Double Exposure

By Joy Gould Boyum

Book Overview

This is a solid book examining the various ways in which film adaptations of novels have succeeded or not, and why. The films examined are necessarily not current, given that the book was written in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452257220
• ISBN13: 9780452257221
• Release Date: October 1985
• Publisher: Plume
• Length: 287 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 5.0" x 1.0" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

What makes a good film adaptation?

This is a solid book examining the various ways in which film adaptations of novels have succeeded or not, and why. The films examined are necessarily not current, given that the book was written in 1985, but that really matters less than it seems. Ms. Boyum makes her points with illustrations from book and movie, but does so in a way that the reader doesn't have to be familiar with either work to understand the points she makes about film adaptation. Lots of thoughtful suggestions about what makes a successful and 'artistic' film adaptation of a novel and why.

Case studies of screen adaptations

I recall growing up around kids who would say of movies, "It's not as good as the book." I began wondering if a movie COULD be as good as the novel it adapted. Then "Star Wars" came along... but in that case the script certainly came before the book. Boyum argues that screenplays can rise to the level of the novels from which they are adapted, or even transcend them. To support her thesis, she offers up such films as "Apocalypse Now", "A Clockwork Orange", and "The Magnificent Ambersons", which gets its own chapter. As a counterexample, she throws in "Ragtime". In all, she does case studies on 18 movies, but references many more. Curiously, "The Maltese Falcon" gets only a few sentences, although its not becoming a success until its third adaptation might make for an interesting comparative analysis. But then the author, a professor of English, sticks to what would be more often called novels and literature. No help here on how to adapt the latest Crichton or Turow... The 18 movies are: The Great Gatsby, The Innocents, Sophie's Choice, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Tess, Under the Volcano, Apocalypse Now, Women in Love, Ragtime, Daisy Miller, A Clockwork Orange, Lord of the Flies, Wise Blood, Death in Venice, Slaughterhouse Five, the Day of the Locust, Swann in Love, The Magnificent Ambersons