Book Vs Movie Podcast

Book Vs. Movie: Mulan The AD 6th Century Poem Vs. the 2020 Disney Live-Action Film The Margos are celebrating AAPI month and we are very excited about the heroine from the poem Ode to Mulan who was either a real-life Calvary soldier or not. Her bravery (fighting against “nomadic hordes”) in replacing her father in battle by disguising herself as a boy has been told since the 6th Century AD. First transcribed in the Musical Records of Old and New, during the Southern Chen dynasty...

Book Vs. Movie: Raise the Red Lantern Su Tong’s 1990 Novel Vs. the 1991 Zhang Yimpou’s 1991 Film The Margos are celebrating AAPI month with a look at the author Su Tong and his work which has earned him millions of fans all over the world with his writing. His 1990 novel Wives and Concubines won great praise and was adapted into the 1991film Raise the Red Lantern by writer Ni Zhen and directed by Zhang Yimou. The story takes place in China in the 1930s where 19-year-old Lotus needs to...

Book Vs. Movie: The Postman Always Rings Twice The James M. Cain 1934 Novel Vs. the 1946 Lana Turner Classic Film The Margos are feeling like a couple of femme fatales after reading the 1934 James M. Cain novel and watching the 1946 film The Postman Always Rings Twice for Book Vs Movie. We put on our white turbans and try to decide which is better in this film noir-loving episode. We covered Cain in our past episodes for Mildred Pierce and Double Indemnity and consider ourselves to be...

Book Vs. Movie: Austenland The 2007 Hale Book Vs the 2013 Keri Russell Movie The Margos are feeling romantic in this episode that is about all things Jane Austen and Mr. Darcy. The 2007 novel Austenland by Shannon Hale tells the story of an early 30-something woman named Jane Hayes who dreams of living life as if it were Pride & Prejudice everyday. When a wealthy Aunt leaves her a trip to “Austenland” in England--she believes she will find her own Colin Firth there. Austenland is a place...

Book Vs. Movie: MASH The Richard Hooker book Vs the Robert Altman Film (with some of the long-running TV series mixed in) MASH was one of the most popular and iconic television shows of the 70s and 80s (the reruns are still happening all over the globe!). Richard Hooker(nee Hiester Richard Hornberger) based the 1968 novel on his experiences in the Korean War as a surgeon. The novel filled with crazy antics, drinking, and a satire of the U.S. Army fit well in a time when the Viet Nam War...

Book Vs. Movie: How to Make An American Quilt Whitney Otto’s Debut Novel Vs the Winona Ryder Movie The 90s were an incredible time for what became known as “Chick Lit”--or just books that featured women writers and characters. Whitney Otto’s How to Make an American Quilt told the multilayered story of generations of women who are in a quilting group in Grasse, California. Our main protagonist Finn is a graduate student who is engaged to her longtime boyfriend but is experiencing cold...

Book Vs. Movie: The Insider Marie Brenner’s Vanity Fair Article Vs the Michael Mann Film The American news program 60 Minutes has long been considered one of the most trusted news outlets in the media. In the mid-1990s their reputation took a hit when they were accused of joining in the silencing of whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand who worked in the tobacco industry and accused his company, Brown & Williamson, of sneaking addictive chemicals into their cigarettes. The Man Who Knew Too Much by...

Book Vs. Movie: "Hustlers" The 2015 New York magazine article Vs. the 2019 Jennifer Lopez Film The Margos decided to go back to the magazine mill to find a racy true story from writer Jessica Pressler about a group of Scores strippers who drugged and bilked their clients of thousands of dollars. The Hustlers at Scores came out in New York Magazine in December 2015 and became so notorious, Pressler was nominated for a National Magazine Award and the rights to the story were sold to Will...

Book Vs. Movie “Musicals in March” The 1911 Novel The Phantom of the Opera Vs the 2004 Joel Schumacher Film The Margos close out “Musicals in March” with one of the most popular musicals of all time--The Phantom of the Opera. Originally created in 1911 by French journalist and bon vivant Gaston Leroux, the story is based on stories about the Paris Opera in the 1800s which include hauntings aplenty. His creation is about Phantom Erik (!) who is an “Opera Ghost” madly in love with soprano...

Book Vs. Movie “Musicals in March” The 1845 Novella Carmen Vs the 1954 Carmen Jones film We are continuing our month of musicals with the classic tale of Carmen which began as a novella by French writer Prosper Merimee and was first adapted as an opera. The story of a Romani woman who enchants the narrator by reading his fortune and behaving in a mysterious manner has been adapted several times, but for this episode, we focus on a 1954 all-African American cast filmed by director Otto...

Book Vs. Movie “Musicals in March” The 1926 Play Chicago Vs the 2000 Filmed Adaptation Our second pick this month for “Musicals in March” is Chicago which has a rich history in two important cities--Chicago and New York City. The original play was based on the true-crime work of Maurine Dallas Watkins--a journalist and playwright who had a flair for juicy dialogue. Born in Louisville, Kentucky sometime around 1896 (the state has no record of her birth) Watkins was ambitious enough to try...

Book Vs. Movie “Musicals in March” The 1931 Play Green Grow the Lilacs Vs the 1955 Musical Oklahoma! It's “Musicals in March” time here at Book Vs Movie The Margos are very excited to start our annual look at famous musicals and the inspiration for them. This episode is dedicated to one of the most successful Broadway shows of all time and the play Green Grow the Lilacs (1931) written by Oklahoma native Lynn Riggs. Riggs came up with the story of Oklahomans Curly, Laurey, and Ado Annie...

Book Vs. Movie Something the Lord Made The 1989 Washingtonian Article Vs the 2004 HBO Movie The Margos learn part of the history of heart surgery starting with Katie McCabe’s 1989 article Like Something the Lord Made from Washingtonian magazine which features the work of Vivien Thomas, one of the pioneers of the “Blue Baby” heart surgery techniques. Thomas, an African American janitor at Vanderbilt University during the American Depression went to work for Dr. Alfred Blalock as a research...

Book Vs. Movie Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosely’s 1990 Novel Vs the 1995 Denzel Washington Film In continuation of African American History Month, the Margos are taking on an old-fashioned mystery with Devil in a Blue Dress, which started as a novel by Walter Mosley & later was adapted into a film starring Denzel Washington. The setting is post WW2 in Los Angeles where army veteran Ezekial “Easy” Rawlins (Washington) Easy is a black man dealing with the racism of the era which was more...

Book Vs. Movie The Butler The 2008 Washington Post Article Vs the 2013 Lee Daniels Film The Margos go into the history of Eugene Allen, a waiter, and butler who worked for the White House for 34 years before retiring in 1986. Allen severed for several Presidents and ended his service with the Ronald Reagan administration. He and his wife Helene were invited by the Reagans to a state dinner (the first time ever for a butler.) After serving every President between Dwight D. Eisenhower to...

Book Vs. Movie Passing Nella Larsen’s 1929 Novella Vs the 2021 Rebecca Hall Film February is African American History Month and the Margos use that time to cover creators who write, act, and direct films with African American themes. This episode is devoted to writer Nella Larsen (1891-1964) who grew up in a Danish family though she was the only one with African/Cuban ancestry making her different among her community and family. She married Elmer Imes (the second African American to earn a...

Book Vs. Movie Sabrina Fair The 1953 Play Vs the 1954 & 1995 Movie Adaptations (Sabrina) The Margos are feeling romance a little early this year so we are diving into the play Sabrina Fair which was the basis for two Sabrina movies. Written by Samuel A. Taylor, the original Broadway production starred Margaret Sullavan and Joseph Cotten as our mismatched lovebirds, Sabrina Fairchild and Linus Larrabee, who both live on a huge estate in Long Island but one stays in the “main house” and the...

Book Vs. Movie Hunt for the Wilderpeople Barry Crump’s 1986 Novella Vs the Taika Waititi 2016 Film The Margos search for their inner Kiwi in this examination of one of the most creators from New Zealand--writer Barry Crump and filmmaker Taika Waititi. The 2016 film Hunt for the Wilderpeople is an adaptation by Waititi of Crump’s novella Wild Pork and Watercress and would go on to be one of the most successful films from New Zealand. The story centers on the relationship between a “juvenile...

Book Vs. Movie The Lost Daughter The 2008 Novel by Elena Ferrante Vs the 2021 Maggie Gyllenhaal Directorial & Screenplay Debut The Margos are up for a psychological drama and wow--does The Lost Daughter deliver! The movie is the writing & directing debut of actor Maggie Gyllenhaal who tells the story of Leda Caruso (played by the amazing Olivia Colman) who struggles with her identity as a mother years after her children have grown and gone on their own. Set in Greece, adult Leda meets the...

Book Vs. Movie: Heart of Darkness & Apocalypse Now The Joseph Conrad Classic Novel Vs the Francis Ford Coppola Classic Film The Margos are going to talk about the multiple “horrors” of the 1899 Joseph Conrad novel Heart of Darkness and the 1979 Apocalypse Now film directed by Francis Ford Coppola which are both considered classics of their genre. They both follow the story of men who enter into dangerous situations which could either be a sly attack of European colonialism or more pandering...