RockyRoad Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 . Message was edited by: RockyRoad Link to post Share on other sites
DavidEnglish Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 Close, but no cigar. Link to post Share on other sites
CineSage_jr Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 Hitler, in THE LADY VANISHES. Link to post Share on other sites
DavidEnglish Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 Almost reich, but not quite there. Getting closer on the famous person. Link to post Share on other sites
LuckyDan Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 Benito Mussolini was a fan of Hollywood. Was it he? P.S. I almost hope I'm wrong, because I know very little Hitch trivia that hasn't already been discussed. P.P.S. Oh and yes, Saboteur. Message was edited by: LuckyDan Message was edited by: LuckyDan Link to post Share on other sites
CineSage_jr Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 Mussolini admired the grandiosity of Hollywood's product, and resented their eclipse of Italy's film production during World War I, a position that Hollywood, of course, has never relinquished. In his desire for Italy to regain its pre?minence in cinema, and convinced of film's indispensible power as propaganda to further the ends of his Fascist state, he ordered the construction of Rome's giant Cinecitt? studios (opened 1937). Of course, Cinecitt? is, ironically, best known as the facility at which some of Hollywood's biggest epics of the 1950s and '60s, such as BEN-HUR, HELEN OF TROY, QUO VADIS and CLEOPATRA, were produced, thanks in no small part to the availability of cheap labor and building materials in post-World War II Italy. Link to post Share on other sites
LuckyDan Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 Wow. Good info. Seriously, Cinesage. But do I win? Link to post Share on other sites
DavidEnglish Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 > P.S. I almost hope I'm wrong, because I know very > little Hitch trivia that hasn't already been discussed. Always happy to fulfill someone's hopes, I have to say the famous person was warmer on the last guess (never thought I would refer to Hitler as a warm person). The film is even colder. Once you find the person, the film will probably follow more easily. Link to post Share on other sites
DavidEnglish Posted June 19, 2006 Share Posted June 19, 2006 Since no one has stepped forward with another guess, this one is probably too difficult to solve with its dual queries. There are just too many possible permutations. OK, here is one of the answers. The famous person is none other than Dr. Joseph Goebbels (a case of an evil manipulator recognizing the skills of a more benign manipulator?). Now the challenge is to figure out which Hitchcock film Goebbels was simultaneously praising and condemning. Link to post Share on other sites
wordmaster Posted June 19, 2006 Share Posted June 19, 2006 "Foreign Correspondent"? Link to post Share on other sites
CineSage_jr Posted June 19, 2006 Share Posted June 19, 2006 I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that G?bbels was referring to a film without overt political content, such as SABOTEUR or LIFEBOAT. SHADOW OF A DOUBT's depiction of small-town America as a hiding place for a depraved murderer (think Fritz Lang's M), strikes me as something that Herr Doktor G?bbels may have seen as an indictment of American morality that could be used as propaganda by the Nazis. Link to post Share on other sites
DavidEnglish Posted June 19, 2006 Share Posted June 19, 2006 Turns out the correct answer is Foreign Correspondent (heck, I wouldn't have known it if I hadn't been searching my Hitchcock materials for a trivia question). Good catch, wordmaster. And a special tip of the hat to CineSage jr for turning up a more precise spelling for G?bbels. My initial source for this odd convergence of audience manipulators is an article by Raymond Durgnat titled "The Strange Case of Alfred Hitchcock, Part Three." The article is included in the book Focus On Hitchcock. Durgnat writes, "Dr. Goebbels loved watching Foreign Correspondent, perhaps because the weak old statesman who, under torture, makes such a moving speech in favor of the indomitability of democracy, immediately afterwards gives way and does what his captors want." Back to you, oh mighty master of words. Link to post Share on other sites
wordmaster Posted June 19, 2006 Share Posted June 19, 2006 Yes, it seems that Goebbels is the more common spelling, and that the spelling with umlaut and without the "e" is the spelling on his birth certificate. I am not feeling that 'mighty' these days - work pressures are mounting as summer busy season approaches - but I shall return with a question as soon as time allows. Link to post Share on other sites
wordmaster Posted June 19, 2006 Share Posted June 19, 2006 Yes, it seems that Goebbels is the more common spelling, and that the spelling with umlaut and without the "e" is the spelling on his birth certificate. I am not feeling that 'mighty' these days - work pressures are mounting as summer busy season approaches - but I shall return with a question as soon as time allows. Link to post Share on other sites
wordmaster Posted June 19, 2006 Share Posted June 19, 2006 The more precise spelling, it seems, is the one on his birth certificate. "Goebbels" is the more commonly used spelling of his name, though. Work pressures and health issues are not making me feel that mighty, so I will have to ponder a question and return later. ["How do I get an 'o' with an umlaut on it?", he asks teutonically...] [please excuse the double post - it's going to be one of those weeks, I can just feel it...] Message was edited by: wordmaster Link to post Share on other sites
DavidEnglish Posted June 19, 2006 Share Posted June 19, 2006 > ["How do I get an 'o' with an umlaut on it?", > he asks teutonically...] The easy way would be to cut and paste it from someone else's writing (that's what I did). To generate it from scratch in Microsoft Word, you could choose Insert from the top-screen menus. Then choose Symbol from the resulting pull-down menu. Assuming the Font window is set to the default "(normal text)," you should be able to find it about 15-percent of the way down. ... he answers germanely Link to post Share on other sites
RockyRoad Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 ; Message was edited by: RockyRoad Link to post Share on other sites
wordmaster Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Not too difficult a question, I'm sure: In what year did Hitch stop receiving screenwriting credits for his own filmography? Link to post Share on other sites
CineSage_jr Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 For anything other than Word applications, I find it easier to copy-and-paste letters with diacritical marks from a website that offers them. The one I use most often is http://www.initium.demon.co.uk/charactr.htm As for FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT, I should have known. I have an original script from the film (240 pages long!) which its author, the late Charles Bennett, autographed for me when I spent a lovely afternoon at his home about fifteen years ago. Link to post Share on other sites
MrWriteLA Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 1932 ("Number Seventeen")? (Though he made uncredited writing contributions after that.) Link to post Share on other sites
wordmaster Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 That's correct. Away you go. Link to post Share on other sites
MrWriteLA Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 One of the director's epilogues to his "Alfred Hitchock Presents" TV episodes was grimly serious rather than humorous (as was customarily the case). What was the episode, and why the decision for the change in tone? Link to post Share on other sites
ayresorchids Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 This is strictly a guess--did it have anything to do with the nation's mood after the assassination of JFK? Message was edited by: Ayres Link to post Share on other sites
MrWriteLA Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 I can confidently say it did not, as the episode predated the assassination. Nice try, though. Link to post Share on other sites
RobertEmmettHarron Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 I don't know this, but I'll take a shot. (Yes, that's a pun.) Is it the teleplay "Bang, You're Dead," with Lost in Space alumnus Billy Mumy as a youngster who unwittingly carries a loaded handgun rather than the toy he was used to playing with? If so, I don't know why the ending was changed. Sponsor pressure? Or just that Hitch believed in gun safety? Link to post Share on other sites
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