CANNERY ROW

US, 1982, 115 minutes, Colour.
Nick Nolte, Debra Winger, Audra Lindley, Frank Mc Crae, narrated by John Huston.
Directed by David S. Ward.

Cannery Row is based on a popular novel by Nobel Prizewinner John Steinbeck. Steinbeck had written a number of serious stories in the 1930s including The Grapes of Wrath and Tortilla Flat. He also wrote the classic Of Mice and Men, filmed many times.

The setting is still in Monterey, on the coast of California. The depressed part of Monterey is known as Cannery Row because of the empty canning factories. The film focuses on Nick Nolte as a marine biologist who encounters a prostitute played by Debra Winger. They tend to clash rather than be romantic – although, a group of old men really act as guardian angels for them, providing some comedy along with the tension and romance.

The film was released the same year as An Officer and a Gentleman which made a big impact for Debra Winger. She was to appear the next year in Terms of Endearment. In the meantime, Nick Nolte was building up a strong reputation.

The narration is by John Huston. The film was written and directed by David S. Ward. Ward had begun writing screenplays in the 1970s including Steelyard Blues and winning an Oscar for The Sting. He continued writing during the 80s with such films as The Milagro Beanfield War and Major League. His films of the 1990s including King Ralph and Sleepless in Seattle. He wrote the screenplay for the 2006 air adventure of World War One, The Flyboys.

1. The popularity of John Steinbeck's work? Americana? His portrait of Americans in the '30s and '40s, Californian background? His focus on innocence and a lost world? His prize-winning? The classic status of his work?

2. The successful adaptation of his novels to the screen? The integration of Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday? The blending of the real and the artificial? The creation of a sense of the past, eccentric character, mood? The importance of the narrative device?

3. The elaborate sets, the interiors, the exteriors - studio-made? The opening out of the sets for the beach and water sequences? The early '40s, Monterey, the isolation of the waterfront, the ghost town atmosphere of the factories? Period? The musical score and the blend of the classic and the contemporary?

4. The title and its focus on a particular place, the waterfront, the wharves, the factories, the edge and fringe of the city, the abandoned ruins. the hovels of the bums, the bordellos, the hones of the outcasts? Cannery Row and its rag-tag world at the edge of the sea? The edge of the fished out sea?

5. John Huston's style as narrator? The quality of his descriptions - a sense of place, flavour, his description of the characters, comments on their behaviour and motives? The ironies and humour of his commentary -and the words contradicting the images? The nostalgia, sense of wistfulness - John Huston as a friend of Steinbeck?

6. Cannery Row as an allegory of America of the '30s and '40s: a lost world, a world of the dead, the outcasts, the bums, a world of guilt and innocence, outside the law, with its own morals, its hopes? Acknowledgement of the outside, the outside at tines challenging? The humour of Hazel and his fortune to become president - the allegorical and ironic comment? The invasion of the college boys and their fight? Cannery Row as a world of its own?

7. The focus on Mac and the boys - the individuals, their appearance, where they lived, their spirit as a group, pleasant boyos? The frog collection? Mac and his ideas? Ageing, failures in life, their ideals, their practicality? Drinking, jokes? Their generosity in helping Doc? Friendship with Fauna and the girls? The build-up to the party for Doc - and its getting out of hand, the mess they made? The destruction of his samples and specimens? Their repentance? Their gesture in buying the microscope? The new party? Mac and his playing the piano - a genial leader of these rag-tag outcasts? Hazel - black, retarded, genial? His earnestness about his fortune? Taking his potential presidency seriously? His literal taking of the need to break Doc's arm for Susie to love him? His breaking the arm and his weeping? The others in the group and their contribution? The personality of the Seer? His playing the trumpet during the classics? Symbolic figure? Doc getting his advice? His hitting the baseball with such strength? His coming to the party? The pathos of his death and audiences realising that he was Max and that Doc had looked after him?

8. Doc and the background of his life, college, studies, skill at sport? His ingenuity and capacity for study? Seeing him at work in his laboratory, at the sea - the investigations of the octopi, his research and contact with the real world? His planning of a paper, going to San Francisco? His shyness and reserve? His going to church - and the liaison with the girl after church? His friendship with Fauna, with Mac? San Francisco, his project and his paper as a goal? The background to his being a recluse - Max's accident, his legal guardianship, Max's death? His taking the baseball and exercising his skill?

9. The introduction of Susie and her parallelling Doc as a recluse in this strange world? Her arrival, applying for jobs, going to Fauna and the discussion about floozies? Her story, settling in, buying the dresses and the shopping? The encounter with Doc, her curiosity?

10. Fauna and the girls and Mac and the boys contriving to bring Doc and Susie together? The dinner outing, Susie's dressing, their enjoyment of the meal at the restaurant? Doc taking her to his special place? Her interest in his work? Her getting to know him, her trying to get more information about Max's story? Her own shyness and awkwardness? Moving out of the ambit of the brothel? Her place at the party and her being dressed as Snow White? The boys as the dwarfs and their squabbles as to who was to be which dwarf? Her humiliation at the party? The plan to have the suite in the San Francisco hotel? Her move away from the brothel, her living alone, setting up her house effectively? Doc's visit and its formality? The remarks about him being injured and then they could come together? Her response to his injury? Their future together? An ordinary girl, her hopes, potential?

11. The repercussions of throwing Doc and Susie together? The preparations for the party, the Seer's arrival and the false alarm, Doc's eventual arrival and his shock, his poor reactions, Susie's hurt? The party continuing? The narrator's commentary on the party and the repercussions? The college boys and the long fight? The police? The smash and mess? Mac and his gestures for apology and Doc's letting him off? The baseball sequence? The injury and the new party - with Susie and Doc escaping?

12. The character of Fauna - the sympathetic portrait of the madam of Cannery Row - work. personality, treatment of the girls? Involvement in the life of the Row - the party? Her care for Susie?

13. How satisfying a blend of the real and the unreal? Audience introduction to this unusual world? Testing understanding and sympathy?

14. Steinbeck's themes of the innocence of the past. the loss of such innocence in a world of sophistication and guilt?