Thursday, May 7, 2026

On this day in movie history – Devil's Paradise (1987 movie & novel):


Devil's Paradise


directed by Vadim Glowna,

written by Vadim Glowna, Joe Hembus, Leonard Tuck,

based on the novel Victory by Joseph Conrad,

released in West Germany on May 7, 1987

Music by Jürgen Knieper.

Cast: Jürgen Prochnow, Sam Waterston, Suzanna Hamilton, Mario Adorf, Dominique Pinon, Ingrid Caven, Tony Doyle, Chun-Man Wong, Atoharapan Paiboonsuwan, Vararat Thepsotorn, Vadim Glowna, Ayuddhaya Tanu Malakul Na, Abbie Conant, Beatrice/Bea Reszat, Jane Knieper, Colette Darville, Jola Goltz, Evelyn Kuerschner, Nipol Satchawoot, Suvit Liengsima.


Recommended reading:

Victory

by Joseph Conrad.

Filmed as:
Victory (1919), directed by Maurice Tourneur.
Dangerous Paradise (1930), directed by William A. Wellman.
Devil's Paradise (1987), directed by Vadim Glowna.
Victory (1996), directed by Mark Peploe.

Published by Penguin Classics.
First published 1915.
ISBN 13: 9780140189780
ISBN 10: 0140189785
ASIN: 0140189785

Description:

I am glad that I am alive, if, for no other reason, because of the joy of reading this book. – Jack London.

Axel Heyst, a dreamer and a restless drifter, believes he can avoid suffering by cutting himself off from others. Then he becomes involved in the operation of a coal company on a remote island in the Malay Archipelago, and when it fails, he turns his back on humanity once more. But his life alters when he rescues a young English girl, Lena, from Zangiacomo's Ladies' Orchestra and the evil innkeeper Schomberg, taking her to his island retreat. The affair between Heyst and Lena begins with her release, but the relationship shifts as Lena struggles to save Heyst from the detachment and isolation that have inhibited and influenced his life.

Marked by a violent and tragic conclusion, Victory is both a tale of rescue and adventure and a perceptive study of a complex relationship and of the power of love.
 

On this day in movie history - Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)


Mad Max: Fury Road


directed by George Miller,

written by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris,

was released in the United States on May 7, 2015.

Music by Tom Holkenborg, a.k.a. Junkie XL.


Cast:
Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Josh Helman, Nathan Jones, Zoë Kravitz, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Abbey Lee, Courtney Eaton, John Howard, Richard Carter, Iota, Angus Sampson, Jennifer Hagan, Megan Gale, Melissa Jaffer, Melita Jurisic, Gillian Jones, Joy Smithers, Antoinette Kellermann, Christina Koch, Jon Iles, Quentin Kenihan, Coco Jack Gillies, Chris Patton, Stephen Dunlevy, Richard Norton, John Walton, Ben Smith-Petersen, Russ McCarroll, Judd Wild, Elizabeth Cunico, Greg van Borssum, Robert Jones, Sebastian Dickins, Darren Andrew Mitchell, Crusoe Kurddal, Shyan Tonga, Cass Cumerford, Albert Lee, Riley Paton, Ripley Voeten, Macyn Van Borssum, Hunter Stratton Boland, Nathan Jenkins, Fletcher Gill, Whiley Toll, Ferdinand Hengombe, Gadaffi Davsab, Noddy Alfred, Jackson Hengombe, Christian Fane, Callum Gallagher, Abel Hofflin, Lee Perry, Debra Ades, Toby Ayers, Rhavin Banda, Karl Heinz Barr, Alison Benstead, Craig Bourke, Nerida Bronwen, Will C., Hélène Cardona, Jeremy Costello, Sandi Finlay, Gareth Hamilton-Foster, Dawn Hogan, Georgia Jarrett, Hiroshi Kasuga, Jack Kelly, Ryan Madden, Robert Alexander Maxwell McCann, Shuhei Ogawa, Benjamin W Sullivan, Vanessa Summerfield, Yassica Switakowski, Leanne Michelle Watson.

On this day in the Star Trek universe - The Next Generation, Voyager, Enterprise:

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1988 & 1994)
Star Trek: Voyager (1997)
Star Trek: Enterprise (2003)
 

Star Trek: The Next Generation
Season 1. Episode 24.

Episode entitled: Conspiracy.

Released May 7, 1988.

Directed by Cliff Bole.

Written by Tracy Tormé, Robert Sabaroff, Hans Beimler, Richard Manning, Hannah Louise Shearer.

Created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by Dennis McCarthy.

Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Denise Crosby, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Wil Wheaton, Henry Darrow, Ward Costello, Robert Schenkkan, Ray Reinhardt, Jonathan Farwell, Michael Berryman, Ursaline Bryant, Majel Barrett, James G. Becker, Dexter Clay, Jeffrey Deacon, Susan Duchow, Nora Leonhardt, Tim McCormack, Lorine Mendell, Richard Sarstedt, Gary J. Wayton.
 

Star Trek: The Next Generation
Season 7. Episode 23.

Episode entitled: Emergence.

Released May 7, 1994.

Directed by Cliff Bole.

Written by Joe Menosky, Brannon Braga, René Echevarria, Naren Shankar.

Created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by Jay Chattaway.

Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, David Huddleston, Vinny Argiro, Thomas Kopache, Arlee Reed, Lena Banks, Cameron, Tracee Cocco, Debbie David, Nick Dimitri, Elliot Durant III, Keith Gearhart, Christopher Gilman, Fumiko Hamada, Grace Harrell, Joyce Robinson, John Alex Tampoya, Oliver Theess, Dennis Tracy, Steve Whittaker, Dianne Zankich.
 

Star Trek: Voyager
Season 3. Episode 24.

Episode entitled: Displaced.

Released May 7, 1997.

Directed by Allan Kroeker.

Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor.

Written by Lisa Klink.

Based on Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by Jay Chattaway.

Cast: Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Biggs-Dawson, Jennifer Lien, Robert Duncan McNeill, Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ, Garrett Wang, Kenneth Tigar, Mark L. Taylor, James Noah, Nancy Youngblut, Deborah Levin, Majel Barrett, Steve Carnahan, Adriana del Pomar, Holiday Freeman, Jennifer Gundy, Susan Henley, Zach LeBeau, Susan Lewis, Traci Murray, Louis Ortiz, Keith Rayve, Aric Rogokos, Laurence Todd Rosenthal, Shepard Ross, Richard Sarstedt, Pablo Soriano, Scott Strozier, John Alex Tampoya.
 

Star Trek: Enterprise
Season 2. Episode 23.

Episode entitled: Regeneration.

Released May 7, 2003.

Directed by David Livingston.

Written by Michael/Mike Sussman, Phyllis Strong, André Bormanis.

Created by Rick Berman, Brannon Braga.

Based on Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry.

Opening theme song: Faith of the Heart, performed by Russell Watson.

Closing theme: Archer's Theme, by Dennis McCarthy.

Music by Brian Tyler.

Cast: Scott Bakula, John Billingsley, Jolene Blalock, Dominic Keating, Anthony Montgomery, Linda Park, Connor Trinneer, Vaughn Armstrong, Jim Fitzpatrick, John Short, Bonita Friedericy, Christopher/Chris Wynne, Adam Harrington, Mark Chadwick, Paul Anthony Scott, Alexandrea Ortiz, Jef Ayres, Craig Baxley Jr., Amy Kate Connolly, Mark Correy, Nikki Flux, Peter Godoy, Glen Hambly, Peter Scott Harmyk, Mark Major, Eric Norris, Louis Ortiz, Bobby Pappas, Nicole Randall, Pablo Soriano, Warren Tabata.

On this day in music history - Symphony No. 9, Soul of the Beloved:

Symphony No. 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven (1824)

Soul of the Beloved by Uma Sibley (2002)

 

Symphony No. 9

by Ludwig van Beethoven,

first performed in Vienna on May 7, 1824.

Choral symphony in four movements.

Opus 125, in D minor.

Composed: 1822–1824.

Ode to Joy is based on the 1785 text by Friedrich Schiller.

Soul of the Beloved

Album by Uma Sibley,

released May 7, 2002.

Track list: Emergence; Awakening; Peaceful Heart; Ocean Of Love; Soul Dance; Poignant Love; Tears Of Joy; Garden Of Love; Grace; Soliloquy For Harp; Joy.

Wednesday, May 6, 2026

On this day in movie history - Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994)

Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead

directed and written by Don Coscarelli,

was released in the United States on May 6, 1994.

Music by Fred Myrow and Christopher L. Stone.

Cast:
Reggie Bannister, A. Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury, Gloria Lynne Henry, Kevin Connors, Cindy Ambuehl, John Davis Chandler, Brooks Gardner, Angus Scrimm, Irene Roseen, Sarah Scott Davis, Duane Tucker, Claire Benedek, Wendy Way, Robert Beecher, Chuck Butto, Beau Lotterman, Paula Irvine, Jennifer Bross, Samantha Phillips, Kathy Lester.

John Steinbeck, on inspiration and writing:

 

Ideas are like rabbits.
You get a couple and learn how to handle them,
and pretty soon you have a dozen.
- John Steinbeck.

Born on this day – Lucien Ballard:


Lucien Ballard


Cinematographer

May 6, 1908 – October 1, 1988

Credits:
A Ducking They Did Go (1939); A Kiss Before Dying (1956); A Nag in the Bag (1938); A Star Is Shorn (1939); A Time for Dying (1969); ABC Stage 67 (1966); Al Capone (1959); An Eye for an Eye (1966); Anna Lucasta (1958); Arruza (1972); Back to the Woods (1937); Band of Angels (1957); Beloved Bachelor (1931); Berlin Express (1948); Big Executive (1933); Black Saddle (1960); Blind Alley (1939); Blonde Venus (1932); Boeing, Boeing (1965); Bomber's Moon (1943); Breakheart Pass (1975); Breakout (1975); Broken Lullaby (1932); Buchanan Rides Alone (1958); Cash and Carry (1937); City of Fear (1959); Coast Guard (1939); Cold Turkey (1940); Craig's Wife (1936); Crime and Punishment (1935); Dangerous Curves (1929); Dear Brigitte (1965); Desire in the Dust (1960); Devil's Playground (1937); Diplomatic Courier (1952); Don't Bother to Knock (1952); Drum (1976); Elfego Baca: Six Gun Law (1963); Elvis: That's the Way It Is (1970); Fixed Bayonets! (1951); Flat Foot Stooges (1938); Flight to Fame (1938); From Bad to Worse (1937); From Noon Till Three (1976); Girls Can Play (1937); Halfway to Hollywood (1938); Highway Patrol (1938); Holy Matrimony (1943); Home on the Rage (1938); Hour of the Gun (1967); How Sweet It Is! (1968); I Married a Woman (1958); I Promise to Pay (1937); I Take This Woman (1931); Inferno (1953); Junior Bonner (1972); L'académie des 9 (1982); Lady Ice (1973); Laura (1944); Law of the Plainsman (1960); Let Us Live (1939); Let's Make It Legal (1951); Life Begins with Love (1937); Love Me Tonight (1932); Man Bites Lovebug (1937); Marines, Let's Go (1961); Mikey and Nicky (1976); Monte Carlo (1930); Moontide (1942); Morocco (1930); Murder by Contract (1958); My Kingdom for... (1995); Nevada Smith (1966); New Faces (1954); Night Song (1947); Night Without Sleep (1952); No Census, No Feeling (1940); O. Henry's Full House (1952); One Hour with You (1932); Orchestra Wives (1942); Outside These Walls (1939); Pay or Die! (1960); Penitentiary (1938); Prince Valiant (1954); Rabbit Test (1978); Racketeers in Exile (1937); Return of the Texan (1952); Ride the High Country (1962); Rio Grande (1938); Roustabout (1964); Saints and Sinners (1962); Seven Cities of Gold (1955); South of the Boudoir (1940); Squadron of Honor (1938); St. Ives (1976); Susan Slade (1961); Swamp Water (1941); Sweet and Low-Down (1944); Take Her, She's Mine (1963); Target: The Corruptors (1962); Temptation (1946); Texas Stampede (1939); The 33rd (1959); The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970); The Bramble Bush (1960); The Caretakers (1963); The Desert Rats (1953); The Detectives (1960); The Devil Is a Woman (1935); The Dick Powell Theatre (1961–1963); The Eagle and the Hawk (1933); The Final Hour (1936); The Getaway (1972); The Glory Brigade (1953); The Hawaiians (1970); The House on Telegraph Hill (1951); The Killer Is Loose (1956); The Killing (1956); The King and Four Queens (1956); The King Steps Out (1936); The Lodger (1944); The Lone Wolf in Paris (1938); The Love Parade (1929); The Magical World of Disney (1959–1961); The Magnificent Matador (1955); The Mind Needer (1938); The New Interns (1964); The Nightshirt Bandit (1938); The Outlaw (1943); The Parent Trap (1961); The Party (1968); The Proud Ones (1956); The Raid (1954); The Rifleman (1963); The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960); The Shadow (1937); The Sons of Katie Elder (1965); The Three Stooges Follies (1974); The Thundering West (1939); The Undying Monster (1942); The Unholy Wife (1957); The Villain Still Pursued Her (1940); The Westerner (1960); The Wild Bunch (1969); This Is the Night (1932); This Love of Ours (1945); Thomasine & Bushrod (1974); Three Little Sew and Sews (1939); Three the Hard Way (1974); Tonight We Raid Calais (1943); True Grit (1969); Vacation Playhouse (1965); Venus Makes Trouble (1937); Violent Is the Word for Curly (1938); Wall of Noise (1963); What's the Matter with Helen? (1971); Whispering Ghosts (1942); White Feather (1955); Wild Geese Calling (1941); Will Penny (1967); Wives and Lovers (1963); Yes, We Have No Bonanza (1939); Zane Grey Theatre (1960); Zorro (1960).