Essay Draft

Jasmyn Cooper
ENG2400
Translation Essay (Draft)
4/6/21

According to Cahir, filmic translations of literary works can be labeled as one of three terms: literal, in which the film sticks as close to the source material as possible; traditional, in which the main pieces of the written work are adhered to, but there are more creative liberties taken with the storytelling; and radical, in which the source material is drastically altered for the filmed version. I find, however, that it is hard to neatly label the many filmed adaptations of literature as one of these three. It is more accurate to picture these definitions as a sliding scale from literal to radical, with different films falling somewhere between two of the three terms. Such is the case with Cornell Woolrich’s short story “It Had to be Murder”, and Alfred Hitchcock’s film adaptation, “Rear Window”. While the general plot of the film is consistent with that of the short story, there are character changes and an entire subplot in “Rear Window” that do not exist in Woolrich’s story, putting it somewhere between traditional and radical in my opinion.

The basic plot of “Rear Window” doesn’t deviate much from “It Had to be Murder”. A man named Jeffries (L.B. in the story and Hal in the film) is temporarily confined to a wheelchair, which keeps him from leaving the bedroom of his apartment. To occupy his time, he watches the daily lives of his neighbors happen through their rear windows. While doing this, he believes he witnesses Lars Thorwald, one of his neighbors, murder his wife. His story seems far-fetched to the people he explains it to, but with help he is eventually proven right, and his neighbor is exposed for the killer he is. The differences between the film and the written story in this regard lie in the characters. In Woolrich’s story, Jeffries has an attendant named Sam, who is the only person to help Jeffries gather evidence against Thorwald. In the film, Sam’s character and duties are divided between Stella, Jeffries’ nurse, and Lisa, his socialite girlfriend. It is Hitchcock’s addition of Lisa, and the romantic tension between her and Jeffries that are not present in the source material, that push this film in a more radical direction.

Another thing that makes “Rear Window” a more traditional translation of “It Had to be Murder” is the ending. The written story ends with Thorwald confronting Jeffries in his home, then falling to his death during a police chase. These final scenes happen in the movie, but there is more dialogue between Thorwald and Jeffries, and more importantly, Thorwald survives and surrenders. The film’s ending gives the viewer a greater sense of justice, which make the viewing experience more satisfactory in my opinion.