Influence of Literature on Cinema

In a well-known essay, titled “Dickens, Griffith and Us,” the famous Russian director Serguei Eisenstein argues that in his style of storytelling as well as in his vision of the characters and their environment, Dickens used many of the basic elements and tools of cinema. Eisenstein gives many examples of Dicken’s use of quick cuts, close-ups, split-screen, and the like. He also shows that Griffith used Dicken’s narrative methods in his films.

Indeed, the manner in which D. W. Griffith tells a story parallels that of the author of Great Expectations. The American filmmaker’s widow reported the following telling incident: In the scene in Enoch Arden in which Enoch’s wife is waiting for his return, Griffith shows only a close-up of her face immediately after cutting away from Enoch, lost on a desert island. His producer protested: “How can you tell a story with such sudden jumps? Nobody will understand.” Griffith retorted, “Didn’t Dickens write this way?” The producer replied, “Yes. But that was Dickens. He was writing novels. It is completely different.” Griffith retorted, “The difference is not so great: I am making novels with images!”

But is this not the road to tautology? It seems to me that Eisenstein and everyone else who sought to link cinema to literature

The Hidden Meaning of Mass Communications: Cinema, Books, and Television in the Age of Computers

Book by Fereydoun Hoveyda; Praeger, 2000. 171 pgs.

By: http://www.questia.com/read/101019115?title