Post by RS Davis on Oct 5, 2006 22:52:10 GMT -5
'School for Scoundrels' is the latest example of modern movies reinventing classic literature. Here are other favorites ...
By Tom Keogh
Special to MSN Movies
Want to make a movie but lack inspiration for a story? Hey, do what William Shakespeare did for a lot of his plays: Borrow a plot from a classic source.
However, where the Bard of Avon had seminal biographer Plutarch's writings (with their emphasis on character) to draw upon for some of his Greek- and Roman-derived dramas and comedies, today's filmmakers have, well, Shakespeare himself to update.
Many have. His work has inspired more contemporary movie versions than any other author in the pantheon of great literature. "Macbeth" has twice been turned into a gangster flick ("Joe MacBeth," "Men of Respect"), "Romeo and Juliet" famously became a musical ("West Side Story") and "King Lear" has been reincarnated into many things, including a Liverpool crime drama ("My Kingdom") and a Samurai movie ("Ran").
What about other writers? Just for starters, there's a lot to be said for a recent Bollywood take on Jane Austen ("Bride & Prejudice"); an American family melodrama set in 1931 and based on Charles Dickens' "Dombey and Son" ("Rich Man's Folly"); and a Herman Melville story reimagined as a nutty corporate drama-comedy ("Bartleby").
It's great fun discovering, inside a movie full of miniskirts, Glock pistols or cell phones, the matrix of some piece of classic lit one read in high school or college.
So, with the upcoming release of a new Jon Heder ("Napoleon Dynamite") vehicle called "School for Scoundrels," a U.S. remake of a 1960 British comedy based on popular books by Stephen Potter, now is a good time to look back at some of the best cinematic updates of enduringly good prose.
What are your favorite lit-to-movies reincarnations? Write us at heymsn@microsoft.com
Tom Keogh reviews films for the Seattle Times. He lives in Edmonds, Wash.
By Tom Keogh
Special to MSN Movies
Want to make a movie but lack inspiration for a story? Hey, do what William Shakespeare did for a lot of his plays: Borrow a plot from a classic source.
However, where the Bard of Avon had seminal biographer Plutarch's writings (with their emphasis on character) to draw upon for some of his Greek- and Roman-derived dramas and comedies, today's filmmakers have, well, Shakespeare himself to update.
Many have. His work has inspired more contemporary movie versions than any other author in the pantheon of great literature. "Macbeth" has twice been turned into a gangster flick ("Joe MacBeth," "Men of Respect"), "Romeo and Juliet" famously became a musical ("West Side Story") and "King Lear" has been reincarnated into many things, including a Liverpool crime drama ("My Kingdom") and a Samurai movie ("Ran").
What about other writers? Just for starters, there's a lot to be said for a recent Bollywood take on Jane Austen ("Bride & Prejudice"); an American family melodrama set in 1931 and based on Charles Dickens' "Dombey and Son" ("Rich Man's Folly"); and a Herman Melville story reimagined as a nutty corporate drama-comedy ("Bartleby").
It's great fun discovering, inside a movie full of miniskirts, Glock pistols or cell phones, the matrix of some piece of classic lit one read in high school or college.
So, with the upcoming release of a new Jon Heder ("Napoleon Dynamite") vehicle called "School for Scoundrels," a U.S. remake of a 1960 British comedy based on popular books by Stephen Potter, now is a good time to look back at some of the best cinematic updates of enduringly good prose.
What are your favorite lit-to-movies reincarnations? Write us at heymsn@microsoft.com
Tom Keogh reviews films for the Seattle Times. He lives in Edmonds, Wash.
