Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - Part II

As some of you may recall I wrote a review of Winifred Watson's novel, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, although I had actually read the book a month before I started this blog. Since reading the book I've been really wanting to see the film adaptation, which was released to DVD this summer. I could have rented it, but instead waited for my free copy to become available through the library.

I won't repeat my previous comments about the book, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, so for those of you curious about the book please click here to read my review. This post is a mini-review about the movie. I know, I don't normally post movie reviews... but since I read the book and posted a review here I wanted to include my thoughts on the film too.

Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. The actors and actresses selected for each role were well chosen. The costumes and the sets were beautiful and the film was well-made. But there were some drawbacks. The drawbacks were these:

First, the screenwriter took many liberties with the book adding and removing various scenes and conversations. The shell of the story remains the same, but some of the delicious details were changed much to my chagrin. Why do screenwriters feel this is necessary? It's rare to find a book adapted to film that hasn't been changed and those changes are also rarely for the better.

Second, while the world that Miss Pettigrew enters in the book is not totally wholesome, the book still has a wholesome and enjoyable feel to it. The movie not only includes some mild language (which was in the book), but it also includes some partial nudity and innuendos, which weren't in the book. The movie thus loses some of the wholesome and enjoyable feel that the book had. It is unfortunate, but not a complete loss.

As I said, overall I enjoyed the film and those who haven't seen it should, but don't forget to read the book too. It is by far superior and not to be missed.