Films based on Novels

[Snowqueen]

I liked Pride and Prejudice, and the Count of Monte Cristo,

Also Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

[JohnAvg]

Which films based on novels are the most remarkable in your opinion?

[MorpheusSandman]

The Grapes of Wrath (even better than the novel; for me, it's one of Ford's 2 or 3 greatest films)
The Godfather (obvious)
Lord of the Rings (Jackson's mind-blowing magnum opus; nothing like it will likely ever be attempted)
Schindler's List (Spielberg's directorial touch was never more potent)
The Princess Bride (one of the all-time greatest film comedies that's endlessly quotable)
GoodFellas (one of Scorcese's best)
No Country for Old Men (definitely one of the greatest films of the 21st century thus far)
Great Expectations and Oliver Twist (The best adaptations of two of Dickens' best by one of the great and most underrated directors; David Lean)
Sense & Sensibility (A phenomenal adaptation by the very talented writer/actress Emma Thompson and very well directed by Ang Lee)

There's so many great ones I'm forgetting, but that will work for now.

[dfloyd]

those made by the Brits for Masterpiece theatre. Our library has many of them from the 1970s onward. I have seen most of them and the best are I,Claudius by Robert Graves; Our Mutual Friend, Bleak House, Nichloas Nickleby by Charles Dickens, The Last of the Mohicans by Fenimore Cooper, Silas Marner, Middlemarch by George Elliott; and the list goes on and on. I would highly recommend you see as many as you can of these remarkable adaptations. And, contrary to Hollywood, they follow the book quite faithfully.

As far as movies made to be seen in a theatre some of the best are: Goodbye, Mr Chips starring Robert Donat, The Count of Monte Cristo starring Robert Donat, Oliver Twist directed by David Lean, Great Expectations directed by David Lean, Doctor Zhivago, GWTW, Rebecca directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Lost Horizon starring Ronald Coleman, A Tale of Two Cities starring Ronald Coleman, Scaramouche and the Prisoner of Zenda starring Stewart Granger, Quo Vadis? and Ivanhoe starring Robert Taylor, Camille staring robert Taylor and Greta Garbo, Bel Ami and The Moon and Sixpence starring George Sanders, The Razor's Edge starring Tyrone Power, A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls starring Gary Cooper, Of Human Bondage starring Leslie Howard, The Magnificent Amberson directed by Orson Welles, The Virginian starring Joel McCrea, The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep starring Humphrey Bogart, The sun Also Rises starring Tyrone Power, and this list goes on and on. The best movie adaptations were made in the 30s and 40s so I have given the star so you wont watch some modern trash.

[MorpheusSandman]

Lots of good mentions, dfloyd!

And, contrary to Hollywood, they follow the book quite faithfully.

Being "faithful" to the book in an adaptation from one medium to another is slightly a misnomer. Words don't always translate directly to images and the way a film is cut together and narrated is very different from the way novels are. The Grapes of Wrath and The Godfather are such great films because they work on cinematic rather than literary levels.

[dfloyd]

When I watched 'Count of Monte Cristo' recently with Depardieu as Edmund Dantes, this French movie wrote in a girl friend for Dantes and he got together with Mercedes in the end. This total rearrangement of the story ruined the movie for me. Many Hollywood movies totally change the action. It is like the screen writers are thinking nobody has ever read this book, so let's do this.

If you saw the Masterpiece Theatre 'The Last of the Mohicans"; then you watched the Daniel Day Lewis Hollywood version, you would swear they were two different stories. The latter wasn't a bad movie, but for me, totally aware of Fenimore Cooper's works, it was a mish mash.

It is even worse when Hollywood changes history. It's bad enough when they rewrite fiction, but when they change historical facts or chronology, it's terrible.

[King Mob]

APOCALYPSE NOW is one of the best adaptations i've ever seen

Cronenberg's CRASH and NAKED LUNCH are awesome too.

[Ebonon]

based on a novel by Hrabal

1. My Sweet Little Village
2. Closely Guarded Trains

Stalker by Tarkovsky based on a short story

Apu's Triology by Satyajit Ray based on a Novel


Oh there are so many of them

[QueenoftheNight]

Perfume. It's one of my favourite movies of all time, for some reason. I really never liked the way they called it Perfume: The Story Of A MURDERER though. Honestly, why would you do that?! I know it was originally called The Perfumer - maybe they thought it was misleading, or that it didn't get people interested enough.

[QueenoftheNight]

[QUOTE=dfloyd;798567]When I watched 'Count of Monte Cristo' recently with Depardieu as Edmund Dantes, this French movie wrote in a girl friend for Dantes and he got together with Mercedes in the end. This total rearrangement of the story ruined the movie for me. Many Hollywood movies totally change the action. It is like the screen writers are thinking nobody has ever read this book, so let's do this.
QUOTE]

I was completely confused by that movie too. I used to feel the same way when the screenwriters rewrote stories that didn't need rewriting.. But I've come to kind of appreciate that sort of movie - what I mean is, it's interesting to see how different people interpret things. But that only works for me because I try NEVER to watch a movie if I'm expecting it to stay true to the book. They rarely ever do. *sigh*

[QueenoftheNight]

When I watched 'Count of Monte Cristo' recently with Depardieu as Edmund Dantes, this French movie wrote in a girl friend for Dantes and he got together with Mercedes in the end. This total rearrangement of the story ruined the movie for me. Many Hollywood movies totally change the action. It is like the screen writers are thinking nobody has ever read this book, so let's do this.

If you saw the Masterpiece Theatre 'The Last of the Mohicans"; then you watched the Daniel Day Lewis Hollywood version, you would swear they were two different stories. The latter wasn't a bad movie, but for me, totally aware of Fenimore Cooper's works, it was a mish mash.

It is even worse when Hollywood changes history. It's bad enough when they rewrite fiction, but when they change historical facts or chronology, it's terrible.

I was completely confused by that movie too. I used to feel the same way when the screenwriters rewrote stories that didn't need rewriting.. But I've come to kind of appreciate that sort of movie - what I mean is, it's interesting to see how different people interpret things. But that only works for me because I try NEVER to watch a movie if I'm expecting it to stay true to the book. They rarely ever do. *sigh*

[DanielBenoit]

You know, Stanley Kubrick said something of the like that the best adaptions are of novels that aren't classics. Which is true really, a widely-read beloved novel would just end up being too superior for the director's interpritation. That's why the only novel Kubrick adapted which could be considered a classic was Lolita.

In truth, there are many many films which come out each year based on novels. In fact probably 40% of all the movies ever made are based on novels. Even to the point in which the line between an adapted film and a film with an original screenplay begins to disappear. Who would think of the difference between The Third Man and Citizen Kane was that one was adapted and one was not? Cinematic adaptions as a genre is too general a catagorization, for I would merely be listing about half of my favorite films of all time.

As for cinematic adaptions of classic novels, then I can say that I've seen a few which may stand up.

The Grapes of Wrath - John Ford (from Steinbeck's novel)
Aguirre, The Wrath of God - Werner Herzog (from Conrad's Heart of Darkness)
Apocolaypse Now - Francis Ford Coppla (also from Conrad's novella)

Here are what I think are two of the best Shakespeare adaptions.

Chimes at Midnight - Orson Welles (from Shakespeare's Henry IV)
Hamlet - Laurence Oliver

[Return Journey]

I enjoyed 1984 staring John Hurt and Richard Burton (released in 1984).
It might not be perfect but I think it caught the atmosphere of Orwell’s book well.
I also like Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V.

Though I have to say, many years ago, I was shot down by an old English teacher when he asked who’d read a particular book.
From the back of the class I stuck my hand up and proudly said that I had seen the film.
He was not at all amused. I guess he didn’t think the two were related.