Question: How was the scene in which the Nazi mechanic, played by Pat Roach, is killed by the propeller of the Flying Wing filmed? As seen in the film, the spinning propeller is practically right in his face when Pat turns around.
Answer: Probably a combination of practical special effects, including camera angles with forced perspective that can make an object or person appear closer, further away, larger, smaller, etc. Often, rear-screen projection is used where the actor stands in front of an image projected onto a screen. The real propellers could have been replaced with something that would create a blurred spinning effect without endangering the actors.
Question: Is the island shown through the submarine's periscope (Geheimhaven in the movie) a real island (of course without any Nazi base)?
Chosen answer: The Indiana Jones wiki: To film the arrival of the German submarine at the base, the visual effects artists at Industrial Light and Magic borrowed a miniature prop from Steven Spielberg's 1979 film, 1941. The model was floated through San Francisco Bay towards one of the two Marin Islands just off the shoreline from ILM's then-headquarters in San Rafael. The real-world island was later replaced with a matte painting.
Question: I've never understood why the three antagonists never escape and continue to scream after the ghosts have gone. Is there something horrible that they see and the audience don't that freezes them and makes them scream in fear?
Answer: The audience sees everything they see. At first, they're transfixed by the magical apparitions around them and are marvelling at how beautiful/supernatural/awe-inspiring it is. Just as, I imagine, anyone else would. Then, the figure in front of them changes into something terrifying, and they scream in fear because they realise whatever is coming out of the Ark is, to put it mildly, not friendly. Then (again, as you'd expect), they are rooted to the spot in terror, and after that, well, it's kind of hard to escape when your face is melting off and/or exploding.
Question: Is this true that Klaus Kinski was considered to play Toht?
Question: During the fight in Marion's Bar, there's a shot with her holding a (makeshift) torch and loading her mouth with alcohol (probably Rum), draining from a small barrel. How did that potential scene of her "spitting fire" at the next opponent not end up being used in the film? Did they really sacrifice continuity for the sake of further establishing her as a drunkard?
Answer: I don't see it as a continuity issue - she uses the burning stick to smash over the guy's head. The fact that it's on fire is likely irrelevant, she just needed a club. As for her grabbing a drink, it's just a quick comic aside rather than trying to highlight any sort of drinking problem. The barrel is shot and draining onto the floor, she doesn't want to waste good rum.
Question: How did the German U-boat know where the ship carrying the ark was? They completely lost track of it after the truck chase, so they should've had no clue as to where it was and where it was going.
Answer: True, but they had agents everywhere and could make an educated guess that Indy and Marion would try to smuggle it out of the country, so they would have been watching the ports and seen them board the ship.
Question: When Indy is in the final room to get the golden idol, how does he know exactly which plates to step on? None of them have moss like the first that he pushed down with the wooden torch. They have no distinguishing features. How can he tell which ones are the safe ones?
Answer: Note how Indy only steps on the darker area surrounding the centre of each plate, but triggered the trap by pushing down the centre area. That could mean that the plates consist of two parts and only the centre part is the trigger. Thus it would've been easy to figure out that "walking on the cracks" is the savest way. Additionally, Indy might be putting on a "genius at work" show for the clumsy assistant. If tomb raiding was revealed as being rather easy, everybody would do it.
Answer: I fully agree with the other answer, and just to expand a bit: we also don't question how Indy knew to "stay out of the light" on the previous trap, or how he knows the idol is on a platform triggered by a change in weight. Clearly, he's done his homework.
Answer: Indy is an archaeologist and would have extensively researched the culture, history, customs, technology, etc. digging up any clue to how and where to find the idol. There may have been other treasure caves found with similar booby traps in place that others tried and failed to overcome. Indy was making a (literal) leap of faith that he had the correct knowledge. There is some "suspension of disbelief" employed here, where the audience accepts that Indy had somehow gained the proper knowledge.
Question: In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the scene when Indy tells Marion to close her eyes, does anyone remember in the original release that the spirits looked directly into their faces to see if they were looking? Since I saw that, I haven't seen it in any version of the film. Does anyone know where this part can be seen, or why it hasn't been included in the various versions? (02:07:59)
Answer: I've seen that scene myself, but the versions I've seen have been on basic cable networks, with commercials, and they've included that scene. Sometimes they edit scenes for running time.
Question: Why does Satipo follow Indy into the boobytrap-filled temple at the beginning of the film, if he's aware of the danger and is terrified to go in?
Answer: He was greedy and probably assumed Indy would disable all the boobytraps getting to the idol, thus clearing the way for him. As for Satipo acting afraid, he was probably faking it so Indy would not suspect that he intended to steal the idol and trap him inside the temple. It also deliberately misleads the audience as to his duplicity, making his betrayal an unexpected twist. He may actually have been afraid but was it was the price for obtaining what he wanted.
Question: How could Belloq know/believe that the Ark is a powerful artifact, but also be completely oblivious to the Bible specifically mentioning that some Bethshemites were smitten for gazing into it and Uzzah was smitten for touching it?
Answer: There were probably many reasons. Propelled by greed, he may simply have chosen to filter out certain aspects of the biblical text, believing what he wanted to believe. He may have misinterpreted or had not bothered with the details of what was written in the bible.
Add in that he was hired by the Nazis to do the job of finding and utilizing the Ark. He had to make sure it worked so he could present it to Hitler.
Question: What exactly are the spirits that emerge from the Ark? I get that they are malevolent ghosts, but what is the purpose of them first emerging from the Ark as beautiful women? Are they supposed to be the ghosts of women from Babylonia, or Jerusalem, or any other significant location from Biblical times?
Answer: They are angels. They are initially beautiful, but become terrifying when they destroy those who look at them. That's why Indy and Marion are spared, as they keep their eyes shut.
Question: The scene where everyone's getting burned and exploding, why didn't the ark burn Marion and Indy too? Is it because they didn't do anything wrong to it?
Answer: They were protected because they did not directly look at the Ark. Indy told Marion to look away. That is what saved them.
Anyone who looks upon what is inside the ark perishes. The ark is used as the wrath of god against anyone who doesn't show respect to it, by not looking at what is inside. Even if what is inside goes outside.
Question: Considering how powerful and dangerous the Ark is, why would Indy hand it over to the United States government, instead of putting it back where it was found and to ensure it's never located, lie to them and say him or the Nazis never found it?
Answer: Indy and Marcus Brody believed that the Ark needed to be studied. They certainly didn't want to put it back where it was found. They believed that the U.S. government would find the best archaeologists, researchers, and scientists in the world to study the Ark. They are both upset that instead, the government has decided to simply lock the Ark away. This is why Indy says, "Fools. They don't know what they've got there," as he is leaving the building.
Answer: To add to the previous answer, there is no way that the ark could have been secretly returned to where it was found and then conveniently forgotten. Too many people already knew of its existence and location. It would only be a matter of time before someone more sinister would retrieve it.
Question: Why is the title of this movie just "Raiders of the Lost Ark" instead of "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark"?
Answer: The original title was simply "Raiders of the Lost Ark" because George Lucas and Steven Spielberg didn't anticipate the lead character exploding into a cultural icon. After this first blockbuster film, they added "Indiana Jones and..." to the title of every sequel, and "Indiana Jones" became a marketing trademark for a deluge of licensed merchandise (most of which was directed at kids and young adults). Years later, in subsequent releases on Blu-Ray and DVD, Lucasfilm actually went back and retitled the first film "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark," in order to keep the collected films under the umbrella of the "Indiana Jones" trademark.
Question: When the ark is about to be opened by Belloq and the Nazis, Belloq is wearing possibly a priest style outfit and has a gold staff. Does it explain where he got that from? Was it while digging up the city? Personal collection?
Answer: Belloq was working closely with the Nazis who were, of course, already persecuting Jews and confiscating Jewish property on a grand scale back in Germany. As chief archaeologist of the Nazi antiquities acquisition project, Belloq could make any request for necessary equipment (or attire), and the Third Reich would quickly supply it. Belloq anticipated that the ceremonial Jewish high priest costume would be necessary for handling the Ark, and he requested a replica costume in advance. As it happened, merely looking like a Jewish high priest wasn't enough to protect him (or anyone else).
Answer: It was never explained where Belloq acquired the outfit, but as he knew the history of the arc and he was actively searching for it to use its power, he must have intended for some time to wear that clothing for the ritual. Whether or not he knew it was needed or his wearing it was just for egotistical theatrics is a matter of speculation.
Question: Near the end when Indiana and Marion are tied to the post and the Germans are about to open the Ark, Indiana closes his eyes and tells Marion to close her eyes so they can't look. But how did he know when they should open them again? He wouldn't know the Ark had been sealed again afterwards unless he took a risk and opened his eyes to see.
Chosen answer: The events were quite loud. Once the noise had stopped, and the sound of the ark slamming shut had been heard, he slowly opened his eyes to check it was definitely safe.
Question: In the first sequence, there is a trap with Indy's competition's body stuck on it. Although it is sprung by somebody breaking the beam of light (which I find hard to believe, given that it and other traps were done without any kind of more modern technology we're used to, but suspend disbelief for the sake of the movie), how was it reset without human intervention after Forrestal was killed, and prepared for Sapito?
Chosen answer: Likely, it wasn't. The Hovitos are still guarding the temple. Presumably, they maintain and reset the traps.
You'd think in that case that they would've removed the body.
I don't know, I'd be more afraid to rob the place with a dead body stuck there than without.
Why? It's a good warning to other would-be thieves.
What better way to scare away future intruders.
Answer: More than likely, they left Forrestal's body as a warning.
Answer: The character played by Alfred Molina is actually named "Satipo," after a town. "Sapito" would mean "small frog." It's a common typo, but the more you know.
Chosen answer: In real life, the Wehrmacht had no presence in Northern Africa in 1936. So whoever they were, they shouldn't have been there. Having said that, since there were no olive or khaki coloured desert uniforms yet (1940), the Wehrmacht soldiers should wear regular Heer field uniforms, which are grey-green ("field grey") and had the same style and looks from 1934 to 1945.
lionhead
They were there on a personal mission for Hitler. It had nothing to do with the war. It was strictly an archaeological dig. The uniforms were relevant.
The British are not going to let armed and uniformed Wehrmacht soldiers and SS, trucks and warplanes walk around Egypt. Certainly not digging for treasure. There may not be war yet, but they were not exactly on good terms either.
lionhead