Review of Lord Jim (1965) by Private U — 06 Nov 2007

Conrad is my favorite author and Lord Jim is one of my favorite works by him. I finally decided to rent this movie having just finished rereading the book. And I have to say, if Richard Brooks is going to deviate that far from the book, what's the point in even making the movie?! The only fun thing is to figure out which characters, plot elements, and scenes were rearranged since Brooks (who also wrote the screenplay) freely makes use of these elements in totally different locations than the book.

Here are some downright wrong things with any elements of truth: the Patna hitting the thing in the water should have been quieter. The 800 passengers were asleep when it hit. The didn't wake up, except the guy who only wanted the water. There were 7 lifeboats, not 2. After the men jumped into the boat, they wanted their friend George (another engineer) to jump--not Jim who they despised for not helping them with the lifeboat. When they realized it was Jim who jumped, they tried to kill him. The Patna was not in the harbor when they arrived.

The Patna was indeed found by a French naval vessel, but was towed to some point where another boat was met and the passengers transfered. I don't think the final fate of the Patna is mentioned.

The Frenchman was not at the inquest. He was found by Marlow in a bar. His "testimony" in front of the inquest assessors was not far from the tale he wove while talking with Marlow over a drink--and that's where his speech belongs. How foolish to put a dialog with Marlow in a bar at a maritime inquest!

The only appearance by Marlow is once at the trial when he comes in and once at the end of the trail when he tried to grab Jim as Jim storms out. That's it! The book is 100% Marlow--the movie is 2 shots totalling 5 seconds. It is true that Marlow failed to get Jim's attention when Jim left. He then had his conversation with Chester and Captain Robinson. They had just purchased a steamer and wanted to employ Jim in taking a bunch of Coolies to an island with no safe moorage to mine bat guano. According to Marlow, they attempted their plan and were never heard from again. The name Robinson was attached to the drunk engineer from the Patna. Chester/Robinson appears later in the form of Seligman who Stein tries to get a boat from in the movie.

In fact, Marlow and Jim had several conversations around the time of the trial which lasted a few days. After Jim's Merchant Marine Certificate was canceled, he didn't take any old odd job he could. His first job was obtained by recommendation written by Marlow. It was at that job, in a rice mill, where the engineer (named Robinson in the movie) showed up and drove Jim away from guilt. His next job was also obtained with Marlow's post facto recommendation. Finally, the appointment to Patusan was brokered by Marlow.

The meeting with Stein is where the book and movie really start to deviate. The whole on-ship arson observed by Stein is completely made up. Jim's association with Stein is completely through the agency of Marlow. Parts of their conversation are reenacted with Stein and his physician in place of Marlow. Stein places Jim in Patusan. There is no gunpowder (yet--after Jim is long established, Conrad mentions to us that Jim obtained some). The boat goes up without all the rifles. In fact the only gun on the boat going upriver to Patusan is the one Marlow gave Jim, but Jim in his excitement to get to Stein's boat, left the ammunition behind and so it was unloaded.

The place Jim went had only one white man--Cornelius (Jim carried the letter relieving Cornelius of his duties). The "General" in the movie is a much more competent version of the ruler of the village. Jim was held in captivity for 3 days where upon he jumped the stockade and sprinted for Doramin--an old dear friend of Stein. There was no tricky funeral body swapping thing. We don't even meet "Jewel" (Cornelius's stepdaughter) until later. The whole escape sequence is completely made up.

Doramin was miscast. He needed to be more solid. They started calling Jim Tuan Jim too early in the movie. He doesn't get the title until after the attack is successful. Which it is right off the bat. But the cannons should be 2 iron and 6 brass. (Wait--the brass cannons show up later).

The movie makes it appear that Stein found out from the papers who Jim was. And that his appointment was rejected by Amsterdam. The Amsterdam comes because Stein needed a license from the Dutch to store gunpowder in Patusan. But Steins connections to Doramin come from his days as a butterfly catching naturalist and his continuation is an inheritance from the previous owner who no longer wanted to be there. Stein's legitimacy in the islands was based on his ties to the local population--not Amsterdam. Stein never counseled Jim to tell all the people about his history with the Patna. I have no idea where that came from.

There is a scene where Cornelius emerges from a pile mats. That is taken from the sequence where 4 men hid in a storehouse and were waiting to ambush Jim. One of the 4 emerges from the pile of mats.

The whole Brown thing is completely made up. The Gentleman Brown character in the book had stolen a ship and made too quick an escape to get food or water. Brown saw that there was a tiny village called Patusan so decided to sack it for food and water. He was not enlisted by Seligman and Cornelius to get money. He and some of his men went up the river, but Dain Waris was tipped off of their arrival and attacked them as they came up. Brown and his men barricaded themselves on a hill. Cornelius went to "negociate" and did try to convince them to kill Jim.

There was one death on each side which formed part of the eye-for-an-eye part of the negotiation in both the movie and the book. In the movie, the Lascar guarding the steamboat was killed. In the book, it was one of Brown's overconfident men going down to the long boat (not a steam boat) to get some tobacco who was noticed and shot. Both characters in the book moaned the whole time. The one in the movie eventually died--the one on the book got drowned (finally) by the tide coming in. On the other side, Brown had his sharpshooter pick off a random man to instill fear in the locals. In the movie, they kill who is supposed to be Tamb'Itam. In the book, Tamb'Itam is a warrior who takes it upon himself to 100% faithfully protect Jim. In the movie he's a little kid.

Tamb'Itam is actually sent to Dain Waris after the truce. Doramin, cravenly placed Dain downstream out of harms way but where he could attack Brown's boat. Tamb'Itam tells Dain Waris, but just after, Brown, led by Cornelius, attacks the encampement and Dain Waris is shot in the head on the second volley. He does not hole up in the temple arming cannon (this is where the brass "currency cannon" make their appearance. Conrad uses the term "currency cannon" and a foot note in my version of Lord Jim describes them as brass cannon used in trade but with little practical value. In the movie, the currency cannon in the temple are literally filled with currency--gold coins. This is where Dain Waris is knifed in tthe movie. Brown, Cornelius, and their gang are all killed by the currency cannon. (In the book, Brown dies of a resperatory ailment just after he tells Marlow how he made his escape. Cornelius is killed by Tamb'Itam.) Finally, Jim was not killed by Doramin the next day after a chance to leave. He was killed as soon as Jim came and found him with the body of Dain Waris (brought up from the river encampment). He wasn't killed in that goofy execution funeral procession thingy.

There are many more little things. When Jewel says some of her lines are in the wrong place. Cornelius's attached canoe sort of makes an appearance in the foggy scene where the steamer is manned by a single man shouting command to himself (obviously not in the book). There are some others. If you've read the book, it might to fun to watch the movie and find some of your own. But that's the only reason to watch the movie (hence teh second star). The book, on the other hand, is definitely worth reading (note, however, that I hated Conrad before I was 30--I think you need to be later in life to really appreciate Conrad.).