Current/new book cover
Sometimes a story comes along that is written with such cinematic style that it begs to be translated to film, but like any great work of art, it takes the right set of visionaries to do it well. Television writer and novelist Max Ehrlich published his psychological dreamscape thriller, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, to great fanfare in 1973, but when the author adapted the book into a screenplay for a 1975 film starring Michael Sarrazin and Margot Kidder, the film was a critical flop.
Nearly forty years after it was written, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud is getting another long-deserved release in both print and film. Originally published by Doubleday before going out of print in the 1990’s, North Atlantic Books has returned Max Erlich’s The Reincarnation of Peter Proud to bookshelves and now offers the book in ebook format for a new generation, as the story is reborn yet again for the big screen, this time under award-winning director David Fincher, whose notorious book-to-film successes include The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Fight Club. Fincher has reunited with Se7en screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker to create a new thriller based on the timeless tale of one man’s psychic crisis.
The movie poster from the 1970's film
The Story
Dr. Peter Proud’s ordinary life as a professor in California is threatened by recurring dreams that all end the same way: with his murder in a lake at night by a mysterious woman. These dreams – which he comes to believe are flashbacks from a previous life – compel him to seek answers to the riddle of reincarnation from a sleep researcher, a clairvoyant, and an expert in psychic phenomena. When Dr. Proud discovers that the town that appears in his dream is real, he travels to Riverside, Massachusetts and comes face to face with the woman of his nightmares.
About the Author
Max Ehrlich began his writing career as a newspaper reporter with ambitions to write for radio, and in the late 1930’s he sold his first script to Edward G. Robinson, then a prominent radio actor. Ehrlich moved on to television, writing for several television programs including Twilight Zone, The Defenders, and Star Trek, and later wrote several science fiction and thriller novels including The Big Eye, (Doubleday, 1949), Spin the Glass Web (Harper, 1952), First Train to Babylon (Harper, 1955), and The Reincarnation of Peter Proud. He died in 1983.
Contest Winner: JIM PARKER
Congratulations to Jim! Please check your e-mail for more information on how to receive your prize. Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway!
“critical flop”….but most non-critics who saw it really liked the movie and it has remained a favored cult-status favorite. And for a good reason: it is truly a creep-out masterpiece. It’s worth getting a bootlegged DVD or finding a recycled VHS tape! The movie remake is following a tough act!
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