Movies made from Books?

Read any good books lately?
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traceyk
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Post by traceyk »

[quote="jondaris"]This is embarrassing to admit, but I read nearly all the Nancy Drew books that were available in the 30s and 40s. My mom had them all from her youth, and when I was a kid I was an incredibly voracious reader to the point where it was simply impossible to keep me in material. Once i was done with Hardy Boys, my dad's sci-fi and John D. MacDonald paperbacks, my mom's issues of "Good Housekeeping" and "Cosmo" and anything else that would sit still long enough for me to read it, I tackled Nancy Drew.

I discovered Nancy Drew when I was about 10. My aunt bought me a half dozen of them, which I devoured. I think I liked them because there was a real dearth of strong female characters in children's lit of the 70's (at least in my school library). I still have the entire yellow backed set.

I recently discovered the un-revised versions from the 30's and I like them even better--Nancy of the 30's is more like characters from movies of the time--not so well-bhaved and polite. In one, she even gets to pack a pistol!

Tracey
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. "~~Wilde
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traceyk
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Post by traceyk »

Just for Nancy Drew fans:

http://cleolinda.livejournal.com/382500.html

Irreverent, but funny
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. "~~Wilde
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Moraldo Rubini
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This just in...

Post by Moraldo Rubini »

I read in today's San Francisco Chronicle that the original manuscript of Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth was found. The FBI recovered the manuscript of the Pulizter Prize winning novel that had been missing from Buck's family farm in Perkasie (PA) since 1966. It turned up earlier this month when it was consigned to a Philadelphia auction house, which in turn notified the FBI. Buck died in 1973 without ever knowing what became of the missing copy. It seems this manuscript has more than one tale to tell...
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Sue Sue Applegate
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Post by Sue Sue Applegate »

Moraldo, I passed on this tidbit about Pearl Buck to a friend of mine who
is a major Buck aficionado and hadn't heard about the manuscript.
He collect first editions and has one of The Good Earth signed by Miss Buck.
Thanks for the info...
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feaito

Post by feaito »

Thanks for sharing the good news Moraldo. I'm a Pearl S. Buck fan too, ever since I read the excellent "Imperial Woman", which depicts Empress Tsu-Hzi's (or Cixi's) life. A great book.

I've always thought this is wonderful material for a film!
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mrsl
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Post by mrsl »

As a kid I read mainly 'girly' books like Little Women. I was into biographies a lot, usually of women like Juliette Low and Florence Nightingale. Nobody ever introduced me to Nancy Drew which I regret a lot because I think I would have absorbed them like a sponge does water. One set I truly enjoyed was the Laura Ingalls books and was shocked and surprised when Little House became a TV show. I also got my one daughter onto them. But my all time favorite books were the Betsy, Tacy and Tib series. Three girls lives were written from the time they were about 7 or 8 until they were married. I always kind of wished they had been made into movies.

I only say that because I had a hard time picturing the three girls, and would have liked an example. Normally, if a read a book, I don't see the movie because rarely does the movie do justice to the story. If I see a movie first however, I will look for the book, but have to make sure its the original book and not a paperback that is 'based on the movie'.

I feel so sorry for people who don't read - they have no idea what they're missing. Even if you only read fun, fiction stuff, it's so much more satisfying than just watching a movie all the time.

Anne
Anne


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Rusty
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Movie version of In A Lonely Place...where's the book?

Post by Rusty »

Hello,

I am a little over half way through the novel In A Lonely Place...written by Dorothy B. Hughes. You know what? The Humphrey Bogart In A Lonely Place has only the title in common with Hughes' book. The novel In A Lonely Place is the story of a serial killer...from the killer's point of view. Plus, a lot of cat and mouse between killer and serial murder crime solver. Maximum hard boiled writing...too. I see (from Hughes biography) she wrote Ride The Pink Horse. Once I finish In A Lonely Place, I plan to read Ride The Pink Horse and compare and contrast movie and book version. By the way, Ride The Pink Horse is one...great...movie.

One more thing...I just finished The Razor's Edge. Here is something strange. The section of the novel discussing Larry's trip to India and Larry meets his guru and what Larry's guru taught Larry and Larry defining the state of mind called "bliss". Well, Maugham's introduction to "Larry Learns The Meaning Of His Life" is something like, "Readers not interested in Larry's trip to India may skip over the next few pages and not lose the thread of my story. Although, I would not have written this book if not for the following chapter...". Don't you think that is a strange note from author to reader? I mean, without Larry's trip to India story...the Razor's Edge is just a story of some boring and pretty much useless Jazz Age people.

Rusty
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

mrsl wrote:But my all time favorite books were the Betsy, Tacy and Tib series. Three girls lives were written from the time they were about 7 or 8 until they were married. I always kind of wished they had been made into movies.

I only say that because I had a hard time picturing the three girls, and would have liked an example. Normally, if a read a book, I don't see the movie because rarely does the movie do justice to the story. If I see a movie first however, I will look for the book, but have to make sure its the original book and not a paperback that is 'based on the movie'.

Anne
Ah, Anne, now you're talking. While as a girl I had no use for Nancy Drew, I absolutely loved the Betsy/Tacy books. Maud Hart Lovelace drew on her childhood in Mankato, MN to tell stories of three friends in Deep Valley, MN. The interesting thing about the books is that those telling of Betsy when she was little are written for younger children, and as Betsy and her friends grow up, the style and content of the books change to accommodate older readers. These books are wonderful stories, and I found them most fascinating for their detailed accounts of life among young people at the turn of the 20th Century.

I can still remember many incidents from these books: how about the time in Betsy's high school ooops! was it French or Latin class? The teacher always called on the students to recite their previous night's homework in alphabetical order, as listed on those little Delany cards she kept in a book on her desk. So, naturally, most of the class got to know when they would be called on, and only prepared what they thought would be necessary. And then one day the teacher knocked her book of attendance cards on the floor, they scattered, so she decided to call on the students at random. It's like that "student nightmare" most of us have had.

The Betsy books would make great films for kids - but I hope someone can do better by them than those shoddy films made of the "American Girl" series. There's a Maud Lovelace society for Besty Ray fans - have you heard of it?

I always find it interesting, Anne, that I never even heard of the "Little House" books, although I was a voracious reader as a kid, until the Michael Landon series. It seems that my local school and public libraries (and I patronized more than one) simply never stocked those books, or else I certainly would have read them. I'm sorry I missed out on those as a girl.
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sandykaypax
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Post by sandykaypax »

Judith and Anne, I am so excited to find someone else who has read the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace! They are my absolute favorite childhood books. I re-read the entire series last year when I had bronchitis and was bed-ridden. My public library had several of the series, so that was how I first encountered them. I always wonder why more people haven't read them. They've all been re-issued within the past 10 years, so I own them all.

I've been to the Betsy-Tacy society website--they have purchased Maud Hart Lovelace's family home (represented in the books as the Ray house on Hill Street). I would love to go to Mankato sometime and do a tour of all the places in the books that remain.

They would be a wonderful miniseries for PBS or the Disney Channel, like the fine Anne of Green Gables adaptation with Megan Follows.

As for the Little House books, my first grade teacher read The Little House in the Big Woods to our class and that got me hooked. The next year, I received the entire set for Christmas. How thrilled I was when the tv show came on the air! I wrote a fan letter to Melissa Gilbert and received an autographed photo of the cast--the signatures look like they were printed on; they probably sent out hundreds of those. But I still have it, nevertheless.

Sandy K
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MissGoddess
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Re: Movie version of In A Lonely Place...where's the book?

Post by MissGoddess »

Rusty wrote:Hello,

I am a little over half way through the novel In A Lonely Place...written by Dorothy B. Hughes. You know what? The Humphrey Bogart In A Lonely Place has only the title in common with Hughes' book. The novel In A Lonely Place is the story of a serial killer...from the killer's point of view. Plus, a lot of cat and mouse between killer and serial murder crime solver. Maximum hard boiled writing...too. I see (from Hughes biography) she wrote Ride The Pink Horse. Once I finish In A Lonely Place, I plan to read Ride The Pink Horse and compare and contrast movie and book version. By the way, Ride The Pink Horse is one...great...movie.

One more thing...I just finished The Razor's Edge. Here is something strange. The section of the novel discussing Larry's trip to India and Larry meets his guru and what Larry's guru taught Larry and Larry defining the state of mind called "bliss". Well, Maugham's introduction to "Larry Learns The Meaning Of His Life" is something like, "Readers not interested in Larry's trip to India may skip over the next few pages and not lose the thread of my story. Although, I would not have written this book if not for the following chapter...". Don't you think that is a strange note from author to reader? I mean, without Larry's trip to India story...the Razor's Edge is just a story of some boring and pretty much useless Jazz Age people.

Rusty
Hi, Rusty! I agree with you about Ride the Pink Horse and look forward to what you glean from the novel, which I haven't read. It's one of my top ten noirs.

As for Maugham's saucy insertion, I think he cannily judged certain numbers of his readers would probably yawn over those sections---and surprisinly, or not, a couple of people have told me those scenes in the movie are the dullest bits. Ha! But I agree with you and "Willie" on its importance.
melwalton

literature

Post by melwalton »

I read Vlctor Canning's 'The Rainbird Pattern' before seeing the Hitchcock film ('Family Plot'). I thought they were both very good altho' quite different. Hitch used the same basic idea but changed the story, and did a nice job.
Brings to mind two of James Hiltons works that were made into movies. which differed (necessarily ) from the book. "Lost Horizon', Seeing Margo couldn't be described adequately with words. Just the opposite with 'Random Harvest, I didn't guess the ending until the last couple of pages.
melwalton

literature

Post by melwalton »

Irwin Shaw said of 'The Young Lions'. 'It was a good movie if you didn't write the book'.
Iscovescu
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The Age Of Innocence

Post by Iscovescu »

Book by Edith Wharton with screen versions in 1934 and 1993. The '34 version was based on a play adapted from the novel and the '93 issue, by Scorsese, has been said to be among the most faithfully adapted screenplays.

It's a love story that moves unconventionally to an unconventional ending and gets endless analysis in it's IMDB pages.
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Atonement

Post by EleanorPowellFan »

Has anyone here seen the film Atonement? It was taken from a book by Ian McEwan. I thought it was excellent and would definitely go see it again!!!!
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hbenthow
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Re: Movies made from Books?

Post by hbenthow »

Out of all the book adaptions I have seen, I consider The Night of the Hunter one of the very best. It's extremely faithful to the book, with the plot and characters unchanged and the dialogue mostly word for word (or at least very close). Charles Laughton not only kept his movie faithful to the text and spirit of the book, but he even had the author, Davis Grubb, send him some drawings of how he imagined the various locations, so he could get his filmed version as close as possible to what Grubb had imagined. But it's not just a very faithful adaption. It's also a great movie in its own right. I've heard it said that it's impossible to make an adaption completely faithful to the book and still make a good movie. While that's certainly true for some books, The Night of the Hunter is proof that it isn't for all of them.

The discussion of the Nancy Drew books brings up an interesting subject. Starting around the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew (and likely some other Grossett and Dunlap book series) began to be written differently, and those already published were re-published in new "revised" editions. To this day, the reprints sold as "the originals" are revised editions that not only make numerous changes to the original stories, but also are dumbed-down, with fewer pages and larger print. Antique editions of the original Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books are a bit harder to find than the revised editions, but they are much more worthwhile. They are commonly found in flea markets.

Some of the changes made in the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books include the following: Nancy Drew in no longer as hot-headed and feisty. She is now more respectful of authority, and no longer sasses the police when they goof up. Her age has been changed from 16 to 18. Frank and Joe Hardy's ages have been changed (respectively) from 16 and 15 to 18 and 17. The social commentary criticizing the rich (which was especially prevalent in the original Nancy Drew books) has been removed, and the Drew and Hardy families have themselves been made richer (in the case of the Hardys, extremely so). Nancy Drew even has adjectives like "sweetly" added to describe words and actions that she was simply stated as saying or doing in the original. Even the criminals are softened, to the point that they rarely even drink or smoke. Many of the more violent parts of the original Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books have been minimized or even removed. Many of the plots have been altered (for example, The Flickering Torch Mystery no longer features an actual flickering torch). In short, they have been abridged, bowdlerized, and sometimes completely changed.

I wonder if anyone here is familiar with the Judy Bolton books? They were somewhat similar to the Nancy Drew books, but very different in their own way. Judy Bolton is a bit more ordinary and relatable than Nancy Drew. Even moreso than the original Nancy Drew books, the Judy Bolton books often focus on the plight of the poor, and are generally more emotional.
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