insideKENT Magazine Issue 45 - December 2015 | Page 24

ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
FROM PAGE TO SCREEN cont.

The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Published in 1969, The Godfather is a story of
gangsters and mob bosses, murder and
extortion,betrayal and love. It has all the makings
of the perfect story, with the added benefit of it
being based – at least in part – on the real lives
of the ‘Five Families’ of the Mafia. The film came
out in 1972, and starred Marlon Brando and Al
Pacino in career defining roles. It is often cited
as being amongst the most important films ever
made.
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
We’re all familiar with the musical adventures of
Dorothy and her friends, the Scarecrow, Tinman,
and Cowardly Lion. We’ve journeyed with them
down the Yellow Brick Road to see the wizard
countless times, and the girl in gingham (played
by the exceptional Judy Garland) with her ruby
slippers is an iconic image. The novel (entitled
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum)
came out 40 years before the film, in 1909. It’s
a lifetime ago now, and when the book was
published any ideas of creating a movie out of
it, let alone one that is so well loved, in colour
(for the most part), with songs that children still
sing today was impossible. Thank goodness for
progress!
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
The beauty, the style, and the glamour of this film
is timeless. Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard

bring Holly Golightly and Paul Varjak to exquisite
and technicolour life. And of course, there’s Cat.
No one can forget Cat. Breakfast at Tiffany’s is
a film to savour, and a novel to take your time
over. Although they differ from one another in
some respects, Holly Golightly is just as wonderful
in both.
The Shawshank Redemption
by Stephen King
Many are surprised when they realise the
wonderful film starring Morgan Freeman and Tim
Robbins is based on a novella by horror author
Stephen King. It just goes to show that some
writers can’t be pigeon holed when it comes to
genres since this is not a horror. The novella, part
of the King collection entitled Different Seasons,
was called Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank
Redemption. It, and the film that came from it, is
an in-depth study into human nature, and it is
riveting.
The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey
The novel – and film (coming in 2016) – is set in
a dystopian future in which most of the world
has been destroyed by a terrifying fungal infection.
For most, if they aren’t dead, they have been
turned into zombies. There are, however, some
survivors, and it is these survivors who try to
‘cure’ the problem. The easiest way to do this is
to find out how the zombies work by literally
getting inside them. But there is one, a small girl,
who is more than she seems…

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The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
There have been countless adaptations of The
Jungle Book over the years, and perhaps the
most famous one is the 1967 Disney animation
featuring songs such as the