For several long seconds the camera lingers on a man’s face. He is waiting. At last we cut to hand held footage following the man and his three companions, all carrying surfboards. They hurl themselves into a heaving ocean. The ultimate wave has arrived. It starts to roll and we see that the men are not alone. The spirit of the wave is physically embodied in enormous white horses which are charging through the water with them. Above, below and inside the wave men and horses surge thrillingly forward.
Could be good, could be bad, Hollywood’s inability this century to come up with anything new; relying instead on making 8-figure-budget movies based on comic book characters, old TV sitcoms, and of course remakes, err, reimagings of old movies. There is a new version of Moby Dick in the works, to be directed by Russian action film maker Timur Bekmambeto, of Wantedfame.
The rumored story line tinkerings are already making me uneasy, but one good piece of news is that six traditional whaleboats have been built over the past summer by our old friends at Norseboat, Ltd (pic above). They look great, and I hope the CGI whale doesn’t destroy them all so that some will find a good home after filming is completed.
First historical episode of the Adventures of Paradise series, broadcasted on ABC TV on 5th October 1959. Starring Gardner McKay, as Adam Troy, captain of the schooner Tiki. Swilling down rum while watching the box set souns like a great idea — searching eBay now!
Sadly, Diane Webber, figure model, playmate, and star of the immortal classic Mermaids of Tiburon passed away at age 76 last summer. NSL shares some clips from the film in memorium.
The girls and I took in Morning Light, Roy Disney’s film of the TransPac campaign he put together crewed by college sailors with no previous ocean experience. We thought it was terrific, but because the reviews have not been that great, you might want to catch is soon before DVD is your only option. The photography was excellent, and I thought the film makers did a good job of being true to the sailing without dumbing it down for a general audience. The reality show aspect that I had heard a lot about was not nearly as promenent as I had feard. All in all, it seemed like truthful storytelling.
Roy Disney’s film Morning Light, in which a crew of teens with no ocean sailing experience crew a TP52 in the 2007 Transpac, opens October 17. Looks like a must-see.
The scene of Crown racing a catamaran replaced a similar scene in the original script (and the original movie) that was set at a polo match. Director John McTiernan deemed a polo match to be too much of a cliche, and wanted a scene that conveyed more action and excitement, and not just wealth.
The catamaran that Thomas Crown is seen racing in Long Island Sound is a D-Type Catamaran, an extremely fast and highly unstable yacht design from the 1980s. The D-Type’s were designed by California based aeronautical engineers to try to break inshore multihull speed records. Today there are only a handful of them left in the world.
From the Aussie-produced TV-movie Mermaids (2003) (IMDb, wiki, fansite with stills). Find-able on the Interweb.
Diana, a stubborn mermaid, is determined to bring justice to the men who killed her merman father. Never having lived out of water before, she enlists the help of her two sisters (already living on land) to track down the murderers. Diana finds that her sister, Venus, is an aquatic dancer in a seedy bar who was forced into the position by the evil bar owner who has taken Venus’ magic tiara, giving him ultimate control of her. June, the third sister, works at the local aquarium and is able to recruit the help of her friend, and love interest, Randy, a coast guard officer, to help the mermaids track down their father’s killers. The sisters join forces and along the way, discover how difficult it is to be a fish out of water, and how meaningful sisterhood is.
These mermaids are friends of Peter Pan and they are very interested in his stories. They are resentful of Wendy and try to drown her although Peter insists they were having fun. They are frightened away when they hear that Captain Hook is rowing nearby. The mermaids appear to be in their mid-teens and one of them has red hair leaving some to believe she was the inspiration for another Disney character, Ariel.
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