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INTERLUDE: FILM AND NOVEL 239
past ''appealing to me to take them with me, to bring them back to life"15 he exchanges the world of the cinema for dimensions alien to it.
The novel, then, is not a cinematic literary form. This conclusion immediately brings into focus the issue of adaptations, an issue so complex that there is no purpose in discussing every facet of it.
ABOUT ADAPTATIONS FROM NOVELS
Difference in cinematic quality
Many an adaptation cares little about the spirit of the literary work from which it is drawn. Thus Devil in the Flesh introduces motifs and messages not found in the Radiguet novel— which, incidentally, may well account for the fact that it is so enjoyable as a film.16 Let us eliminate such free variations at the outset and concentrate instead on the relatively faithful adaptations. To be sure, they are not literal translations either, but despite all their deviations from the original— deviations partly made necessary by its transfer to the screen— they nevertheless represent an effort, successful or not, to preserve intact its essential contents and emphases. In considering these adaptations in the strict sense of the word, let me examine only one aspect: the extent to which they meet the requirments of the film medium. A glance at the existing film versions of distinguished novels shows that they differ radically in cinematic quality. The Grapes of Wrath and Gervaise are remarkable films, whereas Jean Renoir's Madame Bovary, Claude Autant-Lara's Rouge et Noir, or John Huston's Moby Dick can hardly be called genuine cinema. Note that these three directors are outstanding professionals with superior films to their credit and that the scripts of Rouge et Noir as well as Gervaise have been prepared by the same scenarists.* It is therefore highly improbable that uncinematic adaptations should result from a lack of film sense or competence on the part of their authors. So the only remaining way of explaining the difference in cinematic quality between, say, The Grapes of Wrath and Madame Bovary is to trace it to a difference inherent in the adapted novels themselves.
The content of novels
Remember that the mental continuum through which novels are ranging may comprise elements which cannot be assimilated by the
* See p. 230.