Polanski’s past

In Bob Baker’s story on Roman Polanski and the Oscar conundrum (“The Past Plays On,” Feb. 2), he makes reference to other artists’ “brushes with the law,” citing as an example the late 19th century French poet Arthur Rimbaud’s “stabbing his lover.” I think Baker is a bit confused (perhaps by the dreadful “Total Eclipse”?). While Rimbaud reportedly did gash his lover Paul Verlaine’s hands with a knife, he was certainly not charged with any crime. Rather, what Baker was probably alluding to is the 1873 incident in which Verlaine shot Rimbaud. Verlaine, not Rimbaud, was convicted and served a prison term for assaulting his lover. Rimbaud may have been one of the great modern outlaw poets, but perhaps not in the literal sense of “outlaw” that the story implied.

Karin Coddon

San Diego

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It is such a shame that Roman Polanski, who has such obvious talent and has been the victim of two enormous tragedies, should confound that talent and compound those tragedies by another of his own making. I, for one, will not condone or support a fugitive child molester by spending even one penny or giving one minute of my time to watch one of his movies. I hope the Oscar voters will not condone his actions by offering even a nomination for “The Pianist,” much less an award. I hope they remember that when a 43-year-old man gives a 13-year-old girl alcohol and a drug and then has sex with her, that is a real definition of “creep.”

Sean Dolan

Long Beach

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Some years ago, I was a stockholder of a small amount of MGM stock. At a stockholders meeting, I spoke out against MGM management for distributing Polanski’s film “Pirates.” I said that the company should not do business with a wanted felon. MGM management replied that “MGM is just distributing the picture.”

I said it was a lame excuse and that they were in bed with a wanted criminal. There is a God: The picture was a bomb.

I am a German Jewish refugee and I know that “The Pianist” would be a meaningful film for me to see. I refuse to go to see any Polanski film. I will not pay my money to a criminal! Polanski is a great director, but is also a rotten human being and a fugitive.

Polanski should not be considered for an Oscar under present circumstances.

The only way he should be allowed back into the U.S. is in handcuffs!

Ernest Salomon

Santa Barbara