Waughwell One Hundred

Don Aitken wrote

  >>I was buying a tea in BooksEtc this morning and I saw some new '100' p/back
  >>editions of Orwell's books. THE COVERS ARE HORRIBLE: a sort of E-Culcher
  >>minimalism; little coloured spots which resolve themselves into a footrprint
  >>for DAIPAL and a pig for Animal Farm etc. Went on th Penguin site but
  >>couldn't find a link to a pic. Did notice that they are 'celebrating'
  >>Waugh's 100 with a 'tie in' with Stephen Fry's film of Vile Bodies, called
  >>'Bright Young Things'. I have grave misgivings about that film.
 >
 >Me too. It seems they have given it a "happy ending".

As Carl Perkins may or may not have said, "You can do anything but lay off of
Waugh's ending to _Vile Bodies_."

Gene<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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"Gene Zitver" <gzitver DeleteThis @aol.com> wrote in message
news:20030923132925.23307.00003190@mb-m29.aol.com...
 > Don Aitken wrote
 >
   > >>I was buying a tea in BooksEtc this morning and I saw some new '100'
p/back
   > >>editions of Orwell's books. THE COVERS ARE HORRIBLE: a sort of E-Culcher
   > >>minimalism; little coloured spots which resolve themselves into a
footrprint
   > >>for DAIPAL and a pig for Animal Farm etc. Went on th Penguin site but
   > >>couldn't find a link to a pic. Did notice that they are 'celebrating'
   > >>Waugh's 100 with a 'tie in' with Stephen Fry's film of Vile Bodies,
called
   > >>'Bright Young Things'. I have grave misgivings about that film.
  > >
  > >Me too. It seems they have given it a "happy ending".
 >
 > As Carl Perkins may or may not have said, "You can do anything but lay off
of
 > Waugh's ending to _Vile Bodies_."
 >

I may do Evelyn Waugh sings Elvis next, imagine a plummy, pompous, English
'..drink my liquor from an old fruit jar..'



 > Gene<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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"Don Aitken" <don-aitken.DeleteThis@freeuk.com> wrote in message
news:tcn0nvo2ite2ie0s39iggr6qhnh5en9lp7@4ax.com...
 > On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 12:22:43 +0100, "ROBBIE"
 > <word_chemist.DeleteThis@hotmail.com> wrote:
 >
  > >I was buying a tea in BooksEtc this morning and I saw some new '100'
p/back
  > >editions of Orwell's books. THE COVERS ARE HORRIBLE: a sort of E-Culcher
  > >minimalism; little coloured spots which resolve themselves into a
footrprint
  > >for DAIPAL and a pig for Animal Farm etc. Went on th Penguin site but
  > >couldn't find a link to a pic. Did notice that they are 'celebrating'
  > >Waugh's 100 with a 'tie in' with Stephen Fry's film of Vile Bodies,
called
  > >'Bright Young Things'. I have grave misgivings about that film.
 >
 > Me too. It seems they have given it a "happy ending".
 >
 > --
 > Don Aitken

I can't see any reason for making a film out of the book; the book lives
brilliantly on the page. Most of his books are masterpieces and a
masterpiece is something that's found its final form isn't it? Why bother
doing it? And look at Waugh On Film previously: Decline and Fall and The
Loved One: not good. And of course if you are going to start toning down
Waugh's bleak and outrageous universe then its utterly pointless. You'd
think that Fry the Biggest Brain in Showbiz would see that straight off.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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"ROBBIE" <word_chemist RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:bkq2kd$4m2f8$1@ID-200782.news.uni-berlin.de...

 > And look at Waugh On Film previously: Decline and Fall and The
 > Loved One: not good.

Didn't the BBC do the Sword of Honour trilogy a couple of years back? I
never got to see it - any good, anyone?

Alan.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 14:28:31 -0400, "Alan Allport"
<allport.RemoveThis@sasdot.upenndot.edu> wrote:

 >"ROBBIE" <word_chemist.RemoveThis@hotmail.com> wrote in message
 >news:bkq2kd$4m2f8$1@ID-200782.news.uni-berlin.de...
 >
  >> And look at Waugh On Film previously: Decline and Fall and The
  >> Loved One: not good.
 >
 >Didn't the BBC do the Sword of Honour trilogy a couple of years back? I
 >never got to see it - any good, anyone?
 >
They did - I thought it was pretty good. Certainly better than the
aforementioned films.

--
Don Aitken<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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ROBBIE wrote

 >I can't see any reason for making a film out of the book; the book lives
 >brilliantly on the page. Most of his books are masterpieces and a
 >masterpiece is something that's found its final form isn't it? Why bother
 >doing it? And look at Waugh On Film previously: Decline and Fall and The
 >Loved One: not good.

There was a movie version of _A Handful of Dust_ some time in the '80s. It was
quite good, as I remember.

Gene<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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ROBBIE wrote

 > I can't see any reason for making a film out of the book; the book lives
 > brilliantly on the page. Most of his books are masterpieces and a
 > masterpiece is something that's found its final form isn't it? Why bother
 > doing it? And look at Waugh On Film previously: Decline and Fall and The
 > Loved One: not good. And of course if you are going to start toning down
 > Waugh's bleak and outrageous universe then its utterly pointless. You'd
 > think that Fry the Biggest Brain in Showbiz would see that straight off.


My sentiments too. The foolishness seems to begin at the title. If you
change *Vile Bodies* to *Bright Young Things*, you're already
compromising (or betraying)what the book actually is.

I don't know whether Fry sees it and doesn't bother, or just doesn't
see it. Luvviness can damage the brain.

Tom<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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"Tom Deveson" <all.TakeThisOut@devesons.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:61c4dd77.0309232343.36bb88ef@posting.google.com...
 > ROBBIE wrote
 >
  > > I can't see any reason for making a film out of the book; the book lives
  > > brilliantly on the page. Most of his books are masterpieces and a
  > > masterpiece is something that's found its final form isn't it? Why
bother
  > > doing it? And look at Waugh On Film previously: Decline and Fall and The
  > > Loved One: not good. And of course if you are going to start toning down
  > > Waugh's bleak and outrageous universe then its utterly pointless. You'd
  > > think that Fry the Biggest Brain in Showbiz would see that straight off.
 >
 >
 > My sentiments too. The foolishness seems to begin at the title. If you
 > change *Vile Bodies* to *Bright Young Things*, you're already
 > compromising (or betraying)what the book actually is.

This leads us round to the given reason the title was changed and my
previous moan of the week regarding Tom Cruise winning the Battle of
Britain: '..for the benefit of the American market.'

 >
 > I don't know whether Fry sees it and doesn't bother, or just doesn't
 > see it. Luvviness can damage the brain.

Him and Branagh and their coterie seem to have occupied media attention and
media space, premium media space, for 20 odd years without ever having done
anything particularly funny, nor outstanding nor original and are now on
course for becoming elder statesmen in their profession. My mum, on the
other hand, doesn't like Branagh because 'he's got funny lips.'
The first time I enjoyed Hamlet, I will say though, was hearing Branagh's
version on Radio 3 years back.

 >
 > Tom<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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