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1,721,255 | The Midwich Cuckoos | Village of the Damned | Ambulances arrive at two traffic accidents which block the only roads into the fictional British village of Midwich, Winshire. Attempting to approach the village, one paramedic falls unconscious. Suspecting gas poisoning, the army is called in. However, they find that a caged canary becomes unconscious upon entering the affected region, but regains consciousness when removed. Further experiments show the region to be a hemisphere with a diameter of around the village. Aerial photography reveals an unidentifiable ground-based silver object in the centre of the created exclusion zone. After one day the effect vanishes along with the unidentified object, and the villagers wake with no apparent ill effects. Some months later, the villagers realise that every woman of child-bearing age is pregnant, with all indications that the pregnancies were caused by xenogenesis during the period of unconsciousness referred to as the "Dayout". When the 31 boys and 30 girls are born they appear normal except for their unusual, golden eyes and pale, silvery skin. These children have none of the genetic characteristics of their parents. As they grow up, it becomes increasingly apparent that they are, at least in some respects, not human. They possess telepathic abilities, and can control others' actions. The Children (they are referred to with a capital 'C') have two distinct group minds: one for the boys and another for the girls. Their physical development is accelerated compared to that of humans; upon reaching the age of nine, they appear to be sixteen-year-olds. The Children protect themselves as much as possible using a form of mind control. One young man who accidentally hits a Child in the hip while driving a car is made to drive into a wall and kill himself. A bull who chased the Children is forced into a pond to drown. The villagers form a mob and try to burn down the Midwich Grange, where the Children are taught and live, but the Children make the villagers attack each other. The Military Intelligence department learn that the same thing has taken place in four other parts of the world, including an Inuit settlement in the Canadian Arctic, a small township in Australia's Northern Territory, and a rural Siberian village. The Inuit instinctively killed the newborn Children, sensing they were not their own. The Australian babies had all died within a few weeks, suggesting that something may have gone wrong with their xenogenesis process. The Siberian village was destroyed by the Soviet government, using nuclear weapons, claiming that it was an accident. The Children are aware of the threat against them, and use their power to prevent any aeroplanes from flying over the village. During an interview with a Military Intelligence officer the Children explain that to solve the problem they must be destroyed. They explain it is not possible to kill them unless the entire village is bombed, which results in civilian deaths. It is revealed that the Children have put up an ultimatum: The Children want to migrate to a secure location, where they can live unharmed. They demand aeroplanes from the government. An elderly, educated Midwich resident (Gordon Zellaby) realises the Children must be killed as soon as possible. As he has a only a few weeks left to live due to a heart condition, he feels an obligation to do something. He has acted as a teacher and mentor to the Children and they regard him with as much affection as they can have for any human, letting him approach them more closely than they do with others. One evening, he - in effect abusing their trust - hides a bomb in his projection equipment, while showing the Children a film about the Aegean Islands of Ancient Greece. At an unspecified moment, Zellaby sets off the bomb, killing himself and all of the children. The title is a reference to the cuckoo bird, which lays its eggs in the nest of other birds in the hopes that they will raise the cuckoo's offspring as their own. | The quiet coastal town of Midwich, California, is invaded by an unseen force which leaves ten women mysteriously pregnant. Nine months later, the babies are born simultaneously on one night, except for one which is stillborn. At first, they all appear to be normal, but it does not take the parents long to realize that their children are anything but normal. As they grow older, the children are shown to have pale skin, white hair, fierce intellect and steely, cobalt eyes. The emotionless children display eerie psychic abilities and remarkable powers, which they use with deadly consequences, unleashing a reign of terror. When they actively use their mind-control powers, their irises or their entire eyes glow in different colours, mostly reddish-orange, but also green, yellow, violet, blue or pure white. The children soon "pair off," but one of the boys, David, loses his partner after she dies at birth. As a result, he shows human compassion while still resembling the other children and retaining some degree of psychic powers. This leads to David not fitting in well with the rest of the alien offspring. Their leader, Mara , considers him less important due to his expression of emotions. Because of his childhood loss, he understands what the other children do not: pain. He and his mother Jill McGowan share a brief conversation about this, with David understanding that if he feels pain, he can understand others' pain also. When the other children experience pain, they simply use their powers to inflict the same pain on the adult responsible for the pain. Soon it is revealed that there are other colonies of psychic children in foreign countries, but they were quickly eliminated because their "parents" realised that they were evil. The scientific team at Midwich quickly flees the town to escape the chaos. However, the lead government scientist, Dr. Susan Verner, is killed by the children after being forced to show them the preserved stillborn corpse who was intended to be David's partner. Susan has secretly kept it so that she could perform an autopsy and study it. A mob of angry townspeople attempt to stop the children, but the latter use their powers to kill the leader of the mob, causing the other townspeople to flee quickly. The State Police and the National Guard are then sent out to kill the children, who instead hypnotize them into shooting each other in a chaotic gun battle. In order to rid the town of the children, Alan devises a plan: to detonate a briefcase of explosives inside the children's classroom. By thinking of a brick wall, he is able to create a mental barrier and keep the presence of the bomb a secret from the children. Jill begs him to save David , and Alan agrees. He attempts to do this by asking David to leave the classroom to get his notebook from his car. Finally, Jill shows up, but the children stop her. David, angered by this, rushes to her defense and knocks Mara over. The children turn on David, but Jill rushes him from the building. At last, within a few seconds of the end of the bomb countdown, the children break through Alan's defenses, the explosives detonate, destroying the barn and killing everyone, including Alan. Jill and David survive the massacre; she says that they will both move to a place where nobody knows them. David, riding in his mother's car, looks off into the distance as they drive away. | 0.76535 | positive | 0.331255 | positive | 0.989962 |
10,071,292 | Along Came a Spider | Along Came a Spider | Washington, D.C. homicide investigator and forensic psychologist Alex Cross investigates the brutal murders of two black prostitutes and an infant. Then, at an exclusive private school, math teacher Gary Soneji kidnaps Maggie Rose Dunne and Michael Goldberg. Cross is pulled off the murder case to investigate the kidnapping instead. Angry because he feels everyone cares more about two rich white children than tree dead black people, he meets Jezzie Flannagan, the head of the children's Secret Service detail. At an old farmhouse, Soneji buries the children alive in specially made coffin. Angered by FBI agent Roger Graham's contemptuous comments about him on TV, Soneji later impersonates a reporter and kills Graham. Meanwhile, Cross, his partner John Sampson and the FBI search Soneji's apartment, discovering his obsession with kidnappings, particularly that of the Lindbergh baby, and his desire to become a world famous criminal. A next few months later, Michael Goldberg's corpse is discovered, and the Dunnes receive a telegram demanding $10 million. Cross, Sampson and the FBI investigate, and Cross begins an affair with Jezzie Flannagan. He is ordered to deliver the money to Walt Disney World in Orlando, wondering how Soneji knows about his involvement. A man takes him on a plane, flying to a small island and taking the money, but never delivering Maggie Rose. At the old farmhouse, police officers find the empty graves where the children were held. Soneji returns to his home in Wilmington, Delaware, where it is revealed he has a wife and a daughter. In Washington DC, Soneji, dressed as a public utility employee, murders a teacher from the private school. Cross and Sampson are sent to the scene and, seeing the way he mutilated the body, quickly realize that Soneji is also behind the killings they investigated before and after the kidnapping. In the murdered prostitutes' neighborhood, an elderly woman recalls a man driving going door to door selling heating systems. They soon find out that a man named Gary Murphy works for the company, and put observation on his family home in Wilmington, but Soneji manages to escape. A day later, he walks into a McDonald's and holds several people hostage. Soneji is almost killed, but Cross saves him, as he believes Soneji knows where Maggie is. The criminal promises Cross will regret saving his life. The trial of Gary Soneji/Murphy lasts eleven months. Cross hypnotizes him several times, learning he seems to have a split personality; Gary Murphy, his everyday persona, is a gentle family man, while Gary Soneji is a vicious sociopath. Despite the defense's best effort at an insanity plea, Soneji is imprisoned. Meanwhile, Cross learns that someone was following Soneji and knew about the kidnapping. Cross suspects Mike Devine and Charley Chakely, the Secret Service agents in charge of protecting Maggie Rose and Michael when they were kidnapped. He meets with Soneji, who confirms he may have been followed. He did not make the connection until he recognized the man at his trial: Mike Devine. Cross meets with the FBI, who have believed for some time that Devine and Chakely took the ransom money, hiring and later murdering the pilot from Florida. Cross also learns that no other than Jezzie Flannagan masterminded the kidnapping using her lover, Devine, as a pawn. Around the same time, Soneji escapes from prison and goes to Washington, where he tortures Devine to find out where the ransom money is. After retrieving the money, he kills Devine. Cross takes Flannagan on a Caribbean getaway, and confronts her about her actions. She explains that Devine and Chakely noticed Soneji driving by the Goldberg house, and followed him. The ransom was her idea, and they removed Maggie Rose after Michael died accidentally. Flannagan is arrested based on a recording Sampson made of the conversation, and Maggie Rose is found with a family in South America, where she had been living for the past two years. Shortly after this, Soneji attacks Cross at his Washington home, attempting to kill his grandmother and children. Losing the fight, Soneji is hunted through the capital and eventually cornered on Pennsylvania Avenue, where he takes two children hostage. Soneji is about to shoot Cross, but Sampson shoots Soneji first, wounding him. Some time later, Charley Chakely and Jezzie Flannagan are executed for their crimes, while Soneji is locked up in a mental institution. He writes a last taunting letter to Cross and bribes a guard to leave it on Cross' windshield. Disturbed but unwilling to let the psychopath disrupt his life any further, Cross returns home to spend time with his family. | {{See also}} After Washington, D.C. detective, forensic psychologist, and author Alex Cross loses control of a sting operation, resulting in the death of his partner, he opts to retire from the force. He finds himself drawn back to police work when Megan Rose , the daughter of a United States senator, is kidnapped from her exclusive private school by computer science teacher Gary Soneji . U.S. Secret Service Special Agent Jezzie Flannigan , held responsible for the breach in security, joins forces with Cross to find the missing girl. Soneji contacts Cross by phone and alerts him to the fact one of Megan's sneakers is in the detective's mailbox, proving he's the kidnapper. Cross deduces the man is obsessed with the 1932 Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. kidnapping and hopes to become as infamous as Bruno Hauptmann by committing a new "Crime of the Century" that might be discussed by Cross in one of his true crime books. Megan's kidnapping proves to be only part of Soneji's real plan: to kidnap the son of the Russian president, Dimitri Starodubov , guaranteeing himself greater infamy. After Cross and Flannigan foil his second kidnapping plot, a supposed call from the kidnapper demands that Cross deliver a ransom of $10 million in diamonds by following an intricate maze of calls made to public phone booths scattered throughout the city. Cross ultimately tosses the gems out the window of a rapidly moving Metro train to a figure standing by the tracks. When Soneji later arrives at Flannigan's home and confronts Cross after disabling Jezzie with a taser, the detective realizes the kidnapper is unaware of the ransom demand and delivery. Soneji tries to leave with Flannigan but Cross kills him. Cross becomes suspicious and realizes that someone discovered Soneji long before his plot came to fruition. After searching Flannigan's home computer, he finds enough evidence to prove that Jezzie and her fellow Secret Service agent, Ben Devine ([[Billy Burke , used Soneji as a pawn in their own plot. He tracks them down to a secluded farmhouse where Flannigan has murdered Devine and is now intent on eliminating Megan Rose. Cross saves Megan and shoots Flannigan in the heart, killing her. | 0.708721 | positive | 0.990036 | positive | 0.98944 |
4,287,489 | Frankenstein | Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell | Frankenstein is written in the form of a frame story that starts with Captain Robert Walton writing letters to his sister. The novel Frankenstein is written in epistolary form, documenting a correspondence between Captain Robert Walton and his sister, Margaret Walton Saville. Walton is a failed writer who sets out to explore the North Pole and expand his scientific knowledge in hopes of achieving fame. During the voyage the crew spots a dog sled mastered by a gigantic figure. A few hours later, the crew rescues a nearly frozen and emaciated man named Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein has been in pursuit of the gigantic man observed by Walton's crew. Frankenstein starts to recover from his exertion; he sees in Walton the same over-ambitiousness and recounts a story of his life's miseries to Walton as a warning. Victor begins by telling of his childhood. Born into a wealthy family in Geneva, he is encouraged to seek a greater understanding of the world around him through science. He grows up in a safe environment, surrounded by loving family and friends. When he is around 4 years old, his parents adopt Elizabeth Lavenza, an orphan whose mother has just died (she is Victor's biological cousin in the first edition, but an adopted child with no blood relation in the 1831 edition). Victor has a possessive infatuation with Elizabeth. He has two younger brothers: Ernest and William. As a young boy, Victor is obsessed with studying outdated theories of science that focus on achieving natural wonders. He plans to attend the University of Ingolstadt in Germany. Weeks before his planned departure, his mother dies of scarlet fever. At university, he excels at chemistry and other sciences, and develops a secret technique to imbue inanimate bodies with life. The details of the monster's construction are left ambiguous, but Frankenstein finds himself forced to make the creature roughly eight feet tall because of the difficulty in replicating the minute parts of the human body. His creation, which he has hoped would be beautiful, is instead hideous, with dull yellow eyes, and a withered, translucent, yellowish skin that barely conceals the muscular system and blood vessels. After bringing his creation to life, Victor is repulsed by his work: he flees the room, and the monster disappears. Victor becomes ill from the experience. He is nursed back to health by his childhood friend, Henry Clerval. After a four-month recovery, he determines that he should return home when his brother William is found murdered. Upon arriving in Geneva, he sees the monster near the site of the murder, and becomes certain it is the killer. William's nanny, Justine, is hanged for the murder based on the discovery of William's locket in her pocket. Victor, though certain the monster is responsible, doubts anyone would believe him, and does not intervene. Ravaged by his grief and self-reproach, Victor retreats into the mountains to find peace. The monster approaches him, ignoring his threats and pleading with Victor to hear its tale. Intelligent and articulate, it tells Victor of its encounters with people, and how it had become afraid of them and spent a year living near a cottage, observing the DeLacey family living there and growing fond of them. Through observing the De Lacey family, the monster became educated and self-aware. It also discovered a lost satchel of books and learned to read. Seeing its reflection in a pool, it realized that its physical appearance is hideous compared to the humans it watches. Though it eventually approached the family with hope of becoming their fellow, they were frightened by its appearance and drove it off, and then left the residence permanently. The creature, in a fit of rage, burned the cottage and left. In its travels some time later, the monster saw a young girl tumble into a stream and rescued her from drowning. A man, seeing it with the child in its arms, pursued it and fired a gun, wounding it. Traveling to Geneva, it met a little boy — Victor's brother William - in the woods outside the town of Plainpalais. The monster hoped the boy was too young to fear deformity, but upon its approach, William cried out, threatening the monster with the weight of his family - the Frankensteins. The creature grabbed the boy by the throat to silence him, and strangled him. It is unclear from the text whether this was an accident on the monster's part or a deliberate murder, but in either case, the monster took this as its first act of vengeance against its creator. It removed a locket from the boy's body and placed it in the folds of the dress of a young woman — William's nanny, Justine — who had been sleeping in a barn nearby, assuming she would be accused of the murder. The monster concludes its story with a demand that Frankenstein create for it a female companion like itself. It argues that as a living thing, it has a right to happiness and that Victor, as its creator, has a duty to obey it, with the chilling words, "You are my creator, but I am your master. Obey!" It promises that if Victor grants its request, it and its mate will vanish into the wilderness of South America uninhabited by man, never to reappear. Fearing for his family, Victor reluctantly agrees and travels to England to do his work. He is accompanied by Clerval, but they separate in Scotland. Through their travels, Victor suspects that the monster is following him. Working on a second being on the Orkney Islands, he is plagued by premonitions of what his work might wreak, particularly as creating a mate for the creature might lead to the breeding of an entire race of monsters that could plague mankind. He destroys the unfinished example after he sees the monster looking through the window. The monster witnesses this and, confronting Victor, vows to be with Victor on his upcoming wedding night. The monster murders Clerval and leaves the corpse on an Irish beach, where Victor lands upon leaving the island. Victor is imprisoned for the murder of Clerval, and becomes seriously ill, suffering another mental breakdown in prison. After being acquitted, and with his health renewed, he returns home with his father. Once home, Victor marries his cousin Elizabeth and prepares for a fight to the death with the monster. Wrongly believing the monster's vowed revenge was for his own life, he asks Elizabeth to retire to her room for the night while he goes looking for the fiend. He searches the house and grounds, but the creature murders the secluded Elizabeth instead. Victor sees the monster at the window pointing at the corpse. Grief-stricken by the deaths of William, Justine, Clerval, and now Elizabeth, Victor's father dies. Victor vows to pursue the monster until one of them annihilates the other. After months of pursuit, the two end up in the Arctic Circle, near the North Pole. At the end of Victor's narrative, Captain Walton resumes the telling of the story. A few days after the vanishing of the creature, the ship becomes entombed in ice and Walton's crew insists on returning south once they are freed. In spite of a passionate speech from Frankenstein, encouraging the crew to push further north, Walton realizes that he must relent to his men's demands and agrees to head for home. Frankenstein dies shortly thereafter, not before imploring Captain Walton to carry his mission of vengeance to its completion. "The task of his destruction was mine, but I have failed. When actuated by selfish and vicious motives, I asked you to take up my unfinished work; and I renew this request now, when I am only induced by reason and virtue." Walton discovers the monster on his ship, mourning over Frankenstein's body. Walton hears the monster's adamant justification for its vengeance as well as expressions of remorse. Frankenstein's death has not brought it peace. Rather, its crimes have increased its misery and alienation; it has found only its own emotional ruin in the destruction of its creator. It vows to exterminate itself on its own funeral pyre so that no others will ever know of its existence. Walton watches as it drifts away on an ice raft that is soon lost in darkness. | In this final film in the series, Baron Victor Frankenstein is housed at an insane asylum. He has been made a surgeon at the asylum, and has a number of privileges, as he holds secret information on the asylum's corrupt director ([[John Stratton . The Baron, under the alias of Dr. Carl Victor, uses his position to continue his experiments in the creation of man. When Simon Helder , a young doctor and fan of the Baron's work, arrives as an inmate, the Baron takes him under his wing as an apprentice. Together they work on a new creature. Unbeknownst to Simon, however, Frankenstein is acquiring body parts by murdering his patients. The Baron's new experiment is the hulking, ape-like Herr Schneider , a homicidal inmate whom he has kept alive after a violent suicide attempt and on whom he has grafted the hands of a recently deceased sculptor . Since Frankenstein's hands were badly burned in the name of science , the shabby stitch-work was done by Sarah , a beautiful mute girl who assists the surgeon, and who is nicknamed "Angel". Simon tells the Baron that he is a surgeon, and the problem is solved. Soon new eyes and a new brain are given to the creature in horror gore fashion. When the creature - lumbering, hirsute and dumb - is complete, it is bitter and intent on revenge. It ultimately runs amuck in the insane asylum, until it is eventually overpowered and destroyed by a mob of inmates. Simon is devastated by the loss of life and reports to Frankenstein; however, the Baron feels that it was the best that could happen to such a creature, and is already considering a new experiment with other involuntary donors. | 0.68692 | positive | 0.990864 | positive | 0.988304 |
461,364 | Cold Mountain | Cold Mountain | The novel opens in a Confederate military hospital where the protagonist, Inman, is recovering from a recent battle wound. Tired of fighting for a cause he never believed in and longing for his home at Cold Mountain, North Carolina, he decides to desert from the Confederate Army and sets out on an epic journey home. The narrative alternates between the story of Inman and that of Ada Monroe, a minister's daughter recently relocated from Charleston to the rural mountain community of Cold Mountain. Though they only knew each other for a brief time before Inman departed for the war, it is largely the hope of seeing Ada again that drives Inman to desert the army and make the dangerous journey back to Cold Mountain. Details of their brief history together are told at intervals in flashback over the course of the novel. At Cold Mountain, Ada's father soon dies and the farm where the genteel city-bred Ada lives, named Black Cove, is soon reduced to a state of disrepair. A young woman named Ruby, outspoken and resourceful, soon moves in and begins to help Ada to overcome her circumstances and the two of them form a close friendship as they attempt to survive in this harsh war-torn environment. Inman's journey to return to Ada is perilous. He faces starvation, extreme weather, the constant harassment of the Home Guard sent to track down deserters, and the treachery of other desperate individuals. He is at times aided in his journey by strangers equally affected by the horrors of war. Frazier's narrative depicts a bleak landscape of America during the Civil War focusing on the emotional and psychological scars left upon combatants and citizens alike. | The story is told in a series of flashbacks from the viewpoint of W. P. Inman , a quiet man from a provincial North Carolina town. He meets Ada , the new preacher's daughter. However, as their relationship begins to develop, the Civil War begins and Inman is compelled to join the fray. The film opens in July 1864 at the Siege of Petersburg. After suffering a serious wound, Inman is sent to a Confederate military hospital where he recovers alongside other soldiers who, like himself, have become disaffected by the prolonged and horrifically destructive war. As he faces the inevitability of being sent back to the war, and after receiving a letter from Ada imploring him to return home to Cold Mountain, he decides to desert the army and sets off in the night to make the perilous journey home. Inman's journey to return to Ada is fraught with danger and unexpected encounters with other desperate individuals, some treacherous and some sympathetic. He faces starvation, extreme weather, and the constant harassment of the ruthless Confederate Home Guard, led by the vicious Teague , sent to track down deserters. He is at times aided in his journey by strangers equally affected by the horrors of war. As Inman journeys home, Ada is left destitute and desperate back at Cold Mountain after the death of her father. She is aided by a young woman named Ruby Thewes who is determined to help Ada and her farm at Black Cove survive through the worsening conditions of the war-ravaged South. Ruby is reunited with her estranged fiddle-playing deserter father, Stobrod, whose return threatens to bring disaster to Black Cove. The film alternates between Inman's epic journey and Ada's trials at Cold Mountain, while telling through flashbacks the story of Ada and Inman's brief love affair before the war tore them apart. | 0.868966 | positive | 0.998303 | positive | 0.998745 |
4,029,751 | The Phantom of the Opera | The Phantom of the Opera | The novel opens with a prologue in which Gaston Leroux claims that Erik, the "Phantom of the Opera", was a real person. We are then introduced to Christine Daaé who with her father, a famous fiddler, travelled all over Europe playing folk and religious music. Her father was known to be the best wedding-fiddler in the land. When Christine is six, her mother dies and her father is brought to rural France by a patron, Professor Valerius. During Christine's childhood (which is described retrospectively in the early chapters of the book), her father tells her many stories featuring an "Angel of Music", who, like a muse, is the personification of musical inspiration. Christine meets and befriends the young Raoul, Viscount of Chagny, who also enjoys her father's many stories. One of Christine and Raoul's favourite stories is one of Little Lotte, a girl with golden hair and blue eyes who is visited by the Angel of Music and possesses a heavenly voice. On his deathbed, Christine's father tells her that he will send the Angel of Music to her from Heaven. Christine now lives with Mamma Valerius, the elderly widow of her father's benefactor. Christine is eventually given a position in the chorus at the Paris Opera House (Palais Garnier). Not long after she arrives there, she begins hearing a beautiful, unearthly voice which sings to her and speaks to her. She believes this must be the Angel of Music and asks him if he is. The Voice agrees and offers to teach her "a little bit of heaven's music". The Voice, however, belongs to Erik, a physically-deformed and mentally-disturbed charismatic genius who was one of the architects who took part in the construction of the opera and who secretly built a home for himself in the cellars. He has been extorting money from the Opera's management for many years. Unknown to Christine, at least at first, he falls in love with her. With the help of the Voice, Christine triumphs at the gala on the night of the old managers' retirement. Her old childhood friend Raoul hears her and remembers his love for her. A time after the gala, the Paris Opera performs Faust, with the prima donna Carlotta playing the lead. In response to a refused surrender of Box Five to the Opera Ghost, Carlotta loses her voice and the Opera's grand chandelier plummets into the audience. After the chandelier accident, Erik kidnaps Christine to his home in the cellars and reveals his true identity. He plans to keep her there only a few days, hoping she will come to love him, and Christine begins to find herself attracted to her abductor. But she causes Erik to change his plans when she unmasks him and, to the horror of both, beholds his face, which according to the book, resembles the face of a rotting corpse. Erik goes into a frenzy, stating she probably thinks his face is another mask, and whilst digging her fingers in to show it was really his face he shouts, "I am Don Juan Triumphant!" before crawling away, crying. Fearing that she will leave him, he decides to keep her with him forever, but when Christine requests release after two weeks, he agrees on condition that she wear his ring and be faithful to him. Up on the roof of the Opera, Christine tells Raoul of Erik taking her to the cellars. Raoul promises to take Christine away where Erik can never find her and to take her even if she resists. Raoul tells Christine he shall act on his promise the following day, to which Christine agrees, but she pities Erik and will not go until she has sung for him one last time. Christine then realizes the ring has slipped off her finger and fallen into the streets somewhere, and begins to panic. The two leave. But neither is aware that Erik has been listening to their conversation or that it has driven him to jealous frenzy. During the week and that night, Erik has been terrorising anyone who stood in his way or in that of Christine's career, including the managers. The following night, Erik kidnaps Christine during a production of Faust (by drugging the gas men and switching the lights off, he spirits Christine off the stage before anyone turned the lights on). Back in the cellars, Erik tries to force Christine into marriage. If she refuses he threatens to destroy the entire Opera using explosives he has planted in the cellars, killing them and everyone in the floors above. Christine continues to refuse, until she realizes that Raoul and an old acquaintance of Erik's known only as "The Persian", in an attempt to rescue her, have been trapped in Erik's hot torture chamber. To save them and the people above, Christine agrees to marry Erik. At first, Erik tries to drown Raoul and the Persian in the water used to douse the explosives, stating that Christine doesn't need another. But Christine begs and offers to be his "living bride", promising him not to kill herself after becoming his bride, as she had both contemplated and attempted earlier in the novel. Erik rescues the Persian and the young Raoul from his torture chamber thereafter. When Erik is alone with Christine, he lifts his mask a little to kiss her on the forehead, and Christine allows him to do this. Erik, who admits that he has never before in his life received or been allowed to give a kiss – not even from his own mother – is overcome with emotion. Christine gives him a kiss back. He lets Christine go and tells her "Go and marry the boy whenever you wish," explaining, "I know you love him". She leaves on the condition that when he dies she will come back and bury him. Being an old acquaintance, The Persian is told of all these secrets by Erik himself, and upon his express request, the Persian advertises Erik's death in the newspaper about three weeks later. The cause of death is revealed to be a broken heart, and as promised, Christine returns to bury Erik and give his ring back to him. | The film opens in Victorian London on a December night in 1900. The first night of the season at the London Opera House finds the opening of a new opera by Lord Ambrose D'Arcy , a wealthy and pompous man, who is annoyed and scornful when the opera manager Lattimer informs him the theater has not been completely sold out. No one will sit in a certain box because it is haunted. Backstage, despite the soothing efforts of the opera's producer, Harry Hunter , everyone, including the show's star, Maria, is nervous and upset as if a sinister force was at work. The climax comes during Maria's first aria, when a side of the scenery rips apart to reveal the body of a hanged stage hand. In a panic, the curtain is rung down, and Maria refuses to sing again. With the show postponed, Harry frantically auditions new singers. He finds a promising young star in Christine Charles , one of the chorus girls. D'Arcy lecherously approves of the selection, and invites Christine to dinner. In her dressing room after the audition, Christine is warned against D'Arcy by a phantom voice. At dinner, D'Arcy attempts to seduce her, but as they are about to leave to his apartment, she is saved by Harry. On the ride back home, Christine tells Harry about the voice she heard. Intrigued, Harry takes Christine back to the opera house, where in her dressing room, a voice tells Harry to leave her there and go. At the same time, a rat catcher is murdered by the Phantom's lackey, a dwarf ([[Ian Wilson . Investigating the murder, Harry leaves Christine by herself, where she is approached by a man dressed in black, wearing a mask with only one eye—The Phantom of the Opera. Her scream scares the man away, and Harry takes her home. The next day, D'Arcy sends his dismissal to Christine, and when Harry refuses to accept a more willing but less talented singer, he is also dismissed. Visiting Christine at her boarding house, Harry finds some old manuscripts which he recognizes as a rough draft of the opera he has been producing. Questioning Christine's landlady Mrs. Tucker, he learns that it was written by a former boarder by the name of Professor Petrie, who had been killed in a fire at a printers that was to print his music. Making further inquiries, he learns that Petrie did not actually perish in the fire, but was splashed with Nitric Acid while apparently trying to extinguish the blaze, had run away in agony and was drowned in the River Thames. This is confirmed by the policeman who was in the area at the time, but the body was never recovered. Harry is convinced that D'Arcy stole Petrie's music, but leaves it at that, as he believes the real composer is long since dead. That night, confronted in her bedroom by the dwarf, Christine faints from fright and is carried off. She returns to consciousness, deep in the cellars of the opera house, to see the same one-eyed Phantom as earlier, playing a huge pipe organ. He tells the frightened girl that he will teach her to sing properly, and rehearses her with fanatical insistence until she collapses from exhaustion. Meanwhile, Harry, reinstated as the opera producer, is worried about Christine's disappearance. Pondering the story of the mysterious Professor, he checks the river where he had last been seen. At that same moment, he hears the echo of Christine's voice emanating from a storm drain, and soon finds himself following the voice through one of London's water-filled sewers. The faint sound of the organ playing draws him down a tunnel where the dwarf attacks him with a knife. Harry subdues him, and finds himself facing the missing Professor as Christine looks on from a bed . In a flashback, the elderly Phantom relates how, five years before, as a poor and starving composer, he had been forced to sell all of his music, including the opera, to Lord Ambrose for a pitifully small fee with the thought that his being published would bring him recognition. When he discovered that D'Arcy was having the music published under his own name, Petrie became enraged and broke into the printers to destroy the plates. In burning sheet music that had already been printed, Petrie unwittingly started a fire, then accidentally splashed acid on his face and hands in an effort to put it out, thinking it was water. In terrible agony, he ran out, jumped into the river, and was swept by the current into an underground drain, where he was rescued and cared for by the dwarf, whose passion was music and who existed in the cellars underneath the opera house. The Phantom predicts a great operatic future for Christine, and Harry agrees to allow him time to complete her voice coaching. When the opera is presented several weeks later, Lord D'Arcy is confronted in his office by the Phantom and runs out screaming into the night when he rips off his mask and sees his terrifying face. As the curtain rises, with Christine in the lead role, the Phantom watches eagerly in the "haunted" box. Her performance brings him to tears as he hears his music finally presented. Listening enraptured to the music, the dwarf is discovered in the catwalks by a stage-hand and in the chase, he jumps onto a huge chandelier poised high above the stage over Christine. As the rope begins to break from the weight, the Phantom spots the danger and leaps from his box to the stage, throwing the girl safely from harm. The Phantom of the Opera is impaled by the chandelier before the eyes of the horror-stricken audience. | 0.769853 | positive | 0.989481 | positive | 0.982772 |
171,555 | Father of Frankenstein | Gods and Monsters | James Whale has just had a stroke. He is convinced that his time has come to die. Increasingly confused and disoriented, his mind is overwhelmed by images of the past - from his working-class childhood in Britain, the trenches of World War I, and the lavish glamour of Hollywood premieres in the 1930s. Whale asks his new gardener, an ex-Marine named Clayton Boone, to come to his studio for some portrait sittings. Boone is uncomfortable with Whale's homosexuality but also fascinated by the chance to know a famous Hollywood director and so, despite his apprehensions, the relationship continues. Boone begins to think of Whale as a friend. But one night after they return from a Hollywood garden party, Whale makes an advance at Boone, trying to make him so angry that he will kill Whale. The old man wants to die; he wants his death to have a human face, Boone's face. Boone refuses. He is very upset. Whale apologizes—he knows he is going insane. The next morning Whale understands that he is ready to cross over, alone. He drowns himself in his backyard swimming pool. | The story opens in the 1950s, after the Korean War; it has been more than a decade since James Whale, director of Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, has retired. He lives with his long-time housemaid, Hanna, who loyally cares for him but disapproves of his homosexuality. Whale has suffered a series of strokes that have left him fragile and tormented by memories: growing up as a poor outcast, his tragic World War I service, and the filming of The Bride of Frankenstein. Whale slips into his past, and indulges in his fantasies, reminiscing about gay pool parties and also tormenting a starstruck fan who comes to interview him. Whale battles depression, at times contemplating suicide, as he realizes his life, his attractiveness, and his health are slipping away. Whale befriends his young, handsome gardener and former Marine, Clayton Boone and the two begin a sometimes uneasy friendship as Boone poses for Whale's sketches. The two men bond while discussing their lives and dealing with Whale's spells of disorientation and weakness from the strokes. Boone, impressed with Whale's fame, watches The Bride of Frankenstein on TV as his friends mock the movie, his friendship with Whale, and Whale's intentions. Boone assures Whale that he is straight and receives assurance from Whale that there is no sexual interest, but Boone storms out when Whale graphically discusses his sexual history. Boone later returns with the agreement that no such "locker room" discussions occur again. Boone is invited to escort Whale to a party hosted by George Cukor for Princess Margaret. There, a photo op has been arranged for Whale with "his Monsters": Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester from "ancient" movie fame. This event exacerbates his depression. A sudden rain storm becomes an excuse to leave. Back at Whale's home, Boone needs a dry change of clothes. Whale can only find a sweater, so Boone wears a towel wrapped around his waist. Whale decides to try to sketch Boone one more time. After some minutes, he shows his sketches to Boone, disclosing that he has lost his ability to draw. Boone drops his towel to pose nude. Whale uses the opportunity to make a sexual advance on Boone. Boone becomes enraged and attacks Whale, who confesses that this had been his plan and begs Boone to kill him to relieve him of his suffering. Boone refuses, puts Whale to bed, then sleeps downstairs. The next morning, Hanna is alarmed when she can't find Whale, prompting a search by Boone and Hanna. Boone finds Whale floating dead in the pool, as a distraught Hanna runs out clutching a suicide note. Boone and Hanna agree that Boone should disappear from the scene to avoid a scandal. The film closes roughly a decade later as Boone and his young son, Michael, watch The Bride of Frankenstein on television. The son is skeptical of the claim that his father knew Whale, but Clayton produces a sketch of the Frankenstein monster drawn by Whale, and signed, "To Clayton. Friend?" "Friend?", being a plea from the original misfit, Frankenstein's monster, and disclosing Whale's true intentions. | 0.671484 | positive | 0.992635 | negative | -0.986032 |
5,560,792 | The Adventures of Pinocchio | Pinocchio 3000 | The story begins in Tuscany. A carpenter has found a block of pinewood which he plans to carve into a leg for his table. When he begins, however, the log shouts out, "Don't strike me too hard!" Frightened by the talking log, the carpenter, Antonio or Master Cherry as he is called does not know what to do until his neighbor Geppetto, known for disliking children, drops by looking for a piece of wood to build a marionette. Seeing a perfect opportunity, Antonio gives the block to Geppetto. Geppetto is extremely poor and plans to make a living as a puppeteer. He carves the block into a boy and names him "Pinocchio". As soon as Pinocchio's nose has been carved, it begins to grow longer and longer before Geppetto is finished with him. After the puppet is finished, Geppetto teaches him to walk and Pinocchio runs out the door and away into the town. He is caught by a Carabiniere but when people say that Geppetto dislikes children, the carabineer assumes that Pinocchio has been mistreated and imprisons Geppetto. Pinocchio heads back to Geppetto's house and encounters The Talking Cricket who has lived in the house for over a century. It tells him that boys who do not obey their parents grow up to be donkeys. Pinocchio throws a hammer at the cricket and accidentally kills it. Unable to find food in the house, Pinocchio ventures to a neighbor's house to beg for food and the annoyed neighbor pours a basin of water on him. Pinocchio returns home freezing and tries to warm himself by placing his feet upon the stove. The next morning he wakes to find that his feet have burnt off. Geppetto, who has been released from jail and has three pears for a meal, makes his son a new pair of feet. In gratitude, Pinocchio promises to go to school. Since Geppetto has no money to buy school books, he sells his only coat. Pinocchio heads off to school, but on the way he is distracted by some music and crowds and he follows the sounds until he finds himself in a crowd of people, all congregated to see the Great Marionette Theater. Pinocchio sells his school books for tickets to the show. During the performance, the puppets Harlequin, Punch, and Signora Rosaura see Pinocchio and cry out, "It is our brother Pinocchio!" The audience grows angry, and the theater director, Mangiafuoco, comes out to see what is going on. Upset, he decides to use Pinocchio as firewood to cook his dinner. Pinocchio pleads to be saved and Mangiafuoco gives in. When he learns about Pinocchio's poor father, he gives the marionette five gold pieces for Geppetto. As Pinocchio heads home to give the coins to his father, he meets a fox and a cat who convince him that if he plants his coins in the Field of Miracles, outside the city of Catchfools, then they will grow into a tree with a thousand gold coins, or perhaps two thousand. Pinocchio heads off on a journey to Catchfools with the Cat and Fox. On the way, they stop at the Inn of the Red Crayfish, where the Fox and Cat gorge themselves on food at Pinocchio's expense. The fox and cat take off ahead of Pinocchio and disguise themselves as bandits while Pinocchio continues on toward Catchfools. The ghost of the Talking Cricket appears, telling him to go home and give the coins to his father but Pinocchio ignores him. As he passes through the forest, the disguised Cat and Fox jump out and try to rob Pinocchio, who hides the money in his mouth. In the struggle that follows Pinocchio bites the Cat's hand off and escapes deeper into the forest where he sees a white house ahead. Stopping to knock on the door, he is greeted by a young Fairy with Turquoise Hair, who says she is dead and waiting to be taken. However, as he speaks to her, the bandits catch him and hang him in a tree. After a while the Fox and Cat get tired of waiting for the marionette to suffocate and leave. The Blue-haired Fairy sends a falcon and a poodle to rescue Pinocchio, and she calls in three famous doctors to tell her if Pinocchio is dead. The first two (an owl and a crow) are uncertain, but the third—the Talking Cricket that Pinocchio presumably killed earlier—knows that Pinocchio is fine and tells the marionette that he has been disobedient and hurt his father. The Blue-haired Fairy tries to make Pinocchio take medicine, saying he will soon die if he doesn't, but he refuses to take it, despite promising to if he is given sugar, which the Blue-haired Fairy gives him. However Four Black Rabbits then enter the room with a coffin and tell Pinocchio they have come to take him away, as he will be dead soon. Pinocchio takes the medicine and the rabbits leave. The Blue-haired Fairy asks Pinocchio what happened and he tells her. She then asks him where the gold coins are. Pinocchio lies, saying he has lost them. As he utters this lie (and more) his nose begins to grow until it is so long he cannot turn around in the room. The Fairy explains to Pinocchio that it is his lies that are making his nose grow long, then calls in a flock of woodpeckers to chisel down his nose. Pinocchio and the Blue-haired Fairy decide to become brother and sister, and the Fairy sends for Geppetto to come live with them in the forest. Pinocchio heads out to meet his father, but on the way he meets the fox and cat again (whom he had not recognized as the bandits, even though he has a hint from the cat's bandaged front paw—which he had bitten earlier; the fox tells him the cat had shown mistaken kindness to a wolf). They remind Pinocchio of the Field of Miracles, and finally he agrees to go with them and plant his gold. After half a day's journey, they reach the city of Catchfools. Everyone in the town has done something exceedingly foolish and now suffers as a result. When they reach the "Field of Miracles", Pinocchio buries his gold then runs off to wait the twenty minutes it will take for his gold to grow. After twenty minutes he returns, only to find no tree and—even worse—no gold coins. Realizing what has happened from a bird, he goes to Catchfools and tells the judge, an old Gorilla, about the fox and cat. The judge (as is the custom in Catchfools) sends Pinocchio to prison for his foolishness for four months. While he is in prison, however, the emperor of Catchfools declares a celebration, and all prisoners are set free. As Pinocchio heads back to the forest, he finds an enormous serpent with a smoking tail blocking the way. After some confusion, he asks the serpent to move, but the serpent remains completely still. Concluding that it is dead, Pinocchio begins to step over it, but the serpent suddenly rises up and hisses at the marionette, toppling him over onto his head. Struck by Pinocchio's fright and comical position, the snake laughs so hard, it bursts an artery and dies. While sneaking into a farmer's yard to take some grapes, Pinocchio is caught in a weasel trap. He asks a bird to help him, but it refuses after hearing Pinocchio was planning to steal grapes. When the farmer comes out and finds Pinocchio, he ties him up in a doghouse to guard his chicken coop. That night, a group of weasels come and tell Pinocchio that they had made a deal with former watchdog Melampo to let them raid the chicken coop if he could have a chicken. Pinocchio says he wants two chickens, so the weasels agree and go into the henhouse. Pinocchio then locks the door and barks loudly. The farmer gets the weasels and frees Pinocchio as a reward. Pinocchio comes to where the cottage was and finds nothing but a gravestone. Believing the Blue-haired Fairy died from sorrow, he weeps until a friendly pigeon offers to give him a ride to the seashore, where Geppetto is building a boat to go out and search for Pinocchio. They fly to the seashore and Pinocchio sees Geppetto out in a boat. The puppet leaps into the water and tries to swim to Geppetto, but the waves are too rough and Pinocchio is washed underwater as Geppetto is swallowed by a terrible shark. A kindly dolphin gives Pinocchio a ride to the nearest island, which is the Island of Busy Bees. Everyone is working and no one will give Pinocchio any food as long as he will not help them. He finally offers to carry a lady's jug home in return for food and water. When they get to the house, Pinocchio recognizes the lady as the Blue-haired Fairy, now miraculously old enough to be his mother. She says she will act as Pinocchio's mother and Pinocchio will begin going to school. She hints that if Pinocchio does well in school he will become a real boy. Pinocchio starts school the next day and after showing his determination becomes a friend to all the schoolboys. A while later a group of boys trick Pinocchio into playing hookey by saying they saw a large whale at the beach. Hoping that it is the shark that swallowed Geppetto, he accompanies them to the beach only to find he has been fooled. He begins fighting with the boys and one boy grabs a schoolbook of Pinocchio's and throws it at him. The marionette ducks and the book hits another boy named Eugene, who is knocked out. The other boys flee while Pinocchio tries to revive Eugene. Then two policemen come up and accuse Pinocchio of injuring Eugene. Before he can explain, the policemen grab him to take him to jail—but he escapes and is chased into the sea by the police dog. The dog starts to drown and Pinocchio saves him. The dog is grateful and promises to be Pinocchio's friend. Pinocchio happily starts swimming to shore. Then The Green Fisherman catches Pinocchio in his net and starts to eat the fish, saying Pinocchio must be a very special fish. Taking off the marionette's clothes and covering him with flour, the ogre prepares to eat Pinocchio. The police dog then comes in and rescues Pinocchio from the ogre. On the way home, Pinocchio stops at a man's house and asks about Eugene. The man says Eugene is fine, but that Pinocchio must be a truant. Pinocchio says that he is always truthful and obedient. Again his nose grows longer and Pinocchio immediately tells the truth about himself, causing the nose to shrink back to normal. Pinocchio gets home in the middle of the night. He knocks on the door and a snail opens the third-story window. Pinocchio pleads to be let in and the snail says he will come down. Since a snail is slow, it takes all night for the snail to come down and let Pinocchio in. By the time the snail comes down Pinocchio has banged his foot against the door and gotten stuck. The snail brings Pinocchio artificial food and the marionette faints. When he wakes, he is on the couch and the Fairy says she will give him another chance. Pinocchio does excellently in school and passes with high honors. The Fairy promises that Pinocchio will be a real boy next day and says he should invite all his friends to a party. He goes to invite everyone, but he is sidetracked when he meets a boy named Romeo—nicknamed Lampwick because he is so tall and skinny. Lampwick is about to go to a place called Toyland, where everyone plays all day and never works. Pinocchio goes along with him and they have a wonderful time in the land of Play—until one morning Pinocchio awakes with donkey ears. A Squirrel tells him that boys who do nothing but play and never work always grow into donkeys. Within a short while Pinocchio has become a donkey. He is sold to a circus and is trained to do all kinds of tricks. Then one night in the circus he falls and sprains his leg. The circus owner sells the donkey to a man who wants to skin him and make a drum. The man throws the donkey into the sea to drown him—and brings up a living wooden boy. Pinocchio explains that the fish ate all the donkey skin off of him and he is now a marionette again. Pinocchio dives back into the water and swims out to sea—when he is swallowed by The Terrible Shark. Inside the shark Pinocchio meets a tuna who is resigned to the fate and just says they will have to wait to be digested. Pinocchio sees a light from far off and he follows the light. At the other end is Geppetto, who had been living on a ship that was also in the shark. Pinocchio and Geppetto and the tuna manage to get out from inside the shark and Pinocchio heroically attempts to swim with Geppetto to shore, which turns out to be too far; however, the tuna rescues them and brings them to shore. Pinocchio and Geppetto try to find a place to stay. They pass two beggars, who are the Fox and the Cat. The Cat is, ironically, really blind now, and the fox is actually lame, tailless (having sold his tail for money) and mangy. They plead for food or money, but Pinocchio will give them nothing. They arrive at a small house, and living there is the Talking Cricket, who says they can stay. Pinocchio gets a job doing work for a farmer, whose donkey is dying. Pinocchio recognizes the donkey as Lampwick. Pinocchio mourns over Lampwick's dead body and the farmer is perplexed as to why. Pinocchio says that Lampwick was his friend and they went to school together, causing Farmer John to be even more confused. After long months of working for the farmer and supporting the ailing Geppetto he goes to town with what money he has saved (40 pennies to be exact) to buy himself a new suit. He meets the snail, who tells him that the Blue-haired Fairy is ill and needs money. Pinocchio instantly gives the snail all the money he has, promising that he will help his mother as much as he is helping his father. That night, he dreams he is visited by the Fairy, who kisses him. When he wakes up, he is a real boy at last. Furthermore, Pinocchio finds that the Fairy left him a new suit and boots, and a bag which Pinocchio thinks is the forty pennies he originally loaned to the Blue Fairy. The boy is shocked to find instead forty freshly minted gold coins. He is also reunited with Geppetto, now healthy and resuming woodcarving. They live happily ever after. | The story begins with an inventor named Geppetto making a robot, Pinocchio, as his son. Meanwhile, an evil mayor named Scamboli is making a technology city called "Scamboville", to get rid of nature. He also hates children except for his beloved daughter, Marlene. Marlene has a problem about there being no space for children to have fun. So, Scamboli is going to make a theme park called "Scamboland". That night, Geppetto and Spencer the Penguin are preparing to make Pinocchio come to life. But Scamboli seizes control of the city mains to light up his theme park for the Grand Opening. So, Geppetto has no choice but to steal his electricity. Suddenly, Scamboland has a power cut and the children leave. After Pinocchio comes to life, much to his family's delight, Cyberina the fairy appears. She decides to grant Geppetto's wish to turn Pinocchio into a real boy if he learns about Right and Wrong. The next morning, Pinocchio is walking his way to school with Spencer , but he meets up with Zach, Cynthia and Marlene. Marlene challenges Pinocchio to an Imagination game, hosted by Cyberina. Marlene wins the game, but Pinocchio snatches the medal from her. As he runs away, he comes across Scamboli's robotic henchmen, Cabby and Rodo, who take Pinocchio to see Scamboli. While they talk to each other, Pinocchio says, "Life would be great if kids were more like us", sparking an idea in Scamboli's diabolical brain. With the true opening of Scamboland, he makes Pinocchio into an attraction, but when Geppetto gets word of this, he tries to convince him to come home. While Pinocchio performs at a concert, Scamboli kidnaps Geppetto. Afterward, all the children board a roller coaster ride called "A Whale of a Change", which transforms all of them into "Scambobots". Meanwhile, Pinocchio gives Marlene her medal back and befriends her, and spend the night together at Marlene's private garden. As they awaken the next morning, Marlene is crestfallen to find that Scambobots have destroyed her garden. Hearing Pinocchio laughing at her dismay, she gives the medal to him and revokes her vow of friendship. But Pinocchio, realizing that he had accidentally helped Scamboli,leaves to find his Dad. He returns home, but finds that his father isn't there, but Spencer is. He tells Pinocchio that Scamboli kidnapped his father, so they head off to rescue him, only to find Scamboli turned Geppetto into a robot to kill Pinocchio. After Spencer blinds Scamboli's with his camera and steals the remote that controls Geppeto, Pinocchio and Spencer hide out in the "Tunnel of Danger" ride, where Scamboli manages to trap them. Marlene arrives and helps Pinoccchio to avoid the tunnel's many dangers. However, Scamboli incapacitates Marlene , so he can kill Pinocchio with a laser gun. Pinocchio uses the medal to shield himself from the laser ,causing the beam bounce to destroy Scamboli's weapon. Meanwhile, Cabby accidentally gave Geppetto a remote, getting them fired. Geppetto commands the robots to get Scamboli. Scamboli attempts to escape in Cabby's shuttle, but is caught by a Scambocop. It tosses Scamboli inside a shuttle and flies down to the Whale ride. Pinocchio, Geppetto, Marlene and Spencer go to turn the robots back into children. Soon it's Geppetto's turn, but Scamboli presses a button to stop the machines. Pinocchio goes inside the whale and tries to fix it. Pinocchio finds the out- of- reach button, so he begins to tell a lie about his personality . Once he reached it, Scamboli was caught on the cart. Pinocchio then realizes that everything was his fault. Cyberina appears, Pinocchio told her that he has learned about Right and Wrong and turns Pinocchio into a real boy and Geppetto back into a human. Suddenly, Scamboli, turned into a robot, appears and Marlene was shocked. Cyberina borrows Cynthia's "Funbrella" to make sunshine and bring all the plants Scamboli has destroyed. It ends with Spencer taking a picture of Pinocchio, Geppetto and Marlene. | 0.802523 | positive | 0.984537 | positive | 0.583971 |
261,107 | Strangers on a Train | Strangers on a Train | Architect Guy Haines wants to divorce his unfaithful wife, Miriam, in order to marry the woman he loves, Anne Faulkner. While on a train to see his wife, he meets Charles Anthony Bruno, a psychopathic playboy who proposes an idea to "exchange murders": Bruno will kill Miriam if Guy kills Bruno's father; neither of them will have a motive, and the police will have no reason to suspect either of them. Guy does not take Bruno seriously, but Bruno kills Guy's wife while Guy is away in Mexico. Bruno informs Guy of his crime, but Guy hesitates to turn him in to the police. He realizes that Bruno could claim Guy's complicity in the planned exchange murders; however, the longer he remains silent, the more he implicates himself. This implicit guilt becomes stronger as in the coming months Bruno makes appearances demanding that Guy honor his part of the bargain. After Bruno starts writing anonymous letters to Guy's friends and colleagues, the pressure becomes too great, and Guy murders Bruno's father. Subsequently, Guy is consumed by guilt, whereas Bruno seeks Guy's company as if nothing had happened. He makes an uninvited appearance at Guy's wedding, causing a scene. At the same time, a private detective, who suspects Bruno of having arranged the murder of his father, establishes the connection between Bruno and Guy that began with the train ride, and suspects Bruno of Miriam's murder. Guy also becomes implicated due to his contradictions about the acquaintance with Bruno. When Bruno falls overboard during a sailing cruise, Guy identifies so strongly with Bruno that he tries to rescue him under threat to his own life. Nevertheless, Bruno drowns, and the murder investigation is closed. Guy, however, is plagued by guilt, and confesses the double murder to Miriam's former lover. This man, however, does not condemn Guy; rather, he considers the killings as appropriate punishment for the unfaithfulness. The detective who had been investigating the murders overhears Guy's confession, however, and confronts him. Guy turns himself over to the detective immediately. | Amateur tennis star Guy Haines wants to divorce his vulgar and unfaithful wife Miriam , so he can marry the elegant and beautiful Anne Morton , daughter of a senator . While on a train to meet Miriam, Haines meets Bruno Anthony , a forward stranger who recognizes Guy from gossip items in the newspapers that detail his marital problems. During lunch in Bruno's compartment, Bruno tells Guy about his idea for the perfect "Criss-cross" murder: he will kill Miriam and in exchange, Guy will kill Bruno's father. Since both are strangers, otherwise unconnected, there is no identifiable motive for the crimes, Bruno contends, hence no suspicion. Guy hurriedly leaves the compartment but leaves Bruno thinking he has agreed to the deal. Guy accidentally leaves his cigarette lighter behind, a gift from Anne to Guy, which Bruno pockets. Bruno heads to Guy's hometown of Metcalf and follows Miriam and her two beaux to an amusement park, where he briefly illuminates her face with Guy's lighter, then strangles her to death. Guy's problems begin when his alibi — an inebriated college professor on the same train as Guy — cannot remember their meeting. But they increase exponentially when Bruno makes repeated appearances into Guy's life as he seeks to remind Guy that he is now obliged to kill Bruno's father, according to the bargain he thinks they struck on the train. Bruno sends Guy the keys to his house, a map to his father's room, and a pistol. Soon after, Bruno appears at a party at Senator Morton's house and hobnobs with the guests, much to Guy's apprehension and Anne's increasing suspicion. He demonstrates how to strangle someone while preventing them from screaming: with his hands around his "assistant's" neck Bruno looks up and sees Anne's younger sister Barbara . Her eyeglasses and resemblance to Miriam trigger a flashback for Bruno to Miriam's murder, and he loses control of himself and begins to strangle his subject. After a moment he faints, and the frightened party guests pull him off the hysterical woman. Young Barbara rushes to her sister and tells her, "His hands were on her neck, but he was strangling me." Anne puts together the facts of the crime and confronts Guy, who finally admits the truth. Guy finally agrees to Bruno's plan over the telephone and creeps into Bruno's home at night. When he reaches the father's room he tries to warn the older man of Bruno's intentions, but finds Bruno waiting for him instead, now aware that Guy's sudden change of heart suggests betrayal. Bruno tells Guy that because he will not complete his end of the bargain, he should be blamed for the murder which "belongs" to him — so he will frame Guy for the murder of Miriam. Anne visits Bruno's house to tell his mother that her son is responsible for the death of a woman, but she does not believe Anne and fails to understand how dangerous her son is. Bruno overhears the conversation and lets Anne know that he has the lighter and plans to plant it at the scene of the crime during the night to implicate Guy. Anne reports back to Guy and the two devise a plan for Guy to beat Bruno to the scene of the crime after he finishes a tennis match that would be too suspicious for him to cancel. Guy wins the tennis match but takes much longer than expected; likewise, Bruno is delayed when he drops Guy's lighter down a storm drain and must force his fingertips down the drain to recover it. Guy arrives at the park while Bruno is still waiting for sunset. The two men struggle on the carousel, which spins out of control and crashes after its operator is accidentally hit by a bullet from the police meant for the fleeing Guy. Bruno, mortally wounded in the crash, manages to tell the police of Guy's guilt, but the lighter is found clutched in Bruno's hand, finally exonerating Guy. An amusement park employee who remembered Bruno's previous visit confirms that Bruno was in fact the murderer. Reunited with Anne on a train home, Guy is asked by a friendly clergyman seated near them if he is Guy Haines. Starting to reply, Guy, remembering this is the way Bruno started their fatal conversation, stops himself and quickly leaves the club car with Anne, leaving the man perplexed. | 0.823803 | positive | 0.335319 | positive | 0.986791 |
5,832,380 | The Day of the Triffids | The Day of the Triffids | The protagonist is Bill Masen, who has made his living working with "triffids"—tall plants capable of aggressive and seemingly intelligent behaviour. They are able to move about by "walking" on their roots, appear to communicate with each other, and possess a deadly whip-like poisonous sting that enables them to kill and feed on the rotting carcasses of their victims. Due to his background working with Triffids, Masen has developed a theory that they were bioengineered in the USSR and then accidentally released into the wild when a plane smuggling their seeds was shot down. Triffids begin sprouting all over the world, and their extracts prove to be superior to existing fish or vegetable oils. The result is worldwide cultivation of triffids. The narrative begins with Bill Masen in hospital, his eyes bandaged after having been splashed with droplets of triffid venom in an accident. During his convalescence he is told of the unexpected and beautiful green meteor shower that the entire world is watching. He awakes the next morning to a silent hospital and learns that the light from the unusual display has rendered any who watched it completely blind. (Later on in the book Masen again theorises that both the 'meteor shower' and subsequent plague may have been an orbiting government weapons system that was triggered accidentally.) After unbandaging his eyes, he wanders through an anarchic London full of almost entirely blind inhabitants, and witnesses civilization collapsing around him. Masen meets a sighted woman, wealthy novelist Josella Playton, who was being forcibly used as a guide by a violent blind man. She and Masen begin to fall in love and decide to leave London. Lured by a single light that they see shining in an otherwise darkened city, Bill and Josella discover a group of sighted survivors at a London university building. The group is led by a man named Beadley, who plans to establish a colony in the countryside. Beadley wishes to take only sighted men who will take several wives, sighted or otherwise, to rapidly rebuild the human population. Bill and Josella decide to join the group. The polygamous principles of this scheme appalls one of the other leaders of the group, the religious Miss Durrant. Before this schism can be dealt with a man called Wilfred Coker takes it upon himself to save as many of the blind as possible. He stages a mock fire at the university and during the ensuing chaos kidnaps a number of sighted individuals, including Bill and Josella. Each is chained to a squad of blind people and forced to lead them around London, collecting rapidly diminishing food and other supplies. Bill and his squad find themselves beset by escaped triffids as well as by an aggressive rival gang of scavengers led by a ruthless, red-haired man. Masen nevertheless sticks with his squad until its members all begin dying of some unknown disease. He leaves and attempts to find Josella, but his only lead is an address left behind by the now-departed members of Beadley's group. Thrown together with a repentant Coker, he drives to the place, a country estate named Tynsham in Wiltshire, but neither Beadley nor Josella are there; Durrant has taken charge and organized the community along "Christian" lines. Masen and Coker fruitlessly search for Beadley and Josella for several days, before Bill remembers a chance comment Josella made about a country home in Sussex. He sets off in search of it, while Coker returns to Tynsham. Bill is joined by a young sighted girl named Susan; they succeed in locating Josella, who is indeed at the Sussex house. Bill and Josella consider themselves to be married, and see Susan as their daughter. They attempt to make the Sussex farm into a largely self-sufficient colony, with reasonable success. The triffids grow ever more numerous, crowding in and surrounding their small island of civilization. Years pass, during which it becomes steadily harder both to keep out the encroaching plants - at least two triffid break-ins are recorded during the novel - and to continue fetching essential supplies (such as oil) from the decaying cities. One day a helicopter pilot representative of Beadley's faction lands at the farm and reports that the group has established a successful colony on the Isle of Wight, and that Coker survived to join them. Despite their ongoing struggles, the Masens are reluctant to leave their home but their hand is forced by the arrival of a squad of soldiers the next day who represent a despotic new government which is setting up feudal enclaves across the country. Masen recognizes the leader, Torrence, as the redheaded man from London. Torrence announces his intention to place many more blind survivors under the Masens' care and to move Susan to another enclave. After feigning general agreement, the Masens disable the soldiers' vehicle and flee during the night. They join the Isle of Wight colony, and settle down to the long struggle ahead, determined to find a way to destroy the triffids and reclaim Earth for humanity. | Triffids are plants. They are able to uproot themselves and walk, possess a deadly whipping poisonous sting, and may even have the ability to communicate with each other. On screen they vaguely resemble gigantic asparagus shoots topped with a flower-like 'head' which houses a whip-like, venomous stinger, and that resembles a Vanda Miss Joaquim orchid. Bill Masen , a merchant navy officer, is lying in a hospital bed with his eyes bandaged. He discovers that while he has been waiting for his accident damaged eyes to heal, an unusual meteor shower has blinded most people on Earth. Once he leaves hospital Masen finds people all over London, struggling to stay alive in the face of their new affliction. Some survive by cooperating, while others simply fight, but it is apparent that after just a few days society is collapsing. He rescues a school girl, Susan , from a crashed train. They leave London and head for France. They find refuge at a chateau, but when it is attacked by sighted prisoners they are again forced to escape. The Triffid population continues to grow, feeding on people and animals. Meanwhile on a coastal island, Tom Goodwin , a flawed but gifted scientist, and his wife Karen , battle the plants as he searches for a way to beat them. | 0.777153 | positive | 0.993828 | positive | 0.598022 |
2,096,585 | The Adventures of Tom Sawyer | The Adventures of Mark Twain | In the 1840s an imaginative and mischievous boy named Tom Sawyer lives with his Aunt Polly and his half-brother, Sid, in the Mississippi River town of St. Petersburg, Missouri. After playing hooky from school on Friday and dirtying his clothes in a fight, Tom is made to whitewash the fence as punishment all of the next day. At first, Tom is disheartened by having to forfeit his day off. However, he soon cleverly persuades his friends to trade him small treasures for the privilege of doing his work. He trades the treasures he got by tricking his friends into whitewashing the fence for tickets given out in Sunday school for memorizing Bible verses, which can be used to claim a Bible as a prize. He received enough tickets to be given the Bible. However, he loses much of his glory when, in response to a question to show off his knowledge, he incorrectly answers that the first disciples were David and Goliath. Tom falls in love with Becky Thatcher, a new girl in town, and persuades her to get "engaged" by kissing him. Becky kisses Tom, but their romance collapses when she learns that Tom has been "engaged" previously;— to a girl named Amy Lawrence. Shortly after being shunned by Becky, Tom accompanies Huckleberry Finn, the son of the town drunk, to the graveyard at night to try out a "cure" for warts with a dead cat. At the graveyard, they witness the murder of young Dr. Robinson by the Native-American "half-breed" Injun Joe. Scared, Tom and Huck run away and swear a blood oath not to tell anyone what they have seen. Injun Joe frames his companion, Muff Potter, a helpless drunk, for the crime. Potter is wrongfully arrested, and Tom's anxiety and guilt begin to grow. Tom, Huck and Tom's friend Joe Harper run away to an island to become pirates. While frolicking around and enjoying their new found freedom, the boys become aware that the community is sounding the river for their bodies. Tom sneaks back home one night to observe the commotion. After a brief moment of remorse at the suffering of his loved ones, Tom is struck by the idea of appearing at his funeral and surprising everyone. He persuades Joe and Huck to do the same. Their return is met with great rejoicing, and they become the envy and admiration of all their friends. Back in school, Tom gets himself back in Becky's favor after he nobly accepts the blame for a book that she has ripped. Soon, Muff Potter's trial begins, and Tom, overcome by guilt, testifies against Injun Joe. Potter is acquitted, but Injun Joe flees the courtroom through a window. Summer arrives, and Tom and Huck go hunting for buried treasure in a haunted house. After venturing upstairs they hear a noise below. Peering through holes in the floor, they see Injun Joe enter the house disguised as a deaf and mute Spaniard. He and his companion, an unkempt man, plan to bury some stolen treasure of their own. From their hiding spot, Tom and Huck wriggle with delight at the prospect of digging it up. By an amazing coincidence, Injun Joe and his partner find a buried box of gold themselves. When they see Tom and Huck's tool, they become suspicious that someone is sharing their hiding place and carry the gold off instead of reburying it. Huck begins to shadow Injun Joe every night, watching for an opportunity to nab the gold. Meanwhile, Tom goes on a picnic to McDougal's Cave with Becky and their classmates. That same night, Huck sees Injun Joe and his partner making off with a box. He follows and overhears their plans to attack the Widow Douglas, a kind resident of St. Petersburg. By running to fetch help, Huck forestalls the violence and becomes an anonymous hero. Tom and Becky get lost in the cave, and their absence is not discovered until the following morning. The men of the town begin to search for them, but to no avail. Tom and Becky run out of food and candles and begin to weaken. The horror of the situation increases when Tom, looking for a way out of the cave, happens upon Injun Joe, who is using the cave as a hideout. Eventually, just as the searchers are giving up, Tom finds a way out. The town celebrates, and Becky's father, Judge Thatcher, locks up the cave. Injun Joe, trapped inside, starves to death. A week later, Tom takes Huck to the cave and they find the box of gold, the proceeds of which are invested for them. The Widow Douglas adopts Huck, and, when Huck attempts to escape civilized life, Tom promises him that if he returns to the widow, he can join Tom's robber band. Reluctantly, Huck agrees. The book leaves off where The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn begins. | A group of people are watching Halley's Comet overhead when Judge Clemens is called away for the birth of his son, Samuel Clemens. The film proceeds to mix in elements of many of Clemens' best-known stories as if they actually occurred. Thus, as he grows up, Sam plays with his friends Huck, Tom, and the slave boy Jim on a raft on the Mississippi, providing a fictitious "real–life" basis for the novels Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The teenage Sam goes to work for his brother Orion, publisher of the Hannibal Journal newspaper, at his now-widowed mother's urging, but after three unhappy years, runs away to become a river boat pilot. After a rough start, he thrives under the tutelage of Captain Horace Bixby and becomes a highly skilled pilot on the Mississippi River. One day, he spots a pickpocket robbing Charles Langdon, a passenger aboard his ship. Among the possessions Sam forces the thief to return is a small portrait of Charles's sister Olivia. After seeing it, Sam falls deeply in love. As they become friends, Sam tells Charles that he is going to marry Olivia. To that end, he gives up his job to seek his fortune with his friend Steve, prospecting for gold or silver in the west. When he finally gives up, he becomes a newspaper reporter in Nevada. Steve persuades him to enter a jumping frog contest against Bret Harte. The plot is taken from Twain's real first major story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County". Steve cheats by secretly feeding lead buckshot to Harte's champion frog. Their frog wins easily as a result. However, Sam later sheepishly admits to Steve that he bet all their money on the champ. Sam then writes the story and sends it off, under the pen name Mark Twain, to try to get it published. When the Civil War begins, Sam leaves Nevada, narrowly missing J. B. Pond, who has come all the way from the east to find the writer of the frog story. The "Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" is published in the newspapers and is widely read and greatly enjoyed as a welcome change from the grim war news. When the Civil War ends, Pond finally finds Sam. He signs him up for a lecture tour. Charles and Olivia Langdon are in the audience of his very first lecture, where his humor and wit make him an immediate success. He marries his beloved Livy, despite her father's initial opposition, and becomes a famous writer and lecturer. However, Sam wants to become more than just a humorist. He invests in a typesetting machine and establishes a publishing company. Both ventures require more and more capital, so Sam has to keep writing furiously for years. Finally fed up with his constant money troubles, he turns to businessman Henry Huttleston Rogers to extricate him from his financial mess. Rogers tells him he can avoid bankruptcy, but only if he does not honor his overly-generous contract to publish Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs. Sam agrees to go see the former president. Dismayed to find Grant poverty-stricken and dying, he decides that the country owes the great man such a debt of gratitude that going bankrupt is a small price to pay. Though Rogers gets the creditors to accept half payment, Sam is determined to pay in full his staggering debt of $250,000. To do so, he embarks on a strenuous worldwide lecture tour, leaving behind Livy to care for their daughters. At last, he manages to pay everything off and is reunited with his now-ailing wife in Florence. She is very proud when she receives word just before she dies that her husband is to receive an honorary doctorate from Oxford University, which she considers the greatest honor a writer can attain. Sam himself dies when Halley's Comet returns in 1910. Afterward, his spirit is called away by Tom and Huck to join them in the afterlife. | 0.492296 | positive | 0.994519 | positive | 0.4975 |
5,652,838 | Fletch | Fletch Lives | The first Fletch novel (1974) introduces I. M. Fletcher, a journalist and ex-marine staying on a beach watching the drug culture for a story, waiting to find the dealer's source before publishing an exposé. A millionaire businessman named Alan Stanwyk approaches Fletch to hire Fletch to murder him; the man tells Fletch that he is dying of bone cancer and wants to avoid a slow, painful death. Fletch accepts $1000 in cash to listen to the man's proposition; the man offers him $20,000 for the murder, and Fletch talks him up to $50,000 in an effort to see if the man is serious. He appears to be serious, and Fletch begins investigating the man's story in between investigating the drug story on the beach and avoiding the two attorneys after him for alimony for each of his ex-wives. | Chevy Chase once again plays the reporter Irwin M. "Fletch" Fletcher, who learns that he has inherited a plantation in Louisiana. Upon arriving, Fletch's aunt's lawyer is murdered, leaving Fletch to unravel the mystery. In order to catch the real killers and clear his name, Fletch dons a series of disguises and infiltrates the congregation of television evangelist Jimmy Lee Farnsworth , who the audience is led to believe wants to gain control of Fletch's land in order to build a Christian theme park. It is subsequently revealed that, in actuality, a chemical company wants the land so it can dump its toxic waste there. Fletch Lives was filmed in Louisiana. | 0.510969 | positive | 0.993745 | positive | 0.996686 |
6,446,053 | Dr. No | Dr. No | After recovering from tetrodotoxin poisoning inflicted by SMERSH agent Rosa Klebb (see From Russia, with Love) MI6 agent James Bond is sent by his superior, M, on a "rest cure" to Jamaica. Whilst there his task is a simple assignment to investigate the disappearance of Commander John Strangways, the head of MI6 Station J in Kingston, Jamaica, and his secretary. Bond is briefed that Strangways had been investigating the activities of Dr. Julius No, a reclusive Chinese-German who lives on Crab Key and runs a guano mine; the island is said to be the home of a vicious dragon with a colony of Roseate Spoonbills at one end. The Spoonbills are protected by the National Audubon Society, two of whose representatives had died when their plane crashed on Dr. No's airstrip. On his arrival in Jamaica, Bond soon realises that he is being watched, as his hotel room is searched, a basket of poisoned fruit is delivered to his hotel room (supposedly a gift from the colonial governor) and a deadly centipede is placed in his bed while he is sleeping. With the help of old friend Quarrel, Bond visits Crab Key to establish if there is a connection between Dr. No and Strangways' disappearance. There he and Quarrel meet Honeychile Rider, who visits the island to collect valuable shells. Bond and Honey are captured by No's men after Quarrel is burned to death by the doctor's "dragon" – a flamethrowing armoured swamp buggy to keep away trespassers. Bond discovers that Dr. No is also working with the Russians and has built an elaborate underground facility from which he can sabotage American missile tests at nearby Cape Canaveral. No had previously been a member of a Chinese Tong, but after he stole a large amount of money from their treasury, he was captured by the organisation, whose leaders had his hands cut off as a sign of punishment for theft, and then ordered him shot. The Tong thought they shot him through the heart. However, because No's heart was on the right-hand side of his body (dextrocardia), the bullet missed his heart and he survived. Interested in the ability of the human body to withstand and survive pain, No forces Bond to navigate his way through an obstacle course constructed in the facility's ventilation system. He is kept under regular observation, suffering electric shocks, burns and an encounter with large poisonous spiders along the way. The ordeal ends in a fight against a captive giant squid, which Bond defeats by using improvised and stolen objects made into weapons. After his escape he encounters Honey from her ordeal where she had been pegged out to be eaten by crabs; the crabs ignored her and she had managed to make good her own escape. Bond kills Dr. No by taking over the guano-loading machine at the docks and diverting the guano flow from it to bury the villain alive. Bond and Honey then escape from No's complex in the dragon buggy. | John Strangways, the British Intelligence Station Chief in Jamaica, is ambushed and killed, and his body taken by a trio of assassins known as the "Three Blind Mice". In response, British agent James Bond—also known as 007—is summoned to the office of his superior, M. Bond is briefed to investigate Strangways' disappearance and to determine whether it is related to his cooperation with the American Central Intelligence Agency on a case involving the disruption of Cape Canaveral rocket launches by radio jamming. Upon his arrival at Kingston Airport, a female photographer tries to take Bond's picture and he is shadowed from the airport by two men. He is picked up by a chauffeur, whom Bond determines to be an enemy agent. Bond instructs him to leave the main road and, after a brief fight, Bond starts to interrogate the driver, who then kills himself with a cyanide-embedded cigarette. During his investigation in Strangways' house Bond sees a photograph of a boatman with Strangways. Bond locates the boatman, named Quarrel, but finds him to be un-cooperative. Bond also recognises Quarrel to have been the driver of the car that followed him from the airport. Bond follows Quarrel and is about to be beaten by him and a friend when the fight is interrupted by the second man who followed Bond from the airport: he reveals himself to be CIA agent Felix Leiter and explains that not only are the two agents on the same mission but also that Quarrel is helping Leiter. The CIA has traced the mysterious radio jamming of American rockets to the vicinity of Jamaica, but aerial photography cannot determine the exact location of its origin. Quarrel reveals that he has been guiding Strangways around the nearby islands to collect mineral samples. He also talks about the reclusive Dr. No, who owns the island of Crab Key, on which there is a bauxite mine: the island and mine are rigorously protected against trespassers by an armed security force and radar. During a search of Strangways' house, Bond found a receipt, signed by Professor R. J. Dent, concerning rock samples. Bond meets with Dent who says he assayed the samples for Strangways and determined them to be ordinary rocks. This visit makes Dent wary and he takes a boat to Crab Key where Dr. No expresses displeasure at Dent's failure to kill Bond and orders him to try again, this time with a tarantula. Bond survives and after a final attempt on his life, sets a trap for Dent, whom he captures, interrogates and then kills. Having detected radioactive traces in Quarrel's boat, where Strangways' mineral samples had been, Bond convinces a reluctant Quarrel to take him to Crab Key. There Bond meets the beautiful Honey Ryder, dressed only in a white bikini, who is collecting shells. At first she is suspicious of Bond but soon decides to help him, leading them all inland to an open swamp. After nightfall they are attacked by the legendary "dragon" of Crab Key which turns out to be a flame-throwing armoured tractor. In the resulting gun battle, Quarrel is incinerated by the flame-thrower whilst Bond and Ryder are taken prisoner. Bond and Ryder are decontaminated and taken to quarters before being drugged. Upon waking they are escorted to dine with Dr. No. He reveals that he is a member of SPECTRE and plans to disrupt the Project Mercury space launch from Cape Canaveral with his atomic-powered radio beam. After dinner Ryder is taken away and Bond is beaten by the guards. Bond is imprisoned in a holding cell but manages to escape through a vent. Disguised as a worker, Bond finds his way to the control centre, a multi-level room full of high-tech instrumentation with an atomic reactor set into the floor, overseen by Dr. No from a command console. Bond overloads the nuclear reactor just as the American rocket is about to take off. Hand-to-hand combat ensues between Bond and Dr. No; the scientist is pushed into the reactor's cooling vat, in which he boils to death. Bond finds Ryder and the two escape in a boat just as the entire lair explodes. | 0.758235 | positive | 0.982797 | positive | 0.98681 |
1,982,322 | The War of the Worlds | H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds | After ten paragraphs of introductory remarks the narrative opens in an astronomical observatory at Ottershaw where explosions are seen on the surface of the planet Mars, creating much interest in the scientific community. Later a "meteor" lands on Horsell Common, southwest of London, near the narrator's home in Woking, Surrey. He is among the first to discover that the object is an artificial cylinder that opens, disgorging Martians who are "big" and "greyish" with "oil brown skin," "the size, perhaps, of a bear," with "two large dark-coloured eyes," and a lipless "V-shaped mouth surrounded by "Gorgon groups of tentacles." The narrator finds them "at once vital, intense, inhuman, crippled and monstrous." They briefly emerge, have difficulty in coping with the Earth's atmosphere, and rapidly retreat into the cylinder. A human deputation (which includes the astronomer Ogilvy) approaches the cylinder with a white flag, but the Martians incinerate them and others nearby with a heat-ray before beginning to assemble their machinery. The narrator takes his wife to safety in nearby Leatherhead, where she has relatives, and then returns to Woking. He discovers the Martians have assembled towering three-legged "fighting-machines" (Tripods), each armed with a heat-ray and a chemical weapon: the so-called "black smoke". These Tripods wipe out the army units positioned around the crater and attack surrounding communities, moving toward London. Fleeing the scene, the narrator meets a retreating artilleryman, who tells him that another cylinder has landed between Woking and Leatherhead, cutting the narrator off from his wife. The two try to escape via Byfleet, but are separated at the Shepperton to Weybridge Ferry during a Martian attack on Shepperton. One of the Martian fighting machines is brought down in the River Thames by British artillery as the narrator and countless others try to cross the river into Middlesex, while the Martians escape. Our hero is able to float down the Thames toward London in a boat, stopping at Walton. More cylinders are landing across Southern England, and a panicked flight of the population of London begins. This includes the narrator's brother, who flees to the Essex coast after Black Smoke is used to devastate London. The torpedo ram HMS Thunder Child destroys two tripods before being sunk by the Martians, though this allows the ship carrying the narrator's brother and his two female travelling companions to escape to the continent. Shortly after, all organised resistance has ceased, and the Martians roam the shattered landscape unhindered. Red weed, a Martian form of vegetation, spreads with extraordinary rapidity over the landscape wherever there is abundant water. At the beginning of Book Two, the narrator and a curate from Walton take refuge in a ruined building in Sheen. The house is nearly destroyed when another Martian cylinder lands nearby, trapping them in the house for almost two weeks. The curate, traumatised by the invasion, sees in the Martian creatures heralding the advent of the Apocalypse. The narrator's relations with the curate deteriorate, and he eventually knocks him unconscious to prevent his loud ranting, but not before he is heard by a Martian, who captures him with a prehensile tentacle and, the reader is led to believe, drains him of his blood; blood transfusion is the Martians' form of nourishment. The narrator escapes detection by hiding in the coal-cellar. The Martians eventually depart, and the narrator is able to head toward Central London. He once again encounters the artilleryman, who briefly persuades him to cooperate in a grandiose plan to rebuild civilization underground. But after a few hours the narrator perceives the lunacy of this plan and the overall laziness of his companion and abandons the artilleryman to his delusions. Heading into a deserted London, he is at the point of despair and offers his life to the aliens when he discovers that the invaders have died from microbial infections to which they had no immunity, since "there are no bacteria in Mars." The narrator realises with joy that the threat has been vanquished. The narrator suffers a brief breakdown of which he remembers nothing, is nursed back to health, and returns home to find his wife, whom he had given up for dead. The last chapter, entitled "Epilogue," reflects on the significance of the invasion and the "abiding sense of doubt and insecurity" that it has left in the narrator's mind. | Astronomer George Herbert and his wife Felicity are celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary. He and his son Alex look at Mars through their telescope. Instead, they see a meteor-like object. George's boss calls him in to investigate the object. Felicity takes Alex to Washington, D.C. without George, who promises to meet them when he is done working. As George drives to work, his radio makes strange noises. His car then shuts down right as a large, flaming object crashes into the nearby hills. He goes to the crash site and finds a massive meteor in a crater. All of the cars and cellphones have somehow been disabled. A young woman named Audrey runs into George. She is scared because her boyfriend Max fell into the crater. George encourages Max to climb out, but the young man is distracted by activity coming from the meteor. Suddenly, metallic tentacles grabs Max and other people around the crater. Slowly, a large, crab-like Martian walker climbs out and fires a heat-ray at the scattering humans. George manages to escape and makes his way home, where nothing electrical works. He starts walking toward Washington where he hopes to find his family at the Lincoln Memorial. He sets off to locate his brother, Matt, a Army Ranger in nearby Hopewell. The next day, George comes to a bridge where soldiers are holding back civilian refugees. A mother, who believes the Martians are just terrorists tells George that Washington, along with New York City and Los Angeles, were invaded first. Another meteor crashes nearby and a walker attacks the soldiers. George escapes and runs into a soldier named Kerry Williams, whose entire squad was lost in battle. He agrees to travel with George to Hopewell. They meet Lt. Samuelson, who is outraged that the aliens killed his family and interested in George because he is a scientist. He tells George that Washington was completely wiped out and there are no survivors, not even the President. George and Kerry reach Hopewell, but the town was already invaded by walkers. They find Matt, who is fatally wounded. He eventually dies of his wounds while George and Kerry are separated during a new attack, with George escaping in a canoe. After spending a day drifting downstream, George develops an extreme fever and spends two days in an abandoned car. He is found by Pastor Victor, an Australian. They find an unscathed neighborhood and find food and clothes at the veterinarian's home. George and the Pastor hide upstairs from the aliens' poisonous gas, where they find several vials of rabies vaccines. A giant explosion causes the house to collapse. George wakes hours later to find that a meteor has destroyed the neighborhood. He observes the aliens draining blood from living humans. George plans to use a rabies vaccine against them. When a Martian enters the house, George injects it with the rabies vaccine and it quickly retreats. The alien returns and sprays acid over Victor, killing him in seconds. George hides the house's ruins until the aliens abandon the crater days later. He again runs into Kerry and Samuelson. Kerry insists that George cannot fight them, but Samuelson suddenly shoots Kerry in the head. George then kills Samuelson and finally reaches Washington, which lies in ruin. Unable to find his family, he sees a single Martian and surrenders to it, having lost everything to the invaders. The alien however drops dead. Out of nowhere, a group of survivors appear and reveal that the aliens have been dying for several days from an airborne virus. Alex and Felicity are among the survivors and the family is tearfully reunited. The Martians have been killed by bacteria, and with most of humanity wiped out, the survivors are left to rebuild. | 0.595162 | positive | 0.986775 | positive | 0.331915 |
5,209,597 | The Terminal Man | The Terminal Man | Harry Benson, a man in his 30s, suffers from psychomotor epilepsy. He often has seizures followed by blackouts, and then wakes up hours later with no knowledge of what he has done. During one of his seizures he severely beats two people. He is a prime candidate for an operation to implant electrodes and minicomputer in his brain to control the seizures. Surgeons John Ellis and Morris are to perform the surgery, which is unprecedented for the time. In modern medicine, such a device would be called a brain pacemaker. The ramifications of the procedure are questioned by psychiatrist Janet Ross, and by an emeritus professor named Manon at the lecture about the surgery. Manon raises concerns that Benson is psychotic (pointing to Benson's adamant belief that there is no difference between man and machine) and the crimes he commits during the blackouts won't be curtailed. Ellis admits that what they are doing isn't a cure but just a way to stimulate the brain when the computer senses a seizure coming on. It would prevent a seizure but not cure his personality disorder. Despite the concerns voiced, the team decides to go ahead with the operation. The operation implants forty electrodes in Benson's brain, controlled by a small computer that is powered by a plutonium power pack in his shoulder. Benson must wear a dog tag that says to call the University Hospital if he is injured, as his atomic power pack might emit radiation. While he is recovering, a woman named Angela Black gives Morris a wig for Benson, whose head was shaved prior to the operation. Morris goes back to his normal work, where he interviews a man who volunteers to have electrodes put into his mind to stimulate pleasure. Morris refuses him, but realizes that people like Benson could potentially become addicts. He recalls a Norwegian man, who was allowed to stimulate himself as much as he wanted, and did so much that it actually gave him brain damage. McPherson, head of the Neuropsychiatric department, interviews Benson, who is still convinced machines are taking over the world. McPherson realizes Manon and Ross were right and orders nurses to administer thorazine to Benson. After resting for a day, Benson goes through "interfacing". The forty electrodes in his brain are activated by computer technician Gerhard, one by one, to see which ones would stop a seizure. Each produces different results. One of the electrodes stimulates a sexual pleasure. Ross asks Gerhard to monitor Benson. Gerhard shows his findings to Ross, who realizes that the seizures are getting more frequent. She explains that Benson is learning to initiate seizures involuntarily because the result of these seizures is a shock of pleasure, which leads to him having more frequent seizures. Ross checks on Benson, and discovers that, due to a clerical error, Benson has not been receiving his thorazine. She then finds out that Benson has escaped from the hospital. Ross goes to Benson's house, but finds two girls instead who say he has a gun and blueprints for the basement of University Hospital (where the computer mainframe is). Ellis searches at a strip club where Benson, who is fascinated with all things sexual, spends a lot of time. He doesn't find him. Morris goes to his job, and meets Benson's boss who said that Benson feared the University Hospital because of its ultra-modern computer system, an upgraded IBM System/360 Ross is contacted by Anders, a policeman who found Benson's dogtag at the murder scene of Angela Black. After answering questions at the police station, Ross goes home. Benson arrives at her house, and has a seizure, which causes him to attack Ross. Ross manages to turn on her microwave, which disrupts the atomic pacemaker in his shoulder. He runs away. Ross goes back to the hospital and goes to sleep. When Angela Black is brought back to the hospital for autopsy, pathologists find a book of matches that have the name of an airport. Morris goes to this airport, and a bartender says he saw Benson an hour ago leaving with Joe, who took him to the hangar. Morris goes to this hangar and finds Joe severely beaten. He is in turn attacked by Benson, who smashes the lower part of his face in with a steel pipe and then flees. Ross, back at the hospital, is awakened by Gerhard. She has a call from Benson. When Anders traces the call he realizes that Benson is inside the hospital. Gerhard's computers begin to malfunction, as if somebody was messing with the mainframe. Anders and Ross go down into the basement in search of Benson. Anders locates Benson and has a brief firefight, injuring and disarming Benson before becoming lost in the maze of corridors. Benson goes back to the computer room to finish shutting down the computer mainframe and finds Ross. Ross picks up Benson's gun, Benson returns to the computer and goes to steal the gun from Ross. After an intense (and tearful) internal struggle finally shoots and kills Benson unintentionally. | Harry Benson, an extremely intelligent computer programmer in his 30s, suffers from epilepsy. He often has seizures which induce a blackout, after which he awakens to unfamiliar surroundings with no knowledge of what he has done. He also suffers from delusions that computers will rise up against humans. Benson suffers from Acute Disinhibitory Lesion syndrome, and is a prime candidate for an operation known as "Stage Three". Stage Three requires surgeons to implant electrodes in his brain and connect them to a miniature computer in his chest which is meant to control the seizures. The operation is presented with no musical score; the only sounds are from the surgeons, from the medical procedure itself, and from medical students viewing from above. The surgery is a success. Benson's psychiatrist, Janet Ross, is concerned that once the operation is complete, Benson will suffer further psychosis as a result of his person merging with that of a computer, something he has come to distrust and disdain. | 0.754947 | positive | 0.991178 | positive | 0.493751 |
22,216 | Odyssey | O Brother, Where Art Thou? | The Odyssey begins ten years after the end of the ten-year Trojan War that is the subject of the Iliad, and Odysseus has still not returned home from the war. Odysseus' son Telemachus is about 20 years old and is sharing his absent father’s house on the island of Ithaca with his mother Penelope and a crowd of 108 boisterous young men, "the Suitors", whose aim is to persuade Penelope to marry one of them, all the while enjoying the hospitality of Odysseus' household and eating up his wealth. Odysseus’ protectress, the goddess Athena, discusses his fate with Zeus, king of the gods, at a moment when Odysseus' enemy, the god of the sea Poseidon, is absent from Mount Olympus. Then, disguised as a Taphian chieftain named Mentes (otherwise known as “Mentor”), she visits Telemachus to urge him to search for news of his father. He offers her hospitality; they observe the Suitors dining rowdily while the bard Phemius performs a narrative poem for them. Penelope objects to Phemius' theme, the "Return from Troy", because it reminds her of her missing husband, but Telemachus rebuts her objections. That night Athena, disguised as Telemachus, finds a ship and crew for the true Telemachus. The next morning, Telemachus calls an assembly of citizens of Ithaca to discuss what should be done with the suitors. Accompanied by Athena (still disguised as Mentor), he departs for the Greek mainland and the household of Nestor, most venerable of the Greek warriors at Troy, now at home in Pylos. From there, Telemachus rides overland, accompanied by Nestor's son, Peisistratus, to Sparta, where he finds Menelaus and Helen who are now reconciled. He is told that they returned to Sparta after a long voyage by way of Egypt. There, on the island of Pharos, Menelaus encountered the old sea-god Proteus, who told him that Odysseus was a captive of the nymph Calypso. Incidentally, Telemachus learns the fate of Menelaus’ brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and leader of the Greeks at Troy: he was murdered on his return home by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. Then the story of Odysseus is told. He has spent seven years in captivity on Calypso's island, Ogygia. Calypso falls deeply in love with him but he has consistently spurned her advances. She is persuaded to release him by Odysseus' great-grandfather, the messenger god Hermes, who has been sent by Zeus in response to Athena's plea. Odysseus builds a raft and is given clothing, food and drink by Calypso. When Poseidon finds out that Odysseus has escaped, he wrecks the raft but, helped by a veil given by the sea nymph Ino, Odysseus swims ashore on Scherie, the island of the Phaeacians. Naked and exhausted, he hides in a pile of leaves and falls asleep. The next morning, awakened by the laughter of girls, he sees the young Nausicaa, who has gone to the seashore with her maids to wash clothes after Athena told her in a dream to do so. He appeals to her for help. She encourages him to seek the hospitality of her parents, Arete and Alcinous, or Alkinous. Odysseus is welcomed and is not at first asked for his name. He remains for several days, takes part in a pentathlon, and hears the blind singer Demodocus perform two narrative poems. The first is an otherwise obscure incident of the Trojan War, the "Quarrel of Odysseus and Achilles"; the second is the amusing tale of a love affair between two Olympian gods, Ares and Aphrodite. Finally, Odysseus asks Demodocus to return to the Trojan War theme and tell of the Trojan Horse, a stratagem in which Odysseus had played a leading role. Unable to hide his emotion as he relives this episode, Odysseus at last reveals his identity. He then begins to tell the story of his return from Troy. After a piratical raid on Ismaros in the land of the Cicones, he and his twelve ships were driven off course by storms. They visited the lethargic Lotus-Eaters who gave two of his men their fruit which caused them to forget their homecoming, and then were captured by the Cyclops Polyphemus, escaping by blinding him with a wooden stake. While they were escaping, however, Odysseus foolishly told Polyphemus his identity, and Polyphemus told his father, Poseidon, that Odysseus had blinded him. Poseidon then curses Odysseus to wander the sea for ten years, during which he would lose all his crew and return home through the aid of others. After their escape, they stayed with Aeolus, the master of the winds and he gave Odysseus a leather bag containing all the winds, except the west wind, a gift that should have ensured a safe return home. However, the greedy sailors foolishly opened the bag while Odysseus slept, thinking it contained gold. All of the winds flew out and the resulting storm drove the ships back the way they had come, just as Ithaca came into sight. After unsuccessfully pleading with Aeolus to help them again, they re-embarked and encountered the cannibalistic Laestrygonians. All of Odysseus’s ships except his own entered the harbor of the Laestrygonians’ Island and were immediately destroyed. He sailed on and visited the witch-goddess Circe. She turned half of his men into swine after feeding them cheese and wine. Hermes warned Odysseus about Circe and gave Odysseus a drug called moly which gave him resistance to Circe’s magic. Circe, surprised by Odysseus' resistance, agreed to change his men back to their human form in exchange for Odysseus' love. They remained with her on the island for one year, while they feasted and drank. Finally, guided by Circe's instructions, Odysseus and his crew crossed the ocean and reached a harbor at the western edge of the world, where Odysseus sacrificed to the dead. He first encountered the spirit of crewmember Elpenor, who had gotten drunk and fallen from a roof to his death, which had gone unnoticed by others, before Odysseus and the rest of his crew had left Circe. Elpenor's ghost told Odysseus to bury his body, which Odysseus promised to do. Odysseus then summoned the spirit of the old prophet Tiresias for advice on how to appease the gods upon his return home. Next Odysseus met the spirit of his own mother, who had died of grief during his long absence. From her, he got his first news of his own household, threatened by the greed of the Suitors. Finally, he met the spirits of famous men and women. Notably he encountered the spirit of Agamemnon, of whose murder he now learned, and Achilles, who told him about the woes of the land of the dead (for Odysseus' encounter with the dead, see also Nekuia). Returning to Circe’s island, they were advised by her on the remaining stages of the journey. They skirted the land of the Sirens, who sang an enchanting song that normally caused passing sailors to steer toward the rocks, only to hit them and sink. All of the sailors except for Odysseus, who was tied to the mast as he wanted to hear the song, had their ears plugged up with beeswax. They then passed between the six-headed monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis, Odysseus losing six men to Scylla, and landed on the island of Thrinacia. Zeus caused a storm which prevented them leaving. While Odysseus was away praying, his men ignored the warnings of Tiresias and Circe and hunted down the sacred cattle of the sun god Helios as their food had run short. The Sun God insisted that Zeus punish the men for this sacrilege. They suffered a shipwreck as they were driven towards Charybdis. All but Odysseus were drowned; he clung to a fig tree above Charybdis. Washed ashore on the island of Calypso, he was compelled to remain there as her lover until she was ordered by Zeus via Hermes to release Odysseus. Having listened with rapt attention to his story, the Phaeacians, who are skilled mariners, agree to help Odysseus get home. They deliver him at night, while he is fast asleep, to a hidden harbour on Ithaca. He finds his way to the hut of one of his own slaves, the swineherd Eumaeus. Athena disguises Odysseus as a wandering beggar so he can see how things stand in his household. After dinner, he tells the farm laborers a fictitious tale of himself: He was born in Crete, had led a party of Cretans to fight alongside other Greeks in the Trojan War, and had then spent seven years at the court of the king of Egypt; finally he had been shipwrecked in Thesprotia and crossed from there to Ithaca. Meanwhile, Telemachus sails home from Sparta, evading an ambush set by the Suitors. He disembarks on the coast of Ithaca and makes for Eumaeus’s hut. Father and son meet; Odysseus identifies himself to Telemachus (but still not to Eumaeus), and they decide that the Suitors must be killed. Telemachus goes home first. Accompanied by Eumaeus, Odysseus returns to his own house, still pretending to be a beggar. He is ridiculed by the Suitors in his own home, especially by one extremely impertinent man named Antinous. Odysseus meets Penelope and tests her intentions by saying he once met Odysseus in Crete. Closely questioned, he adds that he had recently been in Thesprotia and had learned something there of Odysseus’s recent wanderings. Odysseus’s identity is discovered by the housekeeper, Eurycleia, when she recognizes an old scar as she is washing his feet. Eurycleia tries to tell Penelope about the beggar's true identity, but Athena makes sure that Penelope cannot hear her. Odysseus then swears Eurycleia to secrecy. The next day, at Athena’s prompting, Penelope maneuvers the Suitors into competing for her hand with an archery competition using Odysseus' bow. The man who can string the bow and shoot it through a dozen axe heads would win. Odysseus takes part in the competition himself: he alone is strong enough to string the bow and shoot it through the dozen axe heads, making him the winner. He then turns his arrows on the Suitors and with the help of Athena, Telemachus, Eumaeus and Philoteus the cowherd, he kills all the Suitors. Odysseus and Telemachus hang twelve of their household maids, who had betrayed Penelope or had sex with the Suitors, or both; they mutilate and kill the goatherd Melanthius, who had mocked and abused Odysseus. Now at last, Odysseus identifies himself to Penelope. She is hesitant, but accepts him when he mentions that their bed was made from an olive tree still rooted to the ground. Many modern and ancient scholars take this to be the original ending of the Odyssey, and the rest to be an interpolation. The next day he and Telemachus visit the country farm of his old father Laertes, who likewise accepts his identity only when Odysseus correctly describes the orchard that Laertes had previously given him. The citizens of Ithaca have followed Odysseus on the road, planning to avenge the killing of the Suitors, their sons. Their leader points out that Odysseus has now caused the deaths of two generations of the men of Ithaca: his sailors, not one of whom survived; and the Suitors, whom he has now executed. The goddess Athena intervenes and persuades both sides to give up the vendetta, a deus ex machina. After this, Ithaca is at peace once more, concluding the Odyssey. | In 1937, Ulysses Everett McGill , Pete Hogwallop , and Delmar O'Donnell escape from a chain gang at Parchman Farm and set out to retrieve the $1.2 million in treasure that Everett claims to have stolen from an armored car and buried before his incarceration. They have only four days to find it before the valley in which it is hidden will be flooded to create Arkabutla Lake as part of a new hydroelectric project. Early in their escape, while still chained together, they try to jump onto a moving train with some hobos, but fall off due to Pete's inability to get on. They then encounter a blind man traveling on a manual railroad car. They hitch a ride, and he foretells their futures. They "seek a great fortune" and they will "find a fortune, though it will not be the one they seek". They will also see many wonders on their journey, including a "cow on the roof of a cotton house". They walk to Pete's cousin's house, Wash Hogwallop , who removes their chains, but, because he needs the money, he then turns them in to the police, led by Sheriff Cooley . The authorities set the barn they are sleeping in ablaze, but the trio quickly escapes with the help of Wash's son. When they pass a congregation on the banks of a river, Pete and Delmar are enticed by the idea of baptism, to the immense derision of the skeptical Everett. As the journey continues, they travel briefly with a young guitarist named Tommy Johnson . When asked why he was at a crossroad in the middle of nowhere, he reveals that he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the ability to play the guitar. Tommy describes the devil as being "White, as white as you folks ... with empty eyes and a big hollow voice. He love to travel around with a mean old hound". This description matches Sheriff Cooley. The four of them come across a radio station run by a blind man , and record the song "Man of Constant Sorrow", calling themselves the Soggy Bottom Boys. Unknown to them, the song becomes famous around the state. The trio part ways with Tommy after their car is discovered by police, and they continue on their own. Among their many encounters, the most notable are a bank robbery with the famous bank robber George Nelson , a run-in with three sirens who seduce and drug them, and a mugging by a one-eyed Bible salesman named Big Dan Teague . Everett and Delmar arrive in Everett’s home town only to find that Everett's wife, Penny , is engaged to Vernon T. Waldrip , campaign manager for gubernatorial candidate Homer Stokes . She refuses to take Everett back and is so ashamed of him that she has been telling their daughters he was killed by a train. While watching a film in a cinema, Everett and Delmar discover that Pete is still alive, the sirens having turned him in to collect the bounty on his head. After Everett and Delmar rescue him from jail, Pete tells them that he gave up the location of the treasure. Everett reveals that he was in prison for practicing law without a license and that there was never any treasure; he only mentioned it to persuade the other men to escape so he could reconcile with his wife. Pete is outraged at this news, primarily because he only had two weeks left on his original sentence, which has now been extended 50 years in light of his escape. The trio stumble upon a Ku Klux Klan rally, where Tommy is about to be lynched. The three disguise themselves as the color guard and attempt a rescue, but Big Dan reveals their identities, and chaos ensues, in which the Grand Wizard is revealed to be Stokes. The trio flee the scene with Tommy cutting the wires supporting a large burning cross, which falls on and incinerates some of the Klansmen . Everett convinces Pete, Delmar, and Tommy to help him win his wife back. Disguised as musicians, they sneak into a Stokes campaign dinner that she is attending. Everett tries to convince his wife that he is "bona fide", but she brushes him off. The group begins an impromptu musical performance, during which the crowd recognizes them as the Soggy Bottom Boys and goes wild. Stokes, on the other hand, recognizes them as the group who disgraced his lynch mob and shouts for the music to stop, angering the crowd. He denounces the Soggy Bottom Boys as hostile to the social order, but the crowd is unimpressed and runs him out of town on a rail. Pappy O'Daniel , the sitting governor, seizes the opportunity and endorses the Soggy Bottom Boys, granting them a full pardon while the event is being played on the radio. Penny accepts Everett back, but she demands that he find her original ring if they are to be married. As they leave the dinner, they run into a mob taking a jubilant George Nelson to jail. Delmar comments, "Looks like George is right back on top again". The group sets out with Tommy to retrieve the ring, which is at a cabin in the valley that Everett originally claimed to have hidden the treasure in. When they arrive, the police order their arrest and hanging. Everett protests, stating that they had been pardoned on the radio, but Sheriff Cooley ignores their pleas, responding that where he comes from, "[they] don’t have a radio". The three begin to despair while Everett improvises a prayer to be saved. Suddenly, the valley is flooded and they are saved from hanging. Using their coffins as rafts, Pete and Delmar jubilantly praise God, while Everett dismisses the incident as luck. He pipes down, though, as a cow floats by on top of a submerged cotton house. Tommy finds the ring in a desk that he is floating on in the new lake, and they return to town. Everett and Penny walk through town with their daughters in tow, singing. Everett presents the ring to Penny, who promptly states that it is the wrong one and demands her ring back. As Everett protests the futility of trying to find it at the bottom of the lake, the blind man rolls by on his railway handcar, his voice joining those of the girls in song. | 0.269121 | positive | 0.196986 | positive | 0.762762 |
1,645,634 | The Big Sleep | The Big Sleep | Private investigator Philip Marlowe is called to the home of wealthy, elderly General Sternwood. He wants Marlowe to deal with a blackmail attempt by a bookseller named Arthur Geiger on his wild young daughter Carmen. She had previously been blackmailed by a Joe Brody. Sternwood mentions his other, older daughter Vivian, who is in a loveless marriage with a man named Rusty Regan, who has disappeared. On Marlowe's way out, Vivian wonders if he was hired to find Regan, but Marlowe won’t say. Marlowe investigates Geiger’s bookstore and determines it is a pornography lending library. He follows Geiger home, stakes out his house, and sees Carmen Sternwood enter. Later, he hears a scream followed by gunshots and two cars speeding away. He rushes in to find Geiger dead and Carmen drugged and naked in front of an empty camera. He takes her home, but when he returns, Geiger’s body is gone and he quickly leaves. The next day, the police call him and let him know the Sternwoods' car was found driven off a pier with their chauffeur dead inside. It appears that he was hit before the car entered the water. The police also ask if Marlowe is looking for Regan. Marlowe stakes out the bookstore and sees its inventory being moved to Joe Brody’s home. Vivian comes to his office and says Carmen is now being blackmailed with the nude photos from last night. She also mentions going gambling at the casino of Eddie Mars, and volunteers that Eddie's wife Mona ran off with Rusty. Marlowe revisits Geiger’s house and finds Carmen trying to get in. They look for the photos but she plays dumb about the night before. Eddie Mars suddenly enters; he says he is Geiger’s landlord and is looking for him. Mars demands to know why Marlowe is there, but Marlowe is unfazed and states he is no threat to Mars. Marlowe goes to Brody’s home and finds him with Agnes, the bookstore's clerk. He tells them he knows they are taking over the lending library and blackmailing Carmen with the nude photos. Carmen forces her way in with a gun and demands the photos, but Marlowe takes her gun and makes her leave. Marlowe interrogates Brody further and pieces together the full story: Geiger was blackmailing Carmen and the family driver didn’t like it, so he sneaked in, killed him, and took the film of Carmen. Brody was staking out the house too and pursued the driver, stole the film, and hit him and possibly pushed the car off the pier. Suddenly the doorbell rings and Brody is shot dead; Marlowe gives chase and catches Geiger’s male lover, who shot Brody thinking he killed Geiger. He had also hidden Geiger’s body so he could remove his own belongings before the police could get wind of the murder. The case is now over, but Marlowe is nagged by Regan's disappearance. The police accept that he simply ran off with Mona Mars, since she is also missing and Eddie Mars wouldn't risk committing a murder where he'd be the obvious suspect. Mars calls Marlowe to his casino, and seems to be nonchalant about everything. Vivian is also there, and Marlowe senses something between her and Mars. He drives her home and she tries to seduce him, but he rejects her advances. When he gets home, he finds Carmen has sneaked into his bed, and he rejects her, too. A man named Harry Jones, who is Agnes's new partner, approaches Marlowe and offers to sell him the location of Mona Mars. Marlowe plans to meet him later, but Mars's deadly henchman Canino is suspicious of Jones and Agnes's intentions and kills Jones first. Marlowe manages to meet Agnes anyway and receive the information. He goes to the location, a repair shop with home in back, but Canino jumps him and knocks him out. When he awakens, he is tied up and Mona Mars is there with him. She says she hasn't seen Rusty in months; she only hid out to help Eddie, and insists he didn't kill Rusty. She frees him and he shoots and kills Canino. The next day, Marlowe visits General Sternwood, who is still curious about Rusty's whereabouts. On the way out, Marlowe returns Carmen's gun to her, and she asks him to teach her how to shoot. They go to an abandoned field, where she tries to kill him, but he has loaded the gun with blanks. Marlowe brings her back and tells Vivian he has guessed the truth: Carmen came on to Rusty and he refused her, so she killed him. Eddie Mars, who had been backing Geiger, helped Vivian conceal it by inventing a story about his wife running off with Rusty, and then began blackmailing her himself. Vivian says she did it to protect her father, and promises to have Carmen institutionalized. | In modern-day England, private detective Philip Marlowe is asked to the stately home of General Sternwood , who hires Marlowe to learn who is blackmailing him. While at the mansion, he meets the General's spoiled and inquisitive daughter Charlotte and wild younger daughter Camilla . Marlowe's investigation of the homosexual pornographer Arthur Geiger leads him to Geiger's employee, Agnes Lozelle , and to a man she has taken up with, Joe Brody ([[Edward Fox . He also discovers Camilla at the scene of Geiger's murder, where she has posed for nude photographs, and takes her home safely to a grateful Charlotte. Returning to the crime scene, Marlowe is interrupted by gambler Eddie Mars , who owns the house where Geiger's body was found. Mars's wife Mona hasn't been seen in a while and may have run off with Charlotte's missing husband, Rusty Regan . And due to Charlotte Regan's gambling debts, Mars appears to have a hold over Charlotte as well. Camilla tries to get her pictures back from Brody, who now is in possession of them. Marlowe intervenes but Brody is shot and killed by someone unseen. A man named Harry Jones comes to Marlowe with a proposition. He is working with Agnes now and she is willing to sell information as to Mrs. Mars' whereabouts. But on the night Marlowe shows up for their meeting, Harry is poisoned by Lash Canino , a hit man who is working for Eddie Mars. Marlowe pays Agnes for the address. He tracks down Canino at a remote garage, where he is overpowered and taken prisoner. Mars' supposedly missing wife Mona is there as well. At a moment when Canino is out, Marlowe persuades her to set him free. In a shootout, he then kills Canino. Camilla Sternwood appears to be grateful to Marlowe, but she ends up pointing a gun at him. Marlowe was prepared for this and had put in blanks. It turns out that the emotionally disturbed Camilla was behind the disappearance of her sister's husband Rusty and that Charlotte had covered everything up with Eddie Mars' help. After confronting Charlotte with the facts, Marlowe tells her to have Camilla hospitalized. He then drives away from the Sternwood residence the same way he came in, hoping that the gravely ill General will never know the truth about his two wicked daughters. | 0.802972 | positive | 0.992872 | positive | 0.369867 |
4,141,849 | Frankenstein | The Horror of Frankenstein | Frankenstein is written in the form of a frame story that starts with Captain Robert Walton writing letters to his sister. The novel Frankenstein is written in epistolary form, documenting a correspondence between Captain Robert Walton and his sister, Margaret Walton Saville. Walton is a failed writer who sets out to explore the North Pole and expand his scientific knowledge in hopes of achieving fame. During the voyage the crew spots a dog sled mastered by a gigantic figure. A few hours later, the crew rescues a nearly frozen and emaciated man named Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein has been in pursuit of the gigantic man observed by Walton's crew. Frankenstein starts to recover from his exertion; he sees in Walton the same over-ambitiousness and recounts a story of his life's miseries to Walton as a warning. Victor begins by telling of his childhood. Born into a wealthy family in Geneva, he is encouraged to seek a greater understanding of the world around him through science. He grows up in a safe environment, surrounded by loving family and friends. When he is around 4 years old, his parents adopt Elizabeth Lavenza, an orphan whose mother has just died (she is Victor's biological cousin in the first edition, but an adopted child with no blood relation in the 1831 edition). Victor has a possessive infatuation with Elizabeth. He has two younger brothers: Ernest and William. As a young boy, Victor is obsessed with studying outdated theories of science that focus on achieving natural wonders. He plans to attend the University of Ingolstadt in Germany. Weeks before his planned departure, his mother dies of scarlet fever. At university, he excels at chemistry and other sciences, and develops a secret technique to imbue inanimate bodies with life. The details of the monster's construction are left ambiguous, but Frankenstein finds himself forced to make the creature roughly eight feet tall because of the difficulty in replicating the minute parts of the human body. His creation, which he has hoped would be beautiful, is instead hideous, with dull yellow eyes, and a withered, translucent, yellowish skin that barely conceals the muscular system and blood vessels. After bringing his creation to life, Victor is repulsed by his work: he flees the room, and the monster disappears. Victor becomes ill from the experience. He is nursed back to health by his childhood friend, Henry Clerval. After a four-month recovery, he determines that he should return home when his brother William is found murdered. Upon arriving in Geneva, he sees the monster near the site of the murder, and becomes certain it is the killer. William's nanny, Justine, is hanged for the murder based on the discovery of William's locket in her pocket. Victor, though certain the monster is responsible, doubts anyone would believe him, and does not intervene. Ravaged by his grief and self-reproach, Victor retreats into the mountains to find peace. The monster approaches him, ignoring his threats and pleading with Victor to hear its tale. Intelligent and articulate, it tells Victor of its encounters with people, and how it had become afraid of them and spent a year living near a cottage, observing the DeLacey family living there and growing fond of them. Through observing the De Lacey family, the monster became educated and self-aware. It also discovered a lost satchel of books and learned to read. Seeing its reflection in a pool, it realized that its physical appearance is hideous compared to the humans it watches. Though it eventually approached the family with hope of becoming their fellow, they were frightened by its appearance and drove it off, and then left the residence permanently. The creature, in a fit of rage, burned the cottage and left. In its travels some time later, the monster saw a young girl tumble into a stream and rescued her from drowning. A man, seeing it with the child in its arms, pursued it and fired a gun, wounding it. Traveling to Geneva, it met a little boy — Victor's brother William - in the woods outside the town of Plainpalais. The monster hoped the boy was too young to fear deformity, but upon its approach, William cried out, threatening the monster with the weight of his family - the Frankensteins. The creature grabbed the boy by the throat to silence him, and strangled him. It is unclear from the text whether this was an accident on the monster's part or a deliberate murder, but in either case, the monster took this as its first act of vengeance against its creator. It removed a locket from the boy's body and placed it in the folds of the dress of a young woman — William's nanny, Justine — who had been sleeping in a barn nearby, assuming she would be accused of the murder. The monster concludes its story with a demand that Frankenstein create for it a female companion like itself. It argues that as a living thing, it has a right to happiness and that Victor, as its creator, has a duty to obey it, with the chilling words, "You are my creator, but I am your master. Obey!" It promises that if Victor grants its request, it and its mate will vanish into the wilderness of South America uninhabited by man, never to reappear. Fearing for his family, Victor reluctantly agrees and travels to England to do his work. He is accompanied by Clerval, but they separate in Scotland. Through their travels, Victor suspects that the monster is following him. Working on a second being on the Orkney Islands, he is plagued by premonitions of what his work might wreak, particularly as creating a mate for the creature might lead to the breeding of an entire race of monsters that could plague mankind. He destroys the unfinished example after he sees the monster looking through the window. The monster witnesses this and, confronting Victor, vows to be with Victor on his upcoming wedding night. The monster murders Clerval and leaves the corpse on an Irish beach, where Victor lands upon leaving the island. Victor is imprisoned for the murder of Clerval, and becomes seriously ill, suffering another mental breakdown in prison. After being acquitted, and with his health renewed, he returns home with his father. Once home, Victor marries his cousin Elizabeth and prepares for a fight to the death with the monster. Wrongly believing the monster's vowed revenge was for his own life, he asks Elizabeth to retire to her room for the night while he goes looking for the fiend. He searches the house and grounds, but the creature murders the secluded Elizabeth instead. Victor sees the monster at the window pointing at the corpse. Grief-stricken by the deaths of William, Justine, Clerval, and now Elizabeth, Victor's father dies. Victor vows to pursue the monster until one of them annihilates the other. After months of pursuit, the two end up in the Arctic Circle, near the North Pole. At the end of Victor's narrative, Captain Walton resumes the telling of the story. A few days after the vanishing of the creature, the ship becomes entombed in ice and Walton's crew insists on returning south once they are freed. In spite of a passionate speech from Frankenstein, encouraging the crew to push further north, Walton realizes that he must relent to his men's demands and agrees to head for home. Frankenstein dies shortly thereafter, not before imploring Captain Walton to carry his mission of vengeance to its completion. "The task of his destruction was mine, but I have failed. When actuated by selfish and vicious motives, I asked you to take up my unfinished work; and I renew this request now, when I am only induced by reason and virtue." Walton discovers the monster on his ship, mourning over Frankenstein's body. Walton hears the monster's adamant justification for its vengeance as well as expressions of remorse. Frankenstein's death has not brought it peace. Rather, its crimes have increased its misery and alienation; it has found only its own emotional ruin in the destruction of its creator. It vows to exterminate itself on its own funeral pyre so that no others will ever know of its existence. Walton watches as it drifts away on an ice raft that is soon lost in darkness. | Victor Frankenstein, a cold, arrogant and womanizing genius, is angry when his father forbids him to continue his anatomy experiments. He ruthlessly murders his father by sabotaging the old man's shotgun, consequently inheriting the title of Baron von Frankenstein and the family fortune. He uses the money to enter medical school in Vienna, but is forced to return home when he impregnates the daughter of the Dean. Returning to his own castle, he sets up a laboratory and starts a series of experiments involving the revival of the dead. He eventually builds a composite body from human parts, which he then brings to life. The creature goes on a homicidal rampage until it is accidentally destroyed when a vat where it has been hidden is flooded with acid. | 0.771044 | positive | 0.9808 | positive | 0.988304 |
9,585,054 | Appointment with Venus | Appointment with Venus | In 1940, after the fall of France, the fictitious Channel Island of Armorel is occupied by a small garrison of German troops under the benign command of Hauptmann Weiss. He finds that the hereditary ruler, the Suzerain, is away in the army, leaving the Provost in charge. Back in London, the Ministry of Agriculture realise that Venus, a valuable pedigree Guernsey cow, remains on the island. They petition the War Office to mount a rescue operation, and Major Valentine Morland is assigned the mission, with the assistance of the Suzerain's sister Nicola Fallaize who joined the A.T.S. at the outbreak of war. They travel to Armorel by submarine, contact the Provost and other friends on the island, and discover that Weiss, a cattle breeder in civilian life, is about to have the cow shipped to Germany. By a series of elaborate deceptions, they extract Venus from Weiss's command and succeed in returning her to England. | In 1940, after the fall of France, the fictitious Channel Island of Armorel is occupied by a small garrison of German troops under the benign command of Hauptmann Weiss . He finds that the hereditary ruler, the Suzerain, is away in the army, leaving the Provost in charge. Back in London, the Ministry of Agriculture realise that during the evacuation of the island, Venus, a prize pedigree cow, has been left behind. They petition the War Office to do something urgently, and Major Morland , is assigned the task of rescuing Venus. When he realises that the Suzerain's sister, Nicola Fallaize is in Wales, serving as an army cook, she is quickly posted to the War Office and the two, with a sergeant and a naval officer, are landed on the island. They contact the Provost and discover that the Hauptmann, a cattle breeder in civilian life, is about to the have the cow shipped to Germany. In a race against the Germans discovering their presence, they spirit the cow onto a beach and via a special craft, onto a motorboat which takes them to England. The story is based on a real incident told to Tickell after the war by an army officer who was involved in a similar event. The fictitious island of Armorel may be based on Sark, one of the locations where the film was shot. Sark, inhabited by 500 people, also has a feudal ruler, the Seigneur, as depicted in the play The Dame of Sark.{{by whom}} Like all the other Channel Islands, it was occupied by German troops 1940–1945. British commandos made two unsuccessful raids in 1942–43. | 0.881233 | positive | 0.996212 | positive | 0.995524 |
1,524,536 | Sahara | Sahara | The book starts with a scene just a week before the surrender of Confederate forces of Robert E. Lee in 1865. The Confederate Navy ship CSS Texas is being loaded at a dock with crates supposedly filled with documents. The ship's captain Tombs has been ordered to take the ship past a Union blockade and to any neutral harbour where she should dock until summoned by a courier. At the last minute the secretary of the Confederate navy and an admiral arrive and mention that he will be taking a prisoner on board. Tombs is shocked when the prisoner arrives under heavy guard with Confederate soldiers in Union uniforms. The ship gets under way and is battered by the Union navy trying to attempt to pass the blockade into the open sea. To make matters easier, Tombs brings the prisoner onto the deck, and the Union soldiers stop firing and salute. The plot then moves to 1931, when a lady, Kitty Mannock, is flying over the Sahara in quest of a new aviation record. A severe sand storm fouls her carburettors and her plane crash lands in the desert. While her landing is on level ground, the plane reaches the edge of a ravine and tips over. Even though a search is launched she is not found. The plot then moves to 1996. A convoy of tourists are crossing the Sahara on a fleet of Land Rovers when they reach a scheduled stop at a village in the country of Mali. They find it is unusually deserted, but as they are refreshing themselves at the village well they are attacked by red-eyed savages who kill and eat them. Only the tour guide escapes with his life. Meanwhile working in Egypt on an archaeological mapping of the Nile, Dirk Pitt is able to rescue Dr. Eva Rojas, a scientist working for the World Health Organization, from a mysterious attacker. Shortly thereafter, Eva flies to Mali with an international team of scientists to investigate a mysterious disease that has been reported from various desert villages. At the same time, Pitt and his best friend Al Giordino are hurriedly flown to a research vessel outside the coast of Mali. There they are informed by their boss, Admiral James Sandecker, of an algal bloom, in this case a red tide, that is growing unnaturally fast, and threatens to consume the world's oxygen supply and extinguish almost all life. The growth speed is suspected to be fueled by some type of pollutant. Dirk, Al and Rudi Gunn are ordered to cruise up the Niger River to search for the pollutant, and determine where it enters the river. They do this aboard the Calliope, a high-performance super-yacht, equipped with comprehensive scientific laboratories, several weapon systems, and an array of communication equipment. The cruise is all well until reaching Benin, where they are forced to engage the Benin navy, which is completely destroyed. The continued trip is calm. They identify the pollutant, and at last find the spot where it appears in the river—but there is no chemical facility in the vicinity, and in fact no sign of anything entering the river. By now, the Malian armed forces are on their way, along with the Malian dictator General Zateb Kazim, who wishes to seize the yacht for his own use. After dropping Gunn off to make a run for the Gao airport, Pitt and Giordino let the yacht self-destruct after jumping overboard and swimming to the houseboat of the ruthless French businessman Yves Massarde. On his yacht, they manage to contact admiral Sandecker about Gunn's escape before being captured by Massarde. A UN rescue team picks Gunn up at the airport. After some interrogation at the houseboat, Pitt and Giordino manage to steal Mr Massarde's helicopter, which they fly north to Bourem, dumping the chopper in the river. Here they find (and steal) General Kazim's ancient car, an Avions Voisin. They drive the Voisin north, into the desert, toward the chemical waste processing facility Fort Foureau, the only facility that could possibly leak the pollutant into the river. En route to the detoxification facility, Pitt and Giordino run into an American nomad who is searching for a supposed sunken Civil War ironclad. They hide the car and sneak into the facility, only to be captured by Mr. Massarde's security guards, but not before they understand that the processing facility is just a disguise for an underground waste dump sitting right above an underground river, which flows under the sand to the Niger. Massarde decides to send them to Tebezza, a secret gold mine shared with General Kazim, where prisoners dig for gold under appalling conditions. Here they also find the WHO team, which had been coming too close to the truth about the diseases they were investigating, as well as the French engineers that were contracted to build the processing facility. Dirk and Al manage to escape from the mine, driving 300 km to the east, trying to reach the Trans-Sahara Route. When the gas runs out, they have to walk. They find a cave painting of a Civil War-era monitor, which local artists could not have drawn in such detail without having seen it. They also find a lost 1930s-era airplane, which they rebuild into a sand yacht. They determine that the crashed airplane had been flown by legendary record-breaking Australian pilot Kitty Mannock, whose disappearance was worldwide news at the time, overshadowed only by that of Amelia Earhart. Mannock's body is lying with the plane, along with her diary, which details her attempts at walking out, her discovery of "an odd ship in the sand", her taking shelter inside the ship, and her eventual return to her plane in a vain hope for rescue. Mannock had survived for ten days, and by her diary they were able to know how long she walked from the plane, and in which direction, giving them an area to search for the lost ironclad. Using the sand yacht they built from Mannock's plane, they finally reach the Trans-Sahara Route and are picked up by a passing truck on the way to Adrar, Algeria. They quickly reach Algiers, from where they inform Admiral Sandecker about the appalling situation in Tebezza. The UN team that rescued Rudi Gunn earlier is dispatched to Alger to pick up Pitt and Giordino, and is then flown to Tebezza. They successfully attack Tebezza and close it for good, but not before an alarm is sent to General Kazim. An aircraft from the Malian air force is sent there to investigate, and destroys the UN aircraft just as the team returns from the mine. They are now stranded, and decide to make a run for the real Fort Foureau, a French Foreign Legion fortress that gave the waste processing plant its name, and plan to later hijack a waste train to carry the team and the rescued prisoners to safety in Mauritania. Unfortunately, while at the fortress their presence is discovered and the trains are stopped. Giordino and a commando use a stripped attack buggy to reach a US Delta unit in Mauritaina, while the Malian army attacks the fortress with everything they have. After severe losses for both sides, the Delta unit comes to the rescue aboard a train, quickly defeating the Malian army and killing General Kazim. Now Pitt and Giordino borrow an attack helicopter and go to take over the Fort Foureau facility. They also force Mr. Massarde to lie out in the desert sun naked for three hours, after which he drinks several litres of water which was secretly polluted from the waste dump. They then let him board his chopper and leave, knowing that he will not live a week. In the end, the waste dump is cleaned up, the water pollutant is removed and the red tide growth rate decreases. The rescued Tebezza prisoners are treated for malnutrition and various injuries. The ironclad is dug up and the lost airplane is restored and placed in a museum. Dirk Pitt also ships general Kazim's Avions Voisin to his own car collection. A subplot involved a conspiracy theory regarding Abraham Lincoln, which suggested that Abraham Lincoln was captured by Confederate forces and was indeed the prisoner brought on board the ironclad CSS Texas, with the "Abe Lincoln" that was assassinated being actually an actor hired by Edwin M. Stanton. This was cut out of the film adaptation. | The film begins with a prologue set in Richmond, Virginia in 1865, showing the ironclad CSS Texas, carrying the last of the Confederacy's treasury, as Captain Adrian Tombs tries to run a Union blockade. The film then moves to the present day, where World Health Organization doctors Eva Rojas and Frank Hopper are investigating a disease that is spreading across Mali, Africa. Assassins attempt to murder Eva, but she is rescued by Dirk Pitt, from National Underwater and Marine Agency, who was working nearby. Dirk gets a call from a dealer in Nigeria. He sells Dirk a gold Confederate States of America coin, one of supposedly only five in existence, which was found in the Niger River. Dirk believes that this is a clue to the long-lost Texas. He convinces his boss, James Sandecker, to let him, Al Giordino, and Rudi Gunn, from NUMA, go to Mali to search. They give Eva and Hopper a ride, so that they can continue their investigation, for the WHO. Businessman Yves Massarde and dictator General Kazim, who controls half of civil-war torn Mali, try to stop the doctors from discovering the source of "plague". Kazim sends men to kill them and the NUMA team, not realizing their CIA and Navy background. Dirk, Al and Rudi survive the attack. Rudi tries to get out of the country to get help while Dirk and Al go to rescue the doctors. They save Eva, and then the three try to get across the border, but are captured by Tuareg, who are fighting the civil war against Kazim. The Tuaregs’ leader, Madibo, shows Eva his people, who are dying from the same disease she was investigating at the beginning. After taking samples, Eva finds that their water is contaminated. By accident, Al stumbles into a cave with a painting showing the ironclad Texas. Dirk believes that the Texas became stranded when the river water dried up after a storm and that the same river that carried the Texas now runs underground, spreading the contamination. They start to follow the dry river bed and work their way to the border. Dirk still hopes to find the ironclad along the way. Their plans are interrupted when they stumble upon the solar detoxification plant owned by Massarde, and realize that it is the source of the contamination. Rudi and Sandecker analyze their samples and find that the contamination is heading down the Niger River to the ocean, but they can't get any government help to intervene during a civil war in a sovereign country. Massarde captures Dirk and the others. He keeps Eva but sends Dirk and Al to Kazim. They escape but end up stranded in the middle of the desert. They find the wreck of a plane and fashion it into a land yacht which they use to find civilisation and contact Sandecker, who warns them that Kazim and his troops are after them. Dirk and Al enlist Madibo's aid to return to the plant and rescue Eva. He helps them infiltrate the plant and rescue his people who are working there as slaves. Rather than risk discovery, Massarde plans to destroy the plant, making it almost impossible to stop the contamination. Al goes to defuse the bombs while Dirk tries to head off Massarde. After a battle with a corrupt Tuareg, Dirk manages to save Eva while Massarde escapes. Dirk, Eva, and Al get away from the plant, but are strafed by Kazim in a helicopter gunship. A series of explosions along the dry river bed reveals the wreckage of the Texas, right where the cave painting showed it to be. They take cover inside thinking the ironclad's armor will protect them but Kazim's armor-piercing ammunition penetrates the rusted ironclad's armor with ease. They manage to fight back with an old cannon and destroy Kazim's gunship, just as Madibo arrives with Tuareg reinforcements which forces Kazim's army to surrender and end the civil war. In the end the contamination is dealt with, and Sandecker is offered a deal to do some covert work, while the government serendipitously funds NUMA, which he accepts, tentatively. It seems that Massarde, busy eating with a businessman, does not notice that the waiter who pours him water from a bottle served ONLY HIM and then disappeared with the rest of the bottle. It is implied that Massarde is poisoned on orders from the US Government. The Texas gold, which belongs to the CSA – Confederate States of America, is left with Madibo's people. We see a soccer ball come bouncing into the same cave with the painting of the ironclad Texas, with Al in pursuit. He is playing soccer with the local kids. The cave, once empty, is now full of the gold. Later, while Al, Rudi, Sandecker are busy, Dirk and Eva are at the beach at her house on the bay in Monterey. | 0.738337 | positive | 0.993507 | positive | 0.658852 |
6,167,400 | Oliver Twist | Twist | Oliver Twist is born into a life of poverty and misfortune in a workhouse in an unnamed town (although when originally published in Bentley's Miscellany in 1837 the town was called Mudfog and said to be within 70 miles north of London - in reality this is the location of the town of Northampton). Orphaned almost from his first breath by his mother’s death in childbirth and his father’s unexplained absence, Oliver is meagerly provided for under the terms of the Poor Law, and spends the first nine years of his life at a baby farm in the 'care' of a woman named Mrs. Mann. Oliver is brought up with little food and few comforts. Around the time of Oliver's ninth birthday, Mr. Bumble, a parish beadle, removes Oliver from the baby farm and puts him to work picking oakum at the main workhouse. Oliver, who toils with very little food, remains in the workhouse for six months. One day, the desperately hungry boys decide to draw lots; the loser must ask for another portion of gruel. The task falls to Oliver, who at the next meal tremblingly comes forward, bowl in hand, and makes his famous request: "Please, sir, I want some more." A great uproar ensues. The board of well-fed gentlemen who administer the workhouse hypocritically offer five pounds to any person wishing to take on the boy as an apprentice. A brutal chimney sweep almost claims Oliver, however, when he begs despairingly not to be sent away with "that dreadful man", a kindly old magistrate refuses to sign the indentures. Later, Mr. Sowerberry, an undertaker employed by the parish, took Oliver into his service. He treats Oliver better, and because of the boy's sorrowful countenance, uses him as a mourner at children’s funerals. However, Mr. Sowerberry is in an unhappy marriage, and his wife takes an immediate dislike to Oliver — primarily because her husband seems to like him — and loses few opportunities to underfeed and mistreat him. He also suffers torment at the hands of Noah Claypole, an oafish but bullying fellow apprentice and "charity boy" who is jealous of Oliver’s promotion to mute, and Charlotte, the Sowerberrys' maidservant, who is in love with Noah. One day, in an attempt to bait Oliver, Noah insults Oliver's biological mother, calling her "a regular right-down bad ‘un". Oliver flies into a rage, attacking and even beating the much bigger boy. Mrs. Sowerberry takes Noah’s side, helps him to subdue, punching, and beating Oliver, and later compels her husband and Mr. Bumble, who has been sent for in the aftermath of the fight, into beating Oliver again. Once Oliver is sent to his room for the night, he does something that he hadn't done since babyhood — he breaks down and weeps. Alone that night, Oliver finally decides to run away, and, "He remembered to have seen the waggons, as they went out, toiling up the hill. He took the same route," until a well-placed milestone sets his wandering feet towards London. During his journey to London, Oliver encounters Jack Dawkins, a pickpocket more commonly known by the nickname the "Artful Dodger", although Oliver's innocent nature prevents him from recognising this hint that the boy may be dishonest. Dodger provides Oliver with a free meal and tells him of a gentleman in London who will "give him lodgings for nothing, and never ask for change". Grateful for the unexpected assistance, Oliver follows Dodger to the "old gentleman"'s residence. In this way, Oliver unwittingly falls in with an infamous Jewish criminal known as Fagin, the so-called gentleman of whom the Artful Dodger spoke. Ensnared, Oliver lives with Fagin and his gang of juvenile pickpockets in their lair at Saffron Hill for some time, unaware of their criminal occupations. He believes they make wallets and handkerchiefs. Later, Oliver naïvely goes out to "make handkerchiefs" because of no income coming in, with two of Fagin’s underlings: The Artful Dodger and a boy of a humorous nature named Charley Bates. Oliver realises too late that their real mission is to pick pockets. Dodger and Charley steal the handkerchief of an old gentleman named Mr. Brownlow, and promptly flee. When he finds his handkerchief missing, Mr. Brownlow turns round, sees Oliver, and pursues him. Others join the chase and Oliver is caught and taken before the magistrate. Curiously, Mr. Brownlow has second thoughts about the boy—he seems reluctant to believe he is a pickpocket. To the judge's evident disappointment, a bookstall holder who saw Dodger commit the crime clears Oliver, who, by now actually ill, faints in the courtroom. Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver home and, along with his housekeeper Mrs. Bedwin, cares for him. Oliver stays with Mr. Brownlow, recovers rapidly, and blossoms from the unaccustomed kindness. His bliss, however, is interrupted when Fagin, fearing Oliver might "peach" on his criminal gang, decides that Oliver must be brought back to his hideout. When Mr. Brownlow sends Oliver out to pay for some books, one of the gang, a young girl named Nancy, whom Oliver had previously met at Fagin's, accosts him with help from her abusive lover, a brutal robber named Bill Sikes, and Oliver is quickly bundled back to Fagin's lair. The thieves take the five-pound note Mr. Brownlow had entrusted to him, and strip him of his fine new clothes. Oliver, dismayed, flees and attempts to call for police assistance, but is ruthlessly dragged back by the Dodger, Charley and Fagin. Nancy, however, is sympathetic towards Oliver and saves him from beatings by Fagin and Sikes. In a renewed attempt to draw Oliver into a life of crime, Fagin forces him to participate in a burglary. Nancy reluctantly assists in recruiting him, all the while assuring the boy that she will help him if she can. Sikes, after threatening to kill him if he does not cooperate, sends Oliver through a small window and orders him to unlock the front door. The robbery goes wrong, however, and Oliver is shot and wounded in his left arm. After being abandoned by Sikes, the wounded Oliver ends up under the care of the people he was supposed to rob: Miss Rose and her guardian Mrs. Maylie Meanwhile, a mysterious man named Monks has found Fagin and is plotting with him to destroy Oliver's reputation. Monks denounces Fagin's failure to turn Oliver into a criminal and the two of them agree on a plan to make sure he does not find out about his past. Monks is apparently related to Oliver in some manner, although it's not mentioned until later. Back in Oliver's hometown, Mr. Bumble married Ms. Corney, the wealthy matron of the workhouse, only to find himself in an unhappy marriage constantly arguing with his domineering wife. After one such argument, Mr. Bumble walks over to a pub, where he meets Monks, who questions him about Oliver. Bumble informs Monks that he knows someone who can give Monks more information for a price, and later Monks meets secretly with the Bumbles. After Mrs. Bumble has told Monks all she knows, the three arrange to take a locket and ring which had once belonged to Oliver's mother and toss them into a nearby river. Monks relates this to Fagin as part of the plot to destroy Oliver, unaware that Nancy has eavesdropped on their conversation and gone ahead to inform Oliver's benefactors. Nancy, by this time ashamed of her role in Oliver's kidnapping, and fearful for the boy's safety, goes to Rose Maylie and Mr. Brownlow to warn them. She knows that Monks and Fagin are plotting to get their hands on the boy again and holds some secret meetings on the subject with Oliver's benefactors. One night Nancy tries to leave for one of the meetings, but Sikes refuses permission when she doesn't state exactly where she's going. Fagin realizes that Nancy is up to something and resolves to find out what her secret is. Meanwhile, Noah has fallen out with the undertaker Mr. Sowerberry, stolen money from him and fled to London. Charlotte has accompanied him — they are now in a relationship. Using the name "Morris Bolter", he joins Fagin's gang for protection and becomes a practicer of "the kinchen lay" (robbing children) while it is implied that Charlotte becomes a prostitute. During Noah's stay with Fagin, the Artful Dodger is caught with a stolen silver snuff box, convicted (in a very humorous courtroom scene) and transported to Australia. Later, Noah is sent by Fagin to "dodge" (spy on) Nancy, and discovers her secret: she has been meeting secretly with Rose and Mr. Brownlow to discuss how to save Oliver from Fagin and Monks. Fagin angrily passes the information on to Sikes, twisting the story just enough to make it sound as if Nancy had informed on him. Believing Nancy to be a traitor, Sikes beats her to death in a fit of rage and later flees to the countryside to escape from the police. There, Sikes is haunted by visions of Nancy's ghost and increasingly alarmed by news of her murder spreading across the countryside. He flees back to London to find a hiding place, only to be killed when he accidentally hangs himself while attempting to flee across a rooftop from an angry mob. Monks is forced by Mr. Brownlow to divulge his secrets: his real name is Edward Leeford, and he is Oliver's paternal half-brother and, although he is legitimate, he was born of a loveless marriage. Oliver's mother, Agnes, was their father's true love. Mr. Brownlow has a picture of her, and began making inquiries when he noticed a marked resemblance between her face and the face of Oliver. Monks has spent many years searching for his father's child—not to befriend him, but to destroy him (see Henry Fielding's Tom Jones for similar circumstances). Brownlow asks Oliver to give half his inheritance (which proves to be meagre) to Monks because he wants to give him a second chance; and Oliver, being prone to giving second chances, is more than happy to comply. Monks then moves to America, where he squanders his money, reverts to crime, and ultimately dies in prison. Fagin is arrested and condemned to the gallows. On the eve of his hanging, in an emotional scene, Oliver, accompanied by Mr. Brownlow, goes to visit the old reprobate in Newgate Gaol, where Fagin's terror at being hanged has caused him to come down with fever. As Mr. Brownlow and Oliver leave the prison, Fagin screams in terror and despair as a crowd gathers to see his hanging. On a happier note, Rose Maylie turns out to be the long-lost sister of Agnes; she is therefore Oliver's aunt. She marries her long-time sweetheart Harry, and Oliver lives happily with his saviour, Mr. Brownlow. Noah becomes a paid, semi-professional informer to the police. The Bumbles lose their jobs and are reduced to great poverty, eventually ending up in the same workhouse where they originally had lorded it over Oliver and the other boys; and Charley Bates, horrified by Sikes's murder of Nancy, becomes an honest citizen, moves to the country, and works his way up to prosperity. | The film is similar in some ways to Seth Michael Donsky's 1996 film Twisted made prior to Tierney's film. Like in Donsky's film, the plot of Oliver Twist is updated to the present day, and moved out of the London poor house onto the streets of Toronto. In addition, the tale is told not from Oliver's point of view, but rather that of Dodge . The prosaically beautiful Oliver falls into the hands of down-and-out young men. Dodge takes Oliver under his wing and instructs him in the unforgiving arts of drug abuse and prostitution. Oliver develops a crush on Dodge and views him as his boyfriend, complicating their friendship. Dodge does not reciprocate his feelings, and reacts angrily to Oliver's kisses and other signs of affection. As Oliver's innocence dissolves, both young men confront their demons and ultimately it is Dodge who finds he cannot escape his past. Dodge is found by his abusive brother around the same time the young mens care taker commits suicide, sending Dodge into a violent rage at the films conclusion. | 0.598138 | positive | 0.991577 | positive | 0.738215 |
4,360,185 | The Fox and the Hound | The Fox and the Hound 2 | Copper, a bloodhound crossbred, was once the favorite among his Master's pack of hunting dogs in a rural country area. However, he now feels threatened by Chief, a younger, faster Black and Tan Coonhound. Copper hates Chief, who is taking Copper's place as pack leader. During a bear hunt, Chief protects the Master when the bear turns on him, while Copper is too afraid of the bear to confront him. The Master ignores Copper to heap praise on Chief and Copper's hatred and jealousy grow. Tod is a red fox kit, raised as a pet by one of the human hunters who killed his mother and litter mates. Tod initially enjoys his life, but when he reaches sexual maturity he returns to the wild. During his first year, he begins establishing his territory, and learns evasion techniques from being hunted by local farm dogs. One day, he comes across the Master's house and discovers that his presence sends the chained pack of dogs into a frustrated frenzy. He begins to delight in taunting them, until one day when Chief breaks his chain and chases him. The Master sees the dog escape and follows with Copper. As Chief skillfully trails the fox, Tod flees along a railroad track while a train is approaching, waiting to jump to safety until the last minute. Chief is killed by the train. With Chief buried and Master crying over a dead dog he trains Copper to ignore all foxes except for Tod. Over the span of the two animals' lives, man and dog hunt the fox, the Master using over a dozen hunting techniques in his quest for revenge. With each hunt, both dog and fox learn new tricks and methods to outsmart each other, Tod always escaping in the end. Tod mates with an older, experienced vixen who gives birth to a litter of kits. Before they are grown, the Master finds the den and gasses the kits to death. That winter, the Master sets out leg hold traps, which Tod carefully learns how to spring, but the vixen is caught and killed. In January, Tod takes a new mate, with whom he has another litter of kits. The Master uses a "still hunting" technique, in which he sits very quietly in the wood while playing a rabbit call to draw out the foxes. With this method, he kills the kits; then by using the sound of a wounded fox kit, he is also able to draw out and kill Tod's mate. As the years pass, the rural area gives way to a more urbanized setting. New buildings and highways spring up, more housing developments are built, and the farmers are pushed out. Though much of the wildlife has left and hunting grows increasingly difficult, Tod stays because it is his home range. The other foxes that remain become unhealthy scavengers, and their natures change—life-bonds with their mates are replaced by promiscuity, couples going their separate ways once the mating act is over. The Master has lost most of his own land, and the only dog he owns now is Copper. Each winter they still hunt Tod, and in an odd way he looks forward to it as the only aspect of his old life that remains. The Master spends most of his time drinking alcohol, and people begin trying to convince him to move into a nursing home, where no dogs are allowed. One summer, an outbreak of rabies spreads through the fox population. After one infected fox attacks a group of human children, the same people approach the Master and ask his help in killing the foxes. He uses traps and poison to try to kill as many foxes as possible; however, the poison also kills domestic animals. After a human child dies from eating it, the humans remove all of the poison, then the Master organizes a hunt in which large numbers of people line up and walk straight into the woods, flushing out foxes to be shot. The aging Tod escapes all three events, as well as an attempt at coursing him with greyhounds. One morning, after Tod's escape from the greyhounds, the Master sends Copper on the hunt. After he picks up the fox's trail, Copper relentlessly pursues him throughout the day and into the next morning. Tod finally drops dead of exhaustion, and Copper collapses on top of him, close to death himself. The Master nurses Copper back to health, and both enjoy their new popularity, but after a few months the excitement over Copper's accomplishment dies down. The Master is left alone again, and returns to drinking. He is once again asked to consider living in a nursing home, and this time he agrees. Crying, he takes his shotgun from the wall, leads Copper outside, and pets him gently before ordering him to lie down. He covers the dog's eyes as Copper licks his hand trustingly. | Best friends Tod, a fox cub, and Copper, a hound puppy, visit a country fair when they see a band of dogs called "The Singin' Strays". The band has five members: Dixie , Cash , Granny Rose , and twin brothers Waylon and Floyd . It is important that they perform well because a talent scout from the Grand Ole Opry will be at the fair. Cash and Dixie get into an argument, and Dixie walks off before their performance, forcing them to go on stage without her. During the show Copper sings along, and Cash invites the pup up on stage to sing with them. The musical number is a success. Cash invites Copper to join the band, which he does upon promising that he is a "stray". Copper spends the entire day with Cash, forgetting his promise to watch fireworks with Tod. Dixie finds Tod and sympathizes with his feelings of abandonment. During their conversation, Tod lets it slip that Copper isn't a stray, and Dixie hatches a plan to get Copper out of the band with Tod's help. Tod lures Copper's owner, Slade, to the fair in a wild chase. The chase leads to widespread mayhem in the fair, and the Singin' Strays' performance is sabotaged right in front of the talent scout Mr. Bickerstaff. Copper is fired from the band and returns home with Slade. Granny Rose and the rest of the members of Cash's band feel quite sorry for Copper about this and therefore the band breaks up. Tod is sorry for ruining everything, and is brought home by Widow Tweed. Along the way, Tweed narrowly misses being hit by the talent scout's car, and Bickerstaff's hat flies off and lands on Tod. The following day, Tod and Copper admit their mistakes and are friends again. Hoping to amend for his doings, Tod gives Bickerstaff's hat to Copper, who uses it to track down the talent scout at a local diner. Tod tricks Cash and Dixie into thinking the other is in trouble, and the entire band end up meeting up at the diner. Copper convinces the band the importance of harmony, and The Singin' Strays howl a reprise of their song We're in Harmony, attracting the attention of the talent scout. Impressed with the band, he arranges for the dogs to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. The film ends with Copper choosing to leave the band and play with Tod again. | 0.523842 | positive | 0.995554 | positive | 0.49313 |
2,666,581 | The Power and the Glory | The Fugitive | The main character in the story is a nameless '[whisky priest]]', who combines a great power for self-destruction with pitiful cravenness, an almost painful penitence and a desperate quest for dignity. By the end, though, the priest "acquires a real holiness." The other main character is a lieutenant of the police who is given the task of hunting down this priest. This Lieutenant—also nameless but thought to be based upon Tomás Garrido Canabal— is a committed socialist who despises everything that the church stands for. The story starts with the arrival of the priest in a country town in an area where Catholicism is outlawed, and then follows him on his trip through Mexico, where he is trying to minister to the people as best as he can. He is also haunted by his personal demons, especially by the fact that he had fathered a child in his parish some years before. He meets the child, but is unable to feel repentant about what happened. Rather, he feels a deep love for the evil-looking and awkward little girl and decides to do everything in his power to save her from damnation. The priest's opposite player among the clericals is Padre José, a priest who has been forced to renounce his faith and marry a woman (by order of the government) and lives as a state pensioner. During his journey the priest also encounters a mestizo who later reveals himself to be a Judas figure. The lieutenant, on the other hand, is morally irreproachable, yet he is cold and inhumane. While he is supposedly "living for the people", he puts into practice a diabolic plan of taking hostages from villages and shooting them, if it proves that the priest has sojourned in a village but is not denounced. The lieutenant has also had bad experiences with the church in his youth, and as a result there is a personal element in his search for the whisky priest. The lieutenant thinks that all members of the clergy are fundamentally evil, and believes that the church is corrupt, and does nothing but provide delusion to the people. In his flight from the lieutenant and his posse, the priest escapes into a neighbouring province, only to re-connect with the mestizo, who persuades the priest to return in order to hear the confession of a dying man. Though the priest suspects that it is a trap, he feels compelled to fulfil his priestly duty. Although he finds the dying man, it is a trap and the lieutenant captures the priest. The lieutenant admits he has nothing against the priest as a man, but he must be shot “as a danger”. On the eve of the execution, the lieutenant shows mercy and attempts to enlist Padre José to hear the condemned man's confession. The lieutenant is convinced that he has "cleared the province of priests". In the final scene, however, another priest arrives in the town - which, among other possible readings, suggests that the Catholic Church cannot be destroyed. | A nameless priest is a fugitive in an unnamed Latin American country where religion is outlawed. Another fugitive, a murderous bandit dubbed "El Gringo", comes to town. He and a beautiful Indian woman conspire to help the priest escape. Taken to safety, he is then convinced by a police informant to return to the town on the pretense that "El Gringo" is dying and wishes to have last rites. The priest is captured and sentenced to death, but forgives the informant for betraying him. The priest's death brings an outpouring of public grief and shows the authorities that it is impossible to stamp out religion as long as it exists in people's hearts and minds.The film gained the prize of the International catholic office for cinema at the Venice filmfestival in 1948. According to this jury, this was a film "most capable of contributing to the revival of moral and spiritual values of humanity". | 0.627213 | positive | 0.998097 | positive | 0.992637 |
67,442 | Exit Wounds | Exit Wounds | The book follows a search of a young woman, Numi, for her old lover, who disappeared just before a suicide bomb that left an unidentified body. Numi calls Koby, a cab-driver and the missing person's son, to help her in the search. | Orin Boyd is a cop who works in Detroit's 21st precinct, and his attitude and rough means of enforcing the law always end up annoying the precinct captain, Frank Daniels . When a Michigan militant group try to kill the Vice President of the United States , Orin kills the militants. Even though Orin saved the Vice President's life, Frank does not like the way Orin did it, so Frank transfers Orin to the 15th precinct — Detroit's worst precinct. Orin's new captain, former internal affairs officer Annette Mulcahy , knows of his reputation, and she tells him that she will not tolerate it. Annette sends Orin to an anger management class where he meets Henry Wayne ([[Tom Arnold , the high-strung host of a local talk show called Detroit AM. Despite this measure, Orin does not change his ways of doing his job. It is not long before he comes across local drug dealer Latrell Walker (Earl "[[DMX and his fast-talking sidekick T.K. Johnson doing a shady deal with a man named Matt Montini . After a brief fight, Orin discovers that Montini has been working undercover trying to nail Walker and Orin messed it up, and that does not sit well with Montini's musclebound partner Useldinger . Not all of the cops of the 15th precinct give Orin a hard time. Sergeant Lewis Strutt steps in to cool things down when Orin gets in a fight with Useldinger, and George Clark is assigned to be Orin's partner. After Orin stumbles upon the theft of $5,000,000 worth of heroin from Piper Tech, a place where evidence is stored, Orin and George begin focusing their efforts on Latrell and T.K., and also Shaun Rollins , whom Latrell has been visiting at the local jail. Orin asks Henry to do some digging on Latrell's background. What Henry discovers is that Latrell is not a drug dealer. Latrell is a computer expert and billionaire whose real name is Leon Rollins — he is Shaun Rollins' brother. Orin confronts Leon, who explains that a group of corrupt cops were in danger of losing one of their drug dealers, so the corrupt cops planted heroin on Shaun, setting Shaun up to take the rap so they would not lose their dealer. Leon shows a videotape that shows that Strutt is the leader of the group of corrupt cops, who also include Montini and Useldinger, and it was Strutt and his gang who stole the heroin from Piper Tech. Leon and his friend Trish have been videotaping some of the activities of Strutt's gang, hoping that it might help prove Shaun's innocence and get him out of jail. Orin meets with Annette at a parking lot and he gets in Annette's truck and tells Annette what is going on. However, Montini, Useldinger, and some other men show up and try to kill Orin and Annette. Annette screeches out of the parking lot with Orin still in her truck. Orin and Annette are chased, and Annette is killed when her truck slams into the back of a bigger vehicle, sending her into her truck's windshield. Orin calls Frank and tells him that Strutt will be having a meeting at a warehouse in about an hour, to sell the heroin that was stolen from Piper Tech. Strutt plans to try to sell it to Leon and T. K., not knowing that Leon is working against him. Frank promises that he will be there with some backup. Orin goes to George's house and tells George what is going on. George agrees to help Orin. At midnight in the warehouse, Strutt is trying to sell the heroin to Leon when he realizes who Leon is and why Leon is working against him. Orin and Frank show up, and Strutt tells Frank to keep Orin under control. Frank aims a gun at Orin. Orin realizes that it is Frank who is behind everything. Frank complains that his $40,000-a-year salary is not enough money for putting his life on the line every day. That is why Frank has been heading the drug running operation, as a way to make a lot of money. Just as Frank is about to shoot Orin, George blows open the door and barges in with backup, including police chief Hinges . Gunfire erupts, and T. K. gets shot in the leg. Useldinger shoots Orin when he sneaks behind him, and as he is about to shoot him again, George shoots Useldinger dead. Orin is fine because he was wearing a bulletproof vest. Chief Hinges kills Frank by shooting him 4 times with a shotgun, the last bullet hitting his neck; Hinges yells out "You're fired". Orin gets into a fight against Strutt, and Leon gets into a fight against Montini. After a swordfight, Strutt grabs a case full of money and runs up to the roof, where a helicopter is waiting for him, and there is a rope ladder hanging from the helicopter. Strutt starts climbing up the ladder, and Orin grabs the ladder too. Montini gets the upper hand in his fight with Leon after he damages Leon's vision with cement powder. However, Leon manages to stab Montini in the leg with a piece of broken glass. As the helicopter ladder is dragging Orin across the roof while Strutt is hanging on to the ladder, Orin snags the ladder on one of the metal pipes that's sticking up out of the roof. This makes the ladder snap off of the helicopter with Strutt still on the ladder. Strutt and the ladder fall to the roof, and Strutt is killed when he lands on a metal pipe that impales from his back and causes the exit wound to come through his chest. Leon beats Montini up, and when Montini tries to push Leon toward a metal spike that's sticking out of the wall, Leon grabs Montini, and forces Montini to the wall. Montini dies when the spike goes through his throat and causes an exit wound through the back of his neck. At dawn, Leon gives Hinges a videotape that has a lot of the corruption on it, hoping that the tape will help prove Shaun's innocence. Hinges thinks the courts will not care about the tape, so Hinges had Shaun released from county about an hour before. Orin decides to stay with the 15th precinct with George as his partner, and T. K. becomes Henry's co-host. | 0.322891 | positive | 0.534939 | positive | 0.997714 |
8,948,572 | The Sea-Wolf | The Sea Wolf | Like The Call of the Wild, The Sea Wolf tells the story of a soft, domesticated protagonist, in this novel's case an intellectual man named Humphrey van Weyden, forced to become tough and self-reliant by exposure to cruelty and brutality. The story starts with him aboard a San Francisco ferry, called Martinez, which collides with another ship in the fog and sinks. He is set adrift in the Bay, eventually being picked up by Wolf Larsen. Larsen is the captain of a seal-hunting schooner, the Ghost. Brutal and cynical, yet also highly intelligent and intellectual (though highly biased in his opinions, as he was self-taught), he rules over his ship and terrorizes the crew with the aid of his exceptionally great physical strength. Van Weyden adequately describes him as an individualist, hedonist, and materialist. Larsen does not believe in the immortality of the soul, he finds no meaning in his life save for survival and pleasure and has come to despise all human life and deny its value. Being interested in someone capable of intellectual disputes, he somewhat takes care of Van Weyden, whom he calls 'Hump', while forcing him to become a cabin boy, do menial work, and learn to fight to protect himself from a brutal crew. A key event in the story is an attempted mutiny against Wolf Larsen by several members of the crew. The organizers of the mutiny are Leach and Johnson. Johnson had previously been beaten severely by Larsen, and Leach had been punched earlier while being forced to become a boat-puller, motivating the two. The first attempt is by sending Larsen overboard; however, he manages to climb back onto the ship. Searching for his assailant, he ventures into the sleeping quarters, located beneath the main deck, the only exit being a ladder. Several, at least seven men, take part in the mutiny and attack Larsen. Larsen however, demonstrating his inhuman endurance, strength, and conviction, manages to fight his way through the crew, climb the ladder with several men hanging off him, and escape relatively unharmed. Van Weyden is promoted as mate, for the original mate had been murdered. Larsen later gets his vengeance by torturing his crew, and constantly claiming that he is going to murder Leach and Johnson at his earliest convenience, being after the hunting season is done, as he can't afford to lose any crew. He later allows them to be lost to the sea when they attempt to flee on a hunting boat. During this section, the Ghost picks up another set of castaways, including a poet named Maud Brewster. Miss Brewster and van Weyden had known each other previously—but only as writers. Both Wolf Larsen and van Weyden immediately feel attraction to her, due to her intelligence and "female delicacy". Van Weyden sees her as his first true love. He strives to protect her from the crew, the horrors of the sea, and Wolf Larsen. As this happens, Wolf Larsen meets his brother Death Larsen, a bitter opponent of his. Wolf kidnapped several of Death's crew and forced them into servitude to fill his own ranks, lost previously during a storm. During one of Wolf Larsen's intense headaches, which render him near immobile, van Weyden steals a boat and flees with Miss Brewster. The two eventually land on an uninhabited island, heavily populated with seals. They hunt, build shelter and a fire, and survive for several days, using the strength they gained while on the Ghost. The Ghost eventually crashes on the island, with Wolf Larsen the only crew member. As a revenge, Death Larsen had tracked his brother, bribed his crew, destroyed his sails, and set Larsen adrift at sea. It is purely by chance that van Weyden and Miss Brewster meet Larsen again. Van Weyden obtains all of the firearms left on the ship, but he cannot bear to murder Larsen, who does not threaten him. Van Weyden and Miss Brewster decide they can repair the ship, but Larsen, who intends to die on the island and take them with him, sabotages any repairs they make. After a headache, Larsen is rendered blind. He feigns paralysis and attempts to murder van Weyden when he draws within arm's reach but just then is hit with a stroke that leaves him blind and the right side of his body paralyzed. His condition only worsens; he loses usage of his remaining arm, leg, and voice. Miss Brewster and van Weyden, unable to bring themselves to leave him to rot, care for him. Despite this kindness, he continues his resistance, setting fire to the bunk's mattress above him. Van Weyden finishes repairing the Ghost, and he and Miss Brewster set sail. During a violent storm, Wolf Larsen dies. They give Larsen a burial at sea, an act mirroring an incident van Weyden witnessed when he was first rescued. The story ends with the two being rescued by an American revenue cutter. | Refined fiction writer Humphrey van Weyden and escaped convict Ruth Webster are passengers on a ship that collides with another vessel and sinks. They are rescued by the Ghost, a seal-hunting ship. At the helm is the brutal Captain Wolf Larsen , a compassionless individual who delights in dominating and abusing his crew. Larsen refuses to return to port early and forces van Weyden to work as the new cabin boy, replacing the rebellious George Leach . When Prescott , the drunken ship's doctor, determines that the unconscious Webster needs a transfusion to survive, Larsen "volunteers" Leach, even though there is no way to test if his blood is compatible. Fortunately, it is, and she recovers. As time goes by, she comes to depend on Leach for protection and, despite himself, Leach falls in love with her. Most of the film is centered on Larsen’s peculiar character. He is very well read, yet cannot see anything useful in his education. When Prescott complains about the way he is treated, Larsen orders the crew to respect his dignity, only to conclude by kicking the man down some stairs for his and the crew's amusement. Prescott climbs the mast and reveals that Larsen's own brother, another sea captain, is hunting him, having vowed to kill him; Prescott then throws himself to his death. Leach and several other crewmen ambush Larsen and throw him and his first mate overboard. However, Larsen manages to grab a trailing rope, climb back aboard, and put down the mutiny. Larsen cannot afford to lose any men, so instead of punishing them, he betrays his informant, the ship’s cook , to them. They drop him in the water, holding onto a rope for dear life. Before they can pull him back in though, a shark bites off his leg. Eventually, Leach, Webster, van Weyden, and another crewman escape on a dory. However, they discover that the wily Larsen had replaced their water supply with vinegar. The fourth man later sacrifices himself by going overboard to help conserve the little water they have. Larsen is subject to intense headaches that leave him temporarily blind, but has managed to hide his condition from the crew. He knows that he will eventually lose his sight permanently. When Larsen's brother catches up with him, a cannon shot holes the Ghost and it starts to sink. The ship escapes into a fog bank, but Larsen goes blind again and his debility is revealed to all. The crew seizes the opportunity to take to the boats. Then, van Weyden, Leach, and Webster sight the Ghost and, having no other choice, reboard her. The ship appears to be deserted so Leach goes below for provisions. He is surprised by Larsen and locked into a compartment. Larsen is determined to go down with the Ghost and take as many others with him as he can. Van Weyden tries to get the key from Larsen and is fatally shot, but manages to hide the fact from the now nearly blind captain. He tricks Larsen into giving Webster the key by promising to stay with Larsen to the bitter end. This act of seeming self-sacrifice disturbs Larsen, causing him to question his whole philosophy, until he realizes that van Weyden is dying. Vindicated in his own mind, Wolf Larsen awaits his demise. | 0.810515 | positive | 0.427932 | positive | 0.992397 |
666,923 | Jurassic Park | The Lost World: Jurassic Park | The narrative begins in August 1989 by slowly tying together a series of incidents involving strange animal attacks in Costa Rica and on Isla Nublar, the main setting for the story. One of the species, a strange small lizard-like creature with three toes, is identified later as a Procompsognathus. Paleontologist Alan Grant and his paleobotanist graduate student, Ellie Sattler, are abruptly whisked away by billionaire John Hammond—founder and chief executive officer of International Genetic Technologies, or InGen—for a weekend visit to a "biological preserve" he has established on a remote island off the coast of Costa Rica. Upon arrival, the preserve is revealed to be Jurassic Park, a theme park showcasing cloned dinosaurs. The animals have been recreated using damaged dinosaur DNA found in mosquitoes preserved in prehistoric amber. Gaps in the genetic code have been filled in with reptilian, avian, or amphibian DNA. To control the population, all specimens on the island are lysine-deficient females. Hammond proudly touts InGen's advances in genetic engineering and shows his guests through the island's vast array of automated systems. Recent events in the park have spooked Hammond's investors. To placate them, Hammond means for Grant and Sattler to act as fresh consultants. They stand in counterbalance to a well-known mathematician and chaos theorist Ian Malcolm and a lawyer representing the investors, Donald Gennaro. Both are pessimistic about the park's prospects. Malcolm, having been consulted before the park's creation, is especially emphatic in his prediction that the park will collapse, as it is an unsustainable simple structure bluntly forced upon a complex system. Countering Malcolm's dire predictions with youthful energy, Hammond groups the consultants with his grandchildren, Tim and Alexis "Lex" Murphy. While touring the park with the children, Grant finds a Velociraptor eggshell, which seems to prove Malcolm's earlier assertion that the dinosaurs have been breeding against the geneticists' design. Malcolm suggests a flaw in their method of analyzing dinosaur populations, in that motion detectors were set to search only for the expected number of creatures in the park and not for any higher number. The park's controllers are reluctant to admit that the park has long been operating beyond their constraints. Malcolm also points out the height distribution of the Procompsognathus forms a Gaussian distribution, the curve of a breeding population, rather than the distinctive pattern that a population reared in batches ought to display. In the midst of this, the chief programmer of Jurassic Park's controlling software, Dennis Nedry, attempts corporate espionage for Lewis Dodgson, a geneticist and agent of InGen's archrival, Biosyn. By activating a backdoor he wrote into the park's computer system, Nedry manages to shut down its security systems and quickly steal fifteen frozen embryos, one for each of the park's fifteen species. He then attempts to smuggle them out to a contact waiting at the auxiliary dock deep in the park; however, during a sudden tropical storm, he exits his stolen vehicle to get his bearings and is killed by a Dilophosaurus. Without Nedry to reactivate the park's security, the electrified fences remain off, and dinosaurs escape. The adult and juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex attack the guests on tour, destroying the vehicles, killing public relations manager Ed Regis, and leaving Grant and the children lost in the park. Malcolm is gravely injured during the incident but is soon found by Gennaro and park game warden Robert Muldoon and spends the remainder of the novel slowly dying as, in between lucid lectures and morphine-induced rants, he tries to help those in the main compound understand their predicament and survive. The park's upper management—engineer and park supervisor John Arnold, chief geneticist Henry Wu, Muldoon, and Hammond—struggle to return power to the park, while the veterinarian, Dr. Harding, takes care of the injured Malcolm. For a time they manage to get the park largely back in order, restoring the computer system by shutting down and restarting the power, resetting the system. Unfortunately, a series of errors on their part soon plunge the park into greater disarray. During their time trying to restore the park to working order, they fail to notice that the system has been running on auxiliary power since the restart; this power soon runs out, shutting the park down a second time. Furthermore, since the auxiliary generators didn't create enough electricity to power the fences, they weren't reactivated when the system was reset, meaning all the fences—including the holding pen containing the park's Velociraptors, quarantined due to their intelligence and aggression—had been offline the whole time. Escaping their enclosure, the raptors kill Wu and Arnold and injure Muldoon, Gennaro, and Harding. Meanwhile, Grant and the children slowly make their way back to the Visitor's Center by rafting down the jungle river, carrying news that several young raptors, bred and raised in the island's wilds, were on board the Anne B, the island's supply ship, when it departed for the mainland. While Ellie distracts the raptors, Grant manages to turn the park's main power back on. After escaping from several raptors, Grant, Gennaro, Tim, and Lex are able to make it to the control room, where Tim is able to contact the Anne B and tell them to return. The survivors are then able to organize themselves and eventually secure their own lives. Word soon reaches them that the crew of the Anne B has discovered and killed the raptor stowaways. Gennaro tries to order the island destroyed as a dangerous asset, but Grant rejects his authority, claiming that even though they cannot control the island, they have a responsibility to understand just what happened and how many dinosaurs have already escaped to the mainland. Grant, Ellie, and Muldoon set out into the park to find the wild raptor nests and compare hatched eggs with the island's revised population tally. Cautious in this pursuit, they emerge unharmed. Meanwhile, Hammond, taking a walk around the park and contemplating making a park improving on his previous mistakes, hears the T-Rex roar and falls down a hill where he is eaten by a pack of Procompsognathus. Concerning the dinosaurs' breeding, it is eventually revealed that using frog DNA to fill gaps in the dinosaurs' genetic code enabled a measure of dichogamy, in which some of the female animals changed into males in response to the all-female environment. In the conclusion, before boarding helicopters the group tell the Costa Rican Air Force that the dinosaurs had been killing people. The Air Force then say that the island is dangerous and releases napalm over the island, destroying the island and the dinosaurs. It is implied that Malcolm has died. Grant asks Muldoon of Malcolm's condition when they depart via helicopter, Muldoon's nonverbal response is merely shaking his head and on the second to last page it says that the Costa Rican government wouldn't permit a burial for Hammond or Malcolm -->. Survivors of the incident are indefinitely detained by the United States and Costa Rican governments. Weeks later, Grant is visited by Dr. Martin Guitierrez, an American doctor who lives in Costa Rica and has found a Procompsognathus corpse. Guitierrez informs Grant that an unknown pack of animals has been migrating through the Costa Rican jungle, eating lysine-rich crops and chickens. He also informs Grant that none of them, with the possible exception of Tim and Lex, are going to leave any time soon. | Four years after the incident at Jurassic Park, a wealthy couple and their daughter hold a picnic on Isla Sorna. The girl wanders off and is attacked by a pack of Compsognathus before being rescued by her father and his servants. Ian Malcolm publicized the incident at Jurassic Park, but disbelief has destroyed his academic reputation, and legal action has prevented him getting any evidence. John Hammond, having lost control of InGen to his unscrupulous nephew, Peter Ludlow, and as a result of the family's accident, summons Malcolm to his home and tells him about Isla Sorna. The island of Isla Sorna, also known as "Site B", is the island where the dinosaurs were engineered and nurtured for a few months, before being moved to Isla Nublar, the location of the park. He explains that after Jurassic Park was shut down, a hurricane destroyed the containment facilities on Isla Sorna, and the dinosaurs have been living free in the wild ever since. Hammond asks Malcolm to join a team that will travel to Site B to document the dinosaurs in their natural habitat to rally public support and prevent Ludlow from exploiting the site for InGen and leave it as a nature preserve. Malcolm initially refuses, but agrees after learning that his girlfriend, paleontologist Sarah Harding, is part of the team and is already there, while the others will meet her after three days. Malcolm meets the team of people he will join with: equipment specialist and engineer Eddie Carr, and documentary producer Nick Van Owen. Shortly after arriving on the island, they find Sarah and discover that Malcolm's adopted daughter, Kelly, has stowed away on the trailer. Malcolm tries to get Kelly home, but they are interrupted by the arrival of an InGen team of mercenaries, hunters, and paleontologists led by Ludlow, which they spot chasing and capturing several dinosaur species such as Parasaurolophus, Pachycephalosaurus, Gallimimus and Mamenchisaurus, for another park in San Diego. Tracker Roland Tembo wishes to hunt and kill an adult male Tyrannosaurus by luring it to the cries of its injured offspring. That night, Nick and Sarah sneak into the InGen camp to free the dinosaurs, which cause a huge commotion as a Triceratops destroys the camp and the dinosaurs escape. During the commotion caused by the fleeing dinosaurs, Nick frees the baby Tyrannosaurus and takes it to the trailer so Sarah can set its broken leg. Malcolm takes Kelly to the high hide, a lift Eddie built to keep them safe above the trees. Malcolm, after trying and failing to contact the trailer via phone, returns on foot. Shortly after arriving, two adult Tyrannosaurs find the trailer and their baby. The team gives the infant back, but the two adults begin pushing the trailer over the cliff with the team inside. Eddie leaves Kelly in the "high hide" and returns to the trailer in one of the SUVs. With the adults temporarily gone, Eddie is able to tie a rope to a tree trunk and send it down to Malcolm, Sarah, and Nick to grab onto. Eddie then ties a cable to the trailer to pull it back over the edge. He partially succeeds, but is attacked and eaten when the Tyrannosaurs return. The trailer and the SUV fall off the cliff, but Malcolm, Sarah, and Nick are rescued by the InGen team. With both groups' communications equipment destroyed in the attacks, they team up to reach the old InGen compound's radio station. Roland's second in command Dieter Stark is attacked and killed by a pack of Compsognathus, His friend Carter fails to hear his screams because he was listening to headphones. At night, the Tyrannosaurs come across the group's camp, one of them pokes it's head in Sarah and Kelly's tent while Sarah and Kelly hide under their sleeping bags but Carter sees the T-Rex and screams which makes everyone run from the T-Rex. Carter falls and is crushed by the T-Rex's foot. As everyone flees from the female, Roland stays behind and manages to tranquilize the male rex twice. Everyone hides in a waterfall and the T-Rex licks them but Burke runs scared because a milk snake crawled in his shirt and gets bitten and pulled out of the waterfall by the T-Rex. Many of the fleeing team, including Roland's hunting partner, Ajay Sidhu, pass through a field of tall grass near the compound, but are all killed by Velociraptors. Shortly after, Nick, having found Ajay's bag with the coordinates, splits off from the group to reach the compound and radio for help. Sarah, Malcolm, and Kelly run for the compound, with three raptors in pursuit. After escaping from the three raptors, they reunite with Nick and fly away in a rescue helicopter. While flying away, they spot the caged Tyrannosaurus and Ludlow preparing to ship it and its baby back to the mainland. A cargo ship carries the adult Tyrannosaurus back to the mainland, but crashes into the dock when it reaches San Diego. Ludlow and several guards investigate the boat and find the entire crew dead. A guard opens the cargo hold, thinking there might be some crew members below, inadvertently releasing the Tyrannosaurus, which escapes into the city. Realizing that the creature will likely come for its infant, Malcolm and Sarah learn from Ludlow that the infant is already at the park. They rush to the park to get the baby and use it to lure the adult back to the boat. Ludlow tries to intervene, but is trapped in the cargo hold and he tries to ambush the infant but the adult appears and Ludlow runs up the stairs but the adult drags him down. Then the infant leaps on him and attacks and kills him while the adult looks. Malcolm and Sarah manage to tranquilize the adult before it can escape again and seal it in the hold. The next day, Malcolm, Sarah and Kelly watch television reports of the cargo ship on its way back to Isla Sorna, surrounded by a convoy of naval vessels. During the program, they see an interview with Hammond, who explains that the American and Costa Rican governments have agreed to declare the island a nature preserve so the dinosaurs can live free of human interference, and adds "Life will find a way," paraphrasing something Malcolm told him on Isla Nublar four years earlier. | 0.827831 | positive | 0.630464 | positive | 0.598487 |
972,940 | Millennium | Millennium | Millennium features a civilization that has dubbed itself "The Last Age". Due to millennia of warfare of every type (nineteen nuclear wars alone), the Earth has been heavily polluted and humanity's gene pool irreparably damaged. They have thus embarked on a desperate plan; time travel into the past, collect healthy humans, and send them to an uncontaminated planet to rebuild civilization. The time travelers can only take people that will have no further effect on the timeline: those who have vanished without a trace, or died without being observed; otherwise they would be changing the past, which risks a temporal paradox and perhaps even a catastrophic breakdown of the fabric of time. Though they collect everyone they can, they exert a great deal of effort on those destined to die in various disasters such as sinking ships and crashing airplanes (and once a century of Roman soldiers lost and dying in the North African desert). As such incidents leave no survivors to report interference and change the timeline, they can freely remove the living but soon-to-die victims, and replace them with convincing corpses they have manufactured in the future. The novel deals with several of the raids, their inevitable discovery in the present day, and the fallout that results from changes to the present day reverberating into the future. The story follows Louise Baltimore, who is in charge of the "snatch team" that goes back into the past to kidnap people who would otherwise die. Because of the massive pollution and the genetic damage she has sustained, she is missing one leg and must get advanced medical treatment daily. Her appearance is quite ugly due to skin damage (from "paraleprosy") and other problems; however, she wears a special "skin suit" which makes her look whole and beautiful (which may or may not be real—she is an unreliable narrator), and gives her a functional artificial leg. The team she leads uses a "time gate" to appear in the bathroom aboard an airplane in flight. Dressed to look like flight attendants, they begin to bluff the passengers into entering the bathroom where they are pushed into the gate, to arrive in the future. After large numbers of people disappear, the remaining passengers become suspicious. The future team then uses special weapons to stun them before throwing them through the gate. During the removal of the passengers, they run into an unexpected hijacker. The ensuing gunplay is one-sided and one of the snatch team members is killed, her stunner lost. The rest of the team finishes removing the passengers and the real flight attendants. The team then scatters pre-burnt body parts around the plane so they will be found after the crash. As the plane approaches the moment when it is destined to crash, the lost weapon still has not been found. Upon returning to her present (our future), Louise is informed that the weapon that was left behind has caused a paradox and that it must be recovered to prevent a breakdown in the fabric of time. The novel then continues with her efforts to go back in time to fix the paradox created. | The film begins in the cockpit of a U.S. passenger airliner , shortly before they are struck from above by another airliner on a landing approach. The pilot handles the airplane as well as he can while the flight engineer goes back to check on the passenger cabin. He comes back in the cockpit screaming, “They're dead! All of them! They’re burned up!” Bill Smith is a National Transportation Safety Board investigator hired to determine whether human error is the cause of a collision of two aircraft, both of which crashed. He and his team of investigators are confused by the words on the cockpit voice recorder because there had been no fire on board before the plane hit the ground. At the same time, a theoretical physicist named Dr. Arnold Mayer has a professional curiosity about the crash, which borders on science fiction. While giving a lecture, he talks about time travel and the possibility of visitors from the future. Time travelers are, in fact, visiting the present day and stealing passengers from doomed aircraft. Every incursion into the past causes an accompanying "timequake" whose magnitude is proportional to the effects of the incursion into the past. Each "timequake" causes physical damage in the time from which the incursion has been made. This is why they are abducting people who will not be able to affect the future any further and replacing them with copies of those who would have died. Thus, the co-pilot's strange comment came because all the passengers had been replaced with pre-burned duplicates in preparation for the upcoming crash. While on one of the missions, an operative is shot and loses a stun weapon on board a plane before it crashes. This weapon winds up in the possession of Dr. Arnold Mayer, setting him on the path to working out what's happening. Twenty-five years later, Smith finds a similar artifact in the crash portrayed at the beginning of the film. Worried that these two individuals of the 20th century might change history by their discoveries, Louise Baltimore travels back to 1989 in order to distract Bill Smith and discourage him from pursuing his investigation further. Louise manages to gain Bill's trust, as well as seduce him into a one-night stand, which she hopes will complete the distraction. However, because of still more errors on the part of the time travel team, as well as paradoxical events, Bill becomes even more suspicious. He soon pays a visit to Dr. Mayer. At that point, Louise materializes from the future and reveals her mission to both of them. In a mishap with the stun weapon, Mayer kills himself thereby causing a major change to the timeline. Louise decides to take Bill with her to the future. Between Louise's recent visit and exposition in the future, we find that because of pollution, the human population of the future is no longer able to reproduce, except for Louise who's pregnant with Bill's baby, though that fact isn't revealed until the very end of the film. This is why they have been abducting people from the past and keeping them in stasis until a future time when they will be sent into the far future. It is hoped that in this far future, the Earth will have recovered enough that humans can repopulate the planet. The recent incursion results in a force infinity timequake which will destroy the entire civilization of the "present" future and the Gate itself. It is decided that it is time to send all of the people who have been collected to the distant future before the Gate is destroyed. Bill and Louise step through and disappear into the Gate, which takes them to another time and another place, in order to save their lives, and to fulfill a destiny to repopulate Earth. A simple, but poignant, message is recited by Sherman the Robot, quoting Winston Churchill, in the closing seconds of the film. As the blast wave of the gate being destroyed vaporizes Sherman he states, "This is not the end. This is not the beginning of the end. It is the end of the beginning" as the scene transitions to the sun rising above the clouds. | 0.670906 | positive | 0.994828 | positive | 0.996285 |
58,147 | The Manchurian Candidate | The Manchurian Candidate | Major Bennett Marco, Sergeant Raymond Shaw, and the rest of their infantry platoon are kidnapped during the Korean War in 1952. They are taken to Manchuria, and are brainwashed to believe that Shaw saved their lives in combat — for which Congress awards him the Medal of Honor. Years after the war, Marco, now back in the United States working as an intelligence officer, begins suffering the recurring nightmare of Shaw murdering two of his comrades, all while clinically observed by Chinese and Soviet intelligence officials. When Marco learns that another soldier from the platoon also has been suffering the same nightmare, he sets to uncovering the mystery and its meaning. It is revealed that the Communists have been using Shaw as a sleeper agent, a guiltless assassin subconsciously activated by seeing the “Queen of Diamonds” playing card while playing solitaire. Provoked by the appearance of the card, he obeys orders which he then forgets. Shaw’s KGB handler is his domineering mother Eleanor, a ruthless power broker working with the Communists to execute a "palace coup d’état" to quietly overthrow the U.S. government, with her husband, McCarthy-esque Senator Johnny Iselin, as a puppet dictator. | During the Korean War, the Soviets capture an American platoon and take them to Manchuria in Communist China. After the war, the soldiers return to the United States, and Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw is credited with saving their lives in combat. Upon the recommendation of the platoon's commander, Captain Bennett Marco , Shaw is awarded the Medal of Honor for his supposed actions. When asked to describe him, Marco and the other soldiers automatically respond, "Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life." Deep down, however, they know that Shaw is a cold, sad, unsociable loner. Marco — who has since been promoted to Major — suffers from a recurring nightmare in which a hypnotized Shaw kills two fellow soldiers before the assembled military brass of communist nations, during a practical demonstration of a brainwashing technique. Marco wants to investigate, but receives no support from Army Intelligence as he has no proof. However, Marco learns that another soldier from the platoon, Allen Melvin ([[James Edwards , has had the same nightmare. When Melvin and Marco separately identify some of the men in the dream as leading figures in communist governments, Army Intelligence agrees to help Marco investigate. Meanwhile, Shaw's mother, Mrs. Eleanor Iselin , drives the political career of her husband and Shaw's stepfather, Senator John Yerkes Iselin ([[James Gregory , a McCarthy-like demagogue who is widely dismissed as a fool. Senator Iselin finds a newfound political profile when he claims that an undetermined number of Communists work within the Defense Department. However, unknown to Raymond, Mrs. Iselin is actually a Communist agent with a plan intended to secure the presidency under Communist influence. Mrs. Iselin is the American "operator" responsible for controlling Raymond, who was conditioned in Manchuria to be an unwitting assassin whose actions are triggered by a Queen of Diamonds playing card. When he sees it, he will obey the next suggestion or order given to him. When given instructions to kill selected targets, he must also kill any witnesses and never remember his actions, making him the perfect assassin. It is revealed that Shaw's heroism was a false memory implanted in the platoon by the Communists in Manchuria, and that they were covertly returned to the American lines when their conditioning was completed; the actions for which Shaw was awarded his Medal of Honor never took place. Raymond briefly finds happiness when he rekindles a youthful romance with Jocelyn Jordan , the daughter of Senator Thomas Jordan , one of his stepfather's political rivals. Raymond had previously courted Jocelyn in order to get back at his mother, but they then genuinely fell in love. Mrs. Iselin broke up the relationship for political reasons, but now facilitates the couple's reunion as part of her scheme to garner the support of Senator Jordan for her husband's own sudden bid for Vice President. Jocelyn, wearing a Queen of Diamonds costume outfit, inadvertently hypnotizes Raymond at a costume party thrown by the Iselins, and the couple elopes. Although pleased with the match, Senator Jordan makes it clear to Mrs. Iselin that he will move for her husband's impeachment if he makes any attempt to seek the vice-presidential nomination. Mrs. Iselin triggers Raymond's conditioning and sends him to assassinate Jordan. Raymond carries out his orders, and also kills Jocelyn when she happens upon the scene. Raymond has no knowledge of his actions, and is genuinely grief-stricken when he learns of the murders. Marco discovers the role of the Queen of Diamonds card in hypnotizing Raymond into committing murder. Marco meets Raymond and, using a deck composed entirely of such cards, gets the full story; he then orders Raymond to break the links between the card and obeying any further subsequent orders. Mrs. Iselin primes her son to assassinate their party's presidential candidate at the nomination convention so that Senator Iselin, as the vice-presidential candidate, will become the presidential candidate by default. This will cause mass hysteria that will get Iselin, "the Manchurian candidate", elected and justify emergency powers that, in Mrs. Iselin's words, "will make martial law seem like anarchy". Mrs. Iselin tells Raymond that she did not know that he was to be selected by the Communists, who apparently chose him to be the assassin because they believed it would solidify their own hold and control over her. She vows that once in power she will "grind them into the dirt". Marco's attempt to free Raymond appears to have failed. Raymond enters the convention hall disguised as a Catholic priest and takes up a position to carry out the assassination as he was instructed, using a rifle with a scope. Marco and his supervisor, Colonel Milt ([[Douglas Henderson , arrive at the convention to stop him. As the Presidential nominee makes his speech, Raymond instead takes his revenge and saves the country by shooting his mother and stepfather dead. He then commits suicide in front of Marco while wearing his Medal of Honor. | 0.770819 | positive | 0.51628 | positive | 0.994054 |
1,212,256 | The Incredible Journey | Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey | The animals' owners, the Hunters, leave go to England for several months because Jim, the father, is scheduled to give a series of university lectures there. They leave their pets in the care of John Longridge, a family friend and godfather of their daughter, Elizabeth. One day, after John Longridge leaves for a two week duck hunting trip, the animals, feeling the lack of their human companions, set out to try to find their owners, the Hunters. Mrs. Oakes, who is taking care of Longridge's home, doesn't find the animals and thinks that John must have taken them with him. The animals follow their instincts and move forward toward home, nearly 300 miles ways. * Luath: Luath is a young Labrador. His fur is red-gold, his eyes are brown, and he is of strong build. Luath is a loyal and brave companion and the natural leader of the group. Of the three pets, he is the most recent addition. He is also the most determined to push forward and reach home and the Hunters. Luath usually walks on Bodger's left side to guide him since the older dog is almost blind in his left eye. He is arguably the one who suffers the most from lack of food because after a porcupine hits him in the face with its quills, the wounds become infected, making it difficult for him to open his mouth. * Bodger: Bodger (whose full name is Ch. Boroughcastle Brigadier of Doune) is an old English bull terrier. His fur is white with a slight pinkish tint. Bodger's left eye is nearly blind. The dog was born to fight and endure (as he does in the book). Because he is eleven years old, Bodger tires easily; but he is a brave, loyal, persevering and tenacious companion. He is very fond of humans, particularly children, and whenever the group comes across humans in their travels, he tries to charm them for affection and snacks, with varying results. He has an intense hostility towards all cats save Tao, who earned his respect by standing up to him when he first joined the Hunter family as a small kitten. Though they care deeply for Luath, Bodger and Tao have a special bond. Bodger is the first of the animals to have joined the Hunter family. Despite his advanced age and diminished senses, Bodger is still every bit the fighter he was in his prime, at one point saving Luath from a Border Collie sicced on them by an irate farmer. * Tao: Tao is a slender, seal-pont, old style Siamese cat with sapphire eyes. An element of humor in the book is that Tao, like Bodger, despises other cats, and the two once shared many adventures terrorizing the other felines in their neighborhood; when they encounter other domesticated cats in their travels, Tao often fights them, successfully. Tao is able to open most doors, a help to the dogs in several situations. Tao is a tireless, bold, and loyal animal. Tao is probably the best equipped of the three to survive in the wilderness, and has no difficulty surviving on his own when separated from the two dogs; despite this, he spends all his time seeking to rejoin them, a testament to the bond between the animals. The cat is an independent and natural hunter, catching small birds for the group. When Tao is separated from them, the dogs fare more poorly without Tao than Tao does without them. Therefore, Tao is crucial to the dogs' survival. * John Longridge: John Longridge is Elizabeth Hunter's godfather. He lives in a stone house in a small village about 300 miles from the college town where the Hunters live. Mr. Longridge wrote several historical books, is a writer by profession, and a bachelor. * The Hunter Family: The Hunter Family consists of the father Jim, the mother and their two children, 11 year old Peter and 9 year old Elizabeth. Jim owns Luath, Elizabeth owns Tao, and Peter owns Bodger. * Mrs. Oakes: Mrs. Oakes is the caretaker of the three animals while John is gone on his trip. Her husband is Bert. * The Nurmi Family: The Nurmi family are a family of Finnish immigrants. 10 year old Helvi takes a liking to Tao after she discovers him unconscious in the water while walking home from school. * The Mackenzies: James and his wife, Nell, are an older couple who live alone, now that their eight children have grown up. They find Bodger and Luath, and provide them with a place to stay. | Chance, an American Bulldog (played by [[Rattler and narrator of the film, opens the film by explaining that he is the pet of Jamie Burnford , but expresses no interest in his owner or having a "home". He shares his home with Shadow, (played by [[Ben , an older Golden Retriever owned by Jamie's brother Peter Burnford , and Sassy, a Himalayan cat (played by [[Tiki , owned by their sister Hope . Bob Seaver is marrying Laura Burnford , joining the family. Shortly after the wedding, the family goes on a trip to San Francisco, leaving the pets at a ranch belonging to Kate , a family friend. Kate later goes on a cattle drive, leaving the animals at the ranch to be looked after by one of her ranch hands. However, the animals think they have been abandoned, and Shadow begins to worry about Peter, so he decides to go find them. Sassy and a reluctant Chance follow. They head into the rocky, mountainous wilderness, with Shadow leading by instinct. After a night spent in fear of the woodland noise, the group stops to catch breakfast at a river. Two black bears steal Chance's fish, and when Chance barks at them in protest, they suddenly leave the fish and climb a tree. Chance cockily assumes that he has scared them off, but then a huge brown bear appears, causing the group to quickly flee, also. At another river, Sassy refuses to swim across to follow the dogs, running along the river until she reaches a path of wood that seems to cross its breadth. Halfway across, it breaks apart and she falls in. Shadow jumps in to try to save her, but she goes over a waterfall. Shadow and Chance search for her along the bank, but as night falls, they mourn their loss and continue without her. A half-drowned Sassy is rescued from the river by a man who lives in the woods, who nurses her back to health. Without Sassy, the dogs struggle to catch fish from the river. A mountain lion begins stalking them. Chance spots the mountain lion while he is fishing. He tells Shadow, but Shadow does not believe him until he sees it himself. The mountain lion follows them to the edge of a cliff. Chance, in a "just in case I don't make it, this is where my treasures are" statement, tells Shadow where he has buried everything at home. When Chance mentions that the remote control is buried under the seesaw, Shadow sees a balanced rock shaped like a seesaw, which gives him an idea. Shadow comes up with a plan to defeat the mountain lion. While Shadow acts as the bait, Chance waits until the mountain lion steps onto the end of the rock that's touching the ground, and jumps on the other end, sending the mountain lion flying over the cliff and into a river. The Mountain Lion retreats, filled with humiliation and irritation at its defeat. Sassy hears them barking in celebration and follows the sound to rejoin them. The animals continue on their way, but Chance tries to befriend a porcupine, ending up with a load of quills from its tail in his muzzle. His friends are unable to pull them out, and as they journey on, they find a little girl named Molly, who is lost in the woods. Too loyal to ignore her, they stand guard over her during the night and keep her warm. In the morning, Shadow finds a rescue party, which includes Molly's parents, and leads them back to her. The forest rangers with the party recognize the animals from a "missing pets" flyer they received and take them to the local animal shelter, which is dubbed by Chance as 'The Pound'. Because Chance has had previous experiences with being in a dog pound and a subject that Shadow never believed was an actual place, he panics and warns the others to run. Sassy gets away while he and Shadow are taken inside. As the medical staff remove the quills from Chance's muzzle, Sassy sneaks in and frees Shadow. Together they retrieve Chance, now quill-free, and escape the shelter, without realizing that their owners were on their way to get them. The group is crossing through a train yard when Shadow falls through some old boards into a muddy pit, injuring his leg. With Sassy and Chance persuading him, he tries to climb out but is unable to climb up the slippery slope. Laying down, he says he is too old and that they should go on without him. Chance jumps into the pit to try to get him going, but Shadow refuses to move. Near dusk, the family is out in the backyard playing basketball, when Jamie claims to hear Chance barking. The others think he is imagining things, but moments later Chance comes running over a hill, happily tackling "his boy." Sassy follows to be reunited with Hope, while Peter sadly presumes Shadow was too old to make it. Moments later, Shadow limps over the hill and is reunited with Peter. As everyone watches, Chance narrates how it was Shadow's belief that brought them home and that Shadow was like a puppy again after being reunited with his best friend. While everyone goes inside, Chance stays behind for a moment, ending his narration by saying he had a family and for the first time in his life, he was really home and then happily runs into the house. | 0.591523 | positive | 0.990573 | positive | 0.997928 |
5,440,222 | Beau Geste | Beau Geste | Michael "Beau" Geste is the protagonist. The main narrator (among others), by contrast, is his younger brother John. The three Geste brothers of Brandon Abbas are used as a metaphor for the British upper class values of a time gone by, and "the decent thing to do" is, in fact, the leitmotif of the novel. The Geste brothers are orphans and have been brought up by their aunt. The rest of Beau's band are mainly Isobel and Claudia (only daughter of Lady Patricia, and in a way, also reason enough for Michael to join the French Foreign Legion), and Lady Patricia's relative Augustus. When a precious jewel known as the "Blue Water" goes missing, suspicion falls on the young people, and Beau leaves Britain to join the Foreign Legion (la Légion étrangère), followed by his brothers, Digby (his twin) and John. There, after some adventure and separation from Digby, the sadistic Sergeant Lejaune gets command of the little garrison at Fort Zinderneuf in French North Africa, and only an attack by Tuaregs prevents a mutiny and mass desertion (of course the Geste brothers and a few loyals are against the plot). Throughout the book and adventures, Beau's behaviour is true to France and the Legion, and he dies at his post. At Brandon Abbas, the last survivor of the three brothers, John, is welcomed by their aunt and his fiancée Isobel, and the reason for the jewel theft is revealed to have been a matter of honour, and to have been the only "decent thing" possible. | The plot concerns a valuable gem, which one of the Geste brothers, Beau, is thought to have stolen from his adoptive family. | 0.683234 | positive | 0.992445 | positive | 0.996075 |
4,597,853 | The Devil Wears Prada | The Devil Wears Prada | Andrea Sachs, a recent graduate of Brown with a degree in English moves to New York City hoping to break into the publishing world. She moves in with her longtime friend Lily, a graduate student at Columbia, and blankets the city with her résumé, hoping for a foot in the door of the magazine industry to further her dream of working for The New Yorker. She gets a surprise interview at the Elias-Clark Group and is hired as the junior assistant of Miranda Priestly, editor-in-chief of the fashion magazine "Runway". Although she knows little of the fashion world, she is told repeatedly that "a million girls would die for [her] job". Andrea is told that if she manages to work for Miranda for a year, she can have her pick of jobs within the magazine industry. Despite the lavish perks that come with her job--free designer clothes, generous expense accounts--she soon finds out that Miranda is tyrannical and capricious. As she is exposed to the grueling yet shallow nature of the magazine world, Andrea begins to doubt the true value of her job. At a celebrity party Andrea meets Christian Collinsworth, a charismatic Yale graduate who has been identified as the hot, up-and-coming writer of their generation. They become attracted to each other, complicating her relationship with her boyfriend, Alex. Andrea is forced to sacrifice her personal life for her all-consuming job, to the detriment of her relationships. Lily increasingly turns to alcohol and picking up dubious men to relieve the pressures of graduate school. Alex, struggling with his own demanding job as an inner-city schoolteacher, grows frustrated with Andrea's long hours and constant stress. Andrea's relationship with her family also suffers. Matters finally come to a head when her coworker Emily gets mononucleosis and Andrea must travel to Paris with Miranda in her stead. Andrea agrees, although this will mean canceling a long-awaited trip with Alex. In Paris, she has a surprise encounter with Christian. Later that night, Miranda finally lets down her guard and asks Andrea what she has learned, and where she would like to work afterwards. She promises to place phone calls to people she knows at The New Yorker on Andrea's behalf once her year is up and suggests that she take on some small writing assignments at Runway. Back at the hotel, Andrea gets urgent calls from Alex and her parents asking her to call them. She does so and learns that Lily is comatose after driving drunk and wrecking a car. Though Andrea is pressured by her family and Alex to return home, she tells Miranda she will honor her commitment to Runway. Miranda is pleased, and tells her that her future in magazine publishing is bright. At the Paris fashion show for Christian Dior, however, Miranda phones her with yet another impossible demand. Andrea finally realizes that her family and friends are more important than her job, and realizes to her horror that she is becoming more and more like Miranda. She refuses to comply with Miranda's latest outrageous request, and when Miranda scolds her publicly, Andrea replies, "Fuck you, Miranda. Fuck you". She is fired on the spot, and returns home to reconnect with her friends and family. Her romantic relationship with Alex is beyond repair, but they remain friends. Lily recovers and fares well in court for her DUI charge, receiving only community service. In the last chapter Andrea learns that her tiff with Miranda made her a minor celebrity when the incident made 'Page Six'. Afraid she has been blacklisted from publishing for good, she moves back with her parents and works on short fiction, financing her unemployment with the profits from reselling the designer clothing she had been provided with for her trip. Seventeen buys one of her stories. At the novel's end, she is returning to the Elias-Clark building to discuss a position at one of the company's other magazines. She sees a girl who she realizes is in fact, Miranda's new junior assistant, who looks as harried and put-upon as she once did. | {{plot}} Andrea "Andy" Sachs is an aspiring journalist fresh out of Northwestern University. She lands the job "a million girls would kill for": junior personal assistant to Miranda Priestly , the icy editor-in-chief of Runway fashion magazine. At first, Andy fumbles with her job and fits in poorly with her catty coworkers, especially Miranda's British senior assistant Emily Charlton . During a dinner with her father who came to visit her in New York City, Miranda calls her: the airports in Florida where she is are all closed due to a hurricane but she needs to get home and orders Andy to get her home somehow. Andy tries every airline company there is, but none of them are flying out because of the weather. Andy's father suggests Miranda learn a lesson about waiting out a hurricane, and tells Andy to put away her phone as he takes her out to dinner. When Miranda does arrive back at the office she tells Andy she has disappointed her. Andy has a talk with Runways art director Nigel , who gives a whole new perspective of Miranda, her work and fashion in general. Andy decides to change and—initially with Nigel's help—gradually learns her responsibilities and begins to dress more stylishly. Although Nigel is blunt, Andy feels he is the lone Runway employee looking out for her. Miranda notices the change in Andy and gives her a new task: delivering "The Book" to her Upper East Side townhouse. Emily explains to her that she has to behave as if she is 'invisible' while she delivers the book at Miranda's house. However, Andy is tricked by Miranda's daughters into going upstairs, where she inadvertently walks in on Miranda and her husband arguing. Mortified, she drops the book and leaves. Miranda punishes Andy by giving her an impossible task: securing the unpublished manuscript for the next book in the Harry Potter series for her twin daughters to read on the train. Andy is just about to quit when Christian Thompson , a famous writer and acquaintance of Andy's informs her he has obtained it for her. Andy delivers the copy of the manuscript to a stunned Miranda, who still gives Andy a hard time for not having two manuscripts for both of her daughters to read at the same time, but Andy was prepared and already gave the twins two copies, while the one she gave Miranda was just a backup. When Emily falls ill, Miranda commands Andy to accompany the two of them to a charity benefit, where they masquerade as partygoers while actually Emily whispers to Miranda the names of the people approaching her for greeting. At the event, Andy saves Miranda from being embarrassed by Emily, who had forgotten one of the names; meets Jacqueline Follet, the editor-in-chief of French Runway and Miranda's rival; turns down an offer to meet a big publisher from Christian, but all the while misses her boyfriend's birthday party. One evening, while returning The Book, Miranda informs her that she needs "the best team possible" for her Paris trip, which means stepping over Emily. Andy hesitates, as Emily has been boasting about going to Paris for months, but Miranda tells her that declining will send the message that she is not committed to her job or any future job at another publication. Faced with this threat, Andy accepts. The next day Miranda then tells Andy to be the bearer of bad news to Emily. Just as Andy is about to tell her, Emily crosses at a "no cross" point and is hit by a taxi. Andy has a rough day confronting Emily about Paris and then at her friend Lily's art gallery, where she accepts a kiss on the cheek from Christian. Lily catches this and berates Andy, to then confront her boyfriend about the fact that she is going to Paris. He realizes that they no longer have anything in common, and they break up. In Paris, Andy attends the shows and even meets designer Valentino Garavani, being introduced as "the new Emily". One night Andy comes into Miranda's suite only to find her in her bathrobe, undressed, and crying. While deciding on a seating chart, Miranda opens up saying that her husband is divorcing her, and again the press would write rude things about her such as 'career obsessed woman' who doesn't care for family but that her biggest worry is for her daughters. Later, Andy learns from Nigel that he has landed a job as creative director at fashion designer James Holt's new company. Andy has dinner with Christian who figures out that she is single again. After a few glasses of wine she succumbs to Christian's charms and the two have sex. In his hotel room the next morning, while dressing, Andy finds out that the American Runway's owner is planning to replace Miranda with Jacqueline Follet. Surprised, she asks Christian about it who confirms it saying that Miranda has become old and that Jacqueline will bring fresh change to the magazine. Andy rushes to the door while Christian stops her calling her 'baby' to which she replies that she is not his 'baby'. Andy storms out to find Miranda and warn her. When Andy finally tells her, Miranda seems unfazed. At a luncheon in honor of James Holt, Miranda announces that Jacqueline will be the new creative director of James Holt's company much to the surprise of Andy and Nigel. En route to another event, Miranda explains to a still-stunned Andy that she knew about the plan to get rid of her all along, but she found an alternative for Jacqueline and presented "The List" to the owner of Runway, who realized that without those people, Runway would suffer greatly, and was forced to reconsider. Miranda also says that she was pleased by Andy's display of loyalty and that she sees a great deal of herself in her. Andy says she could never do to anyone what Miranda did to Nigel. Miranda replies that she already did, in stepping over Emily. Miranda tentatively comforts her, saying that those choices are necessary to live the life that she lives. At the event, Andy gets out of the car and simply walks away. When receiving a call from Miranda, she throws her phone into a fountain on the Place de la Concorde. Back in New York, Andy meets with Nate for breakfast. He has accepted an offer to work as a sous-chef in a popular Boston restaurant. Andy is disappointed, but her hope is rejuvenated when he says they could work something out. Andy, once again wearing more modest clothes, goes to an interview for a newspaper job. The interviewer reveals that Miranda told him she was by far her biggest disappointment, but that if he did not hire her, he would be an idiot. Afterwards Andy calls Emily while walking past the Runway office and offers to send Emily all of the outfits Andy got while in Paris, Emily feigns imposition saying the clothes will "absolutely drown her" but accepts. When she hangs up with Andy, Emily turns to the new second assistant that replaced Andy and tells her that she has big shoes to fill, in a sense admitting that Andy was an excellent worker and a good person. As Andy hangs up from that same phone call, she sees Miranda getting into her car across the street. They exchange looks and Andy smiles at her, but Miranda acts as if the two are strangers, which Andy takes in good grace. Once in the car, Miranda smiles slightly before curtly telling her driver, "Go." | 0.78171 | negative | -0.19988 | negative | -0.331423 |
7,993,874 | The Fair Bride | The Angel Wore Red | A priest finds himself on the run from the Spanish Republicans, who accuse priests of indoctrinating their followers against them. The priest slips into a cabaret to hide and meets a young girl, an entertainer in the club. His commitment to the priesthood is wavering due to the persecution he suffers and he begins to fall for her. Both of them wind up being arrested. Meanwhile, both sides are searching for a sacred relic that is believed to have miraculous powers - it is said to have helped defeat Napoleon. Each side wants it for its own reasons. The relic ends up in the priest’s possession. | A clergyman travels to Spain to join the Loyalist side during the Spanish Civil War and finds himself attracted to a beautiful entertainer. | 0.720741 | positive | 0.9978 | positive | 0.988941 |
8,485,902 | The Adventures of Pinocchio | Pinocchio | The story begins in Tuscany. A carpenter has found a block of pinewood which he plans to carve into a leg for his table. When he begins, however, the log shouts out, "Don't strike me too hard!" Frightened by the talking log, the carpenter, Antonio or Master Cherry as he is called does not know what to do until his neighbor Geppetto, known for disliking children, drops by looking for a piece of wood to build a marionette. Seeing a perfect opportunity, Antonio gives the block to Geppetto. Geppetto is extremely poor and plans to make a living as a puppeteer. He carves the block into a boy and names him "Pinocchio". As soon as Pinocchio's nose has been carved, it begins to grow longer and longer before Geppetto is finished with him. After the puppet is finished, Geppetto teaches him to walk and Pinocchio runs out the door and away into the town. He is caught by a Carabiniere but when people say that Geppetto dislikes children, the carabineer assumes that Pinocchio has been mistreated and imprisons Geppetto. Pinocchio heads back to Geppetto's house and encounters The Talking Cricket who has lived in the house for over a century. It tells him that boys who do not obey their parents grow up to be donkeys. Pinocchio throws a hammer at the cricket and accidentally kills it. Unable to find food in the house, Pinocchio ventures to a neighbor's house to beg for food and the annoyed neighbor pours a basin of water on him. Pinocchio returns home freezing and tries to warm himself by placing his feet upon the stove. The next morning he wakes to find that his feet have burnt off. Geppetto, who has been released from jail and has three pears for a meal, makes his son a new pair of feet. In gratitude, Pinocchio promises to go to school. Since Geppetto has no money to buy school books, he sells his only coat. Pinocchio heads off to school, but on the way he is distracted by some music and crowds and he follows the sounds until he finds himself in a crowd of people, all congregated to see the Great Marionette Theater. Pinocchio sells his school books for tickets to the show. During the performance, the puppets Harlequin, Punch, and Signora Rosaura see Pinocchio and cry out, "It is our brother Pinocchio!" The audience grows angry, and the theater director, Mangiafuoco, comes out to see what is going on. Upset, he decides to use Pinocchio as firewood to cook his dinner. Pinocchio pleads to be saved and Mangiafuoco gives in. When he learns about Pinocchio's poor father, he gives the marionette five gold pieces for Geppetto. As Pinocchio heads home to give the coins to his father, he meets a fox and a cat who convince him that if he plants his coins in the Field of Miracles, outside the city of Catchfools, then they will grow into a tree with a thousand gold coins, or perhaps two thousand. Pinocchio heads off on a journey to Catchfools with the Cat and Fox. On the way, they stop at the Inn of the Red Crayfish, where the Fox and Cat gorge themselves on food at Pinocchio's expense. The fox and cat take off ahead of Pinocchio and disguise themselves as bandits while Pinocchio continues on toward Catchfools. The ghost of the Talking Cricket appears, telling him to go home and give the coins to his father but Pinocchio ignores him. As he passes through the forest, the disguised Cat and Fox jump out and try to rob Pinocchio, who hides the money in his mouth. In the struggle that follows Pinocchio bites the Cat's hand off and escapes deeper into the forest where he sees a white house ahead. Stopping to knock on the door, he is greeted by a young Fairy with Turquoise Hair, who says she is dead and waiting to be taken. However, as he speaks to her, the bandits catch him and hang him in a tree. After a while the Fox and Cat get tired of waiting for the marionette to suffocate and leave. The Blue-haired Fairy sends a falcon and a poodle to rescue Pinocchio, and she calls in three famous doctors to tell her if Pinocchio is dead. The first two (an owl and a crow) are uncertain, but the third—the Talking Cricket that Pinocchio presumably killed earlier—knows that Pinocchio is fine and tells the marionette that he has been disobedient and hurt his father. The Blue-haired Fairy tries to make Pinocchio take medicine, saying he will soon die if he doesn't, but he refuses to take it, despite promising to if he is given sugar, which the Blue-haired Fairy gives him. However Four Black Rabbits then enter the room with a coffin and tell Pinocchio they have come to take him away, as he will be dead soon. Pinocchio takes the medicine and the rabbits leave. The Blue-haired Fairy asks Pinocchio what happened and he tells her. She then asks him where the gold coins are. Pinocchio lies, saying he has lost them. As he utters this lie (and more) his nose begins to grow until it is so long he cannot turn around in the room. The Fairy explains to Pinocchio that it is his lies that are making his nose grow long, then calls in a flock of woodpeckers to chisel down his nose. Pinocchio and the Blue-haired Fairy decide to become brother and sister, and the Fairy sends for Geppetto to come live with them in the forest. Pinocchio heads out to meet his father, but on the way he meets the fox and cat again (whom he had not recognized as the bandits, even though he has a hint from the cat's bandaged front paw—which he had bitten earlier; the fox tells him the cat had shown mistaken kindness to a wolf). They remind Pinocchio of the Field of Miracles, and finally he agrees to go with them and plant his gold. After half a day's journey, they reach the city of Catchfools. Everyone in the town has done something exceedingly foolish and now suffers as a result. When they reach the "Field of Miracles", Pinocchio buries his gold then runs off to wait the twenty minutes it will take for his gold to grow. After twenty minutes he returns, only to find no tree and—even worse—no gold coins. Realizing what has happened from a bird, he goes to Catchfools and tells the judge, an old Gorilla, about the fox and cat. The judge (as is the custom in Catchfools) sends Pinocchio to prison for his foolishness for four months. While he is in prison, however, the emperor of Catchfools declares a celebration, and all prisoners are set free. As Pinocchio heads back to the forest, he finds an enormous serpent with a smoking tail blocking the way. After some confusion, he asks the serpent to move, but the serpent remains completely still. Concluding that it is dead, Pinocchio begins to step over it, but the serpent suddenly rises up and hisses at the marionette, toppling him over onto his head. Struck by Pinocchio's fright and comical position, the snake laughs so hard, it bursts an artery and dies. While sneaking into a farmer's yard to take some grapes, Pinocchio is caught in a weasel trap. He asks a bird to help him, but it refuses after hearing Pinocchio was planning to steal grapes. When the farmer comes out and finds Pinocchio, he ties him up in a doghouse to guard his chicken coop. That night, a group of weasels come and tell Pinocchio that they had made a deal with former watchdog Melampo to let them raid the chicken coop if he could have a chicken. Pinocchio says he wants two chickens, so the weasels agree and go into the henhouse. Pinocchio then locks the door and barks loudly. The farmer gets the weasels and frees Pinocchio as a reward. Pinocchio comes to where the cottage was and finds nothing but a gravestone. Believing the Blue-haired Fairy died from sorrow, he weeps until a friendly pigeon offers to give him a ride to the seashore, where Geppetto is building a boat to go out and search for Pinocchio. They fly to the seashore and Pinocchio sees Geppetto out in a boat. The puppet leaps into the water and tries to swim to Geppetto, but the waves are too rough and Pinocchio is washed underwater as Geppetto is swallowed by a terrible shark. A kindly dolphin gives Pinocchio a ride to the nearest island, which is the Island of Busy Bees. Everyone is working and no one will give Pinocchio any food as long as he will not help them. He finally offers to carry a lady's jug home in return for food and water. When they get to the house, Pinocchio recognizes the lady as the Blue-haired Fairy, now miraculously old enough to be his mother. She says she will act as Pinocchio's mother and Pinocchio will begin going to school. She hints that if Pinocchio does well in school he will become a real boy. Pinocchio starts school the next day and after showing his determination becomes a friend to all the schoolboys. A while later a group of boys trick Pinocchio into playing hookey by saying they saw a large whale at the beach. Hoping that it is the shark that swallowed Geppetto, he accompanies them to the beach only to find he has been fooled. He begins fighting with the boys and one boy grabs a schoolbook of Pinocchio's and throws it at him. The marionette ducks and the book hits another boy named Eugene, who is knocked out. The other boys flee while Pinocchio tries to revive Eugene. Then two policemen come up and accuse Pinocchio of injuring Eugene. Before he can explain, the policemen grab him to take him to jail—but he escapes and is chased into the sea by the police dog. The dog starts to drown and Pinocchio saves him. The dog is grateful and promises to be Pinocchio's friend. Pinocchio happily starts swimming to shore. Then The Green Fisherman catches Pinocchio in his net and starts to eat the fish, saying Pinocchio must be a very special fish. Taking off the marionette's clothes and covering him with flour, the ogre prepares to eat Pinocchio. The police dog then comes in and rescues Pinocchio from the ogre. On the way home, Pinocchio stops at a man's house and asks about Eugene. The man says Eugene is fine, but that Pinocchio must be a truant. Pinocchio says that he is always truthful and obedient. Again his nose grows longer and Pinocchio immediately tells the truth about himself, causing the nose to shrink back to normal. Pinocchio gets home in the middle of the night. He knocks on the door and a snail opens the third-story window. Pinocchio pleads to be let in and the snail says he will come down. Since a snail is slow, it takes all night for the snail to come down and let Pinocchio in. By the time the snail comes down Pinocchio has banged his foot against the door and gotten stuck. The snail brings Pinocchio artificial food and the marionette faints. When he wakes, he is on the couch and the Fairy says she will give him another chance. Pinocchio does excellently in school and passes with high honors. The Fairy promises that Pinocchio will be a real boy next day and says he should invite all his friends to a party. He goes to invite everyone, but he is sidetracked when he meets a boy named Romeo—nicknamed Lampwick because he is so tall and skinny. Lampwick is about to go to a place called Toyland, where everyone plays all day and never works. Pinocchio goes along with him and they have a wonderful time in the land of Play—until one morning Pinocchio awakes with donkey ears. A Squirrel tells him that boys who do nothing but play and never work always grow into donkeys. Within a short while Pinocchio has become a donkey. He is sold to a circus and is trained to do all kinds of tricks. Then one night in the circus he falls and sprains his leg. The circus owner sells the donkey to a man who wants to skin him and make a drum. The man throws the donkey into the sea to drown him—and brings up a living wooden boy. Pinocchio explains that the fish ate all the donkey skin off of him and he is now a marionette again. Pinocchio dives back into the water and swims out to sea—when he is swallowed by The Terrible Shark. Inside the shark Pinocchio meets a tuna who is resigned to the fate and just says they will have to wait to be digested. Pinocchio sees a light from far off and he follows the light. At the other end is Geppetto, who had been living on a ship that was also in the shark. Pinocchio and Geppetto and the tuna manage to get out from inside the shark and Pinocchio heroically attempts to swim with Geppetto to shore, which turns out to be too far; however, the tuna rescues them and brings them to shore. Pinocchio and Geppetto try to find a place to stay. They pass two beggars, who are the Fox and the Cat. The Cat is, ironically, really blind now, and the fox is actually lame, tailless (having sold his tail for money) and mangy. They plead for food or money, but Pinocchio will give them nothing. They arrive at a small house, and living there is the Talking Cricket, who says they can stay. Pinocchio gets a job doing work for a farmer, whose donkey is dying. Pinocchio recognizes the donkey as Lampwick. Pinocchio mourns over Lampwick's dead body and the farmer is perplexed as to why. Pinocchio says that Lampwick was his friend and they went to school together, causing Farmer John to be even more confused. After long months of working for the farmer and supporting the ailing Geppetto he goes to town with what money he has saved (40 pennies to be exact) to buy himself a new suit. He meets the snail, who tells him that the Blue-haired Fairy is ill and needs money. Pinocchio instantly gives the snail all the money he has, promising that he will help his mother as much as he is helping his father. That night, he dreams he is visited by the Fairy, who kisses him. When he wakes up, he is a real boy at last. Furthermore, Pinocchio finds that the Fairy left him a new suit and boots, and a bag which Pinocchio thinks is the forty pennies he originally loaned to the Blue Fairy. The boy is shocked to find instead forty freshly minted gold coins. He is also reunited with Geppetto, now healthy and resuming woodcarving. They live happily ever after. | A magical log falls off a wagon and rolls through an Italian town causing considerable damage and some injuries. It comes to rest in front of the house of Geppetto, a poor wood carver, who carves a puppet, Pinocchio, from it. To Geppetto's surprise, the puppet comes to life and to his dismay, it becomes very mischievous. Geppetto sells his only coat to provide schoolbooks for Pinocchio; however, the rambunctious puppet goes on several adventures, dreading school. He joins a puppet theater and is almost eaten by the gigantic puppet master. Pinocchio lies to get out of the situation, claiming misery and poverty in his family, and the puppet master gives him five gold coins. He then meets Fox and Cat, two crooks who trick him out of his money, telling him to plant the coins in the ground in order to grow a "money tree". The watchful Blue Fairy, who encourages him to give up his obnoxious ways, saves him from a hanging by the crooks. She gives Pinocchio medicine and when he refuses it, coffin-bearing rabbits appear. Pinocchio immediately consumes the medicine, lying that he wanted to drink it in the first place but that the Fairy would not let him. When the Fairy asks Pinocchio about the gold coins he had, Pinocchio lies to her and says he lost them, causing his nose to grow. The Fairy, knowing of his constant fibbing, tells him that there are two types of lies: those with short legs and those with long noses. Pinocchio promises the Fairy that from there on he will try his best to be good. When Pinocchio is sent to jail for his encounters with the Fox and Cat, he meets Lucignolo , another truant thief who is let out soon after Pinocchio is admitted in. A few months later, as part of a celebration for the birth of an emperor's son, he is set free he stumbles across the grave of the Blue Fairy, who supposedly died of grief because of his antics. After nearly drowning in the ocean in an attempt to save his father, he washes up on the shore of a city where he discovers that the Blue Fairy has faked her death in order to forgive Pinocchio. Once again starting anew, he is on his way to school when he gets into a fight with his schoolmates. One of them tries to throw a book at him, but when he ducks the book hits his classmate Eugenio instead, who is knocked unconscious. Thinking that he is dead, the others run away, leaving Pinocchio at the scene. After being arrested by a carabineer and escaping, he joins Lucignolo in a trip to "Fun Forever Land", where all is play and no work or school. There, boys turn into donkeys who are sold for hard labor. Pinocchio escapes and, wanting to make up for his mischievous ways, agrees to work at a farm. Later, he finds Lucignolo dying in a stable on the farm. Trying to reunite with his father, he is swallowed by a Whale and together they escape from its belly. As a reward for his efforts to strive for moral prudence, the Blue Fairy finally reforms Pinocchio and he becomes a real boy. The film ends with Pinocchio going to school at last, while his shadow, still in the shape of a puppet, chases a butterfly into the hills of the countryside, a lasting memory of his adventures. | 0.892361 | positive | 0.993575 | positive | 0.583971 |
3,777,574 | Charlotte's Web | Charlotte's Web | The book begins when John Arable's sow gives birth to a litter of piglets, and Mr. Arable discovers one of them is a runt and decides to kill it. However, his eight-year-old daughter Fern begs him to let it live. Therefore her father gives it to Fern as a pet, and she names the piglet Wilbur. Wilbur is hyperactive and always exploring new things. He lives with Fern for a few weeks and then is sold to her uncle, Homer Zuckerman. Although Fern visits him at the Zuckermans' farm as often as she can, her visits decrease as she grows older, and Wilbur gets lonelier day after day. Eventually, a warm and soothing voice tells him that she is going to be his friend. The next day, he wakes up and meets his new friend: Charlotte, the grey spider. Wilbur soon becomes a member of the community of animals who live in the cellar of Zuckerman's barn. However, he learns from an old sheep that he is going to be killed and eaten at Christmas, and turns to Charlotte for help. Charlotte has the idea of writing words in her web extolling Wilbur's excellence ("some pig," "terrific," "radiant," and eventually "humble"), reasoning that if she can make Wilbur sufficiently famous, he will not be killed. Thanks to Charlotte's efforts, and with the assistance of the gluttonous rat Templeton, Wilbur not only lives, but goes to the county fair with Charlotte and wins a prize. Having reached the end of her natural lifespan, Charlotte dies at the fair. Wilbur repays Charlotte by bringing home with him the sac of eggs (her "magnum opus") she had laid at the fair before dying. When Charlotte's eggs hatch at Zuckerman's farm, most of them leave to make their own lives elsewhere, except for three: Joy, Aranea, and Nellie, who remain there as friends to Wilbur. | {{Expand section}} A litter of pigs are born to the Arable farm. One is a runt so John Arable decides to "do away with it". However, when his daughter, Fern, hears of the pig's fate, she rescues him and tells her dad that it is absurd to kill it just because it is smaller than the others. She gets to raise him and names him Wilbur. However, after only six weeks of raising him, John tells Fern that it is time for him to be sold . She sadly says good-bye as Wilbur is sold down the street to her uncle, Homer Zuckerman. When Wilbur wants to play with a lamb, his father says that sheep do not play with pigs because it is only a matter of time before they are turned into smoked bacon and ham. Wilbur starts crying, saying that he does not want to die, but a voice from above tells him to "chin up". The next day, she sings a song about "chinning up", and reveals herself to be a spider named Charlotte. She saves him by writing messages in her web, hence the title. She eventually dies, and although 511 of her children leave the barn , three of them stay. But as much as Wilbur loves them, they will never replace her memory. | 0.830087 | positive | 0.991915 | positive | 0.993536 |
13,887,546 | From the Earth to the Moon | From the Earth to the Moon | It's been some time since the end of the American Civil War. The Gun Club, a society based in Baltimore and dedicated to the design of weapons of all kinds (especially cannons), meets when Impey Barbicane, its president, calls them to support his idea: according to his calculations, a cannon can shoot a projectile so that it reaches the moon. After receiving the whole support of his companions, a few of them meet to decide the place from where the projectile will be shot, the dimensions and makings of both the cannon and the projectile, and which kind of powder are they to use. An old enemy of Barbicane, a Captain Nicholl of Philadelphia, designer of plate armor, declares that the enterprise is absurd and makes a series of bets with Barbicane, each of them of increasing amount over the impossibility of such feat. The first obstacle, the money, and over which Nicholl has bet 1000 dollars, is raised from most countries in America and Europe, in which the mission reaches variable success (while the USA gives 4 million dollars, England doesn't give a farthing, being envious of the United States in matters of science), but in the end nearly five and a half million dollars are raised, which ensures the financial feasibility of the project. After deciding the place for the launch (Stone's Hill in "Tampa Town", Florida; predating Kennedy Space Center's placement in Florida by almost 100 years; Verne gives the exact position as 27°7' northern latitude and 5°7' western longitude, of course relative to the meridian of Washington that is ), the Gun Club travels there and starts the construction of the Columbiad cannon, which requires the excavation of a and circular hole, which is made in the nick of time, but a surprise awaits Barbicane: Michel Ardan, a French adventurer, plans to travel aboard the projectile. During a meeting between Ardan, the Gun Club, and the inhabitants of Florida, Nicholl appears and challenges Barbicane to a duel. The duel is stopped when Ardan—having been warned by J. T. Maston, secretary of the Gun Club—meets the rivals in the forest where they have agreed to duel. Meanwhile, Barbicane finds the solution to the problem of surviving the incredible acceleration that the explosion would cause. Ardan suggests that Barbicane and Nicholl travel with him in the projectile, and the offer is accepted. In the end, the projectile is successfully launched, but the destinies of the three astronauts are left inconclusive. The sequel, Around the Moon, deals with what happens to the three men in their travel from the Earth to the Moon. | Shortly after the end of the American Civil War, munitions producer Victor Barbicane announces that he has invented a new explosive, "Power X", which he claims is much more powerful than any previously devised. Metallurgist Stuyvesant Nicholl scoffs at Barbicane's claims and offers a wager of $100,000 that it cannot destroy his invention, the hardest metal in existence. Barbicane stages a demonstration using a puny cannon and demolishes Nicholl's material . However, President Ulysses S. Grant requests that Barbicane cease development of his invention, as other, nervous countries warn that continuing work on Power X could be considered an act of war. Barbicane agrees, but when he discovers that pieces of Nicholl's metal retrieved from the demonstration have somehow been converted into an extremely strong yet lightweight ceramic, he cannot resist the chance to construct a spaceship to travel to the Moon. He recruits Nicoll to help build the ship. Meanwhile, Nicholl's daughter Virginia and Barbicane's assistant Ben Sharpe are attracted to each other. After completing the spaceship, Barbicane, Nicholl, and Sharpe board it and, amid much fanfare, take off. Once they are in outer space, the strongly religious Nicholl reveals that he has sabotaged the vessel, believing that Barbicane has flouted God's laws. However, when it is discovered that Virginia has stowed away, Nicholl cooperates with Barbicane in a desperate attempt to save her. Sharpe is knocked out, and he and Virginia are placed in the safest compartment of the ship. Barbicane and Nicholl then fire rockets that send the young couple on their way back to Earth, while the two scientists land on the Moon in another section, with no way off. However, they are able to signal to the young couple that they have managed to reach the Moon safely. | 0.666514 | positive | 0.986765 | positive | 0.992737 |
1,462,414 | The Clan of the Cave Bear | The Clan of the Cave Bear | A five-year old Cro-Magnon girl is orphaned and left homeless by an earthquake that destroys her family's camp. She wanders aimlessly, naked and unable to feed herself, for several days. Having been attacked and nearly killed by a cave lion and suffering from starvation, exhaustion, and infection of her wounds, she collapses, on the verge of death. The narrative switches to a group of Neanderthal people, the "Clan", whose cave was destroyed in the earthquake and who are searching for a new home. The medicine woman of the group, Iza, discovers the girl and asks permission from Brun, the head of the Clan, to help the ailing child, despite the child being clearly a member of "the Others", the distrusted antagonists of the Clan. The child is adopted by Iza and her brother Creb. Creb is this group's "Mog-ur" or shaman, despite being deformed as a result of the difficult birth resulting from his abnormally large head and the later loss of an arm and leg after being attacked by a cave bear. The clan call her Ayla, because they can't pronounce her name. Immediately after Iza begins to help her, the clan discovers a huge, beautiful cave; many of the people begin to regard Ayla as lucky, especially since good fortune continues to come their way as she lives among them. In Auel's books, the Neanderthal possess only limited vocal apparatus and rarely speak, but have a highly-developed sign language. They do not laugh or even smile, and they do not cry; when Ayla weeps, Iza thinks she has an eye disease. Ayla's different thought processes lead her to break important Clan customs, particularly the taboo against females handling weapons. She is self-willed and spirited, but tries hard to fit in with the Neanderthals, although she has to learn everything first-hand; she does not possess the ancestral memories of the Clan which enable them to do certain tasks after being shown only once. Her main antagonist is Broud, son of the leader, an egomaniac who feels that she takes credit and attention away from him. As the two mature, the hatred between them festers. When they are young adults, Broud rapes Ayla, but she becomes pregnant, and rejoices in the birth of a son. The book ends with Creb's death, Broud's succession to the leadership, and his banishment of Ayla, who sets off to find other people of her own kind. She is not allowed to take her son with her. The separation haunts her with guilt and grief for the rest of the series. | The film stars Daryl Hannah as Ayla, a young Cro-Magnon woman who was separated from her family and orphaned during an earthquake and found by a group of Neanderthals. | 0.625535 | positive | 0.993788 | positive | 0.994938 |
3,088,107 | Left Behind | Left Behind II: Tribulation Force | The story takes place during the Rapture. Millions of people suddenly vanish and frantic "survivors" of the disappearances begin their search for their friends and families, as well as answers to what has happened. Among them are pilot Rayford Steele, his daughter Chloe Steele, and pastor Bruce Barnes, who begin to discover that the Rapture has taken place. Meanwhile, a young journalist, Cameron "Buck" Williams, follows an unknown, but charming, Romanian politician named Nicolae Carpathia, who quickly attracts millions of followers - seemingly overnight. | It's a week after the rapture and the millions of people who vanished into thin air are still missing. Chaos rules the world as panic and grief-stricken survivors continue to search for their lost loved-ones. Suicide rates are skyrocketing, businesses and homes are being looted, and martial law is in effect. A desperate world looks to the leadership and guidance of UN Secretary General Nicolae Carpathia, the only person offering any answers, hope, and plans to restore peace and order. While Carpathia has the world's adoration and trust, he is seemingly unaware of a small group of rebels spreading the truth that he is in fact the Antichrist. Buck Williams is a highly respected television journalist who has seen firsthand Carpathia's manipulative and deadly powers. His position allows him special access to a global audience through the media and to Carpathia himself. Airline pilot Rayford Steele ([[Brad Johnson and his 20-year-old daughter, Chloe , make up the rest of this group. Ray is still struggling to come to grips with the loss of his wife and son, but his recent salvation and friendship with Pastor Barnes have brought him back to the church and closer to his feisty daughter. Ivy Gold, Buck's assistant from the first movie, comes into the GNN headquarters and they go to Buck's apartment so they can work on the story of the vanishings. As the Tribulation Force struggles to open the eyes of the world to the truth, Global events get even stranger when word leaks out that three men have mysteriously burned to death at one of the holiest sites in Israel: the Western Wall. At the same time, Rabbi Ben Judah, one of the leading religious scholars of his time, plans to make a world-altering announcement based on years of research. Pastor Barnes believes both events are linked to Carpathia, signaling the oncoming terror of The Tribulation. He acts quickly by getting Ray and Buck to embark on a dangerous mission to infiltrate Carpathia's organization. They must get to Ben Judah before he makes his announcement. Buck is going to the Wailing Wall to get the witness on tape, but Steve Plank tries to talk him out of it. Bruce wants Rayford to join Carpathia's staff as the pilot of the new plane that the US government gave to Nicolae. Rayford initially turns down the mission. Rayford, while grieving about his family, receives a call from Chris . He goes to Chris' apartment, and saves Chris' life and soul because Chris wanted to commit suicide. Rayford then accepts Bruce's mission, to spy on Nicolae. Chloe is concerned for Buck and Rayford, but Buck starts to care for Chloe. Rayford then heads to Hattie to try and fly the plane. Initially, Hattie is suspicious of Rayford , but Rayford convinces her that he is the right man for the job. Meanwhile, Chloe goes to Bruce and asks about relationships during this time of chaos. She then goes to Buck's apartment where she sees Ivy Gold, Buck's assistant. Ivy blows Chloe off, thinking that she is just some star-struck fan of Buck's. Buck tries to call the Steele's house, but Chloe doesn't want to chat with him. When Rayford finally picks up the phone, he uses a bit of deception to have Buck meet with Chloe. When Buck leaves his apartment, he is taken to the roof of his building where he has a meeting with Nicolae. Buck is granted access to the Wailing Wall, and he goes to meet with Chloe. Chloe first blows him off, but some deception from Rayford gets them to talk. Buck and Chloe make up and start a relationship. Rayford and Buck then leave for Israel. Meanwhile, Ivy starts to visit Chloe at the church, initially to apologize for her behavior, and then later because she starts to become friends with Chloe and Bruce. Nicolae then ups the security at the Wailing Wall; and, with the help of Steve Plank, they create a "One World" religion. At the airport before leaving for Israel, Buck and Chloe share some time together. Rayford tells Chloe that he will watch over Buck. On the airplane, Rayford attempts to find some solid evidence about Nicolae. He finds some information on a computer pertaining to Rabbi Ben-Judah. While obtaining the evidence, Nicolae comes in and congratulates Rayford on being the pilot. As Rayford hands Nicolae their ETA, he sees a vision that disturbs him. When on the ground in Israel, Rayford shows the email he downloaded from Nicolae's computer to Buck. They realize that the conversation about Ben-Judah was about the speech he was going to give. Steve and Nicolae changed the speech because Ben-Judah was going to announce Jesus as the Son of God. Instead, because of the new changes, Ben-Judah is going to announce Nicolae as the Messiah. Buck goes to meet Rabbi Tsion Ben-Judah. He asks the Rabbi to come and discredit the witnesses, and prove that Nicolae is the messiah. He agrees. Nicolae puts added security on the wall, and Rayford and Buck pray to God to help the get message out. They go to the Wailing Wall to meet the two witnesses. Rayford distracts the guards and Buck and Ben-Judah slip through to confront the two men. Ben-Judah chats with the two men and learn about Jesus. They are attacked by UN guards and the two witnesses breathe fire at their attackers and they die. During the broadcast, Nicolae cuts the feed right in the middle of the Ben-Judah/Two Witnesses confrontation. Buck then learns that the broadcast got cut and Ben-Judah ran off. Ivy comes to the church to give Chloe some food, and witnesses Chloe ministering to a severely burned fireman who then passes away. Ivy hugs Chloe, and states that the fireman was at peace. Chloe remarks that he found God. Nicolae comes to the Temple Mount and speaks to the masses. Rabbi Ben-Judah then comes to the Temple Mount and starts giving his speech. Nicolae, along with his advisors, watch the broadcast. Rayford, in the cockpit, asks the copilot to take over. He then goes out and pulls the fuse to stop Nicolae from ruining the broadcast. Rabbi Ben-Judah then gives the speech about Jesus being the messiah, and how he needs to be forgiven. Nicolae then orders the broadcast to be cut. In Chicago; Ivy, Chloe and Bruce are watching, with Ivy crying. When the broadcast is cut, Ivy is stunned but Chloe leads her to Jesus with Bruce praying with them. In Israel, Ben-Judah's announcement leaves the crowd mixed. Buck asks Ben-Judah if he will be ok, Ben-Judah states that Buck helped millions learn the truth. Back in the cockpit of the airplane, Rayford hangs up pictures of his wife and son. He is finally at peace about their disappearing. Carpathia, filled with rage, tells God that it is his time to rule the Earth. Back in Chicago at the New Hope church, Bruce is leading worship. Ivy, Chris, Rayford and Chloe are singing a hymn when Buck enters. Buck hugs everyone as they continue to sing. | 0.693455 | positive | 0.994189 | positive | 0.997217 |
5,055,826 | The Mysterious Island | Mysterious Island | The book tells the adventures of five Americans on an uncharted island in the South Pacific. The story begins in the American Civil War, during the siege of Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America. As famine and death ravage the city, five northern prisoners of war decide to escape by the unusual means of hijacking a balloon. The five are Cyrus Smith, a railroad engineer in the Union army (named Cyrus Harding in some English translations); his black manservant Neb (short for Nebuchadnezzar), whom Verne repeatedly states is not a slave but an ex-slave who had been freed by Smith; the sailor Bonadventure Pencroff (who is addressed only by his surname, but his "Christian name", Bonadventure, is given to their boat; in other translations, he is also known as Pencroft); his protégé Harbert Brown (called Herbert in some translations), a young boy whom Pencroff raises as his own after the death of his father (Pencroff's former captain); and the journalist Gedéon Spilett (Gideon Spilett in English versions). The company is completed by Cyrus' dog 'Top'. After flying in stormy weather for several days, the group crash-lands on a cliff-bound, volcanic, unknown (and fictitious) island, described as being located at , about east of New Zealand. (In reality, the closest island is located at . In location and description though, the phantom island Ernest Legouve Reef may correspond to the rock that is left of the mysterious island at the end of the novel. ) They name it "Lincoln Island" in honor of American President Abraham Lincoln. With the knowledge of the brilliant engineer Smith, the five are able to sustain themselves on the island, producing fire, pottery, bricks, nitroglycerin, iron, a simple electric telegraph, a home on a stony cliffside called "Granite House", and even a seaworthy ship. They also manage to figure out their geographical location. Throughout their stay on the island, the group has to overcome bad weather, and eventually adopts and domesticates an orangutan, Jupiter, abbreviated to Jup (or Joop, in Jordan Stump's translation). The mystery of the island seems to come from periodic and inexplicable dei ex machina: the unexplainable survival of Cyrus Smith from his fall from the balloon, the mysterious rescue of his dog Top from a dugong, the presence of a box full of equipment (guns and ammunition, tools, etc.), the finding of a message in the sea calling for help, the finding of a lead bullet in the body of a young pig, and so on. Finding a message in a bottle, the group decides to use a freshly built small ship to explore the nearby Tabor Island, where a castaway is supposedly sheltered. They go and find Ayrton (from In Search of the Castaways) living like a wild beast, and bring him back to civilization and redemption. Coming back to Lincoln Island, they are confused by a tempest, but find their way to the island thanks to a fire beacon which no one seems to have lit. At a point, Ayrton's former crew of pirates arrives at the Lincoln Island to use it as their hideout. After some fighting with the heroes, the pirate ship is mysteriously destroyed by an explosion. Six of the pirates survive and considerably injure Harbert through a gunshot. They pose a grave threat to the colony, but suddenly the pirates are found dead, apparently in combat, but with no visible wounds. Harbert contracts malaria and is saved by a box of sulphate of quinine, which mysteriously appeared on the table in the Granite House. The secret of the island is revealed when it turns out to be Captain Nemo's hideout, and home harbour of the Nautilus. It is stated that having escaped the Maelstrom at the end of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, the Nautilus sailed the oceans of the world until all its crew except Nemo had died. Now an old man with a beard, Nemo returned the Nautilus to its port under Lincoln Island. All along it was Captain Nemo who had been the savior of the heroes, provided them with the box of equipment, sent the message revealing Ayrton, planted the mine that destroyed the pirate ship, and killed the pirates with an "electric gun" (Most likely one of the air rifles that is used in the previous novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea). On his death bed Captain Nemo reveals his true identity as an Indian Prince Dakkar, a son of a Raja of the then independent territory of Bundelkund and a nephew of the Indian hero Tippu-Sahib. After taking part in the failed Indian Rebellion of 1857, Prince Dakkar escaped to a deserted island with twenty of his compatriots and commenced the building of the Nautilus with the new name of Captain Nemo. Nemo tells his life story to Cyrus Smith and his friends and dies, saying "God and my country!" The Nautilus is then scuttled and serves as Captain Nemo's tomb. Eventually, the island explodes in a volcanic eruption. Jup the orangutan falls down a crack in the ground and dies. The colonists, warned by Nemo, find themselves at sea on the last remaining boulder of the island that is above sea level. They are rescued by the ship Duncan, which has come to pick up Ayrton and was itself informed by a message left on Tabor Island by Nemo. | The film centers around Union soldiers escaping in a gas balloon from a Confederate prison camp during the American Civil War. They end up crashing in the ocean, only to find themselves washed up on an unknown island, where gigantic animals abound. They make shelter in the cave home of a marooned sailor who had hanged himself years earlier. It would later be revealed that the animals were the result of experiments by the presumed-dead Captain Nemo to end war by solving the problem of world hunger. He has been an unknown benefactor to the castaways as they struggled to survive on the island. The island's volcano threatens to erupt. After a skirmish with pirates the stranded group manages to escape from the island on the pirates' ship as the volcano destroys the island. The highlights of the film were Ray Harryhausen's animation sequences. The different animated "monsters" that the castaways encountered included a monstrous crab, a giant flightless bird , giant bees and a giant cephalopod resembling a prehistoric ammonite. | 0.684939 | positive | 0.996339 | positive | 0.993386 |
1,128,108 | A Widow for One Year | The Door in the Floor | In the opening section of the book, the year is 1958 and Ruth Cole is four years old. Although she is a loved child, her parents do not have a happy marriage. Her two older brothers died four years earlier in a car accident, and she is constantly reminded of their presence from the pictures of their childhood hanging on the walls of the Cole family home. Ruth's father, Ted Cole, writes successful children's books, and hires Eddie O'Hare, a teenager who attends Phillips Exeter Academy, the same school as Ruth's two late brothers, to work as his assistant for the summer. Eddie is unwittingly drawn into a plot orchestrated by Ted to drive his unhappy wife, Marion, to infidelity. Marion, unable to forget her dead sons, shows little affection to her daughter. Ted has always conducted extramarital affairs and would likely lose in a custody battle for Ruth in divorce court. If Marion had an affair, he feels that this would strengthen the case for custody to be awarded to him. Ted picks Eddie specifically to tempt Marion, since he bears a striking resemblance to his two dead sons. Eddie and Marion's affair leads to Marion's disappearance at the end of the summer. It is 1990 and Ruth is thirty-six. She is in Europe, dealing with the failures of her love life as she herself has become a successful writer. Ruth is doing research on prostitutes in Amsterdam's red light district, and finds herself hiding in a closet while she observes the murder of a prostitute by the prostitute's client. She makes note of certain details of the murder which, in the future, lead to the murderer's arrest. The detective who solves the murder case is left with the identity of the mysterious "witness" unknown. Ruth is now forty-one, has a son, and is about to fall in love for the first time. This section covers Ruth's brief widowhood ("A Widow for One Year" is a literal description of Ruth's situation as well as a quote from one of her novels). The detective who solved the murder case that Ruth witnessed four years before realizes that Ruth is the witness, because Ruth included details of the victim's room in her novel, and the detective is a fan of Ruth's work. Ruth discovers that the murder was solved and the murderer caught. Ruth meets with the detective, and they fall in love. After a whirlwind romance in Paris (the next stop on Ruth's book tour) he agrees to follow Ruth to Vermont, where they marry. Eddie O'Hare and Ruth, unexpectedly, re-unite with Marion. They end up living happily in Vermont. | The film is set in an exclusive beach community on Long Island, where children's book author and artist Ted Cole lives with his wife Marion and their young daughter Ruth , who usually is supervised by her nanny Alice. Their home is filled with photographs of the couple's teenaged sons, who were killed in an automobile accident; the tragedy left Marion deeply depressed and her marriage in shambles. The one shared experience that holds the family together is a ritualistic daily viewing of a home gallery of family photographs of the deceased sons. Ted and Marion temporarily separate, each alternately living in the house and in a rented apartment in town. Ted hires Eddie O'Hare to work as his summer assistant and driver, since his own license was suspended for drunk driving. An aspiring writer, Eddie admires Ted, but he soon discovers the older man is a self-absorbed womanizer with an erratic work schedule that leaves the young assistant to fill his time as best he can. Eddie and Marion soon engage in a sexual relationship, which seems not to bother Ted, who is enjoying trysts of his own with local resident Evelyn Vaughn during sketching sessions at which she serves as his model. When Ruth walks into the room while Eddie and her mother are making love, Ted becomes upset with his wife and advises Eddie he may have to testify about the incident if Ted decides to fight for full custody of the child. Marion eventually leaves Ted and their daughter, taking with her all the photographs and negatives of her dead sons, save one that is being reframed after it was broken, injuring Ruth. Eddie takes the initiative to retrieve the one remaining reframed picture so that Ruth can have at least one partial image of her brothers. Ted confides in Eddie the story of the car accident that caused his sons' deaths. Ted suggests his and Marion's drunkenness and Ted's failure to remove snow from the rear tail and turn lights likely contributed their sons' deaths. Eddie learns more about what may have contributed to Marion's intense despair, mental states, and choice to abandon her remaining child. At the end of the film, Ted does not fully understand why Marion left, and he questions, "What kind of mother leaves her daughter?" | 0.640716 | positive | 0.995341 | positive | 0.996906 |
2,979,644 | Charlotte Gray | Charlotte Gray | In 1942, a young Scot, Charlotte Gray, travels to London to take a job as a medical receptionist for a Harley Street doctor. On the train she talks to two men sharing her compartment, and one of them - who works for the secret service - gives her his card. Despite the war, social life in London is in full swing and the attractive, intelligent girl soon meets up with an airman, Peter Gregory. The temporary nature of life at the time is epitomised when she quickly loses her virginity and then her heart to him. The romance is heightened when Gregory is sent on a mission over France and news comes back to Charlotte that he is missing In action. Charlotte spent much of her childhood in France and speaks the language fluently - a talent that the secret service wishes to exploit in its effort to support the French Resistance. Charlotte decides to throw in her job - which she has no talent for anyway as the doctor informs her - and joins a Special Operations Executive (SOE)* training course. Once it has grilled her on methods of interrogation, dyed her hair a mousy brown and replaced her fillings, Charlotte is parachuted into France to complete a specified mission. But instead of doing her job and heading home, she sets out to find Gregory's whereabouts. When he speaks of fidelity and conflicting passions, he is not just referring to Charlotte's love of her missing man but of the Occupation by the Nazis that turned Frenchmen against each other as well as against Jews. | In 1942, a young Scot, Charlotte Gray, travels to London to take a job as a medical receptionist for a Harley Street doctor. On the train, a man enters her compartment and chats with her, asking questions about her life and expressing interest that she is fluent in French. He gives her his card with the date, time and address of a book launch. Social life in London is in full swing and her friends convince her to go. She soon meets RAF Flight Lieutenant Peter Gregory, but is interrupted by Richard Cannerley, the older man from the train, who urges her to meet some of his acquaintances and asks her to contact him when she leaves. The volatile nature of life at the time is epitomised when Charlotte and Peter quickly get involved. As they talk about the war and bravery, Charlotte confides that she thinks Cannerley wants her to try out for some secret organisation. Peter tells her not to get involved. With his leave over, he is to take part in operations over France for the next few weeks. Charlotte joins the SOE and is seconded to FANY with the rank of Driver. She completes her initial training and is on leave when she learns that Gregory's plane has gone down and he is "missing in action". Charlotte signs up for operations in France and is dropped in with two men. She lands out of the zone, because of two boys on the ground playing with flashlights. They run away, half thinking she's an angel. Her mission is to complete a test run; a handover of some radio valves. Her cover immediately is close to being blown, as the contact for the handover is taken by the police in front of her. Her main resistance contact, Julien, reassigns her to act as a friend of his and housekeeper to his father, Levade, an aging and no longer inspired painter. He has taken in two Jewish children, André and Jacob, after their parents were arrested. As time progresses, the film reveals that the parents were deported to Poland, and the Vichy French government is cooperating in the steadily growing oppression of the Jews in France. Gray participates in a resistance action of blowing up a train bearing tanks and armaments. The Nazis bring their own forces and tanks to the village, to crush the resistance in the area. Gray is told by her SOE contact that Gregory died after being shot down and she grieves for him. A Vichy official arrives from Paris to work with the Germans and local villagers to ensure the quota for a roundup of Jews is met. The schoolmaster Renech follows Gray and learns that Levade is hiding the children. He threatens Gray with reporting the boys to the Nazis unless she agrees to become his "friend". That night, the Germans surprise Julien's group and kill them all. Believing Charlotte betrayed them, he confronts her the next day at his father's house. Soon after, the Germans, with Renech and the Vichy official, arrive at Levade's place. They ask for his papers and interview him about his Jewish ancestry . Away from the main room, Renech threatens Julien, saying either his father or the boys must be given up. Julien returns and states that both his father and, thus he have Jewish ancestry ; his father understands that he is trying to protect the boys. The officials say that Julien does not qualify, as he has more French ancestry than his father. They take Levade to the prison camp/transfer station, where people are being gathered for deportation to camps in eastern Europe. Renech betrays the boys anyway, and they are captured by the Nazis, with Charlotte failing to intercept them. Julien locates Renech and murders him in retaliation. He then decides to go to southern France and perhaps escape to fight elsewhere. He asks Charlotte to go with him, but she says she has to stay. Evading French police, she writes a paper and takes it to the station where Jews are being loaded into cattle cars. People from the village run alongside the cars, searching for their loved ones. Hearing the boys and Levade, she pushes the paper between the boards of their car. Levade reads what is revealed as a letter ostensibly from the boys' parents, encouraging them and reminding them of their love. Charlotte leaves France through a pickup by the SOE. After the end of the war, she is contacted in London by Peter Gregory, who had been in hiding but survived being shot down. She says things have changed; she grieved for him and can't return to their relationship. At the end of the film, Charlotte returns to France and to Julien. Though the film suggests Julien's father and the boys are doomed, the book is explicit that they die in a concentration camp. | 0.811584 | positive | 0.985909 | positive | 0.995127 |
22,375,764 | The Land That Time Forgot | The Land That Time Forgot | The novel is set in World War I and opens with a framing story in which a manuscript relating the main story is recovered from a thermos off the coast of Greenland. It purports to be the narrative of Bowen J. Tyler, an American passenger with his Airedale terrier Nobs on a ship sunk in the English Channel by a German U-boat, , in 1916. He is rescued by a British tugboat with another survivor, Lys La Rue. The tug is also sunk, but its crew manages to capture the submarine when it surfaces. Unfortunately, all other British craft continue to regard the sub as an enemy, and they are unable to bring it to port. Sabotage to the navigation equipment sends the U-33 astray into the South Atlantic. The imprisoned German crew retakes the sub and begins a raiding cruise, only to be overcome again by the British. A saboteur continues to guide the sub off course, and by the time he is found out it is in Antarctic waters. The U-33 is now low on fuel, with its provisions poisoned by the saboteur Benson. A large island ringed by cliffs is encountered, and identified as Caprona, a land mass first reported by the (fictitious) Italian explorer Caproni in 1721 whose location was subsequently lost. A freshwater current guides the sub to a stream issuing from a subterranean passage, which is entered on the hope of replenishing the water supply. The U-boat surfaces into a tropical river teeming with primitive creatures extinct elsewhere; attacked, it submerges again and travels upstream in search of a safe harbor. It enters a thermal inland sea, essentially a huge crater lake, whose heat sustains Caprona’s tropical climate. As the sub travels north along the island’s waterways the climate moderates and wildlife undergoes an apparent evolutionary progression. On the shore of the lake the crew builds a palisaded base, dubbed Fort Dinosaur for the area’s prehistoric fauna. The British and Germans agree to work together under Tyler, with Bradley, the mate from the tug, as second in command and Von Schoenvorts, the original sub commander, in control of the Germans. The castaways are attacked by a horde of beast men and take prisoner Ahm, a Neanderthal. They learn that the native name for the island is Caspak. Oil is discovered, which they hope to refine into fuel for the U-33. As they set up operations, Bradley undertakes various explorations. During his absence Lys disappears and the Germans mutiny again, absconding with the submarine. Tyler leaves the other survivors to seek and rescue Lys. A series of adventures ensues among various bands of near-human primitives, each representing a different stage of human advancement, as represented by their weaponry. Tyler rescues Lys from a group of Sto-lu (hatchet men), and later aids the escape of a woman of the Band-lu (spearmen) to the Kro-lu (bowmen). Lys is lost again, and chance discoveries of the graves of two men associated with Bradley’s expedition leaves Tyler in despair of that party’s fate. Unable to find his way back to Fort Dinosaur, he retreats to the barrier cliffs ringing Caspak in a vain hope of attracting rescue from some passing ship. Improbably reunited with Lys, he sets up house with her, completes the account of his adventures which he has been writing, and casts it out to sea in his thermos. | The film takes place in the present, when two newlywed couples are enjoying a charter boat cruise through the Caribbean. Passing through a bizarre storm, they emerge off the shore of the mysterious island of Caprona. The island, which seems to exist within a time void inside the Bermuda Triangle, is full of anachronistic inhabitants, including dinosaurs and a crew of a stranded German U-Boat. The newlyweds, along with the charter boat's captain and the Germans, must battle a variety of obstacles to escape the island and get back to their own time. At first the plan is to rescue a woman named Karen from the Germans and then take their boat away, but their guides Jude and Conrad betray them and steal the boat, leaving them to the Germans. Eventually, the captain convinces the Germans for them to work together to get off the island and they are able to free the U-Boat and make diesel fuel from oil on the island. Unfortunately, Frost is left behind as he can't get to the sub in time and his wife Karen joins him on the island again. The sub gets away, but it is unclear if it ever returned to civilization. Frost writes down his story and puts in a thermos and throws it in the ocean. He and Karen have found a life on the island and Karen is pregnant. | 0.596548 | positive | 0.997106 | positive | 0.389372 |
93,559 | Les Liaisons dangereuses | Cruel Intentions | The Vicomte de Valmont is determined to seduce the virtuous (and married) Madame de Tourvel, who is living with Valmont's aunt while Monsieur de Tourvel, a magistrate, is away on a court case. At the same time, the Marquise de Merteuil is determined to corrupt the young Cécile de Volanges, whose mother has only recently brought her out of a convent to be married – to Merteuil's recent lover, who has become bored with her and discarded her. Cécile falls in love with the Chevalier Danceny (her music tutor) and Merteuil and Valmont pretend to want to help the secret lovers in order to gain their trust, so that they can use them later in their own schemes. Merteuil suggests that the Vicomte seduce Cécile in order to exact her revenge on Cécile's future husband. Valmont refuses, finding the task too easy, and preferring to devote himself to seducing Madame de Tourvel. Merteuil promises Valmont that if he seduces Madame de Tourvel and provides her with written proof, she will spend the night with him. He expects rapid success, but does not find it as easy as his many other conquests. During the course of his pursuit, he discovers that Cécile's mother has written to Madame de Tourvel about his bad reputation. He avenges himself in seducing Cécile as Merteuil had suggested. In the meantime, Merteuil takes Danceny as a lover. By the time Valmont has succeeded in seducing Madame de Tourvel, it is suggested that he might have fallen in love with her. Jealous, Merteuil tricks him into deserting Madame de Tourvel – and reneges on her promise of spending the night with him. In response Valmont reveals that he prompted Danceny to reunite with Cécile, leaving Merteuil abandoned yet again. Merteuil declares war on Valmont, and in revenge she reveals to Danceny that Valmont has seduced Cécile. Danceny and Valmont duel, and Valmont is fatally wounded. Before he dies he is reconciled with Danceny, giving him the letters proving Merteuil's own involvement. These letters are sufficient to ruin her reputation and she flees to the countryside, where she contracts smallpox. Her face is left permanently scarred and she is rendered blind in one eye, so she loses her greatest asset: her beauty. But the innocent also suffer from the protagonist's schemes: hearing of Valmont's death, Madame de Tourvel succumbs to a fever and dies, while Cécile returns to the convent. | The wealthy and popular Kathryn Merteuil takes the sheltered and naïve Cecile Caldwell under her wing, promising to turn Cecile into a model student. Kathryn's real intention, however, is to use Cecile to indirectly take revenge on Court Reynolds, her ex-lover, who had dumped her for Cecile. Kathryn asks her step-brother, Sebastian Valmont to seduce Cecile; he refuses as he is planning to seduce virgin Annette Hargrove - a 'paradigm of chastity and virtue' and spoil her social reputation. Doubting Sebastian's chance of success, they make a wager: If Kathryn wins, she gets Sebastian's vintage 1956 Jaguar XK140 roadster; if Sebastian wins, Kathryn will allow him to "put it anywhere" . Sebastian agrees. Ronald Clifford, Cecile's music teacher, is also in love with Cecile. Annette is temporarily staying with Helen Rosemond, Sebastian's Aunt. Cecile's mother, Mrs. Caldwell, who met Annette at her school, has already warned Annette of Sebastian's reputation for womanizing. Sebastian's seduction of Annette fails. Wanting revenge on the Caldwells, Sebastian tells Kathryn he will now seduce Cecile. Kathryn tells Cecile's mother about Ronald and Cecile's romance and Mrs. Caldwell intervenes in her daughter's relationship. Sebastian, in turn, calls Cecile to his house, ostensibly to give her a letter from Ronald. Sebastian blackmails Cecile and performs oral sex on her. The next day, Cecile confides in Kathryn, who advises her to learn the art of sex from Sebastian so that she can make Ronald happy in bed. Sebastian falls in love with Annette, who returns his feelings but resists him. Sebastian calls her a hypocrite because she claims to be waiting for her one true love, but when her one true love chooses to love her back, she resists. She relents, but Sebastian, in turn, refuses her. Annette flees to her friend's parents' estate. Sebastian tracks her down and professes his love, and they make love. As he has won the bet, Kathryn offers herself to Sebastian the next day, but he refuses; he now wants Annette only. Kathryn taunts him and threatens to ruin Annette's reputation, so Sebastian pretends indifference to Annette and coldly breaks up with her. After Sebastian tells Kathryn that he has broken up with Annette and arranged for Cecile and Ronald to be together, Kathryn reveals that she has known all along that he was truly in love with Annette and manipulated him into giving her up. She then rejects him. Sebastian leaves, and Kathryn calls Ronald to inform him that Sebastian had sex with Cecile. Sebastian finds and sends Annette his journal, in which he has detailed all of Kathryn's maneuvers and written his true feelings for Annette. When Sebastian starts heading home, Ronald confronts him in the middle of the street and a fight ensues. Annette runs out and tries to stop it. She is thrown into the way of an oncoming cab. Sebastian pushes her to safety and is hit by the speeding cab himself. Before he dies, Sebastian and Annette profess their love for each other. At Sebastian's funeral, Cecile distributes copies of Sebastian's journal, made into a book by Annette, titled "Cruel Intentions". Kathryn is humiliated and rejected by her former friends, and she is defamed for the cocaine hidden in her cross necklace. Annette drives away in Sebastian's Jaguar with his journal at her side as fond memories of Sebastian play through her head. | 0.550334 | negative | -0.324644 | negative | -0.974828 |
5,207,131 | The Incredible Journey | Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco | The animals' owners, the Hunters, leave go to England for several months because Jim, the father, is scheduled to give a series of university lectures there. They leave their pets in the care of John Longridge, a family friend and godfather of their daughter, Elizabeth. One day, after John Longridge leaves for a two week duck hunting trip, the animals, feeling the lack of their human companions, set out to try to find their owners, the Hunters. Mrs. Oakes, who is taking care of Longridge's home, doesn't find the animals and thinks that John must have taken them with him. The animals follow their instincts and move forward toward home, nearly 300 miles ways. * Luath: Luath is a young Labrador. His fur is red-gold, his eyes are brown, and he is of strong build. Luath is a loyal and brave companion and the natural leader of the group. Of the three pets, he is the most recent addition. He is also the most determined to push forward and reach home and the Hunters. Luath usually walks on Bodger's left side to guide him since the older dog is almost blind in his left eye. He is arguably the one who suffers the most from lack of food because after a porcupine hits him in the face with its quills, the wounds become infected, making it difficult for him to open his mouth. * Bodger: Bodger (whose full name is Ch. Boroughcastle Brigadier of Doune) is an old English bull terrier. His fur is white with a slight pinkish tint. Bodger's left eye is nearly blind. The dog was born to fight and endure (as he does in the book). Because he is eleven years old, Bodger tires easily; but he is a brave, loyal, persevering and tenacious companion. He is very fond of humans, particularly children, and whenever the group comes across humans in their travels, he tries to charm them for affection and snacks, with varying results. He has an intense hostility towards all cats save Tao, who earned his respect by standing up to him when he first joined the Hunter family as a small kitten. Though they care deeply for Luath, Bodger and Tao have a special bond. Bodger is the first of the animals to have joined the Hunter family. Despite his advanced age and diminished senses, Bodger is still every bit the fighter he was in his prime, at one point saving Luath from a Border Collie sicced on them by an irate farmer. * Tao: Tao is a slender, seal-pont, old style Siamese cat with sapphire eyes. An element of humor in the book is that Tao, like Bodger, despises other cats, and the two once shared many adventures terrorizing the other felines in their neighborhood; when they encounter other domesticated cats in their travels, Tao often fights them, successfully. Tao is able to open most doors, a help to the dogs in several situations. Tao is a tireless, bold, and loyal animal. Tao is probably the best equipped of the three to survive in the wilderness, and has no difficulty surviving on his own when separated from the two dogs; despite this, he spends all his time seeking to rejoin them, a testament to the bond between the animals. The cat is an independent and natural hunter, catching small birds for the group. When Tao is separated from them, the dogs fare more poorly without Tao than Tao does without them. Therefore, Tao is crucial to the dogs' survival. * John Longridge: John Longridge is Elizabeth Hunter's godfather. He lives in a stone house in a small village about 300 miles from the college town where the Hunters live. Mr. Longridge wrote several historical books, is a writer by profession, and a bachelor. * The Hunter Family: The Hunter Family consists of the father Jim, the mother and their two children, 11 year old Peter and 9 year old Elizabeth. Jim owns Luath, Elizabeth owns Tao, and Peter owns Bodger. * Mrs. Oakes: Mrs. Oakes is the caretaker of the three animals while John is gone on his trip. Her husband is Bert. * The Nurmi Family: The Nurmi family are a family of Finnish immigrants. 10 year old Helvi takes a liking to Tao after she discovers him unconscious in the water while walking home from school. * The Mackenzies: James and his wife, Nell, are an older couple who live alone, now that their eight children have grown up. They find Bodger and Luath, and provide them with a place to stay. | The owners of Shadow the Golden Retriever , Sassy the Himalayan cat , and Chance the American Bulldog decide to take a family trip to Canada. At the San Francisco International Airport, the animals escape after Chance panics and breaks free from his carrier. After eluding airport authorities, the animals find themselves in the city of San Francisco, with home on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge. During the journey Chance bumps into a Boxer called Ashcan and his Bulldog friend Pete. Annoyed he refuses to let them past but Shadow tries to tell them they are just trying to get home. They don't listen and say they are going to eat Sassy. She hides on a window sill and Shadow and Ashcan fight. After a few seconds Sassy yells to Shadow that they have reinforcements, but it turns out to be, as Pete calls them, "Riley's gang". They help them and say that the city is no place for pets. Shadow explains they are lost and Riley points out that Chance is missing, He ran off as the gang arrived. Riley calls his friend Delilah, a Kuvasz, to run after him. She finds him in a light alley and explains why she was chasing him. As the other members of the gang are walking down the street they see, what they call, the "Blood red van" and hide. Shadow asks what it is for and Riley explains it takes dogs of the streets to a place called the lab. After it passes, Shadow asks Riley if he can help him and Sassy find a golden bridge, which he remembers passing on the way there. Riley explains that he can't because a bridge means cars and cars means humans and he doesn't trust humans. So they thank him for his help and head off to look for the bridge themselves. Meanwhile Delilah and Chance are walking in the park. He explains why they are in the city and when he asks her why Riley doesn't like humans she explains that he was abandoned as a puppy and decided to make a home for other stray dogs to protect them from all humans. Chance realizes he's fallen in love with Delilah and they head out of the park. Later while walking down a street Pete and Ashcan notice Shadow and Sassy walking down it too. They plan to jump at them but miss their chance. Round the corner Shadow sees a house on fire and remembers it holds that little boy named Tucker and his cat. Realizing they are still in there he runs in through the basement window and looks for them. Sassy goes in after him and looks for the kitten. Shadow comes out a few moments later with Tucker right behind him, then Sassy appears with the kitten. Tucker thanks them and they continue on. As they cross the street Riley and his gang tell them that they did a great job rescuing the boy and kitten and say they can stay with him until they find Chance. As they return to the gang's hideout they notice Delilah and Chance are already there. Riley tries to explain that they are different but they won't listen and head outside. The next day, Chance notices a tire and begins to chew on it but doesn't notice the "Blood red van" driving through the gates. While all the other dogs are inside Chance gets captured and driven to the lab. While there the van is stopped by the gang, Chance and the other dogs are set free, and it reverses into the river for good. Delilah then explains to Chance that Riley is right and they cannot be together. He gets upset and runs off. By now, Riley has told Shadow if humans mean that much to him he'll take them to the bridge. On their way home before crossing the bridge they are ambushed by Ashcan and Pete but Chance appears and fights them off. They cross the bridge and are found by their owners on a road and return home but Chance is still upset about Delilah but then he sees her appear from around the corner and they are reunited. Bob agrees she can stay, much to Chance's glee, and they continue with their picnic. | 0.508001 | positive | 0.986402 | positive | 0.997928 |
1,355,085 | Northern Lights | The Golden Compass | The novel is set in a parallel world to ours, in a world controlled largely by a theocratic international organisation, the Magisterium, which actively suppresses heresy. On this world, human souls exist externally in the form of sentient "dæmons": animal spiritual beings that constantly accompany, aid, and comfort their humans. Lyra Belacqua—a 12-year-old girl who has been allowed to run somewhat wild with her beloved dæmon, Pantalaimon—awaits the arrival of her uncle and guardian, Lord Asriel, at Jordan College, a (fictional) Oxford University college. She spies on him moments before he is scheduled to begin a lecture, and in doing so, saves his life when she stops him from drinking wine poisoned by the college's Master. Moments before the college's Scholars enter the room, Lyra hides in the coat closet and secretly watches Asriel's lecture, thus learning of "Dust", the name given to elementary particles that are apparently attracted to adults more than children. The lecture also sparks Lyra's fascination for Arctic exploration when Asriel shows images of a city skyline in some parallel universe that can be viewed through the northern lights. The purpose of the lecture is to convince the Scholars that other worlds exist so that they will fund Asriel's ongoing research, which the Magisterium considers heretical. After Asriel leaves Jordan, successful in his effort for financial backing, Lyra begins hearing rumours of the Gobblers, a mysterious group that has been kidnapping children throughout England, allegedly for the purposes of torture or experimentation. Shortly after her own friend Roger Parslow goes missing, Lyra meets Mrs Coulter, a beautiful and adventurous woman, and agrees when invited by the Master to go and live with her. Before Lyra leaves the college, the Master secretly entrusts Lyra with an alethiometer, a "truth teller" which resembles a four-handed pocket watch that will honestly answer any possible question asked by a skilled user. Although unable to read or understand its complex symbols at first, Lyra takes it with her, and gradually begins to use the device fluently over the course of the narrative—something which, it is later revealed, no adult can do as well as she. Lyra believes that the Master, who tried to poison Asriel, gives Lyra the alethiometer so that she will deliver it to Asriel as a reparation, or token of apology, for the earlier attempt on his life. It later seems clear that the Master tried to poison Asriel under pressure from the Magisterium. After living a charmed several weeks with Mrs Coulter, Lyra discovers that Mrs Coulter is the leader of the Gobblers, officially known as the General Oblation Board: the secret, Magisterium-approved, child-stealing organisation. Horrified, Lyra flees and is rescued in London by the Gyptians, a nomadic people who reveal that Lord Asriel and Mrs Coulter are in fact Lyra's father and mother. The Gyptians tell Lyra the true story of her parents and she begins life with the Gyptians at sea. The Gyptians have been hit hardest by the Gobblers' kidnapping activities and they ultimately plan an expedition to the Arctic to rescue all of the missing children, including Roger. On a stop in Trollesund, Lyra meets Iorek Byrnison, an outcast prince of the sapient panserbjørne, or "armoured bears". His armour, stolen from him by the villagers, is akin to his soul, and without it Iorek is bound in servitude to the village. Lyra uses her alethiometer to locate it for him and in return he—and an old friend of his, an aeronaut named Lee Scoresby—agrees to help her on her quest. She also learns that Lord Asriel is being held in exile by the panserbjørne at Svalbard. The Trollesund consul of the witches tells the Gyptians that there is a prophecy about Lyra's destiny, which she must not know about, and that it seems the witch clans are choosing sides in preparation for some imminent war. The party consisting of Gyptians, Iorek Byrnison, Lee Scoresby, and Lyra continue north toward where they are told the Gobblers hold the children, at a place called Bolvangar. Guided by the alethiometer, Lyra detours at a village and finds, to her horror, a boy who has been severed from his dæmon. Lyra understands now that the Gobblers are deliberately cutting the bond between human and dæmon (a process called "intercision"): an uncanny notion analogous to a human body being split from its soul. Though Lyra brings the boy back to her party, his psychological devastation overcomes him and he eventually dies. In the Arctic wilderness, the party is soon attacked by bounty hunters and Lyra, captured, is taken directly to Bolvangar: a research station for the General Oblation Board. Superficially, Bolvangar is run like a benign chidren's centre, complete with scheduled activities for its captured children, who are suspicious but overall compliant. At Bolvangar, Lyra locates Roger and devises a plan for all of the children to escape, knowing through the alethiometer that the Gyptian-led rescue party is still on its way. Mrs Coulter arrives, evidently as a supervisor to the facility, just as Lyra is caught spying by staff-members. The staff decide to silence Lyra through intercision, involving their newly developed dæmon-cutting guillotine; however, she is rescued at the last moment by Mrs Coulter who is shocked to see her. Mrs Coulter then tries to coax the alethiometer away from her but Lyra has switched the alethiometer case for a decoy, distracting Mrs Coulter long enough to activate the station's emergency alarm. In the commotion, Lyra sets the station on fire and leads the other children outside where they are met by Lee Scoresby, Iorek Byrnison, the Gyptians, and their new allies, the witch-clan of Serafina Pekkala. Using Lee Scoresby's hot air balloon, Lyra, Roger, and Iorek leave the scene as a battle erupts involving the Gyptians and witches against Bolvangar's mercenary guards and staff. Lyra befriends Serafina Pekkala and later learns that all of the children have been successfully rescued from Bolvangar. Determined to deliver the alethiometer to Lord Asriel, Lyra now directs the witches to tow the balloon toward Svalbard; however, Lyra falls out of the basket near Svalbard and is quickly taken prisoner by the panserbjørne in their castle. Although captive, Lyra is able to trick their usurping bear-king, Iofur Raknison, into agreeing to fight Iorek, by claiming that she is Iorek's dæmon, and that if Iofur killed Iorek, then she would become Iofur's dæmon—something no bear has and Iofur wants more than anything. Arriving at the castle to rescue Lyra, Iorek successfully kills Iofur in the fight and thus is made king himself. Lyra—now nicknamed "Lyra Silvertongue" by Iorek as a token of her ability—travels onward to Lord Asriel’s house of exile, accompanied by Iorek and Roger. Despite being exiled, Lord Asriel has become so influential that he has accumulated the necessary equipment to continue his research on Dust. He explains to Lyra all he knows of Dust: the Church's view that it is deeply sinful, his belief that Dust is somehow related to the source of all death and misery, the existence of parallel universes from which Dust originates, and his final goal—he intends to visit the other universes, find the source of Dust (and, therefore, the source of all death and misery), and ultimately destroy it, triumuphantly claiming that "Death is going to die". As Lyra sleeps, Asriel leaves to fulfill his great experiment, bringing along his scientific equipment and taking Roger by force. Lyra awakes and pursues them, discovering that she has indeed brought her father what he wanted, though not in the way she thought; it was not the alethiometer he needed, but rather, it was Roger. The severing of a child's dæmon releases an enormous amount of energy, which Lord Asriel needs to complete his task. Lyra is unable to save Roger in time though, and his death provides sufficient energy to tear a hole through the northern lights into a parallel universe, ripping the sky apart. Lord Asriel and Mrs Coulter (who catches up with him by zeppelin) face the newly revealed world and romantically embrace, but Mrs Coulter feels unable to go with Asriel and painfully declines his invitation. Without further comment, Lord Asriel walks into the new universe alone and Mrs Coulter departs back the way she came. Devastated at her part in rescuing Roger only to bring him to his death, Lyra decides that Dust, contrary to what all adults have told her, may be a force of good rather than evil. She and her dæmon Pantalaimon vow to discover if this is true and to stop Asriel; they then follow him through the opening in the sky. This concludes the first novel, with the trilogy continuing in the next book, The Subtle Knife. | {{Plot}} The film is set in a world where a person's soul resides outside their body in an animal-like form called a Dæmon. A dictatorial organization called the Magisterium exercises power in the secular world. Lyra Belacqua, an orphan of Jordan College along with her dæmon Pantalaimon , spins tales of the Gobblers, whom she and her friends believe are snatching children. Forced to hide in a closet, Lyra learns that her uncle Lord Asriel is about to present a proposal to the master and scholars of Jordan College. She listens when the Master and Scholars come in to view a slide of Asriel's. Asriel presents evidence that particles called "Dust" exist. Over the objections of the Magisterium, the college funds Asriel's expedition to the far north to investigate the Dust. He believes it originates in a parallel universe and enters a person's body via their dæmon. The Magisterium has secretly been experimenting on children to discover a way to inoculate them against its influences. At dinner Lyra meets Mrs. Coulter, who insists on taking Lyra north as her assistant. Before Lyra leaves, the master of the college entrusts her with the only remaining alethiometer . This device, he tells her, reveals the truth. The Magisterium has destroyed all the others; he warns her to tell no one she has it. Lyra accepts the gift, promising to keep it hidden. At Mrs. Coulter's house, Lyra mentions 'space dust'. Mrs. Coulter warns her never to mention it again. Lyra refuses to remove her shoulder bag because it holds the alethiometer. Mrs. Coulter's dæmon attacks Pan, causing Lyra to give in. After hiding the alethiometer under her pillow, Lyra and Pan search Mrs. Coulter's secret room, where they discover that Mrs. Coulter is head of the General Oblation Board, the "Gobblers", who have been kidnapping local children. She also discovers that her best friend Roger and her Gyptian friend Billy have been taken by the Gobblers. Hearing Mrs. Coulter call out for her, Lyra and Pan meet her in a hallway. Running to her bedroom, they see Mrs. Coulter's dæmon holding the alethiometer. Changing into a hawk, Pan swoops down, grabs the alethiometer, and flies out of an open window. Lyra escapes behind him, slamming the window on Mrs. Coulter's dæmon. The "Gobblers" pursue her, but she is saved by some Gyptians. Aboard a Gyptian boat heading north to rescue their children, Lyra shows the alethiometer to a Gyptian wise man, Farder Coram, who advises her in its use. On deck that night Serafina Pekkala, the witch queen, tells Lyra that the missing children are in a place called Bolvangar — a place shunned by all living things. Mrs. Coulter sends two mechanical spy flies after Lyra and Pan; one is batted away but the other is caught and sealed in a tin can by Farder Coram, who explains that the spy fly has a sting with a sleeping poison. At a Norwegian port, Lyra is befriended by a cowboy aeronaut named Lee Scoresby, who advises her to hire an armoured bear. Exiled in shame, the giant polar bear Iorek Byrnison has been tricked out of his armour by the local townspeople, for whom he now performs menial jobs for buckets of whisky. Using the alethiometer Lyra tells Iorek where to find his armour. Armoured again, the fearsome Iorek and his friend Lee Scoresby join the trek northward. That night while riding on Iorek's back, Lyra finds a cowering Billy separated from his dæmon. Lyra reunites Billy with his mother just as the group is attacked by Samoyeds who capture Lyra. Taken to the armoured bear king Ragnar, Lyra tricks him into fighting Iorek one on one. After killing Ragnar, King Iorek carries Lyra near Bolvangar, to a thin ice bridge. Reaching the station, Lyra is taken to eat with the missing children. While hiding again Lyra discovers that the Magisterium scientists, under the guidance of Mrs. Coulter, are performing experiments to sever the bond between a child and their dæmon in a process known as intercision. Caught spying, Lyra and Pan are thrown in the intercision chamber, causing them to scream in agony and eventually faint. Mrs. Coulter rescues Lyra and takes her and Pan to her quarters. When Lyra wakes up she is comforted by Mrs. Coulter, who tells Lyra that she is her mother. Lyra then guesses that Lord Asriel is her father. When Mrs. Coulter asks for the alethiometer, Lyra gives her the can containing the spy fly. The spy fly stings Mrs. Coulter, knocking her and her daemon out. Lyra runs to the room with the intercision machine and toggles the switches and dials wide open. The growing chain reaction builds as Lyra yanks a control box loose and hurls it into the intercision machine, causing it to explode. This sets off a series of explosions that tear the facility apart. As alarms whoop, Mrs. Coulter is found and carried outside. Outside, the children are attacked by Tartar mercenaries and their wolf dæmons. The battle is joined by Iorek, the Gyptians, and a band of flying witches led by Serafina Pekkala. The Tartars are defeated and the children are rescued. Rather than returning south, Lyra, Roger and Iorek fly north with Lee Scoresby in search of Lord Asriel. Unaware that he is in mortal danger, Lord Asriel has set up a laboratory to investigate the glowing Dust from another world, but Lyra is certain that, once she delivers the alethiometer to her father, the two of them will be able to make things right. | 0.883935 | positive | 0.991738 | positive | 0.993607 |
20,181,213 | Solaris | Solaris | Solaris chronicles the ultimate futility of attempted communications with the extraterrestrial life on a far-distant planet. Solaris, with whom Terran scientists are attempting communication, is almost completely covered with an ocean that is revealed to be a single, planet-encompassing organism. What appear to be waves on its surface are later revealed to be the equivalents of muscle contractions. Kris Kelvin arrives aboard the scientific research station hovering (via anti-gravity generators) near the oceanic surface of the planet Solaris. The scientists there have studied the planet and its ocean for many decades, a scientific discipline known as Solaristics, which over the years has degenerated to simply observe, record and categorize the complex phenomena that occur upon the surface of the ocean. Thus far, they have only achieved the formal classification of the phenomena with an elaborate nomenclature — yet do not understand what such activities really mean in a strictly scientific sense. Shortly before psychologist Kelvin's arrival, the crew has exposed the ocean to a more aggressive and unauthorized experimentation with a high-energy X-ray bombardment. Their experimentation gives unexpected results and becomes psychologically traumatic for them as individually flawed humans. The ocean's response to their aggression exposes the deeper, hidden aspects of the personalities of the human scientists — whilst revealing nothing of the ocean’s nature itself. To the extent that the ocean’s actions can be understood, the ocean then seems to test the minds of the scientists by confronting them with their most painful and repressed thoughts and memories. It does this via the materialization of physical human simulacra; Kelvin confronts memories of his dead lover and guilt about her suicide. The torments of the other researchers are only alluded to but seem even worse than Kelvin’s personal purgatory. The ocean’s intelligence expresses physical phenomena in ways difficult for their limited earth science to explain, deeply upsetting the scientists. The alien (extraterrestrial) mind of Solaris is so greatly different from the human mind of (objective) consciousness that attempts at inter-species communications are a dismal failure. | Psychologist Kris Kelvin spends his last day on Earth reflecting on his life while walking by a lake near his childhood home where his elderly father still lives. Kelvin is about to embark on an interstellar journey to a space station orbiting the remote oceanic planet Solaris. After decades of study, the scientific mission at the space station has barely progressed. To make matters worse, most of the crew has succumbed to a series of emotional crises. Kelvin is dispatched to evaluate the situation aboard ship and determine whether the venture should continue. Henri Berton , a former space pilot, visits Kelvin. They watch film footage of Berton's own testimony years before of seeing an over-sized child on the ocean surface of Solaris while searching for two lost scientists. However, the cameras of his craft recorded only clouds and the flat ocean surface; Berton's report was dismissed as hallucinations. After failing to convince Kelvin of the truth of his experience, Berton leaves angrily only to later call Kelvin. He explains that he met the child of a scientist lost in that mission, and the child was reminiscent of the one he saw on Solaris. Before departing Earth for Solaris, Kelvin destroys most of his personal mementos in a bonfire, noting the volume of keepsakes he has accumulated. In Kelvin's last conversation with his father , they realize that the father will not live to see Kelvin return. Although he readily accepted the mission, it is a choice that weighs heavily upon Kelvin's conscience. Upon arrival at the Solaris space station, none of the three remaining scientists meet Kelvin, who finds the disarrayed space station dangerously neglected. He soon learns that his friend among the scientists, Dr. Gibarian , has mysteriously died. The two surviving crewmen are unhelpful, and give contradicting and confusing information. However, Kelvin soon glimpses other people aboard the station. While Kelvin sends news of the chaos on board the station, the oceans of Solaris begin swirling on the planet's surface. Waking exhausted from a restless sleep, Kelvin finds a woman with him in his quarters despite the barricaded door. To his surprise, it is Hari , his late wife who committed suicide some years before. However, she is unaware of having committed suicide on Earth, and she is equally puzzled as to her presence in Kelvin's quarters. Grasping that she is a psychological construct brought on by the mysterious effects of Solaris, he lures her to a spacecraft and launches the illusion of his wife into outer space. In his haste to be rid of her, he is burned by the rocket’s blast. Dr. Snaut tends his burns and explains that the “visitors” began appearing after the scientists attracted the attention of Solaris, seemingly a sentient entity. That evening, Hari reappears in his quarters. This time calm, Kelvin embraces Hari through the night. Later, Kelvin causes her to panic when she discovers the clothes of the first apparition and tries to leave the room. She beats her way through the room’s metal door, severely cutting herself. Kelvin carries her back to his bed, where her injuries heal before his eyes. Dr. Sartorius calls for a meeting, and Kelvin introduces Hari as his wife, insisting they treat her respectfully. In their symposium, the scientists begin to understand that Solaris created Hari from Kelvin’s memories of his dead wife. The Hari present among them, though not human, thinks and feels as though she were. Sartorius theorizes the visitors are composed of neutrinos and that it might be possible to destroy them. Kelvin shows Hari films of himself and his parents when he was a boy and, later, of his wife. While she is asleep, Snaut proposes beaming Kelvin’s brainwave patterns at Solaris in hopes that it will understand them and stop the disturbing apparitions as communication. However, Sartorius suggests a radical attack of heavy radiation bombardment. In time, Hari becomes independent and is able to exist beyond Kelvin’s sight. She learns from Sartorius that the original Hari had committed suicide ten years earlier, and Kelvin is forced to tell her the entire story. Distressed, Hari kills herself again by drinking liquid oxygen, only to painfully, spasmodically resurrect a few minutes later. On the surface of Solaris, the ocean is moving even faster. In a fevered sleep, Kelvin dreams of his mother and of many Haris walking about his quarters. When he awakens, Hari is gone, and Snaut reads him the good-bye note she wrote him. The note indicates that Hari asked the scientists to kill her. Snaut tells Kelvin that since they broadcast Kelvin’s brainwaves at Solaris, the visitors stopped appearing, and islands began forming on the planet's surface. Kelvin debates whether or not to return to Earth or to descend to Solaris in hope of reconnecting with everything he has loved and lost. Again at the shore of the frozen lake, Kelvin finds himself at his father's house. His dog runs to him, and he happily walks towards it. He realizes something is wrong when he sees water is falling inside the house but is unnoticed by his father, who appears in the house. Father and son embrace on the front step of the lakeside house, on an island in the middle of an ocean on Solaris. | 0.6973 | positive | 0.498724 | positive | 0.00044 |
3,950,291 | Live Flesh | Live Flesh | The novel's protagonist is Victor Jenner, sent to prison for shooting and crippling a police officer after an attempted rape. At his trial and afterwards he claims that his actions were unintentional and somehow provoked by his victim. But there may have been other reasons for his attack of which even he was unaware. Ten years later, Jenner is released from prison and has to find himself a new life, with the reduced resources produced by ten years' incarceration and the handicap of a significant criminal record. He discovers that it is all too easy to slip back into the old one. | Madrid, Christmas 1970: with the nation under a state of emergency ordered by the Franco regime, a young prostitute, Isabel Plaza Caballero , gives birth on a bus to a son she names Victor. Twenty years later, Victor Plaza shows up for a date he made with Elena , a junkie with whom he had sex a week earlier. Waiting for her dealer to arrive, Elena is not interested in seeing Victor and tells him to leave. Finally she gets a gun and orders him out of the flat. Enraged, Victor wrestles the gun from her; in the process Elena gets knocked out, and the gun goes off. A neighbor hears the shot and calls the police; and two cops respond to the report. The older cop, Sancho , is an unstable alcoholic who suspects his wife Clara of infidelity. The younger cop, David , more clean-cut and sober, prefers to do things by the book. Through the window they catch sight of Victor physically struggling with Elena, and Sancho is ready to storm in, while David wants to call for a back-up. When they enter, Victor holds Elena hostage with her gun. David tries to calm him down and get him to drop his gun, but Sancho sabotages his efforts by continually threatening Victor. Finally, David puts his gun to Sancho's head, gets him and Victor to put down their guns and orders Elena to flee. Sancho then lunges for Victor, they wrestle for the gun, and another shot rings out, hitting David. Two years later, Victor, in jail, watches a wheelchair basketball match: the now partially paralyzed David is a star player in the 1992 Summer Paralympics, with Elena, who is now his wife, cheering him on from the sidelines. Victor has made good use of his time, taking a correspondence course in education, working out, and enriching his mind with a variety of subjects, including the Bible. Before he is released, another four years later, his mother dies and leaves him some money and a house in the slums. One of his first stops after he gets out of jail is his mother's grave, where he encounters Elena at her father's funeral. While leaving the cemetery he meets Clara, Sancho's wife. Elena, now off drugs and operating an orphanage, tells David of her encounter with Victor. David stops by Victor's house and warns him not to go near his wife. Victor queries how he can do this, but David grabs his genitals and he doubles up. When David gets into his car to leave, he sees Clara arriving, and stay on to watch from a distance. Attracted by Victor's enthusiasm and good looks, Clara agrees to teach him how to make love, as well as pampering him with gifts and affection. She eventually falls in love with him. Victor begins to volunteer at the orphanage, which is happy to have him because he fixed the boiler, has a degree in education and is very good with the children. Elena objects, but can't find a compelling reason to throw Victor out. David continues to trail Victor and finds out that Victor works at Elena's orphanage. He confronts him again; Victor tells him that it was Sancho who made Victor squeeze the trigger. Afterwards, David tells his wife what Victor said, and the revealing context that Sancho shot David because he was having an affair with Clara. Elena is disgusted, but still plans to leave the orphanage to get away from Victor. Victor tells Elena that his original plan of revenge was to become the world's greatest lover, make love to Elena all night long, and then leave her hanging, but that he still loves her too much to do so. Victor tells Clara that they should stop meeting, and they break up. While Victor is on night-shift at the orphanage, Elena comes in to remove her belongings, and agrees to a night of passion with Victor, on condition that he never contacts her again. Elena tells David herself about her infidelity, and although she plans to stay with him, he plots his own revenge. Clara leaves Sancho, who was abusing her, shooting him in the process. David shows up at Sancho's place with photographic proof of Victor and Clara's affair. Sancho and David drive to Victor's house, where Sancho shoots and kills Clara, while Clara also wounds Sancho, and Sancho finally kills himself. At the end, David narrates a letter written to his wife from Miami, where he is spending Christmas with some friends, apologizing for the way everything turned out. While at the orphanage, a pregnant Elena goes into labor and on the way to the hospital, she and Victor get stuck in heavy traffic. Victor is reminded of the circumstances of his own birth, and tells his unborn child that the fears of the Spanish have passed. | 0.34798 | positive | 0.991961 | positive | 0.99481 |
133,550 | The Prince of Tides | The Prince of Tides | Tom travels to New York City to discuss his sister's problems with Dr. Susan Lowenstein, her psychiatrist. Starting in her childhood, Savannah experienced schizophrenic hallucinations involving bloody figures and dogs which tell her to kill herself. Savannah moves to New York and becomes an emerging writer of poetry, writing about her past as a way to escape from it. After many years, Savannah attempts suicide and nearly succeeds, the hallucinations still haunting her. In flashbacks which take up most of the novel, Tom relates incidents from his childhood to Lowenstein, who hopes that by finding out what pushed Savannah into her latest suicide attempt she and Tom can discover how to save her life. We learn that Tom and his siblings were the offspring of an abusive father and uncaring mother. The father, Henry, a WWII bomber crewman who survived being shot down and managed to evade capture by the Nazis, thought that the best way to raise a family was by beating them, and did so regularly. He was a shrimp boat operator and, despite being successful at that profession, spent all of his money on frivolous business pursuits. One business attempt was a gas station that he advertised with a live tiger (that became the family pet, Caesar). These attempts leave the family in poverty. Their overly proud, status-hungry mother was only concerned for the family's public image, and would not let her children say a word about their father's abuse. Eventually, Tom reveals the most traumatic event of their childhood, which ultimately caused the first of several of Savannah's suicide attempts. A man the children nickname "Callanwolde", who they first encounter in a wood next to their grandmother's home in Atlanta, escapes from prison with two other men and goes to the Wingo's home on Melrose Island, South Carolina. They rape Tom, Savannah (they were just 18 years old), and Lila (their mother). Luke, who was working outside, comes to the house, sees the men through the window, and releases the family's pet tiger, Caesar, who kills the men raping Lila and Savannah; Tom kills the man who raped him. The mother and the children dispose of the men's bodies and she made them promise that they would never tell a soul about what happened. After the revelation of the rape, Lowenstein feels that she is even closer to helping Savannah. Tom then tells the story of how their brother, Luke, died. Lila ends up divorcing Henry many years later, and marries Reese Newbury, a prominent landowner in the city of Colleton and former husband of a childhood rival, next to Melrose Island. Lila had gained the land in the settlement, and sells it to Reese. Reese sells all of the land in Colleton county and the Atomic Energy Commission begins the construction of production plants there. Luke, an ex-Navy SEAL who served in Vietnam, decides to fight for his land and the city, using guerrilla tactics to destroy bridges and building equipment, becoming a wanted man. He is tracked down by Savannah and Tom who try to persuade him to give up instead of being killed by the FBI. Luke is finally persuaded to surrender himself at a time and place of his choosing, but en route to the meeting, is shot and killed. Luke's death was the driving force behind Savannah's latest suicide attempt, and Lowenstein and Tom figure out that in order to save Savannah, she would have to write poetry about Luke's life the way she wrote about her childhood. As the novel concludes, Savannah is making her recovery and Tom becomes closer to his wife and children. Henry, after being released from prison for drug trafficking, is confronted by Tom about his abuse, but does not remember ever hurting his family. Although Savannah and Tom can never completely forgive him for the damage that he did, they look forward to getting to know their father better, who acts like a changed man. By the end of the novel, they had not completely repaired their relationship with their mother, despite an earlier apologetic conversation between Lila and Tom. Tom's meetings with Lowenstein also helped him better understand himself and save his marriage. Tom ended up as emotionally detached as his father and mother were, and because of this he never learned how to love his family. Sallie cheats on Tom, and the two nearly divorce. Tom falls in love with Lowenstein through the course of the novel, but realizes that he still loves Sallie. Lowenstein and Tom part ways after saving Savannah, and Tom returns to his family to become the father that he never was. | Tom Wingo , a teacher and football coach from South Carolina, is asked by his mother, Lila, to travel to New York to help his twin sister's psychiatrist, Susan Lowenstein , after his sister Savannah's latest suicide attempt. Tom hates New York and reluctantly accepts, but largely to take the opportunity to be alone and away from a life that does not satisfy him. During his initial meetings with Lowenstein, Tom is reluctant to disclose many details of their dysfunctional family's secrets. In flashbacks, Tom relates incidents from his childhood to Lowenstein in hopes of discovering how to save Savannah's life. The Wingo parents were an abusive father and an overly proud, status-hungry mother. The father was a shrimp boat operator and, despite being successful at that profession, spent all of his money on frivolous business pursuits, leaving the family in poverty. Tom is also torn with his own problems, but hides behind what he calls "the Southern way"; i.e., laughing about everything. For example, his wife Sallie is having an affair and her lover wants to marry her. Tom and Lowenstein begin having feelings for each other. After Tom discovers that she is married to Herbert Woodruff, a famous concert violinist, Lowenstein introduces Tom to her son Bernard, who is being groomed to become a musician as well but who secretly wants to play football. Tom starts coaching Bernard along with attending sessions with Lowenstein to help his sister. Tom discovers that Savannah has been in such a dissociated state that she even had a different identity, Renata Halpern. As Halpern, she wrote books to disguise the Savannah side of her troubled life. Tom confronts Lowenstein over not revealing this information before and they argue, during which she throws a dictionary at him. To apologize, she asks him to dinner and their relationship becomes closer. Tom has a fateful meeting with his mother and stepfather, bringing up painful memories. Tom reveals that, when he was 13 years old, three escaped convicts invaded his home and raped him, along with his mother and sister. His older brother, Luke, killed two of the aggressors with a shotgun, while his mother stabbed the third with a kitchen knife. They buried the bodies beneath the house and never spoke of it again. Tom suffers a mental breakdown, having now let loose a key piece of Savannah's troubled life. After a session of football, Herbert orders Bernard to return to his music lessons and prepare to leave for Tanglewood. Tom is invited to a dinner at Lowenstein's home, along with poets and intellectuals. Herbert is overtly rude and reveals that Tom's sister is in therapy with his wife. Infuriated, Lowenstein voices her suspicions about her husband's affairs. Tom takes Herbert's "million dollar" violin and threatens to throw it off the balcony unless Herbert apologizes. Tom spends a romantic weekend with Lowenstein at her country house. Savannah recovers and is about to be released from the hospital when Tom realizes that he wants to be closer to his wife and children, despite having fallen in love with someone else. He returns home, but his last thoughts are of Lowenstein. | 0.824298 | positive | 0.99483 | positive | 0.986104 |
16,881,835 | Let the Right One In | Let the Right One In | In 1982 Blackberg, Stockholm, Oskar is a 12-year old boy who resides with his mother and occasionally visits his father in the countryside. He lives with his mother, who is loving and with whom he initially seems to have a close connection. His father is an alcoholic who lives out in the countryside. Because he is the victim of merciless bullying, Oskar has gained morbid interests, which include crime and forensics, and keeps a scrapbook filled with newspaper articles about murders. One day, he befriends Eli, a child of about the same age, who just moved in next door. Eli lives with an older man named Håkan, a former teacher who was fired when caught with possession of child pornography and has since become a vagrant. Eli is revealed to be a vampire who was turned as a child and therefore stuck forever in a young body. Oskar and Eli develop a close relationship, and Eli helps Oskar fight back against his tormentors. Throughout the book their relationship gradually becomes closer, and they reveal more of themselves and in particular fragments of Eli's human life. Among the details revealed is that Eli is a boy who was castrated when he was turned into a vampire over 200 years ago. However, Eli dresses in female clothing and is perceived by outsiders as a young girl. Håkan serves Eli, whom he loves, by procuring blood from the living, fighting against his conscience and choosing victims whom he can physically trap, but who are not too young. Eli gives him money for doing this, though Håkan makes it clear he would do it for nothing if Eli allowed them to be physically intimate. Håkan offers to go out one last time under the condition that he spend a night with Eli after he gets the blood, but with the caveat that he may only touch Eli. Håkan's last attempt to get blood fails and he is caught. Just before capture, however, he intentionally disfigures himself with acid so that the police will not be able to trace Eli through him. When Eli finds him in the hospital, Håkan offers his blood and is drunk dry while sitting on the window ledge, but a guard interrupts them and Eli fails to kill him. So that he will not end up becoming a vampire also, Håkan throws himself out of the window to the ground below. Despite this, he soon reanimates as a mindless vampire driven only by his desire for Eli. Then relentlessly pursuing him, Håkan manages to trap Eli in a basement, but Eli fights him off and escapes. Later, the wounded Håkan is destroyed by a youth from the neighborhood who accidentally gets locked in the basement with him. Meanwhile, the Blackeberg local Lacke suspects a child is responsible for the murder of his best friend, Jocke (whom Eli has killed for blood). Later, Lacke witnesses Eli attack his sometime-girlfriend, Virginia. He attempts to drink her blood, but is fought off by Lacke. Virginia survives, but starts turning into a vampire. She does not realize her "infection" until she tries to prolong her life by drinking her own blood, and finds that exposure to the sun causes boils on her skin. Upon being hospitalized, Virgina realizes what she has turned into and kills herself in her bed by deliberately exposing herself to daylight. Oskar eventually fights back and injures his tormentor, Jonny, for which the boy's older brother Jimmy hunts down and attempts to hurt Oskar in retaliation. Oskar further incurs their wrath when he sets fire to their desks, destroying a treasured photo album belonging to their father. They corner Oskar at night at the local swimming pool and attempt to drown him, however Eli rescues Oskar and kills two of the other boys, and together they flee the city with Eli's money and possessions. | Oskar, a meek 12-year-old boy, resides with his single mother Yvonne in the western Stockholm suburb of Blackeberg in 1981 and occasionally visits his father Erik in the countryside. Oskar's classmates regularly bully him, and he spends his evenings imagining revenge. One night, he meets Eli, who appears to be a pale girl of his age. Eli has recently moved into the next-door apartment to Oskar with an older man, Håkan. Eli initially informs Oskar that they cannot be friends. However, over time, they begin to form a close relationship, with Oskar lending his Rubik's Cube to Eli, and the two exchanging Morse code messages through their adjoining wall. Håkan requests that Eli stop seeing Oskar. After questioning Oskar about a cut on his cheek, Eli learns from Oskar about his being bullied by schoolmates and encourages him to stand up for himself. This inspires Oskar to enroll for weight-training classes after school. Meanwhile, Håkan has killed a local resident to provide blood for Eli, but fails to return with it. Eli subsequently waylays and kills a local resident named Jocke making his way home from a bar. Håkan attempts to hide the body in a lake and later makes another effort to obtain blood for Eli by trapping a student in a changing room after school. Håkan is discovered, but before he is apprehended, he pours concentrated hydrochloric acid onto his face, disfiguring it to prevent the authorities from identifying him and tracing Eli. Eli learns that Håkan has been taken to the hospital and scales the building to access his restricted room. Håkan opens the window for Eli and offers his neck to Eli for feeding. After Eli has fed, Håkan falls out the window. He lays on the snow supposedly breathing his last breaths. Now alone, Eli goes to Oskar's apartment and spends the night with him, during which time they agree to "go steady". While Eli states, "I'm not a girl", Oskar ignores this. During an ice skating field trip at a pond, some of Oskar's fellow students discover Jocke's body, hidden by Håkan. At the same time, Oskar finally stands up to his tormentors, who had threatened to throw him into the icy water. He strikes the leader of the bullies, Conny, on the side of the head with a pole, splitting his ear. Some time later, Oskar shows Eli a private place he knows. Unaware that Eli is a vampire, Oskar suggests that they form a blood bond, and cuts his hand, asking Eli to do the same. Eli, thirsting for blood but not wanting to harm Oskar, laps up his spilt blood before running away. Soon after, Eli attacks Virginia , a local woman who had stormed out of a drinking session with Jocke's old friends. Her boyfriend, Lacke, who was also Jocke's best friend, turns up in time to interrupt the attack. Virginia survives, but she soon discovers that she has become painfully sensitive to sunlight. Thirsting for blood, she pays a visit to her friend, the eccentric Gösta. Gösta's many cats attack her fiercely. In the hospital, Virginia, who has realized what she has become, asks an orderly to open the blinds in her room. When the sunlight streams in, she bursts into flames. Upon the realization of Eli's true nature, Oskar confronts Eli, who admits to being a vampire. Their trust for each other grows and Eli appears in front of his apartment. When Oskar questions the consequences of Eli entering without his expressed verbal invitation, Eli passes the threshold to his apartment and begins to profusely bleed until Oskar panics and cries out a verbal invitation. After their embrace, Oskar is initially upset by Eli's need to kill people for survival. However, Eli insists their bloodthirsty natures are alike, wherein Oskar wants to kill and Eli needs to kill, and encourages Oskar to "be me, for a little while." Afterwards, Eli changes out of bloody clothes and Oskar, deciding to sneak a peek, is horrified when he sees a scar where Eli's genitalia should be. Eli quickly leaves his apartment through his window when his mother returns home. Lacke, who has lost everything because of Eli, seeks out Håkan and Eli's apartment. He is suspicious of the apartment unit with the makeshift covered up windows. Breaking in, he discovers Eli asleep in the bathtub. Lacke holds a knife to Eli's neck while Eli is still sleeping. Oskar, who was hiding inside the apartment, sees what Lacke is doing and takes out his own knife. When Lacke finds it hard to see and lets sunlight into the room, Oskar shouts and Eli wakes up. A startled Lacke turns and throws his knife away when he sees Oskar. Eli immediately jumps on Lacke and kills him, feeding on his blood. Eli thanks Oskar and kisses him in gratitude. However, an upstairs neighbour is angrily knocking on the ceiling due to the disturbance the fight has caused. Eli realises that it is no longer safe to stay and leaves the same night. The next morning, Oskar receives a phone call from Conny's friend, Martin, who lures Oskar out to resume the afterschool fitness program at the local swimming pool. The bullies, led by Conny and his sadistic older brother Jimmy, start a fire to draw Mr. Ávila, the teacher in charge, outside. While Ávila is distracted, they storm the pool and order the other children to clear out, which leaves Oskar trapped alone in the pool. Jimmy forces Oskar under the water, threatening to stab his eye out if he does not hold his breath for three minutes. While Oskar is underwater, however, there is commotion above the surface. Soon Jimmy's severed head drops into the pool, followed shortly by the arm which had held Oskar down. Eli then pulls Oskar out of the water. Three dismembered bodies lie around the pool, while Andreas, the reluctant fourth bully, sobs on a bench. Later, Oskar is traveling on a train with Eli in a box beside him, safe from sunlight. From inside, Eli taps the word "kiss" to Oskar in Morse code, to which he taps back "puss" . | 0.884869 | positive | 0.990574 | positive | 0.333888 |
6,128,662 | Vampire$ | Vampires: The Turning | The book opens with Vampire$, Inc. cleaning out a nest of vampires, introducing the main characters and setting the tone for the book. The team has some difficulty collecting their payment for dispatching said vampires, but ultimately collects their fee and hosts a wild party at a local motel where all of the team and some townsfolk engage in epic-level drinking and carrying on. The party is interrupted by a 'master' vampire who essentially slaughters everyone at the party with the exception of Jack Crow and his second in command "Cherry Cat" Catlin. The shaken Jack Crow begins to plan the formation of a new team, aided by Father Adam, a knowledgeable young priest sent to him by the Vatican. Events at the motel slaughter lead Jack to realize that silver, particularly blessed silver from a cross, can be used as a weapon against vampires. He has his weaponsmith Carl begin creating silver bullets and he recruits a skilled gunman named Felix, that Jack met while working as a government agent in Mexico. Felix proves to be as deadly with a pistol as Jack hoped and they seem to have a new and powerful resource to use against the vampires. In addition to the silver bullets, Carl also develops a "vampire detector" for use by the team, which proves to be a useful tool against the vampires (which are portrayed as fantastically fast and powerful compared to humans, particularly the 'master vampires'). A series of battles ensues, using these silver bullets against the vampires, but key members of Jack's team are killed by the vampires, including Annabelle, the office manager of the team's residence, and the aging weaponsmith Carl. Jack, depressed and beaten, suicidally returns to a known favorite hotel where the vampires are sure to find him. Felix, Cat and Father Adam stage a rescue attempt but it ends with Father Adam dead and Jack spirited away by the vampire. The novel closes with Felix taking a leadership role within Vampire$ Inc., after thwarting an attempt by the (now a vampire) Jack Crow to attack the Pope. | {{Refimprove}} For many centuries, phi song neng have lived among the villages of the Far East. One day, over 800 years ago, a young, human warlord named Niran fell in love with a beautiful song neng woman named Sang. Niran wanted Sang for his own, so he killed her husband and son. In her pain and rage, Sang attacked Niran during a Songkran solar eclipse, turning him into a vampire. From Niran have come many jai tham . Only Sang can end the jai tham's nightly attacks on humans. Doing so, however, will end the entire bloodline and turn every vampire, song neng as well as jai tham, into mere mortals again. Since the coming Songkran festival will feature the first solar eclipse in 800 years, Sang intends to kill herself by exposing herself to the sun's rays at the end of the eclipse and, thus, wipe out all the vampires in Thailand. Connor and Amanda are vacationing in Thailand during this year's Songkran festival. Connor, trained since childhood in Muay Thai , takes Amanda to see a match. However, Amanda cannot take the brutality and goes back to their hotel alone. On the way, she gets lost in the Phang Nga market, and Mr Nice Guy offers to show her the way to her hotel. He leads her on a short cut down a deserted alley, then suddenly turns into the vampire Niran, drinking her blood and carrying her off on a motorcycle. Connor tries to follow, but he is stopped by another vampire, obviously intent on killing him. Just as the vampire is about to succeed, a bald-headed man appears and chops off the vampire's head. Connor begs for his help finding Amanda, but he warns Connor to leave Thailand immediately and threatens to kill Connor if he follows him. Of course, Connor stealthily follows Kiko home to Kong Sai House. When the police refuse to consider Amanda missing until 48 hours have passed, Connor goes back to Kong Sai House, only to find everyone asleep. While snooping through the house, Connor is attacked by a female vampire . Connor gets away from her by jumping out a window. As Connor lands on the ground below, he is stopped by vampire slayer Raines who insists on testing Connor's blood to see if he is infected. When Connor comes up clean, he begs Raines to help him find Amanda but, like Kiko, Raines warns him to leave Thailand. Amanda is as good as dead, he says. If she resists, the jai tham will bleed her dry; if not, they'll turn her, and then Raines will slay her . Either way, Amanda should be considered dead to Connor. Connor won't accept it and returns again to Kong Sai House. While there, he sees a photo of Niran in front of the Techno Games Arcade near the Phang Nga market. Figuring that Niran might have taken Amanda there, he snoops around. He finds Amanda being held in a cell with skeletons, carcasses, and other humans in various stages of being drained of their blood. Basically, he's stumbled into the jai tham's pantry. Amanda and Connor escape but are attacked outside by two jai tham on a motorcycle. One drives off with Amanda; the other stays to kill Connor. Just as Niran and the rest of the jai tham arrive to join the fun, Sang appears. Connor grabs a motorcycle and, with Sang riding behind him, they succeed in outrunning the jai tham. Both Amanda and Connor are now faced with decisions. Amanda must decide whether to allow Niran to turn her or to keep on drinking from her, which causes acute pain. Connor has to decide whether or not to join the song neng in hopes of winning the battle with the jai tham and helping Sang to kill herself so that all vampires will be turned back into mortals. The alternative, if Sang is not successful, is that Connor will remain a vampire until the next Songkran eclipse rolls around in 800 years and Sang can try again. Connor's decision is made doubly hard because he's got the hots for Sang. Amanda decides to continue resisting, and Connor decides to become song neng. This requires being bitten by Sang and, apparently, having sex with her, too. The day of the eclipse is upon them. The song neng have made a deal with the slayers. Since Sang's embrace of the sun must take place in the same spot where the curse began 800 years ago , the song neng have made a deal with Raines. Raines and his slayers will line the buildings and walls that overlook the site, which looks like an archeological dig, in order to kill any jai tham who try to stop Sang. Connor, Kiko, and the rest of the song neng will help Sang get to the required spot. The eclipse starts at 3:00, and they will have 17 minutes to do the job. All is set. Suddenly, the sun is covered and the city falls dark. The slayers are in position. Connor and the song neng move out from under the trees. The jai tham arrive on their motorcycles. In the melee that follows, Connor and Niran fall through a weak spot into a pit where they continue fighting. Time is running out, and Kiko realizes that the slayers have double-crossed them. Suddenly, the slayers open fire, shooting everyone, song neng and jai tham. Only Connor and Niran remain protected in their hole. Connor manages to impale Niran, but when he surfaces from the pit, Connor finds only bodies. He shouts for Sang, but there is no answer. Raines walks up, gloating over how much he will get for all the vampire heads AND those in the future. If Sang ends the curse, he explains, there's no more vampires, and we're in the vampire hunting business. Connor locates Sang as Raines turns his crossbow on her. Connor offers to shoot Sang so that she does not have to suffer. Raines hands his bow to Connor. Connor aims at Sang but suddenly swings his aim to Raines. Forcing Raines to carry Sang to the designated spot, Connor gives her one last kiss before the sun reappears and Sang is toast. She explodes, taking Raines with her. Connor hurries back to the jai tham's pantry and rescues Amanda. | 0.460658 | negative | -0.198342 | positive | 0.995061 |
2,071,077 | Christine | Christine | In 1978, while riding home from work with his friend Dennis, nerdy teen Arnold "Arnie" Cunningham spots a dilapidated red and white Plymouth Fury parked in front of a house. Arnie makes Dennis stop so he can examine the car, despite Dennis's attempts to talk Arnie out of it. The car's owner, Roland D. LeBay, an elderly gentleman wearing a back supporter, sells the car—named "Christine"—to Arnie for $250. While waiting for Arnie to finish the paperwork, Dennis sits inside Christine. He has a vision of the car and the surroundings as they were in 1958, when the car was new. Frightened, Dennis gets out of Christine, deciding he does not like Arnie's new car. Arnie brings Christine to a do-it-yourself auto repair facility run by Will Darnell, who is suspected of using the garage as a front for illicit operations. As Arnie restores the automobile he becomes withdrawn, humorless and cynical, yet more confident and self-assured. Dennis is puzzled by the changes in both his friend and Christine; the repair work proceeds haphazardly, and the more extensive repairs do not appear to be done by Arnie. Arnie's appearance improves in tandem with Christine's. When LeBay dies, Dennis meets his younger brother, George, who reveals Roland's history of violent behavior. George also reveals that LeBay's small daughter choked to death on a hamburger in the back seat of the car, and that LeBay's wife was so traumatized that she apparently committed suicide in its front seat by carbon monoxide poisoning. As time passes, Dennis observes that Arnie is taking on many of LeBay's personality traits. Dennis also notices that Arnie has become close to Darnell, even acting as a courier in Darnell's contraband smuggling operations. When Arnie is almost finished restoring Christine, an attractive girl named Leigh Cabot transfers to his high school. She is regarded as the school beauty, and her decision to go out with Arnie puzzles everyone. While on a date with Arnie, she nearly chokes to death on a hamburger and is saved only by the intervention of a hitchhiker who uses the Heimlich maneuver. Leigh notices that Christine's dashboard lights seemed to become glaring green eyes, watching her during the incident, and that Arnie tried to save her by ineffectually pounding her on the back. She realizes that she and Christine are competing for Arnie's affection, and she vows to never get into that car again. Arnie's mother refuses to let him keep Christine at home. After several arguments, Arnie's father convinces him to purchase a 30 day pass for the airport parking lot, helping to restore peace in the family. Soon afterward, Buddy Repperton, a bully who frequently targeted Arnie before being expelled from high school, and his gang of thugs vandalize the car. As Arnie pushes Christine through Darnell's garage/junkyard, the car repairs itself. Arnie strains his back in the process and begins wearing a brace all the time, as LeBay did. His relationship with Leigh declines. A number of inexplicable car-related deaths occur around town, starting with Buddy and all but one of his accomplices in the vandalism and ending with Will Darnell. The police find evidence linking Christine to the scene of each death, although none is found on the car itself. A police detective named Rudy Junkins becomes suspicious of Arnie, and his suspicions are not allayed even though Arnie is able to produce an airtight alibi for each death. It is revealed that Christine, possessed by LeBay's vengeful spirit, is committing these murders independently and repairing herself after each one. Arnie becomes obsessed with Christine, forgetting Leigh entirely, and Leigh and Dennis begin their own relationship, unearthing details of Christine's and LeBay's past. One evening, Arnie stumbles upon Leigh and Dennis intimately close in Dennis's car, sending him into a rage. Junkins also falls victim to a gruesome death. Knowing they are now at the top of LeBay and Christine's hit list, Dennis and Leigh devise a plan to destroy the car and, hopefully, save Arnie. While Arnie is out of town, they lure Christine to Darnell's garage and batter her to pieces using a septic tanker truck. The remains are put through a car crusher, and Dennis learns that Arnie and his mother were both killed in a highway accident, while Christine killed Arnie's father earlier. Witness accounts lead Dennis to believe that LeBay's spirit, tied to Arnie through Christine, tore itself away and caused the wreck. Four years later, Dennis reflects on these events. He and Leigh parted after attending college together, and he is now a junior high school teacher. He learns about a freak car accident in Los Angeles, in which a movie theater employee - possibly the last surviving member of Buddy's gang - was struck and killed by a car that smashed in through the theater wall. Dennis speculates that Christine may have rebuilt herself and set out to kill everyone who stood against her, saving him for last. | In 1957 Detroit, several off-white 1958 Plymouth Fury models are shown lined up on an assembly line. In the middle of the line of cars, a lone bright red and white Fury stands in contrast to the others. The Plymouth's malevolent character is established when one worker is injured when the car's hood slams shut on his hand while working on the car, and another is apparently choked to death inside after dropping some cigar ash on to one of the seats. 21 years later, in 1978, Arnold "Arnie" Cunningham is a nerdy teen boy with only one friend, a childhood companion and popular jock named Dennis Guilder ([[John Stockwell . Arnie's life begins to change when he gets a confrontation from the school bully Buddy Repperton who threatens Arnie with a switchblade and gets expelled. Arnie's life also begins to change when he buys the rusty red-white Fury from crusty bachelor George LeBay for $250, even though the vehicle is in serious need of repair. Dennis fruitlessly attempts to dissuade Arnie from purchasing the car , pointing out that the odometer reads over 93,000 miles, which Dennis surmises is likely half the actual total. Enamored, Arnie ignores his friend and hastily writes LeBay a check, and he proceeds to drive home with Dennis following in his blue 1968 Dodge Charger. After his parents refuse to let Arnie park Christine in the family's driveway for not informing them that he is going to buy a car, he is forced to store her at a local garage, run by the grouchy Will Darnell . As Arnie begins to restore Christine to her original beauty, Arnie sits behind the wheel and the radio which only seems to play 1950s era rock and roll, begins playing the Johnny Ace song "Pledging My Love", assuring Arnie that his feelings of admiration for Christine are requited. Those in his life notice changes in his attitude and appearance with the more time he spends with the car. Initially shy and timid, Arnie develops a cocky arrogance and has taken on a bit of a sinister appearance; he no longer wears his thick glasses and begins dressing in all black clothing. Dennis's concern for his friend deepens when he is informed by George LeBay that Roland's wife died in Christine of carbon monoxide poisoning. George LeBay also reveals that Rolands's young daughter had been killed in the car. During a football game, Dennis spies a newly restored Christine and is shocked to see Arnie with Leigh Cabot . The distraction causes him to be hit while leaping for a pass and he is seriously injured by another player, placing him in the hospital. After Buddy sees Arnie in Christine at Dennis's football game, he is extremly jealous. The gang follows Arnie back to Will's garage, where they severely vandalize and crush the newly restored Christine at night , leaving her totally ruined. Arnie sees the wreck of Christine the next day and is shocked that all the work he put into restoring the car has been destroyed. Although his parents want to buy him a new car as he has become obsessed, Arnie is determined to restore the car again. The next day, as he looks the wreck over, he turns his back and hears metal creaking behind him; he turns and sees that Christine's engine is fully restored. Stepping away, Arnie smiles and says, "Okay...show me." Christine's headlights flicker on, and she then comes to life and fully restores herself to mint condition. The next night, Christine chases and kills Moochie, a member of Buddy's gang, by crushing him against a wall. A few days later at school, Arnie receives a visit from Detective Rudolph Junkins who suspects that Arnie killed Moochie in a fit of revenge against those who vandalized Christine. However, he is unable to produce adequate proof because even though Christine is badly damaged in the attack on Moochie, she regenerated herself to showroom quality afterward. Christine then seeks out and gruesomely kills individual members of the gang who destroyed her, one by one. The spree climaxes when Christine confronts the last three remaining members of the gang, Don Vandenberg , Richie Trelawney and Buddy himself, at a service station. Christine pushes Buddy's grey 1967 Chevrolet Camaro into Richie, who has sought refuge inside the garage, and its fuel tank ruptures in the collision and gasoline spills onto the floor. Buddy's Camaro catches fire which quickly ignites the fuel on the floor, setting the building ablaze and killing Don. Terrified, Buddy flees the station on foot and as a burning Christine gives chase, she runs over the station's gas pumps, causing the building to explode. In one of the film's more memorable sequences, Christine, still in flames, chases Buddy down and runs him over leaving his burning corpse on the road. After the attacks, Christine returns to the garage and subsequently kills Will Darnell by crushing him against the steering wheel, asphyxiating him. After an incident in which Arnie's girlfriend Leigh is almost choked to death by Christine at a drive-in theater, she beseeches Dennis for help. Leigh and Dennis resolve to try and save Arnie, unaware that Christine is unwilling to give up Arnie without a fight. On New Year's Eve Dennis and Leigh reason that the only way to stop Christine and save Arnie is to destroy the car. Dennis then says that he is going to Arnie's, and Leigh urges him to be careful. After she leaves, Arnie pulls up to Dennis's house in Christine, picks him up, and the pair drive off. During the ride to Arnie's house, Arnie displays erratic and reckless behavior , and tells Dennis about how strong the bond is between Christine and him. During the ride, Dennis sees that the odometer now reads less than 58,000 miles and is still rolling backward. The next day, Dennis goes to the school parking lot and scratches "Darnell's Tonight" into Christine's hood, and drives off with Leigh. The pair go to Darnell's where they wait in a bulldozer. Dennis tells Leigh to wait in the office so she can shut the door after Christine arrives, trapping the vehicle. When Leigh exits the bulldozer and heads for the office, Christine's headlights suddenly blaze out of the darkness from under a pile of garbage, and the car charges at Leigh. As Christine crashes into Darnell's office in an attempt to kill Leigh, Arnie is ejected through Christine's windshield and is impaled on a shard of glass, fatally wounding him. He survives just long enough to admire Christine one last time and lovingly caress her front bumper. Enraged, Christine proceeds to attack Leigh. Dennis counters in the bulldozer and he proceeds to fight Christine, who is playing "Pledging My Love" at top volume on her radio. As she is launching her final assault on Leigh, Dennis drives the bulldozer up on to the car's back, stopping her and apparently killing her. Leigh climbs into the cab and she and Dennis embrace, but Christine springs back to life and again begins to heal herself. Dennis then finishes driving over her with the bulldozer, and her headlights flicker and then go out for good. The scene cuts immediately to the next day; Dennis and Leigh are seen along with Detective Junkins at a wrecking yard, where Christine has been crushed into a cube by a metal compactor, apparently finally destroying her. Leigh and Dennis lament that they were unable to save Arnie and as they reflect on the events, loud 1950s rock music begins to play. Startled, Leigh and Dennis look up and see a worker in a hard hat playing the music on a boombox as he walks into view from behind some other wrecked cars. Leigh exclaims "God, I hate rock and roll." The film ends with the camera zooming in on the crushed cube that was formerly Christine and a piece of the grill slowly begins to bend, ever so slightly, indicating that maybe the car isn't "dead" after all.... | 0.913052 | positive | 0.354067 | positive | 0.497626 |
29,561,419 | The Mysterious Island | Journey 2: The Mysterious Island | The book tells the adventures of five Americans on an uncharted island in the South Pacific. The story begins in the American Civil War, during the siege of Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America. As famine and death ravage the city, five northern prisoners of war decide to escape by the unusual means of hijacking a balloon. The five are Cyrus Smith, a railroad engineer in the Union army (named Cyrus Harding in some English translations); his black manservant Neb (short for Nebuchadnezzar), whom Verne repeatedly states is not a slave but an ex-slave who had been freed by Smith; the sailor Bonadventure Pencroff (who is addressed only by his surname, but his "Christian name", Bonadventure, is given to their boat; in other translations, he is also known as Pencroft); his protégé Harbert Brown (called Herbert in some translations), a young boy whom Pencroff raises as his own after the death of his father (Pencroff's former captain); and the journalist Gedéon Spilett (Gideon Spilett in English versions). The company is completed by Cyrus' dog 'Top'. After flying in stormy weather for several days, the group crash-lands on a cliff-bound, volcanic, unknown (and fictitious) island, described as being located at , about east of New Zealand. (In reality, the closest island is located at . In location and description though, the phantom island Ernest Legouve Reef may correspond to the rock that is left of the mysterious island at the end of the novel. ) They name it "Lincoln Island" in honor of American President Abraham Lincoln. With the knowledge of the brilliant engineer Smith, the five are able to sustain themselves on the island, producing fire, pottery, bricks, nitroglycerin, iron, a simple electric telegraph, a home on a stony cliffside called "Granite House", and even a seaworthy ship. They also manage to figure out their geographical location. Throughout their stay on the island, the group has to overcome bad weather, and eventually adopts and domesticates an orangutan, Jupiter, abbreviated to Jup (or Joop, in Jordan Stump's translation). The mystery of the island seems to come from periodic and inexplicable dei ex machina: the unexplainable survival of Cyrus Smith from his fall from the balloon, the mysterious rescue of his dog Top from a dugong, the presence of a box full of equipment (guns and ammunition, tools, etc.), the finding of a message in the sea calling for help, the finding of a lead bullet in the body of a young pig, and so on. Finding a message in a bottle, the group decides to use a freshly built small ship to explore the nearby Tabor Island, where a castaway is supposedly sheltered. They go and find Ayrton (from In Search of the Castaways) living like a wild beast, and bring him back to civilization and redemption. Coming back to Lincoln Island, they are confused by a tempest, but find their way to the island thanks to a fire beacon which no one seems to have lit. At a point, Ayrton's former crew of pirates arrives at the Lincoln Island to use it as their hideout. After some fighting with the heroes, the pirate ship is mysteriously destroyed by an explosion. Six of the pirates survive and considerably injure Harbert through a gunshot. They pose a grave threat to the colony, but suddenly the pirates are found dead, apparently in combat, but with no visible wounds. Harbert contracts malaria and is saved by a box of sulphate of quinine, which mysteriously appeared on the table in the Granite House. The secret of the island is revealed when it turns out to be Captain Nemo's hideout, and home harbour of the Nautilus. It is stated that having escaped the Maelstrom at the end of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, the Nautilus sailed the oceans of the world until all its crew except Nemo had died. Now an old man with a beard, Nemo returned the Nautilus to its port under Lincoln Island. All along it was Captain Nemo who had been the savior of the heroes, provided them with the box of equipment, sent the message revealing Ayrton, planted the mine that destroyed the pirate ship, and killed the pirates with an "electric gun" (Most likely one of the air rifles that is used in the previous novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea). On his death bed Captain Nemo reveals his true identity as an Indian Prince Dakkar, a son of a Raja of the then independent territory of Bundelkund and a nephew of the Indian hero Tippu-Sahib. After taking part in the failed Indian Rebellion of 1857, Prince Dakkar escaped to a deserted island with twenty of his compatriots and commenced the building of the Nautilus with the new name of Captain Nemo. Nemo tells his life story to Cyrus Smith and his friends and dies, saying "God and my country!" The Nautilus is then scuttled and serves as Captain Nemo's tomb. Eventually, the island explodes in a volcanic eruption. Jup the orangutan falls down a crack in the ground and dies. The colonists, warned by Nemo, find themselves at sea on the last remaining boulder of the island that is above sea level. They are rescued by the ship Duncan, which has come to pick up Ayrton and was itself informed by a message left on Tabor Island by Nemo. | After going to the center of the earth with his Uncle Trevor when he was 13 years old, Sean Anderson is caught by the police after a brief chase on his dirtbike, ending up in a swimming pool. Minutes later, his stepfather Hank Parsons arrives where a police officer that's friends with Hank tells him that Sean had broken into a satellite research center. The police officer also tells Hank that he has convinced the owners of the swimming pool not to press charges. Hank takes him home where his mother Liz was not pleased with what the police had called them about. The next day, Hank later discovers that Sean had broken into a satellite research center in order to boost the signal of a code he'd received by who he suspects is fellow family "Vernian" Alexander Anderson, Sean's grandfather who had been missing for two years. Wanting to bond with his stepson the next day, Hank helps Sean decipher the code of Verne characters which lead to three books: Treasure Island, Gulliver's Travels, and Verne's own Mysterious Island. Using the book's individual island maps, Hank suspects they are books of the same island and uses a back light in order to make them all one completed land mass with the coordinates to its location. Despite Sean's objections to his stepfather's interference, Hank manages to convince Liz to let the both of them go in search of the island. They arrive in Palau where their need of transportation to this dangerous part of the ocean attracts a helicopter tourism guide Gabato and his beautiful daughter Kalani who Sean develops an immediate crush on. They agree to fly them out to the island for $3000, but the helicopter gets caught in major vortex winds and they crash, waking up on the island. Crossing into the island, they discover one of the laws of the Mysterious Island that all things big are small and all things small are gigantic . The crew find small elephants, and Giant butterflies which are their first creatures to discover on the island. After coming across a massive frill-necked lizard when they come across her egg clutch, they are rescued by Alexander who takes them to a large hut he'd built from the wreckage of the ship that brought him to the island, the Blue-Eyed Lucy. He has a radio, but due to the positioning of the communications satellite it would be two weeks before they could call for help. The next morning, Alexander leads the party to the lost city of Atlantis which is usually submerged into the ocean, and he had calculated that the island sinks once every 140 years. However, the evidence that Hank sees leads him to prove that the calculations are wrong and the island will sink in a couple of days. Their only means of salvation seems to be the legendary Nautilus hidden somewhere on the island. Kailani enters Nemo's crypt and takes his journal, which has the whereabouts of the ship just off one of the coasts in a cave. They mount giant bees in order to fly over a high ridge and make up time, but encounter large birds that try to devour the bees. Sean crashes and dislocates his ankle, which slows the party down considerably. The next morning, the water has risen exponentially and Alexander deduces that the island will sink in a matter of hours, not days. Gabato is missing, having gone toward the island's golden volcano in search for the funds to give his daughter a better life. While Alexander and Kailani go after him, Sean and Hank head for the coast. Due to the water rising, Sean and Hank make makeshift oxygen tanks and dive down a hundred feet in order to obtain the Nautilus and are nearly killed by a vicious giant electric eel. They are unable to power the ship however because the vessel's batteries being over 100 years old have run down. They find a way to power the submarine from the electric eel. Meanwhile Kailani and Alexander find Gabato and convince him to escape with them instead of trying for the golden volcano. They head toward the shore as the island begins to suddenly and violently rip itself apart with the stratovolcano erupting, plus, lava bombs were thrown into the air, starting a fire on everything it lands on. Hank and Sean use a harpoon to get an electrical jump start from the eel swarming around them and they are able to power the machine, just in time to pick up the others who had fallen into the water. Gabato pilots the submarine out of harm's way while Sean and Hank fire torpedoes into the path of falling island debris. As they clear the danger, Alexander finally calls Hank by his preferred name, as up to that point he only called him "Henry" and the family makes up. And Kailani finally kisses Sean for his bravery, proving a mutual attraction to him despite not "Pec Popping" as his step father had suggested several times. Six months later, Kailani and Gabato are well off, Gabato having now the most popular tourist attraction in the island; being the Nautilus, and Kailani goes to visit Sean on his birthday. While they are celebrating, Alexander shows up with a book for Sean's birthday present. He opens it to find From the Earth to the Moon hinting at another adventure which Liz hesitantly agrees to, because after all it's "just a trip to the moon." In a post credits scene, the elephants seen earlier in the film, have survived the sinkment of the island, and are swimming over atlantis. | 0.698319 | positive | 0.994507 | positive | 0.993386 |
213,015 | Ragtime | Ragtime | The novel centers on a wealthy white family group living in New Rochelle, New York, simply called "Father," "Mother," "Mother's Younger Brother," and "Grandfather." Their young son is not named at all. The family business is the manufacture of flags and fireworks, evidently an easy source of wealth due to the national enthusiasm for patriotic displays. Father joins the first expedition to the North Pole, and his return sees a change in the sexual politics of his relationship with his wife. Younger Brother is an insecure, unhappy character who chases after love and excitement. Into this secure setup comes first an abandoned black child, then her severely depressed mother Sarah. Coalhouse Walker, apparently the child's father, visits regularly until he wins back Sarah's affections. A professional musician, well dressed and well spoken, gains the family's respect and overcomes their racial prejudice initially by his skill playing ragtime music on their badly-tuned piano. Things go well until he is humiliated by a racist fire chief, and his inflexible pride brings him to seek restitution, violent revenge eventually, rather than pursue the course of love and happiness. Mother unofficially adopts the neglected child after Sarah dies as result of police brutality. Younger Brother becomes drawn into the escalating conflict, as a protagonist, and so does Father as a mediator. In the slums of New York city, unhappy Jewish single father Tateh struggles to support himself and his daughter, Little Girl. The girl's beauty attracts the attention of rich socialite Evelyn Nesbit, who provides support but ultimately drives him to take his daughter away from the city. He appears later in the story, having progressed from the unprofitable business of cutting paper silhouettes on the street, becoming a wealthy pioneer of the moving picture industry. By the end of the novel, surviving members of the three family groups have merged into one in an allegorical representation of the American melting pot, leaving Father financially successful but abandoned and unhappy. | In early 20th century New York, Father, Mother and Younger Brother reside in a house in New Rochelle. Younger Brother becomes smitten with coquettish showgirl Evelyn Nesbit, whose wealthy husband, Harry Kendall Thaw, murders architect Stanford White in a jealous rage. An abandoned baby is found by Mother in her garden. She takes it into her home, and eventually the baby's mother, Sarah, to work for the family as well. A ragtime musician, Coalhouse Walker Jr., has become prosperous with his expertise at the piano. He is the baby's father and drives in his new Model T to the New Rochelle home, presenting himself to Father with a desire to marry Sarah. Outside their firehouse, a group of bigots headed by fire chief, Willie Conklin, refuse to let Walker's automobile pass. After he leaves to find a policeman, Walker returns to find his car damaged and defecated in. His objections result in the law placing him under arrest, rather than Conklin and the firemen. Walker wishes to sue, but can find no lawyer willing to represent him. He decides to exact revenge by planting a bomb in the firehouse. He then does the same in the J.P. Morgan Library, assisted by a group of disguised followers that include Younger Brother. He demands that the Model T and the fire chief, Conklin, be delivered to him or the library will be destroyed. Booker T. Washington fails to persuade Walker to surrender, as does Father in a visit to the library. Conklin is summoned by Police Commissioner Rheinlander Waldo, who cites the fire chief's reputation as "a piece of slime" yet cannot submit to Walker's terrorist demands. Walker ultimately agrees to give up if Waldo will first permit the other men to safely depart. They do, but when Walker surrenders, he is shot. | 0.737431 | negative | -0.007579 | positive | 0.995594 |
68,485 | Jurassic Park | Jurassic Park | The narrative begins in August 1989 by slowly tying together a series of incidents involving strange animal attacks in Costa Rica and on Isla Nublar, the main setting for the story. One of the species, a strange small lizard-like creature with three toes, is identified later as a Procompsognathus. Paleontologist Alan Grant and his paleobotanist graduate student, Ellie Sattler, are abruptly whisked away by billionaire John Hammond—founder and chief executive officer of International Genetic Technologies, or InGen—for a weekend visit to a "biological preserve" he has established on a remote island off the coast of Costa Rica. Upon arrival, the preserve is revealed to be Jurassic Park, a theme park showcasing cloned dinosaurs. The animals have been recreated using damaged dinosaur DNA found in mosquitoes preserved in prehistoric amber. Gaps in the genetic code have been filled in with reptilian, avian, or amphibian DNA. To control the population, all specimens on the island are lysine-deficient females. Hammond proudly touts InGen's advances in genetic engineering and shows his guests through the island's vast array of automated systems. Recent events in the park have spooked Hammond's investors. To placate them, Hammond means for Grant and Sattler to act as fresh consultants. They stand in counterbalance to a well-known mathematician and chaos theorist Ian Malcolm and a lawyer representing the investors, Donald Gennaro. Both are pessimistic about the park's prospects. Malcolm, having been consulted before the park's creation, is especially emphatic in his prediction that the park will collapse, as it is an unsustainable simple structure bluntly forced upon a complex system. Countering Malcolm's dire predictions with youthful energy, Hammond groups the consultants with his grandchildren, Tim and Alexis "Lex" Murphy. While touring the park with the children, Grant finds a Velociraptor eggshell, which seems to prove Malcolm's earlier assertion that the dinosaurs have been breeding against the geneticists' design. Malcolm suggests a flaw in their method of analyzing dinosaur populations, in that motion detectors were set to search only for the expected number of creatures in the park and not for any higher number. The park's controllers are reluctant to admit that the park has long been operating beyond their constraints. Malcolm also points out the height distribution of the Procompsognathus forms a Gaussian distribution, the curve of a breeding population, rather than the distinctive pattern that a population reared in batches ought to display. In the midst of this, the chief programmer of Jurassic Park's controlling software, Dennis Nedry, attempts corporate espionage for Lewis Dodgson, a geneticist and agent of InGen's archrival, Biosyn. By activating a backdoor he wrote into the park's computer system, Nedry manages to shut down its security systems and quickly steal fifteen frozen embryos, one for each of the park's fifteen species. He then attempts to smuggle them out to a contact waiting at the auxiliary dock deep in the park; however, during a sudden tropical storm, he exits his stolen vehicle to get his bearings and is killed by a Dilophosaurus. Without Nedry to reactivate the park's security, the electrified fences remain off, and dinosaurs escape. The adult and juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex attack the guests on tour, destroying the vehicles, killing public relations manager Ed Regis, and leaving Grant and the children lost in the park. Malcolm is gravely injured during the incident but is soon found by Gennaro and park game warden Robert Muldoon and spends the remainder of the novel slowly dying as, in between lucid lectures and morphine-induced rants, he tries to help those in the main compound understand their predicament and survive. The park's upper management—engineer and park supervisor John Arnold, chief geneticist Henry Wu, Muldoon, and Hammond—struggle to return power to the park, while the veterinarian, Dr. Harding, takes care of the injured Malcolm. For a time they manage to get the park largely back in order, restoring the computer system by shutting down and restarting the power, resetting the system. Unfortunately, a series of errors on their part soon plunge the park into greater disarray. During their time trying to restore the park to working order, they fail to notice that the system has been running on auxiliary power since the restart; this power soon runs out, shutting the park down a second time. Furthermore, since the auxiliary generators didn't create enough electricity to power the fences, they weren't reactivated when the system was reset, meaning all the fences—including the holding pen containing the park's Velociraptors, quarantined due to their intelligence and aggression—had been offline the whole time. Escaping their enclosure, the raptors kill Wu and Arnold and injure Muldoon, Gennaro, and Harding. Meanwhile, Grant and the children slowly make their way back to the Visitor's Center by rafting down the jungle river, carrying news that several young raptors, bred and raised in the island's wilds, were on board the Anne B, the island's supply ship, when it departed for the mainland. While Ellie distracts the raptors, Grant manages to turn the park's main power back on. After escaping from several raptors, Grant, Gennaro, Tim, and Lex are able to make it to the control room, where Tim is able to contact the Anne B and tell them to return. The survivors are then able to organize themselves and eventually secure their own lives. Word soon reaches them that the crew of the Anne B has discovered and killed the raptor stowaways. Gennaro tries to order the island destroyed as a dangerous asset, but Grant rejects his authority, claiming that even though they cannot control the island, they have a responsibility to understand just what happened and how many dinosaurs have already escaped to the mainland. Grant, Ellie, and Muldoon set out into the park to find the wild raptor nests and compare hatched eggs with the island's revised population tally. Cautious in this pursuit, they emerge unharmed. Meanwhile, Hammond, taking a walk around the park and contemplating making a park improving on his previous mistakes, hears the T-Rex roar and falls down a hill where he is eaten by a pack of Procompsognathus. Concerning the dinosaurs' breeding, it is eventually revealed that using frog DNA to fill gaps in the dinosaurs' genetic code enabled a measure of dichogamy, in which some of the female animals changed into males in response to the all-female environment. In the conclusion, before boarding helicopters the group tell the Costa Rican Air Force that the dinosaurs had been killing people. The Air Force then say that the island is dangerous and releases napalm over the island, destroying the island and the dinosaurs. It is implied that Malcolm has died. Grant asks Muldoon of Malcolm's condition when they depart via helicopter, Muldoon's nonverbal response is merely shaking his head and on the second to last page it says that the Costa Rican government wouldn't permit a burial for Hammond or Malcolm -->. Survivors of the incident are indefinitely detained by the United States and Costa Rican governments. Weeks later, Grant is visited by Dr. Martin Guitierrez, an American doctor who lives in Costa Rica and has found a Procompsognathus corpse. Guitierrez informs Grant that an unknown pack of animals has been migrating through the Costa Rican jungle, eating lysine-rich crops and chickens. He also informs Grant that none of them, with the possible exception of Tim and Lex, are going to leave any time soon. | Billionaire John Hammond, CEO of InGen, has created Jurassic Park: a theme park populated with dinosaurs cloned from the DNA extracted from insects preserved in prehistoric amber. After a park worker is killed by a Velociraptor, Hammond's investors, represented by their lawyer Donald Gennaro, demand that experts visit the park and certify that it is safe. Gennaro invites Dr. Ian Malcolm, a mathematician, while Hammond invites paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant and paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler. They are joined on the island by Hammond's grandchildren, Tim and Lex Murphy. Hammond asks Malcolm, Grant, and Sattler what their thoughts are about recreating dinosaur species. They debate the ethics of cloning extinct dinosaurs, with Gennaro being the only one to express optimism. The group sets off to explore the park while Hammond observes his guests along with Head Technician Ray Arnold and game warden Robert Muldoon. Grant spots a sick Triceratops and the group investigates. With a storm heading in, everyone returns to their vehicles except for Sattler, who stays with the park doctor to look after the animal. Jurassic Park's head computer programmer, Dennis Nedry, is secretly in the employ of one of InGen's corporate rivals, and has been paid to steal dinosaur embryos. During his theft, Nedry deactivates the park's security system, allowing him access to the embryo storage. Electric fences around the park are deactivated as a result, releasing a Tyrannosaurus. The T-Rex assaults the vehicle with Tim and Lex inside. Gennaro flees the vehicle and is subsequently eaten. Tim, Lex and Grant flee down a steep embankment and escape. Malcolm is injured distracting the T-Rex but survives the attack. A fleeing Nedry crashes his Jeep. While he is tying the Jeep's winch around a tree, he encounters a Dilophosaurus, which he ignores due to its small size. As he returns to the Jeep, the creature spits venom at him, blinding him. Nedry drops the stolen embryos and gets into the Jeep, but the Dilophosaurus gets inside and kills him. Sattler and Muldoon search for survivors of the Tyrannosaurus attack, but only find Malcolm and the remains of Gennaro. As they look for the children, Malcolm realizes the Tyrannosaurus is returning. He orders Sattler and Muldoon to flee, with the Tyrannosaurus pursuing. The three of them escape in their Jeep. Grant and the children climb up a tree to avoid the Tyrannosaurus, and see a family of Brachiosaurus eating at which point Dr Grant attempts to emmulate their call to no avail and so the three fall asleep. In the morning Dr Grant wakes up and is surprised to see a Brachiosaurus eating from the tree they are sleeping in and thus wakes up the kids, much to Lex surprise at seeing the dinosaur. Asking if it eats meat Dr Grant replies it doesn't and so the three attempt to feed the creature, getting it closer with a branch Dr Grant touches the dinosaur but when Lex tries it steps back and sneezes on her before departing. Meanwhile unable to decipher Dennis's code to reactivate the security fences, Hammond, Arnold, Muldoon, Malcolm and Sattler take the drastic measure of rebooting the entire park's computer and electrical network. The five shut down the park's grid and retreat to an emergency bunker, and Arnold journeys to a maintenance bunker to complete the process of rebooting the system. When he does not return, Sattler and Muldoon decide to head for the bunker. Grant and the children discover a nest full of hatched eggs, indicating the dinosaurs are breeding despite having been bred as females. As Muldoon and Sattler proceed to the maintenance bunker, Muldoon notices that they are being hunted by Velociraptors. Muldoon offers to draw their attention while Sattler continues to the bunker. Sattler restarts the park's systems, but is attacked by a raptor hidden within some cables; she discovers Arnold's severed arm and narrowly escapes the raptor. Muldoon is about to shoot a raptor, but another raptor appears and kills him. Tim, Lex and Grant climb an electrified fence out of the park's animal zone and Tim is nearly killed when the fence is reactivated. Grant and the children head for the visitor's center; he leaves them alone in the kitchen while he reunites with Sattler and the others. The kids escape two stalking raptors before reuniting with Grant and Sattler. Lex restores the park's security systems from the control room. Grant contacts Hammond and tells him to call the mainland for rescue before the two raptors find the group and attack. The group flees through a series of air ducts, only to be cornered in the entrance hall by the raptors. The Tyrannosaurus breaks into the main hall and attacks the raptors, allowing the four to flee outside, where they are rescued by Malcolm and Hammond. The survivors board a helicopter. Grant and Sattler watch a small flock of pelicans fly over the sea as they depart. | 0.878156 | positive | 0.489137 | positive | 0.598487 |
948,337 | The Manchurian Candidate | The Manchurian Candidate | Major Bennett Marco, Sergeant Raymond Shaw, and the rest of their infantry platoon are kidnapped during the Korean War in 1952. They are taken to Manchuria, and are brainwashed to believe that Shaw saved their lives in combat — for which Congress awards him the Medal of Honor. Years after the war, Marco, now back in the United States working as an intelligence officer, begins suffering the recurring nightmare of Shaw murdering two of his comrades, all while clinically observed by Chinese and Soviet intelligence officials. When Marco learns that another soldier from the platoon also has been suffering the same nightmare, he sets to uncovering the mystery and its meaning. It is revealed that the Communists have been using Shaw as a sleeper agent, a guiltless assassin subconsciously activated by seeing the “Queen of Diamonds” playing card while playing solitaire. Provoked by the appearance of the card, he obeys orders which he then forgets. Shaw’s KGB handler is his domineering mother Eleanor, a ruthless power broker working with the Communists to execute a "palace coup d’état" to quietly overthrow the U.S. government, with her husband, McCarthy-esque Senator Johnny Iselin, as a puppet dictator. | Major Bennett "Ben" Marco is a war veteran who begins to doubt what is commonly known about his famous Army unit. During Operation Desert Storm, Sergeant First Class Raymond Shaw supposedly rescued all but two members in his unit, of which Marco was the commanding officer. This made Shaw a war hero, gained him the Medal of Honor, and launched him into a career in politics. One of Marco's former NCOs, Corporal Al Melvin ([[Jeffrey Wright , contacts him and says that he has had some 'dreams', and mentions himself, Marco, and Shaw inside a big room, with confusing memories of the lost army unit. He is clearly deranged, but he shows Major Marco some images he has drawn from the dreams, including one of a tattooed woman. The members begin to come together in a dystopian near-future America defined by xenophobia, jingoism, defacto martial law, environmental degradation, and increasing corporate control. Shaw, now a United States Congressman, becomes his party's candidate for Vice-President. He is an unexpected candidate, as Connecticut Senator Tom Jordan was the leading choice for some time. Jordan is pushed aside by Shaw's mother, Virginia Senator Eleanor Shaw , who convinces the party leaders into nominating her son. An obvious rivalry exists between Eleanor Shaw and Tom Jordan, partly due to a past relationship between Raymond Shaw and Jordan's daughter Jocelyne . That evening, Marco has a nightmare in which he is trapped in a large room, with tattooed women placing large television sets in front of the soldiers, and repeatedly saying, "Raymond Shaw is probably the kindest, bravest, warmest, most selfless human being I've ever known." Meanwhile, Melvin desperately pleads for Marco to help him, but Marco cannot, as he is incapacitated by his surgery, chemical infusion, and hypnotism. After Shaw is nominated, Marco begins investigating what really happened during the war. He finds an implant inside of his back, and, having it analyzed, realizes that it is a nano-technological experiment dating from the Gulf War, connected with Manchurian Global, an international weapons manufacturer with major political connections, including former prime ministers, trust-fund terrorists, ayatollahs, and the Shaw family. Marco also finds a newspaper clipping with a person in a photograph whom he recognizes as a scientist from his nightmares. Looking him up, he finds that his name is Atticus Noyle, a genetic engineer and soldier of fortune, who used to work for Manchurian global, on a nanotechnology experiment. Marco shows this to Tom Jordan, who, although he doesn't entirely believe the story, does realize that there is a strong possibility that Raymond Shaw was brainwashed, and confronts the Shaws about this. When he suggests that Raymond bow out gracefully from the campaign, Eleanor Shaw pretends to think that this is an idiotic ruse to eliminate competition. Taking matters into her own hands in fear and desperation as the conspiracy is hours away from being revealed, she 'activates' her son. In a trance-like state, under his mother's orders, Raymond Shaw murders Tom Jordan and his daughter. Eleanor Shaw is furious at Manchurian Global because they gave her their word that the brainwashing conspiracy could never have been found out, and while it's true that she was trusted with their technology, they were trusted with her son. As she becomes more and more controlling, it is soon revealed that the Vice-Presidential spot is not what she has in mind for her son, but the presidency. On election night, the newly elected president will be assassinated, and the planned assassin of Shaw's running mate is none other than Marco himself, who was also brainwashed in the war. With the help of the FBI, Marco arranges a private meeting with Shaw in a school where he was to cast his vote. Marco tries once again to convince Shaw of what is happening to him and that there is a deeper link between them that Manchurian technology has not managed to obliterate. Shaw seems to agree, and gives Marco his Medal of Honor, which he says he does not deserve. Marco takes it, and Shaw receives a phone call from his mother, who wants to talk to Marco. Marco answers it, and is soon "activated" by her. After Eleanor Shaw activates her son, he becomes helpless and weak. The latent ambiguity of their relationship is revealed when Eleanor washes down her son, kissing him repeatedly on the lips and stroking the back of his neck. They then get ready to go to the election party. Shaw and Marco begin to regain a conscious state even while under Manchurian Global's control. At the election night celebration party, the newly elected Shaw and Major Marco realize what must be done. Shaw leads his mother onto the stage with him, moving them into the spot where the President should be and blocking Marco's shot. Marco then fires one shot, killing both of them as they hug. Just before Marco can kill himself , FBI Agent Eugenie "Rosie" Rose stops him by shooting him in the shoulder. The FBI seemingly covers up Marco's involvement, framing a Manchurian Global conspirator with the shooting. In the last scene, Rosie takes Marco to the compound he was brainwashed in, apparently in conjunction with the FBI investigation. Marco realizes what has happened, and lets the sea take away a picture of the "lost platoon" along with Shaw's Medal of Honor. | 0.761439 | positive | 0.494597 | positive | 0.994054 |
8,867,686 | Death Sentence | Death Sentence | Continuing six months after Death Wish left off, Paul Benjamin has moved from New York to Chicago after his catatonic daughter died in an institution, a result of the brutal attack that changed Paul Benjamin into a vigilante. Paul resumes his private violent war as he stalks criminals in the streets of Chicago. The only thing that may distract him from his crusade is a beautiful woman he starts cordially dating in his new life. And as Paul ends up having a double life, an imitating vigilante is out in the streets violently killing off criminals just like Paul. What's worse is that vigilantism soon begins to become a cry of publicity as the police have to look for their man before innocent people start dying out of injustice. Paul is not only after criminals or justice anymore, but he's also looking for a man who is as equally as dangerous as the vigilante he has become. | Nick Hume is husband to Helen , and father of two boys, Brendan and Lucas. After Brendan's hockey game, Nick and Brendan , the star of his team, drive home talking about the latter's potential future as a professional hockey player. They make a quick stop at a gas station to refuel. During what appears to be a robbery of the gas station, Joe Darley , younger brother to gang leader and a new initiate, slices Brendan's throat open with a machete. Nick attempts to ambush the thugs, managing to pull off Joe's mask and see his face, but Joe escapes, only to be hit by a car. Nick rushes Brendan to the hospital, but his son dies from major blood loss. Nick soon discovers that, if the case goes to court at all, the murderer would only be sentenced to 3 to 5 years in jail for his crime, so he forces the police to drop the case. Joe, now a free man, becomes the target of Nick's revenge; he is eventually killed when Nick stabs him with a rusty knife in Joe's home. The gang leader, Billy Darley wants revenge for the death of his little brother. After discounting members of other gangs as culprits they learn a gang member's sister happened to see a man in a suit the night Joe died. Quickly realizing it must be Nick, they ambush him the next day, atop a multi-story parking garage. Nick escapes, but takes another gang member's life in the process. Billy warns Nick that they will be coming for his family and that he has bought them a 'death sentence.' The police detective who's been following Nick's case, Detective Jessica Wallis , is aware of what is happening; she grants Nick's family police protection and has a callout to Billy's gang. The officers watching over the family are killed in an ensuing raid, and the gang members make their way inside, where they attack and shoot at Nick, his wife Helen, and his remaining son Luke . Nick and Luke survive, but Helen does not . After Detective Wallis gives a brief speech on how wars are never settled, she lets Nick pay a short visit to his now-comatose son in the hospital, where he apologizes for not being a better father. Nick escapes the hospital to go after the remaining gang members, obtaining guns from a black market gun dealer named Bones Darley . Nick then tracks down Heco, another member of the gang, and interrogates him about where the other members are. He calls Billy on the phone, threatening him, and executes Heco while Billy is listening. Nick heads to Billy's lair, called "The Office", to kill the remainder of the gang. After an intense shootout, he confronts and shoots Billy in a quick duel which leaves both men seriously wounded. Dying of his wounds, Billy admits to Nick that he did, in fact, turn Nick into a vicious cold-blooded killer just like him. After this, Nick pulls out one of his guns and asks if Billy's "ready" . With his family now avenged, Nick returns home and starts to watch videos of his family. Detective Wallis arrives and tells him that his son has started moving and will live. Nick shows a sign of relief and looks back to the TV, which shows Luke, Helen, Nick and Brendan singing on the couch. Nick is seriously wounded at this point, and it is unclear if he survives in the end .{{cite web}} | 0.420672 | positive | 0.333538 | positive | 0.994846 |
3,701,905 | The Polar Express | The Polar Express | As the story starts off, a young boy, who used to adore Christmas, hears a train whistle roar. To his astonishment, he finds the train is waiting for him. He sees a conductor who then proceeds to look up at his window. He runs downstairs. He opens the door. The conductor asks him “Well? Are you coming?”. He asks, "Where?" and the conductor replies "Why, to the North Pole, of course!" The boy then boards the train, which is filled with chocolate and candy, as well as many other children in their pajamas. As the train reaches the North Pole, the boy and the other children see thousands of Christmas elves gathered at the center of town waiting to send Santa Claus on his way. The boy is handpicked by Santa to receive the first gift of Christmas. Realizing that he could choose anything in the world, the boy asks for one bell from one of the reindeer's harnesses. The boy places the bell in the pocket of his robe and all the children watch as Santa takes off into the night for his annual deliveries. Later, on the train ride home, the boy discovers that the bell has fallen through a hole in his pocket. The boy arrives home and goes to his bedroom as the train pulls away. On Christmas morning, his sister finds a small package for the boy under the tree, behind all of the other gifts. The boy opens the box and discovers that it is the bell, delivered by Santa who found it on the seat of his sleigh. When the boy rings the bell, both he and his sister marvel at the beautiful sound. His parents, however, are unable to hear the bell and remark that it must be broken. The book ends with a famous quote, also promoted to the film based on it: | On Christmas Eve, in the 1950s, a young boy who lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan is hoping for belief in the true spirit of Christmas. He looks through magazines and encyclopedias for confirmation of Santa Claus and the North Pole, but to no avail. About an hour later, the boy goes outside to find a magical train called the Polar Express. The conductor tells him that the train is headed to the North Pole to go to Santa, and that this year is the year that he should board the train. The train route goes north, first through boreal pine forest, then across tundra, then across the frozen Arctic Ocean, to Polar City on an island, everywhere snowbound. In the tundra, the train had a difficult crossing of an area where flood submerged the track and then froze. On the train, the boy encounters a group of other children who are on their way to see Santa Claus, including a young girl, a know-it-all, and a lonely little boy also from Grand Rapids whose name is Billy. When the conductor asks for tickets from everyone so he can punch them, the boy discovers his ticket is miraculously in his left pocket. The conductor punches two letters into each child's ticket . However, he forgets to punch the girl's ticket. The protagonist finds the girl's ticket lying on her seat and, realizing that it wasn't punched, tries to give it to her. However, he loses the ticket in the wind, but unknown to him, the ticket miraculously ends up in a vent in the same car that the boy was in. However, the boy does not realize this, and he tells the conductor that he lost the girls ticket. The conductor then takes the girl up to the roof, and the know-it-all says that she will be thrown off the train. The boy suddenly sees the ticket in the vent, and grabs it just before it slips away. When the boy then climbs on the roof to try and stop the conductor, he meets a hobo on the roof, who helps him to get towards the conductor and the girl by skiing as the train goes downhill. The hobo warns the boy that Flattop Tunnel is approaching, and that it only has 1 inch of clearance between the roof of the train and the tunnel itself. They do make it in time, and the boy jumps and lands in the tender. The hobo had disappeared after the boy had jumped. The boy finds the girl driving the train. She explains that the two people who are supposed to be controlling the train, Smokey the engineer and Steamer the fireman, are trying to fix the light on the train and the conductor let her control. The boy later safely hands the girl her ticket for the conductor to punch. They soon reach the North Pole and find out that Billy is riding alone in the observation car, because he does not want to see Santa, as he comes from a broken home on the bad side of his hometown due to a dissolved marriage from his parents' cultural differences. He says that Christmas never turns out well for him. The boy and girl run back to try to get him to come along with them, but the protagonist accidentally steps on the uncoupling lever and the observation car speeds backwards. The three of them travel from section to section of the North Pole's industrial area with guidance from the girl, who claims she hears the sound of bells that will show them the way if they follow the sound. They first visit the Control Center, then the Wrapping Hall, and finally a warehouse, before they are airlifted back to the center of the city via airship. As the sleigh is being prepared, one of the bells fall off. The boy picks it up and shakes it, remembering that the girl and Billy could hear a bell earlier when he could not. As before, he cannot hear it. The boy then says he believes in Santa and the spirit of Christmas. The boy is handpicked by Santa Claus to receive "The First Gift Of Christmas." Realizing that he could choose anything in the world, the boy asks for the beautiful-sounding silver bell that had fallen from Santa's sleigh. The boy places the bell in the right pocket of his robe, and all the children watch as Santa takes off for his yearly deliveries. As the children leave the north pole, the protagonist discovers one of the pockets of his robe is torn and the bell is missing. His friends suggest they go back outside to find it, but it is too late. He is saddened by the loss of his bell, but is happy when he sees Billy holding up his present at his doorway, indicating that Santa had already visited him. On Christmas morning, his sister Sarah finds a small present hidden behind the tree after all the others have been unwrapped. The Hero Boy opens the present and discovers that it is the bell, which Santa had found on the seat of his sleigh. When the Hero Boy rings the bell, both he and Sarah marvel at the beautiful sound; but because their parents neither believe in Santa Claus nor Christmas, they do not hear it and remark it to be broken. The last line in the movie repeats the same last line from the book: "At one time, most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe." | 0.899247 | positive | 0.994474 | positive | 0.997213 |
956,598 | The Haunting of Hill House | The Haunting | Hill House is an eighty-year-old mansion built by a man named Hugh Crain. The story concerns four main characters: Dr. John Montague, an investigator of the supernatural; Eleanor Vance, a shy young woman who resents having lived as a recluse caring for her demanding invalid mother; Theodora, a flamboyant, bohemian, possibly lesbian artist; and Luke Sanderson, the young heir to Hill House, who is host to the others. Dr. Montague hopes to find scientific evidence of the existence of the supernatural. He rents Hill House for a summer and invites as his guests several people whom he has chosen because of their past experience with paranormal events. Of these, only Eleanor and Theodora accept. Eleanor travels to the house, where she and Theodora will live in isolation with Montague and Luke. Hill House has two caretakers, Mr. and Mrs. Dudley, who refuse to stay near the house at night. The blunt and single-minded Mrs. Dudley is a source of some comic relief. The four overnight visitors begin to form friendships as Dr. Montague explains the building’s history, which encompasses suicide and other violent deaths. All four of the inhabitants begin to experience strange events while in the house, including sounds and unseen spirits roaming the halls at night, strange writing on the walls and other unexplained events. Eleanor tends to experience phenomena to which the others are oblivious. At the same time, Eleanor may be losing touch with reality, and the narrative implies that at least some of what Eleanor witnesses may be products of her imagination. Another implied possibility is that Eleanor possesses a subconscious telekinetic ability which is itself the cause of many of the disturbances experienced by her and other members of the investigative team (which might indicate there is no ghost in the house at all). This possibility is suggested especially by references early in the novel to Eleanor's childhood memories about episodes of poltergeist-like phenomena that seemed to involve mainly her. Later in the novel, the bossy and arrogant Mrs. Montague and her companion Arthur Parker, the headmaster of a boys’ school, arrive to spend a weekend at Hill House and to help investigate it. They, too, are interested in the supernatural, including séances and spirit writing. Ironically, and unlike the other four characters, they don't experience anything supernatural, although some of Mrs. Montague’s alleged spirit writings seem to communicate with Eleanor. Mrs. Montague's lack of social skills provides another source of comic relief in the novel. Many of the hauntings that occur throughout the book are described only vaguely, or else are partly hidden from the characters themselves. Eleanor and Theodora are in a bedroom with an unseen force trying the door, and Eleanor believes after the fact that the hand she was holding in the darkness was not Theodora’s. In one episode, as Theodora and Eleanor walk outside Hill House at night, Theodora looks behind them and screams in fear for Eleanor to run, though the book never explains what Theodora sees. By this point in the book it is becoming clear to the characters that the house is beginning to possess Eleanor. Fearing for her safety, Dr. Montague declares that she must leave. However, Eleanor regards the house as her home, and resists. The others have to practically force her into her car, but she is then killed when her car crashes into a large oak tree on the property. The reader is left uncertain whether Eleanor was simply an emotionally disturbed woman who has committed suicide, or whether her death at Hill House has a supernatural significance. | Eleanor “Nell” Vance has cared for her invalid mother for 11 years. After her mother dies, her sister evicts her. Nell receives a phone call about an insomnia study, directed by Dr. David Marrow at Hill House, a secluded manor in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, and applies for it. At the house, she meets Mr. and Mrs. Dudley , a strange pair of caretakers. Two other participants arrive, Luke Sanderson , and the bisexual Theodora , along with Dr. Marrow and his two research assistants. Unknown to the participants, Dr. Marrow’s true purpose is to study the psychological response to fear, intending to expose his subjects to increasing amounts of terror. Each night, the caretakers chain the gate outside Hill House, preventing anyone from getting in or out until morning. During their first night, Dr. Marrow relates the story of Hill House. The house was built by Hugh Crain ([[Charles Gunning — a 19th century textile tycoon. Crain built the house for his wife, hoping to populate it with a large family of children; however, all of Crain’s children died during birth. Crain’s wife died before the house was finished, and Crain became a recluse. After the story, Marrow's assistant’s face is slashed by a snapped clavichord wire. The freak accident causes Marrow’s research assistants to leave. Theo and Nell begin to experience strange phenomena within the house. Nell sees apparitions, but the others don't believe her. Hugh Crain's wood portrait morphs into a skeletal face and is vandalized with the words "Welcome Home Eleanor" written in blood. Nell becomes determined to prove that the house is haunted by the souls of people victimized by Crain's cruelty. She learns that Crain took children from his mills and murdered them, then burned the bodies in the fireplace, trapping their spirits and forcing them to remain with him, providing him with an 'eternal family'. She also learns that Crain had a second wife named Carolyn, from whom she is descended. After several more terrifying events, Nell insists that she cannot leave the souls of the children to suffer for eternity at Crain's hands. Trying to convince the obviously mentally-unbalanced Eleanor to leave the house with them, Theo offers to let Nell move in with her, but Nell reveals her relation to Carolyn and claims she must help the children "pass on". Hugh Crain's spirit seals up the house, trapping them all inside. A frustrated Luke defaces a portrait of Hugh Crain. Crain's enraged spirit drags Luke to the fireplace where he is decapitated. Nell is able to lead Crain's spirit towards an iron door. Avenging spirits pull Crain into the door, dragging him down to Hell. Nell is pulled with him, inflicting fatal trauma on her body, but the spirits gently release her on the ground. Her soul rises up to Heaven, accompanied by the ghosts of Crain's victims. After Nell's death, Theo and Dr. Marrow wait by the gate outside till the Dudleys come in the morning. The Dudleys approach as the sun rises. Mr. Dudley asks Dr. Marrow if he found what he wanted to know, but the traumatized psychiatrist does not give an answer, and neither does Theo. When the gate opens, the two silently walk out and down the road, leaving Hill House behind them. | 0.821539 | positive | 0.990733 | positive | 0.932348 |
6,268,880 | On Her Majesty's Secret Service | On Her Majesty's Secret Service | For more than a year, James Bond, British Secret Service operative 007, has been involved in "Operation Bedlam": trailing the private criminal organisation SPECTRE and its leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The organisation had hijacked two nuclear devices and subsequently blackmailed the western world, as described in Thunderball. Convinced SPECTRE no longer exists, Bond is frustrated by MI6's insistence that he continue the search and his inability to find Blofeld. He composes a letter of resignation for his superior, M. Whilst composing his letter, Bond encounters a beautiful, suicidal young woman named Contessa Teresa "Tracy" di Vicenzo first on the road and subsequently at the gambling table, where he saves her from a coup de deshonneur by paying the gambling debt she is unable to cover. The following day Bond follows her and interrupts her attempted suicide, but they are captured by professional henchmen. They are taken to the offices of Marc-Ange Draco, head of the Unione Corse, the biggest European crime syndicate. Tracy is the daughter and only child of Draco who believes the only way to save his daughter from further suicide attempts is for Bond to marry her. To facilitate this, he offers Bond a dowry of £1 million (£ million in 2013 pounds); Bond refuses the offer, but agrees to continue romancing Tracy while her mental health improves. Afterwards Draco uses his contacts to inform Bond that Blofeld is somewhere in Switzerland. Bond returns to England to be given another lead: the College of Arms in London has discovered that Blofeld has assumed the title and name Comte Balthazar de Bleuville and wants formal confirmation of the title and has asked the College to declare him the reigning count. On a visit to the College of Arms, Bond finds that the family motto of Sir Thomas Bond is "The World Is Not Enough", and that he might be (though unlikely) Bond's ancestor. On the pretext that a genetically-inherited minor physical abnormality (a lack of earlobes) needs a personal confirmation, Bond impersonates a College of Arms representative, Sir Hilary Bray to visit Blofeld's lair atop Piz Gloria, where he finally meets Blofeld. Blofeld has undergone plastic surgery partly to remove his earlobes, but also to disguise himself from the police and security services who are tracking him down. Bond learns Blofeld has been curing a group of young British and Irish women of their livestock and food allergies. In truth, Blofeld and his aide, Irma Bunt, have been brainwashing them into carrying biological warfare agents back to Britain and Ireland in order to destroy the agricultural economy, upon which post-World War II Britain depends. Believing himself discovered, Bond escapes by ski from Piz Gloria, chased by SPECTRE operatives, a number of whom he kills in the process. Afterward, in a state of total exhaustion, he encounters Tracy. She is in the town at the base of the mountain after being told by her father that Bond may be in the vicinity. Bond is too weak to take on Blofeld's henchmen alone and she helps him escape to the airport. Smitten by the resourceful, headstrong woman, he proposes marriage and she accepts. Bond then returns to England and works on the plan to capture Blofeld. Helped by Draco's Union Corse, Bond mounts an air assault against the clinic and Blofeld. Whilst the clinic is destroyed, Blofeld escapes down a bobsled run and although Bond give chase Blofeld escapes. Bond flies to Germany where he marries Tracy. The two of them drive off on honeymoon and, a few hours later, Blofeld and Bunt drive past, machine gunning them: Tracy is killed in the attack. | In Portugal, James Bond – agent 007 and sometimes referred to as simply '007' – saves a woman on the beach from committing suicide by drowning, and later meets her again in a casino. The woman, Contessa Teresa "Tracy" di Vicenzo invites Bond to her hotel room to thank him. The next morning, Bond is kidnapped by several men while leaving the hotel, who take him to meet Marc-Ange Draco, the head of the European crime syndicate Unione Corse. Draco reveals that Tracy is his only daughter and tells Bond of her troubled past, offering Bond a personal dowry of one million pounds if he will marry her. Bond refuses, but agrees to continue romancing Tracy under the agreement that Draco reveals the whereabouts of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the head of SPECTRE. After a brief argument with M at the MI6 headquarters, Bond heads for Draco's birthday party in Portugal. There, Bond and Tracy begin a whirlwind romance, and Draco directs the agent to a law firm in Bern, Switzerland. At Bern, Bond investigates the office of Swiss lawyer Gumbold, and finds out Blofeld is corresponding with the London College of Arms' genealogist Sir Hilary Bray, attempting to claim the title 'Comte Balthazar de Bleuchamp'. Posing as Bray, Bond goes to meet Blofeld, who has established a clinical allergy-research institute atop Piz Gloria in the Swiss Alps. There Bond meets ten young women, the "Angels of Death", who are patients at the institute's clinic, apparently cured of their allergies. At night Bond goes to the room of one patient, Ruby, for a romantic encounter. At midnight Bond sees that Ruby, apparently along with each of the other ladies, goes into a sleep-induced trance while Blofeld gives them audio instructions for when they are discharged and return home. In fact, the women are being brainwashed to distribute bacteriological warfare agents throughout various parts of the world. Bond tries to trick Blofeld into leaving Switzerland, so the British Secret Service can arrest him without violating Swiss sovereignty; Blofeld refuses, and Bond is eventually caught by the henchwoman Irma Bunt. Blofeld reveals he identified Bond after his attempt to lure Blofeld out of Switzerland, and tells his henchmen to take the agent away. Bond eventually makes his escape by skiing down Piz Gloria while Blofeld and many of his men give chase. Arriving at the village of Lauterbrunnen, Bond finds Tracy and they escape Bunt and her men after a car chase. A blizzard forces them to a remote barn, where Bond professes his love to Tracy and proposes marriage to her, which she accepts. The next morning, Blofeld attempts to kill Bond by causing an avalanche and captures Tracy. Back in London at M's office, Bond is informed that Blofeld intends to hold the world to ransom with the threat of destroying its agriculture using his brainwashed women, demanding amnesty for all past crimes and that he be recognised as the current Count de Bleuchamp. M tells 007 that the ransom will be paid and forbids him to mount a rescue mission. Bond then enlists Draco and his forces to attack Blofeld's headquarters, while also rescuing Tracy from Blofeld's captivity. The facility is destroyed, and Blofeld escapes the destruction alone in a bobsled, with Bond pursuing him. The chase ends when Blofeld becomes snared in a tree branch and injures his neck. Bond and Tracy marry in Portugal, then drive away in Bond's Aston Martin. When Bond pulls over to the roadside to remove flowers from the car, Blofeld and Bunt commit a drive-by shooting of the couple's car that kills Tracy. A police officer pulls over to inspect the bullet-riddled car, prompting a tear-filled Bond to mutter that there is no need to hurry to call for help by saying, "We have all the time in the world", as he cradles Tracy's lifeless body. | 0.862664 | positive | 0.939272 | positive | 0.986307 |
22,944,765 | Toilers of the Sea | Sea Devils | A woman arrives in Guernsey, with her son Gilliat, and buys a house said to be haunted. The boy grows up, the woman dies. Gilliat becomes a good fisherman and sailor. People believe him to be a wizard. In Guernsey also lives a former sailor, Mess Lethierry, the owner of the first steam ship of the island -Durande- and his niece Deruchette. One day, near Christmas, when going to church, she sees Gilliat on the road behind her and writes his name in the snow. He sees this and becomes obsessed with her gesture. In time he falls in love with her and goes to play the bagpipes near her house. Sieur Clubin, the trusted captain of Durande, sets up a plan to sink the ship in the Hanois cilffs and flee with a ship of Spanish smugglers, Tamaulipas. He gets in touch with Rantaine, a swindler who had stolen a large sum of money from Mess Lethierry many years ago. Clubin takes the money from Rantaine at gunpoint. In thick fog, Clubin sails for the Hanois cliffs from where he can easily swim to the shore, meet the smugglers and disappear, leaving the appearance of having drowned. Instead, he loses his way and sails to the Douvres cliffs which are much further from the shore. Left alone on the ship, he is terrified but he sees a cutter and leaps into the water to catch it. In that moment he feels grabbed by the leg and pulled down to the bottom. Everybody in Guernsey finds out about the shipwreck. Mess Lethierry is desperate to get the Durande's engine back. His niece declares she will marry the rescuer of the engine, and Mess Lethierry swears she will marry no other. Gilliat immediately takes up the mission, enduring hunger, thirst and cold trying to free the engine from the wreck. In a battle with an octopus, he finds the skeleton of Clubin and the stolen money on the bottom of the sea. Eventually he succeeds in returning the engine to Lethierry, who is very pleased and ready to honour his promise. Gilliat appears in front of the people as the rescuer but he declines to marry Deruchette because he had seen her accepting a marriage proposal made by Ebenezer Caudry, the young priest recently arrived on the island. He arranges their hurried wedding and helps them to run away on the sailing ship Cashmere. In the end, with all his dreams shattered, he decides to wait for the tide sitting on the Gild Holm'Ur chair (a rock in the sea) and drowns as he watches the Cashmere disappear on the horizon. | Gilliatt , a fisherman-turned-smuggler on the isle of Guernsey, agrees to transport a beautiful woman to the French coast in the year 1800. She tells him she hopes to rescue her brother from the guillotine. Gilliatt finds himself falling in love and so feels betrayed when he later learns this woman is a countess helping Napoleon plan an invasion of England. In reality, however, the "countess" is an English agent working to thwart this invasion. When Gilliatt finds this out, he returns to France to rescue the woman whose true purpose has been discovered by the French. | 0.732623 | positive | 0.994678 | positive | 0.001883 |
698,242 | Red Dragon | Red Dragon | In 1980, a serial killer, popularly nicknamed the Tooth Fairy, stalks and murders seemingly random families during sequential full moons. He first kills the Jacobi family in Birmingham, Alabama, then the Leeds family in Atlanta, Georgia. Two days after the Leeds murders, FBI agent Jack Crawford seeks out his protégé, Will Graham, a brilliant profiler who captured the serial killer Hannibal Lecter three years earlier, but retired after Lecter almost killed him. Crawford goes to Graham's Sugarloaf Key residence and pleads for his assistance; Graham reluctantly agrees. After visiting over the crime scenes with only minimal insight, he realizes that he must visit Lecter and seek his help in capturing the Tooth Fairy. The Tooth Fairy is revealed to be a St. Louis film processing technician named Francis Dolarhyde. He is a disturbed individual who is obsessed with the William Blake painting "The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun". Dolarhyde is unable to control his violent, sexual urges, and believes that murdering people—or "changing" them, as he calls it—allows him to more fully "become" an alternate personality he calls the "Great Red Dragon," after the dominant character in Blake's painting. Flashbacks reveal that his pathology is born from the systematic abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of both his sadistic grandmother and his stepfamily. As Graham investigates the case, he is continuously hounded by Freddy Lounds, a sleazy tabloid reporter. Meanwhile, Lecter's de facto jailer, Frederick Chilton, discovers a secret correspondence between Lecter and Dolarhyde, in which Lecter provides the killer with Graham's home address. Graham's wife and stepson are evacuated to a remote farm belonging to Crawford's brother. Graham tries to intercept the secret communication without Lecter's knowledge, but the doctor quickly realizes the ruse and humiliates the authorities by upping the stakes: in return for his help in capturing the Tooth Fairy, he requests a first-class meal in his cell and having his library privileges returned. Lounds becomes aware of the correspondence and tries to trick Graham into revealing details of the investigation by posing as the Tooth Fairy, but is found out. Hoping to lure the Tooth Fairy into a trap, Graham gives Lounds an interview in which he blatantly mischaracterizes the killer as an impotent homosexual. This infuriates Dolarhyde, who kidnaps Lounds, forces him to recant the allegations, bites off his lips and sets him on fire, leaving his maimed body outside his newspaper's offices; Lounds eventually dies. At about the same time, Dolarhyde falls in love with a blind co-worker named Reba McClane, which conflicts with his homicidal urges. In beginning a relationship with Reba, Dolarhyde starts to consciously resist the Dragon's "possession" of him; he goes to the Brooklyn Museum, beats a museum secretary unconscious, and eats the original Blake watercolor of The Red Dragon. Graham eventually realizes that the killer knew the layout of his victims' houses from their home movies, which he could only have seen if he worked for the film processing lab that developed them. Dolarhyde's job gives him access to all home movies that pass through the company. When he sees Graham interviewing his boss, Dolarhyde realizes that they are on to him and goes to see Reba one last time. He finds her talking to a co-worker, Ralph Mandy, a man whom she actually dislikes. Believing that Reba is being unfaithful, Dolarhyde kills Mandy, kidnaps Reba and, having taken her to his house, sets the place on fire. He intends to kill her and then himself, but finds himself unable to shoot her. After Dolarhyde shoots himself, Reba escapes. Graham later comforts her, telling her that there is nothing wrong with her, and that the kindness and affection she showed Dolarhyde probably saved lives. However, it turns out Dolarhyde did not in fact shoot himself but left behind the body of Arnold Lang, a gas station attendant, in order to stage his own death. Dolarhyde attacks Graham at his Florida home, stabbing him in the face and permanently disfiguring him. Graham's wife, Molly, then fatally shoots Dolarhyde. While recovering, Graham receives a letter from Lecter, which bids him well and hopes that he isn't "very ugly". However, Crawford intercepts the letter and destroys it. | Psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter hosts a dinner party in his townhouse in Baltimore, Maryland. Lecter is later visited by Will Graham , a gifted agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with whom he has been working on a psychological profile of a serial killer who has removed edible body parts from his victims, leading Graham to believe that the killer could be a cannibal. During the consultation, Graham discovers evidence implicating Lecter in the murders. Lecter attacks Graham, almost disembowelling him, before Graham overpowers Lecter. Lecter is sentenced to life imprisonment in an institution for the criminally insane while Graham, traumatized by the experience, retires. Years later, another serial killer, nicknamed the "Tooth Fairy", appears. He stalks and kills seemingly random Southern families during sequential full moons. Hoping to capture the killer before his next attack, Special Agent Jack Crawford seeks Graham's assistance. The death of another family weighing on his conscience, Graham reluctantly agrees. After visiting the crime scenes and speaking with Crawford, he concludes that he must once again consult Dr. Lecter. The "Tooth Fairy" is actually a schizophrenic named Francis Dolarhyde who kills at the behest of an alternate personality he calls "The Great Red Dragon." He is obsessed with a William Blake painting, The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun, and believes that each victim he "changes" brings him closer to "becoming" the Dragon. His pathology is born from the severe child abuse he suffered at the hands of his sadistic grandmother . Freddy Lounds , a tabloid reporter who hounded Graham after Lecter's capture, now follows him for leads on the Tooth Fairy. There is a secret correspondence between Lecter and Dolarhyde. Graham's wife and son are endangered when Lecter gives the Tooth Fairy the agent's home address, forcing them to be relocated to a farm owned by Crawford's brother. Lecter, aware that the feds are onto him, raises the stakes: in return for his help, he requests a first-class meal in his cell and the return of his book privileges. Hoping to lure the Tooth Fairy out of hiding, Graham gives Lounds an interview, in which he disparages the killer as an impotent homosexual. This provokes Dolarhyde, who kidnaps Lounds, glues him to an antique wheelchair, forces him to recant his allegations, and then sets him on fire outside his newspaper's offices. At his job in a St. Louis photo lab, Dolarhyde falls in love with Reba McClane , a blind co-worker, but his Dragon personality demands that he kill her. He takes her home, where they make love. Dolarhyde attempts to stop the Dragon's "possession" of him by going to the Brooklyn Museum and literally consuming the original Blake painting. Graham deduces that the killer knew the layout of his victims' houses from their home videos, which he could only have seen if he worked for the editing company that transfers home movies to video cassette. Dolarhyde finds Reba with a co-worker, Ralph Mandy , whom she actually dislikes. Enraged, Dolarhyde kills Mandy, kidnaps Reba, takes her to his house, and then sets it on fire. Finding himself unable to shoot her, Dolarhyde seems to shoot himself. Reba is able to escape as the police arrive and the house explodes. Dolarhyde, having staged his own death, turns up at Graham's home in Florida where he holds Graham's son hostage, threatening to kill him with a piece of broken glass. To defuse the situation, Graham slings insults at his son that are reminiscent of the ones Dolarhyde's grandmother had used against him. Feeling a sudden sympathy for the boy, the enraged Dolarhyde attacks Graham as the boy flees to safety. Both men are severely wounded in a shootout which ends when Graham's wife Molly fatally shoots Dolarhyde. Later, Graham receives a letter from Lecter, which bids him well and hopes that he isn't "too ugly." | 0.88822 | positive | 0.985282 | positive | 0.926885 |
7,532,215 | Skinwalkers | Skinwalkers | When an unknown assailant tries to kill Officer Jim Chee by firing a shotgun into his trailer, and three other people are found murdered in different locations around the Navajo reservation, Chee and Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn of the Navajo Tribal Police find few motives or clues except for small pieces of bone found in the bodies and in the shotgun shells used in the attempt on Chee. This leads them to conclude that the assailants and victims were involved with Navajo witchcraft, whose practitioners are called Skin-walkers. Leaphorn, a secular Navajo, rejects witchcraft as hateful superstition that has no place in Navajo mythology, but Chee, a practicing yataalii or medicine man, does not dismiss it so easily. Solving the cases requires them to find a balance between Navajo folklore and Western inductive reasoning, and to risk their lives to track down a killer before he gets to them first. | Joe Leaphorn, a seasoned cop accustomed to the ways of Phoenix, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque, has returned to the Navajo reservation. Recovering from cancer, his wife, Emma, feels rejuvenated by her home's landscape and people. Leaphorn is less sure about their return. Well schooled in urban policing, he is soon confronted with a particular Navajo case: a mysterious killer who has a special antipathy for medicine men. He works with a partner Jim Chee, an FBI Academy grad who is training to be a traditional healer. Roman George's body is found miles from his abandoned truck and surrounded by ancient symbols etched in blood. A local archeologist holds the key to the symbols he left behind, so Chee and Leaphorn pay him a visit at a nearby Anasazi ruins. There, these unlikely partners find further clues indicating that the murderer may be a "skinwalker," a Navajo witch with the power to shape shift, or change from human to animal, move with lightning speed, and to kill with curses. Fearing that his mentor, Wilson Sam, will be next, Chee convinces the medicine man to hide in a nearby motel. As Chee juggles the day-to-day police work on the reservation, Leaphorn tracks down clues to the identity of the evasive criminal. More ancient symbols are found at an abandoned paint factory, where a local gang has been congregating. What do the signs mean? Who is sending these messages in blood? Could the murders be linked to the old Dinetah Paints scandal? Chee does not have much time to mull these questions over, as he soon finds himself in the killer's crosshairs.{{cite web}} | 0.737129 | positive | 0.991668 | positive | 0.995004 |
1,473,007 | Northwest Passage | Northwest Passage | Langdon Towne is a young Congregationalist resident of Kittery, Maine, in love with Elizabeth Browne, the youngest daughter of Anglican minister Rev. Arthur Browne of nearby Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Towne wants to become an artist, a goal which he has kept secret from even Elizabeth. He is admitted to Harvard College, but an ill-timed visit from his friends Saved from Captivity ('Cap') Huff and Hunking ('Hunk') Marriner results in his expulsion in 1759, although it does allow him to meet the young artist John Singleton Copley. Upon his return to Portsmouth, he incautiously insults Benning Wentworth, the governor of the Province of New Hampshire, and he and Hunk flee arrest and head to Crown Point to join the volunteers fighting the French and Indian War. On their way, they meet a sergeant named McNott, who is a member of Rogers' Rangers. Both Towne and Hunk decide to join Rogers' Rangers themselves. After arriving at Crown Point, Towne impresses Major Robert Rogers with a discussion about the Northwest Passage and is chosen as one of Rogers' aides. Setting out with a force of Rangers, Stockbridge Indians and Mohawk Indians, the troops are not told their destination. The Mohawks, who are closely allied with Sir William Johnson, are jealous of Rogers' preference for the Stockbridge Indians and decide to leave. Hunk and McNott, among others, are critically injured when the Mohawks detonate gunpowder after failing to steal it. The rest of the Rangers are then informed that their destination is the Abenaki town of Saint Francis, a center for hostile native raiding parties into New England. In a predawn attack, the Rangers annihilate the town and kill about a quarter of the population. However, to prevent capture, the Rangers choose to return across Quebec and northern Vermont. The harrowing journey creates dissension, and some Rangers who choose to separate from the main body are massacred by pursuing French and Indian troops. The starving troops eventually make it safely to the planned meeting point, Fort Wentworth on the Connecticut River, where reinforcements and supplies were supposed to be waiting for them. However, the reinforcements withdrew with the food shortly before their arrival, apparently afraid that Rogers' men were enemy troops. A group of four men, including Rogers and Towne, make the arduous raft trip down the Connecticut to the Fort at Number 4 to get food for the rest of the company. They barely make it, but they succeed in saving the company. As a result, Towne is promoted to ensign, and he returns to Portsmouth a hero, just in time for Hunk's death from his wounds. Towne now openly works at painting, and Copley helps get him a small commission and points him toward a trip to England to study art. Towne, however, wants to stay in Portsmouth, paint natives and the West, and marry Elizabeth. When Rogers comes to town in the summer of 1761, he greets Towne as a long-lost friend ... and asks Towne to be his best man, as he has proposed to Elizabeth, whom he met through fellow Mason Rev. Browne, and she has accepted. Instead, a crushed Towne decides to go to England. In London, Towne learns that no one can achieve success except through "preferment", usually through a sponsor. His search for sponsorship leads him to Benjamin Franklin, who arranges for him to get a commission for a panel of Jeffrey Amherst at Vauxhall Gardens that brings him other work, more than enough to prevent him from having to return home broke. In early 1765, Towne, now 26, finds out that Rogers (minus Elizabeth) has arrived in London. With Rogers' help, Towne gets a major commission from a wealthy nobleman to paint a series of pictures of the Saint Francis raid. Rogers has decided to mount an expedition to find the Northwest Passage and has come to England both to collect his back pay and to win appointment as the royal governor of Fort Michilimackinac, the farthest west of the British forts on the Great Lakes, and he offers to include Towne in the expedition. Rogers has a personal secretary named Natty Potter, who helps him write two books and a play while in London. Potter recruits Towne to find his daughter Ann. Towne finds that Ann, now about 14, was left nine years ago with a family that trained children to act as crippled beggars, and he ends up paying £15 to take her away from there. To his surprise, Towne learns that Potter only wanted to blackmail Ann's mother, a member of a wealthy family with whom he'd had a Fleet Marriage, and is unwilling to provide for Ann (or even to reimburse Towne) after the blackmail is paid, so Ann ends up as Towne's responsibility. Ann proves to be a gifted mimic and quickly picks up "proper" behavior from the tutor Towne hires for her. With the help of Charles Townshend, Rogers is appointed governor of Michilimackinac over the objections of General Thomas Gage and Sir William Johnson, who had monopolized trade with the natives. When Towne finishes his series of paintings, he and Ann return with Rogers and Potter to Portsmouth in 1766. Rogers has arranged for several of his former Rangers to join the journey, including McNott (who lost a leg from the gunpowder explosion), Jonathan Carver, and James Tute; Elizabeth, Potter and Ann also accompany the group to Michilimackinac. Rogers expects to receive orders that permit him to appoint a deputy governor so that he can lead the search for the Northwest Passage himself, but such orders are not included with the authorization for the expedition, so the group leaves without Rogers (or Elizabeth, Potter and Ann), with Tute and a trader named Stanley Goddard in command. Because Towne has paid his own way to join the expedition, he is not under Tute's command, and he and McNott winter separately among the Yankton Dakota. In the spring, when they reunite with Tute, Goddard and Carver, they find that the rest of the group is out of supplies. Towne and McNott then learn that the other three have used their supplies to purchase a large parcel of land from the Dakota (which the Yankton Dakota inform McNott that the Dakota do not actually own, because it is contested by the Chippewa) and have abandoned their mission. McNott and Towne travel up the Missouri River on the route to the Northwest Passage without them, but a serious injury to McNott forces them to head back to Michilimackinac. When they arrive, in the spring of 1768, they learn that Charles Townshend has died, that Rogers has been arrested by Gage and Johnson for exceeding his authority, and that Ann has returned to England after Rogers tried to take improper liberties with her. When the ice on the Great Lakes breaks, Towne, who realizes that he has fallen in love with Ann, returns to England himself, where he finds and marries Ann, who has just opened a one-woman play about life on the frontier. She has taken some of his sketches to a royal society that commissions him to paint a series of pictures based on native mythology. Rogers later returns to England after being acquitted at court-martial but is ill from his imprisonment and is soon placed in debtors' prison. At the end, Towne and Ann decide to return to America and side with the American Revolution, although they know Rogers has sided with the British. | The film opens in the year 1759 with the arrival of Langdon Towne ([[Robert Young in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The son of a cordage - maker and ship rigger, he returns from Harvard University after being expelled for complaining about college food and drawing an unflattering picture of the President of Harvard College. Though disappointed, Langdon's family greets him with love, as does Elizabeth Browne , the daughter of a noted clergyman. Elizabeth's father is less welcoming, however, and denigrates Langdon's aspirations to becoming a painter. That evening, while drinking in the local tavern with friend Sam Livermore , Langdon makes indiscreet remarks disparaging Wiseman Clagett , the king's attorney, and the Indian agent, Sir William Johnson, unaware that Clagett is sitting in the next room with another official. Facing arrest for his comments, Langdon fights the two men with the help of "Hunk" Marriner , a local woodsman and friend, before they both escape into the woods. As they flee westward, Langdon and Marriner stop in a backwoods tavern for something to drink. There they meet a man in a green uniform who treats them to a drink called "Flip" which is similar to hot buttered rum, after they help him with a drunk American Indian. After a night of drinking, the two men wake up at Fort Crown Point, where they are told that the man they had met was Major Rogers , the commander of Rogers' Rangers. Needing Langdon's mapmaking skills, Rogers recruits the two men for his latest expedition, one to destroy the hostile Abenakis tribe and their town of St. Francis far to the north. Setting out at dusk, Rogers' force rows north using whale boats on Lake Champlain. Traveling by night, they successfully evade river patrols by French forces but are forced to send several soldiers back to the fort after a confrontation with Mohawk scouts who were dismissed by Rogers. During the confrontation, a powder keg explodes which injures some of his force. However, Rogers not only sends back the injured to Crown Point, but the disloyal Mohawks provided him by Sir William Johnson , and a number of his men who didn't obey orders to avoid a confrontation with the Mohawks. Although his force is depleted, the rangers move onto their objective. Concealing their boats for a much later return, the force marches northward through swampland, avoiding dry land wherever possible to conceal their movements. When informed by his Stockbridge Indian scouts left to watch over the boats that the French have captured their boats and extra supplies, Rogers revises his plan and sends an injured officer back to Fort Crown Point requesting the British to send supplies to old Fort Wentworth, where the returning rangers will meet them. After making a human chain to cross an unbridged river, the rangers reach St. Francis. The force succeeds in their attack, setting fire to the dwellings and cutting the Abenakis off from retreat. When the battle is over, however, the rangers find only a few baskets of parched corn with which to replenish their dwindling provisions. Worse, as Marriner is searching the destroyed village, he comes across a prostrate Langdon suffering from a bullet wound in his abdomen. Facing hostile forces and a long march with only meager supplies, the rangers set out on their course to Wentworth, trying to evade the French and Indians pursuing them. Their initial objective is Lake Memphremagog, with the injured Langdon bringing up the rear. Ten days later, Rogers' men reach the hills just above Lake Memphremagog, where they hope to find food by stopping to hunt and fish. Encountering signs of French activity, Rogers prefers to press on to Fort Wentworth a hundred miles distant, but the men vote to split up into four parties and fan out in search of game to eat. Game proves scare, though; worse, two of the detachments are ambushed by the French and most of the men killed. After persevering through harsh conditions, Rogers and the remaining fifty men finally reach the fort, only to find it unoccupied and in a state of disrepair. The hoped-for British relief column has not arrived. Though personally despairing, Rogers attempts to rally the men, who are on the verge of collapse. As Rogers attempts to perk up their flagging spirits with a prayer, they hear the fifes and drums of approaching British boats with the supplies. Reporting that the Abenakis are destroyed, the British do Rogers' men the honor of presenting their firearms and shouting "Huzzah". After returning to Portsmouth, Langdon reunites with Elizabeth while Rogers' Rangers are given a new mission: to find the Northwest Passage. Roger's fires them up with a brief speech telling them of all the wonders they will see while they march towards the first point of embarkation, a little fort called "Detroit." He passes by Langdon and Elizabeth to say goodbye where Elizabeth informs him that she and Langdon are headed for London where she is hopeful he will learn to become a great painter. Rogers bids them farewell and marches down the road and off into the sunset. | 0.738565 | positive | 0.991299 | positive | 0.99008 |
1,307,241 | Sphere | Sphere | A group of scientists, including psychologist Norman Johnson, mathematician Harry Adams, biologist Beth Halpern, and astrophysicist Ted Fielding, along with U.S. Navy personnel, are dispatched to a deep sea habitat at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to explore a crashed spacecraft. To their surprise, they discover the spacecraft is not alien, but an American spacecraft constructed in the future and apparently sent through time, crashing 350 years before its creation. On further exploration, the team discovers a mysterious spherical artifact, clearly of extraterrestrial origin, which quickly becomes the focus of their attention. Harry becomes quite certain that, because the ship's future builders didn't seem to learn that their ship had already been discovered, the members of the team aren't likely to survive. At this point, a storm traps the scientists on the ocean floor without contact or support from the surface for over a week. The crew soon focuses on asking questions about the sphere and then on attempting to open it and learn about its nature, contents, and origin. Harry eventually succeeds in opening it and goes inside. Upon returning, he has a terrible headache and he remembers little about what happened inside or how he opened it. The scientists are eventually contacted by an intelligent, seemingly-friendly lifeform which calls itself Jerry, apparently from within the sphere. It first contacts them via a numeric code, which Harry translates. But while they struggle to communicate with Jerry, increasingly bizarre and deadly events occur, including the appearance of sea creatures that Beth claims don't exist. Jerry tells them he is "manifesting" the creatures. Members of the team start to die in various attacks by sea life, and the dwindling survivors struggle to placate the unthinkably powerful, childlike, and temperamental Jerry. Norman suddenly has an important role when he realizes he must use psychology to keep the surviving team (now only himself, Beth, and Harry) alive by placating Jerry. Translating the original code himself, though, Norman discovers that Jerry is actually Harry: by entering the sphere, Harry acquired the power to manifest his subconscious thoughts into reality. As Harry noted his childhood fears of squids and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, he has unconsciously created them as an enemy. Beth and Norman tranquilize Harry with a powerful mixture of sedatives and wait for contact to be re-established with the surface. However, although Harry is sedated, the manifestations continue. Beth accuses Norman of having entered the sphere and gaining access to the power. Though unable to recall this incident, Norman is close to yielding until he watches a security video of Beth entering the sphere herself. Concluding that Norman is a threat to her, Beth irrationally plants potent explosives around the spacecraft and habitat and then attempts to suffocate Norman with the habitat's climate systems. Norman escapes to the spacecraft and, figuring out at last how to open it, enters the sphere. Norman begins to ascend by himself in the submarine, but realizes that he could never leave the others to die. Now with the same power of thought as Harry and Beth, Norman fights Beth and brings both her and Harry to the escape submarine before the explosives destroy the site. Afterward, while in a surface decompression chamber, the three survivors ponder what to tell the Navy about what happened. Realizing they could not control the power, they decide to use the power to remove it from themselves and their memories simultaneously, replacing it with memories of a technical failure. Afterwards, as they mourn the colleagues lost to this scenario, Norman compliments Beth's appearance, saying that she looks lovely despite their hardship in the deep. Beth only smiles. | In the middle of the southern Pacific Ocean, a thousand feet below the surface, what is believed to be an alien spacecraft is discovered after a ship laying transoceanic cable has its cable cut and the United States Navy investigates the cause. The thickness of coral growth on the spaceship suggests that it has been there for almost 300 years. A team made up of marine biologist Dr. Beth Halperin , mathematician Dr. Harry Adams , astrophysicist Dr. Ted Fielding , psychologist Dr. Norman Goodman , and U.S. Navy Capt. Harold Barnes are tasked with investigating the spaceship. The team are housed in a state-of-the-art underwater living environment called the Habitat during their stay on the ocean floor. Upon entering the spaceship, the team makes several discoveries. The first is that the ship is not alien, and that it is in fact an American spaceship. They assume, due to the years of coral growth and advanced technology, that the craft is from the future. The last date in the ship's log, 06/21/43, does not indicate the specific century. The last entry in the log details an "Unknown Event", which depicts the ship apparently falling into a black hole, resulting in its trip through time. The ship's mission apparently involved gathering objects from around the galaxy to bring back to Earth. An item of particular interest is a large, perfect sphere in the cargo hold. It is suspended a few feet above the ground and has an impenetrable fluid surface which reflects its surroundings but not, for some undetermined reason, people. Harry concludes from the classification of the event which sent the ship back that the Habitat crew is fated to die: it would not have been an "unknown event" if they had lived to report about it, he reasons. Harry soon sneaks back to the spaceship, and finds a way to enter the sphere. Soon after, a series of numeric-encoded messages begins to show up on the habitat's computer screens, and Harry and Ted are able to decipher the messages and converse with what appears to be an alien , which has been trapped in the sphere. They soon discover that "Jerry" can hear everything they are saying aboard the Habitat. Harry's entry into the sphere prevents the team from evacuating before the arrival of a powerful typhoon on the surface, forcing them to stay below for almost a week. A series of tragedies then befalls the crew: Fletcher, the navy technician, is killed by aggressive Sea Nettles. Later, Edmunds' corpse is found drifting near the station, her body completely pulverised by what turns out to be a giant squid, which returns to attack the station. In the chaos that ensues, Barnes is cut in half by a computer operated door, and Ted is burned to death. Sea snakes attack Norman, though he is not injured. Jerry is suspected to be the cause of these incidents. Eventually, only Harry, Norman, and Beth remain. At this point, they realize that they have all entered the world of the perfect sphere. The Sphere has given them the power to manifest their thoughts into reality. As such, all of the disasters that had been plaguing them are the result of manifestations of the worst parts of their own minds. The name "Jerry" turns out to have been erroneously decoded and is actually spelled "Harry"; it is Harry's subconscious communicating with them through their computer system whenever he is asleep. At that point, Beth's suicidal thoughts trigger a countdown to detonate the explosives that were brought along to clear away the coral. They abandon the Habitat for the mini-sub, but their fears manifest an illusion of the spacecraft around them. Norman finally sees through the illusion, and punches the mini-sub's emergency surfacing button. The explosives destroy the habitat and the spaceship, but the sphere itself remains undamaged. As the explosives detonate and create a huge blast wave below it, the mini-sub rises to the surface, to be quickly retrieved by the returning surface ships, permitting the survivors to begin safe decompression once on board a navy ship. The film ends with the three deciding to use their powers to erase their own memories before being debriefed, in order to prevent the knowledge about the sphere from falling into the wrong hands. Thus, Harry's paradox, in which they are alive yet no one has learned about the "unknown event," is resolved. As they erase their memories, the sphere emerges from the ocean and flies off into space. | 0.905601 | positive | 0.994156 | positive | 0.990136 |
9,617,369 | At the Earth's Core | Journey to the Center of the Earth | The author relates how, traveling in the Sahara desert, he has encountered a remarkable vehicle and its pilot, David Innes, a man with a remarkable story to tell. David is a mining heir who finances the experimental "iron mole," an excavating vehicle designed by his elderly inventor friend Abner Perry. In a test run, they discover the vehicle cannot be turned, and it burrows 500 miles into the Earth's crust, emerging into the unknown interior world of Pellucidar. In Burroughs' concept, the Earth is a hollow shell with Pellucidar as the internal surface of that shell. Pellucidar is inhabited by prehistoric creatures of all geological eras, and dominated by the Mahars, a species of flying reptile both intelligent and civilized, but which enslaves and preys on the local stone-age humans. Innes and Perry are captured by the Mahars' ape-like Sagoth servants and taken with other human captives to the chief Mahar city of Phutra. Among their fellow captives are the brave Ghak, the Hairy One, from the country of Sari, the shifty Hooja the Sly One and the lovely Dian the Beautiful of Amoz. David, attracted to Dian, defends her against the unwanted attentions of Hooja, but due to his ignorance of local customs she assumes he wants her as a slave, not a friend or lover, and subsequently snubs him. Only later, after Hooja slips their captors in a dark tunnel and forces Dian to leave with him, does David learn from Ghak the cause of the misunderstanding. In Phutra the captives become slaves, and the two surface worlders learn more of Pellucidar and Mahar society. The Mahars are all female, reproducing parthogenetically by means of a closely guarded "Great Secret" contained in a Mahar book. David learns that they also feast on selected human captives in a secret ritual. In a disturbance, David manages to escape Phutra, becomes lost, and experiences a number of adventures before sneaking back into the city. Rejoining Abner, he finds the latter did not even realize he was gone, and the two discover that time in Pellucidar, in the absence of objective means to measure it, is a subjective thing, experienced by different people at different rates. Obsessed with righting the wrong he has unwittingly done Dian, David escapes again and eventually finds and wins her by defeating the malevolent Jubal the Ugly One, another unwanted suitor. David makes amends, and he and Dian wed. Later, along with Ghak and other allies, David and Abner lead a revolt of humankind against the Mahars. Their foes are hampered by the loss of the Great Secret, which David has stolen and hidden. To further the struggle David returns to the Iron Mole, in which he and Dian propose to travel back to the surface world to procure outer world technology. Only after it is underway does he discover that Hooja has substituted a drugged Mahar for Dian. The creature attacks David but is overcome, and the return to the surface world proceeds successfully. Back in the world we know David meets the author, who after hearing his tale and seeing his prehistoric captive, helps him resupply and prepare the mole for the return to Pellucidar. | The film starts off with a man running from a Giganotosaurus. As the dinosaur pursues him, he comes to a fissure. He tries to jump over, but fails, and falls. Trevor Anderson is a Bostonian volcanologist whose 13-year-old nephew Sean is supposed to spend ten days with him. When Sean's mother drops him off, she leaves Trevor with a box of items that belonged to Max, Trevor's brother and Sean's father, who disappeared 10 years before. Sean suddenly takes interest in what Trevor has to say after he tells him about his father, whom he never really had a chance to know. Among the items in the box is the novel A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne. Inside the book, Trevor finds notes written by his late brother. At Trevor's laboratory, the two learn there is a new dot on his radar device on Snæfell, an extinct volcano in Iceland. Trevor goes to Iceland to investigate, and Sean goes with him. They start by looking for another volcanologist named Sigurbjörn Ásgeirsson and instead find his daughter Hannah Ásgeirsson, the scientist having died years earlier.Although the daughter of Sigurbjörn Ásgeirsson would normally be called Hannah Sigurbjörnsdóttir in Icelandic naming conventions, the film uses the name given. It turns out that Sigurbjörn Ásgeirsson and Max Anderson were Vernians, a small group who believe the works of Jules Verne to be fact. Hannah offers to help them climb up to the radar device. While hiking the mountain, a lightning storm forces the three into a cave that collapses, leaving them trapped. They find it is an abandoned mine. They venture further into the mine, eventually reaching the bottom of a volcanic tube which is full of precious gems. As they are admiring the gems they realize the floor they're standing on is actually muscovite, a very thin layer of rock formation. The muscovite breaks, and the group falls through the volcanic tube towards the center of the earth, surviving only because the volcanic tube eventually turns into something like a "water slide" which drops them into a lake. There, they find that the center of the Earth is actually another world contained within the Earth. The group continues seeking a way back to the surface. Along the way, they find evidence that someone was there 100 years previously. Trevor remarks that the instruments found are Lidenbrock's , hinting that his views of the events of the book being real are changing. They find some of Max's things as well, such as his water bottle and his journal. While Trevor and Sean are going through what they've found, Hannah wanders off and unfortunately discovers Max's body. They bury him on the beach of the underground ocean and Trevor reads a letter to Sean found in Max's journal about how it was Sean's birthday that day and how Max thought he would never be there to give his son his first baseball glove. They then say their goodbyes and hug each other. Trevor also discovers that his brother died due to dehydration because of the Magma surrounding the center of the Earth. Using Max's advice from his journal, Trevor figures that they must find a geyser that can send them to the surface, which is located on the other side of the underground ocean, or else the temperature will rise up to 200 °F, making it impossible to survive. They must reach the geyser in 48 hours or all of the water to create the geyser will have evaporated. They build a raft and begin crossing the underground ocean, but soon encounter a pack of Xiphactinus, so they use makeshift baseball bats to bat them away, until the arrival of a shoal of Elasmosaurus. After the fish attack, the raft's sail becomes loose, and Sean tries to hold on, but is blown away and becomes separated from the two adults. Sean's guide is now a little bird who has been present since the trio entered the center, and it takes him towards the river. He then goes walking, but trips and finds out he is in a magnetic field. Next he goes through a path of floating magnetic rocks; he almost falls down, but is able to hang on. Meanwhile, Trevor and Hannah decide to take a rest until they are attacked by some carnivorous plants. Hannah gets captured by the plants. Trevor fights them and defeats the plant that held Hannah captured and the vines around her loosen up and they continue to walk towards the geyser. When they can see the river Trevor calls Sean to see if he's there but when he gets no response he says he's going to look for him while Hannah should go to the geyser and save herself at least if they don't make it. Sean wanders on to find a dry bone-filled land. He hears roars and hides behind a rock. Drool falls next to him, and Sean looks up, to encounter a Giganotosaurus which drools on top of him and his face, and comes after him. Sean runs, but the dinosaur is faster. It finds him, and he yells and cries for help. Trevor – who has desperately been searching for him hears his screams on the other side of a wall. Trevor makes a hole in the wall and Sean can crawl through it. The beast destroys the wall and continues to pursue them. While running Trevor sees a big plate of muscovite, the same type as earlier. He tells Sean to keep running towards the river while he lures the dinosaur onto the muscovite, the muscovite breaks and the dinosaur falls through the muscovite, creating a massive hole. They get to a river and find Hannah, using another Giganotosaurus skull as a boat. They sail until they end up at a volcano with magma rising. They are too late; all the water from the geyser is evaporated. But Sean sees the walls are wet, Trevor checks the wall and he hears water flowing on the other side of the wall and he also notices that the wall contains magnesium. Trevor uses a flare to ignite the magnesium in the wall and causes a geyser to shoot them through Mount Vesuvius in Italy, where they destroy the vineyard of an Italian man; Sean gives him a diamond that he found earlier to say sorry. Trevor sees that he has many more in his backpack, and he uses them to fund his brother's laboratory. Throughout the adventure, Hannah and Trevor gradually become close and even share a kiss. Sean visits Trevor and Hannah in their new home, which was purchased with some of the diamonds Sean took from the cave. Trevor hands Sean a copy of the book Atlantis: The Antediluvian World by Ignatius L. Donnelly, suggesting they could maybe hang out during Sean's Christmas break, alluding to a possible sequel. Sean then reveals that he has brought the little bird back from the center of the Earth to keep as a pet. Despite Sean's entreaties, the bird flies away into the screen, ending the movie. | 0.478518 | positive | 0.991274 | positive | 0.996166 |
460,052 | Mystic River | Mystic River | The novel revolves around three boys who grow up as friends in Boston — Dave Boyle, Sean Devine, and Jimmy Marcus. When the story opens, we see Dave abducted by child molesters while he, Sean, and Jimmy are horsing around on a neighborhood street. Dave escapes and returns home days later, emotionally shattered by his experience. The book then moves forward 25 years: Sean has become a homicide detective, Jimmy is an ex-convict who currently owns a convenience store, and Dave is a shell of a man. Jimmy's daughter disappears and is found brutally murdered in a city park, and that same night, Dave comes home to his wife, covered in blood. Sean is assigned to investigate the murder, and the three childhood friends are caught up in each other's lives again. | Three boys, Jimmy Markum, Sean Devine and Dave Boyle, play hockey in a Boston street in 1975. Spotting wet concrete, the boys commence writing their names into it when a car pulls up with two men, pretending to be police officers. One of the men gets out and berates the boys for their actions, and tells Dave to get into the car. The men are pedophiles, and hold Dave captive and sexually abuse him for four days, until he escapes. Twenty-five years later, the boys are now grown and, while they still live in Boston, have drifted apart. Jimmy is an ex-con running a neighborhood store, while Dave is a blue-collar worker, still haunted by his abduction. The two are still neighbors and related by marriage. Jimmy's 19-year-old daughter Katie is secretly dating Brendan Harris, a boy Jimmy despises. She and Brendan are planning to run away together to Las Vegas. Katie goes out for the night with her girlfriends and is seen by Dave at a local bar. That night, Katie is murdered, and Dave comes home with an injured hand and blood on his clothes, which his wife Celeste helps him clean up. Dave claims that he fought off a mugger and "bashed his head into the concrete", and possibly killed him. Sean , who is now a detective with the Massachusetts State Police, investigates Katie's murder. In a subplot, Sean's pregnant wife Lauren has left him. Over the course of the film, Sean and his partner, Sergeant Whitey Powers , track down leads while Jimmy conducts his own investigation using his neighborhood connections. Sean discovers that the gun used to kill Katie was also used in a liquor store robbery during the 1980s by "Just Ray" Harris, the father of Katie's boyfriend. Harris has been missing since 1989, but Brendan claims he still sends his family $500 every month. Brendan also feigns ignorance about Ray's gun but Sean believes that it was still in the house. Sergeant Powers suspects Dave as a possible perpetrator because he was one of the last people to see Katie alive. He also has a wounded hand and even though he continues to tell his wife he got it while being mugged, he tells the police a different story – soon Jimmy becomes suspicious of it. Dave continues to behave strangely, which upsets his wife to the point she is afraid he will hurt her. While Jimmy and his associates conduct their investigation, Dave's wife eventually tells Jimmy about Dave's behavior and the bloody clothing and her suspicions. Jimmy and his friends get Dave drunk at a local bar. When Dave leaves the bar, the men follow him out. Jimmy tells Dave that he shot "Just Ray" Harris at that same location for ratting him out and sending him to jail. Jimmy informs Dave that his wife thinks he murdered Katie and tells Dave that he will let him live if he confesses; if he does not he will kill him. Dave repeatedly tells Jimmy that he did kill someone but it was not Katie: he beat a child molester to death after finding him having sex with a child prostitute in a car. Jimmy does not believe Dave's claim and threatens him with a knife. When Dave finally admits to killing Katie thinking he can escape with his life, Jimmy kills him and disposes of his body in the adjacent Mystic River. While Dave is being killed, Brendan confronts his younger brother Ray Jr. and his brother's friend John about Katie's murder. He beats the two boys and threatens to kill them if they do not admit their guilt, but he is almost shot by John. Sean and Powers arrive just in time to stop it. The next morning, Sean tells Jimmy that the police have Katie's murderers – who have confessed. She was killed by Brendan's brother and his friend John O'Shea in a violent prank gone wrong: The kids got hold of Just Ray's gun and saw a car coming which happened to be Katie. John aimed the gun just to scare her but the gun went off by accident. The car veered onto the curb and Katie got out and ran into the park. Silent Ray and John pursued her so she wouldn't tell anyone. The beating Katie received was from Silent Ray who had a hockey stick. Once she was beaten, John shot her again, killing her. Sean asks Jimmy if he has seen Dave, because he is wanted for questioning in another case, the murder of a known child molester. A distraught Jimmy thanks Sean for finding his daughter's killers, but says "if only you had been a little faster." Sean asks Jimmy if he's going to "send Celeste Boyle $500 a month too?". Sean reunites with his wife and his daughter Nora, after apologizing for "driving her away". Jimmy goes to his wife, Annabeth and confesses. She comforts him and tells him that he is a king and that kings always make the right decision. At a town parade, Sean sees Jimmy, and mimics shooting him, to let Jimmy know he is watching. | 0.644786 | positive | 0.990549 | positive | 0.994995 |
982,480 | A Princess of Mars | John Carter | John Carter, a Confederate veteran of the American Civil War, goes prospecting in Arizona immediately after the war's end. Having struck a rich vein of gold, he runs afoul of the Apaches. While attempting to evade pursuit by hiding in a sacred cave, he is mysteriously transported to Mars, called "Barsoom" by its inhabitants. Carter finds that he has great strength and superhuman agility in this new environment as a result of its lesser gravity. He soon falls in with a nomadic tribe of Green Martians, or Tharks, as the planet's warlike, six-limbed, green-skinned inhabitants are known. Thanks to his strength and martial prowess, Carter rises to a high position in the tribe and earns the respect and eventually the friendship of Tars Tarkas, one of the Thark chiefs. The Tharks subsequently capture Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, a member of the humanoid red Martian race. The red Martians inhabit a loose network of city-states and control the desert planet's canals, along which its agriculture is concentrated. Carter rescues Dejah Thoris from the green men in a bid to return her to her people. Subsequently Carter becomes embroiled in the political affairs of both the red and green Martians in his efforts to safeguard Dejah Thoris, eventually leading a horde of Tharks against the city-state of Zodanga, the historic enemy of Helium. Winning Dejah Thoris' hand, he becomes Prince of Helium, and the two live happily together for nine years. However, the sudden breakdown of the Atmosphere Plant that sustains the planet's waning air supply endangers all life on Barsoom. In a desperate attempt to save the planet's inhabitants, Carter uses a secret telepathic code to enter the factory, bringing an engineer along who can restore its functionality. Carter then succumbs to asphyxiation, only to awaken back on Earth, left to wonder what has become of Barsoom and his beloved. | After the sudden death of John Carter , a former American Civil War Confederate Army captain, his nephew Edgar Rice Burroughs attends the funeral. As per Carter's instructions, the body is put in a tomb that can be unlocked only from the inside. His attorney hands over Carter's personal journal for Burroughs to read, in the hope of finding clues explaining Carter's cause of death. The anecdote recounts back to the Arizona Territory, where Union Colonel Powell arrests Carter. Powell, knowing about Carter's military background, seeks his help in fighting the Apache. However, Carter escapes with the marshals in pursuit. In an ensuing chase, both Carter and Powell find themselves in a cave in which Carter had been searching for gold. A Thern appears in the cave at that moment; Carter kills him and, with the help of his medallion, is unknowingly transported to Barsoom . On the Martian planet, because of his different bone density and the planet's low gravity, Carter is able to jump high and perform feats of incredible strength. He is captured by the Green Martian Tharks and their Jeddak emperor Tars Tarkas . Elsewhere on Barsoom, the red Martian cities of Helium and Zodanga have been at war for a thousand years. Sab Than , Jeddak of Zodanga, armed with a special weapon obtained from the Thern leader Matai Shang , proposes a cease-fire and an end to the war by marrying the Princess of Helium, Dejah Thoris . The Princess escapes and is rescued by Carter. Carter, Dejah, and Tarkas' daughter Sola , embark on a quest to get to the end of a sacred river to find a way for Carter to get back home. They obtain information about the ninth ray, a means of utilizing infinite energy and also the key to understanding how the medallion works. But they are later attacked by Shang and his minions, the Green Men of Warhoon. After the attack, Carter is captured and taken back with Dejah while Sola is able to escape. The demoralized Dejah grudgingly agrees to marry Sab Than, then gives Carter his medallion and tells him to go back to Earth. Carter decides to stay and is captured by Shang, who explains to him the purpose of Therns and how they manipulate the civilizations of different planets. Carter is able to make an escape as he and Sola go back to the Tharks requesting their help. There they discover Tarkas has been overthrown by Tal Hajus . Tarkas, Carter, and Sola are put on trial in a colosseum battle with two enormous vicious creatures. After defeating them and killing Hajus, Carter becomes the leader of the Tharks. The Thark army charges on Helium and defeats the Zodangan army by killing Sab Than. Carter becomes prince of Helium by marrying Dejah. On their first night, Carter decides to stay forever on Mars and throws away his medallion. Seizing this opportunity, Shang banishes him back to Earth. Carter then embarks in a long quest, looking for clues of the Therns' presence on Earth and hoping to find one of their medallions; after several years he appears to die suddenly and asks for unusual funeral arrangements—consistent with his having found a medallion, since his return to Mars would leave his Earth body in a coma-like state. He makes Burroughs his protector, giving him clues about how to open the tomb. The story reverts to the present, where Burroughs runs back to Carter's tomb and opens it only to find it empty. Shang, in the form of a butler, suddenly appears, having followed Burroughs as well. But as he prepares to kill Burroughs, Carter appears and kills Shang. He then tells Burroughs that he never found a medallion; instead, he devised a scheme to lure Shang out of hiding. Carter takes his medallion, whispers the code, and is then transported back to Barsoom. | 0.817506 | positive | 0.993921 | positive | 0.003638 |
2,006,189 | Nightmare Alley | Nightmare Alley | The novel begins with Stanton Carlisle, the story's protagonist, observing the geek show at a Ten-in-One where has recently begun working. After the show, Stan asks the carnival's talker Clem Hoately where geeks come from. Clem replies that geeks don't come from anywhere - rather, they're "made": a sideshow owner finds an alcoholic bum and offers him a temporary job. Initially, the bum uses a razor blade to slice chickens' necks and fakes drinking the blood. After a few weeks the owner threatens to fire the bum in favor of a "real" geek, and the fear of sobering up terrifies the bum into actually biting the chickens. Thus, a geek is made. Stan performs sleight of hand tricks in the sideshow. He asks the carnival's mentalist Zeena to teach him how to execute a refined "code" act, where the performers memorize verbal cues that correspond to certain audience questions, allowing the mentalist to appear psychic. Stan also begins to pick up Zeena's talent for cold reading. He eventually leaves the carnival with beautiful and naive electric girl Molly Cahill to perform a team code act. The act becomes very successful, but Stan grows bored and transforms himself into Reverend Carlisle, an upstanding Spiritualist preacher offering séance sessions with the help of his medium - Molly, appearing as "Miss Cahill" to obfuscate their relationship. Stan gains a devoted following, but the stress of leading a false life leads him to seek the help of a highly-regarded psychologist named Lilith Ritter, who seduces Stan and soon begins controlling him. Stan pleads constantly for the two to run away together, and Lilith eventually agrees, suggesting the Rev. Carlisle swindle a rich man for the getaway money. They settle on Ezra Grindle, a ruthless auto tycoon with a skeptical interest in the occult. Stan manages to convince Grindle of his powers, and the businessman becomes a devoted spiritualist. Stan keeps Grindle hooked by promising to reunite him with his deceased college sweetheart Dorrie. In private meetings with Grindle, Stan communicates with Dorrie's spirit (played by an increasingly reluctant Molly); Dorrie seems to move closer to corporeality with each session. At the crucial moment of full bodily materialization, Molly panics and destroys the illusion, forcing her and Stan to flee and leading Grindle to vow revenge. Molly, tired of Stan's manipulation and abuse, soon leaves him to return to the carnival. Upon Lilith's suggestion, Stan goes into hiding and takes with him an envelope containing a large sum in cash that Grindle had donated to the church, but Stan shortly discovers that Lilith has stolen the money. When he returns to her office to confront her, she attempts to have him committed to a mental institution. He narrowly escapes and goes on the run, performing as a mentalist at increasingly shoddy venues and barely evading the men Grindle continually sends after him. Eventually he becomes a hobo, staying afloat by giving Tarot readings and selling horoscopes. He descends into alcoholism and depression. His life in utter shambles, Stan finds a carnival owner and asks to join the sideshow as a palm reader. The owner gives Stan some whiskey but refuses his proposal, saying the show is full. But as Stan begins to drunkenly stumble out, the owner changes his tune and invites Stan back in with a job offer: "Of course, it's only temporary - just until we get a real geek." | The movie follows the rise and fall of a con man — a story that begins and ends at a seedy traveling carnival. Stanton "Stan" Carlisle joins the carnival, working with "Mademoiselle Zeena" and her alcoholic husband, Pete . Once a top-billed act, Zeena and Pete used an ingenious code to make it appear that she had extraordinary mental powers, until her misdeeds drove Pete to drink and reduced them to working in a third-rate outfit. Stanton learns that many people want to buy the code from Zeena for a lot of money, but she won't sell; she is saving it as a nest egg. He tries to romance Zeena into teaching it to him, but she remains faithful to her husband and even hopes to send him to an detox clinic for alcoholics. One night in Texas, Stanton accidentally gives Pete the wrong bottle: the old man dies from drinking wood alcohol instead of moonshine. To keep her act going, Zeena is forced to teach Stanton the mind-reading code so that he can serve as her assistant. Stanton however, prefers the company of the younger Molly . When their romance is found out, the remainder of the carnies forced the pair into a shotgun marriage. No longer welcome in the carnival, Stanton realizes this is actually a golden opportunity for him. He and his wife leave the carnival. He becomes "The Great Stanton", performing to enraptured audiences in expensive nightclubs. However, he has higher ambitions. With crooked Chicago psychologist Lilith Ritter providing him with information about her patients, Stan passes himself off as someone who can actually communicate with the dead. The plan almost works, until Stanton tries to swindle skeptical Ezra Grindle by having Molly pose as the ghost of Grindle's long-lost love. When the heartbroken Grindle breaks down, Molly refuses to play the charade and confesses to Grindle. In the meantime, Ritter has scammed Stanton by giving him only a $150 of Grindle's money rather than the promised $150,000, and by vowing to testify that he is mentally disturbed should he accuse her of complicity. Stanton and Molly leave town hurriedly. Stanton gives the $150 to Molly and urges her return to the carnival world where people care for her, while he gradually sinks into alcoholism. Finally, the fallen Stanton tries to get a job at another carnival, only to suffer the ultimate degradation: the only job he can get is playing the geek, eating live chickens in a sideshow. Unable to stand his life any further, he goes berserk, but fortunately, Molly happens to work in the same carnival. Stan regains hope when he sees her again, and Molly vows to nurse him back to health -- but their reunion is bittersweet, being reminiscent of Zeena nursing the ever-drunk Pete. This conclusion, while somewhat dark and ambiguous, differs from the novel, which implies that Stanton is doomed to work as a geek until he drinks himself to death. | 0.81723 | positive | 0.989654 | negative | -0.325764 |
1,186,616 | The Shining | The Shining | In 1976, Jack Torrance is an aspiring writer who is attempting to rebuild his marriage and career, both of which have been nearly ruined by two traits inherited from his late father: alcoholism and an explosive temper. During one occasion while drinking, Jack broke his son's arm. This incident shocked him into sobriety, but Jack's temper continued to plague him: he lost his teaching position at a Vermont prep school after assaulting a student. Jack eagerly accepts a job as a winter caretaker at the Overlook Hotel, an isolated resort in the Colorado Rockies. Jack hopes that the seclusion will help him reconnect with his family and give him inspiration and the peace and quiet to help him write a new play. Jack, his wife Wendy, and their five-year-old son, Danny—who has telepathic abilities unknown to his parents—move into the Overlook. Danny's abilities make him immediately sensitive to supernatural forces within the hotel. Shortly after the family's arrival at the Overlook, Danny and the hotel's chef, Dick Hallorann, talk privately to discuss Danny's talent and the hotel's sinister nature. Dick informs Danny that he shares Danny's abilities (though to a lesser degree), as did Dick's grandmother, who called it "shining". Dick warns Danny to avoid Room 217, but assures him that the things he may see are merely pictures which cannot harm him. Dick urges Danny to contact him through the shining should trouble arise. As the Torrances settle in at the Overlook, Danny sees frightening ghosts and visions. Although Danny is close to Jack, he does not tell either of his parents about his visions because he senses that the caretaking job is important to his father and the family's future. Wendy considers leaving Jack at the Overlook to finish the job on his own; Danny refuses, thinking his father will be happier if they stay. However Danny soon realizes his presence in the hotel makes the supernatural activity more powerful enabling it to make what Hallorann described as 'pictures' dangerous. Apparitions take form and the garden's topiary animals come to life. Objects, such as a party hat in the elevator, mysteriously appear . The Overlook has difficulty possessing Danny, so it begins to possess Jack, frustrating his need and desire to work. Jack becomes susceptible to cabin fever, and the sinister ghosts of the hotel gradually begin to overtake him, making him increasingly unstable. One day, after a fight with Wendy, Jack finds the hotel's bar fully stocked with alcohol despite being previously empty. As he gets drunk, the hotel urges Jack to kill his wife and son. Wendy and Danny get the better of Jack, locking him into the walk-in pantry, but the ghost of Delbert Grady, a former caretaker who murdered his family and then committed suicide, releases him. Wendy discovers that they are completely isolated at the Overlook, as Jack has sabotaged the hotel's snowcat and smashed the CB radio in the office. Jack strikes Wendy with one of the hotel's mallets, breaking two ribs, a kneecap, and one vertebra in her back. Wendy stabs Jack in the small of his back with a large butcher knife, then crawls away to the caretaker's suite and locks herself in the bathroom, with Jack in pursuit. Jack tries to break the door with the mallet, but before he unlocks the door she keeps him back by cutting him with some razor blades. Hallorann, working at a winter resort in Florida, has heard Danny's psychic call for help and rushes back to the Overlook. Jack leaves Wendy in the bathroom and ambushes Hallorann, shattering his jaw and giving him a concussion with the mallet, before setting off after Danny. Danny distracts Jack by saying "You're not my daddy," having realized that the Overlook has completely taken over Jack by playing on his alcoholism. Jack temporarily regains control of himself and tells Danny, "Run away. Quick. And remember how much I love you". Soon after, Jack is quickly possessed by the hotel again. He violently bashes his own face and skull in with his mallet so Danny can no longer recognize him as his father. Danny, realizing that his father is now gone forever, tells Jack that the unstable boiler is going to explode. In response, Jack rushes to the basement. Danny and Wendy reunite in the lobby, and they flee the Overlook with Hallorann. Though Jack tries to relieve the boiler pressure, it explodes, destroying the hotel. The building's spirit makes one last desperate attempt to possess Hallorann and make him kill Danny and Wendy, but he shakes it off and brings them to safety. The novel ends with Danny and Wendy summering at a resort in Maine where Hallorann, the head chef, talks with Danny and comforts him over the loss of his father. | Jack Torrance arrives at the Overlook Hotel to interview for the position of winter caretaker, with the aim of using the hotel's solitude to work on his writing. The hotel itself is built on the site of a Native American burial ground and becomes completely snowed in during the long winters. Manager Stuart Ullman warns him that a previous caretaker developed cabin fever and killed his family and himself. Jack's son, Danny , has ESP and has had a terrifying premonition about the hotel. Jack's wife, Wendy , tells a visiting doctor that Danny has an imaginary friend called Tony and that Jack has given up drinking because he had hurt Danny's arm after a binge. The family arrives at the hotel on closing day and is given a tour. The African-AmericanHallorann's race is of much greater significance in King's novel IT than in this story, although in the film the ghost butler and Jack Torrance refer to Hallorann using racial slurs . African-Americans with supernatural powers are a recurring motif in King's novels. chef Dick Hallorann surprises Danny by telepathically offering him ice cream. He explains to Danny that he and his grandmother shared this telepathic ability, which he calls "shining". Danny asks if there is anything to be afraid of in the hotel, particularly Room 237. Hallorann tells Danny that the hotel itself has a "shine" to it along with many memories, not all of which are good. He also tells Danny to stay out of Room 237. A month passes; while Jack's writing project goes nowhere, Danny and Wendy explore the hotel's hedge maze. Wendy becomes concerned about the phone lines being out due to the heavy snowfall and Danny has more frightening visions. Jack, increasingly frustrated, starts acting strangely and becomes prone to violent outbursts. Danny's curiosity about Room 237 gets the better of him when he sees the room's door open. Later, he shows up injured and visibly traumatized, causing Wendy to accuse Jack of abusing Danny. Jack wanders into the hotel's Gold Room where he meets a ghostly bartender named Lloyd . Lloyd serves him bourbon on the rocks while Jack complains to him about his marriage. Wendy later tells Jack that Danny told her that a "crazy woman in one of the rooms" was responsible for his injuries. Jack investigates Room 237 where he encounters the ghost of a dead woman, but tells Wendy he saw nothing. Wendy and Jack argue about whether Danny should be removed from the hotel and a furious Jack returns to the Gold Room, now filled with ghosts having a costume party. Here, he meets the ghost of the previous caretaker, Grady , who tells Jack that he must "correct" his wife and child. Meanwhile, in Florida, Hallorann has a premonition that something is wrong at the hotel and takes a flight back to Colorado to investigate. Danny starts calling out "redrum" frantically and goes into a trance, now referring to himself as "Tony".{{anchor}} While searching for Jack, Wendy discovers his typewriter; he has been typing endless pages of manuscript repeating "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" formatted in various styles. She is confronted by Jack, who threatens her before she knocks him unconscious with a baseball bat. She manages to drag him into the kitchen and lock him in the pantry, but this does not solve her larger problem; she and Danny are trapped at the hotel since Jack has sabotaged the hotel's two-way radio and snowcat. Later, Jack converses through the pantry door with Grady, who then unlocks the door, releasing him. Danny writes "REⱭЯUM" in lipstick on the bathroom door. When Wendy sees this in the bedroom mirror, the letters spell out "MURDƎЯ".In both forwards and backwards orientations, two of the six letters are displayed backwards, the middle DR for REDRUM and the final ER for MURDER. Jack begins to chop through the door leading to his family's living quarters with a fire axe. Wendy frantically sends Danny out through the bathroom window, but can't get through it herself. Jack then starts chopping through the bathroom door as Wendy screams in horror; he leers through the hole he has made, shouting "Here's Johnny!", but backs off after Wendy slashes his hand with a butcher knife. Hearing the engine of the snowcat Hallorann has borrowed to get up the mountain, Jack leaves the room. He kills Hallorann in the lobby and pursues Danny into the hedge maze. Wendy runs through the hotel looking for Danny, encountering several ghosts and a huge cascade of blood from an elevator. Meanwhile, Danny walks backwards in his own tracks and leaps behind a corner, covering his tracks with snow to mislead Jack, who is following his footprints. Wendy and Danny escape in Hallorann's snowcat, while Jack freezes to death in the hedge maze. In a photograph in the hotel hallway dated July 4, 1921, Jack Torrance smiles amid a crowd of party revelers. | 0.844913 | negative | -0.003827 | positive | 0.99204 |
27,485,441 | The Feather Men | Killer Elite | The book tells the story of four British Army soldiers, including two members of the Special Air Service, who are assassinated by a hit squad known as "The Clinic". The murders are carried out over a 17-year period, on the orders of a Dubai sheikh whose three sons were killed by British forces in Oman during a battle with Communist guerrillas. Fiennes claimed that he himself was targeted by the group, but was saved by a group of vigilantes calling themselves the "Feather Men". | In 1980, assassins Danny Bryce , Hunter , Davies , and Meier are in Mexico to assassinate a man. Danny unwittingly kills him in front of his young child, then is injured during the getaway. Affected by this outcome, Danny retires and returns to his native Australia. One year later, Danny is summoned to Oman where Hunter is being held captive. He meets with the Agent , who arranges missions for killers, and learns that Hunter accepted a $6 million job but failed to accomplish it. If Danny doesn't complete Hunter's mission, Hunter will be executed. Danny is introduced to Sheikh Amr, a deposed king of a small region of Oman who wants Danny to kill three former SAS agents—Steven Harris , Steven Cregg, and Simon McCann—for killing his three eldest sons during the Dhofar Rebellion. Danny must videotape their confessions and make their deaths look like accidents, and he must do it before the terminally ill Sheikh dies. This will allow the Sheikh's fourth son, Bakhait , to regain control of the desert region his father had ruled. If Danny fails, Hunter will be killed. Danny reunites with Davies and Meier. They agree to help him in exchange for a share of the money. As Danny and Meier sneak into the house of their first target, Steven Harris, in Oman, Davies questions local bar patrons about former SAS members. This is reported to the Feathermen, a secret society of former operatives protecting their own. Their head enforcer, Spike Logan , is sent to investigate. After Harris has confessed on videotape, Danny and Meier take him to the bathroom. Their plan is to break his neck using a hammer with tiles similar to those of the bathroom floor to make it appear that Harris slipped and broke his neck. Danny is distracted by the arrival of Harris's girlfriend and when he returns to the bathroom he finds that Meier was forced to kill Harris hastily in a struggle. Back in London, Davies discovers the second target, Steven Cregg, preparing for a long nighttime march in wintry weather at a local SAS base. Davies pretends to be a civilian having car problems outside the base's fence, allowing Danny to infiltrate the base. There he drugs Cregg's coffee to induce shock and cause Cregg to die of hypothermia during the march. Danny, in uniform, follows Cregg on the march, and a delirious Cregg confesses on videotape to Danny before he dies. Going to their last target, Simon McCann, currently a mercenary, they rig a truck to respond to remote control with the help of a new and inexperienced team member, Jake . As McCann is on his way to a fake job interview, Meier and Jake take control of the truck from another car and cause it to move in front of McCann's car, killing him. However, Logan and his men were watching over McCann. A gun fight in the docks ensues, and Meier is accidentally killed by Jake due to his lack of experience. Danny and Davies decide that the case is over, and they part ways. Davies is soon hit by a truck and killed while being chased by Logan's men. Danny returns to Oman and gives the Sheikh the last taped confession, which he has faked. Hunter is released and returns to his family, while Danny heads back to Australia and reunites with Anne , a childhood acquaintance. Soon, he is informed by the Agent that there is one last man who participated in the Sheikh's sons' murders and that this man, Ranulph Fiennes, is about to release a book about his experiences as a member of the SAS. Danny tells Anne to go to France with Hunter to protect her while he carries out the last job. The Sheikh’s son confirms that Harris was an innocent man. Logan, meanwhile, traces Danny through the Agent and sends a team to protect the author, but Jake distracts them, allowing Danny to infiltrate the building and shoot the author. He chooses to only wound the author, however, but takes pictures that appear to show him dead. Logan chases and captures Danny, taking him to an abandoned warehouse, but he is interrupted when an agent from the British government arrives and reveals that the British government is behind the events because of the Sheikh's valuable oil reserves. A three-way battle ensues, with Danny escaping and Logan shooting the government agent. Danny and Hunter head to Oman to give the Sheikh the pictures. However, Logan arrives first and confronts the Sheikh, telling him that the pictures are fake and then stabbing him to death. The Sheikh's son does not care and gives the money, which was intended for Danny and Hunter, to Logan. Hunter spots Logan leaving, and they chase after him, along with the Sheikh's men. After stopping the Sheikh's men, Danny and Hunter confront Logan on a desert road. Danny says that Logan can keep the money . They give Logan the remainder, telling him that he'll need it to start a new life away from the government after killing the government agent and acting against the wishes of the Feathermen and the British government. Danny says that it's over for him and that Logan must make up his own mind. They leave him there, saying they'll send a cab for him from the airport. Danny meets with Anne in France to start a new life. | 0.59083 | positive | 0.537385 | positive | 0.997338 |
2,696,891 | Charlotte's Web | Charlotte's Web | The book begins when John Arable's sow gives birth to a litter of piglets, and Mr. Arable discovers one of them is a runt and decides to kill it. However, his eight-year-old daughter Fern begs him to let it live. Therefore her father gives it to Fern as a pet, and she names the piglet Wilbur. Wilbur is hyperactive and always exploring new things. He lives with Fern for a few weeks and then is sold to her uncle, Homer Zuckerman. Although Fern visits him at the Zuckermans' farm as often as she can, her visits decrease as she grows older, and Wilbur gets lonelier day after day. Eventually, a warm and soothing voice tells him that she is going to be his friend. The next day, he wakes up and meets his new friend: Charlotte, the grey spider. Wilbur soon becomes a member of the community of animals who live in the cellar of Zuckerman's barn. However, he learns from an old sheep that he is going to be killed and eaten at Christmas, and turns to Charlotte for help. Charlotte has the idea of writing words in her web extolling Wilbur's excellence ("some pig," "terrific," "radiant," and eventually "humble"), reasoning that if she can make Wilbur sufficiently famous, he will not be killed. Thanks to Charlotte's efforts, and with the assistance of the gluttonous rat Templeton, Wilbur not only lives, but goes to the county fair with Charlotte and wins a prize. Having reached the end of her natural lifespan, Charlotte dies at the fair. Wilbur repays Charlotte by bringing home with him the sac of eggs (her "magnum opus") she had laid at the fair before dying. When Charlotte's eggs hatch at Zuckerman's farm, most of them leave to make their own lives elsewhere, except for three: Joy, Aranea, and Nellie, who remain there as friends to Wilbur. | {{Expand section}} One spring, on a farm in Maine, Fern Arable learns that her father plans to kill the runt of a litter of newborn pigs. She successfully begs him to spare its life. He gives it to her, who names him Wilbur and raises him as her pet. To her regret, when he grows into an adult pig, she is forced to take him to the Zuckerman farm, where he is to be prepared as dinner in due time. Charlotte A. Cavatica , a spider, lives in the space above Wilbur's sty in the Zuckermans' barn; she befriends him and decides to help prevent him from being eaten. With the help of the other barn animals, including a rat named Templeton , she convinces the Zuckerman family that Wilbur is actually quite special, by spelling out descriptions of him in her web: "Some pig", "Terrific", "Radiant" and "Humble". She gives her full name, revealing her as a barn spider, an orb-weaver spider with the scientific name Araneus cavaticus. The Arables, Zuckermans, Wilbur, Charlotte, and Templeton go to a fair, where Wilbur is entered in a contest. While there, Charlotte produces an egg sac. She cannot return home because she is dying. Wilbur tearfully says goodbye to her but manages to take her egg sac home, where hundreds of offspring emerge. Most of the young spiders soon leave, but three, named Joy, Aranea, and Nellie, stay and become Wilbur's friends. | 0.87892 | positive | 0.994751 | positive | 0.993536 |
1,371,138 | The Fox and the Hound | The Fox and the Hound | Copper, a bloodhound crossbred, was once the favorite among his Master's pack of hunting dogs in a rural country area. However, he now feels threatened by Chief, a younger, faster Black and Tan Coonhound. Copper hates Chief, who is taking Copper's place as pack leader. During a bear hunt, Chief protects the Master when the bear turns on him, while Copper is too afraid of the bear to confront him. The Master ignores Copper to heap praise on Chief and Copper's hatred and jealousy grow. Tod is a red fox kit, raised as a pet by one of the human hunters who killed his mother and litter mates. Tod initially enjoys his life, but when he reaches sexual maturity he returns to the wild. During his first year, he begins establishing his territory, and learns evasion techniques from being hunted by local farm dogs. One day, he comes across the Master's house and discovers that his presence sends the chained pack of dogs into a frustrated frenzy. He begins to delight in taunting them, until one day when Chief breaks his chain and chases him. The Master sees the dog escape and follows with Copper. As Chief skillfully trails the fox, Tod flees along a railroad track while a train is approaching, waiting to jump to safety until the last minute. Chief is killed by the train. With Chief buried and Master crying over a dead dog he trains Copper to ignore all foxes except for Tod. Over the span of the two animals' lives, man and dog hunt the fox, the Master using over a dozen hunting techniques in his quest for revenge. With each hunt, both dog and fox learn new tricks and methods to outsmart each other, Tod always escaping in the end. Tod mates with an older, experienced vixen who gives birth to a litter of kits. Before they are grown, the Master finds the den and gasses the kits to death. That winter, the Master sets out leg hold traps, which Tod carefully learns how to spring, but the vixen is caught and killed. In January, Tod takes a new mate, with whom he has another litter of kits. The Master uses a "still hunting" technique, in which he sits very quietly in the wood while playing a rabbit call to draw out the foxes. With this method, he kills the kits; then by using the sound of a wounded fox kit, he is also able to draw out and kill Tod's mate. As the years pass, the rural area gives way to a more urbanized setting. New buildings and highways spring up, more housing developments are built, and the farmers are pushed out. Though much of the wildlife has left and hunting grows increasingly difficult, Tod stays because it is his home range. The other foxes that remain become unhealthy scavengers, and their natures change—life-bonds with their mates are replaced by promiscuity, couples going their separate ways once the mating act is over. The Master has lost most of his own land, and the only dog he owns now is Copper. Each winter they still hunt Tod, and in an odd way he looks forward to it as the only aspect of his old life that remains. The Master spends most of his time drinking alcohol, and people begin trying to convince him to move into a nursing home, where no dogs are allowed. One summer, an outbreak of rabies spreads through the fox population. After one infected fox attacks a group of human children, the same people approach the Master and ask his help in killing the foxes. He uses traps and poison to try to kill as many foxes as possible; however, the poison also kills domestic animals. After a human child dies from eating it, the humans remove all of the poison, then the Master organizes a hunt in which large numbers of people line up and walk straight into the woods, flushing out foxes to be shot. The aging Tod escapes all three events, as well as an attempt at coursing him with greyhounds. One morning, after Tod's escape from the greyhounds, the Master sends Copper on the hunt. After he picks up the fox's trail, Copper relentlessly pursues him throughout the day and into the next morning. Tod finally drops dead of exhaustion, and Copper collapses on top of him, close to death himself. The Master nurses Copper back to health, and both enjoy their new popularity, but after a few months the excitement over Copper's accomplishment dies down. The Master is left alone again, and returns to drinking. He is once again asked to consider living in a nursing home, and this time he agrees. Crying, he takes his shotgun from the wall, leads Copper outside, and pets him gently before ordering him to lie down. He covers the dog's eyes as Copper licks his hand trustingly. | After a young red fox is orphaned, Big Mama the owl, Boomer the woodpecker, and Dinky the finch arrange for him to be adopted by Widow Tweed. Tweed names him Tod, since he reminds her of a toddler. Meanwhile, Tweed's neighbor, Amos Slade, brings home a young hound puppy named Copper and introduces him to his hunting dog Chief. Tod and Copper become playmates, and vow to remain "friends forever". Slade grows frustrated at Copper for constantly wandering off to play, and places him on a leash. While playing with Copper at his home, Tod awakens Chief. Slade and Chief chase him until they are stopped by Tweed. After an argument, Slade says that he will kill Tod if he enters his farm again. Hunting season comes and Slade takes his dogs into the wilderness for the interim. Meanwhile, Big Mama explains to Tod that his friendship with Copper cannot continue, as they are natural enemies, but Tod refuses to believe her. Months pass, and Tod and Copper reach adulthood. On the night of Copper's return, Tod sneaks over to meet him. Copper explains that while he still values Tod as a friend, he is a hunting dog now and things are different. Chief awakens and alerts Slade, a chase ensues and Copper catches Tod. Copper lets Tod go then diverts Chief and Slade. Chief maintains his pursuit onto a railroad track where he is struck by a train and wounded. Copper and Slade blame Tod for the accident and swear vengeance. Tweed realizes that her pet is no longer safe with her and leaves him at a game preserve. Big Mama introduces him to a female fox named Vixey, then Slade and Copper trespass into the preserve and hunt the two foxes. The chase climaxes when Slade and Copper inadvertently provoke an attack from a bear. Slade trips and gets caught in his own trap, dropping his gun just out of reach. Copper fights the bear but is no match for it. Tod battles the bear until they both fall down a waterfall. Copper approaches Tod as he lies in the lake below when Slade appears, ready to fire at the fox. Copper interposes his body in front of Tod, and refuses to move away. Slade lowers his gun and leaves with Copper, but not before the two former adversaries share one last smile before parting. At home, Tweed nurses Slade back to health while the dogs rest. Copper, before resting, smiles as he remembers the day when he became friends with Tod. On a hill Vixey joins Tod as he looks down on the homes of Copper and Tweed. | 0.743839 | positive | 0.995514 | positive | 0.49313 |
16,247,804 | Oliver Twist | Oliver Twist | Oliver Twist is born into a life of poverty and misfortune in a workhouse in an unnamed town (although when originally published in Bentley's Miscellany in 1837 the town was called Mudfog and said to be within 70 miles north of London - in reality this is the location of the town of Northampton). Orphaned almost from his first breath by his mother’s death in childbirth and his father’s unexplained absence, Oliver is meagerly provided for under the terms of the Poor Law, and spends the first nine years of his life at a baby farm in the 'care' of a woman named Mrs. Mann. Oliver is brought up with little food and few comforts. Around the time of Oliver's ninth birthday, Mr. Bumble, a parish beadle, removes Oliver from the baby farm and puts him to work picking oakum at the main workhouse. Oliver, who toils with very little food, remains in the workhouse for six months. One day, the desperately hungry boys decide to draw lots; the loser must ask for another portion of gruel. The task falls to Oliver, who at the next meal tremblingly comes forward, bowl in hand, and makes his famous request: "Please, sir, I want some more." A great uproar ensues. The board of well-fed gentlemen who administer the workhouse hypocritically offer five pounds to any person wishing to take on the boy as an apprentice. A brutal chimney sweep almost claims Oliver, however, when he begs despairingly not to be sent away with "that dreadful man", a kindly old magistrate refuses to sign the indentures. Later, Mr. Sowerberry, an undertaker employed by the parish, took Oliver into his service. He treats Oliver better, and because of the boy's sorrowful countenance, uses him as a mourner at children’s funerals. However, Mr. Sowerberry is in an unhappy marriage, and his wife takes an immediate dislike to Oliver — primarily because her husband seems to like him — and loses few opportunities to underfeed and mistreat him. He also suffers torment at the hands of Noah Claypole, an oafish but bullying fellow apprentice and "charity boy" who is jealous of Oliver’s promotion to mute, and Charlotte, the Sowerberrys' maidservant, who is in love with Noah. One day, in an attempt to bait Oliver, Noah insults Oliver's biological mother, calling her "a regular right-down bad ‘un". Oliver flies into a rage, attacking and even beating the much bigger boy. Mrs. Sowerberry takes Noah’s side, helps him to subdue, punching, and beating Oliver, and later compels her husband and Mr. Bumble, who has been sent for in the aftermath of the fight, into beating Oliver again. Once Oliver is sent to his room for the night, he does something that he hadn't done since babyhood — he breaks down and weeps. Alone that night, Oliver finally decides to run away, and, "He remembered to have seen the waggons, as they went out, toiling up the hill. He took the same route," until a well-placed milestone sets his wandering feet towards London. During his journey to London, Oliver encounters Jack Dawkins, a pickpocket more commonly known by the nickname the "Artful Dodger", although Oliver's innocent nature prevents him from recognising this hint that the boy may be dishonest. Dodger provides Oliver with a free meal and tells him of a gentleman in London who will "give him lodgings for nothing, and never ask for change". Grateful for the unexpected assistance, Oliver follows Dodger to the "old gentleman"'s residence. In this way, Oliver unwittingly falls in with an infamous Jewish criminal known as Fagin, the so-called gentleman of whom the Artful Dodger spoke. Ensnared, Oliver lives with Fagin and his gang of juvenile pickpockets in their lair at Saffron Hill for some time, unaware of their criminal occupations. He believes they make wallets and handkerchiefs. Later, Oliver naïvely goes out to "make handkerchiefs" because of no income coming in, with two of Fagin’s underlings: The Artful Dodger and a boy of a humorous nature named Charley Bates. Oliver realises too late that their real mission is to pick pockets. Dodger and Charley steal the handkerchief of an old gentleman named Mr. Brownlow, and promptly flee. When he finds his handkerchief missing, Mr. Brownlow turns round, sees Oliver, and pursues him. Others join the chase and Oliver is caught and taken before the magistrate. Curiously, Mr. Brownlow has second thoughts about the boy—he seems reluctant to believe he is a pickpocket. To the judge's evident disappointment, a bookstall holder who saw Dodger commit the crime clears Oliver, who, by now actually ill, faints in the courtroom. Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver home and, along with his housekeeper Mrs. Bedwin, cares for him. Oliver stays with Mr. Brownlow, recovers rapidly, and blossoms from the unaccustomed kindness. His bliss, however, is interrupted when Fagin, fearing Oliver might "peach" on his criminal gang, decides that Oliver must be brought back to his hideout. When Mr. Brownlow sends Oliver out to pay for some books, one of the gang, a young girl named Nancy, whom Oliver had previously met at Fagin's, accosts him with help from her abusive lover, a brutal robber named Bill Sikes, and Oliver is quickly bundled back to Fagin's lair. The thieves take the five-pound note Mr. Brownlow had entrusted to him, and strip him of his fine new clothes. Oliver, dismayed, flees and attempts to call for police assistance, but is ruthlessly dragged back by the Dodger, Charley and Fagin. Nancy, however, is sympathetic towards Oliver and saves him from beatings by Fagin and Sikes. In a renewed attempt to draw Oliver into a life of crime, Fagin forces him to participate in a burglary. Nancy reluctantly assists in recruiting him, all the while assuring the boy that she will help him if she can. Sikes, after threatening to kill him if he does not cooperate, sends Oliver through a small window and orders him to unlock the front door. The robbery goes wrong, however, and Oliver is shot and wounded in his left arm. After being abandoned by Sikes, the wounded Oliver ends up under the care of the people he was supposed to rob: Miss Rose and her guardian Mrs. Maylie Meanwhile, a mysterious man named Monks has found Fagin and is plotting with him to destroy Oliver's reputation. Monks denounces Fagin's failure to turn Oliver into a criminal and the two of them agree on a plan to make sure he does not find out about his past. Monks is apparently related to Oliver in some manner, although it's not mentioned until later. Back in Oliver's hometown, Mr. Bumble married Ms. Corney, the wealthy matron of the workhouse, only to find himself in an unhappy marriage constantly arguing with his domineering wife. After one such argument, Mr. Bumble walks over to a pub, where he meets Monks, who questions him about Oliver. Bumble informs Monks that he knows someone who can give Monks more information for a price, and later Monks meets secretly with the Bumbles. After Mrs. Bumble has told Monks all she knows, the three arrange to take a locket and ring which had once belonged to Oliver's mother and toss them into a nearby river. Monks relates this to Fagin as part of the plot to destroy Oliver, unaware that Nancy has eavesdropped on their conversation and gone ahead to inform Oliver's benefactors. Nancy, by this time ashamed of her role in Oliver's kidnapping, and fearful for the boy's safety, goes to Rose Maylie and Mr. Brownlow to warn them. She knows that Monks and Fagin are plotting to get their hands on the boy again and holds some secret meetings on the subject with Oliver's benefactors. One night Nancy tries to leave for one of the meetings, but Sikes refuses permission when she doesn't state exactly where she's going. Fagin realizes that Nancy is up to something and resolves to find out what her secret is. Meanwhile, Noah has fallen out with the undertaker Mr. Sowerberry, stolen money from him and fled to London. Charlotte has accompanied him — they are now in a relationship. Using the name "Morris Bolter", he joins Fagin's gang for protection and becomes a practicer of "the kinchen lay" (robbing children) while it is implied that Charlotte becomes a prostitute. During Noah's stay with Fagin, the Artful Dodger is caught with a stolen silver snuff box, convicted (in a very humorous courtroom scene) and transported to Australia. Later, Noah is sent by Fagin to "dodge" (spy on) Nancy, and discovers her secret: she has been meeting secretly with Rose and Mr. Brownlow to discuss how to save Oliver from Fagin and Monks. Fagin angrily passes the information on to Sikes, twisting the story just enough to make it sound as if Nancy had informed on him. Believing Nancy to be a traitor, Sikes beats her to death in a fit of rage and later flees to the countryside to escape from the police. There, Sikes is haunted by visions of Nancy's ghost and increasingly alarmed by news of her murder spreading across the countryside. He flees back to London to find a hiding place, only to be killed when he accidentally hangs himself while attempting to flee across a rooftop from an angry mob. Monks is forced by Mr. Brownlow to divulge his secrets: his real name is Edward Leeford, and he is Oliver's paternal half-brother and, although he is legitimate, he was born of a loveless marriage. Oliver's mother, Agnes, was their father's true love. Mr. Brownlow has a picture of her, and began making inquiries when he noticed a marked resemblance between her face and the face of Oliver. Monks has spent many years searching for his father's child—not to befriend him, but to destroy him (see Henry Fielding's Tom Jones for similar circumstances). Brownlow asks Oliver to give half his inheritance (which proves to be meagre) to Monks because he wants to give him a second chance; and Oliver, being prone to giving second chances, is more than happy to comply. Monks then moves to America, where he squanders his money, reverts to crime, and ultimately dies in prison. Fagin is arrested and condemned to the gallows. On the eve of his hanging, in an emotional scene, Oliver, accompanied by Mr. Brownlow, goes to visit the old reprobate in Newgate Gaol, where Fagin's terror at being hanged has caused him to come down with fever. As Mr. Brownlow and Oliver leave the prison, Fagin screams in terror and despair as a crowd gathers to see his hanging. On a happier note, Rose Maylie turns out to be the long-lost sister of Agnes; she is therefore Oliver's aunt. She marries her long-time sweetheart Harry, and Oliver lives happily with his saviour, Mr. Brownlow. Noah becomes a paid, semi-professional informer to the police. The Bumbles lose their jobs and are reduced to great poverty, eventually ending up in the same workhouse where they originally had lorded it over Oliver and the other boys; and Charley Bates, horrified by Sikes's murder of Nancy, becomes an honest citizen, moves to the country, and works his way up to prosperity. | The film opens with a young, blonde-haired woman outdoors during a rainstorm. She is seen struggling on her knees, and she manages to stumble into a home. The occupants, learning that the pregnant woman is about to go into labour, make preparations for her birth. With some difficulty, the unnamed woman gives birth to a baby boy , with the assistance of a midwife, known as Mrs. Corney . The woman, barely able to speak, asks to see her son. When he is given to her, she smiles weakly at him and kisses the baby's forehead before she collapses and dies. Witnessing the woman's birth is Mr. Bumble , a hard-nosed man in charge of the local orphans workhouse. With no information on the mother's identity, he gives the boy the name Oliver Twist. Like the other boys in the workhouse, Oliver lives a hard life of endless labour and schooling, with only a bowl of gruel for supper, while Bumble sits above them feasting on food such as leg of lamb. After seeing his half-starved friend Dick devour his bowl and still wanting more, Oliver, in a gesture of compassion, offers the lad his own, then goes up to Bumble and asks for more, unaware of the consequences. His request angers Bumble, who hires him out to work for Mr Sowerberry, a local undertaker. Sowerberry exploits Oliver's pathetic features by using him as a silent mourner, present at burials for the dead who are without family or friends, many of them children. Oliver's situation is not much different than the workhouse, as he is given a workbench to sleep on and scraps that Sowerberry's dogs refuse to eat for food. Oliver also becomes the object of Noah Claypole's ([[Phil Davis hatred. Claypole, a teenager, has been assigned to supervise Oliver. He gives Oliver harsh tasks and becomes further resentful when Sowerberry decides to use Oliver instead of him for silent mourner duties. Claypole taunts Oliver one day, making fun of his dead mother. The remark angers Oliver, who delivers a surprisingly powerful blow to Claypole's face, breaking his nose. Sowerberry rushes in and after learning what caused the fracas, takes Claypole's side and tells Oliver he will be returned to the workhouse the following day. Oliver waits until later that evening and then sneaks out. He roams the streets that evening until he arrives in the market town of Barnet , where he is met by the Artful Dodger . Aware of Oliver's plight as he too is an orphan, the Artful Dodger offers Oliver lodgings from his benefactor. Oliver agrees, unaware of what he has got himself into. Oliver is now part of a band of thieves, overseen by Fagin , a kindly Jewish man of dark features. Among Fagin's group are Bill Sikes , a drunk who oversees the orphan thieves, and Nancy, an attractive young woman often used for sexual favors, and frequently abused by Bill. She takes a liking to Oliver and tries to help him, but for this, she is eventually viciously murdered by Bill. Oliver is made aware of his true purpose with Fagin when he is expected to work as a pickpocket. Sikes forces Oliver to help him burglarize a home in the countryside. The boy is shot in the process. An elderly man, Mr Brownlow, along with his niece Rose Maylie and housekeeper, Mrs. Bedwin, take pity upon him and nurse the boy back to health. He finds both a newly found happiness and joy with them. Mr. Brownlow and Mrs. Bedwin notice a close resemblance between Oliver and a lady's portrait on the wall, leading them to eventually discovering the boy's true identity. Throughout all of this is the obsession of one man bent on destroying Oliver and his reputation, even going so far as to try to have him murdered. Monks , who has a distinguishing red birthmark over his left eye, has learned that although he and Oliver are born of different mothers, they are of the same father. Monks learns that their father has disinherited him in favor of Oliver, though he inherited what should have been Oliver's inheritance after his mother's death. Though Monks is legitimate, he also has aspirations of wealth and stature that his inheritance would provide. Thus, he also sees the relationship between them as socially scandalous. His efforts prove unsuccessful in the end, however. When Nancy's body is discovered, an angry mob descends upon the gang and captures Fagin. "Filthy Jew!" shouts one man who strikes him in the face. Fagin rails against the crowd as he is led away. "If you need money, I am the clever Jew! If you need my help I am the kind Jew! You all sicken me!" Bill, fleeing after Nancy's murder, tries to kill his pet dog, but the dog escapes and leads the mob straight to Bill, who accidentally hangs himself after trying to flee over a rooftop and hallucinating that he sees Nancy's bloody ghost. Brownlow is revealed to be a friend of Oliver's father, Philip . Monks' real name is revealed to be Edward Leeford, and Philip's marriage to Edward' mother had been an unhappy one. Having separated from her, Philip moved to the country where he met and fell in love with Oliver's mother, revealed to have been named Agnes Fleming. Leeford never told Agnes of his marriage, nor did she tell him when she became pregnant with his child . He left for London to ask Edward's mother for a divorce so he could marry Agnes, but died before he could do so. Already having had a premonition that he was going to die, Leeford wrote a will in which he left a small inheritance to Edward and his mother, but the rest to Agnes. Feeling abandoned and ashamed, Agnes ran away and disappeared, leading up to the events at the beginning of the film. Before he went to London, Leeford left both the will and a portrait he had painted of Agnes with Brownlow. Brownlow does some investigative work on his own to bring justice to his friend's young son. He learns of the cruelty and inhumane conditions at the workhouse, and also learns of Bumble's theft of workhouse funds for his own benefit, money which has been intended to properly feed and clothe the orphans. Bumble immediately blames his wife, Mrs. Mann for the misappropriations and claims to love Oliver as he does the other orphans. After receiving a locket Mrs. Bumble had stolen from Agnes's corpse and revealing to everyone the boy's true identity, Brownlow tells Monks that he will be going to prison. Then, not fooled by Bumble's charade, Brownlow informs him that under British law, a husband is accountable for his wife's misdeeds, prompting Bumble's famous reply "If that's the eye of the law, then the law is a ass." Brownlow then tells Bumble that he will use his influence to see to it that he and his wife lose their workhouse jobs and may even face criminal charges. The film ends with Monks going to prison and Brownlow and Rose assuring Oliver that he is no longer a foundling, but now has a true identity of his own. Everyone then climbs into Brownlow's coach and they make the journey back to Brownlow's estate. | 0.938022 | positive | 0.989826 | positive | 0.738215 |
26,224,556 | True Grit | True Grit | Portis’ novel is narrated by Mattie Ross, a thrifty, churchgoing older spinster distinguished by intelligence, independence and strength of mind. Speaking in 1903, she recounts the story of her adventures many years earlier, when, at the age of fourteen, she undertook a quest to avenge her father’s death at the hands of a drifter named Tom Chaney. She is joined on her quest by Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn and a Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf (pronounced "La-beef"). As Mattie's tale begins, Chaney is employed on the Ross’ family farm in west central Arkansas, near the town of Dardanelle in Yell County. Chaney is not adept as a farmhand, and Mattie has only scorn for him, referring to him as "trash", and noting that her kind-hearted father, Frank, only hired him out of pity. One day, Frank Ross and Chaney go to Fort Smith to buy some horses. Ross takes $250 with him to pay for the horses, along with two gold pieces he always carried. He ends up spending only $100 on the horses. When Ross tries to intervene in a barroom confrontation involving Chaney, Chaney kills him, robs the body of the remaining $150 and two gold pieces, and flees into Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) on his horse. Hearing that Chaney has joined an outlaw gang led by the infamous "Lucky" Ned Pepper, Mattie wishes to track down the killer, and upon arriving at Fort Smith she looks for the toughest deputy U.S. Marshal in the district. That man turns out to be Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn, and although he is an aging, one-eyed, overweight, trigger-happy, hard-drinking man, Mattie is convinced that he has "grit", and that he is best suited for the job due to his reputation for violence. Playing on Cogburn's need for money, Mattie persuades him to take on the job, insisting that, as part of the bargain, she accompany him. During their preparation, a Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf appears. He too is tracking Chaney, and has been for four months, for killing a senator and his dog in Texas, with the hopes of bringing him back to Texas dead or alive for a cash reward. Cogburn and LaBoeuf take a dislike to each other, but after some haggling, they agree to join forces in the hunt realizing that they can both benefit from each other's respective talents and knowledge. Once they reach a deal the two men attempt to leave Mattie behind, but she proves more tenacious than they had expected. They repeatedly try to lose her, but she persists in following them and seeing her transaction with Marshal Cogburn through to the end. Eventually she is jumped by Cogburn and LaBoeuf, who had hid themselves from view and LaBoeuf begins to spank Mattie. Mattie appeals to Cogburn and he orders LaBoeuf to stop. At this point Mattie is allowed to join their posse. Together, but with very different motivations, the three ride into the wilderness to confront Ned Pepper's gang. Along the way, they develop an appreciation for one another. | Mattie Ross explains that her father was murdered by one of his hired hands, Tom Chaney , when she was 14 years old. While collecting her father's body, Mattie queries the local sheriff about the search for Chaney. After being told that Chaney has fled into Indian Territory where the sheriff has no authority, she inquires about hiring a Deputy U.S. Marshal. The sheriff gives three recommendations, and Mattie chooses to hire Rooster Cogburn whom the sheriff had described as being the "meanest." The taciturn, one-eyed Cogburn rebuffs her offer, not believing she has the reward money to hire him. She raises the money by aggressively horse-trading with Colonel Stonehill , who did business with her father. Meanwhile, Texas Ranger LaBoeuf arrives on the trail of Chaney for the murder of a Texas state senator. LaBoeuf proposes to team up with Cogburn, who knows the Choctaw terrain where Chaney is hiding, but Mattie refuses his offer because she wishes Chaney to be hanged in Arkansas for her father's murder, not in Texas for killing the senator. Mattie also insists on traveling with Cogburn to search for Chaney. But Cogburn later leaves without her, having gone with LeBoeuf to apprehend Chaney. After being refused passage on the ferry that conveyed Cogburn and LaBoeuf, Mattie crosses the river on horseback. LaBoeuf expresses his displeasure by birching Mattie with a switch rod, but Cogburn eventually stops him. After a dispute over their respective service with the Confederate States of America—Cogburn served with Quantrill's Raiders and LaBoeuf with Edmund Kirby Smith—Cogburn ends their arrangement and LaBoeuf leaves. Later, while pursuing the "Lucky" Ned Pepper gang that Chaney is supposedly traveling with, the two meet a trail doctor who directs them to an empty dugout for shelter. There they find two outlaws, Quincey and Moon . As Moon is interrogated by Cogburn, Moon is fatally stabbed by Quincey, whom Cogburn then shoots dead. Before dying, Moon says Pepper and his gang will be returning later that night. Just before the Pepper gang arrives, LaBoeuf arrives at the dugout and is taken hostage. Cogburn, hiding on the hillside with Mattie, shoots and kills two gang members, but Pepper escapes. The next day, Cogburn gets in a drunken argument with LaBoeuf, who departs once again. While getting water from a nearby stream, Mattie encounters Chaney. She shoots him, but he survives and drags her back to Ned, who forces Cogburn to leave by threatening to kill her. Being short a horse, Ned leaves Mattie with Chaney, ordering him not to harm her or he will not get paid after his remount arrives. Once alone, Chaney disobeys Ned and tries to kill Mattie. LaBoeuf appears and knocks Chaney out, explaining that he rode back when he heard the shots, and he and Cogburn devised a plan. They watch from a cliff as Cogburn takes on the remaining members of Ned's gang, killing two and wounding Ned, before his horse is struck and falls, trapping Cogburn's leg. Before Pepper can kill Cogburn, LaBoeuf shoots and kills Pepper from roughly four hundred yards away. Chaney comes to and attacks LaBoeuf, knocking him out. Mattie seizes LaBoeuf's rifle and shoots Chaney dead in the chest. The recoil, however, knocks her into a deep pit containing rattlesnakes. Cogburn arrives, but Mattie is bitten before he can get to her. Cogburn rides day and night to get Mattie to a doctor, carrying her on foot after her horse collapses from exhaustion, finally making his way to a trading post. Twenty-five years later, Mattie — now 40 and with only one arm, the result of an amputation necessitated by gangrene from the snakebite — receives a note from Cogburn inviting her to meet him at a traveling Wild West show that he now performs in. She arrives, only to learn that Cogburn died three days earlier. She has his body moved to her family cemetery. Standing over Cogburn's grave, she reflects on her decision to move his remains, about never having married, and how time catches up with everyone. | 0.826895 | positive | 0.987888 | positive | 0.996346 |
2,636,682 | Disclosure | Disclosure | Tom Sanders, the head of advanced products manufacturing at DigiCom, expects to be promoted to run the advanced products division after DigiCom's merger with a publishing house. Instead, his ex-girlfriend, Meredith Johnson, who recently moved to Seattle from the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California; is given the promotion. Later that day, Meredith calls Tom into her office, ostensibly to discuss an advanced CD-ROM drive. She aggressively tries to resume their relationship, despite Tom's repeated attempts to resist. When he spurns her sexual advances, Meredith angrily vows to make him pay. The next morning, Tom discovers that Meredith has retaliated by falsely accusing him of sexual harassment. DigiCom president Bob Garvin, fearing that the incident could jeopardize the merger, tells the company's general counsel, Phil Blackburn, to propose transferring Tom to the company's Austin facility. However, Tom's division is due to be spun off as a publicly traded company after the merger, and if he's transferred, he will lose stock options which would make him a wealthy man. Seemingly out of options, Tom gets in touch with Seattle attorney Louise Fernandez, who agrees to take the case. Tom threatens to sue Meredith and DigiCom for sexual harassment unless Meredith is fired, throwing the merger and his future with the company in jeopardy. During a mediation, Tom discovers that when he called one of his colleagues, John Levin, about the problems with the drive, John's answering machine recorded the whole incident with Meredith. He and Linda also discover that DigiCom officials have known for some time that Meredith has a history of unwelcome advances toward male coworkers, and yet did nothing to stop it. Confronted with this evidence, DigiCom is forced to agree to a settlement in which Meredith is quietly pushed out and Tom is restored to his former post. That night, Tom gets an email from "A Friend" warning him that all is not normal yet. Later, he overhears Meredith and Phil planning to make it look like Tom is responsible for defects in the CD-ROM project, thereby giving DigiCom an excuse to fire him for incompetence. Tom is unable to access information in the database that would prove his innocence since Meredith has locked him out of the system. Through a prototype of the company's virtual reality machine, Tom discovers that Meredith changed the quality control specifications at the Malaysian plant manufacturing the drive. These changes, ostensibly to appease Malaysian government demands and cut costs, resulted in the defects. With the help of one of his Malaysian colleagues, Tom obtains enough evidence to turn the tables on Meredith, resulting in her getting fired instead. | Seattle software company DigiCom is about to merge with a publishing company, and company founder and president Bob Garvin is about to retire. Tom Sanders , head of manufacturing, expects to be promoted to run DigiCom after the merger. However, he learns that the post instead went to operations executive Meredith Johnson , a former girlfriend from long ago. Garvin introduces Meredith to her new associates. Co-workers like Mark Lewyn comment to Tom on how attractive Meredith is. Others like chief financial officer Stephanie Kaplan seem to be aware that Tom and Meredith had a relationship in the past. Late that evening, Meredith calls Tom into her office, ostensibly to discuss a project he is working on. Meredith aggressively tries to resume her romantic relationship with him. Tom resists as he is now a married family man. He repeatedly tells Meredith "No." Meredith ignores Tom, aggressively forcing herself on him. Tom initially gives in, but after catching a glimpse of himself in a mirror, he regains control and pushes Meredith to the ground. As he leaves, Meredith threatens to make him pay for spurning her. The next day, Tom discovers that Meredith alleged sexual harassment against him to DigiCom. Colleagues refuse to believe his protestations of innocence and the company pressures him to accept reassignment to the company's Austin office. Tom does not want to do this, as he would lose his stock options, ruining his career and family. However, since no one believes his story and Meredith is now his boss, he appears to have no choice but to accept reassignment or be fired. Just as all seems hopeless, Tom receives an e-mail from someone identified only as "A Friend." It directs him to Seattle attorney Catherine Alvarez , who specializes in sexual harassment cases. Tom counter-sues, alleging that Meredith is the one who harassed him. Evidence is produced that supports Tom's story and refutes Meredith's testimony before a court mediator. The company backs down and gives him a large pay raise. Tom is celebrating his apparent victory, but receives another e-mail from "A Friend" warning him that all is not what it seems. It turns out that Meredith and Garvin's assistant, Philip Blackburn , changed the quality control specifications at the Malaysian plant manufacturing DigiCom's new advanced CD-ROM drive. The changes resulted in severe defects in the drive, and Meredith and Phil are trying to cover their tracks by getting Tom to take the fall for them. They plan to pin the blame on him at a conference the next day announcing the merger. The plan is to make Tom look incompetent, thereby giving them a valid reason to fire him. Tom cannot access a company computer to investigate because Meredith has locked him out of the system. He spends a tense and frantic night getting the information through a Virtual Reality demonstration machine left in the hotel room of executives from the merging company, with help from a colleague who owes him a favor. Armed with this information, he manages to again turn the tables on Meredith, exposing her involvement and getting her fired instead. Tom thinks this puts him back in the running to helm DigiCom, but Garvin instead names Stephanie, the low-key CFO, as his successor. Tom heartily approves. It occurs to him that her son, Spencer , could very well be the "friend" responsible for helping him via e-mail. With a knowing look, Spencer does not deny this. In the end, Tom is left in the same position he was in at the beginning of the film, but only after a narrow escape. He is left musing over the fact that two women were responsible for saving him. | 0.895818 | negative | -0.280102 | negative | -0.982118 |
29,454,281 | The Help | The Help | The Help is set in the early 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi, and told primarily from the first-person perspectives of three women: Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter. Aibileen is an African-American maid who cleans houses and cares for the young children of various white families. Her first job since her own 24-year-old son, Treelore, died from an accident on his job is tending the Leefolt household and caring for their toddler, Mae Mobley. Minny is Aibileen's confrontational friend who frequently tells her employers what she thinks of them, resulting in having been fired from nineteen jobs. Minny's most recent employer was Mrs. Walters, mother of Hilly Holbrook. Hilly is the social leader of the community, and head of the Junior League. She is the nemesis of all three main characters. Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is the daughter of a prominent white family whose cotton farm employs many African-Americans in the fields, as well as in the household. Skeeter has just finished college and comes home with dreams of becoming a writer. Her mother's dream is for Skeeter to get married. Skeeter frequently wonders about the sudden disappearance of Constantine, the maid who raised her. She had been writing to Skeeter while she was away at college and her last letter promised a surprise upon her homecoming. Skeeter's family tells her that Constantine abruptly quit, then went to live with relatives in Chicago. Skeeter does not believe that Constantine would just leave and continually pursues anyone she thinks has information about her to come forth, but no one will discuss the former maid. The life that Constantine led while being the help to the Phelan family leads Skeeter to the realization that her friends' maids are treated very differently from how the white employees are treated. She decides (with the assistance of a publisher) that she wants to reveal the truth about being a colored maid in Mississippi. Skeeter struggles to communicate with the maids and gain their trust. The dangers of undertaking writing a book about African-Americans speaking out in the South during the early '60s hover constantly over the three women. Racial issues of overcoming long-standing barriers in customs and laws are experienced by all of the characters. The lives and morals of Southern socialites are also explored. | Aibileen Clark is a middle-aged black maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son. Minny Jackson is another black maid and Aibileen's best friend whose outspokenness has gotten her fired a number of times; she has built up a reputation for being a difficult employee, but she makes up for this with her phenomenal cooking skills. Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is a young white woman who has recently moved back home to her family's plantation after graduating from the University of Mississippi<ref nameJuly 2012}} {{cite news}} to find that her beloved childhood maid, Constantine , has quit while she was away. Skeeter is skeptical, because she believes Constantine would not have left without writing to her. Unlike her friends, who attended university to find husbands , Skeeter is single, has a degree, and wants to begin a career as a writer. Her first job is as a "homemaker hints" columnist in the local paper. With Constantine gone, Skeeter asks Aibileen, the maid to her good friend, Elizabeth , for her help in answering domestic questions. Skeeter becomes uncomfortable with the attitude her friends have towards their "help," especially Hilly Holbrook and her "Home Help Sanitation Initiative", a proposed bill to provide for separate toilets for black help because she believes that "black people carry different diseases to white people." Amidst the era of discrimination based on color, Skeeter is one of the few who believe otherwise, and she decides to write a book based on the lives of the maids who have spent their entire lives taking care of white children. The maids are at first reluctant to talk to Skeeter, because they are afraid that they will lose their jobs or worse. Aibileen is the first to share her stories, after she overhears Hilly's initiative, and realizes that the children whom she has been raising are growing up to be just like their parents. Her friend Minny has just been fired as Hilly's maid as a punishment for Minny using the bathroom during a thunderstorm , instead of going to use the separate outdoor toilet. Hilly poisons all the other families against Minny, making it impossible for her to find other work, and her daughter is forced to drop out of school to find a job as a maid. Minny initially declines to participate in Skeeter's book research, but later agrees to share her stories. Aibileen helps her find work with Celia Foote , who is married to a rich socialite , but is an outcast from the other society ladies , because she was born into a working-class family and her husband is Hilly's ex-boyfriend. Also, unlike Hilly, Celia treats Minny with respect. Skeeter writes a draft of the book, with Minny and Aibileen's stories in it, and sends it to Miss Stein , an editor for Harper & Row in New York City, New York. Miss Stein thinks there may be some interest in it, but requires at least a dozen more maids' contributions before it can become a viable book. Believing that the book will only be publishable during the Civil Rights movement, which she believes is a passing fad, Stein advises Skeeter to finish the book soon. No one comes forward, until Medgar Evers is assassinated in Jackson, Mississippi, and Hilly's latest maid is brutally arrested . With racial tensions running high, the maids realize that Skeeter's book will give them an opportunity for their voices to be heard, and Skeeter suddenly has numerous stories to include. Minny shares one last story with Skeeter and Aibileen, which she calls the "Terrible Awful," to ensure that no one will reveal that the book was written about Jackson, Mississippi. As revenge for being fired and accused of stealing, Minny bakes a chocolate pie and delivers it to Hilly. After Hilly has finished two slices, Minny informs her that she has baked her own feces into the pie. Minny tells Aibileen and Skeeter that if they add that part into the book, Hilly will try to prevent anyone from figuring out that she made her eat human feces and will convince the town that the book is not about Jackson. The book is almost finished, except for Skeeter's own story of being brought up by Constantine. Skeeter manages to find out what had happened to Constantine, when her mother, Charlotte , finally explains that she reluctantly fired her in order to save face during a reception. Soon afterwards, feeling guilty about the incident since the Phelans are quite close to their help, Charlotte had sent Skeeter's brother to bring Constantine home from Chicago, Illinois, where she was living with her daughter Rachel, but he discovered that she had died, not long after leaving Jackson. However, Constantine's daughter forgives them knowing that the family they served genuinely love them. The book is accepted for publication and is a success, much to the delight of Skeeter and the maids. She shares her royalties with each of the maids who contributed, and is offered a job with a publishing company in New York City. She tells her boyfriend about the job and the book. Revolted by her ideas of racial equality, he immediately breaks up with her. Later in the afternoon, Hilly hatches a plan to get rid of Aibileen as Elizabeth's help, by falsely accusing her of stealing silver. Elizabeth tries to defend Aibileen, but to no avail. Aibileen denounces Hilly as a godless woman and tells her that she will never have peace if she continues her vindictive ways, leaving her in limbo. As Aibileen tries to convince Hilly and Elizabeth of her innocence, Elizabeth's daughter, Mae Mobley, arrives and pleads with her not to go. Elizabeth is forced to accept the firing of Aibileen, and Mae Mobley cries by the window, shouting for Aibileen as she leaves to start a new life. | 0.710158 | positive | 0.957822 | positive | 0.997781 |
11,501,271 | Anna Karenina | Anna Karenina | The novel is divided into eight parts. Its epigraph is Vengeance is mine, I will repay, from Romans 12:19, which in turn is quoting from Deuteronomy 32:35. The novel begins with one of its most quoted lines: The novel opens with a scene introducing Prince Stepan Arkadyevitch Oblonsky ("Stiva"), a Moscow aristocrat and civil servant who has been unfaithful to his wife Darya Alexandrovna, ("Dolly"). Dolly has discovered his affair—with the family's governess—and the house and family are in turmoil. Stiva's affair and his reaction to his wife's distress show an amorous personality that he cannot seem to suppress. In the midst of the turmoil, Stiva reminds the household that his married sister, Anna Arkadyevna Karenina, is coming to visit from Saint Petersburg. Meanwhile, Stiva's childhood friend, Konstantin Dmitrievich Levin ("Kostya"), arrives in Moscow with the aim of proposing to Dolly's youngest sister, Princess Katerina Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya ("Kitty"). Levin is a passionate, restless, but shy aristocratic landowner who, unlike his Moscow friends, chooses to live in the country on his large estate. He discovers that Kitty is also being pursued by Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky, an army officer. Whilst at the railway station to meet Anna, Stiva bumps into Vronsky; he is there to meet his mother, the Countess Vronskaya. Anna and Vronskaya have traveled and talked together in the same carriage. As the family members are reunited, and Vronsky sees Anna for the first time, a railway worker accidentally falls in front of a train and is killed. Anna interprets this as an "evil omen." Vronsky, however, is infatuated with her. Anna is uneasy about leaving her young son, Seryozha, alone for the first time. She also talks openly and emotionally to Dolly about Stiva's affair, convincing her that Stiva stills loves her despite the infidelity. Dolly is moved by Anna's speeches and decides to forgive Stiva. Kitty comes to visit Dolly and Anna. Kitty, just eighteen, is in her first season as a debutante and is expected to make an excellent match with a man of her social standing. Vronsky has been paying her considerable attention, and she expects to dance with him at a ball that evening. Kitty is very struck by Anna's beauty and personality, and becomes infatuated with her just as Vronsky is. When Levin proposes to Kitty at her home, she clumsily turns him down, believing she is in love with Vronsky and that he will propose to her. At the ball, Vronsky dances with Anna, choosing her as a partner over a shocked and heartbroken Kitty. Kitty realises that Vronsky has fallen in love with Anna, and has no intention of marrying her despite his overt flirtations; Vronsky has regarded his interactions with Kitty merely as a source of amusement, and assumes that Kitty has acted for the same reasons. Anna, shaken by her emotional and physical response to Vronsky, returns at once to Saint Petersburg. Vronsky travels on the same train. During the overnight journey, the two meet and Vronsky confesses his love. Anna refuses him, although she is deeply affected by his attentions to her. Levin, crushed by Kitty's refusal, returns to his estate farm, abandoning any hope of marriage. Anna returns to her husband Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin, a senior government official, and their son Sergei ("Seryozha") in Saint Petersburg. On seeing her husband for the first time since her encounter with Vronsky, Anna realises that she finds him repulsive. The Shcherbatskys consult doctors over Kitty's health, which has been failing since Vronsky's rejection. A specialist advises that Kitty should go abroad to a health spa to recover. Dolly speaks to Kitty and understands she is suffering because of Vronsky and Levin, whom she cares for and had hurt in vain. Kitty, humiliated by Vronsky and tormented by her rejection of Levin, upsets her sister by referring to Stiva's infidelity, saying she could never love a man who betrayed her. Meanwhile, Stiva visits Levin on his country estate while selling a nearby plot of land. In Saint Petersburg, Anna begins to spend more time in the inner circle of Princess Betsy, a fashionable socialite and Vronsky's cousin. Vronsky continues to pursue Anna. Although she initially tries to reject him, she eventually succumbs to his attentions. Karenin reminds his wife of the impropriety of paying too much attention to Vronsky in public, which is becoming the subject of gossip. He is concerned about the couple's public image, although he believes that Anna is above suspicion. Vronsky – a keen horseman – takes part in a steeplechase event, during which he rides his mare Frou-Frou too hard and she falls and breaks her back. Anna is unable to hide her distress during the accident. Later, Anna tells Vronsky that she is pregnant with his child. Karenin is also present at the races, and remarks to Anna that her behaviour is improper. Anna, in a state of extreme distress and emotion, confesses her affair to her husband. Karenin asks her to break it off to avoid further gossip, believing that their marriage will be preserved. Kitty and her mother travel to a German spa to recover from her ill health. There, they meet the Pietist Madame Stahl and the saintly Varenka, her adopted daughter. Influenced by Varenka, Kitty becomes extremely pious, but becomes disillusioned by her father's criticism. She then returns to Moscow. Levin continues working on his estate, a setting closely tied to his spiritual thoughts and struggles. He wrestles with the idea of falseness, wondering how he should go about ridding himself of it, and criticising what he feels is falseness in others. He develops ideas relating to agriculture, and the unique relationship between the agricultural labourer and his native land and culture. He comes to believe that the agricultural reforms of Europe will not work in Russia because of the unique culture and personality of the Russian peasant. When Levin visits Dolly, she attempts to understand what happened between him and Kitty and to explain Kitty's behaviour. Levin is very agitated by Dolly's talk about Kitty, and he begins to feel distant from Dolly as he perceives her loving behaviour towards her children as false. Levin resolves to forget Kitty, and contemplates the possibility of marriage to a peasant woman. However, a chance sighting of Kitty in her carriage makes Levin realise he still loves her. Meanwhile, in Saint Petersburg, Karenin refuses to separate from Anna, insisting that their relationship will continue. He threatens to take away Seryozha if she persists in her affair with Vronsky. When Anna and Vronsky continue seeing each other, Karenin consults with a lawyer about obtaining a divorce. During the time period, a divorce in Russia could only be requested by the innocent party in an affair, and required either that the guilty party confessed — which would ruin Anna's position in society and bar her from re-marrying — or that the guilty party be discovered in the act of adultery. Karenin forces Anna to hand over some of Vronsky's love letters, which the lawyer deems insufficient as proof of the affair. Stiva and Dolly argue against Karenin's drive for a divorce. Karenin changes his plans after hearing that Anna is dying after the difficult birth of her daughter, Annie. At her bedside, Karenin forgives Vronsky. However, Vronsky, embarrassed by Karenin's magnanimity, unsuccessfully attempts suicide by shooting himself. As Anna recovers, she finds that she cannot bear living with Karenin despite his forgiveness and his attachment to Annie. When she hears that Vronsky is about to leave for a military posting in Tashkent, she becomes desperate. Anna and Vronsky reunite and elope to Europe, leaving Seryozha and leaving Karenin's offer of divorce unaccepted. Meanwhile, Stiva acts as a matchmaker with Levin: he arranges a meeting between him and Kitty, which results in their reconciliation and betrothal. Levin and Kitty marry and start their new life on his country estate. Although the couple are happy, they undergo a bitter and stressful first three months of marriage. Levin feels dissatisfied at the amount of time Kitty wants to spend with him, and dwells on his ability to be productive as he was as a bachelor. When the marriage starts to improve, Levin learns that his brother, Nikolai, is dying of consumption. Kitty offers to accompany Levin on his journey to see Nikolai, and proves herself a great help in nursing Nikolai. Seeing his wife take charge of the situation in an infinitely more capable manner than if he were without her, Levin's love for Kitty grows. Kitty eventually learns that she is pregnant. In Europe, Vronsky and Anna struggle to find friends who will accept them. Whilst Anna is happy to be finally alone with Vronsky, he feels suffocated. They cannot socialize with Russians of their own class, and find it difficult to amuse themselves. Vronsky, who believed that being with Anna was the key to his happiness, finds himself increasingly bored and unsatisfied. He takes up painting and makes an attempt to patronize an émigré Russian artist of genius. However, Vronsky cannot see that his own art lacks talent and passion, and that his conversation about art is really pretentious. Increasingly restless, Anna and Vronsky decide to return to Russia. In Saint Petersburg, Anna and Vronsky stay in one of the best hotels, but take separate suites. It becomes clear that whilst Vronsky is still able to move freely in Russian society, Anna is barred from it. Even her old friend, Princess Betsy — who has had affairs herself — evades her company. Anna starts to become anxious that Vronsky no longer loves her. Meanwhile, Karenin is comforted by Countess Lidia Ivanovna, an enthusiast of religious and mystic ideas fashionable with the upper classes. She advises him to keep Seryozha away from Anna and to tell him his mother is dead. However, Seryozha refuses to believe that this is true. Anna visits Seryozha uninvited on his ninth birthday, but is discovered by Karenin. Anna, desperate to regain at least some of her former position in society, attends a show at the theatre at which all of Saint Petersburg's high society are present. Vronsky begs her not to go, but is unable to bring himself to explain to her why she cannot attend. At the theatre, Anna is openly snubbed by her former friends, one of whom makes a deliberate scene and leaves the theatre. Anna is devastated. Unable to find a place for themselves in Saint Petersburg, Anna and Vronsky leave for Vronsky's own country estate. Dolly, her mother the Princess Scherbatskaya, and Dolly's children spend the summer with Levin and Kitty. The Levins' life is simple and unaffected, although Levin is uneasy at the "invasion" of so many Scherbatskys. He becomes extremely jealous when one of the visitors, Veslovsky, flirts openly with the pregnant Kitty. Levin tries to overcome his feelings, but eventually succumbs to them and makes Veslovsky leave his house in an embarrassing scene. Veslovsky immediately goes to stay with Anna and Vronsky at their nearby estate. When Dolly visits Anna, she is struck by the difference between the Levins' aristocratic-yet-simple home life and Vronsky's overtly luxurious and lavish country estate. She is also unable to keep pace with Anna's fashionable dresses or Vronsky's extravagant spending on a hospital he is building. In addition, all is not quite well with Anna and Vronsky. Dolly notices Anna's anxious behaviour and her uncomfortable flirtations with Veslovsky. Vronsky makes an emotional request to Dolly, asking her to convince Anna to divorce Karenin so that the two might marry and live normally. Anna has become intensely jealous of Vronsky, and cannot bear it when he leaves her even for short excursions. When Vronsky leaves for several days of provincial elections, Anna becomes convinced that she must marry him in order to prevent him from leaving her. After Anna writes to Karenin, she and Vronsky leave the countryside for Moscow. While visiting Moscow for Kitty's confinement, Levin quickly gets used to the city's fast-paced, expensive and frivolous society life. He accompanies Stiva to a gentleman's club, where the two meet Vronsky. Levin and Stiva pay a visit to Anna, who is occupying her empty days by being a patroness to an orphaned English girl. Levin is initially uneasy about the visit, but Anna easily puts him under her spell. When he admits to Kitty that he has visited Anna, she accuses him of falling in love with her. The couple are later reconciled, realising that Moscow society life has had a negative, corrupting effect on Levin. Anna cannot understand why she can attract a man like Levin, who has a young and beautiful new wife, but cannot attract Vronsky as she did once. Her relationship with Vronsky is under increasing strain, as he can move freely in Russian society while she remains excluded. Her increasing bitterness, boredom, and jealousy cause the couple to argue. Anna uses morphine to help her sleep, a habit she had begun while living with Vronsky at his country estate. She has become dependent on it. Meanwhile, after a long and difficult labour, Kitty gives birth to a son, Dmitri, nicknamed "Mitya". Levin is both horrified and profoundly moved by the sight of the tiny, helpless baby. Stiva visits Karenin to seek his commendation for a new post. During the visit he asks him to grant Anna a divorce (which would require him to confess to a non-existent affair), but Karenin's decisions are now governed by a French "clairvoyant" recommended by Lidia Ivanovna. The clairvoyant apparently had a vision in his sleep during Stiva's visit and gives Karenin a cryptic message which is interpreted that Karenin must decline the request for divorce. Anna becomes increasingly jealous and irrational towards Vronsky, whom she suspects of having love affairs with other women. She is also convinced that he will give in to his mother's plans to marry him off to a rich society woman. They have a bitter row and Anna believes the relationship is over. She starts to think of suicide as an escape from her torments. In her mental and emotional confusion, she sends a telegram to Vronsky asking him to come home to her, and then pays a visit to Dolly and Kitty. Anna's confusion and vengeful anger overcome her, and in a parallel to the railway worker's accidental death in part 1, she commits suicide by throwing herself in the path of an oncoming train. Levin's brother's latest book is ignored by readers and critics and he joins the new pan-Slavic movement. Stiva gets the post he desired so much, and Karenin takes custody of Vronsky's and Anna's baby Annie. A group of Russian volunteers, including the suicidal Vronsky, depart from Russia to fight in the Orthodox Serbian revolt that has broken out against the Turks. Meanwhile, a lightning storm occurs at Levin's estate while his wife and newborn son are outside, and in his fear for their safety Levin realizes that he does indeed love his son as much he loves Kitty. Kitty's family is concerned that a man as altruistic as her husband does not consider himself to be a Christian, but after speaking at length to a peasant, Levin decides that devotion to living righteously is the only justifiable reason for living. Unable to tell anyone about this revelation, Levin is initially displeased that this change of thought does not bring with it a complete transformation to righteousness. However, at the end of the story Levin comes to the conclusion that his new beliefs are acceptable and that other non-Christian religions contain similar views on goodness that are also entirely credible. His life can now be meaningfully and truthfully oriented toward goodness. | Anna Karenina is a young and elegant wife of Alexei Karenin, a wealthy nobleman twenty years her senior. She is unhappy and lives only for their son, Seriozha. However, during a ball in Moscow, she encounters the handsome Count Alexei Vronsky. Vronsky is instantly smitten and follows her to St. Petersburg, pursuing her shamelessly. Eventually, Anna surrenders to her feelings for him and becomes his mistress. Though they are happy together, their relationship soon crumbles after she miscarries his child. Karenin is deeply touched by her pain and agrees to forgive her. However, Anna remains unhappy and, to the scandal of respectable society, she openly leaves her husband for Count Vronsky. Using her brother as an intermediary, Anna hopelessly begs her husband for a divorce. Karenin indignantly refuses and denies her access to Seriozha. Distraught by the loss of her son, Anna grows severely depressed and self medicates with laudanum. Before long, she is hopelessly addicted. With Vronsky she has another child, but he is also torn between his love to Anna and the temptation of a respectable marriage. Anna becomes certain that Vronsky is about to leave her and marry a younger woman. She travels to the railway station and commits suicide by jumping in front of a train. Vronsky is emotionally devastated by her death and volunteers for a 'suicide mission' in the Serbian war against the Turks. While travelling to join his regiment, he encounters Konstantin Levin, who has married Vronsky's former sweetheart, Princess "Kitty" Shcherbatsky. Levin attempts to persuade Vronsky of the value of life. Vronsky, however, can only speak of how Anna's body looked at the train station. They separate and Levin returns to his family. He writes the events of the film and signs his manuscript, "Leo Tolstoy." | 0.838676 | positive | 0.991924 | positive | 0.625255 |
41,528 | Forrest Gump | Forrest Gump | Forrest Gump, named after General Nathan Bedford Forrest, narrates the story of his life. The author uses misspellings and grammatical errors to indicate his Southern accent, education, and cognitive disabilities. While living in Mobile, Alabama, Forrest meets Jenny Curran in first grade and walks her home. By the time Forrest is sixteen years old, he is 6’ 6” (1.98 m), 242 pounds (110 kg), and plays high school football. Miss Henderson, whom Forrest is infatuated with, gives him reading lessons. He reads Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and two other books that he doesn't remember. While he enjoys the books, he doesn't do well on tests. He gains popularity as a football player, joining the All State team. When Forrest is called to the principal's office, he meets Bear Bryant, who asks if he'd considered playing college football. After high school, Forrest takes a test at a local army recruitment center, and is told he is "Temporarily Deferred." Forrest and Jenny meet again in college. They go to see Bonnie and Clyde, and play together in a folk music band at the Student Union, covering songs by Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and Peter, Paul and Mary. When he and Jenny get together, "we done all sorts of things that... I never even dreamt of in my wildest imagination... We rolled all over the livin room an into the kitchen... When we is finally finished, Jenny jus lie there a while, an then she look at me an say, 'Goddam Forrest, where is you been all my life?'" Forrest flunks out of The University of Alabama after one semester. He and his friend Bubba join the army. Bubba dies in the Vietnam War. He meets Lieutenant Dan, who has lost his legs, in the infirmary. He also plays in a Ping-Pong championship in China, and goes on a mission for NASA with a female astronaut and an ape named Sue. After their re-entry, they are captured and held by cannibals for four years. Forrest also has brief careers as a chess champion, a stunt man with a naked Raquel Welch in Hollywood, and as a professional wrestler called "The Dunce". At the end of the book, Forrest honors Bubba's memory by starting a shrimp business, and he tries to make a life with Jenny and their child. | As he waits at a bus stop, Forrest Gump starts recounting his life story to nearby strangers. His story starts with the leg braces he had to wear as a child, which resulted in him being bullied by children. He lives with his mother , who tells him that "stupid is as stupid does". Forrest teaches one of their guests, a young Elvis Presley, a hip-swinging dance. At school, Forrest meets Jenny , with whom he immediately falls in love, and they become best friends. Forrest discovers that he can run very fast which, despite his below-average intelligence, earns him a scholarship to the University of Alabama from Bear Bryant. While in college, he witnesses George Wallace's Stand in the Schoolhouse Door, is named an All-American football player, and meets President John F. Kennedy. After graduating, Forrest enlists in the United States Army, where he becomes friends with Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue , and they agree to go into the shrimping business together. They are sent to Vietnam, and when their platoon is ambushed, Forrest saves many of the men in his platoon, including platoon leader 2nd Lt. Dan Taylor , but Bubba is killed. Forrest himself is injured and receives the Medal of Honor from President Lyndon B. Johnson. While recovering from his injuries Forrest meets Dan Taylor again. Now an amputee, he is furious at Forrest for leaving him a "cripple" and cheating him out of his destiny to die in battle like his ancestors. In Washington, Forrest is swept up in an anti-war rally at the National Mall and is reunited with Jenny, who is now part of the hippie counterculture movement. They spend the night walking around the capital, but she leaves with her abusive boyfriend the following day. Forrest discovers an aptitude for ping pong and begins playing for the U.S. Army team, eventually competing against Chinese teams on a goodwill tour. He goes to the White House again and meets President Richard Nixon who provides him a room at the Watergate hotel, where Forrest inadvertently helps expose the Watergate scandal. For his numerous accomplishments, Forrest is invited onto The Dick Cavett Show. He again encounters Dan Taylor, now an embittered drunk living on welfare. Dan is scornful of Forrest's plans to enter the shrimping business and mockingly promises to be Forrest's first mate if he ever succeeds. Using money from a ping pong endorsement, Forrest buys a shrimping boat, fulfilling his wartime promise to Bubba. Dan keeps his own promise and joins Forrest as first mate. They initially have little luck; but, after Hurricane Carmen destroys every other shrimping boat in the region, the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company becomes a huge success. Having had an epiphany during the hurricane, Dan finally thanks Forrest for saving his life. Forrest then returns home to care for his ailing mother, who dies soon afterwards. Forrest leaves the company in the hands of Dan, who invests their wealth in shares of Apple, making them both millionaires. Jenny returns to visit Forrest and stays with him. Forrest asks her to marry him, but she declines and slips away early one morning. Distraught, Forrest decides to go for a run, which turns into a three-year coast-to-coast marathon. Forrest becomes a celebrity and attracts followers. One day he stops suddenly and returns home. He receives a letter from Jenny asking to meet, which brings him to the bus stop where he began telling his story. Once he and Jenny are reunited, Forrest discovers they have a young son, also named Forrest . Jenny reveals that she is suffering from an unknown virus. She proposes to him and he accepts. They return to Alabama with Forrest Jr. and marry, but Jenny dies soon after. Forrest waits with Forrest Jr. for the bus to pick him up for his first day of school. As the bus drives away, Forrest sits on the same tree stump where his mother sat on his first day of school and watches his feather bookmark float off in the wind. | 0.880667 | positive | 0.991308 | positive | 0.987673 |
1,189,804 | Presumed Innocent | Presumed Innocent | The novel begins with the discovery of Polhemus dead in her apartment, the victim of what appears to be a sexual bondage encounter gone wrong, killed outright by a fatal blow to the skull with an unknown object. Rusty Sabich is a prosecutor and co-worker of Carolyn and is assigned her case by the district attorney. Everything is complicated by the fact that Rusty is an ex-lover of Carolyn's. The novel follows the eventual discovery of their affair and Rusty's trial for her murder. Many of the minor characters in Presumed Innocent also appear in Turow's later novels, which are all set in the fictional, Midwestern Kindle County. A sequel to Presumed Innocent, titled Innocent, was released on May 4, 2010 and continues the relationship between Rusty Sabich and Tommy Molto. | Rusty Sabich is a prosecutor and the right-hand man of Prosecuting Attorney Raymond Horgan . When his colleague Carolyn Polhemus is found raped and murdered in her apartment, Raymond insists that Rusty take charge of the investigation. The election for County PA is approaching and Tommy Molto , the acting head of Homicide, has left to join the rival campaign of Nico Della Guardia . Rusty, a married man, faces a conflict of interest since he had an affair with Carolyn. When he showed little ambition, and would therefore be of little use to her career, she dumped him. He has since made up with his wife, , but is still obsessed with Carolyn. Detective Greer is initially in charge of the case, but Sabich has him replaced with Detective Lipranzer , whom he persuades to narrow the inquiry so that his relationship with Carolyn is left out. Rusty soon realizes that Molto is making his own inquiries. Aspects of the crime suggest that the killer knew police evidence-gathering procedures and covered it up accordingly. Semen has been found in the victim's body but contains only dead sperm. The killer's blood type was A, the same as Sabich's. When Nico wins the election, he and Molto accuse Rusty of the crime and push to get evidence against him. They have Rusty's fingerprints on a beer glass from Carolyn's apartment, and fibers from his carpet at home match those found on her body. Lipranzer is removed from the case and Greer's inquiries uncover the affair. Rusty calls on "Sandy" Stern , a top defense attorney, who agrees to take the case. At trial, it is revealed that the beer glass is missing. This was a crucial piece of the prosecution's case and Sandy persuades Judge Larren Lyttle to keep this from the jury. Raymond testifies and perjures himself, claiming that Rusty insisted on handling the investigation, thus confirming the prosecution's claim of a cover-up. Rusty discovers that Carolyn had acquired a file for a bribery case involving a man called Leon who paid a bribe to get his case thrown out of court. The probation officer who set the whole thing up was Carolyn and the deputy prosecutor in charge of the case was Molto. The thrust of Sandy's defense is that Molto and Nico have set Rusty up as part of a cover-up of the bribery case. Lipranzer tracks down Leon and he reveals that the official who took the bribe was in fact Larren Lyttle, the judge handling Rusty's trial. During the cross-examination of the coroner Dr. Kumagai , it is revealed that Carolyn had undergone a tubal ligation, making it impossible for her to become pregnant. She would have no reason to use the spermicidal contraceptive which was found on her. Sandy asserts that the only explanation for this discrepancy is that the fluid sample was not actually taken from Carolyn's body. Based on the disappearance of the beer glass, the lack of motive, and the fact that the fluid sample was rendered meaningless, there is no direct evidence to tie Rusty to the murder. Judge Lyttle dismisses the charges. Sandy admits that he and Raymond knew Lyttle was taking bribes, and Carolyn was his courier. Lyttle offered his resignation, but Raymond believed that he was a brilliant judge and should be given another chance. Lipranzer reveals to Rusty that he has the beer glass, which he never returned to the evidence room. Molto signed it as "returned to evidence" when it was still at the lab and, when it was returned to Lip, he kept it in his desk drawer. Rusty throws the beer glass into the river. Some time later, Rusty comes across a small hatchet with blood and hair on it and realizes that they are Carolyn's. He confronts his wife, and, referring to herself in the third person, she relates how she committed the crime. She assumed it would be filed under unsolved cases, not anticipating he would be charged with the murder. In a final voice-over he says that the murder of Carolyn has been written off as unsolved. | 0.593268 | negative | -0.330613 | positive | 0.997243 |
982,243 | Watership Down | Watership Down | In the Sandleford warren, Fiver, a young runt rabbit who is a seer, receives a frightening vision of his warren's imminent destruction. When he and his brother Hazel fail to convince their chief rabbit of the need to evacuate, they set out on their own with a small band of rabbits to search for a new home, barely eluding the Owsla, the warren's military caste. The travelling group of rabbits find themselves following the leadership of Hazel, previously an unimportant member of the warren. They travel through dangerous territory, with Bigwig and Silver, both former Owsla, as the strongest rabbits among them. Fiver's visions promise a safe place in which to settle, and the group eventually finds Watership Down, an ideal location to set up their new warren. They are soon reunited with Holly and Bluebell, also from the Sandleford Warren, who reveal that Fiver's vision was true and the entire warren was destroyed by humans. Although Watership Down is a peaceful habitat, Hazel realises there are no does (female rabbits), thus making the future of their new home uncertain. With the help of a seagull named Kehaar, they locate a nearby warren, Efrafa, which is overcrowded and has many does. Hazel sends a small emissary to Efrafa to present their request for does. While waiting for the group to return, Hazel and Pipkin successfully raid the nearby Nuthanger Farm to rescue a group of hutch rabbits there, returning with two does and a buck. When the emissary returns, Hazel and his rabbits learn Efrafa is a police state led by the despotic General Woundwort; Hazel's rabbits barely return alive. However, the group does manage to identify an Efrafan doe named Hyzenthlay who wants to leave the warren and can recruit other does to join. Hazel and Bigwig devise a plan to rescue the group of rabbits from Efrafa to join them on Watership Down. The Efrafan escapees start their new life on Watership Down, but soon Woundwort's army arrives to attack the Watership Down warren. Through Bigwig's bravery and loyalty and Hazel's ingenuity, the Watership Down rabbits defeat Woundwort. The story's epilogue tells the reader of how Hazel, dozing in his burrow one "chilly, blustery morning in March" many years later, is visited by the rabbit folk hero El-ahrairah, who invites Hazel to join his Owsla. Leaving his friends and no-longer-needed body behind, Hazel departs Watership Down with El-ahrairah, "running easily down through the wood, where the first primroses were beginning to bloom." | According to Lapine culture and mythology, the world was created by the god Frith, who represents the Sun. All animals lived harmoniously, but the rabbits eventually multiplied, and their appetite led to a food shortage. At the prayers of the desperate animals, Frith warned the rabbit prince El-ahrairah to control his people, but was scoffed at. In retaliation, Frith gave special gifts to every animal, but some animals he made predators to prey upon the rabbits. Satisfied that El-ahrairah had learned his lesson, Frith also gave the rabbits speed and cunning; while many would seek to kill them, the rabbits could survive by their wits and quickness. In the present, in the English countryside of Sandleford, Fiver, a rabbit seer has an apocalyptic vision and goes with his older brother Hazel to beg the chief to have the warren evacuated, but they are dismissed and attempt to make an exodus themselves. The group meets resistance from the warren's police force called the Owsla, but eight manage to fight and escape, including Fiver, Hazel, Bigwig, Blackberry, Pipkin, Dandelion, Silver and Violet. They travel through the dangerous woods and make it to a bean field to rest. In the morning, Violet is killed by a hawk, leaving the group without a female. After several dangerous situations, they meet the enigmatic rabbit Cowslip, who invites them to his warren. They are grateful, but Fiver senses something bizarre in the atmosphere, and the resident rabbits' overly resigned attitudes, and leaves. An irked Bigwig follows, and chastises Fiver for supposedly causing senseless tension with his instincts. Moments later, however, he is caught in a snare trap. Fiver attempts to get help from their hosts, but is ignored. Bigwig is freed after nearly dying. As Fiver reveals, the warren is fed by a farmer who snares rabbits in return for his food and protection from predators. After Bigwig's narrow escape, the other rabbits willingly follow Fiver's and Hazel's advice and set out once more. The rabbits discover Nuthanger farm, which contains a hutch of female rabbits, necessary for a new warren. However, they do not manage to free them, on account of the territorial farm animals. They find the injured Owsla captain Holly, who recounts the destruction of Sandleford by humans, and a mysterious group called the "Efrafrans" before falling unconscious. Fiver finally leads the group to the hill he envisioned, Watership Down, where the rabbits settle. They settle in, developing their own warren, with Hazel as chief. They befriend an acerbic injured seagull, Kehaar, who offers to survey the local area for does. The rabbits return to Nuthanger to free the does; Hazel is shot by a farmhand and presumed dead, but Fiver has a vision and follows the apparition of the Black Rabbit of Inle to his injured brother. Kehaar returns and while removing buckshot pellets from Hazel's leg, reports of Efrafa, a large warren with many females. Holly, who encountered Efrafa, begs them not to go there, describing it as a totalitarian state, run by vicious and heavily territorial rabbits. Hazel feels they have no choice but to go there. Bigwig infiltrates the colony and becomes an Owsla officer by the cruel chief, General Woundwort. Bigwig recruits several potential escapees to his cause, including Hyzenthlay, an idealistic doe and Blackavar, a scarred attempted escapee. They flee, with Woundwort and his Owsla in pursuit. Using a boat to float down the river, they evade capture. That night, Keehar leaves for his homeland, with the gratitude of the warren. Several days later, Efrafan trackers discover their trail and follow them to Watership Down. Hazel offers a treaty with Woundwort, who dismisses Hazel, telling him to have Bigwig and the deserters surrender. The Watership rabbits barricade their warren and are besieged by the Efrafans. Fiver slips into a trance, in which he envisions a dog loose in the woods. His moans inspire Hazel to free the dog from Nuthanger and lead him to the warren to intervene. He escapes with Blackberry, Dandelion and Hyzenthlay. Hazel prays to Frith, offering his life for the those in the warren, a bargain Frith acknowledges, but doesn't accept, as the outcome is ultimately up to Hazel. Hazel frees the dog while his companions bait it into following them to Watership Down. When the Efrafans break through the warren's defences, Woundwort leads the attack. Blackavar confronts Woundwort, but is overpowered and killed. Bigwig ambushes Woundwort and they fight to exhaustion. The dog arrives and kills the Efrafan soldiers. Hearing the commotion, Woundwort abandons Bigwig and confronts the dog. No trace of Woundwort is found, leaving his fate ambiguous. Years later, the warren is thriving. An elderly Hazel is visited by the Black Rabbit, who invites him to join his Owsla, assuring him of Watership Down's perpetual safety. Reassured, Hazel accepts and dies. Hazel's spirit follows the Black Rabbit through the woodland and trees towards the Sun, which metamorphoses into Frith and the afterlife. | 0.921207 | positive | 0.994504 | positive | 0.993497 |
7,527,753 | The Four Feathers | The Four Feathers | The novel tells the story of a British officer, Harry Feversham, who resigns from his commission in the East Surrey Regiment just prior to Sir Garnet Wolseley's 1882 expedition to Egypt to suppress the rising of Arabi Pasha. He is faced with censure from three of his comrades, Captain Trench as well as Lieutenants Castleton and Willoughby for cowardice, which is signified by the delivery of three white feathers to him. He loses support of his Irish fiancée, Ethne Eustace, who too presents him with the fourth feather. His best friend in the regiment, Captain Durrance becomes his rival for Ethne. Harry talks with Lieutenant Sutch, a friend of his father, who is an imposing retired general and questions his own true motives, moreover he talks of his resolution to redeem himself by acts that will force his critics to take back the feathers, this might in turn encourage Ethne to take back the feather, which she gave him. He travels on his own to Egypt and Sudan, where in 1882 Muhammad Ahmed proclaimed himself the Mahdi (Guided One) and raised a Holy War. On January 26, 1885, his forces which were called Dervishes, captured Khartoum and killed its British governor, General Charles George Gordon. It was mainly in the eastern Sudan, where the British and Egyptians held Suakin, where the action takes place over the next six years. Durrance is blinded by sunstroke and invalided. Castleton is reportedly killed at Tamai,where a British square is briefly broken. Harry's first success came when he recovers lost letters of Gordon. He is aided by a Sudanese Arab, Abou Fatma. Later, disguised as a mad Greek musician, Harry gets imprisoned in Omdurman, where he rescues the Colonel Trench, who had been captured on a reconnaissance mission and they escape. Harry has his honour restored by Willoughby and then Trench giving to Ethne the feathers they've taken back. He returns to England, and sees Ethne for one last time as she has determined to devote herself to Col. Durrance, but Durrance explains that his travel to Germany to seek a cure for his blindness has been a pretense, to wait for Harry to redeem himself. Ethne and Harry wed, and Durrance travels to 'the East' as a civilian. The story is rich in characters and sub-plots, which the filmed versions perforce trim, along with making major changes in the story line, with the best known 1939 version centered on the 1898 campaign and battle of Omdurman, only hinted at as a future event in the novel. | Harry Faversham , a young British officer, celebrates his engagement to the beautiful young Ethne , in a lavish ball with his fellow officers and his father in attendance. When the regimental Colonel announces that the regiment is being dispatched to Egyptian-ruled Sudan to rescue the British General Charles "Chinese" Gordon , young Faversham becomes nervous and resigns his commission. Shocked by his son's actions, Harry's father disowns him. Perceiving his resignation as cowardice, his friends and fiancée give him four white feathers, the symbol of cowardice. Tormented, isolated and alone in London, Harry learns that his best friend Jack and his former regiment have come under brutal attack by rebels. Undertaking the perilous journey into the Sudan alone, he strikes up an alliance with Abou Fatma , a wise mercenary warrior. Harry then disguises himself as an Arab. Harry and Abou Fatma follow a group of army workers he believes to be Mahdi spies, following them takes them to the garrison of Abu-Klea , which they realize on entry has been overrun. However, before they can leave the gates are closed. Harry is taken roughly aside, as this happens he begs Abou Fatma to warn his friends that their destination is under siege and an attack is likely. Instead of being discovered Harry is given a red British military jacket. Meanwhile the regiment has stopped its march to bury a group of British dead killed by the Mahdi. Abou Fatma is captured by Egyptian soldiers; believing he is an enemy scout they bring him before the British officers . He tells the British that he has been sent by a British officer, referring to Faversham, in order to warn them of the Mahdi's attack. He also points out that Muslims always bury their dead and that of the enemy, but that these bodies have been left to keep the British occupied. Faversham's comrades are worried, but ultimately Abou Fatma's warnings are disregarded, and he is whipped. Because of their disregard of the warnings, the British and Egyptian troops are not prepared for battle. The Mahdi rebels attack with spearmen, riflemen and cavalry, while the British forces form a square. Firing volley after volley, the British repel the initial Mahdi assault just as they spot British cavalry reinforcements in their distinctive red uniforms. A force of skirmishers is sent to pursue the retreating Sudanese, but they are ambushed by Mahdi rebels hiding beneath the sand, and the skirmishers are forced to fight on foot. Soon the British discover that the cavalry they perceived were their own reinforcements are actually Sudanese disguised in British uniforms. Among them is Faversham, who was mistakenly thought to be a Sudanese. The British square hastily reorganises and fires a few volleys, in the process killing several skirmishers who have not yet returned to the square (including Harry's friend Edward Castleton . In the end the order is given for retreat. Jack was found and protected by Harry during the battle. Jack's rifle had misfired and blinded him. Harry finds letters of tenderness from Ethne but puts aside his feelings and cares for Jack without telling him who he is. Not knowing who his rescuer was, Jack then returns home. He asks Ethne to marry him, but she does not give him an answer discussing the matter with Harry's father. Tom tells Jack that Harry had come to visit him in the Sudan to tell him he had been the officer that sent Abou, and that Harry had expressed bitter anger and sorrow that his friends did not listen to the warning. Harry asked for money and explained that he believes William lives on in the notorious Mahdi prison of Omdurman, and Harry is determined to find him and rescue him. Abou advises him not to go, but Harry goes anyway. Later Abou rescues Harry and his miraculously still alive comrade by giving them 'poison' that really just fakes the symptoms of death. However, a guard is suspicious of the duo's death and follows them along with three other guards. All four guards are killed by Harry and Abou and then the two part ways: Abou back to the desert and Harry back to England. Harry is acknowledged by his father and Ethne asks for her feather back; however she is now engaged to Jack. Jack comes to find out Harry rescued him as Jack touches his face as he did in the desert and releases Ethne from their engagement. After a ceremony of Remembrance, Harry and Ethne hold hands and are engaged once more. | 0.756239 | positive | 0.986675 | positive | 0.99558 |
3,326,435 | The Hours | The Hours | Note: This Summary does not contain the whole book, nor end at the ending. The stream-of-consciousness style being so prominent in this work, a summary of the plot based on physical action does not give a thorough understanding of the content of the work. In the novel, action occurring in the physical world (i.e.: characters doing things, such as talking, walking etc.) is far outweighed by material existing in the thought and memory of the protagonists. Some discretion must be made in a plot summary as to which of these thoughts and memories warrant detailing. The novel begins with the suicide of Virginia Woolf in 1941 by drowning herself in the Ouse, a river in Sussex, England. Even as she is drowning, Virginia marvels at everyday sights and sounds. Leonard Woolf, her husband, finds her suicide note, and Virginia's dead body floats downstream where life, in the form of a mother and child going for a walk, goes on as if Virginia is still taking in all the sights and sounds. *I don't think two people could have been happier than we have been. :-- from Virginia Woolf's suicide note to Leonard Woolf. p7, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. The novel jumps to New York City at the end of the 20th century where Clarissa Vaughan (Cunningham's modern Mrs. Dalloway), in announcing she will buy the flowers for a party she's hosting later in the day, paraphrases the opening sentence of Woolf's novel. She leaves her partner Sally cleaning their apartment and heads outside into a June morning. Walking to the flower shop, Clarissa enjoys the everyday hustle and bustle of the city. The sights and sounds she encounters serve as jumping-off points for her thoughts about life, her loves and her past. The beautiful day reminds her of a happy memory, a holiday she had as a young woman with two friends, Richard and Louis. In fact, the flowers are for a party Clarissa is hosting at her apartment that night for Richard (now a renowned poet dying of AIDS) as he has just won the Carrouthers, an esteemed poetry prize awarded for a life's work. Clarissa bumps into Walter, an acquaintance who writes gay pulp fiction romances. Clarissa invites him to the party although she knows Richard abhors Walter's shallow interests in "fame and fashions, the latest restaurant". Clarissa herself appreciates Walter's "greedy innocence." Clarissa continues on her way reflecting on her past, sometimes difficult relationship with Richard which she compares to her more stable but unspectacular relationship with her partner of eighteen years, Sally. She finally arrives at the flower shop. *What a thrill, what a shock, to be alive on a morning in June, prosperous, almost scandalously privileged, with a simple errand to run. :-- Clarissa reflecting on the day as she walks to the flower shop. p10, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. *Why doesn't she feel more somber about Richard's perversely simultaneous good fortune ("an anguished, prophetic voice in American letters") and his decline ("You have no T-cells at all, none that we can detect")? What is wrong with her? She loves Richard, she thinks of him constantly, but she perhaps loves the day slightly more. :-- Clarissa thinking about Richard. p11, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. *The woman's head quickly withdraws, the door to the trailer closes again, but she leaves behind her an unmistakable sense of watchful remonstrance, as if an angel had briefly touched the surface of the world with one sandaled foot, asked if there was any trouble and, being told all was well, had resumed her place in the ether with skeptical gravity, having reminded the children of earth that they are just barely trusted to manage their own business, and that further carelessness will not go unremarked. :-- Clarissa spotting a movie star sticking her head outside her trailer door in response to a film crew's noisiness. p27, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. The novel then jumps to 1923 with Virginia Woolf waking one morning with the possible first line of a new novel. She carefully navigates her way through the morning, so as not to lose her inspiration. When she picks up her pen, she writes: Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. The novel jumps to 1949 Los Angeles with Laura Brown reading the first line of Virginia's Woolf's novel 'Mrs. Dalloway.' ("Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.") Laura Brown is pregnant with her second child and is reading in bed. She does not want to get up despite it being her husband Dan's birthday. She is finding it hard playing the role of wife to Dan, and mother to her son Richie, despite her appreciation for them. She would much rather read her book. She eventually forces herself to go downstairs where she decides to make a cake for Dan's birthday which Richie will help her make. *He makes her think sometimes of a mouse singing amorous ballads under the window of a giantess. :-- Laura reflecting on her son's transparent love for her. p44, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. *...the triumph and the jingle and the strange high singing of some aeroplane overhead was what she loved; life; London; this moment of June. :-- Laura remembering a quote from Woolf's 'Mrs. Dalloway.' p48, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. The novel returns to Clarissa Vaughan who, having left the flower shop with an armload of flowers, decides to stop by Richard's apartment. On her way to Richard's she pauses at the site of a film shoot, hoping to catch a glimpse of a movie star. Eventually she leaves, having not seen the star, embarrassed at her own trivial impulses. Clarissa enters the neighbourhood she and Richard frequented as young adults. It is revealed Richard and Clarissa once had a failed experimental romantic relationship together despite it being obvious Richard's "deepest longings" were for Louis with whom he was already in a relationship. Clarissa still wonders what her life might have been if they had tried to stay together. Clarissa enters Richard's apartment building, which she finds squalid. She seems to associate Richard's apartment building with sense of decay and death. She enters Richard's apartment. Richard welcomes Clarissa, calling her "Mrs. D" a reference to 'Mrs. Dalloway'. He calls her this because of the shared first name (Clarissa Vaughan, Clarissa Dalloway) but also because of a sense of shared destiny. As Richard's closest friend, Clarissa has taken on the role of a caregiver through Richard's illness. Richard is struggling with what appears to Clarissa to be mental illness, brought about by his AIDS and discusses hearing voices with Clarissa. While Clarissa still enjoys everyday life, it seems Richard's illness has sapped his energy for life and the cleanliness of his apartment is subsequently suffering. As Clarissa fusses about, paying attention to the details of Richard's life that he has neglected, Richard seems resigned. He does not seem to be looking forward to the party Clarissa is organising for him nearly as much as Clarissa is. Finally, Clarissa leaves promising to return in the afternoon to help him prepare for the party. Meanwhile, two hours have passed since Virginia began writing the start of 'Mrs. Dalloway.' Reflecting on the uncertainty of the artistic process, she decides she has written enough for the day and is worried that if she continues her fragile mental state will become unbalanced; the onset of which she describes as her "headache." Virginia goes to the printing room (her husband Leonard has set up a printing press, the renowned Hogarth Press which first published Sigmund Freud in English and poet T. S. Eliot) where Leonard and an assistant, Ralph are at work. She senses from Ralph's demeanour the "impossibly demanding" Leonard has just scolded him for some inefficiency. Virginia announces she is going for a walk and will then pitch in with the work. *She might see it while walking with Leonard in the square, a scintillating silver-white mass floating over the cobblestones, randomly spiked, fluid but whole, like a jellyfish. "What's that?" Leonard would ask. "It's my headache," she'd answer. "Please ignore it." :--Virginia reflecting on the detached nature of her mental illness. p70, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. *She decides, with misgivings, that she is finished for today. Always, there are these doubts. Should she try another hour? Is she being judicious, or slothful? Judicious, she tells herself, and almost believes it. :--Virginia. p72, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. *The truth, she thinks, sits calmly and plumply, dressed in matronly gray, between these two men. :-Virginia reflecting on whose attitude towards work, the carefree Ralph's, or the "brilliant and indefatigable" Leonard's, has resulted in the two men's conflict. p73, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. In parallel imagery to Virginia Woolf's, Laura Brown also goes about an act of creation: making Dan's birthday cake. Richie is helping her, and Laura passes through emotions of intense love for, and annoyance with Richie. Laura wants desperately to desire nothing more than the life she has as a wife and mother, to be making a cake, and sees both the cake-making and her present lot in life as her art, just as writing is Virginia Woolf's art: *She will not lose hope. She will not mourn her lost possibilities, her unexplored talents (what if she has no talents, after all?). She will remain devoted to her son, her husband, her home and duties, all her gifts. She will want this second child. :-Laura's thoughts, the final sentences of the chapter, p. 79, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition Virginia Woolf is taking her walk while thinking of ideas for her novel. She already believes Clarissa Dalloway will commit suicide, now Virginia plans for Mrs.Dalloway to have had one true love: not her husband, but a girl Clarissa knew during her own girlhood. Her love of another girl will have represented a time when she was not afraid to go against the destiny laid out for her by society and family. Virginia plans for Clarissa to kill herself in middle-age over something quite trivial, a representation of what her life has become and what has been repressed. As Virginia walks about Richmond she reflects on how Mrs.Dalloway's deterioration in middle-age represents how Virginia feels about being trapped in suburban Richmond when she only feels fully alive in London. She is aware she is more susceptible to mental illness in London, but would rather die 'raving mad' in London than avoid life (and perhaps prolong her years) in Richmond. As Virginia returns home she feels, as did Laura Brown in the previous chapter, as if she is impersonating herself, as if the person she is presenting herself to be requires artifice. She puts on this 'act' to convince herself and others that she is 'sane' and so Leonard will agree with the idea of moving back to London. Virginia understands that there is "true art" in the requirement for women such as herself to act as they do. Feeling in control of her 'act' she goes to speak to the cook, Nelly, about lunch. However, Nelly, with her petty grievances and implicit demands that the daily life of running the house which is Virginia's domain, be observed, overwhelms Virginia. Nelly appears to have a matronly competence whilst Virginia does not seem to have a house-wifey bone in her body. Virginia decides to give her character, Clarissa Dalloway, the great skill with servants that she herself does not possess. *She is the author; Leonard, Nelly, Ralph, and the others are the readers. This particular novel concerns a serene, intelligent woman of painfully susceptible sensibilities who once was ill but has now recovered; who is preparing for the season in London... :--Virginia Woolf preparing to 'act' as Virginia Woolf. p83, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. *Men may congratulate themselves for writing truly and passionately about the movements of nations; they may consider war and the search for God to be great literature's only subjects; but if men's standing in the world could be toppled by an ill-advised choice of hat, English literature would be dramatically changed. :--p83-4, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. *The trick will be to render intact the magnitude of Clarissa's miniature but very real desperation; to fully convince the reader that, for her, domestic defeats are every bit as devastating as are lost battles to a general. :--Virginia considering how she will write 'Mrs.Dalloway. p84, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. *"I've got the cress soup," Nelly says. "And the pie. And then I thought just some of them yellow pears for pudding, unless you'd like something fancier." Here it is, then: the challenge thrown down. Unless you'd like something fancier. So the subjugated Amazon stands on the riverbank wrapped in the fur of animals she has killed and skinned; so she drops a pear before the queen's gold slippers and says, "Here is what I've brought. Unless you'd like something fancier." :--p85, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. *...in offering pears she reminds Virginia that she, Nelly, is powerful; that she knows secrets; that queens who care more about solving puzzles in their chambers than they do about the welfare of their people must take whatever they get. :--p85, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. Having walked back home from Richard's, Clarissa Vaughan enters her apartment. Her partner Sally, a TV producer, is on her way out the door to a lunch meeting with a film star. Suddenly, left alone, Clarissa feels unmoored. She feels as if her home and its comforts are trivial in light of the impending death of her closest friend Richard; compared to a time when she felt most alive and had everything to hope for. Her apartment is just as much a "realm of the dead" as Richard's. Like the other characters in Cunningham's novel she questions the value of her present life and whether it isn't a negation via triviality of the life she could lead. Then the feeling moves on. Clarissa is disappointed but relieved to find her life is her own and that she wants no other. She holds onto the prospect of preparing Richard's party as affirmation and begins arrangements. As Clarissa prepares for the party she thinks of the famous actor Sally is lunching with, a B-movie action star who recently came out as gay. This sparks ruminations on why she, Clarissa, was not invited to lunch and again towards thoughts of the worth of her life. In her mind, she is "only a wife" (p94). Clarissa tries to be grateful for the moment she is inhabiting, cutting the stems off roses at the kitchen sink. She thinks of the holiday she had when she was eighteen with Louis and Richard, a time when "it seemed anything could happen, anything at all" (p95). She thinks of kissing Richard, a dramatic reversal of the kiss Woolf's Clarissa Dalloway shares with a girl when she was young. Clarissa (Vaughan) realizes without that holiday and the house where she, Richard and Louis spent it, so many events would not have occurred, including this moment now, standing in a kitchen cutting flowers for her best friend, Richard's, party. She remembers telling herself at the time she was not betraying Louis by sleeping with Richard, it was the free-wheeling 1960's, Louis was aware of what was going on. She wonders what might have happened if she had tried to remain with Richard. She imagines that other future, "full of infidelities and great battles; as a vast and enduring romance laid over friendship so searing and profound it would accompany them to the grave...She could have had a life as potent and dangerous as literature itself." "Or then again maybe not," Clarissa thinks. She realizes that maybe there is nothing equal to the recollection of having been young. She catalogues the moment she and Richard kissed for the first time, by a pond's edge at dusk. "It had seemed like the beginning of happiness, and Clarissa is still sometimes shocked, more than thirty years, to realize that it 'was' happiness...Now she knows: That was the moment, right then. There has been no other." *It is revealed to her that all her sorrow and loneliness, the whole creaking scaffold of it, stems simply from pretending to live in this apartment among these objects... :--Clarissa considering the possibility of escaping her present life. p92, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. *I am trivial, endlessly trivial, she thinks. p94, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. *Venture too far for love, she tells herself, and you renounce citizenship in the country you've made for yourself. You end up just sailing from port to port. p97, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. *It had seemed like the beginning of happiness, and Clarissa is still sometimes shocked, more than thirty years later, to realize that it was happiness; that the entire experience lay in a kiss and a walk, the anticipation of dinner and a book...What lives undimmed in Clarissa's mind more than three decades later is a kiss at dusk on a patch of dead grass, and a walk around a pond as mosquitoes droned in the darkening air. There is still that singular perfection, and it's perfect in part because it seemed, at the time, so clearly to promise more. Now she knows: That was the moment, right then. There has been no other. p98, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. Laura's cake is complete but she is not happy. It is less than she had hoped it would be. She had invested great and desperate hopes in the cake, like an artist working on a great piece of art, and in her mind, she failed. Laura catalogues what she will do to keep busy for the rest of the day: prepare for Dan's party. She knows Dan will be happy with whatever she prepares. This slightly annoys her. She realises her husband's happiness "depends only on the fact of her, here in the house, living her life, thinking of him". She tries to tell herself this is a good thing and that she is being difficult but is suddenly hit by the image of Virginia Woolf putting a stone into the pocket of her coat and walking into a river. This psychic connection to another ‘desperate housewife’ is interrupted by a tap on the back door. It is Kitty, Laura's neighbour. Laura is panicked and excited. She wants to see Kitty but she is unprepared, looking too much, she believes, like "the woman of sorrows". Kitty is invited in. She fits effortlessly and confidently into this post-war world of domestication, she seems to have it all. She notices Laura's amateur efforts at making a cake, just what Laura was dreading. Laura recognises her inability to fit into this domestic world, but also her inability not to care -she is trapped between two worlds. She also recognises, however, that Kitty does not have the perfect world her confidence implies. For example, Kitty has remained barren despite her desire to have children. On the other hand, the one thing Laura seems to be excelling at in the domestic sphere is producing progeny. As the two women sip coffee Kitty admits she has to go to hospital for a few days and wants Laura to feed her pet dog. She tells Laura, somewhat evasively, that the problem is in her uterus, probably the cause of her infertility. Laura moves to comfort Kitty with an embrace. She feels a sense of what it would be like to be a man, and also a sort of jealousy towards Ray, Kitty's husband. Both women capitulate to the moment, to holding each other. Laura is kissing Kitty's forehead, when Kitty lifts her face and the two women kiss each other on the lips. It is Kitty who pulls away and Laura is assailed by a panic. She feels she will be perceived as the predator in this astounding development, and indeed "Laura and Kitty agree, silently, that this is true." She also realizes her son, Richie, has been watching everything. However Kitty is already on her way out the door, her momentary lapse of character wiped from memory. Nothing is mentioned of the kiss, she brushes off Laura's continued overtures of help politely, and leaves. Laura's world has been jolted. It is too much. It is like a Virginia Woolf novel, too full. Attempting to return to the world she knows, she attends to her son and, without hesitation, dumps her freshly made cake in the bin. She will make another cake, a better one. *Why, she wonders, does it seem that she could give him anything, anything at all, and receive essentially the same response. What does he desire nothing, really, beyond what he's already got?...This, she reminds herself, is a virtue. :--Laura ruminates on Dan's relentless contentedness. p100, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. *Her cake is a failure, but she is loved anyway. She is loved, she thinks, in more or less the way the gifts will be appreciated: because they've been given with good intentions, because they exist, because they are part of a world in which one wants what one gets". p100-101, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. *Why did she marry him? She married him out of love. She married him out of guilt; out of fear of being alone; out of patriotism. :--Laura reflects on the complex reasons she married Dan. p106, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. *The question has been silently asked and silently answered, it seems. They are both afflicted and blessed, full of shared secrets, striving every moment. They are both impersonating someone. They are weary and beleaguered; they have taken on such enormous work. :--Laura and Kitty embrace in the kitchen. p110, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. As Virginia helps Leonard and Ralph with the printing press a servant announces Virginia's sister has arrived. Vanessa, Virginia's sister, is one-and-a-half hours early. Leonard refuses to stop working so Virginia attends to Vanessa alone. It is at this time that one realizes that her mental problems create a fear for the maids. Virginia and Vanessa go out into the garden where Vanessa's children have found a dying bird. Vanessa, mirroring the character of Kitty in the Mrs. Brown vignettes, has an effortless competence in dealing with life's details, be it servants or children. This competence highlights Virginia's own awkwardness with her lot in life. Virginia believes, as she watches Vanessa's children, that the real accomplishment in life is not her "experiments in narrative" but the producing of children, as Vanessa has achieved. Virginia is out of place in such a society. The bird the children have found has died, and the children, assisted by the adults, hold a funeral for it. Virginia is aware that she and the little girl are far more invested in the funeral than Vanessa's boys, who are probably laughing at the females behind their backs. As Virginia stares longingly at the dead bird she has an epiphany: her character, Clarissa Dalloway, is not like Virginia, and would not commit suicide. Like the bird's funeral bed, Clarissa represents -to Virginia- an uncaring, even foolish thing. As such, Clarissa will represent the death bed (the counterpoint) to the character who Virginia will have commit suicide. *Virginia looks with unanticipated pleasure at this modest circlet of thorns and flowers; this wild deathbed. She would like to lie down on it herself. :--A bird's funeral suddenly becomes the occasion for Virginia to ponder her own deathwish. p119, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. *Virginia lingers another moment beside the dead bird in its circle of roses. It could be a kind of hat. It could be the missing link between milinery and death. :--Virginia humorously seeing both the everyday and the profundity in life's events. p121, 1999 Fourth Estate paperback edition. As Clarissa prepares for Richard's party, determined to give him the perfect tribute despite its probable triviality, she is visited by none other than Richard's old partner Louis. The visit mirrors those of Kitty and Vanessa in the other story vignettes. Clarissa is thrown off-kilter by the visit, as Laura had been by Kitty and Virginia had been by Vanessa. | With the exception of the opening and final scenes, which depict the 1941 suicide by drowning of Virginia Woolf in the River Ouse, the action takes place within the span of a single day in three different years, and alternates among them throughout the film. In 1923, renowned author Woolf has begun writing the book Mrs Dalloway in her home in the town of Richmond outside London. In 1951, troubled Los Angeles housewife Laura Brown escapes from her life as a conventional housewife by reading Mrs Dalloway. In 2001, New Yorker Clarissa Vaughan is the embodiment of the title character of Mrs Dalloway as she spends the day preparing for a party she is hosting in honor of her former lover and friend Richard , a poet and author living with AIDS who is to receive an award for career achievement. Richard tells Clarissa he has stayed alive for her sake, and the award is meaningless because he didn't get it sooner, until he was on the brink of death. She tells him she believes he would have won the award regardless of his illness. Richard often refers to Clarissa as "Mrs. Dalloway", due to her distracting herself from her own life and self the way the Woolf character did. Virginia, who has experienced several nervous breakdowns and suffers from bipolar disorder, feels trapped in her home, intimidated by servants and constantly under the eye of her husband Leonard who has begun a publishing business, Hogarth Press, at home to stay close to her. Woolf both welcomes and dreads an afternoon visit from her sister Vanessa and her children. After their departure, Virginia flees to the railway station where she is awaiting a train to central London when Leonard arrives to bring her home. He tells her how he lives in constant fear that she will take her own life. She says she fears it also, but argues that if she is to live she has the right to decide how, and where, as much as any other. Very pregnant with her second child, Laura spends her days in her tract home with her young son, Richie. She married her husband, Dan , soon after World War II and on the surface they are living the American Dream but she is deeply unhappy. She and Richie make a cake for Dan's birthday, but it is a disaster. Her neighbour Kitty drops in to ask her if she can feed her dog while she's in the hospital for a procedure. Kitty pretends to be upbeat, but Laura senses her fear and boldly kisses her on the lips. Kitty accepts the kiss without comment, and both women ignore any hidden meaning it might have. Laura and Richie successfully make another cake and clean up, and then she takes Richie to stay with Mrs. Latch . He is terrified of being left without her and she insists she will be back, but instead of running errands she checks into a hotel where she intends to commit suicide. Laura removes several bottles of pills and Woolf's novel from her purse, and begins to read Mrs Dalloway. She drifts off to sleep, and dreams the hotel room is flooded, awakening with a change of heart, and caresses her belly. She picks up Richie and they return home to celebrate Dan's birthday. Clarissa appears equally worried about Richard, and his depression, and the party she is planning for him. Although Clarissa herself is a lesbian who has been living with Sally Lester for 10 years, she and Richard were lovers during their college days, and he has spent the better part of his life in gay relationships, including one with Louis Waters , who left him years ago but returns for the festivities. Clarissa's daughter, Julia , comes home to help her prepare. Richard has taken all sorts of pills but tells her Clarissa is the most beautiful thing he ever had in life, before he throws himself out a window to his death. Later that night Laura, who is Richard's mother, arrives at Clarissa's apartment. It is clear that Laura's abandonment of her family was a profound trauma for Richard, but Laura reveals it was a better decision for her to leave the family after the birth of her daughter, rather than commit suicide. She has led an independent, happier life as a librarian in Canada. She does not apologize for the hurt she caused to her family , and suggests that it's not possible to feel regret for something over which she had no choice. She acknowledges that no one will forgive her, but offers an explanation: "It [her life] was death. I chose life." When Julia spontaneously hugs her, she looks stunned and surprised, then moved by the demonstration of compassion. | 0.866995 | positive | 0.996309 | positive | 0.994789 |
1,573,600 | The Rainbird Pattern | Family Plot | Elderly spinster Julia Rainbird, under sessions by medium Blanche Tyler, or "Madame Blanche", promises her a large sum of money to locate her illegitimate nephew Edward Shoebridge. Blanche and her boyfriend, George Lumley, begin making inquiries around their area about the Shoebridges, despite no one knowing where Edward is, or if he is alive. Meanwhile, Edward Shoebridge, alive and under the pseudonym of "the Trader", has been organising small kidnappings around the area, but is planning a larger score, the Archbishop of Canterbury, whom he will hold for a large ransom. | The story involves a fake psychic, Blanche Tyler ([[Barbara Harris , and her con artist taxi driver boyfriend, George Lumley , who attempt to locate the nephew of a wealthy and guiltridden old woman, Julia Rainbird . Julia, one of Blanche's clients, was responsible for her now-deceased sister giving up a boy for adoption years earlier and now wants to make him her heir. She will pay $10,000 if he is found. However, the nephew and prospective heir is now a successful jeweler in San Francisco known as Arthur Adamson , who has a secret and lurid past, having apparently murdered his adoptive parents and faked his own death. He and his live-in girlfriend, Fran , have successfully kidnapped an assortment of millionaires and dignitaries, returning them when the ransom, in the form of a valuable gemstone, has been delivered, each of which they hide in their chandelier. They enlist Maloney , who assisted Arthur in the murder of his adoptive parents, to kill Blanche and George. However, Maloney's effort fails when he drives off a cliff while pursuing Blanche and George. When Arthur learns that Blanche and George are pursuing him, he suspects the worst, putting their lives in danger. | 0.602448 | positive | 0.972856 | positive | 0.992454 |
3,344,455 | Anne of Green Gables | Anne of Green Gables | Anne, a young orphan from fictional community of Bolingbroke, Nova Scotia, (based upon the real community of New London) is sent to Prince Edward Island after a childhood spent in strangers' homes and orphanages. Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, siblings in their fifties and sixties, had decided to adopt a boy from the orphanage to help Matthew run their farm. They live at Green Gables, their Avonlea farmhouse on Prince Edward Island. Through a misunderstanding, the orphanage sends Anne Shirley. Anne is described as bright and quick, eager to please, talkative, and extremely imaginative. She has a pale face with freckles, and usually braids her red hair. When asked her name, Anne tells Marilla to call her Cordelia, which Marilla refuses; Anne insists that if she is to be called Anne, it must be spelled with an e, as that spelling is "so much more distinguished." Marilla at first says the girl must return to the orphanage, but after a few days, she decides to let her stay - she pities her and is curious about the girl. As a child of imagination, Anne takes much joy in life, and adapts quickly, thriving in the close-knit farming village. Her talkativeness initially drives the prim, duty-driven Marilla to distraction, although shy Matthew falls for her immediately. Anne says that they are 'kindred spirits'. The book recounts Anne's adventures in making a home: the country school, where she quickly excels in her studies; her friendship with Diana Barry (her best or "bosom friend" as Anne fondly calls her); her budding literary ambitions; and her rivalry with classmate Gilbert Blythe, who teases her about her red hair. For that he earned her instant hatred, although he apologizes many times. As for Anne, she realizes she feels sorry about the events and no longer hates Gilbert, but cannot bring herself to admit it; by the end of the book, they finally become friends. The book also follows Anne's adventures in quiet, old-fashioned Avonlea. Episodes include her play time with friends (Diana, Jane Andrews and Ruby Gillis), her run-ins with the unpleasant Pye sisters (Gertie and Josie), and domestic mishaps such as dyeing her hair green (while intending to dye it black), or accidentally getting Diana drunk (by giving her what she thinks is raspberry cordial but is currant wine). At sixteen, Anne goes to Queen's Academy to earn a teaching license, along with Gilbert, Ruby, Josie, Jane and several other students. She obtains her license in one year instead of the usual two, and wins the Avery Scholarship for the top student in English, which would allow her to pursue a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree at the fictional Redmond College (based on the real Dalhousie University) on the mainland in Nova Scotia. Near the end of the book, Matthew dies of a heart attack after learning that all of his and Marilla's money has been lost in a bank failure. Out of devotion to Marilla and Green Gables, Anne gives up the Avery Scholarship to stay at home and help Marilla, whose eyesight is diminishing. She plans to teach at the Carmody school, the nearest school available, and return to Green Gables on weekends. In an act of friendship, Gilbert Blythe gives up his teaching position at the Avonlea School to work at White Sands School instead. Anne can teach in Avonlea and stay at Green Gables all through the week. After this kind act, Anne and Gilbert's friendship is cemented, and Anne looks forward to the next "bend in the road." | Anne Shirley is an orphan who has been adopted by farmer Matthew Cuthbert and his sister Marilla . Although the pair were expecting a young boy to help on their farm, Anne endears herself to them and to the local villagers. | 0.694239 | positive | 0.9987 | positive | 0.998232 |
7,533,357 | Freaky Friday | Freaky Friday | A willful, disorganized teenage girl, Annabelle Andrews, awakens one Friday morning to find herself in the body of her mother, with whom she argued the previous night. Suddenly in charge of taking care of the New York family's affairs and her younger brother Ben (whom Annabelle has not-so-affectionately nicknamed "Ape Face"), and growing increasingly worried about the disappearance of "Annabelle", who appeared to be herself in the morning but has gone missing after leaving the Andrews' home, she enlists the help of her neighbor and childhood friend, Boris, though without telling him about her identity crisis. As the day wears on and Annabelle has a series of increasingly bizarre and frustrating misadventures, she becomes gradually more appreciative of how difficult her mother's life is, and learns, to her surprise, that Ben idolizes her, and Boris is actually named Morris, but has a problem with chronic congestion (at least around Annabelle) leading him to nasally pronounce ms and ns as bs and ds. The novel races towards its climax and Ben also disappears, apparently having gone off with a pretty girl whom Boris did not recognize, but Ben appeared to trust without hesitation. In the climax and dénouement, Annabelle becomes overwhelmed by the difficulties of her situation, apparent disappearance of her mother, loss of the children, and the question of how her odd situation came about and when/whether it will be resolved. Finally, it is revealed that Annabelle's mother herself caused them to switch bodies through some unspecified means, and the mysterious girl who took Ben was Mrs. Andrews in Annabelle's body (to which she is restored) made much more attractive by a makeover Mrs. Andrews gave the body while using it, including the removal of Annabelle's braces, an appointment Annabelle had forgotten about (and would have missed, had she been the one in her body that day). The book (and especially the film adaptations and its second sequel, Summer Switch) might be considered a modern retelling of Vice Versa, the 1882 novel by F. Anstey, in which the protagonists are a father and son. | Annabel Andrews and her mother, Ellen Andrews (Barbara Harris constantly quarrel. Following a disagreement on Friday the 13th, Annabel leaves to join a friend at a local diner. In sync, Annabel and her mother both wish aloud, "I wish I could switch places with her for just one day." The mother and daughter's wish comes true when they switch bodies and, subsequently, lives. Annabel and Ellen continue to live their everyday lives as each other. Annabel remains at home, tending to laundry, car repair, grocery deliveries, carpet cleaners, dry cleaners, her housemaid, and the family Basset Hound. As though Annabel did not have her hands full, Mr. Andrews coerces her to cook dinner for twenty-five as his catered dinner party plans fell through. Annabel enlists the neighbor boy to assist her, but manages to destroy every course in the making. Ellen attends school as Annabel where she struggles with marching band, destroys her entire typing class's electric typewriters, exposes her photography class's developing film, and leads the school's field hockey team to a loss. In an effort to escape school, Ellen runs to her husband's office. There, she encounters Bill Andrew's new attractive, young, and immodestly dressed secretary. Ellen attempts to intimidate the young woman by sharing how frightening "her mother" is. This effort appeared successful as the secretary adopts more modest clothing, glasses, and an unflattering hairstyle. Ellen asks Mr. Andrews for access to his credit card in order to make herself over as her braces were scheduled to be removed that afternoon. As the day ends in a comical twist, the mother-daughter pair wish a new request: To return to themselves. With a new understanding of each other's lives, they forgive each other. Following the events of Freaky Friday, Father Bill and son Ben discuss how fun a Saturday in each other's place would be. As they wish to switch places, Ellen nervously throws her cards into the air. | 0.574722 | positive | 0.994618 | positive | 0.9974 |
308,930 | The Phantom of the Opera | The Phantom of the Opera | The novel opens with a prologue in which Gaston Leroux claims that Erik, the "Phantom of the Opera", was a real person. We are then introduced to Christine Daaé who with her father, a famous fiddler, travelled all over Europe playing folk and religious music. Her father was known to be the best wedding-fiddler in the land. When Christine is six, her mother dies and her father is brought to rural France by a patron, Professor Valerius. During Christine's childhood (which is described retrospectively in the early chapters of the book), her father tells her many stories featuring an "Angel of Music", who, like a muse, is the personification of musical inspiration. Christine meets and befriends the young Raoul, Viscount of Chagny, who also enjoys her father's many stories. One of Christine and Raoul's favourite stories is one of Little Lotte, a girl with golden hair and blue eyes who is visited by the Angel of Music and possesses a heavenly voice. On his deathbed, Christine's father tells her that he will send the Angel of Music to her from Heaven. Christine now lives with Mamma Valerius, the elderly widow of her father's benefactor. Christine is eventually given a position in the chorus at the Paris Opera House (Palais Garnier). Not long after she arrives there, she begins hearing a beautiful, unearthly voice which sings to her and speaks to her. She believes this must be the Angel of Music and asks him if he is. The Voice agrees and offers to teach her "a little bit of heaven's music". The Voice, however, belongs to Erik, a physically-deformed and mentally-disturbed charismatic genius who was one of the architects who took part in the construction of the opera and who secretly built a home for himself in the cellars. He has been extorting money from the Opera's management for many years. Unknown to Christine, at least at first, he falls in love with her. With the help of the Voice, Christine triumphs at the gala on the night of the old managers' retirement. Her old childhood friend Raoul hears her and remembers his love for her. A time after the gala, the Paris Opera performs Faust, with the prima donna Carlotta playing the lead. In response to a refused surrender of Box Five to the Opera Ghost, Carlotta loses her voice and the Opera's grand chandelier plummets into the audience. After the chandelier accident, Erik kidnaps Christine to his home in the cellars and reveals his true identity. He plans to keep her there only a few days, hoping she will come to love him, and Christine begins to find herself attracted to her abductor. But she causes Erik to change his plans when she unmasks him and, to the horror of both, beholds his face, which according to the book, resembles the face of a rotting corpse. Erik goes into a frenzy, stating she probably thinks his face is another mask, and whilst digging her fingers in to show it was really his face he shouts, "I am Don Juan Triumphant!" before crawling away, crying. Fearing that she will leave him, he decides to keep her with him forever, but when Christine requests release after two weeks, he agrees on condition that she wear his ring and be faithful to him. Up on the roof of the Opera, Christine tells Raoul of Erik taking her to the cellars. Raoul promises to take Christine away where Erik can never find her and to take her even if she resists. Raoul tells Christine he shall act on his promise the following day, to which Christine agrees, but she pities Erik and will not go until she has sung for him one last time. Christine then realizes the ring has slipped off her finger and fallen into the streets somewhere, and begins to panic. The two leave. But neither is aware that Erik has been listening to their conversation or that it has driven him to jealous frenzy. During the week and that night, Erik has been terrorising anyone who stood in his way or in that of Christine's career, including the managers. The following night, Erik kidnaps Christine during a production of Faust (by drugging the gas men and switching the lights off, he spirits Christine off the stage before anyone turned the lights on). Back in the cellars, Erik tries to force Christine into marriage. If she refuses he threatens to destroy the entire Opera using explosives he has planted in the cellars, killing them and everyone in the floors above. Christine continues to refuse, until she realizes that Raoul and an old acquaintance of Erik's known only as "The Persian", in an attempt to rescue her, have been trapped in Erik's hot torture chamber. To save them and the people above, Christine agrees to marry Erik. At first, Erik tries to drown Raoul and the Persian in the water used to douse the explosives, stating that Christine doesn't need another. But Christine begs and offers to be his "living bride", promising him not to kill herself after becoming his bride, as she had both contemplated and attempted earlier in the novel. Erik rescues the Persian and the young Raoul from his torture chamber thereafter. When Erik is alone with Christine, he lifts his mask a little to kiss her on the forehead, and Christine allows him to do this. Erik, who admits that he has never before in his life received or been allowed to give a kiss – not even from his own mother – is overcome with emotion. Christine gives him a kiss back. He lets Christine go and tells her "Go and marry the boy whenever you wish," explaining, "I know you love him". She leaves on the condition that when he dies she will come back and bury him. Being an old acquaintance, The Persian is told of all these secrets by Erik himself, and upon his express request, the Persian advertises Erik's death in the newspaper about three weeks later. The cause of death is revealed to be a broken heart, and as promised, Christine returns to bury Erik and give his ring back to him. | :The scenario presented is based on the general release version of 1925, which has additional scenes and sequences in different order than the existing reissue print . The film opens with the debut of the new season at the Paris Opera House, with a production of Gounod's Faust. Comte Philippe de Chagny and his brother, the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny are in attendance. Raoul attends only in the hope of hearing his sweetheart Christine Daae sing. Christine, secretly under the tuition The Phantom, has made a sudden rise from the chorus to understudy of the prima donna. Raoul wishes for Christine to resign and marry him, but she refuses to let their relationship get in the way of her career. The Phantom demands that Christine be placed in the lead role for the next opera. At the height of the most prosperous season in the Opera's history, the management suddenly resign. As they leave, they tell the new managers of the Opera Ghost, a phantom who asks for opera box #5, among other things. The new managers laugh it off as a joke, but the old management leaves troubled. The managers go to Box 5 to see exactly who has taken it. The keeper of the box does not know who it is, as she has never seen his face. The two managers enter the box and are startled to see a shadowy figure seated. They run out of the box and compose themselves, but when they enter the box again, the person is gone. After the performance, the ballet girls are disturbed by the sight of a mysterious man , who dwells in the cellars. Arguing whether or not he is the Phantom, they decide to ask Joseph Buquet, a stagehand who has actually seen the ghost's face. Buquet describes a ghastly sight of a living skeleton to the girls, who are then startled by a shadow cast on the wall. The antics of stagehand Florine Papillon do not amuse Joseph's brother, Simon , who chases him off. Meanwhile, Mme. Carlotta , the prima donna of the Paris Grand Opera, barges into the managers office enraged. She has received a letter from "The Phantom," demanding that Christine sing the role of Marguerite the following night, threatening dire consequences if his demands are not met. In her next performance, Christine reaches her triumph during the finale and receives a standing ovation from the audience. When Raoul visits her in her dressing room, she pretends not to recognize him, because unbeknownst to the rest there, The Phantom is also there. Raoul spends the evening outside her door, and after the others have left, just as he is about to enter, he hears The Phantom's voice within the room. He overhears the voice make his intentions to Christine: "Soon, Christine, this spirit will take form and will demand your love!" When Christine leaves her room alone, Raoul breaks in to find it empty. Carlotta receives another discordant note from the Phantom. Once again, it demands that she take ill and let Christine have her part. The managers also get a note, reiterating that if Christine does not sing, they will present "Faust" in a house with a curse on it. The following evening, despite the Phantom's warnings, a defiant Carlotta appears as Marguerite. At first, the performance goes well, but soon the Phantom's curse takes its effect, causing the great, crystal chandelier to fall down onto the audience. Christine runs to her dressing room and is entranced by a mysterious voice through a secret door behind the mirror, descending, in a dream-like sequence, semi-conscious on horseback by a winding staircase into the lower depths of the Opera. She is then taken by gondola over a subterranean lake by the masked Phantom into his lair. The Phantom introduces himself as Erik and declares his love; Christine faints, so Erik carries her to a suite fabricated for her comfort. The next day, when she awakens, she finds a note from Erik telling her that she is free to come and go as she pleases, but that she must never look behind his mask. In the next room, the Phantom is playing his composition, "Don Juan Triumphant." Christine's curiosity gets the better of her, and she sneaks up behind the Phantom and tears off his mask, revealing his hideously deformed face. Enraged, the Phantom makes his plans to hold her prisoner known. In an attempt to plead to him, he excuses her to visit her world one last time, with the condition that she never sees her lover again. Released from the underground dungeon, Christine makes a rendezvous at the annual masked-ball, which is graced with the Phantom in the guise of the 'Red-Death' from the Edgar Allan Poe novel of the same name. While on the roof, Christine tells Raoul everything. However, an unseen jealous Phantom perching on the statue of Apollo overhears them. Raoul and Inspector Ledoux are then lured into the Phantom's underground death-trap when Christine is kidnapped while onstage. Philippe is drowned by Erik when he goes looking for Raoul in the cellars of the Opera. The Phantom gives Christine a choice of two levers: one shaped like a scorpion and the other like a grasshopper. One of them will save Raoul, while the other will blow up the Opera. Christine picks the scorpion, but it is a trick by the Phantom to "save" Raoul and Ledoux from being blown up — by drowning them. Christine begs the Phantom to save Raoul, promising him anything in return. At the last second, the Phantom opens a trapdoor in his floor through which Raoul and Ledoux are saved. The Phantom attempts to flee with Christine in a stolen carriage. While Raoul saves Christine, Erik/Phantom is pursued and killed by a mob, who throw him into the Seine River to finally drown. In the original 1925 version, there was a short scene showing Christine and Raoul on a honeymoon. An alternate ending features the Phantom letting Christine and Raoul go after realizing that Christine truly loves Raoul and not him. Christine gives the Phantom her ring, then departs with Raoul. The Phantom shrieks in pain and falls over dead, of a broken heart. | 0.828803 | positive | 0.50683 | positive | 0.982772 |
160,047 | High Fidelity | High Fidelity | Rob Fleming is a London record store owner in his mid-thirties whose girlfriend, Laura, has just left him. At the record shop — named Championship Vinyl — Rob and his employees Dick and Barry spend their free moments discussing mix-tape aesthetics and constructing "top-five" lists of anything that demonstrates their knowledge of music. Rob, recalling his five most memorable breakups, sets about getting in touch with the former girlfriends. Eventually, Rob's re-examination of his failed relationships and the death of Laura's father bring the two back together. Their relationship is cemented by the launch of a new purposefulness to Rob's life in the revival of his disc jockey career. Also, realizing that his fear of commitment (a result of his fear of death of those around him) and his tendency to act on emotion are responsible for his continuing desires to pursue new women, Rob makes a symbolic commitment to Laura. | The film centers on Rob Gordon , a self-confessed music geek whose flair for understanding women is over par for the course. After getting dumped by his current girlfriend, Laura , he decides to look up some of his old flames in an attempt to figure out what he keeps doing wrong in his relationships. He spends his days at his record store, Championship Vinyl, where he holds court over the customers that drift through. Helping Rob in his task of musical elitism are Dick and Barry , the "musical moron twins," as he refers to them. Armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of all things musical, they compile "top five" lists for every conceivable occasion, openly mock the ignorance of their customers, and, every so often, sell a few records. Rob and the staff have a strong dislike for two shoplifting skateboarder teenagers, Vince and Justin . One day, he listens to a recording that they did and offers them a record deal, starting his own label called "Top 5 Records". During his off hours, he pines for his lost girlfriend Laura and does his best to win her back. Rob soon hears that Laura's father, who liked Rob, has died, and attends his funeral with Laura. Shortly after the reception, Rob realizes he never committed to Laura and always had one foot out the door. This made him realize he neglected his own future in the process. Afterwards, he and Laura move back in together again, and she organizes a celebration of the recently released single by the two delinquents, where Barry's band plays "Let's Get It On" and is delightful . In the final scene, Rob finishes his advice about making the perfect mixtape, and says that he is now making one for Laura. | 0.73921 | positive | 0.996229 | positive | 0.998124 |
7,089,419 | Gulliver's Travels | The New Gulliver | ;4 May 1699 — 13 April 1702 The book begins with a short preamble in which Lemuel Gulliver, in the style of books of the time, gives a brief outline of his life and history before his voyages. He enjoys travelling, although it is that love of travel that is his downfall. During his first voyage, Gulliver is washed ashore after a shipwreck and finds himself a prisoner of a race of tiny people, less than 6 inches tall, who are inhabitants of the island country of Lilliput. After giving assurances of his good behaviour, he is given a residence in Lilliput and becomes a favourite of the court. From there, the book follows Gulliver's observations on the Court of Lilliput. He is also given the permission to roam around the city on a condition that he would not harm their subjects. Gulliver assists the Lilliputians to subdue their neighbours, the Blefuscudians, by stealing their fleet. However, he refuses to reduce the island nation of Blefuscu to a province of Lilliput, displeasing the King and the court. Gulliver is convicted of treason for "making water" in the capital (even though he was putting out a fire and saving countless lives)--among other "crimes." Gulliver is charged with treason and sentenced to be blinded. With the assistance of a kind friend, Gulliver escapes to Blefuscu, where he spots and retrieves an abandoned boat and sails out to be rescued by a passing ship which safely takes him back home. This book of the Travels is a topical political satire. ;20 June 1702 — 3 June 1706 When the sailing ship Adventure is blown off course by storms and forced to put in to land for want of fresh water, Gulliver is abandoned by his companions and found by a farmer who is tall (the scale of Brobdingnag is about 12:1, compared to Lilliput's 1:12, judging from Gulliver estimating a man's step being ). He brings Gulliver home and his daughter cares for Gulliver. The farmer treats him as a curiosity and exhibits him for money. The word gets out and the Queen of Brobdingnag wants to see the show. She loves Gulliver and she buys him and keeps him as a favourite at court. Since Gulliver is too small to use their huge chairs, beds, knives and forks, the queen commissions a small house to be built for Gulliver so that he can be carried around in it. This is referred to as his 'travelling box'. Between small adventures such as fighting giant wasps and being carried to the roof by a monkey, he discusses the state of Europe with the King. The King is not happy with Gulliver's accounts of Europe, especially upon learning of the use of guns and cannons. On a trip to the seaside, his travelling box is seized by a giant eagle which drops Gulliver and his box into the sea, where he is picked up by some sailors, who return him to England. This book compares the truly moral man to the representative man; the latter is clearly shown to be the lesser of the two. Swift, being in Anglican holy orders, was likely to make such comparisons. ;5 August 1706 — 16 April 1710 After Gulliver's ship is attacked by pirates, he is marooned close to a desolate rocky island, near India. Fortunately he is rescued by the flying island of Laputa, a kingdom devoted to the arts of music and mathematics but unable to use them for practical ends. ("La puta" is Spanish for "the whore". Swift was attacking reason and the deism movement in this book, the last one he wrote for the Travels.) Laputa's custom of throwing rocks down at rebellious cities on the ground seems the first time that aerial bombardment was conceived as a method of warfare. Gulliver tours Laputa as the guest of a low-ranking courtier and sees the ruin brought about by the blind pursuit of science without practical results, in a satire on bureaucracy and on the Royal Society and its experiments. At the Grand Academy of Lagado, great resources and manpower are employed on researching completely preposterous schemes such as extracting sunbeams from cucumbers, softening marble for use in pillows, learning how to mix paint by smell, and uncovering political conspiracies by examining the excrement of suspicious persons (see muckraking). Gulliver is then taken to Balnibarbi to await a trader who can take him on to Japan. While waiting for passage, Gulliver takes a short side-trip to the island of Glubbdubdrib, where he visits a magician's dwelling and discusses history with the ghosts of historical figures, the most obvious restatement of the "ancients versus moderns" theme in the book. In Luggnagg he encounters the struldbrugs, unfortunates who are immortal. They do not have the gift of eternal youth, but suffer the infirmities of old age and are considered legally dead at the age of eighty. After reaching Japan, Gulliver asks the Emperor "to excuse my performing the ceremony imposed upon my countrymen of trampling upon the crucifix", which the Emperor grants. Gulliver returns home, determined to stay there for the rest of his days. ;7 September 1710 – 2 July 1715 Despite his earlier intention of remaining at home, Gulliver returns to the sea as the captain of a merchantman as he is bored with his employment as a surgeon. On this voyage he is forced to find new additions to his crew whom he believes to have turned the rest of the crew against him. His crew then mutiny, and after keeping him contained for some time resolve to leave him on the first piece of land they come across and continue as pirates. He is abandoned in a landing boat and comes upon a race of hideous, deformed and savage humanoid creatures to which he conceives a violent antipathy. Shortly afterwards he meets a race of horses who call themselves Houyhnhnms (which in their language means "the perfection of nature"); they are the rulers, while the deformed creatures called Yahoos are human beings in their base form. Gulliver becomes a member of a horse's household, and comes to both admire and emulate the Houyhnhnms and their lifestyle, rejecting his fellow humans as merely Yahoos endowed with some semblance of reason which they only use to exacerbate and add to the vices Nature gave them. However, an Assembly of the Houyhnhnms rules that Gulliver, a Yahoo with some semblance of reason, is a danger to their civilization, and expels him. He is then rescued, against his will, by a Portuguese ship, and is surprised to see that Captain Pedro de Mendez, a Yahoo, is a wise, courteous and generous person. He returns to his home in England, but he is unable to reconcile himself to living among Yahoos and becomes a recluse, remaining in his house, largely avoiding his family and his wife, and spending several hours a day speaking with the horses in his stables. This book uses coarse metaphors to describe human depravity, and the Houyhnhms are symbolized as not only perfected nature but also the emotional barrenness which Swift maintained that devotion to reason brought. | The story, a Communist re-telling of Gulliver's Travels, is about a young boy who dreams of himself as a version of Gulliver who has landed in Lilliput suffering under capitalist inequality and exploitation. | 0.682464 | negative | -0.996987 | positive | 0.597182 |
13,702,809 | The End of the Affair | The End of the Affair | The novel focuses on Maurice Bendrix, a rising writer during World War II in London, and Sarah Miles, the wife of an impotent civil servant. Bendrix is loosely based on Greene himself, and he reflects often on the act of writing a novel. Sarah is based loosely on Greene's mistress at the time, Catherine Walston, to whom the book is dedicated. Bendrix and Sarah fall in love quickly, but he soon realizes that the affair will end as quickly as it began. The relationship suffers from his overt and admitted jealousy. He is frustrated by her refusal to divorce Henry, her amiable but boring husband. When a bomb blasts Bendrix's flat as he is with Sarah, he is nearly killed. After this, Sarah breaks off the affair with no apparent explanation. Later, Bendrix is still wracked with jealousy when he sees Henry crossing the Common that separates their flats. Henry has finally started to suspect something, and Bendrix decides to go to a private detective to discover Sarah's new lover. Through her diary, he learns that, when she thought he was dead after the bombing, she made a promise to God not to see Bendrix again if He allowed him to live again. Greene describes Sarah's struggles. After her sudden death from a lung infection brought to a climax by walking on the Common in the rain, several miraculous events occur, advocating for some kind of meaningfulness to Sarah's faith. By the last page of the novel, Bendrix may have come to believe in a God as well, though not to love Him. The End of the Affair is the fourth and last of Greene's explicitly Catholic novels. | Novelist Maurice Bendrix narrates the film as he begins a book with the line "This is a diary of hate." On a rainy London night in 1946, Bendrix has a chance meeting with Henry Miles , husband of his former mistress Sarah , who abruptly ended their affair two years before. Bendrix's obsession with Sarah is rekindled; he succumbs to his own jealousy and works his way back into her life. As the story unfolds in 1946, we also see flashbacks of Bendrix with Sarah as they began their affair during World War II. Henry tells Bendrix that he believes Sarah is having an affair, so Bendrix hires the bumbling but amiable Parkis , who uses his young birthmarked son to investigate. Sarah asks Bendrix to meet to talk about Henry, and the cold tentativeness of their interaction is contrasted with the passion of their earlier encounters. Bendrix learns from Parkis that Sarah has been making regular visits to a priest under the guise of false dentist visits, and he grows increasingly jealous. Flashbacks show Bendrix expressing jealousy of Henry and asking Sarah to leave him. Though Sarah and Bendrix express love to each other, the affair ends abruptly when a bomb explodes near Bendrix's building as he is out in the hallway. Bendrix falls down a staircase and awakes later, bloodied but not seriously hurt. He walks upstairs, where Sarah is shocked that he is alive. Bendrix accuses Sarah of being disappointed that he survived; and she leaves, telling him "Love doesn't end, just because we don't see each other." In 1946, Parkis obtains Sarah's diary and passes it on to Bendrix; it shows the affair from her perspective. After Bendrix is hurt by the bomb, Sarah runs downstairs and finds him still and not breathing. After trying to revive him, she runs back upstairs and begins to pray for Bendrix's life. Just as she says to God that she will stop seeing Bendrix if he is brought back, Bendrix comes into the room. Now knowing why Sarah ended the affair, Bendrix follows Sarah and begs her to reconsider. Sarah tells Bendrix that she has felt dead without him and can no longer keep her "promise" to God. Henry, who has figured out that it is Bendrix who was Sarah's lover, desperately asks Sarah not to leave him. But, with more persuasion from Bendrix, Sarah agrees to go away with him for a weekend. Henry tracks the couple down to tell them that Sarah has a terminal illness. Bendrix stays with Henry and Sarah over her final days; and, at her funeral, Parkis tells Bendrix that a chance encounter with Sarah cured his son of his birthmark. At Henry and Sarah's house, Bendrix completes his book; and it is revealed that his diary of hate is directed toward God. While Sarah doesn't need to see God to love Him, Bendrix prays God will leave him alone, thereby finally acknowledging His existence. | 0.765609 | positive | 0.997237 | positive | 0.997635 |
1,659,954 | A Clockwork Orange | A Clockwork Orange | Alex, a teenager living in near-future England, leads his gang on nightly orgies of opportunistic, random "ultra-violence." Alex's friends ("droogs" in the novel's Anglo-Russian slang, Nadsat) are: Dim, a slow-witted bruiser who is the gang's muscle; Georgie, an ambitious second-in-command; and Pete, who mostly plays along as the droogs indulge their taste for ultra-violence. Characterized as a sociopath and a hardened juvenile delinquent, Alex is also intelligent and quick-witted, with sophisticated taste in music, being particularly fond of Beethoven, or "Lovely Ludwig Van." The novel begins with the droogs sitting in their favorite hangout (the Korova Milkbar), drinking milk-drug cocktails, called "milk-plus", to hype themselves for the night's mayhem. They assault a scholar walking home from the public library, rob a store leaving the owner and his wife bloodied and unconscious, stomp a panhandling derelict, then scuffle with a rival gang. Joyriding through the countryside in a stolen car, they break into an isolated cottage and maul the young couple living there, beating the husband and raping his wife. In a metafictional touch, the husband is a writer working on a manuscript called "A Clockwork Orange," and Alex contemptuously reads out a paragraph that states the novel's main theme before shredding the manuscript. Back at the milk bar, Alex punishes Dim for some crude behaviour, and strains within the gang become apparent. At home in his dreary flat, Alex plays classical music at top volume while fantasizing of even more orgiastic violence. Alex skips school the next day. Following an unexpected visit from P.R. Deltoid, his "post-corrective advisor," Alex meets a pair of ten-year-old girls and takes them back to his parents' flat, where he administers hard drugs and then rapes them. That evening, Alex finds his droogs in a mutinous mood. Georgie challenges Alex for leadership of the gang, demanding that they pull a "man-sized" job. Alex quells the rebellion by slashing Dim's hand and fighting with Georgie, then in a show of generosity takes them to a bar, where Alex insists on following through on Georgie's idea to burgle the home of a wealthy old woman. The break-in starts as farce and ends in tragic pathos, as Alex's attack kills the elderly woman. His escape is blocked by Dim, who attacks Alex, leaving him incapacitated on the front step as the police arrive. Sentenced to prison for murder, Alex gets a job at the Wing chapel playing religious music on the stereo before and after services as well as during the singing of hymns. The prison chaplain mistakes Alex's Bible studies for stirrings of faith (Alex is actually reading Scripture for the violent passages). After Alex's fellow cellmates blame him for beating a troublesome cellmate to death, he agrees to undergo an experimental behaviour-modification treatment called the Ludovico Technique. The technique is a form of aversion therapy in which Alex receives an injection that makes him feel sick while watching graphically violent films, eventually conditioning him to suffer crippling bouts of nausea at the mere thought of violence. As an unintended consequence, the soundtrack to one of the films—Beethoven's Fifth Symphony—renders Alex unable to listen to his beloved classical music. The effectiveness of the technique is demonstrated to a group of VIPs, who watch as Alex collapses before a walloping bully, and abases himself before a scantily-clad young woman whose presence has aroused his predatory sexual inclinations. Though the prison chaplain accuses the state of stripping Alex of free will, the government officials on the scene are pleased with the results and Alex is released into society. Since his parents are now renting his room to a lodger, Alex wanders the streets and enters a public library where he hopes to learn a painless way to commit suicide. There, he accidentally encounters the old scholar he assaulted earlier in the book, who, keen on revenge, beats Alex with the help of his friends. The policemen who come to Alex's rescue turn out to be none other than Dim and former gang rival Billyboy. The two policemen take Alex outside of town and beat him up. Dazed and bloodied, Alex collapses at the door of an isolated cottage, realizing too late that it is the house he and his droogs invaded in the first half of the story. Because the gang wore masks during the assault, the writer does not recognize Alex. The writer, whose name is revealed as F. Alexander, shelters Alex and questions him about the conditioning. During this sequence, it is revealed that Mrs. Alexander died from the injuries inflicted during the gang-rape, and her husband has decided to continue living "where her fragrant memory persists" despite the horrid memories. Alexander, a critic of the government, hopes to use Alex as a symbol of state brutality and thereby prevent the incumbent government from being re-elected. Eventually, he begins to realize Alex's role in the happenings of the night two years ago. One of Alexander's radical associates manages to extract a confession from Alex after removing him from F. Alexander's home and then locks him in a flatblock near his former home. Alex is then subjected to a relentless barrage of classical music, prompting him to attempt suicide by leaping from a high window. Alex wakes up in hospital, where he is courted by government officials anxious to counter the bad publicity created by his suicide attempt. With Alexander safely packed off to a mental institution, Alex is offered a well-paying job if he agrees to side with the government. As photographers snap pictures, Alex daydreams of orgiastic violence and realizes the Ludovico conditioning has been reversed: "I was cured all right." In the final chapter, Alex has a new trio of droogs, but he finds he is beginning to outgrow his taste for violence. A chance encounter with Pete, now married and settled down, inspires Alex to seek a wife and family of his own. He contemplates the likelihood of his future son being a delinquent as he was, a prospect Alex views fatalistically. | In futuristic London, Alex is the leader of his "droogs", Pete , Georgie , and Dim , one of many youth gangs in the decaying metropolis. One night, after intoxicating themselves on "milk plus", they engage in an evening of "ultra-violence", including beating an elderly vagrant , and fighting a rival gang led by Billyboy .Both Burgess' novel and Stanley Kubrick's published movie script have this character's name as one word "Billyboy" although the Internet Movie Database lists him in the credits with two words "Billy Boy". Stealing a car, they drive to the country home of writer F. Alexander ([[Patrick Magee , where they beat Mr. Alexander to the point of crippling him for life. Alex then rapes his wife while intoning "Singin' in the Rain". The next day, while truant from school, Alex is approached by probation officer Mr. P. R. Deltoid , who is aware of Alex's violence and cautions him. In response, Alex visits a record store where he picks up two girls. Alex and the girls have sex in a fast-motion scene. After the events of the night before, his droogs express discontent with Alex's petty crimes, demanding more equality and more high-yield thefts. Alex reasserts his leadership by attacking them and throwing them into a canal. That night, Alex invades the mansion of a wealthy "cat"-woman , filled with erotic art. While his droogs remain at the front door, Alex bludgeons the woman with a phallic statue. At the climax of the attack, close-ups of the erotic paintings on the walls are barely visible in single-frame sequences. Hearing police sirens, Alex tries to run away, but is betrayed by his droogs. Dim smashes a pint bottle of milk across his face, leaving him stunned and bleeding. Alex is captured and brutally beaten by the police. A gloating Deltoid spits in his face and informs him that the woman subsequently died in the hospital, making him a murderer. Alex is sentenced to 14 years incarceration. Two years into the sentence, the Minister of the Interior arrives at the prison looking for test subjects for the Ludovico technique, an experimental aversion therapy for rehabilitating criminals within two weeks; Alex readily volunteers. The process involves drugging the subject, strapping him to a chair, propping his eyelids open, and forcing him to watch violent movies. Alex, initially pleased by the violent images he sees, becomes nauseated due to the drugs. He realizes that one of the films' soundtracks is by his favourite composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, and that the Ludovico technique will make him sick when he hears the music he loves. He tries unsuccessfully to end the treatment. After two weeks of the Ludovico technique, the Minister of the Interior puts on a demonstration to prove that Alex is "cured". He is shown to be incapable of fighting back against an actor who insults and attacks him, and he becomes violently ill at the sight of a topless woman . Though the prison chaplain protests at the results, saying that "there's no morality without choice", the prison governor asserts that they are not interested in the moral questions but only "the means to prevent violence". Alex is released and finds that his possessions have been confiscated by the police to help make restitution to his victims, and that his parents have rented out his room. Homeless, Alex encounters the same elderly vagrant from before, who attacks him with several other friends. Alex is saved by two policemen but is shocked to discover they are two of his former droogs, Dim and Georgie. They drag Alex to the countryside, where they beat and nearly drown him. The dazed Alex wanders the countryside before coming to the home of Mr Alexander, and collapses. Alex wakes up to find himself being treated by Mr Alexander and his manservant, Julian . Mr Alexander does not recognize Alex as his attacker but has read about his treatment in the newspapers. Seeing Alex as a political weapon to usurp the government, Mr Alexander intends to expose the Ludovico technique as a step toward totalitarianism by way of mind control. As Mr. Alexander prepares to introduce Alex to colleagues , he hears Alex singing "Singin' in the Rain" in the bath, and the memories of the earlier assault return. With his colleagues' help, Mr. Alexander drugs Alex and places him in a locked upstairs bedroom, playing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony through the floor below. Alex, in excruciating pain, throws himself from the window and is knocked unconscious by the fall. Alex wakes up in a hospital, having dreamt about doctors messing around inside his head. While being given a series of psychological tests, Alex finds that he no longer has an aversion to violence. The Minister of the Interior arrives and apologizes to Alex, letting him know that Mr Alexander has been "put away". He offers to take care of Alex and get him a job in return for cooperation with his PR counter-offensive. As a sign of goodwill, the Minister brings in a stereo system playing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Alex then realizes that instead of an adverse reaction to the music, he sees an image of himself having sex in the snow with a woman in front of an approving crowd dressed in Beethoven-era fashion. He then states, in a sarcastic and menacing voice-over, "I was cured, all right!" | 0.924876 | positive | 0.490616 | positive | 0.502465 |
4,138,142 | King Solomon's Mines | The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen | Allan Quatermain, an adventurer and white hunter based in Durban, in what is now South Africa, is approached by aristocrat Sir Henry Curtis and his friend Captain Good, seeking his help finding Sir Henry's brother, who was last seen travelling north into the unexplored interior on a quest for the fabled King Solomon's Mines. Quatermain has a mysterious map purporting to lead to the mines, but had never taken it seriously. However, he agrees to lead an expedition in return for a share of the treasure, or a stipend for his son if he is killed along the way. He has little hope they will return alive, but reasons that he has already outlived most people in his profession, so dying in this manner at least ensures that his son will be provided for. They also take along a mysterious native, Umbopa, who seems more regal, handsome and well-spoken than most porters of his class, but who is very anxious to join the party. Travelling by oxcart, they reach the edge of a desert, but not before a hunt in which a wounded elephant claims the life of a servant. They continue on foot across the desert, almost dying of thirst before finding the oasis shown halfway across on the map. Reaching a mountain range called Suliman Berg, they climb a peak (one of "Sheba's Breasts") and enter a cave where they find the frozen corpse of José Silvestre (also spelt Silvestra), the 16th-century Portuguese explorer who drew the map in his own blood. That night, a second servant dies from the cold, so they leave his body next to Silvestra's, to "give him a companion". They cross the mountains into a raised valley, lush and green, known as Kukuanaland. The inhabitants have a well-organised army and society and speak an ancient dialect of IsiZulu. Kukuanaland's capital is Loo, the destination of a magnificent road from ancient times. The city is dominated by a central royal kraal. They soon meet a party of Kukuana warriors who are about to kill them when Captain Good nervously fidgets with his false teeth, making the Kukuanas recoil in fear. Thereafter, to protect themselves, they style themselves "white men from the stars" – sorcerer-gods – and are required to give regular proof of their divinity, considerably straining both their nerves and their ingenuity. They are brought before King Twala, who rules over his people with ruthless violence. He came to power years before when he murdered his brother, the previous king, and drove his brother's wife and infant son, Ignosi, out into the desert to die. Twala's rule is unchallenged. An evil, impossibly ancient hag named Gagool is his chief advisor. She roots out any potential opposition by ordering regular witch hunts and murdering without trial all those identified as traitors. When she singles out Umbopa for this fate, it takes all Quatermain's skill to save his life. Gagool, it appears, has already sensed what Umbopa soon after reveals: he is Ignosi, the rightful king of the Kukuanas. A rebellion breaks out, the Englishmen gaining support for Ignosi by taking advantage of their foreknowledge of a solar eclipse to claim that they will black out the sun as proof of Ignosi's claim. The Englishmen join Ignosi's army in a furious battle. Although outnumbered, the rebels overthrow Twala, and Sir Henry lops off his head in a duel. The Englishmen also capture Gagool, who reluctantly leads them to King Solomon's Mines. She shows them a treasure room inside a mountain, carved deep within the living rock and full of gold, diamonds and ivory. She then treacherously sneaks out while they are admiring the hoard and triggers a secret mechanism that closes the mine's vast stone door. Unfortunately for Gagool, a brief scuffle with a beautiful native named Foulata – who had become attached to Good after nursing him through his injuries sustained in the battle – causes her to be crushed under the stone door, though not before fatally stabbing Foulata. Their scant store of food and water rapidly dwindling, the trapped men prepare to die also. After a few despairing days sealed in the dark chamber, they find an escape route, bringing with them a few pocketfuls of diamonds from the immense trove, enough to make them rich. The Englishmen bid farewell to a sorrowful Ignosi and return to the desert, assuring him that they value his friendship but must return to be with their own people, Ignosi in return promising them that they will be venerated and honoured among his people forever. Taking a different route, they find Sir Henry's brother stranded in an oasis by a broken leg, unable to go forward or back. They return to Durban and eventually to England, wealthy enough to live comfortable lives. | In 1899, men dressed as German soldiers attack the Bank of England and steal Leonardo da Vinci’s layouts of Venice’s foundations. Shortly after, led by their leader the “Fantom”, the men dressed as British officers kidnap German scientists and destroy a factory, causing tension between England and Germany which could lead to war, with both attacks marked by highly advanced weaponry such as tanks and machine guns. Sanderson Reed of the British Empire ventures to Kenya, visiting a gentlemen’s club to recruit world-renowned hunter and adventurer Allan Quartermain. Quartermain has no interest in helping, having retired and mourns the loss of his son after his last adventure. Assassins arrive to kill Quartermain but he defeats them, only for a bomb to destroy the club, forcing Quartermain to agree to work with Reed. In London, Quartermain meets “M”, Reed’s employer, who explains the Fantom plans to destroy Venice to prevent a meeting between the leaders of the world, his ultimate goal being to start a world war and arms race to profit from sale of his weapons. To combat the Fantom, a team of unique individuals known as the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is being formed – consisting of Quartermain himself, Captain Nemo, chemist Mina Harker, and invisible thief Rodney Skinner. M sends the group to recruit their fifth member, immortal Dorian Gray, who remains youthful while a currently missing portrait of himself ages. Dorian once was infatuated with Mina, but refuses to join the team. The Fantom and his assassins attack, but thanks to the presence of U.S. Secret Service Agent Tom Sawyer, who snuck in, the assassins are defeated although the Fantom escapes. Mina is revealed to be a vampire when a surviving assassin tries to take her hostage. Dorian and Sawyer join the team and set off to recruit their final member, Mr. Hyde, in Captain Nemo’s ship, the Nautilus. After capturing Hyde in Paris, Quartermain negotiates with him into joining the team by offering amnesty for his past crimes. Hyde agrees, turning into his harmless self, Dr. Jekyll. On the way to Venice, Quartermain bonds with Sawyer and teaches him to be a better marksman. It eventually becomes clear there is a traitor onboard when a camera’s flash powder is found in the ship’s wheelhouse and one of Dr. Jekyll’s transformation formulas goes missing. Skinner is quickly accused of being the saboteur, but he disappears. Arriving in Venice, the league are shocked when bombs planted beneath the city begin to destroy building in a domino effect but Nemo concludes they can stop the chain reaction by destroying a building out of sequence using one of the Nautilus’ missiles. Quartermain, Sawyer, Mina and Dorian take Nemo’s automobile to outrun the chain reaction with Dorian and Mina leaping out to fight the Fantom’s men. Quartermain spots the Fantom and confronts him, revealing him to be none other than M. Sawyer manages to signal for the missile to be launched and Venice is saved. Dorian returns to the ship and kills Nemo’s first mate Ishmael, revealing he is the traitor. The league learns of M and Dorian’s treachery, who escape in an exploration pod. A phonograph record made by M is found, M explaining his true goal was to gather physical elements of the team to make superhuman formulas to sell to the highest paying countries, with Dorian revealing bombs are hidden on the ship. The bombs detonate, damaging the ship, but Hyde drains the flooding water from the Nautilus’ engine rooms. Skinner, who stowed away on Dorian’s pod, messages the group to follow his lead. The Nautilus travels to the Arctic where the league reunites with Skinner. Skinner reveals M runs a factory where the kidnapped scientists are forced to make the superhuman formulas and weaponized versions of the Nautilus are being constructed. The league break into the factory and split up to stop M – Nemo and Hyde free the scientists and their families, Skinner sets bombs to destroy the factory, Mina goes to kill Dorian, and Quartermain and Sawyer go after M, who is revealed to be Professor James Moriarty, who was believed to have died in his battle with Sherlock Holmes. Mina confronts Dorian and kills him by exposing his portrait to him. Quartermain fights Moriarty who points out Sawyer has been taken captive by an invisible Reed. Quartermain shoots Reed, but is then stabbed by Moriarty who escapes out of a window with the collection of formulas. Sawyer manages to use Quartermain’s teachings to shoot Moriarty dead from afar, the formulas sinking into the icy waters below. Quartermain dies but tells Sawyer to enjoy the new century. Quartermain is buried in Kenya beside his son, but the other league members recall how he said that a witch doctor would never let him die as long as he was in Africa. After Sawyer, Mina, Nemo, Skinner and Dr. Jekyll depart, the witch doctor appears and uses a ritual to summon a bolt of lightning which strikes Quartermain’s grave, implying the hunter is to be resurrected as promised. | 0.462757 | positive | 0.507556 | positive | 0.990438 |
5,664,795 | The Hound of the Baskervilles | The Hound of the Baskervilles | Sir Charles Baskerville is found lying dead on the grounds of his country house, Baskerville Hall. The cause is ascribed to a heart attack. Fearing for the safety of Sir Charles's nephew and only known heir, Sir Henry Baskerville, coming from America to claim his inheritance, Dr James Mortimer travels to London and asks Sherlock Holmes for help. Mortimer explains that the Baskerville family is afflicted by a curse. According to an old account, over two centuries ago Hugo Baskerville was infatuated with a farmer's daughter. He kidnapped her and imprisoned her in his bedroom. She escaped and the furious Baskerville offered his soul to the devil if he could recapture her. Aided by friends, he pursued the girl onto the desolate moor. Baskerville and his victim were found dead. She had died from fright, but a giant spectral hound stood guard over Baskerville's body. The hound tore out Baskerville's throat, then vanished into the night. Sir Charles Baskerville had become fearful of the legendary curse and its hellhound. Mortimer decided that Sir Charles had been waiting for someone when he died. His face was contorted in a ghastly expression, while his footprints suggested he was running from something. The elderly man's heart was not strong, and he had planned to go to London the next day. Mortimer says he had seen the footprints of a "gigantic hound" near Sir Charles's body, something not revealed at the inquest. Intrigued by the case, Holmes meets with Sir Henry, newly arrived from America. Sir Henry is puzzled by an anonymous note delivered to his London hotel room, warning him to avoid the Devon moors. Holmes says that the note had been composed largely of letters cut from The Times, probably in a hotel, judging by other clues. The fact that the letters were cut with nail scissors suggested an authoress, as did a remnant whiff of perfume. Holmes keeps this last detail to himself. When Holmes and Watson later join Sir Henry at his hotel, they learn one of the baronet's new boots has gone missing. No good explanation can be found for the loss. Holmes asks if there were any other living relatives besides Sir Henry. Mortimer tells him that Charles had two brothers, Rodger and John. Sir Henry is the sole child of John, who settled in America and raised his son there. Another brother, Rodger, was known to be the black sheep of the family. A wastrel and inveterate gambler, he fled to South America to avoid creditors. He is believed to have died there alone. Despite the note's warning, Sir Henry insists on visiting Baskerville Hall. As Sir Henry leaves Holmes' Baker Street apartment, Holmes and Doctor Watson follow him. They realise that a man with a fake-looking black beard in a cab is also following him. Holmes and Watson pursue this man, but he escapes; however, Holmes memorises the cab number. Holmes stops in at a messenger office and employs a young boy, Cartwright, to go visit London's hotels and look through wastepaper in search of cut-up copies of The Times. By the time they return to the hotel, Sir Henry has had another, newer boot stolen. When the first missing boot is discovered before the meeting is over, Holmes begins to realise they must be dealing with a real hound (hence the emphasis on the scent of the used boot). When conversation turns to the man in the cab, Mortimer says that Barrymore, the servant at Baskerville Hall, has a beard, and a telegram is sent to check on his whereabouts. It is decided that, with Holmes being tied up in London with other cases, Watson will accompany Sir Henry to Baskerville Hall and report back by telegram in detail. Later that evening, telegrams from Cartwright (who was unable to find the newspaper) and Baskerville Hall (where Barrymore apparently is) bring an end to those leads. A visit from John Clayton, who was driving the cab with the black-bearded man, is of little help. He says that the man had identified himself as Holmes, much to the surprise and amusement of the actual Holmes. Mortimer, Watson, and Sir Henry set off for Baskerville Hall the following Saturday. The baronet is excited to see it and his connection with the land is clear, but finds the moor dampened. Soldiers are about the area, on the lookout for an escaped murderer named Selden. Barrymore and his wife wish to depart Baskerville Hall as soon as is convenient, and the Hall is, in general, a somber place. Watson has trouble sleeping that night, and hears a woman crying. The next morning Barrymore denies that it was his wife, who is one of only two women in the house. Watson sees Mrs. Barrymore later in the morning, however, and observes clear evidence that she has indeed been weeping. Watson checks with the postmaster in Coombe Tracey and learns that the telegram was not actually delivered into the hands of Barrymore, so it is no longer certain that he was at the Hall, and not in London. On his way back, Watson meets Jack Stapleton, a naturalist familiar with the moor even though he has only been in the area for two years. They hear a moan that the peasants attribute to the hound, but Stapleton attributes it to the cry of a bittern, or possibly the bog settling. He then runs off after a specimen of the butterfly Cyclopedes, which was still found on Dartmoor until the 1860s. Watson is not alone for long before Beryl Stapleton, Jack's sister, approaches him. Mistaking him for Sir Henry, she urgently warns him to leave the area, but drops the subject when her brother returns. The three walk to Merripit House (the Stapletons’ home), and during the discussion, Watson learns that Stapleton used to run a school in Yorkshire. Though he is offered lunch and a look at Stapleton’s collections, Watson departs for the Hall. Before he gets far along the path, Miss Stapleton overtakes him and retracts her warning. Watson notices that the brother and sister don't look very much alike. Sir Henry soon meets Miss Stapleton and becomes romantically interested, despite her brother’s intrusions. Watson meets another neighbour, Mr. Frankland, an elderly lawyer. Barrymore draws increasing suspicion, as Watson and Sir Henry see him late at night walk with a candle into an empty room, hold it up to the window, and then leave. Realising that the room has a view out on the moor, Watson and Sir Henry determine to figure out what is going on. Barrymore's wife confesses that her brother is Selden, the escaped murderer, and that she was giving him food while he was out on the moor. Meanwhile, during the day, Sir Henry continues to pursue Beryl Stapleton until her brother runs up on them and yells angrily. He later explains to the disappointed baronet that it was not personal, he was just afraid of losing his only companion so quickly. To show there are no hard feelings, he invites Sir Henry to dine with him and his sister on Friday. Sir Henry then becomes the person doing the surprising, when he and Watson walk in on Barrymore, catching him at night in the room with a candle. Barrymore refuses to answer their questions, since it is not his secret to tell, but Mrs. Barrymore’s. She tells them that the runaway convict Selden is her brother and the candle is a signal to him that food has been left for him. When the couple return to their room, Sir Henry and Watson go off to find the convict, despite the poor weather and frightening sound of the hound. They see Selden by another candle, but are unable to catch him. Watson notices the outlined figure of another man standing on top of a tor with the moon behind him, but he likewise gets away. Barrymore is upset when he finds out that they tried to capture Selden, but when an agreement is reached to allow Selden to flee the country, he is willing to repay the favour. He tells them of finding a mostly burnt letter asking Sir Charles to be at the gate at the time of his death. It was signed with the initials L.L. Mortimer tells Watson the next day those initials could stand for Laura Lyons, Frankland’s daughter. She lives in Coombe Tracey. When Watson goes to talk to her, she admits to writing the letter in hopes that Sir Charles would be willing to help finance her divorce, but says she never kept the appointment. Frankland has just won two law cases and invites Watson in to help him celebrate. Barrymore had previously told Watson that another man lived out on the moor besides Selden, and Frankland unwittingly confirms this, when he shows Watson through his telescope the figure of a boy carrying food. Watson departs the house and goes in that direction. He finds the prehistoric stone dwelling where the unknown man has been staying, goes in, and sees a message reporting on his own activities. He waits, revolver at the ready, for the unknown man to return. The unknown man proves to be Holmes. He has kept his location a secret so that Watson would not be tempted to come out and so he would be able to appear on the scene of action at the critical moment. Watson’s reports have been of much help to him, and he then tells his friend some of the information he has uncoveredStapleton is actually married to the woman passing as Miss Stapleton, and was also promising marriage to Laura Lyons to get her cooperation. As they bring their conversation to an end, they hear a ghastly scream. They run towards the sound and finding a body, mistake it for Sir Henry. They realise it is actually the escaped convict Selden, the brother of Mrs Barrymore, dressed in the baronet’s old clothes (which had been given to Barrymore by way of further apology for distrusting him). Then Stapleton appears, and while he makes excuses for his presence, Holmes announces that he will return to London the next day, his investigations having produced no result. Holmes and Watson return to Baskerville Hall where, over dinner, the detective stares at Hugo Baskerville's portrait. Calling Watson over after dinner he covers the hair to show the face, revealing its striking likeness to Stapleton. This provides the motive in the crimewith Sir Henry gone, Stapleton could lay claim to the Baskerville fortune, being clearly a Baskerville himself. When they return to Mrs. Lyons’s apartment, Holmes' questioning forces her to admit Stapleton’s role in the letter that lured Sir Charles to his death. They go to the railway station to meet Det. Inspector Lestrade, whom Holmes has called in by telegram. Under the threat of advancing fog, Watson, Holmes, and Lestrade lie in wait outside Merripit House, where Sir Henry has been dining. When the baronet leaves and sets off across the moor, Stapleton looses the hound. Holmes and Watson manage to shoot it before it can hurt Sir Henry seriously, and discover that its hellish appearance was acquired by means of phosphorus. They find Mrs. Stapleton bound and gagged in an upstairs room of Merripit House. When she is freed, she tells them of Stapleton’s hideout; an island deep in the Great Grimpen Mire. They look for him next day, unsuccessfully, and he is presumed dead, having lost his footing and being sucked down into the foul and bottomless depths of the mire. Holmes and Watson are only able to find and recover Sir Henry's boot used by Stapleton to give the hound Sir Henry's scent and find the remains of Dr Mortimer's dog in the mire. Some weeks later, Watson questions Holmes about the Baskerville case. Holmes reveals that although believed to have died unmarried, Sir Charles' younger brother Rodger Baskerville had married and had a son with the same name as his father. The son John Rodger Baskerville, after embezzling public money in Costa Rica, took the name Vandeleur and fled to England where he used the money to fund a Yorkshire school. Unfortunately for him, the tutor he had hired died of consumption, and after an epidemic of the disease killed three students the school itself failed. Now using the name Stapleton, Baskerville/Vandeleur fled with his wife to Dartmoor. He apparently supported himself by burglary, engaging in four large robberies and pistolling a page who surprised him. Having learned the story of the hound, he resolved to kill off the remaining Baskervilles so that he could come into the inheritance as the last of the line. He had no interest in the estate and simply wanted the inheritance money. He purchased the hound and hid it in the mire at the site of an abandoned tin mine. On the night of his death, Sir Charles had been waiting for Laura Lyons. The cigar ash at the scene ("the ash had twice dropped from his cigar") showed he had waited for some time. Instead he met the hound that had been trained by Stapleton and covered with phosphorus to give it an unearthly appearance. Sir Charles ran for his life, but then had the fatal heart attack which killed him. Since dogs do not eat or bite dead bodies, it left him there untouched. Stapleton followed Sir Henry in London, and also stole his new boot but later returned it, since it had not been worn and thus lacked Sir Henry's scent. Holmes speculated that the hotel bootblack had been bribed to steal an old boot of Henry's instead. The hound pursued Selden to his death in a fall because he was wearing Sir Henry's old clothes. On the night the hound attacked Sir Henry, Stapleton's wife had refused to have any further part in Stapleton's plot, but her abusive husband beat and tied her to a pole to prevent her from warning him. In Holmes' words: "..he (Stapleton) has for years been a desperate and dangerous man.." It was his consuming interest in entomology that allowed Holmes to identify him as the same man as Vandeleur, the former schoolmaster. | Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson receive a visit from Dr. James Mortimer , who wishes to consult them before the arrival of Sir Henry Baskerville , the last of the Baskervilles, heir to the Baskerville estate in Devonshire. Dr. Mortimer is uneasy about letting Sir Henry go to Baskerville Hall, owing to a supposed family curse. He tells Holmes and Watson the legend of the Hound of the Baskervilles, a demonic dog that first killed Sir Hugo Baskerville several hundred years ago and is believed to kill all Baskervilles in the region of Devonshire. Holmes dismisses it as a fairy tale, but Mortimer narrates the events of the recent death of his best friend, Sir Charles Baskerville, Sir Henry's uncle. Although he was found dead in his garden without any trace of physical damage, Sir Charles's face was distorted as if he died in utter terror, from heart failure. Dr. Mortimer reveals something not mentioned at the official inquest. He alone had noticed footprints at some distance from the body when it was found; they were the paw marks of a gigantic hound. He never dared report them because no one would have believed him. Holmes decides to send Watson to Baskerville Hall along with Sir Henry, claiming that he is too busy to accompany them himself. Sir Henry quickly develops a romantic interest in Beryl Stapleton , the step-sister of his neighbour John Stapleton , a local naturalist. Meanwhile, a homicidal maniac , escaped from Dartmoor Prison, lurks on the moor. Holmes eventually makes an appearance, having been hiding in the vicinity for some time making his own enquiries. An effective scene, not in the original book, occurs when Holmes, Watson and Sir Henry attend a seance held by Mrs. Mortimer . In a trance, she asks, "What happened that night on the moor, Sir Charles?" The only reply is a lone howl, possibly from a hound. After some clever deception by Holmes, it is revealed that the true criminal is John Stapleton, a long-lost cousin of the Baskervilles, who hopes to claim their vast fortune himself after removing all other members of the bloodline. Stapleton kept a huge, half-starved, vicious dog trained to attack individual members of the Baskervilles after prolonged exposure to their scent. However, when the hound is finally sent to kill Sir Henry Baskerville, Holmes and Watson arrive to save him just in time. They kill the hound, and Stapleton flees. Unlike the original novel, the villain's fate is unknown in the film. Holmes does say ominously, "He won't get very far. I've posted constables along the roads and the only other way is across the Grimpen Mire." Beryl and Sir Henry, who, unlike the novel, have become engaged earlier in the film, presumably marry, although this is never shown. | 0.896006 | positive | 0.996045 | positive | 0.407832 |
30,951,080 | The Great Gatsby | The Great Gatsby | The story begins with the narrator, Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner who has graduated from Yale and fought in World War I, returning home to begin a career. He is restless and has decided to move to New York to learn the bond business. The novel opens early in the summer of 1922 in West Egg, Long Island, where Nick has rented a house next to the mansion of Gatsby, the mysterious host of regular, extravagant parties. Tom and Daisy Buchanan live across the bay in the more fashionable East Egg, where those coming from 'old money' live. Daisy is Nick's second cousin, and Tom and Nick had been in the same senior society at Yale College. They invite Nick to dinner at their mansion where he meets a young woman named Jordan Baker, whom Daisy wants Nick to date. Daisy, who is still as beautiful and charming as she ever was, now has a young child. Tom is muscular, brusque and considers himself an intellectual. During dinner the phone rings, and when Tom and Daisy leave the room, Jordan informs Nick that the caller is Tom's mistress from New York. Myrtle Wilson, Tom's mistress, lives in Flushing, Queens near a large expanse of land known as the Valley of Ashes, where Myrtle's husband, George Wilson, owns a garage. Painted on a large billboard nearby is a fading advertisement for an ophthalmologist: seemingly watching the characters throughout the novel. Around three weeks after that evening at the Buchanans', Tom takes Nick to meet the Wilsons. He then takes Myrtle and Nick to New York to a party in a flat he is renting for her. The party breaks up when Myrtle insolently starts shouting Daisy's name, and Tom breaks her nose with a blow of his open hand. Several weeks later Nick is invited to one of Gatsby's elaborate parties. He attends with Jordan and finds that many of the guests are uninvited and know very little about their host, leading to much speculation about his past. Nick meets Gatsby and notices that he does not drink or join in the revelry of the party. On the way to lunch in New York with Nick, Gatsby tells Nick that he is the son of a rich family ("all dead now") from San Francisco and that he attended Oxford. During lunch, Gatsby introduces Nick to his business associate, Meyer Wolfsheim, who fixed the World Series in 1919. Nick, being a moral man, is astonished and slightly unsettled. At tea that afternoon Nick finds out that Gatsby wants Nick to arrange a meeting between him and Daisy. Gatsby and Daisy had loved each other five years ago, but he was penniless and chose to let Daisy believe that he was as well off as she was. Gatsby was then sent overseas by the army. Daisy had given up waiting for him and married Tom. After the War, Gatsby decided to win Daisy back by buying a house in West Egg and throwing lavish parties in the hopes that she would attend. His house is directly across the bay from hers, and he can see a green light at the end of Daisy's dock. Gatsby and Daisy meet for the first time in five years, and he tries to impress her with his mansion and his wealth. Daisy is overcome with emotion and their relationship begins anew. She and Tom finally attend one of Gatsby's parties, but she dislikes it. Gatsby remarks unhappily that their relationship is not like it had been five years ago. Tom, Daisy, Gatsby, Nick and Jordan get together at Daisy's house, where they meet Daisy's young daughter, whom Daisy treats as a mere pet that she quickly gives back to a maid when the child has provided a moment's entertainment. The group decides to go to the city to escape the heat. Tom, Jordan and Nick take Gatsby's car, a yellow Rolls-Royce. Daisy and Gatsby go in Tom's car, a blue coupé. On the way to the city, Tom stops at Wilson's garage to fill up the tank. Wilson is distraught and ill, saying his wife has been having an affair, though he doesn't know with whom. Nick feels Myrtle watching them from the window. The party goes to a suite at the Plaza Hotel, where Tom confronts Gatsby about his relationship with Daisy. Gatsby demands that Daisy leave Tom and tell him that she never loved him. Daisy is unwilling to do either, admitting that she did love Tom once, which shocks Gatsby. Tom accuses Gatsby of bootlegging and other illegal activities, and Daisy begs to go home. Gatsby and Daisy drive back together in Gatsby's car, followed by the rest of the party in Tom's car. On the way home by Wilson's garage, Myrtle runs out into the street after an explosive argument with her husband and the yellow Rolls-Royce hits and kills her before speeding off. Gatsby later tells Nick that Daisy was driving, but he will take the blame. When Tom arrives at Wilson's garage shortly afterwards, he is horrified to find Myrtle dead. Tom believes that Gatsby was driving, and therefore killed her, and drives home in tears. Once home, Tom and Daisy seem to have reconciled. After a sleepless night, Nick goes over to Gatsby's house where Gatsby ponders the uncertainty of his future with Daisy. Wilson has been restless from grief, convinced that Myrtle's death was not accidental. He goes around town inquiring about the yellow Rolls-Royce. Wilson finds out that Gatsby owned the car, and while Gatsby is relaxing in his pool, Wilson shoots and kills him before killing himself. Nick struggles to arrange Gatsby's funeral, finding that while Gatsby was well connected in life, very few people are willing to attend his funeral, not even Meyer Wolfsheim. Meanwhile, Daisy is unable to be reached after going off on vacation with Tom. Finally, the only mourners are Nick, a few servants, Mr. Gatz (Gatsby's father) and an owl-eyed guest from Gatsby's grand parties. Mr. Gatz proudly tells Nick about his son, who was born into a penniless family in North Dakota as James Gatz and worked tirelessly to improve and reinvent himself. After this whole affair with Gatsby, Nick decides to move back West, breaking things off with Jordan Baker, whom he had been dating for a while. Also, Tom reveals that it was he who told Wilson that Gatsby drove the yellow car. Nick loses respect for the Buchanans and does not communicate with them again. | Nick Carraway is an aspiring stock broker in 1920s New York. Living on the outskirts of town, he reestablishes a friendship with his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and her husband, Tom. Nick also befriends golfer Jordan Baker, who is then pressured by Daisy to begin a romance with Nick. Jordan informs Nick of his neighbor, the rich and enigmatic Jay Gatsby who is famed for staging large, flamboyant parties for the region's elite. Attaching himself to Gatsby, Nick learns of a love that was broken between Gatsby and Daisy by the First World War. Now, Nick is caught in the crossroads of a staged game aimed at recreating the past. Soon it begins to show that greatness can sometimes be superficial to a person's real identity, and can inadvertently lead to a total demise. | 0.79784 | positive | 0.993397 | positive | 0.571992 |
4,837,038 | How Green Was My Valley | How Green Was My Valley | The novel is set in South Wales in the reign of Queen Victoria. It tells the story of the Morgans, a respectable mining family of the South Wales Valleys, through the eyes of the youngest son, Huw Morgan. Huw's academic ability sets him apart from his elder brothers and enables him to consider a future away from this troubled industrial environment. His five brothers and his father are miners; after the eldest brother, Ivor, is killed in an mining accident, Huw moves in with his sister-in-law, Bronwen, with whom he has always been in love. One of Huw's three sisters, Angharad, marries the wealthy mine owner's son, whom she does not love, and the marriage is an unhappy one. She never overcomes her clandestine relationship with the local minister. Huw's father is later killed in a mine explosion. After everyone Huw has known either dies or moves away, he decides to leave as well, and tells us the story of his life just before he does. | The film opens with a monologue by an older Huw Morgan: "I am packing my belongings in the shawl my mother used to wear when she went to the market. And I'm going from my valley. And this time, I shall never return." The valley and its villages are now blackened by the coal mines that fill the area. The film dissolves to show young Huw , the youngest child of Gwilym Morgan , walking home with his father to meet his mother, Beth . His older brothers, Ianto, Ivor , Davy, Gwilym Jr and Owen all work in the coal mines with their father while sister Angharad keeps house with their mother. His childhood is idyllic, the town is beautiful , and the household is frugal but warm and loving. Huw is smitten when he meets Brownyn , but she is engaged to be married to his oldest brother, Ivor. At the boisterous wedding party Angharad meets the new preacher, Mr Gruffydd , and there is obvious mutual attraction. The first sign of trouble in town comes when the mine owner lowers the wages, and the miners strike in protest. Gwilym's attempt to mediate estranges him from the other miners as well as his older sons, who leave the house. Beth interrupts a late night meeting of the strikers, threatening to kill anyone who harms her husband. While returning home, crossing the fields in a snowstorm in the dark, she falls into the river. Huw dives in to save her with the help of the townspeople, but temporarily loses the use of his legs. He is nursed back to health with the help of Mr Gruffydd, further endearing him to Angharad. The strike is eventually settled, and Gwilym and his sons reconcile. Yet many of the miners have lost their jobs and the town is significantly poorer. Angharad is courted by the mine owner's son Iestyn Evans, though her heart is clearly set on Mr Gruffydd. He loves her too, much to the malicious delight of the gossipy townswomen, but cannot bear to subject her to an impoverished churchman's life. Angharad submits to a loveless marriage to Evans, and they move out of the country. Huw begins school at a nearby village. Mercilessly picked on by the other boys, he is taught to fight by local boxer Dai Bando and his crony Cyfartha. After a beating by the cruel teacher Mr Jonas, Dai Bando avenges Huw with an impromptu boxing display to the delight of his classmates. On the day Bronwyn gives birth to their child, Ivor is killed in a mine accident. Later, the four Morgan sons are fired in favor of less experienced, cheaper laborers. With no job prospects in the town, they leave to seek their fortunes abroad. Huw is awarded a scholarship to university, but to his father's dismay he declines it to work in the mines. He moves in with Bronwyn to help provide for her and her child. When Angharad returns without her husband, vicious gossip spreads through the ladies of the town about impending divorce and where her true affections lie. Mr Gruffydd is denounced by the church deacons, and after delivering a stinging condemnation of the town's small-mindedness, he decides to leave. Just then the alarm whistle sounds, signaling another mine disaster. Several men are injured, and Gwilym and others are trapped in a cave-in. Young Huw, Mr Gruffydd, and Dai Bando descend along with others in a rescue attempt. Gwilym and his son are briefly re-united before he succumbs to his injuries. Huw rides the lift to the surface cradling his father's body, his coal-blackened face devoid of all youthful innocence. A narration by an older Huw recalls, "Men like my father cannot die. They are with me still, real in memory as they were in flesh, loving and beloved forever. How green was my valley then." The film ends with a montage of touching family vignettes showing Huw with his father and mother, his brothers and sister. | 0.735466 | positive | 0.994305 | positive | 0.998551 |
11,088,642 | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre | Three down-and-out gringos meet by chance in a Mexican city and discuss how to overcome their financial distress. They then set out to discover gold in the remote Sierra Madre mountains. They ride a train into the hinterlands, surviving a bandit attack en route. Once in the desert, Howard, the old-timer of the group, quickly proves to be by far the toughest and most knowledgeable; he is the one to discover the gold they are seeking. A mine is dug, and much gold is extracted, but greed soon begins and Fred C. Dobbs begins to lose both his trust and his mind, lusting to possess the entire treasure. The bandits then reappear, pretending, very crudely, to be Federales. After a gunfight, a troop of real Federales arrives and drives the bandits away. But when Howard is called away to assist some local villagers, Dobbs and third partner Curtin have a final confrontation, which Dobbs wins, leaving Curtin lying shot and bleeding. Dobbs continues on alone but is soon confronted and killed by three drifters. The drifters, thinking the gold dust is just worthless sand, scatter the paydirt. They are later captured and executed by the Federales. Curtin and Howard hear the story and can do nothing but laugh in the end. | Dobbs and Curtin , cheated out of promised wages and down on their luck, meet old prospector Howard in the Mexican oil-town of Tampico. They set out to strike it rich in the remote Sierra Madre mountains, searching for gold. They ride a train into the hinterlands, surviving a bandit attack en route. In the desert, Howard proves to be the toughest and most knowledgeable; he is the one to discover the gold they seek. A mine is dug, and much gold is extracted. Greed soon sets in, and Dobbs begins to lose both his trust and his sanity, lusting to possess the entire treasure. Dobbs is also unreasonably afraid that he will be killed by his partners. A fourth American named James Cody appears, which sets up a moral debate about what to do with the new stranger. The men decide to kill Cody, but just as the three confront him with pistols and prepare to kill him, the bandits reappear, crudely pretending to be Federales. After a gunfight with the bandits, in which Cody is killed, a real troop of Federales appears and chases away the bandits. Howard is called away to assist some local villagers in saving a little boy. The next day he is asked, without the option of declining, to go back to the village to be honored. However, he leaves his goods with Dobbs and Curtin. Dobbs, whose paranoia continues, and Curtin constantly argue, until one night when Curtin falls asleep, Dobbs holds him at gunpoint, takes him behind the camp, shoots him, grabs all three shares of the gold, and leaves him for dead. However, the wounded Curtin survives and manages to crawl away during the night. Dobbs is later ambushed and killed by some of the bandits. In their ignorance, the bandits believe Dobbs' bags of unrefined gold are merely filled with sand, and they scatter the gold to the winds. Curtin is discovered by indios and taken to Howard's village, where he recovers. He and Howard miss witnessing the bandits' execution by Federales by only a few minutes as they arrive back in town, and learn that the gold is gone. While checking the area where the bandits dropped the gold, Howard realizes that the winds must have carried the gold away. They accept the loss with equanimity, and then part ways, Howard returning to his village, and Curtin returning home to the United States. | 0.767586 | positive | 0.032346 | positive | 0.995261 |
5,859,950 | When Worlds Collide | When Worlds Collide | Sven Bronson, a South African astronomer, discovers that a pair of rogue planets, Bronson Alpha and Bronson Beta, will soon enter the solar system. The larger one, Alpha, will pass close enough to cause catastrophic damage. Eight months later, after swinging around the Sun, Alpha will return to pulverize the Earth and leave. It is believed that Bronson Beta will remain and assume a stable orbit. Scientists led by Cole Hendron work desperately to build ships to transport enough people, animals and equipment to Bronson Beta in an attempt to save the human race. Governments are skeptical, but the scientists persist and develop the technology necessary for the spacecraft, which are built in various countries. Nations including the United States evacuate their coastal regions in preparation for the Bronson bodies' first pass. Tidal waves reach heights of hundreds of meters, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes take their deadly toll, and the weather runs wild for more than two days. As a token of things to come, Bronson Alpha's first pass takes out the Moon. The isolated Hendron camp manages to build two ships which take off together with all of the survivors of the camp (after beating off an attack from refugees desperate to escape). One ship makes a successful landing, but without radio contact with any other ships, the crew members assume that only they made it across. They find that Beta is habitable and that there are traces of a native civilization wiped out when, millions of years before, the planet was torn away from its sun. The sequel, After Worlds Collide, follows the fate of the survivors on Bronson Beta. | Pilot David Randall is paid to fly top-secret photographs from South African astronomer Dr. Emery Bronson to Dr. Cole Hendron in America. Hendron, with the assistance of his daughter Joyce , confirms their worst fears— Bronson has discovered a star named Bellus and it's on a collision course with Earth. Hendron warns the delegates of the United Nations that the end of the world is little more than eight months away. He pleads for the construction of spaceships to transport a lucky few to Zyra, a planet in orbit around Bellus that will pass very close to the Earth, in the faint hope that it can sustain life and save the human race from extinction. However, other, equally-distinguished scientists scoff at his claims, and he is not believed. With no help from the United Nations or the United States government, Hendron receives help from wealthy humanitarian friends, who arrange a lease on a former proving ground to construct a spaceship. To finance the construction, Hendron's group is forced to turn to self-centered, wheelchair-bound industrialist Sidney Stanton . Stanton demands the right to select the passengers, but Hendron insists that he is not qualified to make those choices and that all his money can buy is a single seat on the ark. Joyce becomes attracted to Randall and prods her father into finding reasons to keep him around, much to the annoyance of her boyfriend, medical doctor Tony Drake ([[Peter Hansen . The ship's construction is a race against time. Groups in other nations also begin building ships. Former skeptics admit that Hendron is right and governments prepare for the inevitable. Martial law is declared and residents in coastal regions are moved to inland cities. Zyra first makes a close approach, its gravitational attraction causing massive earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tidal waves that wreak havoc. Several people are killed at the construction camp, including Dr. Bronson. In the aftermath, Drake and Randall travel by helicopter to provide assistance to survivors. When Randall alights to rescue a little boy, Drake has to resist a strong temptation to strand him. As the day of doom approaches, the ship is loaded with food, medicine, microfiche copies of books, equipment, and animals. Finally, most of the passengers are selected by lottery, though Hendron reserves seats for a handful of people: himself, Stanton, Joyce, Drake, pilot Dr. George Fry , the young boy who was rescued, and Randall, for his daughter's sake. When a young man turns in his winning ticket because his girl was not selected, Hendron arranges for both to go. Randall refuses his seat and only pretends to participate in the lottery, believing that he has no useful skills. For Joyce's sake, Drake fabricates a "heart condition" for Fry, making a backup pilot necessary. Randall is the obvious choice. The cynical Stanton becomes increasingly anxious as time passes. Knowing human nature, he fears what the desperate lottery losers might do. As a precaution, he has stockpiled weapons. Stanton's suspicions prove to be well-founded. His much-abused assistant, Ferris , tries to get himself included in the crew at gunpoint, only to be shot dead by Stanton. During the final night, the selected passengers and animals are quietly moved to the launch pad to protect them from any more violence. Shortly before takeoff, many of the lottery losers riot, taking up Stanton's weapons to try to force their way aboard. Hendron stays behind at the last moment, forcibly keeping the crippled Stanton and his wheelchair from boarding in order to lighten the spaceship. He rationalizes that the new world is for the young. With an effort born of desperation, Stanton stands up and starts walking in a futile attempt to board the ship before it takes off. From space, the ship's television monitor shows Earth's collision with Bellus. As they approach Zyra, the fuel runs out and Randall has to make an unpowered rough landing. The passengers disembark and find the planet to be habitable. David Randall and Joyce Hendron walk hand-in-hand to explore their new home. | 0.463832 | positive | 0.992628 | positive | 0.997117 |
1,128,527 | Ratman's Notebooks | Willard | The book is set as a series of journal entries, where the unnamed narrator goes back and forth between his life with the rats and his work, in a low-level job at a company that his father used to own. In these entries, the young man dwells on the hatred he feels for his boss, the stresses of caring for his aging mother, a nameless girl he becomes fond of and above all the families of rats which he has befriended and which he uses them for company and companionship. Eventually, the young man trains the rats to do things for him. His favorite is a white rodent, which he calls "Socrates". A rival to Socrates is "Ben", a large rat that the narrator grows to despise when it refuses to listen to him. The young man uses the rats to wreak revenge upon his boss, and havoc amongst the local shop owners and home owners, who he has robbed with the aide of his rat pack. His "ratman" robberies become a newspaper sensation in the area, and the man makes quite a stash of money for himself, and for the girl who he is courting at work. After his mother dies, the young man inherits the house. Socrates is killed at the young man's work place, by his boss Mr. Martin, and the young man is forced to now use Ben in his criminal escapades. He devises a plan to have the rats kill Mr. Martin, avenging Socrates death. He then abandons all the rats at the scene of the crime, ridding himself of that part of his life. Eventually, as his relationship with the office girl moves towards marriage, Ben and his pack return, chasing the girl out of the house, and trapping the young man in the attic. The book ends with the young man madly scribbling about the rats chewing away at the door. | Willard Stiles is a social misfit taking care of his ill and fragile but verbally abusive mother Henrietta in a musty old mansion that is also home to a colony of rats. Willard finds himself constantly humiliated in front of his co-workers by his cruel boss, Frank Martin , a vicious man who assumed control of the company of Willard's father upon his death, and whose professional interest in Willard extends to a personal financial one. A co-worker, Cathryn , has sympathy for the quirky Willard.Fall Frights: WILLARD Cathryn becomes Willard's friend and love interest. Willard quickly becomes obsessed with his friendship with a rat he names Socrates. Willard then begins to train and befriend the other rats including an extra large one he calls Ben. Ben begins to assume a position of "leadership" among the other rats, while Socrates remains Willard's favorite. Willard's mother panics when she overhears the rats and later dies by falling down the stairs of the basement. Willard learns soon afterward that payments on the house have fallen far behind, and that the bank will likely foreclose upon the property. Willard then says that Socrates is all he has left. Cathryn stops by and gives Willard a cat named Sculley, he sets the cat inside and leaves. The rats, led by Ben, attack and kill Sculley. When Willard arrives home he notices Ben watching him evilly; Willard begins to distrust Ben thereafter. Desperately lonely, Willard begins to bring Socrates to work with him. Willard finds a note at his desk declaring that he's being fired by Frank Martin from the company his father founded. While he's arguing with Martin, begging not to be fired, Socrates is discovered by a coworker in the supply room. Her screams alert Martin who bludgeons Socrates to death. Willard, his mental state already precarious, is devastated. Willard turns to Ben, who is more than willing to guide the army of basement rats to help Willard avenge himself upon his boss. Willard and his basement rats confront Martin, and upon Willard's command they swarm Martin and tear him apart. Willard, however, mistrusts Ben and attempts to dispose of him and the other rats. He succeeds in killing some, but Ben remains, and turns the remaining rat army against Willard. Willard barely escapes with his life, and kills Ben. But an epilogue reveals that he has retreated into a semi-catatonic state and been placed in a mental institution. There he finds a new white rat, which looks like Socrates and he believes is the rebirth of his one friend. In the end Willard beckons the rat over to him and says "It's not over yet, no! Our time is going to come." | 0.725805 | positive | 0.992024 | negative | -0.002502 |
9,726,554 | The Old Man and the Sea | The Old Man and the Sea | The Old Man and the Sea is the story of a battle between an old, experienced Cuban fisherman and a large marlin. The novel opens with the explanation that the fisherman, who is named Santiago, has gone 84 days without catching a fish. Santiago is considered "salao", the worst form of unlucky. In fact, he is so unlucky that his young apprentice, Manolin, has been forbidden by his parents to sail with the old man and been ordered to fish with more successful fishermen. Still dedicated to the old man, however, the boy visits Santiago's shack each night, hauling back his fishing gear, getting him food and discussing American baseball and his favorite player Joe DiMaggio. Santiago tells Manolin that on the next day, he will venture far out into the Gulf to fish, confident that his unlucky streak is near its end. Thus on the eighty-fifth day, Santiago sets out alone, taking his skiff far onto the Gulf. He sets his lines and, by noon of the first day, a big fish that he is sure is a marlin takes his bait. Unable to pull in the great marlin, Santiago instead finds the fish pulling his skiff. Two days and two nights pass in this manner, during which the old man bears the tension of the line with his body. Though he is wounded by the struggle and in pain, Santiago expresses a compassionate appreciation for his adversary, often referring to him as a brother. He also determines that because of the fish's great dignity, no one will be worthy of eating the marlin. On the third day of the ordeal, the fish begins to circle the skiff, indicating his tiredness to the old man. Santiago, now completely worn out and almost in delirium, uses all the strength he has left in him to pull the fish onto its side and stab the marlin with a harpoon, ending the long battle between the old man and the tenacious fish. Santiago straps the marlin to the side of his skiff and heads home, thinking about the high price the fish will bring him at the market and how many people he will feed. While Santiago continues his journey back to the shore, sharks are attracted to the trail of blood left by the marlin in the water. The first, a great mako shark, Santiago kills with his harpoon, losing that weapon in the process. He makes a new harpoon by strapping his knife to the end of an oar to help ward off the next line of sharks; in total, five sharks are slain and many others are driven away. But the sharks keep coming, and by nightfall the sharks have almost devoured the marlin's entire carcass, leaving a skeleton consisting mostly of its backbone, its tail and its head. Finally reaching the shore before dawn on the next day, Santiago struggles on the way to his shack, carrying the heavy mast on his shoulder. Once home, he slumps onto his bed and falls into a deep sleep. A group of fishermen gather the next day around the boat where the fish's skeleton is still attached. One of the fishermen measures it to be from nose to tail. Tourists at the nearby café mistakenly take it for a shark. Manolin, worried during the old man's endeavor, cries upon finding him safe asleep. The boy brings him newspapers and coffee. When the old man wakes, they promise to fish together once again. Upon his return to sleep, Santiago dreams of his youth—of lions on an African beach. | The film follows the plot of the original novel, but at times emphasizes different points. It opens with the dream sequence of an old man named Santiago, who dreams about his childhood on the masts of a ship and lions on the shores. When he wakes up, we find out that he has gone 84 days without catching any fish at all. He is apparently so unlucky that his young apprentice, Manolin, has been forbidden by his parents to sail with the old man and been ordered to fish with more successful fishermen. Still dedicated to the old man, however, the boy visits Santiago's shack in the morning. The next day, before sunrise, Santiago and Manolin make their way to the seashore. Santiago says that he will venture far out into the Gulf to fish. Manolin wants to come, but Santiago insists on going alone. After venturing far out, Santiago sets his lines and soon catches a small fish which he decides to use as bait. A big fish that he is sure is a marlin takes his bait. Unable to pull in the great marlin, Santiago instead finds the fish pulling his skiff. An unspecified number of days pass in this manner , during which the old man bears the tension of the line with his body. On one night, Santiago dreams of his youth, of how he won an arm wrestling match against the strongest black boy in town. On another night, though he is wounded by the struggle and in pain, Santiago dreams that he and the marlin are brothers, swimming through the ocean together. An extended fantasy sequence is animated here by Petrov. Suddenly, he is woken up; the marlin tries to take advantage of the situation and escape . As the fish jumps out of the water, the old man sees for the first time just how big it is. Eventually, the fish begins to circle the skiff, indicating his tiredness to the old man. With each circle, Santiago tries to pull it in a little closer. As the fish swims under the boat, Santiago manages to stab the marlin with a harpoon, thereby ending the long battle. Santiago straps the marlin to his skiff and heads home, triumphant. However, in a short while, sharks are attracted to the trail of blood left by the marlin in the water. Santiago kills one with his harpoon, losing that weapon in the process. He makes a new harpoon by strapping his knife to the end of an oar to help ward off the next line of sharks and manages to kill a few more. Soon, however, the sharks have devoured the marlin's entire carcass, leaving only its skeleton. The old man castigates himself for sacrificing the marlin. The next morning, a group of fishermen gathers around the boat where the fish's skeleton is still attached. Manolin, worried during the old man's endeavor, brings him food and drink and finds the old man lying in his cabin. When he wakes, he tells him that they had boats searching for him and that his parents allowed him to fish together once again. | 0.929187 | positive | 0.996583 | positive | 0.996061 |
5,007,560 | Bright Lights, Big City | Bright Lights, Big City | The story's narrator is a writer who works as a fact checker for a high-brow magazine—likely based on Harpers or The New Yorker, where McInerney himself once worked as a fact checker—for which he had once hoped to write. By night, he is a cocaine using party-goer seeking to lose himself in the hedonism of the 1980s yuppie party scene, often going to a nightclub called Heartbreak. His wife, Amanda, recently left him and he copes with this by pretending nothing happened and telling no one that she's gone. Initially hopeful that she will return someday, he eventually resorts to searching for her at a fashion event. He obsesses over every item she owned in his apartment, every modeling photo and every club she visited, even repeatedly visiting a mannequin based on her. Also, his partying is affecting his work and he appears to be on the verge of getting fired by his temperamental boss. The novel would go on to be the source material for the 1988 film Bright Lights, Big City, which was also written by McInerney. In 1999, an off Broadway stage musical was produced by the New York Theater Workshop, written by Paul Scott Goodman and directed by Michael Grief, with orchestrations and musical direction by Richard Barone. | Originally from Pennsylvania, Jamie Conway works as a fact-checker for a major New York magazine, but because he spends his nights partying with his glib best friend and his frequent cocaine abuse, he's on the verge of getting fired by his boss, Clara Tillinghast . His wife Amanda, a fast-rising model , just left him; he's still reeling from the death of his mother a year earlier; and he's obsessed with a tabloid story about a pregnant woman in a coma. The movie captures some of the glossy chaos and decadence of the New York nightlife during the 1980s and also its look at a man desperately trying to escape the pain in his life. | 0.651703 | positive | 0.998811 | positive | 0.997472 |
14,144,193 | The Mysterious Island | Mysterious Island | The book tells the adventures of five Americans on an uncharted island in the South Pacific. The story begins in the American Civil War, during the siege of Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America. As famine and death ravage the city, five northern prisoners of war decide to escape by the unusual means of hijacking a balloon. The five are Cyrus Smith, a railroad engineer in the Union army (named Cyrus Harding in some English translations); his black manservant Neb (short for Nebuchadnezzar), whom Verne repeatedly states is not a slave but an ex-slave who had been freed by Smith; the sailor Bonadventure Pencroff (who is addressed only by his surname, but his "Christian name", Bonadventure, is given to their boat; in other translations, he is also known as Pencroft); his protégé Harbert Brown (called Herbert in some translations), a young boy whom Pencroff raises as his own after the death of his father (Pencroff's former captain); and the journalist Gedéon Spilett (Gideon Spilett in English versions). The company is completed by Cyrus' dog 'Top'. After flying in stormy weather for several days, the group crash-lands on a cliff-bound, volcanic, unknown (and fictitious) island, described as being located at , about east of New Zealand. (In reality, the closest island is located at . In location and description though, the phantom island Ernest Legouve Reef may correspond to the rock that is left of the mysterious island at the end of the novel. ) They name it "Lincoln Island" in honor of American President Abraham Lincoln. With the knowledge of the brilliant engineer Smith, the five are able to sustain themselves on the island, producing fire, pottery, bricks, nitroglycerin, iron, a simple electric telegraph, a home on a stony cliffside called "Granite House", and even a seaworthy ship. They also manage to figure out their geographical location. Throughout their stay on the island, the group has to overcome bad weather, and eventually adopts and domesticates an orangutan, Jupiter, abbreviated to Jup (or Joop, in Jordan Stump's translation). The mystery of the island seems to come from periodic and inexplicable dei ex machina: the unexplainable survival of Cyrus Smith from his fall from the balloon, the mysterious rescue of his dog Top from a dugong, the presence of a box full of equipment (guns and ammunition, tools, etc.), the finding of a message in the sea calling for help, the finding of a lead bullet in the body of a young pig, and so on. Finding a message in a bottle, the group decides to use a freshly built small ship to explore the nearby Tabor Island, where a castaway is supposedly sheltered. They go and find Ayrton (from In Search of the Castaways) living like a wild beast, and bring him back to civilization and redemption. Coming back to Lincoln Island, they are confused by a tempest, but find their way to the island thanks to a fire beacon which no one seems to have lit. At a point, Ayrton's former crew of pirates arrives at the Lincoln Island to use it as their hideout. After some fighting with the heroes, the pirate ship is mysteriously destroyed by an explosion. Six of the pirates survive and considerably injure Harbert through a gunshot. They pose a grave threat to the colony, but suddenly the pirates are found dead, apparently in combat, but with no visible wounds. Harbert contracts malaria and is saved by a box of sulphate of quinine, which mysteriously appeared on the table in the Granite House. The secret of the island is revealed when it turns out to be Captain Nemo's hideout, and home harbour of the Nautilus. It is stated that having escaped the Maelstrom at the end of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, the Nautilus sailed the oceans of the world until all its crew except Nemo had died. Now an old man with a beard, Nemo returned the Nautilus to its port under Lincoln Island. All along it was Captain Nemo who had been the savior of the heroes, provided them with the box of equipment, sent the message revealing Ayrton, planted the mine that destroyed the pirate ship, and killed the pirates with an "electric gun" (Most likely one of the air rifles that is used in the previous novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea). On his death bed Captain Nemo reveals his true identity as an Indian Prince Dakkar, a son of a Raja of the then independent territory of Bundelkund and a nephew of the Indian hero Tippu-Sahib. After taking part in the failed Indian Rebellion of 1857, Prince Dakkar escaped to a deserted island with twenty of his compatriots and commenced the building of the Nautilus with the new name of Captain Nemo. Nemo tells his life story to Cyrus Smith and his friends and dies, saying "God and my country!" The Nautilus is then scuttled and serves as Captain Nemo's tomb. Eventually, the island explodes in a volcanic eruption. Jup the orangutan falls down a crack in the ground and dies. The colonists, warned by Nemo, find themselves at sea on the last remaining boulder of the island that is above sea level. They are rescued by the ship Duncan, which has come to pick up Ayrton and was itself informed by a message left on Tabor Island by Nemo. | During the siege of Richmond, Virginia, in the American Civil War, POW Capt. Cyrus Harding escapes from his Confederate captors in a rather unusual way – by hijacking an observation balloon. In his escape, Harding is accompanied by sailor Pencroft, his nephew Bert, writer Gideon, loyal soldier Neb, and a dog. A hurricane blows the balloon off course, and the group eventually crash-lands on a cliff-bound, volcanic, uncharted island, located in the South Pacific, with very unusual inhabitants. They name it "Lincoln Island" in honour of American President Abraham Lincoln. With the knowledge of the brilliant engineer, the five are able to sustain themselves on the island, producing fire, pottery, bricks, nitroglycerine, iron, a simple electric telegraph, and even a seaworthy ship. They also manage to find their geographical location. The castaways soon encounter a group of people that include the local natives , Rulu , Ayrton and Captain Shard . A mystery man, who possesses great scientific powers, also makes his presence known to the group of people. On the way, our quintet of heroes must battle the elements and peoples while trying to figure out a way off the island and back to civilization. | 0.766923 | positive | 0.996934 | positive | 0.993386 |
146,077 | Empire of the Sun | Empire of the Sun | The novel recounts the story of a young British boy, Jaime Graham, who lives with his parents in Shanghai. After the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese occupy the Shanghai International Settlement, and in the following chaos Jim becomes separated from his parents. He spends some time in abandoned mansions, living on remnants of packaged food. Having exhausted the food supplies, he decides to try to surrender to the Japanese Army. After many attempts, he finally succeeds and is interned in the Lunghua Civilian Assembly Center. Although the Japanese are "officially" the enemies, Jim identifies partly with them, both because he adores the pilots with their splendid machines and because he feels that Lunghua is still a comparatively safer place for him. Towards the end of the war, with the Japanese army collapsing, the food supply runs short. Jim barely survives, with people around him starving to death. The camp prisoners are forced upon a march to Nantao, with many dying along the route. Jim then leaves the march and is saved from starvation by air drops from American Bombers. Jim returns to Lunghua camp and finds Dr. Ransome there, soon returning to his pre-war residence with his parents. | The Empire of Japan had been at war with China since 1937 before declaring war on the United States and the United Kingdom. During the conflict, Jamie Graham, a British upper middle class schoolboy living in Shanghai, is separated from his parents. He spends some time living in his deserted house and eating remnants of food; eventually, he ventures out into the city and finds it bustling with Japanese troops. Jamie is captured along with Basie, an American sailor, who nicknames him "Jim". They are taken to Lunghua Civilian Assembly Center in Shanghai, but are eventually moved to Suzhou Creek Internment Camp. By 1945, a few months before the end of the Pacific War, Jim has established a good living, despite the poor conditions of the camp. He has an extensive trading network, even involving the camp's commanding officer, Sergeant Nagata. Dr. Rawlins, the camp's British doctor, becomes a father figure to Jim. Through the barbwire fencing, Jim befriends a Japanese teenager, who shares Jim's dream of becoming a pilot. Still idolizing Basie, Jim frequently visits him in the American soldiers' barracks. At one point, Basie charges him to set snare traps outside the wire of the camp and while Jim succeeds, thanks to the help of the Japanese teenager from the other side, the real reason for sending Jim into the marsh was actually to test the area for mines, not to catch game. As a reward, Basie allows him to move into the American barracks with him. Basie then plots to escape. Nagata visits Basie's barracks and Nagata beats him severely after discovering a stolen bar of Japanese soap hidden under a table. While Basie is in the infirmary, his possessions are stolen by other men in the camp. One morning at dawn, Jim witnesses a kamikaze ritual of three Japanese pilots at the air base. Overcome with emotion at the solemnity of the ceremony, he begins to sing the Welsh song Suo Gân. Later, the camp comes under attack by a group of American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft. As a result of the attack, the Japanese decide to evacuate the camp. During the confusion of the attack, Basie escapes, leaving Jim behind, although he had promised to let Jim come with him. The camp's population marches through the wilderness, where many die of fatigue, starvation, and disease. During the march, Jim witnesses a flash from the atomic bombing of Nagasaki hundreds of miles away, and later hears news of Japan's surrender and the end of the war. Jim sneaks away from the group and goes back to Soochow Creek, nearly dead from starvation. He encounters the Japanese teenager he knew earlier, who has since become a pilot and appears distraught at the surrender of his country. The youth remembers Jim and offers him a mango, cutting it for him with his katana. As Jim is about to eat it, Basie reappears with a group of armed Americans, who have arrived to loot the Red Cross containers that were dropped after the Japanese surrender. One of the Americans, thinking Jim is in danger, shoots and kills the Japanese youth. Jim, furious, beats the American who shot his friend. Basie drags him off and promises to take him back to Shanghai to find his parents, but Jim refuses the offer and stays behind. He is found by American soldiers and put in an orphanage in Shanghai with other children who had lost their parents. When his parents come looking for him, Jim is so scarred from his experiences that he does not recognize them at first. | 0.800345 | positive | 0.97716 | positive | 0.997379 |
6,233,638 | A Simple Plan | A Simple Plan | Three men find an airplane crashed in a forest. The pilot is dead and the cockpit contains a gym bag with $4.4 million in one-hundred-dollar notes. They decide to keep the money, dividing it equally, but their plans go wrong when others come close to discovering their secret, resulting in multiple murders. | Hank Mitchell and his pregnant wife, Sarah , live in rural Minnesota. Hank, one of the town's few college graduates, works in a feed mill, while his wife is a librarian. Hank's brother, Jacob , is a dim-witted but good-hearted fellow. The story begins with Hank, Jacob, and Jacob's friend, Lou , chasing a fox into the woods, where they find a crashed airplane. The pilot is dead and the only cargo is a bag full of unmarked bills totaling $4.4 million. Hank suggests turning the money in, but is persuaded not to by Jacob and Lou. Hank's condition is that he keep the money safe at his house and no one spends anything until winter ends and everyone moves away when they divvy up the cash. All agree to keep the discovery a secret. When they return to their vehicle, Carl, the sheriff, appears and Hank nervously talks to him while Jacob mentions hearing a plane in the area. Hank breaks the pact when he reveals the discovery to his wife, who is overjoyed. When Hank and Jacob return to the plane to put some of the money back as part of a larger plan to avoid suspicion, they come across an old man on a snowmobile. Jacob, thinking their cover is blown, bludgeons the man. When the man regains consciousness and asks for the police, Hank suffocates him in order to make it look like an accidental death. Jacob reneges on his promise to move away during the summer, and tells his brother about his intention to buy his father's farm with his share of the money. Hank thinks that his brother is being ridiculous as neither of them know anything about farming. Lou drunkenly demands some of the money from Hank, because he has spent recklessly since the discovery and needs cash fast. Hank refuses and Lou threatens to tell the authorities about the old man's death. Hank and Jacob team up against Lou. Lou, drunk and enraged that the two conspired against him, pulls a gun on the two brothers. Jacob kills Lou to save his brother, and then Hank kills Lou's wife when she appears, firing another gun. Hank concocts a plan as to what to tell the police to avoid arrest. The plan works, thanks to Hank's solid reputation in the community and Jacob's rehearsed speech to the police. Jacob tells Hank that this whole turn of events is wearing on him and that he "feels evil". Later, the sheriff calls Hank and tells him that an FBI agent has arrived, looking for a downed plane that may have crashed in the area. Because Jacob mentioned a plane earlier, the sheriff asks the brothers to assist in the search of the woods. Sarah is immediately skeptical and discovers that the FBI man is actually involved with the money and is looking for his lost cash. Hank still goes with him in order to protect Carl, he brings a gun with him just in case. Then the sheriff, the FBI man, Hank, and Jacob head into the woods. When they find the plane, the FBI man pulls a gun, kills the sheriff, and says that he is looking for the lost money. Jacob and Hank manage to get the drop on the man, and Hank kills him. Hank starts to concoct another story to tell the authorities, but Jacob announces he doesn't want to live with these bad memories, and will shoot himself to end it. He encourages Hank to kill him instead and frame the FBI man, so that Hank can still tell any story he wants. After grappling with the decision, Hank kills Jacob, and starts sobbing. At the police station, Hank tells his story to real FBI agents. As Sarah had predicted, no one would believe that this upstanding member of the community could be capable of such wrongdoing, and he is cleared of any crime. But he gets some unexpected bad news. The money in the plane is actually ransom money paid to kidnappers, and before it was delivered, many of the bills' serial numbers were written down to track the cash and find whoever was using it. Hank realizes he cannot use the money without fear of being caught. He goes home and burns all the money, with his wife struggling to stop him. Hank and Sarah go back to their old lives and Hank reflects on their losses. | 0.461726 | negative | -0.303053 | negative | -0.992109 |
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