Frederick Forsyth

I noticed that yesterday was the birthday of Frederick Forsyth.  One of my favourite films is The Day of the Jackal and I've watched it many times.  The first time I went with my cousin, ten years younger than me and by his own admission not up on modern history

I enjoyed the film and thought it made a great thriller.  But when I discussed it with my cousin imagine my surprise when he said that he had no idea how it was going to end.  Right up to the final minutes he thought the President would be killed.

So he was able to enjoy the film on a completely different level from me since I knew De Gaulle lived.

It started me thinking about the ongoing question of read the book first or watch the film.  It seems to be a general point that if you've enjoyed the book, you're unlikely to enjoy the film because you know too much about the original.  Even if I try, it's hard to treat the two things as completely separate but I guess I should because they are differnt art forms.

After one DVD I watched, one of the extra features was about the reworking of the book on which the film was based.  It did give me some understanding of how there needed to be changes because of the different formats.