The Independent
The Independent is a British online newspaper. Established in 1986 as a politically independent national morning newspaper published in London, it was controlled by Tony O'Reilly's Independent News & Media from 1997 until it was sold to Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev in 2010; the last printed edition of The Independent was published on Saturday 26 March 2016, leaving only its digital editions. Nicknamed the Indy, it began as a broadsheet, but changed to tabloid format in 2003; until September 2011, the paper described itself on the banner at the top of every newspaper as "free from party political bias, free from proprietorial influence". It tends to take a pro-market stance on economic issues; the daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004 British Press Awards. In June 2015, it had an average daily circulation of just below 58,000, 85 per cent down from its 1990 peak, while the Sunday edition had a circulation of just over 97,000. Launched in 1986, the first issue of The Independent was published on 7 October in broadsheet format.
It was produced by Newspaper Publishing plc and created by Andreas Whittam Smith, Stephen Glover and Matthew Symonds. All three partners were former journalists at The Daily Telegraph who had left the paper towards the end of Lord Hartwell's ownership. Marcus Sieff was the first chairman of Newspaper Publishing, Whittam Smith took control of the paper; the paper was created at a time of a fundamental change in British newspaper publishing. Rupert Murdoch was challenging long-accepted practices of the print unions and defeated them in the Wapping dispute. Production costs could be reduced which, it was said at the time, created openings for more competition; as a result of controversy around Murdoch's move to Wapping, the plant was having to function under siege from sacked print workers picketing outside. The Independent attracted some of the staff from the two Murdoch broadsheets who had chosen not to move to his company's new headquarters. Launched with the advertising slogan "It is. Are you?", challenging both The Guardian for centre-left readers and The Times as the newspaper of record, The Independent reached a circulation of over 400,000 by 1989.
Competing in a moribund market, The Independent sparked a general freshening of newspaper design as well as, within a few years, a price war in the market sector. When The Independent launched The Independent on Sunday in 1990, sales were less than anticipated due to the launch of the Sunday Correspondent four months prior, although this direct rival closed at the end of November 1990; some aspects of production merged with the main paper, although the Sunday paper retained a distinct editorial staff. In the 1990s, The Independent was faced with price cutting by the Murdoch titles, started an advertising campaign accusing The Times and The Daily Telegraph of reflecting the views of their proprietors, Rupert Murdoch and Conrad Black, it featured spoofs of the other papers' mastheads with the words The Rupert Murdoch or The Conrad Black, with The Independent below the main title. Newspaper Publishing had financial problems. A number of other media companies were interested in the paper. Tony O'Reilly's media group and Mirror Group Newspapers had bought a stake of about a third each by mid-1994.
In March 1995, Newspaper Publishing was restructured with a rights issue, splitting the shareholding into O'Reilly's Independent News & Media, MGN, Prisa. In April 1996, there was another refinancing, in March 1998, O'Reilly bought the other shares of the company for £30 million, assumed the company's debt. Brendan Hopkins headed Independent News, Andrew Marr was appointed editor of The Independent, Rosie Boycott became editor of The Independent on Sunday. Marr introduced a dramatic if short-lived redesign which won critical favour but was a commercial failure as a result of a limited promotional budget. Marr admitted his changes had been a mistake in My Trade. Boycott left in April 1998 to join the Daily Express, Marr left in May 1998 becoming the BBC's political editor. Simon Kelner was appointed as the editor. By this time the circulation had fallen below 200,000. Independent News spent to increase circulation, the paper went through several redesigns. While circulation increased, it did not approach the level, achieved in 1989, or restore profitability.
Job cuts and financial controls reduced the quality of the product. Ivan Fallon, on the board since 1995 and a key figure at The Sunday Times, replaced Hopkins as head of Independent News & Media in July 2002. By mid-2004, the newspaper was losing £5 million per year. A gradual improvement meant. In November 2008, following further staff cuts, production was moved to Northcliffe House, in Kensington High Street, the headquarters of Associated Newspapers; the two newspaper groups' editorial and commercial operations remained separate, but they shared services including security, information technology and payroll. On 25 March 2010, Independent News & Media sold the newspaper to Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev for a nominal £1 fee and £9.25m over the next 10 months, choosing this option over closing The Independent and The Independent on Sunday, which would have cost £28m and £40m due to long-term contracts. In 2009, Lebedev had bought a controlling stake in the London Evening Standard. Two weeks editor Roger Alton resigned.
In July 2011, The Independent's columnist Johann Hari was stripped of the Orwell Prize he had won in 2008 after claims, to which Hari admitted, of plagiarism and inaccuracy. In January 2012, Chris Blackhurst
Vanity Fair (2004 film)
Vanity Fair is a 2004 historical drama film directed by Mira Nair and adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray's novel of the same name. The novel has been the subject of numerous film adaptations. Nair's version made notable changes in the development of main character Becky Sharp, played by Reese Witherspoon; the film received several awards and nominations, including being nominated for the Golden Lion at the 2004 Venice Film Festival. In 1802 England, Becky Sharp, the orphaned daughter of an impoverished painter, has just finished her studies at Miss Pinkerton's School for Girls and has been offered a position as governess to the daughters of Sir Pitt Crawley. Before she begins her position she travels to London with her close friend Amelia Sedley to stay with the Sedley family. While there she begins a campaign to charm Amelia's awkward and overweight brother "Jos" Sedley, a wealthy trader living in India. Jos becomes smitten with Becky and comes close to proposing marriage to her, but is dissuaded by Amelia's snobbish fiancé George Osborne, who reminds him that Becky has no dowry and comes from a poor family.
Having failed in her efforts to find a rich husband, Becky travels to take up her post. She is horrified by the dilapidated house and her lecherous new employer Sir Pitt, but applies herself diligently to teaching his two young daughters and improving the house in preparation for the visit of Sir Pitt's half-sister Miss Crawley. Accompanying her is Sir Pitt's youngest son, Rawdon Crawley, a roguish army captain, who takes a fancy to Becky. Becky manages to ingratiate herself with the crotchety Miss Crawley, so much so that the old lady invites Becky to come and live with her as a companion in London. Meanwhile, Amelia's prospective father-in-law, Mr. Osborne, is trying to arrange a more advantageous marriage for his son George; when George refuses to countenance marrying his father's candidate, Mr. Osborne calls in the debts which Mr. Sedley owes to him, bankrupting the family and obliging George to break the engagement to Amelia. Amelia, now living in squalor with her family, remains hopeful that George will come for her, deluding herself when she receives the gift of a piano from George's loyal friend Dobbin into thinking that it is from George himself.
Becky seduces Rawdon Crawley and the two marry secretly, though they are soon exposed to Miss Crawley, who expels Becky from her house in anger and disinherits Rawdon. George Osborne marries Amelia in rebellion against his father, is soon after deployed with Dobbin and Rawdon to Belgium as part of the Duke of Wellington's army, because Napoleon has escaped Elba and invaded France. Becky and Amelia decide to accompany their husbands; the newly-wedded Osborne has grown tired of Amelia, he begins to make romantic assignations to Becky. The lavish ball the group are attending is interrupted by an announcement that Napoleon has attacked, the army will march in three hours. Before he leaves, Rawdon gives Becky all the money he's won at cards and the next day Becky tries to flee the city. However, when she sees Amelia in the fleeing mob, she leaves her carriage to take Amelia back to Brussels, where they wait out the battle. In the ensuing Battle of Waterloo, George is killed and Rawdon survives. Amelia bears him a posthumous son, named George.
Mr. Osborne refuses to acknowledge his grandson. So Amelia returns to live in genteel poverty with her parents. Now-Major William Dobbin, young George's godfather, begins to express his love for the widowed Amelia by small kindnesses. Amelia is too much in love with George's memory to return Dobbin's affections. Saddened, he transfers to an army post in India. Meanwhile, Becky has a son named after his father. Several years pass. Rawdon has been passed over for inheritance by both his aunt and father, the couple are sinking deep into debt. Amelia herself struggles to raise her son and reluctantly gives him up to be raised by his grandfather Mr. Osborne, because of the fine education and lifestyle he can provide; when bailiffs arrive to repossess the Crawley's household furniture, Becky is saved by her neighbor Lord Steyne, a man she remembers from the past as a keen buyer of her father's paintings. Lord Steyne becomes her patron, giving her money and introducing her into the exclusive world of London high society.
On the night of her triumphant presentation to the King of England, George IV, Becky receives word that Rawdon has been arrested and thrown into debtors' prison. Lord Steyne insists that she spend the night with him in return for all the services he has rendered her, Rawdon, after being bailed out by his sister-in-law, walks in on Steyne forcing himself upon Becky, he throws Steyne out and realizes that Becky has been taking money for months in secret without sharing with him. He leaves Becky and entrusts the care of his son to his older brother, the new Sir Pitt and his wife. Twelve years Becky is working as a card dealer at a casino in Baden-Baden, Germany, it is revealed that Rawdon died from malaria soon after leaving Becky, when he was posted to a tropical island under the malign influence of Lord Steyne. By chance Becky encounters the now grown son of Amelia, George Jr. who invites her to meet his mother for tea. Mr. Osborne accepted Amelia at the end of his life, left her and George Jr. a large inheritance.
Becky confronts Amelia over her obsession with the late George, showing her a love note given to her many years earlier by him. She urges Amelia to love Dobbin. Although at first angered, Amelia declares her love to Dobbin. Alone again in the casino, Becky meets Jos Sedley, who has come to Germany after being informed by Amelia that Becky was there, he invites her to come and live in India with
Anna Karenina (2012 film)
Anna Karenina is a 2012 British historical romantic drama film directed by Joe Wright. Adapted by Tom Stoppard from Leo Tolstoy's 1877 novel of the same name, remake of the 1985 film of the same name; the film depicts the tragedy of Russian aristocrat and socialite Anna Karenina, wife of senior statesman Alexei Karenin, her affair with the affluent officer Count Vronsky which leads to her ultimate demise. Keira Knightley stars in the lead role as Karenina, marking her third collaboration with Wright following both Pride & Prejudice and Atonement, while Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson appear as Karenin and Vronsky, respectively. Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, Domhnall Gleeson and Alicia Vikander appear in key supporting roles. Produced by Working Title Films in association with StudioCanal, the film premiered at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival, it was released on 7 September 2012 in the United Kingdom and on 9 November 2012 in the United States. Anna Karenina earned a worldwide gross of $69 million from its international run.
It earned a rating of 64 percent from review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, labelling it favourable. Critics praised the cast, but commented on and criticised the stylised adaptation, were less enthusiastic with Wright's preference for style over substance and his idea of setting most of the action on a theatre stage, it earned four nominations at the 85th Academy Awards and six nominations at the 66th British Academy Film Awards, winning Jacqueline Durran both prizes for Best Costume Design. In addition, Anna Karenina garnered six nominations at the 17th Satellite Awards, including a Best Actress nod for Knightley and Best Adapted Screenplay for Stoppard. In 1874 Russian Empire, Prince Stephan "Stiva" Oblonsky's wife, Princess Darya "Dolly," banishes her husband from their home due to his infidelity. Stiva's sister, Anna Karenina, a well-off and well-liked socialite living in St. Petersburg with her older husband, Count Alexei Karenin, their son, Sergei "Seryozha" Alexeyich Karenin, travels to Moscow to persuade Dolly to forgive Stiva.
Stiva meets his old friend Konstantin Levin, a wealthy land owner and aristocrat, looked down upon by Moscow's elite for preferring country life to city life. Levin professes his love for Stiva's sister-in-law, Princess Ekaterina "Kitty" Alexandrovna, Stiva encourages him to propose. However, Kitty declines as she hopes to marry a wealthy cavalry officer. Levin meets with his elder brother, who has given up his inheritance and taken a prostitute named Masha as his wife. Nikolai suggests. On the train to Moscow, Anna meets Vronsky's mother, Countess Vronskaya, facing scandal for her own infidelity. Once there, Anna meets Vronsky himself and they have mutual attraction. After a railway worker is killed in an accident at the station, Anna asks if anything can be done for his family. Vronsky is seen giving a large sum of money to other railroad workers for the deceased's family. Anna convinces Dolly to take Stiva back. At a ball that night, Kitty attempts to dance with Vronsky, but he dances with Anna, leaving Kitty heartbroken.
Vronsky tells Anna that he must be wherever she goes. In St. Petersburg, Vronsky visits his cousin, Princess Elizaveta "Betsy" Tverskaya, a friend of the Karenins, begins to show up at all the places Anna and Betsy visit, making him the target of Moscow gossip, he flirts with Anna at a party and tells her of his intention to take a promotion in Tashkent, but she persuades him to stay. The next day they meet at a hotel and make love. Stiva informs Levin that Vronsky are no longer to be married. Levin focuses on living an authentic country life, contemplating taking one of his workers' daughters as his wife. Anna and Seryozha go to the Karenin country estate. Anna reveals that she is pregnant, he wants her to live with him. Anna suggests Karenin come to the horse races that evening; as the races begin, Anna betrays her feelings for Vronsky when his horse breaks its back. On their way home, Anna admits to Karenin that she is Vronsky's mistress and Karenin says she must stop seeing Vronsky. Levin realises.
Months Anna receives Vronsky at her house in St. Petersburg, he tells her. Karenin find outs that Vronsky visited and breaks into Anna's desk to get Vronsky's love letters, intending to use them to get a divorce. Levin and Kitty are reunited at Stiva's house. Karenin comes to Stiva and Dolly's house to inform them he is divorcing Anna, they beg him to forgive her. After dinner and Kitty announce their love for each other and decide to marry. Anna sends for Vronsky, she berates him. Karenin forgives her. Anna survives and decides to stay with her husband. Princess Betsy tells her Vronsky wants to see her. Anna tells. Karenin tells Anna that if he divorced her on adultery, as the guilty party, she wouldn't be allowed to remarry in the Orthodox Church. However, he releases Anna from her confinement, she and Vronsky leave for Italy with their daughter, Anya. Levin and Kitty return to his country estate, where the sickly Nikolai and Masha have been given a storeroom to live in. Levin tells Kitty that he will send Masha away so Kitty doesn't have to live on the same estate as the former prostitute, but the newly matured Kitty ignores social norms and assists Masha in nursing Nikolai.
Levin's love for Kitty grows. Anna returns to St. Petersburg to see Seryozha on his
Pride & Prejudice (2005 film)
Pride & Prejudice is a 2005 romance film directed by Joe Wright and based on Jane Austen's 1813 novel of the same name. The film depicts five sisters from an English family of landed gentry as they deal with issues of marriage and misconceptions. Keira Knightley stars in the lead role of Elizabeth Bennet, while Matthew Macfadyen plays her romantic interest Mr. Darcy. Produced by Working Title Films in association with StudioCanal, the film was released on 16 September 2005 in the United Kingdom and Ireland and on 11 November in the United States. Screenwriter Deborah Moggach attempted to make her script as faithful to the novel as possible, writing from Elizabeth's perspective while preserving much of the original dialogue. Wright, directing his first feature film, encouraged greater deviation from the text, including changing the dynamics within the Bennet family. Wright and Moggach set the film in an earlier period and avoided depicting a "perfectly clean Regency world", presenting instead a "muddy hem version" of the time.
It was shot on location in England on a 15-week schedule. Wright found casting difficult due to past performances of particular characters; the filmmakers had to balance who they thought was best for each role with the studio's desire for stars. Knightley was well-known in part from her work in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, while Macfadyen had no international name recognition; the film's themes emphasise realism and family. It was marketed to a younger, mainstream audience. Pride & Prejudice earned a worldwide gross of $121 million, considered a commercial success. Pride & Prejudice earned a rating of 82% from review aggregator Metacritic, labeling it universally acclaimed, it earned four nominations at the 78th Academy Awards, including a Best Actress nomination for Knightley. Austen scholars have opined that Wright's work created a new hybrid genre by blending traditional traits of the heritage film with "youth-oriented filmmaking techniques". During the 19th century, the Bennet family, consisting of Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet and their five daughters—Jane, Mary and Lydia—live in comparative financial independence as gentry at Longbourn, a working farm in rural England.
As the Bennets have no sons, Longbourn is destined to be inherited by Mr. Bennet's cousin, Mr. Collins, so Mrs. Bennet is anxious to marry off her five daughters before Mr. Bennet dies to secure herself in her widowhood. Wealthy bachelor Charles Bingley has moved into Netherfield, a nearby estate, he is introduced to local society at an assembly ball, along with his haughty sister Caroline and reserved friend, Mr. Darcy, who "owns half of Derbyshire". Bingley is enchanted with the gentle and beautiful Jane, while Elizabeth takes an instant dislike to Darcy after he coldly rebuffs her attempts at conversation and she overhears him insulting her; when Jane becomes sick on a visit to Netherfield, Elizabeth goes to stay with her, verbally sparring with both Caroline and Darcy. The Bennets are visited by Mr. Collins, a clergyman, in awe of his patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. During dinner the family has some fun at Mr. Collins' expense and afterward are treated to a reading by him of Fordyce's Sermons.
After learning from Mrs. Bennet that Jane is expected to become engaged soon, Collins decides to pursue Elizabeth. Meanwhile, the charming Lieutenant Wickham of the newly-arrived militia captures the girls' attention. At a ball at Netherfield, startled by Darcy's abrupt appearance and request for a dance, accepts his offer but vows to her best friend Charlotte Lucas that she has "sworn to loathe him for all eternity". During the dance, she attacks him with witty sarcasm and Darcy responds in kind. At the same ball, Charlotte expresses concern to Elizabeth that Jane's behaviour towards Mr. Bingley is too reserved and that Bingley may not realise that she loves him; the next day at Longbourn, Collins proposes to Elizabeth but she declines. When Bingley unexpectedly returns to London, Elizabeth dispatches a heartbroken Jane to the city to stay with their aunt and uncle, the Gardiners, in hopes of re-establishing contact between Jane and Bingley. Elizabeth is astonished to learn that her friend Charlotte will marry Collins to gain financial security and avoid remaining a spinster.
Months Elizabeth visits the newly-wed Mr. and Mrs. Collins who live in a cottage at Rosings, Lady Catherine's manor estate. Here, Darcy begins to show a greater interest in Elizabeth; the next day, not realizing that Jane is Elizabeth's sister, Colonel Fitzwilliam tells Elizabeth that Darcy had separated Bingley from Jane. Distraught, Elizabeth flees from a church service that all are attending, but Darcy follows her and proposes marriage, he says he loves her "most ardently" despite her "lower rank". Elizabeth refuses him, citing his treatment of Wickham. Darcy insults Elizabeth's family, which makes Elizabeth angrier, she hurls biting words at him. Darcy leaves heartbroken; that evening, he finds Elizabeth at the Collins cottage and presents her with a letter explaining his side of events. Darcy gives insight to Wickham's character and describes exploits including Wickham's attempted elopement with Darcy's 15-year-old sister, Georgiana; the letter concludes with D
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph referred to as The Telegraph, is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was founded by Arthur B. Sleigh in 1855 as Daily Telegraph & Courier; the Telegraph is regarded as a national "newspaper of record" and it maintains an international reputation for quality, having been described by the BBC as "one of the world's great titles". The paper's motto, "Was, is, will be", appears in the editorial pages and has featured in every edition of the newspaper since 19 April 1858; the paper had a circulation of 363,183 in December 2018, having declined following industry trends from 1.4 million in 1980. Its sister paper, The Sunday Telegraph, which started in 1961, had a circulation of 281,025 as of December 2018; the Daily Telegraph has the largest circulation for a broadsheet newspaper in the UK and the sixth largest circulation of any UK newspaper as of 2016. The two sister newspapers are run separately, with different editorial staff, but there is cross-usage of stories.
Articles published in either may be published on the Telegraph Media Group's www.telegraph.co.uk website, under the title of The Telegraph. Editorially, the paper is considered conservative; the Telegraph has been the first newspaper to report on a number of notable news scoops, including the 2009 MP expenses scandal, which led to a number of high-profile political resignations and for which it was named 2009 British Newspaper of the Year, its 2016 undercover investigation on the England football manager Sam Allardyce. However, including the paper's former chief political commentator Peter Oborne, accuse it of being unduly influenced by advertisers HSBC; the Daily Telegraph and Courier was founded by Colonel Arthur B. Sleigh in June 1855 to air a personal grievance against the future commander-in-chief of the British Army, Prince George, Duke of Cambridge. Joseph Moses Levy, the owner of The Sunday Times, agreed to print the newspaper, the first edition was published on 29 June 1855; the paper was four pages long.
The first edition stressed the quality and independence of its articles and journalists: We shall be guided by a high tone of independent action. However, the paper was not a success, Sleigh was unable to pay Levy the printing bill. Levy took over the newspaper, his aim being to produce a cheaper newspaper than his main competitors in London, the Daily News and The Morning Post, to expand the size of the overall market. Levy appointed his son, Edward Levy-Lawson, Lord Burnham, Thornton Leigh Hunt to edit the newspaper. Lord Burnham relaunched the paper as The Daily Telegraph, with the slogan "the largest and cheapest newspaper in the world". Hunt laid out the newspaper's principles in a memorandum sent to Levy: "We should report all striking events in science, so told that the intelligent public can understand what has happened and can see its bearing on our daily life and our future; the same principle should apply to all other events—to fashion, to new inventions, to new methods of conducting business".
In 1876, Jules Verne published his novel Michael Strogoff, whose plot takes place during a fictional uprising and war in Siberia. Verne included among the book's characters a war correspondent of The Daily Telegraph, named Harry Blount—who is depicted as an exceptionally dedicated and brave journalist, taking great personal risks to follow the ongoing war and bring accurate news of it to The Telegraph's readership, ahead of competing papers. In 1908, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany gave a controversial interview to The Daily Telegraph that damaged Anglo-German relations and added to international tensions in the build-up to World War I. In 1928 the son of Baron Burnham, Harry Lawson Webster Levy-Lawson, 2nd Baron Burnham, sold the paper to William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose, in partnership with his brother Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley and Edward Iliffe, 1st Baron Iliffe. In 1937, the newspaper absorbed The Morning Post, which traditionally espoused a conservative position and sold predominantly amongst the retired officer class.
William Ewart Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose, bought The Morning Post with the intention of publishing it alongside The Daily Telegraph, but poor sales of the former led him to merge the two. For some years the paper was retitled The Daily Telegraph and Morning Post before it reverted to just The Daily Telegraph. In the late 1930s Victor Gordon Lennox, The Telegraph's diplomatic editor, published an anti-appeasement private newspaper The Whitehall Letter that received much of its information from leaks from Sir Robert Vansittart, the Permanent Under-Secretary of the Foreign Office, Rex Leeper, the Foreign Office's Press Secretary; as a result, Gordon Lennox was monitored by MI5. In 1939, The Telegraph published Clare Hollingworth's scoop. In November 1940, with Fleet Street subjected to daily bombing raids by the Luftwaffe, The Telegraph started printing in Manchester at Kemsley House, run by Camrose's brother Kemsley. Manchester quite printed the entire run of The Telegraph when its Fleet Street offices were under threat.
The name Kemsley House was changed to Thomson House in 1959. In 1986 printing of Northern editions of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph moved to Trafford Park and in 2008 to Newsprinters at Knowsley, Liverpool. During the Second World War, The Daily Telegraph covertly helped in the recruitment of code-breakers for Bletchley Park; the ability to solve The Telegraph's crossword in under 12 minutes was considered to be a recruitment test. The newspaper was asked to organise a crossword competition, after wh
The Good Soldier Švejk
The Good Soldier Švejk is the abbreviated title of an unfinished satirical dark comedy novel by Jaroslav Hašek. The original Czech title of the work is Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka za světové války The Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Švejk During the World War. Švejk has become a byword in the Czech Republic. The book is the most translated novel of Czech literature: it has been translated into over 50 languages. Hašek intended Švejk to cover a total of six volumes, but had completed only three upon his death from heart failure on January 3, 1923; the novel as a whole was illustrated by Josef Lada and more by Czech illustrator Petr Urban. The volumes are: Behind the Lines At the Front The Glorious Licking The Glorious Licking Continues Following Hašek's death, journalist Karel Vaněk was asked by the publisher Adolf Synek to complete the unfinished novel. Vaněk finished the fourth book in 1923 and in the same year released the fifth and the sixth volumes, titled Švejk in Captivity and Švejk in Revolution.
Novels were published until 1949. In 1991 volumes 5 and 6 were again released as Švejk in Russian Captivity and Revolution, in two volumes or combined; the novel is set during World War I in Austria-Hungary, a multi-ethnic empire full of long-standing ethnic tensions. Fifteen million people died in the War, one million of them Austro-Hungarian soldiers including around 140,000 who were Czechs. Jaroslav Hašek examined it in The Good Soldier Švejk. Many of the situations and characters seem to have been inspired, at least in part, by Hašek's service in the 91st Infantry Regiment of the Austro-Hungarian Army; the novel deals with broader anti-war themes: a series of absurdly comic episodes, it explores the pointlessness and futility of conflict in general and of military discipline, Austrian military discipline in particular. Many of its characters the Czechs, are participating in a conflict they do not understand on behalf of an empire to which they have no loyalty; the character of Josef Švejk is a development of this theme.
Through idiocy or incompetence he manages to frustrate military authority and expose its stupidity in a form of passive resistance: the reader is left unclear, however, as to whether Švejk is genuinely incompetent, or acting quite deliberately with dumb insolence. These absurd events reach a climax when Švejk, wearing a Russian uniform, is mistakenly taken prisoner by his own side. In addition to satirising Habsburg authority, Hašek sets out corruption and hypocrisy attributed to priests of the Catholic Church; the story begins in Prague with news of the assassination in Sarajevo that precipitates World War I. Švejk displays such enthusiasm about faithfully serving the Austrian Emperor in battle that no one can decide whether he is an imbecile or is craftily undermining the war effort. He is arrested by a member of the state police, after making some politically insensitive remarks, is sent to prison. After being certified insane he is transferred before being ejected. Švejk gets his charwoman to wheel him to the recruitment offices in Prague, where his apparent zeal causes a minor sensation.
He is transferred to a hospital for malingerers because of his rheumatism. He joins the army as batman to army chaplain Otto Katz. Lukáš is posted with his march battalion to barracks in České Budějovice, in Southern Bohemia, preparatory to being sent to the front. After missing all the trains to Budějovice, Švejk embarks on a long anabasis on foot around Southern Bohemia in a vain attempt to find Budějovice, before being arrested as a possible spy and deserter and escorted to his regiment; the regiment is soon transferred to Bruck an der Leitha, a town on the border between Austria and Hungary. Here, where relations between the two nationalities are somewhat sensitive, Švejk is again arrested, this time for causing an affray involving a respectable Hungarian citizen and engaging in a street fight, he is promoted to company orderly. The unit embarks on a long train journey towards the Eastern Front. Close to the front line, Švejk is taken prisoner by his own side as a suspected Russian deserter, after arriving at a lake and trying on an abandoned Russian uniform.
Narrowly avoiding execution, he manages to rejoin his unit. The unfinished novel breaks off abruptly before Švejk has a chance to be involved in any combat or enter the trenches, though it appears Hašek may have conceived that the characters would have continued the war in a POW camp, much as he himself had done; the book includes. The characters of The Good Soldier Švejk are either used as the butt of Hašek's absurdist humour or represent broad social and ethnic stereotypes found in the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time. People are distinguished by the dialect and register of Czech or German they speak, a quality that does not translate easily. Many German- and Polish-speaking characters, for example, are shown as speaking comedically broken or accented Czech, while many Czechs speak broken German.
The Phantom of the Opera (2004 film)
The Phantom of the Opera is a 2004 British–American musical drama film based on Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical of the same name, which in turn is based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux. Produced and co-written by Lloyd Webber and directed by Joel Schumacher, it stars Gerard Butler in the title role, Emmy Rossum, Patrick Wilson, Miranda Richardson, Minnie Driver and Jennifer Ellison; the film was announced in 1989 but production did not start until 2002 due to Lloyd Webber's divorce and Schumacher's busy career. It was shot at Pinewood Studios, with scenery created with miniatures and computer graphics. Rossum and Driver had singing experience, but Butler had none and so had music lessons; the Phantom of the Opera grossed $154.6 million worldwide and received mixed to negative reviews from critics, but was well received by audiences. Critics criticized the writing and directing. In 1919, a public auction is held to clear an abandoned opera theatre's vaults in Paris.
Viscount Raoul de Chagny, bids against the elderly Madame Giry for a papier-mâché shaped like a barrel organ monkey. The auctioneer presents a shattered chandelier, relating it to "the strange affair of the Phantom of the Opera"; as it is hoisted up to the roof, the story moves back to 1870. The theatre prepares for the performance of the grand opera, headed by soprano Carlotta Giudicelli. Theatre manager Monsieur Lefèvre plans to retire, leaving the theatre to Richard Firmin and Gilles André. Carlotta refuses to perform after three years' worth of torment by the theatre's resident "Opera Ghost", a mysterious figure said to live in the catacombs below. Facing the performance's cancellation, Madame Giry, the ballet instructor, suggests dancer Christine Daaé, stands in as the lead actress. Christine is a huge success on opening night. Christine tells Giry's daughter, that she is being coached by a tutor she calls the "Angel of Music". Christine reunites with Raoul, a new patron of the theatre, her childhood sweetheart, but he dismisses her secrets.
That night, the masked Phantom of the Opera appears before Christine, spiriting her away to his underground lair. He confesses his love to Christine, but when she removes his mask out of curiosity, he reacts violently, she returns his mask to him, the Phantom returns her to the theatre unharmed, but orders the managers to make her the lead in Il Muto. However, the managers choose Carlotta instead. During the performance, the Phantom tampers with Carlotta's throat spray, causing her to sing out of tune, Christine steps in; the Phantom encounters hangs him above the stage. Christine and Raoul flee to the roof; the Phantom, vows revenge. Three months in 1871, at a New Year masquerade ball and Raoul announce their engagement; the Phantom crashes the ball, who Don Juan Triumphant, be performed. Upon seeing Christine's engagement ring, the Phantom pursued by Raoul, but Giry stops him. Giry explains when she was a child, she met the Phantom, a deformed young boy, billed as the'Devil's Child' in a freak show and abused by the owner.
When the Phantom rebelled and strangled the man to death, Giry helped him to evade the resulting mob and hid him within the opera house. Christine visits her father's tomb, the Phantom posing as his angel to win her back, but Raoul intervenes. Raoul and the managers plot to capture the Phantom during his opera; the Phantom murders Carlotta's lover, Ubaldo Piangi, takes his place as the male lead to sing opposite Christine. During their passionate duet, Christine unmasks the Phantom, revealing his deformities to the horrified audience; the two escape to the catacombs, bringing down the chandelier, as a mob forms to hunt the Phantom down. Giry leads Raoul down to the catacombs to rescue Christine; the Phantom proposes marriage. Christine admits she does not fear the Phantom for his appearance, but his rage and willingness to kill. Raoul arrives. Christine, pitying the Phantom, kisses him. Moved by her kindness, the Phantom allows the lovers to flee. Before leaving, Christine gives the Phantom her ring in remembrance.
The Phantom finds comfort in the papier-mâché monkey, but vanishes as the mob appear, Meg finding his discarded mask. In 1919, the elderly Raoul visits Christine's gravestone. Before leaving, he notices a freshly laid rose with Christine's ring attached to it, implying the Phantom is alive. Gerard Butler as Erik Emmy Rossum as Christine Daaé Patrick Wilson as Raoul de Chagny Miranda Richardson as Madame Giry Minnie Driver as Carlotta Giudicelli Margaret Preece as Carlotta's singing voice except for "Learn to Be Lonely" Simon Callow as Gilles André Ciarán Hinds as Richard Firmin Victor McGuire as Ubaldo Piangi Jennifer Ellison as Meg Giry Murray Melvin as Monsieur Reyer Kevin McNally as Joseph Buquet James Fleet as Monsieur Lefèvre Ramin Karimloo as Gustave Daaé Warner Bros. purchased the film rights to The Phantom of the Opera in early 1989, granting Andrew Lloyd Webber total artistic control. Despite interest from A-list directors, Lloyd Webber and Warner Bros. hired Joel Schumacher to direct.
The duo wrote the screenplay that same year, while Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman were cast to reprise their roles from the original stage production. Filming was set to begin at Pinewood Studios in England under a $25 million budget. However, the start date was pushed to November 1990 at both Babelsberg Stu
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