Barks stories and movies

Wilmer Rivers rivers at seismo.CSS.GOV
Mon Oct 16 13:55:47 CET 1995


I agree with the statement (sorry, I don't remember whose)
that Barks drew on magazine articles rather than movies
for his inspiration.  However, I suspect that the lamasery
of Tralla La was inspired more by the fictional lamasery
of Shangri La in the movie "Lost Horizon" (or perhaps by
the novel on which it was based) than by any actual lamasery
in "National Geographic".  It was therefore appropriate that
Don Rosa called the ancient lama Tsamja Phe in his sequel
story, since that role in the movie was played by Sam Jaffee.

Although a number of Barks' stories do have similarities
with action/adventure movies filmed during the same period
that he was writing, I think the similarities are due to his
stories' and the movies' being based on the same "classic"
stock material of mythology, monsters, mummies, lost treas-
ure, etc.  I seriously doubt that, after watching Boris
Karloff in "The Mummy," he said to himself, "I should do a
mummy story too!"  And I feel quite sure that he never
attended a performance of Wagner's "Der Fliegende Hollander"
and came out saying, "That opera would make a good comic
book!"  On the other hand, I have certainly read a lot of
Barks' stories and said, "That would make a great movie!".
Apparently, so has George Lucas.

Wilmer Rivers



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