tree" by its feet. 24) What are some movies that were better than the books/stories they were based on? Commonly named ones include: THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS (based on "The Foghorn" by Ray Bradbury) THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY (based on the Robert James Waller novel) CARRIE (based on the Stephen King novel) THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (based on "Return of the Master" by Harry Bates) DR. CYCLOPS (based on the Henry Kuttner novel) FREAKS (based on SPURS by Clarence Tod Robbins) HIGH NOON (based on "The Tin Star" by John Cunningham) IT HAPPENS EVERY SPRING (based on the Valentine Davies novel) JAWS (based on the Peter Benchley novel) THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (based on Dorothy Johnson's story) THE MARK OF ZORRO (based on THE CURSE OF CAPISTRANO by Johnston McCulley) THE NATURAL (based on the Bernard Malamud novel) QUEST FOR LOVE (based on "Random Quest" by John Wyndham) THE 3:10 TO YUMA (based on the Elmore Leonard story) Arguable: DRACULA'S DAUGHTER (based on "Dracula's Guest" by Bram Stoker) THE GODFATHER (based on the Mario Puzo novel) THE GRADUATE (based on the Charles Webb novel) GRAND TOUR: DISASTER IN TIME (based on VINTAGE SEASON by C. L. Moore) THE GUNS OF NAVARONE (based on the Alistair MacLean novel) LAST OF THE MOHICANS (based on the James Fenimore Cooper novel) THE NIGHT OF THE DEMON (based on "Casting the Runes" by M. R. James) THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE (based on the Muriel Spark novel) SHANE (based on the Jack Schaefer story) THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (based on "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" by Stephen King) SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (based on the Thomas Harris novel) TOUCH OF EVIL (based on the novel BADGE OF EVIL by Whit Masterson) TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE (based on the B. Traven novel) Possibly: BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (based on the Pierre Boulle novel) COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT (based on the D. F. Jones novel) DIABOLIQUE (based on the Pierre Boileau novel) DR. STRANGELOVE (based on the Peter George novel RED ALERT, a.k.a. TWO HOURS TO DOOM) FULL METAL JACKET (based on the novel THE SHORT TIMERS by Gustav Hasford) THE LADY VANISHES (1938) (based on THE WHEEL SPINS by Ethel Lina White) THE PATHS OF GLORY (based on the Humphrey Cobb novel) PLANET OF THE APES (based on the Pierre Boulle novel) REAR WINDOW (based on Cornell Wollrich story) SPARTACUS (based on the Howard Fast novel) THE THIN MAN (based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett) THE TOWERING INFERNO (based on Frank M. Robinson and Thomas N. Scortia's GLASS INFERNO and THE TOWER by Richard Martin Stern) VERTIGO (based on the Pierre Boileau novel) [Provided by Mark R. Leeper, mleeper@lucent.com, and Mark Brader] 25) What was the first PG-13 movie to be released? RED DAWN, 10 August 1984. PART TWO: Frequent Topics and other things we just thought you might like to know. First a few general notes... The readership of rec.arts.movies is in the whole very knowledgeable about a wide range of movies. However, it is my informal assessment that science fiction and fantasy movies are discussed and analyzed far beyond their popularity in most of the rest of the world. This is neither good nor bad, and the reason for it seems fairly obvious to me. The readership of this group reflects the broader readership of USENET. This latter population is top heavy with computer scientists and other forms of science scholars. There is a correlation (though not necessarily a causal relationship) between being in one of these professions, and an interest in science fiction and fantasy. Okay, enough of that. Now, here are some things which come up often, and, while you are free to discuss them, you should be forewarned that some long-time readers may get fairly fed-up with you. PART THREE: Frequently discussed topics: 1) COLORIZING -- Various legal and moral issues. As most of you probably know, Ted Turner and others have taken to adding "color" old black and white films. "Color" is in quotes, because it is questionable whether you can really call it color. Anyway, there is, every so often, a discussion of some aspect of this. There are a whole host of legal and moral/ethical issues involved here. Suprisingly there really seems to be a fair mix of opinion on this issue. No, you cannot just turn off the color on your television; adding color changes the values of the various sections so they show up differently. However, adding color requires a restored clean print, so many claim that the money from selling color-added films is being used to preserve the films (in black and white as well as in color). It has been ruled illegal to add color to CITIZEN KANE due to the way Orson Welles's contract was written. (Boyajian points out that "Colorization" is a trademarked term.) 2) PRODUCT PLACEMENTS IN MOVIES. In many films, the film company will get paid by some companies to use their products. Some readers object to this as a fairly manipulative and distracting presence. Others do not object, commenting that people really do use name-brand products, so using them in films makes sense. Many have commented on the pack of Marlboro cigarettes in DEAD AGAIN, saying this was the best product placement they had ever seen. 3) HAS ANYONE SEEN THIS GREAT MOVIE I JUST SAW CALLED HEATHERS? For some reason, every time someone stumbles across this movie, they feel like they should post to the net and ask if anyone else has seen it, and do they want to discuss it. This is fine, of course, but it does get to be a little repetitive. The film stars Winona Ryder as Veronica and Christian Slater as J.D. Two students at a high school in Ohio. The three most popular girls at the school, and Veronica's best friends, are all named Heather. The film is a black comedy which revolves around the relationship of JD & Veronica, and how they interact with the 3 Heathers and others. Some people think it is very good, although many netters were disappointed with the ending. If you haven't seen it yet, you should. 4) WHAT'S THIS TALK ABOUT A GHOST IN THREE MEN AND A BABY? There is a rumor that if you watch TMATB very closely you will see a ghost in it. The scene in question is the one where Ted Danson's character meets his mom in his apartment. If you look near the window you can see an image resembling a small boy. This is supposedly the ghost of a boy who was killed in the house where the movie was filmed. First of all, the movie was not filmed in a house, but on a Toronto soundstage. So the whole premise is hokey to begin with. But here is more evidence provided by: brian@b11.ingr.com (Brian Enright)): > I then rewound and ran it through super slow mo. When they pass the > window on their way in, you can't see the boy but it looks like there > is a bed post sticking up. When they pass the window again it looks > like a two-dimensional cut-out but not of Ted Danson. It's a little > boy with a baseball cap, a white tee-shirt and a blue unbuttoned > button-down shirt in my opinion. Hmmmm. I had to investigate. > > After further investigation of other scenes in the movie I found there > were no bed posts on the bed. Then I hit the clue that gave it away. > This particular scene is almost at the end of the movie. In this > scene Ted Danson walks to a window where there is a cut-out of him in > a black top hat and a black tuxedo with a white shirt. If you > examine this cut out closely and go back to the scene in question, > you will notice that they are the same cut out. You can see that the > boy *is* Ted Danson and he is wearing a top hat and even his shoulders > hidden behind the curtain are noticeably not a little boy's but a man > in a tuxedo. > > I hate to burst any bubbles but it *definitely is* a cut-out of Ted > Danson in a *tuxedo*.. 5) Can someone explain BARTON FINK? So far as I can tell, no. :-) (However, http://www.homestead.com/mc4r/barton.html takes a good shot at it.) ===================================================================== From: bell@cs.tamu.edu (Will Bell): Other information: There are several lists revolving around film that are kept by netters. These frequently come up. Evelyn Leeper (evelynleeper@geocities.com) provides several services for the r.a.m readers (aside from her many postings), including maintaining these lists: -- Academy Award Nominations & Winners from 1987 on -- Hollywood Vocabulary (such terms as chopsocky, bowed, helmed, etc.) -- Information on what all those people listed in film credits do (e.g. key grip, gaffer...). Evelyn is also the moderator of the group rec.arts.movies.reviews, which is a collection of movie reviews written by USENET-ers. The rec.arts.movies.reviews archives are currently stored on FTP.UU.NET which is a UNIX machine, and are in the directory ~ftp/usenet/rec.arts.movies.reviews. The archives are currently available to anyone with FTP access to this machine. The files are arranged alphabetically in parallel directories, one with full-length filenames, one with 14-character filenames. There is also a directory with the reviews by archival number. Read the README in ~ftp/usenet/rec.arts.movies.reviews for details. You can also refer to the INDEX* files, which will help you find reviews within festival reports and so on. If you have no FTP access, you can request copies of reviews (12 or less at a time) by sending mail to Evelyn. Bob Niland (rjn@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM) has several articles on Laser Disc technology and availability available from his archives. You may request any of these at any time. Recent copies are also available for anonymous ftp on: princeton.edu (128.112.128.1, directory pub/Video/Niland) and bobcat.bbn.com (128.89.2.103), wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (192.88.110.20). Lastly, there are a series of movie trivia contests. Some of these even offer prizes! The initial contest postings generally include information on how to enter. The important point is that you should never post answers, but should send them e-mail. ==================================================================== (Contributions for addition to this FAQL gratefully appreciated. Suggestions for things *I* should write to add to this FAQL are not so gratefully appreciated.) ============================================================================ Copyright Notice This FAQ is not to be reproduced for commercial use unless the party reproducing the FAQ agrees to the following: 1) They will contact the FAQ maintainer to obtain the latest version for their collection. 2) They will provide the FAQ maintainer with information on what collection the copy of the FAQ is in, and how that collection may be obtained. 3) They will agree, in writing, that the FAQ will be included in the collection without modification, and that acknowledgements of contributors (if any) to the FAQ remain in the FAQ. 4) They will agree, in writing, that the collection including the FAQ will be distributed on either a non-profit basis, or have some percentage of profit donated to a non-profit literacy program. Project Gutenberg counts. Information contained in the FAQ is compiled from many sources. No guarantees are made as to its accuracy. To support this, this FAQ is Compilation Copyright 2000 by Evelyn C. Leeper (the FAQ maintainer). =========================================================================== <HR>You are visitor number <IMG SRC="/cgi-bin/counter"> since 1 Jan 2000. Evelyn C. Leeper, evelynleeper@geocities.com -- Evelyn C. Leeper, http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself. --Mikhail Baryshnikov