By Taylor Jasmine | On May 24, 2017 | Updated August 7, 2026 | Comments (0)
The story of the search for an actress to portray Scarlett O’Hara in the faithful 1939 film adaptation is excerpeted from The Story of Gone With the Wind by Bob Thomas, © 1967 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (National Publishers, Inc., NY).
“Scarlett O’Hara had an arresting face, pointed of chin, square of jaw. Her eyes were pale green, and above them her thick black brows slanted upward, cutting a startling oblique line in her magnolia-white skin …”
This search for an actress to portray Scarlett O’Hara in what was to become the 1939 film of Margaret Mitchell’s epic novel, Gone With the Wind, was born of necessity. Read More→
By Emma Ward | On February 26, 2017 | Updated October 8, 2022 | Comments (0)
The Wedding, a two-part miniseries that premiered on television in 1998, speaks to the intersecting issues of race, gender, and class in mid-1950s America.
Based on Dorothy West‘s 1995 novel The Wedding, it starred Halle Berry, Eric Thal, and Lynn Whitfield. The book was adapted into a screenplay by Lisa Jones and produced by Oprah Winfrey’s company, Harpo Productions.
The setting of Martha’s Vineyard shows an aspect of the privilege available to the main character, Shelby Coles. Played by Halle Berry, Shelby is a mixed race young woman from an upper-middle class home, about to marry Meade Hall (played by Eric Thal), a white jazz pianist and composer. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On November 23, 2016 | Updated December 30, 2025 | Comments (4)
It’s truly remarkable how many film adaptations have been made from the works of classic women authors. This is just a sampling.
Make sure also to see the listing of movies about classic authors in Biographical Films Inspired by Women Authors’ Lives. The following is a selected list; make sure to let us know if we’ve left out anything important! Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On November 27, 2015 | Updated March 3, 2026 | Comments (0)
The 1945 film version of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, adapted from the beloved, bestselling novel by Betty Smith, was widely acclaimed both by audiences and critics and won a number of awards.
However, contemporary readers who adore the book should note that the storyline in the book covers about six years in the lives of the Nolans, while the film’s actions take place within a much shorter span of time — compressed into not much more than a year.
As such, this is a film that is an interpretation of the book rather than a faithful adaptation. Despite the artistic license taken, this Elia Kazan-directed movie was nearly universally well received. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On November 3, 2015 | Updated October 8, 2026 | Comments (2)
It’s surprising how many classic films are based on novels by women authors. One early example was Cimarron (1931), based on the 1929 novel by Edna Ferber, starring Richard Dix and Irene Dunne.
Centered on the story of the Oklahoma land rush that began in 1889, Cimarron was the first Western to have won Best Picture, and would be the last for nearly 60 years (until Dances with Wolves received the same honor). A true epic, the film was quite expensive to make and was more of a critical than commercial success. Here’s a small sampling of other notable films based on classic novels by women authors.
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