Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Three Tintin books that should be made into movies

I think the one Tintin book that's a prime candidate for cinematic adaptation is 'The Calculus Affair'. It's a classic thriller with all the genre elements.

Second one is my favourite Tintin adventure, 'The Seven Crystal Balls-Prisoners of the Sun'. It starts of as a whodunit and morphs into a classic adventure with pop history and supernatural elements like an Indiana Jones film. Come to think of it, the Indiana Jones genre follows the 'The Seven Crystal Balls-Prisoners of the Sun' story style quite closely. Hats off to Herge.

The third one...difficult one to chose.

One could choose one of the Middle East/Africa adventures...The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Land of Black Gold, The Red Sea Sharks. Could have an interesting resonance with the current political situation.

Could be a story with socio-political overtones...Tintin in America (the Big Business-Mob nexus), The Blue Lotus (colonialism, fascism, China, but probably too politically incendiary).

Or would it be a sci-fi adventure like Flight 714 or The Shooting Star?

It could be his political adventures in Latin America...Tintin and the Broken Ear, Tintin and the Picaros.

But I would choose Tintin in Tibet.

Because it is the best concoction of the very elements we love about Tintin. A great adventure, a distant exotic place, a deep connection with another human being, adversity, hope, humor, I can go on. Tintin in Tibet was the second Tintin book that I possessed. (Castafiore Emerald was the first). It was the one that hooked me into owning each and every Tintin ever published. I think it would make a great film.

2 comments:

DreamCatcher said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DreamCatcher said...

Castafiore Emerald was my second possesion and I like it the least. My choice:
1. The Calculus Affair
2. The Seven Crystal Balls
3. Flight 714

oh! also, The Red Sea Sharks! hmm...lets include the exotic Blue Lotus too! or Tintin and the Broken Ear...