More About Nostradamus (1941) User Reviews

Back before the world relied upon Warner Bros. . . .

[oscaralbert · 6/10 · 24 February 2018]

. . . to warn it of impending Calamities, Catastrophes, Cataclysms, and Apocalypti, purveyors of untrue "facts" tried to diminish Scripture with the sort of Sooth-Saying chicanery featured here in MORE ABOUT NOSTRADAMUS. Early American Historians have famously recounted how "Daniel Boone" loved to take pot shots at nearby tree trunks. Whenever Danny was lucky enough to actually hit one, he promptly carved an elaborate target around his bullet hole. (That's why wood alcohol is still called "Boone's Bull's Eye Ale" down in Tennessee.) Similarly, ever since Guttenberg invented mass media, the "fair and balanced" folks have been "re-translating" and "re-interpreting" the alleged writings of Nostradamus to fit their "facts" of the week. No legitimate scholar has ever seen anything resembling an original Nostradamus manuscript, whether written on golden plates, magic underwear, or plain old parchment. Since ALL of this over-rated bozo's "predictions" are first spelled out AFTER the fact, his record of hitting prophetic "bull's eyes" is as "perfect" as Danny Boone's success with the trees. Instead of learning MORE ABOUT NOSTRADAMUS, check out Warner Bros.' truly clairvoyant Looney Tunes instead.

Carey Wilson's Bugaboo

[boblipton · 5/10 · 30 December 2023]

Carey Wilson was a talented and well-credited writer with many distinguished movies on his curriculum vitae, from BEN-HUR to MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, to uncredited work on SCARAMOUCHE and ANDY HARDY MEETS DEBUTANTE. He also had a fine speaking voice, and narrated several of MGM's short subjects, usually ones avouching crackpot theories, like the rightful king of France being a Minnesota Packers' fan, and a rich vein of gold in Death Valley. Most of all he had a bee in his ear about Nostradamus, the astrologer, cookbook writer, and author of such tortuously obscure poetry that it can be twisted to explain anything you wish. He did several of them. This is one of them, and like the others, he insists on asserting as exact fact some wild interpretations.

Two History Shorts

[Michael_Elliott · 25 February 2008]

Nostradamus (1938)

** (out of 4)

The first short in MGM's series that a look at the early life of Nostradamus as a scientist and how this led to his predictions of the future including the death of King Henry II. If you're interested in some of the predictions of Nostradamus then you should enjoy this short, which is well made and the footage backing the stories is well done.

More About Nostradamus (1941)

*** (out of 4)

MGM short tells some more predictions by Nostradamus. Being this film was released during WW2, a lot of the stories told deal with him predicting the current events. As with others in the series, if you're fascinated by Nostradamus then this short should keep you entertained.

Cursed Tomb of Propaganda

[Cineanalyst · 3/10 · 1 December 2018]

Inexplicably nominated for an Academy Award, this short sequel, "More About Nostradamus" follows a similar pattern to its predecessor, "Nostradamus" (1938), wherein a book of poetry is fabricated into a series of vague, liberally-interpreted after-the-fact prophecies. This sequel does two things differently, though. First, there's an introduction where the exploration of the tomb of Nostradamus plays out like one of Universal's mummy movies, complete with a curse and a scroll. I suppose one of the screenwriters had recently seen the prior year's "The Mummy's Hand."

Second, the supposed prophecies of Nostradamus are distorted and exploited for a bit of WW2 propaganda. Pity the first "Nostradamus" film didn't foresee all of this, lest alleged prognostication be of potential value. Instead, the bombastic narrator of "More About Nostradamus" lists some newsreel highlights from the rise and conquests of the Nazis and concludes with some rah-rah rallying, including imagery of the Statue of Liberty, encouraging Americans to have the back of their British brethren in the fight.