Reference and Research Book News
H.G. Wells sensed the hopes and fears of people newly-caught in the information age, and examined what they would likely do in a culture gone to cold, hard science. Renzi compares the themes of several stories by Wells to the films they inspired. He finds that the films introduced themes, narratives, and points of view that substantially altered or even contradicted those of Wells, indicating their makers' contentions that humans are bound to become snarled in their own science. He includes commentary on films based on The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, The First Men in the Moon, and The Food of the Gods, and How It Came to Earth. Appendices include examinations of treatments of The Shape of Things to Come and The Man Who Could Work Miracles.
Science Fiction Studies
Before turning to the new material, I should point out that Renzi's first edition was a very good book, though perhaps it did not get the attention it deserved in sf circles. It was not reviewed in SFS, while a more recent book on the same subject, Don G. Smith's H.G. Wells on Film: The Utopian Nightmare (2002) does not even mention Renzi in the bibliography. Yet Renzi's book is superior to Smith's in almost every way. Renzi has detailed knowledge of Wells's fiction, an excellent eye for visual detail, and an engaging style. He also has a very clear idea of what makes a successful novel-to-film adaptation...Renzi's eye for detail and mastery of appropriate analytical tools are equally impressive when dealing with text or mise-en-scène....the new edition of his book is a further improvement on what was already one of the best books on Wells's scientific romances, one that offers Wellsians a good excuse to update their DVD collection, and one that would serve as an ideal textbook in college courses on novel-to-film adaptation.
The Wellsian
Thomas C. Renzi's study of six of Wells's scientific romances adapted for film has now rightfully entered a second edition. 'Rightfully' because his first edition, published in 1992, never received the attention it deserved as a splendid study of filmic versions of Wells's science fiction - hopefully this cheaper paperback will be more widely read - and because since that first publication we have seen new film-versions of The Island of Dr Moreau (1996) and The Time Machine (2002)...In this book Renzi shows both a detailed understanding of Wells's work (and the latest criticism concerning it) and is clearly a skilled film critic and analyst. It is just such a scholar who should tackle Wells and the cinema and produce a work to enthuse viewers and readers to analyse Wells's works and the filmic interpretations made of them.
