The book of the Film - ICE COLD IN ALEX

 

The book by Christopher Landon was published in 1957. The film was released the following year, with a screenplay by Landon and T.J. Morrison.

Briefly, Captain Anson (film: John Mills) of the Royal Army Service Corps Motor Ambulance Company is serving in Tobruk. He’s battle-weary and has turned to alcohol. The German Afrika Korps is due to take the city, so they all evacuate but in the confusion two nurses, Sisters Diana Murdoch (Sylvia Syms) and Denise Norton (Diane Clare) are left behind. Anson with Mechanist Sergeant Major Tom Pugh (Harry Andrews) take the sisters in their Austin K2/Y ambulance (nicknamed ‘Katy’). Separated from the rest of the evacuation vehicles, they set off across the desert to Alexandria (Alex). Shortly, they encounter a South African officer of the Union Defence Force (UDF), Captain Zimmerman. In the film he is named van der Poel (Anthony Quail).

Anson swears off alcohol even though Zimmerman carries several bottles of spirits in his pack. He declares he won’t touch a drop until they get to Alex.

There are a number of tense scenes in the book: crossing a minefield, a broken suspension spring which requires the formidable strength of Zimmerman to support the axel while they shove rocks underneath, the crossing of the Qattara Depression, a fatal attack by a German patrol, and a dangerous immersion in quicksand. All these sequences were dramatized at greater length and to good effect in the film. Two marked differences in the film are: the betrayal is signposted much earlier in the book, and Diana’s romantic interest is not Anson but Pugh.

It’s probably not a spoiler to reveal that, after many trials and tribulations, they do get to the bar in Alex! The cover image from the film reveals it, after all. The lager they drink is Rheingold (an American beer); of course in the film they drank the Danish beer Carlsberg; real beer was used and after several ‘takes’ Mills confessed to being rather giddy.

One of the German officers who waylaid them was played by Walter Gotell, who went on to appear in many James Bond movies.

Landon’s prose is reminiscent of Hemingway, very spare and direct. The viewpoint changes for (mostly) chapter-lengths from Anson, to Diana, Zimmerman and mainly Pugh. It is obvious from his descriptions that Landon had served in North Africa, which is the case. He wrote several novels and, sadly, died from accidental alcohol and barbiturate poisoning in 1961, aged 50.

If you’ve seen the film, you’ll still enjoy the book.

Book review - WONDER WOMAN – The art and making of the film

Titan Books has produced yet another lavish offering. This is a big book - 27.9 x 2.2 x 31.1 cm and a weighty 192 full-colour pages. Written by Sharon Gosling, foreword by Patty Jenkins, director.

If you’ve seen the film, you might want to own this book. If you haven’t seen the film, this tells you a great deal – through pictures and words! – about the film without providing too many spoilers. Certainly, we could have done with more text (though what is there is enlightening), but it's clear that the writer and company have gone for the credo 'a picture is worth a thousand words' - and it works well enough.

The layout is broken down into various parts: Themyscira features short chapters on the design of the island, the armoury, the characters, the weapons and the exciting beach battle – all enhanced with anecdotes from the production team and artwork and stills. The Journey is a brief account of Diana’s departure from the island and the construction of the boat – a vessel that never in fact touched water, thanks to CGI wizardry. The final part is Man’s World with chapters about London recreated in 1918, Etta Candy, Steve Trevor, the villains, and the trench warfare, again enhanced with illustrations and movie stills.

Reading this book it’s obvious that Director Patty Jenkins found the film a labour of love, as did so many others involved. The palettes of colour were deliberately chosen – the bright shades for the Themyscira section, the sombre leached shades of Man’s World at war.

Like the film itself, this book is an excellent homage to the icon created in 1941, Wonder Woman.

***

See also 

http://nik-writealot.blogspot.com.es/2017/10/book-of-film-wonder-woman.html

 

 

Book of the film - The Spiral Staircase

Originally entitled Some Must Watch when published in 1933, Ethel Lina White’s book was renamed The Spiral Staircase after the film was released in 1946 under that title. It would be three more years before her most famous book was published, The Wheel Spins (retitled The Lady Vanishes). 

Both book and film have similarities, but the film diverges in important respects, notably in character relationships. Though the book was set in England, the film transposed the setting to New England. In the book, the heroine Helen Capel is an unskilled diminutive woman, a so-called ‘lady-help’ employed by Professor Warren to attend his sick mother, Lady Warren, in their country house, The Summit. In the film, Helen is a mute, having lost her voice due to extreme trauma when young. Bearing in mind that this was written at a time when it was commonplace for eugenics to be espoused for improving the human gene pool towards 'purity', the film’s version is perhaps more pertinent to the plot.

Other characters are Mrs Oates, the cook and housekeeper, Mr Oates, driver and handyman, Nurse Barker to attend to the ailing Lady Warren, the professor’s son and daughter-in-law (Simone) and a resident pupil (Stephen Rice) the professor was coaching for the Indian Civil Service. And Dr Parry, ‘clever, young and unconventional’, and lastly the mysterious Lady Warren herself: ‘The household was waiting for her to die, but she still called the tune. Every morning, Death knocked politely n the door of the blue room and Lady Warren saluted him in her customary fashion with a thumb to her nose.’ (p162) 

Mrs Oates exhibits mood changes. ‘For no apparent reason, she was swaying to and fro, like a weathercock. Whence came the mysterious wind which was blowing on her?’ (p221)

Simone fancies Stephen, but he isn’t interested: ‘He did not run from her pursuit, he merely shoved her away... he was in the kitchen, helping Mrs Oates. He had been offered romance – and he chose onions.’ (p197)

As can be seen above, there’s humour, too. Take also, for example, p200: ‘Is it still raining heavily?’ asked Helen.

‘Not near so much,’ interposed Mrs Oates bitterly. ‘Oates brought most of it in with him.’

Recently, in the area there had been four women murdered, all seemingly committed by a maniac. And we first encounter Helen amidst her thoughts walking back to the country house as night closes in: ‘… the place was suggestive of evil. Tattered leaves still clung to bare boughs, unpleasantly suggestive of rags of decaying flesh fluttering from a gibbet.’ (p165) White has a knack of creating atmosphere, and it was captured well in the black-and-white film. ‘Every now and again a twig tapped the window, like a bony finger giving a signal. The clock ticked, like a leaking tap, and the wind blew down the funnel of the chimney.’ (p317)

It seems as though the murderer is getting closer to the house. Dr Parry was called out to the latest tragic case. He warns everyone to stay inside. A wet dark night stretched ahead. And gradually, on one pretext or another, individuals left the house, or were incapacitated – or vanished. Leaving Helen and Lady Warren to face the early hours by themselves… ‘(Helen) … dreaded the night which divided her from the dawn.’ (p244)

This is one of those early examples of a psychological melodrama. Some chapter headings offer warnings: 2, The First Cracks; 12, The First Gap; 13, Murder; 16, The Second Gap; 18, The Defence Weakens; 30, The Walls Fall Down. Aided by lousy weather, almost a character in itself: ‘Only the wind shrieked, as though a flock of witches sailed overhead, racing the moon, which glided through the torn clouds…’ (p321)

Helen may be small in stature, but she is nevertheless brave. When she spotted the figure of a man merge with the silhouette of a tree, she went to investigate! By which time, he was gone – if he had existed… Finally, ‘Helen knew. The acid of terror cleared the scum from her mind…’ (p331)

White employs a good turn of phrase from time to time: ‘She believed that, even as shadows on the sea betray the presence of rocks, so trifles indicate character.’ (p263) And: ‘She must not think of the horror which had actually taken place within these walls, or wonder if the girl still lingered somewhere in the atmosphere, the dust or the stones.’ (p290) And: ‘She remembered how the bushes had writhed, like knotted fingers tapping the glass, and how the tentacles of the undergrowth had swayed in mimicry of subaqueous life.’ (p293)

A fascinating period piece; certainly worth reading.

It may be of no significance, but this book pre-dates Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (1939), where characters in an isolated home ‘leave’…

[The page numbers for excerpts relate to the double volume, cover depicted.]

Editorial comment

A strong tendency to repeat words close together, and also to head-hop from one character to another in the same scene, but these traits do not affect the pace of the story.

A commendable abrupt (but fitting) ending; no lingering about.

 

Film review - Song for Marion

This is a ‘feel-good’ movie with accolades such as ‘Wonderful and heart-warming’ and ‘A film to fall in love with’.

Song for Marion is a small British film that’s all about character.

Grumpy pensioner Arthur (Terence Stamp!) is distressed by the ailing condition of his wife Marion (Vanessa Redgrave). One of Marion’s outlets is performing in the local choir, the OAPz,  run by Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton). It’s not really a spoiler, since the title gives it away: Marion is determined to perform in a choir competition, but unfortunately she dies before that can happen. Arthur shuts himself off from the world, won’t talk to his estranged son (Christopher Eccleston), and wants to grieve in his own way.

Stamp shows in his minimalist acting how to deliver a character with a broken heart who is incapable of seeking solace. Elizabeth subtly worms her way into Arthur’s orbit and through guile and charm, she begins Arthur’s life affirming journey, a journey that is at times amusing, often poignant, and beautifully told.  The acting honours are shared equally by Redgrave, Arterton and Stamp; he’s a revelation.

This could so easily have been Hollywood schmaltz, but instead it’s grounded and sensitive. Music is the international language, the language of love, indeed.

Worth keeping a tissue or two to hand.

Footnote: revealed in the credits: surprisingly, although the film is set in London, it was mainly filmed in Newcastle upon Tyne and Durham.

Released 2013, 90 minutes run-time

Writing – market - BBC drama

The BBC’s Writersroom has opened its window for unsolicited TV and film drama script submissions. 

The window closes on 24 September 2015. UK residents only!

 

Wikipedia commons

In this link here see the sub-section ‘submission windows’

Do not submit a first draft or a work in progress. Make it the best you possibly can. This is a highly competitive market.

 

More details here

Episode series. Send the first full pilot episode of a series and a brief outline of 1-3 pages of future episodes.

Serial. Send the first episode and a brief outline of 1-3 pages of the remaining serial narrative.

Single drama. Send the complete script.

In the website’s ‘Terms and Conditions’ you will find a wealth of advice, for instance:

‘Length

‘We accept scripts that are at least 30 minutes long, which is a fair length of time to assess a writer's work – it's extremely hard to judge a writer's abilities with a view to BBC broadcast slots if their work is shorter than this… The minute-to-a-page measure of classic screenplay format is a useful rule-of-thumb, but isn't a cast iron formula as it ultimately depends on the style of the piece. Generally speaking a half-hour sitcom would come in between 30 and 35 pages, an hour-long drama between 50-70 pages, and a feature film between 70-120 pages. The best way to judge the length of your script is to time yourself reading it, allowing extra space for action. A group reading or performance is even more useful since each reader, like an actor, may deliver their lines of dialogue at different paces...

‘Script Room reading process

‘BBC Writersroom employs professional script readers to assess all the submitted scripts. They sift the scripts by reading at least the first ten pages. All eligible scripts are considered in this way. If a script doesn't sufficiently hook our attention at the sift stage, it will not be considered further... If a script hooks our reader’s attention, it will progress to the second sift where the first 20-30 pages of scripts are read by another reader. If a script is long-listed it will progress to the full read and feedback stage of the process, where a third reader reads the script and provides feedback.  The reader may then recommend that the script is shortlisted, which means that it will be read and discussed by senior members of the BBC Writersroom team and the writer will be considered for further development.’

Also in the ‘Terms and Conditions’ is a comprehensive bullet point list showing what they do not accept, so make a point of reading this too. And one of the conditions is that they only accept scripts from those resident in the UK.

The website also contains a large library of scripts to browse, so you can see how they’re formatted and how the various writers deal with narrative and dialogue.

Good luck!

 

 

Magic Seven

Of all the numbers, seven is considered the most mystic or sacred.

Pythagorean considered four and three to be lucky numbers, and of course when added together they make seven. Among the Babylonians, Egyptians and other ancient peoples there were believed to be seven sacred planets, and this was espoused by old astrologers and alchemists, each planet having its own ‘heaven’ (and there’s the phrase ‘to be in seventh heaven’).

We don’t need reminding that there are seven days in creation, seven days in the week, seven virtues, (seven deadly sins!), seven divisions of the Lord’s Prayer, seven ages in the life of man.

Ancient teaching propounded that the soul of man, or his ‘inward holy body’ is compounded of seven properties which are under the influence of the seven planets. Fire animates, earth gives the sense of feeling, water gives speech, air gives taste, mist gives sight, flowers give hearing, the south wind gives smelling; so the seven senses were perceived to be animation, feeling, speech, taste, sight, hearing and smelling. [Not sure what the other three winds gave!]

The Seven is used to identify a group of seven people, such as the Seven Champions, the Seven against Thebes, the Seven Sages of Greece, and in modern times, Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven.

 

The option rights of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 epic film Seven Samurai were bought by producer Lou Morheim for $250 in 1958, with a view to making an Old West version of the story. Morheim took the project to Anthony Quinn, then directing Yul Brynner in The Buccaneer. Quinn agreed to take the part of Chris, the chief gunfighter, and Brynner would debut as the director. However, UA persuaded Brynner to take the lead and Quinn a supporting role, but Quinn backed out acrimoniously. Brynner hired Martin Ritt to direct, but delays with the script meant that Ritt dropped out and in his place came John Sturgess.

The first version of the screenplay presented the Seven as ageing Civil War veterans, but it was then rewritten for younger characters. Several writers worked on the film before it was ready, though it was rushed as an actors’ strike was imminent.

The film was planned to be shot entirely in Mexico. However, the Mexican government still sourly recalled the less than favourable treatment of Mexican characters in Vera Cruz in 1954. They insisted that the script be amended so that the villagers initially attempted to buy guns rather than straight away hire gunmen, so they wouldn’t appear cowardly.

The studio wasn’t taken by the film, thinking it was slow and outdated and its release in 1960 didn’t set the world alight in the States. However, when it hit Europe, the box office returns told a different story. The studio revised the poster and re-released the film in a lot more US theatres. By the mid-60s, the film was so profitable, they wanted a sequel; there were three made in total: Return of the Seven (1966), Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969), and Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972). And in the 1990s there was a TV series. Now there are rumblings that MGM will do a remake of The Magnificent Seven.

 
While you’re waiting for that, you might like to read the hardback The Magnificent Mendozas, which puts a different slant on the familiar tale.

From the book depository, post-free worldwide here

 

From Amazon UK here

 

From Amazon COM here

More tomorrow…