SWORD AND SANDAL KIDS

BOOK TRAILER - VELVET, by Mary Hooper

2011-09-05T13:39:00.000+01:00

Today, Bloomsbury publish Velvet, Mary Hooper's latest historical extravaganza set in Victorian England. It's the story of a young orphan who tries to escape a life of harsh labour as a laundry worker by seeking employment with a gifted medium. Turns out that the medium's gift isn't the ability to contact the dead, and soon Velvet's life is in danger......

A book by La Hooper is always a cause for celebration, or in Sword and Sandal Kids case, a dispute, as we can never agree who is going to get first pop at reading it. Our review will go up soon. Meanwhile, here's the official book trailer to make us all salivate.

And here are details for Mary's blog tour.

DAVID, by Mary Hoffman

2011-08-11T19:15:00.003+01:00

Setting: Renaissance Italy
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication date: 4 July 2011 [paperback]
Readership: YA
Pages: 288

Mary Hoffman has a magic touch with words and plot that means she can produce a fantastic yarn out of the most unlikely of subjects. Even when tackling difficult issues like racism and sexism [Amazing Grace] or refugees [The Colour of Home], her books always have a page-turning plot that has you rooting for the main character and wanting to know what comes next. Her first book in the amazing Stravaganza sequence even managed to weave a fantasy round a boy dying of cancer.

DAVID is her most daring and ambitious work to date. It's the story of a handsome young stone cutter who becomes the model for Michelangelo's famous homoerotic sculpture which today stands in the Galleria Dell'Accademia in Florence. Nothing is known about the real-life model, giving Hoffman the perfect opportunity to indulge her fantasy and titillate us with a story of art, lust, political intrigue and lost innocence.

Il bellissimo Davide

Her blending of meticulously-researched fact and fiction, of real characters and imaginary ones, is seamless. There is a list of characters at the book of the book which tells you who was real and who was made up by the author, but it hardly matters. You want EVERYONE in the story to be true, even the bigots. And so much happens, so quickly, you just get carried along with the narrative. Great as the story is, however, what makes this book a real gem is the central relationship between Michelangelo, an ageing artist who'd today be called a closet case, and the macho heterosexual Gabriele. It's handled with great sensitivity, and it rings so true!

In the end, this is also story about lost opportunities, about dealing with rash decisions taken in the folly of youth that have consequences for the rest of a person's life. Like the bella citta it's set in, you'd want to revisit this book more than once, and it will resonate differently as you get older. The poignant ending will have you in tears, whatever your age. It'll also make you want to visit Florence pronto! We at Sword and Sandal Kids reckon David should be a contender for the Carnegie.

Buy David from amazon.co.uk. Buy David for Kindle!

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Mary Hoffman's DAVID blogtour.

2011-07-28T21:43:00.002+01:00

Today we're pleased to host Mary Hoffman's blog tour to promote DAVID, a novel about the young man who was the model for Michelangelo's famous statue. Click on the banner above if you want to read other posts on the tour.

3. Combining historical and invented characters

This is something I have done before – in Troubadour and, to a lesser extent in The Falconer’s Knot. (I always play fair and mark up the character list to show which ones really existed).

In The Falconer’s Knot, I particularly enjoyed bringing to life my favourite painter, Simone Martini, who has always spoken clearly to me across six and a half centuries or so. And in David there is a plethora of artists – Michelangelo, Leonardo, the lesser known Sangallo brothers and references to Masaccio, Donatello, Botticelli and Fra Angelico.

Mary, David and David

Michelangelo was always going to be a main character, given the subject matter, and I knew I had to get inside the skin of this great artist. We know all sorts of “facts” about him, culled from Giorgio Vasari’s famous Lives of the Artists, but he is a notoriously unreliable witness. Then there are the great man’s own letters, written over a long life, and his poetry.

So I was trying to imagine a man who was not keen on washing or changing his clothes but spent his life creating artefacts of great beauty, a republican sympathiser who had been brought up in the house of Florence’s greatest noble, Lorenzo the Magnificent, a man who seemed to save his deepest emotional involvement for other men but also had a passionate friendship with a middle aged woman in his later life.

And I did not want him to be like Charlton Heston in the film of Irving Stone’s The Agony and the Ecstasy!

The key is always in the art; when I was a student aged twenty, I spent a month in Florence and saw all the exhibited art but also blagged my way into the Casa Buonarotti, which was closed for restoration. I and four other friends carrying sketchbooks said they we were students with a special interest in Michelangelo. This was true but we were not art students, four of us were reading English Literature and the fifth was a medic.

We saw the Madonna of the Stairs and the Battle of the Centaurs and Lapiths – two marble reliefs I write about in the book – and a most moving wooden crucifix, life-sized but with Christ as really quite small, about which there was some dispute at the time in relation to who had carved it. We were all sure it was authentic Michelangelo and it has since been confirmed but it was very special to see it in that setting, with most of the building under plastic sheets and only us looking at it.

I was staying with the others in a pensione at the top of number five, Piazza San Lorenzo and we went often into the Medici chapels attached to San Lorenzo church, where there are several of Michelangelo’s statues, in particular the beautiful Dawn and Dusk, Day and Night on the de’ Medici tombs. Gazing at and sketching these statues gave me some insight into the mind of the man.

I hope I have characterised him convincingly in David; he certainly lived and breathed for me.

But I wasn’t expecting to have to bring Leonardo to life too! That just arose out of the needs of the plot and the date of the story. And once I had Leonardo, I had to have his best-known assistant too – Salai, the “little devil.” It was clear to me from all I knew about both of them, that Michelangelo and Leonardo were of such different characters and personalities that they would rub each other up the wrong way whenever they met.

So it was fun to write the scenes between them.

And it was equally interesting to invent another artist, Leone, who was a painter under the patronage of the equally fictional Visdomini. He has nothing to do with the real artist Leone Leoni, who came later; my Leone is entirely my creation. He paints mythological scenes and characters for his wealthy patron and he uses my Gabriele (the model for David) as the inspiration for his Bacchus, Hercules and Theseus.

We're posting out own review of David soon. Menawhile, if you want to know more about the novel, Mary's other books and the author herself, here are detail's of Mary's presence online.

www.maryhoffman.co.uk
www.twitter.com/@MARYMHOFFMAN

www.facebook.com/maryhoffman.fanpage

www.bookmavenmary.blogspot.com

http://bookmavenmary.blogspot.com/p/david-blog-tour-2011.html

HOLD 'EM UP, PARDNER - an interview with Caroline Lawrence

2011-07-10T22:01:00.007+01:00

When we posted our review for Caroline Lawrence’s new humdinger of a book, THE CASE OF THE DEADLY DESPERADOS, this blog received an eye-popping number of hits. So we, er, pointed a packed pistol at the busy author until she agreed to an interview. Read on to find out what we asked her.

Buckskin and Boots: Caroline Lawrence in Santa Clarita

SSK: Hello, Caroline. We’re thrilled that you agreed to be interviewed by Sword And Sandal Kids. We’re big fans of your work! The Roman Mysteries are not only fun to read but they teach you a lot about the ancient world too. We have to admit that some of us caught a glimpse of the BBC crew filming on the island of Malta and sneaked on to the set. We’re sure that the your new project, the Western Mysteries series will meet with the same success. Here are our questions:

CL [holding up her hands at the sight of our loaded colt 45] I'll talk, I'll talk!

SSK Why the leap from Ancient Rome to the Wild West?

CL Three things together combined to give me a Eureka moment while sipping coffee on beautiful day on the Stanford University campus in California, where my mother lives.

I thought, "After ten years of writing books set the first century AD, I know more about Ancient Rome than I know about American history."

Then I thought, "I have travelled to more places in the Mediterranean than in my native land."

And finally, "Why not write a series of books set here in California?"

Also, I had just fallen in love with Westerns again after HBO's Deadwood revived the genre. I yearned to see some of the amazing landscapes of the old west: Death Valley, Monument Valley Utah, Yellowstone Park, the Black Hills and Arizona. I had never visited any Civil War battlefields or even been to the South.

SSK The frontier world sounds very real. You feel you really are in Virginia City in 1862. How much research did you do?

CL I do tons of research. This is my favourite part of writing historical fiction because I am entering another world. I love reading books about the period, meeting re-enactors and especially visiting the places my books are set.

Researching this new series also involves watching a couple of Westerns a week. It's fascinating to see which are still classics and which seem dated.

SSK Have you ever skinned and cooked a rabbit?

CL No way! I signed up for a Ray Mears weekend survival course once. But chickened out at the last minute. I get conniptions if I find so much as a bug in my salad. However, I have chewed tobacco, rid in a stagecoach and tried out fast-draw six-shooters.

SSK Pinky, the main character in the series, is a fascinating person. Is he a boy or a girl?

CL I won't spill the beans on whether P.K. is male or female. But I will say that ever since I read The Towers of Trebizon I fancied the idea of having a first person child narrator whose gender the reader doesn't know. This is partly because when I was a child I didn't feel particularly like a girl... I was just ME. P.K.'s gender ambiguity also fits with his/her slight social dysfunctionality.

SSK Will we ever find out what he is?

I am going to keep the mystery going as long as I can. However, I do give clues for those clever enough to spot them!

SSK One of the characters in the book is Sam Clemens, a person who actually lived and became known as the author Mark Twain. Is his dialogue with Pinky taken from real life?

CL Yes, almost every word Sam Clemens says is taken from his letters or newspaper articles of that period.

It is fascinating to see Sam Clemens before he became Mark Twain. In 1862 he was 27 years old with sideburns but no moustache, dark reddish-brown hair and flashing blue-green eyes. He was not the laid back avuncular white-haired man in white linen but a hot-tempered young blood who carried a Colt's Navy revolver like everybody else in that place. But still with his genius for wit and witticism.

SSK We loved Whittlin' Walt, who's one of the scariest characters we've come across in recent fiction. We also adored Belle Donne and her outrageous excuses for her shameful behaviour. Is she based on a real person from the Wild West?

CL Belle is partly inspired by HBO Deadwood's depiction of what the life of a saloon girl was really like. But toned down about 500% for kids. My friend Robert Muchamore was the one who suggested I should make her 16 rather than 26. (I don't ever come right out and say her age, but that is her age in my head.)

SSK Are there going to be more people taken from real life in the series?

CL Yes, because primary sources are my main source of ideas. I have three categories of characters:

1. Those like Dan De Quille, Joe Goodman, Sam Clemens, William Morris Stewart and Billy Chollar who were real and whose lives were well-documented.

2. Those like Titus Jepson, Rufus E. Arick and Sol Bloomfield who were real people living in Virginia City but about whom we know almost nothing.

3. Those who are complete fabrications, like Belle Donne, Whittlin Walt, Poker Face Jace and Isaiah Coffin. But even they are based on real characters from the Comstock.

Coming up in the next few books we have some real gunslingers, politicians, actors and actresses.

SSK How long did it take you to write the book?

CL This one took quite a while. About five years from the moment I first conceived of the idea until it was published. But I was working on other things for the earlier years.

SSK The book starts off with Pinky writing his diary while trapped in a silver mine. Is it a real place? Can people visit it?

CL Yes, the Mexican Mine is a real place, but trust me, you do not want go down there. You can however, make short excursions into a couple of real mine tunnels in Virginia City today. One is reached through a saloon!

SSK What came first, the characters or the story?

CL The character of Pinky Pinkerton came first. Then I had to decide where he/she would set up as a detective.

SSK Have you any tips for young people wanting to write their own stories?

CL I have three tips:

1. Read, read, read, but also watch. Some of the best storytellers are filmmakers and TV makers. We shouldn't be snobbish about them. In my opinion Pixar is the Shakespeare of our time.

2. Learn story structures like The Hero's Journey, the Three Act Structure, and my favourite: John Truby's 22 Plot Beats. (www.truby.com) Even if you don't use them, you should be aware of them.

3. Discipline yourself to write every single day, even if it is only for ten minutes. Make it as regular as brushing your teeth. If you can't think what to write, just write "I can't think what to write" over and over for ten minutes!

SSK Who was your favourite author when you were a child, and who is your favourite author now?

CL I loved the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, by Carolyn Keene, because the told about a clever, independent, empowered girl whose power was not beauty, magic or money, but her brains and desire to find the Truth. In short a Detective. My mother also read us Sherlock Holmes mystery stories and I'm sure that had a big influence, too.

SSK When is the next book in the series out?

CL Next book comes out next June. The provisional title is The Case of the Petrified Man. I am just finishing the third draft (which is really draft 61!)

SSK And last of all, will Pinky ever get the hang of reading the expression on people’s faces?

CL Like all of us, Pinky still has lots to learn. But that's the chief joy of life; learning about people and their curious customs!

SSK Thank you for taking the time out from your busy schedule to talk to us, Caroline. You’re a swell gal! The Case Of The Petrified Man sounds awesome. We're sue it'll be every bit as good as The Case of The Deadly Desperados and we can't wait to read it.

Visit Caroline Lawrence's website here
Visit The Western Mysteries site here
Buy The Case of the Deadly Desperados: Western Mysteries 1 (The Western Mysteries) from amazon.co.uk.

HAUNTING VIOLET COMPETITION

2011-07-04T13:31:00.001+01:00

The wonderful Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey is out today!

We'll be posting our own review soon. Meanwhile, those generous people at Bloomsbury are offering one lucky winner the opportunity to win an incredible iPad 2, along with a signed copy and goody bag for 10 runners up. Head to the Facebook page to find out how to enter:

http://www.facebook.com/myloveliesbleeding?sk=app_134783003269251

THE CASE OF THE DEADLY DESPERADOS, by Caroline Lawrence

2011-06-30T10:34:00.011+01:00

Setting: American West, late Victorian
Publisher: Orion
Publication date: 2 June 2011 [hardback]
Readership: 10+
Pages: 288

The 1950s and 1960s were something of a golden era for Westerns. Jumping on the band-wagon created by long-running radio and television serials like Bonanza, Gunsmoke and Rawhide, the publishing industry produced an avalanche of Cowboy-and-Indian novels that kept children, mostly boys, hooked on reading and shooting each other with imaginary guns in playgrounds around the world.

Political sensibilities changed dramatically in the 1970s and the book industry distanced itself from a genre that had often failed to portray Native Americans with the respect they deserved. The genre became the literary equivalent of a ghost town, at least outside the US, with very few books set in the Wild West making it into bookshops. All that is set to change, however, as best-selling author Caroline Lawrence gallops to the rescue of the genre with a thrilling new series called The Western Mysteries.

Lawrence will go down in history as the woman who single-handedly turned children on to historical detective fiction. Her huge fan base is set to expand even further with her new project. She sets a very high benchmark with the first book, The Case of the Deadly Desperados, which introduces us to P. K. [Pinky] Pinkerton, by far the most beguiling character to come out of an author's pen in a darned long while.

We at Sword and Sandal Kids are big fans of Flavia Gemina, the lead character in The Roman Mysteries, but Pinky knocked our socks off! He's a 12 year old boy who looks convincing in girls' outfits [or is he a girl who can get away with wearing boys' clothes? You are never 100% sure, ha ha]. He's half Lakota and half white. His special skills are many. They include the ability to do complicated sums in his head, at incredible speed! His hearing is sharp enough to recognise animals in the undergrowth. He has a working knowledge of at least four languages, He is a crack shot, and he can cure a headache with only a handful of weeds. Oh, and we forgot to mention he has the culinary skills to trap and skin game before cooking it.

His problems are just as interesting. He can never tell if a person's smile is genuine. He can only recognise three human emotions: fear, happiness and anger, and he often gets those confused, with deadly results. Worst of all he often can't recognise people he's met before. Enough challenges for any kid, then, but especially tough for a child who wants to be a detective like his late birth-father and famous uncle.

Lawrence's plots always keep you guessing till the last page and this book is no different. The story starts off with Pinky's adoptive parents being scalped by desperados eager to lay their filthy paws on a precious document. It's a piece of paper that can change the owner's life forever, and Pinky is determined to get it back. He sets off in pursuit of the desperados, ending up in Virginia City where he is helped, and hindered, by a cast of colourful characters that will stay in your memory for a long time. They're a mixture of fictional and real-life people, including a show-girl called Belle Donne and a journalist named Sam Clemens who became famous as the author Mark Twain.

Pinky narrates the story in the first person, giving us a unique insight into his brilliant mind. The dialogue is peppered with priceless one liners. Learning about Pinky's predicament, Sam Clemens remarks, 'losing two parents is tragic. Losing four is plain careless.'

Pinky's first adventure is as deliciously wicked as Mississippi mud pie and just as moreish. We at Sword and Sandal Kids can't wait for a second helping.

Buy The Case of the Deadly Desperados: Western Mysteries 1 (The Western Mysteries) from amazon.co.uk

Buy The Case of the Deadly Desperados for Kindle!

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Book Reviews by SWORD AND SANDAL KIDS is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

BOOK TRAILER - MARY HOFFMAN'S DAVID

2011-06-22T18:20:00.000+01:00

Mary Hoffman's next book, DAVID, is out on July 4th. A new novel from the multi-talented Mary, a true Italiophile and art lover, is always something to look forward to, and she will be visiting Sword And Sandal Kids as part of her blog tour on July 29th. We shall be posting our own review pretty soon. Two of our readers have already pronounced it 'riveting', so which this space.

Meanwhile Bloomsbury have released the book trailer to keep your appetites whetted. Watch and share with book lovers everywhere.

FALLEN GRACE, by Mary Hooper

2011-06-14T17:10:00.002+01:00

Setting: Victorian
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication date: 6 June 2011 [paperback]
Readership: YA
Pages: 320

Mary Hooper's work is always a delight to read, whether she's tackling teenage pregnancy in modern day Britain or espionage and court intrigue in Tudor times. Her latest novel, Fallen Grace, takes us into the spooky but highly profitable world of the Victorian funeral industry and is her best book yet.

If you think coffins and mourning crepe make for sombre reading, think again. This is Six-Feet Under with jet cameos, a potent cocktail of social drama and historical thriller with a soupcon of comedy thrown in.

Fifteen year-old Grace Parkes has a still-born child and her attempts to give it a decent if unorthodox burial in a plush Surrey cemetery land her in the clutches of the Unwins. They're a family with a very successful funeral business and they recruit Grace to be a mute, a hired mourner whose job is to look stricken at a posh funeral.

Grace finds the work demeaning but she is in no position to turn it down, for not only is she a destitute orphan but she also has to look after Lily, a simple-minded sister. As if that and mourning for a lost child is not enough for the teenager to deal with, the Unwins hatch a dastardly plan to cheat the two sisters out of their once-in-a-lifetime chance to start life anew....

Hooper's effortless style makes Victorian London come alive on the page. The plot glitters with intricate detail, which often adds a touch of humour to the proceedings. The characters are well-drawn. Grace is a girl who will linger in your memory forever more, and you will find yourself rooting for her and urging her on. The rascals of the piece utter cracking good dialogue that is dying to be uttered on a cinema screen. Here's a a snippet of conversation conducted between two of the baddies in the splendour of the London club whose modern facilities include a Humidor and a billiard table.

'What's all this?' said his cousin, waving his cigar at the empty glass. 'Got something to celebrate, have we?'

'We have,' said George Unwin, 'Oh, most certainly, we have.'

'What is it, then? New wave of cholera hit London? Massed funerals all around?'

'Even better!' He looked ridiculously pleased with himself. 'I've landed 'em....Two plump pigeons.'

Underneath all the clever plot twists and great dialogue the book, of course, deals with serious issues: greed, hypocrisy and man's inhumanity to man. It's a page-turner with a conscience, a winner with heart! We at Sword and Sandal Kids can't recommend it highly enough.

Read our interview with Mary Hooper here.
Visit Mary's website and her facebook page.
Watch the book trailer here.
See also: At The House of the Magician, Mary Hooper.

HIGHWAYMEN, MUTES AND NOOKIES - Mary Hooper talks to SSK about her latest book, Fallen Grace

2011-06-02T13:00:00.006+01:00

This week sees the publication of Mary Hooper's brilliant FALLEN GRACE in paperback. We're posting our own review on the 6th of June. Meanwhile, we caught up with the indefatigable author who is busy with her next book to find out more about Grace, Victorian funeral parlours and, er, modern-day nookies....

SSK: Hello, Mary. How are you?
MH: I’m very well, thank you.

SSK: We’re thrilled that you accepted to do our very first interview.
MH: I feel very honoured to be asked!

SSK: You made your mark with gritty modern day dramas like Megan. What inspired you to start writing historical fiction?

MH: One of the reasons was that I ran out of ideas; it seemed to me that everything that could happen to a fifteen year old girl had already happened in one of my books. Also I kept getting left behind with technology: texting, I-phones, youtube, nookies (I may have made this last one up) and all that stuff: if your modern novel is going to be accurate, it should feature all these things, and it’s just not terribly interesting to write about. I’d rather write about highwaymen and King’s mistresses and frost fairs and - yes - even buboes.

SSK: What was your inspiration for FALLEN GRACE?

MH: In the paperback, there are a couple of pages devoted to just this question. Mostly it was wanting to know more about Victorian funeral practices and being fascinated by them.

SSK: What came first, the research or the story?

MH: Good question! I think the research, because when I discovered the Necropolis Railway I knew it had to be written in. And then when I found out about funeral mutes, this was such a strange and spooky thing that I simply had to make my main character a mute.

SSK: Why the jump from Elizabethan/Tudor to Victorian times?
MH: I actually jumped from Restoration times (17^th Century) to Tudor, then to Victorian, so I’m getting more and more up-to-date. And my new book, VELVET, is set in 1900 so it‘s practically modern.

SSK Grace Parkes is a very resourceful character. Is she based on a real life person?

MH: Not really. I’ve probably used little character traits I’ve noticed in other people, but - thankfully - I haven’t met Grace’s double for the reason that no one in Britain in this day and age has to go through all that Grace has to go through. Thank goodness!

SSK One of the great challenges facing a writer of historical fiction is creating characters that are true to their period but also engaging to young 21^st century readers. You manage to achieve this with Grace Parkes, her sister Lily and all the female characters. Do you keep your readers in mind while you are writing, or do you give the story precedence?

MH: The story takes precedence and when I’m in the middle of writing a book I concentrate on my characters. They are usually in some dire situation (starving, being molested, drowning, on the end of a hangman’s noose or the like) and need my attention, so I try to get into their heads rather than think about my readers (sorry, lovely readers!)

SSK You evoke the world of the Victorian funeral industry with amazing detail. Were you interested in this facet of Victorian culture before you wrote the book, or did you discover it while writing the story?

MH: I have always been interested in the slightly odd and off-beat: the funereal, the Gothic, the spooky, the compellingly strange. I enjoy visiting very old churches, especially if they have those wonderful monuments with larger than life-size knights and their ladies surrounded by cherubs bearing skulls aloft.

SSK The book deftly walks a tightrope between drama and comedy. Was this intentional?
MH: Comedy! You surprise me. I am wondering what you laughed at. I suppose Mrs Unwin is a bit of a turn, and the cheerful cockney characters amuse, but other that I didn’t think you’d manage more than a wry smile.

SSK Fallen Grace is a very entertaining read but underneath the chases and detective work you also deal with big social issues. Did you deliberately set out to create a book that would make the reader think?
MH: Definitely not! I write to entertain. There is a saying about writing which goes “If you want to send a message, use Western Union.” (Modern translation: If you want to send a message, write a text.)

Mary Hooper

SSK We at Sword and Sandal Kids rate Fallen Grace as one of the best books of the year so far. Are there plans for a sequel? We’re all dying to know what Grace does next…..

MH: Oh, thank you for that. As to another book, well, I have more or less solved all Grace’s problems now, so I would have trouble fixing up more dilemmas for her. Also the publishers are very keen on “stand alone” books and don’t want a follow-up. Look out for VELVET coming in September, though. The by-line on the front cover is: “When the dead talk, the living must listen” and it’s about a young laundress: VELVET, who goes to work for London’s leading medium…

SSK Thank you for your time, Mary. We wish you the best of luck with the book. We're sure it's going to be a bestseller.

MH: Thank you very much! I’ve enjoyed talking to you.

Buy Fallen Grace from amazon.co.uk.
BuyFallen Grace on Kindle.

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Book Reviews by SWORD AND SNADAL KIDS is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

Book News - MARY HOOPER'S FALLEN GRACE OUT IN PAPERBACK

2011-05-12T17:41:00.000+01:00

We at Sword and Sandal Kids love Mary Hooper's historical novels. Elegant, often mischievous and always insightful, they keep our panel of young readers hooked. FALLEN GRACE, published in hardback last year is her best work yet. The Times critic Amanda Craig rightly called it 'the best historical novel of the year.'

The book is out in paperback on the 6th June 2011. We at Sword And Sandal Kids are celebrating with our very own review, as well as our first ever author interview. Meanwhile, here's the book trailer to whet your appetite.

THE CRUSADES, directed by Cecil B. DeMille

2011-05-05T13:05:00.003+01:00

FILM REVIEW

Setting: Crusades

Directed by Cecil B. DeMille

Screenwriters: Harold Lamb, Waldemar Young, Dudley Nichols

Starring: Loretta Young, Henry Wilcoxon, Ian Keith, C. Aubrey Smith

Released in 1935

Certificate: n/n

Formats: DVD, VHS

Mention Cecil B. DeMille today and the first film that springs to mind is is rather pompous and stagey THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. His earlier films, however, have a grace and fluidity that make them watchable even today.

The Crusades uses the Third Crusade to weave a delightful piece of hokum about a love triangle involving Richard the Lionheart, Berengaria the Princess of Navarre in Spain and Saladin. The Lionheart, here depicted as a godless royal, joins the Crusades to get out of marrying Princess Alice of France, to whom he was bethroted as a child. Desperate to feed his army in Marseilles, he promises the King of Navarre to make his daughter, Princess Berengaria, the queen of England. He has, of course, no intention of keeping his promise until he sees the princess in the flesh - and falls madly in love with her.

In the Holy Land, Saladin too falls in love with Berengaria, and the tussle between the two men threatens to change the course of history....

The screen writers skilfully use quasi-stilted dialogue that manages to make the few awkward moments in the script work. This is DeMille at his best: the story, strong as it is, plays second fiddle to the spectacle. Even if you are not a believer, you will be thrilled by the scene where the injured crusaders walk into glorious light shed by the true cross of Christ in Acre.

The battle scenes, filmed by the talented Victor Milner who earned the only Oscar nomination for the film, are perfectly constructed. Newly-passed censor laws meant they could not be as brutal as in DeMille's earlier epics, but they have a fluidity that modern cgi simply cannot replicate. The lavish sets and costumes add to the pageantry, even if the Christian slaves sometimes tend to look like they've just left a flapper cocktail party on the Upper East Side.

Henry Wilcoxon, a favourite of DeMille's, is striking as Richard the Lionheart. Ian Keith portrays Saladin as a cultured and principled leader, a just man committed to his cause. But it is Loretta Young as Princess Berengaria who steals the show as the only queen of England who never set foot on English soil. DeMille had to beg her off Fox for the role, and she was more than happy to oblige - a devout Catholic she would have relished the part.

She has the best line in the film, too. One that ought to have resonance with audiences today! Reunited with King Richard outside Jerusalem, she declares, 'what if we call him Allah or God? Shall men fight because they have different roads to him? There is only one God.' If only the world listened!

See also: CRUSADE, by Linda Press Wulf. Please support Sword And Sandal Kids. Follow us and leave comments.

PHOENIX YARD BOOKS TO LAUNCH McCAUGHREAN'S MONACELLO

2011-05-04T07:41:00.021+01:00

BOOKS NEWS

New independent publishers Phoenix Yard Books are launching a new historical fiction trilogy by acclaimed author Geraldine McCaughrean and illustrator Jana Diemberger.

Set in medieval times, MONACELLO - THE LITTLE MONK is inspired by the famous Neapolitan legends of Munaciello [Neapolitan dialect for little monk] - a strange ghost of an orphan who is said to wander the alleys and waterwells of Naples. Bumping into him can bring you bad luck - or good fortune!

McCaughrean is a skilled storyteller and in her capable hands the little monk should become at least a cult figure worldwide. The first book is already creating a huge buzz.

There is going to be a Monacello book signing at Waterstones in Oxford on May 7th. Visit the publisher's website here for more details.
Geraldine is also talking to Jo Thoenes on BBC Radio Oxford on the 5th May 2011 at 1 p.m. about her inspiration for this book and her other numerous projects. Tune in here. Buy Monacello: Book 1: The Little Monk from amazon.

THE STOVE HAUNTING, Bel Mooney

2011-05-01T12:02:00.007+01:00

Setting: Modern/Georgian
Publishers: Mammoth/Puffin
Publication year: 1986
Format: paperback
Readership: 8+

Pages: 186

Like Harriet Goodwin's more recent GRAVENHUNGER, Bel Mooney's book is a beguiling mix of modern day thriller and historical fiction. The maguffin here is a Victorian cooking range bricked up behind the kitchen wall of a rectory in Somerset. When a new family move in, the builders uncover the old cooker and the kid - Daniel Richards - is inexplicably drawn to it. When he touches it, he finds himself transported back to the last years of the Georgian era where he is an orphan in the services of the village rector.

Daniel is treated well by his conscientious master but the other children in the village do not fare so well. They live, work, play and sleep in abject squalor, their parents worked to an early grave by their titled masters. Daniel hero worships George, a young farmer who is walking out with Anne, another of the rector's servants. This George - inspired by a real-life character called George Loveless - draws Daniel into a circle of activists fighting their masters for better wages. And into a breathless adventure inspired by the Tolpuddle Martyrs who were transported to Australia for swearing oaths to each other at a Friendly Society meeting in Dorset!

The story proudly wears its trade unionist heart on its sleeve and it's altogether a better book for it. The deprivation and poverty of 19th century life are depicted in grim if succinct detail, especially in one chapter early on in the book where Daniel visits a family holed up in a damp, rat infested barn. The characters really come to life on he page, especially Mrs Banner the rector's cook, and George and Anne whose dream of marital bliss is always under threat.

The time-travelling maguffin is never fully explained, leaving you hoping for a sequel and to find out what happened to the characters. All in all, this is historical fiction at its most potent - informative, exciting and above all a jolly exciting read. Sadly the book is out of print but you can still get second hand or remaindered copies from dealers on the internet for as little as 99p, plus post and packaging. I urge you to buy a copy, if only to savour the very last line '......Just so's we don't forget.' Apt words for our troubled times when so many workers' livelihoods are once more under threat.

The Tolpuddle Martyrs, who lived in rural Dorset were granted their freedom after a successful campaign by activists in the UK. There is a museum, and a festival, dedicated to the them in Tolpuddle. Visit its website here. You can also read Bel Mooney's own account of how and why she wrote the book here.

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Buy The Stove Hauntingfrom amazon

MONTACUTE HOUSE by Lucy Jago out in paperback May 3, 2011

2011-04-27T08:53:00.007+01:00

BOOK NEWS!
Lucy Jago's late Elizabethan drama is out in paperback on the 3rd of May. We reviewed the hardback last year. Since then the book has gone from strength to strength.

Read our review here!

You can also watch a short film of Lucy talking about her work, and the writing process, in the house that inspired the book.

Visit Lucy's website here!

GRAVENHUNGER, Harriet Goodwin

2011-04-26T17:46:00.013+01:00

Setting: Modern/Anglo-Saxon
Publisher: Stripes
Publication date: 4 April 2011
Format: paperback
Readership: 8+
Pages: 186

Harriet Goodwin's first book was The Boy Who Fell Down Exit 43, a fantasy novel that was shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Awards. Gravenhunger, her second, is a modern-day story set against an Anglo-Saxon backdrop. Though set firmly in the present, with flashbacks to the recent past, it has a deliciously vintage feel to it; it reads like classic Robert Westall from the 1980s. The setting is a manor outside an old-fashioned seaside resort called Gravenhunger [not to be confused with the real Gravenhunger Moss in Shropshire which is inland] where punters can buy old-fashioned buckets and spades. In the manor grounds mobile phones refuse to work and there are no mentions of laptops,wi-fi or television!

There is, however, all the pararphernalia to suggest a cracking good read: empty swings creaking in the rain, ghostly figures in the dark, a crumbling house surrounded by a forest where it is forever raining, secret cubbyholes, hidden letters that shouldn't be read and a wise old man with warnings to impart.

Harriet Goodwin

The main characters are a boy called Phoenix and his cousin Rose, both kids in their early teens. Phoenix's mother has just died and her solicitor has revealed that she was the owner of Gravenhunger Mansion, a secret she has kept from her nearest and dearest all her life. Phoenix and his father move into the crumbling mansion, partly to decide what to do with it bust mostly to discover why Mother has never talked about it. With the help of his cousin Rose, Phoenix starts to discover a side to his late mother he never knew existed, and to reveal evidence of tragedy in her childhood. Central to this is a Tumulus, a burial mound across a river from the house which dates from Anglo Saxon times and where strange, flickering lights beckon...

Goodwin has a pacy lightness of touch that serves the story well. This is quite a page-turner, a succesful mashup of ghost, adventure and historical fiction. The historical details are left purposely vague, making you want to find out more about the Anglo-Saxons and their burial customs. My 'tryout gang' read the book, then went online to discover the wonders of Sutton Hoo, the 6/7th century burial grounds in Suffolk whose treasures are now on permanent display at the British Museum. A treasure of a book!

Buy Gravenhunger from amazon.co.uk. Buy The Boy Who Fell Down Exit 43

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AN ELEPHANT IN THE GARDEN, by Michael Morpurgo

2011-03-20T13:42:00.018Z

Setting: Germany 20th century/World War II
Publisher: Harpercollins Children's Books
Publication date: 9 June 2011
Format: paperback
Readership: 8+
Pages: 240

Former children's laureate Michael Morpurgo has explored many subjects in his books but there are two themes he returns to time and time again. Animals and world conflict!

WAITING FOR ANYA, a story about Jewish children fleeing the Nazis is every bit as captivating as Ian Seraillier's masterpiece The Silver Sword. WAR HORSE is already considered a modern classic and is set to attain mythical status next year with the release of Spielberg's big screen version.

AN ELEPHANT IN THE GARDEN also features an animal caught up in man's soul-destroying obsession with war. Marlene, a young elephant, lives in Dresden Zoo. Until the war starts and the powers that be decide that all the animals in the zoo must be put down before the bombing stars and they are let loose on the city. Marlene's keeper manages to take her home, keeping her in the back garden until the family flee the infamous bombing of Dresden, taking the elephant with them. She becomes a symbol of their will to survive, plodding through the snow-bound landscape with obstinate cheeriness.

An ingenious, multi-layered book, this is a story within a story, narrated by an old German woman in a Canadian rest home to a nurse and her son. The old woman is Elizabeth, one of the main characters in the story and the daughter of the zoo keeper who adopts Marlene. The nurse and her son, Karl, - as well as us, readers -are soon caught up in the family's odyssey as they try to flee the bombing and the approaching Russian army.

The journey brings them in contact and conflict with various people: an aristocratic lady who's thrown her house open to refugees; a dislocated children's choir, a downed Canadian pilot on the run and, finally, the liberating forces of the US army. None of it is terribly original - indeed the travelling choir brings to mind one of the most famous scenes in Alan Burgess's The Little Woman - but in Morpurgo's expert hands the material feels fresh and energising. The ending is suitably upbeat, and there is a warning that we must keep stories alive, otherwise the past is forgotten and all the lessons learnt from it, lost forever.

CRUSADE, Linda Press Wulf

2011-02-19T14:47:00.004Z

Setting: 13th century France/Middle Ages
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication date: January 2011
Format: paperback
Readership: YA
Pages: 256

Linda Press Wulf's first YA novel, The Night of the Burning, was published in 2006/7. It garnered excellent reviews as well as a Sydney Taylor award and Honor. Based on the few facts her husband knows about his late mother, it's set in the 1920s. Wulf's second novel, takes us even further back in time, to France in the early 13th century.

There we meet Georgette, a country girl who keeps house for her widowed father and brother Gregor. She also earns a meagre addition to the housekeeping money by looking after the local parish priest, a holy man called Father David who has turned his back on the riches and power of the established Roman Catholic Church.

Father David is the polar opposite of Pere Benedict, the abbot of Blois, who has ambitions to establish himself as a powerful force in the church. When the abbot takes a foundling called Robert under his wing, he decides to mould the lad in his own image, for his own ends.

But soon Robert and Georgette are lured away from both priests by the children's crusade passing through their town. Their attempts to reach the Holy Land founder in Marseilles but their spiritual journey continues, as they try to reconcile their faith with the horror and injustice they see in the world around them.

There are only three contemporary accounts of the Children's Crusade and these are barely a paragraph long. Longer studies were written much later, the most authoritative being that of a Cisterian monk called Alberic Of Tross-Fontaines from his opus Chronica Alberici Monachi Trium Fontium. By then oral tradition had developed the event into a legend that bore scant resemblance to the truth and was continuously embellished by historians and storytellers alike.

Linda Press Wulf

According to the latest research, there seems to have been two large gatherings of people - most of whom were adults and not children - wandering around the French and German countryside in 1212. The first was in Germany. Led by a charismatic young man called Nikolaus, some 7000 pilgrims crossed the Alps into Genoa where they expected the sea to part and form a road to Jerusalem. The predicted miracle did not take place and the group disbanded. Some pilgrims travelled on to Marseille where they might have been abducted and sold into slavery.

The second movement took place in France and was led by a shepherd boy from Cloyes who claimed that Jesus had given him a letter to pass on to King Philip the Second. His followers reported seeing him work miracles but the French monarch ordered the pilgrims to disband and they obeyed. None of the information that we have about Prophet Stephen mention his plans to conquer Jerusalem.

Wulf draws from both accounts for her book. She tells the story simply and with conviction. This is no swashbuckling epic. You'll never hear the ring of Christian sword against Muslim scimitar, or witness hundreds of crusaders galloping across desert sand. The violent episodes in the narrative happen off-page, with Georgette and Robert hearing about them rather than witnessing them or being part of them. It is none the less a gripping read. Wulf's descriptions of the main characters' spiritual awakening are both accurate and moving, and this is the main strength of the book. This is a story that pushes the envelope and deserves to be a hit!

THE THIEF OF BAGDAD, Michael Powell

2011-02-07T18:47:00.005Z

Original cinema poster

Setting: Arabian

Director: Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger, Tim Whelan

Producer: Alexander Korda

Screenplay: Lajos Biro, Miles Mallison

Stars: Conrad Veidt, Sabu, John Justin, June Dupre

Release date: December 1940

Runtime 106 mins
Formats: DVD, Bluray, VHS

Alexander Korda's tale of magic and romance fuses historical fiction with fantasy to produce a gem of the historical fantasy genre. Biro and Mallison's witty screenplay borrows the major leitmotifs of the 1001 Nights to weave a new fairytale guaranteed to enchant and transfix.

Here are the evil vizier with magical powers, the mechanical flying horse, the deposed king who befriends a wily thief, the ungrateful genie released from a bottle, a giant man-eating spider, the flying carpet - and the triumphant ending with a neat moral.

Will the princess get her prince?

The story tells of King Amad, the ruler of Bagdad who is deposed and transformed into a blind beggar by his evil vizier, Jaffar. In prison, he meets up with the an irascible thief called Abu. The pair escape and embark on a wondrous adventure to restore Ahmad to his throne, and to win him the hand of the beautiful princess.

The film had a difficult birth. Producer Alexander Korda knew he could not match the magnificence of the exterior scenes, or the vast crowds of extras deployed in the 1924 version starring Douglas Fairbanks Senior. Instead he opted for brightly coloured indoor sets designed by his brother Vincent, and a totally new storyline. He brought a hint of German expressionism to the project, using subtle symbolism and shadows on walls.

Can you hear me down there?

Disagreements between Korda and his first director led to the produce also hiring Tim Whelan and Michael Powell, who seems to have worked mostly on the scenes involving Conrad Veidt. All in all, six directors were involved. There were a lot of script changes, with many filmed scenes ending up on the cutting room floor. The production started in London but had to be concluded in California because of the war.

The trouble was worth it, though. When the film was released, critics hailed it as a masterpiece, ranking it alongside Disney's Fantasia and The Wizard of Oz. You can see why.

The story moves at a cracking pace. Hints of German Expressionism enrich the storytelling, with a clever use of shadow-play and symbolism in key scenes. Jaffar's ship has a large eye painted on the bow, which mirrors his own hypnotic stare, and the eye of an evil goddess at the climax of the film.

My eyes, my eyes!

John Justin as King Ahmad and June Dupre are charming. Conrad Veidt, a German playing a power-hungry madman during World War II, infuses his role with Nazi overtones. Miles Mallison, who also co-wrote the screenplay, plays the toy-collecting King of Basra with relish, while Sabu delivers the definitive performance of his career, stealing food and cheekily dishing out advice to his king often at the same time.

The Thief of Bagdad deservedly won Oscars for best cinematography, art direction and special effects, while composer Miklos Rozsa was nominated for his excellent score. It has had a great influence on later films in the same genre, especially the Disney version of Aladdin which borrowed the characters of Jaffar and the bumbling King of Basra, and played homage to the great thief himself by giving Aladdin a kleptomaniac monkey as a sidekick. Its name? Abu!

This is a film you'll enjoy over and over again!

MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, Lewis Milestone

2011-02-06T13:00:00.026Z

Setting: 18th century

Director: Lewis Milestone

Producer: Aaron Rosenberg

Screenplay: Charles Lederer

Based on the books by Charles Nordhoff
and James Norman Hall
Stars: Marlon Brando; Trevor Howard; Richard Harris; Hugh Griffith, Tarita; Gordon Jackson.

Release date: 1962

Runtime 178 mins

Formats: DVD, Bluray, VHS

The 1871 mutiny on the HMS Bounty has inspired many artists, including the poets Byron and Mary Russel Mitford, the novelists Mark Twain, Jules Verne and R.M. Ballantyne, and even the producers and scriptwriters of Star Trek and The Simpsons.

Everyone is familiar with the incident: In 1787, the HMS Bounty leaves Portsmouth for Tahiti. Its mission: to transport breadfruit saplings to Jamaica. On 28th April 1789 18 members of the crew, under the leadership of Fletcher Christian mutineered. They set commanding officer William Bligh and those loyal to him on a boat and returned to Tahiti. From there many of them moved to Pitcairn Island with their families where their descendants still live.

The first film to be based on the incident was an Australian silent in 1916, followed by a talkie filmed in New Zealand starring Errol Flynn in 1933. The first Hollywood production, two years later, starred Charles Laughton as Captain Bligh and Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian. It won an Oscar for Best Picture and is still considered the best film portrayal of the mutiny, even though a 1984 production starring Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson is historically more accurate.

MGM's 1962 version was beset by problems right from the beginning. The replica of the Bounty was not finished on time, delaying the start of filming. Marlon Brando, who played Fletcher Christian, allegedly clashed with the original director, Carol Reed and with the rest of the cast. When Reed left and was replaced with Lewis Milestone, the situation did not improve. Stories leaked to the press about Brando's behaviour included reports of the star having supplies flown to the South Pacific for parties and the actor, an advocate of 'the method' lying on blocks of ice to simulate the pain of a burns victim for his final scene. Rumour even had it that the star, who would eventually marry the actress Tarita, here seen playing Princess Maimiti, insisted the cast help out with decorating a venue for a friend's wedding.

Some of the co-stars, including Richard Harris, complained that he rewrote entire parts of the script, throwing the filming schedule into disarray. Brando was not the only star to misbehave on set. Hugh Griffiths, who played seaman Alexander Smith, frequently hit the bottle and was banned from appearing in the final scenes.

When the film was finally released, late and over-budget, it got a hostile reception from the press and the public alike. The press, apparently goaded by MGM, focused on Brando's misbehaviour. The public, used to seeing Brando playing thugs, were left bemused by his on-the-edge-camp portrayal of a fop. Despite all this, the film was nominated for seven Oscars and was the 6th highest-grossing picture of the year in America. It lost money, however, because of its runaway budget reputed to be $19 million, a very large sum indeed for the early 1960s.

The film was released in the cinemas without its prologue and epilogue, which feature the Bounty's horticulturalist and the film's narrators. These have been replaced on the DVD version and they do put the film in perspective. Cinema goers in 1962 were not sure why the story was told by him; now it all makes sense.

So far three 'Bounty' films have been based on a trilogy by the Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. They all deviate from actual historical events. In the Lewis Milestone version, Bligh and Christian are seen as meeting for the first time on the Bounty, when in reality they had sailed together before. Bligh is depicted as older than he really was at the time. He was only 34 when the Bounty set off on her infamous voyage. William Brown, the narrator, is portrayed as the ship's gardener with sole responsibility for the breadfruit. In fact, Brown was only second in-command. The actual horticulturalist was David Nelson, who was written out of the story because he sided with Bligh in the mutiny and left the ship with him.

The film shows the crew setting the Bounty on fire behind Fletcher Christian's back. In reality it was his idea, as he wanted to make sure it wasn't spotted by passing ships. Brando's Christian dies just days after arriving on Pitcairn island, as a result of trying to rescue a sexton from the burning ship. The real Christian lived for quite a few years before dying at the hands of one of his own men.

Perhaps the greatest liberty is taken with Bligh's character. Played by Trevor Howard, he is depicted as a ruthless career man who was willing to obtain promotion at the cost of his men's lives. In reality he cared deeply for his crew, even keeping note of their well-being and rations. The film shows him keelhauling a sailor, which never happened, and attempting to sail round Cape Horn to gain time when in fact he wanted to navigate the safer Cape Of Good Hope despite the Admiralty's orders.

Inaccuracies aside, the film is a triumph. The story moves at a cracking pace without sacrificing character for plot. Brando, Howard and Harris all turn in top-notch performances. Robert Surtees' cinematography brings the South Pacific, Bora-Bora and Tahiti to life in eye-popping detail. Bronislaw Kaper's soundtrack is lush, blending Polynesian folk-heritage with lush orchestrations. He too was nominated by The Academy.

The film was released in the cinemas without its prologue and epilogue, which feature the Bounty's horticulturalist and the film's narrator. These have been put back on the DVD special two-disc set edition and they add a memorable twist to what is already a marvellous and well-told tale.

Memorable quote: Maimiti to Flecther Christian. Tahiti people say, you eat life or life eat you.

Trivia: The ship built for the film, named Bounty II, was used briefly in the Pirates of The Caribbean sequels. It visited Britain as a tourist attraction in 2007, masquerading as The Black Pearl, but was rumbled by film enthusiasts who shopped it to the press.

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KRAKATOA, EAST OF JAVA

2011-01-30T17:23:00.003Z

Setting: Victorian

Director: Bernard L. Kowalski

Producers: William R. Forman, Philip Yordan

Screenplay: Bernard Gordon, Clifford Newton Gould

Starring: Maximilian Schell, Diane Baker, Brian Keith, Sal Mineo, John Leyton.

Release date: 1969

Runtime 131 mins

Formats: DVD, VHS

This entertaining adventure, which feels very much like a Jules Verne opus but is, in fact, based on an original screenplay, was created to cash in on the popularity of widescreen formats popular in the late 1950s and 1960s. Produced by the Cinerama Corporation in the Todd AO process and released as a Cinerama project, it sets the screen alight with spectacle that still looks good today. [Cinerama was an early widescreen format, using three strips of film instead of one. They were projected on to a curved screen, which gave the viewer a depth of vision never experienced in cinema before. If you want to know more about Cinerama, click here.]

The story is set in 1883, the year the volcano island of Rakata in Krakatoa erupted, killing an estimated 40,000 people.

Capt. Hanson, the skipper of the "Batavia Queen" embarks on a salvage expedition. His destination: a sunken wreck in Indonesia containing a priceless cargo of rare pearls. On board are a diver with failing lungs, an Italian father and son who are air balloon experts, the owner of a diving bell, the captain's mistress who used to be married to the late captain of the sunken wreck, and a shipment of convicts intent on escape.

With such a motley crew, things soon start to heat up, and that's before the captain realises that the wreck lies dangerously close to Krakatoa, where an active volcano is on the point of erupting. It's also the place where his mistress' son lives at a convent school.

The story is a mix of historical adventure, thriller and disaster movie, done with aplomb and close attention to detail. Filming, which took place mostly at the cinecitta studios in Italy and in Spain, saturates the story first with bright sunshine and then with ominously dark and smoky shadows. The set pieces are pacy and well-staged. The model work is to die-for, with a sharpness that escapes most cgi enhanced sequences. The climax, borrowed from a real-life incident in which a Dutch captain saved his ship and crew by steering dead-straight into a tsunami, is real edge-of-the-seat stuff. Watch it on a huge plasma screen and it'll take your breath away.

When the film was first released in the cinemas, there was a controversy about the name. Krakatoa lies west of Java, not east. The producers felt the former location, however, gave the title an exotic cache the second didn't. They stuck with 'east', and the phrase has now entered the vernacular, referenced by songwriters like the B52s and comedians like Jerry Seinfeld. Enjoy with a huge bowl of popcorn on your lap!

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WHO STOLE MONA LISA? by Ruthie Knapp and Jill McElmurry

2011-01-17T14:28:00.009Z

Setting: Renaissance Italy/1911
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication: February 2011
Reading age: 4 - 8
Pages: 32

Picture books with a historical background are few and far between. Most publishers won't ever consider them, mainly because full-colour picture books are very expensive to produce and need foreign co-editions to make the sums add up. Hence the proliferation of titles featuring cute animals and toddles. Teddy bears sell all over the world; historical figures do not. All hail, then, independent publishers like Frances Lincoln who have produced some excellent titles that have managed to do very well despite the lack of cute animals.

Who Stole Mona Lisa? is from Bloomsbury, who produce some very lavish picture books on both side of the Atlantic. It is written by Ruthie Knapp who has also given us an intriguing series of non-fiction titles about art movement. Her text for this book is jazzy and vibrant, using alliterations and short, punchy sentences to tell two stories in the same narrative. One is about the Renaissance genius that was Leonardo Da Vinci and how he painted the Mona Lisa, and the second recounts how an Italian art dealer stole the famous portrait from the Louvre in 1911 and managed to hold on to it for two and a half years despite a careful and ceaseless police investigation. The narrator is the Mona Lisa herself, not Lisa Del Giocondo, the 16th century merchant's wife who is believed to have sat for the portrait, but the woman in the portrait itself, a confident diva who is aware of her grace, beauty and power.

Jill McElmurry's illustrations wisely do not try to emulate Renaissance art but use various bold styles which children will have great fun trying to emulate. This is a book that celebrates the power of painting and would be a brilliant springboard for discussion and art projects in the classroom. The inspired idea of having the Mona Lisa narrate her own story could also lead to much creative writing, using different points of view to tell the same story. But this also a great reading-time book, one which kids would enjoy again and again. A mini-masterpiece!

MONTACUTE HOUSE, by Lucy Jago

2010-06-13T19:24:00.006+01:00

Setting: Elizabethan
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Year of publication: 2010
Aimed at: Young Adults
Pages: 288

Lucy Jago was inspired to write her debut novel by repeated visits to Montacute House in Somerset, a National Trust property built around 1598 and considered by experts to be one of the best examples of Elizabethan architecture. The owner was Sir Edward Phelips, the Speaker of the House of Commons, from 1604 to 1611 who led the prosecution in the trail of the Gunpowder plotters.

Although the Monatcute location is real, Jago has opted for fictitious main characters. Thus the the owner of the house in the novel is Sir Edward Mortain, a spymaster for Queen Elizabeth II. His wayward son Vicount Draix has the rare gift of second sight. Similarly talented is Cess, the house's poultry girl and an illegitimate child who lives in the village. It is Cess who takes centre-stage as the story starts on May day 1596. She discovers a jewelled miniature in a hen box and takes it. It's the first step in a journey that is to take her far from her humble roots in Montacute via an exciting and pacy thriller that has more twists and turns than a maze in a country manor.

Many of the set-pieces are inspired by true incidents that happened around the time the story is set. There is a gunpowder plot, an assassination attempt on the monarch's life and a vividly described lynching.

Jago's portrayal of her characters is accurate and reads true even when she's sticking her neck out by attributing actions and attitudes that real people of the period would not have had. Cess is a determined girl angry at the limitations imposed on her by society. We get to meet a club-footed young man fighting his disability, a pretty girl intent on marrying above her station, an innkeeper's son who discovers he has courage and persecuted witches who look out for each other come what may. The portrayal of the wise women is sensitively done, and Jago obviously has sympathies for adherents of the Wicca religion.

Less sympathetic is her portrayal of Catholics who all seem to be corrupt fanatics in a cartoonish post Dan Brown sort of way, second cousins to the much derided Nazis in Spielberg's Indiana Jones. Although there obviously was violence committed by Catholics in England during this period, it would have made contemporary Catholic readers feel easier if there had been but a slight hint at looking at both sides of the issue. As it is, this novel sends out a message that pagan is good and noble; Catholic equals corrupt and heartless. Even the only good character with Catholic leanings declares he gave up the association 'long ago'. The monarch in peril is named as Elizabeth I, the pope who is credited as sanctioning her murder remains a sinister nameless figure. He was Pope Pius V. The pontiff might have excommunicated Elizabeth I and increased the power of the inquisition but it's debatable whether he would have ordered her assassination.

None of these details are likely to bother the mainstream reader, however, and we at Sword And Sandal Kids are sure that this book will do well and that Lucy Jago is a name to watch. Read this book for the clever twists in the plot, even though you might find yourself skimming through the long Wicca riual - the characterisation of the main character and a moving, Star Wars inspired denouement in the final chapter.

Laurel wreath rating: 3/5

I, JUAN DE PAREJA, by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino

2010-05-31T19:18:00.020+01:00

Setting: 17th century Spain
Publisher: FSG

Year of pub: 1965

Pages: 192

Reading age: 12+

Mary Elizabeth Borton de Trevino [1904 - 2001] was a Californian author married to a Mexican. Her work includes a number of historical novels for children as well as a trilogy of memoirs about her dual-cultural family living and working in Mexico. She is best remembered, however, for I, JUAN DE PAREJA, a work of fiction based on a real-life artist of the 17th century. It won the Newbery Medal in 1966 and various editions still sell very well in the US, including an audio book in both cd and mp3 formats. Puffin and Heinemann produced English versions in 1968 but the book remains largely unkown in the UK, which is a real shame because this is a must-read for anyone interested in historical fiction.

It's the story of Juan, a slave of African descent from Seville whose mistress treats him more or less like a poodle, dressing him up in elaborate outfits, piercing his ear so he can sport a gold earring and teaching him the alphabet. The latter skill comes in very handy when the mistress' family is wiped out by the plague and Juan is bequeathed to her nephew in Madrid, a Don Diego.

This Don Diego turns out to be none other than the Baroque artist Velazquez. Unlike Juan's former mistress, Diego and his wife treat Juan as an equal, with Velazquez insisting the slave be his assistant in the studio. Here, Juan learns to mix pigments and prepare canvasses. It soon becomes obvious that he also has a gift for painting himself. Except that it was a crime for a slave in 17th century Spain to paint, so his talent must remain a closely guarded secret....

Borton de Trevino lived most of her adult life in Mexico but was inspired to write the novel when her son Luis showed her Velazquez's portrait of Juan De Pareja at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The artist painted it in preparation for a portrait of Pope Innocent X he was commissioned to do in 1648. It was shown to the Roman public in 1650 as part of an exhibition at the Pantheon and regarded by critics and painters of the day as a masterpiece.

Her characterisations and sense of location are flawless. Baroque Seville, the court of King Philip IV, Velazquez's oasis of peace in his studio in Madrid, the Vatican court in Rome: all are evoked with deft strokes of the writer's brush. The cast of players linger in the memory like subjects caught in Victorian miniatures: Juan's first mistress, Donna Emilia piercing his ear; Juan playing with Velazquez's Francisca and Ignacia in a kitchen; King Philip slipping unnoticed into a room to admire Velazquez's work or tentatively painting a cross on his self-portrait; Juan seeing his future wife Lolis for the first time.

Plot-wise, this is one of those books that does not give a well-painted fig for rules. No clever plot-devices here, no well constructed story arc! The main character is only a child, an orphan of five, at the very beginning of the book. He quickly grows up into a red-blooded young man and the book's point of view changes accordingly. The story, narrated in the first person, takes us to Juan's middle age where he is setting up a new life back in Seville, a free man eager to paint and fulfill his life's ambition.

This is a gem of a book, a page-turner with something valuable to say about the human condition and the redemptive nature of art. Read it and buy multiple copies for Black History month in any school your are associated with! Read it and learn to look at paintings with your soul!

Laurel wreath rating: 5/5

What the media said:

“An original, beautifully written story.”—The Horn Book Magazine

"In all respects, I, Juan De Pareja is sharply chiselled and exquisitely proportioned."

“The author creates a fresh and different approach to biographical fiction. The novel is also an eloquent testimonial to the bonds between races.”—School Library Journal, Starred Review

“This brilliant novel captures and holds the attention from its rhythmic opening sentence—‘I, Juan de Pareja, was born into slavery’—all the way through to the end. . . . A splendid book, vivid, unforgettable.”—The New York Times Book Review

WILDTHORN, by Jane Eagland

2010-02-05T19:15:00.008Z

Setting: Victorian
Publisher: Picador
Year of Pub: 2009 [paperback]
Pages: 368
Readership: Young Adult

A THORN IN THEIR SIDE

The image and tagline on the cover of Jane Eagland's debut YA novel promise a love story. This is a love story, but it's also a pacy and well-researched thriller and a coming of age novel on par with David Rees' groundbreaking The Milkman's On His Way.

Talented and headstrong Louisa Cosgrove wants to follow in her father's footsteps and become a doctor. Her ambitions upset every member of her family. Her father is worried about rejection. Her mother frets about her social standing and the chances of nabbing a husband. Her elder brother, himself a medical student in line to inherit his father's practice, is jealous of her aptitude for the profession and commitment.

When Lousia develops a crush on her cousin Grace, she decides to accept a position as a companion to a friend in faraway London. But instead of the city, she finds herself locked up in a mental asylum, stripped of her real name and dignity and labelled a 'moral degenirate'. As she battles to get herself out of this physical and mental nightmare - and to discover who is responsible for her incarceration - Louisa discovers that there is more than one kind of prison. And it takes all her ingenuity, resourcefulness and self-belief to find a means of escape.

Eagland weaves her story in two strands, one detailing Louisa's attempts to get herself out of the mental asylum and a second which reveals her journey there in a series of flashbacks. The two strands eventually intertwine to produce a moving climax that will have you rooting for the two main characters and also feeling sorry for the villians.

Inspired by true stories of women who were locked up in asylums in the nineteenth century, the author evokes a truly vivid picture of Victorian England with all its mores, beliefs and class-system. Yet her characters are written in a way that 21st century readers can easily identify with them. Banging on about the social and literary merits of this book might lead potential readers to believe it's an 'issue' book of interest only to a minority. This is not so. Above all, Wildthorn is an exciting page-turner, with red herrings and blind alleys. Had it been written in the forties, it could have easily been adapted into a stylish film noir, perhaps starring the fesity Barbara Stanwyck.

Please, please let there be a sequel where Louisa and her other-half [no spoilers, here] flourish and help other young people come to terms with their sexuality.

Laurel wreath rating: 5/5

HEROD THE GREAT

2010-01-24T16:24:00.003Z

Setting: Biblical/Ancient Rome
Director: Viktor Tourjansky
Screenplay: Fernando Cerchio, Damiano Damiani, Federico Zardi [screenplay]
Based on a story by Damiano Damiani and Tullio Pinelli
Starring: Edmund Purdom, Sylvia Lopez, Massimo Girotti.
Year of cinema release: 1959
DVD release: 2008
Herod the Great, sometimes referred to as Herod I or just Herod, was a controversial Biblical figure who is today mostly remembered for the massacre of the innocents shortly after Jesus was born. Described by the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus as 'a madman who slaughtered his own family and many rabbis', he was a client king of Israel.

Herod the Great's father, Herod Antipater, was a native of Edom, - a small land close to the Dead Sea close to what is now Jordan. His people were descendants of Esau, brother of Jacob. Antipater sided with General Pompey when the latter brought Judea under Roman rule and was made a puppet king.

His son Herod the Great became the governor of Galilee but, after Antipater was poisoned, he fled to Rome where he found favour with the Roman emperor Octavian. He was eventually was crowned 'king of the Jews'. As he had only converted to Judaism, though, many Jews considered him an impostor, especially as he seemed to favour a decadent lifestyle that most Sanhedrin would deem sinful.

Following his accession to the throne, he embarked on several ambitious building projects guaranteed to impress the Jewish people. He expanded the second temple in Jerusalem, built the fortress of Masada and founded new cities, including the magnificent harbour of Ceasrea Maritima. Over the years, his increasing disappointment about his popularity with his Jewish subjects turned to chronic paranoia, leading him to execute members of his own family, including his wife Mariamne, his mother in law, Alexandra and his son Herod Antipater.

The film uses the information supplied by Josephus to construct an interesting narrative that often plays like a thriller. According to Cerchio's screenplay, Herod - who sided with Mark Anthony in his war against Caesar - is taken prisoner by the Romans. His trusted lieutenant Aaron has been instructed by the king himself to execute his wife, the Queen Miriam, rather than let her fall in the hands of the Romans. But, overcome with guilt, Aaron is unable to carry out Herod's wish.

When the king returns to Judea unharmed, his son Antipater plays on his paranoia by telling him that Aaron and Miriam have fallen in love and absconded together. The lie sets in motion a chain of events that culminates in the destruction of Herod and most of his family.

Russian director Tourjanksy, who also helmed Aphrodite, Goddess of Love; The Cossacks and The Pharoah's Women, jettisons fight sequences and pageantry in favour of face to face drama, often filmed in medium shot. Even one of the key sequences, the massacre of the new-borns, takes place off-screen. This was a bold move, since the film was marketed as a sword and sandal epic. Although the decision might have been a disappointment to fans of the genre, it serves the story extremely well. The scene where the king succumbs to madness while in the sky behind him, a shooting star announces the birth of Christ, is inspired.

Edmund Purdom, who had made established himself as a major star when he took over the lead role from Marlon Brando in 20th Century Fox's production of The Egyptian, stars as Herod. The French Austrian actress Sylvia Lopez plays Miriam. The supporting cast include Italian heartthrobs Massimo Girotti as Octavian and Ettore Manni as Aaron.

Originally written in Italian, the film sounds a bit stilted in English. The power and sweep of the drama more than make up for it, however. This is tot a grand epic to rival the ideological Spartacus or even The Robe, but good solid entertainment nevertheless, and one that brings a little-known and often misunderstood historical figure to the attention of film enthusiasts.

Laurel wreath rating: 3/5

PRINCE VALIANT, dr by Henry Hathaway

2010-01-08T17:58:00.005Z

Setting: Viking Britain
Director: Henry Hathaway
Screenwriter: Dudley Nichols
Based on the comic strip by Hal Foster
Produced by 20th Century Fox
Stars Robert Wagner, Sterling Hayden, Janet Leigh, James Mason, Debra Paget
Cinema release: 1954
DVD release
Certificate:
Running time: 100 minutes
Watch the trailer!

When Hal Foster first showed his ideas for the Prince Valiant comic strip to William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper tycoon was so impressed, he suggested a contract in which the cartoonist kept the rights to his creation. Prince Valiant nn The Days of King Arthur was subsequently launched around the US in 1937 and is still syndicated to more than 300 American newspapers today, clocking up in excess of 3700 instalments.

The saga eventually became so complex that MGM, which had optioned the screen rights, could not get a screenwriter to come up with do it justice. The option was then picked up by 20th Century Fox and Dudley Nichols, who had penned the Oscar winning The Bells of St. Mary's a decade earlier, was hired to produce a screenplay. Foster's storylines are steeped in magic, with Prince Valiant possessing a sword with mystical powers called the 'singing sword. Nichols, though, turned out a screenplay that plays down the magical element in favour of a swashbuckling adventure that could be straight out of a G A Henty novel.

Prince Valiant [played by Robert Wagner], son of the exiled King of Scandia, escapes the clutches of the usurper, the evil King Sligon, and sets off to Camelot. There he hopes to become a knight of the Round Table and restore his father to his throne.

During the journey he stumbles across the infamous Black Knight, plotting with the Vikings to overthrow King Arthur himself and take over Britain. When he makes it to Camelot, he is squired to a friend of his father, Sir Gawain [Sterling Hayden]. He also falls in love with Princess Aleta [Janet Leigh], the daughter of a British nobleman. But love must wait until Prince Valiant has unmasked the treacherous Black Knight, saved Camelot and Scandia too!

Hathaway, who was assistant director on Fred Niblo's Ben Hur in 1925, and went on to direct Marilyn Monroe in Niagara, imbues the film with a sense of unashamed fun and child-like wonder. He is helped enormously by Franz Waxman's celebrated, fanfare-driven score, which today is a staple at Hollywood Bowl concerts. The set pieces, especially, Prince Valiant's escape from his prison, an attack on a burning castle and a sword fight towards the end are gracefully staged.

The stellar cast do tend to ham it up, with Sterling Hayden bellowing more like a roughneck cowboy than a knight and Robert Wagner doggedly sticking to his American drawl. Janet Leigh is given little to do except pout but James Mason as the evil Dr Brac is so magnificently evil you'll want to hiss at the screen every time he comes on. Fans of the original cartoon have always had mixed feelings about the project, which nonetheless was a massive commercial hit for 20th century fox in an era when swashbuckling films were making a comeback. The rest of us, though, can enjoy it as a piece of good-nature escapism, perfect for snowy/rainy Saturday afternoons.

Laurel wreath rating: 3/5

THE STORY OF MANKIND, dr by Irwin Allen

2010-01-04T19:09:00.001Z

Setting: various
Director: Irwin Allen
Screenwriters: Irwin Allen, Charles Bennett
Stars: Ronald Colman, Hedy Lamarr, the Marx Brothers, Vincent Price, Dennis Hopper
Based on the novel by Henrik Van Loon
Cinema release date: 1957
DVD release date: n/a
Running time: 100mins

Long before Mel Brooks produced A History of the World Part 9 and Terry Deary was turning boys on to reading with his mega-succesful Horrible Histories, Irwin Allen used the Marx brothers to spice up this whirlwind tour of our planet's history.

The screenplay is very loosely based on Hendrik Willem van Loon's non-fiction bestseller of 1921, which was awarded the first ever Newbery Medal for an outstanding contribution to children's literature in 1922. Van Loon, who wrote the book for his grandchildren, carefully chose key sequences in history which altered the course of civilisation. We follow mankind from his primitive state as a cave-dweller though the discovery of art and writing, the developement of religion and science and the first formation of the modern nation-state. Later editions of the book included the first world war, and posthumous versions take us up to the 1990s.

Allen and Bennett's screenplay adds an interesting framework for the narrative. Scientists have developed a super-H bomb which, if detonated, will wipe out the entire planet. A 'high tribunal' in 'the great court of outer space' is hastily convened to assertain whether man should be allowed to annihilate himself out or not.

The devil, referred to as Mr Scratch [played by Vincent Price] prosecutes, inviting the High Judge [played by Cedric Hardwicke] and the jury to observe scenes from man's history that prove he is cruel, ignorant and unworthy of surviving. The Spirit of Man [played by Ronald Colman in his last screen role] acts as the defence, rebuffing the devil's chosen scenes with ones that show man as intelligent, kind, articulate and spiritual. The piece is open ended, with man winning only a temporary retrieve from annihilation.

This was Allen's first effort at directing actors after producing two interesting documentaries called The Sea Around Us and The Animal World. Obviously a low-budget effort the battle and action sequences are stock footage from bigger Warner Bros epics. Allen, however, was able to assemble an enormous cast of stars past their prime. As well as Price and Colman, the film features the three Marx brothers in their last film together, albeit in different sequences. Groucho plays Peter Minuit, the Swedish emigre who bought Manhattan from the Native Americans. Harpo does a comic turn as Sir Isaac Newton, trying to evade the famous apple from brusing his forehead.

There is also Francis X Bushman as Moses, glimpsed very briefly waving his arms at a rock; Hedy Lamarr as a long-in-the-tooth Joan of Arc; Virginia Mayo camping it up as Cleopatra, Peter Lorre trying to outdo her as Nero watching Rome burn and a young Dennis Hopper as Napoleon. Allen's lack of experience with actors is evident in some of the scenes, especially in the ones with Price who, as always when left to his own devices, camps it up to the hilt. Considered by most film afficonados to be a dud, and by a few to be a kitsch classic, this is probably for the die-hard fantasy and sword-and-snadal fans only. It's not available on dvd or vhs but does crop up on the television once in a while. We at Sword and Sandal Kids will be looking out for it again.

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

THE SPITTING COBRA, by Gill Harvey

2009-11-30T11:19:00.025Z

Setting: Ancient Egypt
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Reading level: 10 - 12 years
Interest level: 10 to 12 years
Year of publication: pb, 2009
Pages: 176

Egyptology started in the land of the pharaohs itself, with Thutmosis IV restoring the Sphinx in Giza and Prince Khaemweset, a son of Ramesses II, rebuilding some of the temples, tombs and historic building of his forefathers. Writers like Herodotus in ancient Greece and Pliny in Rome were fascinated by the subject and produced a wealth of historical material that fascinates to this very day.

Modern Egyptology, which started in the 1820s, took a scientific approach to the subject but also brought many folk leitmotifs to the public imagination. Subjects like mummies, tomb robbing and funerary treasure, scarab brooches, pyramids with secret passages, the book of the dead, cat and crocodile worship, snake charming and magic-wielding priests tend to form the backbone of most popular entertainment based in the Black Land.

For her first book in THE EGYPTIAN CHRONICLES series, Gill Harvey wisely opts to use only a couple of these subjects. Hopi are homeless orphans whose parents have both been devoured by crocodiles in the Nile. They are taken in by a couple called Nefert and Paneb who own a dance troupe, headed by their daughter Mut. When the company is booked to entertain at a party in Set Maat, an artists' village close to the Valley of the Kings on the West Bank, the children are pitched into an adventure pitting them against cunning and unscruplous tomb robbers.

The storyline plays it somewhat safe, mostly relying on narrative devices made popular by the likes of Enid Blyton and Malcom Saville. What makes this book - and presumably the series - really interesting, though, is the attention to detail. Egyptian life is evoked in all its richness and variety. Harvey does not put a foot wrong when describing everyday details like meals, clothes, jewellery and houses.

Also interesting is the dynamic of the sleuthing group. No cosy middle-class 'five found-outers and dog' set ups here! There is tension between the two girls, Mut and Isis, which threatens to make the latter and her brother homeless once again. Hopi, the boy, is an oddball who communes with snakes and whose severe limp often hampers his attempts at solving mysteries.

Harvey uses a simple, direct style which makes her work accessible to readers of all abilities. The careful casting of protagonists of both sexes will ensure boys and girls will find the books interesting. The second instalment, called THE HORNED VIPER, is out already. We at Sword And Sandal Kids are sure this is a series that, once established, will prove to be very popular.

Laurel wreath rating 3/5

See also Eye Of The Moon, Ma'at's Feather, Land of the Pharaohs.

THE CONQUEROR OF CORINTH, directed by Mario Costa

2009-11-22T13:02:00.007Z

Setting: Ancient Greece/Rome
Director: Mario Costa
Screenwriter: Nino Stresa
Starring: John Drew Barrymore, Jacques Sernas, Gianna Maria Canale, Gordon Mitchell
Released in the cinemas in 1961
Format: widescreen
DVD release:
Runtime:
Rating:

Roman filmmaker Mario Costa started his career writing, editing and directing documentaries in the 1940s. He soon turned his hand at producing and directing features, specialising in opera, which was a very popular genre in Italy at the time. He later expanded into drama, romcoms and swashbucklers, turning to the sword and sandal genre in the late 1950s.

The Conqueror of Corinth, released as The Centurion in the US and called La Bataille de Corinthe in France, was produced in 1961. It's the story of Cauis Vinicius [played by Jacques Sernas], a centurion who accompanies a Roman ambassador to Corinth where the Greek city states are plotting to overthrow their masters. The Roman party is ambushed en route by the Greeks. The ambassador is killed but the centurion takes refuge in a Corinthian noble family's house, where he falls in love with the nobleman's daughter, a blonde called Hebe [Genevieve Grad]. The love affair stirs up a hornet's nest of political intrigue and trouble, most of it stirred up by a jealous older woman who is spurned by Cauis Vinicius in favour of Hebe.

The screenplay was written in Italian by Nino Stresa, one of whose first projects was a bipoic of Saint Theresa but whose sword-and-sandal credits included subjects as diverse as Sheiks, pirates, Aeneas and the Norman conquest of Britain. It does seem a bit of a rush-job at times, with some opportunities for great visuals missed. This includes a scene where Sernas is tortured. We only get to see the aftermath, and that is only a couple of unrealistic red marks on his his arms and chest. The characters are well rounded, though, and the love story is a very good contrast to the political narrative that provides most of the action sequences.

The cast are uniformally good, especially John Drew Barrymore as the slimy Diaeus, a Carthaginian bent on humiliating Rome. Fellow American Gordon Mitchell is also impressive in the part of a Roman general called Metellus. Born in Denver, Colorado and raised in California, Mitchell was an extra in The Ten Commandments and a regular on Mae West's muscle revues. He could not speak a word of Italian, yet managed to have a successful career in Europe starring in historical epics and later spaghetti westerns. Gianna Maria Canale, an Italian star who specialised in femme fatales from the ancient world, plays the jealous Artemide with relish, thundering around the set in a beehive that is more fifties than first century Corinth. Jacques Sernas, who was Paris in Robert Wise's Helen of Troy and Genevieve Grad pass the grade as the star-crossed lovers with a very uncertain future.

Costa's direction keeps the action going at a brisk pace. Some of the scenes, especially ones invloving a snake pit brimming with deadly vipers, are staged with humour but do not divert from the action and the sense of menace.

Obviously a low-budget feature, the battle includes stock shots taken from other films, namely 1959's Hannibal starring Victor Mature and Ferroni's 1961 epic The Wooden Horse of Troy. A lot of care, however, was put into the attack on Corinth, using very impressive model work and lighting.

This might not the be the best historical epic ever but is very enjoyable, has a good story and is very pleasant to look at.

Laurel wreath rating 3/5

See also Helen Of Troy, The Lion In The Gateway, The 300 Spartans

SPARATCUS, directed by Stanley Kubrick

2009-11-15T15:04:00.036Z

Setting: Ancient Rome
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Screenwriters: Howard Fast, Dalton Trumbo
Based on the novel Spartacus by Howard fast
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Jean Simmons, Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, John Gavin, Tony Curtis.
Released in the cinemas in 1960, re-released in 1967 and 1991
Format: widescreen
DVD release: various
Runtime: 186mins
Rating PG

Spartacus was the pet project of film mega-star Kirk Douglas, who lost out to Charlton Heston for the title role in Ben Hur and decided to star in a rival epic.

The novelist Howard Fast was hired to write a screenplay from his 1951 novel. It had been self-published with donations from fans who paid for their copy up-front. No American publisher at the time would touch it because Fast had been imrpisoned for refusing to supply the House Committee on Un-American Activities with names of donors to a home for orphans of American veterans of the Spanish civil war. One of these was none other than Eleanor Roosevelt herself. Spartacus was written as a reaction to McCarthyism and was seen both as a publishing and political risk.

Fast found it difficult to construct a screenplay and he was replaced by Dalton Trumbo, himself a blacklisted writer who was credited as Sam Jackson.

Both novel and film take liberties with historical fact, changing Spartacus from a deserter in the Roman army to a hot-headed slave working in a Libyan mine. It also invents the manner of his death [the real Spartacus died in battle] and gives him a love interest in the shape of Jean Simmons playing an escaped British slave called Varinia. Small but significant changes which help to mytholigise one of the first freedom fighters in the world! The central theme of of the film are hope and freedom from political oppression. Fast asserts that people bereft of hope have nothing to lose by revolting and upsetting the status quo.

The story starts in the Libyan mines, where Spartacus is sentenced to die of starvation for attacking a Roman guard. He is purchased by greedy lanista [Peter Ustinov], a man who trains gladiators for the arena. Here Spartacus falls in love with Varinia and, during a gladiatorial fight, leads a revolt on the gladiatorial school in Capua. The violence escalates and before long Spartacus and the rebels are joined in the Italian countryside by a growing army of escaped slaves who lay Roman homesteads and villages to waste. Rome keeps sending cohorts to annihilate them, but without success. The rebels fight their way to the port of Brundisium where Cilician pirates have been bribed to take them across the ocean to freedom. But politics and greed get in the way, with horrific consequences for all involved.....

David Lean, a recognised master of big-screen epics was offered the job of directing but turned it down. Anthony Mann took on the project, only to resign after the first week of shooting, citing artistic differences with Douglas. His opening scenes, however, filmed in a scorching Death Valley, set the tone for the film: vast, direct and uncompromising.

Stanley Kubrick, who had already worked with Douglas on Paths of Glory, took over direction from Mann. He had not worked on a large scale epic before but approached the project with authority, successfully handling a cast of around 10,000. It is rumoured that there were on-set clashes between Kubrick and Douglas, the star wanting to play the hero as determined optimist, the director grumbling that there was not a hint if cynicism in the film - a quality that was to infuse all his later works.

Such differences of opinion did not mar the project! From its Saul Bass credits to its final heart-rending scene on the Appian Way this is cinema at its grandest and most eloquent. The major scenes are breathaking, especially the gladiatorial fights in Capua, watched over by a leering Laurence Olivier playing Crassus, to the final battle scene in Brundisium where the slaves' mettle it tested to the limit. The more intimate scenes linger in the memory, successfully juxtaposing the Romans' crass behaviour with the slaves' sensitivity: the first meeting between Spartacus and Varinia; the slaves reminiscing outside their tents on the eve of battle, the senator Gracchus gently drawing a curtain around him before committing suicide.

The sequence where a crowd of slaves all claim to be Spartacus in order so save their leader is, of course, a part of cinema history, as is the final scene with Jean Simmons carrying Spartacus' son to freedom. Alex North's score is rightfully acknowledged as a masterpiece, as well as a textbook example of what film music should be. He used a variety of period instruments and an Ondioline to achieve an atonal sound. It is the perfect aural backdrop to a masterpiece. No wonder it won four Oscars! This is what big screen cinema should be all about: drama, spectacle story and an insight into the human condition.

Laurel wreath rating 5/5

NB: the latest dvd realises of the film include several battle sequences deemed too violent at the time of the original cinema release, as well as a previously deleted scene with Crassus seducing a slave played by Tony Curtis.

Buy the Howard Fast novel from amazon.co.uk or amazon.com

buy from amazon

THE WARRIOR AND THE SLAVE GIRL, directed by Vittorio Cottafavi

2009-11-07T18:21:00.007Z

Setting: Ancient Rome
Directed by: Vittorio Cottafavi
Screenwriters: Natividad Zaro, Gian Paolo Callegari, Ennio De Concini
Stars: Ettore Manni, Gianna Maria Canale
Original cinema release: 1959
DVD release [France, Italy] 2007
Running time: n/a
Rating: PG

The 1914 Italian film Cabiria was one of the first sword and sandal epics to achieve worldwide success. Set during the 2nd Punic war between Rome and Carthage, it helped introduce the world to a genre of film with a historical or mythological background which nearly always starred a muscleman. The genre was revived in 1957 with the release of Hercules, an Italian production with the American Mr Universe winner Steve Reeves in the title role.

From then till 1964, when the Spaghetti Western virtually took over the Italian film industry, European production companies churned out dozens of cheap and not-so-cheap historical epics of which The Warrior and The Slave Girl is a typical example.

Called La révolte des gladiateurs in France and La rebelión de los gladiadores in Spain, it is directed by Vittorio Cottafavi, who started out writing and directing thrillers but moved into the historical genre while it lasted. The screenplay, by no less than five writers, is based on an original story by Natividad Zaro, another writer/producer who excelled at historical cinema. It centres on Marcus Numidius, a Roman tribune (Ettore Manni) who has to leave his cushy life in Rome to help a governor in Armenia where local gladiators seem to have organised a rebellion against the Roman invaders. Arriving in Tesifonte, the capital of Armenia, he finds himself caught in a web of royal intrigue where Queen Amira [Gianna Maria Canale] will stop at nothing to usurp the throne. Help is at hand, however, from a hunky resistance leader (Georges Marchal) and his fiance Zahar [Mara Cruz].

Ettore Manni, an Italian actor who also appeared with Anthony Quinn in Attila and with Sophia Loren in the cheapo comedy Two Nights with Cleopatra, plays Marcus Numidius with enthusiasm. Gianna Maria Canale, an Italian beauty queen whose looks were often compared to Ava Gardner's, and who starred in many Italian sword and sandal epics and horror films, seethes as the evil Queen Amira.

Shot in Italian, the English edition is dubbed, which makes for somewhat awkward dialogue. The sets, costumes and lighting more than make up for the handicap, however, utilising remote locations that give the project a very authentic feel. The highlights, including combat between gladiators and wild animals, are quite impressive, mainly due to imaginative editing.

All in all, this is cheerful, non-demanding fare for weekend viewing. An English edition of the film is not available on dvd at the moment, although there are Spanish and Italian versions. It does, however, turn up quite regularly on free cable and subscription TV channels. Watch it; it won't be the best historical film you'll ever see, but not one of the worst either.

Laurel wreath rating 3/5

<br>B

JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, directed by Don Chaffey

2009-11-02T20:12:00.018Z

Setting: Ancient Greece
Directed by Don Chaffey
Screenwriter: Beverley Cross
Starring: Todd Armstong, Honor Blackman
Originall cinema release: 1963
DVD release: 2005
Running time: 99mins
Format: widescreen
Rating: U

Before cgi there was stop motion animation and Ray Harryhausen was its undisputed king. He regards this his best film. It is certainly the most critically acclaimed, and is cited by many English and American celebrities as their favourite childhood film. Previous Harryhausen films had usually been released as double features; this was the first to show on its own, in major cinemas.

Cross's screenplay deviates substantially from the original myth, most of which draws from Apollonius of Rhodes' epic poem Argonautica. It stays through to its theology, however, having the gods toying with mortals as if they were pawns in a chess game.

In the film, King Pelias [Douglas Wilmer] steals the throne of Thessaly from King Aristo. His kingship brings him no joy, however. A prophecy suggests that he will be overthrown by Aristo's son, who will arrive in Thessaly wearing only one sandal.

Twenty years later, Pelias is rescued from drowning by Jason [Todd Armstrong], who loses a sandal in the process. Thinking of the old prohecy, and learning that Jason is looking for the mythical golden fleece, Pelias encourages the young prince to embark on the quest. No one has ever seen the fleece, and none who have looked for it have ever lived to tell the tale; Pelias hopes Jason will meet the same fate.

Naming his ship the Argo after its builder Argos, Jason sets out on his adventure with a group of heroes as his crew, including the giant Hercules [Laurence Naismith]. The road to the far land of Colchis where, the goddess Hera reveals to Jason, lies the golden fleece is full of mishap and danger. The Argonauts battle with Talos, a gigantic bronze statues that comes alive, save Phineas [Patrick Troughton] a blind prophet from the torment of harpies and navigate their ship through the Clashing Rocks.

Arriving in Colchis, Jason and the Argonauts are betrayed by one of their crew members who is really King Pelias' son, and find themselves in prison. With the help of Medea [Nancy Kovack], a high priestess of Hecate whom they have rescued from the sea, they escape and - after a glorious battle with armed skeletons - they finally find the golden fleece.

Wilkie Cooper's sun-drenched cinematography does Chaffey's direction and Harryhausen's model work proud. The set pieces are fantasy cinema at its best. The gigantic monster Talos, all creaking bronze and swinging sword, is quite terrifying. As are the harpies who make Phineas life a misery! The scene were Triton [aka Poseidon] holds the Clashing Rocks apart for the Argo to sail through is spectacular, and the climax with grinning skeletons parrying swords with our heroes on a cliff-top remains unmatched in sword and sandal movies.

Bernard Hermann's excellent score is all brass fanfares and thumping percussion for the action sequences, turning to harp and woodwind in the subtler moments. It is rumoured that Harryhausen spent four and half months working on the famous Talos sequence, which lasts a mere four minutes on the screen. The dedication to his craft shows. In 2004, readers of Empire magazine nominated Talos as as the second most loved film monster after King Kong. A truimph for a much-loved film that has introduced many to the delights of Greek culture and mythology.

Ray Harryhausen in connversation with Tony Dalton at the National Media Museum in Bradford, UK [picture copyright, Saviour Pirotta]

Laurel wreath ranking: 5/5

See also: Helen Of Troy Dido.

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DIDO, by Adele Geras

2009-10-30T13:43:00.009Z

Setting: Ancient Greece/Carthage
Published by: David Fickling Books
Aimed at: Young Adults
Pages: 272

It takes an author with guts and skill to adapt the tale of Dido and Aeneas in a way young people would want to read. Here's a tragedy that ends with one of the most horrific suicides in classical literature, a queen burning herself to death on the bed she shared with her lover. Luckily, Adele Geras has both guts and talents in spades and her DIDO is a real gem.

The main plot of the story is, of course, taken from Virgil's epic poem Aeneid, written in the late 1st century BC. Princess Elissa, or Elishat in Phoenician, escapes her husband's murderers in Tyre and sails to the other side of the Mediterranean with his treasure. There she tricks the locals into giving her a piece of land on which she builds the magnificent city of Carthage, in what is now Tunisia. She becomes known as Queen Dido, Dido being the Phoenician term for 'wanderer'.

The much admired queen refuses the advances of Iarbas, the king of nearby tribe, insisting she must stay loyal to her husband's memory. When the Trojan prince and hero Aeneas sails into Carthage, however, the goddesses Juno and Venus plot to make the pair fall in love. The happiness doesn't last. A jealous Iarbas complains to his father, the god Jupiter and Mercury is hastily dispatched to remind Aeneas that his destiny lies in founding an empire in Italy. The Trojan, a pious man, leaves Carthage and Dido kills herself, while cursing Aeneas' new kingdom - an act that foreshadows the rivalry between Rome and Carthage for centuries to come.

Geras takes this mixture of myth and history and weaves her own take on it. As in Troy and Ithaka, two earlier books also based on classic mythology, we witness the story from the point of view of minor characters: Anna, the queen's sister, various servants; a dim-witted guard called Cubby and Iopas, a second rate poet - who turns out to be the villian of the piece. They all have their own parts to play in various sub-plots skilfully added by the author. Aeneas carries on with Elissa, Dido's handmaiden and makes her pregnant. Iopas is in love with Elissa and jealous of Aeneas. Anna has strong feelings for the court poet....

The whole book takes place during the night Aeneas' fleet is preparing to leave Carthage at sunrise. The queen is distraught, and no one in the palace can go to sleep. As the hours pass and the tension mounts, various members of the household recount parts of the story from their own point of view. The gods, here referred to by their Greek names, dart in and out of the action, manipulating the mortals to their own ends.

Such is Geras' skills as a writer that when the gods interact with people, you do not question their presence in what is otherwise a very realistic story. And as Dido falls on her lover's sword amid the flames of her burning bed, you are left in no doubt as to her intentions: this is not the cowardly act of a bereft women, but a queen's attempt at immortality. The ruse, however gruesome and alien to modern thought, worked, for Queen Dido was eventually deified by the Carthaginians. She lives on in the history books, and in paintings, opera, ballet and, of course, young adults' novels to this very day.

We at Sword And Sandal Kids reckon Adele Geras' humane and intelligent novels will also last very long in the literary world's collective psyche.

Laurel wreath rating: 5/5

See also: Helen Of Troy, The Odyssey

BEN HUR: A TALE OF THE CHRIST, directed by Fred Niblo

2009-10-29T12:20:00.006Z

Setting: Ancient Rome
Directed by Fred Niblo
Screenwriters: June Mathis, Carey Wilson, from the book by Lew Wallace
Starring Ramon Novarro, Francis X. Bushman
Released in 1925
Rating: U

Fred Niblo's 1925 ground-breaking Ben Hur was not the first adaptation to hit the silver screen. A one-reeler directed by Sidney Olcott and Frank Oakes Rose, from a screenplay by Gene Gauntier, had been quite a success 1907. It starred Herman Rottger as Ben Hur and the legendary William S. Hart as Messala. Neither of the two turned in a great performance but Hart went on to become a worldwide star and as a gun-toting cowboy in many Westerns. He is even mentioned in J.B. Priestley's play Time And the Conways.

Only fifteen minutes long, that first adaptation was a somewhat muddled affair; not surprising as the novel is over 500 pages long. It focused mainly on the chariot race, using New York firemen as the chariot drivers. Today it is remembered mainly because Lew Wallace took the production company to court for infringement of copyright. Up until then film companies did not pay for film rights but they had to clean up their act after this.

Fred Niblo's version, also a silent, is a much grander affair. From the moment a light twinkles on the screen to blossom into the star of David, heralding the birth of Christ in Bethelehem, you know you're in for an epic treat. The story moves at a relentless pace. Judah Ben Hur, a prince of Israel, and Messala, a Roman citizen have been childhood friends. But now Messala is an officer in the conquering army. When a loose tile slips from the Hurs' roof during a military parade and narrowly misses the Roman governor, Messala has Judah sent to the galleys as a slave. His mother and sister are arrested and sent to prison.

Determined to stay alive at all costs, Judah returns home years later, a wealthy and powerful Roman citizen. Believing his mother and sister dead, he is bent on revenge against Messala. But stronger forces than hate are at work in the Judean desert. A preacher is spreading a new message among the oppressed in Israel.....

The acting might be considered somewhat hammy by today's audiences but Ramon Novarro, a Latin hearthrob who was considered a second Valentino in the 1920s, brings depth to his role as Judah Ben Hur. Francis X. Bushman - cinema's first beefcake megastar - has the right amount of arrogance as Messala, and May McAvoy strikes the right balance as Judah's love-interest Esther.

The set-pieces put today's cgi fests to shame. Some of the scenes are colour tinted, others seem to burst out of the screen with action and spectacle. The moment when meteor showers announce the birth of Jesus, the Roman governor's march into Jerusalem the Golden, a sea battle with pirates and, of course, the famous chariot race will long stay in the memory as examples of what real craftsmen can achieve. They didn't need computer technology in those days, they had imagination.

At the time of its release, Ben Hur was billed as the film every Christian ought to see. It was a massive success for the newly formed Metro-Golden-Mayer company. Even if you don't subscribe to Jesus' teachings, you will find watching this film an emotional and uplifting experience: a blockbuster, a work of art and a lesson in tolerance all rolled into one.

NB: In 1997, the US Library of Congress selected Ben Hur for preservation in the National Film Registry, citing that it is 'culturally, historically and aesthetically significant.'

Laurel wreath rating: 5/5

You can also get this DVD with the 1959 version starring Charlton Heston in the special edition boxed set.

LAND OF THE PHARAOHS, directed by Howard Hawks

2009-10-27T15:26:00.003Z

Setting: Ancient Egypt
Directed by Howard Hawks
Screenwriters: William Faulkner, Harry Kurnitz
Starring: Jack Hawkins, Joan Collins, James Roberston-Justice
Year of release: 1955
Runtime: 104mins
Rating: n/a

The French consider Howard Hawks the only Hollywood film director who worked succesfully across genres. His output includes film noir [The Big Sleep], horror [The Thing, for which he is uncredited] and comedy [Gentlemen Prefer Blondes]. In Land of the Pharoahs, he turned his hand to sword and sandal, producing an underrated epic that has achieved cult status with fans.

Faulkner and Kurnitz's screenplay includes most of the ingredients considered de rigeur in stories based in Ancient Egypt: pyramids, tomb robbers, vast quantities of treasure, hapless priests and a crocodile pit. They stop short of mummies, although there is a beautifully filmed royal funeral.

The story is pure boy's adventure. Pharoah Khufu [who reigned from 2589 to 2566 B.C, played by Jack Hawkins] is obsessed with building a robber-proof tomb that would protect his treasure after his demise and so ensure him a comfortable second life for all eternity. He strikes a bargain with Vashtar [James Roberston-Justice], a gifted architect enslaved along with his people in Egypt. The deal is simple: create an impenetrable tomb and the people will be freed. Vashtar designs what will become Ancient Egypt's most magnificent landmark: the pyramid of Khufu. While it is being built, a gold-hungry princess [Joan Collins] marries the pharoah in order to get her mitts on his treasure. With the aid of a treacherous guard, the princess hatches a plot that will lead to murder.....

Jack Hawkins went on record saying that he considered Land of the Pharoahs a worthless piece of hokum. Despite his misgivings about the project, he turns in a solid performance, oscillating between magnanimous authority and self-absorption. James Roberston Justice, a stalwart of historical epics, more than holds his own as Vashtar. The supporting cast are equally as good, especially the Greek actor Alexis Minotis, who plays Khufu's brother Hamar. Joan Collins is the only weak link in the thespian chain, downsizing what could have been a memorable femme fatale to a spoilt, foot-stamping brat. It is mainly because of her eye-rolling, over the top performance that this film gets unfairly labelled as a camp classic by the media.

Hawks directs with visual flair, making full use of the Egyptian locations and stunning sets that seem to have been inspired by objets d'art found in Tuthankhamun's tomb. The outside sequences are bursting with light and sun, contrasting with the indoor ones which are mostly dark and full ominous shadows. The plot moves along at a cracking pace, helped on by Dimitri Tiomkin's excellent score. It culminates in an ingenious set-piece that has no doubt inspired the likes of George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg.

There are the usual howlers in the script that most writers dealing with ancient Egypt seem to make. Camels are used as beasts of burden at a time when they were probably not yet domesticated animals in Egypt. The boats on the Nile are modern dhows. A courtier declares that the mummification process takes 30 days when in fact it took 70. None of this really detracts from the excitement of the film, which is perfect escapism for a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Laurel wreath rating: 4/5

See also: EYE OF THE MOON

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WARRIOR KING, by Sue Purkiss

2009-10-22T10:45:00.005+01:00

Setting: Viking Britain
Published by Walker Books, 2008
Aimed at 11+
Pages 265

Life stories are not easy to novelise. Real life has an annoying habit of meandering in slippery ways that do not neccisarily lend themselves to a well-constructed plot. In children's books there is the added problem that main characters grow up, often setting them outside the scope and interest of young readers.

In her novel about Alfred the Great, Sue Purkiss overcomes the first hurdle by concentrating on a few well-chosen episodes from the monarch's life, which she deftly weaves into a seamless narrative. The second obstacle is cleared by telling the story from different points of view. The first section focuses on the young Prince Alfred, the second on his daughter Aethelflaed - here called Fleda for short - who later became the Queen of Mercia.

Purkiss has a direct, refreshing style that makes history come alive. Here she also applies a child-like quality to her writing that draws you into the characters' minds and world so that you feel you are part of their great adventure.

The telescoping of King Alfred's life gives Purkiss the space to not only explore the factual history, but also the social landscape of the period and, most importantly of all, the emotional journey of the characters. We see Alfred in various guises: as a bewildered orphan, a young man abroad, a prince, a warrior, a scholar a king and a doting father. The story moves along at a Viking horse's gallop, taking us from the death of Alfred's mother in 851AD when he was only two years old, to the battle against Guthrum the Old at Ethandun in 878.

Some of the set pieces are hauntingly beautiful: Alfred setting eyes on a book for the first time, his parting with his friend Judith who was later to become his stepmother. Others are infused with magic: a monk at Glastonbury explaining the legend of the hawthorn to Fleda, the Vikings seeing a chalk horse, a hill figure, come alive in a halo of fire. There is action too: children fleeing into hiding, stealing a treasure from the Vikings and, of course, the final battle itself.

This is a great book, a riveting read, and the final pages hint at more adventures to come. Let's hope we don't have long to wait.

Laurel wreath rating: four out of five

Memorable quotes: Sometimes you have to take the longer way to get to where you want [p28]

Hatred is like a burning log. If you hold on to it, it will destroy you. [p136]

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HELEN OF TROY, directed by Robert Wise

2009-10-13T17:34:00.007+01:00

Setting: Ancient Greece
Directed by Robert Wise
Screenwriters: Hugh Gray, John Twist, N. Richard Nash
Starring: Rosanna Podesta, Jacques Sernas, Brigitte Bardot
Year of Release: 1956
Run time: 121mins
Rating: universal/G

The story of Queen Helen and Paris has captivated people for three thousand years. It's inspired everything from Heroic Poems to decorations on Greek vases, paintings, sculptures, plays and films. Like the Passion of Christ, or Romeo and Juliet, it is so familiar to audiences that the challenge to writers and film makers is how to approach it in a novel way.

A 1927 version based on the book The Private Life of Helen of Troy by John Erskine and directed by Alexander Korda, portrayed the queen of Sparta as the world's first 'flapper'. The tagline for the film announced, 'They [Helen and Paris] make the Jazz-age look like slow music! When Helen went for a joy-ride they sent a thousand ships to bring her back!' Sadly, only around thirty minutes of the extravaganza survive, which are thankfully preserved by the British Film Institute in London.

Robert Wise's 1956 version takes a more sombre approach to the story. Based in part on Homer's Iliad, screenwriters Hugh Gray and John Twist remove the machinations of the gods that are a main feature of the Epic poems and focus instead on the human politics surrounding the love affair. Myth becomes historical speculation, told from the point of view of the Trojans. Helen is portrayed as a noble woman torn between her passion for Paris and her duty to her subjects, first the Greeks, then the Trojans in her adopted home. Paris, who is an ineffectual coward in the Ilyiad, is re-imagined as a peace-loving hero, only going to war against the Greeks because of their treacherous behaviour.

Wise, an Oscar winning director who also gave us The Sound of Music, West Side Story, Star Trek - the Motion Picture and The Haunting - directs with panache. The story moves at a gallop; the action sequences are magnificently staged, especially the main attack on Troy and the triumphal entrance of the wooden horse through the Trojan gates. Thrilling as they are, these scenes don't detract from the human drama, which is thoughtfully scripted and staged.

Surprisingly for a mega-budget epic, the cast is almost wall to wall European. After considering Hollywood legends Elizabeth Taylor, Lana Turner, Yvonne De Carlo and Ava Gardner for the role of Helen, Wise settled on Rosanna Podesta, a popular starlet in her native Italy but almost unknown in the rest of the world. Lithiuanian-born hearth throb Jacques Sernas - here credited as Jack Sernas - plays Paris. Both serve him well, although their performances are just adequate rather than Oscar worthy. A young Brigitte Bardot plays Andraste. The rest of the cast are stalwarts of British cinema. Cedric Hardwicke plays King Priam. Nora Swinburne is Hecuba. Torin Thatcher, though perhaps miscast as a grey-haired Ulysses, swaggers impressively.

The story of Queen Helen and Paris has recently been retold twice for the screen, in Wolfgang Petersen's Troy [2004] and John Kent Harrison's made-for-tv Helen of Troy [2004]. This version remains, however, the most accessible and perhaps, the best fun.

Memorable quote: What is remembered, is forever young. [Helen to Paris]

Laurel wreath rating: four out of five.

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AT THE HOUSE OF THE MAGICIAN, by Mary Hooper

2009-10-11T10:29:00.005+01:00

Setting: Elizabethan England
Published by Bloomsbury, 2008
Aimed at 12+
Pages 240

Mary Hooper made her name writing cutting edge contemporary fiction for teenagers. The first title in her bestselling series about Megan, a fifteen year old who finds out she's pregnant a few months before her GCSEs, won the North East Book Award and was chosen by the Young Book Trust as one of their 100 best books.

2003 saw her move into historical fiction with At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum. It was a critical and commercial success, and she has since concentrated on the historical genre.

AT THE HOUSE OF THE MAGICIAN is the first book in a trilogy starring Lucy, a girl living in Elizabethan England. Fleeing an abusive father, she saves a child from drowning in the river. The girl turns out to be the daughter of Dr Dee, court magician and consultant to Elizabeth I. Lucy wangles herself employment in his house as the children's nanny. There she hopes to catch a glimpse of the queen. When she does, ensconced in a long-forgotten priest hole, she becomes privvy to a disturbing secret....

Hooper has a talent for creating characters that modern readers can identify with but who remain true to their time. She doesn't do big historical dramas. Her stories are about ordinary young people trying to make their way in the world. They want to better their lot and that of their families, they forge life-long friendships, they fall in love. Major historical events happen - in this book, it's the battle between the protestant Elizabeth I and her Catholic rival, Mary Queen of Scots - but they are very much what Alfred Hitchcock used to call 'maguffins' - vehicles to carry the narrative forward. The main stories are the emotional journeys of the fictitious characters. And very exciting journeys they are too, a potent elixir of intrigue and romance! Drink and better your life.

Laurel wreath rating: five laurels out of five.

THE ODYSSEY, directed by Andrei Konchalovsky

2009-10-10T15:29:00.006+01:00

Director: Andrei Konchalovsky
Producer: Francis Ford Coppola
Screenwriters: Andrei Konchalovsky, Chris Solimine, based on Homer
Release date 1997; DVD 2007
Running Time: 180mins
Rating: 12+

Homer's epic poem has long attracted film makers. As early as 1912, an Italian version was released to critical acclaim in Europe and the US. In 1954, the Italians produced a version called Ulysses starring Kirk Douglas in the title role, Silvana Mangano as both his wife Penelope and Circe, and Rosanna Podesta as Nausicaa. A decade later Turkish heartthrob Bekim Fehmiu took the lead in yet another Italian version for RAI television. It was the first serial in Italy to be filmed on location and was exported to other European countries with great success.

The 1998 version, originally made for television but now released on DVD, also has an Italian connection. Produced by Italo-American maverick Francis Ford Coppola, it is directed by Andrei Konchalovsky who also co-wrote the screenplay.

Many will be familiar with the plot. After victory at Troy, Odysseus, king of Ithaka, is eager to return home to his wife Penelope and son Telemachus. His ship, however, is blown off-course by an angry Poseidon who feels cheated at not being thanked properly for not giving away the Greek soldiers while they were hiding in the wooden horse.

Odysseus and his men land on the island of the cyclops. The crew are captured by the one-eyed Polyphemus who eats some of them. The rest only manage to escape after they blind him with a wooden stake, which angers Poseidon even more. Aeolous, the master of the wind, gives Odyssues a bag containing all the winds except the Western one which should blow his ship safely home. In view of Ithaka itself, the crew let the winds out of the bag and the ship is blown back to Aelous' home. Trying to get back to Ithaka again, the men fall in the clutches of a witch called Circe, who changes half the men into pigs. When she falls in love with Odysseus, however, Circe releases the men and decides to help them with their journey.

She sends Odysseus to seek advice from an old prophet called Tiresias, who is in the underworld. There Odysseus also meets his mother, now a shade after taking her life in grief at his loss. She warns him that a hundred or so suitors are trying to claim his wife Penelope's hand in marriage.

Returning to Circe, Odysseus is instructed on how to avoid the Sirens, whose song drives men mad, the Scylla, a multi-headed monster and a giant whirlpool called Charybidis. On the island of Thrinicia, the crew hunt and kill the sacred cattle of the god Helios. As punishment, their ship is wrecked and only Odysseus is washed up safely on the island of Calypso, a nymph who puts a spell on him so that he forgets his family.

Released by Calypso at the insistence of the gods, Odysseus makes a raft which is wrecked by Poseidon and he swims ashore on the island of Scherie. Rescued by Princess Nausicaa, he is delivered by one of her father's ships to Ithaka. There is a bloodbath as Odysseus dispatches the suitors in his palace but the story concludes with his kingdom finally being at peace.

Like all previous film adaptations, Konchalovsky's version deviates a good deal from the original, mostly to capitalise on the special effects sequences. Unlike the Kirk Douglas version, however, it does keep Athena as a guide and protector of both Odysseus and his son.

The cast is a carefully selected mixture of Americans and Europeans, designed to appeal to the market on both sides of the Atlantic. Armand Assante plays Odysseus with dignity. Greta Scacchi holds her own as Penelope. Greek legend Irene Papas, who played Penelope in the 1968 Rai version, is cast as Odysseus' mother. Eric Roberts swaggers as Eurymachus, the lead suitor in Odysseus' home while Isabella Rossellini radiates - literally, with some help from the f/x department - as the Goddess Athena. Bernadette Peters turns up as the mischievous Circe.

The special effects, produced by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, are a winning mix of animatronics and prosthethyics, with some low-key cgi used to great effect in the scenes involving gods and monsters. Odysseus' encounters with the scylla and the charybidis - here, not just a giant whirlpool but a cavernous mouth with gnashing spikes for teeth - will have both kids and kidults reaching for the rewind button on the remote. The scene in the underworld, where Odysseus meets his mother, now a shade, is touching and perhaps will stay in the memory longer than the f/x scenes.

At just over three hours, The Odyssey is quite an epic but, persevere and you'll not only be captivated with one of the oldest adventure stories in the world, but also get a good introduction to ancient Greek culture.

Laurel wreath rating: 4/5

THE LION IN THE GATEWAY, by Mary Renault

2009-10-04T11:20:00.004+01:00

Setting: Ancient Greece
Published by: Longman, 1964
Pages
Aimed at 10+

Mary Renault is considered by many to be the queen of historical fiction. Her novels The Bull From The Sea, The King Must Die and The Last Of The Wine set the benchmark for writers of the genre in the 20th century. Although not trained as a classicist, she was known for re-creating the ancient Greek world with a vibrant and convincing accuracy. Her main themes, recurring in most of her novels, were love and leadership.

In 2006, BBC 4 produced a one hour documentary called Mary Renault – Love and War in Ancient Greece, describing the author as a 'novelist whose books on ancient Greece convincingly brought the world of Plato and Socrates back to life.' The broadcaster Sue MacGregor and film director Oliver Stone were among the contributors examining how Mary Renault's popular novels set in ancient Greece inspired a new generation of readers in the 1950s.

The Lion in the Gateway is her only book for children. Based on the writings of Herodotus, Aeschylus and Plutarch it is an account of the Persian Wars, including the battles of Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis, where King Xerxes was defeated once and for all.

This is a work of non-fiction but it reads like a novel, and a very absorbing one too. Renault considered Herodotus the most interesting of the ancient historians because he believed that history 'is about people. He thought that character is destiny. He never writes about human beings as if they were economic units, statistics or lines on a graph...his people are alive for us after two and half thousand years.'

Like her hero, Renault makes history come alive by focusing on the human element, blue-blood and commoner alike. Here is the brave Athenian athlete Pheidippides who weakens his heart and gives up the chance to win at the Olympic games to save his country! And here too is King Xerxes who thinks nothing of pouring molten gold down a traitor's throat yet breaks down in tears at the thought of all his soldiers being dead in a hundred years' time! Renault writes with warmth about the infirm Spartan priest who chooses to fight alongside King Leonidas at the 'Hot Gates, about Xerxes' mother waiting for news of her son's victories and safety. One touching scene features two political opponents, enemies for years, who decided to make up for the duration of a battle.

The Greek victory at Salamis and later in Platea, where a pivotal moment in history, the importance of which is mainly forgotten today. Renault says towards the end of the book, 'It was a victory for reason over blind obedience; for free choice over despotic power; for a man's right to be a living soul, not just the tool of a ruler to be used or scrapped at his whim.' Stirring stuff which should be recommended reading in all schools.

In case you were wondering, The Lion In The Gateway refers to a statue erected on the spot where King Leonidas died for his country. According to oral tradition it stood guarding the 'Hot Gates' at Thermopylae for centuries.

Memorable quote: They listened to adventurous tales not to escape the dullness of their lives, but hoping their own deeds might be as famous [p8]

Those men are surely the bravest who, feeling most keenly the pains and pleasures of life, do not fear to risk it. [P173, after Pericles]

Laurel wreath rating: five out five wreaths
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EYE OF THE MOON, by Dianne Hofmeyr

2009-09-27T17:23:00.005+01:00

Setting: Ancient Egypt
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2007/2008
Pages: 313
Aimed at readers: 11+

One of the greatest challenges facing authors of historical fiction is how much of the past to re-imagine. Not the factual past, which can be explained in author's notes, but the spiritual, social and physcological past. Stay too close to the truth and you risk creating characters who are so far removed from the modern reader's experience, no one cant emphatise with them. But give those characters too much of a 21st century sensibility and the story loses credibility. It's a tough juggling act that can make or break a book.

In EYE OF THE MOON, Dianne Hofmeyr navigates this tightrope with considerable dexterity. Her heroine, an embalmer's daughter living in Ancient Egypt's during the 18th dynasty, can bring down a bird with a throwstick. She also has a habit of railing against social injustice and sexism, both issues which I don't think would have been in the consciousness of an ordinary girl in the ancient world. Hoffmeyr's pen however moves you along so quickly and expertly, you learn not to mind the intrusion.

The storyline involves Isikara saving Crown Prince Tuthmosis from premature mummification at the hands of evil priests. They are intent on installing his younger brother Amenhotep as pharaoh, presumably because he would be easier to manpulate than the headstrong Tuthmosis. The pair flee the city of Thebes to the land of Kush, where the crown prince hopes to raise an army against Amhotep and the high priests. Along the way, the pair's skills and friendship are tested to the limit as they try evade the Nile police, get kidnapped by desert bandits and are at first rebuffed by the Kushites.

To the jaded reader, a couple of set-pieces can seem a tad familiar. In one scene, Isikara eavesdrops on a secret meeting through a convenient crack in a wall. In another she and Tuthmosis breathe through reeds as they hide underwater from soldiers. Most of the book, however, is a page-turner, a romantic adventure with a bloodthirsty climax that will have you wanting more.

The cast of characters includes some major historical figures. Queen Tiy, whose death sets the whole chariot-race in motion, is believed to have imported the idea of a 'one god' to Egypt from her native Nubia. Her son Amenhotep later plunged Egypt into chaos by banning all the gods in favour of the Aten, the 'one sun-god'. Freud believed that Amenhotep had dealings with Moses of the Old Testament. The egyptologist Jan Assmann even claimed in his book Moses of Egypt, that the prophet who led the Jews out of Egypt was none other than Crown Prince Tuthmosis himself. It will be interesting to see how Hofmeyr moves them across her Senet board in the next installment of the story. That's called Eye of the Sun and is already published. We at Sword and Sandal Kids can't wait to get stuck in.

Laurel wreath rating: Four laurels out of five.

***********************************

THE 300 SPARTANS, a film by Rudolph Mate

2009-09-25T14:09:00.021+01:00

BRING ON THE HOPLITES!

Director: Rudolph Mate
Stars: Richard Egan, Ralph Richardson, Diane Baker
Cinema Release: 1962
DVD release: 2005, 2007
Rating: PG [UK]
Runtime: 114 mins

Long before Gerald Butler led his testosterone fuelled troops across cgi enhanced terrain to the battle of Thermopylae, the American actor Richard Egan had the same showdown with the evil King Xerxes in The 300 Spartans. Based on writings by Herodotus and the 1st century BC historian Diodorus Siculus, this film has long been considered a cult classic everywhere from France to the US. One of its biggest fans is the author, artist and film-maker Frank Miller, on whose graphic novel 300 is based. He went on record saying 'seeing this film changed the creative course of my life.'

Despite having no less than five credited writers - usually a sign of trouble in the script department - the film has a tight storyline that manages to be a history lesson and an adventure story at the same time. It is 480BC and the Persian King Xerxes is moving his hordes into Europe with the intention of crushing the free Greek City States and avenging the death of his father King Darius I ten years earlier.

The leaders of the Greek City assemble hastily to plan a counter attack. The Spartan king Leonidas the first [Richard Egan] points out that the first thing they must do is fortify the narrow pass at Thermopylae through which the Persian army must pass. But the Spartans priests forbid the army to leave Sparta before a holy festival, so the king departs to the pass with no more than 300 of his personal bodyguard.

With the help of Thespian soldiers, the 300 manage to hold the pass and repel an army of 250,000 men. Yes. that's a quarter of a million! Sadly our brave heroes are betrayed by a goatherd who shows the Persians a secret path into Greece. Leonidas is killed and his men, refusing to leave their king, are massacred, The 300 do not die in vain, though. Their sacrifice unites all of Greece whose armies finally annihilate the Persians army once and for all at the Battle of Platea.

The film was shot entirely on location in Greece with the blessing of the Greek royal family. Director Rudolph Mate was Polish by birth and he saw the story of the 300 Spartans as a parable for the cold war. Holiday-brochure photography and modern Greek music by composer Manos Hadzidakis are used as constant if subtle reminders that Greece, the cradle of civilisation, is once again surrounded by the forces of 'darkness', this time the enemy being the Communist empire.

Communism in Europe and the cold war have long since bitten the dust but The 300 Spartans still works as a thrilling adventure story worthy of its cult status. It's perfect viewing for a rainy Saturday afternoon, so turn off the mobile, pop some corn in the microwave and bring on the Hoplites. Long live the Spartans.

Laurel wreath rating: 4/5

THE CAPRICORN BRACELET, by Rosemary Sutcliff

2009-09-19T13:41:00.007+01:00

A BOOK OF RARE CHARM

Setting: Roman Britain
Publisher: Red Fox, 2002 [Reissue; original publication OUP, 1973]
Pages: 157
Aimed at: readers 8 to 108

Rosemary Sutcliff is justly famous for her Eagle Of The Ninth series, which was set in Roman Britain. The middle title, The Silver Branch, won the Carnegie medal in 1959, while The Eagle of the Ninth is currently being turned into a big budget film directed by Kevin Macdonald.

The Capricorn Bracelet is not as well known as 'Eagle' but is a gem nonetheless, one which every fan of Rosemary Sutcliff's work should have on their shelves. It was originally written as part of a radio series called 'Stories from Scottish History'. Sutcliff later re-worked the material as six short stories, adding a lot of detail that had to be left out of the programmes. They were published by Oxford University Press in 1973.

Like Eagle of the Ninth, the Capricorn Bracelet covers a long period in the history of Britain. Each story features a Roman soldier from a different generation of the same family. The first one starts off in AD61, the year Queen Boudicca revolted against the Romans and the last ends around 410, just after the Romans army had pulled out of Britain completely. The stories are not only connected to each other by the family but also by the trinket of the title, a bracelet of honour forged for the soldier in the first story and handed down through the generations as a reminder of the family's link with Rome.

Momentous historical events take place throughout the book. Boudicca puts Londinium to the torch; Hadrian's wall is built; Roman emperors march against each other. But, although these events shape the life of our soldiers and their families, they do not take centre stage. For these are stories about ordinary people living ordinary lives, not at the heart of a glorious Roman empire but at its far-flung edge, aound Hadrian's wall. In one a young boy yearns to be a soldier. In another a newly appointed centurion finds a way to earns the respect of his troop.

Sutcliff had the enviable ability to fill big canvasses with small pictures. The things that stay with you the longest after you've finished the book are the small but perfectly drawn scenes of everyday life. A slave preparing snails for dinner. A frontier scout luxuriating in a wolfskin cloak after a battle. A hunter prowling an abandoned Hadrian's wall. They make you feel as if somehow you had the privilege to really be a part of their lives, watching each generation of the family grow up and grow old. And that the trials and joys of their long-past lives were not so dissimilar to yours in the twenty first century. Which surely is the mark and purpose of great historical fiction: re-imagining the past to shed light on the present.

Laurel wreath ranking: five laurel wreaths out of five.

Memorable quote: .....she had waited to fill a cup with milk. And I mind that I noticed, even in that moment, that it was not the green glass cup, but a black pottery bowl such as she would have brought me. And I knew that Lucian was no longer a guest in the house.

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MA'AT'S FEATHER, by Juliet Desailly

2009-09-13T16:57:00.007+01:00

Setting: Ancient Egypt
Publisher: The Book Guild
Publication year, 2008
Pages: 87
Aimed at: kids 8 - 11

Qen is a farmer's son in Ancient Egypt. He expects his life to mirror that of his ancestors', farming the temple's land for a living and raising a family in a rented property by the Nile. But when his father is killed in an accident, Qen's life starts to unravel. Before long he is forced to take a decision that might anger the gods.

The author manages to pack a lot into a short book. There is a festival, an accident on a temple building site, a funeral, awesome treasure and the inevitable raid on a nobleman's tomb. All this would make good educational material in a classroom, and a reluctant reader would find it riveting. A more demanding reader, however, might find the lack of background detail a let-down. We are not told what period in ancient Egypt the story is set, nor where in the country Qen lives. Chapter 3 takes place against an indundation festival but we are not given the name of the deity being honoured. She is referred to simply as 'the god.' A teacher doing Ancient Egypt as their topic for the term would no doubt find lots to discuss and research here. Indeed the author has produced a teacher's pack to go with the book.

The ending,which to me feels more like the start of a novel rather than a climax, could easily be used a starting point for the children's own stories.

Olympic laurel wreath rating: 2 laurels out of 5.

I AM THE GREAT HORSE, by Katherine Roberts

2009-09-04T13:05:00.077+01:00

A REAL THOROUGHBRED!

Setting: Ancient Greece, Egypt, Babylon, India
Published by: Chicken House
Year of publication: 2007
Pages 542
Aimed at: kids 13+, adults

Katherine Roberts won the Branford Boase award in 2000 for her debut children's novel, Song Quest, the first title in a fantasy trilogy that made up The Echorium Sequence. In I AM THE GREAT HORSE, she succesfully blends fantasy with historical fact to produce a real thoroughbred.

The Great Horse of the title, and the narrator of the book, is Bucephalas, the war-stallion that carried Alexander the Great through twenty years of war campaigns from his native Macedonia all the way to the Indus Valley. But don't expect Animal Ark cuteness here. Bucephalas is the equine equivalent of the alpha-male, with an ego to match that of his power-crazy king and rider. He is forever chasing fillies in heat, really enjoys getting stuck in the thick of battle and loves to show off. When he wants to assert his authority over other animals, he squirts his own dung over theirs to 'dominate' their smell.

Despite a thread of light humour running through the book, Roberts pulls no punches in portraying Bucephalas' ancient world in all its violence. The many battles are described in vivid, gory detail. Soldiers and traitors lose limbs, elephants have their trunks sliced off with swords, camels are sacrificed to appease strange gods. I have yet to read a young adult novel with a higher body count.

And yet, against this often gory panorama, emerges a story of delicate intimacy. King Alexander, Bucephalas and Bucephalas' groom - who turns out to be a girl called Charmeia - form an emotional three-way bond that is the closest any of them will ever come to having a family. It is a bond that baffles everyone around them. Why should the king care about a commoner? Why should a girl stay loyal to a ruler who is often cruel to her? And why does Bucephalas only let these two ride him? The answers are revealed as the three travel further and further away from home and the bond is repeatedly put to the test.

This is mainly an adventure story but, Roberts being a fantasy writer, there is magic here too. Amazonian women-warriors emerge from a hole in the world. Fire demons descend from the sky. Charmeia has prophetic dreams. And - an absolute corker of an idea this - Bucephalas can see ghosts. His descriptions of startled souls suddenly finding themselves without a host body on the battlefield are haunting.

And the ending, at least for a battle-weary nag like me who's way past staying up all night to finish a YA novel, is one of the most moving you'll ever read. Thelma and Louse, you've been dominated. Ha!

Laurel wreath rating: 5/5

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