Mechanical Music in the Movies
By Adam G. Ramet
The following (comedy) films spring to mind :
"Naked Gun" starring Leslie Nielsen (1988?). Neilsen whilst trying to enter a suspects office to search for evidence (quietly) accidentally sets off the Nickelodeon there, before knocking over everything else and eventually burning down the office accidentally.
In "Herbie" (1969?) there is a nickelodeon which joins in the action and converses with a character by notes a-la "Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind."
"Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (1988?) has a band organ in the final scenes where Roger Rabbit and wife are taken to the baddies warehouse. I think Roger plays "The Merry Go Round Broke Down" on it to distract the villain of the piece.
Don't forget "The Music Box", Laurel & Hardy's award-winning short from the thirties; the one where they have are removal men hauling an electric player up hundreds of steps to a house for delivery. Once delivered they start it playing but by the final scene the thing has been smashed into 1000 pieces.
In "The Lady Killers" (1955) Alec Guiness has to pump the player for her landlady's tea-party whilst they all sing "Silver Threads Amongst the Gold". She's discovered that he and his friends are bank-robbers and they now plan to do her in, but her friends knock at the door and she forces them to behave until they've departed. Definitely get this one out if you can.
Charles Bronson ends up in a shoot-out in a restaurant with a nickelodeon playing in the thriller (and non-comedy) "Telefon", as the bullets cease the roll goes ominously into rewind. Boring film, though, be warned.
Adam Ramet
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(Message sent Wed 12 Mar 1997, 12:18:02 GMT, from time zone GMT.) |
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