The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter Book 2)

Whether you look at the novel written by Thomas Harris in 1988, the working screenplay and storybook by Ted Tally from 1990, the resulting movie directed by Jonathan Demme in 1991, or the magical performances of its lead actors, all of those pieces come together to make “Silence of the Lambs,” the movie, an American classic. While most of fans simply enjoy watching it, it is interesting to see where the genius came from. Very few novels ever make good screenplays, and I feel the better the book the harder it is. A novel is largely about what people think, while a movie is about what they do. Reading thru this novel and screenplay, 95% of the screenplay comes from the novel, to Harris’ credit; but Talley left large chunks of the novel out of the screenplay and Demme left chunks of the screenplay on the cutting room floor, because a gesture or a quick camera shot can convey many pages of text. The trick, is to show all that thinking and back story through action, motion, gestures, and inflection. I have adapted three of my own suspense novels into screenplays, keeping it tight is easier said than done. In this case, a 352 page hardback novel was adapted into a 120 page screenplay, and an even tighter, superbly edited movie of only 118 minutes. The screenplay and movie stay very true to the plot and characters which Harris wrote. However, both Tally and Deme made a number of small, but very magical additions. The best is the final scene at a small Caribbean airport where Lecter watches his nemesis, Dr. Chilton arrive, while Lecter is on the phone congratulating Clarice Starling for graduating from the FBI Academy. As Lecter hangs up and begins following Chilton up the street, we all know what he plans to have for dinner. The novel ends with Lecter writing Starling a congratulatory note which tells her he will not come after her, because the world is a better place with her in it. Tally’s screenplay has the airport scene with Chilton and Lecter saying these things to Starling over the phone, but the scene is at night. When Demme films it, he has the scene in broad daylight so we can see the nervous panic on Chilton and the glint of coming revenge in Lecter’s eyes. That stroke of brilliance gives the movie viewer one more chill up his spine before the final credits. When you read the working screenplay while watching the movie, you can see many, many more examples where Tally tightened and added to the novel, and where Demme made further cuts and added some wonderful touches. You can see some of them in the story boards where Demme sketched the feel he was looking for in various scenes. While praising Harris, Tally, and Demme for their genius, it is impossible to ignore what Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, and Ted Levine brought to their characters. In his introductory scene, Hopkins is able to scare the hell out of us by just standing still and looking out through the bars of his cell, absolutely deadpan, while Foster uses accent, mannerisms, and phrasing to create a memorable character of a backwoods country girl. One could cite dozens of other examples in the writing, directing, and acting; but in the end, what makes it one of the very best ever made is that all of those pieces came together in 118 minutes of film. I would also cite “Day Of the Jackal,” in 1971, “The Eagle Has Landed,” in 1975, and “Eye of the Needle,” in 1978 as excellent adaptations of very good suspense novels. The films have stood the test of time without a single ‘blue screen,’ computer-generated special effect, or other gimmick. Imagine that!

In rereading Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris’s great thriller, a couple of things occur to me—first, what a masterful example of the genre this was, even beyond the clever plotting and the fluid movement of the action. I won’t synopsize the plot extensively except to say that Clarice Starling, a young female trainee for the FBI, is recruited to help catch a serial killer by enlisting the help of another serial killer, Hannibal Lecter, who's currently incarcerated but even more dangerous than the one she’s chasing. It’s the curious relationship that develops between these two characters that is at the heart of the story.Yes, there’s genuine shock value, but what sets this book apart from Harris's follow-up, Hannibal, is the real psychological acuity and the surprising compassion of Harris’s words. One example: “. . . the washing machine’s rhythm was like a great heartbeat and the rush of its waters was what the unborn hear—our last memory of peace.” Lovely asides such as this are not there to further the plot but they make you care about what you’re reading.It’s in the moments when harshness and casual cruelty intermingle with insight and sentiment (not the maudlin or tawdry kind) that the tension Harris builds becomes almost unbearable. In Hannibal, Harris had resorted to shock value for its own sake—albeit in the very polished, professional effort that it was. But shock value without genuine empathy rarely gets a square hit on the nerves. Silence is even more polished, and it hits every note clearly, hits every nerve in the center. This reader felt every considerable jolt at the core, and this after having read the book and seen the movie a handful of times over the years. There isn't much that feels forced or gratuitous as the action and pathos lead you down a path on which you’re not sure you want to go but from which you can’t go back. It’s unlikely you’ll forget a single overturned stone on that path.The other thing that occurred to me was how perfect the movie was as well—from the script and the casting—too bad there are no Academy Awards for casting—to the directing and acting. If you’re a fan of the suspense genre and haven’t read this yet, my god, you’re in for a treat. I wish I could go back and read it for the first time with no foreknowledge of what happens. And, no worries, the Kindle edition is well edited and faithful and includes an interesting introduction from Harris I had not seen before that provides background on his inspiration for the Lecter character. Enjoy!