THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
04/26/19 -- Vol. 37, No. 43, Whole Number 2064
Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
Science Fiction (and Other) Discussion Groups, Films,
Lectures, etc. (NJ)
My Picks of Turner Classic Movies in May (comments
by Mark R. Leeper)
This Week's Reading (AN INFORMAL HISTORY OF THE HUGOS) (book
comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Science Fiction (and Other) Discussion Groups, Films,
Lectures, etc. (NJ)
May 9, 2019: THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS (1953) & "The Fog Horn"
by Ray Bradbury (THE GOLDEN APPLES OF THE SUN, Ray Bradbury;
http://www.grammarpunk.com/lit/gp/THE_FOG_HORN.pdf;
https://archive.org/stream/TheFogHorn/TheFogHorn.txt)
Middletown Public Library, 5:30PM
May 23, 2019: WE by Euegene Zamiatin (postponed from last meeting)
and DIASPORA by Greg Egan, Old Bridge Public Library, 7PM
July 25, 2019: THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)
September 26, 2019: TBD from Europe/Latin America/Africa/Canada,
Old Bridge Public Library, 7PM
November 21, 2019: THE SLEEPER WAKES by H. G. Wells (1910),
Old Bridge Public Library, 7PM
January 23, 2020: TBD from Europe/Latin America/Africa/Canada,
Old Bridge Public Library, 7PM
March 26, 2020: TBD by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Old Bridge Public
Library, 7PM
May 28, 2020: TBD from Europe/Latin America/Africa/Canada,
Old Bridge Public Library, 7PM
July 23, 2020: TBD by Jules Verne
September 24, 2020: TBD from Europe/Latin America/Africa/Canada,
Old Bridge Public Library, 7PM
November 19, 2020: Rudyard Kipling:
"A Matter of Fact" (1892)
"The Ship That Found Herself" (1895)
".007" (1897)
"Wireless" (1902)
"With the Night Mail [Aerial Board of Control 1]" (1905)
"As Easy as A.B.C. [Aerial Board of Control 2]" (1912)
"In the Same Boat" (1911)
Old Bridge Public Library, 7PM
Northern New Jersey events are listed at:
http://www.sfsnnj.com/news.html
===================================================================
TOPIC: My Picks of Turner Classic Movies in May (comments by Mark
R. Leeper)
NIGHTMARE ALLEY is one of my favorite films noir. Tyrone Power had
played pretty boy roles like Zorro before he went into the
military. But he knew he had to become a better actor or his good
looks would not get him much farther than they already had. He
chose the role of Stanton Carlyle, the carnival barker at a sleazy
carnival. There he is fascinated by the geek, the drunk who bit
the heads off of live chickens for half a bottle of whisky a day.
That is done off camera. Stan wants to use his natural charisma to
work his way as a top con man. Stan and his friends are all
sacrificed to Stan's ambition. Stan figures how they can all be
useful to him. This is a very dark and grim film noir film.
Audiences were freaked out by the theme on the film's first
release. It is now considered one of the best and most creepy film
noir films. I think that I recommend this film whenever it comes
up. Catch it. [NIGHTMARE ALLEY, Saturday, May 4 @ 12:00 AM (ET)]
Back when I was in college I agreed with other film lovers that the
two best American political thrillers were delivered as a one-two
punch by director John Frankenheimer. The first was THE MANCHURIAN
CANDIDATE (1962), based on the novel by Richard Condon, and the
second was SEVEN DAYS IN MAY (1964), based on the novel by Fletcher
Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II. The former will be on TCM in May.
It concerns a nefarious plot by China and the Soviets to steal the
United States by brainwashing and exploiting the political
animosities of Democrats and Republicans (parties never mentioned
by name). Also there is a presidential candidate who will remind
some of current-day politicians. Frank Sinatra stars with Janet
Leigh. [THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, Saturday, May 18 @ 05:45 PM (ET)]
My wife sends along the schedule of two TCM mini film series.
May 16 Thursday
6:00 AM Devil-Doll, The (1936)
7:30 AM Attack of the Puppet People (1958)
9:00 AM 7th Voyage of Sinbad, The (1958)
10:30 AM Tom Thumb (1958)
May 31 Friday
7:00 AM Most Dangerous Game, The (1932)
8:30 AM Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)
10:15 AM Vampire Bat, The (1933)
11:30 AM Mark of the Vampire (1935)
12:45 PM Mad Love (1935)
2:00 PM Devil-Doll, The (1936)
3:30 PM Walking Dead, The (1936)
4:45 PM Return of Doctor X, The (1939)
6:00 PM Hunchback of Notre Dame, The (1939)
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
I have been reading REVISITING THE HUGOS, which formed the basis
for AN INFORMAL HISTORY OF THE HUGOS: A PERSONAL LOOK BACK AT THE
HUGO AWARDS, 1953-2000 by Jo Walton (ISBN 978-0-765-37908-5), and
while I can see where she is coming from with the fiction, she was
way off base on Dramatic Presentations.
For example, for the 1963 Hugo (for works from 1962), "No Award"
won, beating BURN, WITCH, BURN (a.k.a. NIGHT OF THE EAGLE); THE DAY
THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE; LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD; and "The Twilight
Zone". Walton writes, "I love you, voters of 1963! Remember, we
could still do this when faced with dramatic presentation
categories that are all rubbish." One can certainly argue that at
least a couple of these were not rubbish, but Walton also fails to
do what she did with the Best Novel category: look at what else was
eligible. (Actually, I wonder at the eligibility of these; several
were 1961 films.) Other possible nominees among 1962 films would
have been CARNIVAL OF SOULS, "La Jetee", THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE,
and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (shown on "The Twilight
Zone" but not truly part of that series). Surely THE MANCHURIAN
CANDIDATE, at least, is not rubbish.
[Walton's comments about this category were dropped from the book.]
Walton's bias against Dramatic Presentations is even more obvious
in 1964. She writes, "Look what there isn't! Not just no award,
no dramatic presentation category at all! I expect the oracles
told them that somebody was about to be born who would be pleased
to hear it. Or maybe the genre films were all rubbish that year,
like a lot of other years."
Let's look at that "rubbish" year: THE BIRDS, THE HAUNTING, JASON
AND THE ARGONAUTS, and Orson Welles's version of THE TRIAL are not
considered rubbish by most critics. From more traditional fare,
there was BLACK SABBATH, KISS OF THE VAMPIRE, and SWORD OF
LANCELOT. And both "The Outer Limits" and "The Twilight Zone" were
on television that year. Whatever the reason for no category, it
was not because "the genre films were all rubbish that year."
[In the book, references to the Dramatic Presentation category for
this year were dropped entirely.]
For 1965 (films from 1964), though, she still writes, "I don't
think it's worth having a category with so few possible entrants,
but at least in 1965 they gave it to a worthy winner
[DR. STRANGELOVE]." The other nominee was 7 FACES OF DR. LAO, but
other "possible entrants" would have included FIRST MEN IN THE
MOON, LAST MAN ON EARTH, MARY POPPINS, ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS, and
SEVEN DAYS IN MAY, as well as "The Outer Limits" (including "Demon
with a Glass Hand."
For 1966 (films from 1965), she dismisses by implication
ALPHAVILLE, "Dark Intruder", "Theatre 625: 1984", SHE, and "The War
Game".
For 1968, she writes of the Dramatic Presentation category, "... a
category ought to have lots of worthy nominees to be worth having."
Oddly, she doesn't say anything about applying this to the
Professional Magazine category, which arguably has only a half-
dozen candidates that are even eligible.
Even in the novel category is a comment that ranks close to Robert
Silverberg's comment on the theory that James Tiptree, Jr., was
female; [I find it] "absurd, because there is to me something
ineluctably masculine" about Tiptree (later revealed to be a
penname for Alice Sheldon). In discussing SYLVA by Vercors, Walton
writes, "[It is] a novel translated from French. I am astonished.
I mean, okay, this happened the year before I was born and things
were different then, but can you imagine seeing a translated novel
on the Hugo ballot today? Wow." She wrote this at the end of
2010. In 2015, less than five years later, Cixin Liu's THE THREE-
BODY PROBLEM not only made the ballot, but won the Hugo for Best
Novel. And in 2017, his DEATH'S END was also on the ballot.
(Okay, maybe this is less like Silverberg and more like Isaac
Asimov publishing AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO THE SLIDE RULE right
before pocket electronic calculators hit the market.)
[This was corrected in a footnote in the book.]
Don't get me wrong--the book is worth reading and a useful look at
the Hugos over the years. But it's worth noting that Walton's
comments on Dramatic Presentations were toned down somewhat from
her original columns, and I suspect it was not because she had a
sudden epiphany on the quality of eligible films. Was it to give
more emphasis to the fiction categories? Was it because her
comments were likely to alienate some of her readers, either
because she seemed to totally dismiss Dramatic Presentations as a
valid category(*), or because she seemed to dismiss any science
fiction or fantasy film as rubbish?
[*] One argument for getting rid of the category (now categories)
is that the recipients and indeed almost all the finalists have no
interest in the award, cannot be bothered to show up for the
ceremony, and one suspects only send a thank-you speech because
Craig Miller convinces them to do so. I'm not sure this is a
reasonable argument. [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Like the ski resort full of girls hunting for husbands
and husbands hunting for girls, the situation is not as
symmetrical as it might seem.
--Alan MacKay