On short notice I present to you this week's edition of Friday Night at the Movies, one in which I hope - due to the nature of tonight's subject - will elicit a strong response from you, dear readers.
In college I took a course from which I take I borrowed the name of tonight's diary, Literature into Film. In essence, we were assigned literature of various lengths and then watched the film adaptation of them, after which we were required to write a paper.
Have no fear - I am not expecting that from you.
Instead, I'd ask you to share some of the most memorable adaptations of literature - be it short story, current fiction, or a classic - and tell us why you thought it was so great. There are so many miserable attempts to distill the written word onto film that I'd prefer we kept things positive, although I anticiapte that there will be some disagreements.
Make the jump.
Three studies from that class that I remember well were The Stage to Lordsburg by Ernest Haycox (in film, Stagecoach (1939) introducing John Wayne); An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce (four adaptations, but my favorite is La Rivière du L'hibou (1962), which has no dialog and aired on the Twiglight Zone); and The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark (The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), starring Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews).
All of these stories are focused on the interactions of the characters depicted, and it is a credit to the film's directors that the tensions of the novels are preserved on screen.
Other adaptations that I love Are Kenneth Branagh's renderings of plays by William Shakespeare; while Hamlet (1996) has received much acclaim, for me, Henry V (1989) and Much Ado About Nothing (film 1993) are tour de force that one simply cannot help but immerse themselves in. And is it me, or does anyone else think that Shakespeare just has more life when directed and performed well on the screen?
There are some films that are stronger than the literature upon which they are based; Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (film 1936) would certainly fall into that category. And others that share equally in glory: Dr Zhivago by Boris Pasternak (film by David Lean (1965)). And some authors work seems to lend itself to film; Philip K. Dick for example (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? which became Bladerunner (1982). While others seem to write novels so to sell the movie rights; Michael Crichton fits this role, although The Andromeda Strain is still one of my favorite early sci-fi films (1971).
In response to my query, my wife suggested Howards End, the novel by E. M. Forster turned into film (1992) by the team of Merchant Ivory.
The more I type the more adaptations that come to mind: Fail-Safe, another film starring Henry Fonda and directed by Sidney Lumet based on the novel by the same name by by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. The Lord of the Rings trilogy....
Now it's your turn. Grab a bowl of popcorn or a box of Sno-Caps (those delicious chocolates covered with white nonpareils) and have fun!