Comparing the Novel and Film Versions of Elizabeth Bowen’s The Heat of the Day

Comparing the Novel and Film Versions of Elizabeth Bowen’s The Heat of the Day

When reading Elizabeth Bowen’s 1949 novel, The Heat of the Day, and then, viewing the movie by the same title, large and small differences are noted. These differences are enough to make both the reading and the viewing interesting and not a boring duplication. When comparing the opening sequences, the differences are striking. Bowen’s story begins with the interaction between the mysterious Harrison and the determined woman, Louie, in Regent’s Park; the screenwriter’s version establishes all the characters and places the stories events into a chronological order that changes the impact of the scene. By discussing the opening scenes in each media it becomes apparent that Elizabeth Bowen has more faith in her audience than the screenwriter has in his. Bowen assumes that the reader is capable of comprehending the introductory scenes when written from the view of the ‘mind’s eye’. The screenwriter lacks confidence in his viewer and finds it necessary to lose the cloak and dagger impact in order to make sure the story is understood.

Elizabeth Bowen’s writing is very descriptive. She takes great pains to ensure that her reader “sees” the environment in which her characters dwell as well as having a clear picture of the personalities and characteristics of each individual. In Chapter One’s opening two sentences, Bowen perfectly paints a portrait of autumn in London’s Regent’s Park. The reader’s mind easily drifts into an autumn mood and remembers fond times of his life when the leaves gently floated down from trees overhead attempting to cover the earth in a riot of color.

As Chapter One continues, Bowen establishes her venue in the park describing the open-air theatre with its walled thickets and tall trees, musicians performing the music of waltzes, marches and overtures, and the varying nationalities of people in attendance, not just the English but visitors too. It is at this point that the reader first discovers the comic elements that will be hidden throughout within the perplexing story. Bowen writes, “mothers tired of being mothers forgot their children as their children forgot them – one held her baby as though it had been a doll” and then goes on to say, “these were the English” (4-5). Here is the dry tongue-in-cheek British humor that brings a quiet giggle to the surface or a smile to the face.