Films/DVD Asylum

RE: Burroughs

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In Reply to: RE: John Carter posted by kSpace on June 23, 2014 at 16:04:44

For some unknown reason I have avoided reading anything by E.R. Burroughs until just recently. I don't know why. Maybe because the material was from another time I thought that I wouldn't bother with it. But then a couple of weeks ago I was in a HPB and perusing the Sci-Fi titles when I chanced upon the one and only Burroughs novel in the Store. "The Master Mind of Mars". Novel #6 in the Barsoom series. Some will say this is one of the weaker titles to choose but on the whole not bad.

Being my introduction to the writing style of Burroughs I quickly noticed that this was going to be a quick read. The story is almost entirely told as a 1st person narrative, but with just enough dialogue to support the interactions between characters. Burroughs descriptive prose is wonderful. Not verbose. Wording is lean and just enough to nicely describe what is needed. Stays on focus and moves quickly from one scene to the next. Always in motion. A page turner.

After consuming this I decided to look for another title I could read right away. I found one on line. (see link below) His first Barsoom novel; A Princess of Mars. Excellent! I printed this out onto letter-size using my laser-jet in duplex so I could quickly bind it as a book and read it from my night table.

Loved the story. More E.R. Burroughs focused and quick moving narrative.
This, I understand, is the book that the 2012 Disney movie is taken from.

It has been some time since I viewed the movie. I saw it on-demand when it came out on video. Now after reading the book I can see that some of the books main plot points are used in the movie, and some aren't but replaced with other events from different novels in the Barsoom series.

I have a copy of the Blu-Ray coming. I found a used copy online for $5.00. I know the movie will let me down after having read the book. And this will be mainly because the director and writers chose to only be partially faithful to the fist novel.

Other things worth noting.
After reading the first novel; (A Princess of Mars) I can relate much of the characters and scenery described within it to what George Lucas put up on the large screen back in the seventies and eighties. The landscapes. The beasts. It might be said that George Lucas derived much from E.R. Burroughs. but Burroughs was writing his material for all readers. Lucas, it seems, was making his movies for a younger audience.

Anyway, I'll get back to this thread after having seen the movie once again. Meantime I'll look for another novel in the series to read. Those are fun.

-Steve

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