Valley of the Dragons (1961 film) to try and get on the earth the next time the comet approaches. The film was produced by Al Zimbalist who says he was given a copy of the Verne novel that his 16 year old son Don had found in a London bookshop. Director Edward Bernds says the novel had not been published in the US due to its anti semitism. Jules Verne adaptations were in vogue at the time ever since the success of "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" and "Around the World in 80 Days". Zimbalist had the rights to footage for "One Million B.C." (1940).
The Twenty-Seventh City welcomed the book: "Jonathan Franzen has written a novel of our times; so imaginatively and expansively of our times, that it seems ahead of them." In "The New York Times", "American Heritage" contributing editor Peter Andrews wrote, "Make no mistake about it, "The Twenty-Seventh City" is an impressive debut by a gifted young writer... It's a riveting piece of fiction that lingers in the mind." Reviewing the author's second novel "Strong Motion", critic Laura Shapiro at "Newsweek" discussed "The Twenty-Seventh City"'s "brilliance" and Franzen's "prodigious gifts"; she described the novel as "a huge and masterly drama of St. Louis under