INFLUENCE OF READING

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 78, Issue 7016, 7 February 1949, Page 3

INFLUENCE OF READING

FILMS BASED ON BOOKS DEMAND NOT SUSTAINED Films have a considerable influence on the public’s reading tastes, and the librarian at Canterbury Public Library (Mr E. J. Bell) said recently that sometimes after a 1 film had been in Christchurch the book on which the film was based was very much in demand and was reserved, although it had been on the shelves for many years. Sir Laurence Olivier with his productions of “Henry V” and “Hamlet” was responsible for a veritable renaissance of interest in Shakespeare, not only in the plays filmed, but also in all his plays. With the filming of novels by Charles Dickens, including “Great Expectations” and “Oliver Twist,” there was a revival of interest in his books, and the filming of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” brought that book into demand. Mr Bell said that the release of a film created only a temporary demand for a book but in several cases readers had gone on to take out other books by the same author. He had noticed the same demand after any prominent musician had played in Christchurch. People hearing the musician often went to the library for the same compositions, or for works by the same composer, but again the demand was not sustained.