Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0006018, Mon, 11 Jun 2001 10:41:31 -0700

Subject
Fw: The "Asphalt Jungle" and Lolita
Date
Body
----- Original Message -----
From: "Barbara Wyllie" <bwyllie@ssees.ac.uk>
To: "Nabokov-L" <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2001 2:21 AM
Subject: The "Asphalt Jungle" and Lolita


I think the thing that struck me most about the scene - apart from the
jukebox connection - was the explicit presentation of what we Brits would
call "a dirty old man", although there is a kind of parallel in the film
with the sugar-daddy role that Alonzo Emmerich (Louis Calhern) plays with
his very young mistress, Angela (Marilyn Monroe). I don't think I've seen
anything like the Doc character in any film of that period or even before,
and apart from the question of whether or not VN had ever seen the film, it
is an extraordinary coincidence that Huston should produce a kind of
nascent
HH in Doc Riedenschneider, simply for the fact that it shows that both men
were thinking along the same very controversial lines at the same time in
the same country!

Barbara Wyllie
London

> > ------------------Barbara --
> >
> > Good post and good thoughts on "The Asphalt Jungle" -- that jukebox
> > scene is
> > pure Huston, and it's one of my favorites. In fact, I think I noted
> > some
> > years ago on this forum, or perhaps in an e-mail to one of the members,
> > how
> > Doc's attraction to this young girl reminded me of Lolita. But the
> > connection with the jukebox eluded me.
> >
> > Whether it gave Nabokov ideas, I don't know. I'd like to hear what
> > Alfred
> > Appel has to say, if he's out there. While the basic plot of "Lolita"
> > had
> > been in VN's head for decades by then, and Humbert is a comparatively
> > younger man than old Doc, it would not surprise to me learn that VN got
> > the
> > jukebox detail from Huston.
> >
> > Rodney Welch
> > Columbia, SC
> >
> > > From: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@gte.net>
> > > Organization: International Nabokov Society
> > > Reply-To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> > > Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2001 10:13:50 -0700
> > > To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
> > > Subject: "The Asphalt Jungle" and Lolita
> > >
> > > ------------------
> > >
> > > 'Doc' Riedenschneider (Sam Jaffe), criminal mastermind and brain
behind
> > > the
> > > heist in John Huston's 'The Asphalt Jungle' (1950), displays
distinctly
> > > Humbertian tendencies - he has a weakness for teenage girls. Early in
> > > the
> > > film we see him distracted by pin-up girls on a calendar, but this
small
> > > detail of characterisation is played out expertly at the end of the
film
> > > when the Doc gets caught by the police because he stays too long in a
> > > roadside cafe watching a pretty teenager dancing to a jukebox.
Although
> > > he
> > > is running away with a case full of stolen jewels, the vision of this
> > > girl
> > > dancing stops him in his tracks, so much so that he even supplies her
> > > with a
> > > pile of nickels to feed into the jukebox so that he can watch her for
a
> > > little bit longer. The parallels with HH feeding nickels into
'gorgeous
> > > jukeboxes' are marked, but there are also echoes of Lo in this young
> > > anonymous girl. She is an innocent, totally unaware of the Doc's
> > > motives,
> > > and is simply grateful that someone is letting her have some fun. She
is
> > > quite happy to oblige this older man, and has only just been
complaining
> > > to
> > > her boyfriend that he doesn't know how to give her a good time on a
> > > date.
> > > Huston, however, ensures that the audience senses the danger in her
> > > blindness to the Doc's response to her, whilst the suspense generated
by
> > > the
> > > tension between these two characters both complements and amplifies
the
> > > overall suspense of the movie. The parallels between the 'Doc' and HH
> > > are
> > > overt. The Doc is a European, a German, and like HH, his perversion is
> > > related to the idea of his being an alien and therefore solitary
figure.
> > > And
> > > of course, like HH, his weakness leads to his ultimate demise.
> > >
> > > I wonder, if VN saw this film (it was nominated for several Oscars in
> > > 1951),
> > > whether it gave him a few ideas...
> > >
> > > Barbara Wyllie
> > > bwyllie@ssees.ac.uk
> >
>
>
> Barbara Wyllie
> Assistant Editor
>
> SLAVONIC AND EAST EUROPEAN REVIEW
> SSEES, University College London
> Senate House, Malet Street
> London WC1E 7HU
> tel: (44) 20 7862 8536; fax: (44) 20 7862 8641
> email: seer@ssees.ac.uk
>