It is a well known and undisputed fact that the book will always be better than the film, no matter what the budget, no matter how well known the actors and no matter how amazing CGI may be, there is not a film maker out there who will ever get the characters quite right, nor be able to include all the subtleties that a book provides with ease.
However what happens when the book we are talking about was a film first? Do book adaptations of popular films work in the same way as books made into films? Do we lose that indefinable something in translation?
Here a some books that were films first, what are your opinions? Book, or film?
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, a novelisation and extension of that iconic film about an abandoned alien and a little boy’s determination to keep him safe. Written by William Kotzwinkle reviewers say that the book gives a depth to ET’s character that the film missed and that it is a perfect companion book for the avid fan. There is also speculation that maybe, as intimated by the book, one day, a sequel might appear on our screens.
Buy E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial US
Buy E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial UK
Based upon George Lucas’ original screenplay, Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker is a 1976 novelisation of Star Wars Epiv A New Hope and although accredited to George himself was actually ghost written by Alan Dean Foster.
Reviews state that the book is a brilliant addition to any true Star Wars buff’s collection and fleshes out certain scenes whilst clarifying the names and histories of many places and characters from the film.
Buy Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker US
Buy Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker UK
Julia Sorel’s adaptation of Rocky received mixed reviews with many readers stating that throughout the book it felt as though the author had just written down exactly what she could see on the screen and that the book itself offered no new insights into Rocky Balboa’s character, a shame really as I imagine he probably has a fascinating back story.
In 1932 a novelisation of the smash film King Kong was published and released for sale ahead of the film itself . Written by Delos W. Lovelace it may have beaten the film’s release but it was purely a written adaptation of the screenplay with no padding out of the story and as such is probably only of interest to collectors of film literature.
Rambo ii was apparently a very difficult film to translate into novel format; David Morrell bemoaning the fact that “The script was 86 pages and had lines like ‘Rambo jumps up and shoots this guy. Rambo jumps up and shoots another guy.’ To novelise it, I had to add a lot of other material.” and continuing to explain the difficulties by stating in his introduction that The movie’s climactic scene features Rambo piloting a helicopter and using “machine guns and rocket launchers to blow the s..t out of everything”. His impact onscreen is enhanced by Stallone’s gurning muscles, by Jerry Goldsmith’s musical score, and a deafening sequence of sound effects that Morrell summarises as “BLAM!”
From those few titles it appears that when novelising a film that little to nothing is lost and that as long as you have a little imagination you would be entertained by the book just as well as the film.
It seems that producers and script writers may not share those opinions though, film writer Joe Queenan not only calling novelisers “hacks” he even compares them, with tongue a little in-cheek, to pornographers. Novelist Jonathan Coe offers a more measured opinion of “That Bastard, Misshapen Offspring of the Cinema and the Written Word”: “At home, my bookshelves groan under the weight of these execrably-written texts: cheap, hastily-assembled adaptations of recent movies…”
Ouch! Can you imagine if authors held the same opinion of those who turned their works of literary art into (very often) second rate films? It’s a good job the literary world is more forgiving of other media attempting to do their works justice.
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