Monday, November 24, 2003
Member since:
March 2002
March 2002
Dear Eddie,
I am fine. How are you?
Got your comments today about "The Devil and Daniel Webster" and found your assessment well reasoned, fair, and not too very different from my own. You gave the film a 6; I'd give it a 7. The public at the Internet Movie Database think even more highly of it than we do, giving it an overall score of 7.8. But what do they know?
The film is based partly on Ben??t's short story and partly on his one-act play adaptation. However, both of these works would have resulted in little more than thirty-minute screen productions, so in order to fill out the movie to a full two hours Hollywood had to add new characters--the mother, the son, Belle--and add a whole lot of back story, which does tend to play out as somewhat corny today.
Still, the tale's themes of personal liberty, respect, and dignity and the importance of their not being taken for granted are as meaningful today as when Ben??t penned them so long ago; and Huston's performance as Scratch remains a cinematic gem. Too bad the filmmakers couldn't get Henry Fonda for the role of Jabez, though. It would have inched up the movie's rating another notch.
Good hearing from you. Take care.
Sincerely,
John
I am fine. How are you?
Got your comments today about "The Devil and Daniel Webster" and found your assessment well reasoned, fair, and not too very different from my own. You gave the film a 6; I'd give it a 7. The public at the Internet Movie Database think even more highly of it than we do, giving it an overall score of 7.8. But what do they know?
The film is based partly on Ben??t's short story and partly on his one-act play adaptation. However, both of these works would have resulted in little more than thirty-minute screen productions, so in order to fill out the movie to a full two hours Hollywood had to add new characters--the mother, the son, Belle--and add a whole lot of back story, which does tend to play out as somewhat corny today.
Still, the tale's themes of personal liberty, respect, and dignity and the importance of their not being taken for granted are as meaningful today as when Ben??t penned them so long ago; and Huston's performance as Scratch remains a cinematic gem. Too bad the filmmakers couldn't get Henry Fonda for the role of Jabez, though. It would have inched up the movie's rating another notch.
Good hearing from you. Take care.
Sincerely,
John
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