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Unmade Movies: The Collection

Seven BBC Radio 4 Adaptations of Unproduced Screenplays

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Unmade Movies: The Collection

By: Alfred Hitchcock, Ernest Lehmann, Mark Gatiss, Anthony Hinds, D.M. Thomas, Dennis Potter, Harold Pinter, Karen Blixen, Joseph Conrad, Alexander Mackendrick, Jay Presson Allen, Arthur Miller
Narrated by: Michael Sheen, Peter Serafinowicz, Mark Strong, Hugh Laurie, David Suchet, Vanessa Kirby, Meera Syal, Full Cast
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About this listen

Seven legendary unproduced screenplays, resurrected and reinvented for BBC Radio 4

The annals of movie history are full of lost treasures – spectacular scripts from world-renowned writers that could have been classics, had they only been made. Now, for the first time, some of these forgotten gems have been brought to life, fully realised as vivid, cinematic radio productions. Scripted by major 20th Century writers, they star a host of A-list actors and feature richly evocative, atmospheric soundtracks.

Collected here are seven sensational ‘unmade movies’:

Harold Pinter’s Victory, adapted from the novel by Joseph Conrad
Harold Pinter’s The Dreaming Child, adapted from the novel by Karen Blixen
Arthur Miller’s The Hook
Alfred Hitchcock’s unfinished screenplay The Blind Man, completed by Mark Gatiss
Hammer Horror’s The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula
Dennis Potter’s The White Hotel
Alexander MacKendrick’s Mary Queen of Scots

These could-have-been classics are brought to life with stellar casts featuring Hugh Laurie, Bertie Carvel, Rose Leslie, Bill Paterson, Ellie Bamber, Tim Pigott-Smith, Rebecca Front, Anne-Marie Duff, Meera Syal, Vanessa Kirby and Mark Strong. Setting the scene and providing the ‘establishing shots’ – the original stage directions and descriptions from the screenplays – are narrators Simon Russell Beale, Anne Reid, David Suchet, Peter Serafinowicz, Michael Sheen, Simon McBurney and Glenda Jackson.

Moving, mysterious, suspenseful, thrilling and terrifying, these dazzling productions will keep you enraptured from beginning to end. So sit back, grab some popcorn and let them play out on the biggest screen of all – that of your imagination.

NB: Contains strong language and sexual scenes

©2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
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What could have been …

This is a clever idea - movie scripts that were never developed into films are given a new lease of life as audio drama. The camera directions are still there - voiced by the likes of Glenda Jackson - breaking into the dialogue (‘X crosses the room, it is dark, the moon is glowing etc’). Which may be a bit superfluous… Otherwise, they’re basically radio plays. The problem is that it’s a mixed bag. The script for a Hitchcock film, The Blind Man, is the best, by some distance. But the Conrad adaptations work well, too. There’s also an Arthur Miller, The Hook, about waterfront union corruption. I had been looking forward to the Hammer Dracula story and the Dennis Potter screenplay but couldn’t finish either - they just didn’t seem to work. The concluding tale, about Mary, Queen of Scots, works reasonably well though I did lose track of who was who and felt that it slightly outstayed its welcome. However, it’s a definitely worth a try - and if you listen to nothing else treat yourself to The Blind Man. The opener, Victory (Conrad, adapted by Pinter), is also excellent, as is The Dreaming Child.

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Just not for me

I was expecting some clever writing and brilliant stories that clearly should have been made into films, but what I found was something quite different, probably best described as uninteresting stories with performances that came across as very dated. Overall somewhat disappointing.

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Performances are excellent

This book, for me, was much anticipated, I kept it on my wish list while it was on pre order.
It’s not for me, the stories are just ‘weird’ and very dated.
I was so disappointed. How on earth these would ever have been made in to films, I find baffling.
A waste of money.

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