![]() Of course, film and the act of reading are not mutually exclusive activities. Some writers and readers even refuse this on the grounds that visual representations of stories strip the vision that they have formed of the fictitious quality of written works. For readers, film allows for a comparison of the virtues of the written word with the exigencies of the latter’s visual manifestation. Cinematic, visual magic corresponds to our personal level of imagination. Cinema is not life, but rather a mere representation of its essences. Thus, film must allow for a degree of “sensual magic” that reminds us that we are engaged in fiction. ![]() After all, Seven Thieves is a film, a written story that has been transcribed into moving pictures. ![]() Granted, Theo’s answer to his existential “crisis” may seem extreme, but, given the conventions of the film, one is to accept that the casino heist can actually stand for most any other human project. “How did they do it? Who was it that accomplished such a feat?” This, he hopes, is what people will ask. His strongest motivation stems from a contrarian, or Volterian, regard for laughter. Theo’s hope is that he will be remembered whenever people think about the casino heist, when no explanation is found for the disappearance of the money. Theo and Paul exhibit a vitality that is not easily quenched with sensual rewards. In both men we experience the same respect for detail of everyday life that we also find in Jean-Pierre Melville’s films, for instance. Theo and Paul respect the order of everyday life. Paul and Theo, on the other hand, have loftier goals than the mere attainment of money. Melanie’s greatest wish is to find respectability, while Raymond aims for the exploration of carnal pleasure. Others, like Melanie (Joan Collins) and Raymond (Alexander Scourby), are banking on correcting their moral deficiencies. A few of these characters live in a fog of suspended animation where the only thing that moves them is reaping the monetary reward that the heist promises. None of them alone may paint a picture of most people, but when viewed as composites of human strengths and frailties, they manage to enlighten us with a good representation of the human experience. They are a cornucopia, or slice of life, of the human condition. What seems so important about this notion of the everyday world as the ground of human existence? Why place so much emphasis on the fleeting and stubborn conditions and exigencies of daily experience? Seven Thieves brings together a motley crew of characters who do not seem to depart too drastically from the true-life condition of actual men and women. We gradually come to realize this as we get to know him as the film progresses. But Theo’s plan is not as one-dimensional as the plot – that is, what the surface structure of the film may suggest. We find him troubling himself with what is to be the last and definitive attempt to round out his existence. Theo’s world-weariness is an indication of an incomplete life. Thus, one of the major themes of Seven Thieves has to do with the consequences of neglecting the minute details of everyday experience.Ī film like Seven Thieves allows us to re-discover, or re-event, the order of what Edmund Husserl has referred to as the lived-world of experience. The professor’s hope is that during an event like that, when people divert their energy to mingling, few will notice the unnoticeable. The latest caper that the professor has in mind is none other than breaking into the vault of the casino, or what the professor calls the temple of Midas, on the night of the governor’s ball. The feisty Paul has just spent three years in prison and is reluctant to even consider another “experiment”, as the professor calls his plan. The two men then go to a small café to talk about the “job” that the professor has in mind. When a voice is heard in the background, the professor turns to greet Paul Mason (Rod Steiger), an old friend. Robinson), on the beach, conversing with two small children about the nature of seashell collecting – an innocuous beginning, to be sure. In the opening scene, we find the professor, Theo Wilkins (Edward G. Henry Hathaway’s 1960 film Seven Thieves falls in the heist category.
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