THE MT VOID
08/09/24 -- Vol. 43, No. 6, Whole Number 2340
Co-Editor: Mark Leeper,
mleeper@optonline.netCo-Editor: Evelyn Leeper,
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Topics:
Mini Reviews, Part 3 (ONE LIFE, NO ABRAS NUNCA ESA PUERTA
(NEVER OPEN THAT DOOR), MANHATTAN) (film reviews
by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper)
Tubi (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
This Week's Reading (MOBY-DICK) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 3 (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and
Evelyn C. Leeper)
This is the third batch of mini-reviews:
ONE LIFE (2023): This is the dramatized version of Sir Nicholas
Winton's story about how he (along with others) saved over six
hundred children in a Kindertransport from Czechoslovakia. (The
original Kindertransport was for Germany and Austria only.) A
large amount of the film is devoted to Winton's life forty years
after the war, which means of course, less time available for the
actual effort during the war. The story was told in a
documentary, NICKY'S FAMILY, made in 2011, and I would recommend
skipping ONE LIFE and seeing NICKY'S FAMILY instead. NICKY'S
FAMILY is available on Hoopla, Kanopy, and other free streaming
services. (Mark's review of NICKY'S FAMILY is available at
<
http://leepers.us/mtvoid/2013/VOID0621.htm#nicky>.) [-ecl]
Released theatrically 15 March 2024. Rating: +2 (-4 to +4), or
7/10.
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13097932/reference>
What others are saying:
<
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/one_life>
NO ABRAS NUNCA ESA PUERTA (NEVER OPEN THAT DOOR) (1952): NO ABRAS
NUNCA ESA PUERTA is an Argentinian film noir based on two Cornell
Woolrich stories. In the first, based on "Somebody on the Phone",
Raul discovers his sister Luisa is being blackmailed by someone
and has taken all his money and his mother's diamond ring. He
confronts her, and ... well, bad things ensue. In the second,
based on "The Hummingbird Comes Home", a blind mother is awaiting
her son's return, only to discover he is a thief and a murderer.
Again, bad things ensue. Without giving anything away, I will say
that the film WAIT UNTIL DARK may have been inspired by either
this film, or the original Woolrich story. [-ecl]
Released in Argentina 23 May 1952 (Argentina); in the US 30
January 2014. Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4), or 8/10.
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0184782/reference>
MANHATTAN (1979): I'm starting to get more older movies from
Swap-a-DVD, and they are often movies I decided I want on DVD to
replace the VHS copies. So the latest was MANHATTAN. The artwork
is striking, and nostalgic--the title is formed by buildings of
the Manhattan skyline, with the Twin Towers forming the "H".
Diane Keaton talking about art reminded me of her character in
REDS. And there is also a young Meryl Streep in only her sixth
movie.
But of course, Mariel Hemingway is even younger: she plays a
seventeen-year-old and she was in fact actually seventeen. (This
was her third film.) Woody Allen's character is dating her, and
it is made clear that they are having sex. (Allen was forty-three
at the time; presumably so was his character.) Allen's character
also says he is against extra-marital affairs--"People should mate
for life"--but has two ex-wives. All in all, perhaps even
creepier now than it was then. [-ecl]
Released theatrically 25 April 1979. Rating: +2 (-4 to +4), or
7/10.
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079522/reference>
What others are saying:
<
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/manhattan>
===================================================================
TOPIC: Tubi (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
The problem with Tubi is the ads. I mean, ads per se are very
1960s, but not ads for razors for pubic air, or treatments for
vaginal odor. We didn't see those in the 1960s.
One ad (from CSL Plasma) says you can make up to $700 a month by
"donating" plasma. No, if you're being paid it's not donating,
and if you're donating you're not being paid. [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Okay, I'll admit it--it's getting harder to fill this column each
week, especially since of late I've been binging Somerset Maugham
short stories, which I already reviewed, at least partially (in
the 01/15/21 issue of the MT VOID).
So I am reduced to including comments on MOBY-DICK excerpted from
my "Annotations and Commentary on Moby-Dick". I will spare you
the annotations of the "Etomology" and "Extracts" sections, and
just give you those from Chapter 1:
CHAPTER 1: Loomings
"Call me Ishmael." Much has been written about this, so I'll
merely point out that Ishmael was an outsider. The full story can
be found in Genesis, particularly Genesis 16:1–16 and 17:20–21.
But though he is often described as an exile, this is not
completely accurate. It is true that his mother Hagar was exiled
by Sarai (a.k.a. Sarah), but that was when she was pregnant with
Ishmael, and she returned before the birth. Later, God says, "And
as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and
will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve
princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation."
[Genesis 17:20] But God emphasizes that His covenant is with
Isaac. So Ishmael is more like a disinherited older son passed
over for a favored younger one. Of course, he also got to miss out
on almost being sacrificed, so this was an advantage.
The "spleen" was originally thought to be the origin of bad
temper. Charles Baudelaire originated the use of "spleen" to mean
boredom, sadness, and depression with life.
"The Dark Night of the Soul" ("La oscura del alma") was a poem by
16th century mystic San Juan de la Cruz, but the term in English
is usually associated with F. Scott Fitzgerald's line, "In a real
dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning."
Douglas Adams wrote a novel titled THE LONG DARK TEA-TIME OF THE
SOUL. Since Melville pre-dated Fitzgerald, he presumably have
patterned his "damp, drizzly November in my soul" after the
original, or references to it.
"Hypos" in "whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me" is an
abbreviation for hypochondria, as meaning a morbid depression of
spirits rather than a physical illness.
The Cato mentioned is Cato Marcus Porcius (95 B.C.E.–46 B.C.E.),
considered the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy. After
being defeated in his attempts to defend Sicily and to preserve
Rome from the tyranny of Julius Caesar, Cato committed suicide by
stabbing himself. He is not to be confused with Cato the Elder
(also named Cato Marcus Porcius, 234 B.C.E.–149 B.C.E.) or Cato
Publius Valerius, the poet, who lived about the same time as Cato
the Stoic.
A mole is a solid structure serving as a pier, breakwater, or
causeway.
Some names and places were straightforward: "Manhatto" seems to be
Ishmael's poetic version of Manhattan. In Manhattan, he mentions
Corlears Hook, Coenties Slip, and Whitehall. The first two are now
under landfills, Corlears Hook near FDR Drive and Cherry Street,
and Coenties Slip near Pearl and South Streets. Whitehall is still
there, at the southern end of Broadway. Corlears Hook was known
for prostitutes before and during Melville's time, hence
(according to many) the term "hookers".
The Saco River runs through northeastern New Hampshire and
southwestern Maine.
There has been much discussion of the "poor poet of Tennessee";
the consensus is that Melville was not referring to a specific
poet, but more to a generic poor poet.
Rockaway Beach is a seven-mile stretch of beach in Queens, New
York, and is a popular summer destination.
In Greek mythology, Narcissus was punished for refusing Echo's
love by falling in love with his own image in a pond. When he
realized he could not possess his heart's desire, he killed
himself. (In some versions, he is melted by his passion, but the
traditional end is that he drowns himself.)
The Van Rensselaers were Dutch settlers who arrived in New York in
1630 as patroons of Rensselaerwyck, near Albany. This was the
largest patroonship granted by the Dutch in what were at the time
their colonies. The patroonship continued after the transition to
English colonies, and did not end until 1839. Though originally
the patroons had almost total control over the land and its
tenants, after American independence, they lost all their feudal
laws and became merely large estates subject to Federal and state
laws. Melville was descended from the Rensselaers.
The Randolphs were one of the First Families of Virginia, arriving
in 1643.
By "the Hardicanutes" Melville is probably referring to the
descendants of Harthacut, a 11th century king of Demark and
Egland. This is a sly bit of humor--it is unlikely the Renssalaers
and Randolphs would appreciate being lumped socially with a Viking
king of hundreds of years earlier.
Ishmael's talk about "the transition ... from a schoolmaster to a
sailor" indicates that he was a schoolmaster before signing on to
the Pequod.
A league is three miles. (This means, by the way, that Jules
Verne's title 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, the distance is 60,000
miles, and hence is not a depth--as is often assumed--but the
total distance sailed.)
Spiles are wooden pegs driven into nail holes on a ship.
Ishmael makes the same sort of error in asking, "Why did the
Greeks give it [the sea] a separate deity, and own brother of
Jove?" as the coiners of the word "television" and other hybrid
words did. He mixes Greek and Latin indiscriminately (Jove being
the Latin name for Zeus). This is probably due to Melville's
having to leave school at age fifteen to help support his family,
and hence receiving only a partial classical education, covering
the Romans, but not the Greeks (except as somewhat vague exemplars
as culture).
An example of Melville's humor: "Now, when I say that I am in the
habit of going to sea whenever I begin to grow hazy about the
eyes, and begin to be over conscious of my lungs, I do not mean to
have it inferred that I ever go to sea as a passenger. For to go
as a passenger you must needs have a purse, and a purse is but a
rag unless you have something in it. Besides, passengers get
sea-sick--grow quarrelsome--don't sleep of nights--do not enjoy
themselves much, as a general thing;--no, I never go as a
passenger; nor, though I am something of a salt, do I ever go to
sea as a Commodore, or a Captain, or a Cook. I abandon the glory
and distinction of such offices to those who like them. For my
part, I abominate all honourable respectable toils, trials, and
tribulations of every kind whatsoever. It is quite as much as I
can do to take care of myself, without taking care of ships,
barques, brigs, schooners, and what not. And as for going as
cook,—though I confess there is considerable glory in that, a cook
being a sort of officer on ship-board--yet, somehow, I never
fancied broiling fowls;--though once broiled, judiciously
buttered, and judgmatically salted and peppered, there is no one
who will speak more respectfully, not to say reverentially, of a
broiled fowl than I will. It is out of the idolatrous dotings of
the old Egyptians upon broiled ibis and roasted river horse, that
you see the mummies of those creatures in their huge bake-houses
the pyramids."
In Melville's time, both men and women used a purse to carry money.
"The transition is a keen one, I assure you, from a schoolmaster
to a sailor, and requires a strong decoction of Seneca and the
Stoics to enable you to grin and bear it." Seneca the Elder
(Lucius Annaeus Seneca, 4 B.C.E.–65 C.E.) was a Stoic philosopher
eventually forced to commit suicide for his alleged involvement in
a plot to assassinate Nero. Stoicism was a school of philosophy
founded by Zeno of Citium in the 3rd century B.C.E. and emphasized
the suppression of destructive emotions; Seneca and others claimed
that "virtue is sufficient for happiness" and so true Stoics would
ignore misfortune.
A hunks is a surly ill-natured person, especially a miser. Though
it appears plural it is actually singular.
Ishmael says of how to go to sea, "I always go to sea as a sailor,
because they make a point of paying me for my trouble, whereas
they never pay passengers a single penny that I ever heard of. On
the contrary, passengers themselves must pay. And there is all the
difference in the world between paying and being paid. The act of
paying is perhaps the most uncomfortable infliction that the two
orchard thieves entailed upon us. But *being paid*,--what will
compare with it? The urbane activity with which a man receives
money is really marvellous, considering that we so earnestly
believe money to be the root of all earthly ills, and that on no
account can a monied man enter heaven. Ah! how cheerfully we
consign ourselves to perdition!" The two orchard thieves are, of
course, Adam and Eve. But money itself is not "the root of all
earthly evils"; the reference is to 1 Timothy 6:10, which says,
"For *the love of* money is the root of all evil: which while some
coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced
themselves through with many sorrows." [italics mine]
Ishmael says, "For in this world, head winds are more prevalent
than winds astern (that is, if you never violate the Pythagoean
maxim)." This is not the Pythagorean Theorem, but the best-known
maxim he promoted in his philosophy: Do not eat beans. (Yes,
friends, even Melville made fart jokes!) [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net All truth is not to be told at all times.
--Samuel Butler
MT VOID, 08/09/24 -- Vol. 43, No. 6, Whole Number 2340
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