Sunday, February 2, 2014

"Carmine said, one boy"






The line occupies the air,
intact, I'm confident, and
needs no hyperlink. In one
of the endearingestly fun-
niestly fashioned films in
any organized escape route
from real life, the speech
introduces a character aud-
ibly indebted, if physical-
ly evolved from this most
unforgettable face of exam-
ination in the history of
the pleasure dome, Greene's
exact characterisation of 
the movies.





Carmine said [there would
be] one boy, and this is 
he, as I met him in my boy-
hood, with my father at the
movies. Again, no hyperlink
is needed.

Maximilian Schell died yes-
terday. In the happiness of
pure laughter I happened, by
complete coincidence yester-
day, to see him present that
line again, in the 31st min-
ute of a romp in which he 
and Brando and Matthew Brod-
erick prove, enchantedly, 
one boy would be a waste.

The reason, obviously, that
this line of dialogue works
so exactly to arouse dread
of the interrogator, in gay-
est comic displacement, is
that Schell's is the voice 
mula already cited more than 
once here, for precipitating
our greatest crimes. For my
life, I have owed an actor.






















Dominik Sadoch
Matt Lambert 
  photography




2 comments:

  1. I haven't seen the movie-but will search it out. some movies -rather likely actors and their lines have the ability to invade our thoughts at any moment. that is enduring. pgt

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    Replies
    1. Yes, you have your finger on a fascinating chemistry, which I think isn't very easy to predict. People of the widest tastes and ages, quizzed by a quotation of this line from thin air, have (all of them) turned and smiled, and I really marvel at this common thread. I hope you don't find yourself, sent astray. :)

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