The History of Adaptations
Twenties
Thirties
Forties
Welcome to the history of adaptations. I’ve been looking at the top movies of each decade, analysing them to see which ones were original and which ones were adaptations, and of the adaptations, what the source material was. I’m using the compiled list at Filmsite.org as a base. Last time, I looked at the early years of Hollywood, which had about two-thirds of the popular films of the era be adaptations. That ratio has held steady through to the Forties. The Fifties, though, has an astonishing twist.
The 1950s were a boom era. With the Great Depression a memory and industrial capacity expanded, people, mainly men, were working and had money to spend. The automobile became central to lives, leading to the heyday of the drive-in theatre. Television made in-roads into homes; the technology became affordable as people worked. Colour in film became the draw; the typical television was black and white, with a limited choice of what was on. Bigger cities may have as many as six channels available. However, the economic boom allowed people to own both a television and go out to the movies. In movie theatres and at drive-ins, epics had a resurgence. Without a war to pay for, money could be used to create a spectacle.
The popular movies of the era:
1950
Cinderella – an animated Disney film adapted from the folk tale.
King Solomon’s Mines – adapted from the 1885 novel of the same name by H. Rider Haggard 1885 novel. This is the second film of five to adapt the novel, featuring Allan Quatermain.
1951
Quo Vadis – adapted from the 1895 novel of the same name by Henryk Sienkiewicz.
1952
This is Cinerama – original. The film was a demo of the Cinerama widescreen process, a new way of presenting movies. Cinerama presentations required three synchronized 35mm projectors. Seeing a Cinerama film was similar to seeing a play, where the audience would need to purchase tickets in advance.
The Greatest Show on Earth – original. Cecil B. De Mille based the movie on the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus, both of which also appeared in the movie.
1953
Peter Pan – another Disney animated adaptation, based on the play by JM Barrie.
The Robe – adapted from the book of the same name by Lloyd C. Douglas.
1954
Rear Window – Alfred Hitchcock directed this adaptation of the short story, “It Had to Be Murder” by Cornell Woolrich.
Demetrius and the Gladiators – sequel to an adaptation. This movie was a sequel to The Robe, above.
1955
Lady and the Tramp – the third Disney animated adaptation from the decade, based on Happy Dan, The Whistling Dog by Ward Greene.
1956
The Ten Commandments – both an adaptation and a partial remake. Cecil B. De Mille remade his 1923 epic, The Ten Commandments.
Around the World in 80 Days – adapted from the Jules Verne novel.
Seven Wonders of the World – original. The movie was another demo of Cinerama.
1957
Bridge on the River Kwai – adapted from the novel La pont de la riviere Kwai by Pierre Boulle. The novel and the movie used the building of the Burma Railway during World War II as the backdrop. Boulle also wrote the novel La planète des singes, which would get adapted as the movie, Planet of the Apes.
1958
Hercules – adapted from the Greek myth and dubbed from the original Italian.
South Pacific – adapted from the Rodgers & Hammerstein stage musical and from James A. Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific.
1959
Ben Hur – remake of an adaptation, specifically, the 1925 film Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ which was in turn adapted from the novel of the same name by Lew Wallace.
Sleeping Beauty – adapted from multiple sources. Sleeping Beauty will be the last time Disney adapts a fairy tale until 1989’s The Little Mermaid.
Of the eighteen films listed above, fourteen are adaptations, with only three original films and one film that necessitated the creation of a new category, the sequel of an adaptation. Adding to the fun, the three original movies include both Cinerama demos. After three-plus decades of seeing a two-to-one ratio of adaptations to original, the sudden spike in adaptations was unexpected. Removing the Cinerama demos, and the Fifties start to look very much like now in terms of the adaptation glut.
The Ten Commandments is an interesting case. De Mille remade his 1923 silent film with sound, colour, and widescreen, all now available to him. The same thing happened with Ben Hur; the technology caught up to the scale needed for the film. Those are the only two remakes to make the list. The remainder of the adaptations are mostly literary, drawing from novels, short stories, and plays. Even Disney adapted from a story, with Lady and the Tramp and Peter Pan. The other two Disney animated features, though, come from folk tales.
Demetrius and the Gladiator was the first sequel of an adaptation encountered in this series. The film draws from The Robe, though did not have a work of its own to be based on. It’s not original in and of itself, but neither is it an adaptation. Sequels are tricky when it comes to deciding if it’s a continuation or a reboot; a lot of it depends on context and time. With Demetrius and the Gladiator, the decision was to call it a continuation, seeing that it came out only a year after The Robe, thus adding to the complexity and leading to the new category. The category will become useful in later decades.
Once again, the limitations of using just the popular films appears. Missing from the lists are the Westerns and the B-movies. Westerns were a staple, but no one Western breaks away from the pack. B-movies were never meant to be the draw. They appeared before the main feature, especially at drive-ins, so the movies may not appear on the popular film lists. The serial disappears during the Fifties; television series took over that role.
The Fifties give a glimpse of today. Popular films were mostly adaptations, with Disney animated features being a huge draw for audiences. The decade is acting as foreshadowing of today’s film industry output.
With a busy week, I am taking today off as a short hiatus. However, there are plans afoot in the pipeline involving Lost in Translation, plans that involve something more than mixed metaphors. Lost in Translation is working towards branching off on its own, though still part of Crossroads Alpha family. Over the coming summer, expect to see changes and announcements as the transition progresses. On the agenda, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and an appearance at a literary convention. Information will be released as it becomes known.
Lost in Translation returns next week, continuing the history of adaptations with the 1950s.
The Phantom of the Opera, or, in it’s original French, Le Fantôme de l’Opéra, originated as a serial by Gaston Leroux, appearing in Le Gaulois starting in September of 1909. Since then, it has been collected as a novel, translated, and adapted in many ways, including the 1925 silent film with Lon Chaney, the 1943 film with Claude Rains, the 1962 Hammer horror film with Herbert Lom*, the 1986 Broadway musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and the 1974 rock opera horror comedy, Phantom of the Paradise.
Sort of.
Phantom of the Paradise didn’t just adapt The Phantom of the Opera. Writer and director Brian De Palma was inspired by hearing a Muzak cover of a Beatles song in an elevator and wondered what it was like for the original artist. From there, he went to the German legend of Faust, a story that has also been adapted often since Christpher Marlowe’s The Tragic History of Doctor Faustus in the very early 1600s. Let’s sum up both stories.
Faust is the classic story about making a deal with the devil. Unhappy with his life despite being a successful scholar, Faust calls upon the Devil to make a trade. For knowledge and magic powers to let himself discover the pleasures of the world, Faust is willing to sell his soul. Mephistopheles, representing the Devil, agrees but with one condition; Faust has only so much time, the amount varying by telling of the legend, and when time’s up, his soul is forfeit. Mephistopheles performs the magic Faust wants and, time does run out. Depending on the version of the legend, Faust is sometimes saved by striving to be a better man despite the deal with the devil. Most versions, though, see the scholar damned to Hell for eternity, thus showing the lesson of what happens when one sells one’s soul.
The Phantom of the Opera is less about selling one’s soul and more about obsessive love. The Paris Opera House is home to the story about the dangers of obsession and show business. Lurking within the bowels of the Opera House is the near-urban legend Phantom. The Phantom, very much real, hears a singer, Christine Daaé, and falls in love** with her. Christine, though, loves another, Raoul. The Opera House next production is a operatic version of Faust. Christine, however, does not get the lead role. Instead, La Carlotta, a prima donna in both senses of the term, gets the part, upsetting the Phantom, who has taught Christine how to sing. The Phantom insists that Christine marry him, for no one else may have her. Christine tells Raoul about the Phantiom, but the scoundrel overhears and kidnaps Raoul and threatens to destroy the Opera House. It is only through Christine’s pity and empathy for the Phantom that she and Raoul are able to escape and prevent the explosion of the theatre.
Phantom of the Paradise takes both tales. The opening of the movie has a good summary of what it’s about; “This film is the story of that search, of that sound, of the man who made it, the girl who sang it, and the monster who stole it.” The three main characters are Swan, played by Paul Williams, Winslow Leach/the Phantom, played by William Finley, and Phoenix, played by Jessica Harper. Williams also wrote the music for the movie. Winslow is a budding young songwriter hoping for his big break by following the band, the Juicy Fruits. Swan, owner of Death Records, is looking for a new act to christen his soon-to-open cathedral to rock, the Paradise and hears Winslow’s work, “Faust”. Swan, though, wants an ingenue, someone he can guide personally, not a songwriter who does his own work.
Swan isn’t one to have terms dictated to; he does the dictating. Winslow’s “Faust” is exactly what he needs for the Paradise, so Swan acquires the song without letting Winslow know. Winslow susses out that something’s up and goes to Swan’s mansion, where there is a line up of women who want to be Swan’s next big hit. One, Phoenix, is singing “Faust”. Winslow is impressed, and is willing to allow her and just her to sing his work. Still, “Faust” is his, not Swan’s, so he tries to get in to see the elusive artist. Swan, though, arranges for Winslow to be arrested, tried, and sentenced to get him out of the way.
In prison, Winslow is volunteered for experiments, thanks to Swan, and has his teeth replaced. Winslow escapes, but in a freak record press accident, has half his face disfigured and his vocal chords destroyed. He’s reported dead, but Winslow escapes into a theatre. Unseen, he reaches the costume department and takes a costume, including a large bird mask that hides his disfigurement. When the Paradise opens, the Phantom is there to sabotage the Beach Bums, formerly the Juicy Fruits. Swan works out who the Phantom is, though, and makes an offer. In return for re-writing “Faust”, Swan will have Phoenix in the lead. Winslow agrees, and signs in blood. Swan bring Winslow to the recording room and provides a voice box. It works best when Winslow is plugged into the recording equipment at the studio, but gives him an electronic voice otherwise. Winslow works hard to rewrite “Faust”.
Swan breaks the deal soon enough. He replaces Phoenix with his newest act, Beef, played by Garrit Graham. Beef. a glam rocker, doesn’t have the range Phoenix does. The Phantom discovers the duplicity as Swan’s people brick up Winslow’s recording studio. Winslow breaks out, his desire for vengeance. Beef is the first to discover the Phantom on the loose. He hears the Phantom’s anguish. Worse, the Phantom shows up while Beef is taking a shower and threatens him, Swan, and the Paradise if Phoenix is not given “Faust”. Beeef tries to flee, but is forced to stay.
“Faust” debuts, with the Undeads, the former Beach Bums, backing up Beef. The Undeads are in make-up similar to that used by Kiss*** while Beef struts around like a glam Frankenstein****. The Phantom, though, is ready. He throws a neon lightning bolt at Beef, electrocuting the singer. Swan’s assistant, Philbin, pushes Phoenix on stage to keep the crowd from tearing the Paradise apart. Phoenix is a hit.
As Phoenix leaves the stage, the Phantom kidnaps her. He reveals himself as Winston and implores her to leave before Swan can get his hooks into her. Phoenix doesn’t believe him and runs away to Swan. Swan seduces her, where he notices Winslow watching. Winslow tries to kill himself, but, despite the deep stab, still lives. Swan later explains that while he lives, Winslow will live, but once he’s dead, the wound will bleed as it should. Winslow, seeing the loophole, tries stabbing Swan, but Swan has his own contract.
Swan announces, through the cover of Rolling Stone, his upcoming wedding to Phoenix. Winslow, trying to make use of the loophole Swan revealed, goes digging through Swan’s collection of film. One reel gets the Phantom’s interest. On playing the film, Winslow discovers the Swan once tried to commit suicide twenty years before, so that he wouldn’t age. Before he could slice his wrists open, his mirror image talks to him, promising eternal youth for as long the film is safe. On another monitor, Winslow discovers Swan is planning on becoming an early widow, with Phoenix being killed just after the ceremony is complete. The reason? As Swan puts it, “An assassination live on television coast to coast – that’s entertainment.”
The Phantom destroys Swan’s collection of film, including the one that keeps him young, in a fire, then rushes down to stop the sniper from killing Phoenix. The wedding turns into chaos. As Swan’s film succumbs to the flames, Swan ages twenty years in mere moments before dying. Winslow has his masked knocked off, and the self-inflicted wound bleeds out.
As mentioned earlier, Paul Williams wrote the music for the movie. To give an idea of the range of styles involved, the Juicy Fruits were a greaser band, the Beach Bums were in the style of the Beach Boys, and the Undeads were proto-death metal with a goth element mixed with glam. Williams has cited “Our Souls” as his favourite piece of all that he’s written.
Phantom of the Paradise opened to decent numbers in Los Angeles, but flopped everywhere else except Winnipeg, Manitoba. The film remained in theatres in Winnipeg for four months straight, then made regular returns for over a year. The soundtrack went double gold in Winnipeg alone; a gold record in Canada at the time represented 10 000 sales. Winnipeg’s population in 1976 was over 560 000. In 2005, the fan-organized Phantompalooza was held in the theatre where the movie first opened, getting Gerrit Graham (Beef) and William Finley (the Phantom) out for it. The following year, Phantompalooza had as many suriving cast members inviited as the organizers could find and had Paul Williams in for a concert.
Despite being a flop outside Winnipeg, the movie was still influential. Without Phantom, there would be no Daft Punk. The two men who would become Daft Punk met at a showing of Phantom when they were 12 and 13. Their costumes were inspired by the Phantom’s. Guillermo del Toro was also inspired by the movie and would have named a daughter Phoenix if his wife hadn’t vetoed the suggestion.
The movie was ambitious. De Palma used both Faust and The Phantom of the Opera as inspirations, and borrowed from other literary works including Oscar Wilde’s The Portrait of Dorian Grey. During the wedding scene, De Palma had cameras in the crowd just to capture the action happening to make the scene feel more chaotic. Swan’s office and home are filled with mirrors, all the better for him to see the one he loves most. Likewise, the voice Swan gives to Winslow through the voice box is Swan’s own, the perfect voice. The movie reached high, and even with the stumbles, succeeds more than it fails.
For what is now known as a cult film, the movie has a pedigree of award nominations. It was nominated for an Oscar, Best Music Scoring, Original Song Score and/or Adaptation for Paul Williams, who lost to Nelson Riddle and his score for The Great Gatsby. There was a Golden Globe nomination, Best Original Score, which was won that year by Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner for their work on The Little Prince. The movie was nominated for Best Horror Film for the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films, losing to Young Frankenstein. Phantom and Brian De Palma lost to the same movie and its writers – Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder, and Mary Shelley – for the Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation. The film also got a nomination for the Writer’s Guild of America for Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen, losing to Blazing Saddles. Not bad for a film popular only in Winnipeg.
Phantom took a huge risk, adapting both the legend of Faust and The Phantom of the Opera and turning them into a rock opera. As an adaptation, it melds both well. It’s a matter of taste on whether the movie is successful. It’s biggest drawback is that it is not clearly of any one genre. At the start, I called the movie a rock opera horror comedy, the sort of movie that leads to becoming a cult hit. The result, an ambitious, very 70s film that treats its origins and inspirations with respect underneath the outrageous costumes.
Next week, the history of adaptations continues with the 50s.
* The Hammer film used Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, creating a trope for that piece of music.
** Love, lust, it’s blurry from the Phantom’s view. Not so much from Christine’s.
*** Kiss revealed their make-up first in 1973, but Phantom had been filming since 1972. It looks like parallel development happened, where both the movie crew and Kiss came up with the idea independently.
**** I’d compare Beef to Tim Curry’s Frank N. Furter or his creation in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but Phantom came out a year prior.
Almost missed all of April, but there was news about adaptations coming in. Here is your news round up.
Sony Pictures to make live-action Robotech.
Sony now has the rights to Robotech, via Harmony Gold, and is looking to use the series as the base of a franchise. Harmony Gold seems to be still involved.
Steven Spielberg to helm Ready Player One adaptation.
Ernest Cline’s cult novel, Ready Player One has been optioned by Warner Bros, who will be working with director Steven Spielberg to make the movie. Some rights issues, mostly involving video game icons of the 80s, will need to be cleared, but Warner is hoping for a repeat of what happened with The LEGO Movie, where rights owners jumped on board.
Coach returning after 18 year hiatus.
Craig T. Nelson is coming back as the titular character in a follow-up series. Thirteen episodes have been ordered. This isn’t the only TV series making a comeback.
X-Files returning.
The reboot re-unites David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, and Chris Carter. The three said they would only come back if the others did as well.
Galaxy Quest Returns to TV.
Okay, technically it was never on TV. But the show in the movie was, in-universe. And thus is getting a reboot. Sort of. Metafiction weirds timelines.
Full House Returns to TV.
This, however, is simpler. Fuller House is a continuation, with Candance Cameron Bure, Jodie Sweetin, and Andrea Barber returning to their original roles. Talks are ongoing with other members of the original cast, though John Stamos is on board as producer and will guest star.
It’s Time to Get Things (Re-)Started!
A new Muppet series to air on ABC. The new show will be aimed at an adult audience, though that’s not new for Muppets, and will take a look at their personal lives.
Archie will face his most deadly crossover yet!
Archie vs. Sharknado is a real thing. Sharknado director Anthony C. Ferrante has teamed up with Archie artist Dan Parent to bring the latest Archie crossover. Move aside, Punisher. Too bad, Predator. Archie has a new danger in his life.
Television in the Eighties saw a shift in tone occur in police procedurals and investigation series. While individual series had their darker moments and character focus, the trend wasn’t picked up by competing shows. Two series did lay the groundwork, though. Hawaii Five-O, 1968-1980, showed that a police procedural can get involved in a longer plot, specifically, McGarrett’s quest to bring down Wo Fat. The Rockford Files, 1974-1980, had a balance between Jim Rockford’s work and home life and included the conflicts between the two. From that start, shows like Magnum, P.I., 1980-1988, The A-Team, 1983-1987, and Miami Vice, 1984-1990, expanded what stories could be told. Magnum started as a detective series, but, as the seasons progressed, delved deeper into the title character’s background in Naval Intelligence during the Viet Nam War. The A-Team started as light action-adventure, but had four Viet Nam vets and later got into how that war had changed them. Miami Vice grew beyond the concept of “MTV Cops”* and, again, went into the relationships between the characters. Vice also provided a stylized approach to violence, using music to set the mood of the scene.
In 1985, a new drama debuted on CBS. The Equalizer, starring Edward Woodward as Robert McCall, combined elements from three different genres – espionage, detective, and vigilante. McCall, a former agent with “The Company”**, advertised his services in the classified ads section of the newspaper; “Got a problem? Odds against you? Call the Equalizer.” Each week, McCall would use his unique skill set to deal with problems that law wouldn’t or couldn’t be involved in. The Equalizer’s background was never stated outright, though as the series progressed, McCall’s past returned to haunt him. The series’ approach to violence also broke new ground. Instead of being stylized, as seen in Miami Vice, or over-the-top, as in The A-Team, The Equalizer saw violence that was intense and personal to a degree that hadn’t been seen on television before.
Part of the change in how violence was portrayed came from a looser hold on what was allowed on television. The Eighties saw cable television expand, with new channels available for a low, low cost. Premium channels cost more, but added to the variety available. With specialty channels catering to specific interests, such as MTV showing music videos and only music videos, viewers weren’t limited to watching what the major networks aired. Prior to cable, ABC, CBS, and NBC all set their programming to maximize audience size. Controversy would drive away part of the potential viewers to the competition, so programming was aimed at the lowest common denominator. The advent of cable meant that the networks had to lure viewers back. Old staples fell away as the Big Three revamped their lineups. Since they couldn’t use some elements that cable channels had available, such as gratuitous nudity, the networks had to get creative in other areas. Thus, Miami Vice‘s marriage of police drama and music video and The Equalizer‘s use of intense, personal, and implied violence. The show may not have shown much, but it allowed the viewers’ imagination to fill in the gaps.
The Equalizer ran until 1989. Edward Woodward suffered a heart attack in 1987, forcing him to reduce his workload as he recovered. The show won an Edgar Award for Best Television Episode Teleplay in 1987 for the “The Cup”, where McCall helps Mickey Kostmeyer, his assistant through the series, protect his brother, a priest who had heard a confession about an assassination by a KGB agent.
In 2014, Denzel Washington starred in a remake movie, also called The Equalizer. Washington plays Robert McCall, who appears to have an unremarkable life, spending time at night at a 24-hour diner and working at a hardware store during the day. A widower, he spends his free time reading the 100 books that everyone should read, since his late wife had been doing the same, passing away before she could finish the last three books on the list. At the diner, he befriends a young Russian woman, Adena, played by Chloë Grace Moritz, who works as a prostitute. She shares her dreams with McCall, who tells her that all she needs to do is change her world. McCall also has friends at work, including Ralphie, played by Johnny Skourtis, a clerk who wants to become a security guard at the store with McCall’s help. Some of his co-workers wonder what he did before, believing he may have worked in finance. McCall says that he was a Pip, as in Gladys Knight and the Pips.
When Adena’s pimps put her in the hospital, McCall discovers where there office is and pays them a visit. He offers $9800 in cash to buy Adena’s freedom. The Russian mobsters just laugh at him. McCall starts to leave, then locks the office’s entrance. The next thirty seconds sees McCall demonstrating why the enforcers should have taken the money. The five mobsters are killed, with the lead enforcer shot in the neck and able to watch the action before he dies.
Viewers who aren’t familiar with the original series may suspect that McCall is far more than he appears. An older gentleman who works at a hardware store, spends his free time reading classic novels, and lives in a small apartment should not have $9800 in cash, nor should he understand Russian, nor should he be able to kill five Russian mobster half his age. Yet, McCall did. Not much later, there’s an armed robbery at the hardware store. McCall approaches the cash where the robbery is happening, aware of what’s going on. He notes a few details of the thief, including the skull head on the robber’s hoodie zipper, similar to the skulls in the mobsters’ office, and the gang tattoos. When the robber demands the cashier’s ring, one that belonged to her late mother, McCall appears ready to take action but is stopped when he sees a family with young children enter. Instead, he has the cashier give over her ring, then follows the thief to get the license plate of his car. The scene ends with McCall picking up a sledgehammer from the racks. The next day, the cashier opens her drawer and sees her mother’s ring. McCall is then seen wiping down a sledgehammer before returning it to the rack.
The Russian mob isn’t happy with the loss of their gangsters. The five men killed weren’t just pimps; they were senior members of the mob’s organization in Boston. Vladimir Pushkin, played by Vladimir Kulich, the head of the gang, sends an investigator, Teddy, played by Marton Csokas, an ex-Spetsnaz soldier who’s capability for violence isn’t tempered by civility. Teddy is a blunt instrument, who doesn’t care about anything except finding the men who killed the senior gangsters. His investigation leads him to McCall, who appears to be a plain American. Teddy’s instincts, though, tell him that everything about McCall is wrong.
Pushkin’s mob has its fingers in many pies, including protection rackets and police corruption. That combination is why Ralphie leaves the hardware store despite his hard work to qualify for the guard exams; his mother’s restaurant was burned down after she was unable to pay a pair of corrupt cops. McCall tracks Ralphie down to find out why he left so suddenly and notices the scorch marks at the restaurant. He finds the corrupt cops, records them on their rounds, and forces them to return the money extorted.
After another confrontation with Teddy, McCall gets photos of the enforcer and takes them to friends who are also former agents. The friends pass along all the information they have on Teddy, including his real name and his background. McCall takes the information and starts a one-man war against the Russian mob. His first stop is with one of the corrupt cops, Frank Masters, played by David Harbour. McCall forces Masters to take him to Pushkin’s money laundering operation, which he then shuts down, paying the Chinese women sorting and bagging the money before they leave then calling in the FBI. Masters gives up his escape plans to McCall, which include a USB memory stick filled with who was being paid off by the mob and for how much. The FBI receives a copy of the data through an anonymous tip. The second stop for McCall is to destroy one of Pushkin’s ships filled with valuable cargo, along with the pumping station used to fill the tanker.
With the hit to the mob’s income, Pushkin gets insistant that the man responsible be found and killed. Teddy brings in his own people, but loses one before they can even get started. McCall meets with Teddy, bringing the broken glasses of the Russian’s own man with him. The point of the conversation is to give Teddy and the mob the choice of shutting down operations and leaving peacefully. Teddy scoffs and refuses. McCall shrugs and walks away.
Teddy has done his homework, finding where McCall works. He has men take the store employees hostage during closing then calls McCall. McCall now has a choice; show up in twenty-nine minutes at Teddy’s location or his friends and co-workers will be killed in thirty. Teddy tracks McCall’s movement by using the GPS on the the American’s phone. The bus the signal is on approaches the Russian’s location. Teddy has a sniper ready to shoot McCall on the bus, except the bus is empty. Teddy was tracking the phone, but the phone rode alone.
McCall, instead, is at the hardware store. The Russians have the employees in a back room. Teddy gives the order to kill one, but Gladys Knight and the Pips starts playing over the store’s intercom. One of the mobsters forces Ralphie to take him to the security office. McCall is ready and kills the mobster. In the back room, the radio crackles and a Russian voice asks for assistance. The other mobster is dealt with as quickly as the first. McCall tells Ralphie to get the employees out the back, then gets ready for Teddy’s arrival.
Teddy arrives at the store. The lights all go out as soon as he and his men are inside, the main doors locking. Teddy and his men are armed, but McCall not only has had time to prepare but knows the layout of the store far better. McCall sets out traps, waiting for one of the Russians to come by before triggering them. Soon, it’s just McCall and Teddy, with Ralphie back to assist.
There were a few changes made between the original TV series and the movie. The location moved from New York City to Boston, though that change was to take advantage of not just shooting locations but the difference in organized crime in the cities. New York City is known for the Mafia, the Five Families with ties to Italy. Boston, however, is more diverse, with Italian, Irish, and Russian mobs. As well, Washington’s McCall is far more integrated with his community. Woodward’s McCall was the outsider who lived in New York but wasn’t a part of day-to-day life. This McCall would be called in to solve a problem. Washington’s McCall was a part of the community, helping friends and co-workers with problems, from getting Ralphie ready to qualify as a security guard to retrieving a co-worker’s special ring. This McCall, like Woodward’s, may have been atoning, but the approach was different. The core of the character, though, was there. A former agent with a skill set that could be used to help those who needed it, and a willingness to get involved.
The movie showed more violence than the TV series did, though that is more from movies having far more leeway, depending on rating, to depict violent acts than television. The tone remained, though, and not all violence was shown. Much more was implied. The armed robber never re-appeared after fleeing the crime scene; all the audience sees is McCall picking up a sledgehammer, the ring in the cashier’s register, and McCall wiping the sledgehammer down before returning it to the racks. Credit for maintaining the feel of the TV series goes to Antoine Fuqua, the director. Fuqua, who broke into movies with The Replacement Killers and worked with Denzel Washington on Training Day, maintained the mix of everyday life and McCall’s past, using the contrast to heighten the mood. The theatrical remake of The Equalizer keeps the tone of the original series while taking advantage of being a movie and modern technology. The Robert McCall of both is easily recognizable, though each version is its own take on the character.
Of note, the movie performed well enough at the box office that Sony has announced a sequel, provided that Fuqua and Washington both have the time in their schedules that mesh with each other.
Next week, the April news round-up.
* Brandon Tartikoff, head of NBC Entertainment, had used the term, “MTV Cops”, wanting a show that included the visual style of a music video, but that concept did not turn into /Miami Vice/. [http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2014/08/06/tv-legends-revealed-did-miami-vice-really-begin-as-mtv-cops/]
** The series never specified which intelligence agency and just called it “The Company”, though the implications were that it was the CIA.
The History of Adaptations
Thirties
Forties
It’s time to step back a bit with the history of adaptations. To prepare for what’s coming up during the Fifties, I need to cover the early years of the film industry. I’m still using the compiled list at Filmsite.org as a base. By using what was popular, I hope that the movie titles and the actors are familiar to readers to give an idea of how beloved films came about.
I delayed looking at the early years mainly because of the age of the works. I was expecting the era to be mainly adaptations of works long forgotten. I was also expecting works that were lost to the ages, through neglect, disaster, or other means. Several of the works below have been lost, with only production and marketing stills the only remains. Others, though, have been preserved and enshrined.
The early years of the movie industry didn’t have anything like the MPAA or the Hays Code to limit or even censor content. Censoring was done at the local level, by concerned citizens. Movies could be and were as steamy as they wanted. However, local censors could remove scenes that they felt were offensive to moral standing.
The Great War, as World War I was known prior to 1939, began in 1914. The war began with the armies using tactics from open ground charges as seen even in the American Civil War to trench warfare, due to the weapons used being far more lethal than in previous conflicts. Artillery and the machine gun changed how infantry was used, and the introduction of airplanes further evolved tactics. The War resulted in over 16 million dead and 20 million wounded by the time it ended in 1918.
Prohibition took effect in the United States in January of 1920 with the certification of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919. The Amendment made illegal the production, transport, and sale of alcohol, though, if one could somehow obtain it without violating the law, private consumption and possession was not prohibited. To assist in enforcing Prohibition, the Volstead Act was also passed, with both the House of Representatives and the Senate overriding President Woodrow Wilson’s veto. The Act prohibited intoxicating beverages, defined as over 0.5% alcohol by volume; regulated the making, selling, and transporting of intoxicating liquor; and ensured there was a supply of alcohol for use in scientific research and for religious rituals. The Twenty-First Amendment, certified in December of 1933, repealed the Eighteenth while still prohibiting the transport of alcohol across state lines when that transport was in violation of state laws.* Moves became a legal form of entertainment, one where audiences didn’t have to worry about money getting into the hands of criminals.
The Nineteenth Amendment fared better. The Nineteenth gave women the right to vote in August of 1920. With the right to vote and the dawning of the Jazz Era, the flapper was born. Women could have a greater influence on their communities, and young women were eager to take the opportunity available. The Roaring Twenties saw an exuberance until it ended with the stock market crash of 1929, heralding the Great Depression of the Thirties.
Movie technology was in its infancy. Most of the films listed are silent movies, unless otherwise noted. The advent of sound was huge. Early films needed someone in the theatre to play the music. As sound recording developed, the musician was replaced by a separate recording that needed to be synchronized with the film. The Jazz Singer, as discussed below, represents a huge leap in audio. Colour was also slowly coming about. Technicolor**, invented in 1916, used a red-green additive process in the early years, but costs could be prohibitive.
The era had a mix of styles as directors experimented to see what worked and what didn’t. Epics, comedies, dramas, the early years had them all. The list below is lengthy, but covers fifteen years instead of the usual ten. Accounting procedures would have had to account for releases moving from city to city instead of a release across the country on the same day.
1915
The Birth of a Nation – adapted from the novel and play The Clansman by Thomas Dixon Jr. This was director D.W. Griffith’s movie about the birth of the Ku Klux Klan and left controversy in its wake.
1916
Intolerance – original. D.W. Griffith made this movie in response to the reaction to the The Birth of a Nation, showing the dangers of prejudice.
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea – adapted from the novel by Jules Verne.
1917
Cleopatra – adapted from several sources; H. Rider Haggard’s novel Cleopatra, Émile Moreau’s play Cleopatre, and William Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. Starred Theda Bara as eponymous ruler and Fritz Leiber, the science fiction author‘s father, as Caesar. Cleopatra has been lost to the ages after two fires destroyed the only full prints in existence, leaving only production stills and fragments of the original film. Bara’s costuming, what there was of it, was considered scandalous at the time and could still be considered risqué today.
1918
Mickey – original. Starred Mabel Normand as the titular tomboy and was produced through her film company.
1919
The Miracle Man – an adaptation of an adaptation, Frank L. Packard’s novel via the 1914 George M. Cohan play, both of the same name. Another lost movie, it starred Lon Chaney.
1920
Way Down East – adapted from the play Way Down East by Lottie Blair Parker. Another D.W. Griffith film, it starred Lillian Gish. The climax has Gish running across an icy river, a scene more famous than the rest of the movie.
Over the Hill to the Poorhouse – adapted from the 1872 poem “Over the Hill to the Poorhouse” by Will Carleton, thus showing that the film industry will adapt other media.
Something to Think About – original. Cecil B. DeMille directed the film that Jeanie Macpherson scripted. The two will combine efforts for several more movies. Gloria Swanson starred.
1921
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse – adapted from Vicente Blasco Ibañez’s novel The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Set during the Great War, the film established Rudolf Valentino as the Latin Lover despite being a supporting role.
The Kid – original. Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the film. His co-star was Jackie Coogan, better known today as Uncle Fester from the black and white Addams Family TV series.
1922
Robin Hood – adapted from the legend of the roguish outlaw. Douglas Fairbanks starred as Robin with Alan Hale co-starring as Little John. Hale would reprise the role with Errol Flynn in 1938’s The Adventures of Robin Hood and with John Derek in 1950’s Rogues of Sherwood Forest. Robin Hood was the first movie to have a Hollywood premiere.
Oliver Twist – adapted from the Charles Dickens novel. The movie had Lon Chaney as Fagin and Jackie Coogan as Oliver.
1923
The Ten Commandments – adapted from the Bible. Cecil B. DeMille directed and Jeanie Macpherson wrote the script. DeMille would go on to do a partial remake of the film in 1956.
The Covered Wagon – adapted from Covered Wagon, a novel by Emerson Hough. Alan Hale played Sam Woodhull, the film’s villain. The movie was dedicated to the memory of Theodore Roosevelt.
1924
The Sea Hawk – adapted from the novel of same name by Rafael Sabatini. The 1940 Errol Flynn movie was originally going to be another adaptation of the book, but went a different direction, using Sir Francis Drake as an inspiration.
1925
The Big Parade – adapted from two sources; Joseph Farnham’s play of same name and Laurence Stallings’ autobiography Plumes. The movie was directed by King Vidor and was set in the Great War. It is considered the first realistic war drama.
Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ – adapted from the 1880 novel of same name by Lew Wallace. William Wyler, the assistant director, would remake the movie in 1950, including a shot-for-shot reproduction of the chariot race. The chariot race itself is influential, as can be seen in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace with the pod-race.
The Gold Rush – original. Charlie Chaplin starred as the Tramp, and also was the writer, director, and producer.
1926
Aloma of the South Seas – adapted from the 1925 play of same name by John B. Hymer and LeRoy Clemems. The movie would be remade in 1941 with the same name, starring Dorothy Lamour and Jon Hall. Once again, the movie is considered to be lost, with no prints known to have survived.
Flesh and the Devil – adapted from Hermann Sudermann’s play The Undying Pass. Greta Garbo stars with John Gilbert.
For Heaven’s Sake – original. A Harold Lloyd action-comedy. Lloyd alternated between character pieces and action/comedy to keep audiences coming out to see his works.
What Price Glory? – adapted from the 1924 play of same name by Maxwell Anderson and Lawrence Stallings. The movie was remade in 1952 as What Price Glory with James Cagney.
1927
Wings – original. Set during the Great War, it starred Clara Bow and saw Gary Cooper in a role as a doomed cadet. Wings was the first film to win an Academy Award. With The Big Parade and What Price Glory?, both above, showing that audiences wanted to see war movies, Paramount played Follow-the-Leader. The studio hired director William A. Wellman because he had experience in airplane combat in the War.
The Jazz Singer – adapted from the the play The Jazz Singer by Samson Raphaelson, which was based on his short story “The Day of Atonement”. The Jazz Singer was the first feature length talkie, at least partially. There was still some synchronization of film and audio recording, but Al Jolson’s singing was integrated with the playback.
Love – a very loose adaptation of /Anna Karenina/ by Leo Tolstory. The movie took advantage of the film chemistry between Greta Garbo and John Gilbert as seen in Flesh and .the Devil, above.
1928
The Singing Fool – original. This was Al Jolson’s follow up to The Jazz Singer. Still only part-talkie, but that was the music, which audiences were coming out to hear.
The Road to Ruin – original. The movie was an exploitation film that warned against the dangers of alcohol and sex. Helen Foster stars as the unlucky teenaged girl who drinks during Prohibition and sees men. The movie was remade in 1934 with sound with Foster in the same role despite being 27 at the time and six years older than the actor portraying her boyfriend. Since alcohol was legal in 1934, it was replaced by drugs in the remake.
1929
The Broadway Melody – original. It was a musical that took advantage of the new sound technology. Also had a Technicolor sequence, influencing a trend of musicals using colour. The Broadway Melody was the first all-talking musical, unlike Jolson’s movies above which were only partially talkies. The film won the Academy Award for Outstanding Picture (now called Best Picture). Three sequels were made, The Broadway Melody of 1936, The Broadway Melody of 1938, and The Broadway Melody of 1940. The movies was also remade in 1940 as Two Girls on Broadway.
Sunnyside Up – original. Once sound technology became easier to use, musicals, such as Sunnyside Up flourished.
Of the 29 films listed above, 18 are adaptations with the remaining 11 being original works. Of the adaptations, two, The Miracle Man and The Jazz Singer, were second generation adaptations, having adapted material that itself was an adaptation. Two more, Cleopatra and The Big Parade, used multiple sources, with Cleopatra pulling from three different original works and, ultimately, the life of the Egyptian queen herself. Six movies, two of them original works, would get remade; Robin Hood in 1940, The Ten Commandments in 1956, Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ in 1959, What Price Glory? in 1952, the The Road to Ruin in 1934, and The Broadway Melody in 1940. The remakes of The Ten Commandments and Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ will appear in the discussion for the Fifties; the movies were popular in two eras.
With the advent of sound in 1927, especially after The Jazz Singer, musicals became popular. Three of the four movies listed after 1927 are musicals, and they are all original works. Prior to 1928, nine movies, or half of the adaptations, were based on stage plays. Eleven were based on novels, including the movies with multiple sources, such as Cleopatra, and adaptations of adaptations. The Bible, a short story (itself adapted as a play before becoming a film), and a poem account for the remaining adaptations. Plays were an expected source; they’re already written and have had performances on stage. Novels, especially the older ones like Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ, have a good chance of being read by a portion of the audience. The unexpected source was the poem. Over the Hill to the Poorhouse may be unique in this series by being based on a poem.
Colour film processes were still being developed in this era. As mentioned above, Technicolor was pioneering an additive colour process, but it required a camera the split the light into a red and a blue-green stream, landing on separate film. Hand colouring was also done, but was time-consuming. Black and white was easier and cheaper; most theatres only had equipment that could only handle silent black and white films. As seen in the Thirties, though, once colour is introduced, black and white fades away, only returning as an artistic choice***.
Popular movies of the early years of film tended to be adaptations. The main reason is that the years were transitional. Everyone involved was still learning the differences between film, where the camera could move around, and stage, where the audience was the fourth wall. There were still people willing to play with the new medium. Charlie Chaplin’s entries above show him in the four key areas, writing, directing, producing, and starring. The ratio of adaptations to originals is similar to those found for the Thirties and Forties. This ratio, roughly 2:1, won’t change for a few decades; the direction it does change in may be surprising.
* Any resemblance between Prohibition and the War on Drugs is from people not learning from history. Prohibition was killing a wasp with a wrecking ball. The result of the War on Booze was a massive influx of cash to organized crime, since they were the ones supplying illegal alcohol, and a loss of respect for the law. Al Capone could make far more in one day than any fine under the Volstead Act, and the agents working for the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Prohibition could be easily bribed to look the other way.
** Technically, Technicolor is a trademark for the colour processes pioneered by the Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation, now a division of owned by Technicolor SA.
*** Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is a perfect example of the use of black and white filming as an artistic expression.
Continuing from last week’s discussion on adaptations surpassing their originals. it’s time to look at a specific example, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The original Buffy hit theatres in the summer of 1992. Kristy Swanson played the titular character, with Donald Sutherland playing her Watcher, Merrick. The film was marketed as an action/comedy/horror movie, taking the elements of the typical slasher flick and flipping them around. Thus, the blonde cheerleader who would normally be one of the first victims of the slasher becomes the heroine, with her love interest, Oliver Pike as played by Luke Perry, becoming the dude in distress.
Los Angeles is in danger from a cabal of vampires led by Lothos, played by Rutger Hauer. One girl can save the city. Too bad she doesn’t know she’s LA’s only hope. Buffy Summers is a high school senior and a cheerleader, looking forward to her hobbies of shopping and her boyfriend, Jeffrey. Naturally, at Buffy’s school, there’s a schism between the popular and the outcasts, where Oliver and Benny (David Arquette) fall. Fortunately for LA, Merrick is searching for the new Slayer. The Chosen One, Buffy, isn’t as impressed, but her new abilities start manifesting. In addition, Merrick describes a dream that Buffy keeps having. She begins training under Merrick’s tutelage.
Oliver and Benny are the first of the school to run into the vampires. Merrick arrives too late to prevent Benny being turned into a vampire, but does rescue Oliver. Another of Buffy’s classmates, a girl named Cassandra, played by an uncredited Ricki Lake, is kidnapped by Amilyn, played by Paul Reubans, and sacrificed to the vampire’s master, Lothos, played by Rutget Hauer. Lothos has killed a number of Slayers in the past and has set his sights on Buffy. An encounter in the woods has Amilyn and his gang of vampires fight Buffy, Merrick, and Oliver, leading to Amilyn losing an arm and Buffy and Oliver getting closer.
Later, at a school basketball game, Oliver recognizes a classmate who has become a vampire. Buffy chases the the vampire and runs into Lothos himself. Lothos hypnotizes Buffy, but Merrick arrives in time to prevent anything further. Merrick is staked himself by Lothos, and dies. The Watcher gives Buffy one last bit of advice, to do things her way, not the old ways.
Shaken, Buffy tries to return to her old life. At school, though, her friends have turned on her, making her an outcast. Buffy realizes that her priorities have changed while her old friends are still fixated on shopping and the upcoming senior dance. Even her boyfriend, Jeffrey, has found a new girlfriend. Oliver, though, stays by her, understanding what Buffy is going through.
The senior dance is for seniors only. As per tradition, vampires cannot enter a building unless invited. The vampire army built by Lothos and Amilyn, though, consist of high school seniors, and each of them received a formal invitation to the dance. Buffy arrives in time to fight the vampires inside and outside. Oliver takes on his old friend, Benny, while Buffy first stabs Amilyn then goes after Lothos. Once again, Lothos tries to hypnotize her, but Buffy is ready with a cross and a can of hairspray. By using her keen fashion sense, Buffy defeats Lothos.
As mentioned, one aspect of the film was comedy. The movie was light entertainment, a summer popcorn movie that was common before the Blockbuster Era we currently have. Buffy was moderately popular but not a major hit. Joss Whedon wrote the screenplay for the movie, though there may have been some meddling by executives to get popcorn fare.
Five years later, Joss Whedon returns to the character with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series. The pilot for the series was once meant for a potential sequel to the original film, but as the show continued, the link between the movie and TV series became nebulous. Ideas from the film appeared, but reworked to fit the new show.
The TV Buffy, with Sarah Michelle Gellar taking over the lead role, kept the horror and the comedy, but became far more darker and tense. The show first aired on the WB, owned by Warner Bros, and was a breakout hit for the fledgling network. In 2001, Buffy moved over to UPN, a Paramount owned network. Despite being on smaller networks, the show gained a following.
In the pilot, Buffy Anne Summers and her mother move to Sunnydale after an incident that resulted in the burning down of the gym at Buffy’s previous school. Buffy is hoping to be a normal girl, despite being the Slayer. All those hopes are dashed when Rupert Giles, played by Anthony Stewart Head, appears as her new Watcher. Sunnydale High sits on top of a Hellmouth and Buffy’s abilities are needed to prevent Hell from boiling out. Being the newcomer, Buffy starts out as an outcast in the school. She meets Xander Harris, played by Nicholas Brendan, and Willow Rosenberg, played by Alison Hannigan, who befriend her through common experience of being outsiders. Cordelia Chase, one of the popular crowd and a cheerleader to boot, represents what Buffy could have been. Cordelia eventually joins in with Buffy and her friends in fighting the evil lurking in Sunnydale.
Through the series, the cast grows, emotionally and numerically. Seth Green, who had an uncredited role as a vampire in the original Buffy, joins the cast as Oz, Willow’s boyfriend. David Boreanaz joins as Angel, a vampire who becomes romantically linked with Buffy. After Buffy is clinically dead but revived, a new Slayer, Kendra, played by Bianca Lawson, arrives. Unlike Buffy, Kendra was raised by the Watchers, and the difference between the two Slayers is evident. Kendra lacks Buffy’s ability to improvise, leading to her death and the activation of Faith, played by Eliza Dushku. Again, the difference between Buffy and Faith is evident. Faith didn’t have the support system Buffy did with her friends.
Each season carried a theme. The first season, set mainly in and around Sunnydale High, showed that high school was hell. By the time Buffy graduates in season three, she had prevented several apocalypses, saved the student body more times than they could count, and befriended many others. Season two shows how Buffy’s approach, while not always successful, had advantages over a strict teaching. The season also had Buffy fall in love with the wrong man, Angel. Angel was under a Gypsy curse; if he ever achieved happiness, the Angelus personality within would be released, causing untold tragedy. Season three shows the difference between the relationship Buffy has with Giles, the relationship the Council of Watchers would impose on Slayers, and the relationship Faith had with the Mayor, who was using the girl for his nefarious purposes. Season four was about change, with Buffy and Willow heading to university, Xander getting a job, Oz leaving because he’s a danger as a werewolf, and Cordelia leaving for LA with Angel for a spin-off series*.
The series became known for its writing, taking chances that wouldn’t normally be seen on the regular networks. “Hush”, a fourth season episode, took a show known for its snappy dialogue and made everyone mute, unable to speak, and was successful. “Once More, with Feeling”, from season six, was an all-musical episode, making /Buffy/ the second show to try that, the first being Xena, Warrior Princess.
How does the TV series stack against the original? The series built on top of ideas presented in the movie and gives them more time to develop. The implications of the Buffy-verse is shown to viewers. The result is a TV series that has more than its fair share of academic papers written about it, with over two hundred produced about various aspects of the show, from dialogue to characterizations to the metaphors of humanity used as the base of many episodes. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series has had comics, including Seasons 8 through 10, and games, including Eden Studio’s role-playing game of the same name. The TV series has far surpassed its original.
Next week, continuing the history of adaptations with the early years of the film industry.
* Angel, naturally enough. Set in LA, Angel was the head of a small private invesitgation company, specializing in the unusual.
Throughout this series, I’ve focused on comparing adaptations to originals and seeing where the differences were and why they came about. What I haven’t touched on is how an adaptation or remake can become better known than the original. There are works where people are unaware of the originals, or prefer the new version over the old.
Last week’s Frankenstein is a perfect example. Boris Karloff’s portrayal of the Monster made the character sympathetic and was the focus of the movie. Mary Shelley’s original novel, Frankenstein, or a Modern Prometheus, had Frankenstein’s homunculus appear just once, behaving as a fully grown man; the rest of the novel focused on Victor Frankenstein and his travels as he first fled then pursued his creation. Karloff’s Monster was embraced early because of his child-like behaviour and has become part of the pop culture consciousness to the point where people who have never seen the movie will recognize the character.
Recent works can also have the same effect. Far more people are aware of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series than the original movie, and those who have seen both tend to prefer the show. With Buffy, the advantage of a longer format like a TV series gave the adaptation an edge; not only did Buffy and her Watcher get fleshed out to a greater degree, the Slayer also got a supporting cast who also had depth. The movie focused on Buffy’s mission, not her, and worked as a parody of slasher movies. The TV series moved the focus to Buffy and her friends and brought in the horror element.
Longer formats don’t necessarily result in being the more popular. Little Orphan Annie is a good example. Starting in 1924, Little Orphan Annie was a long running comic strip, ending in 2010. The strip spawned a radio show in 1930, movies in 1932 and 1938, and a Broadway musical in 1977. The musical led to the 1982 movie, Annie, which is now the definitive version for audiences. Since 1982, all movie adaptations have used Annie as the base, including a 1999 Disney TV movie and the 2014 remake with Quvenzhné Wallis and Jamie Foxx.
Audience reception is the key factor. Sometimes, it’s a matter of sheer numbers, as with Buffy and Annie above. More people saw the remakes than the original, even with Little Orphan Annie being a syndicated comic strip. Both also offered a fresh look at the original concepts, with Buffy being what Joss Whedon wanted the movie to be. The Karloff Frankenstein was one of the top movies of the 1930s and led to a number of sequels and related films to the point where high school English students are confused on reading Shelley’s novel about Frankenstein’s monster.
The Wizard of Oz, from 1939, is a good example. Again, one of the top grossing films of the 1930s, the movie was loosely based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Prior to 1939, Baum’s book was adapted as a Broadway play in 1902, silent films in 1910 and 1925, and an animated short in 1933, plus the sequels resulting from each of those. The 1910 film was done by Baum through his own production company. However, the 1939 film, with its creative use of Technicolor and memorable songs, remains the version that later remakes use, including The Wiz with Janet Jackson and Muppets Wizard of Oz. The audience sees the Judy Garland movie as being the core work; the story from the 1939 work is the best known.
This is the problem that Warner Bros. and DC Comics is having with Superman movie adaptations. There have been a number of adaptations of the character, from radio to serials to television to movies. Superman is the best known superhero. With all the adaptations around, though, the definitive portrayal comes from the 1978 Superman, where Christopher Reeve showed how a pair of glasses could convince people that Clark Kent and Superman were not the same person. Superman Returns built itself up from the 1978 film, trying to combine a more serious tone with the comic book sensibility of the Reeve movie, to mixed results. The subsequent movie, Man of Steel, retold Superman’s origin as part of the plot as a means to separate itself from /Superman/, again, to mixed results. Meanwhile, the TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Smallville had their own approaches to the movie. Lois & Clark treated it as background, allowing Dean Cain to build up Clark Kent as a character. Smallville focused on a young Clark as he grew up in Smallville, learning about himself and leading towards being the Reeve character.
Not all works have this effect. While the 1966 Batman TV series did have lingering effects on audiences, the comic was already heading towards the Dark Knight aspect of the character. When Tim Burton’s Batman came out in 1989, he mixed both versions together, resulting in Michael Keaton as a darker Batman than the general audience remembered but satisfying comic fans while still having the Joker be whimsical despite being a killer. With the release of Batman Begins in 2005, audiences were ready for the darker Batman. Yet, the portrayals by Adam West, Michael Keaton, and Christian Bale are all Batman. A Batman for all seasons*.
A work doesn’t have to be obscure to be surpassed, as Superman shows. What an adaptation needs to do is add the little details that will lodge in the audience’s mind. It can be as simple as a portrayal, like Karloff’s Monster as child-like or Reeve’s physical change from Clark Kent to Superman through posture and confidence. The adaptation can go into depths that the original didn’t or couldn’t, as seen with the Buffy TV series. Will an adaptation today ever be considered the definitive version? Hard to tell, especially with studios using highly popular works, but it is possible.
* To cut a long discussion short, I’m ignoring the impact of Kevin Conroy’s performance in Batman: The Animated Series, which could be the definitive version of the character, and Will Arnett’s portrayal of Batman in The LEGO Movie. Suffice to say, there’s a Batman for everyone.
One of the most sympathetic monsters in cinematic history came from a rainy Swiss vacation. While stuck inside due to the rain, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly, her husband Percy Bysshe Shelly, and George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron, decided to have a writing contest. Percy and Lord Byron were already known as poets. Mary would write the first science fiction novel, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus. Frankenstein was a Gothic horror, invoking a feel as the novel told of Victor Frankenstein’s life, including his endeavor to create life and the fallout from his success.
The novel is told through letters from a ship captain to his sister after he is trapped in the ice of the north Atlantic Ocean. Captain Walton rescues a forlorn man who is also trapped and learns of his tale. Victor Frankenstein, the rescued man, tells a story of warning, of trying to reach too far beyond. Frankenstein wanted to learn the secret of life. He studied under Professor Waldman, learning chemistry, biology, anatomy, and physiology, then applied his lessons in creating new life, a new species. Frankenstein’s creation wasn’t what he wished for. Instead of appearing healthy and whole, the creation looked like an animated corpse.
Frankenstein abandoned his creation in disgust. The creature followed. Everywhere the creation went, people recoiled in fear. Frankenstein’s creature had one desire, to be happy, and the only way he thought he could achieve that was through his creator. As Frankenstein travelled to escape his creation, the creature followed and saw that for every man was a woman, for every beast was a mate, except for him. He demanded of Frankenstein a bride, and when Victor refused, vowed killed his creator’s own bride, Elizabeth. After the murder, Victor chased his creation, getting trapped in the ice field and leaving Captain Walton’s ship when Walton turned south for home once free.
Frankenstein was almost immediately adapted for the stage, with numerous plays being written within years of publication. The first film adaptation was made in 1910 by Thomas Edison, a short silent film. The best known film, though, came from Universal Studios in 1931. Like several other popular works of the 1930s, Frankenstein was an adaptation of an adaptation, based on the 1927 play by Peggy Webling. Several new elements were introduced, elements that still appear even in today’s works.
Universal was having money problems, thanks to the Great Depression. Dracula, with Bela Lugosi, was released earlier 1931 and helped, but the studio was still on the brink. Frankenstein, thanks to the performance of Boris Karloff as the Monster, became the top film for 1931. The Monster was a sympathetic character, the victim instead of the villain.
The movie veers off from the novel at the start, with Henry Frankenstein and his henchman, Fritz, spying on a funeral. Once the body is buried and the gravedigger gone, Frankenstein and Fritz dig the coffin back out, stealing it plus the fresh remains of hanged man before they return to Frankenstein’s lab in a windmill. The novel never went into detail about how Frankenstein brought his creation to life. The movie shows the final step, skipping over most of the sewing of the Monster’s body together. Frankenstein uses the power of lightning and electricity to bring his creation to life, uttering the now famous line, “It’s alive! It’s alive!” when the Monster moves.
The Monster is portrayed as child-like. There is joy when he first sees the sun. There is fear when he sees fire. The Monster cannot speak and moves awkwardly*. Fritz torments the Monster with a torch and a whip, and pays the price. Frankenstein and Dr. Waldman come to the conclusion that the Monster is too dangerous and must be destroyed. Waldman fills a hypodermic needle with enough sedative to kill a man and plunges it into the Monster. The Monster falls. Wanting to see how the Monster was brought to life, Waldman decides to dissect him. The Monster wakes up during the first incision and kills the doctor, then escapes the mill. While out, he meets a little girl, Marilyn, who plays with him. She shows him how she can make daisies float. The Monster tosses a few daisies into the pond, then tosses Marilyn in. When she doesn’t float or even come back up, the Monster runs away.
At the Frankenstein manor, Baron Frankenstein hosts the wedding of his son, Henry, to Elizabeth. Henry feels that something isn’t right. Waldman is seldom late for anything, yet he hasn’t arrived at the manor. Killing the Monster didn’t sit well with him; the Monster was tormented by Fritz and reacted. Out in the courtyard, the festivities die as Marilyn’s father carries her body to the Burgomeister and the Baron. The villagers are organized into a search party, complete with torches. Henry Frankenstein takes one group up the mountains, where the mill sits. He spots the Monster, but his villagers continue past him. Henry and the Monster fight, and the Monster hauls Frankenstein to the mill.
The villagers hear Henry’s calls for help and reach the mill. Inside, Henry tries to escape his Monster. The fight ends up outside on a balcony, with the villagers’ torches lit below. The Monster picks up Henry and throws him off the balcony. Henry hits one of the mill’s wind blades before landing on the ground. The blade slowed his fall; Henry lives and is carried away by several villagers. The rest leave, setting torch to the mill. The Monster is trapped inside and is caught under a collapsed beam as the mill burns.
As mentioned above, the movie heads in its own direction, taking names and some ideas from the novel. Yet, it is this movie, the 1931 Frankenstein, that most people are familiar with. All the trappings of the mad scientist, from the secret lab to the Jacob’s ladders to the thunderstorm to the minion. Fritz was never in the novel; Victor Frankenstein worked alone. In the novel, Frankenstein’s creation moved at “superhuman speed” and spoke with eloquence. The Monster in the movie lumbered around with awkward movements and could only growl. The sequel, Bride of Frankenstein, gave the Monster a voice and picked up on an element in the novel, the creature wanting a mate of his own. The novel gives no name to the creature; Frankenstein calls it “monster” and “creature” and the creature compares itself to Adam. In the movie, Henry, in a shout of encouragement, says, “Take care, there, Frankenstein,” implying that he sees it as his own child. The big difference between the novel’s creature and the Monster is maturity; the creation in the novel behaves as a grown man while Karloff imbued a child-like quality to the Monster, making it sympathetic to audiences.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or a Modern Prometheus and the movie, Frankenstein, share a few names and the sense of hubris on the part of Frankenstein, but go off in different directions. As an adaptation, the movie bears little resemblance to the original. As a cultural touchstone, Frankenstein and Boris Karloff have had more impact than the original novel.
Next week, a look at adaptations have had a bigger impact than their originals.
* Helped in part by the heavy costume that included a pair of asphalt-layer boots, where each boot weight 13 pounds.
The History of Adaptations
Thirties
Moving on with a look at the history of movie adaptations, this month is a look at the Forties. I’m still using the compiled list at Filmsite.org as a base. By using what was popular, I hope that the movie titles are familiar to readers to give an idea of how beloved films came about. There may still be surprises, like 1930’s Ingagi, which did well but has not been seen since because of controversy surrounding it.
The Forties can be split into two periods. The first, covering World War II, started in 1939 and ended in 1945. The beginning of the war also marked the end of the Great Depression as factories stepped up to supply materiel to the forces in Europe and, after 1942, the Pacific. Even though the US entered the war late, American companies were selling equipment to Allied countries for their war effort. The result was two-fold. First, people started to have money again and could afford to go out for a night on the town, even with rationing in effect. Second, with loved ones overseas fighting, the movies were a way to escape worries.
The second half of the decade, the post-war era, saw soldiers return home and take advantage of various programs to get a career outside the military. No longer having to build equipment for the war, factories changed gears to produce goods for the civilian market. With the economy booming, Hollywood was in a good position to provide a reason to go out. The post-war era also saw a baby boom along with the economic boom.
Movie technology continued to advance. Colour was still expensive but seeing more use, particularly in animation. Stock footage from the war was available. Stereo sound started to get used in theatres. The popular movies tended to be lighter fare, as seen below.
1940
Pinocchio – Disney’s animatated adaptation of the 1883 children’s book, The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi.
Fantasia – an original feature from Disney featuring animation set to classical music. Fantasia was the first movie recorded in stereo.
1941
Sergeant York – the biography of Alvin York and thus an adaptation, for the purposes of the analysis.
1942
Bambi – another Disney animated adaptation, this time based on Bambi, A Life in the Woods by Felix Salten.
Mrs. Miniver – original. The movie spawned a sequel called The Miniver Story in 1950 which had same cast.
1943
For Whom the Bell Tolls – adaptation of the novel by Ernest Hemingway
This Is the Army – adapted from the stage musical. The movie was used as a morale booster overseas.
A Guy Named Joe – original. Steven Spielberg would go to remake this film as Always in 1989, changing the backdrop from World War II to aerial firefighting.
1944
Going My Way – original.
Meet Me in St. Louis – a Judy Garland musical that was based on short stories by Sally Benson originally published in The New Yorker.
1945
The Bells of St Mary’s – a sequel to 1944’s Going My Way, above.
Mom and Dad (aka The Family Story in the UK) – original. Mom and Dad was a sex hygeine exploitation film about the dangers of premarital sex and the lack of sex education. Reefer Madness for sex.
1946
Song of the South – a Disney animated adaptation based on the Uncle Remus stories. Disney has not released the film to home video.
The Best Years of Our Lives – adaptation based on novella /Glory for Me/ by MacKinlay Kantor who served as a war correspondant.
Duel in the Sun – adaptations based on the novel by Niven Busch. The movies was a Western starring Gregory Peck.
1947
Forever Amber – adaptations based on the novel by Kathleen Winsor.
Unconquered – adaptation based on the Neil Swanson novel.
Welcome Stranger – original.
Road to Rio – the fifth movie in the /Road to …/ series. The seven movies made in the series were an excuse to have Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour together on screen.
1948
The Red Shoes – adapted from the story by Hans Christian Andersen.
Easter Parade – original musical.
Red River – original. The movie was a Western starring John Wayne and was based on the first cattle drive on the Chisholm Trail.
1949
Samson and Delilah – adapted from the story in the Bible.
Of the twenty-three movies listed above, eight were originals, two were sequels, and thirteen were adapted from a previous work. In comparison with the Thirties, the percentage of adaptations to the overall count is about the same. The question of sequels is now at hand. For the purposes of analysis, do sequels count as an adaptation or a continuation of a previous film? Whatever the decision I make now will be followed with the remaining decades. In general, the amount of time between the original and the sequel will make the difference. Having the same cast also leads to being a continuation. With The Bells of St. Mary’s, it appeared a year after Going My Way, thus is a continuation. Looking at Road to Rio, it’s part of a series that existed solely to have Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour together. Audiences went to see them, not necessarily the plot. With that in mind, I’ll place Road to Rio as a continuation and not an adaptation.
Westerns start showing up in the latter half of the decade, beginning their domination of entertainment. Filming on site is easier, with cameras built that can be taken away from studios. Bing Crosby is also popular, starring in four of the movies above – Going My Way, The Bells of St. Mary’s, Road to Rio, and Welcome Stranger, along with at least one other movie per year in the decade. Musicals are still around, and, especially with Crosby, having an actor known for singing allows for songs to be added to the story.
Disney is still using children’s stories and folk tales for its animated features, with three of the four movies being adaptations. Fantasia went a different route, a number of animated shorts brought together through the use of classical music. With the other adaptations, the main source is the written word. Seven movies were based on a novels, novella, or short story. The remaining three adaptations were based on a Bible story, a stage musical, and a life story. Compared to the Thirties, the number of stage works dropped considerably. There aren’t any adaptations of adaptations as there were in the previous decade. Film is coming into its own as a medium, with its own approaches. Adaptations were made, but they were direct from a source instead of being filtered through a stage play.
Adaptations still were made, but remakes didn’t reach the levels of popularity the above movies had. Part of the reason may be the relatively few movies that were released in the Twenties and Thirties; compared to today. Even Frankenstein went back to the source instead of the earlier adaptation.
Next week, returning to reviews.
