MovieChat Forums > The Reptile (1966) Discussion > instrument?

instrument?

posted 17 years ago by ThrownMuse
8 replies | jump to latest

what is the instrument Anna plays when she and her father have the neighbors over for dinner? it sounded lovely, until the doctor threw a coniption and busted over the wall, of course.

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[–] Pharaoh-in-de-Nile 17 years ago

If I remember rightly it is a Sitar. My favourite instrument.

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[–] ecs67-1 15 years ago

Yes, sir. It's a sitar, indeed. I'm watching and hearing the scene right now...

[–] Pharaoh-in-de-Nile 15 years ago

Yes, indeed. I have just re-watched it.

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[–] WarpedRecord 14 years ago

I love the sitar scene, and nothing says '60s to me like that instrument. I wonder how valuable that sitar was – and how many takes they needed before they destroyed it to their satisfaction. Perhaps it inspired Pete Townshend and the boys to destroy their instruments at the end of the show? ;-)

[–] jd-116 14 years ago

The answer of course is that Anna is not playing any instrument at all. It's one of the worst examples of crappy over-dubbing I have ever seen. She makes no attempt at all to make the fingers fit the music, but that is probably fair enough because she probnably never heard the music until it was dubbed on a few weeks later.

[–] BillyFisher 14 years ago

I don't think it was Anna's fault - she appears to be doing the correct fingering (roughly); it's the editing that puts it out of sync.

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[–] SSteveL 12 years ago

My wife and I thought the tune to be oddly similar to the opening theme of the animated series The Simpsons.

[–] greenbudgie 9 years ago

Hammer seemed to have been bang up to date by using the sitar in this film. I think the tune used is a traditional piece. Only four months before this film was released, the Beatles issued the 'Rubber Soul' LP. On that album, George Harrison first played sitar on the 'Norwegian Wood' track. And that started a trend for the British rock pop musicians to use the sitar in some of their recordings. I wouldn't have thought that many people in Britain at the time that 'The Reptile' was released were really acquainted with the unique droning sound of the instrument.