Reviews. History. Life.
It's been ten years since Nora Ephron's swan song, Julie and Julia. It was an ambitious film for her and it also wasn't, because it features expected and loved Ephron trademarks of witty dialogue and deft character development. What's unusual for the Ephron canon is that Julie and Julia juxtaposes the lives of two unique … Continue reading Page To Screen: Julie & Julia
Jane Austen's single most famous novel is, of course, Pride and Prejudice. All six of her novels are famous, but there's something about P&P that puts it above the others. It's been adapted more than any other Austen novel, that's for sure. I toyed with the idea of asking the Twitterverse which versions of Pride and Prejudice were their … Continue reading Page To Screen: Pride and Prejudice
Like Robin Hood, Ebeneezer Scrooge and Ichabod Crane, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes is another literary heavyweight with a lengthy filmography. Holmes is not only a captivating character, but is widely credited with influencing today's use of forensic sciences. The first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study In Scarlet was published in Beeton's Christmas Annual … Continue reading Page To Screen: Sherlock Holmes
Thus speaks the cover of The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy. The book within Douglas Adams' novel of the same title, it is the guide to anything that anyone might want to ask about life, the universe, and everything, and a lot that they don't think to ask. Arthur Dent didn't know that he would have to ask … Continue reading Page To Screen: The Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy
When the Yuletide season rolls around, indulging in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is almost as much of a tradition as putting up the tree or hanging stockings. First published on December 19, 1843 as a stand-alone novel, it followed Dickens' relative flop, Martin Chuzzlewit. Chapman and Hall, Dickens' publisher, thought he was losing his touch, so Dickens paid … Continue reading Page To Screen: A Christmas Carol
One of the most iconic tales of American literature is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Written by Washington Irving and originally published in 1820 as part of his Sketch Book, this story of ill-fated schoolteacher Ichabod Crane never fails to chill. It also never fails to find new life in various media. For those who … Continue reading Page To Screen: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
In 1937, a rather gargantuan project of compiling England's social history commenced: Mass Observation. Its aim was and is to chronicle day-to-day living in the United Kingdom, and that can mean anything from sending in diaries to filling out questionnaires to writing poems or taking photos. One of their most enthusiastic participants was Nella Last … Continue reading Page To Screen: Nella Last’s War
About a year ago, I reviewed the 1934 film, Of Human Bondage, starring Leslie Howard and Bette Davis (Read it here), and at the time, I found it to be a downer, full of manipulation and abuse. In spite of that, I jumped at the chance to buy the novel at a library sale. When … Continue reading Page To Screen: Of Human Bondage
There were a lot of films made about the American home front during the Second World War, but few are as sprawling or epic as David O. Selznik's 1944 movie, Since You Went Away. The story of a Midwestern family, the Hiltons, the film is based on a book of the same name by journalist Margaret Buell … Continue reading Page To Screen: Since You Went Away
Chick-lit can be very one-note: High-end fashionista meets handsome stranger and everyone looks fabulous. That's pretty much all there is to books of that genre. The characters never snap a heel or get a run in their stockings. Or, heaven forfend, wear something from Sears. Yawn. However, I do like me some Sophie Kinsella. Her … Continue reading Page To Screen: Confessions Of a Shopaholic
There's no way I, as a good Gen-Xer, was going to let 2017 go by without a nod to one of the movies of my generation: The Princess Bride. It's the film's thirtieth anniversary, no less. Let this opportunity pass? Inconceivable! This is the movie we learned inside and out, and we quoted it to each other. All the … Continue reading Page To Screen (Not Really): The Princess Bride
Very few have done more for Gothic literature than Edgar Allan Poe. His writings about spooky happenings, death, and decay, fit right in with the Victorian mindset, which was all too familiar with death. He is so iconic that other Goth and horror writers can only follow in his wake (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and the … Continue reading Page To Screen: The Fall of the House of Usher
