Hey folks, Harry here... 5 years after Jack The Ripper, a Devil of a killer visited the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. The greatest fair the world had ever seen. One of the fetishes I have is a collection of World's Fair Items and histories and the book that Kathryn Bigelow has chosen to adapt as her next feature film is absolutely thrilling. A non-fiction title by Erik Larson entitled, THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY: MURDER, MAGIC AND MADNESS AT THE FAIR THAT CHANGED AMERICA.
Now, if I could pick the screenwriter for this film, it would have been Ted Tally, but Bigelow has chosen her current favorite screenwriter Christopher Kyle to undertake the adaptation process. While I felt his script for K-19: WIDOWMAKER was quite a bit stale, his work on Oliver Stone's ALEXANDER is absolutely outstanding. I continue to root for Bigelow to find the film that she'll knock out of the park, and there is a great film in this material. God, I would have loved for this material to fall into Nicholas Meyer's hands... Sigh... Anyway, here's Amazon's brief take on Larson's novel...
amazon.com
Author Erik Larson imbues the incredible events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with such drama that readers may find themselves checking the book's categorization to be sure that The Devil in the White City is not, in fact, a highly imaginative novel. Larson tells the stories of two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor. Burnham's challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair's incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison. The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World's Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims. Combining the stories of an architect and a killer in one book, mostly in alternating chapters, seems like an odd choice but it works. The magical appeal and horrifying dark side of 19th-century Chicago are both revealed through Larson's skillful writing. --John Moe
There's a part of me that just wishes this film would have that dreamy look of films like OBSESSION or DON'T LOOK NOW or Argento's films like DEEP RED or BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE or FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET... the material completely has that giallo sort of vibe to it... those lurid colors and soft lit scenes... Ok, excuse me, I'm geeking out a bit regarding how I'd dream to see the material treated. Hope you enjoyed the World's Fair imagery...
