Thursday Movie Picks / Book Adaptations
I am writing this post for the Thursday Movie Picks hosted by Wandering through the Shelves. 
The theme for this Thursday is: Book Adaptations.
Seven Keys to Baldpate (1929)
This is a very charming movie loosely based on the 1913 book by Earl Derr Biggers. (I think it was more based on the 1913 play with George M. Cohan.)
Piccadilly Jim (1936)
This is a very fun adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse's 1917 novel.
A Damsel in Distress (1937)
This musical is a very fun adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse's 1919 novel.
It's not extremely accurate, but its a very fun movie with Fred Astaire and George Burns and Gracie Allen.
I liked this version of Seven Keys, as well as the two that followed in '35 and '47, Dix could be a bit stiff but the film is entertaining despite that.
ReplyDeleteIt took me quite a while to track down Piccadilly Jim. It was disappointing once I did to not really like it very much. A great cast but the story didn't work for me.
Damsel in Distress isn't top flight Astaire but is still a pleasant trifle and Gracie Allen makes anything better. Poor Joan Fontaine tries but that's the problem she has to TRY to make her part work, and the girl was no dancer.
A bunch of ways to go with this so I decided to do a theme within the theme by using three adaptations that star Robert Redford.
All the President’s Men (1976)-Near perfect adaptation of the Woodward/Bernstein book of the same name that details how the two dogged reporters methodically uncovered the Watergate coverup and brought to light the corruption that led to the fall of Nixon’s presidency. A phenomenal cast in every role headed by Robert Redford as Bob Woodward and Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein. Jason Robards won a Best Supporting Actor trophy for his work but equally deserving was the unnominated Hal Holbrook as Deep Throat.
Three Days of the Condor (1975)-Joe Turner (Robert Redford), code name Condor, is a low-level CIA analyst working as a reader in a small NYC office. One rainy day he slips out the back door for lunch and returns to find everyone slaughtered. Panicked he contacts the agency but instead of help finds himself a hunted man. With danger all around he tries to find answers before the mysterious stranger on his trail (Max von Sydow) catches up with him. Adapted from the compulsively readable spy novel “Six Days of the Condor.”
The Great Gatsby (1974)- Young Midwesterner Nick Carraway (Sam Waterston) serves as our guide through the lives of the fabulously rich but mysterious Jay Gatsby (Robert Redford), his former paramour Daisy (Mia Farrow) now married to intractable Tom Buchanan (Bruce Dern) and the others in their sphere. Gatsby still yearns from Daisy and that triangle will lead to tragedy. Gorgeous looking but sterile adaptation of the difficult to translate F. Scott Fitzgerald masterpiece is all surface with a few good performances (Dern, Waterson, Karen Black as the ill-fated Myrtle) but a surprisingly bland one from Redford and the total miscasting of Mia Farrow in the key role of Daisy.
I haven't seen the other two versions of "Seven Keys to Baldpate" yet, I need to see them sometime.
DeleteI thought "Piccadilly Jim" was pretty fun, but I can understand you not liking it, I think most of my family thought it was boring.
I liked Joan Fontaine in "A Damsel in Distress," but she wasn't a dancer, and the movie probably would of been better if they had somebody who could dance.
I haven't seen any of the movies you mentioned, but they look interesting. :)
These are all new to me! I haven't seen any of them.
ReplyDeleteThey're fun movies, especially "A Damsel in Distress." :)
DeleteI have not seen the first 2 but I enjoyed Damsel in Distress even if it is not a top Astaire film but it has Burns and Allen which is fun to watch. Joan F9ntaines looks like she is wearing cement goulashes when dancing. Poor her and Astaire trying to make their dance numbers work.
ReplyDeleteI liked Joan Fontaine in "A Damsel in Distress," but she wasn't a dancer, and if they had somebody who could dance it would of been better. :)
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