euroGary
I had never heard of this 1961 film before seeing it at the 2016 Edinburgh International Film Festival. It is not based on one of Hergé's books, but the storyline - involving a trip to İstanbul, a dilapidated boat, a South American revolution and hidden treasure - contains elements that will be familiar to anyone who has read a couple of them. It also has a definite 'feel' of 1960s films about it.With any comic book adaptation the main issue, of course, is how close to the source material are the characters? As everyone's favourite boy reporter (sorry, Jimmy Olsen!), Jean-Pierre Talbot is game as tuppence, leaping about rocks and boats like a mountain goat, acquiting himself well in two choreographed fight scenes (even if he does seem to enjoy them more than Tintin should) and, in stripping down to a pair of tiny blue swimming shorts, showing far more skin than his pen-and-ink counterpart ever did. As Captain Haddock, Georges Wilson I found less impressive - although that may be because whenever I read one of the books Haddock always sounds, in my mind, like human foghorn Brian Blessed. Other characters appearing from the books include Professor Calculus, ineffectual policemen Thompson & Thomson (with a 'p' and without), Nestor the butler and, of course, Snowy the dog (who spends lots of his time being cradled in Tintin's arms then suddenly dropped on the floor, poor animal). Barring Tintin's blond (instead of ginger) hair, they are all styled to look very much like Hergé's illustrations - and that creates an unexpected problem, because when only they are on screen the viewer does not notice anything unusual about them, but when sharing space with characters created especially for the film, who have not been so styled, they look by comparison cartoony and unreal.Still, this is an enjoyable film - enjoyable enough, indeed, that I shall forgive the glaring continuity error where, early in the film, Tintin says he never touches alcohol, then at the end of the adventure is seen knocking back a glass of champagne...
blackwells
This is the sort of children's story - and yeah, okay, father's story too - that you can sit and watch with the kids time and again. The music especially is truly memorable. We love this film and now my kids are showing it to their friends and they love it too.
dbdumonteil
The adventures of Tintin and Milou(Tin Tin and snowy) are now part of European culture.Their impact is so awesome that they are the subject of many university thesis;there are more books about Hergé than about the other European cartoonists put together.Although overshadowed by Asterix in terms of sales,Tintin remains the intellectuals' favorite ,who particularly relish with Hergé's most modern album "les bijoux de la Castafiore".What they're doing with Asterix now (Asterix:mission Cleopatre),they did it with Tintin forty years ago.It was an impossible task.All the characters of the albums get lost on the screen:George Wilson is physically captain Haddock but he is far from his model;the same goes for Professeur Tournesol (Calculus) and the Dupondt (Thompson twins).As for Milou(Snowy) ,the dog which plays the part is completely insignificant ,except for the dynamite scene.Jean-Pierre Talbot resembles Tin Tin but finding the right actor was impossible cause Tin Tin is neither an adolescent nor a young adult.Hergé used to say his hero was some kind of neutral creature,with which the reader could identify himself.The film is watchable ,because the screenplay is OK,even if it's a million miles away from Hergé's remarkable stories:there are villains,beautiful landscapes(Istambul,The Greek Meteors) a cameo of Charles Vanel at his shrewdest .The second attempt,"Tintin et les oranges bleues" ,was a complete disaster and unlike this one, has nothing to commend it.
tor.saether
I should know this movie fairly well, since it was a central object of scrutiny for my film major thesis. And I must say, being a Tintin devotee since the late seventies, I enjoyed this film quite a lot.It's not a direct adaptation as such, since the story did not exist as a comic book prior to the shoot. The script was in fact specially conceived for this particular movie. Nevertheless, apart from a few more or less significant deviations from the Tintin norms - some of them necessary by way of making a film in its own right and not a live action comic book (the latter more true in the case of the sequel) - it's still very much a Tintin story. We have the same ingredients; the exotism, the heroism, the adventure... And the characters are being portrayed wonderfully. So, I give it 7 out of 10 points.A must-see for all Tintin fans. If you can get your hands on a copy, that is.
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