FILM 1173: EVAN ALMIGHTY

TRIVIA: The real animals were paired two-by-two, but many of them were actually same-sex couples. This was for safety: a bull elephant was considered a safety risk so two females were used. With giraffes, males can be friendly. Pairs of male giraffes were used.

Evan's wife's name is Joan. This is an allusion to a popular joke combining the names of French freedom fighter Joan of Arc and Noah's Ark, which are obviously two very different stories.

When God takes the form of a waiter, the name tag on his shirt reads "Al Mighty".

When Evan is driving he passes a movie theater, the movie playing is 'The 40 year old Virgin Mary'. The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) also starred Steve Carell.

The real estate agent's name is Eve Adams, reflecting the names of the characters Adam and Eve, whose story is told in the first few chapters of the Hebre Book of Genesis which features the Noah story.

The phone number on the wood delivery trucks (800)-GO-4-WOOD obviously refers to God telling Noah to make the ark of gopher wood.

As of June 2007, it is the most expensive comedy film ever made.

FILM 1162: MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON

TRIVIA: In 1942, when a ban on American films was imposed in German-occupied France, the title theaters chose Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) for their last movie before the ban went into effect. One Paris theater reportedly screened the film nonstop for thirty days prior to the ban.

To make his voice hoarse for the filibuster scene, James Stewart dried out his throat with bicarbonate of soda. However, both Frank Capra and Stewart revealed in interviews that his throat was periodically swabbed with mercuric chloride.

Bitterly denounced by Washington insiders angry at its allegations of corruption, yet banned by fascist states in Europe who were afraid it showed that democracy works.

Jean Arthur's left side was considered her best side, so the sets had to be constructed in a way that whenever she entered, she would be photographed on that side.

The state that Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) and Sen. Joseph Harrison Paine (Claude Rains) come from is never mentioned.

This film is one of five times that Beulah Bondi portrayed James Stewart's mother. The others are: It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Of Human Hearts (1938) and Vivacious Lady (1938), and once on his television series, The Jimmy Stewart Show (1971).