RARA-AVIS: Re: RARA-AVIS Digest V2 #285

S.T. Karnick (skarnick@indy.net)
Fri, 8 May 1998 10:04:20 -0500 Duane Spurlock wrote,

>I just picked up THE BRIDE WORE BLACK from a used bookstore this past
>weekend. The introduction informed me that Truffaut had filmed this book in
>1967 with Jeanne Moreau. Has anyone seen this movie? Comments? Is it
>available on video?

As others have noted, Truffaut's film is very good but quite different from
Woolrich's novel. The difference is not so much in plot points, although
Truffaut did change a good many very important ones (such as the original
action that sets the movie going, which is very startling to those who have
read the book). The difference is much more in the tone. Woolrich's story
is very much in the pulp-adventure tradition, with a lone protaganist (in
this case, as so often in Woolrich's work, a woman) trying to reach some
level of sanity in a cruel and unjust world, where, in this case, wrongs go
unpunished and the just are harried and attacked. Truffaut is much more
optimistic and good-natured, so that even a film based on mass revenge has a
certain surprising charm to it. Both versions of the story are quite
interesting and edifying.

Best w's,

S.T. Karnick

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