MovieChat Forums > The World of Henry Orient (1964) Discussion > Differences between the book and the mov...

Differences between the book and the movie?

posted 12 years ago by i_am_santa_claus
4 replies | jump to latest

The World Of Henry Orient was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid; I rewatched it recently for the first time in years and it made me feel warm and nostalgic and happy. (I've had friendships in my life very similar to the one between Gil and Val. I just got back in touch with one of those friends after not seeing her for ten years and it was a lot like the end of the movie; *we* had changed but our friendship had not.)

I asked my mom, who introduced me to the movie in the first place, if she'd recommend the book and she didn't go into much detail but heavily implied she didn't think I'd like it, other than how the book describes the Henry Orient bible, which she said was amazing.

I'm curious to know what the differences are between the book and the movie. She said the book is "darker" but didn't say anything else. Would anybody who's read the book be willing to fill me in? I don't mind spoilers; I actually encourage them in this case. My mom was frustratingly vague.

[–] Bilwick1 12 years ago

In the book there was a wild threesome involving Orient, the girl who had a crush on him, and her mother. The scene was filmed but deleted and can only be seen on a hard-to-find European director's cut.

[–] i_am_santa_claus 12 years ago

Yeah, that's a turn I wouldn't have expected the story to take.

[–] madelene-4 12 years ago

It didn't. Bulwick1 is pulling your leg.

Your mother is right. The book is darker and it's hard to say why without giving too much away, but it strikes me that movie has an air of frivolity that the book lacks and that the characters in the book are more resigned to their fates than the characters in the movie.

I personally preferred the book. I think the author Nora Johnson was able to capture the world as seen as through the eyes of a young girl who may have been an outsider but who is also very observant and self-aware. It contains such wonderful descriptions of New York that the city emerges as a character in its own right and both Marian and Isabel are sympathetic and well-drawn as are Marian's mother and her friend and Isabel's bohemian guardians.

It would be a quick read and the book is once again available on Amazon. I think if you're curious about the difference, you just ought to read it. I read it as a 13-year old and it's been one of those books that's stayed with me all the years since.

[–] howard-roller 9 years ago

A few things that ought to be clarified about the story. First of all, Henry Orient isn't as several people have erroneously described him, an "avant-garde" pianist (whatever that is). He's a classical concert pianist. The name Orient is a somewhat unsubtle substitute for the actual person (Oscar Levant). Orient/Levant, get it? In the concert sequence they are playing a 20th century concerto,which he clearly hasn't prepared carefully enough. Since the concertgoers wouldn't be familiar with such a non standard repertoire piece,the big goofs he makes might in theory go unnoticed by the audience. Also since Peter Duchin has a small part, I assume he did the actual playing. While the movie seems to take place in the sixties, it must actually be a memoir for Nora Johnson from the early fifties, when Levant was still concertizing. Co-author Nunnally Johnson, whose career is never specifically mentioned in the story , must himself be the prototype for Tom Bosley's character.