Comparing the Film and Novel Versions of Sam Hanna Bell’s December Bride
If the movie based on Sam Hanna Bell’s novel December Bride is considered to be good, it is only because the novel itself is nothing short of great. Having viewed the movie on two separate occasions, some four months apart, this writer found herself to still be somewhat bewildered by a few of the events portrayed. The novel clears the Irish fog swirling around those events creating a much more solidly constructed story. In addition, the characters of Sarah and Frank are developed to a much deeper level. The great leap in years that occurs at the end of the movie is shortened in the novel and in consequence, the story flows more smoothly. Perhaps December Bride would have faired better as a TV mini-series with hours and hours at its disposal rather than being confined to the short span of time allotted the movie.
Within the confines of the movie, before the reading of the novel, this writer found the following several elements of the story confusing: who is Fergus and how does he fit in; Sarah’s standing on the hill looking toward her mother’s house seems unfinished; why does the Reverend Sorleyson treat his wife, Victoria, with such distain; what is the significance of the meal in which Hamilton orders Sarah to cook the fish for the Catholic woman; why does Frank voice no objections at the marriage of Sarah and Hamilton? Read on and ye shall uncover the answers.
The novel opens in Chapter One revealing the end of the story. Two elderly persons, Sarah and Hamilton, are being married by the young Reverend Isaac Sorleyson in a church that is nestled in a graveyard. People from the surrounding countryside are huddled among the gravestones brac...
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...tride, promising to be at the church with Hamilton in the next week thus bequeathing the father’s name on both her children.
Notes:
[1] Small boat with oars.
[2] Bell, Sam Hanna. December Bride. p.22.
[3] Bell, Sam Hanna. December Bride. p.27.
[4] Bell, Sam Hanna. December Bride. p.48.
[5] Bell, Sam Hanna. December Bride. p.48.
[6] Bell, Sam Hanna. December Bride. p.41.
[7] Bell, Sam Hanna. December Bride. p.44.
[8] Bell, Sam Hanna. December Bride. p.125.
[9] the residence of a Presbyterian clergyman (15th century)
[10] Bell, Sam Hanna. December Bride. p.68.
[11] Bell, Sam Hanna. December Bride. p.134.
[12] Bell, Sam Hanna. December Bride. p.138.
[13] Bell, Sam Hanna. December Bride. p.149.
[14] child
[15] Bell Sam Hanna. December Bride. p.123.
[16] Bell Sam Hanna. December Bride. p.179.
[17] Bell Sam Hanna. December Bride. p.289.
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