Sometimes we notice the weirdest things in the weirdest moments.
For instance, I mentioned 20.000 Leagues under the Sea a few days back.
The book is set in 1866.
Granted, it was written in 1869 and published in book form in 1871, but what the heck, it is set in 1866 – so it’s 150 years that the events narrated by Professor Aronnax took place.
It’s cause enough for a celebration.
So yes, I will do something, most certainly.
A few posts during the summer, possibly. Continue reading
It’s the Joan Crawford blogathon – and we are terribly late!
But here we are.
Set up by the In the Good Old Days of Hollywood blog, this online marathon celebrates one of the most iconic actresses of Classic Hollywood.
Strikingly beautiful, extraordinarily talented and extremely versatile, Crawford later became the subject of interests unrelated to her acting career… but we are trying to stick to her performances. This is not a gossip column.
So, please check out the link above for a full list of the participating blogs and a lot of excellent posts on some great movies.
And once you’re done, follow us in the jungle as we set our sights on Strange Cargo. Continue reading
The newcomer was a man of thirty-three, maybe thirty-four, and therefore a little older than his companion. He was of average height, very fit, his skin incredibly white, his features regular, his eyes gray and cunning, his lips mocking, and thin, a sign of an iron will. On first sight it was clear he was European, not only, but he belonged to some southern race.
Who is this mysterious stranger?
Now, let me take a circuitous way.
Two nights ago I pitched a story for a forthcoming anthology by ProSe Press. The book will be called The Further Adventures of Ned Land, and it will feature… well, the further adventures of the harpoon-man from Jules Verne’s 20.000 Leagues under the Sea. The same character that in the 1954 Disney movie was portrayed by Kirk Douglas.
Now, I’m a big fan of both Disney’s film and of Douglas’ character – so as soon as I saw an opening, I threw myself in.
Will my pitch persuade the editors? We’ll see.
But after emailing my pitch, as I was having a glass of ice-cold Moroccan spearmint tea to toast a work well done, I started thinking about other out-of-copyright characters that it would be worth resurrecting for a series of all-new adventures.
And granted, there’s an awful lot of pulp characters out there that have fallen into the public domain, and would really deserve a comeback, but, what about Yanez de Gomera? Continue reading
As I mentioned, it’s the John D. MacDonald centenary, and we are having a bit of a celebration.
I decided I wanted to write adventure thrillers (and not just SF and fantasy, my favorite genres) because of Robert McGinnis’ art, and because of the John D. MacDonald paperback covers.
So here go a few of my faves…
I don’t remember exactly when I saw Peter Yates’ The Deep, the movie based on Peter Benchley’s novel of the same title, for the first time. I know where I saw it – in an open-air movie place in Diano Marina, while on vacation with my family. A movie about the sea, in a seaside movie theater.
It was 1978 or something.
I am absolutely sure that my devastating crush for Jacqueline Bisset has its deepest roots in this movie.
Now, I re-watched it yesterday afternoon, in a pause in my writing, while I enjoyed a big serving of chocolate ice cream with whipped cream.
And truth to be told, with the exception of the underwater footage and Jacqueline Bisset (yes, I’ve still got that crush), this is not a particularly good movie.
It was filmed two years after Jaws, but it does not have the stopping power and the persistence of Spielberg’s movie. Continue reading
So, I went and saw The Legend of Tarzan, the latest entry in a long, long series of movies based – with varying degrees of respect for the original – on the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Mentioning Burroughs and his books straight away is, I think, important, because in the last few days I saw a few reviews that were obviously written by people that has no familiarity whatsoever with the Tarzan novels, and only a passing familiarity with other Tarzan movies.
And here, the point becomes interesting: is it possible to consider The Legend of Tarzan separately from the huge body of works that came before, and most of all, can the two approaches – the movie as a stand-alone work and as the last element in along chain of works – lead to radically different perceptions of the movie?
Let’s see… Continue reading
Karavansara 