When books are made into movies many changes are made. The movie version of Ethan Frome does a descent job of turning the book by Edith Wharton into a movie. It makes many changes from the book that are necessary to turn the story into a movie.

             The most obvious difference from the book is the way the narrator is handled. In the book the narrator is a man that travels to Starkfield and looks for work. In the movie the narrator is Mattie's friend Ruth, who tells the story to Reverend Smith.

             Reverend Smith moves from Boston to Starkfield to become the local preacher. Reverend Smith, shortly after moving to Starkfield, hires Ethan Frome as his driver. He does this after seeing the unfortunate condition that Ethan is in. When Reverend Smith sees no one helping Ethan, he becomes upset and considers moving back to Boston. This is when Reverend Smith is told the story of what happened to Ethan Frome. The movie version of the narrator is done well and adds a new character and more dialog to the story.

             The actress portraying Zeena in the movie does a good job. The movie shows how Zeena was a kind and mild mannered woman when she was caring for Ethan's mother. The movie also shows how Zeena turned into a bitter woman who is always worried about her health, after she marries Ethan. Zeena hardly talks, and anything she does say is a criticism of someone else. She does not come right out and say it, but Ethan and Mattie realize that they are constantly being criticized. .

             The most important part of the book and the movie is when Zeena goes to Bettsbridge to see another doctor. In the movie this is when Mattie and Ethan first kiss, but in the book they never kissed that night. This change was most likely made to add more to the movie because there was not much dialog in that part of the book.

             When Zeena returns home Ethan finds out that she has decided to replace Mattie with a hired girl.