To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)

When I first read this book, I thought it was amazing and then to find out that it has been turned into a classic 60s film made me dying to watch this, though the movie was convincing and as the film rolled I just remember all these parts of the book coming back into my head…

The acting was very convincing particularly the performance from Gregory peck who played Atticus and delivered the punch lines beautifully whilst helping create a classic yet inspirational and moral court scene. I liked the boo Radley scenes created by the children Jem, scout and dill (I can’t be bothered to find the actors names) though I felt Collin Wilcock’s crying seemed a little staged- BGT style and James Anderson went over the top on looking like he had too much to drink- does anyone remember the cap scene that replicated a walking dead type scenario. Robert Duvall played his part of Boo Radley very well making him pretty like the book with the help of the makeup department.

I thought the general sound was a bit muffled (not because of the speakers or background chatter) but due to the sound of the film that caused me to kiss important lines and become slightly disoriented. On the other hand, the black and white helped hide any effect mistakes that would probably have been obvious on camera so a considerable bonus for a cheap film with little technology.

I’m not too sure about the background narrative, I felt it lacked tone and power but was important for the storytelling aspect of the film.

Another thing I must add is that there was one important bit of the book I felt the film missed out- yes I do know when making films it is hard to compress everything down- it was the courtyard scene before the characters enter the court and Scout or Mary Balham (have a guess which one is the film name) was talking to the reverend and also the part when Calpurnia (Estelle evens takes Jem and scout into the church to meet all the black people. I think this left a loose end over the links between the finches and the black people( anything else would be racist, i've tried not to offend anyone) which made me confused over why the reverend seemed to know Scout so well. I know of other scenes missed out too but for the sake of being concise will stop now.

May I say, I quite liked the exterior and interior of the courtroom in the film but Boo Radley’s house was way too close to Atticus’ house.

Now for the sound effects, well only one sound effect- the gunshot. I’m not 100% sure whether I liked it or not as it sounded to distant so became likewise to the banging of a drum but served its purpose well enough. The music was a bit muffled alongside the sound but on the whole I thought it was effective at gripping the viewer and portraying the different character’s emotions.

An amazing book and an amazing film. I enjoyed watching it and thought it was extremely morale small mistakes aside, despite the fact they take up half my reviews because I like to observe them. Thank you for reading my review.