This paper compares and contrasts John Steinbeck's short novel, Of Mice and Men, with its two movie versions, the first released in 1939 and directed by Lewis Milestone and the second released in 1992 and directed by Gary Sinise. Steinbeck initially conceived of his story as a theater script or a screenplay; the resulting book, a bestseller when it was first published and an enduring classic, translates effectively to film's visual demands.
Each of the book's six chapters begins with evocative descriptions which set the scene. The balance of each chapter consists primarily of dialogue which conveys the characters and their relationships. Much of Steinbeck's original dialogue survives intact in both screenplays. Both films provided their stars with remarkable opportunities to create memorable characterizations of George and his slow-witted friend Lennie, and each film version is representative of the era in which it was produced.
John Steinbeck was a somewhat successful but relatively unknown writer when he began work on the novel he initially planned to call Something That Happened. Although interested in writing scripts for theater and films, he recognized that he had no experience in these forms of writing. Instead, he set out to write a novel that was as close to being a script as possible. Before the book was published, he asked Broadway director George S. Kaufman to review the manuscript and make suggestions that would strengthen the piece as the basis of a play. Kaufman suggested expanding the role of the only woman in the story, which Steinbeck did, and adding more humor, which Steinbeck refused to do.
Steinbeck eventually settled on the title Of Mice and Men, from the lines in a Robert Burns poem: "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men/ Gang aft a'gley" (Parini 184). The book tells the story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two itinerant ranch hands who share a lifestyle and a set of dreams but little...