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rec.arts.movies.past-films Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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

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

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
    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
    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
   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
   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
   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):
    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
   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
     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
    10. Who was the voice of the seductive Jessica Rabbit in the film
    11. What are all of the "cute" gimmicks in the film BACK TO THE
    12. What role did Jamie Lee Curtis play in THE ADVENTURES OF
    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

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

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:


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 

(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:


    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


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.


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.


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.)

   Julie Andrews did not reprise her Broadway performance of Eliza

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,

On the 30th anniversary restored laserdisk edition, Hepburn can be
heard singing "Wouldn't It be Luvverly" and "Show Me" on  alternate

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:

        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
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

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):

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.)
1978  JAWS II
1979  ROCKY II

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

At one time we thought the winner was:


(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:
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)


a few remarks about the topic:

projection in this aspect ratio.

completely - the magic was gone.


at the top and the bottom of the screen.

Now to the film-on-tv-thing:

the same problems as the poor theatre projectionist dealing with four 
different formats. If the network doesn't care too much for artisitc 


bars - but something you wouldn't care for anyway.


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

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

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:


However, the following movies (mostly early British ones) are missing from
the above list:

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)
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.]


(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.

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.

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."

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))

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.

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.)

Steven Bishop plays "Charming G.I." (bad pun)

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.

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."

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.

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.)

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.]


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:


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))

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

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.]


   "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)."


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


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.


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.

		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
	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.


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

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.

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.

were based on?

Commonly named ones include:
	THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS (based on "The Foghorn"
		by Ray Bradbury)
		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)
		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)

	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)
		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)

	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,
		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]


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.

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.

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
ftp on:
	princeton.edu (, directory pub/Video/Niland) and
	bobcat.bbn.com (,
	wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (

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

reproducing the FAQ agrees to the following:
    their collection.
    collection without modification, and that acknowledgements of
    profit donated to a non-profit literacy program.  Project Gutenberg

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
better than myself.  --Mikhail Baryshnikov 

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