Hey Jude...don't be obscure by Bruce Cantwell Thomas Hardy is as much a poet as a novelist and his romantic ruminations on the English countryside are a joy to read. His masterful rendering of bucolic characters, coupled with his flair for melodramatic plots make it possible to translate his work to the screen. Michael Winterbottom's adaptation of Jude the Obscure is a good example. Poetic cinematography coupled with an effective score can often stand in for poetic scenery descriptions. Thomas Hardy charges his leading ladies with a great deal of sexual magnetism, a challenge that has led John Schlesinger to cast Julie Christie in Far From the Madding Crowd Roman Polanski to cast Nastassia Kinski in Tess and Michael Winterbottom to cast Kate Winslet who was breathtaking as a young lady in Heavenly Creatures and Sense and Sensibility. *Jack Gold cast Catherine Zeta-Jones in a TV version of The Return of the Native but that was a completely unsuccessful adaptation in my book. Though Hardy's tragic outlook has precluded a revival boom to match Jane Austen's but this one's worth watching, as is Roman Polanski's Tess. If you've enjoyed the Austen flicks, you'll probably enjoy Jude. And if it whets your appetite for Hardy, you may sample him online. Jude the Obscure is available online along with my personal Hardy favorite Return of the Native.	Warning: include() [function.include]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/bruce20/public_html/myenvoy/movies/reviews/Jude.php3 on line 36 Warning: include(http://myenvoy.com/movies/side.php3) [function.include]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/bruce20/public_html/myenvoy/movies/reviews/Jude.php3 on line 36 Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://myenvoy.com/movies/side.php3' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php') in /home/bruce20/public_html/myenvoy/movies/reviews/Jude.php3 on line 36
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