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Subject: Re: NG Blackbeard adaptation Author: Dan [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] Date Posted: 16:57:48 03/16/06 Thu In reply to: Susan 's message, "NG Blackbeard adaptation" on 16:57:16 03/13/06 Mon Yep, I saw it and I agree with your take Susan.The production was fine and the ships, clothing, etc were most likely quite accurate for the times. Purefoy is probably a close match physically to the real Blackbeard but a little more energy from him would have been nice. Except for the final scenes where he fights Maynard and Maynard's crew he seems pretty laid back for someone so notorious. While watching it I was thinking how well Newton could have done the role even if he were asked to play it seriously. I'm sure Newton could have come across very menacing had he had the opportunity to do this serious version of Blackbeard. When I watch Newton's version of Blackbeard it never ceases to amaze me how easily he slips into the role and how easily he uses the vocabulary with the natural ham he had. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

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[> [> Subject: Re: NG Blackbeard adaptation Author: Susan [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 04:57:23 03/17/06 Fri I agree, Dan--Robert Newton could certainly be menacing when called for in serious films like "Obsession" or "Kiss the Blood Off My Hands." He's even pretty scary in his first scene in "Major Barbara," which I just rewatched the other night. (Well, *portions* of it.) Imagining him as Blackbeard in this version sends chills up my spine. Yet I'm sure he would have added a charismatic and compelling dimension as well--I suspect the real Blackbeard could be quite a charmer. I mean, he did manage to snare 14 wives, according to the legend! And charisma most certainly was a pre-requisite for holding a band of 400 scurvy cutthroats together! I'm sure Robert Newton's real-life Naval background helped him make all that nautical jargon sound so natural. (One of my favorite lines from "Blackbeard the Pirate" that rolled off his tongue so easily but then took me several minutes to decode: "Lash 'er t' the mizzen pinrail." [Me: "Mizzen _pinrail_? OK, 'mizzen' would be the rear mast. But pinrail ... pinrail ... Hmm, not in my dictionary of nautical terminology. Did I hear it right? Hey, could that be the rail where the belaying pins are hung around the mizzenmast ...? Well, I'll be, that's exactly where they've lashed 'er!" And thus did Robert Newton teach me a new word!] BTW, another version of Blackbeard he would have been so awesome in ... Have you ever seen "Blackbeard's Ghost"? It was a corny '60s Disney film starring Peter Ustinov. I loved the book back when I was about 12 or 13--of course, I was imagining RN in the role as I read. But then I saw the movie, and they had mangled the story almost beyond recognition. The book was much more spooky--and Blackbeard more beguiling, IMO, than Ustinov's somewhat goofy interpretation. Though the book's really geared towards kids or young adults, I re-read it again years later and still enjoyed it. If anybody's interested in finding a copy (and imagining Bob as the main character like I did), it's by Ben Stahl and was first published in 1965. (Of course, I highly suspect, given the year it was written, Robert Newton had some influence on the author's conception of the character!) [ Post a Reply to This Message ]