At the movies

Yesterday the news was all mainly about theatre, today it's the movie format that has taken over the news.

RedOrbit takes it for granted that the biopic Brontë - yet to beging filming - will be released next year in an article about Brideshead Revisited:

CHARLES STURRIDGE (DIRECTOR)
Brideshead made Sturridge's name - and gained him a wife, as he married Phoebe Nicholls (Cordelia Flyte) in 1985. Despite working on several notable television dramas - including Longitude and Shackleton - none has captured the public's imagination as Brideshead did. Perhaps Brontë, his new feature film due for release next year, will do the trick. (Alice Jones)

The American Spectator discusses whether 1939 deserves to be considered the greatest year in the history of American filmmaking. A much-mentioned film relevant to this blog is borne in mind as well:

And what woman didn't long to fall under the dark yet dreamy allure of Laurence Olivier's Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights? (Lisa Fabrizio)

And the Guardian Book Blog looks at 'the oddest adaptations' in light of the forthcoming Bollywood-style Wuthering Heights by Tamasha.

While it is slightly startling to hear that Wuthering Heights is to receive a Bollywood treatment in a theatre production by Tamasha, it is a genuine eye-popper to hear from artistic director Kristine Landon-Smith that it's going to have a "moody, Chekhovian feel".
Landon-Smith says that "there are points where the emotions get so high that they have to sing instead of speak", which seems true to the pitch of Brontë's drama. And though it's quite hard to imagine where the big dance numbers are going to drop in it's a great deal more appealing a prospect than seeing Cliff as Heathcliff.
Wuthering Heights has, of course, withstood transposition into any number of different forms before - including ballet, film and theatre. I suppose Kate Bush got a few people reading Brontë, but God knows what the effect of hearing Genesis's concept album, Wind and Wuthering, was.
Indeed, a Bollywood Brontë would be far from the strangest reinterpretation of a book we've ever seen. I can remember watching a production of Hamlet - which I admit to quite liking - in which the gravedigger scene kicked off with a dance to Russ Abbott's Atmosphere. Recently a consortium of Broadway bigwigs clubbed together to purchase the musical rights to Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho, which might seem stranger if Sondheim hadn't already tackled the Demon Barber of Fleet Street and a whole company of Assassins. Adaptation's interpretation of Susan Orlean's Orchid Thief is my nomination for the oddest film version; and, until I looked on YouTube, it was a source of enduring regret that I'd never seen the musical version of Moby Dick, a maritime romp set in a swimming pool at a girls' boarding school. I think of that one as the ne plus ultra - but perhaps there are even odder reincarnations out there? (Lindesay Irvine)

Indeed, Wuthering Heights tends to lend itself to all sorts of formats and approaches, which says much in favour of its creator, Emily Brontë.

Also, the Matlock Mercury comments on the new website Famous Locations, which has information on over 3.6 million film locations. The newspaper looks for nearby locations:

A new website detailing the filming locations of some of the greatest movies ever made has highlighted Matlock and the Dales' importance in cinematic history.
Hit films like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Duchess, Dead Man's Shoes and Jane Eyre have all been filmed on location in the area during the past 50 years.
Famouslocations.com has 3.9 million locations [sic] for film scenes in its archive and reveals that the Red House Stables in Darley Dale played a key role in the filming of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Jane Eyre, released in 1995, was also shot there as was The Princess Bride, Women in Love and Far from the Madding Crowd.
The Red House Stables Working Carriage Museum has one of the finest collections of original horse drawn vehicles and equipment in Britain.

Speaking of places, The Times suggests a stay in Haworth:

Moorland views extend from Hollies Cottage at Stanbury, near Haworth, North Yorkshire, and a path leads to Top Withers, Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. The detached property sleeps three and costs £272 for a week from October 18 and 25 with Yorkshire Cottages. 01228 406701 (Tony Dawe)

But there are also a couple of mentions in book articles. Muskogee Phoenix reviews - with recipes - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows:

Through their correspondence, members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society relate their experiences during the war, including Elizabeth’s eventual disappearance, and the books the Germans encouraged them to read, from Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights” to Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra,” in an effort to prove to residents that the German Occupation was a Model Occupation. (Melony Carey)

And the School Library Journal takes a look at 'the subversive power of the genre and its appeal to today’s teens'. When discussing Kathe Koja’s The Blue Mirror the writer says,

Koja similarly explores first love in her chilling tale of obsessive power, sexuality, and abuse. Maggie, an artistic 16-year old loner, seeks refuge from her alcoholic mother by hanging out in a local café. There she meets Cole, a charismatic homeless teen who provides her with the love and affection she so desperately needs, but their relationship soon turns as Cole becomes increasingly cruel and manipulative. Koja’s experimental poetic prose creates a moody, evocative world of power and seduction. In her portrait of Cole, Koja creates a Byronic hero in the tradition of Emily Brontë’s Heathcliff. (Philip Charles Crawford)

And hardly a week goes by without the ever-present list of best books. The Canberra Times reports that the Angus & Robertson Top 100 list has revealed this year's winners:

Traditional literature still has its fans, with classics such as Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (No3), Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (No6) and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights (No28) constituting 13 per cent of the list. (Claire Low)

Angus & Robertson's website, however, is not working at the moment. (EDIT: Now it works)

On the blogosphere, As minhas cores... writes about Jane Eyre 2006 in Portuguese.

Categories: Books, Haworth, Movies-DVD-TV, Wuthering Heights