Looking back several decades, I thought that the movie Jaws was actually far better than the book on which it was based. I found the book to be a scandal sheet with some terror layered on top. The movie threw out all the unnecessary gossip and focused on the man-against-nature theme, to the great improvement of the story.

I don't usually tell friends to skip the book, just see the movie, but in this case, I would.

I think, in general, that the Merchant Ivory films usually do justice to the books they are taken from. I recently re-watched "A Passage to India" and found it wonderful. I also liked "Howard's Landing" very much (the original film). Evelyn Waugh's iconic "Brideshead Revisited" was very well done, in my view. (The original film with Jeremy Irons,not the updated one). Don't get me started -- I am an inveterate film watcher! Postscript: "Gone With the Wind" did very well with the characters and plot from the novel, in my view.

Re Merchant Ivory productions I think The Remains of the Day with all its repressed, stiff-upper-lip Englishness was better than the book.

And if we can include TV, as opposed to 'film' how about all the various Jane Austen adaptations?

I'm sure Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth (yes I know the story didn't include diving into a lake fully dressed, but . . . ) will always be the definitive production.

*sigh* Mr. Darcy............

Vee....regarding TV versus film, unfortunately it seems that TV is more adaptable/ affordable/ amenable for producing some of those classic stories. It seems that film today is mostly reserved for super heroes , variations on the love story/assorted couples and sexual preference, etc.

My kingdom for a reallly great and enjoyable movie.

About movies these days - even five years ago I regularly bought DVDs of movies I liked so that I could watch them again whenever I wanted. But I hardly ever see any DVDs for sale that I want. They're just not making very many movies I want to see, much less purchase to watch again later.

I'm just not into superheroes, which seems to be the popular style of movie just now.

yoyo, you are so right about super hero movies. I just checked the listings for 'what's on' at our nearest cinemas (that's nearest in the loosest sense as by UK standards 30 miles, even 10 miles is not considered 'near')

All the venues are showing Ant Man and the Wasp, Mission Impossible, The Meg, Incredibles and the only one I have even heard of Mamma Mia (the second one)

I go to the flicks less than once a year. The last one was Florence Foster Jenkins with Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant which none of you probably saw because it was made over here but I really recommend it; gentle and enjoyable. Perhaps it is available as a DVD?

Vee......FFJ did show over here and I saw and really enjoyed it ! It is currently available on Netlfix also. Some of my most favorite series and films are those made in England.

There are good films currently being made but one has to search hard for them. I find many at my local public library. I enjoyed "The Post" and the newest one about Churchill during WW II. (I think its title was "Darkest Hour.")

I would agree the Merchant Ivory films are consistently as good, if not better than, the books on which they were based. I loved A Room with a View, in particular.

As far as TV mini-series go ... well, Colin Firth IS Mr. Darcy, as far as I'm concerned :)

Movies .... The most recent one I was really excited about was Lion which came out in 2016. Right now I'd like to see the Mr. Rogers movie and that's about it. I have seen way too many superhero movies and there are so many of them they've become jumbled together in my head and I'm completely out of sequence and behind. At this point I no longer care to sort them out and catch up (though I did want to see Dr. Strange simply because it's Benedict Cumberbatch). The one superhero movie that really grabbed me was the first Guardians of the Galaxy -- which turned out to be Farscape (a sci-fi show I totally adore) on Hollywood steroids, so win-win on that one!

Vee, I rented Florence Foster Jenkins a few months ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Sheri and Vee........is it possible that I have a memory of my Dad telling me about this woman who made recordings and was the worst singer he'd ever heard and it was sort of a joke. I can't recall the timeframe when she did her recordings. Was it around WWII ?

yoyo, your Dad was right, she must have been the worst singer who ever made recordings. But the sad, even pathetic thing was she couldn't hear how out of tune she was and no-one ever 'let on' to her.

We occasionally would hear some of her old 78's played on the BBC.

Florence Sings

It was a touching story and I really enjoyed seeing Hugh Grant play a role with some weight to it.

I wonder if the movie was made from the eponomous book written by Nicholas Martin?

Well gosh, I feel kind of out of step. I didn't like the Florence Foster Jenkins movie at all - had trouble sitting through it to the end.

Kathy.....what was it that made you most uncomfortable/ displeased?

It's been a while since I saw the film (during its theater run), but my recollection is that that there seemed to be way too much terrible singing to endure. It didn't take that many examples to convince me of the problem. And I was rather disgusted about the way people pretended to like her concerts, apparently only because she was rich. And though a true story, it seemed silly to me - and only mildly amusing - certainly not enough to support a feature-length film with A-list stars.

I didn't find it as amusing as I did an interesting character study...and ultimately very sad. His protection of and love for her was most moving .

I tried to watch FFJ, and had expected to enjoy it, but got restless and turned it off. I don't enjoy humor (or pathos) which shows people making fools of themselves. I felt sorry for her, but could not endure the display. It felt cruel to me.

I felt the same way about the movie Forest Gump. Although many loved the movie I found it made me very uncomfortable and sad.

In a long flight on the weekend, I watched Where'd You Go, Bernadette? It was pretty close to the book. Something that I didn't like in the book (an unnecessary complication in the husband's life), was omitted in the movie. In that sense, I liked the movie better. The visuals at the end of the movie (a building being built), give a much better idea than the book does.

Most of it was filmed in Pittsburgh, a couple of scenes in Seattle, and some scenes in Antarctica.

IMO, for those of you who have read the book, it is worth watching the movie. But it will not show you the Seattle five-way intersections that Bernadette hated.

Has anyone seen the latest adaption of Little Women yet? How does it compare with the book or the many other film versions?

I don't think it opens here until Xmas day. I am very eager to see it. Strange that one of the four girls has a strong Irish brogue -- she was interviewed on TV.

I can't wait for Little Women, it looks fabulous. I'm hoping to see it the Thursday or Friday after Christmas. It has a lot of good buzz.

Little Women, like Jane Eyre, seems to be one of those books that is reinterpreted every decade or two. If someone wanted to make a list of books that are enduring parts of our mental landscape - our true cultural classics - then they could do worse than looking at the books we film over and over again. As for Little Women, I counted 6 feature films on IMDB and any number of television presentations and series, some directly from the book and some I suspect merely inspired by it.

In my view, the film version "the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" captured perfectly the wit and craziness of the book. I loved both. I think it was Maggie Smith who played the heroine.

I agree with that Mary, the film depicted the 30's setting of the book and made it come alive.