INTERPRETATIONS

Film Adaptation

The author explains the point of adaptation in the past and present of cinematic art. In contrast to some established opinions about inconvenience of film adaptation of introspective prose, he points out that concise and non-rhetoric storytelling by Kafka produced great problems to even to Orson Welles. But, the rule that inferior literary works are adapted more successfully seems correct. The novel Deep Sleep by R. Chandler appears to be written for adaptation, and the screenwriters »mistake« from the film (a murder remains unsolved) makes the film a predecessor of David Lynch. In Croatian culture there has been a number of ill-fated adaptations, and Krleža had best luck with Belan’s Concert that looks like an adaptation of Krleža’s unwritten novel. At the same time, the film is symptomatic for the position of film in Croatian culture.

Hrvoje Hribar