Si hoc legere scis, nimium eruditionis habes

Even from this little trailer I can see they have sexed up the story a lot, :( and it was so nice as it was.

Maybe there will be some really good acting in it? Jamie Bell used to be good.

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wulfila.livejournal.com

I don't think I will even watch the trailer - Rosemary Sutcliffs books mean too much to me to have them ruined by a movie (though having "The Eagle of the Ninth" ruined would be marginally less tragic than seeing "The Lantern Bearers" destroyed, it would be bad enough).

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I tried reading The Lantern Bearers aloud to my daughter [we went through the whole series] and several times we both ended up sobbing into the pillow. It's the BEST story. I hope nobody ever films it because they'd be bound to sex it up the way they have obviously done this one.

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That's the longest version of that trailer that I've seen, the one's on my TV are so short I couldn't even tell what it was supposed to be about other than wee!Rome and ooo!action!

At least I can tell it has a story now.*

*In theory, anyway.

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It's a classic historical novel many of us grew up with or read as teen-agers.-

Edited Date: 2011-01-21 06:59 pm (UTC)

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It sounds really interesting, and I think I'd enjoy reading it.

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Then you might want to read it first and then decide if you want to see the movie.-

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Could - or I could wait and see the movie first so I don't have the watching experience tainted by book-to-movie woes. That might make juding the movie, as is, easier.

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Or that. But really, you might enjoy the story more without the movie.

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I think, either way, I'll see the movie. Channing Tatum stars, and my sister-in-law is a huge fan...seems like a good opportunity - if a baby-sitter can be found - to invite her out for a few hours out of the house.

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Oh yes, he's one of her PBs, is he? I knew I remembered the name from somewhere...

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yep, he is Eli :)

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It's WONDERFUL. But then I'm biased. It's got action and sadness and bravery and 2 men from utterly different cultures growing to really respect each other. Fantastic.

Sort of like Butch and Sundance in little leather kilts, only better

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I'll have to see if Barnes and Noble has it in stock. :)

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Oh do. It's very much a product of its time - lord it's even older than me! Very slow by modern standards. Even from the trailer to the movie I can see that they have sexed it up a lot.

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ceitfianna

I'm skeptical of the movie but now I want to reread some of my favorite Sutcliffe novels. I think she's one of the reasons I love historical fiction like I do.

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She the reason I want to write historicals. I don't really care that they've debunked her 'history', the story is just brilliant.

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ceitfianna

Of course not, I don't read historical novels for the history. If I want the history, I know where to find it.

The good authors pull you into the setting and world, which is so tricky to do well. I've read so many eh historical novels and mysteries, the good ones are a pleasure.

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I've been bingeing on Mary Renault the past few months. Absolutely delicious.

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ceitfianna

I love her stuff, she's just so amazing with the Classical world which is so complicated.

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cweb.livejournal.com

I've been reading several Mary Renault novels in the past few months, myself. I've had them on the bookshelf for yonks, and I finally kicked my ass and read them. They were great.

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When it was in production it was still titled "The Eagle of the Ninth" not sure as to why they dropped the title other than to possibly not be confused with the novel? I haven't read the book myself so I can't compare/contrast the stories, but to be honest it looks like a different adaptation of The Gladiator to me.

As for whether or not to see it, I suggest if you do try to not judge it against the novel you have read. Times change and interpretations change as well. Generations change and movies are meant to appeal to a broad audience. It always happens with movie and book adaptations.

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In this case I'm sure Channing Tatum will be magnificent whatever they have done to the story and since nobody but old dinosaurs like me will have read it there will be very little harm done.

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He always ends up fighting within the first ten minutes of most movies he is in.

But with the casting aside - I was just offering up a bit of advice. I've seen movies of which I hated the book and loved the movie or vice versa but a wise woman once told me that everybody adapts their opinion in the movies. They have to market it in a way that is sellable to the masses, not just the history buffs.

Personally, I'm interested in seeing how it compares to Gladiator, The Tudors, and Troy.

Edited Date: 2011-01-22 12:02 am (UTC)

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Actual history doesn't work in films. It's either too slow or too strange.

And yes, I DO differentiate between films and books. Some adaptations are delightful [LOTR trilogy]. Some are better than the books [Twilight!]. Some make a place of their own divorced from the book they are, loosely, based on and can be enjoyed in their own right [Troy].

But when you really love something it's scary to see it mutilated. I'm sure there are books you would hate to see filmed. We all have our favourites.

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You're right - we all have our favorites.

Edited because we obviously disagree on creativity aspects so am not going to beat a dead horse or tell you your opinion is wrong. It is an opinion and we are all entitled to our individual ones, plus it is your journal. Sorry for hurting your feelings if you took my advice further than it was intended.

Edited Date: 2011-01-22 01:07 am (UTC)

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LJ was designed so that people of wildly differing opinions may debate in a safe, calm, sane and civilised manner. It doesn't always happen, unfortunately [witness the Harry Potter Shipping Wars of the early 2000s] but I think you and I should be able to get along quite amicably. I don't even see much disagreement. We're just looking at it from slightly different points of view.

Please bear in mind that what follows is an expression ONLY of MY feelings and nobody elses. I'm not trying to tell you how to approach watching films/reading books/ adapting things creatively. You'll have your own equally valid approach and opinions. So frequently a simple exchange of 'you believe this, I believe that' can be misinterpreted as a personal attack.

Creativity aspects - I've written fanfic so I don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to taking something good and making something awful out of it. But I've always done it with respect and love and have accepted no money. When money comes into the equation sometimes strange things can happen - like in Troy where they allowed Helen and Paris to escape to, presumably, live happily ever after? That was definitely playing to the peanut gallery. You edited out the bit about enjoying seeing other people's interpretations - I do too but I also require them to be GOOD.

Master and Commander, a magnificent film, was made by cobbling together incidents from 3 of Patrick O'Briens novels that are equally magnificent in their own way. The last 4 Harry Potter books are unfilmable as they stand, they NEED a heavy edit to make them decent stories and they have been great fun to watch. Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would have been proud to have written that screenplay! The Seeker: The Dark is Rising made a mockery of a classic on a par with setting Winnie the Pooh in LA hustling his butt for honey AND it lost money and got bad reviews even from people who hadn't read the books.

I'll go and see "The Eagle", I guess it will reach us eventually, and then we'll talk again. Just a thought though - if it had been Sam Worthington or Jason Statham cast as Marcus instead of Eli would you have taken all this trouble to reply not once but several times? Dee too. That really surprised me.

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I like seeing other people's interpretations - be them good or bad - just to try figuring out how they got so far off the general idea. I'm an analytical sort most of the time, cynical to a fault because I will constantly pick at things and ask why this happened instead of that or if plot A was happening then why would you not do the logical follow through of B and instead take route F.

I haven't seen Master and Commander because at the time it didn't interest me. Sherlock Holmes either, though I probably will go and watch them eventually in my up till 4am nights.

Regardless of who was cast in the film, yes I would have taken all the "trouble" to reply because it was a suggestion I had then I thought we were conversing on that point. I was not the one who pointed out Channing Tatum in it. You were.

While I can not speak for Dee, I figure she would have had a similar reply. We were carrying on the conversation, or that's what I thought I was doing.

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Oh good. Because the film/book divide is an interesting subject. I've seen so many where the changes have no apparent sense to them and seem to have been made quite arbitrarily. It used to be that I'd watch pretty much anything in my comfort zone. But I'm getting older now and have things I'd sooner be doing so I am very picky about what I spend my time watching. If it's not good it goes off no matter, as you said, who's in it. It almost hurts to see actors one respects delivering clunky lines or being poorly directed.

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metallumai.livejournal.com

I'd go see it! You already know the story, and it looks as though they've overstated the 'different cultures' bit just a tad, BUT they are cute. AND, Britons with mohawk hairdos, what's not to like? :D

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I think I'll pass. I remember Louis de Bernieres' reaction to going to see Captain Corelli's Mandolin. He said it was like getting someone to baby sit a much loved child and coming home to find its ears on backwards. The problem is I care about these stories and I have a horrible feeling it might end up making me feel like seeing this photo (http://glennsimmons.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/736_pageant-play850306.jpg) does. Bewildered and slightly sick.

Much better to stay in and read the novel I think.

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aunty_marion

I do rather wonder if they dropped "...of the Ninth" on the same grounds as "The Madness of George III" became "The Madness of King George". All the iggerant dweebs would be wondering what happened to Eagles One to Eight.

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