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Is there a movie version truer to the book?

posted 18 years ago by quildarener
2 replies | jump to latest

The book was darker and more suspenseful. By playing for laughs the scene where the sailors in Long John's tavern hurriedly pretend to be innocent before Jim walks in, the movie gives away the pirates' and Long John's true nature way too soon, as opposed to the book's more shocking revelation while Jim eavesdrops from the apple barrel. Also I thought the book was much more effective where Jim returns to the blockhouse in the dark and doesn't realize he's among the pirates till the parrot swawks "Pieces of eight!" Ditto the scene where Jim and his mother are counting out the money (at her insistence, not his) with the pirates approaching, and the clock striking six as they read the message "You have until ten tonight." The book had a more romantic, melancholy and spine-tingling atmosphere in the opening chapters.

On the whole I thought this movie was OK and I understand some of the changes. Jim's helping Long John escape with part of the treasure in the movie and Silver's far less sentimentally handled escape in the book both work for me. Coogan and Beery gave good performances. Nevertheless I found this movie somewhat disappointing, considering it's supposed to be the classic version.

[–] Bubbleraft-Roo 17 years ago

I kind of like the way the movie did things...briefly...even though the audience is pretty quickly "in" on the plot, Jim Hawkins takes a while, and even at the end is torn between Silver's good and bad side...I always kind of liked the way that was handled...after this movie, I read the book, and it seemed a bit more...I dunno...emotionless?

[–] tjantus 17 years ago

I think, perhaps, that since the movie was based on a classic book it was assumed that the basic story was already pretty well known; that it was obviously a pirate movie, and so by revealing to the audience that the sailors were really pirates while leaving the protagonists in the dark they really weren't giving anything away.

In fact, it made the duplicity of Long John and the pirates more engaging, and allowed for the delightfully hammy performances. It looks like it would have been a hell of a lot of fun to make that movie, and the makeup and costuming, as well as many of the throw-away lines, seem to have been the actor's ad libs.

That may not be the case, but in any event I think this is the best movie version of the story, and an excellent screen adaptation.