Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2008 November 13

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November 13

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Quiz question

What was the number on 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' whilst winning the Grand Prix as a racing car? I know the licence number (GEN11) but I don't know if there was a race number & what it was, anyone help me out?

It seems to be "3" :[1]. Fribbler (talk) 12:39, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Thanks AllanHainey (talk) 14:20, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Looking for the title of a European film

This is copied from another forum... I haven't seen the film myself just passing on the query. The film is in colour, possibly German or east European, maybe made in the 70s. The main character is a hunter/poacher, he has a sidekick and he may be some kind of conman. He ends up in a large country house in a forest where a rich family take to him; he pretends he is as upper class as they are. He has sex with a young maid upstairs in the house. Does this ring any bells with anyone? Many thanks. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 13:40, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

That plot description easily fits Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game (1939) in which Paulette Dubost portrayed the maid and Julien Carette had the role of the poacher. Some characters in that film have parallels with characters in Robert Altman's Gosford Park (2001), set in 1932.

Now I'll ask one: What is the British film (comedy?) of the late 1930s or early 1940s in which two women screenwriters on a train are working on a screenplay but soon discover the characters they have created are also passengers on the same train? The premise of Alain Robbe-Grillet's Trans-Europ-Express (1966) is quite similar. Pepso2 (talk) 21:47, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

British Comedy Music

Anyone who has turned PBS on late at night knows about british comedy...but what is that funny music they always play during the 'sped up chase scenes'? I wanna use it in a video, and im guessing its a public domain song. the juggresurection ^{(>-.-(Vಠ_ಠ)} 20:05, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Yakety Sax. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 20:14, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Note also that, per pdinfo.com and a release date of 1963, Yakety Sax is almost certainly not in the public domain. — Lomn 20:17, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

I'd also add that quite a lot of people who have never watched PBS are also quite familiar with British comedy... Malcolm XIV (talk) 20:20, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Well you learn something new every day. I just knew it as the Benny Hill Music!-- WORMMЯOW  09:08, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

Original?

Hi! I've a CD that includes some Hendrix's songs feat. Jim Morrison (Woke Up This Morning and Find Yourself Dead...) I can't find anything about them. Did they make them together? Do you think they are not original? Thank you! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.77.182.61 (talk) 20:22, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Interestingly, neither of our articles on Jim Morrison or Jimi Hendrix mentions any collaboration of the two. You'da thought someone would have noticed. Do you have any more information on these songs? --Jayron32.talk.contribs 20:41, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Other titles are: Uranus Rock, Tomorrow Never Knows, Outside Woman Blues. They are live recordings.

Often these sort of collaborations (David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails and Pink Floyd all playing on the same song) are somewhat, ahem, "creative" tags from filesharing networks such as Limewire. But this one appears to be genuine. Have a look at Bleeding Heart (album). Malcolm XIV (talk) 00:35, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

Best selling fighting games

Which are the best selling fighting games? David Pro (talk) 21:24, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Well, the Tekken series have sold over 20 million, so has Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter.--Dlo2012 (talk) 14:22, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

Don't forget Virtua Fighter and Soul Calibur series. --69.151.187.196 (talk) 06:05, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

What instrument is this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1gNYwVdLoQ

At 2:35. The penguin in the background is playing it. I was thinking balalaika or mandolin or something, but it's going over my head. Kenjibeast (talk) 21:34, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

I'd say it's a mandolin, or just possibly a domra (but that's unlikely in the context). Lutes are more elongated, and balalaikas are usually triangular. -- JackofOz (talk) 21:51, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Given the body shape, its either an A-type mandolin (see Image:GibsonA4Mandolin1921.jpg or perhaps a bouzouki: see Image:Trichordobouzouki.jpg. The mandolin family features a BROAD range of body shapes and styles, and given the type of music being played, mandolin seems as good as any term. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 03:25, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

As implied by Jack, the design doesn't reveal the cartoonist's intention as clearly as the context does. The penguin is dressed as a gondolier serenading the couple with a mandolin tremolo which is exemplary for Hollywood's impression of "Italianità".

Italians played many types of mandolin all over the country and throughout its musical history (Neapolitan, Sicilian, but also Lombard and Venetian!). According to John T. La Barbera, in this clip, one famous mandolin player in the late 19th century was Margherita of Savoy, and she inspired thousands of Italian women to take up the instrument and form mandolin orchestras. Emigrating Italians brought their mandolins to the New World where new orchestras were formed. They seem to have been quite popular until the 1920s and probably helped shape our cliché of mandolin tremolo signifying "Italy" in modern pop culture. (Just two random examples from the 1960s: "Que C'est Triste Venise" and the instrumental version of "Meglio Stasera", written by one Enrico Nicola Mancini, son of immigrants from the Abruzzo). ---Sluzzelin talk 09:29, 14 November 2008 (UTC)