Martin Scorsese's 3D production, "Hugo," makes an homage
to George Meliés. Besides a fantastic vision of the
inaugural train hustling into a station by the Lumière Brothers, lots
of conjurors and automata, there are scenes from
other classic silent movies, by various artists, including a long
series of shots from one VN selected to mark the encounter
between Luzhin and Valentinov, with the fateful image from Harvey Loyd's
"Safety Last"* - probably chosen as a preview of Sasha's
suicide.(cf. VN's "The Defense" *)
The recreation of Meliès's masterpiece is astounding and Martin Scorsese's
latest movie is very Nabokovian in spirit..
* Lloyd's "Safety Last" and Scorsese"s "Hugo"
*
** The Defense: "His defense had proved erroneous. This error had
been foreseen by his opponent, and the implacable move, prepared long ago, had
now been made. Luzhin groaned and cleared his throat, looking about him
distractedly. In front of him was a round table bearing albums, magazines,
separate sheets of paper, and photographs of frightened women and ferociously
squinting men. And on one there was a white-faced man with lifeless features and
big American glasses, hanging by his hands from the ledge of a skyscraper — just
about to falloff into the abyss."
