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BANK RUNS AND THE 1964 MOVIE “MARY POPPINS”

Walt Disney‘s 1964 film Mary Poppins

The movie opens in 1910

Fidelity Fiduciary Bank in the movie

“Fidelity Fiduciary Bank” is a song from Walt Disney‘s film Mary Poppins, and it is composed by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman.

Written in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan, it is a song sung by the stodgy old bankers, led by the “Elder Mr. Dawes” (Dick Van Dyke), to the two children Jane and Michael, in the bank. It is sung in an attempt to get Michael Banks to invest his tuppence in the bank. As the song continues the pressure is on Michael and Jane’s father, a junior clerk at the bank, to sway Michael. When Michael refuses to give the Elder Mr. Dawes the tuppence, Dawes takes it from him. Michael protests very loudly, which causes panic and mayhem. A run on the bank ensues.

The song is not present in the stage musical version of the score.

A verse which Mr. Banks sings in an attempt to convince Michael to invest his money goes like this:

Railways through Africa
Dams across the Nile
Fleets of ocean greyhounds
Majestic, self-amortizing canals
Plantations of ripening tea

has as its origins an essay by C. C. Turner titled ‘Money London’ in the book edited by G. R. Sims called Living London (London: 1903):

It is not possible to realize without much thought the industrial power that is wrapped up in money London. Railways through Africa, dams across the Nile, fleets of ocean greyhounds, great canals, leagues of ripening corn – London holds the key to all of these, and who can reckon up what beside.

Literary sources

• Sherman, Robert B. Walt’s Time: from before to beyond. Santa Clarita: Camphor Tree Publishers, 1

The Dawes, Tomes, Mousely, Grubbs Fidelity Fiduciary Bank

In the fine musical Mary Poppins, Mr Dawes, the elderly banker who employs the children’s father, optimistically attempts to persuade young Michael to put his money in the bank on the grounds that “If you invest your tuppence/Wisely in the bank/ Safe and sound/ Soon that tuppence/ Will compound.”

Not only will the lad get a slice of the action in “railways through Africa, dams across the Nile, majestic self- amortising canals and plantations of ripening tea”, promises Mr Dawes, but he will “achieve that sense of stature/ as your influence expands/ To the high financial strata/ that established credit now commands”.

Michael, understandably reluctant to entrust his precious tuppence-worth of pocket money to a baritone banker with full backing orchestra, protests, prompting the other customers in the bank to take fright and frantically begin withdrawing their lives’ savings. This in turn forces the Dawes, Tomes, Mousely, Grubbs Fidelity Fiduciary Bank to temporarily suspend trading. The children’s unfortunate father, who – perhaps tellingly – is called Mr Banks, faces disciplinary action and is eventually fired for triggering the first run on the bank since 1773. The enduring popularity of this film might be seen as evidence of a popular lack of confidence in the banking system.

Railways through Africa
Dams across the Nile
Fleets of ocean greyhounds
Majestic, self-amortizing canals
Plantations of ripening tea

“ANTICIPATIONS”: H.G. WELLS 1901 AND COMMENT BY BOLESLAW PRUS

H.G. Wells Discussed by Boleslaw Prus:

“Visions of the Future” (“Wizje przyszłości,” 1909—a discussion of H.G. Wells‘ 1901 futurological book, Anticipations, which predicted, among other things, the defeat of German imperialism, the ascendancy of the English language, and the existence, by the year 2000, of a “European Union” that would include the Slavic peoples of Central Europe)

Boleslaw Prus

Following is a chronological list of notable works by Bolesław Prus. Translated titles are given, followed by original titles and dates of publication.

Born August 20, 1847
Hrubieszów, Russian Empire

Died May 19, 1912 (aged 64)
Warsaw, Russian Empire

Pen name Bolesław Prus

Occupation Novelist, journalist, short-story writer

Nationality Polish

Period 1872–1912

Genres

Realist novel
Historical novel
Short story
Micro-story
Prose poetry

Literary movement Positivism

Spouse(s) Oktawia Głowacka, née Trembińska

Children An adopted son, Emil Trembiński

Bolesław Prus (pronounced: [bɔ'lεswaf 'prus]; Hrubieszów, 20 August 1847 – 19 May 1912, Warsaw), born Aleksander Głowacki, was the leading figure in Polish literature of the late 19th century^[1] and a distinctive voice in world literature.

As a 15-year-old, he had joined the Polish 1863 Uprising against Imperial Russia; shortly after his sixteenth birthday, in a battle against Russian forces, he suffered severe injuries. Five months later, he was imprisoned for his part in the Uprising. These early experiences may have precipitated the panic disorder and agoraphobia that would dog him through life, and shaped his opposition to attempts to regain Polish independence by force of arms.

In 1872 at age 25, in Warsaw, he settled into a 40-year journalistic career that highlighted science, technology, education, and economic and cultural development. These societal enterprises were essential to the endurance of a people that had in the 18th century been partitioned out of political existence by Russia, Prussia and Austria. Głowacki took his pen name Prus from the appellation of his family’s coat-of-arms.

As a sideline he wrote short stories. Achieving success with these, he went on to employ a larger canvas. Over the decade between 1884 and 1895, he completed four major novels: The Outpost, The Doll, The New Woman and Pharaoh.

The Doll depicts the romantic infatuation of a man of action who is frustrated by his country’s backwardness. Pharaoh, Prus’ only historical novel, is a study of political power and of the fates of nations, set in ancient Egypt at the fall of the 20th Dynasty and New Kingdom.

Bolesław Prus (pronounced: [bɔ'lεswaf 'prus]; Hrubieszów, 20 August 1847 – 19 May 1912, Warsaw), born Aleksander Głowacki, was the leading figure in Polish literature of the late 19th century^[1] and a distinctive voice in world literature.

As a 15-year-old, he had joined the Polish 1863 Uprising against Imperial Russia; shortly after his sixteenth birthday, in a battle against Russian forces, he suffered severe injuries. Five months later, he was imprisoned for his part in the Uprising. These early experiences may have precipitated the panic disorder and agoraphobia that would dog him through life, and shaped his opposition to attempts to regain Polish independence by force of arms.

In 1872 at age 25, in Warsaw, he settled into a 40-year journalistic career that highlighted science, technology, education, and economic and cultural development. These societal enterprises were essential to the endurance of a people that had in the 18th century been partitioned out of political existence by Russia, Prussia and Austria. Głowacki took his pen name Prus from the appellation of his family’s coat-of-arms.

As a sideline he wrote short stories. Achieving success with these, he went on to employ a larger canvas. Over the decade between 1884 and 1895, he completed four major novels: The Outpost, The Doll, The New Woman and Pharaoh.

The Doll depicts the romantic infatuation of a man of action who is frustrated by his country’s backwardness. Pharaoh, Prus’ only historical novel, is a study of political power and of the fates of nations, set in ancient Egypt at the fall of the 20th Dynasty and New Kingdom.

1. “Undoubtedly the most important novelist of the period was Bolesław Prus…” Czesław Miłosz, The History of Polish Literature, 2nd ed., Berkeley, University of California Press, 1983, ISBN 0-520-04477-0, p. 291.

Novels

• Souls in Bondage (Dusze w niewoli, written 1876, serialized 1877)
• Fame (Sława, begun 1885, never finished)
• The Outpost (Placówka, 1885–86)
• The Doll (Lalka, 1887–89)
• The New Woman (Emancypantki, 1890–93)
• Pharaoh (Faraon, written 1894–95; serialized 1895–96)
• Children (Dzieci, 1908; approximately the first nine chapters had originally appeared, in a somewhat different form, in 1907 as Dawn [Świt])
• Changes (Przemiany, begun 1911–12; unfinished)

Stories

• “The Old Lady’s Troubles” (“Kłopoty babuni,” 1874)
• “The Palace and the Hovel” (“Pałac i rudera,” 1875)
• “The Ball Gown” (“Sukienka balowa,” 1876)
• “An Orphan’s Lot” (“Sieroca dola,” 1876)
• “Eddy’s Adventures” (“Przygody Edzia,” 1876)
• “Damned Luck” (“Przeklęte szczęście,” 1876)
• “The Old Lady’s Casket” (“Szkatułka babki,” 1878)
• “Stan’s Adventure” (“Przygoda Stasia,” 1879)
• “New Year” (“Nowy rok,” 1880)
• “The Returning Wave” (“Powracająca fala,” 1880)
• “Michałko” (1880)
• “Antek” (1880)
• “The Convert” (“Nawrócony,” 1880)
• “The Barrel Organ” (“Katarynka,” 1880)
• “One of Many” (“Jeden z wielu,” 1882)
• “The Waistcoat” (“Kamizelka,” 1882)
• “Him” (“On,” 1882)
• “Fading Voices” (“Milknące głosy,” 1883)
• “Sins of Childhood” (“Grzechy dzieciństwa,” 1883)
• “Mold of the Earth” (“Pleśń świata,” 1884—a striking micro-story that portrays human history as an unending series of conflicts among mindless, blind colonies of molds)
• “The Living Telegraph” (“Żywy telegraf,” 1884)
• “Orestes and Pylades” (“Orestes i Pylades,” 1884)
• “Loves—Loves Not?…” (“Kocha—nie kocha?…” 1884)
• “The Mirror” (“Zwierciadło,” 1884)
• “On Vacation” (“Na wakacjach,” 1884)
• “An Old Tale” (“Stara bajka,” 1884)
• “In the Light of the Moon” (“Przy księżycu,” 1884)
• “The Mistake” (“Omyłka,” 1884)
• “Mr. Dutkowski and His Farm” (“Pan Dutkowski i jego folwark,” 1884)
• “Musical Echoes” (“Echa muzyczne,” 1884)
• “In the Mountains” (“W górach,” 1885)
• “Shades” (“Ciene,” 1885—an evocative meditation on existential themes)
• “Anielka” (1885)
• “A Strange Story” (“Dziwna historia,” 1887)
• “A Legend of Old Egypt” (“Z legend dawnego Egiptu,” 1888—Prus’ first piece of historical fiction; a stunning debut, and a preliminary sketch for his only historical novel, Pharaoh, which would be written in 1894–95)
• “The Dream” (“Sen,” 1890)
• “Lives of Saints” (“Z żywotów świętych,” 1891–92)
• “Reconciled” (“Pojednani,” 1892)
• “A Composition by Little Frank: About Mercy” (“Z wypracowań małego Frania. O miłosierdziu,” 1898)
• “The Doctor’s Story” (“Opowiadanie lekarza,” 1902)
• “Memoirs of a Cyclist” (“Ze wspomnień cyklisty,” 1903)
• “Revenge” (“Zemsta,” 1908)
• “Phantoms” (“Widziadła,” 1911, first published 1936)

Nonfiction

• “Travel Notes (Wieliczka)” ["Kartki z podróży (Wieliczka)," 1878—Prus' impressions of the Wieliczka Salt Mine; these would help inform the conception of the Egyptian Labyrinth in Prus's 1895 novel, Pharaoh]
• “A Word to the Public” (“Słówko do publiczności,” June 11, 1882—Prus’ inaugural address to readers as the new editor-in-chief of the daily, Nowiny [News], famously proposing to make it “an observatory of societal facts, just as there are observatories that study the movements of heavenly bodies, or—climatic changes.”)
• “Sketch for a Program under the Conditions of the Present Development of Society” (“Szkic programu w warunkach obecnego rozwoju społeczeństwa,” March 23–30, 1883—swan song of Prus’ editorship of Nowiny)
• “With Sword and Fire—Henryk Sienkiewicz’s Novel of Olden Times” (“Ogniem i mieczem—powieść z dawnych lat Henryka Sienkiewicza,” 1884—Prus’ review of Sienkiewicz‘s historical novel, and essay on historical novels)
• “The Paris Tower” (“Wieża paryska,” 1887—whimsical divagations involving the Eiffel Tower, the world’s tallest structure, then yet to be constructed for the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle)
• “Travels on Earth and in Heaven” (“Wędrówka po ziemi i niebie,” 1887—Prus’ impressions of a solar eclipse that he observed at Mława; these would help inspire the solar-eclipse scenes in his 1895 novel, Pharaoh)
• “A Word about Positive Criticism” (“Słówko o krytyce pozytywnej,” 1890—Prus’ part of a polemic with Positivist guru Aleksander Świętochowski)
• “Eusapia Palladino” (1893—newspaper column about mediumistic séances held in Warsaw by the Italian Spiritualist, Eusapia Palladino; these would help inspire similar scenes in Prus’ 1895 novel, Pharaoh)
• “From Nałęczów” (“Z Nałęczowa,” 1894—Prus’ paean to the salubrious waters and natural and social environment of his favorite vacation spot, Nałęczów)
• The Most General Life Ideals (Najogólniejsze ideały życiowe, 1905—Prus’s system of pragmatic ethics)
• “Ode to Youth” (“Oda do młodości,” 1905—Prus’ admission that, before the Russian Empire‘s defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, he had held too cautious a view of the chances for an improvement in Poland’s political situation)
• “Visions of the Future” (“Wizje przyszłości,” 1909—a discussion of H.G. Wells‘ 1901 futurological book, Anticipations, which predicted, among other things, the defeat of German imperialism, the ascendancy of the English language, and the existence, by the year 2000, of a “European Union” that would include the Slavic peoples of Central Europe)
• “The Poet, Educator of the Nation” (“Poeta wychowawca narodu,” 1910—a discussion of the cultural and political principles imparted by the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz)
• “What We… Never Learned from the History of Napoleon” (“Czego nas… nie nauczyły dzieje Napoleona”—Prus’s contribution to the December 16, 1911, issue of the Warsaw Illustrated Weekly, devoted entirely to Napoleon)

Translations

Prus‘ writings have been translated into many languages — his historical novel Pharaoh, into twenty; his contemporary novel The Doll

, into at least sixteen. Works by Prus have been rendered into Croatian by a member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Stjepan Musulin.

Film versions

• 1966: Faraon (Pharaoh), adapted from the novel Pharaoh, directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz
• 1968: Lalka (The Doll), adapted from the novel The Doll, directed by Wojciech Has
• 1978: Lalka (The Doll), adapted from the novel The Doll, directed by Ryszard Ber
• 1979: Placówka (The Outpost), adapted from the novel The Outpost, directed by Zygmunt Skonieczny
• 1982: Pensja Pani Latter (Mrs. Latter’s Boarding School), adapted from the novel The New Woman

ART TREASURES IN JAPANESE MOVIES: “STILL WALKING” BY HIROKAZU KORE-EDA

One of the topics discussed casually in the Japanese movie, “Still Walking” is the status and condition of the art treasures of the Takamats-zuka Tomb and “Asuka Beauty,” one of the murals.

Still Walking​ (歩いても 歩いても Aruitemo aruitemo) is a 2008 Japanese film directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda. The film is a portrait of a family over roughly 24 hours as they commemorate the death of one member.

Plot

The Yokoyama family are briefly reunited to commemorate the death of the eldest son, Junpei, who drowned accidentally 12 years ago. His retired doctor father Kyohei and mother Toshiko are joined by surviving son Ryota, daughter Chinami and their respective families. The family share nostalgia, humour, sadness and tension as memories are shared and ceremonies performed.

Cast

• Hiroshi Abe as Ryota Yokoyama
• Yui Natsukawa as Yukari Yokoyama
• You as Chinami Kataoka
• Kazuya Takahashi as Nobuo Kataoka
• Shohei Tanaka as Atsushi Yokoyama
• Yoshio Harada as Kyohei Yokoyama
• Kirin Kiki as Toshiko Yokoyama
• Susumu Terajima as Sushi deliverer

Reception

In a Chicago Sun-Times review, Roger Ebert gave Still Walking four stars (out of four). Ebert’s review argues that director Kore-eda is an heir of Yasujiro Ozu.^[1]

References

1. 1. Ebert, Roger (26 August 2009). “Still Walking”. Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 13 November 2010.

Takamatsuzuka Tomb

The Takamatsuzuka Tomb (高松塚古墳 Takamatsuzuka Kofun) or “Tall Pine Tree Ancient Burial Mound” in Japanese is an ancient circular tomb in Asuka village, Nara prefecture, Japan.

The tomb is thought to have been built at some time between the end of the 7th century and the beginning of the 8th century. It was accidentally discovered by a local farmer in the 1960s.

The mound of the tomb was built of alternating layers of clay and sand. It is about 16 meters in diameter and 5 meters high. Digging yielded a burial chamber with painted fresco wall paintings of courtiers in Goguryeo-style garb. The paintings are in full color with red, blue, gold, and silver foil representing four male followers and four abigails together with the Azure Dragon, Black Tortoise, White Tiger, and Vermilion Bird groups of stars. The paintings are designated as a national treasure of Japan.

For whom the tomb was built is unknown, but the decorations suggest it is for a member of the Japanese royal family or a high-ranking nobleman. Candidates include:

1. 1. Prince Osakabe (? – 705), a son of Emperor Temmu
2. 2. Prince Yuge (? – 699), also a son of Emperor Temmu
3. 3. Prince Takechi (654? – 696), also a son of Emperor Temmu, general of Jinshin War, Daijō Daijin
4. 4. Isonokami Ason Maro (640 – 717), a descendant of Mononobe clan and in charge of Fujiwara-kyo after the capital was moved to Heijo-kyo
5. 5. Kudara no Konikishi Zenko (617-700), a son of the last king of Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea.

[1][2]

The Cultural Affairs Agency of Japan is considering taking apart the stone chamber and reassembling it elsewhere to prevent further deterioration to its wall paintings. A painting called Asuka Bijin, or “beautiful women”, is one of the murals in the tomb facing deterioration. The unusual preservation method is being considered because the tomb’s current situation makes it impossible to prevent further damage and stop the spread of mold.

Unlike the Kitora Tomb, also in Asuka, removing pieces of the Takamatsuzuka wall plaster and reinforcing them for conservation appears difficult because the plaster has numerous tiny cracks.

Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda

Written by Hirokazu Koreeda

Starring Hiroshi Abe Yui Natsukawa

You Music by Gontiti

Cinematography Yutaka Yamasaki

Editing by Hirokazu Koreeda

Release date(s)

June 28, 2008 (Japan)
August 28, 2009 (USA)

Running time 114 minutes

Country Japan

Language Japanese

“SHADOWS IN PARADISE: HITLER’S EXILES IN HOLLYWOOD”

Shadows In Paradise: Hitler’s Exiles In Hollywood

By 1939 30,000 intellectuals and radicals were exiled from Europe, 80% were Jewish. These dramatic events sent many of the greatest minds of the 20th century into exile in the United States. The manna of creative intensity that hovered over Berlin in the 20′s, – in music, art, theater and film -that glow of aesthetic productivity was extinguished. In some ways, Los Angeles in the 30′s and early 40′s may be seen as its afterglow…when scores of émigrés, fleeing the upsurge of European fascism, briefly transformed Southern California into one of the capitals of world culture, and profoundly altered the horizons of American music, literature and the arts.
Studio Kultur Films Inc.

Orig Year 2008

Discs 1

Release Date Sep 30, 2008

Running Time 60 Minutes

Movie Details Color

Shadows In Paradise: Hitler’s Exiles In Hollywood

“THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH” FILM FROM 1934: CHURCHILL HITCHCOCK AND THE 1911 SIDNEY STREET DISTURBANCES

The Man Who Knew Too Much Film from 1934:

Churchill, Hitchcock and the 1911 Sidney Street Disturbances

The Man Who Knew Too Much is a 1934 suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Peter Lorre, and released by Gaumont British. It was one of the most successful and critically acclaimed films of Hitchcock’s British period.

Hitchcock remade the film with James Stewart and Doris Day in 1956 for Paramount Pictures; it’s the only film he ever remade. The two films are, however, very different in tone, in setting, and in many plot details

Synopsis

Bob and Jill Lawrence (Leslie Banks and Edna Best), are a British couple on vacation in St. Moritz, Switzerland, with their daughter Betty (Nova Pilbeam). Jill is participating in a clay pigeon shooting contest. They befriend a foreigner, Louis Bernard (Pierre Fresnay), who is staying in their hotel. One evening, as Jill dances with Louis, she witnesses his assassination as a French spy. Before dying, the spy passes on to them some vital information to be delivered to the British consul.

In order to ensure their silence, the assassins, led by a charming and nefarious Abbott (Peter Lorre), kidnap their daughter. Unable therefore to seek help from the police, the couple return to England and, after following a series of leads, discover that the group intends to assassinate a the Ambassador of an unidentified European country, during a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Jill attends the concert and distracts the gunman with a scream.

The assassins are tracked to their hide-out in a suburban church. Bob enters and is held prisoner, but manages to escape. The police surround the building and a gunfight ensues, the assassins holding out until their ammunition runs low and most of them have been killed. Betty, who has been held there, and one of the criminals, are seen on the roof, and it is Jill’s sharpshooting skills that dispatch the man, who, it emerges, was the man who beat Jill in a shooting contest in Switzerland.

One of the assassins commits suicide rather than be captured, and Betty is returned to her parents.

Production

Peter Lorre was unable to speak English at the time of filming (a Jew, he had only recently fled from Nazi Germany) and learned his lines phonetically.^[1]

The shoot-out at the end of the film was based on the Sidney Street Siege, a real-life incident which took place in London’s East End (where Hitchcock grew up) on 3 January 1911.^[2][3][4] The shoot-out was not included in Hitchcock’s 1956 remake.^[5]

Hitchcock hired Australian composer Arthur Benjamin to write a piece of music especially for the climactic scene at Royal Albert Hall. The music, known as the Storm Clouds cantata, is used in both the 1934 version and the 1956 remake.

Alfred Hitchcock’s cameo appears 33 minutes into the film. He can be seen crossing the street from right to left in a black trench coat before they enter the Chapel.

The siege was the inspiration for the final shootout in Alfred Hitchcock‘s original 1934 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much, although not his own 1956 remake.

The Siege of Sidney Street, popularly known as the “Battle of Stepney”, was a notorious gunfight in London’s East End on the 2nd of January 1911. Preceded by the Houndsditch Murders, it ended with the deaths of two members of a supposedly politically-motivated gang of burglars supposedly led by Peter Piatkow, a.k.a. “Peter the Painter“, and sparked a major political row over the involvement of the then Home Secretary, Winston Churchill.

The siege was the inspiration for the final shootout in Alfred Hitchcock‘s original 1934 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much, although not his own 1956 remake.

The Houndsditch murders

On 16 December 1910, a gang of Latvian thieves attempted to break into the rear of a jeweller’s shop at 119 Houndsditch, EC3, working from 9, 10 and 11 Exchange Buildings in the cul-de-sac behind. An adjacent shopkeeper heard their hammering, informed the City of London Police (in whose area the shop was), and nine unarmed officers — three sergeants and six constables (two in plain clothes) — converged on Exchange Buildings.

Sergeants Bentley and Bryant knocked at the door of No. 11 Exchange Buildings, unaware that the first constable on the scene had already done so, thus alerting the thieves. The gang’s leader, George Gardstein, opened the door, but when he did not answer their questions they assumed he did not understand English and told him to fetch someone who did. Gardstein left the door half-closed and disappeared.

The house consisted of a single ground-floor room, into which the front door directly opened, with a staircase leading to the upper floors on the left, and a door to the open yard at the back on the right. It was later deduced that Gardstein must have moved left towards the staircase, since if he had gone right and out of the yard door he would have been seen by one of the plain-clothed officers standing outside, who had a clear view of that side of the room.

Growing impatient, the two sergeants entered the house to find the room apparently empty, before they became aware of a man standing in the darkness at the top of the stairs. After a short conversation, another man entered through the yard door, rapidly firing a pistol, while the man on the stairs also started shooting.

Both officers were hit, with Bentley collapsing across the doorstep, while Bryant managed to stagger outside. In the street, Constable Woodhams ran to help Bentley, but was himself wounded by one of the gang firing from the cover of the house, as was Sergeant Tucker, who died almost instantly.

The gang then attempted to break out of the cul-de-sac, Gardstein being grabbed by Constable Choate almost at the entrance. In the struggle Choate was wounded several times by Gardstein, before being shot five more times by other members of the gang, who also managed to hit their compatriot in the back. They then dragged Gardstein ¾ of a mile to 59 Grove Street, where he died the next day. Constable Choate and Sergeant Bentley died in separate hospitals the same day. An intense search followed, and a number of the gang or their associates were soon arrested.

The Siege of Sidney Street

On 2 January 1911, an informant told police that two or three of the gang, possibly including Peter the Painter himself, were hiding at 100 Sidney Street, Stepney (in the Metropolitan Police District). Worried that the suspects were about to flee, and expecting heavy resistance to any attempt at capture, on 3 January, two hundred officers cordoned off the area and the siege began. At dawn the battle commenced.

The defenders, though heavily outnumbered, possessed superior weapons and great stores of ammunition. The Tower of London was called for backup, and word got to the Home Secretary, Winston Churchill, who arrived on the spot to observe the incident at first hand, and to offer advice. Churchill authorised calling in a detachment of Scots Guards to assist the police. Six hours into the battle, and just as the field artillery piece that Churchill had authorised arrived, a fire began to consume the building. When the fire brigade arrived, Churchill refused them access to the building. The police stood ready, guns aimed at the front door, waiting for the men inside to attempt their escape. The door never opened. Instead, the remains of two members of the gang, Fritz Svaars and William Sokolow (both were also known by numerous aliases), were later discovered inside the building. No sign of Peter the Painter was found.^[1]

Aftermath

All the fatal shots in what became known as the “Houndsditch Murders” came from the same Dreyse pistol belonging to Jacob Peters, but as he had left it with the mortally wounded Gardstein to be found by the police, it was assumed to be his and that he was the killer. This was despite the fact that Gardstein had completely different calibre ammunition for a Mauser C96 pistol both on him when he died and in his lodgings, but none at all for the Dreyse. Gardstein’s “guilt” was further compounded by the mistaken belief that it was Gardstein who had opened fire at 11 Exchange Buildings from the yard door, on the grounds that it was he who had opened the front door to the police shortly before they were shot.

Of seven supposed members of the gang captured by the police, five men — including Peters — and two women were put on trial, but they all either had their charges dropped, were acquitted, or had their convictions quashed. Peters later returned home, and after the October Revolution served as deputy head of the Cheka. He perished during the Great Purge in 1938.

The role Churchill played in the Sidney Street Siege was highly controversial at the time, and many, including Arthur Balfour, the former prime minister, accused him of having acted improperly. A famous photograph from the time shows Churchill peering around a corner to view events. Balfour asked, “He [Churchill] and a photographer were both risking valuable lives. I understand what the photographer was doing but what was the Right Honourable gentleman doing?”

The gang’s superior firepower led the police to drop the Webley Revolver in favour of the Webley semi-automatic in London.

On film

Much of the siege was captured by newsreel cameras, including the moment a bullet passed through Mr Churchill’s top hat, coming within inches of killing him. This footage was later shown at the Palace Theatre, London, under the billing, “Mr Churchill in the danger zone”

The siege was the inspiration for the final shootout in Alfred Hitchcock‘s original 1934 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much, although not his own 1956 remake. The events were depicted directly in the 1960 film The Siege of Sidney Street.^[2]

In popular culture

The siege was parodied by the Goon Show in the episode The Six Ingots of Leadenhall Street.,^[3][4] A bullet was supposedly fired which passed through Churchill’s hat, though this has been dismissed by historians.

The events were portrayed fictionally in the Sherlock Holmes pastiche Sherlock Holmes and the Railway Maniac by Barrie Roberts.

References

1. 1. Siege of Sidney Street — 1911 (Metropolitan Police history) accessed 4 Feb 2008
2. 2. The Siege of Sidney Street (1960) at the Internet Movie Database
3. 3. http://www.thegoonshow.net/scripts_show.asp?title=s05e23_the_six_ingots_of_leadenhall_street
4. 4. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0072vdz

• The Houndsditch Murders and the Siege of Sidney Street, Donald Rumbelow, ISBN 0-491-03178-5
• The Battle of Stepney, Colin Rogers, ISBN 0-7091-9146-4
• The Siege of Sidney Street on the Internet Movie Database.

The Man Who Knew Too Much Film from 1934:

Churchill, Hitchcock and the 1911 Sidney Street Disturbances

“TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE”: THEORY OF GOLD PRICES

“Treasure of the Sierra Madre”: Howard’s Theory of Gold prices

Howard: Say, answer me this one, will you? Why is gold worth some twenty bucks an ounce?

Flophouse Bum: I don’t know. Because it’s scarce.

Howard: A thousand men, say, go searchin’ for gold. After six months, one of them’s lucky: one out of a thousand. His find represents not only his own labor, but that of nine hundred and ninety-nine others to boot. That’s six thousand months, five hundred years, scramblin’ over a mountain, goin’ hungry and thirsty. An ounce of gold, mister, is worth what it is because of the human labor that went into the findin’ and the gettin’ of it.

Flophouse Bum: I never thought of it just like that.

Howard: Well, there’s no other explanation, mister. Gold itself ain’t good for nothing except making jewelry with and gold teeth.

Comment: This is the Labor Theory of Value in economics

“SIGNS AND MEANING IN THE CINEMA”: PETER WOLLEN BOOK

Signs and Meaning in the Cinema
Peter Wollen (Author)
Product details:

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: BFI Publishing; 2nd Revised edition
• 1 Oct 1997
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 0851706479
• ISBN-13: 978-0851706474

Product Description:

A revised second edition of the text, this work explores the way in which a new approach to the cinema can be combined with a new approach to aesthetics. The book is divided into three main sections: the first deals with the work of S.M. Eisenstein, both as a director and theorist of his art. The second concerns the auteur theory and investigates the recurrence of themes and images throughout a director’s career. The third section shows how the study of cinema can be considered as a province of the general study of signs.

Signs and Meaning in the Cinema
Peter Wollen (Author)

TECHNOLOGY CLUSTERS: THE BICYCLE TYPEWRITER AND TELEPHONE IN THE MOVIE “HEAVEN CAN WAIT”

HEAVEN CAN WAIT

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch (1943)

Mademoiselle:

In your papa’s time, papa kiss mama and then marry.

But this is 1887! Time of bicycle, the typewriter has arrive, soon everybody speak over telephone, and people have new idea of value of kiss.

What was bad yesterday is lot of fun today. There is a wonderful saying in France: “Les baisers sont comme des bonbons qu’on mange parce qu’ils sont bons.” This mean: “Kiss is like candy. You eat candy only for the beautiful taste, and this is enough reason to eat candy.”

Henry Van Cleve:

You mean I can kiss a girl once…

Mademoiselle:

Ten times! Twenty times! And no obligation.

Cast & Crew:

Ernst Lubitsch Director

Gene Tierney Martha Strabel Van Cleve

Don Ameche Henry Van Cleve

Charles Coburn Grandfather

Marjorie Main Mrs. Strabel

Laird Cregar His Excellency

Spring Byington Bertha Van Cleve

Allyn Joslyn Albert Van Cleve

Eugene Pallette E. F. Strabel

Signe Hasso Mademoiselle

Louis Calhern Randolph Van Cleve

HEAVEN CAN WAIT

SYMBOLIC WOUNDS: POLISH CINEMA

Landscape After Battle (1970)

Krajobraz po bitwie (original title)

Director:

Andrzej Wajda

Writers:

Andrzej Brzozowski, Andrzej Wajda, and 1 more credit »

Stars:

Daniel Olbrychski, Stanislawa Celinska and Aleksander Bardini

Storyline

Film opens with the mad rush of haphazard freedom as the concentration camps are liberated. Men are trying to grab food, change clothes, bury their tormentors they find alive. Then they are herded into other camps as the Allies try to devise policy to control the situation. A young poet who cannot quite find himself in this new situation, meets a headstrong Jewish young girl who wants him to run off with her, to the West. He cannot cope with her growing demands for affection, while still harboring the hatred for the Germans and disdain for his fellow men who quickly revert to petty enmities.

In the DVD version of that classic of Polish cinema, Wajda’s “Landscape after Battle,” there’s a “Special Features” interview with one of the participants who mentions the Polish writer Melchior Wankowicz who supposedly says somewhere that the purpose of Polish art is to reopen old wounds so they might heal rightly for the first time.

Bruno Bettelheim, himself a Jewish camp survivor, speaks of “symbolic wounds.”

Melchior Wańkowicz

Melchior Wańkowicz (10 January 1892 – 10 September 1974)

Melchior Wańkowicz (10 January 1892 – 10 September 1974) was a Polish writer, journalist and publisher. He is most famous for his reporting for the Polish Armed Forces in the West during World War II and writing a book about the battle of Monte Cassino.

Biography

Melchior Wańkowicz was born on 10 January 1892 in Kalużyce near Minsk. He attended school in Warsaw, then the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, which he graduated from in 1922. An activist in the Polish independence movement, he was an officer in the Riflemen Union (Związek Strzelecki). During the First World War he fought in the Polish I Corps in Russia under General Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki.

After the war he worked as a journalist, for a time working as a chief of the press department in the Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1926 he founded a publishing agency, “Rój”. He also worked in the advertising business, coining a popular slogan for the advertisement of sugar – “cukier krzepi” (sugar strengthens). He wrote three books during the interwar period, all of them gaining him increasing fame and popularity. A few decades later he coined another famous slogan – “LOTem bliżej” (“closer with LOT”), advertising the Polish LOT airlines.

After the German invasion of Poland he lived for a while in Romania, where he wrote about the events of the Polish September. Later, from 1943 to 1946 he undertook what would be perhaps his most famous endeavour – he become a war correspondent for the Polish Armed Forces in the West. Later he wrote an account of the battle of Monte Cassino, his most famous book. One of his daughters, Krystyna, died as a member of Polish resistance Armia Krajowa during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.

From 1949 to 1958 he lived in the United States, afterwards returning to communist Poland. He opposed the communist regime, writing and lecturing about the Polish Forces in the West (whose participation was minimized by the government, which tried to emphasize the role of the Soviet-aligned Berling Army). His most known work is a three tome book about the battle of Monte Cassino, a tribute to the soldiers of the Anders Army – a book that was published in Poland only in a shortened, censored form (until the fall of communism in 1990).

After he cosigned the letter of 34 in 1964, protesting against the censorship, he was repressed by the government – the publication of his works was prohibited, and he was himself arrested, charged with slander of Poland^[1] and “spreading anti-Polish propaganda abroad” (partially due to the publication of some of his works by Radio Free Europe,^[2] but the chief evidence was a private letter to his daughter living in the USA^[1]) and sentenced to three years of imprisonment. However the sentence was never executed, and he was rehabilitated in 1990, after the fall of communism in Poland.^[2]

Wańkowicz died on 10 September 1974.

Works

• Anoda-katoda
• Bitwa o Monte Cassino (t. 1-3 1945-47)
• C.O.P – ognisko siły (1938)
• Czerwień i Amarant
• De profundis
• Drogą do Urzędowa (1955)
• Dwie prawdy (połączone w jednym wydaniu dwie rzeczy: “Hubalczycy” i “Westerplatte”)
• Dzieje rodziny Korzeniewskich
• Hubalczycy (1959)
• Karafka La Fontaine’a (t. 1 1972, t. 2 pośm. 1980)
• Kaźń Mikołaja II
• Klub trzeciego miejsca (1949)
• Kundlizm (1947)
• Monte Cassino (skróc. wyd. krajowe Bitwy o Monte Cassino, 1957)
• Na tropach Smętka (1936)
• Od Stołpców po Kair (1969)
• Opierzona rewolucja (1934)
• Polacy i Ameryka
• Prosto od krowy (1965)
• Przez cztery klimaty 1912-1972 (1972)
• Reportaże zagraniczne
• Strzępy epopei
• Szczenięce lata (1934)
• Szkice spod Monte Cassino (1969)
• Szpital w Cichiniczach (1925)
• Sztafeta (1939)
• Tędy i owędy (1961)
• Tworzywo (Nowy Jork 1954, wyd. kraj. 1960)
• W kościołach Meksyku (1927)
• W ślady Kolumba (cz. 1 Atlantyk-Pacyfik 1967, cz. 2 Królik i oceany 1968, cz. 3 W pępku Ameryki 1969)
• Walczący Gryf (1964)
• Westerplatte (1959)
• Wojna i pióro (1974)
• Wrzesień żagwiący (1947)
• Ziele na kraterze (1951, wyd. krajowe 1957)
• Zupa na gwoździu (1967, wyd. 3 pt. Zupa na gwoździu – doprawiona 1972)

Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm has written introductions, footnotes, etc., to:

• Melchior Wankowicz, Reportaze zagraniczne (Reportage from Abroad), Krakow, 1981, ISBN 83-08-00488-1
• Series: Dziela emigracyjne i przedwojenne Melchiora Wankowicza (8 titles), Warsaw, 1989–1995
• Korespondencja Krystyny i Melchiora Wankowiczow (Correspondence between Krystyna and Melchior Wankowicz), Warsaw, 1992, ISBN 83-85443-21-5
• Jerzy Giedroyc and Melchior Wankowicz, Listy 1945-1963 (Series: Archiwum Kultury; correspondence between Jerzy Giedroyc and Melchior Wankowicz), Warsaw, 2000, ISBN 83-07-02779-9
• King i Krolik. Korespondencja Zofii i Melchiora Wankowiczow (correspondence between Zofia and Melchior Wankowicz), Warsaw, 2004, ISBN 83-7163-496-X

Legacy

A private journalism school on ulica Nowy Świat in Warsaw, the Higher School of Journalism, founded in 1995, is named after Wańkowicz.[1]

Notes

1. 1. ^{a b} “A Symptom”, TIME, Friday, Nov. 20, 1964
2. 2. ^{a b} Melchior Wańkowicz, biography in “Tworzywo”, an online monthly of Wyższa Szkoła Dziennikarska im. Melchiora Wańkowicza (Polish)

References

• Mieczyslaw Kurzyna, O Wańkowiczu nie wszystko, Warsaw, 1975
• Krzysztof Kakolewski, Wańkowicz krzepi, Warsaw, 1977
• Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm, Blisko Wańkowicza (Near Wańkowicz), Kraków, 1975, 1978, 1988
• Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm, Z miejsca na miejsce (From Place to Place), Kraków, 1983, Warsaw, 1986, 1997, ISBN 83-904286-7-0
• Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm, Na tropach Wańkowicza, Warsaw, 1989, 1999, ISBN 83-7180-349-4
• Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm,Proces M. Wańkowicza 1964 roku (The 1964 Trial of M. Wańkowicz), Warsaw, 1990, ISBN 83-85135-08-1
• Aleksandra Ziółkowska-Boehm,Na tropach Wańkowicza po latach [On the Trail of Wańkowicz, after Many Years], Warsaw, 2009. Pg. 600. ISBN 978-83-7648-261-3

JAPANESE NARCO-UTOPIAN SCHEMES IN MANCHUKUO BEFORE WW II: THE JAPANESE MOVIE “THE SETTING SUN”

Manchukuo and Pan-Asian Narco-Utopian Dreams

The Setting Sun (Rakuyou) is a Japanese film released in 1992, based on a novel of the same name by the director Rou Tomono. The U.S. release was in 1999.

The Japanese movie “Setting Sun” which features Donald Sutherland and Diane Lane depicts the Japanese takeover of Manchuria from 1928-1945 and the narco-utopian pan-Asian daydreams of certain Japanese military leaders such as Ishiwara Kanji.

It stars Masaya Kato, Diane Lane, Yuen Biao and Donald Sutherland.

Directed by Rou Tomono

Produced by Lee Faulkner

Written by Duane Dell’Amico

Rou Tomono (novel)

Rou Tomono (screenplay)

Starring Masaya Kato, Diane Lane, Biao Yuen, Donald Sutherland

Music by Maurice Jarre

Cinematography Yoshihiro Yamazaki

Editing by Osamu Inoue

Release date(s) 1992

Running time 150 min.

Country Japan

Language Japanese

Kanji Ishiwara (Ishiwara Kanj, 18 January 1889 – 15 August 1949) was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. He and Itagaki Seishirō were the men primarily responsible for the Mukden Incident that took place in Manchuria in 1931.

Biography

Early life

Ishiwara was born in Tsuruoka city, Yamagata prefecture into a samurai class family. His father was a police officer, but as his clan had supported the Tokugawa bakufu and then the Northern Alliance during the Boshin War of the Meiji Restoration, its members were shut out of higher government positions.

At age thirteen, Ishiwara was enrolled in a military prep school. He was subsequently accepted at the 21st class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy and graduated in 1909. He served in the IJA 65th Infantry Regiment in Korea after its annexation by Japan in 1910, and in 1915 he passed the exams for admittance to the 30th class of the Army Staff College. He graduated second in his class in 1918. ^[2]

Ishiwara spent several years in various staff assignments and then was selected to study in Germany as a military attaché.

He stayed in Berlin and in Munich from 1922-1925, focusing on military history and military strategy. He hired several former officers from the German General Staff to tutor him, and by the time he returned to Japan, he had formed a considerable background on military theory and doctrine.

Prior to leaving for Germany, Ishiwara converted to Nichiren Buddhism. Nichiren had taught that a period of massive conflict would precede a golden era of human culture in which the truth of Buddhism would prevail. Japan would be the center and main promulgator of this faith, which would encompass the entire world. Ishiwara felt that the period of world conflict was fast approaching, and Japan relying upon its vision of the kokutai and its sacred mission to “liberate” China, would lead a unified East Asia to defeat the West. ^[3]

Ishiwara and Manchuria

Mukden Incident

Ishiwara was assigned as an instructor to the Army Staff College, followed by a staff position within the Kwantung Army in Manchuria. He arrived there at the end of 1928, some months after the assassination of Zhang Zuolin by Daisaku Komoto. Ishiwara quickly realized that the confused political situation in northern China, along with Japan’s already significant economic investments in the area provided the Kwantung Army with a unique opportunity, and began a plan to take advantage of the situation.

On 18 September 1931, a bomb was secretly planted on the tracks of the Japanese-controlled Southern Manchuria Railway. Charging that Chinese soldiers had attacked the rail line, Japanese troops under Ishiwara’s orders quickly seized the Chinese military barracks in the nearby city of Liutiaokou. Without bothering to inform the new Kwantung Army commander General Shigeru Honjō or the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff in Tokyo, Ishiwara ordered Kwantung Army units to seize control of all other Manchurian cities.

The sudden invasion of Manchuria alarmed political leaders in Japan, and brought international condemnation down on Japan from the world community. Ishiwara thought it most likely that he would be executed or at least dishonorably discharged for his insubordination. However, the success of the operation brought just the opposite. Ishiwara was adulated by right-wing younger officers, ultranationalist societies for his daring and initiative. He was returned to Japan, and given command of the IJA 4th Infantry Regiment in Sendai.

Army revolutionaries

Ishiwara was appointed to the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff in 1935 as Chief of Operations, which gave him primary responsibility for articulating his vision for Japan’s future. Ishiwara was a strong proponent of pan-Asianism and the hokushinron philosophy. He proposed that Japan should join with Manchukuo and China to form an “East Asian League”, which would then prepare for and then fight a war with the Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union was defeated, Japan could move to the south to free Southeast Asia from European colonial rule. Japan would then be ready to tackle the United States. ^[4]

However, in order to implement these plans, Japan would need to build up its economy and military. Ishiwara envisioned a one-party “national defense state” with a command economy in which political parties were abolished, and venal politicians and greedy businessmen removed from power.

However, Ishiwara stopped short of calling for a Shōwa Restoration and violent overthrow of the government. When the February 26 Incident erupted in 1936, rebels assassinated a number of major politicians and government leaders and demanded a change in government in line with Ishiwara’s philosophies. However, Ishiwara confounded their expectations by speaking out strongly against the rebellion and demanding proclamation of martial law. After Vice Chief of Staff Hajime Sugiyama pulled in from garrisons around Tokyo, Ishiwara was named Operations Officer of the Martial Law Headquarters.

Return to Manchukuo, and disgrace

In March 1937 Ishiwara was promoted to major general and transferred back to Manchukuo as Vice Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army. He discovered to his dismay that his Army colleagues had no intention of creation a new pan-Asian paradise, and were quite content to play the role of colonial occupiers. Ishiwara denounced the Kwantung Army leadership, and proposed that all officers take a pay cut. He confronted Kwantung Army commander in chief General Hideki Tojo over his allocation of funds to an officers’ wives club. After becoming an embarrassment to his seniors, he was relieved of command and reassigned to a local army base at Maizuru on the seacoast near Kyoto.

Back in Japan, he began to analyze Soviet tactics at Nomonhan, where Japanese forces were defeated, proposing counterstrategies to be adopted by the Army. He continued to write and give public addresses, continuing to advocate an East Asia League partnership with China and Manchukuo and continuing to oppose the invasion of China. He became a lieutenant general in 1939 and was assigned command of the IJA 16th Division.

His political nemesis, Hideki Tōjō, now risen to the highest ranks, felt that the outspoken Ishiwara should be retired from the Army, but feared the reactions of young officers and right-wing activists. Finally, after Ishiwara publicly denounced Tōjō as an enemy of Japan, who should “be arrested and executed,” he was put on the retired list. Ishiwara went back to Yamagata, where he continued to write and study agriculture until the end of the war.

After the end of World War II, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers called upon Ishiwara as a witness for the defense in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. No charges were ever brought against Ishiwara himself, possibly due to his public opposition to Tōjō, the war against China and the attack on Pearl Harbor. He displayed his old fire in front of the American prosecutor, observing that U.S. President Harry S. Truman should be indicted for the mass bombing of Japanese civilians.^[5]

References

Books

• Maga, Timothy P. (2001). Judgment at Tokyo: The Japanese War Crimes Trials. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-2177-9.
• Peattie, Mark R. (1975). Ishiwara Kanji and Japan’s confrontation with the West. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691030995.
• Samuels, Richard J. (2007). Securing Japan: Tokyo’s Grand Strategy and the Future of East Asia. Cornell University Press. ISBN 0801446120.

Notes

1. 1. Japanese
2. 2. Ammenthorp, The Generals of World War II
3. 3. Peatty, Ishiwara Kanji and Japan’s confrontation with the West
4. 4. Peatty, Ishiwara Kanji and Japan’s Confrontation with the West
5. 5. Maga, Judgement at Tokyo

Opium poppies

The opium poppy was grown to obtain opium. In November 1932 the Mitsui Zaibatsu conglomerate held a state monopoly for poppy farming with the “declared intention” of reducing its heavy local use. Fixed cultivation areas were set up in Jehol and northwest Kirin. For 1934-35, cultivation area was evaluated as 480 square kilometres (190 sq mi) with a yield of 1.1 tonnes/km². There was much illegal growing, and its high profitability retarded the effective suppression of this dangerous drug.

“Nikisansuke”, a secret Japanese merchant group, participated in the opium industry.

This group was formed by:

• Hoshino Naoki (Army thinker)
• Tojo Hideki (Army politician)
• Kishi Nobusuke (Merchant and right-wing supporter)
• Matsuoka Yosuke (Army follower and foreign affairs minister)
• Ayukawa Yoshisuke (Chairman of Manchukuo Zaibatsu)
• Kuhara Fusanosuke (Right-wing thinker)

The monopoly generated profits of twenty to thirty million yen per year.

The military prohibited the use of opium and other narcotics by its troops (punishment was loss of Japanese citizenship) but allowed it to be used as a “demoralization weapon” against “inferior races”, a term that included all non-Japanese peoples.

One of the participants, Naoki Hoshino negotiated a large loan from Japanese banks using a lien on the profits of Manchukuo’s Opium Monopoly Bureau as collateral. Another authority states that annual narcotics revenue in China, including Manchukuo, was estimated by the Japanese military at 300 million yen a year.

Similar policies operated across Japanese-occupied Asia.