On Fri, 27 Jan 2006 17:53:21 -0500, Debra Jackson/Harold Forsythe wrote

> Having admitted that, I want to assert that film is a business.  It
> occasionally produces some great artists, John Huston, Akira
> Kurasawa, Ingmar Bergman, but it remains a business.
<snip>
> The typical investor in films would rather have one that
> teenagers see ten times than that history buffs see once and cheer
> about its accuracy and clarity.  The market can do many things but
> it isn't much good for making great art any more.

I think that Hollywood would judge "New World" as a business failure too
because it's more of a self-indulgent piece of ....art than a marketable
source of entertainment. "Master and Commander" though a mish mash of at
least four of Patrick O'Brian's books, and not a faithful rendering of any
one book, "Far Side of the World" in particular, it was at least entertaining
and well done. "Pirate's of the Caribbean" which was also a historical
atrocity as far as material culture goes was a very entertaining and
lucrative production. It would seem that "New World" fails on all counts, and
amounts to little more than a video coffee table book. August Schellenberg
was awesome in "Black Robe" as was Wes Studi in "Last of the Mohicans". With
such talent in the movie, it's a shame that a better film could not have been
made.

Regards,

Tom Apple

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html