dirac

Going off topic, it was indeed Lillian on the ice. The stylizations of much, though not all, of silent film acting were noticeable even at the time -- the word "emoting" was resurrected to describe them.......

A lengthy piece in The New York Review of Books by Diane Johnson, surveying a new batch of books on Austen: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18074

With Netflix and Blockbuster online, you now have no excuse, Treefrog. I can remember when you used to have to wait long periods before classics or foreign films had revivals -- either you saw them on public television, the late show, or headed to a repertory theatre, assuming you had one nearby. The new accessibility is a Good Thing for the most part, of course, but it changes the experience somewhat.

I'm seeing "Anna Karenina" next week. Is anyone else planning to attend? I think the troupe is there through the following Sunday, but I don't know the exact dates.

Elton John hasn't been in peak form for decades now, but leaving that point aside, it's interesting to note that Billy Elliot, The Producers, and the current hit Spamalot are all derived from movies. In Broadway's glory days, the movies were constantly plundering the stage for material. I've read only a few Runyon stories, but my recollection is that the characters are funny and quite harmless -- I remember one called "Butch Minds the Baby" about some robbers who get stuck babysitting during a heist. It's not as if Loesser was adapting "The Godfather."

I don’t know if J.K. Rowling’s use of initials was a deliberate attempt to avoid immediate ID as a woman. If so, it was a shrewd move. (It was also wise to call her protagonist Harry and not Harriet.) A few years ago I read an article about movies that made a similar point. Studio market research indicated that women would attend a movie aimed primarily at men even if said picture wasn’t their first choice, but men generally resisted attending movies made to appeal to a female audience. This is one among several reasons that most high profile movies today are made with a view to attracting male viewers.

Marga wrote: I hope your hand is better soon, Marga, and thanks to you for starting such a thought-provoking topic.

From the U.K. Observer, an article reporting the results of a recent survey of differences in the reading habits of the sexes: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/sto...1494932,00.html

TIME magazine’s list of the 100 greatest films of all time, drawn up by Richard Schickel and Richard Corliss: http://www.time.com/time/2005/100movies/th...plete_list.html The value of this kind of list is debatable, but this is not a bad example of the kind, although there are a number of highly debatable inclusions and omissions.

Same here. When I was a kid I thought of it as boy stuff -- came back to it years later and liked it much better.

If cameras had been around, they would also have been screaming, “We’re not here to take pictures. We’re here to paint.” Drew, not to wander off topic , but I'm curious to know if you mean the difference between the way James views his characters in, say, Washington Square or The Bostonians – largely from the outside – as opposed to the exploration of individual consciousness (in highly idiosyncratic and, yes, “mannered” language – in that everyone sounds like James) in the later novels? Or are you thinking more about plot construction and characterization? I can see it both ways.

Another quote from the National Gallery link. Not the most graceful sentence, but it suggests that a ballet analogy to realism v. mannerism might be the story v. abstract debate.

Did the ballerina always have gargouillades to perform? I seem to remember Croce saying somewhere that Balanchine added them for Kirkland, but my memory could be off.

Amy, I posted before reading your most recent message. Mannerism in 16th century art meant an emphasis on style and artifice over realism. Someone better versed than I in the art of the period could explain more, I’m sure.

Thank you for starting a discussion, Amy. Not to be rude, but I don’t trust the judgment of anyone who can write It’s true that adaptations of “Anna Karenina” tend to focus on Anna and Vronsky at the expense of Kitty and Levin, but their story is hardly an “unnecessary ingredient.” I wouldn’t expect a ballet adaptation to include the B story line in this case – not danceable – but it is odd for Johnson to congratulate Eifman on eliminating the lard from meandering moralistic old Tolstoy. I haven’t seen anything by Dove or Streb and so cannot judge, but I can’t see putting Eifman and Forsythe together. You could argue that they both “go to extremes” but I’m not sure that’s enough to put them in the same school.

Filmography and related information at The New York Times website: http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/film...tml?p_id=102559

Ismail Merchant, of Merchant-Ivory Productions, has died. In partnership with James Ivory, he brought novels such as “A Room with a View,” “Howards End,” and “The Bostonians” to the screen. Their films weren't always successful, but they were always honorable efforts with good to excellent acting: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/n...e_merchant_dc_1

bart, did you ever get a chance to read the article? I was looking forward to hearing your opinion....

Love it, just love it.

Hugo Chávez of Venezuela is starting up a kind of Venezuelan National Book Club by giving away thousands of copies of “Don Quixote.” Next up: “Les Misérables.” From The Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0525/p01s03-woam.html

With Memorial Day weekend approaching, I thought I'd start our annual summer reading thread. Let us know what you're planning to read, and report on what you do read!

It's fine to have another thread here -- not everyone looks at both boards. Would love to hear about the Guys and Dolls, carolm -- it's a favorite of mine, too!

Thanks, Ari -- I was hoping you might see it and report.

Thanks for starting this thread, carolm, and thanks, ami1436, for the link. It's nice to know that people seem to be enjoying the show. It is nice to have the opportunity to see the original cast early in the run. "The Producers" followed a similar trajectory -- a new film version of the musical is now in the works.

You're very welcome! That's all too bygone an era, Farrell Fan. And no worries about your Shameful Confusion. I always take comfort from the fact that even the Metropolitian Opera Quiz panels occasionally mix up singers they really shouldn't. I remember when you could go to the store and the lieder recordings seemed to be All Fischer-Dieskau, All the Time.