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Which classic books should never be adapted for film/TV again?

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#1

Which classic books should never be adapted for film/TV again?

Posted: 2/17/10 at 1:18pm


The Onion AV Club has some ideas...
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” ~ Muhammad Ali
#2

Which classic books should never be adapted for film/TV again?

Posted: 2/17/10 at 1:24pm

Love it. I'll add Ulysses to that list for good measure. As much as I love movies, some things need to stay on the pages where they belong.
The morning star always gets wonderful bright the minute before it has to go --doesn't it?
#3

Which classic books should never be adapted for film/TV again?

Posted: 2/17/10 at 1:39pm

I have to disagree with The Great Gatsby, only because there hasn't been a really great version yet. Although the shirt throwing scene is epic.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain. -Kad
#4

Which classic books should never be adapted for film/TV again?

Posted: 2/17/10 at 1:52pm

I disagree with War of The Worlds. There has yet to be either a good version aside from the radio broadcast and the movies never followed the story. Also disagree with The Curious Case of Dr. Jekkyl and Mr. Hyde. None of those movies were essential viewing and the transformation with today's technology could be amazing and do the book justice (though I thought that would be the same case with Wolfman).

One book I would love to see adapted into a film that is Orwellian or just Orwell is Homage to Catalonia, based on Orwell embedded with the rebels in the Spanish Civil War.

Even though there has never been a good version Brave New World seems too little, too late in many respects.

The guy's nuts if he thinks the 1993 version of Lord of The Flies was good. The 1963 version however was definitely faithful and good considering none of the kids were professionals.
#5

Which classic books should never be adapted for film/TV again?

Posted: 2/17/10 at 2:09pm

The Fredric March DR. JEKYLL is pretty amazing, but it doesn't really have much to to with the story, which is pretty well unfilmable as is.

I disagree with their assessment of Dumas' THE THREE MUSKETEERS as being so terrible. A great fast fun read. And they don't even mention the Richard Lester film version, by far the best one.

And how could they have missed the interminable parade of Jane Austen adaptations? Dump Aunt Jane already.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
#6

Which classic books should never be adapted for film/TV again?

Posted: 2/17/10 at 2:11pm

As long as Masterpiece Theatre is still around, Roscoe.

I have only seen little bits of the March version. I really am a fan of the book though the structure of the book makes it a real trick for any screenwriter trying to adapt the story.
#7

Which classic books should never be adapted for film/TV again?

Posted: 2/17/10 at 2:15pm

I agree with this:

"Definitive version: Both the big versions have their merits, and we know we’re supposed to say the 1953 one is best, but Spielberg’s version is criminally underrated, one of the best popcorn films to synthesize American fear about terrorism into something approaching fun. Pal’s version treats Wells’ darkly ironic final twist with a head-slapping tone of religiosity, but Spielberg’s offers the sense that a happy ending is just one stop on the way toward imminent apocalypse."
#8

Which classic books should never be adapted for film/TV again?

Posted: 2/17/10 at 2:15pm

I agree with this:

"Definitive version: Both the big versions have their merits, and we know we’re supposed to say the 1953 one is best, but Spielberg’s version is criminally underrated, one of the best popcorn films to synthesize American fear about terrorism into something approaching fun. Pal’s version treats Wells’ darkly ironic final twist with a head-slapping tone of religiosity, but Spielberg’s offers the sense that a happy ending is just one stop on the way toward imminent apocalypse."
#11

Which classic books should never be adapted for film/TV again?

Posted: 2/17/10 at 6:39pm

How can they not mention Care Bears in Wonderland? That is the DEFINITIVE version complete with a Jabberwocky named "Stan" (it's easier to say).

"All our dreams can come true -- if we have the courage to pursue them." -- Walt Disney We must have different Gods. My God said "do to others what you would have them do to you". Your God seems to have said "My Way or the Highway".

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