Books to Films: Sleepy Hollow, Better Short Than Long

A-Z List  8 continues with a film from A-Z List 2:

Why do certain books get turned into movies?

Some books seem naturally filmable--that is, they provide scenes and dialog that one can almost picture live (a related question is why such scenes DON'T get used). 

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving, for instance, has a great final denouement which has so seeped into American culture that book covers give it away. And it is effective. Years ago, I saw a theater version of Irving's spooky Knickerbocker tales. The combination of a wry narrator, sparse stage dressing, and simply effects created an memorable aura. 

But the play was a series of shorts rather than a single long story. Although I haven't seen Johnny Depp's Sleepy Hollow, a cursory glance at the movie's plot points to the problem of the adaptation: other than the final memorable scene, is there really enough plot to sustain a long film? That is, unlike Dickens' Christmas Carol, which seems MADE for the visual arts, Sleepy Hollow appears less translatable as a long piece.

The Hallmark version with Brent Carver relies entirely on Brent Carver being quite good as Ichabod, who is not a heroic figure but rather a superior, lanky Yankee (not a positive term in this context): a combination of Barney Fife (without the warmth) and Rimmer (without the trenchant wit). Brent Carver does a good job! But does anyone want to watch an entire hour+ of this guy?All for the sake of an iconic final scene? 

Watching the Hallmark movie of Sleepy Hollow reminded me of a clip my brother Joe shared with me years ago where Stephen Fry discusses American and British comedy. Watching Ichabod be an idiot--"the folk singer" with a "lack of dignity"--is the point. But Americans want to watch John Belushis who can "wise crack their way through the world."

Consequently, Johnny Depp's Sleepy Hollow makes Ichabod a smart mystery solver who gets the girl while surrounded by horrors. 

In many ways, Wishbone's version is the best because it has two stories. Besides, who doesn't want to watch a dog ask for food and get scared and run away from stuff!? The Brom Bones in Wishbone's version is also quite charming.