Film & Literature
Last night Movies!, channel 5–2 on OTA in NYC, ran Shadow of a Woman (1946), the story of a female swept off her feet by a smooth talking, controversial doctor. Is he a visionary or a con man? A lot of it strained credulity and the performances were only so so. Still, it was watchable. It stars Andrea King and Helmut Dantine. The former’s career spanned 1940-’94, 75 titles beneath her name at IMDb. Born in France to a WWI ambulance driver who danced with Isadora Duncan, she was raised in Forest Hills. She was a guest star on many popular primetime shows, and did Broadway. She also wrote children’s stories and an autobiography. Married 30 years until her husband’s death, she was a mom of one. She passed away at 84 in 2003… Born in Austria, Dantine was a fervent anti-fascist/anti-Nazi activist in Vienna. Imprisoned at the Rosserlaende concentration camp at 19, family influence persuaded a physician to grant him a medical release, and he was immediately sent to Los Angeles. His good looks attracted talent scouts, and soon he was playing Nazis on screen, most notably in the Oscar-winning Mrs. Miniver (1942). There are 55 titles under his name. He too appeared in popular TV fare. He also co-produced three films, two by Sam Peckinpah: Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) and The Killer Elite (1975). He had a minor part in each. Married three times, he was a father of three. He was taken by a heart attack at 63 in 1982. Here are the handsome couple in character:
I rarely connect with the work of modern literary darlings and it makes me think I have no idea what constitutes good fiction. This has happened again regarding Love Invents Us by Amy Bloom, her first novel, published in 1998. It’s the story of the loves of a young, non-religious Jewish woman from puppy love until her 40’s. I’ve admired many novels despite not liking the main character. I was surprised I was able to finish this one. Fortunately, the large paperback version is only 205 pages, so I plodded on to the bitter end. Only one of the players is appealing, a betrayed wife, and she is not in any scenes, merely mentioned. Another had great potential, a female Holocaust survivor, mom of three, who paints disturbing pictures, also remained largely off stage. By rights, I should have related to the tale, as it is set in the same era in which I grew up, ‘60’s and ‘70’s. Bloom ignores the turbulence and concentrates on the relationships, which is refreshing, as is the fact that the most bigoted character is the black father who exiles his son to family in the south once he learns the kid is involved with a white girl. The two remain the love of each other’s life throughout the narrative. Everyone in life suffers dysfunction to a degree, but here it is non-stop. The pathetic high school teacher, an alcoholic whose father was also one, tried my patience. Bad or indifferent parenting is a major theme. I thought the writing mediocre. At times I didn’t know what was being conveyed. Maybe that’s because the author is smarter, more educated than I. She took college seriously and worked both as a social worker and psychotherapist. Born in NYC in ’53, married twice, Bloom is a mom of three. She has written several other books, including non-fiction and a childrens’ book, and has had stories published in notable magazines such as the New Yorker. She has been nominated for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. She created the 2007 show State of Mind, starring Lili Taylor as a shrink. It shot eight episodes. 120 users at Amazon have rated Love Invents Us, forging to a consensus of 3.8 on a scale of five. I’ll go with two.
Why isn’t this big news? Excerpt from a nypost.com editorial about Qatar: “Workers who built World Cup stadiums there toiled under ‘slave-like’ conditions, contributing to the deaths of 6,500.” Are you kidding me?
Not much action at the floating book shop on this gorgeous day. My thanks to the woman who donated a handful of titles, and to Wolf, who bought Lone Wolf in Jerusalem by Ehud Diskin; and to the lovely young woman who pulled up on her scooter and overcompensated me for a hardcover in Russian.
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