by Bernard Pomerance
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| The True History of the Elephant Man | ||||||||||
| This excellent documentary was originally presented by the BBC, and was later picked up by the Discovery Channel in North America. Running about an hour in length, it provides an in depth look at Joseph's life story. The special provides footage of both the London Hospital in Whitechapel, and Joseph's hometown of Leicester (present day footage, of course). It also presents interviews with historians, medical experts, and Joseph's descendants, among other things. Narration is by John Hurt, who played Joseph in the 1980 film, and I have also heard that one of Treves' descendants worked on this special, though I haven't watched it in awhile to see what exactly he did! I'm assuming perhaps further voice over narration, but don't quote me on that until I've had a chance to check! | ||||||||||
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| The Elephant Man by Bernard Pomerance |
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| The original Broadway production of Pomerances play was filmed and presented on PBS in 1982, featuring Philip Anglim as Joseph and Kevin Conway as Treves. The play runs about two hours in length, and the staging was quite successfully adapted for television. I particularly enjoyed the portrayal of Mrs. Kendal in this production, as she is quite wise, and seems to be aware of things other characters are unable to grasp. Philip Anglim is sweet, perceptive, and endearing as Joseph. In Pomerances play, there are really only two options for the actor playing Treves, either tending towards a harsh interpretation, or one of a man who is lost. Kevin Conway generally seems to lean towards the latter. | ||||||||||
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| There, of course, countless number of passing references to Joseph on any number of television shows, usually as part of some rather thoughtless joke. I'm hardly going to list them all here. However, there is one show I do have to mention, as there were at least three seperate incidents on this program. I used to watch 'Comedy Central' on Sunday nights my junior year at University, and, I'm not sure that this show even comes on anymore, but I used to really enjoy the cartoon show 'The Critic'. It was a more adult show centered around, of course, a film critic, that always had funny and clever parodies of popular movies. It seemed to me the writers must've been fans of the Lynch film, as their parodies to me always seemed witty rather than offensive in any way. Generally, they involved a scene from the movie where the main character (the Critic, who was a bit of a nerd) was put into Joseph's place. There was, however, one episode where Joseph himself made a cameo appearance. The Critic and his son had just arrived in LA, and were waiting for their rental car. While explaining to his son that it is extremely important to be seen driving the right kind of car in LA, Joseph drives by in a red convertable sports car full of pretty woman. He later passes them again on the highway (as of course, the Critic and his son have gotten an awful rental car) and tells the girls what a 'loser' the Critic is for having such a dorky car. Don't ask me why, as I'll never be able to explain it, but I found this terribly funny! | ||||||||||
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| Resources and Interpretations | ||||||||||