Hi sg.
You may not be aware that Random Harvest was a novel written by James Hilton (who also wrote Lost Horizon and Goodbye Mr Chips). You can read it here in it's entirety:
I just finished reading this book and it is wonderful. The book was published in 1941 and the movie came out in 1942.The movie is remarkably faithful to it, taking into account that we the reader are not aware that Paula and Helen, as she is called in the book, are one and the same person until the end of the novel.
In the book Smithy looses his memory while he was in the trenches of WWI, a shell explodes near him. He looses his dog tags at that time and was taken to a German hospital as a prisoner of war. The Germans and the British exchanged prisoners of war and he was part of the exchange, therefore no stretch there.
Smithy had no ID, they were constantly worried that someone would find out that he was an escaped mental patient and that he had hurt a railway man by mistake. When he is knocked down by the cab, he regains his forgotten memories but looses his new ones. A stretch maybe, maybe not but a good story.
This is one of my favourite love stories and I am willing to overlook a little stretch or two.
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supergran
8 years ago
Hi vc. I love this film. Nice to see that you're a fan.
Thanks for the correction about the names! The prisoner exchange is explained in the film as in the book.
What do you think of Ronald Colman? I like his performance, but his age takes me out of the story somewhat. The character is not meant to be that much older than Kitty, but the 30 year age gap in the actors meant that he looked like her father.
I do think the transition from book to film was excellently done. Instead of the "shock" at the ending of the book, we experience that same shock when Paula walks into the office as the secretary. I think the film maintains the story's tension very well after that point, and we feel acutely Paula's pain because we're going through it with her. I particularly love the scene at their third(?) anniversary when Paula finds the old bead necklace. I'm always sobbing at that point!
If there aren't any skeletons in a man's closet, there's probably a Bertha in his attic.
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visualcookie
8 years ago
Hi sg. Thanks. I am a huge fan and I have also converted my husband to it as well.
I agree that Ronald Colman age was a stretch when it came to Kitty, in the book the age gap is about ten years I believe, but I thought that he matched up with Greer Garson very well and they made a believable couple.
This is one of those rare adaptations that were as good as if not better than the book. The only reason that I say better, is that the book tells the story of Smithy and Paula, through Charles' recollections and doesn't show the emotional strain on Margaret like the movie does. I completely agree with you about the shock factor and the poignancy of the bead necklace scene is heartbreaking. This is truly one of my favourite love stories.
Its funny, but I have notice that I have read and watched a lot of stories about soldiers that have just returned from war.
Poldark, To Serve Them All My Days, A Horseman Riding By, The Swann Saga, etc....
Its been great to talked to you about something else.
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supergran
8 years ago
Colman and Garson do indeed make a great couple, vc. Garson herself was in her late thirties, but still looked wonderful.
Paula is quite a peripheral character in many ways in the book, whereas she is virtually central in the film - but it works so well. When Colman tells her that he intends to marry Kitty and be away from work for a year, the look on Garson's face is heart-breaking. But every time he looks her way, she manages to hide her pain so well. A real exercise in self-control! But it's always believable and she always carries us along with her. The conversations she has with the doctor help us to understand what she's going through and to explain the quite valid reason why she doesn't tell Charles the truth.
Oh, I love this film!
It's interesting about the whole "men returning from the war" theme, isn't it? We're not always conscious of this common denominator running through our favourite films, but you're quite right. Another favourite is The Best Years of Our Lives.
Why do we like them?
I think that, as women, we love our fictional heroes to be slightly battle-scarred and damaged. The idea that such a man is "Saved By The Love Of A Good Woman" is absolutely irresistible to us, and has been the stuff of fiction for centuries. We want to be the Paulas, the Demelzas, the Beths (To Serve Them All My Days), the Peggys (The Best Years of Our Lives), etc; etc. Mind you, that's just in fiction! Such a challenge in real life would be overwhelming, don't you think?
If there aren't any skeletons in a man's closet, there's probably a Bertha in his attic.
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visualcookie
8 years ago
You are right that in the book the central story is about Charles trying to restore his memory, whereas the film the central story is the love that Paula has for Charles and what she will do to make him happy. It is an all time classic movie and a very good book.
The Best Years of Our Lives is another absolutely fabulous movie, the whole cast is wonderful. I could go on and on about that film.
I'm not sure about the war weary man being "saved by the love of a good woman" though. It is kind of like the Disney stories, where the central characters are orphaned at the beginning of the story. Its a good beginning for a story, a man comes back from war and his whole perspective has change. Now he has to pick himself up and start over, its fresh new life, where he can be anyone that he likes, almost like being born again.
Mind you, that's just in fiction! Such a challenge in real life would be overwhelming, don't you think?
Your right great fiction but not something I would want to deal with in real life. Although, we are all slightly damaged to some degree and may be that is what these stories are about. Dealing with our damaged souls and making them whole through being love and loving in return. The love conquers all story.
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