From Russia With Love

As I am reading spy fiction for this year's #Noirvember, it just struck me that some James Bond novels would be really suitable for it. And more enjoyable than what I'm reading, as Ian Fleming is a genuinely good writer. He writes more colourful and itneresting characters, in any case. Anyway, one of the Bond novels I would suggest for Noirvember would be From Russia With Love, which may be one of Fleming's darkest. Not to spoil anything, but its ending is dramatic and very different than one you would expect if you have only seen the movies. It's borderline Noir. Oh and, on a side note, for train afficionados like myself, a fairly lenghty portion of the action is set on the Orient Express. That last point is not Noirvember relevant, but it just makes the novel even cooler.

Orient Express

Yesterday, I watched this documentary with David Suchet about the Orient Express. It is now of course most famous for Murder on the Orient Express. Fleming also used the Orient Express brilliantly in From Russia With Love. As a child, I used to be a fan of Agatha Christie, but strangely I never read this novel, although I saw one of the movies adaptations. And I really enjoyed the Muppets parody. Anyway, even though I never read the novel, as trains fascinate me since childhood, I have been fascinated by the Orient Express as an icon. I was not the only one: my dad always regretted not buying the LGB Orient Express wagon. He still told me about it in his last visit, while my mum was rolling her eyes.

I am not into Agatha Christie and whodunits anymore. For me, the best crime novel I read that was set in a train was La maldonne des sleepings of Tonino Benacquista. It was in a much less glamorous train than the Orient Express, but it is fast paced, suspenseful, full of character(s) and you can even see Venice. But I do find the glamour of the Orient Express appealing. It is almost a shame that it is now associated with a whodunit (I really grew out of those as you can see). I mean, trains can be great settings for adventure/crime stories: they have character, they can create feelings of both motion and claustrophobia, random meetings among the travellers can lead to drama, even tragedy, danger hides beneath the veneer of civility and civilisation (case in point). The Orient Express emphasises this, its glamour barely hiding how feral humans can be.

The mouth of Marilyn Monroe

The title is taken from the chapter of a Bond novel, but it fits the topic perfectly. I used to be a big fan of Marilyn Monroe, even before I saw one single movie of her. I don't know why. I guess it has something to do with her bubbly, girl next door kind of charm. Or maybe I am just an old man since teenage. (I noticed that old men usually like Marilyn Monroe, I knew of a distinguished professor specialised of medieval literature who was a big fan of Some Like It Hot.) I still kept a bit of fascination for the actress and the period of American history she lived in.

So yes, we very recently discovered a piece of film where she is (allegedly) smoking marijuana. I have no idea why exactly, but I find the news particularly interesting. I wonder if it humanises the icon she is, or makes her even more iconic. After all, we already knew she at least had a flirt with addictive substances, alcohol or prescription drugs. But that she also used illegal drugs, that is another thing entirely, never mind the toxicity of marijuana compared to what killed her. There is something vaguely rebellious about Marilyn Monroe smoking weed. I don't remember even seeing her with a "normal" cigarette!

There is also the fact that the video was taken in an intimate environment: she is there, surrounded by a few friends, relaxed, carefree, away from the glamorous environment we usually see her in. I wonder what she was saying and I hope someone able to read lips will tell us.

Well anyway, I call upon my (modest) readership: is this posthumous video fascinating for you too? What do you think of it?

From Russia With Love

I am a big fan of both the novel (a favourite of Kennedy) and movie, but let's not forget that the theme song, which Matt Monro sang, is a classic in itself, deliciously old-fashioned. From Russia With Love is a sort of Valentine's Day movie for me, as my wife has a bit of Russian blood and since I can't take romantic movies, I might as well watch a James Bond. Valentine's Day is coming soon, so I might as well put it here. I know, I know, this blog can get very James Bond-related, but pay attention to the lyrics. This is modern poetry (I say this often, I know). And one has to appreciate the title and its powerful resonance, even years after the end of the Cold War.

JFK

Holly's blog entry reminded me that today is the day of Kennedy's assassination (and I have a good excuse for forgetting, as you will see tomorrow). For people of my age, itt was the 9/11 of our parents's generation. A lot of people of my age have known the story through Oliver Stone's movie, which I never liked. I much prefer the James Ellroy version of the murder, that he related in American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand. Just as fictitious as Oliver Stone's paranoid fantasy, but to my taste much more believable.

On a side note, you can find here a fascinating website about Kennedy and his murder, which I visit from time to time around the 22nd of November.