books on screen

[frozenlight]

dunno if you've already talked about this, but what are the best/worst films based on a book that you've seen? how about films you'd like to be made, and some suggestions about the cast...

[IWilKikU]

The best book adaptations are Kubrick's films. IMO his films are usually better than the books they are based on, which is rare. Especially "The Shining", "2001: A Space Oddyssy", and "A Clockwork Orange".

[Monica]

What about "The Lord of the Rings"? I watched the film yesterday (better late than never :D) and I like it (although I don't really like the fantasy stuff in general) but i haven't read the book. 3 big volumes. So little time... Is it wotrh reading?

[mono]

The same question appears here, but no worries, frozenlight; welcome to the forum. ;)
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3129&page=2&pp=15
A few of my favorites: The Scarlett Letter, The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet (1968), The Royal Tenenbaums (inspired by J.D. Salinger), The Shining, Jane Eyre, Howards End, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Mrs. Dalloway.
Least favorite movies adapted from books: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn only comes to mind.

[subterranean]

Why Did King make his own version of the Shining?

Some of the best: LOTR, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest

Some of the worst: American Psycho


The best book adaptations are Kubrick's films. IMO his films are usually better than the books they are based on, which is rare. Especially "The Shining", "2001: A Space Oddyssy", and "A Clockwork Orange".

[frozenlight]

The same question appears here, but no worries, frozenlight; welcome to the forum. ;)
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3129&page=2&pp=15


emm... oops :D didn't take the time to check out the older pages...

[EAP]

The best film adaptation? Hmm, My Fair Lady of Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion.

[Scheherazade]

I agree with that EAP! :) Love the movie as much as I love the play! :)

[Zooey]

Some good adaptations where I've read the original source material:
LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT
CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF
MRS. DALLOWAY
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY
GONE WITH THE WIND
THE WIZARD OF OZ
IN COLD BLOOD
THE BIG SLEEP

Some adaptations I love but haven't yet read the original source material:
WINGS OF THE DOVE
EAST OF EDEN
THE HOUSE OF MIRTH
VANITY FAIR
SENSE AND SENSIBILITY
OF MICE AND MEN
THE DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS
LORD OF THE FLIES
THE HOURS
PYGMALION
EMMA


Adaptations superior to the original source material:
GREAT EXPECTATIONS (both the 1946 and particularly the 1998 version)
THE FUGITIVE KIND (based on Williams's Orpheus Descending, though I like it a lot)
SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER

Adaptations I just don't like:
THE MALTESE FALCON
THE GRAPES OF WRATH (though I just don't like this in any form, quite honestly)

Eh... I'll stop there.

[Zooey]

The best film adaptation? Hmm, My Fair Lady of Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. Have you seen the 1938 version of the play with Wendy Hiller as Eliza? Vastly superior adaptation, in my opinion.

[mono]

With all of the following, I found the books better than the films, especially with John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.

Some adaptations I love but haven't yet read the original source material:
VANITY FAIR
SENSE AND SENSIBILITY
OF MICE AND MEN
LORD OF THE FLIES
THE HOURS

Adaptations superior to the original source material:
GREAT EXPECTATIONS (both the 1946 and particularly the 1998 version)
:eek: I thought vice-versa, loving the Dickens book, but having only a slight affinity for both films, especially the latter, but, oh well, "different strokes for different folks." Then again, I seem more of one of those the-book-reads-always-better-than-the-movie types.
Welcome back, by the way, Zooey. You ought to show up more often. :)

[Zooey]

With all of the following, I found the books better than the films, especially with John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. I guess I should have specified- I was referring to the 1939 version. Or were you also talking about that one? Because I know there's one from the early 90's with Gary Sinese as well.

Of course, a book like VANITY FAIR is inevitably going to be better in a format like the novel, but I thought it was an intensely beautiful film when all was said and done.


:eek: I thought vice-versa, loving the Dickens book, but having only a slight affinity for both films, especially the latter, but, oh well, "different strokes for different folks." Then again, I seem more of one of those the-book-reads-always-better-than-the-movie types. Well, I make no secret of my disdain for the writing of Charles Dickens, whose plots are wonderful but whose prose style bores me stiff (I just finished suffering through the aptly named HARD TIMES). Lean's version is an admirable adaptation, but I thought Cauron took all the best elements of the plot and crafted a film uniquely his own. A good adaptation it might not be, but a terrific film it is.


Welcome back, by the way, Zooey. You ought to show up more often. :) Thanks. I lurk a lot but post infrequently. Not exactly sure why.

[Molko]

I absolutely loved A clockwork orange by Stanley Kubrick. I also love the book as well :)

[lhaeber]

Does anyone know about John Wyndham books? I wondered if the Chrysalids was ever put onto film? I think the Day of the Triffids was, but I haven't found it.
My favorites: TKillMockingbird (sorry, not very original), Richard Adams (Watership Down and The Plague Dogs)...they were cartoons, but I liked them, true to the books, and The Killing Fields, Christopher Hudson.
How about newer books? It seems like every new novel is made into a film...John Grisham, Dennis Lehane, etc.

[mono]

Does anyone know about John Wyndham books? I wondered if the Chrysalids was ever put onto film? I think the Day of the Triffids was, but I haven't found it.
I did some searching around (the typical movies.com), and could find no results for John Wyndham books turned into movies except for The Day of the Triffids, here:
http://movies.go.com/moviesdynamic/movies/movie?id=493506

[lhaeber]

Well, there wasn't alot of information but at least I now know I didn't make it up in my head...thank you.

[IWilKikU]

What about "The Lord of the Rings"? I watched the film yesterday (better late than never :D) and I like it (although I don't really like the fantasy stuff in general) but i haven't read the book. 3 big volumes. So little time... Is it wotrh reading?

LotR were good films, but they wern't particularly good adaptations. Alot of what made the books great was lost. The films felt like the Fellowship was flying through the plot at lightning speeds. In the books, you feel the long long journey that they're on. Also the mythology that surrounds LotR just couldn't translate to screen. That being said, Return of the King did have the finest CG I have ever seen. There was enough live action mixed with it that it didn't leave me thinking "that's some good CG", or "Gosh, that CG sucks!". It was seemless and I could just enjoy what was happening rather than paying attention to the CG.


Why Did King make his own version of the Shining?

Kubrick completely changed the focus of the story from the haunting of the overlook hotel to Jack's cabin feaver. In Kubrick's film you really don't know if the people that Jack is seeing are real or in his imagination. It isn't until the former caretaker lets him out of that pantry that you realize that the hotel actually is haunted. In the book (and King's film) there's no doubt about it. Also Kubrick had the good sense not to try and animate some hedge-animals as that would (and did) look cartoony and silly and not scary at all. King's film focuses alot more on Danny's supernatural abilities and the spirits in the Overlook. Kubrick's focuses on "All work and no play make Jack a dull boy."

[PrfHenryHiggins]

i dont know if anyone said this already...but the Les Miserables 1978 version was pretty swell...

[PrfHenryHiggins]

..and Damn Yankees was REALLY good, based on Douglass Wallop's The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant.