# Movies with some "unique" feature **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 12, 2003, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629 "2003-08-12T13:06:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629/1 "2003-08-12T13:06:02Z")
There’s an old noir movie with Ray Milland called [_The Thief_](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0045230#comment) which has (for me at least) the unique distinction of having a sound track with sounds and noises, including ringing telephones, but **not one word** of spoken dialog. Are there movies you’ve seen (or read of) with some _unique_ feature like that? ---
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629/2 "2003-08-12T13:14:11Z")
Memento. Not only a fabulous movie, but time flows backwards. And forwards. You’ll just have to watch it to understand. ---
**Author:** ![acrossthesea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@acrossthesea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/acrossthesea)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629/3 "2003-08-12T13:59:55Z")
Eraserhead. There are plenty of movies that are bizarre and don’t make any sense, or are full of random confusing images. It seems like most of David Lynch’s movies fit that description. What makes Eraserhead unique in my opinion is that it’s totally bizarre, yet has an actual understandable plot. (Well, for most of the movie. I’ve never understood the last chunk of it.) And the baby in that movie’s pretty unique looking. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629/4 "2003-08-12T14:42:27Z")
**The China Syndrome** has no music. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629/5 "2003-08-12T15:10:36Z")
If only I could remember the name of the movie that introduce Smell-o-vision. Oh, wait – that’s what Google is for. [Scent of a Mystery](http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/belknap/exhibit2002/smell.htm)! Now to track down a copy… Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629/6 "2003-08-12T15:11:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gadfly \* > \*\*Memento. Not only a fabulous movie, but time flows backwards. And forwards. You’ll just have to watch it to understand. \*\* There are other movies that do the exact same thing, but I can’t remember them(short-term memory loss, perhaps?). ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629/7 "2003-08-12T15:12:40Z")
[**Russkij kovcheg**](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0318034) (Russian Ark - 2002), a 96-minute movie, was shot in one single take (no cuts) and they had just one day to shoot the film. ---
**Author:** ![Kaspar\_Hauser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@Kaspar\_Hauser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaspar_Hauser)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629/8 "2003-08-12T15:16:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by vibrotronica \* > \*\ ***The China Syndrome** has no music. \*\* Wasn’t that a common trait of a lot of 70’s movies? Or does it just feel that way? For example, off the top of my head, _didn’t Dog Day Afternoon_ have no music? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629/9 "2003-08-12T15:22:33Z")
Hitchcock’s _Rope_ was shot without cuts. Each take lasted as long as it took to run the film through the camera. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629/10 "2003-08-12T16:23:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kaspar Hauser \* > \*\*Wasn’t that a common trait of a lot of 70’s movies? Or does it just feel that way? For example, off the top of my head, _didn’t Dog Day Afternoon_ have no music? \*\* Don’t know about that, but I am pretty sure Alfre Hitchcock’s _The Birds_ had no music. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629/11 "2003-08-12T18:21:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*jsc1953 says: \*Hitchcock’s Rope was shot without cuts. Each take lasted as long as it took to run the film through the camera. The fact that you have multiple rolls indicates that there is the need for an editor. _Russian Ark_ was shot on video, so it is one long continuous 1 1/2-hour shot. This is what makes it unique. > [@](#): > > _Mahaloth says:_ > > > [@](#): > > > > quote: Originally posted by Gadfly > > Memento. Not only a fabulous movie, but time flows backwards. And forwards. You’ll just have to watch it to understand. There are other movies that do the exact same thing, but I can’t remember them(short-term memory loss, perhaps?). [/quote] The film adaptation of Harold Pinter’s _Betrayal_ preceded _Memento_ by 17 years, and a South Korean drama called [_ **Peppermint Candy** _](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0247613) came out the same year using the same device (although, IMHO, it’s a much better film). There have also been other films since then to do the same thing (_Irreversible_). **Lady in the Lake** (1947) was shot completely from a 1st-person POV. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629/12 "2003-08-12T18:47:33Z")
IMDB’s trivia page has this to say about **China Syndrome** > [@](#): > > Apart from the title song “Somewhere In Between” by Stephen Bishop (I), there is no background music in the entire picture. The IMDB entry for **Dog Day Afternoon** makes no such claim. However, it does say this for **The Birds** : > [@](#): > > Though there is no musical score for this film, composer and Hitchcock collaborator Bernard Herrmann is credited as a “sound consultant.” So it looks like **China Syndrome** is not unique in this regard, and the question writers for Trivial Pursuit have one more bit of misinformation to answer for. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629/13 "2003-08-12T18:58:28Z")
**Fahrenheit 451** has _spoken_ credits at the beginning, as befits a movie about a society that bans books. The only thing like it I can think of is one of Orson Welles’ films (I think **The Magnificent Ambersons** ) which has welles speaking the _closing_ credits. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629/14 "2003-08-12T19:03:04Z")
**Rope** used ten-minute takes, the longest that could be done at the time. But there were breaks between them – film had to be replaced in the camera. **Russian Ark** , OTOH, was one single take without a break. I’ve seen it; it’s quite impressive and a pretty good movie even without the gimmick. Speaking of the Birds: **Bill and Coo** had a cast made entirely of parrots dressed as people. **Jonathan Livingston Seagull’s** cast was entirely made of seagulls. **The Terror of Tiny Town** , a western featuring midgets. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629/15 "2003-08-12T19:04:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ArchiveGuy \* > \*\*The fact that you have multiple rolls indicates that there is the need for an editor. _Russian Ark_ was shot on video, so it is one long continuous 1 1/2-hour shot. This is what makes it unique. > > \*\* Well, yeah, not arguing or disputing the uniqueness of Russian Ark. But the editor’s job on **Rope** consisted of splicing roll 1 to roll 2, etc. Not exactly a creative process. ---
**Author:** ![moejuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@moejuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejuck)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629/16 "2003-08-12T19:04:35Z")
Wasn’t all the filming for “12 Angry Men” shot in the courtroom, mostly in the jury room? I don’t remember a single scene outside of the courthouse. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629/17 "2003-08-12T19:18:25Z")
Many movies that have been adapted from plays take place in one room, or on one set. Many MANY many movies have been made without soundtrack music; if Trivial Pursuit claims that makes THe China Syndrome uniques, they’re way WAY wrong. The Birds has no “music,” but composer Bernard Herrman worked with syntesizers and electronic “music” (if such things were technically synthesizers back then) to create the bird sounds of the soundtrack. So by some definitions it would be considered music. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629/18 "2003-08-12T20:21:08Z")
There’s an outdoors shot at the end of _Twelve Angry Men_, if I recall correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629/19 "2003-08-12T20:31:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jsc1953 \* > \*\*Hitchcock’s _Rope_ was shot without cuts. Each take lasted as long as it took to run the film through the camera. \*\* There is at least one actual on-screen edit in _Rope_: when the maid comes into the living room to announce that dinner is ready, the movie cuts from a group shot of the guests to a closeup of the maid. And no, it was not a damaged print I was watching! The dialogue on the soundtrack runs continuously from one shot to the next. This is in addition to the hidden edits between reels, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629/20 "2003-08-12T21:16:24Z")
There are two versions of the musical **Oklahoma!** (1955), one shot in the 65mm Todd-AO process at 30 f.p.s., the other shot in 35mm CinemaScope at 24 f.p.s. Each version is composed of entirely separate takes of each scene. When this dual-process shooting was used again the following year with **Carousel** , star Frank Sinatra quit rather than have to make the same movie twice. Likewise, two versions of **The Bat Whispers** (1930) were shot, one in 70mm and one in 35mm, each with a different director of photography. And two versions of **Doctor X** (1933) were shot, one in Technicolor, the other in black and white, although in this case the two cameras usually shot simultaneously during the same takes. Alfred Hithcock’s **Lifeboat** (1944) has the smallest set of any Hollywood feature: except for an opening shot moving across the debris from a ship’s sinking, the entire movie is set in the title craft. Add the early talkie **The Terror** (1928) to the list of movies whose credits are spoken, in this case onscreen by caped and masked actor Conrad Nagel. In the Bob Hope comedy **Louisiana Purchase** (1941), the standard legal disclaimer about the plot and characters being fictional is sung onscreen by chorus girls in a production number. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-some-unique-feature/194629.md?page=2)