Page 8 Retriever February 27 1978 Portfolio

'Coma' A Thriller On The Screen

By Brad Hopkins written by a doctor and adapted for impending operation, test or examina­ When I see a movie that has been screenplay by a scientist make this tion. (S)he tries to make you feel adapted from book form, I shudder to movie unique. comfortable about being "put under." , see what the screenplay will be lik~. Cook, the author, wrote how his How about if you were ''put under'' Not so with the movie Coma; lhis mind's eye would see the hospital and its forever and remained in a coma for the movie has been adapted from the best activities. Crichton, on the other hand rest of your life (or death). selling novel written by Dr. Robin Cook. staged these graphically written scenes This is the story line for the book and The movie version has been adapted cinematographically. movie, Coma. In a year of operations at a by Michael Crichton, the author of Cook plays on the basic human fears of major Boston hospital 12 patients have Andromeda Strain and the adaptation in hospitals, doctors and anything medical, died mysteriously after receiving anaes­ ··~··· screenplay of both the Andromeda Strain especially those dreaded operations. thesia in operating room No. 8. These and West World. Both movies were Take any doctor. (S)he smiles at the deaths are "just" brain deaths. The tremendous financial successes. patient benevolently and one is patients are usually in perfect physical The fact that the book Coma was .supposed to Jeel reassured about the health. So why· have they died? ' Michael Douglas Our heroine, Dr. Susan Wheeler (Genevieve Bujold), becomes involved in these deaths when her girlfriend in the book (this person is only one for whom Wheeler feels sympathy) has joined the list of brain death victims. Bujold, as Wheeler, turns from first year intern student into a super sleuth a Ia Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys and James Bond, all rolled into one. She begins to question standard hospital operating procedures and the doctors carrying out these procedures. She begins to offend the various . department heads and is finally ' 'called on the carpet" by Dr. Harris, the -hospital director (Richard Widmark) and is told to "cool it." 'She agrees, but of course her curiosity has been piqued and she continues her "investigation." Cook's story line reads like real life, and Crichton's screenplay takes you into t r ! the background occurrances of everyday \1'\ :,e . life in a hospital: the cadavers, the operating tables, and even the pathology . ~~,! labs. One particular scene has Dr. ·.(. Wheeler talking with a pathologist who l \ is casually slicing up her girlfriend's brain on a deli slicer. This one scene has \ ' been especially spiced up from the ' literary version. Fortunately the movie version has been adapted practically verbatim. Although Crichton had to make several minor changes of the literary version to insure cohesiveness and to enhance the · entertainment value, he has taken nothing away from the actual story line. This is pretty rare in movie adaptations t of books. For w~en a prshock Susan Wheeler [Genevieve Bujoldj seeks clues to mysterious brain deaths in 'Coma.' value or entertainment. Crichton has changed the liter8.ry version of our heroine from a blond to a brunette, made her romantically involved with Doctor You Thought Kissing Wasn'tAnArt? Bellows (Michael Douglas) right from By Mary K. Tilghman the start of the movie. In the book, The Art Of Kissing, By Hugh Morris, Even if you've been osculating since Bellows doesn't become romantically Doubleday and Co., 119 pages seventh grade, are you confident about involved until the middle of the story. it? These minor alterations add excitement You thought you knew it all. Hugh Hugh Morris and his enlightening The · and emotional impact. Morris didn't think you did. Art of Kissing can only add to the Simple operations become tragic In 1936, Morris wrote a book to advise enjoyment of America's favorite leisure deaths. To family and friends these men on how to approach it, how to do it, activity. operations and subsequent deaths were how to vary it and how to end it. Morris leaves nothing to the imagina­ a:ll part of a visit to a hospital, one of the When he wrote the Art of Kissing, it tion. If you don't know how to kiss a girl occupational hazards of going into a was 1936, the era of romantic films and with a big mouth, read this book. And do hospital. novels. Women were portrayed as soft you know why you kiss, do you know why The twists and double crosses that and innocent. Men were virile and taller. you enjoy kissing? Hugh Morris knows, occur during the film and the book keep As Hugh Morris would · approach the And he will tell you. He also adds that both the viewer and reader captivated subject, "He took her into his arms, the dictionary doesn't · know. and sitting on the edge of their seat, bed whispered sweet nothings in her soft, Morris wrote this book for lovers or whatever. pink shell of an ear and she melted as he every":' here. He writes with sincerity . When I saw the movie the audience pressed his lips to hers. ' ' And I think he .Kisses are but the prelude to love, he was deeply involved with the action and was serious . writes. He even advises where the man, reached their own conclusions about who This Doubleday edition is a short the aggressor, should seat the about-to­ was doing what to whom; calling out book, a little over a hundred pages, be-kissee, so, should she be shy. she their guesses and suppositions in the many of them illustrations circa 1930. won't inch away as he approaches. darkened theat re similar to cinema But the information therem is priceless His language, his poetry. his methodE' verity. The suro ri~e ending nas everyon(> (or is it vaiueJ es s?~ and moues of kissing, are all ior lo vt: gasping in bnoc~. Who can live without knowing about Morris goes in for the romantic touch. If you have that inherent fe ar of electric kisses? Or, unveiling the His prose is breathless, his words, hospitals, needles, operations and sado-masochistic tendencies in us all, gentle like a kiss. He throws mushy anything else medical then Coma isn't a the pain kiss? Have you lived un:til you poetry at the reader every fifteen lines. movie fur you to see. But if you want know about the vacuum kiss? And, are But it's all for the sake of romance. good suspenseful reading without all the you doing the French soul kiss correctly? What can you do but sigh? visual goriness - just read the book.