Books & Films based on them

C. S. Lewis in his essay "Why movies sometimes ruin books", writes about seeing a film of "King Solomon's Mines" & how it ruined his pleasure of previously having read the book. He bemoans the fact of extraneous characters being introduced & especially a scene near the end, where in order to inject more excitement, drastic changes were made in the film, which ruined it in his eyes.

(Incidentally three of his popular Narnia novels have been made into films.)

On the contrary, the legendary film director Satyajit Ray, (who made many films on well known literary works), writes in his book "Speaking of Films" that the two are as different as chalk & cheese, & the film reflects the director's vision. He hits the nail right on the head when he says that only those who are really interested read books, attend classical music concerts & visit art galleries, whereas any one with the money to buy a ticket & a couple of hours to spare, (in the pre-internet age of course) can watch a film. He also adds, that any one who has seen good films, cannot be assumed to automatically appreciate them, incidentally underscoring the importance of film appreciation courses in our curriculum. Knowledge of at least the elements of film grammar like tracking shots, panning shots, dissolves, cuts, montage, & use of background music are absolutely essential before one ventures to speak about a film.

It can be also mentioned in this context, that especially nowadays, films are made for an audience with a lower cultural quotient compared to those who patronise other arts. That is probably why even acclaimed films like "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy can never bring out the glory & magnificence of Tolkien's prose & imagination.