Tintin and...

As mentioned before, Hergé’s « Tintin » inxpired «L'homme de Rio» and the Indiana Jones movie series.

Two live action Tintin feature films were also produced.

« Tintin et le mystère de la toison d’or » (1961) was no Spielberg or even De Broca movie : it was directed by Jean-Jacques « who ? » Vierne ; a shrewd move : there was no mistaking the actual star of the project.

Producer André Barret took two other smart decisions. The film was not based on an existing Tintin comic strip, but on an original script, to which Hergé did not contribute : Tintin hard-liners could not accuse each frame of the movie to betray a genuine Hergé story.

For Tintin’s part, André Barret wanted a new face. A major casting call was launched. The winner was Jean-Pierre Talbot, a sports student with no screen experience : no past roles would interfere in the audience memory with his portrayal of Tintin.

Jean-Pierre Talbot was no great actor, and therefore an excellent Tintin. He had the character’s small, athletic build and its ageless Peter Pan like quality, which appealed so much, according to « Tintin Magazine » somewhat restrictive motto, « aux jeunes de 7 à 77 ans » -to the 7 to 77 year-old youth- : like his character, he seemed undecided as to whether he would remain a teenager or become a young adult.

He was also as featureless as his model : a tuft of blonde hair, a hint of a nose and a good-natured smile, dressed in the timeless uniform designed by Hergé : a light blue -or yellow- pullover, white socks and the touch of genius of brown golf pants.

The real « mystère » -mystery- does not lie in « la toison d’or » -the golden fleece- but in the enduring attraction of such an apparently bland character : even forty five years ago, at first sight, Tintin looked outdated, too good to be true and potentially boring.

In France, before May of 1968, kids did not rule family life, « Tintin » comic books were passed and, if needed, forced on to them by parents who had grown up with the character and saw nothing in him they could disapprove of.

As to kids, they probably recognised, though not in a conscious way, that if the « Adventures of Tintin » were not the more immediately entertaining comic strips, they were by far the better ones.

(Hergé and his readers were also lucky that no moral censor judged at the time that Capitaine Haddock’s taste for hard liquors and crude language made Tintin books inappropriate for 7 to 17-year old youth.)

There exists an intriguing similitude between Hergé’s « Tintin » and Simenon’s « Maigret », as if the two Belgian creators shared the same suspicion for any form of brilliance and virtuosity.

Both seem to have always been confident that their characters were immune to the changing tides of fashion, that their lack of wit and flashiness, their nearly ascetic banality, their refusal of cheap seduction tactics would turn out to be the key factors of their long term success.

Like two outstanding brand managers, Hergé and Simenon have steered their characters successfully through half a century and a few dire straits, as Tintin and Maigret outlived generation after generation of competitors which could not follow pace and quickly disappeared or bowed to their market dominance and settled for a niche.

In the manner of visionary entrepreneurs who pay no attention to the day to day ups and downs of their company shares, Hergé and Simenon have taken their star products -even Tintin, a reporter by trade, whose several adventures happen in a specific historical background, e.g. « Le lotus bleu » during Japan’s occupation of China in the 1930’s- to a level of timelessness where they are unassailable.

« La ligne claire » -the clear line-, which defines Hergé’s drawing technique, also aptly describes his and Simenon’s long term, unflinching business strategy.