Day #26 of the 30 Day Film Challenge
Sep. 25th, 2020 09:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatDay #26 of The 30 Day Film Challenge.
A Film You Like That Was Adapted From Somewhere
(And no, we can't pick the one we just did.)
This is my favorite Harry Potter film, which was directed by Alfonso Cuarón, who is among my favorite directors. He improves on the book, and manages to do something the prior directors didn't which is improve on the book and make it something new.
Adaptations are hard to do. You have to please the people who loved the original, and bring in a new audience. Also somehow stay true to the source material. John Le Carre famously stated that he preferred adaptations that veered from his work - he liked to see another point of view. I considered picking one of his, but I can't remember the films adapted from his books that well.
I feel like this is a memory test - and I'm kind of failing at it. Although to be fair, my brain has a lot to deal with at the moment.
A Film You Like That Was Adapted From Somewhere
(And no, we can't pick the one we just did.)
This is my favorite Harry Potter film, which was directed by Alfonso Cuarón, who is among my favorite directors. He improves on the book, and manages to do something the prior directors didn't which is improve on the book and make it something new.
Adaptations are hard to do. You have to please the people who loved the original, and bring in a new audience. Also somehow stay true to the source material. John Le Carre famously stated that he preferred adaptations that veered from his work - he liked to see another point of view. I considered picking one of his, but I can't remember the films adapted from his books that well.
I feel like this is a memory test - and I'm kind of failing at it. Although to be fair, my brain has a lot to deal with at the moment.
no subject
Date: 2020-09-26 03:17 am (UTC)This was actually the third attempt to put Hammett's novel on film, the first two sinking without a trace.
The screenplay retained Hammett's cynical snap, but Huston's real accomplishment was the cast of characters he brought into the studio. Bogart's version of Sam Spade was just plain fun, as he played cat and mouse with Greenstreet and Lorre and pushed Elisha Cook all around the set.
(But I have to give a special salute to Mary Astor, who doesn't always get enough credit. Brigid plays her "damsel in distress" character all through the movie, and she never breaks character, even when Sam knows she's lying, and she knows he knows. I swear, half the attraction on Sam's part is admiring her for keeping up that level of bullshit.)
The movie that cemented Bogart as a superstar and started the entire film noir movement. The measuring stick for all detective movies (and adaptations).
https://youtu.be/3a9YU1SVbSE
no subject
Date: 2020-09-26 02:22 pm (UTC)Although I was certain the screenplay was by Raymond Chandler. Apparently I'm wrong on that point. Weird - since I remember seeing Chandler's name in the credits when I saw the movie - but it is possible I confused that with another noir film I saw. (shrugs)
It was made into a movie in the 1930s as well.