Question: How could Damien's mother be a jackal? That has always thrown me for a loop and I could never understand why they'd do that unless it was for entertainment purposes. I mean, I know it's Hollywood and all but that's just too far-fetched.
Chosen answer: The idea wasn't entirely Hollywood's. The antichrist is sometimes said to be "born of a jackal. " Jackals are mentioned in the Bible, and some interpretations consider them a symbol of something that is "not of God." In the movie, it means that the kid was scary as hell, literally.
Answer: It's Satan's twisted and macabre mockery of Jesus' virgin mother.
Question: While a number of cigarettes show up in the silver streak, none appear to be lit. Am I wrong or was this subtle comedy, or production preference?
Answer: Most likely it was a production decision. Having multiple extra actors continually smoking during multiple takes and over hours of filming would make for a smokey set, affect breathing and burn peoples' eyes, be a fire hazard, and create consistency problems with cigarettes being in various stages of use (freshly lit or almost down to a stub).
Question: Is the ice cream man the same person who plays the man who says "We've got a stretcher for you, ma'am"?
Answer: No.
Question: Why does Babe throw Szell's diamonds away when he could've kept a few? Why would Szell be stupid enough to risk exposure when going to the diamond district of New York where somebody might recognize him?
Answer: The diamonds were "blood money" that were stolen at the expense of many Jewish lives during the holocaust and also resulted in Babe's brother, "Doc" being murdered. For that reason, Babe would not want them, nor would he allow others to profit from them. Szell needed to risk being recognized in New York in order to retrieve the entire cache of diamonds from the bank safe deposit box after his brother, Klaus, was killed. Klaus would retrieve as many diamonds as Szell needed to sell to support himself in South America. Once Klaus was dead, no-one else could gain access to them for Szell, or if they could, probably would have stolen them.
Question: What does Milo Perrier mouth to Jessica Marbles as Benson-mum spoons out the "soup" during dinner? I can't read their lips.
Answer: I think she is a lady...remember at the end when he said she was the daughter of Lionel Twain.
Answer: According to the script, she is mouthing "I think he's lying."
Answer: "I think he's lying."
Answer: No, he mouths "I think he's blind." It's right after the scene where he tests that. The Marbles character responds "who is?"
Question: When Long let Dwan fall into the water, we see that the water she plunged into is pretty deep. How deep was the waterfall when she fell in?
Answer: He probably knew it wasn't deep. It's his island; he knew every inch of it. Besides, it's a pool, not an ocean. It most likely had a small underground tunnel which spilled out somewhere on the island.
Question: Why did Mrs. Tredoni kill Father Tom?
Answer: Mrs. Tredoni was enraged that Father Tom refused to give her communion during Mass after he had given it to Catherine, who Mrs. Tredoni calls a whore.
Why did he refuse to give her communion?
Answer: He starts to genuinely like her, hence his disgusted reaction at the sick practical joke played on her.
Manky