Jeff Bernstein

CINEMATIC PROSE : In Cold Blood (1959) Earlier in this thread Scrooby noted the following line from The Great Gatsby : Inside, the crimson room bloomed with light. Scrooby theorised that storyteller Fitzgerald meant to prompt in the reader’s mind, consciously or otherwise, an image of a red rose. The non-fiction novel In Cold Blood by Truman Capote has a fine example of this skilful technique incorporated into the first chapter, "The Last to See Them Alive" : The chill of oncoming dusk shivered through the air, and though the sky was still deep blue, lengthening shadows emanated from the garden’s tall chrysanthemum stalks. This line, the first of a paragraph, may be deemed equivalent to an establishing shot. The paragraph concerns the homestead of the Clutter family. A few pages earlier, the house’s front yard is described : Situated at the end of a long, lanelike driveway shaded by rows of Chinese elms, the handsome white house, standing on an ample lawn of groomed Bermuda grass, impressed [the village of] Holcomb. So when storyteller Capote writes : The chill of oncoming dusk shivered through the air he intends for us to see this—the shivering-swaying of the elm leaves, the grass, the chrysanthemums. Absolutely no question—literary genius.

THE POWER OF ANCIENT GREEK Evocative of Sappho's "Come, Aphrodite, pour your nectar into golden cups." The happy ending of Good Girls Go to Paris (1939)

A climactic SCREEN KISS of the 1930s EXTREME RECTILINEAR Ninotchka: "You're very sure of yourself, aren't you?" EWS : "You are very, very sure of yourself, aren't you?"

DEFY THE GODS — FIGHT THE POWER Punch-Drunk Love (2002) / Do the Right Thing (1989)

When Scrooby was a child he had Star Wars action figures; five-year-old Daniel had a clay figurine of Simeon, an ascetic standing on a pillar in the desert—a piece of Roman work, for the land of Mesopotamia where Daniel lived was a Roman province. He was at five years old when his parents took their one son, as yet unnamed by them, up to a monastery in their village of Bethara; there the monks christened him. Neither parent had a qualm when their son at twelve years of age went off by himself and journeyed all the way into Turkey, a trek of over six hundred miles from the Euphrates to the Orontes, walking ten miles a day, with short rests, and came to the city of Aleppo; and in the wilds beyond the city he came to the holy man Simeon standing on the pillar in the desert. In the following I tell of this meeting. tbc

s o o n

Master cinematographer William H. Daniels Dinner at Eight (1933). John Barrymore's psychological trouble is transmitted cinematically via the flashing city lights outside of the window :

CLASSIC SCREEN KISS MODERNISED : Time After Time (1979) Coincidentally, the same year, with Sven Nykvist now in Hollywood . . . "If we're gonna kiss each other, I think it'd be a good idea, if one of us closed our eyes." Starting Over (1979)

Surreal SCREEN KISS : The Spiral Staircase (1946) A kiss as a voyage to a new world : crossing the line into stormy love.

ELABORATE TRIPLE SCREEN KISS : Force of Evil (1948)

DEFY THE GODS "the shadow of a magnitude" / Keats, "On Seeing the Elgin Marbles" Okay, but what about these Greek gods? What is their fundamental attitude towards human beings? Friend Scrooby, working tirelessly, provides here a translation of the opening of the Trojan Women of Euripides (ll. 1–97), which not only answers the above questions, but also provides a treatment of the origin story of THE ODYSSEY. POSEIDON I have come up from the depths of the salty Aegean sea, POSEIDON, where the Nereids whirl in beautiful dances. Ever since Apollo and I put up smooth stone walls, perfectly measured, around this city of Troy, I have had a soft spot for the Trojans and their home. Now the city is smoking ruins, destroyed by the power of the Greeks, who built a wooden horse (a scheme of Athena's and built by the Phocian, Epeus), inside which warriors were hidden; it went within the walls of the city and brought destruction to the Trojan people. The sacred groves to the gods are now deserted; our temples run with blood. At the base of the statue of Zeus in the midst of his court, Priam, King of Troy, lies dead. Meanwhile, much gold and other spoils of war the Greeks are carrying to their ships. They await a wind to take them back to their wives and children, pleased to be going home after ten years of war. I have been beaten by Hera and Athena—it was they who destroyed Troy— so I'm leaving this famous spot and all of my altars here. Whenever a city collapses, there's no one left to pray, and the gods are no longer given their proper reverence. I hear cries and shouts from River Scamander. There, the women are being divided up, appointed by lot to this man or that man; many shrieking women are meeting new masters. Look there! See the miserable queen of Troy, Hecuba, lying by the door of the destroyed palace, if you want to see her. She is weeping many tears for many reasons; and it's worse for her—she doesn't know her daughter Polyxena is dead, murdered at the tomb of Achilles. Her husband and her sons are dead; and her frantic daughter Cassandra, whose chastity Lord Apollo preserved, is now Agamemnon's property against the wishes of the god, and the Greek king will force her to occupy his bed, and take her. Well then. Goodbye, my city of Troy, and your walls of smooth stone, once prosperous, now utterly destroyed and brought to nothing. If Zeus' daughter Athena hadn't done all this, you would still be standing tall. ATHENA You who are near to my father in power and reverence, may I forget our differences of foretimes and speak to you? POSEIDON Of course, Lady Athena. Talk with one's family charms the heart. ATHENA Thank you for your kindness. There is something you and I must discuss. POSEIDON Do you bring word of a new message from Zeus, or another god? ATHENA No. I want to speak of right where we stand, the city of Troy. This is why I have come to you. I hope to win an ally. POSEIDON You are going to cast aside all your hatred for this place? Now you feel compassion while the city burns to ashes? ATHENA Let's return to my original point. Will you hear my words, and then undertake to do with me what I would wish to do? POSEIDON Of course. But what is it you want? This is what I want to know. ATHENA I want to cheer up the Trojan people, my former enemies; and bring down upon the Greek army a bitter, painful return. POSEIDON What is this with you, first hating very much, and now loving? ATHENA Are you aware my temples have been treated outrageously? POSEIDON I know; it happened when Ajax carried Cassandra away. ATHENA And for what he did the Greeks gave him no punishment at all. POSEIDON And it was with your strength that the Greeks annihilated Troy. ATHENA This is why, if you are willing, I am going to hurt them. POSEIDON I am ready to do as you say. What would you have me do? ATHENA I want their voyage home to be thrown into confusion. POSEIDON While they're still standing here on land, or sailing on the sea? ATHENA When they're sailing home from Troy. Zeus will send thunderstorms and hail and contrary winds relentlessly. He promises me a lightning-bolt to throw down at their ships and I will consume the Greeks in fire. You, Lord Poseidon, will make the passage of the Aegean a treacherous way of mighty waves and much clamour, with whirlpools to drag them down. Fill all the coastlines of Greece with dead bodies. Then they will learn to reverence me rightly in my temples, and other gods, too. POSEIDON I can do that; so we need not waste any more words on it. The beaches of Greece will be covered in many dead bodies. So then. Go on up to Olympus, and take the lightning-bolt from your father's hand, and wait for the Greeks to let out their sails. How dumb are these mortals! They pillaged Troy, desecrated tombs and our temples, yet aren't nearly smart enough to save themselves.

Music The teaser starts as if with Richard Strauss, and ends as if with Penderecki . . . sound familiar, friends?

9. One day a messenger came running up to the monastery door and shouted out the coming of enemy raiders from afar. Look! See the dust rising on the horizon! They’re coming on horseback! The monks gathered to decide the matter. Moses was now seventy-five years old and the elder of the monastery. He said he wasn’t going anywhere. “Those who wish to flee should go now,” he said. “Those who wish to stay, I will stay with you.” Seven monks elected to stay behind with Moses, who reportedly spoke out : “Live by the sword, die by the sword”—was he remembering his nighttime Nile swim? This saint’s story ends in a grand manner. Protecting those entrusted to his care, the agèd Moses fended off the foe the best he could until he fell in death. After a lifetime of patient suffering, he left behind him many disciples. END. 18 June – 29 June 2025