The lighting in both versions of the novel were quite natural, no use of fake lighting. The director does this to make it more realistic. In the new version of the film the scene changing is very effective.
The music in the opening of the old version is varied; it is played on a flute to give a pleasant and optimistic feeling. It becomes intense as the action picks up. This is to reflect the danger and the fear of Lennie and George as they are running. George doesn’t want to take care of Lennie anymore and he plans to leave him. When he does this the music becomes quieter. It reflects what’s happening in the plot. In the 1992 film version the music is more dramatic. It keeps you in suspense and is more atmospheric. It starts with piano music and then the sound of the train comes in. They do this to make the opening more effective and attention grabbing.
The costumes are more or less the same in both versions of the film. They are ragged and dirty. George and Lennie have cravats tied around their necks, and hats. When George and Lennie go to visit Aunt Clara in the old version of the film, Lennie repeats George when presented to Aunt Clara.
“Yes mam”.
The director has added this scene into the old version. In the novel the only time she appears is in Lennie’s imagination. This scene has been included to put Lennie into context; it gives him a background, and shows that he has always been looked after and that the people who know him still treat him like a baby. It also serves to highlight Lennie’s reliance on George. As an audience we feel really sorry for Lennie when George tricked him to try and free himself from responsibility of looking out for Lennie. Lennie is more childish in the new film. You feel more sympathy for him in the old version.
In the 1981 version of the film Curley’s wife is portrayed as a bit of a tart, her dressed are tight fitting and she wears lots of makeup. In the scene when she is murdered, she is wearing a tight fitting, black knee length dress with a flower on it. Black represents experience. She has bright red shoes and red earrings. The description of her in the novel is more or less the same as the way she is presented in the films. In the newer version she is wearing a white dress. This represents innocence. She speaks quietly and is quite flirtatious; she is attentive when Lennie is speaking to her. When Lennie murders her, she screams a lot and is more dramatic in the new film. This draws attention to the viewer and gives a slight chill. The men are outside playing their game, they are so near, yet they don’t hear her screaming or come to help. It makes it more sinister. When Lennie and Curley’s wife are talking in the old film, Lennie doesn’t listen to her much and interrupts, but in the newer version he sits and looks like he understands and he listens to her carefully. This makes the audience feel sorry for Lennie in a way because he acts like a big baby. He interrupts and talks about his things and doesn’t listen to what Curley’s wife is saying. Also, it gives a slight chill because one minute Lennie is being nice to Curley’s wife and the next, he kills her. Curley’s wife becomes very flirtatious and asks Lennie to stroke her hair. This all leads to the murder. He enjoys this and she looks like she enjoys it. She is more excited in the newer version, there is heavy breathing and she shows that she likes it a lot. Lennie stares at her a lot and there are lots of close-ups of this. In the older version when Lennie kills her, you see the close-up of his hand over her mouth. The camera switches from a low angle shot of her feet to a close up of her face where we see the fear in her eyes and then the camera goes back to her feet where one of her shoes fall off. This is very effective because we see just enough of her eyes to see how scared she is. Then there is the very sad and final indignity where she loses her shoe in death and she has been so proud of her appearance. Then the episode ends to create suspense.
The newer version is much closer to the novel. There are only long and mid-shots of Lennie holding her enough to break her neck. There is quiet music up until Lennie starts becoming fierce. The music is more dramatic and brings an atmosphere. The volume increases to show that it’s important. It keeps the audience hooked. In the older version there is slow haunting music when she dies. This makes it creepy for the viewer.
Gary Sinise, the director of the newer version, gives Curley’s wife a more feminine and quiet character. It makes viewers feel sorry for her. Curley’s wife seems more upset when she is telling Lennie that she dislikes Curley. She is more sensual in the new film; her buttons are undone, fiddling with her straps. The director makes her much more suggestive and flirtatious.
In the ending Lennie is shot by George. The scene is very sad and the atmosphere is so real. In the older version George looks very stressed when he is trying to find Lennie, however he looks less so in the newer version. In both versions, the audience can hear the sounds of birds, crickets and the pursuing dogs in the background. In the older version the camera focuses on the scenery more. There are beautiful long shots, switching to a mid point-of-view shot of Lennie looking down the stream, while George is telling him about their dream. In the new version there are close-up shots of both men’s faces as they are talking, but they don’t really focus on the scenery and the atmosphere.
George is ready to shoot but he’s very upset, he doesn’t want to hurt Lennie but he knows he has to. While George is telling Lennie about their dream, he shoots and then starts to cry. The music is light and peaceful. It creates atmosphere and the audience start to feel sorry for Lennie, the director probably wanted this. George then starts to remember past days with Lennie and becomes very wound up and upset. In the older version as George shoots Lennie there is a high angled shot of Lennie stressing his vulnerability, and a low angle shot of George as he pulls the trigger, highlighting his power over Lennie’s destiny. When George is about to kill Lennie, he is telling him how it’s going to be and that it will be nice there, he could also be referring to heaven. In the older version we don’t actually see the shot. The film seems to have come full circle, which is stressed by the repetition of the same song that was used at the beginning of the film, but at a slower and quieter pace. We do see the shooting in the new one, in contrast to the older version. I think the director has done this to create more atmosphere and to make the film more exciting. The newer version was actually a film and the older version was a program made for school so that is another reason for showing and not showing the shooting of Lennie.
At the very end of the 1981 version we see George walking off into the distance with his backpack over his shoulder, whereas in the newer version we see a mid shot of George, Lennie lying dead and the scenery and then it cross-cuts to George reflecting their times together. We see George on the train and there are close-up shots of his face. He is crying which makes the audience feel sympathetic towards him. The endings are very different. The directors have done this so that it is more effective than the novel. When the Gary Sinise was directing the newer version of the film he wanted to make it a bit different to the older version. His film was exciting and enjoyable because he added different scenes, like the train scene and the shooting. It is effective. The directors had to make sure their films were different, because they didn’t want their films to be the same. The story comes to an end and the viewers have enjoyed the film. The directors add and cut scenes to make sure that the viewers will remain hooked and in suspense. They have made their films their own, endings are not the same at all. They could also be different because they are made at different times and one of the versions was episodic and made for television, so the endings had to be unlike each other for various reasons. The director of the new film makes his film more effective at the end by showing the shooting of Lennie and changing the very end by showing George on the train, travelling without Lennie, this makes the audience feel sorry for George and the credits come down. It leaves the audience thinking that the film was good. The directors don’t follow the novel fully. They add and cut scenes to make the films better. In the novel they describe the scenery and Lennie looking down the river. The old version shows this, the director is following the novel, he is closer to it then Gary Sinise, the director of the new film. IN the novel, Slim comes into the story at the end whereas in the movies he doesn’t. The directors probably choose not to add this part because it is not as effective as the endings they went with.
I think that the new film is better than the 1981 version because it doesn’t follow the novel as much in the beginning and the end, so it is more interesting and dramatic to watch. Gary Sinise makes his film more interesting by adding scenes at the beginning and the end and I think this is very effective. When the white writing comes down over the black screen at the start, along with the music, you think, “I’m going to enjoy this film.” You are hooked already because it has an effective beginning. The music is dramatic and the first few scenes keep you in suspense. It is a great version because it doesn’t follow the novel that much so it isn’t boring and you aren’t waiting for the film to end. The main actors, Gary Sinise and John Malkovich are well known so this was also a good factor of why the film was the better of the two. They are really good actors and they made it so realistic. I would definitely recommend the newer version to anyone who enjoys dramatic but sad stories. If you can’t follow the novel this is a good version to watch because it gives the outline of the story better and you can grasp it slightly more than with the older version. This is the better out of the two versions because it is actually a film and not in episodes. You can get into it more without it stopping and starting with new scenes.
