Talk:The Moon-Spinners

Plot
One of the major problems is that the plot summary is just wrong. The Jewels at issue are not that of Pola Negri. In many ways, it would be better to take this article off until fixed. 99.40.214.81 (talk) 02:14, 3 January 2010 (UTC)

The Moon-Spinners Novel by Mary Stewart
The existing article is about the Disney movie starring Hayley Mills, which deviates significantly from the book on which it is loosely based. As there are existing articles of other Mary Stewart suspense novels, and this is among the best—and the best known—I suggest creating a separate article on the novel. The novel is far superior in plotting and character development than the Disney-sanitized movie.

Differences from the novel:

- In the movie Lambis is a villain; in the novel he is an ally of Mark Langley.

- in the book, Mark Langley and his 15-year old brother, Colin, witness a murder and thus are hunted by the killers. In the movie—aimed at a young adult audience—Mark is robbed of jewels for which he is responsible and is on a mission to recover them.

- Colin Langley, who is a significant character in the book, is left out of the movie completely. Colin is taken hostage by the killers when Mark is left for dead after being shot. Finding and rescuing Colin is Mark’s chief motivation.

- The character of Alexis enhanced in the movie and takes on much of the Colin Langley persona and action. After Colin Langley is freed, Nicola protects him and escorts him to meet up with Mark.

- In the novel Lambis accidentally kills Sophia’s husband in self-defense, making it dangerous to go to the police, since the local man would likely have relations that may make the police objectivity untrustworthy.

- The book Nicola Ferris is more resourceful and mature, and far less helpless than the Haley Mills character.

- in the novel, Nicola arrives in Agios Georgios 2 days ahead of Frances and interacts with Mark Langley, Lambis, Stratos, and Sophia without the need for “adult supervision.” Frances is simply a convenience companion added to Mary Stewart novels in an era when women didn’t travel alone. The convenient companions stay in the background and are not essential to the plot.

- The novel’s Frances Scourby is Nicola’s older cousin and a botanist; the movie’s “Aunt” Frances is a musicologist collecting folk songs. The Disney characterizations of Nicola and Frances are of adolescent and adult supervisor.

I would tackle this myself, but I’ve only edited 4 articles in 8 years and have no experience with the research and references required to credibly create a new article. I would likely not meet the standards for a new article and would have my efforts deleted (as my expansion of the Trooper Hook stub was deleted, making my efforts wasted). Hopefully a more experienced Mary Stewart fan will take this on. I will continue to make lesser contributions until I feel more confident in the standards. Ariadne000 (talk) 01:41, 3 January 2021 (UTC)