Ep. 953, "A Reputation" vs. Meet John Doe

Can a movie be better than the story it’s based on? Let’s take a journey from short story to Academy Award Nominated film, today on The Classic Tales Podcast.

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Ok, off the top of your head, what movies are better than the books they are based on? Whenever I consider this, I tend to come back to The Wizard of Oz and Ben-Hur. I think in these two instances especially, they expanded on the original material beautifully, to fit the medium of film. It’s a transformative process, to move from story told only in print, to a story told by actors, artists, costumers, directors, set designers, stunt people, special effects artists, and all the other hundreds of people it takes to make a motion picture. I recently discovered I’m going to have to add the film Meet John Doe to my list. 

Meet John Doe is a film released in 1941, directed by Frank Capra. It stars Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyk and Edward Arnold. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story, and it was ranked No. 49 in the American Film Institutes 100 years, 100 cheers list. It entered the public domain in 1969, and you can watch it for free many places on the internet, also on Amazon Prime.

The film is based on the story “A Reputation”, by Richard Connell. Connell also wrote “A Friend of Napoleon” that we’ve heard recently, and is most famous for his short story, “The Most Dangerous Game”. 

So first, let’s hear the story “A Reputation”, and then look at what elements were modified and expanded on to create the acclaimed motion picture, Meet John Doe. Just a heads up – this story deals with suicide.

And now, “A Reputation”, by Richard Connell.

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