BS: Book to Film/Film to Book?

Subject: BS: Book to Film/Film to Book?
From: eddie1
Date: 09 Apr 12 - 07:58 AM

I guess there have been lots of times for most folks, certainly for me, when I have enjoyed reading a book and subsequently seen a dramatisation – at the cinema or on television and been so disappointed. The TERRIBLE cartoon version of "Lord of The Rings" being a prime example!

Never has it been the other way round until now. I thoroughly enjoy "Murdoch Mysteries" on television – based on books by Maureen Jennings. TV's Murdoch is a detective in Toronto in the late 1800s. He is sophisticated, well-read and uses forensic techniques which were then in their infancy. The episodes often feature real people, Conan-Doyle, HG Wells, Henry Ford and Nikola Tesla. There is also an on/off relationship between Murdoch and Dr Julia Ogden, the Medical Examiner.

I was so pleased when the books became available and I immediately purchased two. What a disappointment! The only things the books seem to have in common with the TV are names and the fact that Murdoch is a detective. Characters who feature in the TV series are hardly mentioned in the books and Murdoch himself is a totally different person. I found the first book such a disappointment that I haven't even started on the second.

Have I missed something?

Eddie

Subject: RE: BS: Book to Film/Film to Book?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 Apr 12 - 08:07 AM

Only one film matched the book IMHO, and that was the film of To Kill a Mockingbird.
Not that I've seen them all, however I do agree on your assessment of LOTR, a book I would have said was impossible to film.
Gormenghast on TV was notable for some of the acting, especially Zoe Wanamaker, but still didn't, and couldn't, come near the books.

Subject: RE: BS: Book to Film/Film to Book?
From: Bainbo
Date: 09 Apr 12 - 08:57 AM

I think it depends whether you discover the book first, or the film. Whichever you experience first is going to be the definitive version for you, so the chances are that you're going to be disappointed when the other one's different.

Having said that, I'm sure I read that John Buchan, author of The 39 Steps, acknowledged that Hitchcock's film was better than his (Buchan's) novel. Buchan had had his hero, Hannay, on the run and wanted for a crime he didn't commit. It was Hitchcock who made the crucial improvement of having him innocent and on the run ... while handcuffed to a woman (if I've remembered correctly). Also, the memory man, who plays such a key role in the film, had made nothing more than a throwaway appearance in the book. Hitchcock used to do this all the time - take one or two key plot devcies, then ditch the rest of the story in favour of his own.

Subject: RE: BS: Book to Film/Film to Book?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 09 Apr 12 - 08:57 AM

Nothing, John, could come close to the images in one's mind while reading the Gormenghast books.

One film, "Reflections In a Golden Eye" with Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando and Brian Keith, actually was even better than Carson McCullers' book. The film followed the book religiously, but added one scene (the riding crop scene) which focused all the rest and was an emotional high point.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Book to Film/Film to Book?
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 09 Apr 12 - 02:05 PM

If you keep in mind how mindlessly simple the plot was, the only thing to keep my interest was the descriptions of the settings and the critters. Tolkein did that with words, Jackson on screen. I'd call that a draw.

A director who is a true storyteller can sometimes meet or exceed the promise of a book. But that is rare.

I am one of the few people I know who liked Forrest Gump the book better than the movie. Certainly there are huge differences in the nature of the main characters.

Subject: RE: BS: Book to Film/Film to Book?
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 09 Apr 12 - 02:27 PM

There is the most fatuous and ghastly film of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. It stars Billie Piper. She represents the timid and shrinking Fanny Price as a bold, hoydenish and rebellious lassie. It makes me grind my teeth! However, I first saw Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as a film and loved it so much I bought the book, which I also enjoyed tremendously. Another series of books I love is The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. The film (a TV series actually) introduces a gay hairdresser, who doesn't appear in the books. Why?

Subject: RE: BS: Book to Film/Film to Book?
From: katlaughing
Date: 09 Apr 12 - 04:18 PM

I thought I remembered him being in the books, Eliza, though it's been awhile since I read them. Still love the books and what we have seen of the series.

We also enjoyed the Murdoch tv series, haven't tried the books.

I think BBC did a good job with Brother Cadfael and esp. Inspector Lynley. There are a couple of other British ones which I cannot remember at the moment. Old movies: the Oxbow Incident was close to the book and well done, imo.

Subject: RE: BS: Book to Film/Film to Book?
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 09 Apr 12 - 08:50 PM

Most often I like the book better than the movie irrespective of that which I encountered first. But they are different media with different visions, often.

One film I enjoyed more than the book is NIGHT of the HUNTER. Charles Laughton and Bob Mitchum teamed up to make a really scary (I was twelve or so, I think), atmospheric film. As I recall, the movie followed the book quite well.

A film I felt was not faithful at all to the original story was Kazan's EAST of EDEN. Firstly, that movie was only the last third of the book, and characters of Cal and his father bore little resemblance to those written by Steinbeck. The father as imagined by the writer and director was a repressed, bible thumping fanatic, a somewhat starker image from the book.

I cannot speak to book/film translations of material from the past 20 or so years, as I seldom see newer movies, and have cut back my reading of fiction.

Subject: RE: BS: Book to Film/Film to Book?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 09 Apr 12 - 08:59 PM

One of the most haunting films I have ever seen was Terayama's "Farewell to the Ark", based on Garcia Marquez's "100 Years of Solitude". The book is much funnier, but the film left me seeing Terayama's imaginary village overlaid on the real world for days.

Subject: RE: BS: Book to Film/Film to Book?
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 09 Apr 12 - 09:18 PM

Worst screen translation I've ever seen: "Bonfire of the Vanities" (1990). Pretty bad: "Catch-22" (1970).

Best I've ever seen: "Billy Budd" (1962); "Hamlet" (1996); "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1999).

Pretty darned good considering time constraints: "Moby Dick" (1956); "War and Peace" (1956).

Actually an improvement on Joseph Conrad's story: "The Duellists" (1977).

Honorable cartoon mention: "Alice in Wonderland" (1951).

Subject: RE: BS: Book to Film/Film to Book?
From: Neil D
Date: 09 Apr 12 - 11:22 PM

I agree about "To Kill a Mockingbird". Horton Foote's Oscar winning screenplay of Harper Lee's Pulitzer winning novel may be the best adaption ever.

Subject: RE: BS: Book to Film/Film to Book?
From: GUEST,Bizibod
Date: 10 Apr 12 - 05:21 AM

Loved the television adaptation of "Brideshead Revisited" with Jeremy Irons and John Gielgud.Re-reading the book is like watching the film, they are one and the same.Perfection.
Can't bring myself to even try the newest film version - why risk it ?!

Subject: RE: BS: Book to Film/Film to Book?
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 10 Apr 12 - 06:39 AM

kat, yes, I too really enjoyed the Brother Cadfael series with Derek Jacobi, I've got the DVDs, and I read the books over and over. What a pity Ellis Peters died, I would have liked more of Brother Cadfael!

Subject: RE: BS: Book to Film/Film to Book?
From: eddie1
Date: 10 Apr 12 - 07:53 AM

Jack The Sailor
I too thought Jackson did an excellent job with LOTR (although he missed out on Tom Bombadil - one of my favourite characters in the book).
What I was referring to was the terrible animated version that was so bad that, although it only went about half-way through the trilogy, it was never completed!

Would be interested in anyone's opinions of the Murdoch books/TV series.

Eddie

Subject: RE: BS: Book to Film/Film to Book?
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 10 Apr 12 - 08:38 AM

Come to think of it, Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001) is one of the best movies ever made.

Subject: RE: BS: Book to Film/Film to Book?
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Apr 12 - 11:05 AM

Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" was adapted well as a movie, imo. The original, not later remakes with slightly different titles. That short story of hers haunted me for years, as well as her story The Lottery.

eddie, we liked the Murdoch tv series, but we not drawn into it enough to watch all of them, so far. Did really enjoy the one with Tesla, though!