I've never seen the play. The movie, IIRC, is actually pretty faithful except for the huge, glaring departure at the end. But its tone is different--since it's a movie, and treated as a thriller, it's much more plot-driven and melodramatic, whereas the book, even with virtually the same incidents and characters, is more interior, much more of a pyschological study and asks a lot of questions.
The girl, Rhoda, is also older in the movie--she's 11 or 12, whereas she's 8 in the book. I suppose it would be difficult to get a child who could pull off such a difficult role if they were that young, hence the change for the movie. I do know that Patty McCormack played the role on Broadway and then did the movie. Also Rhoda is a brunette in the book.
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Date: 2003-08-21 02:09 pm (UTC)The girl, Rhoda, is also older in the movie--she's 11 or 12, whereas she's 8 in the book. I suppose it would be difficult to get a child who could pull off such a difficult role if they were that young, hence the change for the movie. I do know that Patty McCormack played the role on Broadway and then did the movie. Also Rhoda is a brunette in the book.