On this day in movie history – Devil's Paradise (1987 movie & novel):

Devil's Paradise

directed by Vadim Glowna,

written by Vadim Glowna, Joe Hembus, Leonard Tuck,

based on the novel Victory by Joseph Conrad,

released in West Germany on May 7, 1987.

Music by Jürgen Knieper.

Cast: Jürgen Prochnow, Sam Waterston, Suzanna Hamilton, Mario Adorf, Dominique Pinon, Ingrid Caven, Tony Doyle, Chun-Man Wong, Atoharapan Paiboonsuwan, Vararat Thepsotorn, Vadim Glowna, Ayuddhaya Tanu Malakul Na, Abbie Conant, Beatrice/Bea Reszat, Jane Knieper, Colette Darville, Jola Goltz, Evelyn Kuerschner, Nipol Satchawoot, Suvit Liengsima.

Recommended reading:

Victory

By Joseph Conrad.

Filmed as:

Victory (1919), directed by Maurice Tourneur.

Dangerous Paradise (1930), directed by William A. Wellman.

Devil's Paradise (1987), directed by Vadim Glowna.

Victory (1996), directed by Mark Peploe.

Published by Penguin Classics.

First published 1915.

ISBN 13: 9780140189780

ISBN 10: 0140189785

ASIN: 0140189785

Description:

I am glad that I am alive, if, for no other reason, because of the joy of reading this book. – Jack London.

Axel Heyst, a dreamer and a restless drifter, believes he can avoid suffering by cutting himself off from others. Then he becomes involved in the operation of a coal company on a remote island in the Malay Archipelago, and when it fails, he turns his back on humanity once more. But his life alters when he rescues a young English girl, Lena, from Zangiacomo's Ladies' Orchestra and the evil innkeeper Schomberg, taking her to his island retreat. The affair between Heyst and Lena begins with her release, but the relationship shifts as Lena struggles to save Heyst from the detachment and isolation that have inhibited and influenced his life.

Marked by a violent and tragic conclusion, Victory is both a tale of rescue and adventure and a perceptive study of a complex relationship and of the power of love.

Joseph Conrad, on writing:

My task, which I am trying to achieve is,

by the power of the written word,

to make you hear, to make you feel -

it is, before all, to make you see.

- Joseph Conrad.

On this day in movie history - Heart of Darkness (1994 movie & novel):

Heart of Darkness

directed by Nicolas Roeg,

written by Benedict Fitzgerald,

based on the novel by Joseph Conrad, released in the United States on March 13, 1994.

Music by Stanley Myers.

Cast:

Tim Roth, John Malkovich, Isaach De Bankolé, James Fox, Morten Faldaas, Patrick Ryecart, Michael Fitzgerald, Geoffrey Hutchings, Peter Vaughan, Phoebe Nicholls, Allan Corduner, Jan Tríska, Alan Scarfe, Michael Cronin, Iman, Timothy Bateson, Stephen Oxley, John Savident, Charles Kay, Ian McDiarmid, Bhime Souaré, Candice Daly.

Recommended reading:

Heart of Darkness

By Joseph Conrad.

Mass Market Paperback

First published 1899.

Published by Penguin Books.

ISBN 13: 9780140431681

ISBN 10: 0140431683

ASIN: B001KTM47C

Author Joseph Conrad based this novella on his own personal experiences, during a voyage up the Congo River in 1890.

This novella was the inspiration for the movie Apocalypse Now (1979), directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Description:

Written in the last year of the nineteenth century, Heart of Darkness can be seen in many ways as the first twentieth-century novel.

Its climate of doubt and vagueness, its loss of moral confidence and its need for belief in the midst of spiritual wilderness, its exploration of the subconscious and its affirmation of individual freedom are all themes that were to have an influence on writers such as Orwell, Godling, Céline, Borges and Eliot.

In Heart of Darkness Conrad unfolds the story of Marlow’s search for Mr Kurtz, the company agent whose ‘unlawful soul’ has been ‘beguiled beyond the bounds of permitted aspirations’ in his dealings with the natives of the Belgian Congo. Marlow’s adventure involves him in a crucial reappraisal of his own values. It is Kurtz, however, who attains to a vision of the inexpressible, terrifying reality of the heart in this extraordinary exploration of human savagery and despair.

Book cover image: The Steamer Stanley, by F. Hens.

On this day in movie history – Dangerous Paradise (1930 movie & novel):

Dangerous Paradise

directed by William A. Wellman,

written by William Slavens McNutt, Grover Jones,

based on the novel Victory by Joseph Conrad,

released in the United States on February 13, 1930.

Music by John Leipold.

Cast: Nancy Carroll, Richard Arlen, Warner Oland, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Francis McDonald, George Kotsonaros, Dorothea Wolbert, Clarence Wilson, Evelyn Selbie, Willie Fung, Mrs. Wong Wing, Stanley Fields, Lillian Worth.

Recommended reading:

Victory

By Joseph Conrad.

Filmed as:

Victory (1919), directed by Maurice Tourneur.

Dangerous Paradise (1930), directed by William A. Wellman.

Devil's Paradise (1987), directed by Vadim Glowna.

Victory (1996), directed by Mark Peploe.

Published by Penguin Classics.

First published 1915.

ISBN 13: 9780140189780

ISBN 10: 0140189785

ASIN: 0140189785

Description:

I am glad that I am alive, if, for no other reason, because of the joy of reading this book. – Jack London.

Axel Heyst, a dreamer and a restless drifter, believes he can avoid suffering by cutting himself off from others. Then he becomes involved in the operation of a coal company on a remote island in the Malay Archipelago, and when it fails, he turns his back on humanity once more. But his life alters when he rescues a young English girl, Lena, from Zangiacomo's Ladies' Orchestra and the evil innkeeper Schomberg, taking her to his island retreat. The affair between Heyst and Lena begins with her release, but the relationship shifts as Lena struggles to save Heyst from the detachment and isolation that have inhibited and influenced his life.

Marked by a violent and tragic conclusion, Victory is both a tale of rescue and adventure and a perceptive study of a complex relationship and of the power of love.

Born on this day – Joseph Conrad:

Joseph Conrad

Writer

December 3, 1857 – August 3, 1924

Credits:

The Lingard Trilogy: Almayer's Folly (1895), An Outcast of the Islands (1896), The Idiots (1896); An Outpost of Progress (1897); Tales of Unrest (1898); Typhoon (1902); Youth, a Narrative (1902); The Tale (1919); The Rescue (1920); The Shifting of the Fire (1892); Lord Jim (1900); Romance (1900); The Inheritors (1901); Heart of Darkness (1902); Nostromo (1904); One Day More (1905); The Mirror of the Sea (1906); The Secret Agent (1907); The Point of Honor (aka The Duel) (1908); A Set of Six (1908); The Brute (1908); The Nature of Crime (1909); The Secret Sharer (1910); The Smile of Fortune (1911); Under Western Eyes (1911); 'Twixt Land and Sea (1912); A Personal Record (1912); Some Reminiscences (1912); Chance (1913); The Inn of the Two Witches (1913); Victory (1915); Within the Tides (1915); The Shadow Line (1917); The Arrow of Gold (1919); The Black Mate (1922); The Rover (1923); Laughing Anne and One Day More (1924); Tales of Hearsay (1925); Suspense (1925); Last Essays (1926); Letters: Joseph Conrad to Richard Curle (1928); Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery and Horror 1st Series (1928); The Mammoth Book of Thrillers, Ghosts and Mysteries (1936); The Tremolino (1942); And the Darkness Falls (1946); Heart of Darkness / The Secret Sharer (1950); Tales of Land and Sea (1953); Twentieth Century Short Stories (1959); The Portable Conrad (1961); Conrad's Manifesto (1966); Points of View (1966); The 4th Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories (1969); Great British Short Stories (1974); Kurt Singer's Gothic Horror Book (1974); A Little Night Reading (1974); A Century of Short Stories (1977); Congo Diary and Other Uncollected Pieces (1978); Favourite Spy Stories (1981); The World's Library of Best Books Volume One (1988); The Return (2004); Youth / Heart of Darkness / End of the Tether (2010); The Heart of Darkness & Other Stories (2018); An Outpost of Progress and Other Stories (2019); The End of the Tether: and Other Tales (2022); The Lagoon (2023).

Movies and television:

Almayer's Folly (2011); An Outpost of Progress (1982 / 2016); Apocalypse Now (1979); Apocalypse Oz (2006); Art Carney Special (1960); Au bout du rouleau (1973 / 2002); BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950); Caracas (2024); Centre Play (1975); Cineficción Radio (2020); Con gli occhi dell'occidente (1979); Conrad (1994); Dangerous Paradise (1930); Dans une île perdue (1931); Der heimliche Teilhaber (1965); Devil's Paradise (1987); El corazón del bosque (1979); Face to Face (1952); Farornas paradis (1931); Film socialisme (2010); Folio (1957); Freya des sept îles (1973); Gabrielle (2005); Grossesse nerveuse (1993); Hadí plyn (2023); Heart of Darkness (1993 / 2019 / 2023 / 2024); Il Corsaro (1985); ITV Play of the Week (1959); ITV Television Playhouse (1960); Jej powrót (1975); Joseph Conrad's the Return (2014); La folie Almayer (1973); La ligne d'ombre (1973); La riva dei bruti (1931); L'agente segreto (1978); Laughing Anne (1953); Le roman du samedi (1981); Lone Wolf (2021); Lord Jim (1925 / 1965); Mashup at the Movies (2021); Nachricht aus Colebrook (1971); Naufragio (1978); Niebezpieczny raj (1931); Nostromo (1996–1997); Outcast of the Islands (1951); PaulWesNick (2019); Playhouse 90 (1958); Road Book (2021); Robert Montgomery Presents (1952–1956); Sabotage (1936); Schlitz Playhouse (1954); Secret Sharer (2014); Siesta Z (2017); Spec Ops: The Line (2012); Star Tonight (1955); Startime (1959); Sutra (1967); Swept from the Sea (1997); Tajný agent (2020); Teatr Polskiego Radia / Podcast Series (2004–2024); Teledrama (1957); Television Theater (1958–2017); The Duellists (1977); The DuPont Show of the Week (1962); The Ford Theatre Hour (1950–1951); The Golden Twenties (1950); The Lost Valley (2017); The Madhouse on Castle Street / BBC Sunday-Night Play (1963); The Rescue (1929); The Road to Romance (1927); The Rover (1967); The Secret Agent (1967 / 1975 / 1992 / 1996 / 2016); The Secret Sharer (1973); The Shadow Line (1976); The Silver Treasure (1926); The Young One (2016); Tropennächte (1931); Un reietto delle isole (1980); Under Western Eyes (1936 / 1962 / 1975); Victory (1919 / 1940 / 1945 / 1996); Windigo (1994).

Recommended reading:

Heart of Darkness

By Joseph Conrad.

Mass Market Paperback

First published 1899.

Published by Penguin Books.

ISBN 13: 9780140431681

ISBN 10: 0140431683

ASIN: B001KTM47C

Author Joseph Conrad based this novella on his own personal experiences, during a voyage up the Congo River in 1890.

This novella was the inspiration for the movie Apocalypse Now (1979), directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Description:

Written in the last year of the nineteenth century, Heart of Darkness can be seen in many ways as the first twentieth-century novel.

Its climate of doubt and vagueness, its loss of moral confidence and its need for belief in the midst of spiritual wilderness, its exploration of the subconscious and its affirmation of individual freedom are all themes that were to have an influence on writers such as Orwell, Godling, Céline, Borges and Eliot.

In Heart of Darkness Conrad unfolds the story of Marlow’s search for Mr Kurtz, the company agent whose ‘unlawful soul’ has been ‘beguiled beyond the bounds of permitted aspirations’ in his dealings with the natives of the Belgian Congo. Marlow’s adventure involves him in a crucial reappraisal of his own values. It is Kurtz, however, who attains to a vision of the inexpressible, terrifying reality of the heart in this extraordinary exploration of human savagery and despair.

Book cover image: The Steamer Stanley, by F. Hens.

On this day in movie history - Apocalypse Now (1979 movie & source novella):

Apocalypse Now

directed by Francis Ford Coppola,

written by John Milius and Francis Ford Coppola,

based on the novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad,

was released in the United States on August 15, 1979.
Music by Carmine Coppola and Francis Ford Coppola.

Narrated by Martin Sheen.

Redux version released in 2001.

Cast:

Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall, Sam Bottoms, Laurence Fishburne, Dennis Hopper, G. D. Spradlin, Jerry Ziesmer, Harrison Ford, Scott Glenn, Colleen Camp, Cynthia Wood, Linda Beatty, Bill Graham, Francis Ford Coppola, Vittorio Storaro, R. Lee Ermey, Christian Marquand, Aurore Clément, Roman Coppola, Gian-Carlo Coppola, Michel Pitton, Franck Villard, David Olivier, Chrystel Le Pelletier, Robert Julian, Yvon Le Saux, Henri Sadardiel, Gilbert Renkens.

Recommended reading:

Heart of Darkness

By Joseph Conrad.

Mass Market Paperback

First published 1899.

Published by Penguin Books.

ISBN 13: 9780140431681

ISBN 10: 0140431683

ASIN: B001KTM47C

Author Joseph Conrad based this novella on his own personal experiences, during a voyage up the Congo River in 1890.

This novella was the inspiration for the movie Apocalypse Now (1979), directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Description:

Written in the last year of the nineteenth century, Heart of Darkness can be seen in many ways as the first twentieth-century novel.

Its climate of doubt and vagueness, its loss of moral confidence and its need for belief in the midst of spiritual wilderness, its exploration of the subconscious and its affirmation of individual freedom are all themes that were to have an influence on writers such as Orwell, Godling, Céline, Borges and Eliot.

In Heart of Darkness Conrad unfolds the story of Marlow’s search for Mr Kurtz, the company agent whose ‘unlawful soul’ has been ‘beguiled beyond the bounds of permitted aspirations’ in his dealings with the natives of the Belgian Congo. Marlow’s adventure involves him in a crucial reappraisal of his own values. It is Kurtz, however, who attains to a vision of the inexpressible, terrifying reality of the heart in this extraordinary exploration of human savagery and despair.

Book cover image: The Steamer Stanley, by F. Hens.

Joseph Conrad, on writing:

A writer without interest or sympathy for the foibles of his fellow man is not conceivable as a writer.

- Joseph Conrad.