"Philip Jose Farmer - Riverworld 4 - The Magic Labyrinth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Farmer Phillip Jose)

Before the drink was brought down to Sam, a tourist muttered, "Bullshit!"

"Throw that man off the boat!" Sam shouted. And it was done.

"You're a very angry man," the woman who knew his works said.

"Yes, ma'am, I am. And with good reason. I was angry on Earth, and I'm angry
here."

The marine brought Sam's whiskey. He downed it quickly and then continued the
tour with his good humor restored.

He led the group up the grand staircase to the grand salon. They paused in the
entrance, and the tourists oohed and ahed. It was two hundred feet long and
fifty wide and the ceiling was twenty feet above the floor. Along the center
of the ceiling was a line of five huge cut-glass chandeliers. There were many
windows making the huge room well lighted and many wall and ceiling lights and
towering ornate brass floor lamps.

At the far end was a stage which Clemens said was used for live dramas and
comedies and for orchestras. It also had a big screen which could be pulled
down when movies were shown.

"We don't use chemically treated film to shoot these," he said. "We have
electronic cameras. We make original films and also remake the classics of
Earth. Tonight, for instance,

The Magic Labyrinth I 19 '

we're showing The Maltese Falcon. We don't have any of the original cast
except Mary Astor, whose real name is Lucille Langehanke, and she plays Sam
Spade's secretary. Astor was, from what I've been told, miscast. But then I
don't suppose most of you know what I'm talking about."

"I do," the woman who'd called him angry said. "Who played her part in your
version?"

"An American actress, Alice Brady."

"And who played Sam Spade? I can't imagine anyone else but Humphrey Bogart in
the role."
"Howard da Silva, another American actor. His real name was Howard Goldblatt,
if I remember correctly. He's very grateful to get this role, since he claims
he never had a chance to show his real acting ability on Earth. But he's sorry
that his audience will be so small."

"Don't tell me the director is John Ford?"

"I never heard of him," Sam said. "Our director is Alexander Singer."