I mentioned this recently when I discovered that Perry Smith, the actual person in In Cold Blood was a fan of TOTSM and then was played by Robert Blake who was actually in the movie.
The book is great and worth discussing at length; some of its weaknesses are also worth discussing I think.
I also am very open to what talking about what decisions John Huston made in converting it to a script.
Traven (who probably was on the set when the 1948 movie was being made) was not afraid to digress. He has a lengthy section where Dobbs goes on foot with a companion looking for work. They both end up back in town and we never hear further about the companion — Dobbs prospects with two completely different people. I am not sure if Traven should have omitted the story of searching for work or not — it had interesting parts but it literally does not advance the plot beyond I guess convincing Dobbs to become a prospector.
I would say Huston understood action better than Traven: Huston shows a bar fight which is very important; Traven has no fight, just the crooked contractor thinking better of it.
Anyway, I have dozens of things I'd like to discuss, but maybe others would like to jump in?
by relesabe