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Re: I would like to know whether members would be interested

From: Brian Taves <briantaves1879~at~yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2011 22:21:43 -0700 (PDT)
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

Hi Harry,
I just discovered that apparently a considerable number of my posts to this Forum are not going through, for whatever reason, at least to judge by the archive.
 
While I enjoyed your piece, Harry, and the humor of its whimsical tone, on a methodological standard I worry on a couple of levels, the first of which is indicated below in reference to my comprehensive article, an email that apparently vanished into the ether to judge by its absence from the archive.  There I noted my long article re VCT on the screen, that's been on the NAJVS site for years -- it sounded like you'd not seen it, and perhaps others.  Go to
 
http://najvs.org/articles/JCErev.shtml
 
Beyond that, looking at your own interpretation, to my mind discussion of Verne films must take into account all of the versions, or at least delineate certain criteria:  all Hollywood features, all animation, etc. -- looking at just a few arbitrarily leads to skewed results.
 
No less important is that screen adaptations are creations in their own medium, and have a status different from a novel.  There are certain "givens" that are, for better or worse, to be expected given their collaborative and business nature -- such as the addition of a female character (filmgoers need to be of both genders), the change in temporal period, or nationality.  The question becomes not simply that changes are made but their impact.  How does the added female character alter the original?  For instance I would argue that the exchange of Hans with a female equivalent is much less intrusive than adding an entirely new female explorer as a companion in the 1959 version (assuredly not Disney, tho people keep saying it).  However on behalf of that 1959 film, I don't think switching the protagonist's nationaity made much if any difference, and was quite understandable given the time in which it was made, and the bankable stars.  Nor does
 the change in temporal setting, even the modern setting of the 2008 version; what is key is that the journey retains the same basic physical challenges (thankfully no giant "drills" conveying the explorers).  
 
Finally, I have to quibble with your limitation for other versions of 80 jours -- why must they be versions over 90 minutes?  I know your respect for animation given your enjoyment of Willy Fogg, but aren't you thereby throwing out thereby most animated versions that run between 45 up to 90 minutes?  
 
Sorry to go on at such length, and perhaps it is just as well my posts are vanishing!  ;-) 
 

Brian
 
PS  Below is the message that seems to have not gone to the Forum.
 

From: Brian Taves <briantaves1879~at~yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: I would like to know whether members would be interested
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>
Date: Tuesday, September 13, 2011, 12:07 AM


















Harry, I hadn't quite realized your point before, but there's been a long article of mine analyzing different films of VCT on the NAJVS website for some seven years now, after it was published in our newsletter in 2005.  It was updated online for the spate of versions since then.  There are many more than four adaptations, too, than the four you mention.
 
There's plenty of room for additional articles, but each should be familiar with what's gone before, as well as the whole range of adaptation.  For instance, I don't see how you could analyze Willy Fogg without (as I did) discussing other animated versions of VCT.

Brian

From: Harry Hayfield <harryhayfield~at~gmail.com>
Subject: Re: I would like to know whether members would be interested
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>
Date: Monday, September 12, 2011, 5:43 PM



#yiv1320953762 p {margin:0;}

Good lord, Alex. This is going to sound a little strange so I shall explain it as slowly as I can. Here in the United Kingdom, ITV (Independent Television) used to have a schools programmes service from 9.30am until 1.00pm every weekday. One of the programmes they had was called "Picture Box" which showed animation from various parts of the world and (as quoted from a website about the programme) "In 1974 came activity pack back-up and programme advisers, as the education got serious....that Canadian cartoon wherein one Dr. Philip Square tunnelling into the Earth’s core". That is one that I saw (and never really understood at the time) but here we are some 30 years later and you dig it up all because I mention that I would like to compare four different versions of "Journey". How small a world is it, eh?




From: "Alex Kirstukas" <infernalnonsense~at~yahoo.com>
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>
Sent: Monday, 12 September, 2011 5:49:26 PM
Subject: Re: I would like to know whether members would be interested



Hi Harry,


You might also enjoy (and consider including) the following two films, both of which are inspired by JCE and maintain the Vernian combination of instruction and adventure.


Cesta do Praveku (1955) - a lovely Czech film by Karel Zeman, who makes no secret of the film's Vernian roots. His version of the story follows four boys who travel down a river and find, to their great satisfaction, that it is taking them backwards through time. The quietly touching tone of the film reminds me very much of Truffaut's classic "Argent de Poche" - but it predates Argent by a good 20 years, and also includes woolly mammoths and dinosaurs! It's currently available, full-length and with subtitles, on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqsu2AhuXxA&feature=youtube_gdata_player


The Underground Movie (1972) - a quirky little animated short in which a Canadian scientist has the same ambition as Otto Liedenbrock. To make the journey through the white-hot center possible, he invents a Nautilus-like conveyance with various helpful features. The short is slightly educational and very silly, and is available at the National Film Board of Canada's website.


Alex




On Sep 12, 2011, at 9:01 AM, Patrick Sheffield <psheffield~at~earthlink.net> wrote:




I would enjoy such an article...



On Sep 12, 2011, at 4:06 AM, Harry Hayfield wrote:



Ah, that's around the World, this article is about "Journey" only. Perhaps I might do World at a later date




From: "Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd" <garmtdevries~at~gmail.com>
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>
Sent: Monday, 12 September, 2011 9:45:05 AM
Subject: Re: I would like to know whether members would be interested

Definitely, go ahead and write that article. You could also include
the 1989 miniseries with Pierce Brosnan as Fogg.

Cheers,
Garmt

On 12 September 2011 10:01, Harry Hayfield <harryhayfield~at~gmail.com> wrote:
> By a sheer fluke, I found out that Channel 4 in the UK was premiering the
> 2008 version of Journey to the Centre of the Earth yesterday (at the end of
> a fortnight when the 1959 and 1976 versions had also been screened on
> various other channels), all coupled with me submitting my version to my
> local theatre group and having found my Willy Fog version of the story from
> 1991 made me wonder whether or not the forum would be interested in an
> article looking at all four versions (1959, 1976, 1991 and 2008) noting the
> similarities and the differences between them and then scoring them on key
> elements to produce an unofficial "This is the version that must be in any
> self respecting Vernian's DVD case"?
>
Received on Wed 21 Sep 2011 - 13:53:35 IDT

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