This is the second of three blogposts looking at the 1972 Laird Koenig novel and its movie adaptation, looking at what was changed between the book and film.
I wanted to look at this particular aspect of both because while there is a strong sense of narrative fidelity – Koenig also wrote the screenplay – the changes are definitely interesting when they do occur.
While Frank Hallett turning up at Rynn’s house to trick or treat her happens in both book and film, in the book he brings along a pumpkin with him when he turns up at the house in the book. This makes his constant efforts to invade Rynn’s personal space all the more eerie whereas I feel like if it had been included in the film it would have come across as more comedic than anything else.
While character visual differences between book and film in any instance are usually inevitable, I think the different representation of Frank Hallett is interesting. In the book, he is fat, balding and greasy looking while in the film he’s tall, thin and quite ordinary looking with dark hair. I think Martin Sheen (Badlands) did a brilliant job of playing the role, but that very same ordinariness makes it all the more chilling and creepy, and makes Frank Hallett a far more effective villain.
Similarly, Cora Hallett is written as much more of a caricature in the book but the film opts for the same unsettling ordinariness as experienced with Frank Hallett where she is not so fake and false but rather an adult who uses superiority and her family’s status in the town to try and intimidate Rynn, along with a hefty amount of racism and xenophobia, which is only hinted at in he film through her critiquing Rynn’s choice to learn Hebrew and not French or Italian.
In the book, Rynn is written as an English girl living in America whereas the film has her as an American girl who had lived in England in the past. The difference doesn’t really affect the story in either instance, because Jodi Foster does such a good job of playing the character of Rynn. Other small yet unimportant changes are usually things such as the colour of Cora Hallett’s car.
The biggest difference between film and book is probably the order of scenes being rearranged. This is definitely done to the film’s benefit because it makes it a lot more seamless, such as Rynn going to the bank a short time on from meeting Frank, because it doesn’t matter where it happens in the film or book because it does a good job of showing the insular claustrophobic nature of the town and its gossip.
In the book, Rynn definitely seems to hold her tongue a lot more around Mrs Hallett whereas the film has her a lot more willing to stand her ground, especially in regards to Mrs Hallett moving furniture and picking crab apples from the tree.
Other moments of Rynn interacting with the outside world are a little different, such as her brief interaction with the high school’s football team. In the book they’re on the same bus as her whereas the film has her watch them drive by as they celebrate a recent win. Once again, it’s a change that doesn’t really detract from the story but the film’s interpretation makes a lot more sense to show her as an outsider and an inhabitant of her own safe idyll.
At this point in the story, both adaptations have Rynn interact with Frank Hallett but the difference is how they interact. In the book, Rynn talks to him via telephone and the policeman turns up at the house whereas the film has Frank and Rynn talk in person while Rynn is out and about in the town, which draws the attention of a policeman. The book has the scene have a strong feeling of staginess about it while the scene in the film effectively introduces the character of Ron the policeman as Frank becomes evidently uneasy when he is nearby.
Ron is written to be a lot younger in the book and while evidently friendly comes across as slightly suspicious from the get go, whereas the film has him be slightly older and a lot more easily misled initially when Rynn lies to him about where her father is. I think having Ron played as an older character in the film definitely serves as a good way of making him distinct from his nephew Mario.
The way that Mrs Hallett is killed by Rynn is different between the book and film. The book heavily implies that Mrs Hallett is knocking on the trap door for a long time and Rynn in the film shows a lot more horror and fear at this, whereas the book has it look a lot more premeditated.
The first meeting of Mario and Rynn has a lot of minute changes to it, such as instead of her calling the garage for them to collect Mrs Hallett’s car and him turning up at the house to collect the car, he happens upon her by accident because he notices she’s trying to start the car and he’s on a bike en route to a magic show he’s taking part in. Once again, the minute changes don’t really make a difference but the way the film puts it across has it be a lot less clunky, which was good.
There is no distinct change in representing Frank as an evil character between book and film – he just is – but I definitely got the sense in the book that he goes to greater lengths to taunt Rynn and Mario, and in the book Mario makes more of a move to comfort Rynn when Frank kills Gordon the hamster. At the end of the book, Frank Hallett’s interaction and dialogue to Rynn feels a lot more like an evil villain’s monologue. This makes sense within the book’s narrative but wouldn’t have been the most cinematic thing to watch – no matter how talented Martin Sheen is at portraying the evil character of Frank Hallett in the film. However, it seems like more of a distinct effort by Frank to outsmart Rynn, as well as hinting that he is going to permanently alienate her from Mario.
The book also has Mario show more hesitation about helping Rynn move Mrs Hallett’s body, whereas the film has him express the hesitation after it has happened. It’s also left ambiguous from book to film if Rynn really did learn about body disposal from reading about it in the library or from putting it into practise.
Rynn talking about her father to Mario at this point in the story is changed from book to film, with the book going into more detail about her interactions with him, such as revealing he was terminally ill by eating a hot curry despite having a stomach issue, or that they drove round America finding somewhere they’d like to live in. I like the change in this instance, because it fleshes out Rynn’s backstory a lot more. There was also more of a hint that Rynn’s mother was abusive in the book, whereas the film has her mentioned in passing as a social climbing woman with red fingernails.
Mario feeling ill after drinking the tea has a lot more tension within the scene, because given the medium of narrative you get a stronger sense of his inner thoughts. This also gives more scope to their interactions when it turns out that the tea was not poisoned after all.
Compared to the film, the book has Rynn take a lot less of an active role in burying Mrs Hallett’s remains – how the both of them don’t arouse more suspicion is something that always left me confused, but I’m sure it makes sense within the logic of the film itself. When he eventually has to leave, Rynn has more of an overt reaction compared to the film.
Similarly, when in the book Ron tells Rynn that Mario is in hospital he has more of a judgemental reaction to their relationship compared to his reaction in the film. Rynn visiting Mario in hospital is also a longer scene in the book.
While I really enjoyed looking at the changes made across the adaptations, I think I’m going to enjoy looking at the things that were left out entirely when I write the final blogpost soon. I think it certainly helps that Laird Koenig wrote the screenplay for the film as well.
Every Book Is Beautiful 