Wodehouse TV/film adaptations?

[speakeasying.livejournal.com]

I just finished episode four of last year's Blandings TV series, and I was wondering if anyone else has watched it, and if so, what they thought? The more I see, the more I enjoy it, but it doesn't really live up to what I want from Wodehouse on screen. I'm used to, idk, tighter scripts? Tighter overall production? This feels somewhat sloppy. But it's still quite fun, and it's only three hours overall, so I don't regret the time expended in watching it at all.

I also got my hands on the 2004 Piccadilly Jim, and holy crap, did anyone else watch that film, because it was awful. The more I watched the more it was like being bludgeoned in the head with a two-by-four very, very slowly. Are any of the previous adaptations any better, or should I steer clear of them, too?

Comments

[schreckschraube.livejournal.com]

What's so great about Wodehouse are the verbal descriptions from the narrator (which you don't get in a film), the dialogues (which have to be shortened hugely for films, otherwise it would get boring because nothing really HAPPENS at that time), and the funny stories. Well, in a film you get funny stories and about 1/3 or 1/4 of the original dialogue - it's hard to stay anywhere near the real thing if you're trying to adapt any novels or short stories by Wodehouse into a different medium.

Even the Fry and Laurie series often makes me whine "nooo, how could you cut out THAT part of the dialogue, it was the best!" Wodehouse is just the wrong guy for tight scripts, I guess. The tighter you get, the more un-true you get to the original.