A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : DEPT. OF ODDITIES : Just in Case You Didn’t Notice

Quick, what film are we talking about: A period movie with a wartime background. It stars a successful female box-office star, who, at the start of the film, is made up to look like she’s an elderly woman who then tells the story of her life, which unfolds on-screen in flashback. Need another hint? The film was released by 20th Century Fox.

If you said “For the Boys,” the Bette Midler film released last Christmas, you’re right. But if you said “Shining Through” with Melanie Griffith, you’re also right.

So how did one studio release two movies using a similar storytelling device only a month apart?

According to studio chairman Joe Roth, the whole thing is just one big coincidence. “The fact is, the films were greenlighted at least six months apart,” he says. “But they got finished about the same time. It happens all the time.”

David Seltzer, who wrote and directed “Shining Through,” admits he didn’t find out that “For the Boys” was using the same flashback device until he approached makeup artist John Caglione Jr. to do the makeup job on Griffith. “We had finished the body of the picture and I went to see John about doing the special makeup,” he says. “He then showed me the pictures he had done of Bette on ‘For the Boys’ and I suddenly realized that movie was also about a woman reminiscing about her wartime experiences. I was very surprised. At that point, though, it was too late to change my film.”

According to Caglione, who did the special makeup on 1990’s “Dick Tracy,” the makeup techniques used on Midler and Griffith were similar: Latex rubber was applied and then stretched on the skin, creating a natural wrinkle, and foam rubber appliances were then added to the mouth and jowl areas. “David Seltzer wanted Melanie to be very elegant-looking,” says Caglione, “so I looked at a lot of pictures of Tippi Hedren,” Griffith’s mother.

Originally, both “For the Boys” and “Shining Through” were supposed to be released last Christmas, but “Shining Through” was held until January. Some industry observers speculate that its release was delayed because of both films’ use of the flashback technique, but Roth denies it.

“It was pushed back because I thought there were just too many movies out there from all the studios that appealed to the same basic audience--older females,” Roth says, referring to “The Prince of Tides,” “Bugsy,” and “Fried Green Tomatoes.” “There were just too many movies going after the same ticket buyer.”

But, he admits of the two Fox films, “I wouldn’t release them on the same day.” Anyway, Roth thinks the films are worlds apart. “I don’t find anything similar about them at all,” says Roth. “The flashbacks are the only similarity. In the sense of the their genre, they’re completely different. One is a romantic thriller and the other is a musical.”