'FAVOLA DI VENEZIA' & CORTE SCONTA DETTA ARCANA

Today, The Grandma has spent the day enjoying reading with one of her great friends, Corto Maltese. She has chosen Favola di Venezia, a fantastic graphic novel by Hugo Pratt that serves as a true tribute to that wonderful, dreamlike city.

Favola di Venezia (or Sirat al Bunduqiyyah) is a Corto Maltese comic story written and illustrated by Hugo Pratt in 1977.

It is the 25th adventure of Corto Maltese in chronological order (24th in publication order). The story is set in Venice between 10 and 25 April 1921.

Both titles, Favola di Venezia and Sirat al Bunduqiyyah (Arabic for The Story of Venice), have been used over the years, either together or separately, depending on the edition of the work.

Favola di Venezia was first published in serial form (eight strips per week) in the weekly magazine L'Europeo, from issue no. 21/22 (3 June 1977) to issue no. 51 (23 December 1977). The colouring was by Mariolina Pasqualini, while Guido Fuga assisted Hugo Pratt with the architectural drawings.

Two years later, the story was published as a single-volume edition by Milano Libri under the title Sirat Al Bunduqiyyah, in a horizontal format. In 1984, it was reissued in a square format, enriched with an introduction by Pratt himself and two articles on Freemasonry.

In 1997, Lizard Edizioni republished the work in its Bibliothèque series as the complete and definitive edition, featuring new colouring by Patrizia Zanotti. The introduction to this complete edition was written by Luca Raffaelli.

Intrigued by a riddle sent to him in a letter by his friend Baron Corvo (the pseudonym of the English writer Frederick Rolfe), Corto Maltese travels to Venice in search of the Clavicle of Solomon, a magical talisman engraved with mysterious inscriptions. To assist him in his search, he seeks the help of his Venetian friend Little Silver Foot (Gambetta d'Argento) and her son Boeke.

The adventure begins with a chase across the rooftops of Venice. While attempting to escape his pursuers, Corto falls through a skylight, and at that moment the tone of the narrative shifts, taking on an almost dreamlike quality. He lands in the middle of a meeting of the Grand Lodge of Italy, engages in an absurd conversation with one of its members, and is introduced to the gentle yet enigmatic Bepi Faliero.

During the night, together with Faliero, Corto becomes involved in a confrontation with a group of Fascists led by the belligerent Stevani, and encounters a series of remarkable and unexpected figures, ranging from the poet Gabriele D'Annunzio to the mysterious Neoplatonist philosopher of Venice, Hipazia.

This search leads Corto Maltese into a tangled web of mysteries, rivalries and hidden agendas. The talisman is connected to an ancient legend and to a series of secret symbols scattered throughout Venice, forcing Corto to investigate not only the physical locations where the object may be hidden, but also the stories and memories surrounding the city itself.

During his investigations, Corto becomes involved in a dangerous political situation. The atmosphere of Venice in 1921 is marked by the growing influence of Fascism, and he finds himself caught between different factions pursuing their own interests. His encounters with various characters reveal a world where political conspiracies, esoteric beliefs and personal vendettas intertwine.

After a series of events and misunderstandings, Corto is accused of having attempted to assassinate a prominent figure. He must therefore continue his search while trying to clear his name and discover who is truly behind the plot against him.

The adventure also revolves around a mysterious emerald, hidden somewhere in Venice, whose history is linked to the city's legends and to the secret societies that operate in its shadows. As Corto follows the clues, the boundaries between reality, myth and imagination become increasingly blurred.

More information: The Slings And Arrows

There are three magical, secret places in Venice:
one on the "Street of the Love of Friends,"
the second near the "Bridge of Wonders,"
and the third on the "Path of the Marranos,"
near San Geremia in the old Ghetto.
When Venetians -or sometimes the Maltese-
grow weary of the authorities,
they go to these secret places and,
opening the doors at the back of the courtyards,
depart forever for wondrous lands and other stories...
  

Hugo Pratt

STONEHENGE & CORTO MALTESE, THE ENIGMATIC CERCLE

Today, The Morgans have met in Leicester Square to take some fantastic coloured pills, before heading to Stonehenge, the enigmatic Neolithic circle, from where they will cross to an even more fantastic world: Camelot. For The Grandma is very emotional because Stonehenge is the last place where a closer friend of her, Corto Maltese, was last seen. He disappeared in the middle of the Neolithic stones and in that moment the hero became a legend, and the legend, a myth. 

During the trip from London to Stonehenge, the family has been reviewing prepositions of place, reading a new chapter in their reading book and talking about topics as diverse as the legend of King Arthur, Arthur Conan Doyle, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll, Jefferson Airplane or the history of M&M's. It has been a different Friday, without so much grammatical load and with more space to listen to stories and participate orally in them.

The Morgans will celebrate Easter in Camelot and will be telling their adventures daily and The Grandma has talked about how literature has protected communities and countries during the Middle Age with the examples of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, Tirant lo Blanc, Orlando Il Furioso, Roland and El Cid Campeador, incredible heroes with powerful skills in a dark age, heroes who are part of our History and stories that we have to keep as long as we can.

More information: Prepositions of Place

Download Prepositions of Place

 Download The Celts by Hugo Pratt

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Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, 3 km west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around 4.0 m high, 2.1 m wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connecting horizontal lintel stones. Inside is a ring of smaller bluestones. Inside these are free-standing trilithons, two bulkier vertical sarsens joined by one lintel. The whole monument, now ruinous, is aligned towards the sunrise on the summer solstice. The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the densest complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred tumuli (burial mounds).

Archaeologists believe that Stonehenge was constructed from around 3000 BC to 2000 BC. The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the first bluestones were raised between 2400 and 2200 BC, although they may have been at the site as early as 3000 BC.

One of the most famous landmarks in the United Kingdom, Stonehenge is regarded as a British cultural icon. It has been a legally protected scheduled monument since 1882, when legislation to protect historic monuments was first successfully introduced in Britain. The site and its surroundings were added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1986. 

Stonehenge is owned by the Crown and managed by English Heritage; the surrounding land is owned by the National Trust.

Stonehenge could have been a burial ground from its earliest beginnings. Deposits containing human bone date from as early as 3000 BC, when the ditch and bank were first dug, and continued for at least another 500 years.

The Oxford English Dictionary cites Ælfric's tenth-century glossary, in which henge-cliff is given the meaning precipice, or stone; thus, the stanenges or Stanheng not far from Salisbury recorded by eleventh-century writers are stones supported in the air. 

In 1740, William Stukeley notes: Pendulous rocks are now called henges in Yorkshire... I doubt not, Stonehenge in Saxon signifies the hanging stones. Christopher Chippindale's Stonehenge Complete gives the derivation of the name Stonehenge as coming from the Old English words stān stone, and either hencg hinge (because the stone lintels hinge on the upright stones) or hen(c)en to hang or gallows or instrument of torture (though elsewhere in his book, Chippindale cites the suspended stones etymology).

The henge portion has given its name to a class of monuments known as henges. Archaeologists define henges as earthworks consisting of a circular banked enclosure with an internal ditch. As often happens in archaeological terminology, this is a holdover from antiquarian use.

Despite being contemporary with true Neolithic henges and stone circles, Stonehenge is in many ways atypical -for example, at more than 7.3 m tall, its extant trilithons' lintels, held in place with mortise and tenon joints, make it unique.

The twelfth-century Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), by Geoffrey of Monmouth, includes a fanciful story of how Stonehenge was brought from Ireland with the help of the wizard Merlin. Geoffrey's story spread widely, with variations of it appearing in adaptations of his work, such as Wace's Norman French Roman de Brut, Layamon's Middle English Brut, and the Welsh Brut y Brenhinedd.

According to the tale, the stones of Stonehenge were healing stones, which giants had brought from Africa to Ireland. They had been raised on Mount Killaraus to form a stone circle, known as the Giant's Ring or Giant's Round. The fifth-century king Aurelius Ambrosius wished to build a great memorial to the British Celtic nobles slain by the Saxons at Salisbury. Merlin advised him to use the Giant's Ring. The king sent Merlin and Uther Pendragon (King Arthur's father) with 15,000 men to bring it from Ireland. They defeated an Irish army led by Gillomanius, but were unable to move the huge stones. With Merlin's help, they transported the stones to Britain and re-erected them as they had stood.

Mount Killaraus may refer to the Hill of Uisneach. Although the tale is fiction, archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson suggests it may hold a grain of truth, as evidence suggests the Stonehenge bluestones were brought from the Waun Mawn stone circle on the Irish Sea coast of Wales.

Another legend tells how the invading Saxon king Hengist invited British Celtic warriors to a feast but treacherously ordered his men to massacre the guests, killing 420 of them. Hengist erected Stonehenge on the site to show his remorse for the deed.

More information: English Heritage

Hello, Stonehenge!
Who takes the Pandorica, takes the universe!

Doctor Who

CORTO MALTESE & THE CELTS, ENJOYING A SPECIAL DAY

Today is The Grandma's birthday and the weather has wanted to give her a lovely rainy day, perhaps because it knows that The Grandma really likes these rainy and introspective days, fantastic for a good read and good company.

She will have the best company this afternoon when Claire Fontaine and Joseph de Ca'th Lon, who is some days in Barcelona, come to see her and all together enjoy the French football cup final, a very important match for the Northern Star, and she will have a good read before and after accompanied by Corto Maltese and his Celtic adventures.

Celtic Tales (or The Celts) is a volume of comics that brings together six adventures of Corto Maltese, a Maltese sailor. These stories were written and drawn by the Italian comic book creator Hugo Pratt, and published for the first time between 1971 and 1972 in the French comic magazine Pif Gadget. They take place in Europe, during World War I, between 1917 and 1918. The stories are:

-The Angel in the Window to the Orient

-Under the Flag of Gold

-Concerto in O Minor for Harp and Nitroglycerin

-A Midwinter Morning’s Dream -Côtes de Nuit and Picardy Roses

-Burlesque Between Zuydcoote and Bray-Dunes

Hugo Pratt has produced numerous additional drawings of the characters and places relating to the stories in this album, as he did with other episodes of the series. Here, for example, he drew different places in Ireland and historical or legendary characters.

Among the many covers existing for Celtic Tales, one of them shows a poem in which Corto Maltese thanks different characters, mostly from Celtic legends:

-Merlin, the enchanter or wizard featured in Arthurian legend (like the followings three characters);

-Morgan le Fay and Viviane the Lady of the Lake;

-King Arthur; 

-Oberon (king of the fairies) and Puck;

-The Irish leprechauns; 

-The Cornish Pixies;

-The Scottish boggles;

-The Breton Korrigans; 

-The Welsh miners, Wales being renowned for its coal industry;

-The French elves;

-The Druids of Folle Pensée (name of a locality in the Paimpont forest);

-The little folk of the forest of Brocéliande;

-The royal ravens of Stonehenge;

-W. B. Yeats, the Irish poet; 

-And the harp of the wind somewhere to the north.

Hugo Pratt won the Prix Saint-Michel, for "Best Realistic Writing" in 1977, for the story A Midwinter Morning's Dream.

Twenty years after the death of Hugo Pratt, his ex-assistant Lele Vianello, another Italian comic book creator, gave him a tribute album. Entitled Twenty after... Homage to Hugo Pratt, it includes drawings inspired by the story A Midwinter Morning’s Dream, where Corto and characters from Celtic legends await Pratt on the day of his death to welcome him into their world.

More information: The Slings & Arrows

I haven't decided the date of my death yet.

Corto Maltese

'DIARIO DI VIAGGIO' & 'UNA BALLATA DEL MARE SALATO'

The Grandma has had a few days of introspection and reflection. These days she never lacks the company of her beloved Corto Maltese to whom she turns in search of peace, tranquility and spirituality.

Joseph de Ca'th Lon sent her a fantastic Panini collection entitled Corto Maltese: Diario di Viaggio and she has been reading it, sticking the stickers and placing the cards until she has had the complete collection. Then, she has reread The Ballad of the Salty Sea, the first episode of the adventures of Corto Maltese, her admired adventurer.

As she always turns to Corto, it has been a great pleasure to share these days with him, to recharge and to get up again to continue forward, because we really have to continue forward on this beautiful but complicated journey that is life.

Una ballata del mare salato, in English The Ballad of the Salty Sea, is a graphic novel, the first episode of the adventures of Corto Maltese, a Maltese sailor.

This story was written and drawn by the Italian comic book creator Hugo Pratt. 

It was published for the first time between 1967 and 1969, in the magazine Il Sergente Kirk. It takes place in Melanesia (Western Oceania), shortly before World War I, between 1913 and 1915. It introduces many future important characters from the series, such as the romantic Corto, the crazy Russian sailor Rasputin, and the young cousins Pandora and Cain.

Although the story introduces a new comic book character destined to become famous, Corto Maltese is not the main character. According to Pratt, Pandora Groovesnore is the central character. He explains that everyone is in love with her, and that she is a kind and beautiful girl who becomes an adult. Corto is just a secondary character, like so many others in this story. The cartoonist did not suspect that he would reuse the Corto Maltese character for a whole series.

To pretend that this story is true, Pratt published, in addition, a fake letter from Cain's nephew, Obregan Carrenza, which he had to give to the cartoonist himself. This process is also often used in adventure novels. This document, dating from the middle of the 20th century évokes Corto's old age and his sadness following the death of his friend Tarao. This letter is missing from many editions of this story, probably because some publishers refuse to let the reader imagine the aging hero.

Hugo Pratt will reuse Corto Maltese for news adventures taking place in America, published for the first time in 1970 and collected in the volume Under the Sign of Capricorn. This is the start of his Corto Maltese series, comprising twelve episodes. One of which takes place eight years before the first episode, in 1905 in Manchuria (China), relating the meeting between Corto and Rasputin: Corto Maltese: The Early Years. After Pratt's death, the series was resumed by Ruben Pellejero and Juan Diaz Canales. They have currently made three additional episodes. In the last one, they imagined a prequel to The Ballad of the Salty Sea, All Saints Day, to explain why Corto was attached to the raft and how he worked for the Monk.

Escondida is a fictional island located in Western Oceania, the scene of an important part of this story. Its coordinates are 169° west longitude, 19° south latitude. Which corresponds to the location of the Tanna Island, in Vanuatu, near New Caledonia. However, Pratt claimed that his model was Abaiang (Gilbert Islands, Kiribati).

The story abounds in literary references. For example, at the start, Rasputin is reading Voyage autour du monde, Louis Antoine de Bougainville's travel diary. This French explorer indeed sailed in the same zone where he was at that time. Cain, on several occasions, spreads his culture through various allusions. Thus, when he failed on a beach with Tarao, he compares themself to Robinson Crusoe and Friday (characters created by Daniel Defoe). Then, when they escape from the cannibals with the others, he tells him about Moby Dick (from the novel Moby-Dick by Herman Melville). Later, in Slütter's submarine, he is reading The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the long poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Finally, when he leaves Escondida with Pandora, he evokes the ship Argo and the character Jason, from Greek mythology.

Twenty years after the creation of this story, Pratt slipped a dedication into it. It pays homage to the Irish writer Henry De Vere Stacpoole, who piqued Pratt's interest in the South Seas.

Hugo Pratt discreetly slides into his story various allusions to cultural elements of the different Oceanian peoples encountered, whether through their songs or their conversations. They allude for example to gods, creatures or illustrious people, like Kanaloa, Tāne, Tū, Rongo, Tangaroa, Māui, Kupe, Tamatea (explorer), Pehee Nuee Nuee. They also speak of mythical places like Hawaiki. Finally, they evoke several of the many Pacific islands: Mangareva, Hawaii, Tahiti, Heragi (Māori name for Pitcairn Island, in Pitcairn Islands), Aotearoa (Māori name for New Zealand), Tubuai. The decor of the comic is punctuated by various Oceanian masks. Several of them are thus visible on the house where Cain is a prisoner. These items resemble those made by Baining people, they live in Papua New Guinea.

Despite this realism, Pratt allows himself touches of fantasy, sometimes making his Oceanian characters speak in Venetian language (an element that translators leave as is).

The album won the award for the best foreign realistic work at the 1976 Angoulême Festival.

This story was classified in 2012 at the 3rd place of the classification of 50 essential BD established by the French magazine Lire.

Umberto Eco, Italian novelist and literary critic, wrote a preface to this story (found in the 1989 edition) on the geographic and cultural references of this story.

More information: The Slings and Arrows

For me, my travels have been the chance 
to go to a place that already exists in my imagination.
 

Hugo Pratt

CORTO MALTESE. LIFE IS A JOURNEY, NOT A DESTINATION

Anyone who knows The Grandma even a little knows about her passion for literature, art, history, sports, nature and graphic novels. And anyone who knows her well knows that her platonic love is an enigmatic sailor born in Valletta, with no future line in his hands and a tremendously attractive life.

Today, the postwoman has brought a very special package to The Grandma. It was a shipment from Joseph de Ca'th Lon from Italy and upon opening it, she has gone crazy with love to find there books, stickers and a puzzle of his beloved sailor, the incomparable and mysterious Corto Maltese. Thank you very much, Joseph, for always thinking of her despite the distance. Next Sunday you will meet again and share hobbies and emotions as always.

Le sere azzurre d'estate, andrò per i sentieri,
Punzecchiato dal grano, a calpestare erba fina:
Trasognato, ne sentirò la freschezza ai piedi.
Lascerò che il vento mi bagni il capo nudo.

Non parlerò, non penserò a niente:
Ma l'amore infinito mi salirà nell'anima,
E andrò lontano, molto lontano, come uno zingaro,
Nella Natura, -felice come con una donna.  

Corto Maltese is a series of adventure comics following the eponymous protagonist, an adventurous sailor. 

It was created by the Italian comic book creator Hugo Pratt in 1967. The comics are highly praised as some of the most artistic and literary graphic novels ever written and have been translated into numerous languages and adapted into several animated films.

The series features Corto Maltese, an enigmatic sea captain who lives in the first three decades of the 20th century. Born in Valletta on the island of Malta on 10 July 1887, the son of a sailor from Cornwall, and a gypsy from Seville.

In his adventures full of real-world references, Corto has often crossed with real historical characters like the American author Jack London and his nurse Virginia Prentiss, the American outlaw Butch Cassidy, the German World War I flying ace Red Baron, and many others.

The character debuted in the serial Ballad of the Salty Sea, one of several Pratt stories published in the first edition of the Ivaldi Editore comics magazine Sergeant Kirk in July 1967. The story centers around smugglers and pirates in the World War I -era Pacific Islands. In 1970, Pratt moved to France and began a series of short Corto Maltese stories for the French comics magazine Pif Gadget, an arrangement lasting four years and producing many 20-page stories. In 1974 he returned to full-length stories, sending Corto to 1918 Siberia in the story Corto Maltese in Siberia, first serialised in the Italian comics magazine Linus.

In 1976, Ballad of the Salty Sea was published in book format and was awarded the prize for best foreign realistic comic album at the Angoulême International Comics Festival.

Pratt continued to produce new stories over the next two decades, many first appearing in the eponymous comics magazine Corto Maltese (published between October 1983 and July 1993), until 1988 when the final story Mu, the Lost Continent was serialised, ending in June 1989.

Corto Maltese is a laconic sea captain adventuring during the early 20th century (1900-1920s). A rogue with a heart of gold, he is tolerant and sympathetic to the underdog. Born in Valletta on July 10, 1887, he is the son of a British sailor from Cornwall and an Andalusian–Romani witch and prostitute known as "La Niña de Gibraltar". As a boy growing up in the Jewish quarter of Córdoba, Maltese discovered that he had no fate line on his palm and therefore carved his own with his father's razor, determining that his fate was his to choose. Although maintaining a neutral position, Corto instinctively supports the disadvantaged and oppressed.

The character embodies the author's skepticism of national, ideological and religious assertions. Corto befriends people from all walks of life, including the murderous Russian Rasputin (no relation with the historical figure, apart from physical resemblance and some character traits), British heir Tristan Bantam, voodoo priestess Gold Mouth and Czech academic Jeremiah Steiner. He also knows and meets various real-life historical figures, including Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Butch Cassidy, James Joyce, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Frederick Rolfe, Joseph Conrad, Sükhbaatar, John Reed, White Russian general Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, Enver Pasha of Turkey and Sergei Semenov, modelled after Grigory Semyonov. His acquaintances treat him with great respect, as when a telephone call to Joseph Stalin frees him from arrest when he is threatened with execution on the border of Turkey and Armenia.

Corto's favourite book is Utopia by Thomas More, but he never finishes it. He also read books by London, Lugones, Stevenson, Melville and Conrad, and quotes Rimbaud.

Corto Maltese stories range from straight historical adventure to occult dream sequences. He is present when the Red Baron is shot down, helps the Jívaro in South America, and flees Fascists in Venice, but also unwittingly helps Merlin and Oberon to defend Britain and helps Tristan Bantam to visit the lost continent of Mu.

Chronologically, the first adventure, Corto Maltese: The Early Years, happens during the Russo-Japanese War. In other albums he experiences the Great War in several locations, participates in the Russian Civil War after the October Revolution, and appears during the early stages of Fascist Italy. In a separate series by Pratt, The Desert Scorpions, Corto is said to be missing in action in Spain during the Spanish Civil War.

More information: Corto Maltese

 

Par les soirs bleus d'été, j'irai dans les sentiers,
Picoté par les blés, fouler l'herbe menue:
Rêveur, j'en sentirai la fraîcheur à mes pieds.
Je laisserai le vent baigner ma tête nue.

Je ne parlerai pas, je ne penserai rien:
Mais l'amour infini me montera dans l'âme,
Et j'irai loin, bien loin, comme un bohémien,
Par la Nature, -heureux comme avec une femme. 

 

Arthur Rimbaud 

LEAVING L'EMPORDÀ, 'ÉS QUAN DORMO QUE HI VEIG CLAR'

Today, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma are on their way to Barcelona after spending a few days in El Port de la Selva where they are going to pay a final tribute to an old friend and visit another, Tina Picotes.

Yesterday, they took their bicycles and went up from El Port de la Selva to the Monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes, one of the most imposing and mysterious buildings from where on a clear day you can even see the Serra de l'Albera, Canigó and the Pyrenees.

On the way back, they went down through Vilajuïga and returned to El Port de la Selva along the Llançà road, a road that allows you to enjoy an extraordinarily beautiful landscape and, although you have to keep your attention on the road 100%, it allows you to stop at different places and contemplate how the sea and the mountain coexist.

 

NOTES SOBRE EL PORT DE LA SELVA per J.V. Foix

Em trobaren ajaçat a la sorra quan ja tots els banyistes havien desertat la platja. Enganxats a la nuca i a l'esquena tenia papers de totes les colors amb inscripcions de duanes i de grans hotels i balnearis exòtics. Me'ls volien arrencar, però seguien trossos de carn viva. Els ulls dels cavalls els pesquen a la cova de la Colomera quan toquen les dotze de la nit. Només en aquell instant precís es poden obrir com qui obre una ostra. Llur pupil·la flota damunt un licor tan ardent, que mai cap llavi humà no ha pogut acostar-s'hi. No els mireu mai de fit a fit, perquè us prendrà per sempre una tristesa sense fi, i la passió per les cales inabordables lligarà la vostra vida al més misteriós dels destins.

NOTES ON PORT DE LA SELVA by J.V. Foix

They found me lying in the sand when all the swimmers had already abandoned the beach. Stuck on my back and the nape of my neck were pieces of paper in all colours with inscriptions from customs houses and from grand hotels and exotic spas. They wanted to tear them from me, but chunks of live flesh came off as well. They go fishing for horses' eyes in Colomera's cave when it strikes midnight. Only at that precise instant can they be opened as one opens an oyster. Their pupils float on a liquid which burns so strongly, that no human lips have ever been able to come near. Don't ever stare at them, because an endless sadness will take hold of you for good, and the passion for inaccessible inlets will bind your life to the most mysterious of destinies.

 

They arrived on Friday with J.V. Foix and his poetry and they leave in the same way, remembering his writings about this beautiful town and what is, perhaps, his best-known poem, the one that tells us about dreams as a way to escape from reality, especially when it is harder and crueler than you can bear.

In this poem, J.V. Foix reminds us of the Occitan poets who also sang of love at night surrounded by the dreamlike atmosphere, and even reminds us of Corto Maltese, the character of Hugo Pratt, who also uses dreams as a way of refuge (or escape) in Les Cèltiques. Calderón de la Barca also told us that life was a dream and Bernat Metge took advantage of the resource of dreams to be able to criticize society and the political power of the time and avoid the established censorship, and dreams allow us to live as we want and desire, that's why our beloved Bruce Springsteen also invites us to daydream...

 

És quan plou que ballo sol
Vestit d'algues, or i escata,
Hi ha un pany de mar al revolt
I un tros de cel escarlata,
Un ocell fa un giravolt
I treu branques una mata,
El casalot del pirata
És un ample gira-sol.
Es quan plou que ballo sol
Vestit d'algues, or i escata.

És quan ric que em veig gepic
Al bassal de sota l'era,
Em vesteixo d'home antic
I empaito la masovera,
I entre pineda i garric
Planto la meva bandera;
Amb una agulla saquera
Mato el monstre que no dic.
És quan ric que em veig gepic
Al bassal de sota l'era.

És quan dormo que hi veig clar
Foll d'una dolça metzina,
Amb perles a cada mà
Visc al cor d'una petxina,
Só la font del comellar
I el jaç de la salvatgina,
-O la lluna que s'afina
En morir carena enllà.
Es quan dormo que hi veig clar
Foll d'una dolça metzina.

 

It's when it rains I dance alone
Dressed in seaweed, scales and gold,
There's a patch of sea at a bend in the road
And a piece of scarlet sky,
A bird loops the loop
And a shrub branches out,
And the pirate's manor-house
Is a broad sunflower.
It's when it rains I dance alone
Dressed in seaweed, scales and gold.

It's when I laugh I see my hunched back
In the pond below the threshing floor,
I dress up as a man from antiquity
And harass the farm-girl,
And between pine grove
And kermes oak I plant my standard;
With a sail needle
I slay the monster whose name I do not utter.
It's when I laugh I see my hunched back
In the pond below the threshing floor.

It's when I sleep I see all clearly,
Deranged by a sweet venom,
With pearls in either hand
I live in the heart of a scallop shell,
I am the spring in the gulley
And the bed
Of the wild creature,
—Or the moon who becomes more delicate
As she dies beyond the ridge—.
It's when I sleep I see all clearly,
Deranged by a sweet venom.

 

El Port de la Selva, April 1939

On he deixat les claus...

 

More information: Anglo-Catalan Society

 

I quan tot just si la tenora sona,
Pastors i estels perduts serrat enllà,
La Verge i Tu tots sols, a l'Hora Sola,
I els corns reials qui sap qui els sentirà,
Vindré mudat, al costat de la dona,
Amb els vestits de quan ens vam casar.

And then just as the woodwind tenora sounds, 
shepherds and stars lost beyond the hills, 
the Virgin and You all alone at the Single Hour, a
and who knows who will hear the royal horns, 
I shall come, having changed my clothes, beside my wife,
dressed as we were when we married.

J.V. Foix

El Port de la Selva, Christmas 1948

Onze Nadals i un Cap d'Any

F.V. EUGÈNE DELACROIX & THE FRENCH ROMANTIC SCHOOL

All good things have and end, and The Grandma and her friends have returned to their homes: Corto Maltese to somewhere along the ocean, Joseph de Ca'th Lon to his beloved Switzerland, and Claire Fontaine and The Grandma to Barcelona.

During the trip from Sant Feliu de Guíxols to Barcelona, The Grandma has been reading about Eugène Delacroix, the French Romantic artist who died on a day like today in 1863.

Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (26 April 1798-13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist who was regarded as the leader of the French Romantic school. In contrast to the Neoclassical perfectionism of his chief rival Ingres, Delacroix took for his inspiration the art of Rubens and painters of the Venetian Renaissance, with an attendant emphasis on colour and movement rather than clarity of outline and carefully modelled form.

Dramatic and romantic content characterized the central themes of his maturity, and led him not to the classical models of Greek and Roman art, but to travel in North Africa, in search of the exotic. Friend and spiritual heir to Théodore Géricault, Delacroix was also inspired by Lord Byron, with whom he shared a strong identification with the forces of the sublime, of nature in often violent action.

However, Delacroix was given to neither sentimentality nor bombast, and his Romanticism was that of an individualist. In the words of Baudelaire, Delacroix was passionately in love with passion, but coldly determined to express passion as clearly as possible. Together with Ingres, Delacroix is considered one of the last old Masters of painting and is one of the few who was ever photographed.

As a painter and muralist, Delacroix's use of expressive brushstrokes and his study of the optical effects of colour profoundly shaped the work of the Impressionists, while his passion for the exotic inspired the artists of the Symbolist movement. A fine lithographer, Delacroix illustrated various works of William Shakespeare, the Scottish author Walter Scott, and the German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Eugène Delacroix was born on 26 April 1798 at Charenton-Saint-Maurice in Seine, near Paris. His mother was Victoire Oeben, the daughter of the cabinetmaker Jean-François Oeben.

Delacroix drew inspiration from many sources over his career, such as the literary works of William Shakespeare and Lord Byron, and the artistry of Michelangelo. But, throughout his life, he felt a constant need for music, saying in 1855 that nothing can be compared with the emotion caused by music; that it expresses incomparable shades of feeling. He also said, while working at Saint-Sulpice, that music put him in a state of exaltation that inspired his painting. It was often from music, whether the most melancholy renditions of Chopin or the pastoral works of Beethoven, that Delacroix was able to draw the most emotion and inspiration. At one point during his life, Delacroix befriended and made portraits of the composer Chopin; in his journal, Delacroix praised him frequently.

At the sale of his work in 1864, 9140 works were attributed to Delacroix, including 853 paintings, 1525 pastels and water colours, 6629 drawings, 109 lithographs, and over 60 sketch books. The number and quality of the drawings, whether done for constructive purposes or to capture a spontaneous movement, underscored his explanation, Colour always occupies me, but drawing preoccupies me.

On 13 August, Delacroix died. He was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

More information: The Art Story

 Do all the work you can; 
that is the whole philosophy 
of the good way of life.

Eugène Delacroix

DO EMPORDÀ WINES, FROM PHOENICIANS TO NOWADAYS

Today, The Grandma and her friends have enjoyed a wonderful wine route along l'Empordà, one of the most beautiful Catalan counties.

They have tasted some of the most delicious wines and they have enjoyed the amazing environment. 

Empordà is a Catalan DOP (Denominació d'Origen Protegida in Catalan), for wines produced in the northeastern corner of Catalonia, in the province of Girona.

The region generally extends from the town of Figueres northwards to the regions of Banyuls and Côtes du Roussillon. To the south, it extends through Baix Empordà near the Mediterranean Sea. The DOP is crossed by the rivers Muga, Llobregat and Manol which flow eastwards to the sea.

Archaeologists have suggested that vines were first introduced to this region by the Phoenicians in the 5th century BC. The ancient Romans and the Benedictine monks later also contributed. 

The first written documentation dates from 1130 and was a treatise on wine written by Father Pere de Novas in the Monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes.

As in Penedès, this area used to produce strong sweet wines which were very popular until the 1930s. The region acquired its DO status in 1972.

Throughout the mid 20th century, the wineries were mostly cooperatives focused on cheap, bulk wine production. In the late 1990s and in to the first decade of the 21st century, the focus shifted a great deal towards smaller, craft wineries, which in turn worked to improve the wine quality of the region overall. Until 2006, it was initially known as DO Empordà-Costa Brava to associate the large tourist beach area with the region.

The DOP is divided into two subzones: the northern Alt Empordà subzone on the slopes of the Alberes Rodes mountains near the French border, and the southern Baix Empordà subzone on the slopes of the Montgrí and Gabarres Massifs.

The soils are generally dark, with a certain lime content, loose, good drainage and poor in organic matter. There is some granite content near the coast as well as up in the mountainous regions near Catalunya Nord.

The climate is Mediterranean, with influences from the moisture bearing winds from the south and cold winds from the north, especially the Tramontana, which can sometimes attain speeds of 120 km/h. The wind is quite crucial to the winemaking process as it greatly reduces the occurrence of mildew as well as pests, thus making organic farming an easier endeavor.

The average annual temperature is 16 °C (max 29 °C, min 1.5 °C) and there is abundant rainfall over the course of the year, between 600 and 700 mm/year, falling mainly in winter and spring.

While historically Empordà was known for producing rosé wines, the majority of their production is red at 60%, white at 19%, and rosé at 17%. The remaining 4% is released as traditional wines including dessert versions of Grenache and Moscatell. A bit more than half of the wines sold in the region are bottled and the remainder are sold as bulk wines. There is a significant amount of Cava produced under the DOP Cava in the approved villages.

More information: DO Empordà

The grape varieties are:

-Red, recommended: Samsó and Garnatxa Negra / Lledoner Negre

-Red, authorised: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Monastrell, Ull de llebre, Syrah, and Garnatxa Peluda

-White, recommended: Garnatxa Blanca / Lledoner Blanc, Garnatxa Roja (Garnatxa Gris), Macabeu / Viura, and Moscatell d’Alexandria

-White, authorised: Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Malvasia, Moscatell de Gra Petit, Picapoll Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and Xarel·lo

Some wineries in the Empordà region are grouped under the umbrella of the DOP Empordà wine route to promote wine tourism in the area. This body is coordinated by the Patronat de Turisme de la Costa Brava with the participation of the Consell Regulador de la Denominació d’Origen Empordà.

The DOP Empordà wine route aims to promote wine tourism locally and internationally. The route also brings together other tourist activities from the area linked to the world of wine and grapes. Celler Peralada is an emblematic building and state of the art in leaving a minimum environmental impact during winemaking process in this region.

More information: Catalan Wines

 Wine is constant proof that God loves us 
and loves to see us happy.

Benjamin Franklin

SAILING THE MEDITERRANEAN BY CATBOAT & LATEEN

Today, The Grandma and her friends have enjoyed sailing on a catboat along the Mediterranean coast from Sant Feliu de Guíxols to Cadaqués (Cap de Creus), where they have continued their journey through the Natural Park in a 4x4 vehicle.

Corto Maltese is an experienced sailor and has guided his friends on this journey through the history of llaguts and lateen sailing, typical elements of the Costa Brava.

A catboat is a sailboat with a single sail on a single mast set well forward in the bow of a very beamy and (usually) shallow draft hull. Typically they are gaff rigged, though Bermuda rig is also used. Most are fitted with a centreboard, although some have a keel. The hull can be 3.7 to 12.2 metres long with a beam half as wide as the hull length at the waterline. 

Advantages of this sail plan include the economies derived from a rig with a limited number of component parts. It is quick to hoist sail and get underway. The cat rig sails well to windward, especially in calmer water. As a working boat, the forward mast placement gave ample room in the cockpit for fishing gear. Cruising versions can provide a large usable cabin space in a relatively short hull.

Disadvantages of the rig include the limited deck space around the mast, which can be problematical when raising or lowering sail, or when reefing; halyards are often led back to the cockpit, so partially mitigating this problem. It is usually wise to reef early in a rising wind to avoid an excess of weather helm. The weight of the mast in the bow has to be allowed for in the hull design -if this is got wrong the bow may be buried when sailing downwind. The narrow beam where the mast is stepped makes it difficult to gain any benefit from shrouds, so the mast has to be stronger, and so heavier. Despite the simplicity of the rig, a good level of skill is required to design a balanced catboat, since there are limited options to correct any slight errors.

A lateen, from French latine, meaning Latin, or latin-rig is a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction. The settee can be considered to be an associated type of the same overall category of sail.

The lateen originated in the Mediterranean as early as the 2nd century AD, during Roman times, and became common there by the 5th century. The wider introduction of lateen rig at this time coincided with a reduction in the use of the Mediterranean square rig of the classical era. Since the performance of these two rigs is broadly similar, it is suggested that the change from one to the other was on cost grounds, since lateen rigs used fewer components and had less cordage to be replaced when it wore out.

Arab seafarers adopted the lateen rig at a later date -there is some limited archaeological evidence of lateen rig in the Indian Ocean in the 13th century AD and iconographic evidence from the 16th century. It has been suggested that this Arab use of lateen transferred to Austronesian maritime technology in the Far East, giving rise to the various fore-and-aft rigs used in that region, such as the crab claw sail.

The lateen sail played a prominent part in the shifts in maritime technology that occurred as Mediterranean and Northern European ship-construction traditions merged in the 16th century, with the lateen mizzen being, for a time, universally used in the full-rigged ships of the time -though later supplanted by gaff rig in this role.

The lateen also exists as a subtype: the settee. Instead of being a triangular sail, this has a short vertical luff -having the appearance of a triangular lateen with the front corner cut off. Both types of lateen were likely used from an early date on: a 2nd-century AD gravestone depicts a quadrilateral lateen sail (also known as a settee), while a 4th-century mosaic shows a triangular one, which was to become the standard rig throughout the Middle Ages.

The earliest archaeologically excavated ship that has been reconstructed with a lateen rig is dated to ca. 400 AD (Yassi Ada II), with a further four being attested prior to the Arab advance to the Mediterranean. The Kelenderis ship mosaic (late 5th to early 6th century) and the Kellia ship graffito from the early 7th century complement the picture.

By the 6th century, the lateen sail had largely replaced the square sail throughout the Mediterranean, the latter almost disappearing from Mediterranean iconography until the mid-13th century. It became the standard rig of the Byzantine dromon war galley and was probably also employed by Belisarius' flagship in the 532 AD invasion of the Vandal Kingdom. The fully triangular lateen and the settee continued to coexist in the middle Byzantine period, as evidenced by Christian iconography, as well as a recent find of a graffito in the Yenikapı excavations.

In the 12th to 13th centuries the rigging underwent a change when the hook-shaped masthead made way for an arrangement more akin to a barrel-like crow's nest.

After the Muslim conquests, the Arabs adopted the lateen sail by way of the Coptic populace, which shared the existing Mediterranean maritime tradition and continued to provide the bulk of galley crews for Muslim-led fleets for centuries to come. This is also indicated by the terminology of the lateen among Mediterranean Arabs which is derived from Greco-Roman nomenclature. More detailed research into their early use of the lateen is hampered by a distinct lack of unequivocal depictions of sailing rigs in early Islamic art. A glazed pottery dish from Saracenic Dénia dating to the 11th century is at present the earliest securely identifiable example found in the Mediterranean.

More information: Southern Woodenboat Sailing

 It is not the ship so much as the skillful sailing 
that assures the prosperous voyage.

George William Curtis

FROM NORWEGIAN 'HJELL' TO CATALAN 'PEIXOPALO'

Today, The Grandma and her friends have enjoyed a fantastic dinner with local cuisine in Sant Feliu de Guíxols. They have tasted peixopalo, also known as stockfish, the unsalted cod whose origins are in Norway, where it is named hjell.

Stockfish is unsalted fish, especially cod, dried by cold air and wind on wooden racks (which are called hjell in Norway) on the foreshore. The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage life of several years. The method is cheap and effective in suitable climates; the work can be done by the fisherman and family, and the resulting product is easily transported to market.

Over the centuries, several variants of dried fish have evolved. The stockfish (fresh dried, not salted) category is often mistaken for the klippfisk, or salted cod, category where the fish is salted before drying. Salting was not economically feasible until the 17th century, when cheap salt from southern Europe became available to the maritime nations of northern Europe.

Stockfish is cured in a fermentation process where cold-adapted bacteria matures the fish, similar to the maturing process of cheese.

In English legal records of the medieval period, stock fishmongers are differentiated from ordinary fishmongers when the occupation of a plaintiff or defendant is recorded.

The word stockfish is a loan word from West Frisian stokfisk (stick fish), possibly referring to the wooden racks on which stockfish are traditionally dried or because the dried fish resembles a stick.

Stock may also refer to a wooden yoke or harness on a horse or mule, once used to carry large fish from the sea or after drying/smoking for trade in nearby villages. This etymology is consistent with the fact that Stockmaß is German for the height of a horse at the withers.

Stockfish is Norway's longest sustained export commodity. Stockfish is first mentioned as a commodity in the 13th-century Icelandic prose work Egil's Saga, where chieftain Thorolf Kveldulfsson, in the year 875 AD, ships stockfish from Helgeland in mid-Norway to Britain. This product accounted for most of Norway's trade income from the Viking Age throughout the Medieval period.

Preserved cod fed Iceland for centuries, to the extent that it has been described as a local equivalent of bread.

Stockfish is extremely popular and is widely consumed in Catholic Mediterranean countries, mostly in Italy. Stockfish is called stoccafisso in most Italian dialects, but confusingly baccalà -which normally refers to salt cod- in the Veneto.

In Russian cuisine dried stockfish is a very popular dish which is often eaten with vodka and beer. In the 16th century Russian and Swedish stockfish were sold to many European countries.

The science of producing good stockfish is in many ways comparable to that of making a good cognac, Parma ham, or a well-matured cheese. Practitioners of the Slow Food movement insist that all these artisanal products must be made on a small scale and given time to mature.

The fish is prepared immediately after capture. After gutting the fish, it is either dried whole, or split along the spine leaving the tail connected. The fish is hung on the hjell from February to May. Stable cool weather protects the fish from insects and prevents an uncontrolled bacterial growth. A temperature just above zero degrees Celsius, with little rain, is ideal. Too much frost will spoil the fish, as ice destroys the fibers in the fish. The climate in northern Norway is excellent for stockfish production, and remains so even with changing climate conditions. Salted/dried whitefish (klippfisk) was more common in the fisheries districts of Western Norway. Further south in Norway, the cod was salted in barrells from the 15th century.

After its three months hanging on the hjell, the fish is then matured for another two to three months indoors in a dry and airy environment. During the drying, about 80% of the water in the fish evaporates. The stockfish retains much of the nutrients from the fresh fish, only concentrated: it is therefore rich in proteins, vitamins, iron, and calcium.

Most of the Norwegian dried cod is exported to Portugal, Sweden, Nigeria, Brazil, and Italy. In Norway and Iceland, the stockfish is mostly used as a snack and for lutefisk production. In Italy, the fish (called stoccafisso) is soaked and used in various courses, and is viewed as a delicacy.

Low-quality stockfish is also commonly used as supplemental food for pets, primarily as dog food or dog treats.

The 2012-2015, project SafeTrackFood developed a method of indoor production of stockfish to accelerate the maturing and drying of the fish in a safe manner.

In Catalonia, stockfish is an ingredient of a kind of surf and turf named Es Niu, a dish very popular on the Costa Brava.

More information: Visita Costa Brava

 Travel is so important in its capacity to expand the mind. 
It's exciting to start as young as possible 
-you get to see how other cultures live, 
challenge your senses, and try different cuisines.

Natalie Dormer

'HOSTAL DE LA GAVINA', THE AMERICAN FILMS IN S’AGARÓ

Extracted from www.lagavina.com

Having first set eyes on the area back in the 1920s, pioneering hotelier Josep Ensesa i Gubert had a vision. He was fixated with the stretch of beach between Bahia de Sant Pol and Sa Concha, which was not much more than a piece of uninhabited land back then, but Ensesa could see the potential. He persuaded his father to invest in the untapped land where, together with local architect Rafael Maso i Valentí, the pair, would go on to conceive a garden city overlooking this splendid corner of the Mediterranean, a place where media and the arts would stylishly converge. This included the magnificent Loggia de Senya Blanca, the first property built in the new S’Agaró development in 1922. But the jewel in the crown was Hostal de la Gavina, which opened ten years later on 2 January 1932, Catalunya's only five-star Grand Luxe resort hotel.

Maso i Valenti, an advocate of Noucentista style, incorporated local architectural nuances into his design: porticos, towers, terraces and low-pitched roofs which would help lure in a sophisticated clientele with refined artistic tastes –the great Salvador Dalí became a regular. La Gavina remains a byword for luxury and one of the most revered hotel addresses in the country. Under the guidance of Julia, Virginia, Carina and Josep Ensesa Viñas, the fourth generation of the Ensesa family carry on the mantle of their predecessors with the same enthusiasm.

The affluent neighbourhood of S'Agaró, which celebrated its 100th Anniversary in 2024, has often been described as the Beverly Hills of the Costa Brava. So it's no surprise it’s had its fair share of silver-screen stars who've passed beneath its iconic red canopied arcade entrance over the years: from Ava Gardner and Britt Ekland to John Wayne and Jack Nicholson to name but a few. Successions of tree-lined avenidas, which surround Hostal de la Gavina, wind their way up to decadent villas, while at the foot of the hotel, the idyllic coastal path of the Camí de Ronda, with its iconic tamarind trees interspersed with umbrella pines, snakes its way around the glistening bay.

The presence of seagulls catching the maritime breeze and soaring majestically above the bay inspired the hotel's name: gavina in Catalan means seagull – indeed the hotel's iconic motif is based on the gulls' dihedral angled wings. The 'hostal' part of the hotel’s name was consciously retained in order to reflect the warm and homely service offered to guests, taking inspiration from typical Catalan roadside houses. La Gavina has the feel of a grande dame, a place so rarefied in the modern world, beautifully preserving the charm of a bygone era with the contemporary in the most subtle and timeless way. 

S'Agaró and La Gavina have grown steadily in unison without ever losing sight of their origins. What started out as a modest 11-room property charging 25 pesetas per night, now houses 76 rooms and suites, with the addition of a show-stopping seawater outdoor pool and Valmont Spa, several restaurants alongside meeting and special events facilities. La Gavina continues to proudly encapsulate the original style and heritage which was installed on day one of its opening.

La Gavina's guest book reads like a Who's Who of the silver screen. S'Agaró has been the stylish backdrop of famous Hollywood movies such as Pandora with Ava Gardner and Suddenly Last Summer starring Elizabeth Taylor. Those to have bedded down here include Lee Van Cleef, Peter Sellers, Britt Ekland, John Wayne, Sean Connery, Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Liam Neeson, Laurence Olivier, Dirk Bogarde and Maureen Swanson while the late Johan Cruyff would often bring his FC Barcelona teams to stay.

Latterly Tom Waits, Santana and Lady Gaga. Culture and the arts have also played an active part in shaping La Gavina's rich history. Numerous artists, Nobel prize winners and other academics have not only holidayed here but used the property professionally as a meeting point for recitals and musical performances. Cole Porter, Josep Pla, Josep Carreras, Orson Welles and Rudolf Nureyev, are just a few of the luminaries to have passed through the Adolf Florensa designed lobby.

More information: Centenari S'Agaró

Today, The Grandma and her friends have visited Hostal de la Gavina, meeting place of many famous film stars, musicians, political figures and Nobel Prize winners, and set of some popular American films interpreted by Hollywood stars like Ava Gardner, James Mason, Orson Welles, Montgomery Clift or Katharine Hepburn.

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman is a 1951 British Technicolor romantic fantasy drama film written and directed by Albert Lewin. The screenplay is based on legend of the Flying Dutchman.

The film stars Ava Gardner and James Mason in the title roles, with Nigel Patrick, Sheila Sim, Harold Warrender, Mario Cabré, and Marius Goring in supporting parts.

More information: The Guardian

 I have only one rule in acting 
-trust the director and give him heart and soul.

Ava Gardner

Suddenly, Last Summer is a 1959 Southern Gothic psychological drama mystery film based on the 1958 play of the same name by Tennessee Williams. The film stars Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift with Albert Dekker, Mercedes McCambridge, and Gary Raymond. It was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and produced by Sam Spiegel from a screenplay by Gore Vidal and Williams with cinematography by Jack Hildyard and production design by Oliver Messel. The musical score was composed by Buxton Orr, using themes by Malcolm Arnold.

The plot centers on Catherine Holly, a young woman who, at the insistence of her wealthy aunt, is being evaluated by a psychiatric doctor to receive a lobotomy after witnessing the death of her cousin Sebastian Venable while traveling with him in the (fictional) island of Cabeza de Lobo the previous summer.

More information: Cine Muse

Everything makes me nervous -except making films. 

Elizabeth Taylor

 

Mr. Arkadin, also released as Confidential Report, is a 1955 thriller film noir written, produced and directed by Orson Welles. It stars Welles, Robert Arden, Paola Mori, Michael Redgrave, Patricia Medina, Akim Tamiroff, Peter van Eyck, and Katina Paxinou. The film centers on an American smuggler (Arden) who is hired by a wealthy amnesiac, the titular Arkadin (Welles), to investigate his mysterious past.

The screenplay was based on scripts Welles had originally co-authored for his radio drama series The Adventures of Harry Lime. A co-production of France, Spain, and Switzerland, it was shot in several locations throughout Western Europe.

Like many of Welles' films, Mr. Arkadin had a difficult production and was released in several different versions. Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum identified at least seven different versions of the story. The film has been praised by directors like Christopher Nolan and Shinji Aoyama.

More information: Crime Reads

My kind of director is an actor-director who writes.

Orson Welles

 

Mysterious Island, in UK Jules Verne's Mysterious Island, is a 1961 science fiction adventure film about prisoners in the American Civil War who escape in a balloon and then find themselves stranded on a remote island populated by giant animals.

Loosely based upon the 1874 novel The Mysterious Island (L'Île mystérieuse) by Jules Verne (which was the sequel to two other novels by Verne, 1867's In Search of the Castaways and 1870's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas), the film was produced by Charles H. Schneer and directed by Cy Endfield.

Shot in Catalonia, and at Shepperton Studios, England, the film serves as a showcase for Ray Harryhausen's stop motion animation effects. Like several of Harryhausen's classic productions, the musical score was composed by Bernard Herrmann.

More information: Mana Pop

The sea is everything. 
It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. 
Its breath is pure and healthy. 
It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, 
for he feels life stirring on all sides.

Jules Verne