Seven letters on politics (11/12/04)
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As an afterthought: doesn’t Chris Isaak channel some related spirit?
Really I know nothing about Chris Isaak, except that the Chinese bombshell Bai Ling used to be his girlfriend. This is, however, more than sufficient reason to be envious.
Bai Ling played the role of the evil mastermind’s principal henchman in
Sky Captain. This allowed her to repeatedly kick Jude Law’s ass, which she seems to have enjoyed immensely.
The closest thing in look and feel to
Sky Captain in Thirties scifi movies was actually William Cameron Menzies’ adaptation of Wells’
Things to Come. That had brilliant production design [Menzies was the production designer of record for, e.g.,
Gone With The Wind] but didn’t work very well as a movie, maybe because Wells himself [who understood nothing about the cinema and repeatedly published scathing denunciations of things like
Metropolis] was determined to have it "done right" and had a lot of influence on the production.
The whole planet now knows that Spielberg is planning a remake of
War of the Worlds, with Cruise in the lead and [should God fail to be merciful] sequels already anticipated. I don’t know what to think of this.
War of the Worlds was not, for some reason, adapted before the George Pal version, though there were a couple of intriguing near-misses: DeMille contemplated a silent-epic version in the Twenties, and Hitchcock [?!!] apparently approached Wells about the rights sometime in the Thirties. But somehow these deals fell through.
The thing that piqued my interest about Waugh’s
Vile Bodies, incidentally, was a reviewer’s throwaway mention that one of the numerous parties that comprise the narrative action was held on a Zeppelin; a device DeMille seems to have immediately stolen for
Madame Satan [1930]. Gad, what a concept.
And, speaking of the wreck of the Hindenburg, how about this Kerry campaign? I’m rapidly reapproaching my natural equilibrium point with regard to politics, i.e., an attitude of absolute alienation and total disgust.
But no doubt I’ll be able to shrug this off in time. — Laugh laugh, I thought I’d die. It seems so funny to me.
Demonstrating the great oneness of all things, or just that my mind is running in circles.
____________The way up is the way down (7/4/04)
