Tezuka In English Discussion Forums

over at my blog recently and thought I'd share it here, seeing as it's Tezuka-related.

I doubt that many of you have seen "The Knack...and How to Get It," but it's a great movie, if a little dated. It was an early film made by the director of "A Hard Day's Night," the first Beatles movie, one that was revolutionary in terms of music videos and band movies. Both films show heavy influence of the British Free Cinema movement....

But before I start sounding like a film nerd (TOO LATE!), the Tezuka-related stuff. A character in the film, Tolen, bears a strong resemblance to Rock. I noticed it the first time I saw it! But I think that is coicedental. Judge for yourself, there's pictures in the post.
A second coincedence - both Yuki in "MW" and Tolen give out similar-looking necklaces to their girlfriends.... there are pictures of that in the post as well.

Opinions?

You know, you might have something here. Tezuka was a big film buff and often put references to other movies in his work. What comes to mind are two stories in Rainbow Parakeet, one where Inco stays at the inn from "Psycho" (Hitchcock) and another where he disguises himself as professor "YoungFrankenstein" from the University of "Mel Brook." Another one that comes to mind is Phoenix: Life, where Kunihiko Aoi has a statue in his office that shoots milk out of it's breasts, an obvious reference to "A Clockwork Orange."

It's a long shot, but it's fun to think the movie and manga have some similarities. That necklace though, that's uncanny.

Rock was already a character before the movie came out, but Vampires was the first work to use him as an adult (I think...?), and thus his more dark persona emerged. It's very well possible that Tezuka used Tolen as inspiration. I think what really reminds me of Rock is a segment from a review I read online: "Tolen (Ray Brooks) has it. Colin (Michael Crawford) doesn't. "It" is the knack for getting women into bed." (Rotten Tomatoes) That's Rock alright.

I love "A Hard Days Night," but I had never heard of this one. Time to go rent it!