Dahl Study: A Dip in the Pool

My author study of Roald Dahl started with a reading of his Collected Stories while watching the accompanying episode of Tales of the Unexpected. Each Friday I'll recap a story and show (with spoilers, just so you know), but I encourage you to read and watch them on your own if you're interested!

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"A Dip in the Pool" from Collected Stories (read 1/3/19)

A man is on a cruise. There is some sort of auction where passengers vote on how far they think the ship will travel in a day. It seems a storm is coming, so the man bids on a low number and goes to bed. He wakes up to a beautiful day, and the ship is speeding to make up time. He gets scared because he bet his life savings and his wife will be mad, so he decides to slow the ship down. He makes sure someone will see him, then jumps overboard. But the person who saw him was an old woman who just thought he was jumping in to get some exercise.

"A Dip in the Pool" from Tales of the Unexpected (viewed 1/3/19)

The film was pretty much the same as the story. The actor playing Mr. Botibol was better than I could have imagined! Everything about him was perfect. I want to go back and re-read the story with him in mind. The film actually clarified the auction/betting aspect of it for me, too, so this might be one of the rare cases where watching the film first might be a good thing to help flesh out the story.

I think this has been one of my favorite stories and film adaptations of Dahl's so far!

Dahl Study: Edward the Conqueror

My author study of Roald Dahl started with a reading of his Collected Stories while watching the accompanying episode of Tales of the Unexpected. Each Friday I'll recap a story and show (with spoilers, just so you know), but I encourage you to read and watch them on your own if you're interested!

- - -

"Edward the Conqueror" from Collected Stories (read 1/3/19)

This story was so weird but very interesting. A man is cleaning up his wild yard with a bonfire, and his wife rescues a cat from it. She takes the cat in even though the husband hates it. She plays piano for it and becomes convinced, through its reactions, that the cat is Liszt reincarnated. She shows her husband but he thinks she's crazy. She researches Liszt and it sure the cat is him because of various markings, and wants to make a big public deal about it. Her husband is embarrassed she wants to do this. While she cooks dinner for them, the husband throws the cat in the backyard fire.

"Edward the Conqueror" from Tales of the Unexpected (viewed 1/3/19)

This was pretty similar to the story in the beginning: cat comes to yard, woman plays piano for it. The library scene had me cracking up! A chatty librarian sharing theories and "research" about reincarnation. So busy talking while shelving that he doesn't even notice she left! That was added in, of course, but appreciated! The ending was different because, while it seemed like the husband got rid of the cat, the wife went after the husband with a knife, and later the cat came back in through the window.