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THE MT VOID
09/12/25 -- Vol. 44, No. 11, Whole Number 2397

Editor: Evelyn Leeper, evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
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Topics:
SON OF KONG (film comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
3I/Atlas Interstellar Object (comment
by Gregory Frederick)
Silent Films at Boskone and Elsewhere (letters
of comment by Scott Dorsey, Tim Illingworth,
Gary McGath, Hal Heydt, and Paul Dormer)
This Week's Reading (MOBY-DICK)
(book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

==================================================================

TOPIC: SON OF KONG (film comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

(A few weeks ago I commented on KING KONG (1933), so I decided to
do SON OF KONG as well.)

The "NRA" mentioned at the beginning is not the National Rifle
Association, but the National Recovery Administration.

This at least recognizes that Denham would be sued by hundreds of
people for the damage caused by Kong.

The boat is definitely docked in New York this time, on the East
River, since we see the Brooklyn Bridge in the background.

They sail to Colombo, Singapore, Semarang, Makassar, Lombak, and
Dakang (which is 1753 miles from Skull Island). All of these are
real places except for Dakang.

Hilda is no Fay Wray, but she does seem more real. Even Denham
notes her "personality". And she clearly an animal lover, since
her first thought is to free the animals so they can escape the
fire.

The local population seems more racially authentic than that of
Skull Island.

Where would the supposed treasure on Skull Island have come from?

Where did Denham get the money to give to Hilda?

We see basically the same evolution of the shipboard romance as in
KING KONG.

This has the familiar trope of the mutinous crew, but somehow they
just put Englehorn, Denham, Hilda, and Charlie off in a lifeboat.

And the mutiny is couched in terms of the Russian Revolution
("we're through with bosses", references to the bourgeoisie, etc.).

They land inside a cave/tunnel, which Peter Jackson duplicated in
the 2005 version.

The styracosaurus is a more reasonable size than the stegosaurus
in KING KONG.

Little Kong's "humorous" gestures are merely annoying.

Why there is a sudden combination typhoon and earthquake isn't
clear--the two phenomena are not related.

How does Little Kong know when to release Denham?

How do they manage to attract the attention of a ship so far away?
I suppose it's possible that someone on the ship is scanning the
ocean, but it seems unlikely.

Why would Denham and Hilda getting married mean they should get
only one of three shares instead of two of four?

[-ecl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: 3I/Atlas Interstellar Object (comment by Gregory Frederick)

The 3I/Atlas interstellar object is really strange. Most comets
have more water ice compared to CO2 but this object has more CO2
in it compared to any other comet ever seen. And it has much less
water ice than comets usually have so it does not have a long tail
made of sublimated water ice. This tail is seen as a typical comet
heats up during its approach to the Sun. It does have a very large
coma made of CO2 though. Mars orbiter may try to image the object
as it will pass very close to Mars. Also the core seems to
generate a great deal of energy. Article is listed below.

<https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/ 4-powerful-telescopes-agree-interstellar-025023118.html>

[-gf]

===================================================================

TOPIC: WEDNESDAY (letter of comment by Daniel Kimmel)

In response to Paul S. R. Chisholm's comments on WEDNESDAY in the
09/05/25 issue of the MT VOID, Daniel Kimmel writes:

Correction: Enid is a wolf, not a vampire. [-dk]

===================================================================

TOPIC: Silent Films at Boskone and Elsewhere (letters of comment
by Scott Dorsey, Tim Illingworth, Gary McGath, Hal Heydt, and Paul
Dormer)

In response to Gary McGath's comments on silent films with organ
accompaniment at Boskone in the 09/05/25 issue of the MT VOID,
Scott Dorsey writes:

Boskone still does this. This year Boskone ran only a short NACA
film and the 16mm film from Worldcon with our own Gary McGath
accompanying on synthesizer, though, and not a full silent
feature. We hope to have a feature in February.

For years, John Kiley joked with us that when he died we would
have to start running transitional films (films that were still
acted and composed like silent films, but with some dialogue
added). When he did die in the early 2000s we ran WHITE ZOMBIE
with Bela Lugosi. [-sd]

Evelyn responds:

With no slur intended to Gary, a synthesizer is hardly the same as
a full-size pipe organ. I know that Boskone 29 (1992) showed
AELITA with live accompaniment by the Shirim Klezmer Orchestra.
This had its pros and cons. The accompaniment was good, but the
fact that there was a twenty-minute intermission between reels
(for the band to rest) was not so good. [-ecl]

Tim Illingworth adds:

John Kiley was also the organist at the Garden, thus making him
the only person to play for the Red Sox, the Celtics and the
Bruins. [-ti]

Gary McGath responds to Scott:

I'm glad to talk about this whenever you're ready. The only reason
I stopped accompanying silent films at Boskone was that a lot of
silents were still under copyright then, and Kino in particular
charged expensive licensing fees.

Some early sound films didn't have musical scores, and adding live accompaniment is a possibility. I've heard of the 1931
FRANKENSTEIN being done this way. However, it's still in
copyright. [-gmg]

Hal Heydt notes:

That copyright should run out the end of next year. (To the best
of my knowledge, corporate held copyrights run for 95 years. I
will admit to being fairly surprised that The Mouse Kingdom
didn't get that extended a few years ago.) [-hh]

Evelyn adds:

And (probably) the 1931 DRACULAs as well (both the Lugosi and the
Villarias versions), though see comments at <https://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2025/01/ universal-studios-dracula-and.html>

Actually, some claim the Villarias version is already in public
domain because the copyright was not renewed. On the other hand,
the restored version may be covered by a separate copyright. On
the gripping hand, supposedly someone at the copyright office said
that a restoration cannot be copyrighted, because it's an effort
to return the film to its original state. [-ecl]

Scott adds further explanation:

The problems are first of all that some of the older silent films
are still in original copyright, but also that the restored and
reconstructed versions are individually copyrighted.

So... Boskone (or maybe Arisia, it's hard to tell) owns a 16mm
print of METROPOLIS which they bought from Blackhawk Films in the
seventies. The Blackhawk prints come with rights conveyed, so they
can show that to anyone without paying any royalties.

*But*... the new re-edited version of Metropolis sold by Kino
Lorber is still in copyright because of the restoration work...
and it is much easier to follow the plot in the restored version.
(It still has a lot of important stuff missing though.)

So, we can show a poor and fragmentary version but we can't show a
more complete and better-looking (but still far from original)
version without paying rights.

There *are* some old 16mm prints and public domain video transfers
of many great silent films, though. Some of them are available
through the Library of Congress although their impending budget
cuts may sink that. [-sd]

Gary adds:

Yes, "More than 95 years old, out of copyright" is a simple rule
that turns out not always to be true. The copyright boundaries for
restorations are often unsettled law. I've been stopped 3 times on
YouTube for alleged copyright violations on silent films with my
accompaniment. Twice the other side gave in; the other time I
didn't find it worthwhile to fight it.

In Europe there's the additional complication that movie
copyrights tend to be tied to individuals rather than
corporations, and the clock starts ticking only when the last
copyright owner dies. [-gmg]

Paul Dormer writes:

I've seen Eisenstein's ALEXANDER NEVSKY shown with a live orchestra
performing Prokoviev's score. [-pd]

Hal notes:

A couple of bits of trivia about that film...

The helm that Nevsky wears is a direct copy of the historical
original. They borrowed the actual helm from the Hermitage museum
to make the copy used in the film.

Prokoviev wrote the music for the battle on the ice before it was
filmed. The battle was choreographed to match the music. [-hh]

Paul also adds:

And they hired strong swimmers as extras--filmed in summer.

At about the same time, Arthur Bliss was hired to write the music
for THINGS TO COME. H. G. Wells was insistent that the music be
written first, but he reckoned without the final editing. The
result was some jarring key changes in the industrial montage, so
they got someone to dub tam-tam crashes to cover them. [-pd]

Evelyn adds:

Along those lines, Mark and I once went to an outdoor performance
of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" at Monmouth Battlefield, with
live cannon. These days orchestras apparently use recordings of
live cannon when they are performing indoors. [-ecl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

Okay, once again I'm punting the column and giving you another
chapter's-worth of commentary on MOBY-DICK. (Well, two, actually,
because Chapter 5's commentary is so short.)

CHAPTER 4: The Counterpane

Much has been made of: "Upon waking next morning about daylight, I
found Queequeg's arm thrown over me in the most loving and
affectionate manner. You had almost thought I had been his wife.
... For though I tried to move his armrCounlock his bridegroom
clasprCoyet, sleeping as he was, he still hugged me tightly, as
though naught but death should part us twain." And certainly
Melville does emphasize the similarity to a marriage bed (even to
the "till death do us part" aspect), but it is just as possible
that he does this to point out the incongruity of it all rather
than hint at a secret homosexual subtext.

Ishmael comes from a family in which he has a stepmother and hence
is a somewhat second-class child. This is similar to his Biblical
namesake, who was the "illegitimate" son of Abraham and his
servant Hagar. I put "illegitimate" in quotes because I am not
sure the word really expresses the connotations in Biblical times.
There was less stigma attached on men fathering children with
their servants or slaves, but those children were nonetheless
lower in status than those whose mother was married to their
father.

When Ishmael was sent to his room as a child, he feel asleep in
the afternoon, he later woke up and relates, "I opened my eyes,
and the before sun-lit room was now wrapped in outer darkness."
This is just one of *many* references to black, or darkness,
presumably to contrast with the whiteness of the whale. It is
worth noting that while Biblical references connect darkness and
blackness with evil, almost all the incidents of *actual* darkness
and blackness in the novel are either benign or positive. The
Spouter Inn is very dark, yet it provides a meal and a bed for
Ishmael. Queequeg is dark, yet he is portrayed almost entirely in
positive terms and is ultimately the means of Ishmael's salvation.

In the morning, Queequeg climbs naked under the bed where soon "he
was hard at work booting himself; though by no law of propriety
that I ever heard of, is any man required to be private when
putting on his boots. But Queequeg, do you see, was a creature in
the transition stagerConeither caterpillar nor butterfly. He was
just enough civilized to show off his outlandishness in the
strangest possible manners. His education was not yet completed.
He was an undergraduate ... If he had not been a small degree
civilized, he very probably would not have troubled himself with
boots at all; but then, if he had not been still a savage, he
never would have dreamt of getting under the bed to put them on."
One of the themes in MOBY-DICK is transitionrCoas the Pequod travels
further from home (and civilization), many of the crew undergo
transitions in the reverse of Queequeg's supposed direction.
Ishmael thinks of Queequeg as transitioning from primitive to
civilized, while the crew goes from civilized to primitive.

When Ishmael sees Queequeg shaving with a harpoon, he thinks,
"Queequeg, this is using Rogers's best cutlery with a vengeance.
Afterwards I wondered the less at this operation when I came to
know of what fine steel the head of a harpoon is made, and how
exceedingly sharp the long straight edges are always kept." One
might think Ishmael is referring to Wm. Rogers, who was a
silversmith starting around 1825, and whose name is currently a
trademark of the Oneida Company. (My parents' good silver was Wm.
Rogers.) But harpoon points are steel, not silver.

At breakfast, Ishmael sees "a brown and brawny company, with bosky
beards." "Bosky" means "having an abundance of bushes, shrubs, or
trees."

CHAPTER 5: Breakfast

Ledyard is John Ledyard, Connecticut-born explorer who traveled
with Captain Cook, crossed overland from Paris to Irkutsk and
back, and died on an African expedition. Mungo Park was a Scottish
explorer who made several expeditions into Africa. Each died on
one of his voyages.

[-ecl]

===================================================================

Evelyn C. Leeper
evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com


A man ought to read just as inclination leads him;
for what he reads as a task will do him little good.
--Samuel Johnson
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