Recently we have been discussing on our Facebook page, and our Facebook Book Club ‘The Cwts’, the controversial opinion ‘sometimes a movie adaptation is better than the book’. Despite many of us agreeing that, generally speaking, the book is best- we also recognise when a movie does the book justice and even work far better as a movie than a novel.
One such writer whose work has been adapted is award-winning novelist Pearl S. Buck. Born to Christian missionary parents in June 1892, Buck spent many years living in China- a source of inspiration for many of her novels.
The American writer is well-known for her humanitarian efforts as well as her novels, and a select few of her works have been adapted for the big screen. She won the ‘Nobel Prize’ for Literature in 1938, and many class her as one of the great writers in literature. Her beautiful prose and heartfelt stories touch many people so it is no wonder people also enjoy the movies based on her books.
The Good Earth (1937)
“The story of a farmer in China: a story of humility and bravery. His father gives Wang Lung a freed slave as wife. By diligence and frugality the two manage to enlarge their property. But then a famine forces them to leave their land and live in the town. However it turns out to be a blessing in disguise for them…”
Dragon Seed (1944)
“The lives of a small Chinese village are turned upside down when the Japanese invade. And heroic young Chinese woman leads her fellow villagers in an uprising against Japanese Invaders.”
China Sky (1945)
“In a hill city of war-torn China, the American mission hospital is run by Dr. Gray Thompson and Dr. Sara Durand, who secretly loves him. Then Gray comes back from the USA with new equipment …and new wife Louise, who is jealous of Sara, shows herself a coward in the first Japanese air raid, and wants to take Gray back to the States. Others have similar troubles; and Japanese prisoner Colonel Yasuda manipulates them for his own ends.”
Satan Never Sleeps (1962)
“During the Chinese Civil War of 1949, the Communists constantly harass the two priests of a remote Catholic mission outpost. A priest (William Holden) arrives at a mission-post in China accompanied by a young native girl who has joined him along the way. His job is to relieve the existing priest (Clifton Webb), who is now too old and weak to continue with the upkeep of the church. However, Communist soldiers arrive at the mission and seize it as a command post.”
Pavilion of Women (2001)
“With World War 2 looming, a prominent family in China must confront the contrasting ideas of traditionalism, communism and Western thinking, while dealing with the most important ideal of all: love and its meaning in society.”
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