Classic films can and do derive from classic literature, but the predication and process by which they arrive stirs debate among veteran filmmakers and scholars alike. How these films endure despite their tailoring for specific stars, audiences, and contemporary social or political messages seems as much a function of showmanship as it does the screenwriter's artful translation for the medium of film. From their varying vantage points, the contributors to this volume explore classic American and foreign films, the novels and dramas from which they derive, auteur cinema, and the complexities of adaptation.