On Tue, Oct 22, 2013 at 2:40 PM, Diner <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Tuesday, October 22, 2013 9:34:32 AM UTC-4, Adam Bowie wrote: >> >> I must admit that I'd get much more excited about a period Marlowe set in >> LA of the thirties or forties. Yes it'd be much more expensive, but it >> could look gorgeous. 13 episodes rather than 24 as a limited series. I >> guess only premium cable tries period dramas properly these days. >> >> Indeed go nuts - shoot it in black and white! What was the last TV series >> shot that way? There's the odd episode here and there - and I'm thinking >> back to Moonlighting. Or how about putting a black and white version on >> your website or in a Saturday re-run? >> >> >> > > > BBC Radio did a series two years ago called "Classic Chandler," > adapatations of the eight Marlowe novels (including "Poodle Springs") with > Toby Stephens as Marlowe. I listened to them, and while the shows were well > done... man, Chandler had some awfully weird, convoluted plots. And hearing > them one after another, those plotlines seemed awfully repetitive. I think > people enjoy the novels more for the language, the Marlowe character, and > the period atmosphere than for the stories. So the writers of the new > series really have their work cut out for them. > > What I'd really love to see a version of "The Lady in the Lake" that gets > it right. Ditto for "The Long Goodbye," although people will be debating > that movie forever - I like it for what it is, but what it is isn't > Chandler. But to get the original stories right, yes, you'd have to set it > back in the forties. >
As to weird, convoluted plots, The Big Sleep had 11 murders and only 10 were solved. This oversight even made it into the Bogart/Bacall movie. Since the oversight was already known, I guess it meant that the studio expected the audience to have already read the novel and expect that one murder was accidentally unsolved. The oversight was brought to Chandler's attention and he just shrugged it off. He was working on another story and saw no reason to go back to a finished book. I don't see Marlowe as a good detective choice for modern times. The things he did well back in his day are less needed in our day. And he would certainly be lost on a procedural drama which is more ensemble oriented. But I also don't think a network audience would be interested in a period drama. -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
