Spoilers. Observations. Opinions.
Excellent. GWTW imitation or no, it was interesting. Here we have an Irishman, unlike an Irish-American woman as in GWTW. That's for starters. Fox liked tartified women, and Rhett also enjoyed that genre.
Later on (I am jumping here), I was watching Maureen on the balcony. I was thinking that the little horse-riding boy was going to attempt the jump and break his neck, as in GWTW's Bonnie Blue Butler, but the demise here came from a different scene on the staircase. Ouch. Fox/Rhett was shattered. Still, macho man Fox/Rhett had to act the big shot and have his own way.
Maspero's: I have been to it, a still-existing restaurant in French Quarter New Orleans. It says it is the original Maspero's, since there is another another place called Maspero's on another street in the Quarter. I know that the whole neighborhood goes back to the film's slavery era and earlier, since New Orleans originated in 1718 (they celebrated their 300th birthday last year, in 2018). I assume from this film that the original Maspero's had gambling and slave sales, as well as food and spirits. Nowadays, it is a nice, touristy restaurant.
The neighborhood today (I stay at a hotel nearby Maspero's) was formerly a mecca for sales of cotton and slaves. The hotel, hundreds of years old, was also a cotton warehouse, back in the day.
In this film, voodoo and witchcraft are mentioned. I was expecting the agitated slaves to rise up and attack the white people. The scenes were ripe for a slave revolt. I thought that Stephen Fox, being quite the evil man, would get his comeuppance in this manner.
Belle (name from GWTW ???) looked like a dead ringer for a certain modern actress in blaxploitation films. Belle was one tough cookie. Her son was going to be a warrior, and beat the crap out of honky, stupid white man.
Slave importation to this country ended in 1809. The slave sales depicted in this film could have been because owners decided to sell them to others, or were even financially too poor to keep them. The time period depicted in this film was way after 1809.
Fox was a sly one (pun). He was so astute with money that he correctly predicted the huge financial disaster to come. Did he panic (another pun)? No, he did not. He just decided to ride it out and buy up all the dead estates of suddenly poverty-stricken high rollers. Besides, ol' Fox could start all over again, since he came here penniless. He was a great opportunist, rather like Rhett Butler.
Fox was one mean husband. Shudder. Ugh. I would have kicked him in the almonds and cashews (figure that one out). Lock the door on him? I would have hit him over the head with it, that dimwitted (as far as a husband) SOB.
I am an historian who has studied slavery, among my required coursework for my history degree from a certain university. As an aside, I feel that the slaves in this film were portrayed much more scarily (is that a word?) and realistically, than those in GWTW. Some of GWTW's slaves appeared to be almost cartoon characters.
In real life, slaves in the New Orleans area were permitted to go out on Sundays and congregate in a park, having dances, singing and religious meetings. They were reminiscing about their African roots. In this film, I was reminded of this when Fox rode up to this large group and accused them of witchcraft. Fox, from France, may have been of the Catholic religion. In real life, as a matter of fact, some early New Orleans African Americans began practicing a blend of island voodoo and Roman Catholicism.
10/10, even though I hate black and white.
Excellent. GWTW imitation or no, it was interesting. Here we have an Irishman, unlike an Irish-American woman as in GWTW. That's for starters. Fox liked tartified women, and Rhett also enjoyed that genre.
Later on (I am jumping here), I was watching Maureen on the balcony. I was thinking that the little horse-riding boy was going to attempt the jump and break his neck, as in GWTW's Bonnie Blue Butler, but the demise here came from a different scene on the staircase. Ouch. Fox/Rhett was shattered. Still, macho man Fox/Rhett had to act the big shot and have his own way.
Maspero's: I have been to it, a still-existing restaurant in French Quarter New Orleans. It says it is the original Maspero's, since there is another another place called Maspero's on another street in the Quarter. I know that the whole neighborhood goes back to the film's slavery era and earlier, since New Orleans originated in 1718 (they celebrated their 300th birthday last year, in 2018). I assume from this film that the original Maspero's had gambling and slave sales, as well as food and spirits. Nowadays, it is a nice, touristy restaurant.
The neighborhood today (I stay at a hotel nearby Maspero's) was formerly a mecca for sales of cotton and slaves. The hotel, hundreds of years old, was also a cotton warehouse, back in the day.
In this film, voodoo and witchcraft are mentioned. I was expecting the agitated slaves to rise up and attack the white people. The scenes were ripe for a slave revolt. I thought that Stephen Fox, being quite the evil man, would get his comeuppance in this manner.
Belle (name from GWTW ???) looked like a dead ringer for a certain modern actress in blaxploitation films. Belle was one tough cookie. Her son was going to be a warrior, and beat the crap out of honky, stupid white man.
Slave importation to this country ended in 1809. The slave sales depicted in this film could have been because owners decided to sell them to others, or were even financially too poor to keep them. The time period depicted in this film was way after 1809.
Fox was a sly one (pun). He was so astute with money that he correctly predicted the huge financial disaster to come. Did he panic (another pun)? No, he did not. He just decided to ride it out and buy up all the dead estates of suddenly poverty-stricken high rollers. Besides, ol' Fox could start all over again, since he came here penniless. He was a great opportunist, rather like Rhett Butler.
Fox was one mean husband. Shudder. Ugh. I would have kicked him in the almonds and cashews (figure that one out). Lock the door on him? I would have hit him over the head with it, that dimwitted (as far as a husband) SOB.
I am an historian who has studied slavery, among my required coursework for my history degree from a certain university. As an aside, I feel that the slaves in this film were portrayed much more scarily (is that a word?) and realistically, than those in GWTW. Some of GWTW's slaves appeared to be almost cartoon characters.
In real life, slaves in the New Orleans area were permitted to go out on Sundays and congregate in a park, having dances, singing and religious meetings. They were reminiscing about their African roots. In this film, I was reminded of this when Fox rode up to this large group and accused them of witchcraft. Fox, from France, may have been of the Catholic religion. In real life, as a matter of fact, some early New Orleans African Americans began practicing a blend of island voodoo and Roman Catholicism.
10/10, even though I hate black and white.