But even though the film's camera work is mainly conventional, it does feature some surreal-looking shots and sequences, e.g., Boo Radley's shadow hovering over Scout's older daredevil brother Jem, as Jem, having intruded on the Radleys, cowers on their front porch in terror.
The storytelling is interesting but like the camera work, not especially unconventional on the whole. The story is told in two ways: (1) in voiceovers as Scout, now an adult, looks back; and (2) through the action of the story itself. Even in 1962 this was not a new storytelling technique in film and certainly is not one now. But what is remarkable about these dual storytelling techniques is how well they work together and that with this continuous going backward and forward in time that the movie employs as a narrative strategy, the film never seems jumpy.
Since the story is told entirely through Scout's eyes, though, this would be considered restrictive (the equivalent of 'limited omniscient' in literature) rather than omniscient overall. Sometimes the story moves away from Scout as storyteller, though. An example is when Jem goes with Atticus to tell Tom Robinson's family that Tom has been killed that day. In this scene, the action is revealed to us through Jem's eyes rather than through Scout's eyes.
The film reflects Mulligan's style as a director in several ways. One is the widespread...
Mulligan also likes to dress some of his main male characters it seems, in fashionable (for the time) white suits. For instance, Atticus Finch often wears white suits and so does another
character in Mulligan's film the Nickel Ride (1974), Jason Miller.
Mulligan also uses distinctly Southern settings in several films besides to Kill a Mockingbird. Two of these are Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965) and the Man in the Moon (1991.
Mulligan also uses kitchens and front porches as family gathering places, in to Kill a Mockingbird and the latter two films.
The film works as both art and entertainment. I liked everything about this film and can honestly think of nothing I disliked. It is an artful, realistic but formalistically rendered movie. Here, Robert Mulligan is at his best, as are the actors, especially Gregory Peck. When I first saw that the film was in black and white, I thought I might dislike that aspect of it. But the film worked well in black and white, and gave an air of stark realism to it, where color would not have done the same.
Works Cited
Robert Mulligan." The Films of Robert Mulligan. 17 Sep 2007. http://members.aol.com/MG4273/mulligan.htm
Scout Remembers." To Kill a Mockingbird: Bonus Feature. Disc1. 1997.
To Kill a Mockingbird. Dir. Robert Mulligan. With Gregory Peck and Mary
Badham. DVD. 1997.
