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Preminger's version of Uris's novel .
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This Land is Mine....
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That can't be Sal Mineo in the lower right. Or is it?
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Uris became interested in writing about Israel after covering the Arab-Israeli conflict as a war correspondent in 1956. Dore Schary, who had been the MGM studio production head, had commissioned the material as an original screenplay written by Leon Uris, intending to produce it. With Schary’s departure from the studio in Oct 1956, the studio lost interest in the project and Uris used the material to create his novel. In his autobiography, Preminger stated that when he read a draft of the screenplay and learned the rights were held by MGM, he met with them and suggested that if they produced the film they would likely suffer boycotts from Arab countries that he, as an independent producer, would avoid. According to Preminger, concern over a potential boycott motivated MGM’s sale of the property.
Today, the film is controlled by MGM.
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I'm usually the one who comes here and posts cheap clue after cheap clue.
Only NOW I have the amazing opportunity to to say...
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EXODUS!
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If I'm not mistaken, this film has a theme which had numerous cover versions done of it, including a delightful one by jazz guitarist Grant Green on his album Sunday Mornin'.
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talking of Uris - Im just watching Gunfight at Ok Corral - somewhat surprised, i notice he did the screenplay for that too.
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talking of Uris - Im just watching Gunfight at Ok Corral - somewhat surprised, i notice he did the screenplay for that too.
Otto Preminger disclosed in his autobiography that he initially started work on a script for EXODUS with Uris, but that the author could not make the adjustment between novel and script writing and so was fired.
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If I'm not mistaken, this film has a theme which had numerous cover versions done of it, including a delightful one by jazz guitarist Grant Green on his album Sunday Mornin'.
The one by The Living Strings Orchestra was great too, of whose arrangement was akin to that of a symphony orchestra, and of course, I like the version by Ferrante & Teicher, which went to #2.
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Film more valid, and revered, for its theme, rather than for its content. An "issue" movie, which Preminger, and also Stanley Kramer, were wont to make. Consequently, the characters in the foreground tend to become mouthpieces for the various aspects of the "issue"involved. Which can lead to some pretty turgid filmmaking.
EXODUS was originally a roadshow, and I still have a copy of the original souvenir program. Roadshows, usually be definition, were meant to be long, with an intermission, which EXODUS originally had. In the case of an "issue" picture, though, this can only add to the tedium.
I finally saw EXODUS in a local theatre, not as a roadshow, but even then, when I was 12 or 13, I found it episodic and long. The best section is the first, involving the situation with the refugees on the dilapidated ship, christened the "Exodus" by Newman and company. That section works very well and holds the interest. Then, they actually arrive in Israel, and Preminger seems like he has to set up a whole new movie, with the resistance to the British, the prison break, and, finally, the declaration of statehood, with resultant conflicts.
Each of these would probably make a good movie, but, shunted together as they are, the pace realized by the first section diminishes into different meandering plot threads. As an example, Eva Marie Saint starts off as an uninvolved American observer, but ends up virtually as an Israeli soldier. Her transition seems more based on the "issue" in the film than on any character shifts during the story.
(I'm sure the above statement will cause comment from this Board... )
Interestingly, I would say the best element was the score, particularly Ernest Gold's main theme, which went global in popularity. So much so, that, much like the popularity of the song, "The Impossible Dream," some 5 years later, it got used for many different situations. Such is the side-effect of extreme succsess.
To tell the truth, I don't think I've met many people who've actually seen the film, let alone remember it, for anything other than the main "issue."
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Posted: |
Dec 7, 2014 - 4:08 PM
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By: |
mgh
(Member)
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Film more valid, and revered, for its theme, rather than for its content. An "issue" movie, which Preminger, and also Stanley Kramer, were wont to make. Consequently, the characters in the foreground tend to become mouthpieces for the various aspects of the "issue"involved. Which can lead to some pretty turgid filmmaking.
EXODUS was originally a roadshow, and I still have a copy of the original souvenir program. Roadshows, usually be definition, were meant to be long, with an intermission, which EXODUS originally had. In the case of an "issue" picture, though, this can only add to the tedium.
I finally saw EXODUS in a local theatre, not as a roadshow, but even then, when I was 12 or 13, I found it episodic and long. The best section is the first, involving the situation with the refugees on the dilapidated ship, christened the "Exodus" by Newman and company. That section works very well and holds the interest. Then, they actually arrive in Israel, and Preminger seems like he has to set up a whole new movie, with the resistance to the British, the prison break, and, finally, the declaration of statehood, with resultant conflicts.
Each of these would probably make a good movie, but, shunted together as they are, the pace realized by the first section diminishes into different meandering plot threads. As an example, Eva Marie Saint starts off as an uninvolved American observer, but ends up virtually as an Israeli soldier. Her transition seems more based on the "issue" in the film than on any character shifts during the story.
(I'm sure the above statement will cause comment from this Board... )
Interestingly, I would say the best element was the score, particularly Ernest Gold's main theme, which went global in popularity. So much so, that, much like the popularity of the song, "The Impossible Dream," some 5 years later, it got used for many different situations. Such is the side-effect of extreme succsess.
To tell the truth, I don't think I've met many people who've actually seen the film, let alone remember it, for anything other than the main "issue."
I've seen the film and pretty much agree with your assessment of it, but I think I liked it a little more than you did. I enjoyed the epic feel of it.
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As is usual with a film based upon a epic novel, even an epic-sized picture has to leave something out. The film roughly follows Uris’ novel, but eliminates nearly all of the lengthy back stories the author provided for each main character. The back stories illustrated the Jewish immigrant experience in Europe and Russia from the late 19th century through Nazi persecution and murders during the Holocaust.
Some major character and narrative developments from the book that do not appear in the film include: “Brig. Gen. Bruce Sutherland” (Ralph Richardson) is half Jewish and retires to Palestine; the passengers on board the Exodus are almost exclusively children and in addition to a hunger strike, they threaten to commit suicide one by one to force the British release of the Exodus ; “Taha” (John Derek) and “Ari” (Paul Newman) end their long friendship in bitter animosity and Taha is not killed by fellow Palestinians but by a Jewish attack on Abu Yesha. The novel ends not on the eve of the founding of Israel in 1948, but in 1950 after the War of Independence on Passover when Karen (Jill Haworth) is murdered.
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As is usual with a film based upon a epic novel, even an epic-sized picture has to leave something out. The film roughly follows Uris’ novel, but eliminates nearly all of the lengthy back stories the author provided for each main character. The back stories illustrated the Jewish immigrant experience in Europe and Russia from the late 19th century through Nazi persecution and murders during the Holocaust.
Some major character and narrative developments from the book that do not appear in the film include: “Brig. Gen. Bruce Sutherland” (Ralph Richardson) is half Jewish and retires to Palestine; the passengers on board the Exodus are almost exclusively children and in addition to a hunger strike, they threaten to commit suicide one by one to force the British release of the Exodus ; “Taha” (John Derek) and “Ari” (Paul Newman) end their long friendship in bitter animosity and Taha is not killed by fellow Palestinians but by a Jewish attack on Abu Yesha. The novel ends not on the eve of the founding of Israel in 1948, but in 1950 after the War of Independence on Passover when Karen (Jill Haworth) is murdered.
Also, the book has a whole section about Dov Landau's involvement in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which is only discussed in the film.
And, like you, I love epics. I grew up in their heyday. Loved all the roadshows, some better, some worse. Some, like ICE STATION ZEBRA, KHARTOUM, or THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL, should never have been Cinerama roadshows. Careful editing, and they would have been effective normal-length movies.
But I did love all of them! (And I still have the souvenir programs to them all!)
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