MT VOID, 11/11/22 -- Vol. 41, No. 20, Whole Number 2249

[evelynchim...@gmail.com]

THE MT VOID
11/11/22 -- Vol. 41, No. 20, Whole Number 2249

Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mle...@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, ele...@optonline.net
Sending Address: evelynchim...@gmail.com
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The latest issue is at <http://www.leepers.us/mtvoid/latest.htm>.
An index with links to the issues of the MT VOID since 1986 is at
<http://leepers.us/mtvoid/back_issues.htm>.

Topics:
"Tall-Washing" (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Mini Reviews, Part 3 (VOODOO MACBETH, ADIEU GODARD,
LIE HARD) (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper
and Evelyn C. Leeper)
Firemen (letter of comment by Sam Long)
GATTACA and Civil Liberties (letter of comment
by Joy Beeson)
ROMANCING THE STONE (and Other Stuff) (letter of comment
by John Purcell)
This Week's Reading (DRACULA and NOSFERATU) (book and film
comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

===================================================================

TOPIC: "Tall-Washing" (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

Paul Muni was a great actor, but his casting as Benito Juarez in
the film JUAREZ was not only white-washing, but also
"tall-washing". Juarez was a Zapotec, and 4'6" (137 cm) tall.
Muni was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in what is now Lviv,
Ukraine, and was ... wait for it ... 5'10" tall.(178 cm). In THE
LORD OF THE RINGS and THE HOBBIT, they used special effects tricks
to make the dwarves and hobbits appear the right height, even when
they hired taller actors to play the parts. I'm not sure whether
that is better or worse than just acting as if Juarez was 30%
taller.

===================================================================

TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 3 (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and
Evelyn C. Leeper)

This is the third batch of mini-reviews.

VOODOO MACBETH: VOODOO MACBETH is a narrative film (i.e., not a
documentary) about the Federal Theater Project production of
MACBETH in 1935 in its Negro Theater Unit, headed by Rose McClendon
and John Houseman. They got Orson Welles to direct, and this was
Welles's directorial debut. The production became famous, perhaps
the more so for having no record of it other than still
photographs, so a film about it is quite welcome.

Unfortunately, the film VOODOO MACBETH sacrifices historical
accuracy for dramatic effect. It adds a gay subplot, a corrupt
anti-Communist Congressman, a stabbing, and other flights of fancy.
(Then again, this is not unlike Welles's falsifying of reality in
his radio production of "The War of the Worlds". In fact, he had a
lifelong fascination with magic and other forms of deception.)

This means, though, that the viewer cannot know if there really was
an initial problem that the crew was too white, or whether Virginia
(Nicolson) Welles's role in the production is accurate. She is
portrayed as quite liberal about African Americans in the film, and
the idea for the Haitian setting to be hers. Yet in real life she
ended up living in apartheid South Africa and being quite
comfortable with that (according to her daughter). But given Orson
Welles's ego, it is certainly possible that he took credit for
ideas that were not quite his. I am also somewhat skeptical of the
extent of the casting difficulties--is it really true that all
Welles could find were totally inexperienced actors: a boxer, a
singer, an elevator operator, and so on?

There are also a lot of theater superstitions thrown in (no mention
of the "M" word outside of the script, no whistling in the theater,
etc.).

Released theatrically 21 October 2022. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4) or
6/10

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9748424/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/voodoo_macbeth>

ADIEU GODARD: ADIEU GODARD is an Indian-French co-production in the
Odia language (one of the official languages of India, from the
state of Odisha). The majority of the film is set in a small
village and is filmed in black and white (although there are
occasional touches of very faded red); the rest is set in an
unspecified city and is filmed in color. (The subtitles are in
readable yellow, though fairly small and evidently written by a
non-English speaker.) The director is not playing for a large
audience with this film. We get views of village life in India as
well as clips from Godard's BREATHLESS. There is some philosophy
as the men in the village try to decide whether cinema is for
edification or entertainment. Also, as a commentary on Indian
films, people complain the films have no songs or dancing, and
someone claims that is because Godard is trying something new. The
film goes from a very traditional Indian village to some very
current discussions about sex.

[Coincidentally, Jean-Luc Godard died two days after we saw this
film.]

Rating: +1 (-4 to +4) or 6/10

Released on Hoopla and other streaming services: 26 August 2022.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14502658/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/adieu_godard>

LIE HARD: In LIE HARD, Rob, a not-very-bright twenty-something,
borrows $4 million from the mob to impress his girlfriend's father.
Then the mob wants the money back. So Rob comes up with
increasingly bad ideas, involving two shoplifters, an old man in a
bar, the daughter of the mob boss, and the FBI. It's supposed to
be a comedy, but it's just lame. Especially the end.

Rating: high 0 (-4 to +4) or 5/10

Released on Amazon Prime: 16 August 2022.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13313642/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lie_hard>

[-mrl/ecl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: Firemen (letter of comment by Sam Long)

In response to Evelyn's comments on Ray Bradbury's use of the term
"fireman" in FAHRENHEIT 451 in the 11/04/22 issue of the MT VOID,
Sam Long writes:

Although we usually think of a "fireman" as someone who puts out
fires, back in the days of steam trains, the "fireman" was the guy
who kept the fire in the steam locomotive's firebox going. The
engineer or engine driver "drove" the train, operated the throttle
and the brakes, etc., but the fireman shoveled the coal (or ran the
pump that fed oil to the firebox of an oil-powered steam engine.)
For more info, see Wikipedia s.v. "Fireman_(steam_engine)".

Fun fact: Before he got into the business of cooking chicken,
Col. Sanders worked as a railroad fireman when he was in his late
teens. [-sl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: GATTACA and Civil Liberties (letter of comment by Joy
Beeson)

In response to Gary McGath's comments on GATTACA in the 10/28/22
issue of the MT VOID, Joy Beeson writes:

[Gary said,] "The society portrayed there didn't strike me as
particularly strong on civil liberties. It appeared very
conformist." [-gmg]

We are headed there in a handbasket. [-jb]

===================================================================

TOPIC: ROMANCING THE STONE (and Other Stuff) (letter of comment by
John Purcell)

In response to Mark and Evelyn's comments on THE LOST CITY in the
11/04/22 issue of the MT VOID, John Purcell writes:

I hope this brief e-moc finds you well. It has been a very long
time since I have written one of these to you folks, but this
semester has been extremely busy. Enrollment at the community
college I teach at is up significantly this semester, so additional
classes were added, and since the Powers That Be were not
interested in hiring new instructors, either part time or full
time, they asked if any of us existing faculty would be willing to
take on an overload course or two. Sensing nice paychecks, for the
first time in my teaching career I accepted a double-overload, and
while I have been able to streamline things - I have a total of
seven first-year composition courses, so it is all one prep; just
change dates as needed; also put as much as possible into
auto-grade assignments - the necessary evil called essays still
must be individually graded, and brother, does that eat up time!
Even so, I have things sort of under control enough to write an
occasional letter of comment.

In short, mainly due to the length of your latest issue including
short movie reviews, I have to say that none of those films appeal
to me. I definitely agree with your assessment of ROMANCING THE
STONE (1984) as being entertaining mainly because of the chemistry
between the three main actors: Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner,
and Danny DeVito. Their followup flick, THE JEWEL OF THE NILE
(1985) bombed, although it did have some fun moments, but it was
very hard to recreate the energy of the first movie.

The two books I am currently reading are THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE
TALISMAN by Clifford D. Simak, and MERLIN'S RING by H. Warner
Munn. Both are fantasies published by Ballantine Books during the
same decade (Simak's in 1978, the Munn in 1974), and both have been
entertaining. Of the two, Simak's writing style is much easier to
get into largely due to the fairly straightforward narrative of
that quest tale. MERLIN'S RING sprawls over centuries, if not
millennia, covering multiple eras and the narrative style is a bit
daunting at first; by page 50 I was finally used to Munn's style
and started enjoying it. Then again, Cliff Simak has always been
one of my personal favorite writers in any genre, and not just
because I had met him many times while I was active in Minneapolis
Fandom in the 1970s and 1980's; I simply like his direct
story-telling and descriptive phrasing. Pastoral is a word that
many critics have used when reviewing a Simak book, and I
completely agree. I really like Simak's personalization of his
stories. Simply a good writer, and I still miss him.

Anyway, that's about all I have to say for now. Thanks again for
sending your weekly VOID. It is always appreciated. [-jp]

===================================================================

TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book and film comments by Evelyn C.
Leeper)

Before Gary Oldman, before Christopher Lee, even before Bela
Lugosi, there was Max Schreck. In 1922 Schreck played Count Orlok,
a thinly disguised Count Dracula, in NOSFERATU, a thinly disguised
version of "Dracula". A bit too thinly disguised, as it turned
out--Bram Stoker's estate sued the producers for plagiarism, and
all prints were ordered destroyed. But like many of the Draculas
in the movies, the film did not die: while all copies still in
Germany were destroyed, the copies already sent overseas (including
to the United States) were not. (One reason may have been that
while the novel was protected by copyright in Germany, it was in
public domain in the United States due to a copyright error.)

Eleven things to know about NOSFERATU:

1. NOSFERATU was effectively the first vampire film. While there
is a 1921 Hungarian film that may have qualified, it has been lost.
All references to vampires before NOSFERATU are really references
to vamps.

2. NOSFERATU is one of the classics of German Expressionism.

3. NOSFERATU was the origin of the idea that sunlight destroys
vampires.

4. The etymology of the word "Nosferatu" is unclear. It is
apparently not found in any Eastern European languages.

5. In addition to the copies of the film NOSFERATU in the United
States, several translations/versions of the novel DRACULA appeared
in countries who were not signatories to the Berne Copyright
Convention. The earliest was in Iceland, and contains scenes in
Stoker's original notes that never made it to the final book. One
explanation was that the author had been asked to help Stoker
revise his first draft.

6. Count Orlok blinks only once in the film--but then again, he is
on screen for only nine minutes.

7. The night scenes in NOSFERATU were intended to be tinted blue,
which made the fact that they were filmed "day-for-night" less
obvious. (The Kino restoration has the original tinting.) So
while the scene showing Count Orlok carrying a coffin under his arm
in what seems to be broad daylight is an accurate representation of
his strength, but the blue tinting showed it was supposed to be
nighttime.

8. Max Schreck's last name ("Schreck") means "terror" in German.
It is a common urban legend that it was a stage name, and also that
he was actually the actor Alfred Abel, but in fact it is his real
family name. He was in dozens of films, but other than NOSFERATU,
the only one people might have heard of is THE TUNNEL (a.k.a. THE
TRANSATLANTIC TUNNEL).

9. The supposed "werewolf" we see early on is a hyena, and hyenas
are not found in Germany in the wild. This is only the beginning
of weird animals (and fruits) in Dracula movies. DRACULA (1931)
has an aardvark and what is supposed to be a giant bee next to a
full-size coffin, but just looks like a regular bee next to a tiny
coffin (!). HORROR OF DRACULA has a fruit bowl on Dracula's table
in Transylvania with a pineapple in it, and while pineapples had
been brought to Europe by Columbus, finding one in Transylvania in
the 19th century seems unlikely.

10. Werner Herzog remade this in 1979 as NOSFERATU THE VAMPIRE, one
of the rare instances in which both a film and its remake are
highly regarded. Herzog has said he considers the original
NOSFERATU the greatest German film ever made.

11. In 2000 E. Elias Merhige made SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE, a horror
film about the making of NOSFERATU which assumes that Schreck was a
real vampire. If you liked NOSFERATU, you have to watch SHADOW OF
THE VAMPIRE. The phrase "shadow of the vampire" comes from the
closing intertitle card in NOSFERATU, and refers to the metaphoric
shadow cast by the presence of a vampire in a town. Although Count
Orlok definitely cast shadows in NOSFERATU (and quite impressive
ones--they were a bit of a trademark of the film), there is
disagreement among various folklores about whether vampires cast
shadows or not.

[-ecl]

===================================================================

Mark Leeper
mle...@optonline.net


I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.
--W. C. Fields

[Gary McGath]

On 11/13/22 10:40 AM, ele...@optonline.net wrote:
> Before Gary Oldman, before Christopher Lee, even before Bela
> Lugosi, there was Max Schreck. In 1922 Schreck played Count Orlok,
> a thinly disguised Count Dracula, in NOSFERATU, a thinly disguised
> version of "Dracula". A bit too thinly disguised, as it turned
> out--Bram Stoker's estate sued the producers for plagiarism, and
> all prints were ordered destroyed. But like many of the Draculas
> in the movies, the film did not die: while all copies still in
> Germany were destroyed, the copies already sent overseas (including
> to the United States) were not. (One reason may have been that
> while the novel was protected by copyright in Germany, it was in
> public domain in the United States due to a copyright error.)

On October 28, I provided live accompaniment for Nosferatu at the
Plaistow, NH public library. The version the library used replaced the
characters' names with the names of Stoker's characters. Count Orlok
became Count Dracula, Hutter became Jonathon (sic) Harker, etc. I found
this mildly annoying, but it wouldn't really matter if you hadn't seen
the original version of the movie.

The "werewolf" is pretty unimpressive. It doesn't look especially
dangerous, and the bit with it could have been left out at no loss.

There are some scenes where Orlok is out in the daytime, most notably
the one where he packs his cart with coffins before leaving the castle.
This is inconsistent with the premise that he dies if he's out at
sunrise. Unless maybe it's only the sunrise, not daylight as such, that
kills him. He isn't in the direct rays of the sun when he vaporizes.
--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

[Kevrob]

In 1992's "Batman Returns," the character played by Christopher Walken is
named "Max Shreck," with only the one "c."

https://batman.fandom.com/wiki/

A wink from Tim Burton?

--
Kevin R