Responses to comments posted in HOWL giveaway thread

[cdnchris]

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[matrixschmatrix]

the additions the film makes improve the general idea and truly encompass what Andre Bazin always called for in filmed adaptations-- fidelity to the spirit of the text, not the letter.

I think that's a good argument, and it's certainly one of the best ways to get across the feeling of a work from one medium to another.

On the other hand, it's remarkable how often John Huston was successful in his literary adaptations while sticking often literally to the letter of the text- Under the Volcano, in particular, really should not work, since it cuts out so much of what that novel is actually about and just tells the story of it on almost a superficial level. Huston winds up with what I would say is an immensely satisfying movie, built almost entirely out of pieces taken directly from the source, but an entirely different work and different experience from the novel.

It's almost the precise opposite of Bazin's maxim, but I think the fundamental problem Bazin was referencing- literary adaptations that feel like a tired retread of the book, which add nothing and often seem to blaspheme the source- is sort of automatically overcome in any movie that's artistically satisfying in its own right.