Saturday 28 May 2016

Riddle-me-ree

My last riddle-me-ree was on 15th January 2013. Here it is. It's taken me more than three years to find one of equal quality, and this one is for polyglot cinephiles everywhere. Ready?

The following proverbs (in German, Italian, French and Spanish respectively) appear as translations in what celebrated scene in which English-language film? Scroll down for the answer.

Was du heute kannst besorgen, das verschiebe nicht auf morgen 
("Never put off till tomorrow what may be done today"); 

Il mattino ha l’oro in bocca  
("The morning has gold in its mouth"); 

Un «Tiens» vaut mieux que deux «Tu l'auras»  
("One 'here you go' is worth more than two 'you'll have it'" i.e the approximate equivalent of "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"), 

No por mucho madrugar amanece más temprano 
("No matter how early you get up, you can't make the sun rise any sooner.")























It's the moment in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980) when Shelley Duvall discovers just what it is tha Jack Nicholson has been pounding out on his typewriter in the Overlook Hotel: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" . . . .



It begs the question: what does all play and no work make Jack? An oligarch, I suppose.



Can it really be more than 35 years ago since this film frightened the wits out of us all? Most of the people alive today on earth weren't even born then. And our leaders were all still fagging at prep school or whatever it is they did.

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