Making a film of a book

is something I am never likely to be involved in. Perhaps it is just as well. 

Someone is writing about this in the state newspaper this morning and I have had reason to think about it all over again.  My viewing of such films has rarely been a happy experience especially where a book for children or young people has been involved.

Reading the article I thought back to a DVD I watched last year. It was something called "The secret of Moonacre Manor". One of my young friends at the library told me it was "fantastic" and I really should watch it. She was so enthusiastic and her mother was so encouraging that I borrowed the DVD to watch.

The story is supposedly that of "The little white horse" by Elizabeth Goudge. This book won the Carnegie Medal in 1946 and it is so good it is still available in print now. It is a book that I loved as a child. I knew exactly what Maria was like. I could see her clearly. 

The film was nothing like the book. It was an intense disappointment. There was only some vague relationship to the book.

It made me think of other film adaptations I had seen. I think all of them have been disappointing in that what I imagined was not at all like what appeared on the screen. Then I tried to be fair. I think Colin Thiele was pleased with the first adaptation of "Storm Boy" but he would not be happy with the much more recent remake. The first one does perhaps give some sense of isolation. The second one could be set on a beach anywhere in the world.  

I know Alan Marshall was quite happy with the adaptation of "I can jump puddles". He had never expected that the book would be of such interest to others. He was an old man when the film came out but friends said he was "very pleased" by it. Perhaps it was good to see his childhood through the eyes of someone else? 

The other film adaptation I know something about is Ivan Southall's "Let the Balloon Go". Ivan talked to me about the book even before he had written it. I think I really do know something about what he was aiming at.  "Trying to get inside John's head is one of the most difficult things I have ever done" he once said. He later said that, while he thought the film was "quite a good story" it did not succeed in getting inside John's head. Could a film even do that? If it cannot then should a film even be made from the story? 

Adult film versions of books often take liberties. They may even be necessary at times. It probably does not matter too much. If the author is still alive they may even agree to these and have a hand in writing the words.  Many adults who see a film may never bother with the book. It may not be of concern if they do not. 

Is it the same for children? My own feeling is that it does matter if the child does not read the book or have the book read to them. A film, however good, is not the book. It is a different experience. Children do not have the life experience to understand that...and it matters.