New Moby Dick coming out this fall. I’ve seen the whale boats that were built for it. I find them more exciting than the book. BTW the curtains in mine and my brother’s bedroom had a Moby Dick print on it. I had to live with it until college. 
Bang!<
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((((thud!)))
Curse these literary types with their damned eloquence! What do they want to go writing books for, eh? And there weren’t enough explosions in it!
…So tell me, TWC, did your translation of the book have the hashish chapter?
I think I am better reading the one with the pictures on every page. I have minor dyslexia, so when a book gets too fancy on me, my brain starts to turn the words around, and I get so confused. Also, my ADHD starts to kick in as well, and I will be reading the same sentence 10 times over.
It is conceivable that a version of Les Miserables could be made which would cut out all of Hugo’s ruminations about the nature of convents, or the motivations of the Bishop of Digne, or just why, in every nuance, a Parisian gamin is like a sparrow. But it hasn’t been done well. Ever, that I know of. Directors always insert at least one major and tragic error into a key character’s motivational profile, usually more. And that tanks the whole enterprise. The musical, imho, as Readers’ Digest as it is, comes closest to a true presentation of the Novel’s spirit.
So, it could be done, but it has not.
Now that I think about it, the movie Captain Blood, starring Errol Flynn, is almost better than the book. Almost. At least it’s more fun and skips the racist bits that every so often pop up to appall you in a reading of the Sabatini novel.
Fair enough. In that case it isn’t the book for you. There’s some fine stuff in the better recent translations, though. There really is a Hashish chapter, too, and some translations leave it out. But the whole thing is looooong. And yes, dammit, eloquent.
Everything falls into place. Yes, that explains it. 
Funny Story about the Count of Monte Cristo
I know I read the book, read that Comic Book Classic thing, and even saw a cartoon too. I loved it. When this movie came out, I’m dragging my wife to it.
I don’t normally go in for anything that isn’t Modern American Literature or doesn’t involve some type of water and/or Brooke Shields. But I have to say, the plotting and the scheming by the Count is just wonderful. Total brillaince. He’s my hero and idol. And then at the end of the movie when nothing goes his way, I am like sitting in the theatre saying rather loudly, “What? What? They totally changed the ending! I can not believe this Hollywood crap.” My wife shushes me and says what are you talking about? I said he supposed to get everything and live happily ever after. She says, no he doesn’t, have you ever read the book? Somehow I must not have noticed or given the book the ending it deserved. So now, I only watch the movie until right before the ending and finish the rest in my head.
Speaking of poking, there were pictures of harpooned whales all over the curtains, bodies flying out of destroyed whale boats, and some dude with a wooden peg leg, great entertainment, educational stuff for kids to see before going to bed at night. 
Fair enough. In that case it isn’t the book for you. There’s some fine stuff in the better recent translations, though. There really is a Hashish chapter, too, and some translations leave it out. But the whole thing is looooong. And yes, dammit, eloquent.
I already read it. It took me so long too. I think I might enjoy the translations you are talking about. [/quote]
But don’t even get me started on LoTR Trilogy. It took me like four months to read that But even though the movies were great, I think that the book was way better.
What kind of sick person bought and put up these things?
A Latin, German, English teacher with a dark side. To this day my brothers refuse to step foot on a whaling vessel!
The Taming of the Shrew with Liz Taylor and Richard Burton. The book is great but so is the movie.
The version starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara was goood too.
Aka The Quiet Man?
Big Fish is one of few book/movie combos where I liked the movie better. Not that the book is bad,'cause it’s not. But a movie seems to be the ideal medium for the telling of such tall tales-- the visuals are wonderful.
How about Rosemary’s Baby, Deathtrap, The Stepford Wives, and The Boys from Brazil. All for brewerpaul’s benefit … 
McClintock was the Western version of Taming of the Shew, Quiet Man was something else altogether.
Thanks Guru-- but I’ll admit that I’m prejudiced in favor of the books. I do think that Rosemary’s Baby was one of the best movie adaptations of a novel however. Polanski had the good sense to stick to a good story and not try to “Hollywoodize” it.
Stephen King’s books are always way better than the movies. His version of terror does not translate well. The only exceptions to this are The Dead Zone with Christopher Walken and The Shining with Jack Nicholson.
It’s certainly a very impressive movie adaptation opus, isn’t it? Each one of those titles, except maybe Deathtrap, is an instant and widely-known cultural reference.
For those who don’t know … Ira Levin, the author of all the above, was Paul’s uncle, IIRC.
The Color Purple- the book, bleh- the movie? Great