Bah, humbug!

 As a longtime Dickens buff and connoisseur of cinematic remakes of A Christmas Carol, I was pleasantly surprised this morning to learn that yet another movie version of the classic story will be released later this year.  This newest one stars Johnny Depp as Ebenezer Scrooge, which at first struck me as unusual casting.  But after having viewed the trailer below, I am hopeful the talented actor can give a creditable account of literature's premier curmudgeon.  Coming in November- I look forward to it.

 

Farewell, faithful servant

 A sad goodbye was said yesterday.  To a beloved car.  Now, you may say with some justification that it's unreasonable to personify a machine and become too attached to it.  But that's just what happened over the last decade and more to the family's 2010 Land Rover LR4.  The vehicle was purchased, "pre-owned", on the occasion of wifey's landmark birthday in 2011.  The new vehicle soon was named Elsa, a nod to the lioness in the movie "Born Free" who loved to sleep atop Land Rovers out on safari.  Our Elsa became part of the family and proved to be a sturdy and dependable vehicle, which is rather contrary to the general reputation of the brand.  Nonetheless, Elsa was quite reliable and gave very little problem over the next 13 years and 161,000 miles of use.  But the time finally came for Elsa to be replaced with a newer vehicle, Elsa 2.  The original Elsa was then donated to our local public radio station, and the auto service that handles that on their behalf came to pick her up yesterday.  It was a poignant moment to see such a familiar family friend leaving home for the last time.  But memories of her long and faithful service will never fade.  So long, Elsa.  And thanks.

Bah, Humbug

 I've previously mentioned the wonderful Dickens novel A Christmas Carol.  So great is the impact of this work on society that we've seen dozens of screen adaptations of the story over the decades.  I've seen most of them, and in my mind have long settled the question of the best of them:  the 1984 version, starring George C. Scott as Scrooge.  Compared to others, this is a very traditional treatment of the familiar story.  To those who've read the book, large passages of dialog will be familiar as traditional text.  The cinematography, casting, costumes, and sets are detailed and lavish in a traditional way.  This production has none of the gimmicks that others so often use to stand out in a crowded field of Carols.  But what it has is the superb acting of Mr. Scott; there has never been a better rendition of Dickens' character than his. I've always held this opinion of the movie, so I was pleasantly surprised to see an online article that reinforced my judgement.  Nice to have the affirmation.

All hands on deck

 Next up in the audio book queue:  All Hands on Deck, by Will Sofrin.  Fans of sailing and history, like myself, enjoyed the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. The 2003 movie was based on the Napoleonic War era novel series by author Patrick O'Brian (and not the famed marine artist Patrick O'BriEn).  The movie is renowned for its historical authenticity and was filmed on a faithful replica of an 18th century wooden frigate.  But before the movie could be shot, director Peter Weir arranged for the square-rigged wooden vessel, then known as the Rose, to be sailed from Newport, Rhode Island to the west coast of the US.  The voyage through two oceans and the Panama Canal is the topic of this book.  It is a real-life adventure, with the improvised crew battling adversity the whole way.  It won't be too much of a spoiler to say they finally arrived at their destination, the ship was renamed HMS Surprise, the film was made, and it was an enormous success.  What happened along the way is what I will learn as I progress though the book.

That's a wrap

 Today is the last day that Netflix will send out DVDs by mail.  I'm sad to see the service end, for reasons I've already mentioned.  But I understand the business realities of the digital age.  I have enjoyed being a Netflix DVD member for the past eleven years, during which I have watched 577 movies.  The first? Bean- The Movie. The final movie? Whatever Works, by Woody Allen. The lowest rating I ever gave a movie? One star to Four Rooms.   It's been a good run, and I will miss those red envelopes.

Lean Machine

At the end of the month, the DVD shipping system of Netflix will be shut down.  After years of disks arriving by mail in red envelopes, I will be left with only a hodgepodge of streaming services to access movies.  This is a real loss, since the Netflix DVDs were the best way to view obscure and old movies.  Streaming services show new releases, of course, but their selection of low-demand titles is very limited.  This development has already caused me to adjust my film watching habits, since I now have resorted to buying DVDs from online stores.  One arrived just yesterday: David Lean's Oliver Twist.

 The famous director David Lean, known for cinematic masterpieces such as Bridge on the River Kwai, and Doctor Zhivago, early in his career also made two films that were adaptations of Charles Dickens novels.  Oliver Twist was released in 1948, and starred a very young Alec Guiness.  Two years earlier, Lean directed Great Expectations which also featured Guiness.  Both films are often included in various lists of "100 Best British Films".  Since there are literally dozens of movie versions of any given Dickens novel, I could (and perhaps will) make it a lifelong hobby to view each one.  But I will start with Lean's version of Oliver Twist, which Dickens wrote as a young newlywed while living in a house that is now a museum, which I visited a few years ago.

Lean's work intersects with my life and interests in several instances.  For example, his classic Doctor Zhivago was released the year I was born and won several Academy Awards.  But late in life, Lean began a project to make a film based on what is one of my lifelong favorite books: Mutiny on the Bounty, by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall.  In the late 1970s, he was doing the type of work necessary prior to filming a contemporary film about the 1789 mutiny.  He had scouted locations for shooting, and had begun the process of having a replica of the Bounty ship built.  Unfortunately for theater goers, Lean dropped out of the project when fundraising difficulties arose.  The film was ultimately made by a production company founded by Dino De Laurentiis.  It was released in 1984 and featured Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins.   Despite an all-star cast and the most historically accurate Bounty replica ever used in film, the movie was not an overwhelming box office success.  One wonders what it might have been under Lean's direction.

The fate of Bounty replicas also fascinates me.  I know almost nothing about the ship used for the 1932 mutiny film starring Clark Gable and Charles Laughton.  But I know quite a bit about the Bounty built for the 1962 film starring Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard.  That replica was built for the film in Lunenberg, Nova Scotia using traditional wooden ship building techniques.  She was built significantly larger than the original ship, in order to accommodate the MGM film crew.  After use in the '62 film, the ship appeared in various other movies, and was a tourist attraction docked in St. Petersburg, FL.  The vessel was maintained on an irregular schedule, alternating between neglect and major refits.  She received her last maintenance in Boothbay Harbor, Maine in October 2012,  Weeks later while returning to Florida, she sank in hurricane Sandy off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

The Bounty replica used in the '84 film was the most historically faithful of all the major film ships.  This, even though she was built in New Zealand with a steel hull.  Her overall dimensions and wood fittings were closely based on original plans found in English archives.  After the film, the ship saw little use and was home ported in Australia as a tourist attraction.  More recently, the ship has been purchased by a Hong Kong corporation, and her current location and occupation are unclear.