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Re: mysterious island 1973 mini series

From: thomas mccormick <tom_amity~at~hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 18:14:46 +0000
To: jvf~at~Gilead.org.il

Brian and other friends of Verne,

In my view, film adaptations of Mysterious Island tend to resemble the man
in the Freshman English essay who "mounted his hourse and rode off in all
directions". Often, producers who want a "thriller" pick on poor Verne and
use one of his voyages extraordinaires as its slim basis. And Mysterious
Island is a frequent victim because Captain Nemo is a convenient character
to hang fantastic and futuristic elements onto, so that the producer is
content with just about any result as long as it IS fantastic and
futuristic. As I said before, this 1973 version doesn't veer quite as
careeningly from Verne as some of the other adaptations do, since it doesn
explore the "desert island" theme more or less the way Verne's novel does,
though it also takes a few weird liberties. But its producers have no idea
what to do with Nemo or with some of the other themes. Which explains why
the different versioins keep adding and subtracting elements. This version,
I jfear, is a hodgepodge.

Tom

>From: Rfbagby~at~aol.com
>Reply-To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>
>To: jvf~at~Gilead.org.il (Jules Verne Forum)
>Subject: Re: mysterious island 1973 mini series
>Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 08:09:59 -0400
>
>In a message dated 7/21/2005 8:59:02 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Brian Taves
><btav~at~loc.gov> writes:
> >Has anyone discovered the reasons for the wide discrepancies in versions
> >of the 1973 miniseries and feature?  It seems to go well beyond the scope
> >of what might happen with a coproduction.
>REPLY: While I don't know the Why of this, Brian, I know that one fan's
>website on this title began with the assumption all versions were national
>editions of a Master Copy, but on beginning to total up those "wide
>discrepencies" ultimately concluded there is no more a "true" 1973
>MYSTERIOUS ISLAND than, say, an authoritative SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON text.
>
>This adaption (in at least the copy I've got) has some interesting
>parallelisms to the 1951 serial (coincedental, surely!), notably Nemo
>explaining his presence as due once more to Radioactive Minerals in the
>island used as fuel for the NAUTILUS. It is also among the few adaptions to
>have Nemo wear a turban (as will the coming Patrick Stewart take). Even
>more curiously, it has some elements of CARPATHIAN CHATEAU, a borrowing
>acknowledged when the castaways finally meet Nemo and find him watching
>"home movies" -- he explains he bought this technology from an "inventor
>named Orfanik"!
>While I concur this is not one of the great adaptions, I think one of the
>reasons MYSTERIOUS is one of Verne's most filmed titles (if, ahem, not
>necessarily plots) is precisely its ability to absorb contemporary concerns
>and iconography -- from the 1929's mulling over the Russian Revolution (and
>the introduction of sound!) to the 1951 serial which is when Nemo went
>nuclear (and yes, fights space aliens!) to the "Harryhausen" version (which
>fits into the 60's Giant Monster cycle as much as its Verne boom). In
>short, each version is to studied as much as a mirror of its era as an
>adaption of Verne.
>Ross
Received on Fri 22 Jul 2005 - 21:14:54 IDT

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