Perhaps the biggest mistake in translating the novel to the screen was to have the film imitate the book's intricate flashback structure.

Renwick decided to use the flashback structure for several reasons.

Coppola did not employ the flashback structure of the novel.

The story is set in 1950s Iraq and illustrates the plight of Juamer in a flashback structure.

One of the crucial changes made to the shortened versions was the removal of the film's flashback structure.

Hijacked flashbacks - There is a complicated layered flashback structure.

Leslie Halliwell, writing in 1977, noted that the flashback structure, intended to solve some of the expository problems in the film, did not work.

(95 mins) It entirely removes the film's flashback structure and presents a simpler, linear narrative.

Aside from Tracy's powerhouse turn and the flashback structure, what stands out today is the film's richly shaded, complex hero.

Feeling the final cut was too long, Warner Bros. recut it drastically for the American market, abandoning its flashback structure for a linear narrative.