Astonishing Facts....

[Roofless Toothless]

NoddyonNitrous said:

boyse7en said:

Crossflow Kid said:

And in the opening of the chest-burst scene the crew were unaware John Hurt was about to be "unwell" in order to gain an authentic reaction.

And in the dating scene of The Jerk, Bernadette Peters was told that Steve Martin was going to kiss her so that she would make an authentically shocked/disgusted reaction when he did something else

Same story with Mr.Creosote exploding in the Monty Python film The Meaning of Life - other cast members had not been told they would be sprayed with offal and goo.

The grapefruit scene in James Cagney's film The Public Enemy.

https://youtu.be/k4R5wZs8cxI

The traditional version is the story that Cagney did this to Mae Clarke with no warning, in order to get a better reaction from her. But other versions exist. Like it was supposed to be a slice of toast. Or that Cagney and Clarke were both in on it, and did it to wind up the crew on the set. Or that the director was in on the joke, but decided to use the shot in the film. Whatever the truth, it strikes me that Cagney does his best to get out of shot before he starts cracking up.

[AstonZagato]

Zoobeef said:

Jonboy_t said:

(I think this is right...)

Humans are the only beings that will follow your finger if you point at something. All other animals will just look at the end of your finger

My old dog used too. New ones are stupid.

Indeed. Dogs can get this. They can be trained to understand it quite easily.

[steveatesh]

At 13.58 and 13.59 hrs 2 days ago 18/1/18 two random people on PH posted topics about the same subject, each identifying the exact same thing as an astonishing fact, within 1 minute of each other.

Given all the astonishing random facts that are known about to everybody who uses PH forums, the chances of this happening were 43.87367 to the power of 83.

Probably!

[steveatesh]

Roofless Toothless said:

NoddyonNitrous said:

boyse7en said:

Crossflow Kid said:

And in the opening of the chest-burst scene the crew were unaware John Hurt was about to be "unwell" in order to gain an authentic reaction.

And in the dating scene of The Jerk, Bernadette Peters was told that Steve Martin was going to kiss her so that she would make an authentically shocked/disgusted reaction when he did something else

Same story with Mr.Creosote exploding in the Monty Python film The Meaning of Life - other cast members had not been told they would be sprayed with offal and goo.

The grapefruit scene in James Cagney's film The Public Enemy.

https://youtu.be/k4R5wZs8cxI

The traditional version is the story that Cagney did this to Mae Clarke with no warning, in order to get a better reaction from her. But other versions exist. Like it was supposed to be a slice of toast. Or that Cagney and Clarke were both in on it, and did it to wind up the crew on the set. Or that the director was in on the joke, but decided to use the shot in the film. Whatever the truth, it strikes me that Cagney does his best to get out of shot before he starts cracking up.

And in yet another similar vein in the film Leon, the baddie Gary Oldman is seen to sniff one of the characters at close quarters. Apparently he made that up during filming and the other actor did not know it was going to happen.

No wonder he looked frightened!

(footnote - one of the best portrayals of a villain in cinematic history in my view!)

[glazbagun]

steveatesh said:

And in yet another similar vein in the film Leon, the baddie Gary Oldman is seen to sniff one of the characters at close quarters. Apparently he made that up during filming and the other actor did not know it was going to happen.

No wonder he looked frightened!

(footnote - one of the best portrayals of a villain in cinematic history in my view!)

His EVERY-ONE!! moment was similarly improvised.

Given how straight and subdued Leon had to be, it was left to Oldman to bring the drama.

I was just rewatching clips of it in bed with a cold. Great baddie death too, but probably no chance it would be made now. Best acting Portman has done IMO, though.

Actors seem free to do this a lot. Walter Koenig's baddie Bester in Babylon 5 went for episodes with his left hand clenched and unusable before anyone noticed, they ended up writing a reason into the plot via the books.

I guess this is getting less astonishing though.

Edited by glazbagun on Saturday 20th January 15:00

[m1dg3]

blade runner said:

Another one on lakes...

Lake Baikal in southern Siberia contains almost a quarter (22 - 23%) of the world's fresh surface water. It is the world's deepest lake and contains more water than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

It's also home to the only freshwater seal species in the world. The aptly named Baikal seal.

[The Vambo]

Harry Flashman said:

Halmyre said:

When they filmed 'The Longest Day', the part of 27 year old Colonel Vandervoort was played by 55 year old John Wayne. This means that, in 1962 when the film was made, 18 years after the event, Vandervoort was still 10 years younger than the actor playing him.

A paratrooper colonel at 27? Proper bloke - that is amazing.

There were a lot more err... situation vacant then than now.

[Dr Jekyll]

When Jan Francis started playing playing Penny in Just Good Friends



She was the same age (36) as John Thaw when he stopped playing Regan in The Sweeney

.

[Halmyre]

The Vambo said:

Harry Flashman said:

Halmyre said:

When they filmed 'The Longest Day', the part of 27 year old Colonel Vandervoort was played by 55 year old John Wayne. This means that, in 1962 when the film was made, 18 years after the event, Vandervoort was still 10 years younger than the actor playing him.

A paratrooper colonel at 27? Proper bloke - that is amazing.

There were a lot more err... situation vacant then than now.

Leonard Cheshire was a Group Captain at 26 - two ranks higher. He was a real one-off.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Cheshire

[psi310398]

Halmyre said:

Leonard Cheshire was a Group Captain at 26 - two ranks higher. He was a real one-off.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Cheshire

Enoch Powell enlisted as a Private in 1939 and ended the war as a Brigadier. He was 33 when the war ended. Before the war, he had been appointed a full Professor of Greek at the age of 25.

[Killer2005]

Sir Isaac Newton invented the cat flap.

[mko9]

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails is an Academy Award winner

[mickk]

Killer2005 said:

Sir Isaac Newton invented the cat flap.

Was he a dyslexic Yorkshireman?

[Halmyre]

Dr Jekyll said:

When Jan Francis started playing playing Penny in Just Good Friends



She was the same age (36) as John Thaw when he stopped playing Regan in The Sweeney

.

I'm the same age as Thaw when he last played Morse

[anonymous-user]

Halmyre said:

The Vambo said:

Harry Flashman said:

Halmyre said:

When they filmed 'The Longest Day', the part of 27 year old Colonel Vandervoort was played by 55 year old John Wayne. This means that, in 1962 when the film was made, 18 years after the event, Vandervoort was still 10 years younger than the actor playing him.

A paratrooper colonel at 27? Proper bloke - that is amazing.

There were a lot more err... situation vacant then than now.

Leonard Cheshire was a Group Captain at 26 - two ranks higher. He was a real one-off.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Cheshire

A Group Captain isn't two ranks higher than a Colonel.
They're equivalent.

[Roofless Toothless]

And Guy Gibson was 24 when he lead the Dambusters Raid.

[Halmyre]

Crossflow Kid said:

Halmyre said:

The Vambo said:

Harry Flashman said:

Halmyre said:

When they filmed 'The Longest Day', the part of 27 year old Colonel Vandervoort was played by 55 year old John Wayne. This means that, in 1962 when the film was made, 18 years after the event, Vandervoort was still 10 years younger than the actor playing him.

A paratrooper colonel at 27? Proper bloke - that is amazing.

There were a lot more err... situation vacant then than now.

Leonard Cheshire was a Group Captain at 26 - two ranks higher. He was a real one-off.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Cheshire

A Group Captain isn't two ranks higher than a Colonel.
They're equivalent.

My mistake (twice); Vandervoort was actually a Lieutenant-Colonel, which is only one rank below Group Captain.

[Kermit power]

gord115 said:

Helen worth who plays Gail Tilsley in Corry is only 8 years younger than Sue Nichols who plays her mum (Audrey)

Is that part of the Northern Working Class Soap plot line, or just coincidence?

[Kermit power]

RizzoTheRat said:

Which reminds me...

In the film The Longest Day, Richard Todd plays Major Howard, who led the attack on Pegasus Bridge. Before his Hollywood career Todd was a Para and was part of the force that parachuted in to reinforce Howards position. I believe Howard went on to be become Todd's battalion commander. In the film apparently he wore his own beret that he'd worn on D-Day.

Thanks for that! I heard about it on a Radio 4 interview with Richard Todd, but had forgotten his name, and it was a pain to try and track down!

[Kermit power]

Dr Jekyll said:

Harry Flashman said:

Halmyre said:

When they filmed 'The Longest Day', the part of 27 year old Colonel Vandervoort was played by 55 year old John Wayne. This means that, in 1962 when the film was made, 18 years after the event, Vandervoort was still 10 years younger than the actor playing him.

A paratrooper colonel at 27? Proper bloke - that is amazing.

I think he was a Lt Col, having been promoted about a week before.

Was that through pure soldiering ability, or the necessities of war?

I remember reading a war diary from an officer in the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry in WW1, which said that in the course of something like 18 months, they lost the equivalent of their entire officer cohort at the start of the war more than once.

Absolutely no slur intended on Colonel Vandervoort's abilities, but doubtless many officers ended up getting rapidly promoted in the height of WW2, simply because all those above them had been killed, captured or seriously wounded.