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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 06/24/94 -- Vol. 12, No. 52
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are in Middletown 1R-400C
Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
07/13 GLORY SEASON by David Brin (Hugo Nominee)
08/03 MOVING MARS by Greg Bear (Hugo Nominee)
08/24 VIRTUAL LIGHT by William Gibson (Hugo Nominee)
Outside events:
The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County meets on the second
Saturday of every month in Upper Saddle River; call 201-933-2724 for
details. The New Jersey Science Fiction Society meets on the third
Saturday of every month in Belleville; call 201-432-5965 for details.
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 m.r.leeper@att.com
HO Chair: John Jetzt MT 2G-432 908-957-5087 j.j.jetzt@att.com
HO Co-Librarian: Nick Sauer HO 4F-427 908-949-7076 n.j.sauer@att.com
HO Co-Librarian: Lance Larsen HO 2C-318 908-949-4156 l.f.larsen@att.com
MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 m.r.leeper@att.com
Distinguished Heinlein Apologist:
Rob Mitchell MT 2D-536 908-957-???? r.l.mitchell@att.com
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 908-957-2070 e.c.leeper@att.com
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. Due to a lack of voters, the Alexanders will not be awarded this
year. (It's clear that having the stories available electronically
the last two years made a big difference.)
However, someone suggested that compiling a "summer beach" reading
list might be useful. So send your suggestions in--up to three
books each--of books you think people might enjoy reading during
their summer vacations. If possible, try to pick books that are
currently available in paperback--no one likes to take a hardcover
book to the beach.
Please send all suggestions to evelyn.leeper@att.com, _n_o_t to the
entire mailing list. I will compile the results and they will
THE MT VOID Page 2
appear in next week's VOID, just in time for the Fourth of July
holiday weekend here, and certainly in plenty of time for Bastille
Day in France or Bank Holiday weekend in Britain. To our members
in Mexico and Denmark: I assume you have some holiday coming up,
but my globalization hasn't extended that far yet. (I know we
missed Cinco de Mayo, of course.) And to our Australian members:
you have a whole six months before summer rolls around there! [-
ecl]
===================================================================
2. It is time to at least talk about the last great taboo of our
society. The words that everybody think but that few people have
the courage to say. I must think these words thirty times a day and
yet dare not speak them aloud. I hear what you are saying. "He
must be going to talk about something sexual. I better hide this
from the kids." Well, first of all, no it is nothing like that.
(Besides, these days the kids could probably teach you a thing or
two.) But even today I am talking about the words that nobody
dares say, but that everybody thinks. Even kids in school think it
but dare not say it. And experts say that people will be thinking
this more and more in the future and may be all the more terrified
to say it aloud. What are the dreaded words that we all think but
only few have the courage to say out loud. The words are "I don't
know what you are talking about. I don't understand."
Certainly in school you are taught from the first that you should
study very hard and always be sure you will understand every pearl
of wisdom the teacher utters. Your parents expect that when your
math teacher says the hyperbolic tangent asymptotically approaches
zero you will think to yourself "Of course it does." When your
history teacher talks about the Diet of Worms you are expected to
know what he is talking about and not stop to ask yourself "what do
worms eat, anyway?" (Actually, I wonder if anybody even teaches
about the Diet of Worms anymore.)
As you get older it gets even worse with contractors asking you
about rabbiting joists, and car ads talking about dual cam engines.
Here at AT&T we take it a step further with the liberal use of
acronyms. "Shall we connect the TSGs to the smart hubs via NFS or
TCP/IP?" People who teach clarity of writing usually say to keep
acronyms to a minimum, but have your read a Bell Labs Technical
Journal lately. It looks like alphabet soup. Even when people
talk about TV these days everything is going technical. When I was
growing up I used to talk to my friends about the latest episode of
_T_h_e _O_u_t_e_r _L_i_m_i_t_s. I knew what they were talking about and they
knew what I was talking about. These days people talk about _S_t_a_r
_T_r_e_k or BABYLON _B_a_b_y_l_o_n _5 you have to keep straight the names of
seven or eight different alien races and forty or so different
character and actor names. Conversation gets more and more
THE MT VOID Page 3
technical and harder and harder to follow, even talking about TV
shows. These days talking about science fiction TV shows comes
down to conversations like "Didn't the Traggleump have hyperwarp
drive in their war against the Plargut?"
It is the hardest thing in the world to admit you don't understand.
But deep down most of you are like that, going through life afraid
to admit that you don't understand something. Now me, I am not
like that. I have admitted it the few times I didn't follow a
conversation. And you can believe that today I understand
everything I hear. Please.
===================================================================
3. WOLF (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule review: Jack Nicholson stars in a film that
tells a very traditional sort of werewolf story and
makes no attempt to redefine the sub-genre in any
way. Mike Nichols thankfully has more plot than
special effects, but there is not enough here to
sink your teeth into. Rating: low +1 (-4 to +4).
The Frankenstein monster and the vampire each owe their popularity
to a single novel that captured the public's imagination.
Werewolves are much more a product of the cinema, however. The
closest there comes to being a classic werewolf novel that impacted
cinema is Guy Endore's _W_e_r_e_w_o_l_f _o_f _P_a_r_i_s of 1933. The first well-
remembered werewolf film was 1935's _W_e_r_e_w_o_l_f _o_f _L_o_n_d_o_n. That and
_T_h_e _W_o_l_f_m_a_n (1941) really were what captured the public's interest
in human-animal shape-shifters. Since that time there have
probably been only four films that did anything really interesting
with the concept. Those would be (the flawed but original) _W_o_l_f_e_n
(1981), _T_h_e _H_o_w_l_i_n_g (1981), the under-rated _C_a_t _P_e_o_p_l_e (1982), and
_T_h_e _C_o_m_p_a_n_y _o_f _W_o_l_v_e_s (1984)--odd that they should all be in the
space of four years. Most other shape-shifter films followed the
same rules with minor variations and said little new about the
condition of being a shape-shifter. Generally you find someone
bitten by a werewolf, usually someone who is unable to express his
rage, who gets an outlet by turning into an animal and letting rage
be channeled in brutal ways. Unlike vampires, werewolves usually
detest their condition, but they are powerless to control it. The
condition easily applies itself to a metaphor for severe mental
problems much as vampirism is often a metaphor for drug addiction.
Right down this centerline of interpretation with almost no spin on
the ball is _W_o_l_f. Jack Nicholson plays Will Randall, an editor for
a leading publisher who looks for literary merit rather than books
that will make a fast buck. When his publishing house is taken
over by a corporate magnate, Raymond Alden (played by Christopher
THE MT VOID Page 4
Plummer), Randall finds himself being replaced and given the choice
of a bad job or none at all. The old Will was a softie who would
have stood by and taken it. However, after being bitten by a wolf
on a back Vermont road, Will feel unexplainedly invigorated and
ready to put up a fight. What follows is an almost by-the-numbers
amalgamation of elements of _W_e_r_e_w_o_l_f _o_f _L_o_n_d_o_n and _T_h_e _W_o_l_f_m_a_n.
This could almost be titled _T_h_e _W_o_l_f_m_a_n _o_f _M_a_n_h_a_t_t_a_n.
This is one film that really could have benefited by being done in
black and white. Director Mike Nichols occasionally manages an
atmospheric scene, but he is no Paul Schrader and Nichols probably
would not have had the clout to insist on black and white or highly
muted colors even if he wanted to use them. (Perhaps he could have
used a werewolf bite himself!) He also makes the irritating mistake
of showing Wolfman Will's superhuman leaps in slow motion where
they look totally unbelievable. (With Nichols directing, listen
for a voice cameo by his wife, Elaine May.)
_W_o_l_f features sound in THX, the screen's new abbreviation for "too
darn loud." The werewolf makeup was the creation the talented Rick
Baker, though here the effect is a bit understated. Wolf-Nicholson
looks like a Dickensian thug with an underbite. Nichols probably
could have chosen more elaborate special effects but for once a
director did not feel the need to have elaborate special effects
up-staging the actors. However, perhaps better effects were needed
for animatronic wolves, which do not look realistic.
Nicholson is a rather obvious choice for a werewolf since he always
seems to be barely keeping his animal side in check. Nevertheless
as the book editor with a heart who is always looking out for the
interest of his staff, he is less than totally convincing.
Michelle Pfeiffer is on-hand as an heiress and a woman who runs
(around) with the wolves. James Spader, Kate Nelligan, and
Christopher Plummer co-star and each give a reasonable performance.
This is a film that gives all it promises, but little that is new
or novel in the werewolf film. I rate it a low +1 on the -4 to +4
scale.
===================================================================
4. Julien Duvivier's THE GOLEM (1936) (a film review by Mark R.
Leeper):
To start with, what is a golem? It is a statue that has been
brought to life by mystical means. The Bible claims that God
created man by bringing the dust of the earth together and
breathing life into it. Legend has it that God can be invoked to
do it again by special Ceremonies, though the formula is imperfect
and the resulting Artificial human will lack the power of speech.
THE MT VOID Page 5
_F_r_a_n_k_e_n_s_t_e_i_n was inspired by golem legends. The most famous golem
story is of the Golem of Prague, brought to life to protect the
Jewish community. Films about golems are unusual though there had
been two made in Germany previously starring Paul Wegener. One of
them is a lost film, but the other is considered a classic. Since
that film was made a tide of anti-Semitism had risen in Germany.
In 1935 the Nuremburg Laws institutionalizing German state anti-
Semitism. About the same time a film, a French and Czech co-
production, was being made with veiled anti-German and not so
veiled pro-Jewish sentiments, _T_h_e _G_o_l_e_m. The film has interest as
a political document as well as a fantasy film. For many years
this has been a rare film, but this year it is starting to become
available on videotape.
The time is the 17th Century in Prague. Rabbi Loew, who created
the Golem is dead, but Rudolf II is still emperor. The troubled
Jewish community is now led by the young Rabbi Jacob, student and
friend of the late Rabbi Loew. Rudolf's tolerance of the Jewish
community has lasted about as long as the life of Loew. Now he is
reinstituting persecution albeit warily. His dreams are still
troubled with visitations of the Golem and he will not rest easy
until he possesses it and is sure the Jews cannot reanimate it. He
is willing to torture and kill to get his hands on the magical
statue. All his attempts to confiscate it fail until one night it
just appears in his palace, still stone-like and inanimate. With
the Golem under his thumb, the Rudolf safely returns to
persecution.
Except for the metaphor of its politics, and perhaps not even that
at the time, this is not a film of extreme subtlety. The
filmmakers were primarily interested in getting their idea across.
The feeding of Jews to lions is probably anachronistic, but it is
an image that the audiences could probably find meaningful. The
writers obviously felt very strongly about the film's message and
was neither shy nor particularly subtle about expressing that
message. When somebody tries to warn the Jews "Your brothers are
in the hands of murderers" it is clear that the message is meant
for more than the characters in the film. When the Emperor calls
himself a friend of Jews while torturing one the analogy may break
down slightly--at least the Nazis admitted their motives toward the
Jews--but still it is clear that it is another dig at the Third
Reich. The burning of the Jewish ghetto also seems to be a very
contemporary image in the film. The motto of the film, often
repeated, is "revolt is the right of a slave." The French
filmmakers do not say the French will come to the Jews' aid if they
revolt, but it definitely affirms their right.
Julien Duvivier directed the film as a somewhat fancy costume
drama, perhaps to attract a wider audience in the bleak days of the
late thirties in Europe. In a golem film, of course one of the
main considerations is the design of the Golem itself. Ferdinand
THE MT VOID Page 6
Hart is perhaps one of the least imaginative visualizations. It
looks more or less like a statue of a large bald man. The reasons
for toning down the horrific aspect of the Golem are again likely
to be political. If the film is supposed to instill a sense of
solidarity with the Jews, it would not make sense to have them be
the creators of monsters. The script then seems intentionally to
build suspense about the appearance of the Golem. He is not shown
on-screen until well into the plot and only at the end of a
suspenseful sequence of a nighttime walk through the big empty
palace. Disorientation and insecurity on the part of the emperor
are often created with a tilted camera.
Harry Baur as the emperor is goggle-eyed and insecure. He was at
the time a familiar actor, I believe. Charles Dorat as Rabbi Jacob
is young and handsome but his performance is not particularly
inspired. Finally there is Ferdinand Hart in the title role as the
mystical statue. What can you say about a role that for most of
the film requires you to stand absolutely still, then in the
inevitable climax for this sort of film suddenly in the final reel
turns into Machiste. The role requires more broad shoulders than
depth.
I would say that the film is less a work of art and more a piece
with some entertainment and an artifact of a dramatic period of
history. Nevertheless, as someone with a particular interest in
golem legends I am very pleased to see this particular film,
usually only available at campus showings, now on videotape.
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
m.r.leeper@att.com