Movie – To kill a mockingbird

Movie – To kill a mockingbird

Score : 8/10 

Year : 1960

Director: Robert Mulligan

Cinematography: Russel Harlan 
Music : Elmer Bernstein

Country: USA

Language: English 

Duration: 2h09 (imdb) ; 2h03 (french dvd) 

Writers: Harper Lee (eponymous novel) ; Horton Foote (screenplay)

The movie is rather well adapted from Harper Lee's eponymous novel, though the script had to stream-line the stories, leaving out details, but not the core plots. 

The movie starts in 1932, just like the book, and concentrates on Scout, her brother Jem, their father Atticus, and their friend Dill. Scout's narration is sporadic, and am glad the producers chose to use this narration only to point to specific chapter changes, but not made into a narrated movie (a very tricky and often missed technique). 

Gregory Peck's choice as Atticus is perfect, as he conveys the character really well ; his diction and demeanor add to his dramatic performance, and is the best asset.

Brock Peter's performance as Tom is really good too ; his dramatic delivery and his sweating were really interesting and well done aspects for his character.

Directing and photography are quite interesting, especially in the court scenes. 

The music tends to be good but misses on a couple moments where silence or dramatic music would have been better than light-hearted notes, but I really liked the overall atmosphere, and the lack of music in court scenes, rendered dramatic and real. 

General acting is quite good and dialogues follow as much as possible those of the book, adapting on occasion but always tactfully and to the point. 

The make-up department kept things very real, and the one for Robert Duval is excellent, with his portrayal and body language are perfect dramatic assets as well.

Although not a perfect adaptation, Foote did a really great job in stream lining the stories to tell us the most important parts from the novel, and sometimes follows things precisely and with verbatim dialogues.

It's entertaining, but, just like the book, there are evident aspects that make it a tough watch at times. 

Casting includes :

Gregory Peck, Brock Peters, Robert Duval, Frank Overton, John Megna, Estelle Evans, Paul Fix, James Anderson, William Windom, Richard Dale, Mary Badham, Philip Alford, et al.