I saw this movie of the Woman in White long before I read the book. And even though I really loved the movie I love the book anymore.
I'm a bit confused as to why they would change the book so much. This miniseries seems to be more "inspired" by Wilkie Collins's book, then an actual attempt at an adaptation.
Anyone else, thoughts?
This book is on my list of best books ever. I just discovered the movie, so I'll have to dig it up and watch it!! They changed a lot, did they? How disappointing. It was perfect.
Love Mary
Well I still really love the movie. Just keep a very open mind when watching it. A lot is changed but it's still very good in it's own right.
shareI just finished studying the book for english at university. I had heard of it before then and i had a copy of it but i had never had the time to read it. They showed us this version and i have to say, i thought that it was okay, but you are right they changed so much. Tara Fitzgerald- thats right?- isnt ugly and Marian Halcombe is meant to have a wonderful figure but be awful to look at. It didnt flow as well. I do love the book though, i think as far as fiction from the victorian era- this sensationalist novel, is such a great story and easy to read. Apparently Lady Audley's secret by Elizabeth Braddon is really good too- these books were the main books of sensationalist fiction which lasted a relatively short time. Check them out if you havent already.
shareI think the issue is that the novel, although one of the top in my list of 'best reads', is too long to be properly adapted for a film.
The level of detail that intrigues the reader heavily in the novel would require at least four hours screen (remember Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet?).
Then again, there aren't many people willing to watch a very long, especially Victorian centred, film.
I think there's a difference with Hamlet in that its length is down to the need to include every line of dialogue; since that's all the play really is you just do that and bang, all the subtexts follow along. With The Woman In White (like many novels) it just isn't possible to do justice to the story's themes in that kind of space.
shareI am reading the book now for a college English class. It's great. The movie is good but it misses so much...
share[deleted]
I am 50 pages from the end. I am loving this book so much more then the movie.
"Dig the grave both wide and deep,
For I am sick, and fain would sleep!"
[deleted]
Only vague memories, but if you want to 'watch' the book, if the BBC ever release the 1982 version, watch that. I would definitely buy it. I seem to remember they kept in much more from the novel, like Walter's friend who helps him search for Fosco. And Fosco's 'love' for Marian. Certainly his wife seemed threatened by it.
shareThis is one of my favorite books of all time and I would love to see this mini series! Now I am worried they have changed it so much I won't like it.
shareIt sounds like they took most of the detective aspect of the book away in adapting this version. Also, given that illegitimacy and fraud don't carry the same weight of shock in these times, they've felt compelled to up them to rape, paedophilia and murder.
shareThe book is wonderful, captivating for all of its 500+ pages. So it's a shame to try to capture it in a two hour movie. And even more of a shame to change so much of the book!! In fact, knowing the book makes watching the movie confusing.
So I agree -- at most, this movie was "inspired" by the book, and not nearly as good.