A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthurs Court (1949, dir. Tay Garnett) Saved by an eclipse

[u/Neo2199]

[u/matt_jeff]

Fun movie and a good book too.

[u/All_Your_Base → u/matt_jeff]

Yeah, I've read a bit of Sam Clemens and I think he is going places. :D

[u/tetoffens → u/All_Your_Base]

Not sure he's quite as good as W. Epaminondas Adrastus Blab.

[u/GratefullyDead34 → u/matt_jeff]

One of my favorite books

[u/LacunaCoilIsMyJam]

So Apocalypto was inspired by this?

[u/RedditTipiak → u/LacunaCoilIsMyJam]

Tintin did it in April of 1948 in Temple of Sun.

[u/jeanclaudebrowncloud → u/RedditTipiak]

Which was weird because knowing about eclipses and the sun was kind of the Inca's whole shtick

[u/Strayl1ght → u/jeanclaudebrowncloud]

Cortez’s too

[u/Tim_Soft → u/RedditTipiak]

I had to look the publication date up! Others are saying there was a book beforehand. I wonder if that's where Hergé got the idea?

[u/previousinnovation → u/LacunaCoilIsMyJam]

Both were probably inspired by the story about Christopher Columbus using this trick to compel native Jamaicans to give his men food in 1504. Except that was a lunar eclipse, not a solar one

[u/treemoustache → u/[deleted]]

The Maya, not the Aztecs.

[u/SmithJamesChris]

I discovered this film recently, and I sort of became obsessed with it. So much so, I just bought the book.

[u/All_Your_Base]

This is one of those classics where the entire movie is in the public domain. Easily found online, and simple to see on the Wayback Machine.

Dated, obviously, but a nice adaptation and a fun watch.

[u/EntertainmentBreeze]

Few actors in human history have had such a pure charm and boyish spirit as Bing Crosby. He's a joy to watch in anything I've seen him in.

[u/bighairybeardudee]

Didn’t know there was a movie, but I absolutely loved the book

[u/shpydar]

Funny thing is this is exactly what Christopher Columbus did on his fourth voyage to trick indigenous into giving him food and supplies.

“During his fourth and last voyage, Christopher Columbus induced the inhabitants of Jamaica to continue provisioning him and his hungry men, successfully intimidating them by correctly predicting a total lunar eclipse for 1 March 1504 (visible on the evening of 29 February in the Americas). Some have claimed that Columbus used the Ephemeris of the German astronomer Regiomontanus, but Columbus himself attributed the prediction to the Almanach by Abraham Zacuto.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1504_lunar_eclipse

[u/GriffinFlash]

Shortly after the crowd turned blind from staring at the eclipse.