Faulkner In Hollywood

Faulkner's novels have inspired big screen hits for decades, and in the 1940s, he tried his hand at screenwriting. One evening director Howard Hawks introduced Faulkner to Clark Gable. When Gable asked Faulkner which authors he recommended, he replied, "Hemingway, Cather, Mann, Dos Passos, and William Faulkner." Gable then inquired, "Oh, do you write?" To which Faulkner replied, "Yes, Mr. Gable. What do you do?

Learn more about the movies that came out of Faulkner's "Hollywood binge."

Today We Live (1933)
Based on the William Faulkner story Turn About; dialogue also written by Faulkner
Starring Joan Crawford and Gary Cooper

This movie follows the entanglement of three characters set during World War I: the young American Richard Bogard (Gary Cooper), the aristocratic English girl Diana Boyce-Smith (Joan Crawford), and her childhood sweetheart Claude Hope (Robert Young).

Interesting enough, Faulkner's original story did not have a female character. Adding the romantic triangle shifted Faulkner's original intent from a story about men at war into a melodrama. Nonetheless, creating the dialogue proved to be an interesting challenge for the writer.