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Why Can't the Movie Be
(Continued from page 7)
THE CIGARETTE WITH THE NEW MICRONITE FILTER
Refines away harsh flavor... refines away j
rough taste. . .for the mildest taste of all! j
THE FINER THE FILTER. THE MILDER THE TASTE I
. . I , l ' . I . i I n I , (Mil. UrilM O.I m
Director George Englund (left), a man with an abiding
interest in international politics, gives Marlon Brando
some pointers during filming of "The Ugly American."
haste and with some anger and it showed. - But we
believed in the book's indictment of America's per
formance overseas. As a result, it has some impact, and
we wanted that impact in the picture.
We finally sold the property (a book is never called
a book in Hollywood) to Universal-International largely
because we were impressed with George Englund. He is
a young, restless producer-director; a man more hand
some than most actors and more interested in world af
fairs than most professors of international relations. He
has traveled n good deal in Southeast Asia and knows lit
tle quirks of Buddhist religion, Malay personality, and
Communist politics, which we thought would add au
thenticity to the book.
Englund also has a scalding sense of honesty. "As
drama, this book is a mess," he said during the negotia
tions. I winced. "Too many characters, too many lectures,
too many episodes. Don't," he said with a grin, "expect
the movie to be like the book." '
Nearly four years later, I saw the "rough cut" of the
movie. Englund had been right But now I knew
some of the reasons I had learned a great deal.
I sat in on the first story conference between Engiund
and Stewart Stern, a tall, quiet script writer who has
the reputation of never working on something in which
he does not believe. They went through the book, cutting
down characters with an odd mixture of piety, enthusiasm,
and efficiency. It went on for hours.
When I came out of the conference, I was reeling slight
ly. I had learned a lesson: in a novel, you can write,
"Jamie felt a white-hot flash of passion," but in a movie,
you have to show it and in three dimensions. A novel,
even a good one, can have characters who are as thin as
the paper on which their names appear. The novelist can
tay something is so and order the reader to believe it
On the screen, you have to persuade your customer.
Somewhat later I learned that Marlon Brando was going
- rmiiy Wttkly. Jim 1. 1 Ml '