Children's Classics
Christmas
and Hugo
With Christmas almost upon us, and Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” about to hit the big screen, we are taking the opportunity to look at some children’s classics that made the leap from literature to the silver screen.
MGM’s adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” was a box office dud in 1939, and the book was banned twice for extended periods from public libraries on religious and political grounds. It was condemned by one librarian as being poorly written, unwholesome and old-fashioned with a "story that relies on fantastic rather than fanciful happenings…" The film only started to make money on re-release, and its reputation as the classic it has now become was earned by its repeated television screenings at Christmas from the 1950’s onwards. Today, no Christmas is complete without “The Wizard of Oz.”
Walt Disney has successfully adapted a number of children’s classics over the years, from the live action/animation of “Mary Poppins,” based on Pamela L. Travers classic book, to the Disney adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan.” More recently Disney has triumphed with the live action and stop-motion classic “James and The Giant Peach,” based on Roald Dahl’s classic book, even winning the approval of Dahl's estate - no mean feat given his reluctance to see the book adapted to film during his lifetime.
However, all adaptations are not equal. Peter Pan failed to fly in “Hook,” Roald Dahl hated the 1971 film version of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” and “The Wiz” didn’t even begin to emulate the success of “The Wizard of Oz," despite the presence of Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. The most recent adaptation of Dr. Seuss’s classic, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” equally failed to steal hearts, and instead sent people back to the cartoon adaptation, animated by Chuck Jones and voiced by Boris Karloff.
And so to “Hugo,” an adaptation of Brian Selznick’s amazing novel cum picturebook, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, inspired by the true story of Georges Méliès, the French film pioneer. Well, without offering a definitive prediction, it has to be said that given the director (Martin Scorsese) and the subject matter (childhood and the movies), we might be adding another classic to the pantheon!
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