There have been *many* fine-to-decent films made about poets in the past
thirty years.
'Haunted Summer' was about the Shelleys, Byron & Claire Clairemont on Lake
Geneva in 1815 (or was it '16?), when Mary composed Frankenstein. Eric
Stolz as Shelley & Alice Krige as a very compelling Mary. Laura Dern was a
completely convincing mad Claire. The film took some large liberties in
places, but an interesting treatment.
There was an absolutely top-notch film about Stevie Smith, starring Glenda
Jackson.
Another superb film was the BBC 'Behind the Lines' about Wilfred Owen
(Stuart Bunce) & Siegfried Sassoon (James Wilby) during their together at
Craiglockhart during the war.
Another engaging BBC film was 'Pandaemonium' about Wordsworth (John Hannah),
Coleridge Linus Roache) & Dorothy Wordsworth (Emily Woof). Old Southy even
shows up onscreen.
I can think of two movies about Charles Bukowski, one starring Mickey Rourke
and the other Matt Dillon. Only saw the latter --- very noir, moody &
atmospheric.
There was a film about Sylvia Plath starring Gwenth Paltrow.
Another, excellent, but truly harrowing film, was 'Total Eclipse', about
Rimbaud (Leonardo DiCaprio) & Verlaine (David Thewlis).
There was another about Byron starring Richard Chamberlain. Not as well
done as most of the above. I'm not sure Byron has been adequately portrayed
yet. His was the least convincing character in 'Haunted Summer'.
I loved Jennifer Jason Leigh as Dorothy Parker in 'Mrs Parker & the Vicious
Circle'.
And I would rate William Dafoe very highly as TS Eliot in 'Tom & Viv', about
the sad fate of Mrs Eliot.
bj
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon Corelis" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2008 7:40 PM
Subject: Movies
There seem to be remarkably few films about poets. I suppose there
are documentaries and TV cultural presentations, but I mean a biopic
feature film. The major one I can think of is Tom and Viv. There was
an obscure 1949 film called The Bad Lord Byron which I've never seen
but which isn't supposed to be very good and isn't available on DVD
anyway. Of course Byron and Shelley appear in the classic 1935 Bride
of Frankenstein, but only briefly.
I've often wondered why no one ever made a major film of Byron's life.
Talk about a movie that has everything! And the extensive letters
give a vivid picture of him which could translate effectively to the
screen. And when the action started to drag, you could always bring
on his dancing bear ...
Dylan Thomas might also be a good choice for a biopic, but I don't
know of one. Maybe Keats also ...
I've seen references to something called The Romantics, presented by
Peter Ackroyd, which portrays Byron, Shelley, etc., released in 2006.
It seems to be a British TV program, but I can't track down a DVD.
Does anyone know anything about it?
Oh, yeah, there's Shakespeare in Love, but that's not exactly a
biopic. Oh, and several film and TV versions of The Barretts of
Wimpole Street, which I guess counts.
--
===============================================
Jon Corelis http://jcorelis.googlepages.com/joncorelis
===============================================
|