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Tuesday, March 13, 2007

The Illusionist


Loved it. There were some lingering questions, though, so I decided to re-watch with "director comments", something I've rarely done, but it was most illuminating in this case. And what a surprise to find out that the original Milhauser story was quite different. For one thing: no Sophie! And for another: no Inspector! Filming was done entirely in and around Prague (deemed to look more like c1900 Vienna than Vienna itself) and the castle with the "hallway of horns" was Konipiste, which had belonged to Archduke Franz Ferdinand (his assassination, as you recall, started WWI).

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought you would like this one! I am reading Millhauser's _The Barnum Museum_ now, and really enjoying it.

4:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's arriving tomorrow! Can't wait. Just watched Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. Not sure I'd recommend to this blog's readership, but it was pretty funny. I'll have to watch Supersize Me to cancel out the resulting burger cravings. ib

9:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

About Harold and Kumar (which I haven't seen), I saw that the French title for the film is "Harold and Kumar chassent le burger." Sometimes I feel it's the other way around-- that burgers are pursuing me while I try to avoid eating them.

But I never have understood the appeal of White Castle under any circumstances. Not with all those good NJ diners around.

11:35 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think the appeal is you can eat 30 of the White Castles in one sitting. Part of the Harold and Kumar storyline includes enormous bags of pot, if that helps you to understand their White Castle (vs diner burger) quest. ib

11:45 PM  

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