As regular readers know, I’ve recently been quite consumed with my first reading of Anthony Powell’s multi-volume opus A Dance To The Music of Time.
I have wondered off and on whether anyone ever managed to dramatize such an enormous (and enormously complicated) work for tee vee. Well, a quick check indicates that yes, indeed, it has been done. But imagine my drop-jawed surprise when I went searching for images of what one of the main villains of the piece, Kenneth Widmerpool, might look like in person:
“Great Heavens!” I thought, “It’s Flounder!”
I don’t know what to make of this, but one way or another it can’t be a good thing.
By the bye, I’d be curious as to what Powell experts think of the tee vee series. Generally, of course, I’m dubious about this sort of thing. However, I understand that Simon Russell Beale, the fellah who plays Widmerpool, got all kinds of hurrahs for it from ADTTMOT enthusiasts.
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August 5, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Basil Seal
Robbo, The film adaptation is what one would expect when one has to adapt 12 novels and 400 characters into 8 hours of television. The production values are high as one would expect from British television and the casting and acting are first rate, except for the use of different actors for Jenkins as he ages instead of using aging make up etc. There were some scenes dramatized in the film which took place off stage in the books and the chronology is changed somewhat in the film version. Due to the scope of the novels, the film seems more an abridgment than an adaptation in some respects. The film falters in the last reel, but then again, so did the books. Powell just didn’t do the Sixties…Not as good as the Brideshead adaptation, but then, what is? If you have read the books, it is worth a look. Simon Russell-Beale’s Widmerpool is quite amazing.
August 6, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Your Host
Thankee, Sir Basil. I certainly shall toss it into the queue once I’ve finished the books.