CAPSULE COMMENTS

February 14, 2008

Book to DVD: Verne the EZ way

The following materials are available to Library patrons and may be checked out from the main library.

Phileas Fogg (David Niven) is a wealthy eccentric who likes things just so – to the point of firing the servant who offers him shaving water that varies from his preferred temperature by four degrees.

This precise gentleman bets half his fortune (20,000 £) that he can travel the entire world in the space of 80 days at a time when travel was much, much slower than it is now.

Having acquired a new servant, Fogg journeys by train, ship, hot-air balloon, and elephant across oceans and continents in pursuit of his goal while a police detective, convinced that he is a thief running from the law, pursues him.

Will Fogg outrun the cop and win the bet in spite of numerous delays? The Library owns this title in VHS, audio book, and print editions so you can find out!

This movie won five Oscars: Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Score and Best Film Editing.

If this film adaptation of the book by Jules Verne, the father of modern SciFi, concentrates on slam-bang action and ignores the deeper issues raised by the author, it’s still good fun.

Professor Oliver Lindenbrook (James Mason), is an Edinburgh geologist who has found an ancient parchment which gives instructions for reaching the center of the Earth. Accompanied by student Alec (Pat Boone), he begins the descent imperiled by rock slides, the discovery of prehistoric beasts, and the evil Count Saknussemm.

The Library owns this title in VHS, audio book, and print editions.

This classic tale, the sequel to Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, is remade into a movie roughly every decade.

This 1961 version stars Michael Craig as Captain Cyrus Harding, Union Army captive of the Confederacy, who, along with a few other soldiers, escapes from prison via hot air balloon.

The escapees are blown off course into the sea, and come ashore on an uncharted and apparently uninhabited island where they struggle to survive amid gigantic beasts and natural disasters.

The Library owns this title in print and DVD.