MovieChat Forums > Out on a Limb (1987) Discussion > Did Anyone notice that...

Did Anyone notice that...

posted 18 years ago by life4all
4 replies | jump to latest

There is a segment in the movie where a Shirley is communicating/channeling with a man who uses contemporary “Old English” words like “thee” and “thou”. When she asks him why he speaks that way he says it is because he lived in Biblical times or at the time of Christ (i.e. more than 2,000 years ago).

Am I the only person alive who knows that “Old English” did not exist at that time and certainly was not spoken by anyone in the Bible? English versions of the Bible are all translations and the book itself was not mass-produced until Gutenberg invented the printing press more than 500 years ago (1436 or 1437).

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] DorisDavis55 18 years ago

(I just responded to your post on the Shirley MacLaine board, but I'm posting it again here for anybody's else's clarification on this.)

He actually never says that he lived in Biblical times.

Kevin (the medium) says that one of the entities that may come through "speaks in a form of Biblical lingo". (And Kevin has never really been 'present' while the entities were speaking, so this is something he's been told by witnesses.)

When that entity ("John") comes through, Shirley asks why he is referring to himself as 'we'. John replies, "The channel speaking, as a soul, has had many incarnations."

So it's possible that his soul lived in Christ's time, but he's speaking to her as John, a man from a later incarnation who uses Biblical 'lingo'... Maybe a priest of some kind, from an era in which one might have used Old English.

He mainly uses "ye" a lot, and "thee" once or twice.

[–] life4all 18 years ago

Well thank you Doris for setting me straight. I saw the mini-series over 20 years ago and the exact details were not clear in my mind. My reaction 20 years ago was mainly that “Kevin” was not altogether credible as a spiritual medium in the movie.

It reminded me of a friend of mine who said Jesus comforted her in a near-death experience (a comatose vision or dream). She had little or no experience with Christianity at that time. I asked her what he looked like. She said he looked very much like the pictures you see in churches and museums. Because of archeology and history we all know that the traditional pictures of Jesus are historically inaccurate. I believe my friend’s experience was genuine but suspect that sometimes our minds project our own subconscious expectations onto our thoughts. I believe in UFOs but find it suspicious that most abductions occur in the bedroom (where people do most of their sleeping and dreaming).

I have nothing against Shirley and consider her to be an extremely talented individual. You seem to be very authoritative regarding the production details. Do you know Shirley personally or are you just very well informed about her Book turned mini-series?

[–] DorisDavis55 18 years ago

No problem! Yeah, it is an odd scene and can be kind of confusing.
Kevin was actually playing himself in the movie, and, according to another of Shirley's books, "It's All in the Playing," so were the entities who came through. There's a lot of interesting info in that book about the making of "Out On A Limb"-- strange occurrences on-location in Peru, lots of stories about both mediums who appeared in the movie... It's all pretty fascinating, whether you're skeptical or not.

And I totally agree with you. Sometimes it does seem that these experiences could just be the subconscious. Your friend's experience sounds like it was all in her mind, but then again... If the spirit of Jesus were going to appear to someone in our culture, would we recognize him in any other form? If Jesus appeared to me as he truly looked in life, I'd probably have no idea who he was.
Nonetheless, there's a lot in this world that can't be explained, so I just stay open-minded with it all! My motto is basically "What do I know?"

And no, I don't know Shirley personally. I'm just a kid who enjoys her movies! :) I've read most of her books and "Out On A Limb" was one that just really struck a chord with me-- and the movie, too.