Novels you’d like to see made into a films?

[rixrex]

It's not a novel, but a very good script I got to read in grad school called Harrow Alley.

Apparently it's been around since the 1960s and optioned by many but never gone into pre-production. I think some of the optioners, like George C Scott at one time, were not easy to work with types.

Anyway, it's a really good script.

[trevanian]

Originally Posted by rixrex

It's not a novel, but a very good script I got to read in grad school called Harrow Alley.

Apparently it's been around since the 1960s and optioned by many but never gone into pre-production. I think some of the optioners, like George C Scott at one time, were not easy to work with types.

Anyway, it's a really good script.

Is this the one that is a comedy set during the plague of the dark ages? I know Scott had the rights to something everybody loved, but nobody wanted him to direct it after that SAVAGE IS LOOSE thing of his.

[rixrex]

No, it's not a comedy although there are some light moments, but really is a story of redemption and tragedy as well set in London during the plague. It really ought to be put into book form at least.

I have to say that, out of all the scripts we got to read at USC grad school, this was 1978-1982 for me, Harrow Alley beat all of them, and this included scripts for The Princess Bride, Coal Miners Daughter, Atlantic City and other fine films.

At the time we read it, George C Scott had the rights, and because he wanted to star or direct, nobody would put up the money. Plus the script is long at about 180-190 pages, and not really anything was extraneous to the story so cutting it down wasn't really a consideration.

I would bet that if Richard Chamberlain had the rights, and wanted to star, it would have been a mini-series for certain. But Scott wasn't only just an unreliable draw, he was also very difficult to deal with.