Books on Film: Pygmalion

You know how they say that no matter what you write, it's all been done before? They're 100% correct. Pygmalion, you will find, is a plot line that still appears in modern story all the time...and it was written two thousand years ago.

The Book

Chances are pretty good that no matter what you want to write about, your main theme was already written into a play by the Greeks, or Shakespeare, and likely both. Such is the case with Pygmalion, which revolves around a now-classic plot. It appears as one in a series of epic poems written by Ovid back in BC. In this early version, it's about a sculptor who falls in love with his own creation.

I can relate to that. Don't all writers fall in love with certain books, certain characters, maybe even just a paragraph? In the story, the sculptor (he's the title character) takes his love to the alter of Venus, and she is transformed into flesh. It ends happily.

And it's a familiar theme. Remember Pinocchio?

Pygmalion is better-known to modern audiences in a different version, however. George Bernard Shaw turned it into a play in 1912, and he set the story in then-modern London. The story revolves around phonetics professor Henry Higgins (he's Pygmalion under an anglicized name), who makes a bet that he can turn a guttersnipe of a Cockney flower girl into someone who will pass for a duchess at a fancy party.

It's a bet that's just too thrilling to turn down, and soon the game is afoot. Higgins will teach the flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, how to speak properly -- like the finest of English ladies. The play is a joy to read, but only if you do so out loud. Eliza's broad Cockney speech is recaptured in words you have to speak to understand. Do it the right way, and you'll learn how to speak proper Cockney.

Higgins does win the bet, and in the original version of the play Eliza finds her own strength and leaves him. George Bernard Shaw said this was the statue coming to life -- Eliza would stand without Higgins, and on her own. But the story was written for the stage, and audiences wanted the happy ending. Directors began to change Shaw's ending, sending Eliza back to Higgins at the end of the story instead. Shaw spent years fighting for the integrity of the original story.

Shaw wrote his version of the story for entertainment, and it's good stuff. So when entertainment evolved, the story was adapted...though, not much.

The Films

Pygmalion became a film in 1938 with Wendy Hiller starring as Eliza Doolittle. Shaw was involved with the production, which very closely follows his play. A ball scene is added, along with a few other smaller scenes, to lengthen the story. It's a very English production with very English actors, and perhaps that's the best way to view it. This version of the story contains the play's most famous line: "Walk? Not bloody likely!"

Trust me, it was extremely controversial at the time. The stage actress who first said it was known for having said it for the rest of her days, and Wendy Hiller similarly raised eyebrows when she screeched it in the film version. But the ending was tweaked a little. Eliza leaves with Freddy, but returns to Higgins in the end...though in what capacity she's returning is left very unclear. The 1938 adaptation of Pygmalion was nominated for several awards, including Writing, Best Actor and Best Actress.

But I urge you to opt for the 1964 version instead, or at least watch both. When the story was adapted for the big screen again, it became a comedic musical...starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. My Fair Lady is one of the best musicals ever made, and my personal favorite. 

The film is technically an adaptation of an adaptation. Lerner and Loewe used Shaw's play to craft their stage musical, and this is where we get the score and the film version of My Fair Lady. The role of Eliza Doolittle was played by Julie Andrews on the Broadway stage, and New York fans wanted her for the movie. But it was to be a big-budget MGM production, and the studio wasn't about to go with an untested star who, at that time, had not been in a single film. They chose Audry Hepburn instead...and Julie Andrews was drafted by Disney to star in their big musical, Mary Poppins.

What followed is Hollywood legend. Audrey Hepburn worked hard to play Eliza, mastering several different dialects and painstakingly recording each and every number (the entire 170-minute film is chock-full of them). Rex Harrison, who could not sing, played his part with so much vigor and flair it earned him an Academy Award. How good was he in the role? He played the part on Broadway, and legend has it that when Cary Grant was asked to play Professor Higgins on film he said "I won't be in the movie. I won't even go see the movie if Rex Harrison isn't in it." 

My Fair Lady also earned Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director, and practically swept the Academy Awards that year to earn a whopping 8. It did not receive a nod for the Best Actress category, despite Hepburn's hard work. That Oscar was won by Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins. Hepburn wasn't nominated...because she was purposefully snubbed.

After Audrey Hepburn recorded all her songs for the role of Eliza, those involved in the film decided that her voice wasn't good enough. Veteran movie singer Marni Nixon was selected to re-sing all the songs but "Just You Wait," a tune where Hepburn's harsher chorus worked just fine. Nixon's voice was also dubbed into The King and I, starring Deborah Kerr, and West Side Story for Natalie Wood. The Academy Awards wasn't impressed that Audrey's singing voice wasn't a part of the film, and she was completely ignored that year in favor of Andrews.

Pygmalion was made into a film again in 1999, this time without the music, to become the teen flick She's All That. The poorly-named comedy is fairly cute, but it's a pretty big departure from the original.

What Got Adapted?

 Musical numbers notwithstanding, My Fair Lady is a pretty faithful adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. The ambiguous ending closely echoes Shaws, and Rex Harrison is wonderful in his final number. A few things are expanded (like Eliza's learning scenes and the big ball), but they add onto the original story instead of changing it. If you haven't seen it, shame on you. My Fair Lady is an absolute must-watch.

Books on Film: Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair is considered a classic, but don't assume that means it's boring. It was originally written as a comedy, and it features one of the most famously conniving characters in literature. Many authors have been inspired by William Makepeace Thackeray's famous anti-heroine, Becky Sharp.

The Book

Written in 1848, Vanity Fair takes place in the first half of the 1800s. At the beginning, we find Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley, two friends who have attended Miss Pinkerton's Academy for Young Ladies together. They're leaving school to go to Amelia's house.

It's a bit of a strange friendship. Becky Sharp matches her name: she thinks quickly, and she's ambitious. Amelia, by contrast, is simple and sweet. Upon arriving at the Sedley home, Becky meets Captain George Osborne. He and Amelia have been engaged since they were children. Joseph, Amelia's brother, is also here.

Becky attempts to woo the brother, but it all falls apart. Some of it is due to the meddling of Osborne, who warns him away, and the fact that Sedley's as sweet and simple as his sister -- he can't even tell when a pretty girl is flirting with him.

With no marriage proposals in the offing, Becky has to find some means of employment. She begins to work for Sit Pitt Crawley as a governess to his children. Becky endears herself to the grumpy old man, and he proposes to her after his wife dies.

It's too late. Becky's been hard at work behind the scenes of the Crawley home, and she's already secretly married to Crawley's handsome second son Rawdon. He's the favored relative of a very rich aunt, Sir Pitt's sister. But instead of being happy about the marriage, as Becky had hoped, the old woman is infuriated. She disinherits Rawdon. 

Meanwhile, Amelia's life hasn't worked out as planned. The Sedleys have fallen on financial hard times, and their ties with the Osborune family are strained. Amelia's engagement to George is broken by the Osborne family. George, however, is goaded into marrying her anyway by his friend Dobbin, who believes in honor. George is disinherited as a result.

And in the background, the Napoleonic Wars are beginning. Osborne and Dobbin are sent to Brussels. On their way to deployment, the pair run into Becky and Rawdon. George makes advances toward Becky, who flirts back. George slips her a note telling her to run away with him.

He goes to Waterloo the next day. Becky tries to spend time with Amelia, but she's angry because George is attracted to her friend. George dies in the famous battle, shortly before Amelia gives birth to their son. She names him George and goes to live with her parents. Dobbin spends his days trying to woo her in very gentle ways, but it's wasted. Amelia is in love with the memory of the man that George never was. Years go by in this fashion, and the rift between her and Becky extends. Dobby eventually leaves and goes to India to get the memory of Amelia out of his head. 

Becky has had a son as well, but she's a very different mother than loving Amelia. She goes to Paris, and London, on her continuing quest to become well-settled and rich. She does this by flirting with various men, climbing them up the social ladder, until she is introduced around London society by the Marquis of Steyne. Becky is even presented to the Prince Regent.

Becky and Rawdon look respectable on the surface, but it's a sham. They're con artists who gamble and cheat to earn money, while Becky collects trinkets from various men and pawns them for extra scratch. She loves credit, especially when she can use it in other people's names. Rawdon is arrested for their debts and bailed out by his sister Lady Jane.

It's rather unfortunate, because Becky didn't expect him back. She's carrying on in a most scandalous manner with the Marquis, only to be caught by Rawdon at a most inopportune moment. He leaves her, of course. After Rawdon challenges the Marquis to a duel, Steyne tells Becky to get out of the UK altogether. She does, but it doesn't matter. Steyne follows her across Europe, destroying her reputation wherever she goes.

After 12 years away, Dobbin finally returns to England. He goes to Amelia and confesses his love, plainly this time, but she turns him down. She's still in love with George, even after all this time. Dobbin takes her and her son George on a trip to Germany along with Joseph Sedley, where they run into Becky Sharp again.

She's destitute, but still charming. She's even capable of enchanting Joseph Sedley despite the fact that she's a hard-core boozer who's lost her singing voice and much of her pretty looks.

At this point, Becky finally does something good. Feeling sorry for Amelia and plainly seeing Dobbin's torment, she shows Amelia the note George gave her all those years ago. Amelia realizes she's been mourning a man who never really existed, and she contacts Dobbin. 

Becky marries Joseph Sedley. After naming her his inheritor, he dies under very suspicious circumstances and at last Becky has what she wanted. Due to the quirks of Fate, Becky's son ends up inheriting the Crawley titles and fortune.

It's a story filled with ups and downs, rich characters and a plot that zigzags throughout Europe. It's a natural choice for any filmmaker. This is evident by the amount of filmmakers who have adapted it.

The Films

Vanity Fair was four different silent films, made in 1911, again in 1915, in 1922 and yet again in 1923. Once talking pictures were invented, everything that was done had to be done again. The first sound version of Vanity Fair was made in 1932 with Myrna Loy, a huge star in her day. This, however, is one of her very early films.

The story was adapted again in 1935, re-titled Becky Sharp this time. Miriam Hopkins was chosen for the title role. This was the very fist feature film shot in full-spectrum Technicolor, so it's very lavish. Her performance was nominated for an Oscar.

Then, Hollywood forgot all about it for awhile. They remembered the story in 2004 and decided to make the movie again. This time, Reese Witherspoon is Becky Sharp. A century has apparently softened Becky; in this version, she's not so much anti-hero as she is victim. 

She also doesn't attend school with Amelia in this version. After leaving school, rather dramatically, Becky rides in a carriage alone to her friend's home. She still meets Joseph and George, along with Dobbin. Becky does go on to be a governess and secretly marries Rawdon, and the pre-Waterloo outing does occur.

But this time around, Becky stays in Brussels to take care of Amelia. The big fight between them does not occur, and their friendship remains intact. Becky looks like a kind and caring friend in this version, lying to Amelia about George's fidelity, in a huge deviation from the Becky of the book. Rawdon is again thrown in debtor's prison, and again catches his wife in the arms of another man.

Becky is indeed in Germany 12 years later, but her circumstances are much improved in this version. For one, she's still beautiful and she has a steady enough job. It's the young George Osborne who finds her in this version of the story. Becky tells Amelia the truth about George, and Amelia goes running to Dobbin once more.

Joseph Sedley marries Becky, and they go off to India together to live happily. In an alternate ending, Becky returns to the Crawley home to find out that her son (Robert Pattinson) has inherited. He shuns her at first, then takes her hand. Pattinson once said that it was Reese Witherspoon who had him cut from the film.

What Got Adapted?

The 2004 version of the story is a sight to behold. No expense was spared in costuming and set design, and Witherspoon looks fabulous throughout. But the watered-down and victimized version of Becky Sharp isn't true to the original spirit of the novel, which shows Becky as a cunning little climber who's practically sociopathic in her selfishness.

The friendship between the two women is also strengthened, with Becky being a much better friend in this adapted version. They never quarrel, and it seems to fit with Becky's character when she reveals the truth about George. In the book, it's actually the one good thing Becky does with her self-centered life, a single shining moment of redemption.

Steyne is painted as a villain, manipulating Becky so that he can prey upon her. In the book, Becky is the one pulling the strings and at the very least, a very willing participant.

Then of course, there's the ending. In 2004, Becky Sharp rides of with Sedley. She's freed Amelia from grief, she's made young George happy and she's still lovely. In the book, Becky uses and kills her new husband. She's an anti-hero and a bad girl, but not in the film version. 

But of course, it is Reese Witherspoon. So I encourage you to watch the film and read the book, and meet both versions of the infamous Becky Sharp.

Books on Film: Romeo and Juliet

Few stories are as widely recognized and well-known as Romeo and Juliet. It's a story so famous, the two names have become synonymous with young love, and doomed love, and particularly love that is both young and doomed. Romeo and Juliet is one of the most tragic stories ever penned, and one of the most filmed stories to date.

The Book

Maybe that's because Romeo and Juliet was written to be performed, not read. It's one of Shakespeare's plays, one of his most notable, and it's assigned reading for just about everybody who gets to a certain level of high school.

It's about two young people on opposite sides of a long-standing family feud. Romeo is mooning over the loss of Rosaline, an attractive girl who has spurned him. In an attempt to cheer him, his friends Benvolio and Mercutio sneak into the grand ball being held at the Capulet house. Romeo is a Montague, mortal enemy of all Capulets.

At the ball, he forgets all about Rosaline. He discovers true love, real love, when he has a chance encounter with Juliet. The two meet and nearly kiss, boldly talking of doing so (it was bold back then, believe me), before each discovers the other's last name. 

They can never be together. They cannot even talk to each other. The ball ends, and Juliet goes up to her room to sit and sigh in sadness. But Romeo comes back, finding that he is unable to stay away. The famous balcony scene then plays out, with each swearing their love and devotion to the other. They agree to be married.

Meanwhile, Juliet's cousin Tybalt has discovered that Romeo was at the Capulet ball. He challenges the latter to a duel, but Romeo will not fight him. He cannot fight him, for he plans to wed Juliet and that makes Tybalt a kinsman. Mercutio, however, is affronted by the scene which plays out and he accepts the duel. Mercutio is mortally wounded in the duel, and Romeo ends up lashing out at Tybalt.

Mercutio curses Romeo, and Tybalt, and both of their houses. Two men now lay dead in the streets of Verona. The Prince exiles Romeo, who goes to Juliet at once. He spends the night with her, and they make their marriage official before he goes into exile.

Juliet's father plans to marry her to Count Paris, threatening that she will no longer be his daughter if she does not relent. She goes to the friar for help. He decides to help her fake her own death with a drug that will put her into a deep coma for two days and 40 hours. He will also send a message to Romeo.

She follow instructions and take the drug the night before her wedding to Paris. When discovered in the morning, she is laid to rest in the family crypt.

The message never reaches Romeo. Instead, he gets a message from one of his own kinsman that Juliet is dead. Romeo buys poison and goes to the crypt. There, he kills Paris in a confrontation and drinks the poison. He dies, and Julie wakes. She sees her love dead on the ground, and stabs herself with his dagger.

But you've probably heard the story...and if not, you can find it in more film versions than I could possibly list. It's one of the most filmed books on film, and it's been adapted and twisted and modernized a hundred times over. It's been satirized, it's been spoofed, it's been copied in entirety. Only a few of these film versions, however, are at all worth mentioning.

The Films

One of the oldest film versions of Romeo and Juliet is still one of the best. It was made by George Cukor in 1936, and was nominated for four Oscars (which was a big deal back then, since they had fewer categories). This version stars Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer, two of the biggest stars of the day. The film nearly didn't get made. Louis B. Mayer, head of MGM at the time, thought Shakespeare was just too complicated for ordinary moviegoers to understand. But when Jack Warner, over at Warner Bros., announced that he would be releasing A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mayer changed his mind. He green-lit the project, and an adaptation was born.

Great detail was paid to costuming and set design for the flick. Researchers went to Verona to look at paintings and study design. Academics were even brought to the set to help advise filmmakers. But critics complained about the casting. Shearer and Howard were certainly not young, teenage lovers. John Barrymore, in his 50s at the time, played Mercutio as a young flirt, and he no longer looked the part. This version is Shakespeare rearranged, with several scenes playing out of order. Friar Laurence's role is reduced, and some other scenes are expanded. We also get to see Rosaline in this version; she never actually appears in the play. 

Mayer's gut reaction was right. The film wasn't a critical success, and it was bashed for being too "arty." Filmgoers didn't turn out to see it...just as they hadn't gone to see A Midsummer Night's Dream, released the year before by Warner Bros.

Hollywood didn't make another Shakespearean adaptation for more than 10 years.

Franco Zeffrelli took the play on again in 1968, and he went in a totally opposite direction for his distinctive version. Unlike Cukor, Zeffrelli cast young, good-looking actors for the title roles, and made the most out of the brand-new Technicolor technology. He had better luck with his take on the film. It was the 60s, so he emphasized the elements of youth, of two young people who only wanted love...not their family's war, man. It was a message he hoped would resound with the 60s counter-culture.

He hired Leonard Whiting, 17, to play Romeo. Olivia Hussey, 15, was cast as Juliet. Both were studied stage actors, and gorgeous. This version of the story focuses on the young lovers and injects more energy into the dialogue. Romeo's duel with Paris is cut out, a decision that many filmmakers make when adapting the story. No one wants to turn Romeo into a bad guy.

A distinctive version of the story wouldn't be made again until 1996. Re-titled as Romeo + Juliet, this adaptation was directed by Baz Luhrmann. Claire Danes stars as Juliet, Leonardo DiCaprio as Romeo. This version uses most of Shakespeare's original dialogue, pressed against the background of a more modern-looking Verona. The swords are guns, the fashion is interesting and the soundtrack is filled with lush, 90s-era pop hits. It's more mob-meets-Shakespeare than true Shakespeare, but it's a damned good version. The ending will absolutely make you cry, even when you know it.

But my personal favorite is probably the most wildly adapted version of the story you'll find: West Side Story. Written in the 1950s for the Broadway stage, it was adapted in 1961 as a musical film...and it's fabulous. Natalie Wood stars as Maria (Juliet) and Richard Beymer as Tony (Romeo). The story is moved from Italy to New York City, and centers on two rival street gangs, the Sharks and the Jets. 

The Jets are a group of street toughs, greaser kids who are all white by race. The Sharks are made up of Puerto Rican immigrants who are fighting to eke out there turf in the big city. None of Shakespeare's dialogue is used, and a bunch of well-choreographed songs are added, but the flavor of the story and most of the plot is exactly the same. Maria is still a sweet, young girl, untouched by love until she sees Tony. It's absolutely the most relatable re-telling of the film, and relevant even today if you can look past the 1960s fashion.

How good is West Side Story? It was nominated for 11 Oscars and won 10 of them, including Best Picture. It's won more awards than any other musical ever made, and there have been a lot of them.

But maybe you should watch all of the notable film versions of the story, just in case. You're going to be asked to read the book, if you haven't already, so you might as well see it on the screen, too.

Books on Film: Mommie Dearest

Mommie Dearest was the very first book of its kind, and since it was printed it's been highly debated, studied, quoted and called into question. Depending on where you stand in the argument, it's either the very first non-fiction Book on Film I've featured...or it's not.

The Book

No one knows for certain whether or not the events depicted in Mommie Dearest are true in entirety, embellished for dramatic effect, or fabricated in whole. One person who would know is dead, and has been since before the story was released. The other person swears it's true...but then she would, because she authored it.

Mommie Dearest was the very first tell-all book written by someone close to a celebrity, and relationships don't get closer than this. It was penned by Christina Crawford, daughter to the mega-star Joan Crawford. She was on Hollywood's A-list before it had an A-list, married into its most famous family, and ruled the screen for so long they were still making movies about her after she died. But after you read this book, you might want to add one more item to Joan's resume: abusive mother.

Published shortly after Joan's death in 1978, the book details the day-to-day life of Christina, eldest child to Joan. She, like her brothers and sisters, was adopted by the actress in the 1930s and 40s. At this time, Joan was in the bloom of her lucrative movie career. She was a star's star, and so well-to-do she managed to adopt several children despite being a single woman in a very conservative world.

One scene depicts a tense dinner between mother and daughter. Christina refuses to eat meat that is too undercooked. Joan rages and screams at her, and makes her sit at the table for many, many hours. Another shows Joan returning from a disappointing meeting with her movie studio, and hacking her own garden to pieces with a set of shears in the middle of the night.

The book talks as much about Joan as it does about Christina's own feelings. An extensive beauty routine is detailed, where Joan dips her face in steaming water, then alcohol, then a bowl of ice cubes. A parade of men dance through Joan and Christina's lives, but none can tolerate the volatile star. The book makes it clear that Joan suffers with OCD-like tendencies, going over-the-top in all manners of cleaning and household-running. 

The most famous scene of all, undoubtedly, involves the way Christina keeps her closet. Joan finds a wire hanger in the closet in the middle of the night and shouts down the house, screaming "no more wire hangers!" at Christina and raging like a madwoman.

Needless to say, the brutal portrayal of this much-loved star was incredibly shocking to readers and Crawford fans. But even on its own merits (or lack thereof), the book has drawn criticism. Many reviewers find it poorly written and very poorly edited, though others enjoy the "easy to understand" and "simple" prose style.

The content of the book has also been called into question time and again. Many of Joan's close friends, and at least one ex-husband, came forward to speak out against the book after it was published. Two of Joan's children, a pair of twins who were the youngest, also said they did not witness any abuse in the household. Some critics say that Christina's own actions are proof that she embellished these tales of torture by turning her own words against her.

By her own admission, Christina Crawford continued to spend time with Joan well after she turned eighteen, got finished with her schooling and began her own acting career. At the reading of Joan's will, Christina and her brother Christopher did not inherit. The will stated that the reasons were "known to them." Some suggest that Joan learned Christina was writing her book, and this is why she cut her off. Others point to this and say this is the reason Christina wrote the book in the first place -- she wanted to spite Joan for disinheriting her. To this day, Christina Crawford stands by her words.

The book was a sensation, but never a long-lasting hit or a must-read. It did spawn a movie that has become a can't-miss flick, however, and it really is one you can't miss.

The Film

The film version of Mommie Dearest was made as soon as possible. A story like this is too good to resist, and it involved one of Hollywood's elite. No way was it going to be ignored. So Faye Dunaway was cast as Crawford. Two actresses you aren't likely to recognize played Christina, a child and adult version.

Like the book, it received a lot of mixed reviews. Dunaway's performance has been both acclaimed and highly criticized, and the film won a really jaw-dropping number of Razzie awards. She screeches and rages through the entirety of the movie, and the editing leaves very few coherent or sympathetic moments -- but then, Christina's book didn't give filmmakers much to work with in that regard.

Crawford is still an alcoholic on film, and remains verbally and physically abusive to Christina. In one memorable scene, she strangles the girl in the presence of a magazine reporter. Even after Christina has grown older and won herself a role on a soap opera, Joan remains a constant presence in her life. When Christina becomes ill and cannot perform on the show, Joan even filled in for her -- something which absolutely happened, by the way. But Christina is ultimately fired, and there's an inference that she blames Joan for this, too.

The film ends much as the book does, with Christina learning that she won't inherit any part of Joan Crawford's estate. The lawyer says something to the effect of "well you know Joan. She always had to have the last word."

Christina intones "we'll see" darkly and stares at the camera. It's a clear message: she's going to be the one with the last word this time. And the movie exists, so clearly it was a plan forthrightly followed. But taking an arguably badly written tell-all and turning it into a feature film depicting a Hollywood legend...this is tricky stuff. Some things were altered for the sake of simplicity, so you really have to read the book to find out what you've missed.

What Got Adapted? 

In reality, Joan Crawford raised four children. She adopted five. Crawford originally adopted a little boy and named him Christopher, but his natural parent re-claimed him so she got herself another little boy and he became the Christopher Crawford who was Christina's oldest sibling. Joan also raised a pair of twin girls who were never referenced in the film, truly an oversight. 

And, disappointingly, the wire hanger scene is changed around. Joan did go on a wire hanger rant in the book, but the night she raged at Christina over the bathroom floor with cleaning powder in her hand was a separate incident. On film, the two are shoved together into a long, traumatic rant. Faye Dunaway, by the way, is wearing cold cream on her face throughout the scene. 

The scene where Joan squares off against the Board of Directors at Pepsi Cola did not appear in the book at all, as much of the book focuses on Christina, and Joan, and no one else. 

The MGM scene is riddled with fiction. In the scene, Crawford is disrespected and practically kicked out of L.B. Mayer's office. This didn't happen. She actually asked to be let out of her contract, but didn't expect Mayer to agree. He did, and she was stuck.

The book doesn't skip so many of Christinia's teen years, and provides a great deal of detail about her innermost thoughts and feelings. Christina has been criticized by many, but she's also gained a lot of fans with her book. Many have praised her for coming forward with her tale. 

And in either case, it's an intriguing story. Whether it's all true, part fiction or none of the above, Mommie Dearest is sad, a little bit funny, chilling and all about Joan Crawford. That definitely merits a read, and the film is truly an event. Watch it!

Books on Film: Memoirs of a Geisha

Much of the eastern world is still shrouded by a curtain of mystery. It's a world steeped in traditions and culture that only one born to it can hope to understand. It's a world that an American named Arthur Golden revealed in his 1997 book Memoirs of a Geisha. Hidden inside this tale of tradition and uncontrollable circumstance, there's a really beautiful love story.

The Book

The reader meets young Chiyo Saramoto at the beginning of the book. She lives in a poor family, in a poor fishing village near the Sea of Japan. Along with her older sister Satsu, she's sold to an okiya in the large city of Kyoto. The okiya she's sold to is located in Gion, the best-known geisha district in the city. Chiyo is taken into the okiya; Satsu is not. She is taken away to parts unknown instead, and Chiyo is left alone at age 9.

There is a girl her age, nicknamed Pumpkin, already living there. In the okiya, Chiyo is surrounded by Granny, an old woman who complains about everything; Mother, who cares more about money than anything else; and Auntie, a failed geisha. The beautiful and bad-tempered geisha Hatsumomo also lives in the okiya, and she hates Chiyo upon first sight.

Chiyo doesn't care. She's not going to stay in the okiya anyway. She makes plans to leave the okiya, the district and all of Kyoto with Satsu, who has been forced into prostitution in the pleasure district. Chiyo ends up falling off the roof and breaking her arm in the escape attempt instead, an act which enrages Mother. Chiyo's geisha training is immediately halted. She will live in okiya and work as a slave instead, until she works off the debt she's created.

Years pass as Chiyo works in the okiya. Pumpkin continues with her geisha training, and Hatsumomo continues behaving badly. Chiyo is unhappy, and overworked, and completely without hope...until she has a chance encounter on the street one day. A kind and handsome man, the Chairman, gives her a handkerchief and some money. She gives the money back in prayer at the Yasaka Shrine. Her prayer?

To be a geisha, so she may one day see the Chairman again. While she gives the money to the shrine, Chiyo keeps the handkerchief for herself. She develops envy and resentment for Pumpkin, who is still training to be a geisha under Hatsumomo. But during Granny's funeral, Chiyo is taken in by Hatsumomo's rival Mameha. She owns a kimono that Chiyo destroyed years ago under Hatsumomo's direction. Mameha talks Mother into paying for Chiyo's training again, and soon she, too, is learning to be a geisha.

This is when the little girl known as Chiyo dies. Born in her place is Sayuri the geisha. Hatsumomo is popular, but technically she is not a good geisha because she made the mistress of her tea house angry once, long ago. Because of this, Hatsumomo could never find a sponsor (a danna) to become independent. This is why Hatsumomo still lives in Mother's okiya. Mother does not name Hatsumomo as her successor because she knows it would be the ruination of the okiya.

Hatsumomo's hatred of Sayuri is still strong, and she does her best to ruin the young geisha's reputation all around Gion. Mameha must come up with a new plan, and get Hatsumomo out of the way. She begins finding bidders for Sayuri's mizuage, an event which is portrayed in the book as a sort of deflowering ceremony. Nobu Toshikazu is among those Mameha wants Sayuri to entice. He's a prominent businessman and the president of an electric company...not to mention, a friend of the Chairman's. At last Sayuri sees him again, but cannot talk to him because she must try to woo Nobu. Another man, whom Sayuri calls Dr. Crab, is also interested in Sayuri. It is he who wins the bidding war for the mizuage. Sayuri uses this money to pay back all her debt.

This is when Mother chooses to adopt Sayuri as her successor, though she'd been considering Pumpkin before. It ruins all remaining friendship between the two girls, and angers Hatsumomo. She becomes even more shrewish than usual, and is eventually thrown out of the okiya. Pumpkin voluntarily leaves shortly after that.

None of it will matter soon, for Japan will soon be involved in World War II. Many of the geishas are being evacuated, and Nobu manages to get Sayuri to the north. Here, she works for a kimono maker while the war rages. After the war ends, Nobu finds her again and asks her to return to Gion. Here, he wants her to entertain Deputy Minister Sato, a man who can help re-build the electric company. Both the Chairman and Nobu are involved with the company, and she will do anything to help the Chairman.

Together with Pumpkin and Mameha, Sayuri entertains the men regularly. Nobu begins proceedings to become Sayuri's danna. It is the worst of all fates. If Nobu becomes her danna, she will be near the Chairman...but never to have him, only to be tortured by his nearness. She forms her own plan to sleep with the Minister, and subsequently get caught by Nobu. This will lower her reputation in his eyes so badly, he would never want to be her danna. Pumpkin is tasked with bringing Nobu to the right place and time.

She doesn't realize how very much Pumpkin still hates her. Instead, Pumpkin makes sure it is the Chairman, not Nobu, who catches Sayuri with the Minister. Eventually, Sayuri ends up in New York running her own tea house...but not before she resolves things with the Chairman.

The Film

A feature-length film was created in 2005 based on the book. Zhang Ziyi, a Chinese actress, stars as Sayuri. This caused considerable controversy, since Sayuri is a Japanese girl. However, the movie is a very faithful adaptation, copying the plot of the novel almost exactly.

There are some slight differences an exaggerations, mostly done for dramatic effect. On film, Hatsumomo leaves the okiya much more dramatically by setting it on fire before fleeing. Much of the backstory of the novel, revolving around young Chiyo's life, is cut from film -- probably, this is done for time's sake. The book is very long, and so is the movie. Her geisha training is also shortened on film, and shown in less detail.

The movie also adds a little story of its own, giving Hatsumomo a secret lover whom she's not allowed to have as a geisha. We see a love-stricken and trapped Hatsumomo on film, not the hell-on-wheels witch from the novel. The book delves deeply into geisha tradition and their hidden world, heady stuff, while the movie swims briefly along the shallow end.

That said, it's a beautiful story in both mediums. It's filled with mystery, drama, tradition, love and emotion. Read the book, watch the movie, and compare them for yourself.

Books on Film: Mildred Pierce

If you've never thought about what it's like to be a single mother during the Great Depression, you've never read Mildred Pierce. It's a dramatic novel, stuffed with plot, completely revolving around one woman who's just trying to raise her two girls. There are two film versions of the story, both featuring very well-known actresses. But if you watch them both, you're going to think you're watching two totally different stories.

The Book

Mildred Pierce, written by James M. Cain in 1941, is set in the 1930s in southern California, and it opens in the respectable suburb of Glendale. This is where Mildred lives with her husband Bert and their two daughters. The youngest is Moire, or Ray, the eldest Veda.

Bert doesn't have a job. And to add insult to injury, he's cheating on Mildred. She knows it, and one afternoon summons up the gumption to kick him to the curb. It's in this fashion that Mildred finds herself practically penniless, with no husband and two daughters to support. For any woman, this is a pretty big problem. For a woman in the 1930s during the Great Depression...well, Mildred's really in for trouble now.

The book delves deeply into her life, and into the societal norms that make up the fabric of our existence. Bert was born into a higher social station than Mildred, a somewhat affluent family, and because of this she always feels a little outclassed by him. She certainly feels outclassed by Veda, who even at a young age exhibits a great deal of snobbery and disdain toward anyone who must work for a living. Bert is too fine for work, and Veda worships him for that.

Mildred secretly begins working as a waitress in a diner after coming to the realization that she really isn't skilled for anything else, and must earn an income. When Veda ultimately discovers what Mildred's doing for work, the mother parlays her restaurant experience into a business of her own. She opens up her own little place with the help of her husband's former business partner Wally, and even meets an intriguing new love interest in the form of Monte Beragon. He's a captivating and charming ne'er-do-well who, despite all his polish, is every bit as shiftless and lazy as Bert. Eventually Mildred catches on that Monte neither loves nor respects her, and she walks out of his life.

Ray dies tragically, and Mildred is secretly glad that Veda remains alive and healthy. Alive and healthy...and rather demanding. Mildred opens up two more restaurants so she may buy Veda clothes and music lessons, and everything else that Veda needs, even down to a fancy piano for their Glendale home. 

It's never enough for Veda, who continues to despise Mildred for being a working woman. Veda fakes a pregnancy in order to blackmail a wealthy family, and it's too much for Mildred to bear. She screams at Veda to leave, and to her horror Veda actually does. Mildred spends months mourning her and attempting to make contact, but Veda shuns her at every turn.

Into this empty space, Monte re-appears. Mildred falls right back into a steamy love affair with him, and ends up purchasing his family estate. It's all really an attempt to bring Veda back into her life. In just a few months, Veda Pierce has gained quite a bit of local fame as an opera singer. It works out just as Mildred had hoped. She marries Monte, and Veda moves into the sprawling estate with the pair of them. 

She's paying for everything again, but this time around Monte and Veda are even more expensive. Veda needs costumes and clothing and cosmetics for her performances, and Monte needs all his fine trappings and little luxuries to stay happy. Wally, still her partner in the restaurant game, notices that the profits of the business have sharply declined. He confronts Mildred, and threatens to take over the business. 

Mildred goes to the one person who can help her in these dire circumstances: Bert, who has remained a big part of her life. She confesses that she's been taking company money to pay for Veda. Together, the two manage to work themselves into a frenzy of fear that Wally will somehow find a way to get at Veda's money. She does earn money for her performances -- but Mildred has still been paying for her just the same. 

At Bert's insistence, Mildred goes to the estate to talk to Veda and find a way to protect her daughter's assets. Failing to find her daughter, she seeks out Monte to elicit his help in locating Veda. It's in this fashion that Mildred finds them both...unclothed, and in bed together.

While Monte rages in the background, Veda calmly gloats. She prances about, wearing nothing more than a self-satisfied grin, and Mildred snaps at last. She launches herself at Veda and begins to strangle her, not relenting until Monte finally rips her away. Veda dramatically stumbles away, coughing and choking, and demonstrably has lost her singing voice as a result of the attack. 

Because of this, she loses her contract with the local opera house. Weeks pass as Mildred locates to Reno, where she must go in order to obtain a divorce from Monte. Bert joins her there. Mildred is forced to let go of her business, and remarries Bert once her divorce is final. They move together back into the Glendale home they once shared with two daughters.

Veda visits, and Mildred learns that she faked her apparent throat injury in order to get fired from her contract. She is now free to accept a more lucrative offer in New York, where Monte is already waiting for her. Bert puts his arm around Mildred, and the two agree to say to hell with Veda and get drunk together.

It's a deeply evocative tale, filled with titillating love scenes and intense emotions. Mildred is a hard heroine to like. She's tough to the bone, self-reliant and cool-headed. But she's a mess when it comes to her relationships. She's drawn toward men who are layabouts with little respect for her, and compelled to constantly attempt to win the love of Veda, who is incapable of loving anyone but herself. Mildred proves that she wants love and acceptance even more than financial security, no matter how hard-fought that particular battle, and ends up becoming dependent upon someone else because of it. But by the same token, Mildred does finally get the love and acceptance she so craved...even if it didn't come from the person she'd hoped would give it to her.

It's a great story on paper, but the film version of Mildred Pierce took several stunningly bizarre turns before it was finally turned out as a masterpiece. 

The Film

The book was adapted for the big screen in 1945, with the gorgeous Joan Crawford in the title role. At this time, the infamous movie code was very much alive and well. Because of the code, most of the events occurring at the end of the book couldn't even be filmed. No way could filmmakers show the incestuous love affair between Veda and Monty, nor could they film Joan Crawford physically striking her onscreen daughter.

And because these things couldn't be a part of the film, the film had to have a completely different ending. Mildred Pierce instead became a strange film noir, a murder mystery in which Monte died by Veda's hand. In this version of the story, he had rejected her increasing sexual advances. In a fit of rage, Veda lashes out and kills him. Mildred is compelled to take the fall for her much-beloved daughter, but at the end eventually turns her over to the authorities.

It won Joan Crawford an Oscar, but it didn't win the hearts of too many book fans. This adaptation plays out like a wholly different story. Veda is much less monstrous and Mildred is much less weak. Some characters are dropped completely, and the timeline is compressed. It strikes a completely different tone and takes viewers to a far different place than the book. 

That's why it was remade by HBO in 2011. This time around, Mildred Pierce became a dazzling, high-budget miniseries encompassing hours and hours of viewing pleasure. With Kate Winslet in the title role and Evan Rachel Wood (eventually) playing Veda, this adaptation becomes a slick and beautiful retelling of the original.

It's an incredibly faithful adaptation, which is why it's so very long. The book is a thick piece, and the miniseries certainly does it justice. Much of the dialogue is taken directly from the book, and the bulk of scenes on the page are recreated in whole onscreen. It's a very good (if quite long) adaptation, and one you shouldn't miss. Watch Joan Crawford and Kate Winslet both take a turn as Mildred Pierce, and see which version of the novel you like better. 

Books on Film: It's a Wonderful Life

In celebration of the season, today I've got a special edition of Books on Film, featuring my very favorite holiday movie It's a Wonderful Life. It's a wonderful movie, but you probably don't know it's also a great short story. It's one of those rare tales that's got it all: angels, romance, Christmas, shattered dreams, scandal, money...even Jimmy Stewart. 

The Book

One of the most beloved and most-watched Christmas classics of all time is based on a little-known short story called The Greatest Gift. It was written in 1943 by Phillip Van Doren Stern, revolving around a main character named George Pratt. The story opens on Pratt standing on a bridge, ready to commit suicide. He's approached by a bizarre little man in worn clothing. George tells the man that really, he wishes he had never even been born.

So the weird little man grants George Pratt his wish. The man gives George a bag he's carrying, and tells him to use it as part of a cover story that he's a door-to-door brush salesman (seriously). So George does it. He leaves the bridge and goes back home, only to learn that no one knows who the heck he is. His wife doesn't know him, and everyone he has ever known is different and strange. They are not the same people he knows, having made different choices in their lives than they did in George's reality. And tragically, his little brother, whom George saved in a pond accident, died at a young age instead.

George returns to the bridge to talk to the weird little man, who explains that life is the greatest gift of all. George asks the man to put everything back to normal. The man does, and George goes back home to see that everything's okay now.

The author of the story, Phillip Van Doren Stern, couldn't get it published. He printed 200 copies himself in booklet form, and sent them to friends as Christmas presents in 1943. He published it again in 1945, without much success.

Somehow, an RKO Pictures producer got ahold of the short story and showed it to Cary Grant, who was interested in playing the lead. RKO bought the rights and let several screenwriters kick it around before the studio sold the story to Frank Capra, one of the best storytellers film has ever known. He turned the 4,100-word story into a full-length film bordering on epic. Your life will be truly incomplete if you don't watch it at least once.

The Film

It's possible that Cary Grant could have played George Pratt, the leading man of The Greatest Gift. He could not have played George Bailey, the main character of It's a Wonderful Life. This is only one of many ways in which the original story was changed in Capra's hands.

James Stewart played George instead, and did an amazing job of it. Stewart's "everyman" quality made him perfect as George Bailey, and many actors study his performance when they film holiday-themed movies. The story doesn't open with suicide this time...it opens with God. 

At the top, Wonderful Life, shows us the stars. We hear speaking, presumably it's God and His angels; discussion of a man named George Bailey. Something important is happening in George's life, and that gives a failed angel named Clarence yet another chance to earn his wings. 

But he can't get the job done unless he knows a little something about this George Bailey, so we go back in time to his childhood. We see young boys playing around in the ice and snow, sledding down a hill. George's little brother, Harry, goes farther than anyone...straight into the thin ice over the pond. He falls in! George dives in and saves Harry's life, but it costs him an ear. He loses his hearing on that side permanently.

We see more of George's life unfold on film, and meet an entire cast of characters that includes little girls Violet and Mary, little boys like Sam Wainwright, and of course Ma and Pa Bailey. We even see Mr. Potter, the meanest and richest man in town, brilliantly played by Lionel Barrymore (Drew's great-uncle). As a boy, George Bailey longs to be an explorer, a traveler, anything to get himself out of Bedford Falls. That's the little town where George lives. He's got big dreams and big plans, and everyone knows he'll reach them. George is smart, ambitious and hard-working.

And when he's all grown up, about an hour into the film, he's Jimmy Stewart. Non-threateningly attractive, adorably uncertain of himself and completely sincere, Jimmy Stewart was made to be George Bailey. Donna Reed is gorgeous as grown-up Mary, and the romantic scenes between the two of them are just about as good as what you'll find anywhere. 

Things don't always turn out the way we plan. They didn't turn out the way George Bailey had planned it. As it turns out, George didn't leave Bedford Falls at all. He didn't even go off to fight in the war, like so many others, because of his bum ear. George lived and worked in Bedford Falls, taking over the good old Bailey Building and Loan after his father's heart attack. It's the only reasonable option for owning a home in the town, because old man Potter is still alive and kicking and he runs the bank with an iron fist. 

George hates the Bailey Building and Loan. He hates Bedford Falls. He hates his old house that's perpetually in need of fixing up. When silly old Uncle Billy makes another of his mistakes, this one a real whopper, George thinks about giving up. He goes to the bridge, in the snow, and prays.

That's when a weird, small, old man jumps into the water below. George jumps in after to pull the man out, and something strange happens. The little old man says that he jumped into the water to save George! He then grants George's wish, to never have been born. 

Along with the two of them, we re-visit Bedford Falls. The town is now known as Pottersville, and it's totally not the place that George remembers at all. Old Man Gowers is all messed up, Harry is dead, Ma Bailey and Uncle Billy are in just awful shape, and Mary...Mary is a spinster who works in the library. It's almost too much to bear. It's certainly too much for George to bear. 

Did I mention that all this is happening on Christmas Eve? Because of Uncle Billy's mistake, George is probably going to jail. The Bailey Building and Loan is going to close for sure, and Potter is going to win. He's going to win, and there's no telling what's going to happen to everyone else in the town once the Baileys go out of business. 

But even so, George is ecstatic when the angel Clarence puts everything back to rights. The scene where Jimmy Stewart runs through Main Street, screaming "Merry Christmas" at various buildings along the way, is a cinematic event. And when he returns home...well, you're just going to have to watch it.

What Got Adapted?

The basic plot of It's a Wonderful Life is clearly based on the short story, but to turn this small tale into a big feature film Capra had to do a whole lot of expanding. He shifts the story to a third-person focus; we know that we are casual observers in this tale, seeing everything through the angel Clarence's eyes.

Capra had to name the town and the angel, and he had to invent the entire sub-plot involving the Bailey family business. Characters like Violet, Bert and Ernie were added entirely, as were many of the events of George's childhood. But if you read the story, you'll see the clear parallels. It's a short read, and perfect for the holiday season. When you're done, watch the story on film. It's a wonderful way to spend your time.

Books on Film: A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol, written by Charles Dickens, is arguably the most popular Christmas story of all time. It's certainly one of the most-adapted, with more feature-length and TV-film versions than you can fit in a single blog post. The story is so famous, you can say just one word and everyone will know what you're referencing. But if you've only ever seen it on film, you don't know the whole story.

The Book

In a very real way, Charles Dickens is the father of the modern Christmas. When he wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843, Christmas itself was in a transitional phase. Newfangled trends, like Christmas trees, were mucking up this traditional season of church-going, quiet reflection and somber celebration. 

And so Dickens wrote about a man named Ebenezer Scrooge, a bitter old miser who loves money more than people. It's a very short story told in only 5 chapters, or staves, and it starts on Christmas Eve. It is 7 years to the day of Jacob Marley's death, Jacob Marley who is definitely dead. This makes it quite odd indeed when Marley appears that very night to Ebenezer, who has as usual been kicking around his much-maligned clerk at the counting house.

Marley is here, a ghostly apparition, to warn Scrooge. A wicked afterlife awaits him if he continues to value money more than his fellow man. He will suffer for his lack of kindness and charity. Scrooge thinks Christmas is a "humbug." He doesn't want to give his clerk time off for the holiday, or spend time with his nephew Fred, or donate to any charities that help people. To him, the holiday is "a poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every twenty-fifth of December!"

It's good stuff. Ebenezer is subsequently visited by three spirits who arrive in succession after Marley. First comes the ghost of Christmas past, who shows Scrooge shadows of things that have already been. The ghost of Christmas present is a garrulous gentleman who shows Scrooge the horrors that are happening outside the walls of his fancy townhouse. There is suffering in the world, even in the home of clerk Bob Cratchit. He has a very ill son, Tiny Tim, who is also the sweetest child ever born. They are a merry family, but so horrifyingly poor.

It's all fun and games until the third spirit, the ghost of Christmas yet to come, arrives. He shows Scrooge a terrible future. Tiny Tim is dead, and so is Scrooge, and things are not good.

When Ebenezer wakes on Christmas Day, he realizes he still has a chance to change those shadows. He still has a chance to celebrate Christmas! And boy, does he. The final scene of A Christmas Carol is just as fine as anything ever penned by the hand of man. 

It took Dickens 6 weeks to write the most beloved, most repeated and most famous Christmas story we all know. A Christmas Carol is credited with popularizing the phrase "Merry Christmas," and "Scrooge" is often applied to anyone expressing miserly qualities. "Bah humbug" has also entered into language because of the story. Some historians even credit the book with creating customs of family gatherings, consuming food and drink, playing games and behaving generosity in association with Christmas.

The Many Movies

A Christmas Carol has been adapted for the movies for as long as movies have existed. It was a silent film in 1908 and again in 1910, but you'd have trouble finding either version anywhere.

You can still see the 1938 version, which is darned good. The only version of the story ever made by movie giant MGM, it's still shown on cable TV to this day. Reginald Own plays the leading role, along with real-life couple Gene and Kathleen Lockhart as Bob and Mrs. Cratchit. You might recognize Ann Rutherford, who later played Scarlett O'Hara's youngest sister, as the Spirit of Christmas Past.

Lionel Barrymore, one of my favorites and unquestionably one of the best character actors in history, was originally slated to play the leading role. He was well-known for playing Scrooge on the annual radio production that ran at the time, but his health wasn't strong enough. You can see Barrymore in my all-time favorite holiday movie, It's a Wonderful Life, playing the role that was pretty clearly inspired by one Ebenezer Scrooge. At the time Barrymore made the Capra flick, he did need the wheelchair.

Reginald Owen does a good job anyway, and the film is very faithful to the book. But it was made by MGM, and it is a holiday film, so some stuff had to be changed. The love interest aspect of Scrooge's life is dropped in total, as were the companions who travel with the ghost of Christmas present. The thieves who so shock Scrooge in the vision of the future are also omitted.

But it's not the best version. That was made in 1951, and it starred Alastair Sim. He was born to be Scrooge. Sim looks the part and acts the part beautifully, making this the definitive version of A Christmas Carol. Ironically, that's not the movie's name. This version was originally produced as Scrooge, though sometimes it's listed under the proper title of the book instead. Once widely-run on TV during December, now you have to really search to find this simply fantastic (and very faithful) version of the story.

This version actually expands on the story, showing more scenes with Scrooge and the ghost of Christmas past. Now, we see exactly how Scrooge and Marley forged their partnership, and learn of some unscrupulous business practices besides. The love interest's name is changed from Belle to Alice, inexplicably, and she is given very charitable qualities in this version. This better explains why she eventually leaves Scrooge later in the story. We also see Scrooge's sister Fan dying in childbirth, something that's hinted at in the book but never told in detail.

The 1951 film has been re-released and colorized, and you can find it in pretty much every available format.

More versions of the story followed in 1954, 1962, 1971, 1977 and 1982. Another definitive version of the Dickens work would not be created until 1983, when Disney got ahold of it. This animated version remains one of the best-loved, and stars the entire pantheon of classic Disney characters. Scrooge (McDuck), Mickey Mouse (as Cratchit), Jiminy Cricket, Donald Duck, Goofy and Daisy Duck all appear.

One of the best-known versions was made in 1984, with George C. Scott in the role. This is still one of the most-recognized adaptations, because it's been aired on TV every single December since its original release. Scott is a broad, be-whiskered Scrooge who truly breaks down in the climatic scene with the ghost of Christmas yet to come. The tombstone used to film the scene is still standing where it was shot at St. Chad's Church in Shrewsbury, England.

Many more versions of the story followed, including one starring Patrick Stewart of X-Men and Star Trek fame, but nothing would stand out until it was re-created by Disney in 2009. This 3D extravaganza stars Jim Carrey in the leading role. Carrey also voices all three ghosts, which probably really saved on the talent budget. Despite the slick animation, the addition of magician Robert Zemeckis, and all the might of Disney, it's not a very good film. You'd do much better to watch the 1951 version in color if you want to see some wild animation.

What Got Adapted?

You always lose a little something in the transfer from page to screen, even when a story has been transferred as often as this one. In the book, the ghost of Christmas past has a hand with no skin, a hand that never appears on film. It's also a strangely childlike creature, something often changed for film. It's also rarely mentioned that Belle was actually Fezziwig's daughter, and that she broke their engagement on Christmas. This is another reason why Scrooge hates the holiday so much. Christmas Present is a giant, and near the end of the day he has markedly aged. Christmas Yet to Come appears immediately after the giant fades away, and this specter does wear a black, hooded cloak as is so often depicted.

The book is very short, and it's a delight you shouldn't miss. Once you're done, compare it to your own favorite film version of the story, and look for the differences.

Books on Film: A Christmas Story

Since its original release in 1983, A Christmas Story has become one of the best-loved and most popular holiday films of all time. Most people don't even know that it's actually based on a book of short stories, written by a guy who actually lived it.

 The Book

Jean Shepherd published In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash in 1966. It's a semi-autobiographical collection of humorous short stories, and many of them were used to inspire the full-length feature film A Christmas Story.

In the book, Shepherd writes about his hometown in Indiana, his friend Flick, and the longing he had to own a real Red Ryder BB gun. And in the book, Ralphie is all grown up. He has returned to his hometown, where he finds Flick at the bar he inherited from his father. They talk about the "good old days" together, and this is where we get most of the stories that unfold in the book. 

The book goes far behind a single holiday season, and in fact there's one story involving a teenage Ralphie (unimaginable, I know). Some of the best vignettes from the movie are present, however, and fans of the flick are sure to enjoy reading all about the infamous leg lamp, the hounds that live next door, the heroic battle between Dad and the furnace and Little Orphan Annie's secret decoder ring.

The tone is different. The author has a much more dry humor, he is brilliant at sarcasm. There isn't a lot of sarcasm in the movie; it's told to us through the eyes of a child. The short story collection is being told to us through the eyes of a man as he looks back on his life. But it's all the characters you love from the movie, explored more in-depth. A Christmas Story is only one piece; this book is the entire pie.

The Film

The flavor of the book's setting and characters is well-captured in A Christmas Story, which lifts several chapters from the page to put them on the screen. As the title would suggest, the story takes place entirely during the holiday season.

You pretty much have to be committed to not watching this film to have missed it. A Christmas Story is on television all during the holidays, you can find it plenty of places online, and sometimes you'll even find it playing on a 24-hour loop so you can't possibly miss one moment of the story. It's like that. 

The movie revolves around Ralphie, who was played by then-adorable Peter Billingsly (and whom you can catch in a cameo in a much more recent holiday film, Four Christmases). Though released in 1983, it's set in a much younger era, the '50s. Ralphie's mom is your typical harried housewife, Dad is your basic working stiff. It's Indiana, it's Christmastime, and all Ralphie wants in the entire world is a Red Ryder BB gun.

When he raises the topic with his mother, however, she scoffs. "You'll shoot your eye out," she warns, and pretty much writes the whole thing off. 

It's a crushing blow, the worst of the worst. Ralphie is forced to make his appeal elsewhere, and opportunity knocks when the teacher assigns an essay to the students. Everyone groans, until they learn they get to write about what they want for Christmas. It's perfect! Ralphie works hard to compose a fantastic essay, praising the merits o the BB gun of course, and turns it in proudly. 

It comes back with a low grade and a hand-written note: "You'll shoot your eye out!" 

Defeated again. Ralphie's got one last shot at realizing his Christmas dream: Santa Claus. Who else but the big man himself can help now? 

Like its young leading actor, this flick is just adorable. It's filled with little stories, like the defeat of schoolyard bully Scott Vargus, the incident involving Flick and the true art of giving dares to others, and who could forget the fudge episode? If you haven't seen it, your holiday celebration is not complete and will never be complete. You must watch this movie. It's like that.

What Got Adapted?

Jean Shepherd narrates the film, and had a hand at writing the screenplay, so it very closely resembles the author's writing style and voice.

Some of the stories are adapted in order to fit the Christmas theme; the hungry dogs is a standout example. Text from the book is lifted right from the page to the film, however, so the scenes are well-captured even when they're changed to fit the movie. See the movie, then read the book to get a dose of Ralphie's family life during every season, not just the holidays.

Books on Film: The Grinch

In late November and all through December, holiday-themed movies flood the theaters. People want feelgood stories, intense dramas, laughter and action. They want to be entertained, and they're doing it indoors because it's winter and it's cold. Filmmakers need holiday-themed stories to create all those movies. One of the most unusual picks, and one of the better book-to-film adaptations you'll find, was created by Dr. Seuss.

The Book

Arguably the most well-known children's book author of all time, Dr. Seuss has created unforgettable stories like Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat and 1957's How the Grinch Stole Christmas, a holiday-themed treat starring my very favorite color, green. 

It's because the Grinch is green. He's the hero, or anti-hero, of the story, and he's a good one. He lives on a mountain above Whoville, where Christmas is celebrated with gusto. The Grinch hates the Whos. They sing, they dance, they exchange presents and eat food -- they annoy him. So the Grinch decides to take away their celebration, and steal Christmas.

A bold plan. To carry it out, he's going to need a red suit. If you're wearing a red suit and screwing around underneath trees on Christmas Eve, people are going to think you're Santa Claus. This is just simple logic. It follows that he's also going to need a sleigh -- that's to hold the presents -- and a reindeer. A sleigh and a big bag, you can pretty much find that at any hardware store. But a reindeer...this requires several days of intensive tracking and hunting in the northern territories, and clearly the Grinch doesn't have this kind of time. So he puts an antler on his dog instead, a handy enough solution in a pinch. 

And the Grinch steals Christmas. He goes down into Whoville in the middle of the night. He takes their ornaments, their stockings, their brightly-wrapped packages, even the roast beast they're saving for the Christmas dinner feast. Yeah, that's right -- he takes it all, down to the last scrap. During his night of silent, Christmas-stealing terror, the Grinch encounters just one witness: Cindy Lou Who. This little Who wakes up to find the Grinch in her home, but all is well on account of the red suit (proof of the unimpeachable logic). Cindy Lou thinks he's Santa, and the Grinch pats her on the head...and sends her back to bed. 

Don't worry -- there is a surprise ending. The Grinch doesn't simply go back to his mountain and laugh the day away, or anything like that. If you don't know the story, I'm officially shocked. It's very well-known, highly popular...and the entire basis for an adaptation that's already 60 years old. Even if you've never seen the book, you probably know the book.

The Films

A 22-minute TV special is one of the best-known adaptations of the story. Look for it on TV during the holiday season, and you'll find it. 

Dr. Seuss himself worked on the animated adaptation made in 1966. He wasn't really into the idea at first, but after seeing some animation and hearing some of the songs he agreed. Seuss wrote the lyrics for the songs and the extra lines in the story himself.

He didn't narrate it, though. That honor was given to Boris Karloff, who had a perfect voice for this particular story. Thurl Ravenscroft sings the theme song that's such a big part of the adaptation. The animation is very true to the original illustrations in the book, and the narration is almost exactly the same as the text of the book.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas wouldn't become a feature film until 2000, when Ron Howard turned it into one. But turning a very short children's book into 90 minutes of film...takes a little stretching. 

The feature-length film begins beautifully, with narration by Anthony Hopkins that lifts Dr. Seuss's words straight from the page. The viewer meets the Grinch, played beautifully by Jim Carrey, who looks just exactly how he ought to look (only three-dimensional, and not animated). He's up in his mountain home damning the Whos who live down below. 

Then, we get to meet some of those Whos. The movie takes us down into the village in the days before Christmas, where we meet Cindy Lou Who and her parents. There are other characters as well, like the Mayor of Whoville and Martha May Whovier. The Whos look just as they ought, and they're frantically celebrating the season by shopping, decorating, shopping, decorating, and sending Christmas cards and packages (presumably, to the Whos who live in Whotown and Whocity). 

In a word, it's fabulous. No detail was left out. The film is lavish in all matters of set design, costuming and makeup. The dialogue is first-rate as well. Because there simply isn't enough story to fill an entire film, more has been added. Viewers are exposed to the Grinch's back story, and we even uncover a love interest. Cindy Lou becomes a fully-realized character, whose goal is to find the spirit of Christmas and get past all the obsessive shopping, decorating and eating.

New songs are added, and the original Grinch theme song is punched up a little. The scene of the Grinch stealing Christmas is perfectly re-created from the book to the film. It is one of the top five top-grossing holiday films of all time. Yeah, it's that good. If you haven't seen it, see it. If you've already seen it, see it again. It's the holidays, and green's the color of the season.