Albert Cluveau and the Chariot of Hell

Speaking about the film version of The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman with Charles Rowell in 1976, Gaines comments that while the film covers a lot of ground in 110 minutes, some key items got left on the cutting room floor. It's a difficult process to parse down a 200+ page novel that covers over 100 years in the life of its protagonist. Even though it is not a piece in the same vein as Gaines' work, one needs to only think of Peter Jackson's adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings books to see the difficulty in translating a work of literature into a celluloid film. Gaines goes on to say that the film does provide an idea of the themes in the novel, but it would take four to five hours to truly get the feeling of the book.



One of the scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor involves Albert Cluveau's slow descent into madness after assassinating Ned. Comparing the ebb and flow of a novel to peaks, slopes and valleys, Gaines comments on the footage that did not make it into the film version. He says:

In the film, before it was edited, you see [Cluveau] going mad after he had killed the professor. The actor, Will Hare, who plays the part of Albert Cluveau, does his best acting in the mad scene. But, of course, when the footage went back to Hollywood all this was edited out. So what we get is the assassination and nothing about Cluveau's madness. This assassination is a peak, but the gradual madness is a slope and a valley. And that is what I think is missing in the film. I am not saying that the film is not a good film. But the slopes and valleys are missing. (96-97)

Instead, the film shows Cluveau shooting Ned then cuts to Ned's coffin being placed in a hearse. After this, Cluveau does not appear.

However, in the novel, Cluveau's descent occurs over the course of about ten years. During that time, Cluveau's children, and especially his daughter Adeline, suffer.Sleeping in the beds with his daughters, Cluveau hears the "Chariot of Hell" approaching, and the sound of hoofs thundering originate on Adeline's side of the bed. Cluveau interrogates Adeline, asking her if she is pure and why the "Chariot of Hell" comes from her side of the bed. He does not believe her when she says she is pure and that the chariot is a figment of his own imagination and starts to beat her with a strap. As time goes on, Cluveau continues to beat Adeline, and eventually Adeline approaches Miss Jane and asks if she used "hoo-doo" on her father. Miss Jane simply says no but that Cluveau's mind is affecting him. Adeline tells Miss Jane how much she has suffered and even shows Miss Jane the marks on her back. Miss Jane simply responds," I wish I could show you the ones on my heart" (130). As Cluveau's death draws closer, he begins to scream and go mad. People stop by the house just to hear him scream.

The novel and the film show the relationship between Cluveau and Miss Jane. The novel also shows the effects of an oppressive society on Cluveau's daughter. In many ways, she suffers for her father's sin and the society where whites use Cajuns to maintain control over African Americans. This psychological deterioration on women due to racism and slavery is nothing new. Lydia Maria Child spoke about the effects of slavery on white women who never experienced it in her An Appeal in  Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans (1836). More contemporaneous with Gaines, one can look at Gwendolyn Brook's "A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, A Mississippi Mother Burn Bacon" (1960). To me, this is an important aspect of Gaines' novels that needs to be explored. One needs to only think of Candy in A Gathering of Old Men (1983) to see the effects of racism even on a person who feels she is liberal in her views towards African Americans.  

In Tracy Keenan Wynn's screenplay for the film version, he does not include Adeline. He does, however, include the scenes immediately following Ned's assassination. He does include a scene with Bam being interviewed by the sheriff and a sequence showing Cluveau's descent into madness. This sequence differs from the novel, but it still shows the psychological effect that racism and oppression had on Ned's killer. The script maintains the peoples' thoughts that Miss Jane put some "hoo-doo" on Cluveau; however, it differs because it shows Cluveau hallucinating and sleeping with a gun. At one point, "He fell out of bed onto the floor, grabbed his gun and SHOT a hole right through the board wall of his shack." Another night, he ran out into the yard screaming and covering his ears. That's how they found him, dead in the yard, "all awkward and distorted." What the script shows is that Cluveau experienced a breakdown after killing Ned, even though he tells Jane earlier he has killed numerous times. What makes Ned different? Why does he go mad? I would argue that the pressure of the system he lives within catches up to him. He is, as stated in earlier blogs, underneath the white landowners and above the blacks. He must adhere to pleasing the whites even though he is friends with Miss Jane. Below you will see the pages from the screenplay that deal with Cluveau's descent into madness.

What other differences occur between the film version and the novel? Which one(s) would you like me to discuss? Leave a comment below.

Gaines, Ernest J. The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. New York: Bantam Books, 1972. Print.
Rowell, Charles. "This Louisiana Thing That Drives Me: An Interview with Ernest J. Gaines." Conversations with Ernest Gaines. Ed. John Lowe. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1995. 86-98. Print.

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman Film

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the film version of The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. In January 1974,CBS premiered the film version of The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. That year millions watched the movie and it won nine Emmy awards including a best actress award for Cicely Tyson's portrayal of Miss Jane. Without the film's success on prime time national television, it could be argued that Alex Haley's Roots would not appear three years later in 1977. If The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman failed, it would've shown that the country was not prepared for a prime time film that centers around African American characters. Instead, the overall success of the film proved that the nation was ready, in some form, to see a story about African American characters specifically, thus paving the way for the Roots mini-series.  

Like any film adaptation, though, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman differs from the book. Most notably, instead of an African American teacher approaching Miss Jane about her story, the film version has a white reporter from New York coming to Louisiana to get Miss Jane's story for a magazine. It must be noted that the novel does not specify the teacher's race; however, through context, I assume the editor to be an African American teacher. This difference is important. In the book, the school teacher, who has been trying to get Miss Jane to tell her story for a while, goes to the plantation where she lives in 1962. Upon arrival, Mary Hodges confronts the teacher and asks why he is there to interview Miss Jane. He simply tells her that he teaches history and "her life's story can help [him] explain things to [his] students" (v). Mary then asks what's wrong with the books at the school, and the teacher responds, "Miss Jane is not in them" (v). The teacher wants to provide a voice to those who have no voice, or presence, in the history books or elsewhere. He wants his students, presumably African American students, to see and understand themselves better.

In the film, the white reporter comes to speak with Miss Jane, and just like the book, Mary asks the reporter why he wants to talk with her. He only says, "I'm writing a feature story."When pressed, he only responds by saying Miss Jane used to be a slave and he wants to hear (get) her story. Apart from these things, the reporter does not give much information. Compared to the novel's "editor," the reporter appears to be more interested in prestigious gain rather than in telling Miss Jane's and the community's story to  others. The scene ends with Miss Jane walking inside and Mary informing the reporter that Miss Jane is tired and she will make a decision the next day regarding whether or not to speak with him.After Jimmy and others get arrested, she decides to speak. Framed this way, the movie still contains the community aspects of the novel;  however, unlike the novel, they are firmly centered around the Civil Rights movement because the film opens not with the reporter speaking with Miss Jane but with Jimmy asking her to stand up as a symbol for the movement.

Over the next few posts, I will discuss the film version of The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. I will show items from the collection such as reviews and correspondence. I will also take the time to talk about Gaines' comments regarding the film and other items. The video below is Ned's speech at the river. As always, if you have a comment, or questions, feel free to leave it down below.    

Gaines, Ernest J. The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. New York: Bantam Books, 1972. Print.