マリオンの壁

by Jack Finney

Joie des cinéphiles que sont Jan et Nick lorsqu'ils découvrent qu'une actrice du cinéma muet a habité la vieille maison qu'ils viennent d'acheter ! Sans doute Marion Marsh, morte prématurément, n'a-t-elle jamais dépassé le stade des débuts prometteurs. Mais, comme Jan et Nick ont l'occasion de le constater au cours d'une rétrospective cinématographique à la télévision, quelle présence face à la caméra ! Une présence qui crève littéralement l'écran puisque soudain voici Marion, là, dans le salon - ou plutôt son fantôme -, bien décidée à reconquérir Hollywood en s'emparant du corps de Jan...Dans la lignée du célèbre Boulevard du crépuscule de Billy Wilder, une histoire magique sur la magie du cinéma, un hommage à la fois drôle et émouvant aux années 20 et aux figures mythiques qui en ont fait les fameuses "années folles".

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Time Travel, Supernatural

Tankobon Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Mr. Finney specialized in thrillers and works of science fiction. Two of his novels, The Body Snatchers and Good Neighbor Sam became the basis of popular films, but it was Time and Again (1970) that won him a devoted following. The novel, about an advertising artist who travels back to the New York of the 1880s, quickly became a cult favorite, beloved especially by New Yorkers for its rich, painstakingly researched descriptions of life in the city more than a century ago.

Mr. Finney, whose original name was Walter Braden Finney, was born in Milwaukee and attended Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. After moving to New York and working in the advertising industry, he began writing stories for popular magazines like Collier's, The Saturday Evening Post and McCall's.

His first novel, Five Against the House (1954), told the story of five college students who plot to rob a casino in Reno. A year later he published The Body Snatchers (later reissued as Invasion of the Body Snatchers), a chilling tale of aliens who emerge from pods in the guise of humans whom they have taken over. Many critics interpreted the insidious infiltration by aliens as a cold-war allegory that dramatized America's fear of a takeover by Communists. Mr. Finney maintained that the novel was nothing more than popular entertainment. The 1956 film Invasion of the Body Snatchers was remade twice.

Mr. Finney first showed an interest in time travel in the short-story collection The Third Level, which included stories about a commuter who discovers a train that runs between New York and the year 1894, and a man who rebuilds an old car and finds himself transported back to the 1920s.

He returned to the thriller genre in Assault on a Queen (1959) and tried his hand at comedy in Good Neighbor Sam (1963), a novel based on his experiences as an adman, played by Jack Lemmon in the film version.

In The Woodrow Wilson Dime (1968), Mr. Finney once again explored the possibilities of time travel. The dime of the title allows the novel's hero to enter a parallel world in which he achieves fame by composing the musicals of Oscar Hammerstein and inventing the zipper.

With Time and Again, Mr. Finney won the kind of critical praise and attention not normally accorded to genre fiction. Thomas Lask, reviewing the novel in The New York Times, described it, suggestively, as "a blend of science fiction, nostalgia, mystery and acid commentary on super-government and its helots." Its hero, Si Morley, is a frustrated advertising artist who jumps at the chance to take part in a secret project that promises to change his life. So it does. He travels back to New York in 1882, moves into the Dakota apartment building on Central Park West and experiences the fabulous ordinariness of a bygone age: its trolleys, horse-drawn carriages, elevated lines, and gaslights. This year Mr. Finney published a sequel to the novel, From Time to Time.

Mr. Finney also wrote Marion's Wall (1973), about a silent-film actress who, in an attempt to revive her film career, enters the body of a shy woman, and The Night People (1977). His other fictional works include The House of Numbers (1957) and the short-story collection I Love Galesburg in the Springtime (1963). He also wrote Forgotten News: The Crime of the Century and Other Lost Stories (1983) about sensational events of the 19th century.

Reviews

[Annalisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un libro davvero atipico nel panorama sci-fi, probablmente un pretesto per l'autore per parlare di una delle sue passioni.
Come lo so?
Ma traspare, credo, il suo smisurato amore per il cinema muto e per il periodo straordinario in cui i suoi eroi vissero, gli anni '20.

E così Finney si tuffa in un divertissement anche un po' rischioso perchè ci potrebbero essere delle parti che indulgono nel trash, ma l'autore con la sua ironia riesce a contenerle, a dargli la giusta misura.

La distanza da quell'epoca è ormai grande e ci fa guardare ai protagonisti come esseri mitici, icone, le loro foto sono arcane come ritratti preraffaelliti

Invece l'autore ce li mostra come persone normali, piene di rimpianti di cose lasciate a metà e pieni di fame di vita.

[R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A ghost story. A love story. A Hollyweird story. I've got to hand it to Finney - in this novel he created a remix of Topper Returns with so much heart, so much joy, so much love, so much comedic...grace...that I'm in plain and simple awe. He could've done a Fish Out of Water story, with a 1920s ghost gosh-shucksing the 1970s at every turn for 200 pages but...no. He didn't. And good for him. Good for us. A big hearted novel about what it means to all of us to have inherited a world with movies - silent, talkies, lost - and, more, what it meant to those who were there at the beginning.





Note: Second novel in the 3 From Finney anthology. And, apparently, the source material for Maxie starring Glenn Close...Glenn Close?...and Mandy Patinkin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N92Up4...

[Barbara Ab · Rating 5 out of 5]

Letto in seguito alla recensione di Lady Aen.
Non conoscevo Finney e non sapevo che avesse scritto L'invasione degli ultracorpi da cui è stato tratto il famosissimo film
Beh, Un Mondo di ombre è inusuale per un Urania perchè parla di fantasmi.
E' una chicca per gli appassionati di cinema Americano degli anni 20 e ogni collezionista penso un pò ci si possa ritrovare, ma quello che a me è piaciuto è stato il senso dell'umorismo.
La storia è comica e leggera e, da cinofila, ho trovato irresistibili tutte le scene in cui lui parla con il cane.
Immagino che anche Finney sia un appassionato cinofilo, come se no avrebbe potuto pensare ad un personaggio che spedisce una cartolina al proprio cane? ;0)
ps Ci sono vari racconti alla fine ma ho letto solo La famiglia di Oates. E' un tipico racconto di sopravvivenza postapocalittico arido e agghiacciante.

[Harry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read and an unusual ghost story. I learned a bit about the movie business from the Silent Movie Era too. Finney has a most wonderful way of immersing you in the past.

[Estott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked it, but as with a lot of Finney's works the concept is great but the execution falls short. The ending gets a bit too improbable for me - even though we're talking about a book with a ghost in it.

[Joy H.]

Added 2/2/16. I read about this author (Jack Finney) at Goodreads.com. This book was mentioned and it sounded interesting. At the time (2/2/16) I was reading Finney's book: Time and Again. At the web page for that book there was some info in the right-hand column, under "About Jack Finney". It said: "Mr. Finney also wrote Marion's Wall (1973), about a silent-film actress who, in an attempt to revive her film career, enters the body of a shy woman...". Sounds like _Marion's Wall_ might be a good fantasy! We'll see.

PS-An online search revealed that this book was adapted to film entitled "Maxie": "Finney, Jack (pseudonym of Walter Braden Finney). MARION'S WALL: A NOVEL. - Ghost story filmed in 1985 as "Maxie" starring Glenn Close, Mandy Patinkin and Ruth Gordon."
FROM: http://www.lwcurrey.com/pages/books/8...

See the IMDb page for the film ("Maxie": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089569/?...

See the short trailer of the movie, "Maxie", at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N92Up...

I also found the following summary online: "A young married couple moves into a San Francisco apartment formerly owned by the silent star Marian Marsh. Her ghost still inhabits the place and takes over the wife's body, goes to Hollywood, and tries to re-enter films. The couple meets a film buff, living in Vilma Banky's old home, and he has prints of all the lost films including the complete Greed."
FROM: https://books.google.com/books?id=V1U...
(Ha! That summary is the same as the GR description!)

PPS-A Goodreads reader's review says: "[The author, Finney] "created a remix of [the movie] Topper Returns with so much heart, so much joy, so much love, so much comedic...grace...that I'm in plain and simple awe."
An apt comparison. The reviewer also gave the YouTube link for the trailer I mentioned above. See the review at:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Beth Levitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book years ago so this is a re read and it still holds up though the ending is a bit of a stretch. I love the mix of reality and fantasy (the ghost) especially as it harkens back to the teens and early 1920s. The basic plot was used in the film Maxie with Glenn Close.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was made into a wonderful movie with Glen Close called "Maxie" - book was better but not a bad version

[Lizzann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first read this book aloud in 1977 while driving from NYC to CA with my sister. Finney is sarcastic and humorous in this tale of a San Francisco couple who discover a message in lipstick on the wall as they are peeling wallpaper layers. It is from a 1926 starlet who is killed in a car wreck just as her big break out film is being shot (Joan Crawford gets her part and becomes a star!)

Marion inhabits the wife's body and goes for for her big chance some 50+ years after her time. Rudolph Valentino makes an appearance through the husband! Funny scenes occur as he tries to put off the Marion's sexual advances. Is it wrong to have sex with your wife/Maarion? Remember having to pull off to the side of the interstate as Rita and I were laughing too hard to drive!

My favorite book by Finney is still Time and Again.

[Ampersand Inc. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good, lighthearted read for folks who are supernatural curious but don’t like to be spooked. The core premise is fantastic–a couple move into a home inhabited by the spirit of a 20s film star who passed away before her star could really rise. This leads to all manner of madcap adventures, that gave me the rare sense the book should’ve been longer, or probably a better solution, if the author just picked one of the tangents and explored it further. Will note that if you enjoyed the cross era bull-in-china-shop energy of MINISTRY OF TIME, you will enjoy this (20s film star transported into the 70s), and if you are a Turner Classic Movies subscriber, you will also be hooked as there’s lots of golden era of film goodies tucked away. One of those 5/5 core concept, but 2/5 execution books, so here we are at 3/5.

[Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A ghost story for film buffs.

Finney's delightful story, about a dream unfulfilled, starts a little slow but quickly picks up momentum and, in the end, leaves you with a smile. And, like most fantasy fiction, may also inspire you to concoct your own similar fantasies. This fun read, while a little light on dialogue and character development, pays homage to the golden era of Silent Film and the human desire to stand out and be noticed. When Marion's wishes aren't able to be realized in the 1920s, she is given another chance. Light in nature, the story has interesting undertones about how our lives are precious and never quite long enough.

[Steven jb · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intriguing message written by a former occupant on a wall in a couple's apartment, begins their adventure with a ghost, the past, and old Hollywood. The novel's author, Jack Finney, is a master at making the unbelievable, believable. The time travel in this wonderful story, brings the past into the present. I loved this book, and no wonder, it's one of Finney's.

[Alessandro Argenti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sono rimasto sorpreso, perchè è assai poco fantascientifico come libro, più che altro si concentra sul mondo cinematografico anni venti, che alla lunga però stufa parecchio, a meno che uno non sia un appassionato del genere.

[Masayuki Arai · Rating 2 out of 5]

boring age

[Sean Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

exhilarating

[Adrienne Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was an absolute treasure.

[Angie Engles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this years ago and for some reason it popped into my head today. Marion's Wall is a fun, kooky read that has that special touch only Jack Finney could provide.

While not nearly as beloved nor highly regarded as his classic Time And Again, it certainly is worth reading and makes for a very pleasant afternoon on the couch, while you're a sipping cup of tea and the rain drums gently outside your window.

Made into a movie called Maxie, the film stars Glenn Close and is quite entertaining (the delightful Ruth Gordon also stars) and definitely as zany as the book.

[Jay Warner · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I found it to be an entertaining story, it was not up to par with Time and Again. There were several plot holes where, as the reader, I just had to go along with it and suspend any kind of critical thinking. Sometimes Finney gets mired in minute details and descriptions that might fascinate some but I found to be tedious. I kept reading, however, because the actual story itself was enjoyable and humorous. Marion is a hoot! And in the end I wanted to know how it would all turn out.

[Bonnie Fazio · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember this book! I am entering it in 2014, having read it in 1975 -- yes, that's right! 1975!

I have read two or three books by Jack Finney in the meantime, and didn't connect them with this. I am lucky to have found a list of books I read in 1975, which is the only reason I can add this title to my list.

I think I may also have seen the film (based on this book), Maxie.

[Peggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the movie Maxie with Glenn Close and Mandy Patinkin. I found out years later that it was based on Marion's Wall so I had to have it. It had been out of print for a long time but I fould a used copy online. I love this sweet story and I recomment it. The movie Maxie too.

[Mark Wilkerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exemplary novella from a writer who blends genres so seamlessly and consistently. This is at once an homage to Old Hollywood and a tale of saving a relationship while forming new ones. Tragic, funny, well-paced, rewarding read.

[Julie Mercer · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED IT!

[Rahmi Safa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had an interesting story. Although each part felt a bit too long. Other than that a pretty good book. I'd give it a 3 and a half.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Romance, ghosts and film history. What more could you want from a story?