The 1928 Film is, By Far, the Better Movie

I'm a huge fan of the book and, even though I know literature and film are two different mediums and have to be handled in different ways, I'd heard that there were a lot of changes this film made to the book, changes that didn't have to necessarily be made because of the story's transition from book to film. I had my reservations about this, but I really tried to go into watching this with an open mind. And now, on to my strongly-worded, spoiler-filled review.

PIECE. OF. SH!T.
This movie was a piece of sh!t. The 1960s Italian version was one of the crappiest adaptions I've ever seen and this was worse. At least with the '60s one, it's so bad you can almost laugh at how blasphemous it is to the book because they get SO MANY THINGS wrong, but this was just . . . why is it in this day and age an adaptation had to suck this much? (Pauses for a second to breathe) Okay, here we go.

Ursus looked like an ass, even for the gruff misanthrope he's supposed to be. The way he got the idea to have Gwynplaine perform was just so mean-spirited and unkind it made me not like him. He tells him, "The people are afraid of what they don't understand, so don't judge them for it," and then he turns around and uses that to make a profit? WTF, Ursus?

The romance between Gwynplaine and Dea had a bunch of crap added to it that it didn't need. Sylvian was a totally unneeded character--he was there just to be a sighted love interest for Dea, but, of course, she loves Gwynplaine and only Gwynplaine, so he was completely pointless. And making Josiana Gwynplaine's first cousin (in the book, they're around the same age and aren't blood-related) AND having her both feel motherly towards Gwynplaine as well as having sexual attraction for him? That is just sick. And just when I thought Josiana and Gwynplaine's relationship couldn't get even more vomit-inducing.

So, Dea hears Gwynplaine and Josiana screwing and this prompts her to go home and drink arsenic. And then Gwynplaine comes home after his big speech at the House of Lords and is like, "Dea, don't die! You're all I have!" and Dea says really sweetly, "Sorry, I'm dying. There's nothing to be done about it." It just makes her look really bitchy. I understand her anger, but suicide, Dea? Really? No, here's what you should have done: Bust through the door and say to Josiana, "Bitch, you got two seconds to get your hands off my man before I go Daredevil on your ass."

As for the other aspects of the film . . .

The score was terrible, the sets and costumes were so bland and colorless, the camera work was unimaginative. Fudge, somebody in a college-level film class with a tiny budget could have done a better job. (Not that college film students can't do great things, but for a film that, to its credit, looked like it had an impressive budget and was made by self-proclaimed "fans of the story", I'm surprised we didn't get something better)

Nevermore!