The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #488 and Like A Hood Ornament #66: Reading "The Rocketeer" Movie Novelization Chapter 9

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast

This week, I'm reading the ninth chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This chapter introduces us to the Laughing Bandit, the role the villain Neville Sinclair is playing probably inspired by Errol Flynn swashbucklers from the era. There were also some cameos in the novelization (not in the film) with famous actors and films being made at the time Clark Gable (Gone with the Wind), George Reeves (Gone with the Wind, later famous for Superman), Mae West, and Margaret Hamilton (The Wizard of Oz).

There was a part of this scene that always confused me as a kid, since Neville Sinclair ends up stabbing one of his co-stars, Charlie. I could have sworn as a kid that there was a whole side plot involving Charlie having discovered Neville's German spy moonlighting activities and Neville wanting to get him out of the way But, to my knowledge, there never was a scene like that, and we actually don't even know about that side of Neville in the movie yet (we do in the novel, though).

I think that scene was just meant to show how self-centered and manipulative Neville could be as well as a plot device for a wedge to be driven between Cliff and Jenny, giving Neville a chance to move on Jenny. But, the novel gives additional details that highlight his motives. Turns out other people had similar questions about this scene - see here.

Thanks for listening!

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