tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post3365922539693841837..comments2024-03-19T21:14:01.007-07:00Comments on The Compass Rose: BEAT THE DEVIL [1953] - Improvisational Camp Spoof Before its TimeCurtis Favillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-28907867698406644202014-08-11T06:16:20.255-07:002014-08-11T06:16:20.255-07:00Actual Analysis:
Your comment here underscores my...Actual Analysis:<br /><br />Your comment here underscores my main points.<br /><br />I wasn't choosing between the book and the movie. <br /><br />I haven't read the novel, so it may well be that its greater ambiguity was at least partly adopted by the screenwriters, which would suggest that the movie (which I see as an eccentric camp effort) has more fidelity to the original than I imagined.<br /><br />Thanks for commenting. I think it's possible to like the movie without needing to know or care about the book. Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-48438216039470086472014-08-11T06:02:35.690-07:002014-08-11T06:02:35.690-07:00The novel is not a straightforward noir whodunit. ...The novel is not a straightforward noir whodunit. It has elements of several genres and is probably best understood as a comic novel. The <i>New York Times</i> review of the movie said it missed the book's "book's bite, bounce and decidedly snug construction," and that what should have been a treat ended up as a damp firecracker. Cockurn's dialogue was wittier than Capote's, and the plot did not have a happy ending for anyone (in the book, for example, Harry Chelm is blown to bits in an explosion, so he can't make his way to Africa). The film also moves the corrupt police from Spain to Africa -- wouldn't want to offend Franco, eh?<br /><br />So I recommend the book, if only as an interesting comparison to the movie. I much preferred the book, but in the end it all depends on personal taste.Actual Analysishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18080726368498243327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-5416002381974508932011-09-11T10:50:50.892-07:002011-09-11T10:50:50.892-07:00Beat the Devil, Last Year in Marienbad, and Unfait...Beat the Devil, Last Year in Marienbad, and Unfaithfully Yours. Those are all the movies I need.Charles Sherehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10480432901356490235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-58997318982121580752011-09-08T14:58:43.509-07:002011-09-08T14:58:43.509-07:00Claud Cockburn
Alex Cockburn's daddy (AC ru...<i>Claud Cockburn</i><br /><br />Alex Cockburn's daddy (AC runs Counterpunch a leftist rag---some Cockburn brothers too). <br /><br /> Wise Blood an odd book.The movie was OK--didn't really capture Mss O'C's strange Dante meets Kafka vision IMHE.<br /><br /><br />Huston did make some of the greatest flicks ever. <br />Tho...I wonder if Dash approved of the re-writes/changes to the original MF (probably not).Another great noir writer--Jim Thompson. After Dark my sweet--a pretty copacetic neo-noir picture1000 Names of Vishnunoreply@blogger.com