Favorite Films Based on Novels

Having been beaten to it before, I'm gonna take the late-night advantage and say Naked Lunch.

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by General Lew Wallace -- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1959
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson -- R.K.O. Radio Productions, 1950
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne -- The Walt Disney Company, 1954
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells -- I forget the Company that produced it, 1953
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White -- Paramount Pictures Corporation, 1974

Murder on the Orient Express

I saw it for the first time when my family went to a drive-in movie for the last time, when I was 10 (okay, stop counting, yes it was over thirty years ago lol) . I became so enthralled I went home and devoured the book that night and the next day. It started a genuine affection for Agatha Christie's writing that continues to this day

and I'll second "Gone with the Wind"

oh, and add (not from novels I know, but ...) :

Romeo and Juliet (Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting)
Taming of the Shrew (Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton)
Much Ado About Nothing (Kenneth Branaugh and Emma Thompson)
Henry v (Olivier and Branaugh, in completely different ways)

Reminiscing,
Chac/Heather

Chacounne said:

Much Ado About Nothing (Kenneth Branaugh and Emma Thompson)

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Terrific adaptation, I thought. I was in tears. I recall making the statement that it made me laugh more than any other film that year. Which is quite a statement, but it was true.

Lord of the Rings
High Fidelity
Short Cuts (not from a novel, though)
Silence of the Lambs
The Sweet Hereafter

The Maltese Falcon

Romeo and Juliet (1968), Charlotte's Web, To Kill a Mockingbird, 12 Angry Men

Lord of the Flies

Jurassic Park

The Firm


Even though these are some of my favorite adaptations because they were great as stand-alone movies, no adaptation I've ever seen was as enjoyable as the book it was based on--at least, not the books I've read. Don't think it would be possible due to movie time restraints and the Hollywood System.

Another one that I really liked was Dragonheart by Charles Edward Pogue. (Film version done by Universal, 1996) I loved the movie and the book both.

Edited to add:
This one I bring up in this post because Mr. Connery, whom I was named after, was in it, as well, and I like what I've read of the book.

Goldfinger by Ian Fleming (I forget the date and the company that made the film, but a cool movie nevertheless.)

Ok, I'm cheating, 'cause it was a stage play, not a novel before it was filmed, but I have an unreasoning, enduring fascination with the movie ON GOLDEN POND, starring Henry Fonda, Katherine Hepburn, and Jane Fonda.

SusanR

Some movies that I thought better than their books:

Contact, book by Carl Sagan
The Postman, book by David Brin


A movie different from, but as good as the book:

The Lathe of Heaven, book by Ursula K LeGuin, movie version produced by WNET in 1980 for PBS

Favorite films based on books:

Fight Club
Stand by Me (ok, it's a novella, but still...)
To Kill a Mockingbird
Much Ado About Nothing
Possession
Romeo + Juliet, believe it or not, I love the Claire Danes/Leonardo diCaprio version
Lord of the Rings
A Time to Kill
Pride & Prejudice (the Colin Firth version from A&E)

Books to film

Wuthering Heights (only the film with Sir Laurence Olivier)
White Mischief
Apocalypse Now (from Heart of Darkness)
Fight Club
My Sassy Girl (ok, the film was based on newspaper columns - South Korean)

movies from books

Gettysburg from the novel The Killer Angels.
Gods and Generals from the novel of the same name.
I've never read the Godfather but the first two movies were good. I assume the book is good.

So many great adaptations, but I'd have to vote for TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. A perfect novel, perfect film!

And while we're on the subject, in my opinion, the very lamest adaptations of novel to film were BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES and THE PRINCE OF TIDES. What WERE they thinking?

I live in constant fear that someday some dufus is going to make a film of CATCHER IN THE RYE, and I'm just sure I'll be devastated.

The Talented Mr. Ripley. Big Fish. Fight Club. Jurassic Park. The Green Mile. Misery. Wonder Boy.

Adaptation (The Orchid Thief) as you can tell from my under-name line...

The Dark Half
Hunt for Red October
The Shining (Kubrick version. Ironically, Stephen King disavowed all connection with the first film version of his novel, which is by far the best one.)
From Hell (Alan Moore's graphic novel.)

The WORST filming of a novel I've ever seen was Starship Troopers. Heinlein is still rolling in his grave from that...

Misery. I thought both the novel and the movie were great. It was a good adaptation. It left a few things out, and of course, the book was more in depth because you know the main character's thoughts, but all in all, I liked it. It was very suspensful.

blackbird said:

Another thread here got me to thinking about some of my favorite film versions of novels. In some cases, I love these adaptations because they were faithful to the novel, or at least to the spirit of the novel. In some rare cases, these films actually surpassed the novels they were based on. And more than a couple of these actually inspired me TO read the books they were based on. Anyway, my partial list of faves (in no particular order) would have to include:

Gone With the Wind
Interview With the Vampire
The Color Purple
Cold Mountain
The Bridges of Madison County
Smoke Signals (The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven)
Little Big Man
To Kill a Mockingbird
Dances With Wolves
The Secret Window

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Definitely GWTW and To Kill A Mockingbird.

Two that are on my faves list that I haven't seen in awhile are maybe unknown to most of those on this board, but what the hey:

Rhubarb (book by James Thurber)
Kings Row (book by Henry Bellaman)

James Thurber was a humorist who is probably better remembered for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (hmm...and the movie version of it with Danny Kaye is just as hilarious). Rhubarb is about a cat that inherits a baseball team, the New York Loons, and this, er, presents a lot of problems for the team...among other things.

When I was a teenager, I went thru a period where I'd see a film on TV and wonder if it was based on a book. I wrote those down, searched the library, and read them and enjoyed them.

Kings Road is (at least when I was a teenager) a disturbing tome about the sleaziness of small town life in the U.S. in the early 1900s (basically the dirty personal lives of rich and poor alike). The film version is almost as interesting and uncompromising - it had to be whitewashed because it came out in the 1940s.

However, Ronald Reagan (don't laugh) gives a very strong performance. Yes, he really did, after waking up from a certain medical procedure he was unaware had been done and proclaiming, "Where's the rest of me?" Very haunting.

Oh, another one:

A Christmas Story (by humorist Jean Shepard)

Mr. Shepard's book was called In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash. I absolutely *love* the movie (never read the book, does that count against me? ), and I never tire of looking at it or quoting it. ("Fragile...must be Italian!")

Lord of the Rings

Yeah, Peter Jackson did a great job. I'll never forget when hubby and I went to see the first installment, Fellowship of the Ring, and we were actually grabbing at each other without making out. We were glad it was in the theaters but were nervous about it being pulled off - esp. after having to endure the Bakshi animated debacle (the more cheaply made Rankin Bass animations were better). We were both relieved when it lived up to the hype.

What else, what else? Can't think of any others at the moment.

Great thread!
~Nancy

The Shining
The Outsiders (maybe this one is just nostalgia )
Romeo & Juliet (the new version)
Lord of the Flies (the original version)

There's a Canadian flick called Nights Below Station Street that is hilarious and (IMO) much better than the book.

graham greene first wrote it as a novella with the script in mind (so not really as a stand alone novel) but, The Third Man is my favourite of all time movies.

Harold and Maude-- one of my all-time faves anyway, but a marvelous adaptation with superb casting.

CaitlinK18 said:

The WORST filming of a novel I've ever seen was Starship Troopers. Heinlein is still rolling in his grave from that...

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Then you obviously haven't seen Battlefield Earth.

-Kelly