F I L M I N G F O R S T E R 1111__556688__IInnggeerrssoollll..iinnddbb ii 11//1166//1122 22::3366 PPMM 1111__556688__IInnggeerrssoollll..iinnddbb iiii 11//1166//1122 22::3366 PPMM F I L M I N G F O R S T E R The Challenges in Adapting E. M. Forster’s Novels for the Screen Earl G. Ingersoll FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON UNIVERSITY PRESS Madison (cid:129) Teaneck 1111__556688__IInnggeerrssoollll..iinnddbb iiiiii 11//1166//1122 22::3366 PPMM Published by Fairleigh Dickinson University Press Co-published with The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.rowmanlittlefield.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright © 2012 by Earl G. Ingersoll All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ingersoll, Earl G., 1938– Filming Forster : the challenges in adapting E. M. Forster’s novels for the screen / Earl G. Ingersoll. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-61147-517-3 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-61147-518-0 (ebook) 1. Forster, E. M. (Edward Morgan), 1879-1970—Film adaptations. 2. English fiction—film adaptations. 3. Film adaptations—History and criticism. I. Title. PR6011.O58Z6875 2012 791.43'6—dc23 2011049552 ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America 1111__556688__IInnggeerrssoollll..iinnddbb iivv 11//1166//1122 22::3366 PPMM CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 1 The Last Epic: David Lean’s A Passage to India 25 2 A Surprising Success: Merchant Ivory’s A Room with a View 79 3 Breaking Ground: Merchant Ivory’s Maurice 115 4 Another Tuscany: Charles Sturridge’s Where Angels Fear to Tread 163 5 Handling an Icon: Merchant Ivory’s Howards End 195 Bibliography 251 Index 263 About the Author 273 v 1111__556688__IInnggeerrssoollll..iinnddbb vv 11//1166//1122 22::3366 PPMM 1111__556688__IInnggeerrssoollll..iinnddbb vvii 11//1166//1122 22::3366 PPMM ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I t goes without saying that no book is produced without the assistance and support of many individuals who deserve to be gratefully acknowl- edged for their contributions. At the risk of omitting some colleagues and friends, I would like to thank several who come immediately to mind. These include Vir- ginia Crosswhite Hyde, with whom I edited two collections of essays on D. H. Lawrence for Fairleigh Dickinson University Press; Gerald Doherty, whose letters encouraged me to fare forward with the project; the late George Bahlke, with whom I had the pleasure of discussing E. M. Forster’s novels and their adaptations; and above all, Louis Greiff, who generously supported the manuscript of Filming Forster. I want to thank Photofest for granting permission to reproduce movie stills from the five Forster films, but especially Todd Ifft for his assis- tance in expediting what could have otherwise been a long and trouble- some process of gaining permissions. I have worked on so many projects with Harry Keyishian, the director of Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, that he seems like “family,” and I would be terribly remiss if I failed to acknowledge his long and generous support for my efforts. In its last stages, Filming Forster benefited from the expertise and patience vii 1111__556688__IInnggeerrssoollll..iinnddbb vviiii 11//1166//1122 22::3366 PPMM viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS of my editors at Rowman & Littlefield, Brooke Bascietto and Lindsey Schauer, who expedited the appearance of Filming Forster. Most of all, I need to thank my patient wife, Mary, who put up with me through years of work on this project, and what’s more, proofread the galleys with me. Earl G. Ingersoll December 2011 1111__556688__IInnggeerrssoollll..iinnddbb vviiiiii 11//1166//1122 22::3366 PPMM INTRODUCTION O nly the naive could approach the subject of film adaptations without a clear sense of walking into a minefield. Most of those who begin stud- ies of film adaptations in the twenty-first century are well aware of the long, and troubled, tradition of adaptation studies, reaching back into the middle of the past century with the publication of George Blue- stone’s book Novels into Film (1957).1 Although some adaptation studies were conducted by film specialists such as Bluestone, most have been undertaken by specialists in literature, who have often ended by indict- ing adaptations for failing to be “faithful” to the novels on which they were based. Over the decades many film specialists would undoubtedly have preferred it if film adaptations simply went away—and for good reason. For many in film studies, adaptations represent the lingering traces of a debilitating dependence on an older medium—the novel— generally considered more prestigious and specifically supported by its proponents who denigrate film in general and adaptations in particular. For decades since Bluestone legitimized the study of film adaptation as an academic sub-discipline, literature specialists have been endlessly at- tracted to comparative studies, in large part because traditional culture has seen film as a threat to “literature” and to reading as a cultivated activity. Comparative analysis of films and the novels on which they are 1 1111__556688__IInnggeerrssoollll..iinnddbb 11 11//1166//1122 22::3366 PPMM