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...

shootinglessons1000.blogspot.com for MORE...

www.filmlogging.com for 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...

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Oscar Memorial & TCM Remembers!

Kyllei @CommunionNimrod Totally agree, re Oscars' vid being appallingly incomplete. TCM is a bit better: http://tinyurl.com/6jlpdb about 3 hours ago from web in reply to CommunionNimrod
CommunionNimrod Some of the people they left out of the In Memory Of section of the Oscars was...well...somewhat appalling. about 10 hours ago from web
gardendreamer Between the oscar memorial & TCM remembers. Chokes me up about 12 hours ago from TwitterFon

j_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!

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