Finally somebody here speaks of Modesty Blaise...and we can then dream of
Melina Mercouri...and that wacky Joseph Losey film...pure delight...the
books (novelizations) were not bad either and I still have all the original
UK ones...inclusing a few of the Bande Dessinées...
And when it comes to Le Carré...the two BBC series are an absolute must and
all the casts there are brilliant...and Jim Prideaux¹s composition was
mesmerizing (Ian Bannen)...
Thank you James...!
On 4/23/09 1:04 AM, "James Michael Rogers" <jeddak5@cox.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> Those happy few who recall my obsessions from a few years back will recall my
> affection for spy novels. Thanks to the intertubes, I have recently been
> privileged to experience the entire Modesty Blaise run in the comics, as well
> as the amazing BBC series of "Tinker , Tailor, Soldier, Spy".....one of the
> few films which turned out to be better executed and more hard-bitten than I
> recalled (I love the line: "I have a story to tell you....it's all about
> spies. It changed my life. And if you believe it - as I do -you might find
> it's going to change yours.")
>
> What I love most about LeCarre' and the adaptations of his work is how the
> violence is kept offstage, hovering as a constant threat that informs the
> actions of the characters. Yet even when a person gets "the full gitmo" you
> always see them either before or after.....not during the violent experience.
> Most of the James Bond stuff is implied only. For instance in "Tinker...", one
> only knows Prideaux is a killer by the description a child gives of him
> mercifully twisting a bird's neck.
>
> None of which applies to Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin and their poetry of
> violence. Willie is a rich man's Archie Goodwin, except he gets laid more. In
> a day when comics seem designed to disappoint, these are gripping and
> wonderfully drawn. I am just now getting started on the pulpy Modesty Blaise
> novels, but it appears they will not let me down.
>
> Am I the only HB spy dude left in the room?
>
> James Rogers
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