Among many other films, he also directed The Pride and the Passion (1957); Inherit the Wind (1960); Judgment at Nuremberg (1961); Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
Cast:
Gregory Peck (Dwight Towers); Ava Gardner (Moira Davidson); Fred Astaire (Julian Osborne); Anthony Perkins (Peter Holmes); Donna Anderson (Mary Holmes).
Production Credits
Cinematography by Daniel L. Fapp and Giuseppe Rotunno, Production designed by Rudolph Sternad. Music by Ernest Gold. Written by James Lee Barrett and John Paxton based on the novel by Nevil Shute (1957).
The major plot changes from the novel to the film are made to accommodate the romance between Dwight Towers and Moira Davidson, played by Hollywood super-stars Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner. Peck was an established actor, although his most famous roles were still to come: Beloved Infidel (1959); The Guns of Navarone (1961) , To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), and The Boys from Brazil, (1978). Gardner was a reigning sex goddess after The Barefoot Contessa (1954) and The Sun Also Rises (1957). Compare Gardner's portrayal to the introduction of Moira beginning on p. 22. How does this pairing change the direction and emphasis of the plot? What differences of character develop?
For more information about films, check out the Internet Movie Database.
What scenario for nuclear war is presented in the film? What messages are being sent to the audience? Are the politics and the audiences different for the book and the film?
What role does religion play in the book and film? Consider the religious revival scene, inserted before the distribution of the red cartons and revisited in the final moments of the film.
The musical theme of Waltzing Matilda does a fair amount of work in establishing the Australian location of the film. Analyze the use of this familiar folk song particularly in the Trout Fishing scene. Would you consider this scene the climax of the film?
Here are the words to the standard folksong.
Yes, there's a major Waltzing Matilda site on the web, with the original words of the song. But be careful--the "real" story behind this music probably was never intended to be part of On The Beach.
In comparing the novel and the film, you will probably benefit from focussing on two or three points or examples. In this relatively short paper, you will need to avoid lengthy quotations that waste your space. Refer to the appropriate parts of the novel by placing page numbers in parentheses.
Is the "Five Paragraph" model of expository writing a useful format for you? What modifications might you need to make in the formula to accommodate this aassignment?
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