>What does IMDB stand for? It appears >to be a better resource than my Leonard Maltin.The private life of Helen >of Troy sounds fascinating. The International Movie Database (www.imdb.com)- an OK source of info on films (now a subsidiary, it seems, of amazon.com)
>I am not sure that there would be any Virgilian influence in "Troilus & >Cressida", since it was probably based on the medi�val Troy story. This >was developed out of late sources like "Dares Phrygius" & "Dictys >Cretensis"by Benoi^t de Sainte-Maure,Boccaccio, Chaucer & Henryson. >Cressida is not found in ancient sources and seems ultimately to be a >conflation of Chryseis & Briseis from the Iliad. I agree- the Aeneas films as influenced by V. would be the middle three I listed.... >> Also, I would be skeptical that any film based on >> Dante's _Inferno_ would include Vergil as a character (viz. >> the 1935 version) >I did see an excerpt from an early silent film based on the >"Inferno"which showed Virgil & Dante gazing at Francesca da Rimini and >her lover Paolo tossed in a whirlwind(Canto V).[Incidentally this is >where Dante places Dido as well as Cleopatra & Helen.] It looked like a >tableau founded on the illustrations of Gustave Dore'. Why wouldn't >Virgil be a character? Dante has the Roman poet guide him through >Hell.(However I don't know the 1935 version that you mention.) >From Fox Films, starring Spencer Tracy (great scene where ST hallucinates and sees the title spot) >I am surprised that no one seems to have filmed the love story of Dido & >�neas. Book IV is eminently dramatic. Indeed it thought to have been >influenced by Greek tragedy.Metastasio (1698-1782) wrote a very >successful opera libretto based on Virgil called "Didone abbandonata" >which was set to music by forty composers! Purcell in short & Berlioz at >length also dealt with the theme.Perhaps the Mantovani could tempt >Merchant Ivory or the BBC away from nineteenth & early twentieth century >novels, and suggest a TV series or movie based on the �neid or just Book >IV. Books II & VI could be done with special effects by Spielberg!Would >this bring Virgil to a wider audience and encourage interest in Virgil >and Classical literature, sparking off a new renaissance or merely >vulgarise our poet & sacrifice him to the Mammon of popular "culture" ? Most classical stuff comes nowadays via Halmi in the miniseries format (e.g., the upcoming "Cleopatra"). The results vary (I do think better of NBC's Odyssey now, but BP as Circe still stinks), but I can't imagine any chance of it getting to the big screen. (Unless Miramax could put forth "Paltrow _is_ Dido"?). Didn't Italian TV do an adaptation of the _Aeneid_? Bob White (PS) Peter- thanx for the ae info! ����������������������������������� ����������������������������������� Robert T. White Shaker Heights HS/ Shaker Heights OH [EMAIL PROTECTED] (new) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (alt) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
