So too is the cramped apartment where the ageing hero Sol (played in the film by Edward G Robinson in his 101st and final screen appearance) pedals furiously on his adapted exercise bike to provide power for himself and his roommate, Charlton Heston’s hard-bitten cop Robert Thorn. Richard Fleischer’s grungy, over-crowded New York with its disgruntled queues at water-pumps and violent food riots are instantly recognisable from the book.

After the picture came out, Harrison joked that it “at times bore a faint resemblance to the book”, but actually his fingerprints are all over it. But it’s still an effective portrayal of a messed-up world, and Harrison definitely deserves credit for some of the most effective moments and ideas in Soylent Green. And there’s quite a bit of preaching about contraception and overpopulation to wade through. Its drifting, unfocused ending doesn’t deliver on the future-noir opening and its promise of a gripping detective story. It’s easily better than Make Room! Make Room! - and that isn’t necessarily a criticism of Harry Harrison. These arguments are also worth rehearsing to help make the point about just how good Soylent Green is. Most of us have a bit of extra time on our hands, after all. They have more time and space to work through their ideas, immerse you in their worlds and involve you in their stories …

There are no limits on their special effects budgets. And that’s that.Īnd even without Charles Dickens at the controls, novels generally have the advantage. But! David Copperfield the novel is 600 pages of inimitable genius. I laughed and laughed when I was watching it. Yet while these comparisons may be invidious, that doesn’t mean they can’t be fun. The experience of spending 20-odd hours reading David Copperfield spread out over weeks or even months is necessarily different from watching the recent Armando Iannucci film, although I’m mighty glad that they both exist because they’ve both given me a lot of joy.

But before I go into that, I suppose I should acknowledge the argument that comparing novels to their film adaptations is unreasonable.

Harry harrison soylent green