FILM STARS: Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, Richard Widmark, Lola Albright, Jack Elam, Sally Field, Stubby Kaye, Harry Carey Jr, Sam Elliott (uncredited)
COUNTRY: USA
THIS BOOK
AUTHOR: A.B. Guthrie
TYPE: Novel
PUBLISHER: Corgi
THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1967
COUNTRY: Great Britain
COVER: Paperback
THE ORIGINAL BOOK
ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above
YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1949
ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title
NOTES
GENRE: Western
WORDS: A sprawling western. Despite the films magnificent cast (big star buddy team ups were common in westerns of the 60s but here there are three big stars … and ones I love … cool) I recollect the film being familiar and a bit ripe. I need to watch it again. Perhaps, though, because of my lukewarm memory of the film I have not got around to reading this novel, which, incidentally, won the Pulitzer Prise in 1950. I have read other Guthrie novels and they are excellent so I should …
FILM STARS: Marlene Dietrich, Randolph Scott, John Wayne, Margaret Lindsay, Harry Carey, Richard Barthelmess, William Farnum
COUNTRY: USA
THIS BOOK
AUTHOR: Rex Beach
TYPE: Novel
PUBLISHER: Grosset & Dunlap
THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1942
COUNTRY: USA
COVER: Hardcover
THE ORIGINAL BOOK
ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above
YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1905
ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title
NOTES
GENRE: Western
WORDS: An action western (for all intents and purposes) film, which is not short on action. There is no subtlety but a lot of fun with two icons of cowboy cinema and a gorgeous Marlene in the middle. Rex Beach’s book was a best seller in 1906 and was subsequently filmed, often … in 1914 with William Farnum, Kathlyn Williams, and Tom Santschi, 1923 with Noah Beery, Sr., Anna Q. Nilsson and Milton Sills, 1930 with Gary Cooper, Betty Compson and William “Stage” Boyd, in 1942 (this tie-in), and in 1955 with Anne Baxter, Jeff Chandler, and Rory Calhoun. The book, set in Alaska at the turn of the last century during the Gold Rush (like many of Beach’s novels), is a potboiler with a lot of action (yes, I repeated that because there is a lot of action) … perfect for filming, and overdue for another version.
FILM STARS: Stathis Giallelis, Frank Wolff, Harry Davis, Elena Karam, Estelle Hemsley, Gregory Rozakis, Lou Antonio, Salem Ludwig, John Marley
COUNTRY: USA
THIS BOOK
AUTHOR: Elia Kazan
TYPE: Novel
PUBLISHER: Fontana
THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1964
COUNTRY: Great Britain
COVER: Paperback
THE ORIGINAL BOOK
ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above
YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1963 (though apparently based on an unpublished work by Kazan called “Hamal” from 1961)
ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title
NOTES
GENRE: Adventure, Drama
WORDS: A short book about director Elia Kazan’s Greek uncle, Joe Kazan, and his struggle to escape the Turks in Anatolia and voyage to America becomes a three hour film, both epic and personal. The book reads like a synopsis of the film, and that is nothing against Kazan who proved he could write long novels (The Arrangement). It seems it may have been a screenplay. In Richard Schickel’s book on Kazan, “Elia Kazan: A Biography” he says “It was not a “novelization” of a screenplay, nor was it simply a published screenplay. It was rawer, more immediate than that” (Harper, 2005, P391). But Kazan himself says in his interview book with Michel Ciment, “Kazan on Kazan”, “I had a lot of notes, but I wrote the screenplay in one burst, over four months, a few pages a day. I think it was 1961. Hamal was the first name of the screenplay, the second The Anatolian Smile (the film’s title in England – typical), and the third America America” (Secker & Warburg, 1973, p146). Kazan took family stories about his uncle, his parents and family friends and wrote a book about migration that, as Kazan says in the book “An American Journey”, appealed to all migrants, especially from the continent. The film is a beautiful marriage of John Ford and Italian neo-realism. A poetic reality which is rough and documentary like around the edges.
Incidentally, and not part of of the film, after Uncle Joe made it to America he saved enough money to bring his extended family over … including Elia’s family.
FILM STARS: Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn, Stanley Baker, Anthony Quayle, Irene Papas, Gia Scala, James Darren, Richard Harris, Bryan Forbes.
COUNTRY: Great Britain / USA
THIS BOOK
AUTHOR: Alistair Maclean
TYPE: Novel
PUBLISHER: Fontana
THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1961
COUNTRY: Great Britain
COVER: Paperback
THE ORIGINAL BOOK
ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above
YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1957
ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title
NOTES
GENRE: War
WORDS: Which male didn’t like this book and film? One of the great war films. A great cast combined with action, adventure and a literate script of twists and turns. It’s been a long while since I read the novel but I suspect there was a lot of it in the film … Maclean writes so “film-ably”. Producer / screenwriter Carl Foreman displays his philosophical leaning on the back cover quote.
FILM STARS: Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Dean Martin, Hope Lange, Barbara Rush, May Britt, Maximilian Schell, Lee Van Cleef, Liliane Montevecchi, Arthur Franz
COUNTRY: USA
THIS BOOK
AUTHOR: Irwin Shaw
TYPE: Novel
PUBLISHER: Signet
THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1958
COUNTRY: USA
COVER: Paperback
THE ORIGINAL BOOK
ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above
YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1948
ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title
NOTES
GENRE: War
WORDS: Great film (with that cast how can’t it be?) … with much war and philosophising. I’m sad to say I haven’t read the book yet.
LINKS
TRAILER
ALTERNATIVE VERSION
PUBLISHER: Pan
THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1958
COUNTRY: Great Britain
COVER: Paperback
SCREENWRITER: James Warner Bellah, Willis Goldbeck
FILM STARS: John Wayne, James Stewart, Vera Miles, Lee Marvin, Woody Strode, Edmond O’Brien, Andy Devine, Ken Murray, John Carradine, Jeanette Nolan, John Qualen, Willis Bouchey, Carleton Young, Denver Pyle, Strother Martin, Lee Van Cleef
COUNTRY: USA
THIS BOOK
AUTHOR: James Warner Bellah
TYPE: Novelization
PUBLISHER: Pocket Books
THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1962
COUNTRY: USA
COVER: Paperback
THE ORIGINAL BOOK
ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Dorothy M. Johnson
YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1953
ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title
NOTES
GENRE: Western
WORDS: One of my favourite three films of all time (the other two – The Searchers, Rio Bravo). The short story by Dorothy M. Johnson is excellent but, errrr, short, with little of the subplots in the film and many different character names. The film fleshes out all the ideas and puts a level of “John Ford” over the top through the scriptwriters Golbeck and Bellah, both who worked with Ford before. The movement of time, the fluidity of history, and people that come and go, make this a wonderful film. And, what a cast! The novelisation (inevitable as the original short story is quite different in characters) follows the original script. The completed film is a little different to the novelisation … not so much in plot or tone though in some of the lines delivered. Ford wasn’t adverse to playing around with the written script. I have seen this film many times and, like all good films, even though you know where the film is going, the ride is the reward. And, even so, I still get emotional at the start, even if I have seen it a dozen times before. A beautiful, haunting, and occasionally dark film.
Interestingly, there was a stage play (!) from 2014 by British writer, director and theatre producer, Jethro Compton, which is more closely based on the Dorothy Johnson story. See, the internet is useful.
LINKS
TRAILER
MUSIC
Contrary too popular belief the hit song by Gene Pitney was not used in the film (it was based on the title and story and released after the film’s release).
FILM STARS: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant, Floyd Red Crow Westerman, Tantoo Cardinal, Jimmy Herman, Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse, Robert Pastorelli, Wes Studi.
COUNTRY: USA
THIS BOOK
AUTHOR: Michael Blake
TYPE: Novel
PUBLISHER: Penguin
THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1991
COUNTRY: Great Britain
COVER: Paperback
THE ORIGINAL BOOK
ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above
YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1988
ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title
NOTES
GENRE: Western
WORDS: Michael Blake’s novel, which he adapted into a screenplay, became the hugely successful film directed and starring Kevin Costner. Costner had known Blake from early 80s Hollywood where Blake was writing unsuccessful screenplays (only one was filmed at the time “Stacy’s Knights” starring a young pre-fame Costner). Dances with Wolves reads like a novelization but the original novel was , perhaps, Blake’s trojan horse aimed at getting the already written screenplay made into a film.
The film, and its tales of the west and native Americans I have reservations (sic) with. Putting aside his black and white approach to native American’s and the military, there is also a black and white approach to the different tribes of native Americans. here, the Sioux are heroic, while the Pawnees are portrayed as stereotypical villains. The film also has more than a passing resemblance the 1970 film A Man Called Horse (based on the short story by the Western writer Dorothy M. Johnson). Having said all that it almost kick started a western film revival, and it has its heart, if not mind, in the right place. And, it is quite panoramically epic.
FILM STARS: Don Murray, E. G. Marshall, Jack Warden, Philip Abbott, Larry Blyden, Patricia Smith, Carolyn Jones, Nancy Marchand
COUNTRY: USA
THIS BOOK
AUTHOR: Paddy Chayefsky
TYPE: Play
PUBLISHER: Signet
THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1957
COUNTRY: USA
COVER: Paperback
THE ORIGINAL BOOK
ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above
YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1955
ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title
NOTES
GENRE: Drama
WORDS: The Bachelor Party is a 1953 television play by Paddy Chayefsky which was adapted by Chayefsky for this 1957 film. Don Murray played the lead in both, and he is perfect. Don Murray could do little wrong in the late 1950s. The play, like all Chayefsky’s work (and there is a passing resemblance to Marty here (in characters rejecting the behaviour of the pack)), is a “slice of life” drama. The two new literary “movements” in the US in the early to mid-5os were the “slice of life” and “rat race” plays and novels. Both transferred easily to film and television. Coincidentally, a few later, the not dissimilar “kitchen sink dramas” and “angry young men” novels would emerge in England both in literature and film.
Co-workers out for a bachelor party and a night on the town stumble into situations that will test them and their resolve to marriage and relationships. I recall watching this many years ago (and then reading the play some time later) and what struck me was, social mores and fashion aside, how the issues were still relevant at the time of my watching / reading in the 80s, which was reinforced by what I saw when I started working in an office in the 90s. Don Murray’s character, Charlie Samson, is tested and tempted through the night by another woman … just like the other “Samson”?
LINKS
from the documentary retrospective “Don Murray: Unsung hero” (2014) …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V3Vvb5BPno&t=6s
FILM STARS: Sam Waterston, Zero Mostel, Yvette Mimieux, Shelley Winters, Stanley Holloway, Donald Pleasence, Vincent Price, Ian McShane.
COUNTRY: Canada
THIS BOOK
AUTHOR: Eric Ambler
TYPE: Novel
PUBLISHER: Fontana
THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1975
COUNTRY: Great Britain
COVER: Paperback
THE ORIGINAL BOOK
ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above
YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1940
ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title
NOTES
GENRE: Espionage
WORDS: Eric Ambler wrote many solid espionage and action thrillers. This is one of his most famous. Filmed nicely before in 1943 with Orson Welles (and co-directed by Welles) this new version, despite it’s cast, doesn’t match (an obvious statement) though there is a clunky fun to the film. The book is set in the 1930s and is a solid read though this film version has been updated to 1975. That would have confused any of the punters wishing to read the book of the 1975 film … if there were any.
THE FILM 
It’s an entertaining movie. I saw it when it first came out, and I think it was on tv from…