|
I
capture the castle
|
Movie
| Book
| Author
| Director
& cast
|
Book: I Capture the Castle (1948)
Movie: I Capture the Castle (2003)
Premise
movie:
"When her family moves into a glamorous castle in the
English countryside, Cassandra (Romola Garai) imagines great things
will happen. But the decaying castle loses its appeal as her novelist
father (Bill Nighy, Love Actually) develops writer's block and her
mother dies of cancer. From this sad beginning, I Capture the Castle
turns into an utterly engaging coming-of-age story as 17-year-old
Cassandra and her older sister Rose (Rose Byrne) struggle to win the
attentions of their new American landlord (Henry Thomas,
E.T. The Extraterrestrial)--but when everything goes the way Cassandra hopes,
her hopes fall apart. Garai's wonderful performance carries the
audience through bittersweet discoveries about life and adulthood with
hope and yearning. The entire cast---also featuring Tara Fitzgerald
(Brassed Off) and Marc Blucas--is superb. I Capture the Castle is an
absolutely lovely movie, delightful and surprisingly wise."
from:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/
B0000SX9MS/103-5853588-8876604?v=glance
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Premise
book:
"Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain wants to become a
writer. Trouble is, she's the daughter of a once-famous author with a
severe case of writer's block. Her family--beautiful sister Rose,
brooding father James, ethereal stepmother Topaz--is barely scraping
by in a crumbling English castle they leased when times were good. Now
there's very little furniture, hardly any food, and just a few pages
of notebook paper left to write on. Bravely making the best of things,
Cassandra gets hold of a journal and begins her literary
apprenticeship by refusing to face the facts. She writes, "I have just
remarked to Rose that our situation is really rather romantic, two
girls in this strange and lonely house. She replied that she saw
nothing romantic about being shut up in a crumbling ruin surrounded by
a sea of mud." Rose longs for suitors and new tea dresses while Cassandra scorns
romance: "I know all about the facts of life. And I don't think much
of them." But romantic isolation comes to an end both for the family
and for Cassandra's heart when the wealthy, adventurous Cotton family
takes over the nearby estate. Cassandra is a witty, pensive, observant
heroine, just the right voice for chronicling the perilous cusp of
adulthood. Some people have compared I Capture the Castle to the
novels of Jane Austen, and it's just as well-plotted and witty. But
the Mortmains are more bohemian--as much like the Addams Family as
like any of Austen's characters. Dodie Smith, author of 101
Dalmations, wrote this novel in 1948. And though the story is set in
the 1930s, it still feels fresh, and well deserves its reputation as a
modern classic."
from:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/
0312201656/103-5853588-8876604?v=glance
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Author:
"Dorothy Gladys "Dodie" Smith was born in 1896 in Lancashire,
England and she was one of the most successful female dramatists of
her generation. She wrote "Autumn," "Crocus," and "Dear Octopus,"
among other plays, but her first novel, I Capture the Castle (Little
Brown, 1948) was written when she lived in America during the 40s and
marked her crossover debut from playwright to novelist. The novel
became an immediate success and was produced as a play in 1954. Her
other novels were The Town in Bloom, It Ends With Revelations, A Tale
of Two Families, and The Girl in the Candle-Lit Bath. Today however,
she is best known for her stories for young readers, The Hundred and
One Dalmatians (Heinemann, 1956) and The Starlight Barking (Heinemann,
1967; Simon & Schuster, 1968). The Hundred and One Dalmatians was
inspired by Dodie's own Dalmatian named Pongo, and became the basis of
two Disney films. The Starlight Barking is also available in paperback
from St. Martin's Press. Dodie Smith died in 1990. "
from:
http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides3/
i_capture_the_castle2.asp#bio
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Director:
Tim Fywell
Cast:
Romolo Garai (Cassandra), Bill Nighly (James
Mortmain), Henry Thomas, Rose Byrne (Rose), Marc Blucas (Neil Cotton), Rose Byrne (Rose
Mortmain), Sinéad Cusack (Mrs. Cotton), Tara Fitzgerald (Topaz
Mortmain) and others.
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