Tonight was the second installment of Short Story & Movie Night. We read the short story It Had to be Murder by Cornell Woolrich. About 13 pages long, there’s not a lot of mystery to it, but it’s a good solid basic murder story.

Then we got together and watched Rear Window, with Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly, and Raymond Burr.

Again, three of the four of us hadn’t seen the movie before, and none of us had read the story before.

The film definitely kept most of the story’s elements, and what it changed, we all felt changed for the better. The two female characters in the movie didn’t exist in the story, and added a great deal to the film – in no small part because they were living breathing human characters, and not just “sexy lamps” or “dark action girl“. Because of their addition, some of the action from the story got rearranged, but it still all fell nicely into place. (and do I even need to start about Grace Kelly or her character’s wardrobe? *swoon*)  We all quite liked the film – thumbs up all around!

Tonight’s tie-in dinner was eggs (scrambled, with cheese), bacon, toast, and coffee (well, coffee cocktail), per both the story and the movie. Mostly because I wasn’t up to dealing with lobster and pommes frites.

Looking forward to next month’s Short Story & Movie Night!