| Author | Message | ||
     Thumper Veteran Poster Username: Thumper Post Number: 864 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Hello All, Since there don’t seem to be a lot of books coming across my desk, no less books that I want to read. So, this past summer I have been all over the map with my reading. I had started a new trend of reading books that are the basis of many of our classic movies. Naturally, I thought of my Ol’ Grayhead because I know he loves movies as much as I do. I began this kick after reading Nina Revyor’s marvelous novel, The Age of Dreaming. The Age of Dreaming is a novel that tells the life story of a Japanese actor who eventually became a Hollywood movie idol during Hollywood’s silent screen era. The book is Revyor’s masterpiece. I had reviewed Revyor’s previous two novels, The Necessary Hunger and Southland. I loved both of the novels. I was going to submit a review of The Age of Dreaming but couldn’t honestly do it because there were no African American characters in it. After reading the novel, I got to thinking, how many of the movies I love are different from the book. It is a standard belief that the books their motion picture counterparts are based on are better than their movies. I am one that holds this belief, so I do my utmost to read the current books that are made into movies before I see the movie. Oddly enough, I have not read the books that the classic movies are spawned. I set out to change that oversight. I started with All The Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren. The movie version featured Broderick Crawford, who won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance as the corrupt governor Willie Stark. The movie was awfully close to the book. I thought, OK, this is going good. So, I moved on to Goodbye, Columbus by Phillip Roth. I got turned on to this book because I had seen a Steve McQueen documentary on the Biography channel and Ali McGraw was discussed, which lead me to thinking about McGraw’s first picture that brought her to prominence; Goodbye, Columbus, costarring Richard Benjamin. I am not a fan of the movie, but I LOVE the book! Now that Phillip Roth is in my sights, do not be surprised if I begin a Phillip Roth kick. One night, I was flipping channels and ended up on the Fox Movie Channel and watched the last half of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I wondered if before it became a movie, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie was a book. I hopped on the internet, hit Amazon.com and discovered that there was a book which the movie was based, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Sparks. I loved the book, which is better than the movie! Sparks is a remarkable writer, which kinda surprised me. Sparks is a British author. I find many British authors’ writing style stiff and suffocating. Sparks writing is simple, elegant and to the point. Fortunately for me, I bought the Everyman’s Library edition of the book which is hardcover and includes a few more novels by Sparks since Sparks believes in writing short novels. Now, I’m cooking with gas and now James M. Cain and Patricia Highsmith are up. James M. Cain wrote The Postman Rings Twice, Double Indemnity and Mildred Pierce. Patricia Highsmith wrote The Talented Mr. Ripley. She also wrote the Hitchcock classic Strangers on a Train. I’m going to have to get Strangers on a Train. Now, I’m at the beginning of The Postman Rings Twice. Except for John Garfield, the rest of the cast is NOTHING like the characters in the book. I love it. I’ll let you know how it turns out. | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 14070 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: |
I see you're into the "noire" genre of the 1940s and 50s, Thumper. I never read any of the books you mentioned but I saw all of the stylish black-and-white screen versions of them when they first came out and am now enjoying them again years later on Ted Turner's Classic Movie channel. I love these kind of films because there's a certain fatalistic charm about them. I recently saw "The Talented Mr, Ripley" and liked it, too. Lately, I've gotten into watching movies based on Jane Austen and Edith Wharton books and found them immensely watchable, which is why I've gradually come to realize that I like period movies, especially those set in the 1930s. Have you every seen Robert Altman's "Gosford Park", a gem of a murder mystery set among the decedant upper class of English society? I loved it. I think it won an Oscar for the best screen play. Not surprising, I adored "O, Brother, Where Art Thou?", another excursion into the Depression era taking place in the deep south. Another Robert Altmen classic I came across entitled "Kansas City", also takes place during the 1930s and features some good ol Kansas City jazz music, along with a great comedic performance by Harry Belafonte as a small-time criminal. Not hard to understand why I have gravitated to movies of these decades. I may have been just a young girl during the 30s and 40s but I really relate to how these films capture the mystique of those by-gone times when life had a different verve. (And everybody smoked cigarettes!) Ah, nostalgia. | ||
| Thumper Veteran Poster Username: Thumper Post Number: 866 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Hello All, Cynique: I am so with you on the old movies and TCM! I LOVE TCM! Yeah, I'm a total and complete sucker for the "noir" films, starting with "Laura" with Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews. I can't get into Jane Austen and Edith Wharton. But, with my taste changning, who knows, they maybe up my alley and I don't know it yet. I bought the "Gosford Park" DVD years ago and totally agree with you. The movie is awesome. I love "O, Brother.." so much, I bought and play the soundtrack. Have you seen "The Ladykillers" with Tom Hanks? Another wonderful movie. | ||
| Carey AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Carey Post Number: 2232 Registered: 05-2004 Rating: N/A |
Did someone say TCM, it's the only movie channel I watch. "Now, I’m cooking with gas and now James M. Cain and Patricia Highsmith are up. James M. Cain wrote The Postman Rings Twice, Double Indemnity and Mildred Pierce. Patricia Highsmith wrote The Talented Mr. Ripley. She also wrote the Hitchcock classic Strangers on a Train. I’m going to have to get Strangers on a Train. Now, I’m at the beginning of The Postman Rings Twice. Except for John Garfield, the rest of the cast is NOTHING like the characters in the book. I love it. I’ll let you know how it turns out." I loved the Postman Rings twice. What about the remake? If someone says they didn't like Mildred Pierce am done talking to them about movies. I just saw Strangers on a Train two weeks ago. What about the classic in which they ended up on Mount Rushmore? Vertigo is up for this week. Did anyone catch Cabin In The Sky? Ol'girl loved her some Shorty. Oh, I still love new movies. I thought District 9 is one of the best movies of the year. But that's not saying a whole lot. This years crop of movies suck big time. | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 14077 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
I like the sound track for "O, Brother" also, Thumper. Some of those "ol timey" songs brought back memories of my Sunday school days. I especially like "Come on, Brother, let's go down to the River to Pray". | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 8188 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
Doesn't work all the time. "Forrest Gump" is a real crappy book. They made it into at least a tolerable movie. (My opinion, it was a runaway hit, but to me that is a function of the utter brainlessness of the human garbage that makes up most of the movie going audience. Books and movies attract different audiences. Books generally appeal to a narrow sector of the populace. Movies must attract everybody. It is a rare book that translates completely to a movie. The first"Godfather" movie followed the book, but did away with large sections involving a subplot of a romance between Lucy mancini and the Jewish gynecologist. | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 14081 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: |
You know what they say about all of those epic films based on the bible: "the book was much better".  | ||
| Carey AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Carey Post Number: 2241 Registered: 05-2004 Rating: N/A |
What did yawl think about Yentl? | ||
| Libralind2 AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Libralind2 Post Number: 1241 Registered: 09-2004 Rating: N/A |
I watched THE best movie EVER on Ted Turner Classic called The Green Dolphin..OH MY GOODNESS it was SOO good. Lana Turner and Donna Reed... LiLi | ||
| Carey AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Carey Post Number: 2243 Registered: 05-2004 Rating: N/A |
Okay LiLi, don't leave us hanging, what was it about. Try to keep it short and without commentary such as Thumper's in the other thread. Yicks! | ||
| Carey AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Carey Post Number: 2244 Registered: 05-2004 Rating: N/A |
But LiLi, was that story ever a book? You know that you and I don't always see eye to eye on movies, so I am wondering how this one got past me ....if it's SOO GOOD. There aren't many movies on TCM that I haven't seen. Ol'Thump thinks he's the critic of all critics but he's wet behind the ears. He may have big nuts that drag on the floor but he hasn't been around long enough to see all the great classic movies. | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 14094 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Are you talking about "Green Dolphin Street", LiLi? That was a book made into a movie with Lana Turner and I believe Donna Reed; wasn't it about a marriage mix-up that totally changed the lives of 2 sisters?? (The title spawned a song that is to this day a favorite of jazz vocalists and instrumentalists.) | ||
| Thumper Veteran Poster Username: Thumper Post Number: 869 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Hello All, Carey wrote: " He may have big nuts that drag on the floor but he hasn't been around long enough to see all the great classic movies." LiLi what he means is...is that I was not around to see the movies during their initial run in the movie theatres and Carey is so right. I was born in 1965. So I only saw the classic movies on TV. Unlike Carey who saw Jezebel and Gone With The Wind on the big screen in 1939. He was in his mid 20s then. BTW, speaking of seeing classic movies on the big screen, The Wizard of Oz is going to be shown in High Def in a movie theater in Indianapolis, next week on the 23rd. I'm going to see it. It will be the first time I've seen the movie on the big screen. I'm pretty excited. | ||
| Carey AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Carey Post Number: 2246 Registered: 05-2004 Rating: N/A |
**** PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT MAN BEHIND THE SCREEN *** If you guys remember The Wizard of Oz, you know that many of the actors played 2 parts - right? For instance, the guy that answered the door to Oz, was the wizard. Dorothy's family also appeared as other characters. Well, Thump is really Troy, who sells High Def televisions and owns theaters in Naptown. Yep, pay no attention to that man..... | ||
| Libralind2 AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Libralind2 Post Number: 1243 Registered: 09-2004 Rating: N/A |
Thumper LOL I aint thinking about Carey. Yes Ms Cynique ! In fact YOUR book should be a movie !!!! LiLi |
