Category Archives: 2013 Book to Movie Challenge

2013 Book to Movie Challenge – completed

Posted on 17 December 2013 by

I had promised myself that in 2013 I would not undertake any new Challenges … but this one created by Katie over at her Doing Dewey blog proved irresistible. I selected the Movie Aficionado level (a dozen books to be reviewed … Continue reading →

Posted in 2013 Book to Movie Challenge, Bill Pronzini, Boileau-Narcejac, Bryan Forbes, Harlan Ellison, Michael Crichton, Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler, Richard Matheson, Stanley Ellin | 22 Comments

Callan (1974) – Tuesday’s Overlooked Film

Posted on 10 December 2013 by

In the 1970s British cinema was at a particularly low ebb following the departure of the American majors. The number of productions fell precipitously and confidence ebbed away. As a result, for the next few years British cinemas seemed to … Continue reading →

Posted in 2013 Book to Movie Challenge, Cold War, David Callan, Espionage, James Mitchell, Tuesday's Overlooked Film, TV Spinoff | 20 Comments

The Lady from Shanghai (1948) – Tuesday’s Overlooked Film

Posted on 3 December 2013 by

The story goes that Orson Welles, needing $50,000, rang the head of Columbia Studios and offered to make a film for them from a paperback he had just plucked at random from a book stand near the phone booth. Is … Continue reading →

Posted in 2013 Book to Movie Challenge, 2013 Vintage Mystery Challenge, Film Noir, New York, Orson Welles, San Francisco, Sherwood King | Tagged | 49 Comments

IF I DIE BEFORE I WAKE (1938) by Sherwood King

Posted on 29 November 2013 by

Later adapted by Orson Welles into The Lady from Shanghai starring Rita Hayworth, this was one of a pair of pre-war mysteries by Raymond Sherwood King. Set among the wealthy elite of Long Island, it is narrated by Laurence Planter, … Continue reading →

Posted in 2013 Book to Movie Challenge, 2013 Vintage Mystery Challenge, Courtroom, Friday's Forgotten Book, New York, Orson Welles, Sherwood King | 24 Comments

The Drowning Pool (1975) – Tuesday’s Overlooked Film

Posted on 26 November 2013 by

Lew Archer, Ross Macdonald’s immortal private detective, had a name change when played by Paul Newman in Harper (1966). The movie was a hit so further attempts were made to transpose the character to the screen. The 1974 TV-Movie of The … Continue reading →

Posted in 2013 Book to Movie Challenge, New Orleans, Ross Macdonald | 43 Comments

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN by Lionel Shriver

Posted on 17 November 2013 by

Columbine, Santana, Pocatello, Virginia Tech … 10 years after its publication and this novel remains as controversial and potent as ever, its distressing subject matter still relevant after the recent events in Sparks, Nevada and Sandy Hook Elementary School last … Continue reading →

Posted in 2013 Book to Movie Challenge, Lionel Shriver, New York | Tagged , , | 27 Comments

THE WINTER MURDER CASE (1939) by SS Van Dine

Posted on 15 November 2013 by

This was the snowy swan song for amateur sleuth Philo Vance. It is also, stylistically, Van Dine’s most atypical book, told in a brisk, direct and light manner almost completely free of those adornments (footnotes and expansive digressions etc.) that … Continue reading →

Posted in 2013 Book to Movie Challenge, 2013 Vintage Mystery Challenge, Friday's Forgotten Book, New York, Philo Vance, SS Van Dine | 45 Comments