Set film adaptions in the period they were written!

[Kirk H.]

Spot on Kirk! That's another great adaption set in the appropriate period.

Okay so I will bring it up as I was thinking of it today, The Indiana Jones trilogy, while not adapted from anything in particular, were faithful recreations of the 1930s serials. With an emphasis on The Temple of Doom, because the pulps were violent and dark, I don't need to go into the congressional hearings and all but I still love Temple of Doom as a great pulp masterpiece!

Mr. Vinn, you are so right on the Temple of Doom. Even the character of the evil high priest reminded me a little of Boris Karloff. It is a great series of films.

Regards

Kirk H.

 

[Leesensei]

I happened to work in a comic book store at the time that the Doc Savage film was being released in the US. It was a very limited release in theaters and when it did not perform well it was relegated to direct-to-video. It never received a wide release. (Just a little trivia for you!)

Was there even such a thing as "direct to video" back in 1975? I think the VHS days were a little later, and the concept of releasing movies direct to video did not really appear until the eighties? Still, you may be right about the Doc Savage movie not getting that wide of a release. It certainly was not a hit by any stretch of the imagination and did not stay in the theaters long.

 

[Atomic Age]

Was there even such a thing as "direct to video" back in 1975? I think the VHS days were a little later, and the concept of releasing movies direct to video did not really appear until the eighties? Still, you may be right about the Doc Savage movie not getting that wide of a release. It certainly was not a hit by any stretch of the imagination and did not stay in the theaters long.

Magnetic Video release the first pre-recorded movie on home video (VHS and Beta), MASH, in 1978. It was quickly followed by other titles from 20th Century Fox. Laserdisc appeared in late 1978. The format was partly owned by MCA, and as a result most of the early titles were from Universal, the first being Jaws.

Doug

 

[Mr Vim]

Ukali,

That's an interesting theory, why do you think they fall flat?

And thanks Kirk.

 

[ukali1066]

It's just to me a world that is locked in that medium, bringing real humans into it just doesn't work I think.... no matter how good the CGI is nowadays....

Now an entirely CGI film could work, look at the in game movies in the Marvel Ultimate Alliance game.....

 

[Mr Vim]

Ukali you just reminded me of yet another film, not based on any specific story but still brilliant in as an era piece, and completely computer animated, The Incredibles. That film had everything, great design, superheroes, great music, superheroes.

 

[Fletch]

You all have me wondering how a movieization of The Spirit might have come off if Frank Miller hadn't gotten his mitts on it. Would it have been best along the lines of Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy - taking place in a live-action but determinedly cartoony mise-en-scène? Or should it have been entirely cartoon, the better to bring Will Eisner's peculiar graphic vision to life?

I'm thinking cartoon, plus noir, plus comedy. With really great music. I dunno how to handle Ebony, though. Could we turn him into a talking kitty cat?

 

[Mr Vim]

Oh Fletch, the Spirit, that movie hurt me to the core, I love Eisner's work... and Miller dumped all over it.

That's a good point though, lets get Warren Beatty to direct that!

 

[Edward]

There is so much truth to that. It's an interesting observation that points to the question of Why can animation go to the heart of such a story and not be constrained by present day expectations as to good and evil. It is sort of being unencumbered by limits as to the suspend disbelief in some aspects. I am reminded of how cowboy films of the 1930's had a straight forward approach with no gratuitous violence or sexual connotations.

Well, they also cut out an awful lot of the truth of the Old West that really should not have been.... The whole "Whitey good, Indian bad" thang bugs me too much to be able to enjoy those.

Which is what happened to Batman, as he was portrayed by Adam West on the 1960s TV program.

That show put me off Batman for years on end.

Speaking of Marvel/DC film adaptations...I just think it's impossible to capture a comic hero/heroes with real people.....it falls flat on so many levels

I wouldn't be so dogmatic. It certainly is difficult. Go too faithful to what works on the page, and it looks ridiculous - see, for example, the Eighties Captain America film, or, indeed, Dick Tracey. On the other hand, play about with the look too much and it goes awry too. For that, see Judge Dredd. Not a bad film: the Mega-City 1 was fantastic, and Mean Angel was beautifully rendered, but Stallone (apart from being badly miscast) should never have been allowed to have been seen without his helmet. It's like Clark Kent not wearing glasses..... When they get it right, though, it sure is right. The X Men franchise, including the Wolverine: Origins outing, did really well. Changed just enough, looked great, great films. (I was also amused, though, that they appeared to switch Wolvie's sides in the Civil War to suit modern tastes). Watchmen was beautifully rendered onscreen (and I actually think far superior in what they did than was the squid in the original).

I happened to work in a comic book store at the time that the Doc Savage film was being released in the US. It was a very limited release in theaters and when it did not perform well it was relegated to direct-to-video. It never received a wide release. (Just a little trivia for you!)

Did ever you encounter something called Doc Savage and the Green Death? I saw a film on TV one night about thirty years ago, it was a Doc Savage film (the only time I have personally encountered the character). Thirties set, very dieselpunk (long before the term was invented). I remember enjoying it a lot.

It's just to me a world that is locked in that medium, bringing real humans into it just doesn't work I think.... no matter how good the CGI is nowadays....

Now an entirely CGI film could work, look at the in game movies in the Marvel Ultimate Alliance game.....

I've long thought that would work well for Dredd - it would also mean they could cover the younger Dredd stories but still cast Clint Eastwood (the only person I can think of who is perfect for the role.... bearing in mind Dredd was based on Dirty Harry to begin with). The big problem has been that for years Western culture has written animation off as "for kids", though with something like Beowulf exploiting CGI in a very adult form, I think that shows what is possible and that it could find an audience.

You all have me wondering how a movieization of The Spirit might have come off if Frank Miller hadn't gotten his mitts on it. Would it have been best along the lines of Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy - taking place in a live-action but determinedly cartoony mise-en-scène? Or should it have been entirely cartoon, the better to bring Will Eisner's peculiar graphic vision to life?

I'm thinking cartoon, plus noir, plus comedy. With really great music. I dunno how to handle Ebony, though. Could we turn him into a talking kitty cat?

I must be the only person here that enjoyed that film. That said, I have never had any experience of the original, so no dashed expectations.

 

[Mr Vim]

Edward, hearing that you also loathe the old Captain America film, what then is your opinion of this new film? Just curious.

On another subject of adapations, this new Mildred Pierce HBO series, now it's an adaption, it's set in an era, but it's also a remake, I saw the old film the other day at the video store... so what are we to make of this? A remake of an adaption... that is more accurate? It certainly has more sex in the series than the classic I'm sure, that's all my female friends are talking about. They hardly seem to notice it is an era piece until I pointed that out. Wonders never cease.

 

[John in Covina]

You all have me wondering how a movieization of The Spirit might have come off if Frank Miller hadn't gotten his mitts on it. Would it have been best along the lines of Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy - taking place in a live-action but determinedly cartoony mise-en-scène? Or should it have been entirely cartoon, the better to bring Will Eisner's peculiar graphic vision to life? I'm thinking cartoon, plus noir, plus comedy. With really great music. I dunno how to handle Ebony, though. Could we turn him into a talking kitty cat?

The Spirit is the most uneven film I have seen in a long time. Samuel Jackson's portrayal was really bothersome. But in between the nonsense some of it was good -for short moments.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

The adaptation of period stories to a modern contemporary setting goes back to the early days of motion pictures. Erich von Stroheim's 1924 silent epic Greed was based on Frank Norris's 1899 novel McTeague, and though it was von Stroheim's cherished dream to faithfully translate McTeague to the screen "down to the last comma", the film was set between 1918 and 1923 even though -- despite the 1906 earthquake -- the 1890s still could have been easily recreated in the San Francisco of 1923-24.