Novel into Film

Children's Novels and the Movies is a collection of twenty-four essays which explore the often prickly, occasionally depressing, and always entertaining relationship between the children's novel and its filmed adaptation.

In his excellent introduction, Street tells us that children's literature in general, and the novel in particular, have always been fertile ground for the film industry. By 1915, for example, five versions of Dickens's Christmas Carol had been released, and Alice in Wonderland had been filmed as early as 1903. Since those early days, the powerful attractions of a finely crafted children's novel have continued to draw filmmakers to the genre.

This is not a "dip-and-skip" collection; rather, Street has carefully edited a nearly seamless book, and the criticisms, taken sequentially, present a deep and insightful view of the novels, the films, and their creators. The essays are organized chronologically according to the publication dates of the novels, from 1857 (Tom Brown's Schooldays) to 1973 (A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich), and a straight-through reading reveals as much about the timeless nature of these novels as it does about the ever-changing face of the film industry.

The central problem addressed by the book is at once simple and complex: how can the adaptor create a film which works visually and dramatically without undermining the essential tone and concept of the original novel? We've all had the dismal experience of watching a film based upon a cherished novel and discovering that what we are seeing on the screen either bears little or no resemblance to the book, or else follows the book so reverently that the film is, ultimately, static and "literary", lacking the spark of life. Virginia Wolf's essay, "Psychology and Magic: Evocative Blend or a Melodramatic Patchwork," illustrates the betrayal of The Secret Garden by the screenwriter, Robert Ardrey, in his 1949 adaptation of the book for the MGM Studios film. In his attempts to condense the Burnett novel, and to "enliven" the characters, Ardrey pared away at the substance of the novel's deeply symbolic nature. Instead of the garden as a magical world-within-a-world to which the children are drawn as part of a complex pattern of growth the self-realization, Ardrey's garden is simply a backdrop for his own brand of child psychology, which fails to illuminate the richness of the novel, and, equally distressing for his audience, fails cinematically.

While the essays vary greatly in style and tone, they are essentially scholarly in nature. The serendipitous bonus is their wit and urbanity, and the ease with which the writers, whether primarily film-oriented or more familiar to us from their work in the field of children's literature, move between and assimilate the two disciplines. While Roderick McGillis's essay ("Novelty and Roman Cement: Two Versions of Alice") clearly illustrates why it may become necessary for a screenwriter to occasionally turn away from a strong authorial vision in order to find the appropriate cinematic presentation, his delightful word-play and humor make the essay sparkle.

Finally, Street provides an abundance of resource and reference material at the end of the volume; the listing of film credits, the selected filmography, and an excellent bibliography should make this an invaluable source-book for professionals and students of both film history and criticism and children's literature. In short, and mainly due to Mr. Street's fine editorial work, this is an accessible and stimulating collection.