E-Verse Radio

Boston Globe List of Poems Made Into Movies

by Ernie on 05/12/07 at 10:45 am

1904-1913

Nothing but a couple of shorts based on “The Night Before Christmas.” There have been so many of these — including half a dozen made-for-TV versions — that I’m leaving all of them off the list.

1914-1923

A good decade for poem-based films.

“My Madonna” (1915, USA, short)
“The Song of the Wage Slave” (1915, USA, short)
“The Shooting of Dan McGrew” (1915, USA, short)
“The Vengeance of Dan McGrew” (1916, USA, short)
“The Spell of the Yukon” (1916, USA)
“The Lure of Heart’s Desire” (1916, USA)
“The Sentimental Bloke” (1919, Australia)
“The Law of the Yukon” (1920, USA)

1924-1933

“The Shooting of Dan McGrew” (1924, USA)
“Casey at the Bat” (1927, USA)
“Clancy of the Mounted” (1933, USA, serial)

“Dangerous Dan McFoo”1934-1943“The Tale of the Priest and of his Workman Balda” (1934, USSR)
“Dangerous Dan McFoo” (1939, USA, short)
“Gunga Din” (1939, USA)

1944-1953

“The Shooting of Dan McGoo” (1945, USA, short)
“The Humpbacked Horse” (1947, USSR)
“The Set-Up” — film noir based on a 1928 poem (1949)
“The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish” (1950, USSR)

“Contempt”1954-1963“Helen of Troy” (1956, USA/Italy)
“La Guerra di Troia” (1961, Italy/France)
“La Leggenda di Enea” (1962, Yugoslavia/Italy/France)
“The Raven” (1963, USA)
I feel that I should add Godard’s 1963 film “Contempt,” here — not only because the plot concerns an attempt to make a movie based on the “Odyssey,” but because Fritz Lang makes a cameo, during which the great director is asked what he’s working on, and he says it’s a film version of Baudelaire’s “Flowers of Evil.” An entire book of poetry!

“How the Grinch Stole Christmas!”1964-1973“The Hangman” — based on a 1950s anti-fascist children’s poem (1964, USA, short)
“How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” (1966, USA)
“Jackanory: The Story of Beowulf” (1966, UK, serial)
“Horton Hears a Who!” (1970, USA, short, made-for-TV)
“The Color of Pomegranates” (1970, Armenian SSR)
“Eneide” (1971, Yugoslavia/Italy, TV miniseries)

“Jabberwocky”1974-1983“The Humpbacked Horse” (1976, USSR)
“Jabberwocky” (1977)
“The Adventure of Sudsakorn” (1979, Thailand)
“Tale of Tales” (1979, USSR)
“Grendel Grendel Grendel” (1981, Australia)
“The Cremation of Sam McGee” (1982, USA, short)
“The Man from Snowy River” (1982, Australia)

1984-1993

“The Tale of Tsar Saltan” (1984, USSR)
“Ashik Kerib” (1988, USSR)
“Pumpkinhead” — horror movie! (1989, USA)
“The Cremation of Sam McGee” (1990, Canada, short)

“O Brother, Where Art Thou”1994-2003“Dido & Aeneas” (1995, Canada)
“Animated Epics: Beowulf” (1998, Russia/USA/UK, short, made-for-TV)
“Beowulf” (1999, USA)
“The 13th Warrior” — loosely based on “Beowulf” (1999, USA)
“How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” — live-action (2000, USA)
“O Brother, Where Art Thou” (2000, USA)
“The Midnight Sun” (2000, USA, short)
“The Cat in the Hat” — live-action (2003, USA)
“Winter Days” (2003, Japan)

2004-present

“Troy” (2004, USA)
“Beowulf & Grendel” (2005, Iceland, United Kingdom, Canada)
“Beowulf” (2007, USA)
“Horton Hears a Who!” (2008, USA)

Any others out there?