Question: Is it common to be committed like Pat was to avoid a jail sentence? Is this up to the judge?
Answer: It's not exactly common, but yes, it would be up to the judge, and establishing that a person is a "clear and present danger to themselves or others" can result in involuntary commitment in Pennsylvania, where the film takes place. In this case, it would not be hard to argue that, "the person has inflicted or attempted to inflict serious bodily harm on another and that there is a reasonable probability that such conduct will be repeated" (50 PA. CONS. STAT. ANN. § 7301 (b) (1)), as he had just physically assaulted his wife's lover and she'd obtained a restraining order. His mental health problems would have been well-documented, so it would have been easy for a judge to order him to undergo psychiatric evaluation, which could (and, in the film, does) lead to extended involuntary commitment at the discretion of a mental health professional.
Question: Why was Toulouse crying at the end of the Elephant Love Medley? If I am correct he was sitting on a balcony eating and drinking when singing the words "How wonderful life is, now you're in the world." Is it just that he is happy about his dream of finally getting the Bohemian Play? Is it a potential that he is in love with Christian or Satine. Another possibility is that he just happy seeing Christian in love, since Christian previously stated that he had never been in love before?
Answer: The way I saw it, that was Toulouse in present day singing, after the death of Satine etc.
He's a funny little man who is lonely himself. All he has is his bottle when everything is all said and done. He has nobody.
Answer: Maybe it's sort of a foreshadowing.
Question: When Richard accidentally pulls a coin out of his coat pocket, he sees that it's a penny and he is sent back to his own time. After being weakened upon his trip back to the future, why, after what was likely several days to get his full strength back, wasn't he able to return to the past? His mentor told him returning to his own time would leave him weakened but, given enough time to get it back, he could have gone back to the past again.
Answer: He was no longer able to put everything out of his mind, which was a requirement to successfully time-travel. He was distraught and unable to focus enough mentally. He stopped eating, and as time went on he became weaker and weaker.
Question: In the scene where Hal, Rosemary, the cripled friend, and Nurse "Sourpuss" go out of town, Hal and his friend got to buy snacks leaving Rosemary and "Sourpuss" to talk. There is a scene where thy cut to the front of the car and Nurse "Sourpuss" is now good looking. So is that her real look and Hal only sees her as old and ugly?
Chosen answer: Yes. Just as Hal sees many unattractive and/or overweight women to be thin and beautiful due to their true personalities, he sees Nurse "Sourpuss" - who is a beautiful woman - to be old and ugly due to hers.
Answer: At that point Hal and his friend had already turned their backs and went to the store so Hal was not even looking at her.
Question: When Over's wife gets the call about her husband's plane having problems, there is a horse in bed with her and she tells the horse to let himself out. This is the only joke in the movie I didn't understand. Is there anybody out there who got the joke and can help me understand it?
Answer: This is a reference to The Godfather, where a character being intimidated by the Mafia wakes up with his prize racehorse's severed head next to him on the bed. For comedy purposes this is twisted by the movie as an implied sexual relationship, when the horse is revealed to be alive.
Answer: This is an inside joke that Mrs. Over is cheating on her husband with a horse.
Question: Can Will Ferrell actually play the flute?
Answer: Yes, he has played the flute since childhood.
Question: When Superman went back in time to save Lois, doesn't that mean that the people that he had originally saved are now doomed to die?
Chosen answer: No. Because the version of him *before* he time-traveled is still out doing those things. The REAL question is, what happens to that Superman, seeing as Lois no longer dies and he has no reason to travel back in time.
Answer: There are generally two methods of time travel. Skip vs Slide. When you slide through time, you are in essence rewinding or fast forwarding a tape. Time will accelerate to the desired moment. This method, the traveler will witness the rewind and will only allow one of them to exist. When skipping, you are plucking yourself from the time stream and placing yourself in the desired moment. This method, travel is instantaneous and can allow for multiples of the traveler to exist at once. Superman rewound time. He used the slide method and went directly to Lois after doing so. This means those he previously saved...died after his reversal.
Or he could have used the skip method. Like you said, it enables a traveler to pluck themself from the time stream and placing them at the desired moment allowing for two Supermen to be able to prevent both missiles from reaching their destinations.
He couldn't have used the skip method if he rewound time.
Question: When Nikki came to see Terri, he laid his hat and coat in the chair - no package. Later, he went to the chair and got the package that contained the scarf. Was the package placed there at a later time?
Question: When they are singing under a tree full of doves, it looks like they were tied to the tree branches. Is this true?
Answer: Yes it is true. They did this to prevent the birds from flying into the backdrops and becoming injured or killed.
Question: When Georges is being deported back to France, why didn't Brontë go with him? They realised they were in love with each other plus there was nothing stopping her from going to France with him.
Answer: It's implied she will be coming with him when George says he will write to ask 'when are you coming cherie?' and the way they laugh and exchange rings. She just has to wrap up loose ends in NY then she'll be on her way to him.
Question: Why did Carla put on the red dress when she was going to take over the role of Eliza in the play, since the first act started with the outfit Lola was already wearing?
Answer: My only guess is that she had to make sure the dress fit before the play, or adjustments had to be made on the dress so it would fit her.
Answer: Lola mentions her mum taking her allowance in August or September. That means they're in the month of July which is summer break for America.
She's being dramatic. It's spring in New Jersey during the movie, so it's probably April/May and she says "I could really use the money now mom! Can't you take it next month or...September?" Indicating that September is a ways in the future.
Question: In the scene where Vincent is just about to launch, the doctor testing him mentions his son. My brother seems to think that the doctor knows Vincent is not who he pretends to be because he is Jerome Morrow's father. Is there any evidence for this?
Answer: None whatsoever. The doctor seems to have worked out that Vincent is not who he seems to be from simple observational evidence. It's because of his son that he feels sympathy for Vincent and hasn't revealed that he's tricking the system.
Question: What would happen if Lucy stayed up all night and she was with Henry? Would she all of a sudden forget him or would it happen very slowly?
Chosen answer: Apparently, she loses all her daily memories when she enters a full sleep, so keeping her awake would have given them a chance to see each other for longer periods.
Then my question is what about the naps during the day that she takes?
Naps would reset her brain like any other sleep.
Question: Near the end, when Dean Wormer and Mayor DePasto are in the grandstand, officially launching the parade, there is an elderly gentleman in the background (also in the grandstand, about 2 levels up, on the left side of the screen) who is making odd, excited gestures and comical facial expressions. His appearance and odd mannerisms are so striking that he draws my attention away from the dean and the mayor every time that I've seen this film, and that's a lot of times. Surely, director John Landis must have been aware of the gentleman and his antics in the background through multiple takes, so it would seem Landis intended the peculiar distraction. Who was that gentleman, and was there any significance to his appearing in the scene?
Answer: Sometimes these things get left in because it's simply the best take. (The child covering his ears before the gunshot in "North by Northwest," for example.) It could also be that John Landis cast the extra because he wanted someone with goofy expressions in the crowd. He simply could have told the extras "Ok, be excited that you're at a parade," and that's how this extra did it.
Question: In the scene where Elliot signs the contract, there is a magnificent red fountain pen on top of the papers. Does anybody know what the pen is, or if it is even a real commercial pen?
Answer: It definitely is a Montegrappa Oriental Zodiac pen, this brand has been making pens in Italy since 1912. I am not sure which of the three red pens in that collection (Oriental Zodiac) is the one seen in the movie, but given its association with the devil, my guess will be it is the Ox fountain pen.
Question: What is the name of the melody that Mia Farrow sings (La La La Laaaa, La La La Lalala La Laaaaa) at the beginning of the movie, as the title/credits are being displayed?
Chosen answer: It doesn't have a specific title. It was a lullaby written for the film by Krzysztof Komeda. There's a few variations of the lullaby heard throughout the film, the opening credits version is listed as "Rosemary's Baby Main Theme - Vocal."
Question: Toward the beginning of the movie, on Phil's first day at the bed and breakfast, he turns on the shower and it is very cold. He asks the lady in the hallway why there is no hot water. The lady answers "Oh no, there wouldn't be any today." Why not?
Answer: Old fashioned hotels have a single boiler for all the hotel rooms. Once the hot water reservoir is used up there won't be any more to use until the reservoir is refilled. This only happens once every few days.
Answer: Likely because there are a lot of people staying there and using up the hot water.
Answer: Superman was well educated regarding his home planet's history. All this information was left for him by his parents at the secret installation at the North Pole.
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