{"id":3801,"date":"2011-11-11T20:50:27","date_gmt":"2011-11-12T01:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mondomark.com\/wordpress\/?p=2561"},"modified":"2011-11-11T20:50:27","modified_gmt":"2011-11-12T01:50:27","slug":"charlton-heston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=3801","title":{"rendered":"Charlton Heston"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Charlton Heston (ver. 1.0)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s a shame that the mention of Charlton Heston brings forth not thoughts of his significant body of work (vers. 1.0), but a crazy old actor raising a rifle able his head, growling \u201cFrom my cold, dead hands\u201d like the pivotal moment in a drama where a tolerant man snaps, and stands up against the bully that\u2019s massacred everything he\u2019s ever held dear (vers. 2.0).<\/p>\n

The video footage<\/a> of Heston at the NRA conference remains an indelible image, and it undoubtedly tarnished his image as an actor, filmmaker, and gifted voice to that of a right wing extremist \u2013 that\u2019s if one sides with the \u2018liberal\u2019 angle.<\/p>\n

One can theorize that as people age, their views and stances change, perhaps drifting to extremes of right or left, or perhaps mellowing out, but what was so striking about Heston\u2019s change was the drama he invested in that particular appearance, which rendered him more of a political figure than just an actor who worked hard all of his life in theatre, film, and TV.<\/p>\n

He still worked hard, but the broad media seemed to handle him a little differently, arguably reporting his actions only when there was controversy or hyped controversy. I disagreed with his politics, but I couldn\u2019t lose the affection for the actor, because Heston starred in many of my favourite films, be they historical dramas (The Ten Commandments<\/strong>, Ben-Hur<\/strong>), disaster idiocies (Earthquake<\/strong>),\u00a0 classic sci-fi (Soylent Green<\/strong>, The Omega Man<\/strong>), and classics such as Orson Welles\u2019 Touch of Evil<\/strong>, or as Christopher Leinigen in The Naked Jungle<\/strong> (where Heston really hammed up the dialogue, turning ridiculous lines like \u2018Leinigen\u2019s woman\u2019 into deliciously bad drama moments. Not necessarily his fault, but that mighty jaw and stentorian tone gave bad dialogue undeserving gravitas).<\/p>\n

Warner Home Video\u2019s been releasing small does of Heston\u2019s own productions this year, made via Agamemnon Films which he ran with son Fraser Heston, and the gems have included Antony and Cleopatra<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (1972), The Mother Load<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (1982), and now A Man for All Seasons <\/a><\/strong>[M<\/a>] (1988), and Treasure Island<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (1990).<\/p>\n

The surprise: Charlton Heston was a pretty capable director, aided by a top team of editors, producers, stunt coordinators, fight choreographers, and cinematographers. He knew how to put together a good picture, and it\u2019s unfortunate he directed only 3 films.<\/p>\n

A Man for All Seasons<\/strong> is unique for presenting Robert Bolt\u2019s play, including the characters and scenes dropped from the 1966 film adaptation, so it provides a record of the epic play on film, and it\u2019s largely successful in conveying Bolt\u2019s brilliance as a dramatist.<\/p>\n

Treasure Island<\/strong> marked son Fraser Heston\u2019s directing debut, and like his father, he picked material that meant something to him on a personal level, surrounding himself with the best creative technicians, and exploited the richness of actors from the U.K. There are and will continue to be adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson\u2019s classic novel for film and TV venues, but this one is pretty solid, and features an outstanding score by The Chieftan\u2019s Paddy Moloney. (Note to Fraser: given Ken Wannberg\u2019s excellent Mother Lode<\/strong> score is available on CD, how about Treasure Island<\/strong>?)<\/p>\n

The DVD also includes a steady commentary track by son Fraser, filled with solid production notes, anecdotes, and (obviously) fond recollections of dad Charlton. While informational, the track also humanizes the actor, which not please his detractors, but refocuses attention on his work, which is his most important legacy.<\/p>\n

Both DVDs feature mattered transfers of films originally made for Ted Turner\u2019s TNT network, although it seems the films were aired 1.33:1 but filmed with a widescreen ration in mind. Once in a\u00a0 while things seem a little tight, but not dangerously so, as with Columbia\u2019s daft tightening of the ratio for Richard Fleisher\u2019s 10 Rillington Street<\/strong>, or the too-tight matting in Joe Dante\u2019s The Howling<\/a><\/strong>, and Sam Raimi\u2019s Evil Dead<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

One odd little motif among the elder Heston\u2019s films seems to be a fixation on water: Antony<\/strong>, Man<\/strong>, and Treasure<\/strong> all begin with characters arriving by boat to their land destinations, whereas Lode<\/strong> has characters flying in by plane. Strange coincidence, or a fetish for dramas where the intros much occur over or on water?<\/p>\n

In any event, read the DVD reviews, and serious: please release Moloney\u2019s score<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Last quick note: also now online at Rue Morgue\u2019s Staff Blog<\/a> is my lengthy chronicle \/ tally of the various music used in \/ written for the original 1925 production of The Phantom of the Opera<\/strong>, which was recently released on Blu-ray by Image, and has been reportedly recalled due to some technical issues (such as Gabriel Thibaudeau\u2019s score being in mono).<\/p>\n

The essay is long, but hey, if you\u2019ve a coffee, a donut, a sandwich, and<\/em> an apple to consume and have nothing retentive to read, why not be baffled by the film\u2019s complex soundtrack history?<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark R. Hasan<\/strong>, Editor
\nKQEK.com <\/strong>( Main Site<\/a> \/ Mobile Site<\/a> )<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DVD reviews of two notable films starring Charlton Heston from Warner Home Video: A Man for All Seasons (featuring the filmed play), and Treasure Island (marking Fraser Heston’s directorial debut), plus a link to my recent essay on the music of the original 1925 Phantom of the Opera at Rue Morgue’s Staff Blog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[6,4,5],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-Zj","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3801"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3801"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3867,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3801\/revisions\/3867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}