Streszczenie:
Harold Pinter’s screenplay writing has always remained in the shadow of his dramatic
work; his contribution to the British drama in the second half of the 20th century has been
thoroughly recognised, which is substantiated by his name entering the language as an
adjective used to describe a particular atmosphere and environment in drama:
“Pinteresque” (“The Nobel Prize in Literature 2005”). Pinter’s screenplays, however, have
attracted relatively little critical attention despite the fact that he wrote twenty-two
filmscripts and was frequently awarded for his achievements in this sphere (Gale 2003:
418). The prevalent dismissive attitude of both film and literature studies towards
screenplay accounts for the limited interest in this segment of Pinter’s artistic activity.
This study, therefore, has arisen from the need to ascribe Pinter’s screenplays the
value they deserve and to put them on an equal footing with his plays, which, in my
opinion, is the right attitude to take. Both types of Pinter’s work display creativity, novelty
in handling the medium and a deep understanding of the medium’s requirements. In the
case of plays the above-mentioned qualities are more conspicuous, as dramas are
autonomous works; screenplays, however, are doubly bound. On the one hand, they
depend on the novels on which they are based; on the other hand, they are restrained by
the technical requirements of the films-to-be whose blueprints they constitute. The
demands of the adapted screenplay genre result in the common perception of screenplay
as a mere half-product devoid of any intrinsic value of its own. Nevertheless, Pinter’s
screenplays glaringly contradict this perception: in virtually all cases they are works of
art, with the potential to serve as the bases of outstanding films.
