FILMS AND LITERATURE

Novel: THE PAINTED VEIL by William Somerset Maugham

Summary: Kitty Fane is a beautiful young woman whose mother has raised her to make a suitable match. But Kitty refuses a number of suitors; several years pass and eventually she is reduced to marrying Walter, the colonial bacteriologist in Hong Kong. Walter is a shy and awkward man who loves Kitty passionately, but has no idea how to express it; Kitty is charming and socially adept, but vacuous. In Hong Kong Kitty engages in a yearlong affair with Charles Townsend, the assistant colonial secretary, and a married man whose celebrity potential far eclipses Walter's stolid scientific work. The novel opens when Walter discovers his wife's infidelity.

Kitty believes that Townsend is madly in love with her and prepared to divorce his wife and sacrifice his career to marry her. Walter, who suffers from a broken heart, gives Kitty an ultimatum--either Townsend must promise to divorce his wife and marry her, or Kitty must accompany Walter to a city in the interior where he has volunteered to go to fight the cholera epidemic. Townsend demurs; Kitty is crushed; and the desperately unhappy pair travels to the cholera-ridden city, where they move into the house of the newly-dead missionary.

There, Walter (who is also a medical doctor) sets to work, day and night, to institute public health measures and care for dying patients. Meanwhile, Kitty meets Worthington, the British consul, a cynical alcoholic, who is at heart a good and honest person; and the French nuns, who labor tirelessly to care for orphans and the ill. Impressed by the nuns' selflessness, Kitty begins to devote herself to assisting them and trying to understand their spirituality.

When he learns that Kitty is pregnant, Walter asks if it is his child; Kitty responds, "I don't know." This completes the destruction of Walter's heart, and he soon dies of cholera--presumably as a result of experimenting on himself to find a cure. Kitty learns that the nuns, the soldiers, and all the people of the city consider Walter a saint, who has sacrificed himself for their welfare. However, while Kitty has learned to respect her husband, she could never love him.

Kitty stays only briefly in Hong Kong before returning home to London. Shortly before her arrival, she learns that her mother, whom she believes is responsible for her (Kitty's) shallowness, has died. The novel ends with Kitty vowing to bring up her daughter as a strong and independent woman, and preparing to move with her father to the Bahamas, where he has recently been appointed Chief Justice.

Film: THE PAINTED VEIL by John Curran

FILMS BASED ON NOVELS

Novel: Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Film: Memoirs of a Geisha by Rob Marshall

Sayuri's story begins in a poor fishing village in 1929, when, as a nine-year-old with unusual blue-gray eyes, she is taken from her home and sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Through her eyes, we see the decadent heart of Gion--the geisha district of Kyoto--with its marvelous teahouses and theaters, narrow back alleys, ornate temples, and artists' streets. And we witness her transformation as she learns the rigorous arts of the geisha: dance and music; wearing kimono, elaborate makeup and hair; pouring sake to reveal just a touch of inner wrist; competing with a jealous rival for men's solicitude and the money that goes with it. But as World War II erupts and the geisha houses are forced to close, Sayuri, with little money and even less food, must reinvent herself all over again to find a rare kind of freedom on her own terms.

Memoirs of a Geisha is a book of nuances and vivid metaphor, of memorable characters rendered with humor and pathos. And though the story is rich with detail and a vast knowledge of history, it is the transparent, seductive voice of Sayuri that the reader remembers.

Source: (bookbrowse.com)

Novel: Smilla´s sense of snow by Peter Hoeg
Film: Smilla´s sense of snow by Bille August

A stunning literary thriller in the tradition of Gorky Park and the novels of John Le Carré.

Smilla Qaaviqaaq Jaspersen is the daughter of a Danish doctor and an Inuit woman from Greenland. Raised in Greenland, she lives in Copenhagen and, as befits her ancestry, is an expert on snow. When one of her few friends, an Inuit boy, dies under mysterious circumstances, she refuses to believe it was an accident.

She decides to investigate and discovers that even the police don''t want her involved. But Smilla persists, and as snow-covered Copenhagen settles down for a quiet Christmas, Smilla''s investigation leads her from a fanatically religious accountant, to a tough-talking pathologist, to the secret files of the Danish company responsible for extracting most of Greenland''s mineral wealth. Finally, she boards a ship with an international cast of villains - and a large stash of cocaine - bound for a mysterious mission on an inhospitable island off Greenland.

Source: (chapters.indigo.ca. Doubleday Canada)

Novel: The Green Mile by Stephen King

Film: The Green Mile by Frank Darabont

The book is a first-person narrative told by Paul Edgecombe, who worked as a Cold Mountain Penitentiary block supervisor on death row, nicknamed "The Green Mile", in 1932. It switches between the events that occurred there, and Paul in the "present" as an old man in a nursing home writing the story, and his "special friend" Elaine Connelly reading it.

The story centers on John Coffey, a 6'8" black man who is convicted of raping and murdering two small white girls. He is notable because of his size and strange behavior. Besides Coffey, there are two other prisoners on the cellblock during the main period the book focuses on: Eduard "Del" Delacroix, a Cajun arsonist and murderer who is cowardly and weak-minded, and William "Wild Bill" Wharton, a wild and dangerous multiple murderer who is determined to make as much trouble as he can before he is executed. Looking back, Paul also describes his experiences with a Washita Cherokee murderer named Arlen Bitterbuck, nicknamed "The Chief", and Arthur Flanders, nicknamed "The President", an insurance executive who killed his father to perpetrate insurance fraud. The story also features Mr. Jingles, an unnaturally intelligent mouse who appears early in the novel and befriends Del. The mouse learns various tricks and appears to follow commands. Del insists that the mouse whispers things in his ear.

Paul and the other guards are antagonized throughout the book by Percy Wetmore, a sadistic guard who enjoys aggravating the prisoners and tries to kill Mr. Jingles on more than one occasion. The other guards have to be civil to him despite their dislike of him because he is the governor's nephew. However, when he is offered a place at the nearby Briar Ridge psychiatric hospital as a secretary, Paul thinks they are finally rid of him. However, Percy informs Paul and his colleagues that he will not leave until he is "put up front" (allowed to supervise an execution), so Paul hesitantly allows him to run Delacroix's. Percy is supposed to soak a sponge in brine and tuck it inside the electrode cap to be strapped onto Del's head (to draw the electricity to the brain to kill faster and with less pain), but his resentment of the man leads him to deliberately omit this step. As a result, when the switch is thrown, the electric current causes Del to suffer an agonizing death and literally fry in the chair.

Over time, Paul realizes that there is something special about John Coffey: he possesses mystical healing abilities. These powers heal Paul's urinary tract infection and brings Mr. Jingles from the brink of death after Percy attempts to kill him by stepping on him. Paul also realizes that Coffey is very empathic and sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of others around him and all over the world. The guards drug William Wharton, put a straitjacket on Percy, and lock him in the padded restraint room. They then smuggle John out of the prison and take him to Warden Hal Moores' residence, where he cures his wife's deadly brain tumor with his magical abilities. When they return to the Mile, Percy is released from the restraint room and agrees to move to the Briar Ridge secretarial job straightaway. However, as he is leaving, John passes the "disease" which he took out of the warden's wife onto Percy. Percy goes mad and shoots Wharton to death, then falls into a catatonic state from which he never recovers. He is later transferred to Briar Ridge, but as a patient rather than a secretary.

Although Paul eventually discovers that John was innocent of the murders (which were actually the work of William Wharton), John elects to die anyway to escape the cruelty of the world. Near the end of the book, it is revealed that those healed by John gain an unnatural lifespan. In the end, Mr. Jingles lives to be at least 64 and dies of old age at Paul's nursing home and Paul reveals to the reader how his wife died. Paul also states that he is 104 years old and wondering just how much longer he will live. The book ends with this quote:

"We each owe a death, there are no exceptions, I know that, but sometimes, oh God, the Green Mile is so long."

Source: (wapedia.mobi)

Literature and Cinema

FILMS BASED ON NOVELS

Novel: The Wings of the Dove by Henry James

Film: The wings of the dove by Iain Softley

Set amid the splendor of London drawing rooms and gilded Venetian palazzos, The Wings of the Dove is the story of Milly Theale, a naïve, doomed American heiress, and a pair of lovers, Kate Croy and Merton Densher, who conspire to obtain her fortune. In this witty tragedy of treachery, self-deception, and betrayal, Henry James weaves together three ill-fated and wholly human destinies unexpectedly linked by desire, greed, and salvation. As Amy Bloom writes in her Introduction, “The Wings of the Dove is a novel of intimacy. . . . [James] gives us passion, he gives us love in its terrible and enchanting forms.”

(Source: LibraryThing.com)

Novel: A Passage to India by E. M. Forster
Film: A Passage to India by David Lean

The main incident of the novel is the accusation by an English woman that an Indian doctor followed her into a cave and attempted to rape her. Doctor Aziz (the accused man) is a respected member of the Muslim community in India. Like many people of his social class, his relationship with the British administration is somewhat ambivalent. He sees most of the British as enormously rude, so he is pleased and flattered when an English woman, Mrs. Moore, attempts to befriend him.Fielding also becomes a friend, and he is the only English person who attempts to help him--after the accusation is made. Despite Fielding's help, Aziz is constantly worried that Fielding will somehow betray him). The two part ways and then meet many years later. Forster suggests that the two can never really be friends until the English withdraw from India.

(Source:classiclit.com)

Novel: The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Film: The Remains of the Day by James Ivory

The novel The Remains of the Day tells the story of Stevens, an English butler who dedicates his life to the loyal service of Lord Darlington (mentioned in increasing detail in flashbacks). The novel begins with Stevens receiving a letter from an ex colleague called Miss Kenton, describing her married life, which he believes hints at her unhappy marriage. The receipt of the letter allows Stevens the opportunity to revisit this once-cherished relationship, if only under the guise of possible re-employment. Stevens' new employer, a wealthy American, Mr Farraday, encourages Stevens to borrow a car to take a well-earned break, a "motoring trip." As he sets out, Stevens has the opportunity to reflect on his unmoving loyalty to Lord Darlington, the meaning of the term "dignity", and even his relationship with his father. Ultimately Stevens is forced to ponder the true nature of his relationship with Miss Kenton. As the book progresses, increasing evidence of Miss Kenton's one-time love for Stevens, and his for her, is revealed.
Working together during the years leading up to the Second World War, Stevens and Miss Kenton fail to admit their true feelings. All of their recollected conversations show a professional friendship, which came close, but never dared, to cross the line to romance.
Miss Kenton, it later emerges, has been married for over 20 years and therefore is no longer Miss Kenton but has become Mrs Benn. She admits to occasionally wondering what her life with Stevens might have been like, has come to love her husband, and is looking forward to the birth of their first grandchild. Stevens muses over lost opportunities, both with Miss Kenton and with his long-time employer, Lord Darlington. At the end of the novel, Stevens instead focuses on the "remains of [his] day", referring to his future service with Mr Farraday.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Novel: The Four Feathers by A. E. W. Mason
Film: The Four Feathers by Shekar Kapur
The novel tells the story of British officer, Harry Feversham, who resigns his commission from his regiment just prior to Sir Garnet Wolseley's 1882 expedition to Egypt to suppress the rising of Urabi Pasha. He does this for his own personal reasons, rather than cowardice. However, he is faced with censure from three of his comrades for cowardice, signified by the delivery of three white feathers to him, from Captain Trench and Lieutenants Castleton and Willoughby, and the loss of the support of his fiancée, Ethne Eustace, who presents him with the fourth feather. His best friend in the regiment, Captain Durrance, becomes his rival for Ethne.
Talking with Lieutenant Sutch, a friend of his father, an imposing retired general, Feversham questions his own true motives, and resolves to redeem himself by whatever means necessary, travelling on his own to Egypt and Sudan, where in 1882 Muhammad Ahmed proclaimed himself the Mahdi (Guided One) and raised a Holy War. On January 26, 1885, his forces, at the time called Dervishes, captured Khartoum and killed its British governor, General Charles George Gordon. It is mainly in the eastern Sudan, where the British and Egyptians held Suakin, that the action takes place over the next six years. Durrance is blinded by sunstroke and invalided home. Castleton is reported killed at Tamai where a British square is briefly broken. Feversham's first success is with Willoughby, by recovering lost letters of Gordon. He is aided by a Sudanese Arab, Abou Fatma. Later, disguised as a mad Greek musician, Feversham gets imprisoned in Omdurman, where he rescues the now Colonel Trench, who had been captured on a reconnaissance mission, and they escape.
Returned to England, Feversham has his honour restored and the feathers returned. Trench admits he instigated the feathers. Durrance yields Ethne, and travels to Germany to seek a cure for his blindness. Ethne and Feversham wed. The story is rich in characters and sub-plots, which the filmed versions perforce trim, along with making major changes in the story line, with the best known 1939 version centered on the 1898 campaign and battle of Omdurman, only hinted as a future event in the novel.

(Source: Wikipedia)