# Unanswered Questions about Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 19, 2005, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899 "2005-06-19T08:01:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899/41 "2005-06-23T06:03:49Z")
[QUOTE=Vagus] > [@HPL](#): > > … > > So what’s so special about Austraila that the martians have all their stuff there in full force? QUOTE] > > Have you _seen_ the interior of this place? Its all red, dry & dusty. Perfect for the Martian- on-holiday. > . I suspected as much, but I didn’t want to seem like an Ignorant American. And I didn’t notice the change in status, so next time I watch the movie, I’ll watch for that. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899/42 "2005-06-23T10:58:28Z")
> [@Laughing Lagomorph](#): > > Wasn’t it a play as well? My father used to say that _The Caine Mutiny_ was often put on as a play at all+boys schools because there were no female parts. Anyone know? The novel was adapted to film and stage, with the latter having the title _The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial_ and, as stated, concentrating solely on the trial. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899/43 "2005-06-23T17:51:41Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Why? [in reference to Dumbrille not getting roughed up] Because he expressed an arrogant smughness as he calmly walked forward, firing the pistol. Anyone who radiates such an arrogant casual attitude toward committing attempted murder deserves the Rodney King treatment, so far as I am concerned… ---
**Author:** ![waits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df788c/32.png) [@waits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waits)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899/44 "2005-06-23T18:30:21Z")
**dougie\_monty** , you missed an obvious one from _Monkey Business_. Instead of > [@dougie\_monty](#): > > _Monkey Business:_ Near the beginning of the movie, the brothers are stowaways hiding in “kippered herring”: barrels in the ship’s hold. But when the barrels are hoisted away at the captain’s order, the brothers are left behind. Why woud they have disconnected the bottoms from the barrels? the real “huh?” moment is when the officer is telling the captain that there are four stowaways. The captain asks how he knows there are four of them and the officer replies, “They were singing ‘Sweet Adeline’.” You mean Harpo can sing but he can’t talk? Is it some kind of Mel Tillis-thing? Or does he just choose not to talk? Oh, the many questions this raises… ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899/45 "2005-06-23T19:11:50Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > [in reference to Dumbrille not getting roughed up] > Because he expressed an arrogant smughness as he calmly walked forward, firing the pistol. Anyone who radiates such an arrogant casual attitude toward committing attempted murder deserves the Rodney King treatment, so far as I am concerned… Perhaps the police didn’t think the same way you did? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899/46 "2005-06-23T19:22:24Z")
> [@waits](#): > > [the real “huh?” moment is when the officer is telling the captain that there are four stowaways. The captain asks how he knows there are four of them and the officer replies, “They were singing ‘Sweet Adeline’.” You mean Harpo can sing but he can’t talk? Is it some kind of Mel Tillis-thing? Or does he just choose not to talk? Oh, the many questions this raises… As Joe Adamson points out, in _Groucho, Harpo, Chico and sometimes Zeppo_, the difference between the early Paramount movies and the later MGM movies is that in the former Harpo was _above_ talking - talking was too pedestrian, earthbound, a form for such an exalted spirit - but in the latter Harpo _couldn’t_ talk - it was a handicap that he had to overcome. Just another way that, except for the magic that was _A Night at the Opera_, the later movies were slow continuous destruction of the brothers. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899/47 "2005-06-23T19:35:57Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > As Joe Adamson points out, in _Groucho, Harpo, Chico and sometimes Zeppo_, the difference between the early Paramount movies and the later MGM movies is that in the former Harpo was _above_ talking - talking was too pedestrian, earthbound, a form for such an exalted spirit - but in the latter Harpo _couldn’t_ talk - it was a handicap that he had to overcome. > > Just another way that, except for the magic that was _A Night at the Opera_, the later movies were slow continuous destruction of the brothers. Culminating with the infamous “Love Happy” or as the author put it, “The film that noone invovled will actually admit to working on” ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899/48 "2005-06-23T19:59:41Z")
> [@waits](#): > > **dougie\_monty** , you missed an obvious one from _Monkey Business_. Instead of > > the real “huh?” moment is when the officer is telling the captain that there are four stowaways. The captain asks how he knows there are four of them and the officer replies, “They were singing ‘Sweet Adeline’.” You mean Harpo can sing but he can’t talk? Is it some kind of Mel Tillis-thing? Or does he just choose not to talk? Oh, the many questions this raises… As shown later in the movie, he lip synchs to a record player. Ok, why he would bother to do that in a barrel, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899/49 "2005-06-23T20:27:34Z")
> [@betenoir](#): > > BEAN-FEAST, primarily an annual dinner given by an employer to his workpeople, and then colloquially any jollification… > > Probably more than you wanted to know 😃 Actually, I appreciate it–thanks! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899/50 "2005-06-23T20:34:54Z")
> [@Chanteuse](#): > > I always wanted to know what a “bean feast” was (from Willy Wonka). I just figured old Veruca wanted to pig out on jelly beans, but I’ve never been absolutely sure that’s what she means! It’s actually explained on the DVD ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899/51 "2005-06-23T20:36:54Z")
> [@Chanteuse](#): > > Actually, I appreciate it–thanks! Back in post 25, I answered **dougie\_monty** ’s question about the fourth wall. It would be nice to hear this from him. ::Sigh:: If not that, then post 34, where I asked why Hitchcock turned the Book called Secret Agent into a film called Sabotage, while he turned a book called Ashenden in a movie called Secret Agent. Both were realised the same year, 1936, in England, so it can’t just be cultural diffrences. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899/52 "2005-06-23T20:47:35Z")
Harpo Flits himself because he’s just knocked out the blonde he’s been chasing for the whole movie, and this is his chance to “sleep with her.” ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899/53 "2005-06-23T20:58:01Z")
> [@](#): > > In _Ssssssss,_ why did Strother Martin choose his daughter’s (Heather Menzies) boyfriend to turn into a cobra? Why didn’t he choose his daughter herself? IIRC, Because Martin was angry (and perhaps jealous!) that the boyfriend was boinking his daughter. > [@](#): > > I had this thought when I saw the movie, and was delighted that Mad magazine had the same thought and put it in their parody: In One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, at the end, Chief Bromden throws the water unit out the window and escapes from the institution, out into the night. It’s exhilarating, until you consider (as the Mad satire has the Christopher Lloyd character ask) > > “Hey, why are we getting excited? The Chief was in here voluntarily!” The Chief was not one of the voluntary patients. He was committed. The voluntary in-mates were all part of the “therapy” group, but the Chief and several other committed patients did not take part in these sessions. As Nurse Ratched points out, there are 14 men on the ward, only 7 (including McMurphy, but not the Chief) took part in the therapy sessions. I always get flammed by some angry poster for mentioning this plot-hole, but I’ve never heard any one give a reasonable explanation for it: In _E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial_\*, our intrepid little alien gets left behind by about two seconds by his UFO. He stares forelornly at the ship rising into the air just about ten feet above him. Later on in the movie, E.T. telekinetically carries himself, Eliot, a bicycle, and (later still) a whole bunch of kids on their bikes miles through the air, way above the ground. So, when the UFO was departing in the first five minutes of the film, why didn’t E.T. just telekinetically float himself up to the ship??? ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899/54 "2005-06-23T21:01:02Z")
Just a crazy idea (Kinda like my own explanation for Sssss), but perhaps he can only levitate non-living object, and at the time of the ship, he either could not find anything big enough to carry him, or he was… I forgot where the ending took place. Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899/55 "2005-06-23T21:21:32Z")
Maybe he was in danger of getting fried by the anti-gravity field? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899/56 "2005-06-24T06:27:30Z")
> [@Scott Plaid](#): > > Back in post 25, I answered **dougie\_monty** ’s question about the fourth wall. It would be nice to hear this from him. > > ::Sigh:: Sorry, Scott, I didn’t know you were waiting for an acknowledgment or I would have posted one. I apologize and I thank you for the answer. 🙂 As for Douglass Dumbrille in _The Big Store,_ well, his unloveable moll was rewarded for _her_ arrogance when she walked out of the scene with part of her skirt cut off. Served her right. It would have satisfied me about “Grover” to see him get clubbed with cops’ nightsticks, considering what I had seen him do. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899/57 "2005-06-24T06:30:19Z")
> [@Art Vandelay](#): > > IIRC, Because Martin was angry (and perhaps jealous!) that the boyfriend was boinking his daughter. Jealous, eh? A la Lolita? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899/58 "2005-06-24T06:38:19Z")
> [@Chanteuse](#): > > Actually, I appreciate it–thanks! > > 🙂 You’re welcome…and now I’ve added “jollification” to my vocabulary. So it’s win/win 🙂 . ---
**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:** [June 24, 2005, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899/59 "2005-06-24T12:12:58Z")
> [@](#): > > The Chief was not one of the voluntary patients. He was committed But the Chief wasn’t committed – he _was_ voluntary. They make a point of it earlier in the film, and McMurphy expresses surprise that the Chief stays there. That’s why it made syuch an impression on me (and on the Mad Writer, apparently) ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899/60 "2005-06-24T17:56:51Z")
> [@Odinoneeye](#): > > As shown later in the movie, he lip synchs to a record player. Ok, why he would bother to do that in a barrel, I don’t know. Because it’s funny. Either that or Harpo will speak, but only when he can’t be seen. There is a scene in “Duck Soup” near the end, where the 4 are stuck in a house under siege and Groucho raidos for help. Then, someone shouts “Help in on the way”, sounding like it’s coming from the Closet Harpo was locked in earlier. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-about-movies/308899.md?page=4)