Posted by Peter Ceresole on July 03, 2014 at 00:49:42 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: Swallows and Amazons film posted by Mike Dennis on July 03, 2014 at 23:33:02:
perhaps those that have read the books should never see the film and those that have only seen the film should never read the books!
Yes, you're talking about a wonderful ideal there. It's incredibly hard to make an adaptation from one medium to another, not least because of the different commercial and audience pressures in each case. The closest and best adaptation (from book to TV) that I ever saw was 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' by Le Carré. The TV series was uncannily close to the feel of the book, and the book itself survived brilliantly in the TV adaptation. On the other hand, in the same field, with 'The Ipcress File', the adaptation for the film was very 'loose'. But the book remained excellent, and so was the film, quite separately. You could see both and not be at all irritated by the differences. But that did depend on having a brilliant author and a brilliant film director.
If the film version of SA does bring in elements of AR's real life, and it's well done, it might work very well. Being obvious; it will all depend on the script.