Sunday, October 24, 2010

Triad 2 (redux)



3 comments:

  1. I saw your moniker on a blog post by MovieMan on Directors. I'm a Gordon of Khartoum fan as well. A while back I posted a review of Khartoum. Also notice that you love David Copperfield; it's my favorite novel.

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  2. Hello Hokahey. I appreciate the fortuitous posting by Movie Man that led you to my site. “David Copperfield” has long been the book in my life and, as the years encroach, I still try to read it again every five years or so.

    Gordon is a more than fifty year interest. My road to Khartoum passed through Baker Street. When, in one of Conan Doyle’s short stories, Holmes mentioned Dr. Watson’s picture of Gordon hanging on the wall, I went to a book store to buy a Gordon biography to find out more about him (pre Internet days). Today we possess some 1000 books on the subject.

    My wife and I have been working on a bibliography of Gordon, sporadically in earlier decades, but close to full time for the past eleven years. During that time we have spent approximately two or three months each year doing research at numerous institutions in the United Kingdom, mainly at The British Library. The remainder of our time we work on the project in the United States. We are bibliographers, not historians.

    I read your posting on “Khartoum” and will drop a note as time permits. Like anyone who gets too close to a subject, I have mixed emotions on the film -– particularly with Heston as Gordon. But, being interested in film for a lifetime, I understand the need of a big name to carry the economic burden of a big film. My choice would have been John Mills -- but that is a tale for another day. Best and thanks for contacting me. I trust (and suspect) we will meet again. Gerald

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  3. John Mills as Gordon - and the film directed by David Lean. Yes, I would have preferred that but since I love that history so much, I was happy for any movie about Gordon. Thus, my interest in him started when I first saw that movie when it came out in the 60s. The last time I was in London I went especially to find his statue.

    My interest was further piqued by an article in the Scientific American (probably back in the early 90s) about Gordon that I read in a doctor's waiting room. I wish I had lifted that magazine. Have your read the article? Do you have it? I admire your devotion to compiling books on Gordon.

    As for Dickens, I have read all his novels; I have read David Copperfield at least 5 times. My first reading got me through a very hard time in my life. The power of books... and Dickens!

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