Scanned by CamScanner Little Foxes on the Big Screen The Little Foxes, by Lillian Hellman is a play which later became a movie by the same name. Both the play and the screenplay were written by Hellman. Both follow the story of Regina Hubbard Gibbens and she and her family members strive for wealth. In the end, Regina gets her wealth, but she ends up extremely lonely. There are some important differences in the film and the play because several scenes are added to the movie. First of all, in the film version, an entire new character named David is added. David adds an interesting element of contrast to the characters who are honestly quite unlikeable. All of the characters that are originally in the play are obsessed with money and will stop at nothing to achieve the financial situations that they seek. The family does not look for who might stand in their way, instead, they are selfish and focused on achieving wealth for themselves. David provides a sense of relief against the backdrop of so many characters who are just plain ugly. While there are a few other virtuous characters in the play, David is added and shows the viewers more about how terrible the greedy actors really are. Secondly, the movie purposely leave out several important lines namely in the form of deleting the ideas of the racism that existed (exists?) in the South. While the ideas of racism are important to understanding the culture of the time, it is also shameful and everyone knows that. Therefore it was important to leave these details out of the motion picture which would surely have a larger audience than the play. Both the movie and the play are successful in showing the human nature that surrounds greed. Neither the play nor the movie will improve anyone’s opinion of the state of human behavior. Despite having missing lines, the movie does a better job at expressing the real emotion of the people. This is clearly made possible by movie magic. It is also notable that the film version uses the very famous Bette Davis. Bette Davis’s performance is extremely convincing which leads the viewers to a better understand of the events of the story as well as the understanding of the characters. It is interesting to note that the ending of the play is different for the movie than for the play. The play uses a character driven ending which really the whole entire plot is character driven in the play. Meanwhile, the movie uses a more action driven ending. The movie uses this ending to tie up the ends a bit more. At the end, the viewers are completely sure of what has happened. Additionally, the main idea or theme of the movie becomes more clear and apparent given the ending. Plays are usually live shows, with the actors and actresses acting out a story in front of live audience while a movie is a pre-taped, showing of the actors and actresses acting out a story. Plays are usually driven by language and dialogue. Characters will often speak in monologue for some .

1. Scanned by CamScanner
Little Foxes on the Big Screen
The Little Foxes, by Lillian Hellman is a play which later
became a movie by the same name. Both the play and the
screenplay were written by Hellman. Both follow the story of
Regina Hubbard Gibbens and she and her family members strive
for wealth. In the end, Regina gets her wealth, but she ends up
extremely lonely. There are some important differences in the
film and the play because several scenes are added to the movie.
First of all, in the film version, an entire new character
named David is added. David adds an interesting element of
contrast to the characters who are honestly quite unlikeable. All
of the characters that are originally in the play are obsessed
with money and will stop at nothing to achieve the financial
situations that they seek. The family does not look for who
might stand in their way, instead, they are selfish and focused
on achieving wealth for themselves. David provides a sense of
relief against the backdrop of so many characters who are just
plain ugly. While there are a few other virtuous characters in
the play, David is added and shows the viewers more about how
terrible the greedy actors really are.
Secondly, the movie purposely leave out several important
lines namely in the form of deleting the ideas of the racism that
existed (exists?) in the South. While the ideas of racism are
important to understanding the culture of the time, it is also
shameful and everyone knows that. Therefore it was important
to leave these details out of the motion picture which would

2. surely have a larger audience than the play. Both the movie and
the play are successful in showing the human nature that
surrounds greed. Neither the play nor the movie will improve
anyone’s opinion of the state of human behavior. Despite having
missing lines, the movie does a better job at expressing the real
emotion of the people. This is clearly made possible by movie
magic. It is also notable that the film version uses the very
famous Bette Davis. Bette Davis’s performance is extremely
convincing which leads the viewers to a better understand of the
events of the story as well as the understanding of the
characters.
It is interesting to note that the ending of the play is
different for the movie than for the play. The play uses a
character driven ending which really the whole entire plot is
character driven in the play. Meanwhile, the movie uses a more
action driven ending. The movie uses this ending to tie up the
ends a bit more. At the end, the viewers are completely sure of
what has happened. Additionally, the main idea or theme of the
movie becomes more clear and apparent given the ending.
Plays are usually live shows, with the actors and actresses
acting out a story in front of live audience while a movie is a
pre-taped, showing of the actors and actresses acting out a
story.
Plays are usually driven by language and dialogue.
Characters will often speak in monologue for some minutes at a
time in expressing their inner lives and these are often the high
point of the play. And this is why the great playwrights are
usually eloquent wordsmiths. While on the other hand, Movies
are driven by images. A scene having a long monologue is often
considered and treated as expository and in any need of paring
down, is usually the note that the screenwriter get in some of
these instances. Movies oftenly have long sequences, of no
dialogue where by a story is told through acting and editing.
And this might be why the great screenwriters are visionary
story architects.
Since movies are not live shows put on right in front of

3. audience, it usually gives the producer the room for some
special effects. In a movie audience can see anything from
explosions, aliens, full-scale wars. While a play cannot
reproduce some of these effects live. A movie can be inform of
computer animations, which may allow most of these effects to
become possible. Computer animation is something which
happens in post-production after the movie has been video-
taped. While on the other hand, live shows does not have the
post-production because it is live. And these effects could not
be very effective if there were no impressive sound to go along
with them.
The sounds audience hear in a movie theatre are very loud and
add to the whole impact of the movie audience are watching.
For example, an explosion set off in the movie, but all the
audience hear is the faintest bang. Imagine, an explosion set off
in the movie and the audience hear a monstrous BANG! The
loudest bang is more effective, in terms of getting the audience
attention and making an impact. Unlike movies, many plays do
have viewers straining just to hear what the actors are saying on
stage.
However the play and the movie may be similar in that all
of them involve actors and actresses.