Double Exposure: Fiction into Film

by Joy Gould Boyum

Examines the successes or failures of attempts to make film adaptations of classic novels such as Women in love, A clockwork orange, and Lord of the flies

Genres: Film

287 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 1985

Reviews

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is extremely distressing that this book has so few ratings on GR. It is really a fantastic work, on how one can translate the written word into moving images on a screen.

I harboured ambitions become a film director once: it was because of that I purchased this book. I am glad I did.

The author illustrates, with both failures and successes (according to her, that is) how the POV, colour, tone, metaphor etc. of language are metamorphosed into visuals of film. The analysis is fantastic and worth reading again and again: and one can try applying it to other adaptations one has seen.

A worthy addition to any library.

[Trevor Seigler · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book more, it hits two of my sweet spots in terms of interest (literature and cinema, and how the two interact and feed off of each other), but I just found it okay. The best parts of the book are the various page-to-screen examples presented, and how each differed from the source material (and whether the film version suffered or improved upon what came before). But it was weighed down by some dull opening chapters about the history of literary adaptation and the author's argument (which I think is valid) that film adaptations don't necessarily ruin the original book when they are brought to the screen. All in all, an OK book that has interesting parts but is not terribly compelling overall.

[Liedzeit Liedzeit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sehr erhellend. Gutes Pladoyer für die Filmadaption von Büchern. Boyum weiß offenbar wovon sie spricht. Sie räumt mit allen Klischees auf. Nur schlechte Bücher werden gute Filme etc.