Great Expectations - A Victorian Dream - Charles Dickens

Great Expectations – A Victorian Dream – Charles Dickens

Expectations sour….Expectations are too high…Great expectations…. We have heard it all.  The origin of “Great Expectations” are synonymous with Charles Dickens book of the same name from the Victorian Era.

                 











 Many onscreen characters or characters from the fiction or books must have attracted us.  Even though a few of them are alive and fresh and never fade away from our memory.  Charles Dickens “Pip” is an autobiographical character who is a wannabe “gentleman”  is one of them.  Charles Dickens’ caricature of Pip is unforgettable.

The Victorian era of British History and that of British Empire was the period of Queen Victoria’s reign from 20 June 1837 until her death, on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence for Britain.

Culturally there was a transition away from the rationalism of the Georgian period and toward romanticism and mysticism with regard to religion, social values, and arts.   In international relations the era was a long period of peace, known as the Pax Britannica (British peace) and economic, colonial, and industrial consolidation.

The population of England and Wales almost doubled from 16.8 million in 1851 to 30.5 million in 1901. Scotland's population also rose rapidly, from 2.8 million in 1851 to 4.4 million in 1901. Ireland's population however decreased sharply, from 8.2 million in 1841 to less than 4.5 million in 1901, mostly due to the Great Famine.  At the same time, around 15 million emigrants left the United Kingdom in the Victorian era, settling mostly in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

Charles John Huffam Dickens (February 7,1812 – June 9, 1870 ) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.

His famous works other than “Great Expectations” are Frozen Deep, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol and Nicholas Nickelby.

Charles Dickens is widely regarded as the best novelist of the Victorian era. His personal life contained the same elements as his novels - social injustice, betrayal, romance, and a touch of the eccentric.

He loved to read and his favorite book was "The Arabian Nights."

The Plot thickens with Charles Dickens - Plot summary of “Great Expectations”

Pip, a young orphan living with his sister and her husband in the marshes of Kent, sits in a cemetery one evening looking at his parents’ tombstones. Suddenly, an escaped convict springs up from behind a tombstone, grabs Pip, and orders him to bring him food and a file for his leg irons. Pip obeys, but the fearsome convict is soon captured anyway. The convict protects Pip by claiming to have stolen the items himself.

One day Pip is taken by his Uncle Pumblechook to play at Satis House, the home of the wealthy dowager Miss Havisham, who is extremely eccentric: she wears an old wedding dress everywhere she goes and keeps all the clocks in her house stopped at the same time. During his visit, he meets a beautiful young girl named Estella, who treats him coldly and contemptuously. Nevertheless, he falls in love with her and dreams of becoming a wealthy gentleman so that he might be worthy of her. He even hopes that Miss Havisham intends to make him a gentleman and marry him to Estella, but his hopes are dashed when, after months of regular visits to Satis House, Miss Havisham decides to help him become a common laborer in his family’s business.

With Miss Havisham’s guidance, Pip is apprenticed to his brother-in-law, Joe, who is the village blacksmith. Pip works in the forge unhappily, struggling to better his education with the help of the plain, kind Biddy and encountering Joe’s malicious day laborer, Orlick. One night, after an altercation with Orlick, Pip’s sister, known as Mrs. Joe, is viciously attacked and becomes a mute invalid. From her signals, Pip suspects that Orlick was responsible for the attack.

One day a lawyer named Jaggers appears with strange news: a secret benefactor has given Pip a large fortune, and Pip must come to London immediately to begin his education as a gentleman. Pip happily assumes that his previous hopes have come true—that Miss Havisham is his secret benefactor and that the old woman intends for him to marry Estella.

In London, Pip befriends a young gentleman named Herbert Pocket and Jaggers’s law clerk, Wemmick. He expresses disdain for his former friends and loved ones, especially Joe, but he continues to pine after Estella. He furthers his education by studying with the tutor Matthew Pocket, Herbert’s father. Herbert himself helps Pip learn how to act like a gentleman. When Pip turns twenty-one and begins to receive an income from his fortune, he will secretly help Herbert buy his way into the business he has chosen for himself. But for now, Herbert and Pip lead a fairly undisciplined life in London, enjoying themselves and running up debts. Orlick reappears in Pip’s life, employed as Miss Havisham’s porter, but is promptly fired by Jaggers after Pip reveals Orlick’s unsavory past. Mrs. Joe dies, and Pip goes home for the funeral, feeling tremendous grief and remorse. Several years go by, until one night a familiar figure barges into Pip’s room—the convict, Magwitch, who stuns Pip by announcing that he, not Miss Havisham, is the source of Pip’s fortune. He tells Pip that he was so moved by Pip’s boyhood kindness that he dedicated his life to making Pip a gentleman, and he made a fortune in Australia for that very purpose.

Pip is appalled, but he feels morally bound to help Magwitch escape London, as the convict is pursued both by the police and by Compeyson, his former partner in crime. A complicated mystery begins to fall into place when Pip discovers that Compeyson was the man who abandoned Miss Havisham at the altar and that Estella is Magwitch’s daughter. Miss Havisham has raised her to break men’s hearts, as revenge for the pain her own broken heart caused her. Pip was merely a boy for the young Estella to practice on; Miss Havisham delighted in Estella’s ability to toy with his affections.

As the weeks pass, Pip sees the good in Magwitch and begins to care for him deeply. Before Magwitch’s escape attempt, Estella marries an upper-class lout named Bentley Drummle. Pip makes a visit to Satis House, where Miss Havisham begs his forgiveness for the way she has treated him in the past, and he forgives her. Later that day, when she bends over the fireplace, her clothing catches fire and she goes up in flames. She survives but becomes an invalid. In her final days, she will continue to repent for her misdeeds and to plead for Pip’s forgiveness.

The time comes for Pip and his friends to spirit Magwitch away from London. Just before the escape attempt, Pip is called to a shadowy meeting in the marshes, where he encounters the vengeful, evil Orlick. Orlick is on the verge of killing Pip when Herbert arrives with a group of friends and saves Pip’s life. Pip and Herbert hurry back to effect Magwitch’s escape. They try to sneak Magwitch down the river on a rowboat, but they are discovered by the police, who Compeyson tipped off. Magwitch and Compeyson fight in the river, and Compeyson is drowned. Magwitch is sentenced to death, and Pip loses his fortune. Magwitch feels that his sentence is God’s forgiveness and dies at peace. Pip falls ill; Joe comes to London to care for him, and they are reconciled. Joe gives him the news from home: Orlick, after robbing Pumblechook, is now in jail; Miss Havisham has died and left most of her fortune to the Pockets; Biddy has taught Joe how to read and write. After Joe leaves, Pip decides to rush home after him and marry Biddy, but when he arrives there he discovers that she and Joe have already married.

Pip decides to go abroad with Herbert to work in the mercantile trade. Returning many years later, he encounters Estella in the ruined garden at Satis House. Drummle, her husband, treated her badly, but he is now dead. Pip finds that Estella’s coldness and cruelty have been replaced by a sad kindness, and the two leave the garden hand in hand, Pip believing that they will never part again.

 

                     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Charles Dickens

 

 

 

 

Novels by Charles Dickens

The Pickwick Papers – 1836
Oliver Twist – 1837
Nicholas Nickleby – 1838
The Old Curiosity Shop – 1840
Barnaby Rudge – 1841
Martin Chuzzlewit – 1843
Dombey and Son – 1846
David Copperfield – 1849
Bleak House – 1852
Hard Times – 1854
Little Dorrit – 1855
A Tale of Two Cities – 1859
Great Expectations – 1860
Our Mutual Friend – 1864
The Mystery of Edwin Drood – 1870

Partial Listing of Short Stories and Other Works by Charles Dickens in Alphabetical Order

American Notes
The Battle of Life
The Chimes: A Goblin Story
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Tree
A Dinner at Poplar Walk
Doctor Marigold’s Prescriptions
A Flight
Frozen Deep
George Silverman’s Explanation
Going into Society
The Haunted Man
Holiday Romance
The Holly-Tree
Hunted Down
The Long Voyage
Master Humphrey’s Clock
A Message from the Sea
Mrs. Lirriper’s Legacy
Public Life of Mr. Trumble, Once Mayor of Mudfog
Sketches by Boz
The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton
Sunday under Three Heads
Tom Tiddler’s Ground
Travelling Abroad – City of London Churches
The Uncommercial Traveller
Wreck of the Golden Mary

The Book was published in 1861 and over the years many movie adaptations were made.  I was attracted to the 1998 version of the film starring my favorite actor Robert De Niro of the Academy Award winner “Taxi Driver” fame.  If you rate the 50 greatest films ever made and you must see before you die, the “Taxi Driver” will surely find a place in that.

 

                                        

 Robert De Niro in 1998 Film “Great  Expectations” 

                                                                            Image of Robert De Niro                                                                                    

Great Expectations 1998 Movie

Great Expectations is a 1998 contemporary film adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel of the same name, co-written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón and starring Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert De Niro, Anne Bancroft and Chris Cooper. It is known for having moved the setting of the original novel from 1812-1827 London to 1990s New York. (The book was first published in 1861.) The film is an abridged modernization of Dickens's novel, with the hero's name having also been changed from Pip to Finn, and the character Miss Havisham has been renamed Nora Dinsmoor.

The film had a duration of 111 minutes.  It was distributed by 20^th Century Fox.  It was simultaneously released in English and French.  The budget of the movie was US $ 2,50,00,000 and raked in US $ 5,54,94,066 from the Box Office.

10-year-old Finnegan "Finn" Bell is playing on a beach in the Gulf Coast when an escaped convict suddenly pops out of the water and overpowers him, making Finn promise to bring back food, medicine and bolt cutters to get the iron shackles off his leg. Finn complies, and the convict unexpectedly tries to make Finn take him by boat to Mexico. The police seize the small boat heading out to sea. The convict hides on a buoy, and Finn's boat is towed back to shore. The next day, Finn sees on the news that the convict, mobster Arthur Lustig, had escaped from death row, but was recaptured and would face execution soon.

Finn's uncle Joe Gargery is called to Paradiso Perduto ("lost paradise"), home of the richest woman in Florida, Mrs. Nora Dinsmoor. She is a local mystery, having shunned virtually all human contact since she was left at the altar several years before. She ostensibly asks him there to do a gardening job, but instead she slips him a large sum of money under the door, calling it "gas money". Meanwhile, Finn, who he brought along, meets Mrs. Dinsmoor's young niece Estella in the overgrown garden. Mrs. Dinsmoor sees them interacting and calls Maggie (Kim Dickens), Finn's sister, to ask her to let Finn be a playmate for Estella, even though Estella apparently dislikes him.

On Finn's first visit, she is disappointed when the boy cannot dance for her, but is intrigued when he says he can draw. She forces Estella to sit for a portrait, which Finn draws with make up on an old piece of wallpaper. While he draws, Mrs. Dinsmoor warns Finn that he will fall in love with Estella and have his heart broken. After the portrait session, Mrs. Dinsmoor calls it a day and asks Estella to help Finn find the door. On the way out, she pauses to take a drink from a water fountain and politely offers him a drink from it as well. While Finn is drinking, Estella kisses him.

      

Several years pass. Maggie runs away from home and Joe raises Finn alone. Finn goes to Paradiso Perduto (“lost paradise”) every Saturday, where he learns to dance with Estella. One day, Estella mentions that she has a party to attend. Mrs. Dinsmoor is shocked that she does not have an escort to take her, so Finn volunteers to escort her. When Finn shows up at the party, he is not allowed in because he is not on the guest list. Estella shows up beside his pick-up truck and asks him playfully if he will take her to his house. Once they get there, Estella starts to seduce Finn, only to suddenly leave, claiming that she is very busy that night.

The next day, Finn goes to Paradiso Perduto, only to be told by Mrs. Dinsmoor that Estella had left to study abroad in Europe. For the next seven years he resolutely puts Estella and Mrs. Dinsmoor out of his mind, and gives up drawing.

One day, a lawyer comes to Finn and tells him that he will have a gallery show in New York City. In the end, Finn is convinced to go to New York, which Estella had once claimed was the art capital of the world. When he arrives, he immediately gets to work drawing again, since he has no pieces to put on exhibit. He takes a break to get a drink from a water fountain - where Estella appears and kisses him. She then invites him to afternoon tea with her at a high class club.

Finn arrives to tea with Estella and some of her friends and fiancé, Walter Plane, make fun of him by asking how much he would charge to draw a portrait of Estella. Finn leaves in a hurry amid the laughter of Estella's friends.

One day, Finn wakes up in his hotel room to see Estella standing next to him, reminding him that he had wanted to draw a portrait of her. While he prepares his sketch pad and charcoal, Estella takes off her clothes. After posing for a few sketches, Estella suddenly puts her clothes back on and leaves, saying that she is very busy. Growing sick of Estella's games, Finn chases her out to a cab and asks why she is so cruel to him. Estella sadly explains that she was trained to act this way by her Aunt Dinsmoor.

Walter shows up at Finn's hotel room one day, wanting to see the result of the portrait session. He then confesses to Finn that he thinks Estella is using Finn to push Walter into asking her to marry him and asks him how to please her. Finn has no idea how to respond, and Walter soon leaves.

The lawyer who had found Finn in Florida shows up again, moving Finn to a big studio where he can work on his art more comfortably. Finn quickly fills up the studio with his artwork as the opening date of his gallery draws nearer. He makes Estella say that she will be there.

One night, at an important event, Finn becomes frustrated when Walter draws Estella away when he barely even got to talk to her. He follows them to their dinner at a Chinese restaurant. As the bemused dinner guests look on, Finn asks Estella to dance. They dance for a few seconds and then leave the restaurant. Once on the sidewalk, they run for Finn's art studio, where they make passionate love.

Finally, the opening night of Finn's gallery show arrives. He looks everywhere for Estella but she is nowhere to be seen. Instead, Uncle Joe shows up, to Finn's surprise and, to some degree, embarrassment. When Joe accidentally knocks a tray of wine glasses over and tries to clean up the mess, Finn repeatedly tells him with increasing volume to "just leave it." Joe feels that he and his homely manners are an embarrassment to Finn and decides to leave early, despite Finn's attempts to get him to stay. Finn then goes to Estella's abode in New York, hoping to find her there, but instead he finds Mrs. Dinsmoor, who had come up to New York for the "special event": Estella's wedding. When Finn becomes upset at this news, she says icily that she warned him when he was a child. At this, Finn tells Mrs. Dinsmoor that she has broken his heart, the way her fiancé did to her all those years ago. Suddenly remorseful, Mrs. Dinsmoor apologizes.

Finn returns to his studio to find a strange bearded man wanting to see him: It is none other than Arthur Lustig. Finn is at first incredulous, but then he becomes uncomfortable with the old man's presence and implies that he should leave. As Lustig is walking out the door, his off-hand comments make Finn aware that he has in fact been Finn's benefactor during Finn's entire time in New York. Finn thus accompanies Lustig to the subway station because Lustig has a plane to catch from the John F. Kennedy International Airport for Paris.

While they are waiting for a train, Lustig sees some unsavory acquaintances on the opposite platform. Finn and Lustig outmaneuver them and get on a train. They think they are safe, but as the train is in motion one of the old men comes through the car and brutally stabs Lustig in the side, stepping off the train at the next stop. As Lustig bleeds to death in Finn's arms, he reveals that he has been Finn's benefactor in return for the kindness Finn showed him as a child.

Devastated, Finn detaches himself from everything and goes to Paris to study art. He becomes successful in his own right, and eventually returns to Florida to visit his Uncle Joe and reconciles with him. Mrs. Dinsmoor has since died, but he decides to visit her house anyway. As he is sitting in the garden, he thinks he sees the apparition of Estella as a child. He follows the little girl through to the back dock where he finds the child's mother, who turns out to be Estella, who has since divorced, and whose life has gone downhill. She admits that she has often thought of him, and asks for his forgiveness for her past cruelty. Finn forgives her completely, and they hold hands and look out over the sea.

It is well known that Charles Dickens was prompted to change the ending of the book for a happy ending like Bollywood movies ending with a happy note.  He was motivated to do the same by his close associates and proved to be a success.

Everyone in this world has expectations.  Most of the expectations are unrealistic and always asking for the moon.  The loony-moony expectation has no limit.  Most of the time we crave for something we have not worked hard towards to achieve it and thus do not deserves it.  In many an instance we expect easy windfalls or dame luck. 

The less fortunate always wish to have ambitious lifestyles and fortune.  Some of them dream to possess a private island and a jet plane.  The dreams and wishes are seamless. 

Many wish to win a lottery or a lucky draw.  Money is hard to come by with the virtues like honesty and faithfulness.  We must work hard towards multiplying our millions and learn that easy money steals your mental peace when somebody crave for more than what  he or she  deserves always ends up in shattered frame of mind and peace.  The bible says a rich man will not go to heaven and it is that difficult a camel has to go through an eye of the needle.

However, Finn turned a gentleman and inherited a fortune.  Some inherit a fortune or somebody has left a legacy for you may be after conducting litmus and acid test to ensure whether you are worthy to get it  and then assure the life by insuring your future.

Expectations v/s greatness :   If you expect what you deserve will not hamper your greatness.  

Now, I realize the greatness of being a writer.  We express ourselves without the fear of losing freedom of expressions.

Let us indulge in honest ways and vie for Pax Brittanica through this MEGA BLOG !

Mr. Blockbuster ! Sidney Sheldon & The Other Side of Midnight

Mr. Blockbuster! Sidney Sheldon & The Other Side of Midnight

                             

Sidney Sheldon (February 11, 1917 – January 30, 2007) was an American writer and producer.

An Academy Award-winning screenplay writer, author, playwright and novelist Sydney Sheldon’s books have been sold over 300 million copies worldwide.  He has written 18 novels, many screen plays including the Oscar winner, Broadway plays, TV shows and an autobiography called “The Other Side of Me”.

The Los Angeles Times have called him “Mr. Blockbuster” and “Prince of Potboilers”. Sidney Sheldon is the 7^th best selling writer in the world history.

Sheldon won an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay (1947) for The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, a Tony Award (1959) for his musical Redhead, and was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on I Dream of Jeannie, an NBC sitcom. Sheldon had a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars dedicated to him in 1994.

 

                  

      

                       

                    
   



The Other Side of Me is the autobiographical memoirs of Sidney Sheldon published in 2005. It was also his final book.

                                             





Sheldon writes his memoir as an intense and emotional roller-coaster as only he can with battling bipolar disorder nearly his entire life. 

Not even a fiction writer as gifted as Sidney Sheldon would have the chutzpah to concoct the story of Sidney Sheldon's life. His autobiography, "The Other Side of Me," blasts off from the first sentence with narrative drive that is all surprise, reverberating with plot twists of ecstasy and despair.

The public Sheldon is well known, a pillar of pop culture since 1943, when his adaptation of "The Merry Widow" became a Broadway smash. Since then he has won an Academy Award for screenwriting ("The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer"), created such successful TV series as "The Patty Duke Show" and "I Dream of Jeannie," and his 18 novels have sold 300 million copies in 51 languages. He hobnobbed with Irving Berlin, directed Cary Grant and Cecil B. DeMille, and was best friends with Groucho Marx.

Sheldon describes his life as an elevator, always going up or down.

Using talent, charm (on a good typist) and raw ambition, he gets it done, and finally opens the door to success.

When he makes it big, the narrative's urgency slackens and it seems like the book is going to become a celebrity-crowded memoir of moments with Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor and Fred Astaire; not to mention Harry Cohn, the head of production at Columbia Studios; and Dore Schary, then head of RKO Studios. Sheldon is a master storyteller; and fortunately for readers, if not for the author, the elevator descends fast when his film "Dream Wife" is deemed so bad by MGM that the studio decides to let it die. "I was paralyzed, unable to write. . . . I was at a dead end. I had no idea how much longer I could hold out."

But his fortune changes and three pages later, he's on top of the movie world again. And so it goes. When he realizes that Hollywood no longer wants him, he turns to TV. He soon conquers the medium so fully that he can nonchalantly write: "I decided I wanted to do a black-tie show with sophisticated people in elegant backgrounds. I created 'Hart to Hart.' . . . The show was a hit and ran for five years."

One paragraph after that, he writes his first novel, "The Naked Face." To promote it he goes to a literary luncheon along with several other authors, where they will speak and then sign books. All the others have long lines of readers eager to meet them. One single person buys Sheldon's book as an act of mercy. It is yet another low moment.

His next novel, "The Other Side of Midnight," spends 53 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list.  

An innocent American girl becomes a bewildered pawn in a game of vengeance and betrayal.

Sidney Sheldon was a breezy author and “The Other Side of Midnight” turned out to be a pseudo romantic thriller.

This is one of my favorite books and has been for a long time - I think I have read everything by Sidney Sheldon and loved all of them!! opined Tana, a die-hard fan of Sidney Sheldon .

 After reading this book I was blown out of the water, said another book lover.

In my teens when reading was the great passion, obsession and also an addiction,   I have read many thousands of books including the best of world literature.  Sidney Sheldon was one of my favorite with his books like “The Other Side of Midnight” which was later made into a blockbuster movie, Rage of Angels, Master of the Game et al.

“You have two choices. You can keep running and hiding and blaming the world for your problems, or you can stand up for yourself and decide to be somebody important.” - Sidney Sheldon.

The Other Side of Midnight is a novel by Sidney Sheldon published in 1973. The book reached No.1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. It was made into a 1977 motion picture of the same name, directed by Charles Jarrott.

The story focuses on the lives of Catherine Alexander and Noelle Page, and takes place before, during, and after the World War II period.

Noelle is an extremely beautiful girl born to a poor family living in the fishing district of Marseilles, France. Because of her beauty, her father constantly calls her a princess and she grows up believing that a prince will take her away. After Noelle comes of age, her father decides to capitalize on her looks by arranging her to become the mistress of Auguste Lanchon, a wealthy boutique owner. Noelle is horrified when she finds out their deal, and is forced to have sex with Lanchon. During the intercourse, she realizes that men may rule the world, but if she can control men, she can be just as powerful. She manipulates Lanchon to give her a sum of money, and then escapes to Paris. There, she is swept off her feet by American RAF pilot Lawrence "Larry" Douglas, who proposes to her before leaving for another mission, promising to marry her when he returns. However, when he doesn't return, she finds out that he has forgotten about her and is with other women, she nearly dies of pneumonia, but is saved by a Jewish medical intern named Israel Katz, who takes pity on her and gives her money and a job in his aunt's modeling agency.

Catherine was born to a kind and ambitious but unsuccessful father, and her mother died when she was young, leaving Catherine without a maternal figure to help her understand beauty and sexuality. She is well known in college as a good writer with a knack in making funny comebacks, but because she has never slept with anyone, other girls avoid her, with rumors spreading that she is a lesbian. Following her father's death and an embarrassing attempt to sleep with a famous athlete in her university, she moves to Washington and works as a secretary for William "Bill" Fraser, and despite their initially hostile first meeting, they fall in love and she loses her virginity to him, but she is frustrated because she cannot climax with him and is bored during their intercourse. Bill delegates one of his jobs to Catherine, where she meets RAF pilot Lawrence Douglas, whom she initially dislikes. However, he easily charms her despite her knowing how much of a womanizer he is, and she accepts his proposal and they marry immediately, much to Bill's disappointment. He warns Catherine to be careful.

Unknown to anyone, Noelle is still furious at Larry for fooling her, and is hell-bent on taking revenge. She hires a private investigator, and when she learns that Larry married Catherine, she swears revenge on him, Catherine, and his unborn child with Noelle herself. She sadistically takes good care of the baby, and then self-aborts him only when she is sure he will feel pain, much to Katz's horror, who saves her from dying of hemorrhage just in time. She begins her plan by seducing famous French actor-singer Philippe Sorel and becomes his mistress. When Philippe surprises her by announcing their engagement in front of all their guests during a party, she leaves him for world-renowned director, Armand Gautier, who becomes obsessed with her and trains her to become a world-class actress under the silent threat of her leaving if he doesn't. Noelle pauses on her plan to help Katz, the only man who has ever helped her and showed her kindness for nothing in return, during World War II, when the Germans have invaded France. Katz is wanted by the Gestapo for being the Jewish rebel "Le Cafard" (The Cockroach), and needs her help to escape Paris. She seduces a high-ranking Gestapo officer, and during their trip to Etretat, she successfully smuggles him to a pier, where his friends and followers escape to Africa.

After the war, Noelle's popularity has made her open a saloon and attracts the attention of Constantin "Costa" Demiris, a wealthy and powerful Greek whose business extends to every industry in the world. She becomes his mistress and moves to his private island and villa. Costa is married, but loathes his wife because he blames her for the death of their first child and for her being incapable of getting pregnant again, and openly dates other women to spite her. Now controlling one of the most powerful men in the world, Noelle decides it is time to seek revenge on Larry, and convinces Costa to hire him as a private pilot. She is aware through her private investigator that Larry is a struggling commercial pilot because his rough World War II piloting skills are unnecessary for commercial airlines and he is impolite and rude to his co-pilots who did not fly in the war. She arranges for Larry and Catherine to live in Greece, but when she meets Larry for the first time, Larry genuinely cannot remember her. She is upset that her plan is not proceeding as she hoped but is determined to make him suffer. She treats him poorly, and reaches his breaking point when she strips off her bathroom towel and dresses in front of him, and he rapes her. Noelle gets excited, and reminds him how they first met. Larry cannot remember, but he wants Noelle because of the power she has, and they agree to start an affair. However, when he sees that Larry's other girlfriend and his co-pilot who knows about their affair suddenly disappear,  he begins to realize how obsessed Noelle is with him.

Meanwhile, Larry and Catherine's marriage is falling apart, and Catherine becomes fat and an alcoholic. Noelle convinces Larry to divorce Catherine, but she refuses and commits suicide. Noelle decides that Catherine should die, and they plot to have her killed. Larry pretends to love Catherine, and she recovers and loses weight, and they go on a vacation. However, Larry deliberately abandons Catherine inside the caves, where she collapses from the cold and exhaustion. She hears Larry and Noelle talking, and Larry is seen by the coast guard exiting alone. To avoid suspicion, Larry asks for help, and Catherine survives because of this. When she wakes up, she tries to tell the doctors about Larry and Noelle, who dismiss it as a hallucination, and that it was Larry who called for help, and they medicate her. Under the influence of anesthetic, she overhears Larry and Noelle again plotting her death and knew that she had been right all along. She escapes from the house during a heavy thunderstorm and goes into a boat, but she falls out far away from the shore.

Because of the evidence against them, Larry and Noelle are charged with Catherine's murder, and their affair is publicized. The men in Noelle's life (Auguste Lanchon, Philippe Sorel, Armand Gautier, Israel Katz) are present, watching her trial, while Bill Fraser is there for Catherine's justice. A sick-looking Costa visits Noelle in jail, saying that he hated her when he found out about their relationship, but realizes that he loves her and tells her that he will use his power to get her out. On the last day of the trial, Costa's lawyer, Napoleon Chotas, informs Larry, Noelle, and Larry's lawyer Starvos about a deal Costa had made with the court: if they plead guilty, Larry will be sent back to America to serve three months in jail and will not be allowed to return to Greece while Noelle's passport will be taken from her, and she will live in Costa's villa forever. Larry is no longer attracted to Noelle while Noelle decides that she wants to live even if it means staying away from Larry, and they agree to plead guilty. However, they realize that they are tricked when the judge admits that the case against them was weak because the body was never found, and that they would have been released if they pleaded not guilty. They are sentenced to death, and as Noelle walks out, she sees a healthy-looking Costa looking pleased. Noelle and Larry are executed, with Noelle wishing to see her father one last time.

Meanwhile, Costa donates a large sum of money to a convent near the sea. He is introduced to their latest member, a woman who was found on the shore with no memory at all. In the prologue of the novel, he reminded himself to take note of Catherine's favorite flower, and gives the same flower to the woman, implied to be Catherine, and tells her that all the bad people are gone.

Sheldon was a marvelous writer. The lessons to be learned from reading him are long - provided you're looking for a bestselling formula that set the world's pulse racing nearly forty years ago. Punchy, spare and in no way florid, unlike many of his contemporaries, not a page is wasted. The plot is constantly, ingeniously furthered at a driving pace. It's very much of its time, yet it's a time well worth visiting. 'The Other Side of Midnight' is a jet-set sort of novel, making one think of the doomed 70s love affairs of Taylor and Burton, Jackie and Onassis. Glamorous, damaged types flit about the globe in search of thrills, revenge or redemption. The central triangle of Noelle, Larry and Catherine is riveting, especially Noelle's dizzying descent into vengeance-fueled madness. There's one especially shattering, shocking chapter somewhere in middle that I shan't spoil, but needless to say, four decades on, it still packs a wallop. I doff my hat to Mr Sheldon. He was indeed a master of his game – Luke Devenish.

Sidney Sheldon is one of the most prolific writers of all time. In the literary circles, he has been dubbed “the master of the unexpected”. From writing novels to screenplays to TV scripts, Sidney Sheldon has done it all.

The story follows a beautiful French actress whose craving for passion and vengeance takes her from the gutters of Paris to the bedroom of a powerful billionaire; a dynamic Greek tycoon who never forgets an insult, never forgives an injury; and a handsome war hero lured from his wife by another woman. From Paris to Washington, Hollywood to the islands of Greece, The Other Side of Midnight is the story of four star-crossed lives enmeshed in a deadly ritual of passion, intrigue and corruption.

Another reviewer wrote, My first Sidney Sheldon book and perhaps not the last. The whole story is set on 1940's set during the world war scenario in the glittering world of glamour and grandeur of theatre, fashion and business.  It revolves around three characters involved in a love triangle where a new and a powerful character jumps in and has quite an impact which gives the book a perfect and unpredictable ending.

If you have read “The Other Side of Midnight”, there's a sequel to it he wrote seventeen years later in 1990 called Memories of Midnight.

Tilly Bagshawe – Sidney Sheldon’s “Blabla”

 This author is not doing it on her own - she's contracted to do so. Sidney Sheldon's novels still have a die hard audience. So his heirs or lawyers or managers of  his estate, etc. chose an already established writer in the same genre to write sequels for some of his popular books. They are called "Sidney Sheldon's blabla" to make it clear to the public that they are endorsed by his estate and to appeal to his fans.

The heiress – daughter – Mary Sheldon

Mary Sheldon, the daughter of novelist Sidney Sheldon and actress Jorja Curtright, was educated at St. Clare’s Hall in Oxford and Yale University and graduated from Wellesley College with honors in English.  She is the author of ten novels, including Halfway Home, Reflection, Pandora Brown, and  Perhaps I’ll Dream of Darkness, for which she received a Brandeis literary award.  Her nonfiction work includes the Meditation Trilogy, which she coauthored with metaphysical teacher Christopher Stone.  In addition, she has written over a dozen children’s audio books including I Am America (featuring the voices of President and Mrs. Bush, President Nixon, President and Mrs. Ford, and Mrs. Carter, as well as numerous internationally renowned actors,) which won a Children’s Book Choice award, and Audrey Hepburn’s Enchanted Tales, which was honored with a Spoken Word Grammy Award.

Mary is married, with two daughters, and lives in southern California.

Sidney Sheldon married thrice in his life time.



I would like to present here under some of his book titles for your benefit -

 

     

 

 

Bard of Beverly Hills

      

The Storyline of movie “The Other Side of Midnight” –

     

This Hollywood blockbuster has a duration of 165 minutes.  The film was distributed by 20^th Century Fox.  The movie was made with a budget of 9 million US dollars and raked in US $ 2,46,52,021 at the Box Office.

 

Stars:

Marie-France Pisier, John Beck, Susan Sarandon 
    



Full Cast -

• Marie-France Pisier as Noelle Page
• John Beck as Larry Douglas
• Susan Sarandon as Catherine Alexander Douglas
• Raf Vallone as Constantin Demeris
• Clu Gulager as Bill Fraser
• Christian Marquand as Armand Gautier
• Michael Lerner as Barbet
• Sorrell Booke as Lanchon
• Antony Ponzini as Paul Metaxas
• Louis Zorich as Demonides
• Charles Cioffi as Chotas
• Howard Hesseman as O'Brien
• Titos Vandis as Presiding Judge
• Dimitra Arliss as Sister Theresa
• Josette Banzet as Madame Rosa

 In World War II France, young and attractive Noelle Page (Marie-France Pisier) falls in love with Larry Douglas (John Beck), an American pilot of the Royal Canadian Air Force stationed in France. The couple has a torrid love affair that ends abruptly when Larry receives orders to return to the United States. Larry promises to come back for Noelle and marry her. She later finds out that she's pregnant with his child. However, he never returns.

Vowing revenge after a harrowing abortion, Noelle begins using men for their money and power. She seduces her way into becoming a famous European actress, then arranges to be the mistress of one of the world's wealthiest men, Greek tycoon Constantin Demeris (Raf Vallone), whom she does not love.

During this time, Larry has met and married Catherine Alexander (Susan Sarandon), a sweet and trusting young woman from Chicago. Larry meets her while serving in the Pacific theatre as a United States Army Air Forces fighter pilot. He seduces the virginal Catherine with some of the same lines he used with Noelle.

After the war, Larry is employed by various civilian airlines. Noelle hires a detective to keep tabs on him, then sabotages any job Larry is able to find. Larry's in no position to refuse a job offer to come to Greece and be a private pilot, unaware that it is Noelle who is hiring him.

Larry fails to recognize her. Noelle treats him rudely until Larry is not sure how much more he can take. When he is positive it's her, he bursts into Noelle's hotel suite, where they rekindle their romance. Larry claims he will keep his long-ago promise and stay with her. But when his wife refuses a request for a divorce, Larry and Noelle begin to plot Catherine’s murder.

They carry out their plan, but things go wrong. Larry and Noelle ultimately are convicted of murder by a Greek court, which is under the influence of Constantin Demeris. They are executed by a firing squad. Catherine has miraculously survived. Suffering from shock, she ends up living in a convent, under the patronage of Demeris.

A bit of food for thought about me, myself -

After reading several good number of books, my outlook changed from mere conservative to a man with broader perspective making me a broadminded man with analytical mind with logical reasoning.  However, I have never compromised on values and personal ethics.  My ideology triggered by customs and traditions prevented me from leading a life of loose morals. 

I have found libraries as temples to worship and knowledge being the fragrance of life. I truly believe the most coveted treasure is wisdom that nobody can steal from you.  When you arrived in this world you had nothing but while going from this world you must have left the world a better place than you found when you made your first cry in this world, and this is to quote Sydney Sheldon, the world’s master story teller.

When people tell me I’ve kept them up all night, I feel like I’ve succeeded and this is in a way spending the other side of midnight. He never allows the reader to put down the book, instead they turn another page to read with great interest and excitement.

It gives me indeed great pleasure to showcase the great American author, Sidney Sheldon in JOHNNY’S BLOG.