Classics for Beginners discussion

Many classics have movie, tv and stage adaptions. Artwork including books covers are created and other works, maybe a song, website or a poster. If you have any opinions good or bad about classics in media other than the novel/poem/play itself tell us here.

I watched the recent Jane Eyre movie and it was a lot better than I expected, I would highly recommend to Bronte lovers.

I have also recently been watching a few movie adaptions of Hamlet including a fab one with David Tennent in and another with another guy, I think he is called Keith Brenner (not sure of name, he plays Guilderoy Lockheart in Harry Potter), and the same cast did a tape recording too which is pretty decent.

Kenneth Brannaugh is a highly renowned Shakespearean actor. He has translated a number of the bard's plays to the big screen. I particularly loved Much Ado About Nothing and Henry V

Ah yes, that's the guy. He is really quite good, though I only know him as Hamlet.

I would have to recommend that you watch the old version of Great Expectations. Also the version of The Scarlet Pimpernell with Ian McKellen is great to watch. If you want versions of classics such as Pride and Prejudice or Little Women stick to the BBC versions as I have seen and recommend them highly. I also admit that though I haven't read Anne of Green Gables I have see the old version of it a few times and it is very well made.

Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit as modern classics have tons of material in the media. Same with Narnia.

The Scarlet Pimpernel staring Burt Lancaster is one of my mother's favorite movies.

To go outside of the box, I'd say that the Made for TV mini-series for Gulivers Travels staring Ted Dansing, was not a bad representation of the books given other attempts that I've seen.

I'd bet that Jack Black's version might also be closer in spirit to the book, but any coelation with the book will most likely be lost in slap stick humor that inevitably would dull any point.

I have recently watched the Jack Black version and though I haven't read the book, I imagine it would be very much like it, except the modern take.

I am in love with penguin book covers such as:
http://www.penguinclassics.co.uk/stat...

Nicolle wrote: "I have recently watched the Jack Black version and though I haven't read the book, I imagine it would be very much like it, except the modern take.

I am in love with penguin book covers such as:..."

I haven't seen those before. They're really cool. Thanks for sharing!

It's ok. I am so obsessed with those. I need to start a nice collection of classics. All mine are sencond hand or have been borrowed from the library.

I'm trying to stay positive, but I can't help thinking of the damage Disney has done to classic works with their watered down interpretatoins made for children. I mean, even the book of Grimm's Fairytales paints a much darker picture of Cinderella and Rapunzel than would ever be appropriate for children, yet later movies that try to capture it's essense in an adult way, is still seen as a jazzed up version of a children's story.

Okay, I've ranted... I'll calm down now and look for more positive things. (and for the record, Disney also does a service by exposing children to an age appropriate taste of the classics so that they may be more interested later. I may be blaming the tool here.)

The USA Network's Production of Mobey Dick, another mini-series, staring Robert Mitchum in a cameo role (he played Ahab in an earlier movie) turned out to be pretty good.

I'd also point out that the original film version of "To Kill a Mocking Bird" is still a wonderfully good movie, even if it strayed from the book and is a black and white production.

Hugh The Curmudgeon wrote: "I'd also point out that the original film version of "To Kill a Mocking Bird" is still a wonderfully good movie, even if it strayed from the book and is a black and white production."

The Gregory Peck one? That's a very good production. Also there's a play called Twelve Angry Men with a similar black and white production I must recommend.

In reply to Nicolle. I was cleaning my room today to make space for all my books and it was so good to arrange some of the few classics I own neatly.

I must similarly add that I learned the tales of the classics before I saw the Disney versions. I've generally been someone who's read the book then seen the film... Even as a five year old child. I think some of the earliest classics I read then were The Little Mermaid and Cinderella for example.

Jonathan wrote: "Hugh The Curmudgeon wrote: "I'd also point out that the original film version of "To Kill a Mocking Bird" is still a wonderfully good movie, even if it strayed from the book and is a black and whi..."


YES! 12 Angry Men, great movie and story.

And your right, I may have gotten Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck mixed up. I don't know why, but I do that sometimes.

Is 12 Angry Men a film about guys on a jury? If it is I think I watched 5 minutes of it in psychology to demonstrate how a minority influence can have an effect on a juror's verdict. I didn't know that it was origionally a play, though I did know it was fiction.

I am aiming to buy myself at least one fancy classic every year. I am very tempted by cloth bound books. I think I will also hint to people that I am expanding my classics library around birthdays and christmas time. :P I'm jealous Jonathan!

To be honest I didn't know that most fo the disney films are classic literature. I didn't even give a moment's thought that it may be from books.

I see what you're saying about cinderella and all the 'fairytales' but I think it is just an alternative. Panto goes waaay back and are pretty much dominated by fairy tale stories, but these were used as 'pick-me-ups' when things weren't so great.

yes, Twelve angry men was about twelve men on a jury and, I think, it was Henry Fonda with the lead role in the movie. this is one of my favorites. I can imagine it works well as a lesson for "group think" and mob mentality. you should see it all. its a wonderful movie and, again I think, its a novel or short story by someone important.

I think I will watch it :) thanks for telling me about it.

I studied it this year again. It's Henry Fonda who stars in it and it's an original screenplay/drama by Reginald Rose. Very good at analyzing how peer pressure works upon various people; how the justice system works; and also how various biased opinions influence viewpoints on issues. The last in particular interested me as I've seen many bigoted opinions influencing people's viewpoints in wrong ways...

I tried to hint to my parents that I was expanding my classics library. However I'm more likely to get other things from them and money from my friends. The next to get/read is Jane Eyre. The problem is I always see books and films (often linked) that I want to buy and I never have the money for them at the time... And there are so many cheap classics around for me to buy too.

Speaking of classics another classic play turned into a film that comes to mind is A Streetcar Named Desire with Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh. Very, very good acting.

Stellaaaaah! (Yes, and it is wonderful to see that Vivien Leigh did more than one movie that was remarkable. Everyone thinks her career was Gone With the Wind.)

On that light, the Glass Menagerie staring Kirk Douglass is pretty good to. "All those Gentlemen callers."

I first have to add my thumbs up to Kenneth Branagh I think he is a wonderful actor.

Another actor from Harry Potter is Alan Rickman it took me a while when watching a film of Sense & Sensibility to get over that, as I kept thinking, that is Prof Snape.

On Austin I have to say I still love the mid 90s BBC dramatisation of Pride & Prejudice, the Colin Firth one. I liked the most recent Pride & Prejudice film particularly Matthew Macfadyen he is easy on the eye, but I also liked the way he plays Darcy's struggle to articulate. However back to the BBC P&P what I loved was that as a 6 part adaptation they had time to follow the ups and downs of the story and didn’t have to just cut and simplify everything.

Pamela wrote: "I first have to add my thumbs up to Kenneth Branagh I think he is a wonderful actor.

Another actor from Harry Potter is Alan Rickman it took me a while when watching a film of Sense & Sensibilit..."


Alan Rickman is one of the best players of Villains in a long time (not that Snape is Villain, but his easy to misunderstand).

I loved him in another movie of a Classic (one that is okay by script but the casting of the lead was... really questionable) Kevin Costner's Robin Hood. Rickman stole the show as the Sherrif of Nottingham.

For some reason I see him when I think of Winston Smith in 1984, but I don't think he's done that movie.

Hugh The Curmudgeon wrote: "Alan Rickman is one of the best players of Villains in a long time (not that Snape is Villain, but his easy to misunderstand)."

He is terrific as an actor, I could see him as Winston, that could be a great film!

I loved and hated him (for emotionally cheating) in Love Actually. - Sorry I know that isn't a adaptation of a classic either. I am sure he has been in more classics but I just can't think what.

I agree with the Love Actually comment. He was a total cheat in that!

I think Jurrassic Park (i.e. The Lost World) and Peter Pan movies (there are quite a few) are great family movies, though I haven't read either (though I do own both).

Desiree wrote: "Which movie version is the best for Mansfield Park and Great Expectations? So many to pick from."

I watched both the 2011 BBC TV production of Great Expectations, and the 1946 version with John Mills as Pip last week; I preferred the 1946 version, which David Lean directed. Jean Simmons as the young Estella is superb.

As for Mansfield Park, I have a 2007 TV version starring Billy Piper, but I would not recommend it.

Pamela wrote: "On Austin I have to say I still love the mid 90s BBC dramatisation of Pride & Prejudice, the Colin Firth one.

I agree it is quite excellent.

At Nicolle the books for Jurassic Park are excellent reading if you like the genre he writes in. Kind of sci-fi thriller with less thrill than some.

Yes I agree the David Lean Great Expectations is also far superior to modern versions.

If you want to talk about a classic film just in terms of its quality as a film then you cannot go past On the Waterfront. Again it is black and white but it has such amazing acting. Another classic adaptation that comes to mind is of course The Wizard of Oz which I've seen too many times to count.

I happen to be in the Nachitoches Little Theater Production of the Wizard of Oz. I was in the 4th grade and cast as "The Mayor of Munchkin City (in the County of the Land of Oz)." I'm sure that was a good multi-media experience for everyone back in the days of President Gerald R. Ford's term in the Whitehouse.

(B-{D>

Jonathan wrote: "On the Waterfront.Again it is black and white but it has such amazing acting. Another classic adaptation that comes to mind is of course The Wizard of Oz which I've seen too many times to count."

Thanks for the tip I will check out On the Waterfront.

I haven't seen the Wizard of Oz since I was a child but i do think I wore out the tape.

I have never read the book and had no idea until a few months ago when it came up in conversation it was actually, at least, considered a economic/political commentary on America at the end of the 19th Centaury. I would be quite keen to read it at some point to see if that comes across.

Have you read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz?

All I know is that there is a reason that they fall asleep and wake up in a feild of "Poppies...poppies....poppies" That's what you get opium and heroin from.

(1920s, there was a heroine use epidemic that really started about the time of the U.S. Civil War. 20,000,000 addicts (which was a large section of the population.)

Yeah I've read the book and several others. But that was when I didn't think of it as being so much a commentary but I think subconsciously I picked up some of those elements. I mean the wizard who kind of tells everyone he can get them what he wants, sends them off on a quest to kill the witch and then tells them all he can't give them what they want because they've already got it?

And yes On the Waterfront is brilliant. I was told to watch it for school but then we didn't end up doing anything on it. However I still enjoyed it regardless and feel everyone else missed out.

Little Women has been remade many times. Has anyone seen the 1970's TV one with Eve Plum (Jan Brady) as Beth and William Shattner (The Shat!!!) as Professor Bhaer? It could be the worst thing I've ever seen!

Wow, I can't even imagine Eve Plum and William Shattner in those roles. I'm going to see if Netflix has it. :)

I'm sorry, I realize now that I have been dreaming and I need to wake up. William Shatner and Eve Plumb in "Little Women?" (is it safe to let "the Shat" around "little women?") EGAD, MAN, I've gone through the looking glass!

So before I wake up, let me throw this out...

I'm currenty reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. For the longest time I questioned the validity of the Walt Disney version of this, with David Niven(?), Kirk Douglas as Ned Land and Peter Lorry (sp) as Consiel.

I'd made it through about 40% of the book and already floundering in the wash of clinical and very sanitary details (names of critters more than visuals) when out of nowhere the three characters suddenly started showing some personality. It was refreshing and, other than Peter Lorry's age (sp) I've come to the conclusion that they were very well cast and written for as matching up characters. the Timeline and events in the book, not so much... but hey, that's something right?

Score one for Disney.

I really like Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea as a book but I haven't seen the film version.

Speaking of classics which become totally transformed in the media: recently The Three Musketeers and Sherlock Holmes for one. I like the Holmes updates but not so sure about the various films available for the musketeers.

I'm an old guy, so the version with Michael York, Oliver Reed and Richard Chamberlin and Raquel Welch (as Constance) Faye Dunaway (as Madame DeWinter). Both the Three Musketeers and the Four Musketeers.

As for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, it was Paul Lukas as the Professor, not David Niven. The movie came out in 1954.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20,000_L...

Oh I love the Three Musketeers with Michael York! Also, speaking of the SHAT! I'm currently watching Judgement in Nuremburg with my son and the SHAT is in there also. He is just in everything, isn't he? :)

I saw that there is a film of Anna Karenina being released soon. I think that Romeo and Juliet is also currently in the cinema.

And isn't David Tennant doing some more Shakespeare stage acting too? There's another example of media and classics combining.

This year a lot of movies from classic books r being released. there's Great Expectations with Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham, she was the quitessential image even as i was reading the book, but i read somewhere that they plan to change the ending, not very excited about that.
there's also Anna Karenina coming in November with director Joe Wright (atonement and pride and prejudice 2005), i like his movies (even if a lot of people were annoyed with the new Pride adaptation) so i'm interested to c this after i hopefully read the book this summer.
There's Les Miserables in December with director Tom Hooper (the King's Speech) and many known actors. Also in December is The Great Gatsby with Leonardo Dicaprio and Carey Mulligan. There's also The Raven where i think John Cusack is playing Edgar Allan Poe in April, there's also a project of Bell Jar in development with Julia Stiles as Esther, though i don't think they plan it for 2012.....what did i forget? Oh! also...The Hobbit!!!

The Hobbit, Great Expectations, Les Mis and Great Gatsby are all of interest to me. But The Hobbit most of all. I'll probably wait for the dvds of the other films.

A new PBS Masterpiece theater version of Great Expectations will be on April 1. I'm DVRing it because I have to always read the book first! Jonathan, I'm with you on The Hobbit. I cannot wait for that to come out! :)

It's been a childhood dream of mine to see a Hobbit film. So I'm very much looking forward to it.

Hi, I'd have posted sooner, but I'm still trying to get my head around John Cusack as E.A. Poe.

You know, I think he can pull that off. Just when I was thinking of him as having run his course as the quintessential Loyd Dobber-geek supreme, he stared across from James Spader and the late but very great Richard Widmark as a devious villain in True Colors. Not to mention taking on an action role in Con-Air. I bet that'll be pretty good.

The reviews of The Raven weren't that good that I saw. Still you never know with reviewers whether they know a good film or not. Some films I loved have been absolutely canned.

there's plenty of movies that i feel everyone has seen except for me, for instance To Kill a Mockingbird, Audrey Hepborn's Breakfast at Tiffany's, all of the BBC or PBS productions, Gone with the Wind, Doctor Zhivago, a Room with a View....

Namida... wrote: "there's plenty of movies that i feel everyone has seen except for me, for instance To Kill a Mockingbird, Audrey Hepborn's Breakfast at Tiffany's, all of the BBC or PBS productions, Gone with the W..."

I agree, I am really lacking the the film department. I want to see al those plus The Colour Purple, A Clockwork Orange, Wuthering Heights, Romeo and Juliet...I could go on as there are so many!

Nicolle wrote: "Namida... wrote: "there's plenty of movies that i feel everyone has seen except for me, for instance To Kill a Mockingbird, Audrey Hepborn's Breakfast at Tiffany's, all of the BBC or PBS production..."

i haven't seen those too except for romeo and juliet (the Claire Danes one), i seem to always miss Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche's Wuthering Heights as well, it is so frustrating...

I am going to catch up on all these in the next few months I think...will post as I watch my opinions.

This post has been moved from the thread 'Masthead'.
Melissa Jeanette wrote: "I thought there was a thread somewhere about artistic books covers, but I can't find it. I saw this link today with new classic book covers, and I thought some people might like it, so I'll add it here
http://www.designworklife.com/2012/09... "

I absolutely love these covers!! <3

Yeah, those are beautiful, especially Pride and Prejudice and Madame Bovary. Thanks for the link, Melissa.

Just to add to discussion here. Has anyone ever noticed how often classics are referenced/alluded to in popular culture? For instance many 'clichéd expressions' are Shakespearian in origin. You'll often have newspaper titles drawing allusion to classics like Brave New World or Pride and Prejudice. And contemporary books themselves love to quote classics and have characters in them read those books (sometimes that's how I decide to read a classic). I was wondering if anyone had any specific examples.