Aidar AKHMETOV
ALMATY, Jan 24
(THE GLOBE)
If you are pining for the semi-forgotten genre of the war detective meeting the best Hollywood traditions, the new film produced by Simon West �The General�s Daughter� is for you.
The role of the main hero Paul Brenner, the investigator of the army Crime Investigation Department was brightly performed by John Travolta.
The main plot of the film is the brutal murder of the US captain, the daughter of the famous general, who is the main candidate to the Vice-President. Brenner was entitled to investigate this difficult case. The terms of the investigation are strictly limited � the murderer was to be found until the FBI starts investigating.
The Bernner�s companion was Sara Sunhill (Madeline Stow).
While investigating the case detectives understood the well-organized order of the one of the best armies in the world. Brenner and Sunhill are authorized to arrest any serviceman, anywhere. When investigators almost disclosed the crime, they revealed lie that threatened to destroy the Military Honor Code.
The production of the film was started on July 15, 1998. On a July evening the shooting of the film failed, when weather was suddenly getting worse and the staff was between the coming tornado and a heavy storm. Two last days of the shooting the film group came to Sacramento. The film was completed on Friday, November 13.
�We write a fine scenario,� Travolta says. �It has a lot of unexpected events. If what actors did is at least similar to the it, the audience will watch an entertaining and exciting film full of mysterious secrets.�
The premier of the film is in Iskra cinema.
44, Dostyk Ave., at Dzhambul St.
ALMATY, Jan 27 (THE GLOBE)
Fresh studies have revealed that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen was the first in the world to conquer both the North and South Poles.
Seventy four years ago, in 1926, Roald Amundsen believed that he had been beaten to the North Pole by American Richard E. Byrd. A meticulous study of Byrds� diary has now revealed that the latter in all probability did not reach the North Pole at all.
Long-held suspicions that Byrd was not the first man to reach the North Pole were strengthened after an American researcher and expert in polar navigation, Dennis Rawlins, studied a recently discovered diary belonging to Byrd. This was found in the archives of the Byrd Polar Research Centre in Ohio, USA in 1994.
Rawlins was the first to analyze the notes in the diary with a view to establishing exactly how far north Byrd reached in 1926. The diary he studied was unique in that it was used both for observations and for written communication between Byrd and the pilot of the Fokker monoplane, Floyd Bennett. Dennis Rawlins says he is sure that Byrd did not reach his goal and that he must have been aware of this fact.
The diary also disproves the accusations made in 1971 by Norwegian-American pilot Bernt Balchen that Richard Byrd never made a serious attempt to reach the North Pole but simply flew out of sight of the assembled press who were gathered on Svalbard (Norway�s arctic islands), before circling around for a while and returning to his starting point. Refuting these claims, Rawlins says that Byrd made a serious attempt and navigated well both on the outward and inward journeys, But observations in his diary do not tally with the official report that he had achieved his objective � the North Pole. He appears to have turned back, on account of an engine leak, when the plane was about 240 km short of the Pole, Rawlins says.
Byrd flew from Svalbard on 8 May 1926 and claimed to have reached the Pole the next morning. On his return to Svalbard, he was congratulated by Roald Amundsen who three days later, on 12 May flew over the North Pole in the airship �Norge,� the first man, it now appears, to reach this point.
Six years later, he narrowly defeated Englishman Robert Falcon Scott in a race for the South Pole.
Askar DARIMBET
ALMATY, Jan 25
(THE GLOBE)
As a burning meteorite, Vladimir Vysotsky�s creation literally furrowed the cloudless sky of the Soviet �socialistic-realistic� culture. There were different, sometimes impossible legends about him. Everybody heard his voice, but only few people knew his face. The authorities ignored Vysotsky. None of his poems was published. Only two recording disks were issued when Vysotsky lived. But millions of kilometers of tape records were the index of unprecedented fame of the singer and the poet.
He traveled all over Europe, performed in the USA and Canada, where the audience applauded to him. Probably, even foreigners could not be indifferent to the unique character of Vysotsky�s songs. They were surprised when they learnt that officially he was not recognized in his motherland.
Over six hundred sons were the result of his constant creative power that he had and that was obvious in his songs. He was dissatisfied with himself, the world, and at the same time he sympathized with people. And there was his obstinate nobleness:
- Though great changes will come soon,
I will never like them�
Indefatigable life energy pushed him, led and pressed him, made him express himself. He played 20 roles in the theatre, over 30 in cinema, traveled in the USSR, went for mountaineering, and was devoted to the war theme. By the way, many veterans believed that he had participated in the war.
He struggled in his own war, making people answer though sometimes that was a negative answer. Because it was difficult to ignore Vysotsky�s songs. His peculiar poetry with an ordinary, but strong and deep expression, his music sometimes pulsing, striking nerves, sometimes sad and lyrical, sometimes merry, but never idle, expressed the moods of many people of that time. His rage, his tempo and energy while recording his studio songs, and moreover, while singing on the stage proved that the singer imparted his creations with his soul. He felt his early end, but did not surrender:
- It is in vain to try and today I with the cut throat
Will see the sunrise before I die�
Vysotsky expressed hopes and thoughts of the society. He was the people�s poet. The diapason of the genre of his songs, from delicate and lyrical to philosophic and slang, a wide range of topics, constant searches for the essence of the life formed the phenomenon of Vysotsky. Not everyone can impress so deeply the people�s consciousness. Vysotsky is often compared with Yesenin, who had the same rebelliousness, an extraordinary fate, alcohol the people�s love and official criticism. But in comparison with Vysotsky, Yesenin was more refined and delicate. He was criticized, but published. The authorities did not pretend to ignore him. Vysotsky does not look like anybody; he is just Vysotsky, the man of the epoch.
On Tuesday, January 25, Vladimir Vysotsky would be 62. His brilliant creation proves once again that the world needs people who make the society understand something, though their life is often too short. Let people say different things about him, but we remember him as a good, common man, and his friends say he was brave, honest, direct and jolly. He is still the great poet and his hoarse and strong voice will remain the powerful echo of the epoch for a long time.
For me the bride will honestly cry,
For me guys will pay debts,
For me other people will sign songs,
And, maybe, my enemies will drink to me�
January 28, 1909 the United States ended direct control over Cuba.
January 28, 1915 the Coast Guard was created by an act of Congress.
January 28, 1999 Ford Motor Company announced it was buying the Volvo car division in a $6.45 billion deal.
January 28, 1986 the space shuttle �Challenger� exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, killing all seven crew members.
January 29, 1958 actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were married.
January 30, 1933 Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany.
January 30, 1964 the United States launched �Ranger Six,� an unmanned spacecraft carrying television cameras that was to crash-land on the moon.
January 30, 1972 13 Roman Catholic civil rights marchers were shot to death by British soldiers in Northern Ireland on what became known as �Bloody Sunday.�
January 31, 1950 President Truman announced he had ordered development of the hydrogen bomb.
January 31, 1958 the United States entered the Space Age with its first successful launch of a satexlite into orbit, �Explorer One.�
All Over the Globe is published by IPA House.
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