# Let's list some "stagey" movies. Also, why make stagey movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 5, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-some-stagey-movies-also-why-make-stagey-movies/724291 "2015-07-05T02:35:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Bragg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@Stealth\_Bragg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Bragg)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-some-stagey-movies-also-why-make-stagey-movies/724291/41 "2015-07-06T11:49:45Z")
“My Fair Lady” would seem to fit the bill with lots of deliberately stagey scenes. They even have rows of people moving in from “off stage” to take up places before the action starts, on occasion. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-some-stagey-movies-also-why-make-stagey-movies/724291/42 "2015-07-06T12:34:03Z")
_One From The Heart_ was filmed entirely on a soundstage deliberately trying for a non-real look. Coppola also did transitions from one scene to the other using stage tricks like scrims, fading the lights down in front and bringing them up behind the scrim. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-some-stagey-movies-also-why-make-stagey-movies/724291/43 "2015-07-06T12:34:18Z")
A lot of movies based on stage plays – especially single-set stage plays – go out of their way to try to get away from that feeling. So the 1972 version of **Sleuth** very deliberately has scenes away from that living room that was the only location for the play, moving from Wyke’s garden at the beginning, setting scenes in the library, and Marguerite’s bedroom, and in the cellar. (Interestingly, the 2007 version, with screenplay by Harold Pinter, feels much more “stagey”, in that it stays mostly confined to that single set – even though Pinter’s script was NOT done as a stage play.) They added a “Roadhouse scene” to the movie _Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?_ (as Mad magazine gleefully pointed out in its satire) **1776** takes place almost entirely in the Hall at Philadelphia “and in places in John Adams’ mind” (as the stage directions state), but for the film they moved a few scenes out of doors (although several of them were played in front of ac curtain when its played onstage, simply implying a different location). Some movies just didn’t care to significantly change location – look at _Inherit the Wind_ _Twelve Angry Men_ actually started as a TV play before becoming a movie, its single-set location being dictated by the limitations of TV production in the 1950s. Gore Vidal’s _Visit to a Small Planet_ was the same way. Both were easily adapted to single-set stage plays afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-some-stagey-movies-also-why-make-stagey-movies/724291/44 "2015-07-07T18:27:12Z")
I think Reservoir Dogs fits the bill. I remember like 5 sets, and the bulk of the action taking place within the warehouse with a lot of dialog. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-some-stagey-movies-also-why-make-stagey-movies/724291/45 "2015-07-07T18:33:52Z")
> [@BurnMeUp](#): > > I think Reservoir Dogs fits the bill. I remember like 5 sets, and the bulk of the action taking place within the warehouse with a lot of dialog. Something most people (including many reviewers) don’t realize: It was the garage of a funeral home, not a warehouse. ---
**Author:** ![Shearer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/57b2e6/32.png) [@Shearer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shearer)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-some-stagey-movies-also-why-make-stagey-movies/724291/46 "2015-07-07T18:47:43Z")
I can’t see how Rear Window would work on stage. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-some-stagey-movies-also-why-make-stagey-movies/724291/47 "2015-07-07T19:07:08Z")
If you go to Connecticut in October, you can find out. [Hartford Stage is presenting Rear Window](http://www.broadway.com/buzz/180277/stage-adaptation-of-rear-window-directed-by-darko-tresnjak-will-raise-its-blinds-in-connecticut/) from October 22 through November 15. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-some-stagey-movies-also-why-make-stagey-movies/724291/48 "2015-07-07T19:08:34Z")
Frost/Nixon ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-some-stagey-movies-also-why-make-stagey-movies/724291/49 "2015-07-07T19:26:13Z")
> [@BurnMeUp](#): > > I think Reservoir Dogs fits the bill. I remember like 5 sets, and the bulk of the action taking place within the warehouse with a lot of dialog. In classic “I scrolled down to the bottom just to see my answer posted” fashion, I’m going to have to agree with you. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-some-stagey-movies-also-why-make-stagey-movies/724291/50 "2015-07-07T23:00:31Z")
Sylvester Stallone did a [comedy named _Oscar_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_(1991_film)) which I thought was hilarious but which was completely and mercilessly panned by critics. (I think this is the most out of line I’ve ever been with the consensus.) I do recall it looking very much like a film based on a play. (Something like _Noises Off_.–the whole plot takes place in a single house, lots of people ENTERING and EXITING, you know that kind of thing?) But no, it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2015, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-some-stagey-movies-also-why-make-stagey-movies/724291/51 "2015-07-08T12:14:45Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Sylvester Stallone did a [comedy named _Oscar_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_(1991_film)) which I thought was hilarious but which was completely and mercilessly panned by critics. (I think this is the most out of line I’ve ever been with the consensus.) I do recall it looking very much like a film based on a play. (Something like _Noises Off_.–the whole plot takes place in a single house, lots of people ENTERING and EXITING, you know that kind of thing?) But no, it’s not. Are you sure? IMDb has in the writing credits “Claude Magnier (play)” among others. Maybe it wasn’t a play that was ever produced. It’s one of my favorite Stallone movies and I’d assumed it was based on a play as well. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2015, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-some-stagey-movies-also-why-make-stagey-movies/724291/52 "2015-07-08T15:13:28Z")
I think I have a different idea of what “stagey” means. While a lot of the suggestions were originally stage plays, the movies feel like movies to me. Maybe small movies with limited sets - but still movies. They don’t feel like someone just taped a play. They use film conventions and staging rather than theater conventions in their style. (I’m sure I don’t know enough about film to say To me, _Mamma Mia_ felt like someone taped a play. Sure, some of the scenes were outside, but especially with the crowd scenes and musical numbers, the blocking felt very, very much like it belonged on a stage rather than taking advantage of what they could do with a camera. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-some-stagey-movies-also-why-make-stagey-movies/724291.md?page=2)