The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham - Book, movie and radio program

On the steamer that took them up the Western River Walter read incessantly, but at meal-times he endeavored to make some kind of conversation. He talked to her as though she were a stranger with whom he happened to be making the journey, of indifferent things, from politeness, Kitty imagined, or because so he could render more marked the gulf that separated them.

~p. 87 of The Painted Veil

This is going to be an extremely casual set of thoughts. I watched The Painted Veil, the movie starring Edward Norton and Naomi Watts, one night when Huzzybuns was out of either town or country or both, and then tore through my house looking for the book. It took me two days to locate the book, which I immediately read then followed up with a second viewing of the movie and then the BBC Radio 4 "Woman's Hour" radio production in 5 parts. The general storyline for book, movie and radio series:

Kitty has spent her youthful years toying with a procession of suitors without finding a single one of them appealing enough to marry. Now, her younger sister is marrying well and her mother asks, "How long do you expect your father to support you?" Kitty realizes she is not only considered a burden but also about to become a laughingstock because her younger sister will be titled and she will be "the cast-off elder spinster sister." She wants to go far, far away. Conveniently, Walter asks her to marry him and accompany him to China, where he works as a bacteriologist.

They move to Hong Kong (Shanghai in the movie) and two years pass. Kitty thinks Walter is boring and rude. He has a tendency not to reply to her because he's focused on his work and is not prone to chatter -- he's a very nerd-centric, science guy. She becomes captivated by Charlie, who is also married, and they have a steamy affair. In the book and BBC Radio 4 series (as I recall -- the radio series was only available online temporarily), they go to a room above a shop; in the movie the location of their trysts is unspecified but in all cases, they end up in Kitty's room on a day that Walter arrives home early. He turns the doorknob but the door is locked.

Walter doesn't pretend he knows nothing. He's already aware that Kitty finds him appalling, but now he's Majorly Pissed. Within a short time, he's decided to take a job working in a remote village where there has been an outbreak of cholera. He tells Kitty he'll leave her behind if Charlie will divorce his wife and marry Kitty immediately. Walter is not as stupid as Kitty thinks; he knows how Charlie will react. Off they go to Mei-tan-fu, where all but one of the Englishmen in town have died or fled. Will Walter succeed in killing them both, thus eliminating the wife he now hates and his own humiliated self?

This is how the movie begins:

Walter and Kitty are sitting in the rain, nowhere near each other, waiting for their ride (which involves chairs carried by coolies). You can tell they hate each other, Kitty is angry, Walter doesn't care what she thinks; he's off in his own little world. It's perfectly portrayed in a stunningly beautiful setting. Flashbacks are utilized to tell the story up to this point, whereas the story is told in linear form in book and, I think, also in the radio series.

The three versions -- original novel, film and radio program -- are fascinating in their distinctions, but it may be a bit of a spoiler to say exactly how they differ, apart from noting that Kitty gains strength and character and learns to respect her husband in the movie and in the book she remains a simpering, frail, pitiful character to the end. Oh, and there are a lot of things added to the movie, obviously for cinematic effect. Most of those were good choices, in my opinion.

Want to know more about the differences? Keep reading, but be aware that this may be spoiler territory.

In the book, Kitty learns to respect her husband but continues to declare that she can never possibly love Walter. Kitty is a typical wimpy bitch heroine written by a popular writer of the time period (1920's - copyrighted in 1925) and disappointing in her lack of growth.

The movie and radio series were obviously written with modern sensibilities in mind. Women of today will not put up with a character who can't be bothered to learn from her mistakes and buck up. From respect for her husband's hard work and the love and care he shows to others, as well as her own hard work, Kitty loses her hard edge and learns to love. She develops a backbone where needed, softens in other ways. And, the love that develops between Kitty and Walter makes the story both romantic and tragic. But, honestly, I don't want to ever give everything away.

----End spoiler----

So, which version of The Painted Veil did I like best? Honestly? I enjoyed all three versions for different reasons but especially liked them in combination. I liked the beautiful scenery of the movie, Maugham's gorgeous writing in the book, the way the radio program brought the sound and sensations of the book to life with actors in roles (as opposed to the typical single-narrator/actor audio recordings, which I tend to detest), horses hooves clattering, bells chiming. But, I really do not like the ending of the book.

I thought Edward Norton, Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber hit it out of the ballpark. Their characterizations were spot on, at first, then fit the changes made to the script (which made the movie version romantic). The average viewer who rated The Painted Veil at Rotten Tomatoes tends to agree with me. The radio show was different in minor ways but, again, apart from updating the female role to fit modern demands, it wasn't that far off from the book. In fact, it was closer to the novel than the movie. My one complaint about the movie was that there were a couple senseless jabs at Catholicism. I'm not Catholic, but I was a bit appalled by them.

On the second viewing of the movie, I took notes. At one point, Mr. Waddington (the only other Englishman in the village) says of the nuns who run the local orphanage:

"They're not just here to run an orphanage. They're turning these children into little Catholics."

Hmm. Not in the book. In fact, the nuns have nothing but the interests of the children at heart in the novel. They are not all orphans but by paying their parents a modest fee, the nuns are able to take in children who would be otherwise neglected, starved, possibly abandoned. And, then there's a little speech by Mother Superior, who compares her love of Jesus to a marriage:

"Over the years, my feelings have changed. He disappointed me, ignored me."

No, she doesn't say anything of the sort in the novel. She is a deeply committed believer who cannot be persuaded to return to her extremely wealthy family in France. Having made her decision when young, she still feels she has made the right choice and that China is where she belongs, regardless of the risks.

Other than those annoying changes, I thought the movie was pretty well done. Some lines are recognizably pulled directly from the novel. In one case, Mr. Waddington of the movie version is given one of Mother Superior's lines -- or, maybe it's the other way around. The movie is faithful enough and the ending is an improvement. Look, Walter and Kitty actually touch each other, late in the movie!

I think I had trouble with the fact that Kitty found her husband so repulsive partly because I like skinny, nerdy, science dudes. Heck, I even married one (although we have both since expanded . . . he sort of married a skinny nerd, too -- just a different kind). Walter is really quite a bit like my husband, in many ways: focused, smart, driven, quiet. I mentally chewed out Kitty, a few times. Silly old cow, can't you see what a decent guy you've got?

Book, movie and radio program all recommended - I don't know what it is about this story that I love, but I found the idea fascinating, the characters interesting and well-developed and the portrayal very beautifully done in both movie and radio show. The acting is really marvelous in both. Movie-wise, Edward Norton always amazes me, to be honest. I didn't even know who was playing Kitty till the credits rolled, but I was impressed with Naomi Watts, too. I think The Painted Veil is the first movie in which I've seen her. Kitty is disappointing in the book, but I love Maugham's writing and I suppose I can forgive him for not letting Kitty grow a bit more. Yes, I do believe I will. Forgiven.

Cover thoughts:

The cover shown above is the design on my copy, which was published in 2004 by Vintage International (a division of Random House books). I like it. The mode of dress and hairstyle are right for the time period. I don't recall if there's any scene with a bird cage in the book, but there is in the movie. Actually, that part's kind of weird. They took Waddington's love life and gave Kitty a couple of "Gasp!" scenes. Oh, and Waddington -- I love the actor who played him and found that he fit the description in the book very nicely.

In other news:

There will be a cat photo, soon. My recent reviews have been way the heck too long, so I'll keep the next post brief. Sound good to you? Happy Valentine's Day!

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

True Grit by Charles Portis - book and the *old* movie

True Grit by Charles Portis

Copyright 1968

The Overlook Press - Western

215 pages

<---My copy doesn't look like that, but I love that cover, don't you?

True Grit is the story of Mattie Ross, whose father is killed by a man he took in and provided shelter and a job. Mattie, of near Dardanelle in Yell County, Arkansas and her father's trustworthy foreman (formerly a slave) travel to Fort Smith --where the two men had traveled to buy some ponies -- to identify her father, collect his possessions and send his body home for burial. But, Mattie wants revenge. Nobody has gone after the killer, Tom Chaney, so she asks around and finds the toughest federal marshal known in those parts, Rooster Cogburn. She wants someone with "true grit" to find Tom Chaney and bring him back to Arkansas to hang.

It quickly becomes apparent that Mattie is one tough and savvy young girl. She's been in charge of the bookkeeping for her father and has a good lawyer, back home, so she has papers ready to sign when she goes in to fetch her fathers "traps" (I'm guessing we'd use the word "trappings", as in possessions) and sell back the gelding ponies he's just purchased. Young Mattie then hires Marshal Cogburn and returns to purchase a pony to follow him into Indian Territory -- for half the price the dealer just paid her. Mattie will make you smile a lot.

Just after Mattie's paid Rooster a down-payment, a slick Texas Marshal named La Beouf (he pronounces his name "La BEEF") shows up. He's looking for Tom Chaney, too. Chaney, also known as Chelmsford, shot a senator and La Beouf is after the reward from his family and the bounty for bringing him in. But, La Beouf wants to take Chaney back to Texas and that doesn't suit Mattie. Instant tension. The two men decide to work together but they don't want Mattie tagging along, after all, even though Rooster has already agreed to let her go. Rooster had backed down because she badgered him so thoroughly.

Mattie immediately proves her determination by fording the Arkansas River on her new pony, Little Blackie, after the two marshals declare her a runaway and have her forcibly removed from the ferry. Will Mattie survive the grueling ride into Indian Territory? Will they find Tom Chaney? Will that crazy, good-looking Texan ever get over himself? Is Rooster too much of a drunk to get the job done?

True Grit, the original film version made in 1969, is an old favorite of mine so I bought the book a couple of years ago when I read a blog review. Till then, I had no idea it was based on a novel. The newer release of the movie nudged me into reading the book and I'm really glad it did. The novel is every bit as entertaining as the old movie and then some (I have not yet seen the new film version, although we do plan to view it) and, of course, goes into much greater detail.

What I loved about True Grit:

The characterization is superb and consistent, the story gripping and adventurous, the dialogue sharp and often amusing. You can't help but root for Mattie. It's obvious from the beginning who it is that really has "true grit".

What I disliked about True Grit:

Only one little thing: The lack of contractions in dialogue, which gets a bit annoying. Otherwise . . . nothing. I was fascinated to find that McAlester, Oklahoma was named after the owner of a store:

From Wikipedia: The town gets its name from J.J. McAlester, who later became Lt. Governor of Oklahoma and was immortalized as

a character in the novel True Grit, which was then made into feature films in 1969 and 2010.

You can read more about the history of McAlester, OK, here.

My thoughts about the 1969 film version of True Grit, compared to the novel:

It is always fascinating to read a book and then compare book to movie or novel to screenplay. Much of Mattie's internal monologue was compressed and turned into dialogue at the beginning of the movie to cram in all of the facts as quickly as possible. In the novel, Mattie is an old woman reflecting on her experience but you see events as they unfold in the film and there's no narration.

Events are revealed more slowly, of course, in the novel and Mattie the narrator sometimes jumps ahead to what's happened since. In the end, you known how her life turned out -- and Rooster's and La Beouf's, as well. I'm pretty sure it took about 100 pages before they even made it to Indian Territory, but there's never a dull moment.

Mattie is a mere 14 when the story takes place but actress Kim Darby looks a good bit older than 14 in the movie, in my humble opinion. Glen Campbell and John Wayne truly fit their parts. I don't know that I realized John Wayne won an Academy Award for his role, but I do think he deserved it.

Mattie's mode of speech stands out because of her minimal use of contractions, but La Beouf and Cogburn mix it up a little -- some use of them but not continuous -- so the mode of speech is a little less annoying and more natural in the film than the novel.

Here's what really surprised me about the movie. Having seen it many times, over the years (we own a DVD and I used to watch it whenever it came on TV, as a kid), I was completely stunned to find out that the Indian Territory in which they hunted for Tom Chaney was actually Oklahoma because . . . well, it sure didn't look like the Oklahoma I know, in the movie. Oklahoma is my home state, so I just always assumed it took place in some other part of Indian Territory -- up north. And, of course, the movie wasn't filmed in Oklahoma, as suspected. According to Wikipedia, True Grit (1969) was filmed in Colorado and California. Careful, there are some spoilers in the comparison of book to movie at that site.

There are quite a few lines that are taken directly from the book and a good portion of the movie is fairly accurate, but most of their time in Oklahoma is spent in the snow in the novel and it was sunny, springy and cloudless in the movie until the ending scene (which also isn't accurate to the novel, although I won't mention the differences in those final scenes because some of them might ruin your fun if you read the novel anytime soon).

The bottom line:

Excellent writing with well-developed characters, sharp and witty dialogue and an adventurous storyline make True Grit a winner. No wonder they've made it into a movie twice. Highly recommended. And, I still recommend the 1969 film version. We'll see what Huzzybuns and I think about the newer movie. We're both pretty anxious to see it, now, and agreed that the old movie hasn't lost its spark, now that we've been away from it a while. Lucky Ned Pepper was played by Robert Duvall and "Moon" by a young Dennis Hopper in the 1969 film version. Cool. I had no idea they were in the film.

After reading True Grit, I'm curious what else the author has written and The Overlook Press has published. I don't know if I've ever read anything by that particular publisher, before, so I'll fetch a link. Here you go . . . The Overlook Press. Ooooh, they have tons of P. G. Wodehouse titles, so I already love them!

And, in other news:

Here's your dose of kitty cute - Isabel, on the verge of knocking her rubber ducky into the tub. I bought her a rubber duck because she recently succeeded at fishing my razor out of the tub and she was chewing on it. Yikes! I figured she could use something safer for water play.

True Grit is the second book I've read for my personal One Shelf at a Time reading challenge. 2 down, 19 to go!

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.