Bad movie versions of good PLAYS (not musicals)

[Jon]

Posted: 3/16/10 at 9:28pm

... since bad musical adaptations have already been discussed to death.

For example, "Boeing Boeing" and Gore Vidal's "Visit to a Small Planet" were both turned into lousy star vehicles for Jerry Lewis. Likewise, "Room Service" was turned into a third rate Marx Brothers movie.

Then there's the recent re-make of "Sleuth"...

Of course, some older plays fell victim to the Hays censorship code. The classic melodrama "The Shanghai Gesture", about a whorehouse madame named "Mother God-Damn", became the story of a "Madame Gin Sling" who ran a bar.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 3/16/10 at 9:37pm

M. Butterfly.

AUGH!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 3/16/10 at 9:41pm

I found Proof to be as interesting as watching paint dry on screen, but I liked the stage version.

[madlibrarian]

Posted: 3/16/10 at 9:57pm

That sad "opening up" and dilution of Extremities, complete with bad music and bad photography.

[After Eight]

Posted: 3/16/10 at 10:19pm

An under-appreciated Tennessee Williams play, "The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore," became a travesty of a movie entitled, "Boom," starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, both miscast. Noel Coward played a role previously played by a woman, and he livened things up a bit.

Neil Simon's "The Star-Spangled Girl" was funny on the stage, but it was a botch on film.

[D2]

Posted: 3/16/10 at 10:28pm

"Noises Off."

[The Other One]

Posted: 3/16/10 at 11:57pm

I didn't mind "Noises Off". It is definitely meant for the stage, but the movie was okay.

"Fool For Love" was dynamic on stage but is a dud on film. "Reckless" is a terrible movie, though I loved the original off-broadway production. "The Substance of Fire" lost a lot in translation, too. "Oh Dad, Poor Dad" was supposed to have been great on stage but the movie is abominably bad. Ditto "Luv".

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 3/16/10 at 11:59pm

I haven't seen Proof in the theatre, but the movie was sooooooooooo boring.

I also missed Doubt, but I "doubt" it was as good as the stage version.

Closer, on the other hand, wasn't as good as the stage version, but I thought they did a great job with the movie version.

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 3/17/10 at 12:10am

The film version of Doubt was not really a BAD movie, but it sort of lost its vital intensity by opening it up to more than just the four main cast members and showing scenes in multiple locations. It just deflated on screen. If I didn't read the play first, I would've thought it was a better movie, but it just was not as good as the dynamite stage version. I think the reviews reflected this.

[The Other One]

Posted: 3/17/10 at 12:14am

"Doubt" wasn't nearly as good on film as it had been on stage. I still wouldn't call it a bad movie.

"The Madwoman of Chaillot" is a pretty bad movie, even with a cast that seems perfect on paper.

[TalkinLoud]

Posted: 3/17/10 at 12:32am

The Doubt film SUUUUUCKED. As a movie at least; can't compare as an adaptation.

And @LizzieCurry, I actually find Cronenberg's M. Butterfly wildly underrated.

[Robert Taylor]

Posted: 3/17/10 at 1:19am

The reason "Doubt" failed as a film version, for me, was that onstage we don't have the opportunity to ever encounter the boy all of the drama is going on about.

In the film we meet him, see him teased and see him interact with the Father in several scenes. To me, watching that boy's story and seeing his world during these events would have been far more interesting and insightful than the faculty's "did he or didn't he" power plays and mind games. Of course this would have been a completely different movie, but I have a feeling it would have been better than what we saw.

This wasn't really Shanley's fault, it would have been unavoidable whoever translated the play to screen, but it was still a major problem for me.

And let's not forget the "Oleanna" film, shall we?
Updated On: 3/17/10 at 01:19 AM

[ObiHave]

Posted: 3/17/10 at 7:13am

Death and the Maiden. Great cast but none of the intensity of the play. Some things are just better on stage.

[TalkinLoud]

Posted: 3/17/10 at 10:33am

@Robert Taylor, Shanley not only adapted his play for the screen, but he directed the film as well. So yes, it is absolutely all his fault.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 3/17/10 at 11:07am

Going back a bit:

Mourning Becomes Electra
Desire Under the Elms
The Hairy Ape
The Emperor Jones

No wonder, when asked by one of the movie studios if he'd like to write a screenplay and requested that the answer be 50 words or less, he answered: NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 3/17/10 at 12:27pm

Some plays just play like a dead mouse on screen.

VIRGINIA WOOLF dazzled but A DELICATE BALANCE I couldn't even finish.

COME BACK TO THE FIVE AND DIME JIMMY DEAN JIMMY DEAN is a ham-fisted, silly play that played like gangbusters as a movie. Viva Altman!

And yet, Altman welched badly with both FOOL FOR LOVE and BEYOND THERAPY.

Pinter is frequently dull on screen.

[nmartin]

Posted: 3/17/10 at 12:30pm

I agree with anyone who thinks Doubt stinks. I hated it.

[After Eight]

Posted: 3/17/10 at 12:39pm

Also going back a bit, Maeterlinck's "The Blue Bird" was turned into two bad movies, one with Shirley Temple, the other with Elizabeth Taylor.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 3/17/10 at 12:42pm

Almost all of Tennessee Williams plays were ruined in the 50s and 60s.
The original film version of Glass Menagerie and Sweet Bird of Youth tacked on "Happy" endings and thereby ruined the films.
The censors alsom ruined Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

[Biff AKA Levi]

Posted: 3/17/10 at 12:48pm

Add A Streetcar Named Desire and Suddenly, Last Summer to the list.

[The Other One]

Posted: 3/17/10 at 1:10pm

I beg to disagree. Streetcar and Cat, in spite of their edits, are wonderful films. You'd be hard pressed to find better productions of either on stage anywhere. Cat is a much movie than play, in fact. It makes a lot more sense. Sweet Bird does suffer from its completely inappropriate ending, but until that point it is actually quite good and is too well acted to dismiss. Suddenly Last Summer, though not nearly as good a play, was well cast and filmed as well. Ditto Night of the Iguana, The Rose Tattoo and Period of Adjustment. The Fugitive Kind is not great, but neither is the play it is based on.

Hollywood has actually been consistently kind to Williams. The faithful but static Summer and Smoke and the unfortunate rewrite of The Glass Menagerie, along with the aforementioned bomb aptly titled Boom!, are the exceptions, not the rule.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/17/10 at 2:39pm

One of the worse is Other People's Money. They took a very interesting play, made it into a star vehicle for Danny Devito and made the ending more upbeat. Horrible movie of a good play.

Frankie & Johnny is another that didn't transfer. Frankie is a homely, lonely waitress and who do they cast? Michelle Pfeiffer who could have dates with half of Manhattan. Granted it is a hard play to film because the loneliness of the characters does not translate as well on screen as it does in a theater. But the film is not as brilliant as the play.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 3/17/10 at 2:57pm

I loved Streetcar (I only saw the reworked that added scenes censored in the original release), Cat, and Suddenly. Good acting always wins and I think it was easy to know what was going on despite the some of the censorship. I thought it was clear Sebastian was using Catherine to lure lovers. I cannot defend Glass Menagerie with Kirk Douglas and Jane Wyman though I did like the Paul Newman directed film with Woodward, Malkovich, and Karen Allen.

Add me to the list who did not like Doubt. I thought PSH was all wrong for the role of Father Flynn, Meryl was chewing the scenery as Sister Aloysius, and the scene settings seemed so out of place compared to the play. Case in point Viola Davis and Meryl meeting, a truly gripping scene, and it is set outdoors. What?

Did not really think too highly of The Crucible with Daniel Day-Lewis. Really odd camera work, incredibly anti-climatic considering what was at stake, and some of the events that was never shown on stage that is shown in the film just did not strike a real chord.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/17/10 at 3:03pm

The Ritz

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/17/10 at 3:22pm

An edited or censored film version doesn't (or didn't) necessarily result in a "bad" film.

I love the film adaptations of Streetcar and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. In some cases, what is left to the mind or insinuated is more powerful than the literal. I can think of one case in particular ... the original movie adaptation of Lillian Hellmann's "The Children's Hour," called "These Three," with Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon, and Bonita Granville. Not only is the affair insinuated, the scandal wasn't a lesbian relationship (solely), but a ménage à trois with the two ladies and Joel McRae. Instead of being "watered down," it's a FAR more powerful film than the later adaptation, called "The Children's Hour," with Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine. They had the lesbian scandal and everything. But the movie wasn't nearly as effective (or good).

I saw the stage and screen adaptation of "Doubt," and while the movie wasn't quite as good as the play, it still worked well. I certainly wouldn't call it "bad."

One play I saw on Broadway that really disappointed me as a film was "Agnes of God." It didn't come close to the intensity or power on stage. Such a shame. Yeah, comparatively, the film was BAD.

I didn't think Crimes of the Heart, 'Night Mother, or Torch Song Trilogy were good films. With Torch Song, they took a 3 1/2 hour play and cut 90 minutes of it! An hour and a half. We were left with a watered-down, sanitized, Hallmark Hall of Fame version of one of the best Broadway plays I've ever seen.

One film that (IMO) improved on the stage play was Amadeus. On Golden Pond was an improvement as well.

Updated On: 3/17/10 at 03:22 PM