Other Versions of the Book

Movie Versions

• There are 5 official film versions of the book, "Of Mice and Men". 
• One movie was made shortly after the book in 1939. 
• George was portrayed by Burgess Meredith and Lon Chaney Jr. took on the role of Lenny. It was directed by Lewis Milestone.

• Of Mice and Men has also inspired T.V. versions of the book. 

       There are three, made in: 1968, 1975, and 1981.

• The most popular film version of "Of Mice and Men" was made in 1992, in the eyes of Gary Sinise; who directed, co-produced, edited, and starred in the movie.

Theatrical Versions

• The first stage production was by Sam Harris in the Music Box Theatre.
• The show opened on November 23, 1937.
• It ran for 207 performances.
• It starred Wallace Ford as George opposite Broderick Crawford.
• There was a revival of the show in 1974 starring Kevin Conway as George and James Earl Jones and Lennie. 
• There was also an opera production written by Carlisle Floyd in 1974.
• The only difference between the book and opera was an additional character, The Ballad Singer.

Comparision/Contrast between 1992 movie and the book

     The movie, "Of Mice and Men" seemed to have many differences between the original book, but still portrayed the main message of the story. In the movie, there were additional scenes added on, including: the woman in the red dress, actual work on the fields, and more appearances from the boss.

     A major difference of the movie was Candy never appeared when Crooks and Lennie were talking.  Without Candy, Crooks would have never found out about the hope of the little farm. Lennie never had his hallucinations of Aunt Clara and the rabbits when he was waiting for George by the pond.  The last difference was George's emotion while killing Lennie.  In the book, George was very hesitant to shoot Lennie, in the movie, he quickly shot Lennie without a lot of emotion to him.  Also, the movie never showed Slim approaching George after Lennie was dead.

     There is also a difference in characters between the movie and book.  Curley's wife seemed to have more of an attraction to George throughout their meetings and moved on to Lennie in the barn scene.  George also seemed to have been annoyed with Curley, instead of hating him like he did in the book. John Malkovich's portrayal of Lennie wasn't cut out as to Steinbeck's version.  Lennie seemed to be just slow in the book, Malkovich gave off the impression of a severe mental retardation.  His facial expressions and tone of his voice made Lennie seemed comical.  It distracted me from the sympathy I wanted to give Lennie.  Also, because of Lenni's severe dissability, George became more of a nursemaid for Lennie instead of a loving and helpful friend.