Martin Ritt adapted William Faulkner's "The Hamlet" in 1958 (the film was released as "The Long, Hot Summer"). He followed this up with another Faulkner adaptation, "The Sound and The Fury", released one year later. It's a trite and plodding melodrama.To the ire of Faulkner fans, Ritt's adaptation condenses the vast time spans of Faulkner's novel down to but a few days. Gone too are most of the novel's characters and subplots. Ritt does make one interesting change, though, choosing to tell his tale through the eyes of a teenage girl who was but a minor character in Faulkner's original novel. This lends the film an interesting perspective; the antithesis of Ritt's earlier Faulkner adaptation.The film's plot, like the plays of Tennessee Williams, is mostly overcooked melodrama, filled with antebellum landscapes, totems of the Deep South, wealthy land owners, backwater Mississippi characters and many familial dysfunctions. It co-stars Yul Brynner as Jason Compson, a once wealthy man who is forced to sell his land, shop and work for a new owner. Compson's desire to cling to the past – his previous wealth, and the heydays of antebellum life – exhibits itself as a manic desire to prevent his step-niece (Joanna Woodward) running away from the family. He thus interferes in her life as a means of preserving his own past. The film boasts a jazz score by Alex North.5/10 – For Ritt completists only.

It is truly awful. Yul Brynner should have lost his acting license after this one. There is no comparison to the novel which, as others have already pointed out, is a masterpiece. I can't understand anyone attempting to make it into a film. But if anyone is having trouble understanding "The Sound and the Fury" try listening to the book on tape or cd or another spoken version. A good reader understands the book, obviously, and puts in the nuances that guide the listener to understanding. It's better than avoiding a classic, or watching something, such as this movie, that is so watered down as to be woeful.

I would love to see this movie again and have been searching for a copy of it for a very long time. I believe when I saw it on TV I was about 15 years old. I'm 33 now so that means I have spent the last 18 years thinking about this movie, wanting to see it again and searching for it. That should tell you how wonderful this movie really is!! Yul Brynner and Joanne Woodward are exceptional, as always. I tried reading the novel, but became frustrated with the text. I'm going to try rereading it this summer since Oprah announced it as one of her book club picks. But in the meantime, won't someone bring it to home video?!! Thanks!!

A surprisingly excellent adaptation of my very favorite novel, William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. A lot of things are changed - and I mean A LOT - but I would much rather see something new than a slavish adaptation of a great novel. Besides, Faulkner's novel would probably be impossible to adapt as written. The book shifts back and forth in time without warning. It can do that. Literature exists in the mind, while a film exists before the eye.Like Ritt's other Faulkner adaptation, 1958's wonderful The Long Hot Summer, based on The Hamlet, the mood is changed from dusty, Southern tragedy to hot-blooded melodrama. I would have been upset to hear that said about The Sound and the Fury, but it works out nearly perfectly. The narrative is made linear, and many of the distant past events in the novel are either removed or adapted into the latest time period of the book. The girl Quentin Compson (Joanne Woodward) is a wild teenager, and her uncle Jason Compson (Yul Brenner), who is taking care of her because her mother, Caddy, ran away after she gave birth, is cruelly taking care of her. Jason is a little different in the film. Instead of being one of the Compson children, he is a stepson. Caroline Compson was the second wife of the other Compson children's father. She and Jason are now Cajun, which is kind of weird, but it works. The male Quentin is more or less cut out, except for a brief mention. In this version, true to its melodrama, Quentin shot himself instead of jumping into a river. His was always my favorite section of the novel, and I'm actually glad they set it aside. It's not very cinematic. Benji is still here, but his section of the novel is completely cut out. First person narratives are difficult to do in films, so I don't blame the screenwriter. Benji quietly watches his family fall apart and he seethes in silence as he watches his niece follow in her mother's tragic footsteps. There's also a new Compson child, Howard. He is probably the biggest mistake that was made in this adaptation. He's kind of a compilation of Uncle Murray and the first Quentin. He has become an alcoholic because of his obsession with his sister's sexuality. The problem is that he is only barely incorporated into the film. I was always wondering who the heck he was until they explained him more completely later on in the movie. I guess he doesn't harm the overall product that much.SPOILERSOne big change in character in the film is the second Quentin. She wasn't very sympathetic in the novel. Sure, we could feel sorry for her, but she's a rebel and she's heading for disaster, or, more correctly, non-existence. She vanishes at the end of the novel and is never heard from again. Here, though, Quentin is a more important character. She's the center of the film, and while she's bad in some ways, she's got potential. Jason is very mean to her, but it's not the jealousy and revenge that it was in the novel. He does care for his adoptive daughter, but he really doesn't know how to behave around women or children. His purpose is to prop up the decaying Compson family. There's also an edge of sexual attraction in the film. Caddy, in the film, comes back home to live. She reveals that when Jason first arrived in the Compson household, he had a crush on her. This crush has also fallen on Quentin. Did this exist in the novel? I never thought it did, but the film has made me reconsider some things about the book. We know the first Quentin is sexually obsessed with his sister. Benji is also obsessed, although I never thought it was a sexual thing. Is Jason also obsessed in the novel? I don't know, but I'll be looking for it the next time I pick it up. The ending has some problems. So did The Long Hot Summer. Both endings are happy, or at least partly so. I had said that Quentin originally ran away. In the film, she almost does, but Jason convinces her not to, that she has potential. It works well. However, the night before Quentin runs away in the film, Benji strangles her when he catches her being bad. For this, he is sent to the insane asylum. This doesn't happen in the novel. He does attack a high school girl when she walks past the gate because he thinks she's Caddy. For this he is neutered. And Jason does send him to the asylum, but not in The Sound and the Fury. Its just that the sadness of Benji's commitment still hangs over the film when it ends, but you wouldn't quite know it if you just saw the ending. 9/10