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johnr-05888
Reviews
Secret Sharer (2014)
A complete violation of Conrad's story
I have not seen what I assume is a television adaption and would strongly recommend against anyone bothering with it as a sacrilege. This is Conrad's first and best work as it sets the narrative style ('freezing diachronic tension into a synchronic pattern') and existential dilemma (ontological insecurity) - our narrator repeatedly states that he has no self-knowledge - explored in his subsequent work. There are no females in the story. The ship has not been abandoned by its crew. The 'secret sharer' - Leggatt - is Capt. Lingard's 'doppelganger;. The question is the young captain's crisis in taking the first action of his command - an act that could result in shipwreck and the loss of his crew when he encounters Leggatt - an actual murderer - and hides him in his L-shaped cabin (divergent choice). Academics argue Conrad's intention: semiologists (from Jung) would have archetypes - materialists (from Reich) would have our (non-retrospective first person narrator) in a fugue state. Among the latter are those who would argue that Leggatt is entirely imaginary - which I dismiss as the Captain of Leggatt's vessel comes aboard in search of his fugitive first mate. Anyone interested in this fascinating and complex work should read Bruce Harkin's 'The Secret Sharer: Economical Personal Narrative' in 'Conrad's Secret Sharer and the Critics' - 1962; John P. Conger's 'Jung & Reich: the body of Shadow', and R.D. Laing's 'The Divided Self'. Let us hope that an adaptation will eventually come into competent hands.
Outcast of the Islands (1951)
Adaptation
Having read the above reviews I agree that there were some production compromises - the rear projection noticeable but not as offensive as in color productions of the time - 'The African Queen' etc. The novel does not achieve the existential challenge of 'The Secret Sharer' and Conrad's narrator is somewhat unsteady - surprisingly not compensated considering what Reed managed with 'The Third Man'. The basic problem is the failure in the adaptation by William Fairchild to preserve the cross-cultural context. Willem's business acumen is understated and the question of inter-racial marriage entirely ignored: Mrs. Vinck and Mrs. Willem are absent, and Mrs. Almayer becomes British. The former is disturbed - perhaps sexual jealousy - by Willem's marriage to Hydig's bi-racial daughter. And the pervasiveness of this prejudice is ultimately expressed by Aisee's calling her an ugly 'Sarani' (Nasrani or European Christian/Malay). There were however liberties taken that enhanced the narrative - the hammock over the bonfire entirely invention. The real flawed characters are Captain Lingard in his charitable vanity and Almayer in his foolishness. The latter fully expressed in the sequel 'Almayer's Folly'. I would have preferred Willem's accidental death as per the novel. And I would have preferred a Malay - perhaps a Dayak - for Aisee. But all said and done it is a very stirring - if flawed film - and worthy of a place in the canon.