I said that I could think of few novels that had been turned into successful films.
The Wise Woman said that a person who had, as a boy, promised his parents he’d be good if they didn’t make him go to the movies really shouldn’t venture into film criticism. She mentioned several films, including “The Maltese Falcon.”
Stung, I replied that I was thinking about the kinds of novels she’d taught in literature classes.
She queued up “Far from the Madding Crowd,” the 2015 version. I had to admit I enjoyed it.
Thomas Hardy’s novel was published, in monthly installments, in The Cornhill Magazine in 1874. I wondered whether novels written and published as serials were easier to adapt to film. I said that at least the screenwriter had parts to work with — installments, if not scenes.
The Wise Woman is not sure which is worse: to have a husband who is not interested in film or to have one who is newly interested in film.
The BBC adaptation of Bleak House (published in installments) is terrific. The 1935 Crime and Punishment, with Edward Arnold. Peter Lorre, and Marian Marsh, is really well done. I will admit that I prefer it to the novel. (I will also admit that I'm not a Dostoevsky fan.)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Michael. I'll try "Bleak House" first.
ReplyDelete