The Omen by David Seltzer

 

(pb; 1976: movie tie-in book. First book in The Omen pentalogy.)

From the back cover

“A young nursemaid dies for the sake of little Damien. . .

“A priest is speared to death for revealing the horrifying truth about the birth of Damien. . .

“In a peaceful zoo, animals rend themselves to bits in a death frenzy caused by the sight of Damien. . .

“For a world-renown diplomat and his wife, ‘accident’ follows ‘accident,’ from Rome to London to Jerusalem, as they are stalked by a terror they cannot understand, a terror that centers on their son Damien. . . and his ominous hidden birth mark. . .”

 

Review

Seltzer’s movie tie-in book (from his own script) for The Omen (1976) is an above-average work for the genre. Seltzer fleshes out the melodramatic, B-flick structure of the movie’s paranoid and creepy storyline by providing backstories for several characters in the book version (e.g., Edgardo Emilio Tassone, shown as Father Brennan in the film version). Not only that, more Biblical-based background is provided─most of it made up by Seltzer. This, like the expanded characterizations, is effective, further suspending reader disbelief regarding Omen’s over-the-top events, overall tone, and characters. It helps that Seltzer couches Omen’s events in a way that it’s possible that the satanic conspiracy might be a cultic delusion─at least up to certain points (thank film director Richard Donner for insisting that the script, upon which the book is based, be written this way).

Omen, for its genre, is an excellent, B-flick entertaining potboiler of a satanic conspiracy thriller with over-the-top notions and characters, elements that were reflected in the blockbuster, wildly silly and fun film.

Those who read the book and compare it to the movie may also note name changes to the some of the characters (e.g., Chessa, the book-version/suicidal nanny, is called Holly in the film, named after the actress who played her, Holly Palance─IMDb, in its listing of her character, simply calls her “Nanny”).

Followed by four book sequels, the first of which is another movie tie-in, Damien—Omen II by Joseph Howard.

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The film was released stateside on June 25, 1976. Richard Donner directed the film, from David Seltzer’s screenplay.

Gregory Peck played Robert Thorn (book version: Jeremy Thorn). Lee Remick played Katherine Thorn. Harvey Stephens played Damien Thorn.

Holly Palance played Holly/Nanny (book version: Chessa Whyte). Billie Whitelaw played Mrs. Blaylock/Sister Teresa/B’aalock. Martin Benson played Father Spiletto.

David Warner played Keith Jennings (book version: Haber Jennings). An uncredited Leo McKern played Carl Bugenhagen.

Patrick Troughton played Father Brennan (book version: Edgardo Emilio Tassone). Anthony Nicholls played Dr. Becker. Robert Rietty played Monk.Tommy Duggan played Priest. 

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A remake was released stateside on June 6, 2006 (get it?). Directed by John Moore, IMDb attributes its source material to David Seltzer’s 1976 screenplay.

Liev Schreiber played Robert Thorn. Julia Stiles played Katherine Thorn. Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick played Damien Thorn (ages four to five).

Giovanni Lombardo Radice played Father Spiletto. David Thewlis played Keith Jennings. Pete Postlethwaite played Father Brennan. Michael Gambon played Bugenhagen.

Mia Farrow played Mrs. Baylock. Harvey Stephens, who played Damien in the original film, played "Tabloid Reporter #3."

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The television show Damien aired on A&E on March 7, 2016. On May 20th of the same year, A&E cancelled it after one season.

Damien, ignoring the storylines of Damien: Omen II (1978) and The Final Conflict (1981), reimagined Damien Thorne as a thirty-year-old war photographer who─after years of not being aware of his satanic destiny─is confronted by it during a photo shoot. This drawn-out, angsty, cultists-grooming-Damien-for-hellish-majesty show had Damien (played by Bradley James) resisting the insanity of the situation, though he was slowly succumbing to it.

Other actors in the show included: Megalyn Echikunwoke (as Simone Baptiste); Omid Abtahi (as Amani Golkar); Barbara Hershey (as Ann Rutledge); Robin Weigert (as Sister Greta Fraueva); and Scott Wilson (as John Lyons).

Goldfinger, by Ian Fleming

(pb; 1959: seventh book in the original 007/James Bond series) 

 Review

 Bond battles Auric Goldfinger, a wealthy gold bullion collector and SMERSH agent. Bond first encounters Goldfinger when he busts the polite but petty millionaire as a card cheat, fleecing millions from Junius Du Pont (a Bond acquaintance from Casino Royale). Not long after that – coincidentally – Bond finds himself investigating Goldfinger again, this time because Goldfinger's bullion fever (illicitly indulged in) threatens to break the Bank of England while funding the Russian Secret Service known as SMERSH. 

Goldfinger is Bond by the numbers. It's still hard to put down, because Fleming's lean, action-minded prose keeps the humor-spiced plot percolating at a decent pace. However, Goldfinger is a bland bad guy, when compared to past Bond villains, and Pussy Galore – a lesbian flirtatious cat burglar – is an unlikely romantic match for Bond, given her sexual predilections. Not only that, but there's not much build-up between Bond and Galore, who doesn't appear until midway through the novel. In his dealings with Galore, Bond is not the gentleman/take-things-slowly Bond of the previous six books─this is Bond's cinematic/slutty version.

These nits aside, there are other saving graces in Goldfinger, other than Fleming's able writing. One of the graces is Oddjob, Goldfinger's razor-edged bowler-throwing Korean assassin-handy man, who's quite a character, despite his ape-like speech: the scenes where Bond baits the stoical Oddjob are priceless. There's also Fleming's constant referencing of past Bond adventures – most, if not all, of the books are well represented here. Felix Leiter, the CIA-agent-turned-Pinkerton who appeared in Casino Royale, Live And Let Die, and Diamonds Are Forever, is also back. 

While Goldfinger is not one of the better Bond novels, it's still a fun read. Followed by For Your Eyes Only. 

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 The film version of Goldfinger was released stateside on January 9, 1965. Guy Hamilton directed, from a script by Richard Maibaum and Paul Dehn.

Sean Connery played Bond. Honor Blackman played Pussy Galore. Gert Fröbe played Goldfinger. Harold Sakata, billed as Harold Sakata {Tosh Togo}, played Oddjob. Cec Linder played Felix Leiter.  

Bernard Lee played 'M.' Lois Maxwell played Moneypenny. Desmond Llwellyn played 'Q.'

Burt Kwouk played Mr. Ling. Bill Nagy played Midnight. Martin Benson played Solo.