# Differences Between Book and Movie. Spoilers Ahoy! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 31, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-book-and-movie-spoilers-ahoy/534418 "2010-03-31T02:54:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-book-and-movie-spoilers-ahoy/534418/81 "2010-04-06T17:53:17Z")
Enright, here is the passage where we find out the difference between Michael and Vito - that Michael can move against family, while Vito can’t: Book VII > [@](#): > > The Don nodded. “So it’s no purpose to wait any longer. When will you start?” > > Michael said “I want to wait until after Kay has the baby. Just in case anything goes wrong. And I want Tom settled out in Vegas so he won’t be concerned in the affair. I think a year from now.” > > “You’ve prepared for everything?” the Don asked. He did not look at Michael when he said this. > > Michael said gently, “You have no part. You are not responsible. I accept all responsibility. I would refuse to let you even veto. If you tried to do that now, I would leave the family and go my own way. You are not responsible.” > > The Don was silent for a long time, then he sighed. “So be it. Maybe that’s why I retired, maybe that’s why I’ve turned everything over to you. I’ve done my share in life, I haven’t got the heart anymore. **And there are some duties the best of men can’t assume.** That’s it then.” Emphasis mine. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-book-and-movie-spoilers-ahoy/534418/82 "2010-04-13T02:19:11Z")
So, how long has Hollywood been changing endings? I just watched _Alice Adams_ on TCM, 1935. I was tickled pink that they took much of the dialogue and scenes straight from the book (and Hepburn was marvelous), but boy howdy did they change the ending. At the end of the book, Alice is dumped by her boyfriend Arthur, and she ends up going to the secretarial school that she’d been dreading. Alice father’s new business goes kaput and the family has to take in boarders. In the movie, Arthur and Alice are happily-ever-after and her father becomes a business partner with the man who, in the book, ruined him. I suppose the change was to be expected, it being the Depression and all, but the ending of the book wasn’t all that bad, really. All the characters learned about themselves, and Alice was gonna be okay. I wonder how Booth Tarkington felt about it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-book-and-movie-spoilers-ahoy/534418/83 "2010-04-13T11:36:53Z")
> [@](#): > > So, how long has Hollywood been changing endings? Since before it was in Hollywood. Edison’s 1910 version of **Frankenstein** is not only abbreviated, but has a happy ending, with the monster vanishing. The silent version of _Moby Dick_, **The Sea Beast** , has Captain Ahab killing the whale(!!) and returning home to his sweetheart (!!!) The semi-silent version of **the Mysterious Island** differs so much from _any_ Jules Verne book that it’s essentially a made-up film. and so on, and so on, and so on. They completely changed the ending of **The Phantom of the Opera** (and mucked around with the film itslf about four times after the initial release). They changed **The Lost World** to accommodate nw special effects and to avoid hurting the sensitivities of the audience (and to keep the makeup budget low). **Nosferatu** and **Dracula** differ significantly from the book (more understandable in the latter case – it’s adapted from a stage play, rather from the book), and even by 1931 the film **frankenstein** is so radically different from the book that it’s practically a new story. ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-book-and-movie-spoilers-ahoy/534418/84 "2010-04-13T11:55:30Z")
In the classic Day The Earth Stood Still 50s movie , the “robot” Gort appears subservient to the humanoid Klaatu , but in the original Harry Bates short story “Farewell to the Master”, it is the Robot who is the “master”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-book-and-movie-spoilers-ahoy/534418.md?page=4)