Adaptation

THE GHOST & MRS MUIR (1968-1970)

November 27, 2020

(YouTube) Ah, the 60s, the heyday of high-concept TV shows! As you might surmise from the title, this is a belated TV adaptation of the novel/film, starring Hope Lange — in her first recurring TV role — as Carolyn Muir, and Edward Mulhare as Captain Gregg, the pirate captain who haunts the house that the widow Muir has moved her son, daughter, and moppet pup to. To inject a bit more conflict, Charles Nelson Reilly — also his first recurring TV role — is Captain Gregg’s very nervous great-grand-nephew Claymore Gregg, who is reluctantly renting the property — Gull Cottage — to Mrs. Muir.

The show was the brainchild of Jean Holloman, who also penned the epic melodrama MADAME X (1966) and, apart from the inclusion of Reilly and one more kid, the show hews pretty close the source material(s), centering mostly around the tension (albeit less sexual and more about sharing a space) between Mrs. Muir and Captain Gregg. However, it’s been modernized a bit — Carolyn’s already an established writer, she wears pants, and she takes no guff. That said, they needed to ramp up the conflict, which usually meant random folks and guest stars would drop by, and hijinks would ensue.

It only lasted for one season on NBC, but then ABC picked it up for a second season — handsomely pairing it with THAT GIRL and BEWITCHED, but it still failed to catch on and ABC canceled it after the second season.

I won’t pretend that the show is brilliant, but it’s a comfortable oddity, admirably performed, and perfect for a lazy long holiday weekend. I don’t believe it received an official US DVD release — my copy consists of bootlegs acquired from eBay — but nowadays the entire series can be found on YouTube.

Pilot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8YDacElh-0&list=PL7rmJN-Yze4q4rrOE9YE7k8_12LbTWhpp

THE HAUNTING (1962)

October 31, 2020

(AMC+/SHUDDER/VOD) If you’re reading this, there’s probably a 50/50 chance you’ve watched THE HAUNTING and, if so, it’s well-worth a re-watch! If you haven’t? Well, that’s what these electronic missives are for!

THE HAUNTING (1962, not to be confused with the 1999 version, which isn’t as bad as you may remember) is probably the closest to a definitive Shirley Jackson adaptation we’ll ever get, and not just because she was actively involved with the adaptation. While it excises and condenses the book, it never loses track of the complexities of Eleanor, the figurehead of the story, wanting to be wanted, but unaware as to how she can be needed.

It helps that THE HAUNTING is shot with a pitch-perfect eye. Director Robert Wise (a goddamn Hollywood legend as the award-winning editor of CITIZEN KANE and director/producer of WEST SIDE STORY, THE SOUND OF MUSIC) and cinematographer Davis Boulton used an experimental Panavision 30mm lens that lends an unmistakably unique look to the film; the occasional lens distortion helps to amplify certain scenes near the end of the film.

The lens, in tandem with the claustrophobic and detailed sets and the intense lighting gives the house a verve (while often framing all of the primary characters as entrapped or jailed) that required almost absolutely no ‘traditional’ haunting visual effects, relying instead on perfect sound design, and all of it dovetails with the intense internal monologuing from Eleanor.

THE HAUNTING is a perfect Halloween film, one that’ll make you think about your surroundings as you lumber off to bed, all while questioning your own place.

THE MIST (2007)

October 29, 2020

(AMC+/fubo/VOD) I read a fair amount of King as a kid and, while I found much of it thrilling, I recall very little of it disturbing me (although the TV film adaptation of IT definitely kept me awake at night) except for one short story from his SKELETON CREW collection: THE MIST. I fully realize it wasn’t so much the story itself, but how the story let my imagination run wild with the fear of what’s unseen.

While Frank Durabont’s adaptation of THE MIST differs in many ways from the source material, it still reckons with the idea of ‘what’s the worst out there that we can’t see?’, taking it to the extreme with what you may feel is a controversial end. In-between the opening and that ending, you have your traditional small-town interpersonal conflicts and blow-ups, mostly structured within the space of a decently sized grocery store with overly spacious front windows.

It includes murderer’s row of fantastic performers, including Laurie Holden and Jeffery DeMunn (both pre-THE WALKING DEAD), Andre Braugher, and frickin’ Toby Jones, stylish shots and cracking sound and monster design, it’s one of those adaptations where everything coalesces into something special.

(By the way, there was a barely-promoted TV adaptation of THE MIST that aired on the now-defunct basic cable channel Spike in 2017. Unless you’re hardcore about comparing adaptations — like I am — you may want to skip it.)

I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943)

October 28, 2020

(AMC+/VOD) A slight cheat, as it’s gothic romanticism disguised as supernatural horror, but the end result is just the same. Horror master Jacques Tourneur (CURSE OF THE DEMON, CAT PEOPLE) was tasked by master producer Val Lewton, to create a film to match the title ‘I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE’. Tourneur did, but leaned heavily on JANE EYRE and Haitian folklore to do so, resulting in the an early ‘elevated horror’* film.

As you might expect from a Haitian folklore zombie film from the 40s, there’s a fair amount of problematic othering going on here, although it’s not as severe as other films of its time, and it’s actively attempting to be progressive.

  • I hate that label, but it’s sufficient shorthand.

PONTYPOOL (2008)

October 22, 2020

(AMC+/VOD) Based on Tony Burgess’ PONTYPOOL CHANGES EVERYTHING, the film condenses and improves on the source material, turning it into more of a WAR OF THE WORLDS broadcast, becoming more of a stage/radioplay than film. This piece about a virus transmitted via speech wouldn’t work nearly as well without Stephen McHattie’s resonant voice -and- acerbically charismatic presence. That said, even without him, it’d still be an imaginatively brilliant and horrifying work. The mid-film obituaries hit hard. It’s a masterclass in wringing the most from a smart concept by selling a lot through showing very little.

A sequel has long been rumored — I assume it’d be based on CAESAREA, which I have yet to read — but by all indications it’d be significantly larger in scope, whereas PONTYPOOL (the film) works better because of its insular scope.

“Pontypool is under quarantine. Everyone has to stay inside at all times.” Frankly, I’m shocked they haven’t re-united the cast for a COVID-19 ZOOM play. I’d pay damn good money to hear that.

DON’T LOOK NOW (1973)

October 7, 2020

(kanopy/VOD) Well-known for director Nicolas Roeg, but certainly one of the lesser-known Daphne du Maurier (THE BIRDS, JAMAICA INN, MY COUSIN RACHEL, REBECCA, etc.) stories. A haunting thriller about a husband and wife in Venice, coping with possibly being haunted by their drowned daughter.

I initially saw part of it while on-the-job in college — many moons ago — but didn’t fully see it until relatively recently, after reading the original novella, and was glad I did, as I’d recently visited Venice and both the novella and film take place there.

Yes, the film is over forty years old, but it perfectly captures the atmosphere of the city, the verticality, the claustrophobia and overwhelming aging presence of the city’s architecture. Oh, and of course being constantly surrounded by water that threatens to swallow you up.

It’s an absolutely perfect setting for du Maurier — the master of detailing one’s attempts to maintain a relationship amongst metaphorical crumbling buildings — and Roeg captures it perfectly, while amplifying the thriller aspects that are somewhat lacking in the source material. The end may or may not work for you — it’s definitely something you’ll remember — but it’s authentic to the source.

GRETEL & HANSEL (2020)

October 4, 2020

(epix/Hulu/Paramount+/VOD) One of the last films I managed to catch in an actual theater before lockdown. Lushly shot — often explicitly evoking Jodorowsky’s THE HOLY MOUNTAIN — and exquisitely paced, with striking production design — as you’d expect from Oz Perkins — but mostly, it’s another triumph for actress Sophia Lillis.

The characters are a bit more fleshed out, the circumstances are broadened a bit for a modern horror audience, but it’s still the Hansel & Gretel you know. It’s not trying to be IN THE COMPANY OF WOLVES (1984, see yesterday).

(As a film nerd, I was unreasonably delighted to see the ORION PICTURES card on the big screen for a new film. Dumb, yes, I know, but I have many weaknesses.)

THE COMPANY OF WOLVES (1984)

October 3, 2020

(kanopy/tubi/VOD) A small set of horrific coming-of-age fairy tales from Neil Jordan (THE CRYING GAME, GRETA), adapted with feminist horror author Angela Carter, based on several short stories from her THE BLOODY CHAMBER short story collection. As a bonus, Angela Lansbury appears, as does a mostly silent Danielle Dax! (If you’re goth, you’ll get it.)

Neil Jordan bemoaned upon seeing the theatrical cut that he’d “made a movie where the target audience is only girls and dogs,” but it holds up as a genuinely taut and thrilling anthology that re-contextualizes cautionary childhood tales into cautionary tales for the recently sexually awoken. Visually, it’s very stagey, but the effects and wall-to-wall predators will stick in your mind for at least a decade or two.

THE GHOST & MRS MUIR (1947)

September 29, 2020

(VOD) One of the first adapted novel-to-film paranormal romances I can think of. A story of the ghost of a sea pirate overseeing his land, and those who currently inhabit it. Harrison’s stilted as always, but handsome and aloof enough to get away with it. Tierney’s supremely regal, and the closing scene is perfect.

Fun fact: it was also adapted into a late 1960s TV sitcom, including Charles Nelson Reilly as a landlord-ish figure you’d later see on THREE’S COMPANY.

Also, if anyone reading this knows someone at the CW, well, I have a pitch to sell.

BATMAN RETURNS (1992)

September 22, 2020

(HBO MAX/VOD) Tim Burton’s sequel — which seems to be unfairly forgotten, even more than the Schumacher sequels — manages to give us the best on-screen version of Catwoman, as well as the most intriguing and spectacular art and production design (sorry, not sorry Nolan) of the film franchise. Also, it’s more disturbing than you remember, and still goth as fuck.