Question: At the end of the movie the town clock that was removed from the train station is shown stored in a basement just as the basement floods. The clock is seen to still be working, but how, given that there was no one there to wind it? As the clock was made during the first world war it would be mechanical, not battery powered.
Answer: It is symbolic, showing that time never stops. Everyone will be swept up by the tsunami eventually. No force of nature can compare to time itself. Nothing at all.
Question: How could Eleanor be related to Hugh Crain if all of Hugh's children died at birth?
Answer: Crain had two wives. All of his children from his first wife, Renee, died at birth and then Renee killed herself. Later we find out that Crain had a second wife, Carolyn, and they did have a child who survived. Carolyn is Eleanor's grandmother.
Answer: Nell learns she's the descendant of Hugh Crain's second wife (who ran away after learning of Crain's murderous nature).
Question: What was the deal with the mirrors? Are there spirits in the mirrors? Or can Violet (or whoever's body happens to be inhabited) see her "true self" in the mirror? When Caroline first spends the night, a figure, like Mama Cecile, can be seen in her little mirror. If the spirit is in the body (Violet's), why would it be wandering around? So, the mirrors expose their true identity, correct?
Question: Much ado is made near the start of the film about the kidnappers sending Elise's finger back to her family as a threat, but we learn later that she was never harmed. Did the film ever explain where the finger actually came from, or if it was even sent at all?
Answer: The finger is never shown, only mentioned. Since Elise looked to have all her fingers one must assume it was made up as part of the scheme to fool everyone.
Question: When Charlie first goes into the cave, he places Emily's music box on a plank of wood, and pushes it so that it floats along the small stream; why did he do that?
Answer: It is just to scare them. The music makes an eerie noise. and the music box was one of Emily's prized possessions. it would scare her to see it floating in the stream.
Question: Near the end of the movie, Edward Gracey says to Ramsley that the letter is written in Elizabeth's hand. If Mr. Gracey knew what Elizabeth's writing looks like, wouldn't he have realized that the fake letter Ramsley wrote was in fact fake and not from Elizabeth?
Chosen answer: Considering Ramsley's intelligence, he would have been able to make "couterfeit" handwriting.
Question: Why is Jennings drunk and worried about the situation? Is he just upset? I can't understand why the other maid said she would do anything he asked.
Answer: Jennings' drinking problem stems from his having been a World War I conscientious objector, for which he was imprisoned. He has kept this secret and is worried the police investigation will uncover his past and jeopardize his job. The maid, Dorothy, is secretly in love with Jennings and wants to protect him.
Question: There was a "Friday the 13th" TV series that ran from 1987-1990 and had about 70 episodes; does anybody know where I can see these episodes online?
Chosen answer: No, not all of them. The first three episodes are on Youtube. Direct TV new horror-movie channel - Chiller TV - is airing all the episodes currently, but you have to subscribe to the TV station (check out ChillerTV.com.) They are not officially on DVD, but are also sold on ebay. The series has no affiliation to the Friday The 13th Jason films.
Answer: The entire series is now on DVD. You can most likely find them on Amazon or a video store.
Question: Why does the Station Inspector chase children who are on their own and threaten to send them to an Orphanage? Is that what it was like in the 1930s?
Answer: He's not making it a point to chase down random children - he's like a security officer at an airport. It's his job to apprehend thieves and troublemakers and keep the station safe, and he only threatens to send children to the orphanage if they don't have parents for him to return them to. Also, it's implied once he finally apprehends Hugo that his particular harshness toward orphans (and most of his character flaws in general) is due to apparently having been one himself. He spells out the kinds of lessons he was forced to learn by growing up without a family, explaining how he became so cold, bitter, and antisocial.
Chosen answer: It is more than likely an early form of our modern day child protection. Just as today if children are found to be at risk, they can be and are taken away by social services and put into foster care. In the film, orphans may have been seen as a plague in an area that attracts posh looking people in stark contrast to urchins in rags eating out of bins. Most European orphanages/care homes/hospices/whatever you want to call them at that time were no better than anything depicted in Charles Dickens 50 years previously.
Question: Salt has been with the agency for a long time and has earned the trust of her colleagues, so when she is accused of being a spy, why would her superiors take the word of a defector over her?
Answer: They have to at least investigate that kind of an accusation, and when Salt so vigorously resists arrest it basically confirms, in their minds, that she is in fact a spy.
I actually kind of find it shocking that they would be willing to believe a guy who would do or say anything to save himself and since Salt was with the agency a long time, they could have at least given her the benefit of the doubt.
Question: What is the name of the dance tune when Tom Cruise is drunk in the club with his mask on the back of his head?
Answer: I think the one you mean is 'Afrika Shox' by Leftfield & Afrika Bambaataa which is track 10 on the fantastic soundtrack.
Question: In the preview for this movie, there is chanting in the background of something that ends with 'When you see him count to five, pray that you will stay alive.' What, if anything, is this?
Answer: This is a made up children's rhyme just like the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series has "One, two, Freddy's coming for you, three, four, better lock the door,..."
Answer: It's from the TV Spot for the Boogeyman from 2005. This is the clip that it comes from. The rhyme haunted me for a long time and I'm glad I'm not the only one who remembers it! It goes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sCzBRCJXvU When you're scared just count to ten, you will feel all good again. When it's dark just count to eight, the Boogeyman will hide and hate. When you see him count to five, pray that you will stay alive.
Question: What is the deal with everyone saying "beep beep" to Ritchie every time he tells a joke?
Chosen answer: It's their way of telling Richie to be quiet. To get him to stop talking.
Answer: In the book it is explained that they are telling Richie to shut up.
Question: What were the last lines of the movie?
Answer: Marshall's line was, "Why do you fight it so hard, Earl?" Earl Brook's was, "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time and enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardships as the pathway to peace. Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is and not as I would have it, trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will, that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen."
Question: Does anyone know the number plate of the Mystery Machine?
Answer: In the cartoons, it's AC-712. The film was probably faithful to this.
Question: As Robert Langdon sinks to his knees on top of the Louvre at the very end of the film over Mary Magdalene's tomb, what is the music playing? It's very uplifting and would logically be the last track on the soundtrack, but on listening to a sample on iTunes, the style of the tracks seem completely different.
Chosen answer: The track is "Chevaliers de Sangreal" on the official soundtrack. It's the second to the last track (13).
Answer: It is never explained what was on the page. It was just a cliffhanger to set up for a 3rd movie, I think.