Mildred Pierce (film) - Comparison To Novel

Comparison To Novel

Though James M. Cain was often labeled a "hard-boiled crime writer," his novel Mildred Pierce was mostly a psychological work and relatively nonviolent. The adaptation was designed as a thriller and a murder was introduced into the plot. The novel spans a period of nine years (from 1931 to 1940), whereas the action of the film is set in the 1940s and spans only four years. Accordingly, in the film, the characters do not really grow older: Mildred does not change her appearance, she does not put on weight and become matronly; Veda ages only four years, from around 13 to around 17. Generally speaking, Mildred is more of a tycoon in the film; her restaurants are glamorous places, and she owns a whole chain ("Mildred's") rather than just three. The evil Veda, who is prodigiously talented and brilliantly devious in the novel, is a somewhat less formidable figure in the film. All references to the Depression and the Prohibition era, which were important in the novel, were absent from the screenplay.

The plot is simplified and the number of characters reduced. For example, Veda's training and success as a singer (including her performance at the Hollywood Bowl) were dropped in the film and her music teachers merely mentioned in passing. Lucy Gessler, a key character in the novel and Mildred's good friend, is not present in the film, although the character of Ida, Mildred's boss at the restaurant where she works as a waitress, is given much of the wise-cracking personality of Mrs. Gessler in the script.

Monte does not die in the novel, and Veda never goes to jail. That portion of the story was invented by the filmmakers because the censorship code of the time required that evildoers be punished for their misdeeds.