I have now both read and watched The Landlady, which was written by Roald Dahl and published in The New York timer, 1959. The dramatized version was made by Alfred Hitchcock in 1961, and aired as a part of his show "Alfred Hitchcock presents".
The greatness of Roald Dahl
I have always liked Roald Dahls's books and short stories. Ever since elementary school, we have been reading his books and short stories, or been listening to the teacher. Everything from "Matilda", to "The Landlady", I don't think I have ever had a bad experience with his writings.
Here is the two versions of The Landlady:
The dramatized version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSgNs8CvSVI
The short storie: http://annmic.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/the-landlady2.pdf
WARNING! SPOILERS!(lots of them, don't read unless you want to know everything that happens):
The short story
The story is about a man who rents a room in the house of a old lady. He finds the old woman a bit peculiar, but still only think good thoughts of her. After a while he finds it odd that he is the only one there, and two names in the guest book sounds familiar. His starts to be a bit skeptical, but i guess he still finds it hard to doubt the nice old lady. His skepticism grows bigger when the woman explains that they are still living there, even though the guest book signatures were two years old. At the end of the story, the man comes down to drink tee, and as he drinks it he gets more and more dizzy. It is mentioned that it tasted bitter, like almonds, this probably means that it contains arsenic. He then notice the stuffed animals, and he says how great they are made. In the finale he asks if there really hasn't been any other guests there for two years, and she answers: “No, my dear, only you."
The dramatized version
There are some few differences from the short story, but not many. In the end, you understand whats happening much faster than in the short story. I think they makes it to obvious what's happening in the film. But i do understand that it may be difficult to dramatize this type of story in a good way. I would say they made it good, but not as good as the short story.
I agree with you. The short story is better than the movie. Still it is fun to have both seen the film and read the story!
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