Monday, February 23, 2009

The Devil and Daniel Webster | Biblical Jabez's Prayer

The main character in the short story The Devil and Daniel Webster and its 1941 and 2001 film adaptations living is a farmer with a guiltridden and godfearing mother named Jabez.

I instantly recognized this biblical name from a common Christian prayer The Prayer of Jabez which is offered as faith for financial blessings.

In the I Book of Chronicles Jabez is a well-respected man (ancestor in the lineage of the kings tribe of Judah whose prayer to God for blessing was answered, see 1 Chronicles 4:9-10. Moreover the author paused in this long list to give Jabez a place of honour in the long list of Kings and lineage.

This short passage of scripture came to the attention of millions of Christians following the publication of the book The Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson, in which he encouraged Christians to pray the way Jabez did.

1 Chronicles 4:9-10 King James Version 9 And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. 10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.

Have no confirmation for the short story author's intentions for using name 'Jabez' but the parallels of financial blessing coming from the 'opposite source' is pretty obvious. Stay tuned.


Electronic text for "The Devil and Daniel Webster" short story by Stephen Vincent Benét.

Duel in the Sun & Gone With the Wind | Same Photography?

Duel in The Sun



Gone with The Wind



Watcning Duel in the Sun, a 1946 Western film, I realized during the early scenes that I had almost mistaken the it for Gone With the Wind. Use of similar photographic elements including same technicolor warm colored richness and use of shadows and silhouettes. I double checked the TCM database to rule out both films having the same directors. With a little more research, I found the cinematographic common thread....Lee Garmes.

According to American Cinematographer magazine, "Although officially unaccredited, Lee Garmes photographed a considerable portion of Gone with the Wind. Many consider the famous railroad yard sequence among his finest cinematic efforts." Lee Garmes' Credits and MORE...




Worth Retweeting | TCM Remembers PWN Oscar Memorial! [videoclip]

TCM Remembers 2008
This is the Turner Classic Movies end of year tribute to all the stars and moviemakers that have passed in 2008



Oscar Memorial Video 2009
Each year, an "In Memoriam" video is played during the Oscars, paying tribute to actors, directors, writers, crew and other film personalities who have died over the past year. The 81st Annual Academy Awards ceremony, held on February 22, 2009, pays tribute to key cinema figures who died in 2008. People who passed away in 2008 ,Fast Facts and MORE...



Worth Retweeting

Oscar Memorial & TCM Remembers!

KymKyllei @CommunionNimrod Totally agree, re Oscars' vid being appallingly incomplete. TCM is a bit better: http://tinyurl.com/6jlpdb Kerry RichmondCommunionNimrod Some of the people they left out of the In Memory Of section of the Oscars was...well...somewhat appalling.
Cindy Parsonsgardendreamer Between the oscar memorial & TCM remembers. Chokes me up
David Jonesj_bacardi TCM wins the dead reel hands down. #oscars

Dragon Seed vs.The Good Earth

The Good Earth (1937) is a film about Chinese farmers who struggle to survive. It was adapted by Talbot Jennings, Tess Slesinger, and Claudine West from the play by Donald Davis and Owen Davis, which was in itself based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck.

The film starred Paul Muni as Wang Lung. For her role as his wife O-Lan, Luise Rainer won an Academy Award for Best Actress. The film also won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Karl Freund. It was nominated for Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Picture.

Irving Thalberg envisioned casting only Chinese actors for the movie, but gave up the idea because of the general disapproval and racism of Hollywood at the time. Anna May Wong had been touted for the role of O-Lan. However, because Paul Muni was of European descent, the Hays Code anti-miscegenation rules meant his character's wife had to be played by a white woman. Many of the characters were played by Western actors made to look Asian with aid of new make-up techniques developed by Jack Dawn that were first used in this movie.

Dragon Seed is another film based on a best-selling book by Pearl S. Buck. It is a 1944 war drama film starring Katharine Hepburn that portrays a peaceful village in China that has been invaded by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second sino-japanese war.

The men in the village choose to adopt a peaceful attitude toward their conquerors, but Jade (played by Hepburn), a headstrong woman, stands up to the Japanese.

Aline MacMahon was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actress.

Share your thoughts on these two films. How do you compare these two adaptations? Contrast the "yellow face" performances of the Western actors. Comment below or reply @TCManiacs!

Worthy Retweets
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Who is the mysterious TCManiac?

First, I'll tell you who I am not. I am not affiliated with TCM. I am not some superbot created by software developers. I am not being paid by TCM or anyone else to dedicate my time to tweeting. I am a real flesh and blood human being. I am a real maniac for TCM. I really do keep my TV tuned to TCM 24-7. I created the TCManiacs twitter as a result of my sincere passion for watching Turner Classic Movies.

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Well, I've been a fan of TCM since its inception. As I lay flat on my back recovering from a disabling health crisis unable to do little more than watch TV and surf the internet, I found refuge watching TCM round the clock. I soon developed an obsessive habit of keeping a browser tab open for the TCM schedule and beating Robert Osbourne's introductions to finding out facts for upcoming movies. My entire day and night became defined by the TCM line-up. At the beginning of 2009 I decided to check out twitter and lucked up on some fellow TCM fans to friend. During the 31 days Oscar I decided to dedicate a twitter just to share my TCM obsession by tweeting about every movie every day of February. I was totally overwhelmed by the number of fellow TCM maniacs that became my following. Its been a WIN WIN in everyway for me. I have had the opportunity to share fun stuff with some incredible fellow classic movie lovers and bloggers. With so many followers I became committed to maintaining the twitter schedule and finding fun stuff for upcoming TCM movies.
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