Sunday, November 02, 2008

The Movie Was Better

It's rare, but it does happen.

The movie is better than the book.

One movie that comes to mind right away is, The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio. I both read the book and watched the movie. I liked the movie better.

What made it better than the book? The ability of film media to infuse kitschy 1950's-style special effects throughout the movie. Faux sparkle added to a character's brilliant smile or dewy eyes. The trio of "jingle girls" singing the praises of a new sandwich spread as they offer the TV audience a 5ft. long sandwich through the screen. Evelyn Ryan zooming in outer space on her kitchen-appliance-contest-winnings. The campy effects made me feel that I was really watching TV in the 1950's, commercials and all. It adds a whole new dimension to the story when you see it on film.



Know of any other movies that turned out to be better than the book?

2 comments:

rhon said...

The 13th Warrior was a much better movie than the book, Eaters of the Dead, by Michael Crichton.

Per Mr. Crichton's end notes in the book, it was written as a challenge to show that the Beowulf story was interesting. The book was very well written but the movie was far more interesting and, in my opinion, highly underrated.

Erin said...

I've never seen either of those, Rhon. I'm adding them to my Netflix queue now.