There once was a time when I went months without watching television and saw few films. In my arrogance and youth I deemed films and TV as lesser entertainments than books and music.
How silly.
I don’t think I missed all that much with the TV blackout, though I did go whole years without classics including “All in The Family,” “M*A*S*H” and “Sanford and Son,” but the years without films was a major mistake.
I missed out on The Poseidon Adventure, The Sting, American Graffiti, Papillion, Soylent Green, Paper Moon, Cabaret, Jeremiah Johnson and The Candidate, to cite a few.
I got over myself when I started college and rediscovered that films were a pretty darn good (and cheap) entertainment. The robust film programming at the University of Georgia (a new screening most every night!) was an introduction into a world of movies that never made it to the drive-in or the small first-run theater of my hometown.
It’s where I discovered small films such as Terence Malick’s Badlands, and got to experience the sheer anarchy of a midnight screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show before water pistols and toilet paper rolls were de rigueur.
I still engaged in vociferous reading and writing, but movies are now a regular part of life. I’ve spent the decades catching up.
One of my favorite pastimes is to see how well these worlds meld when a book is adapted for film. Here’s a look at five films that have succeeded to varying degrees in taking a book and transforming the material into a different medium.
- Nineteen Eighty-Four (book, 1949, film, 1984): George Orwell’s bleak book was transformed into a morose movie that stands well on its own. Richard Burton’s final film role is rewarding, but John Hurt excels as Winston Smith, a worker in the ministry of disinformation whose small acts of individuality and rebellion are brutally subdued by Big Brother. Well worth a second viewing.
- The Loved One (book, 1948, film, 1965): I’m a big fan of Evelyn Waugh’s wicked satire. This little book that takes on the business of death and Southern California culture in general is a favorite, but the movie version is a disappointment, going for over-the-top farce in lieu of social satire. There’s much talent on screen, with a cast including Jonathan Winters, who is agreeably odd and wickedly funny in a dual role, and Robert Morse, most recently seen as Bert on “Mad Men.” It’s one of those films that probably work better if you haven’t first read the book.
- Alice In Wonderland (book, 1865, Disney movie version, 1951): The folks at Disney have a pretty good track record in terms of adapting books to film, but this movie fails to capture Lewis Carroll’s whimsy and anarchy, and instead skews to silliness. There are enchanting moments, though (The Mad Hatter and March Hare’s Unbirthday Song is a nice touch).
- Catch-22 (book, 1961, film, 1970): The film adaptation of Joseph Heller’s antiwar classic falls short, but is still an interesting movie that’s worth watching. Director Mike Nichols captured the oddness and quirkiness of the Heller characters, but the film is an odd mix of too-much-book and too-little book, resulting in a lack of cohesion in its storytelling. Alan Arkin is sublime as the pilot caught in the titular Catch-22.
- Little Big Man (book, 1964, film, 1970): Thomas Berger’s book received a nice film treatment that featured Dustin Hoffman in one of his best, lesser-known roles. Hoffman plays Jack Crabb, who recounts his unlikely life in the frontier West, raised by the Cheyenne, and then serving as a scout for Custer at the Little Big Horn. A nice mix of social satire, humor, tall tales, and myth-debunking. The book is well worth a read if you come across it as well.
Further Review looks at films or television series worthy of a second viewing. What are your favorites worthy of Further Review? Contact Tharon Giddens at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .