Pretty good imitations
QUESTION Kitsch 1956 sci-fi film Forbidden Planet was based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. What other films have unexpected literary origins?
MANY films have used Shakespeare as their source material. Robert Wise’s Oscar-winning 1961 film West Side Story is based on Romeo and Juliet, as is Warm Bodies, a 2013 film starring Teresa Palmer as a young woman who falls in love with a zombie, played by nicholas Hoult.
The 1953 musical Kiss Me Kate is a film version of The Taming Of The Shrew, as is the rom-com 10 Things I Hate about you, starring Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger.
The 2006 rom-com She’s The Man is based on Twelfth night. To prove herself as a footballer, amanda Bynes’s Viola disguises herself as her brother and falls in love with Duke, captain of the team.
In the play, Viola disguises herself as her brother and enters the service of, and falls in love with, Duke Orsino.
There are many cinematic adaptations of Hamlet, but the quirkiest is Strange Brew in 1983. Canada’s daftest brothers Bob and Doug McKenzie (Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas) embark on a noble quest to thwart the plans of evil Brewmeister (Max von Sydow), who has taken over the Elsinore beer company after its owner died in mysterious circumstances.
Forbidden Planet is loosely based on The Tempest, though it’s more of a murder mystery than a tale of revenge.
It’s fun to spot the similarities. Both have a ship that arrives in a remote land presided over by a powerful hermit and his daughter: Prospero and Miranda in The Tempest; Dr Edward Morbius and his daughter altaira in Forbidden Planet.
In the film, magic is exchanged for futuristic science. Robby the Robot is based on ariel, a spirit enslaved by Prospero. Vengeful servant Caliban is re-imagined as the Monster From The Id.
George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion — his retelling of the Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea — was filmed as My Fair Lady starring audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison in 1964.
It is also the plot of 1990’s Pretty Woman, starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, and She’s all That in 1999, with Freddie Prinze Jr and Rachael Leigh Cook.
Writer Cyrano de Bergerac inspired Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play about a man whose giant nose prevents him proclaiming his love for the beautiful Roxane.
The tale has spawned many films including Steve Martin’s Roxanne in 1987, The Truth about Cats & Dogs in 1996 and Whatever It Takes in 2000.
In the 2010 rom- com Easy a, after a white lie about losing her virginity gets out, high school student Olive Penderghast ( Emma Stone) sees her life paralleling that of the disgraced Hester Prynne’s in nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter.
Other movies with literary origins are apocalypse now, based on Joseph Conrad’s Heart Of Darkness; a Knight’s Tale, based on Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales; and O Brother, Where art Thou? based on Homer’s The Odyssey.
Colin Baines, Shepton Mallet, Somerset.
QUESTION What is the chippy hike?
A CHIPPY hike is a Girl Guide skill badge that involves walking to a chip shop, ordering and consuming chips.
It is designed to foster independence, navigation road safety and social skills. However, it is not one of the organisation’s standard badges.
In 2018, Girlguiding had a major overhaul, revamping its badges and activities to create a programme for #EveryGirl.
alongside the classic skills of first aid, camping and exploring, there are new special interest badges such as entrepreneur, animator, 3D craft and zero waste.
Groups were encouraged to invent their own badges and the Girl Guides of St albans responded with a unique set of challenges. Their chippy hike badge features a cartoon of a smiling chip wearing boots and holding a wooden fork.
The badge received worldwide coverage, which was welcomed by Sandra Sayce, Girlguiding St albans Division Commissioner, who said: ‘We’re delighted our fun badge has received so much attention.’
Janet Finch, Welwyn, Herts.
QUESTION Why did Britain get rid of its gas storage facilities?
THIS is due to the decision to close Centrica’s Rough storage facility, a depleted gas field 18 miles off the coast of yorkshire in the north Sea.
This empty gas bed under the sea floor represented more than 70 per cent of the nation’s storage capacity, which is ten days’ worth of demand.
after a review, it was concluded that the ‘costs of refurbishment or rebuilding the facility and replacing the wells . . . wouldn’t be economic’.
at the time, cheap gas prices and a plentiful supply meant there was little incentive to plug the gap, especially as Britain was planning to wind down gas use as part of its net zero strategy.
The country relies on a mix of domestic gas from the north Sea, pipeline imports from Europe and liquified shipments from the U.S., Qatar, algeria and Peru.
Britain has a better ability than most of Europe to dock tankers and turn liquefied fuel back into gas. Unlike much of the EU, we aren’t directly dependent on Russia.
The current global situation has resulted in Centrica applying to reopen the Rough storage facility.
Town gas holders stopped being used when north Sea gas was transported
under high pressure via pipes.
Dr Ken Bristow, Glasgow.