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There are two American cinematic adaptations of Edmund Rostand's five act play, Cyrano de Bergerac (1897). The 1950 United Artists' film written by Carl Foreman, directed by Michael Gordon, and starring Jose Ferrer and Mala Powers, is a literal translation from stage to screen. The 1987 Columbia Pictures' cinematic adaptation, Roxanne, written by Steve Martin, directed by Fred Schepisi, and starring Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah, is a freer re-creation. Comparing these versions of the story illustrates how texts change to fit the talents of successive artists, the sensibilities of their immediate audiences, and the resources of particular literary media.
Written and produced at the end of the nineteenth century, Rostand's play was a peculiarly successful anachronistic hybrid. At the time when the French theatre was dominated by realistic problem plays, Rostand dared to write what he called "an heroic comedy" in rhymed Alexandrine verse. He based his drama upon the history and writings of a famous 17th century French poet, philosopher, soldier, and duellist-a perfect Renaissance man-the real Cyrano. But the playwright improved upon both history and his own modest description of the drama. He superimposed a love story upon the facts of Cyrano's life and produced a peculiar generic mix of satire, epic, tragedy, and romance (Trent xiv-xvi). Because he was an idealist by temperament and a précieux poet by practice, Rostand was attracted to Cyrano's history and inclined to romanticize it. Given the vogue for realism on the French stage in 1897, the wonder was that he was able to sell such an old-fashioned, artificial script. In fact, the rehearsals were dominated by a pessimism so intense that Rostand financed the costuming himself. Nevertheless, one hour after opening night's last act at the Porte Saint-Martin Theatre, the audience was still on its feet applauding. Rostand's odd blend of romatic preciosity, epic heroism, and histrionic spectacular proved tremendously appealing to a French audience weary of the sadness and futility characteristic of realistic problem plays (Amoia 60-61). By recalling and reaffirming the major strains of French theatrical tradition, Cyrano de Bergerac became an instant classic.
The 1950 film adaptation, Cyrano de Bergerac, is based upon Brian Hooker's blank verse English translation commissioned by Walter Hamden who earned a reputation playing Cyrano in New York...