Posted on 03/01/2011 7:26:22 PM PST by ponygirl
They got it right.
Sure I would have loved to see the $40 million dollar version of the same movie, but the bottom line is that it works and works well. With the executive summary out of the way, let’s go into a bit more detail about the film itself. (If you want to read about my night out at the premiere, that’s here.)
I finished reading the book for the first time just a couple weeks ago. The book itself is brilliant. It reads like a thriller or a beach novel, and yet there is nary a word in its 1100 pages that isn’t calculated to support the theme and the ideas Rand is trying to get across. Agree or disagree with her premise (or like me, some of both); it’s impossible not to appreciate the scope and genius of what Ayn Rand wrote.
But the book was published in 1956 and set in the near future. This creates some immediate problems for adapting it in the present day, most significantly the fact that the book centers on a rail empire when most of us are used to thinking of airlines as the main mode of trans-continental transportation. The film sets this aside in an opening montage and moves on. It’s not the only solution I can think of, but it works and you forget about it and get absorbed into the film itself.
The story is really the star here. It’s a film on gleaming blue rails that carefully follow the curves of the landscape Ayn Rand created over 50 years ago. There won’t be any unpleasant surprises for devotees of the novel. No Jar-Jar moments to make you cringe. In fact, the producers have put together a top notch cast of character actors, many of whom ...
(Excerpt) Read more at verumserum.com ...
John must be a man of limited imagination if he cannot transport himself to another time. I just read a fascinating history of the telegraph. It never occurred to me that I couldn't enjoy it because I use the Internet, optical networks, 10 gig Ethernet and mobile phones.
Another positive review of the movie.
Thank you, Publius...I appreciate the ping.
Rookie!
Perfect!
I’m interested to know the fascinating history of the telegraph. Please reccomend.
Thanks Publius. I, too, appreciate the ping.
Cooper's Howard Roark and "The Fountainhead" in 1949 was enjoyable enough but just didn't quite capture the magic of Rand's book.
Come to think of it, off the top of my head, the only movie that I've ever seen do justice to the book it was based in was the Huston/Bogart version of Hammett's "Maltese Falcon".
I can’t FREAKIN’ wait until April 15th (for the first time ever!!)
Two great books. First, “The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century’s On-line Pioneers” by Tom Standage, 256 pages. It is a short but quite concise history and has a lot of great anecdotes. I’m always impressed by business history throughout the ages and how science, technology, manufacturing and entrepreneurs come together. The speed at which the technology was adopted is truly amazing. Unfortunately, the book doesn’t discuss much about how capital was raised and the amounts of capital needed to launch and expand the global network. And the stories about how crooks, con-men, and lovers used the telegraph are wonderful as is the opening story about the first crude experiment to measure the speed of electricity by having monks holding a copper wire which was connected to a battery. I just finished this one about a week ago.
Second, “A Thread Across the Ocean: The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable” by John Steele Gordon, 272 pages. I actually read this book first a few years ago. It focuses on the incredible challenges of building undersea cables which happened almost immediately after the telegraph was invented.
I’m sure you’ll enjoy them both.
I reckon if the movie is good enough to pique the interest of some who have not read the book, that would be far more important than satisfying fans of the book, eh?
"...[Ma's] voice sounded as if it were falling in drops, not of water, but of mayonnaise. 'Soybeans make an excellent substitute for bread, meat, cereals and coffee--and if all of us were compelled to adopt soybeans as our staple diet, it would solve the national food crisis and make it possible to feed more people. The greatest food for the greatest number--that's my slogan. At a time of desperate public need, it's our duty to sacrifice our luxurious tastes and eat our way back to prosperity by adapting ourselves to the simple, wholesome foodstuff on which the people of the Orient have so nobly subsisted for centuries. There's a great deal that we could learn from the peoples of the Orient.'" ~Part III, Ch. 5, Brother's Keepers
In the movie, one of the political characters was cast to look like Barney Frank.
The movie takes place in modern day, making it somewhat anachronistic for its focus on railroads.
Every time I see (and hear) Barney Frank, I think, “This is a joke, right? This is some Vaudevillian idea of what a corrupt, scum-sucking slime of a politician would look like?” But no. It’s the real thing. Who in the heck would vote for such an individual? He should be an absolute laughingstock. But he’s one-half of the two responsible for our financial meltdown.
Frank is a labor liberal with his feet firmly planted in the 1950’s, and he perfectly matches his blue collar district. His bedroom activities are forgiven by his constituents.
What was the name of the book about the history of the telegraph?
I am a 27 year veteran of telecom and always looking for things to read or collect.
thanx
The Governor of Florida is attempting to kill high speed rail boondoggle in our state.
I think it is prophetic. With soaring fuel costs the current administration wants to force us out of our cars and have us all riding the rails. You know, like India.
I saw that character in one of the previews ... I thought he’d make a good Jim Taggart.
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