The enticement of forbidden fruit has been irresistible to some of us since the dawn of creation, and I’ve recently fallen prey to the temptation. My near occasion of sin, as Sister Mary Gerard would have warned my 12-year-old self, was the announcement that PBS’ “Masterpiece Theater” has scheduled a brand new eight-episode adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ “The Count of Monte Cristo,” the great mid-19th century adventure novel that was banned by the Catholic Church. (Pope Paul VI, to be honest, rescinded the entire Index Librorum Prohibitorum in 1966, also freeing us up to read previously verboten works by Voltaire, Flaubert and Victor Hugo, among many others.)
But cowed by my alleged moral superiors, I had long avoided this classic, considered by many the greatest revenge story ever told, until the PBS alert rekindled my curiosity. So I have of late dived into not one but three different transitions to screens large and small of “The Count of Monte Cristo” and have found all of them definitely worth viewing, although each tinkered with the basic plot in various idiosyncratic ways. And while I was casting about for filmed versions to watch, I was struck by how darned many of them there are. Outside of the Shakespearean canon, I doubt there have been more attempts to turn literary drama to cinematic splendor.
A quick dip into the AI world reveals there have been more than 40 adaptions since the early 1900s, including films, TV miniseries and no fewer than five animations. No doubt Dumas, who serialized his masterpiece over 18 episodes in a French newspaper between 1844 and 1846, would be proud of its longevity.
My first encounter with the Count came with the 1975 TV film starring Richard Chamberlain, who cut an elegant figure indeed once he escaped from the notorious Château d’If and began his mission of vengeance. Two of the four objects of his wrath were played by Louis Jordan and Tony Curtis, and Chamberlain ticked them off 1, 2, 3, 4 as they went down. My next foray took me to the 2002 movie starring Jim Caviezel as Edmond Dantes, with Guy Pearce sliding into the role of his sleazy former friend Fernand Mondego. This adaptation is elevated by the inclusion of the late, great Richard Harris in one of his final roles as Abbé Faria, the Count’s cellmate and benefactor. His quirky take on the character is hands down the best of the three versions I saw.
The final “Count” I took in was the 2024 French film starring Pierre Niney as Edmond Dantes, a well-received adaptation that won six major awards (for direction, costuming and cinematography, among others. ) This one took the liberty of adding in the character of the lovely Angelé, who made no appearance in the book, as a composite character whose rescue from the raging seas by the young sailor Dantes sets the whole plot in headlong forward motion.
All of which brings me, finally, to delicious anticipation of the debut of Masterpiece Theater’s “The Count of Monte Cristo” series, which will be available to holders of KQED’s Passport in its eight-episode entirety on March 1 and screening once a week on PBS channels and Prime Video starting March 22. Directed by Bille August, it stars Sam Clafin in the title role and the redoubtable Jeremy Irons as Abbé Faria. Here is a trailer:
A double dose of a reworked “Bardo”: While we’re on the topic of adaptations of great literary works, it has been noted here before that George Saunders’ Booker Prize-winning 2017 novel “Lincoln in the Bardo” has been turned, incredibly, into an opera. And we’ll also add that composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek’s take on the story of our grieving 16th president making nightly visits to the tomb of his 11-year-old son will have its world premiere on the New York Metropolitan Opera stage on Oct. 19, with Yannick Nézet-Seguin conducting and baritone Peter Mattei singing the role of Abraham Lincoln.
So perhaps it should come as no surprise that Saunders, on his own substack, has just announced that the book will also be made into a movie, with Oscar-nominated Duke Johnson at the helm. There is no release date yet for the film, which will be a mix of live action and the stop-motion animation that got Johnson noted for 2015’s “Anomalisa.”
As Saunders explained to the Deadline news website: “Duke came to me with a radical, insightful vision of the film that perfectly captured the spirit of the book. I was blown away and inspired by his vision for the project.”
Starring as Lincoln in this new “Bardo”? The ubiquitous Tom Hanks, whose film company will have a hand in the production.
Songs sung at last: Since March is Women’s History Month, we’d like to take note of Rae Alexandra and illustrator Adrienne Simms’ “Unsung Heroines: 35 Women Who Changed the Bay Area” (City Lights Books, $16.95, 170 pages). Publishing on March 17, it is a collection of biographical essays based on the author’s Arts & Culture reporting for KQED and aired in the long-running “Rebel Girls From Bay Area History” series.
Spanning a breadth from the Gold Rush to contemporary times, it recounts stories of women whose concerted efforts improved the lives of those around them. The author Maxine Hong Kingston, in her praise of the book, gave us not the names of the heroines, but clues to their accomplishments: “A newspaper by and for Indigenous people. Immigrants and their descendants allowed to marry Americans. Free public toilets for women. Voting by mail. Saving the San Francisco Bay. Children getting breakfast. Children with disabilities attending school. Care for people with AIDS. Health centers … The Bay Area would not be as civilized as it is without the brave work of the women in this book.”
KQED, for its part, is honoring the publication of the book with two release parties dubbed “Rebel Girls Bingo.” The 7 p.m. March 11 and 12 bingo and story-telling events take place at KQED Headquarters at 2601 Mariposa St. in San Francisco. Cost is $10 plus $2.96 in fees to attend. Adult beverages will be involved, and participants will hear tales from “the enslaved woman who became a celebrity chef, the transgender woman who educated doctors and the Chicana who changed San Jose forever.” A book signing will follow the bingo. Register at kqed.org.
Hooked on Books is a monthly column by Sue Gilmore on literary buzz and upcoming book events. Look for it on the last Thursday of the month.
The post Hooked on Books: The ‘Count’ is coming around again, and PBS has him appeared first on Local News Matters.