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Œuvres de David Wheeler

No, But I Saw the Movie: The Best Short Stories Ever Made Into Film (1960) — Directeur de publication — 75 exemplaires

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https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/no-but-i-saw-the-movie-the-best-short-stories-ev...

An anthology of 18 short stories which were all adapted into well-known films. I remain fairly illiterate in movie lore, so I’m sorry to say that I have seen very few of the classic movies represented here; the ones I knew were “The Wisdom of Eve” by Mary Orr, source for All About Eve; “Night Bus” by Samuel Hopkins Adams, source for It Happened One Night; and “The Sentinel”, by Arthur C. Clarke, source for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I had seen two of the other films, but not previously read the original stories: Guys and Dolls, based on “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown” by Damon Runyon, where I think the show is better than the original, and Psycho, which is very different from “The Real Bad Friend” by Robert Bloch to the point that I actually query the strength of the connection between them. Also, which I have not seen Stagecoach, Ernest Haycox’ story “From Stage to Lordsburg” seems to me rather derivative of Maupassant’s “Boule de Suif”.

There were several here that I liked, enough to make stronger efforts to see the films: “The Fly” by George Langelaan, “The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern which was the source for It’s A Wonderful Life, “The Day of Atonement” by Samson Raphaelson which was the source for The Jazz Singer, and “Mr Blandings Builds His Castle” by Eric Hodgins, which became Mr Blandings Builds His Castle. On the other hand I could not make head nor tail of “The Tin Star”, by John M. Cunningham, supposedly the basis for High Noon.

Long out of print but a quirky and interesting collection.
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Signalé
nwhyte | 3 autres critiques | Dec 17, 2023 |
Some of the greatest movies ever made have come from short stories, and in this collection David Wheeler reprints several wonderful examples. Most are very close to their subsequent film versions (ALL ABOUT EVE, THE FLY, STAGECOACH, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE), while others diverge enough to give intriguing suggestions of how a certain film could have been just a little different--HIGH NOON'S sheriff being an arthritic old man instead of a vigorous fellow not yet out of his prime, for example. Still others, such as the stories behind PSYCHO and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, differ substantially, so substantially that a film made to the precise parameters of the short story would resemble the film we already know only a little or even not at all. At best, these stories give a means of renewing our acquaintance with each film and seeing it with an altered and more precise perspective. I, for example, never quite grasped the full power of Nicolas Roeg's DON'T LOOK NOW until I read Daphne DuMaurier's story of the same title. This is an excellent collection of short fiction, far too short a collection, for my money. I would love to see a sequel.… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
jumblejim | 3 autres critiques | Aug 26, 2023 |
This collects 18 stories that were later made into classic films and it was enjoyable even if I'd only seen five: 'Freaks!', 'Psycho', 'Rear Window', 'Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House', and 'It's A Wonderful Life'. And I suppose you could count the 1980s remake of 'The Fly' with Jeff Goldblum, but from the story I can tell they covered very different ground.

From the short list that I've seen you can already tell the collection is pretty diverse, ranging from Horror to Drama, Suspense and Satire, along with Westerns, Science Fiction and Romance.

I enjoyed everything in here and the stories I had seen the film versions of gave me a a great perspective on the influence of an director or writer's vision on a project. "The Real Bad Friend" is almost unrecognizable as 'Psycho', while "Mr. Blandings Builds His Castle" had its teeth removed along with its battlements when made into '...Dream House'. 'It's A Wonderful Life' on the other hand, seems a perfect progression from the slim "The Greatest Gift."

Almost all of the stories, like "The Day of Atonement," "The Wisdom of Eve," and "Night Bus" make me want to see their film interpretations: 'The Jazz Singer', 'All About Eve' and 'It Happened One Night'. I've never been a fan of westerns, but I can see how the stories that became 'Stagecoach' and 'High Noon' became classics of the genre.

What this book lacked was more background on the stories themselves, each story was given a page or two introduction - almost all of which was devoted to details on the movies. This got a little irritating as I wanted to know more about these authors, all cited as prolific, but most of whom I'd never heard of.

But, in this age of Google and Wikipedia I suppose I shouldn't be too picky. The book ends with a "selected short list" of 41 other stories made into classic films, from 'The Hustler' to 'The Thing'. I'm going to have to seek out a few of those, too.
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Signalé
ManWithAnAgenda | 3 autres critiques | Feb 18, 2019 |
Contents:
All About Eve (1950) - from The Wisdom of Eve by Mary Orr
Bad Day at Black Rock (1954) - from Bad Time at Honda by Howard Breslin
Blow Up (1966) - from Blow Up by Julio Cortazar
The Body Snatcher (1945) - from The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson
Don't Look Now (1973) - from Don't Look Now by Daphne du Maurier
The Fly (1958) - from The Fly by George Langelaan
Freaks (1932) - from Spurs by Tod Robbins
Guys and Dolls (1955) - from The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown by Damon Runyon
The Heartbreak Kid (1972) - from A Change of Plan by Bruce Jay Friedman
High Noon (1952) - from The Tin Star by John M. Cunningham
It Happened One Night (1934) - from Night Bus by Samuel Hopkins Adams
It's a Wonderful Life (1946) - from The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern
The Jazz Singer (1927) - from The Day of Atonement by Sampson Raphaelson
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) - from Mr Blandings Builds His Castle by Eric Hodgins
Psycho (1960) - from The Real Bad Friend by Robert Bloch
Rear Window (1954) - from Rear Window by Cornell Woolrich
Stagecoach (1939) - from Stage to Lordsburg by Ernest Haycox
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - from The Sentinel by Arthur C. Clarke


… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
bookishbat | 3 autres critiques | Sep 25, 2013 |

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Arthur C. Clarke Contributor
Eric Hodgins Contributor
Mary Orr Contributor
Samson Raphaelson Contributor
George Langelaan Contributor
Tod Robbins Contributor
Daphne Du Maurier Contributor
John M. Cunningham Contributor
Howard Breslin Contributor
Bruce Jay Friedman Contributor
Ernest Haycox Contributor
Damon Runyon Contributor
Cornell Woolrich Contributor
Robert Bloch Contributor
Julio Cortázar Contributor
John Hurt Actor

Statistiques

Œuvres
1
Membres
75
Popularité
#235,804
Évaluation
½ 3.6
Critiques
4
ISBN
35

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