The Quiet American – a Comparison
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Philip Noyces adaptation of Graham Greenes novel The Quiet American to film was a large success. It stayed true to the script, and kept the basic essence of the characters; pulling them from the pages of the book and creating them visually into marvels on screen. The earlier film made on the book was made in 1958 by Joseph Mankiewicz. Fowler was played by Michael Redgrave, with Audie Murphy as Pyle. This version was forced to reverse Greenes political stand taken in the book however, meaning it had no-where near as much impact as Noyces production. Noyce chose to film in actual Vietnamese locations and without compromise, boldly sticking to the novel by not letting the Americans come out of the story too kindly. The Vietnamese conflict-its roots, effects, and lifestyle was captured brilliantly with Brendan Fraser depicting the deceivingly innocent yet devious Pyle, and Michael Caine as Fowler the ageing and unhappy journalist.
The most obvious problem encountered when translating this tale that has been described as a Drama/Thriller/Romance/War all in one is the fact that the book has been written in first person, and the movie being presented in third. This meant that there were extra scenes added into the film that were actually not part of the novel itself, though this being said they filled in gaps and made certain aspects of the film much more obvious and easy for the audience to understand. Films are of course made in accordance to what type of audience they are aiming for, and Noyce decided naturally to aim for a more main stream audience. In order to meet the demands of the main stream audiences he had to adapt the story to third person, so as to be able to give a more balanced or better rounded representation of the events, and to allow us more obviously to find out what the other characters were doing and thinking. It also allowed for what turned out to be a slightly different interpretations of the main characters.
Thomas Fowler in the novel is the more sinister character. Despite his obvious wit he is very cynical, and has an almost pessimistic outlook upon human relationships. It is Pyle in the novel that we are slightly softer towards, for Fowler is quite bitter. He says that he doesnt care for Phuongs interests, he just wants her and her body, and that hed rather have a woman in the room with him that he didnt love rather than no woman at all. This makes the reader rather sceptical of him. Michael Caine is excellent as Fowler in the movie however. He plays the aging unmotivated yet skilled reporter well. Fowler in the film is a lot more vulnerable, especially as the film progresses, and his weaknesses start to become a lot more obvious. We are not given any of the dialogue with Fowler telling Pyle how he feels about Phuong. He says that he is detached
yet he becomes ferociously involved in what is going on around him. Thomas Fowler is an extremely complex character, and it is extremely difficult to give him the same depth on film compared to what we get in the book, and we just simply dont. We are given are more likeable main character who has a little more dignity, and is a little less bitter Fowlers character does still give us that deep sense of how the political and the personal collide
Pyle is of course almost the more likeable character in the book, but in the novel he is betrayed as being quite the nasty deceitful character. For instance, in the movie Fowler finds out Pyle can speak Vietnamese, when he has been pretending that he cannot
for a long time, and not only that, but he speaks it as if it is his native language. Brendan Fraser does still portray him as the perfect gentleman