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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 10, Spring 1946
Page 268
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268 FANTASY COMMENTATOR Greek gods to see which could save the dwellers on the island from the plague: much more could have been done with the idea in really expert hands, though. Near the beginning there was a truly eerie portion when the searchers heard a thin, ghostly voice singing and re-echoing in the caverns of the supposedly deserted island. A couple of moments of genuine terror came, too, when one of the women falls into a cataleptic state and is prematurely buried: her ghastly mewings and scratching from within the tomb were very effective. When the peasant girl wanders into the tomb in the dense darkness and stumbles on the empty coffin, her screech of abysmal fright is something that lifts the audience right out of its collective seat. There is some attempt at characterization in the leading role, and Karloff does well in trying to make an unconvincing character believable. It is too bad that the script-writing and the direction was not as uniformly good throughout as it was in isolated episodes---we might have had a first-rate horror film of classic proportions... After rereading Out of the Silence slowly and critically I am more and more impressed with its stature as a truly great fantasy novel. Cox develops his theme so skillfully and gradually that it is completely convincing when he really "opens up"! I think I can now see that his mundane opening chapters are wise because they present a normal and completely believable world from which, once accepted, the transition to a special domain comes effortlessly and naturally. His descriptions of the achievements of the lost civilization are so logical, so restrained---yet so completely engrossing! It is depressing to remember how many others have tried to employ this theme with ludicrous and pathetic results. I believe that Lovecraft would have thought highly of this book in spite of the romantic elements. After all, the genuine love-interest is on a classical plane and the ordinary girl's interference in the affair seems cheap and childish by comparison.... From across the pond Frederick C. Brown writes of new British fantasy volumes: Among the latest titles to appear over here are: Best Ghost Stories edited by Ann Ridler (Faber & Faber); Keir Cross's Angry Planet (PeterLunn), whose subtitle interestingly states: "an authentic first-hand account of a journey to Mars in the space-ship 'Albatross' compiled from notes and records by various members of the expedition, and now assembled, together with illustrations, and edited for publication by John Keir Cross"; Hanley's What Farrar Saw, wherein Britons return to a gypsy-like existence following huge traffic disorganizations throughout the country, with towns in a state of seige by reason of food scarcity; and Roberts' Sunrise in the West, which deals with a mythical ministry allowed to rule part of defeated Germany---with thought-provoking results. I believe the price of each of the latter novels is 8/6, but don't know the publishers. Three interesting reprints have cropped up, too: Rutter's Monster of Mu (James, 6/-); The Witchfinder by S. Fowler Wright (Books of Today, 5/-), which is a small, pocket-sized volume of short stories containing a single fantasy; and Herbert Reid's Green Child (Grey Walls Press, 12/6), in an edition far superior to the original one, having fine illustrations printed in color... ---oOo--- Tips on Tales---concluded from page 258 John Buchan's Dancing Floor (1926): The villagers had always hated the chateau, for it had brought them nothing but evil; and now, after remaining tenantless for years, it is opened once more by a young heiress. She has not lived there for long when it is decided that she is an evil witch, and plans to seize and burn her alive on a certain mystic night are laid. How she is saved despite the guards that block every route of escape from her dwelling is suspensefully told; The Dancing Floor is well up to the usual standard of a fine writer.
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268 FANTASY COMMENTATOR Greek gods to see which could save the dwellers on the island from the plague: much more could have been done with the idea in really expert hands, though. Near the beginning there was a truly eerie portion when the searchers heard a thin, ghostly voice singing and re-echoing in the caverns of the supposedly deserted island. A couple of moments of genuine terror came, too, when one of the women falls into a cataleptic state and is prematurely buried: her ghastly mewings and scratching from within the tomb were very effective. When the peasant girl wanders into the tomb in the dense darkness and stumbles on the empty coffin, her screech of abysmal fright is something that lifts the audience right out of its collective seat. There is some attempt at characterization in the leading role, and Karloff does well in trying to make an unconvincing character believable. It is too bad that the script-writing and the direction was not as uniformly good throughout as it was in isolated episodes---we might have had a first-rate horror film of classic proportions... After rereading Out of the Silence slowly and critically I am more and more impressed with its stature as a truly great fantasy novel. Cox develops his theme so skillfully and gradually that it is completely convincing when he really "opens up"! I think I can now see that his mundane opening chapters are wise because they present a normal and completely believable world from which, once accepted, the transition to a special domain comes effortlessly and naturally. His descriptions of the achievements of the lost civilization are so logical, so restrained---yet so completely engrossing! It is depressing to remember how many others have tried to employ this theme with ludicrous and pathetic results. I believe that Lovecraft would have thought highly of this book in spite of the romantic elements. After all, the genuine love-interest is on a classical plane and the ordinary girl's interference in the affair seems cheap and childish by comparison.... From across the pond Frederick C. Brown writes of new British fantasy volumes: Among the latest titles to appear over here are: Best Ghost Stories edited by Ann Ridler (Faber & Faber); Keir Cross's Angry Planet (PeterLunn), whose subtitle interestingly states: "an authentic first-hand account of a journey to Mars in the space-ship 'Albatross' compiled from notes and records by various members of the expedition, and now assembled, together with illustrations, and edited for publication by John Keir Cross"; Hanley's What Farrar Saw, wherein Britons return to a gypsy-like existence following huge traffic disorganizations throughout the country, with towns in a state of seige by reason of food scarcity; and Roberts' Sunrise in the West, which deals with a mythical ministry allowed to rule part of defeated Germany---with thought-provoking results. I believe the price of each of the latter novels is 8/6, but don't know the publishers. Three interesting reprints have cropped up, too: Rutter's Monster of Mu (James, 6/-); The Witchfinder by S. Fowler Wright (Books of Today, 5/-), which is a small, pocket-sized volume of short stories containing a single fantasy; and Herbert Reid's Green Child (Grey Walls Press, 12/6), in an edition far superior to the original one, having fine illustrations printed in color... ---oOo--- Tips on Tales---concluded from page 258 John Buchan's Dancing Floor (1926): The villagers had always hated the chateau, for it had brought them nothing but evil; and now, after remaining tenantless for years, it is opened once more by a young heiress. She has not lived there for long when it is decided that she is an evil witch, and plans to seize and burn her alive on a certain mystic night are laid. How she is saved despite the guards that block every route of escape from her dwelling is suspensefully told; The Dancing Floor is well up to the usual standard of a fine writer.
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