Broadcasts.com - "Ep. 953, "A Reputation" vs. Meet John Doe" (The Classic Tales Podcast)

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Ep. 953, "A Reputation" vs. Meet John Doe

Published: Aug. 2, 2024, 6:30 a.m.

Can a movie be better than the story it\u2019s based on? Let\u2019s take a journey from short story to Academy Award Nominated film, today on The Classic Tales Podcast.

Welcome to The Classic Tales Podcast. Thank you for listening.\xa0

The Vintage Episode for the week is \u201cThe Bottle Imp\u201d, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Be sure to check it out on Tuesday.\xa0

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Classic Tales for Children: Volume 1 is now available. It includes the new recording of Pollyanna, bundled together with Winnie-the-Pooh, The Wind in the Willows, and Alice in Wonderland. I thought of titles that would really go well together, so I pulled out all the stops. This anthology is perfect to listen to again and again. You can pick it up at classictalesaudiobooks.com by following the link in the show notes.\xa0

https://store.classictalesaudiobooks.com/classic-tales-for-children-volume-1-p366.aspx

Ok, off the top of your head, what movies are better than the books they are based on? Whenever I consider this, I tend to come back to\xa0The Wizard of Oz and Ben-Hur. I think in these two instances especially, they expanded on the original material beautifully, to fit the medium of film. It\u2019s a transformative process, to move from story told only in print, to a story told by actors, artists, costumers, directors, set designers, stunt people, special effects artists, and all the other hundreds of people it takes to make a motion picture. I recently discovered I\u2019m going to have to add the film Meet John Doe to my list.\xa0

Meet John Doe is a film released in 1941, directed by Frank Capra. It stars Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyk and Edward Arnold. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story, and it was ranked No. 49 in the American Film Institutes 100 years, 100 cheers list. It entered the public domain in 1969, and you can watch it for free many places on the internet, also on Amazon Prime.

The film is based on the story \u201cA Reputation\u201d, by Richard Connell. Connell also wrote \u201cA Friend of Napoleon\u201d that we\u2019ve heard recently, and is most famous for his short story, \u201cThe Most Dangerous Game\u201d.\xa0

So first, let\u2019s hear the story \u201cA Reputation\u201d, and then look at what elements were modified and expanded on to create the acclaimed motion picture, Meet John Doe. Just a heads up \u2013 this story deals with suicide.

And now, \u201cA Reputation\u201d, by Richard Connell.

Follow this link to get Classic Tales for Children, Volume 1, including Pollyanna, Winnie-the-Pooh, The Wind in the Willows, and Alice in Wonderland.