Tintin et le mystère de la Toison d'Or

I have been a fan of Tintin for almost all of my life, having read every book (including Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, Tintin in the Congo, and Tintin and the Alph-Art). While I did enjoy the Spielberg/Jackson film, it lacked the proper feel of a Tintin album. There was too much action and too many special effects, despite having great talent. That is where this movie, Tintin et le Mystere de la Toison d'Or (Tintin and the Golden Fleece) succeeds, and does so dramatically.

The plot is simple, and familiar to those who have read Tintin before. A friend of Captain Haddock, Paparanic, dies, and leaves in his will a ship named the Golden Fleece. Tintin and Captain Haddock go to Istanbul to collect it. But it's a rusty old bucket, as Haddock might have said, and he plans to sell it. A man named Karabine claims he is an old friend of Paparanic and offers a small fortune for the boat. Tintin is suspicious and declines the offer. Then the threats come and it seems that a group of people will stop at nothing to have the ship in their hands. The ship, Tintin reasons, must be hiding something, and he intends to find out.

Firstly, the characters. Jean-Pierre Talbot is, essentially, Tintin. He embodies the character perfectly and brings the athleticism and energy needed for the role, natural considering he was a personal trainer at the time. Captain Haddock, played by the well-known, BAFTA-nominated Georges Wilson, may have one of the most unreal beards in the history of film, but that is part of the charm. He also is cast superbly, with the gruffness needed for the role and also the heart of Captain Haddock (as evidenced by the scene where he speaks to the portrait of his dead friend. Calculus has very little to do but makes the most of his screen time with a nice invention and a connection to the ship's parrot, and Thomson and Thompson, incognito, have a few good scenes, and also fit the role perfectly. One cannot forget Snowy, who is ideal and looks perfect. The casting is so excellent it feels like the characters walked of the pages of Herge's albums. The rest of the cast includes, Dario Moreno, the Turkish singer, as one of Paparanic's old shipmates, and, happily, Marcel Bozzuffi as the secondary villain, who you may recognize from The French Connection, who has a very nice fight with Talbot.

It is one thing to have perfect characterizations, but the Golden Fleece succeeds where almost all other Tintin movies have failed by capturing the spirit of Tintin. Spielberg and Jackson had the right ideas in mind (particularly, I think, Jackson) but the action is too over-stated and the movie as a whole opts for grandness when subtlety would have done much better. The climactic crane fight at the end of that film was fine when assumed as a modern-day version of a sword fight, but Tintin's villains were not brought to justice by shipyard equipment or the equivalent; they were captured by gunpoint, traps, or by sheer coincidence. The same goes for the rest of Spielberg's creation. Laying waste to a city is surely not Tintin's style. Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece is so much better because it understands this and seeks to make itself like a Tintin album. The story is light yet intimate, well-paced and simple, and virtually eliminates all exposition (although for the mass of people who were assumed to never have read Tintin before, Spielberg had to accommodate, naturally). Most importantly, the direction is absolutely dynamic. The camera-work is exactly as it would be in a Tintin book. It is again simple, with little weight, and to the point. There is little trickery, little grandiosity, unless it is necessary: as Herge did with his landscapes, so Istanbul is portrayed from overhead for a while, but even then non-pretentiously. Although the movie lacks some subtleties that only Herge could have created, it ticks all of the other boxes. Thankfully, an excellent release came out on DVD not too long ago. The picture is very clear, clearer than any other version I have seen. And the sound is better, which is just as well because the music is also fantastic in this. This is a must-see for any Tintin fan, casual or Tintinologist. Also worth watching is the slightly less excellent sequel, Tintin et les Oranges Bleues (Tintin and the Blue Oranges), also with Jean- Pierre Talbot.

A so-so storyline (not based on one of the Herge comic books) is the only thing that spoils this otherwise enthralling live-action adaptation of the TINTIN comics. It's probably the best-realised live-action version of any comic book I've seen, with characters who truly look the part and scenery and backdrops which could have come straight from Herge's pen.

The meandering storyline involves Tintin, Snowy, and Captain Haddock finding themselves in possession of a rusting and seemingly worthless old hulk. When a gang of criminals begin hunting them down, they soon realise the battered old ship has more to it than meets the eye, and to solve the mystery they embark on a globe-trotting adventure. The comedic parts of the narrative are the best bits while the rest of it can be a little stagey at times.

TINTIN AND THE GOLDEN FLEECE is delightfully old-fashioned in its approach and definitely tongue in cheek to boot. Jean-Pierre Talbot is pitch perfect as the titular character and Georges Loriot simply sublime as Professor Calculus. Georges Wilson is less assured as Captain Haddock - he looks and feels more like Popeye's Bluto - but at least he gives it his all. A bumbling cameo from the Thompson Twins is much welcome, but the real delight here is the dog playing Snowy. A more perfectly-trained and characterful creature you couldn't find, and the bit with him and the dynamite is the highlight of the entire movie.

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.

Don't judge the book by the cover, for all its B-movie look, this is A-entertainment.

"Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece" is a product of its era: released in 1961, it carries the old-fashioned allure of 50's adventurous pictures and let's say the more sophisticated tone of the 60's, yet not devoid of the same obsolescent charm that makes a James Bond girl "innocent" by our modern day's standards. The film has the thrills, the fun and the escapism magnificently rendered by the Turkish countryside, with the exotic little tune to enhance the feeling that we're enjoying a nice little vacation with Tintin and Captain Haddock.

Because that's what it's all about, it's a Tintin adventure and yet the enjoyment doesn't only depend on the appeal of the comic-books, in its own right, this is a good movie.

Now, some history… Tintin had already come to maturity in the early 60's but the big screen has always been a hit-or-miss, it was probably a credit to Herge's uniqueness of style and his trademark clear line to have created a world so naturally proficient in thrills and so emotionally engaging that even the camera of the 60's couldn't capture. Yes, even Steven Spielberg could only make a CGI version of the "Unicorn", perhaps one of the less 'cinematic' of all Tintin's books. That's how difficult the transition from book to screen is, and maybe the safest and wisest choice was to have an original story and compensate the 'newness' of the material with actors who'd look like shoot- outs of the original characters.

The originality of the story is the first masterstroke, it's an interesting whodunit set in Turkey and centering on a mysterious ship named "Golden Fleece" that Haddock inherited from a long-time friend. And despite the little predictable plot elements such as the evil businessman who seems to have a personal reason to buy the ship, the sneaky tourist guide, the colorful encounters, a talking parrot, a black cook, the story works not to mention that it also features two nice cameos from Charles Vanel and Dario Moreno. And we forgive the flaw because there's a sort of realism in the relationship between good old Tintin and Captain Haddock, both played by Jean- Pierre Talbot and George Wilson. Tintin leads the action with the impatience and curiosity of youth and Haddock is the eternal follower.

And that's it, the characters are alive again.

Herge said it himself, Tintin was some kind of a joke, he needed the blandest and most neutral looking hero, so he made a round, two dots for the eyes, and no hair color (meaning he was blonde) then just to give him a little edge with the little tuft. A legend was born, a perfect hero who was courageous, brave and embodied youth's thirst of adventure but with a sense of righteousness. The challenge to turn Tintin into a real character was twice, finding someone who'd match the facial features and making the hero heroic without being unrealistic. Needless to say that Talbot did a great job, but as he stated himself, he didn't have to try, he channeled Tintin naturally and you can tell when you see him that he was born to be Tintin.

Talbot was approached for his his physical abilities, he was such a complete athlete, he provided almost all the stunts (with a few exceptions) and you can see in his eyes during the fight scenes how focused he is, it's very interesting that his skills look less fake than many other actors who'd play James Bond. But if he's no Sean Connery, Talbot makes his Tintin believable and appealing and the cute Belgian accent reminds us where Tintin came from. Talbot didn't have to play Tintin, he happened to be like Tintin and that was the film's greatest blessing. He admitted later that Tintin was a good influence on his life, and always try to adopt a righteous approach in general and in his job, as a teacher.

Naturally, the film would have worked only half if Haddock didn't have a great actor to play Captain Haddock and it was George Wilson (from the French Academy), the father of actor Lambert, who played the iconic seaman. He chews the script enough to match the Captain's histrionic tantrums but in the quieter moments when he contemplates the death of his friend, gazing at his picture, there's a sort of poignancy that makes you forget you're watching a Tintin movie, it becomes the story of two friends caught in an adventure. There are also Thompson and Thompson and Calculus but really, this is a Tintin and Haddock (and Snowy) picture.

The film is far from being flawless but these supposedly flaws hold up quite well, and have aged better than many superior movies, there's nothing calculated in this film, it's innocent, non-cynical and ultimately, fun to watch, it's not an equivalent to Tintin comic but, it does justice to the legacy of the legendary Belgian reporter. And the two actors are too likable not to like this film.

Original plot inspired on the popular and famous comic books by the genius Herge . Since his creation in 1930 with ¨Tintin in the land of Soviets¨ the success has been unstoppable . Within the next 80 years Tintin became one of the most popular European comics of the 20th Century, due to its well-researched plots, appealing characters, humor, political thrillers, & real world settings. The tale is ordinary Tintin album , with adventure in exotic places, in this case Turkey and Greece . For those of you not familiar with Tintin, let's just say that every Belgium kids and most European children under the age and grown-up have been excited by his comic book adventures for over half a century . This time our friends go to Turkey and Greek islands where take place several adventures . The picture will appeal to the fans of the popular animated hero named Tintin and his faithful sidekicks as well as the comic-books nostalgics . Our friends Tintin , Haddock , Tournesol and the butler Nestor are living at the palace of Moulinsard when the captain receives a letter. As Tintin and captain Haddock along with the Dupont brothers (In Spain are named Hernandez and Fernandez) travel in Turkey , Greek coast and Meteor monastery when Temistocle Paparanic, an old friend of Captain Haddock, dies and he inherits Paparanic's ship, called "La Toison d'or" and now his old shipmate is to attempting get hold of it. Tintin (Jean Pierre Talbot who looks exactly like him) and Haddock (Georges Wilson who bears remarkable resemblance and perfect performance) travel to Istanbul to pick it up, only to encounter that its a worthless-looking wreck. However, soon a certain Anton Karabine (Demetrios) offers him a lot of money for it. When Haddock refuses to sell , he's nearly murdered . Tintin and Captain Haddock try to discover what is so desirable about their old and apparently worthless ship. After a while, the truth comes out and battling over-the-top bad guys

This is a funny , light , adventure comic book adaptation with hilarious moments here and there . It has Tintin and his inseparable friends captain Haddock , absent-minded professor Tournesol , the botcher Dupont brothers taking on , as always, against stupid enemies , and ruthless and mean international delinquents . This live action movie of the popular "Tintin" comic-book magazine brilliantly captures the outrageous adventures, tongue-in-cheek, satire, comedy ,taking the characters and some elements from original stories . Although contains some silly scenes and a medium budget , however being better developed than subsequent entry titled ¨Tintin and the blue oranges¨ . This amusing movie is accompanied by lively musical score with a catching leitmotif on the start and the ending. Full of humor , it's a funny entertaining for kids and grown-ups . Entertaining screenplay isn't based on the known comics by Herge but originally written by Forlani . Based on the unforgettable characters created by "Hergé" born under the name Georges Remi on May 22, 1907 in Brussels, Belgium. As a child, Herge had a gift for drawing but never had any formal training in the visual arts. He attended both school and the boy scouts during the World War 1 and post-World War 1 era. After he finished school Herge published his first ever cartoon: "The Adventures of Totor". 1929, Herge introduced a cartoon about a traveling Belgium reporter (Tintin) accompanied by his fox terrier (Snowy) traveling the Soviet Union. By 1930,Herge published the very first Tintin book: "Tintin in the Land of the Soviets". After that , followed a weekly magazine in 1946 . Later on , it's published successful comic books as ¨Cigarrettes of pharaoh, Treasure of Rackam the Red ,Tintin and the scepter of Ottokar¨. Tintin soon became Herge's "ligne Claire" (French for clear line) legacy. The later adventures of Tintin involved other locations of the world from China ¨The blue Lotus¨ all the way to America as ¨Tintin in America¨. After completing 23 books, Herge passed away on March 3, 1983, leaving "Tintin & the Alpha-Art" (The 24th book) unfinished. Under Belgium publisher Raimond Leblanc's guidance, the boy reporter became the hero of a weekly children's magazine, with Hergé as the artistic director and magnificent creator of the immortal personage . Later on ,Raymond Leblanc produced the following films: ¨Tintin in the lake of Sharks¨ and 1970 ¨Tintín in the temple of the sun¨. The picture will appeal to Tintin comic-books buffs. An agreeable , funny adaptation from a great comic book.