How to Kill a Mockingbird Scene Adaption

The theme for the Directors of the film version of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird seems to be "consolidate." They often removed characters, assigning their actions to the characters they chose to include, and one scene in the movie was often a combination of several scenes from the novel. This was probably done in an effort to cover the important parts of the books without becoming pedantic about every scene and also eliminating storylines which would distract from the main storyline. Film adaptions seem to assume that visual audiences need simpler storylines than readers. 

This was evidenced in the scene where Jem, Dill and Scout attempt to go up to Boo Radley's house. In the novel, the children are scared by a shadow, and during their terrified escape, Jem catches his pants on the fence and has to remove them. While the film also depicted those moments in the same way, the series of following events were altered. In the novel, the kids stumble upon the adults from the neighborhood standing in the road, alarmed because Mr. Radley has shot his gun at a supposed prowler. Jem has to explain his lack of pants with a made-up story about losing them to Dill in a game of strip poker. He returns to fetch them at 2am and finds that they have been stitched together by an inexperienced hand. This is an important moment because it demonstrated the developing relationship between Boo Radley and the children. The stitching of the pants suggested that he wasn't as fearful as the children imagined; instead, he might be caring. 

In the film, Jem returns for his pants immediately and Scout sits waiting for him while Atticus calls for them to come inside. It's only after Jem returns that the neighbors gather on the street because of the shot. While it doesn't seem like a major change, it comes after a series of small changes that affect the importance of the relationship between Boo Radley and the children. I think the directors decided to focus mostly on the trial of Tom Robinson, so most of the scenes built around that. In an effort to simplify, the amount of time spent on the kids discovering gifts in the trees was shortened. While they did demonstrate that it had been happening for a while when Jem shows Scout all the mementos he'd found in the tree (although Scout found them first in the novel) it didn't have the same effect as watching him find them over a period of time would have. I think the rescue scene suffered because of the decision though. The film audience wasn't as invested in the question of Boo, nor did we understand his kindness before the kids did (as we do in the novel) so the reveal wasn't as exciting.