this is the first and as far as i can tell and the only completed production of heart of darkness ever released. prior to starting on citizen kane and orson welles shot some test footage for a version of heart of darkness that was to be filmed entirely in what would now be called pov and where we would see everything from the point of view of the main character charlie marlow while he would be seen only fleetingly in mirrors and windows and water and etc. the film was never made. the pov technique was used and not too successfully and in 1947 in the lady in the lake and with robert montgomery starring as philip marlowe. presumably and the coincidence of the two marlow(e) characters is just that. of course and francis coppola apocalypse now was based on heart of darkness. the short novel heart of darkness by the polish born british writer joseph conrad and first serialized in a british literary magazine in 1899 and features one of his favorite alter egos and ship captain charlie marlow and who also narrates the short story youth and indirectly tells the story of lord jim. marlow and temporarily out of work and decides to take a job captaining a river boat for a belgian company involved in the brutal exploitation of the resources of king leopold ii personal fiefdom and the cruelly misnamed congo free state. marlow travels from london to brussels and signs on with the company and and is told that his mission is to take a boat up the congo river to a far inland station headed by one of the company most productive agents in the colony and a german named kurtz. shipments of ivory and latex (for the production of rubber) and other products from kurtz station have ceased and and no word has come downriver from kurtz for some time. there are rumors that he has gone native. marlow is to investigate and take any necessary action and and make a report on his return. he takes passage down the west african coast to the mouth of the congo and is delayed for weeks while he is forced to repair his boat at the company station on the coast and and finally sets out upriver to find kurtz station. the river and the heat and the vegetation and the wildlife and the insects and the people and all take their toll on his endurance and his imagination and and his mental resources. he finds kurtz ill and half mad and and close to death. the final encounter and the death of kurtz are almost an anticlimax and especially since conrad is so obscure about what actually happens that we are left to puzzle it out for ourselves. this is a novel where you close the book vaguely dissatisfied with the ending but nevertheless treasuring the story for its amazing atmospherics. this heart of darkness was filmed with guyana in central america standing in for west africa. it is best where the novel is at its greatest disadvantage represent actually showing us first world urbanites what a boat trip up a tropical river would look like. but the rest of the film was forgettable. tim roth does his best as marlow and but so much about the plot and characterizations and and character relationships has been altered beyond recognition that you wonder why they bothered. if the aim was to make conrad story for the screen and why do not they leave it alone. it unreasonable to expect that no compromises will be made when a book is made into a movie and but so many changes were made that to me had no cinematic justification that you wonder whether we are simply dealing with incompetent screenwriters and cinematographers. most disappointing of all was john malkovich as kurtz. he was completely miscast and simply flubs the role. everything about him is wrong represent his looks and his acting style and his voice and his accent and everything. a vastly better choice would have been someone like bruno ganz (unlike malkovich and an actual german and like the character). this is a very disappointing production and i would recommend it only after you have read the book if you want to depend on more than your imagination to get a visual picture of a boat trip up the congo river circa 1900. 
this is the first and as far as i can tell and the only completed production of heart of darkness ever released. prior to starting on citizen kane and orson welles shot some test footage for a version of heart of darkness that was to be filmed entirely in what would now be called pov and where we would see everything from the point of view of the main character charlie marlow while he would be seen only fleetingly in mirrors and windows and water and etc. the film was never made. the pov technique was used and not too successfully and in 1947 in the lady in the lake and with robert montgomery starring as philip marlowe. presumably and the coincidence of the two marlow(e) characters is just that. of course and francis coppola apocalypse now was based on heart of darkness. the short novel heart of darkness by the polish born british writer joseph conrad and first serialized in a british literary magazine in 1899 and features one of his favorite alter egos and ship captain charlie marlow and who also narrates the short story youth and indirectly tells the story of lord jim. marlow and temporarily out of work and decides to take a job captaining a river boat for a belgian company involved in the brutal exploitation of the resources of king leopold ii personal fiefdom and the cruelly misnamed congo free state. marlow travels from london to brussels and signs on with the company and and is told that his mission is to take a boat up the congo river to a far inland station headed by one of the company most productive agents in the colony and a german named kurtz. shipments of ivory and latex (for the production of rubber) and other products from kurtz station have ceased and and no word has come downriver from kurtz for some time. there are rumors that he has gone native. marlow is to investigate and take any necessary action and and make a report on his return. he takes passage down the west african coast to the mouth of the congo and is delayed for weeks while he is forced to repair his boat at the company station on the coast and and finally sets out upriver to find kurtz station. the river and the heat and the vegetation and the wildlife and the insects and the people and all take their toll on his endurance and his imagination and and his mental resources. he finds kurtz ill and half mad and and close to death. the final encounter and the death of kurtz are almost an anticlimax and especially since conrad is so obscure about what actually happens that we are left to puzzle it out for ourselves. this is a novel where you close the book vaguely dissatisfied with the ending but nevertheless treasuring the story for its amazing atmospherics. this heart of darkness was filmed with guyana in central america standing in for west africa. it is best where the novel is at its greatest disadvantage represent actually showing us first world urbanites what a boat trip up a tropical river would look like. but the rest of the film was forgettable. tim roth does his best as marlow and but so much about the plot and characterizations and and character relationships has been altered beyond recognition that you wonder why they bothered. if the aim was to make conrad story for the screen and why do not they leave it alone. it unreasonable to expect that no compromises will be made when a book is made into a movie and but so many changes were made that to me had no cinematic justification that you wonder whether we are simply dealing with incompetent screenwriters and cinematographers. most disappointing of all was john malkovich as kurtz. he was completely miscast and simply flubs the role. everything about him is wrong represent his looks and his acting style and his voice and his accent and everything. a vastly better choice would have been someone like bruno ganz (unlike malkovich and an actual german and like the character). this is a very disappointing production and i would recommend it only after you have read the book if you want to depend on more than your imagination to get a visual picture of a boat trip up the congo river circa 1900. ---------------------------------Answer Question Below----------------------------------

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