Filmmaker Ismail Merchant Dies

AP ^ | 5/25/05 | BETH GARDINER

[Borges]

The literary adatpations the Merchant Ivory team did hopefully brought more people to read the books. R.I.P.

[since1868]

Even though he passed you can still rent his movies if your lookinf for a way to fsll asleep.

[Xenalyte]

Let me fix that lede.

Filmmaker Ismail Merchant, who with partner James Ivory became synonymous with classy costume stultifyingly boring drama in films insomnia cures such as "A Room With A View" and "Howards End," died Wednesday.

[Borges]

I have a feeling this thread will be filled with such epithets. :-) do you like Forster? I've never read him but am told that their films missed his spirit by a country mile.

[American Quilter]

I'm sorry to hear of his passing. I loved the Merchant-Ivory movies. May God comfort his family in their grief.

[Lion in Winter]

LOL!!LOL!!

How true!!

[LibFreeOrDie]

My favorite is "The Europeans", most of which was filmed nearby in New Ipswich, New Hampshire. Not boring, but respectful of the pace of the times, and rather poignant.

(Some of their other films ARE boring, especially the ones with "stars".)

[martin_fierro]

Now NOBODY will hire Jeremy Irons.

[Lion in Winter]

Where the films were also... soooooooooooooooo gayyyyyyyyyyyyy????

[Borges]

The problem is the idea that Henry James is a good subject for film adaptation. Huh? "Hey this book has pages upon pages of internal monologues about the psychological implications of taking another sip of tea....I SMELL BOX OFFICE!"

[Lion in Winter]

"Now NOBODY will hire Jeremy Irons."

And, what pray tell is wrong with that???? LOL!

[Borges]

Now NOBODY will hire Jeremy Irons.

former National Review film critic John Simon once said that the only part Irons is suitable for is an adaptation of Tolstoy's 'The Living Corpse'

[poobear]

It did indeed. To watch his movies was like reading a good novel. He tried not to pick away the details that make up a novel and sometimes bog down a movie.

They were not exactly 'dude' flicks. Well done Sir. R.I.P.

[Constitution Day]

LOL!

[Xenalyte]

Forster is part of a literary posse whose sole aim in writing, it seems, was to bore me silly. Other members include Henry James, Pearl Buck, and George Eliot.

Now you gotta understand, I read a lot. I read all the time. I adore reading . . . but it has to have a point. About half my collection is history, and the other half is fiction and literature.

I have books that I've had since I was a child, and that I re-read periodically, because the story is just damn good ("Peter Pan and Wendy" is one; "The Lord of the Rings" would be another). I've also found books - for example, "White Oleanders" and "She's Come Undone," both Oprah picks - that I couldn't drop fast enough.

Those particular two incensed me. I'm still mad I wasted time reading them under the false pretenses that they were worth a damn, and I want my five hours back.

[Xenalyte]

former National Review film critic John Simon once said that the only part Irons is suitable for is an adaptation of Tolstoy's 'The Living Corpse'

If Irons gets that part, what will John Carradine do?

[Redbob]

"Howards End"

A film I was fearful never would.

Let me guess: did he and Ivory also make "The Remains of the Day"?
Yet another movie in which periods of intense boredom were occasionally interrupted by idiotic dialogue.

[Xenalyte]

"Remains of the Day" was indeed another Merchant-Ivory gem.

[Borges]

George Eliot is a severly acquired taste. She was the first to internalize action though.

[Rummyfan]

I really liked HOWARD'S END. Emma Thompson was just gorgeous in that flick!