Bits and Bobs (Vol. 15): The best (and worst) adaptations

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EricMontreal22 Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 06:29 AM EST

I thought Davies did a great job iwth Alan Hollinghurst's Line of Beauty. of course, the true joy of any Hollinghurst novel is the actual prose and writing, but it was better than I ever expected... (there was controversy saying Davies refused to write the gay love scenes and worry the graphic gay sex of the novel would be removed--but by and large, whatever the controversy's truth--they were included)

I'd love to see more Hollinghurst adapted, but I think his other novels would be even harder (less plot more characters).

Alexander McCall Smith Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 04:28 PM EST

No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency adaptation is tentatively scheduled for March.

anne Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 09:43 AM EST

I love the idea of Maisie Dobbs books adapted into a series. I totally second that and add the Evan Evans mysteries by Rhys Bowen set in a tiny, eccentric Welsh village. Would be great fun. I liked all the most recent Austen adaptions that aired on Masterpiece except Mansfield Park which really stunk. The Rozema MP is good not perfect but I still liked it. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the new Sense and Sensibility but it was casted, age appropriate characters and the setting on the Devon Coast was wonderful. The new Persuausion also transported me - I liked the happy ending add. Call me crazy but I adore the Keira Knightly P&P. Yes, the 1995 version will always be the end all be all but with the film I can pop it in and 2 hours later feel a sense of Austen satisfaction the other one takes much longer to watch.

Valancy Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 08:25 AM EST

The Colin Firth version of Fever Pitch TERRIBLE (and I worship at the Firth altar, so that's saying something)!

Andrew Davies is amazing, though he fumbles about every 6th movie (A Room with a View, Bridget Jones 2, Emma...). There are some other great adapters out there too, like Sandy Welch!

As for Holmes, I adore RDJ but since Lisa mentioned Hugh Laurie below I must acknowledge he's physically perfect for the part...

orville Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 07:48 AM EST

The "Persuasion" adaptation with Ciaran Hinds and Amanda Root is my absolute favorite of all time. Just perfect. Didn't like the "Jane Eyre" with William Hurt and Charlotte Gainsbourg at all. Or the "Wuthering Heights" that's most famous with Laurence Olivier, etc. Cutting out half of the book does not a good adaptation make. Let's not even go into all the modern (and MTV-ish) adaptations of works like "Wuthering Heights," "Othello," and "Great Expectations."

Susan Scott Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 01:37 AM EST

There is an early version of Fever Pitch with Colin Firth. I believe
Nick Hornby wrote the screenplay.

Luisa Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 09:52 PM EST

I have to say, I absolutely LOVE Fever Pitch. Maybe it's because I never read the original book/saw the other movie, maybe it's because I'm a total baseball freak. But I completely agreed with Owen's A review.
And speaking of British exports, I have to say, I LOVE Keane. Them, with Coldplay and Muse, make up the ultimate musical triumvirate for me. I guess I am an Anglophile...I do worship at the altar of Andrew Davies' P&P, after all...

mjryan Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 08:54 PM EST

I would love to see the Maisie Dobbs books made into movies. I love the character, setting, time period, mysteries...I love everything about those books.

To J. Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 07:08 PM EST

If you took that to its logical conclusion then we'd have to demand only Americans in American roles. That would mean no Hugh Laurie as House. No Damien Lewis in Life. No Jonny Lee Miller as Eli Stone. And on and on and on. We'd have no good American TV!

Brett Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 06:54 PM EST

Ritchie is doing an action-movie version of Sherlock Holmes. For that reason, it doesn't matter whether Downey, Jr. is "right" for Holmes because it's not going to be the Holmes as written by Arthur Conan Doyle or even Nicholas Meyer ("The Seven Percent Solution). The two best performances as Holmes were given by two actors who had the opportunity to portray the character more than once: Basil Rathbone in the 1930's and 1940's; and Jeremy Brett, who was Holmes in adaptations of each and all of Doyle's original stories. Modernly, Rupert Everett (who played Holmes recently on an installment of "Mystery!") would be good for a classic Holmes portrayal. I have nothing against Downey, Jr. or Ritchie - but they're just not doing the real Sherlock Holmes.

Cara Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 06:28 PM EST

There was a time when Robert Downey Jr. still needed to prove himself. That time was last year. Now, I'm pretty sure we need to just step back and trust him.

J Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 06:24 PM EST

I am a huge fan of anything British on Masterpiece Theatre. I am a huge hater of any adaptation of a British work that features an American. Y'all know what I mean--Bridget Jones, that dreadful Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow, etc. Anglophiles of the world should unite and demand British actors in British roles. I loathe faux British accents.

Lisa Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 06:02 PM EST

Looking at RD's photos as Holmes I cannot but agree with those who think he is totally miscast. The perfect Holmes? OMG Hugh Laurie of course.Who else? Cool, muscular, witty, intelligent AND British. It would be bliss to be able to listen to him speaking in his wonderful British accent.

film4future Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 05:48 PM EST

Our Mutual Friend is one of my favorite adaptations. I know there are parts from the book that weren't included, but the miniseries stays faithful to the main storylines and is wholely entertaining. Also loved Bleak House, Wives and Daughters and Daniel Deronda. Let's also not forget the Merchant Ivory film version of A Room with a View. It's the best. Still haven't seen a version of Mansfield Park that I like. Preferred the movie version of Persuasion over the recent TV version.

rebecca Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 05:35 PM EST

I'm a big Holmes fan AND a big Downey Jr. fan, and when I first heard about this new Holmes movie I was super-excited, but... the photos of Downey as holmes make me cringe. He's so... frumpy. With the floofy hair, and the bowler hat, and the rumpled clothes... Holmes may have been eccentric, even bohemian, but I don't think he was ever frumpy.

Still. Maybe it won't be as bad as I think.

Raven_Moon Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 05:26 PM EST

I love "About a Boy." I'd also like to see Nick Hornby's "A Long Way Down" adapted into a film. I read that Johnny Depp had bought the rights to it, but I'm starting to think nothing is ever going to come of it.

Valium Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 04:19 PM EST

What I don't think you guys get is that if Austen wanted to have Catherine imagining such things--if she thought Catherine and her sister would be sexually permiscuous or want to be--she would have put that in the novel. But she didn't. I think we seem to assume that women back then had the same thoughts and desires that we do today under the mistaken belief that "we're all human," when society does construct us to feel, act, and think in certain ways. I agree that Catherine's behavior, her thoughts, her fantasies are strictly ri-dunc-ulous in this movie--and really no more sane an addition to a Jane Austen story than Sherlock Holmes taking out an AK47 or erotic asphyxiation (sp?) in an Conan Doyle adaptation.

Laura M. Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 03:03 PM EST

I thought the Davies "Northanger Abbey" was very entertaining, and I really enjoyed JJ Fields and Felicity Jones in the lead roles. And yes, the dream sequences weren't really that inappropriate when you consider what was actually in those Gothic novels.

Other adaptations I love? Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility = Perfection. Sorry, but I thought the recent miniseries was a very pale imitation of Lee's version.
Love both the 1995 and 2005 versions of "Pride and Prejudice", love the 2006 version of "Jane Eyre" (Ruth Wilson was the best Jane ever), love "North and South", love the new "Persuasion", love the recent versions of "Bleak House" and "Our Mutual Friend". Also love "Bridget Jones's Diary" and "About a Boy".

Hate? Haaaaate the 1994 miniseries of "Middlemarch", hate the Billie Piper "Mansfield Park", hate the Kate Beckinsale "Emma". And as for RDJ in the new "Sherlock Holmes".... Ehh, I have a feeling it's going to be really anachronistic and stupid.

Julia Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 02:40 PM EST

As a University of Michigan English major myself, I have to respectfully disagree with your friend's opinion. I thought that Northanger Abbey was a very original adaptation, and the inclusion of the bodice-ripping-esque scenes were pretty darn accurate in terms of what the underlying fears/tensions in Gothic novels actually were. Andrew Davies is a complete genius in my opinion- anyone who wrote Daniel Deronda, Pride and Prejudice, the recent BBC adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, Wives and Daughters, and two brilliant Anthony Trollope adaptations, He Knew He Was Right and The Way We Live Now has pretty much cornered the market on fantastic period adaptations.

C C Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 02:38 PM EST

I have never understood the hatred for Patricia Rozema's version of Mansfield Park. Mansfield Park is undoubtedly Austen's most progressive novel-and ironically her most disliked. I feel like Rozema really "got" Mansfield Park, unlike other Austenites I've come across who think Fanny is supposed to be shy, mousy, and virtuous to the point of being dull. I'm fundamentally shy and reserved, and have strong ideas of what right and wrong are. But I also have a sarcastic sense of humor. When I read Mansfield Park about 15 years ago, I immediately identified with Fanny. She was quiet, but she was a stronger person than everyone else in her universe. When I saw the movie, I saw Frances O'Connor's Fanny as somewhat more outgoing and acerbic than the Fanny in the book, but she was still the same character, with the same moral values. A lot like me, actually. And I think I would have been the same kind of girl back in the 1800's, had I lived then.

Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 02:18 PM EST

I totally disagree with you guys about the Christie stuff (except for Cards on the Table, that ending was stupid). I like what they've done with them. I feel like the female-female relationships in Body in the Library, Murder at the Vicarage, and Bertram's Inn are beautiful and strong. I also feel that Christie always hinted at something romantic going on between female "companions" anyway.

daisyj Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 01:55 PM EST

I'm with Martha on the new Christie adaptations. The problem isn't so much that they changed the plots to add "shocking" sexual aspects, but that in order to do so they completely dumbed down the mystery and ruined the whole point of the twists in the story("Cards on the Table" was definitely the worst example I saw, but I gave up pretty soon on the rest). I had the same problem with the "new" Sherlock Holmes they did on PBS a couple of years ago-- they loaded the thing with salacious elements (auto-erotic asphyxiation! homosexuality! evil twins!) but the mystery was beyond stupid and Holmes wasn't even recognizable as the same character. (And did I mention the evil twins? I mean, seriously. If you're going to make a big deal about how you're "updating a tired genre", maybe you want to leave out elements that that genre rejected fifty years ago as too cliche.)

Kim Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 01:38 PM EST

Boy, you are not kidding about "Fever Pitch." How was that even an adaptation of the book? Were there any similarities at all? I don't even understand how they were allowed to market that as an adaptation for the book. Speaking of Hornby, though, "About a Boy" and "High Fidelity" were both terrific.

Crystal Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 01:38 PM EST

psst, meg, it's okay to have Tilney on the brain, especially if imagining that version ;)

And a question for austenfan - how would you want 'them' adapting J. Strange...? A mini-series? Or one movie? Seems like it would be tough.

Crystal Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 01:32 PM EST

For some reason the Frances O'Connor MP has grown on me over the years. I haaated it before and it's still crap as an adaptation, but the movie as a stand-alone has grown on me. Seeing that it could be done even worse with that Billie Piper horror probably helped.

Aubtry, I've gotta agree with your Sherlock trepidation. I am a HUGE Holmes fan. I mean, HUGE. I am curious, though, I'll admit.

Martha Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 01:29 PM EST

The new version of "Northanger Abbey" did take some liberties, but it was still enjoyable, which is more than I can say about the new version of "Mansfield Park." My current bugbear, though, is changing motives and murderers on "Poirot" and "Miss Marple" to include homosexuality (yes, "Cards on the Table," "Five Little Pigs" and especially "The Body in the Library" - I'm talking to you). Dame Agatha is probably rolling over in her grave these days.

meg Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 01:23 PM EST

Sorry, I should have said JJ Fields adaptation.

meg Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 01:22 PM EST

I'm also a fan of the JJ Tilney adaptation of Northanger Abbey and I agree that the worst ones so far have been Mansfield Park. I did not like the Billie Piper or Francis O'Connor version. I also enjoyed the ITV version of Sense and Sensibility. Obvioulsy, Ang Lee's was amazing, but ITV was on some level more realistic I thought. I was so impressed the family was actually living in a cottage.

Jamie Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 01:19 PM EST

Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility"

"Pride and Prejudice" (1995, BBC) Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth will always be Lizzy and Darcy to me, no matter how many reamkes starring overhyped, untalented actresses.

"Northanger Abbey" (2007/08) version. Sure, Andrew Davies just *had* to put in an unecessary fantasy (speaking about the bath scene), and it was smushed into 90 minutes (while the bad-fic-come-to-life "Lost in Austen" got multiple episodes--that's ITV for you) and yes, I would have liked to see more of Henry's wit, but it was still good nonetheless, and Felicity Jones was perfect as Catherine.

"Daniel Deronda" (2002, BBC): Simply gorgeous costumes, and great acting by the talented (and underrated) Romola Garai, Hugh Dancy and Jodhi May.

StaleCake Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 01:03 PM EST

Emma Thompson and Ang Lee's adaptation of SENSE & SENSIBILITY is a perfect '10' on every level -- if you haven't seen it, don't walk, RUN and rent it. Now I love me some Downey too, but he is totally miscast as Sherlock Holmes -- Christopher Lee would be best but if Ritchie insists on a hot younger-generation actor what about Matthre Macfadyen, Henry Cavill, Robson Green???

sarah Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 01:00 PM EST

I agree with "Mansfield Park" with Francis OConnor. The Fanny in the movie is the polar opposite. She's more like Mary, just with more common sense. Horrible, horrible movie. Another I didn't care for is "A Room with a View", done by Davies. The very end--how utterly depressing. The wonderful thing about novels is that we can imagine the rest of the lives of our favorite characters as we see fit.(that's why I refuse to read any 'sequel' to P&P) Now when I read A Room with a View, I have to supress the thought that George dies in WWI. I have complete faith in Downey, Jr. in Sherlock Holmes. I think he is perfect for the role. I am worried about highly overdone gun fights (with bullets a'la Matrix) and trippy drug visions.

Jennifer Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 12:12 PM EST

I actually really loved Northanger Abbey, especially JJ Feild as Henry Tilney. I'm also a big fan of the adaptations of Elizabeth Gaskell: North and South, Wives and Daughters, and recently Cranford.

JMC Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 12:01 PM EST

ITV's Sense and Sensibility was okay until the great marathon race at the end, but Billie Piper's Mansfield Park simply cannot be forgiven. I actually liked Northanger Abbey. Most people don't get it, cause they don't read the then popular gothic novels. Spaceballs wouldn't have been nearly as funny if you hadn't seen Star Wars.

austenfan Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 11:53 AM EST

how can you hate the new northanger?! It was fabulous. MUCH better than that old BBC piece of crud where they had Gen Tilney covered in blood. Seriously, if there's fantasy to be had in it, I'd rather have the newer one! The adaptation I hated was the new Mansfield Park with Billie Piper. Awful. OH, and the 'lesbian' Mansfield Park with Frances O'Connor was not very good. Didn't get why Fanny was so empowered when she totally isn't in the novel. I think Andrew Davies does a good job with his adaptations.

What would I like to see? I can't wait for "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" and I hope it's as awesome as the book. I'd really love to see "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell" but who knows if that will happen.

To balzac22 Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 11:31 AM EST

If you were talking about any other Austen, I'd agree, but Northanger is so tied in to the pulpy extremes of gothic fiction that it doesn't feel out of place. If there's one Austen novel that can take sexing up without seeming ridiculous or shocking, it's Northanger.

ccross Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 11:29 AM EST

Mansfield Park drives me crazy; Fanny's character is a complete 180 turn from the book, and Fanny NEVER gives in to charm-merchant Crawford. Her strength against popular opposition in the book is one of the best things about it. "Modernized" Fanny in the movie just doesn't work because it makes no sense.

To Mel Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 11:29 AM EST

I completely agree. Life on Mars (U.S.) pales in comparison to the original. The scene that sealed the deal was when Annie is talking about why the killer does what he does. Oh well, maybe if the U.S. version is a success, then the original will be released.

elly Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 11:25 AM EST

worst adaptation of something british? i suppose this counts, since the book's author is a brit: the film of "League of Extraordinary Gentleman", aka what drove Sean Connery to stop being in movies (true story!).

i'd love to see a film of something written by alastair reynolds, but he uses so many layers i can't imagine who could adapt it into a feasible, quality film. "Century Rain" might fly on the big screen...

josher Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 11:16 AM EST

I've often wondered why there's never been an Agatha Raisin series, particularly since M. C. Beaton's other character, Haimish Macbeth, was turned into a series.

Mel Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 10:59 AM EST

I'm definitely having a problem with Life On Mars. I just really can't stand Harvey Keitel and I don't think he is going in the role. Phillip Glenister will never be out done.

Rodney Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 10:56 AM EST

BBC America has a few episodes of Primeval left, then it is time for teh return of non-scripted series Gladiators. PLEASE, I am so tired of BBC America slowly becomming an all reality channel. Now we only have Gavin & Stacy, Skins and I guess The Catherine Tate Show as new non-scripted shows. (is "Tate" reruns or new amaterial???)

balzac22 Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 10:50 AM EST

Another questionable bit in that Davies *Northanger Abbey* is when the film visually implies that Isabella Thorpe and Frederick Tilney have slept together. This is really taking liberties with Austen's novel.

laylagalise Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 10:11 AM EST

This is the first I've heard of anyone outside of the UK mentioning "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Series" movie. Do you have any idea exactly when HBO is going to show it? Thanks so much.

miora Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 10:02 AM EST

The Davies adaptation of "Northanger Abbey" is not terrible at all. It's true that it has only a really crummy adaptation from the mid-80s to compete against. But, the dream sequences that your friend is talking about work in bringing to life the pulpy, gothic novels that Austen was sending up but no one these days actually reads. Now Davies adaptation of A Room with a View could disappear off the face of the earth and I would never, ever care.