Jeffbert
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2011
- Messages
- 2,125
Just bought 3rd edition, really enjoying it. But, I do have a problem.
There are two, count 'em, 2 episodes whose stories could have been inspired by the British film, DEAD OF NIGHT. Yet, only THE DUMMY p. 276-277, makes any reference to it. The film consists of 5 short stories tied together by one main story.
The Ventriloquist's Dummy is the final story in the film. Anyone seeing both would certainly notice the resemblance. O.k., no problem there. But, one of my favorite TTZ stories is TWENTY-TWO, with the classic line "room for one more, honey," so obviously similar, if not adapted from a similar line in The Hearse Driver! "Just room for one inside, sir" and the same guy driving the double decker bus! Same young woman as the nurse in the morgue and on the airliner. Yet, no mention of the film on 176-177. What's more, I loved this episode, and thought it should have been more appreciated, than what its final paragraph states.
Top of p. 177, says RS was inspired by "a short anecdote in Famous Ghost Stories... (Random House, 1944)". The Wiki page for Dead of Night lists the story that inspired THE HEARSE DRIVER, early 20th century, The Bus-Conductor 1906, etc. No connection there, either. Yet, the Wiki page for E. F. Benson, who wrote the story The Bus-Conductor, notes both DEAD OF NIGHT AND TTZ! Clearly, somebody other than myself saw the similarity!
Zicree put a ton into his book, strange that he overlooked this!
My biggest problem is that having the person who has the premonition a woman, as in TTZ, seems far more intense than the man in DoN, especially with the emotional intensity that was the norm for female characters during the time the TTZ was made. It might likely be a bit more subdued, if they made it now.
There are two, count 'em, 2 episodes whose stories could have been inspired by the British film, DEAD OF NIGHT. Yet, only THE DUMMY p. 276-277, makes any reference to it. The film consists of 5 short stories tied together by one main story.
The Ventriloquist's Dummy is the final story in the film. Anyone seeing both would certainly notice the resemblance. O.k., no problem there. But, one of my favorite TTZ stories is TWENTY-TWO, with the classic line "room for one more, honey," so obviously similar, if not adapted from a similar line in The Hearse Driver! "Just room for one inside, sir" and the same guy driving the double decker bus! Same young woman as the nurse in the morgue and on the airliner. Yet, no mention of the film on 176-177. What's more, I loved this episode, and thought it should have been more appreciated, than what its final paragraph states.
Top of p. 177, says RS was inspired by "a short anecdote in Famous Ghost Stories... (Random House, 1944)". The Wiki page for Dead of Night lists the story that inspired THE HEARSE DRIVER, early 20th century, The Bus-Conductor 1906, etc. No connection there, either. Yet, the Wiki page for E. F. Benson, who wrote the story The Bus-Conductor, notes both DEAD OF NIGHT AND TTZ! Clearly, somebody other than myself saw the similarity!
Zicree put a ton into his book, strange that he overlooked this!
My biggest problem is that having the person who has the premonition a woman, as in TTZ, seems far more intense than the man in DoN, especially with the emotional intensity that was the norm for female characters during the time the TTZ was made. It might likely be a bit more subdued, if they made it now.
