1. Are you more likely to see a movie if it’s based on a book?
   Honestly, I don't think so. I vacillate between thinking I do and thinking I don't so I guess the truthful answer is no.
   
   
2. Do you prefer to read the book first or see the movie first?
   No preference. But whether I approach either with an open mind is a mine field inside my ridiculously judgmental head. I'm puzzlingly prejudiced about books and authors, completely irrational about it, really, so if my internal voice says the author is "good" I'll feel thrilled to watch the movie or read the book in either order whichever presents itself first. (Note to meme: one reason I'm excited about this challenge is to be forced to read and watch things on a schedule and therefore possibly foil the judgmental obnoxious voice in my head.)
   
   
3. List one movie that was better than the book it’s based on, and one book that is better than the movie.
   Tom Jones was without a doubt the most boring movie I have ever seen. Considering that it's based on a quite ordinary but enjoyable novel by Henry Fielding, and that the screenplay was written by John Osborne who is absolutely one of the last century's most exciting playwrights (Look Bank in Anger, The Entertainer, Luther. . .), I never understood why it didn't work at all for me but I've gotten better nights sleep "watching" it than under medication.
   
   Believe it or not, my choice for the second part of the question is the 1988 tv version of Anna Karenina (WAIT! don't despair of my taste - I'll explain). I loathed the book when I read it when I was really too young to understand it, but it still makes me want to throw a book at Anna's head because she's so relentlessly pouty and unwilling to do anything to fix her situation. But in this version, Paul Scofield conveys an astonishingly two-part emotional impact - on the one hand, loving and care-taking but on the other utterly stodgy and almost imprisoning of his wife and child whom he, nonetheless, clearly and vividly loves. Since I found Scofield very attractive, this portrayal of a man who could not be dashing and exciting even though he wanted to appeal to his wife clicked with me and finally made me understand Anna's misery. Furthermore, Jacqueline Bisset was superficial yet conveyed affection and tenderness so wasn't the idiotic flibbertigibbet that Anna seemed to me in the book. In other words, I understood, appreciated and cared about the emotional truth of the characters because of this movie even though it had eluded me in the book.
   
   
4. In your opinion, what film is the most accurate representation of the book?
   There are several in contention but the winner is the 1995 adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion. I thought the subtlety and richness of the characters was every bit as deep as Jane had written them and, amazingly, brought quietly and yet intensely to three-dimensional life. It's such an over-used word, but the "truth" of the characters was absolutely intact.
   
   I must also mention Amy Heckerling's Clueless. As attested to by the Writer's Guild of America's giving her screenplay the best writing award, Heckerling retained Austen's Emma's characters at the core of their emotional lives, and the essential plot, while changing everything on the surface. It was brilliant.
   
   And I need to add something about another movie from a book. When I was quite young, I saw the Audrey Hepburn/Mel Ferrer/Henry Fonda version of War and Peace which was directed by King Vidor. (It's pretty funny to see "writing credit: Leo Tolstoi".) I was absolutely bowled over by the cinematicness of the experience and was deeply moved by Natasha's and André's love for each other although in the end I was even more touched by Pierre's great love for Natasha and for Russia. Anyway, the experience was so profound that I spent several months reading a wonderful 2-volume edition of the book that is now almost in tatters because I loved it so much. I have no idea whether it really is the best adaptation of a book into a movie but I know that watching it changed my movie-going and reading it changed my reading and reading it would not have happened, at least not then, without having seen the movie.

Labels: blogs (others'), books, good ideas, movies