Joseph Conrad

Joseph Conrad

Birth : 1857-12-02, Berdichev, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire [now Berdychiv, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine]

Death : 1924-08-03

History

Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski) was a Polish-born English novelist. Conrad is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in English, though he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties (and then always with a marked Polish accent). He wrote stories and novels, predominantly with a nautical or seaboard setting, that depict trials of the human spirit by the demands of duty and honour. Conrad was a master prose stylist who brought a distinctly non-English tragic sensibility into English literature. While some of his works have a strain of romanticism, he is viewed as a precursor of modernist literature. Writing in the heyday of the British Empire, Conrad drew upon his experiences in the French and later the British Merchant Navy to create short stories and novels that reflect aspects of a worldwide empire while also plumbing the depths of the human soul. His narrative style and anti-heroic characters have influenced many authors. Films have been adapted from or inspired by Conrad's Victory, Lord Jim, The Secret Agent, An Outcast of the Islands, The Rover, The Shadow Line, The Duel, Heart of Darkness, Nostromo, Almayer's Folly.

Profile

Joseph Conrad

Movies

The Lost Valley
Writer
Mountain of Gold
Story
The story of Almayer, a Dutch trader struggling to survive in Malaysia at the turn of the 19th Century. His dream of finding a mythical gold mountain is challenged by his scheming wife, the colonial authorities, the political machinations of the local chief and Arab traders, and his daughter's love for a freedom-fighting Malay prince.
The Young One
Novel
Zico has a thirst for elsewhere. He embarks on a cargo shop in Le Havre. Soon, tensions with the rest of the crew and repeated damages undermine his dreams of adventures.
An Outpost of Progress
Writer
At the end of the nineteenth century, two inexperienced Portuguese colonizers, with a vague intention of civilizing the colonies, disembark in a remote part of the Congo River in order to coordinate a trading post. As time goes by, they become increasingly demoralized by their inability to profit from the ivory trade. A mutual feeling of distrust and misunderstadings with the locals isolate them at the heart of the tropical jungle. Faced with each other, they begin a journey towards the abyss.
Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's “Island of Dr. Moreau”
Self (archive footage)
The story of the insane scandals related to the remake of “Island of Dr. Moreau” —originally a novel by H. G. Wells—, which was brought to the big screen in 1996. How director Richard Stanley spent four years developing the project just to find an abrupt end to his work while leading actor Marlon Brando pulled the strings in the shadows. Now for the first time, the living key players recount what really happened and why it all went so spectacularly wrong.
Almayer's Folly
Novel
A tale of an occidental merchant, Kaspar Almayer, whose dreams of riches for his beloved daughter, Nina, collapse under the weight of his own greed and prejudice.
Gabrielle
Novel
Wealthy but arrogant writer Jean Hervey comes home one day to find that his wife, Gabrielle, has left him for another man. Realizing her mistake, Gabrielle returns, and the pair begin a merciless analysis of their marriage as the relationship comes undone.
Swept from the Sea
Novel
The film tells the story of Russian emigree and the only survivor from ship crash Yanko Goorall and servant Amy Foster in the end of 19th century. When Yanko enters a farm sick and hungry after the shipwreck, everyone is afraid of him, except for Amy, who is very kind and helps him. Soon he becomes like a son for Dr. James Kennedy and romance between Yanko and Amy follows.
Victory
Novel
Axel Heyst is an American recluse with a dubious past living in the Dutch East Indies port of Surabaya circa 1913. Staying in a German hotel there, Heyst becomes entranced with a member of the hotel's all-female orchestra.
The Secret Agent
Novel
In 1880s London, pornographic bookseller Verloc is a double agent for the Russian government, providing information to Chief Inspector Heat about a lazy anarchist organization. In order for the anarchists to be arrested, an act of terrorism must occur. So Verloc decides to set up bombs – which leads to tragedy – not only for himself but also for his family, including wife Winnie and brother-in-law, Stevie.
Heart of Darkness
Novel
A trading company manager travels up an African river to find a missing outpost head and discovers the depth of evil in humanity's soul.
The Secret Agent
Novel
1992 BBC adaptation of the Joseph Conrad novel of 1907 concerning the mostly inactive spy Alfred Verloc, who is ordered by his superior Mr Vladimir to carry out a terrorist act. Verloc reluctantly plans the operation, seeking help from The Professor. Verloc is also an informant for the police and the Assistant Commissioner and Chief Inspector Heat add additional pressure on Verloc and his attempts to carry out his plan. Verloc’s subsequent actions gravely affect his wife who is devoted to her mentally unbalanced brother Stevie.
Morgen
Story
Short film by Dagmar Knöpfel. Based on a story by Joseph Conrad.
Un reietto delle isole
Novel
TV-adaptation of Joseph Conrad's "Outcast of the Islands".
Apocalypse Now
Novel
At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter Kurtz, who has been leading his personal army on illegal guerrilla missions into enemy territory.
Naufragio
Story
One woman lives waiting for her son who is a sailor. She hasn't seen him for years although he writes to her a lot. The woman shares the letters and her grief with a co-worker and friend. This last woman begins to idealize her friend's son.
The Duellists
Story
In 1800, as Napoleon Bonaparte rises to power in France, a rivalry erupts between Armand and Gabriel, two lieutenants in the French Army, over a perceived insult. For over a decade, they engage in a series of duels amidst larger conflicts, including the failed French invasion of Russia in 1812, and shifts in the political and social systems of Europe.
The Shadow-Line
Story
Andrzej Wajda's English-language film of a novella by Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, aka Joseph Conrad, about a young man in his first command as a sea captain. A series of crises prove incredibly difficult for his new authority, for the sea is curiously becalmed and the crew is weakened by feverish malaria. When the first mate's fear convinces many that the ship is haunted and cursed by the malevolent spirit of the previous captain, the young man must cope with their superstition as well as the conspicuous absence of much-needed medicine.
The Shadow Line
Original Story
Story of a young, inexperienced ship captain named Marlow, who struggles in solitude during the voyage with disease, insubordinate crew and vagaries of weather.
The End of the Tether
Novel
An experienced but aging captain in command of the Sofala must hide the fact that he is becoming blind.
Lord Jim
Novel
After being discredited as a coward, a 19th century seaman lives for only one purpose: to redeem himself.
Heart of Darkness
Novel
A trading company manager travels up an African river to find a missing outpost head and discovers the depth of evil in humanity's soul.
Laughing Anne
Novel
Story of love affair of captain who runs ship in Java Seas and a French saloon singer. From a story "Because of the dollars" by Joseph Conrad.
Face to Face
Book
Two short films released together under a collective title. The first, "Secret Sharer", directed by John Brahm and starring James Mason, is based on a short story by Joseph Conrad. The second tale, "Bride Comes to Yellow Sky", directed by Bretaigne Windust and starring Robert Preston, is adapted from Stephen Crane's short story.
Outcast of the Islands
Novel
After financial improprieties are discovered at the Eastern trading company where he works, Peter Willems flees the resulting disgrace and criminal charges. He persuades the man who gave him his start in life, the merchant ship captain Lingard, to bring him to a trading post on a remote Indonesian island where he can hide out.
The Golden Twenties
Himself (archive footage)
Feature-length compilation of 1920s newsreel footage, with commentary about news, sports, lifestyles, and historical figures.
Victory
Novel
A hermit's idyllic life on an island is disturbed by the arrival of a bunch of cutthroats.
Sabotage
Novel
Karl Anton Verloc and his wife own a small cinema in a quiet London suburb where they live seemingly happily. But Mrs. Verloc does not know that her husband has a secret that will affect their relationship and threaten her teenage brother's life.
Farornas paradis
Writer
A hotel in Surabaya, Java has some features of a brothel. Anita plays in a women's orchestra is exposed to the bandleaders invites. The owner of the hotel wants Anita to attract customers. They two become rivals over Anita.
Tropical Nights
Novel
"Tropical Nights" - The young violinist Alma comes to Simbali with an orchestra led by conductor Zangiacoma, hired for a series of performances at the Schomberg hotel. Both the conductor Zangiacomo and Schomberg are obsessed with Alma. One evening, when Alma is, as usual, forced to entertain the guests she meets Mr. Heyst from his island Sourabaya, where he lives in solitude. He takes Alma to his place on the island.
Dangerous Paradise
Novel
Heyst, a hermit on his own tropical island, plays unwilling host to red-headed stowaway Alma. Danger looms...
The Rescue
Novel
The English adventurer Tom Lingard gets involved with islanders on a South Seas island, and he also gets involved with Lady Edith and Mr. Travers, a sailing English couple. Tom has an unexpected love affair with Edith and while they are having this affair, Lady Edith husband's boat is destroyed and he is killed.
Lord Jim
Writer
Because he deserted his ship and passengers during a collision at sea, a ship's mate loses his certification. Unable to find work at sea, he takes a job at a trading post, and eventually works his way up to managing the business. He falls in love with the owner's daughter, and shares leadership of the local village with the son of the Rajah. One day, however, a band of pirates attacks the village, and the man is astonished to see that the pirates are none other than the tyrannical captain of his former ship and his crew.
Victory
Novel
Adaptation of Joseph Conrad novel about lust and violence on a South Seas Island.
Heart of Darkness
Novel
Based on Joseph Conrad's novel, Marlow, captains a leaky steamboat up the River Congo in search of a mysterious figure named Kurtz who has carved out a brutal kingdom in which he has power of life and death over his native subjects.