https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/no-but-i-saw-the-movie-the-best-short-stories-ev...

An anthology of 18 short stories which were all adapted into well-known films. I remain fairly illiterate in movie lore, so I’m sorry to say that I have seen very few of the classic movies represented here; the ones I knew were “The Wisdom of Eve” by Mary Orr, source for All About Eve; “Night Bus” by Samuel Hopkins Adams, source for It Happened One Night; and “The Sentinel”, by Arthur C. Clarke, source for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I had seen two of the other films, but not previously read the original stories: Guys and Dolls, based on “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown” by Damon Runyon, where I think the show is better than the original, and Psycho, which is very different from “The Real Bad Friend” by Robert Bloch to the point that I actually query the strength of the connection between them. Also, which I have not seen Stagecoach, Ernest Haycox’ story “From Stage to Lordsburg” seems to me rather derivative of Maupassant’s “Boule de Suif”.

There were several here that I liked, enough to make stronger efforts to see the films: “The Fly” by George Langelaan, “The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern which was the source for It’s A Wonderful Life, “The Day of Atonement” by Samson Raphaelson which was the source for The Jazz Singer, and “Mr Blandings Builds His Castle” by Eric Hodgins, which became Mr Blandings Builds His Castle. On the other hand I could not make head nor tail of “The Tin Star”, by John M. Cunningham, supposedly the basis for High Noon.

Long out of print but a quirky and interesting collection. ( )

Some of the greatest movies ever made have come from short stories, and in this collection David Wheeler reprints several wonderful examples. Most are very close to their subsequent film versions (ALL ABOUT EVE, THE FLY, STAGECOACH, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE), while others diverge enough to give intriguing suggestions of how a certain film could have been just a little different--HIGH NOON'S sheriff being an arthritic old man instead of a vigorous fellow not yet out of his prime, for example. Still others, such as the stories behind PSYCHO and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, differ substantially, so substantially that a film made to the precise parameters of the short story would resemble the film we already know only a little or even not at all. At best, these stories give a means of renewing our acquaintance with each film and seeing it with an altered and more precise perspective. I, for example, never quite grasped the full power of Nicolas Roeg's DON'T LOOK NOW until I read Daphne DuMaurier's story of the same title. This is an excellent collection of short fiction, far too short a collection, for my money. I would love to see a sequel. ( )

Contents:
All About Eve (1950) - from The Wisdom of Eve by Mary Orr
Bad Day at Black Rock (1954) - from Bad Time at Honda by Howard Breslin
Blow Up (1966) - from Blow Up by Julio Cortazar
The Body Snatcher (1945) - from The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson
Don't Look Now (1973) - from Don't Look Now by Daphne du Maurier
The Fly (1958) - from The Fly by George Langelaan
Freaks (1932) - from Spurs by Tod Robbins
Guys and Dolls (1955) - from The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown by Damon Runyon
The Heartbreak Kid (1972) - from A Change of Plan by Bruce Jay Friedman
High Noon (1952) - from The Tin Star by John M. Cunningham
It Happened One Night (1934) - from Night Bus by Samuel Hopkins Adams
It's a Wonderful Life (1946) - from The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern
The Jazz Singer (1927) - from The Day of Atonement by Sampson Raphaelson
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) - from Mr Blandings Builds His Castle by Eric Hodgins
Psycho (1960) - from The Real Bad Friend by Robert Bloch
Rear Window (1954) - from Rear Window by Cornell Woolrich
Stagecoach (1939) - from Stage to Lordsburg by Ernest Haycox
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - from The Sentinel by Arthur C. Clarke