Author Topic: Movies & Books Into Movies (Read 552320 times)

Gumtree · « **Reply #80 on:** February 24, 2009, 06:58:42 AM »

How many of you have read a book,
then watched a movie that was based on that same book?

Were you disappointed?
Or elated that they hadn't made any significant changes?
Or even surprised to discover the movie was even better than the book?

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Books Into Movies Now on DVD
Recent Movies Based on Books
Books in a Series by Their Authors
Movies Based on the Book

Join us in an ongoing discussion of this very popular subject right now.
Pull up a chair, take off your shoes, pour yourself a cup of coffee or hot chocolate, and join in!

Your Discussion Leader: pedln

Frybabe Your bookshop owner was absolutely right in regard to Handmaid's Tale. Atwood depicts things which could very easily happen right now - chilling is the word - I couldn't believe how real I found some of the events in parts of this book. Let's know how you respond to it.

Babi · « **Reply #81 on:** February 24, 2009, 08:36:05 AM »

That book title sounds familiar, and I think I've read it, but I don't remember the story line. Didn't Atwood write some other books with similar titles? Some medieval character's 'Tale'?
FRYBABE, can you give me a brief summary of the story line of "The Handmaids Tale", to jog my memory?

pedln · « **Reply #82 on:** February 24, 2009, 10:52:42 AM »

Frybabe and Gum, you're absolutely right -- CHILLING is the word for this book, and some of this is going on -- when you think of the Taliban in some of those isolated areas.

Babi, Frybabe can give you a better summary than I, but basically, women lost their rights overnight -- they could no longer read, their bank accounts were frozen and they could no longer handle money. I don't remember much more other than those who didn't comply were sent to work in toxic waste dumps.

I don't think I could or want to see the movie -- 1990 with Natasha Richardson. It would be very tense.

Frybabe · « **Reply #83 on:** February 24, 2009, 02:26:25 PM »

Pedln, Atwood combined an ultra-fundamentalist religious beliefs with politics and sex. BTW, my bookseller told me that Atwood wrote The Handmaid's Tale just after the fall of the Shah of Iran.

I don't remember the toxic waste dump bit, but they may not have emphasized that in the movie. I wasn't even sure where this was supposed to take place. I also am fuzzy as to why the wives could not have children, although I had the impression it was the result of some nuclear event. Will find out when I read the book. The heroine of the story is Offred, who being fertile is assigned to the Commander (played by Robert Duvall in the movie) and his wife to produce a child. It is assumed that the wife is the one who is infertile when in fact it is the Commander. While doing her "duty" and keeping the Commander entertained, she continues to try to locate her husband and daughter, she discovers the fate of some of the other women with whom she became acquainted after she was captured and while she was in training to be a Handmaid, she discovers the resistance movement and the female underground railroad. I took a quick look at the ending. I do not think the ending of book is the same as the movie.

Whenever I read about or hear about the privileges those in power enjoy while at the same time prohibiting (and prosecuting) the general population from same, I think of George Orwell's famous line in Animal Farm: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

Babi · « **Reply #84 on:** February 25, 2009, 09:04:27 AM »

Brrr! Thank you, Pedln. That is definitely not the book I was thinking of, nor is it a book I want to read. I appreciate the warning.

pedln · « **Reply #85 on:** March 08, 2009, 12:33:37 PM »

Good Morning. Good grief, it's March already. What happened to the first week?

A Bookmarks Magazine ago it said that the film based on Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones was going to be released in March. Has anyone heard anything about it?

Or about Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella? The was supposedly due out in February.

I watched Alan Drury's Advise and Consent the other night. The political shenanigans are what go on all the time, but in other respects, it just seemed kind of dated.

What books have you seen lately?

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #86 on:** March 09, 2009, 07:29:27 AM »

"The Shopoholic" movie is already out in theatres.

joyous · « **Reply #87 on:** March 11, 2009, 02:37:50 PM »

I am new to Netflix, and have a question-------How can you see before ordering if the movie
has Closed Captioning?

? I have a hearing problem and SO much of the movie without CC, even though I have an expensive set of "hearing ears".
Joy

joyous · « **Reply #88 on:** March 11, 2009, 02:42:45 PM »

Edit: "miss so much ' left out

Re: Secret Life of Bees----- I read the book when it came out several years ago and recently saw the DVD (Netflix does have it). IMO the movie does not COMPARE with the book. I thought it was kind of "soapy".
JOY

pedln · « **Reply #89 on:** March 12, 2009, 11:15:23 AM »

Joyous, we're so glad you found us here, and don't you love Netflix. You're asking about captions at the right place. That's my middle name, and for a few others here as well.

If on Netflix, if you go to the site that actually summarizes the film, has reviews, lists the actors, you should also see captions or subtitles listed, if they have them. Occassionaly they forget to include that information, and then I jump their case, which of course doesn't do anything at all. If it's a film I really want to see, I'll look up the title at Amazon and see if they say anything about captions or subtitles.

Some of the newer DVDs now seem to use the symbol SHD (or maybe SDH) rather than CC (subtitles for deaf or hard of hearing.)

I haven't read or viewed Secret LIfe of Bees, though the book is on my shelf.

Babi · « **Reply #90 on:** March 13, 2009, 08:53:48 AM »

Do read it, PEDLN. "The Secret Life of Bees" is that rarity, a book with some unique scenes and people.

lucky · « **Reply #91 on:** March 14, 2009, 08:33:57 PM »

One of my all time favorites is "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn", the original version with Dorothy McGuire, Peggy Ann Garner and James Dunn. The book is also a favorite of mine perhaps because I grew up in Brooklyn. This film version was an excellent version of the book. If you want to see an excellent film with excellent acting I recommend it. I don't know if it available on Net Flix. Every once in a while FMC ( Fox Movie Channel) shows it.

pedln · « **Reply #92 on:** March 15, 2009, 10:52:29 AM »

Lucky, I loved "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," too. It apparently is not yet out in DVD -- Netflix has it listed and it can be "saved" as it is unavailable. I've got it down there in my saved pile.

Where in Brooklyn did you grow up? My daughter has lived there for two years now, Prospect Heights, not far from the Museum and Library. She loves it and is trying to buy a condo there. She rides her bike to work in lower Manhattan every day.

lucky · « **Reply #93 on:** March 15, 2009, 04:19:14 PM »

Hi Pedlin

I grew up in Williamsburgh, Brooklyn. I am familiar with Prospect Heights. The Brooklyn Museum has a good Egyptian collection and the library was one of my favorite places to go. It's been a long time and I have forgotten the name of the library. The area also encompasses Prospect Park which had a beautiful botanical garden. I would often take my mother there. She knew the name of every tree and plant (not in English, but Hungarian) and she especially loved the Japanese garden. In the summers of long ago my father would take me to the band concerts in the park. It was lovely place to spend a Sunday afternoon.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #94 on:** March 15, 2009, 09:33:45 PM »

Wheee a NEW DISCUSSION - in fact an whole new area of discussion - we pushed this through quickly - this was ONLY thought about the past Tuesday or Wednesday but here we are - as soon as I have links or know how to use them I will bring the links to this discussion

The discussion is a two for - yep a twin discussion - the main discussion will be to explore Humor Wit and Satire in Literature but to narrow it down we chose the short story -

Each middle of the month there will be a new short story to read ON-LINE that encapsulates either Humor Wit or Satire or all three - lots of great authors like Mark Twain and Wells and Eudora Welty - the list goes on - and so for 10 days each month we will explore one of these short stories while learning how writers make us laugh or get a message across without beating us over the head by using satire or their wits using language.

I am really excited and hope you will look in - WE START TOMORROW - can you believe TOMORROW - and the sun comes up tomorrow as the song goes - we strike while the iron is hot around here - and the story is - tra la la laaa - a P.G.Wodehouse story - do I see a smile already? - one of his early Bertie Wooster and Jeeves tales called Jeeves in the Springtime -

As y'all know there was a TV series and an English move of the Bertie Wooster and Jeeves escapades - so why not look in and read where the original came from - hope to see you tomorrow.

pedln · « **Reply #95 on:** March 15, 2009, 10:07:00 PM »

Barbara, thank you for telling us about your new series about Wit and Humor and Satire in short stories, and for reminding us about the TV tie-in with the Jeeves and Wooster series. I'm sure there will be many looking in on Jeeves in Springtime. It sounds terrific.

Frybabe · « **Reply #96 on:** March 15, 2009, 11:04:19 PM »

Sounds super Barbara, I will be there.

Babi · « **Reply #97 on:** March 16, 2009, 09:23:12 AM »

PEDLN, how does one ride a bike to work in winter, in New York? Your daughter must have been an Eskimo in a previous life. Brrr!

I'll have to remember to check the index for 'Jeeves...' before I leave. I enjoy Wodehouse, and found the TV series so much fun. Can you believe that Bertie Wooster is now Dr. House?!!

lucky · « **Reply #98 on:** March 17, 2009, 07:58:26 PM »

Sometimes movies are better than the book. "Imitation Of Life", by Fannie Hurst is a case in point. The book is a real hodgepodge, but the movie ( the one with Claudette Colbert, not the one with Lana Turner) was worth seeing. Because of the movie I wanted to read the book and then was sorry that I did. It tackles many thorny issues of the early part of the l9th century particularly "passing", hence the name "Imitation Of Life". Blacks, of light skin color were often able to pass for white and the book does a good job of dealing with this which was a serious issue in the black community. Do any of you find that the movies that were made in the l930's and 1940's were so much better than those produced today. I think they had much better writers in those days. Today so much of movies is action, blood and gore and sex, sex, sex. There doesn't seem to be the kind of good, solid writing that produced "The Life Of Emile Zola," "The Life Of Louis Pasteur", and "Madame Curie", "Random Harvest," and "Mrs. Minever."

Gumtree · « **Reply #99 on:** March 17, 2009, 10:41:30 PM »

Lucky: Yes, today it's hard to find movies written with a good strong storyline and which leave something to the imagination

though occasionally there is one. Can you tell me anything about the film Life of Zola which you mentioned. The others are familiar to me but not the Zola one. I'm a big fan of his and have a fair collection of his work and books about him as well...

lucky · « **Reply #100 on:** March 18, 2009, 09:06:15 PM »

Hi Gumtree

The film "The Life Of Emile Zola", starred Paul Muni and was produced sometime in the l930's. The focal point of the drama is the Dreyfus case. Zola was the only man in France who had the courage to accuse the French military of covering up a gross miscarriage of justice. The piece that he wrote, "J'Accuse", is probably the best known essay of the l9th century. In it he accused the French military of a gross miscarriage of justice. Because he wrote the truth he was accused of defamation and was forced to flee France England. Telling the truth is often a dangerous choice.

Gumtree · « **Reply #101 on:** March 18, 2009, 09:33:25 PM »

Lucky Thanks for that information - the mention of Paul Muni brought the whole film back into mind though I couldn't for the life of me remember it before

Zola certainly had the courage to stand up and be counted. His untimely death under mysterious circumstances is always intriguing and there are lots of versions of that part of his story. His novels are really great - Cousin Bette, Money, The Drunkard, Doctor Pascal, etc but best of all Germinal.

Frybabe · « **Reply #102 on:** March 18, 2009, 10:39:30 PM »

I have never read Zola. I take it I am missing something.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #103 on:** March 19, 2009, 03:10:41 AM »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds6hHdP3hFw
The movie trailer for Emile Zola

Gumtree · « **Reply #104 on:** March 19, 2009, 11:21:50 AM »

Barbara - you really are indefatigable in chasing up links - thanks for the Paul Muni one.

Muni was a man of a thousand faces and always looked different in each role he played. I remember many of his films...he and Edward G Robinson were related in some way - Muni came from the Ukraine and his real name was Meier Weisenfreund and was called Mooney (this amazing piece of trivia was contributed by my DH who holds such items in his mind

)

Frybabe I think that perhaps Zola is an acquired taste - he wrote heaps so it is easy to read one of his lesser works and dismiss him but taken overall his oeuvre is quite something. So is his life's story with his involvement with the Dreyfus case and suspicious death.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #105 on:** March 19, 2009, 12:57:38 PM »

Gumtree just a curiosity that won't quit - I remember as a small pre-schooler anytime I went anyplace with my father I could ask him the name of a building or a tree or whatever and he told me - I was annoyed and so dismissive of my mother because when I asked her she didn't know - hehehe it may have been her way of getting me to walk along quietly since I was always filled with a million questions - but then when I saw my father next [his work often brought him home after I was asleep at night] I would describe what building or whatever it was that Mom could not answer so that he could tell me. To this day in my mind there is no such thing as a blank space - mention something new or something that is new to someone in conversation and my knee jerk compulsion rears its head to find and offer the information - All to quibble with the word indefatigable - compulsion is the adjective

lucky · « **Reply #106 on:** March 19, 2009, 04:32:22 PM »

Hi Gumtree

I too read all of Zola. Have you ever seen the French film "Gervaise", with Maria Schell? It is a great film and a good adaptation of the book.

Gumtree · « **Reply #107 on:** March 20, 2009, 01:10:42 AM »

Good Afternoon !

Lucky I don't recall seeing Gervaise either the version you mention or indeed any other - I should check out what's available on DVD. It took me a moment or two to remember which book was involved but then it came back to me - L'Assommoir often published in English as The Dram Shop or The Gin Palace even The Drunkard - such a tragic heroine - in parts so depressing and yet Zola manages to capture the reader's sympathy and compassion. The whole Rougon- Macquart series is fascinating especially taken overall but the individual stories hold up on their own - genius!

Gumtree · « **Reply #108 on:** March 20, 2009, 10:49:51 AM »

Barbara
Whether it's indefatigable or compulsory I'm grateful for the results and appreciate your effort . After all,... what's in a name...that which we call the rose.....

CallieOK · « **Reply #109 on:** March 29, 2009, 06:50:33 PM »

This doesn't really qualify as a "movie" - but HBO begins a 7-part series tonight based on Alexander McCall Smith's "Ladies #1 Detective Agency" books. I have read and enjoyed them all and am looking forward to seeing the scenes filmed in Botswana.

PatH · « **Reply #110 on:** March 29, 2009, 07:18:54 PM »

Quote from: CallieinOK on March 29, 2009, 06:50:33 PM

This doesn't really qualify as a "movie" - but HBO begins a 7-part series tonight based on Alexander McCall Smith's "Ladies #1 Detective Agency" books. I have read and enjoyed them all and am looking forward to seeing the scenes filmed in Botswana.

Certainly it's a movie. It starts here at 8 pm, and almost makes me wish I had cable. It got very good reviews in today's paper.

marjifay · « **Reply #111 on:** March 29, 2009, 10:33:03 PM »

I just watched a very good movie -- THE SWIMMER (1968) with Burt Lancaster, Janice Rule, Kim Hunter, and others. It's from a story by John Cheever. I've had his book of short stories on my TBR list. The book received a 1979 Pulitzer award. Really great acting in the movie.
Now I'll read Cheever's story.

I also want to see the 1990 film, THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS from the short early novel by Ian McEwan. The film stars Christopher Walken and Helen Mirren. I just finished the novel and was fascinated by it, altho' it is rather strange.

Babi · « **Reply #112 on:** March 30, 2009, 09:10:20 AM »

Burt Lancaster was a very good actor; Janice Rule and Kim Hunter were good, too. I don't remember a movie called "The Swimmer". Did you notice whether Closed Captioning was available, MARJ?
Helen Mirren and Christopher Walker are good, too. Let me know what you think of "The Comfort of Strangers" when/if you see it.

marjifay · « **Reply #113 on:** March 30, 2009, 02:00:38 PM »

Babi, I looked THE SWIMMER up on Internet Movie Database, and it says nothing about closed captioning. Perhaps in 1968 when it was made they did not have that.

I had never heard of the movie either, until I read a column by Dick Cavett in the NY Times where he gave a link to one of his TV programs where he had interviewed John Cheever and John Updike together. That's when I looked into Cheever's writings and found a film had been made of his short story. (I really liked the old Dick Cavett programs -- much more interesting than most of the current late night shows -- he interviewed interesting people, not just blonde bimbo movie starlets--people like Jack and Robert Kennedy, Richard Nixon, authors, etc.)

marjifay · « **Reply #114 on:** March 30, 2009, 02:09:49 PM »

Whoops -- It was Jack Parr's late night show that had the Kennedy brothers, and Nixon (who played the piano). Wonderful show also -- loved it. Best of the bunch along with Cavett, IMO!

Frybabe · « **Reply #115 on:** March 30, 2009, 11:19:37 PM »

Ah, Jack Parr - the best of the best (or at least a tie with Johnny Carson). My Dad would let me stay up to watch it. Remember Malcolm Muggeridge? He was one of my favorite guests.

I also remember he let me stay up late to watch old movies. I particularly remember All's Quiet on the Western Front. It was one of Dad's favorites. If I am not mistaken Ernie Kovaks hosted the movie program.

Dick Cavet's show was way too short lived.

marjifay · « **Reply #116 on:** March 31, 2009, 07:22:14 AM »

Darn, Frybabe, I'm afraid I don't remember Malcolm Muggeridge on the Paar show. I thought I remembered all of them. I do remember Dody Goodman, Genevieve (she died not long ago), Oscar Levant, Cliff Arquette (Charlie Weaver), Peter Ustinov, etc. Wonderful, all.

I also really liked the Steve Allen show. So sad that the studio destroyed all the tapes of his programs. I remember he made famous Don Knotts, Tom Poston, Louie Nye (as Gordon Hathaway..."Hi, ho, Steverino"), Bill Dana (My name... Jose Jimenez), Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme and so many others.

Those were the shows where real conversation, and good comedy, were king.

Babi · « **Reply #117 on:** March 31, 2009, 08:31:00 AM »

None of those old movies had closed captioning, MARJ, but many of them have closed captioning added now when they are put on DVD. Not all of them, unfortunately, but I am glad for those that do. There are so many great old movies I wouldn't mind seeing again.

Frybabe · « **Reply #118 on:** March 31, 2009, 09:28:52 AM »

Marjfay, I had to go aGoogling just in case I was remembering wrong. There are more postings on Google for Malcolm Muggeridge than I expected. I couldn't find more than two listings for him being on Jack Paar, one in Sept., 1963 and one in Oct. 1973. He also was interviewed by a very young Mike Wallace and was on William F. Buckley's Firing Line several times. He certainly was a character, a former socialist who discovered Christainity, has a bunch of movie and TV credits, was an editior for Punch magazine for a while, wrote a few books.

Here is a youtube clip from Firing Line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__nHqyLfeFE&feature=related

pedln · « **Reply #119 on:** April 02, 2009, 10:54:25 PM »

Babi, The Swimmer is listed in Netflix as having both captions and subtitles. But it's also listed as a "save" as opposed to an "add." Apparently it is not yet out in DVD format. You are correct when you say that many of the older films have had captions added. Thank goodness, huh?

I really like Helen Mirren, but I'm not sure Comfort of Strangers is high on my list of priorities. Sounds really dark.

How did you like the first of the Alexander McCall Smith videos? My book group met today and of the women was complaining about how much she liked the books and disliked the movie she just saw. She seemed to feel they talked around in circles.

News:

Author Topic: Movies & Books Into Movies (Read 552320 times)