Robert T. White wrote: > > The IMDB and a little leg work reveal "Aeneas" has been > on screen 5 times > 1927: The Private Life of Helen of Troy > 1956: Helen of Troy > 1961: The Trojan Horse > 1962: The Avenger [sequel to The Trojan Horse] > 1971: Trolius and Cressida
Thanks to Robert for his reseaches. What does IMDB stand for? It appears to be a better resource than my Leonard Maltin.The private life of Helen of Troy sounds fascinating. I am not sure that there would be any Virgilian influence in "Troilus & Cressida", since it was probably based on the mediæval Troy story. This was developed out of late sources like "Dares Phrygius" & "Dictys Cretensis"by Benoi^t de Sainte-Maure,Boccaccio, Chaucer & Henryson. Cressida is not found in ancient sources and seems ultimately to be a conflation of Chryseis & Briseis from the Iliad. > Also, I would be skeptical that any film based on > Dante's _Inferno_ would include Vergil as a character (viz. > the 1935 version) I did see an excerpt from an early silent film based on the "Inferno"which showed Virgil & Dante gazing at Francesca da Rimini and her lover Paolo tossed in a whirlwind(Canto V).[Incidentally this is where Dante places Dido as well as Cleopatra & Helen.] It looked like a tableau founded on the illustrations of Gustave Dore'. Why wouldn't Virgil be a character? Dante has the Roman poet guide him through Hell.(However I don't know the 1935 version that you mention.) I am surprised that no one seems to have filmed the love story of Dido & Æneas. Book IV is eminently dramatic. Indeed it thought to have been influenced by Greek tragedy.Metastasio (1698-1782) wrote a very successful opera libretto based on Virgil called "Didone abbandonata" which was set to music by forty composers! Purcell in short & Berlioz at length also dealt with the theme.Perhaps the Mantovani could tempt Merchant Ivory or the BBC away from nineteenth & early twentieth century novels, and suggest a TV series or movie based on the Æneid or just Book IV. Books II & VI could be done with special effects by Spielberg!Would this bring Virgil to a wider audience and encourage interest in Virgil and Classical literature, sparking off a new renaissance or merely vulgarise our poet & sacrifice him to the Mammon of popular "culture" ? > (PS) Peter- how do you get that A-E ligature in > your mail? I am, I confess, a bit of an antiquarian in my tastes: I have to remember to write "Facetiæ Vergilianæ"& "Vergili" (gen. sing)" instead of "Facetiæ Virgilianæ" & "Virgilii", lest I be accused of ignorance by highschoolers!( I did have some eirenic contributions to the great "I" versus "E" debate in Virgil's name, but I am not sure if we want to stoke those fires again.) In any case, I get the A-E ligature by pressing simultaneously "option" plus "quotation mark" key (to the left of "return") for"æ"; & "shift"+"option"+"quotation mark" for "Æ". Peter JVD Bryant [EMAIL PROTECTED] 7 Cobea Court Mount Claremont Perth Western Australia ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
