--- Christina Paul <
xpistiva33@live.com> wrote:
> I finally did get my hands on a (VHS) copy
of
> Truffaut's The Bride Wore Black. Generally I
find
> myself frustrated with film adaptations of
novels
> (characters, for example, often seem to lose
their
> layers and become less interesting), but I
loved
> Truffaut's ending.
>
Really? To me, Truffaut once again reduced noir to slapstick
as he did with Shoot The Piano Player. It's not the revenge
that makes The Bride Wore Black noir but the Woolrich ending.
Killings, revenge, these are staples of the genre. What you
do with them is what separates the good writers from the
hacks. It's what the bride learns that makes the story what
it is and not a separate and added vignette that misses the
point. Having just seen The Leopard Man and having No Man of
Her Own, Night Has 1000 Eyes and Phantom Lady, I don't think
there is a good film translation of any Woolrich and I don't
think there ever will be. And I'm beginning to understand
that that is part and parcel of why I like the guy's writing
so much. As with William Burroughs -- for different reasons
-- it's not really the story but all those things that happen
around it and all those things occur in your head and not
your eyes.
William
Essays and Ramblings
<http://www.williamahearn.com>
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