Sometimes they get it right. But it’s rare when a film equals or surpasses the story that it’s taken from. We’ve got pretty good imaginations, most of us, and when we read the words we invariably create our own mental movies.
There are some movies that meet with critic’s approval and have little to do with the original story. I’m thinking about that adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining. Stanley Kubrick brought his own take to that one, and it hardly resembled the book. On the other side of that one, I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey and had to go buy the book to figure out what it was that I had just watched.
I’m not sure it cleared it up for me.
Fans of the Lee Child action hero Jack Reacher were up in arms when it was announced that Tom Cruise would play the part. That was a tough call for me, too. I’m a Reacher fan, but I’m a Cruise fan as well. I kept an open mind and enjoyed the movie, even though Reacher in the books looks nothing like Tom Cruise.
There’s that mental image thing, again. In my imagination, Reacher is more of a handsome gorilla, if there can be such a thing. I figure that is the only way he can always win the fights and still impress the ladies.
Many of the characters from the Charles Dickens novels have been given the illustrator’s touch. Not always to the advantage of the story. Every time I think of A Christmas Carol, I envision Ebenezer Scrooge being played by Mister Magoo. I suppose I saw that cartoon a few times too many.
But, then – I’m a Dickens fan.
That’s why I had to thumb through another estate sale purchase, a small book put together by Mary Angela Dickens – a granddaughter of the original. Somehow, she reduced David Copperfield (and others) to a dozen pages or so in her 1893 retelling of her grandfather’s stories in Children’s Stories from Dickens.
Harold Copping did the artwork, and being a fan of all things illustrated, I couldn’t help thumbing through the pages. I was pleased to see the color plates that were included in my much-later reprint copy.
And, how about that? Mr. Peggotty, the adopted father-figure of Little Em’ly, looks just as I had imagined him. I’m a particular fan of Copperfield, possibly because Dickens confessed that it was his own favorite, but probably because I had such an enjoyable time reading it and discovering its many memorable characters.
Mr. Peggoty lives in a house that was originally a boat. Works at the seashore and is comfortable with everything marine, as is young and excitable Ham.
“Well said, Master Davy, bor!” cried Ham, delighted. “Hoorah, well said! No more you wouldn’t, bor bor!” returning Mr. Peggotty’s backhander, while little Em’ly got up and kissed her uncle.
Now there is some ACTION.
(In retrospect, it may well be the stuff people hate just as much as I love. Go figure.)
A signed copy of a limited edition of Children’s Stories was owned by Eleanor Roosevelt and brought over $1,500 at an auction about a dozen years ago.
You can bring Ham and Mr. Peggotty home in this version for under five bucks. Same words. Same illustrations.
No autograph, though.
Come visit!
McHuston
Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main St. Broken Arrow OK!