The Best Film Adaptations of Books
The has always been great debate when a well loved or bestselling book is adapted into a movie. Recently a list was published following a survey of its readers by The Guardian newspaper.
Here is a list of the Top Twenty finest movie adaptations:
1. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
2. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest - Ken Kesey
3. Blade Runner - Philip K Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep)
4. The Godfather - Mario Puzo
5. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
6. Kes - Barry Hines (A Kestrel For a Knave)
7. Apocalypse Now - Joseph Conrad (Heart of Darkness)
8. The Shawshank Redemption - Stephen King (Rita Hayworth etc)
9. LA Confidential - James Eilroy
10. Brokeback Mountain - E Annie Proulx
11. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
12. Doctor Zhivago - Boris Pasternak
13. The Maltese Falcon - Dashiell Hammett
14. Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
15. The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje
16. Brighton Rock - Graham Greene
17. Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh
18. Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
19. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
20. Schindler’s List - Thomas Keneally (Schindler’s Ark)
It’s an interesting list, some surprise entries and some missing. Naturally this is all a question of personal taste.
I’ve always felt that when comparing the book to the film much rests on which came first for you. Watching a film or TV show will embed character images in your head, can you read an Inspector Morse novel and not see John Thaw?
Likewise when reading the book first and have your own ideas, if the film does not match your ideas then you would probably regard it is a poor adaptation.
One mystery that always beats me is when movie makers buy the rights to a film - why change it beyond recognition? A waste of money and invariably a missed opportunity
Perhaps we can extend this list over time and perhaps improve on it ?
Some suggestions, not personal, just throwing them out there
From Russia with Love - Ian Fleming
Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkein
Harry Potter - JK Rowling
2001 - Arthur C Clarke
The Postman Always Rings Twice - James M Cain
The Ninth Gate - Arturo Perez-Reverte (The Dumas Club)
The Day of the Jackal - Frederick Forsyth
Anymore suggestions ?
Mary (Lynnie's sis-in-law) said,
July 10, 2006 @ 12:17 am
Pride & Predjudice - Jane Austen!! Prefer the series or was it just Colin?!
Sense & Sensibility - Jane Austen
Emma - Jane Austen (actually this is pretty cringeable!)
On a different note:
The Cruel Sea - Nicholas Monsarrat
Rod said,
July 10, 2006 @ 7:57 am
Mary,
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Master and Commander - Patrick O’Brian
Rod said,
July 10, 2006 @ 7:59 am
The Iprcess File - Len Deighton
Funeral in Berlin - Len Deighton
The Bourne Identity - Robert Ludlum
Mary (Lynnie's sis-in-law) said,
July 10, 2006 @ 11:47 pm
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C S Lewis
I really liked the latest film (even if it is for kids) - quite see myself as Queen of Narnia with a pet lion!
Craig said,
July 11, 2006 @ 2:11 am
The Shawshank Redemption is a superb adaption, as was Stand By Me (The Body). Strange how only the Stephen King short stories translate really well into films with the possible exception of Misery and The Shining (although I found the book far scarier than the book even though Nicholson acted brilliantly).
Other notable favourites,
Watership Down
The Color Purple
Manhunter (Red Dragon by Thonas Harris)
Forrest Gump
Empire of the Sun
The Power Of One
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
Rod said,
July 11, 2006 @ 8:37 am
The Wheel Spins - Ethel Lina White (The Lady Vanishes)
The Birds - Daphne Du Maurier
The Third Man - Graham Greene
The Talented Mr Ripley - Patricia Highsmith
Strangers on a Train - Patricia Highsmith
Niamani said,
March 29, 2009 @ 1:45 am
The Outsiders - S.E Hinton
My favorite work of art of all time
Lina said,
May 7, 2009 @ 3:58 pm
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Dracula - Bram Stoker
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Beloved - Toni Morrison
The Duchess - Amanda Foreman
Jane Eyre - Emily Bronte
Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice
Hamlet - Shakespeare
The Merchant of Venice - Shakespeare
The Age of Innocence - Edith Warton
Sons and Lovers - D.H Lawrence
Moll Flanders - Daniel Defoe
Gulliver’s Travels - Jonathan Swift
Rod said,
May 7, 2009 @ 5:42 pm
Hi Lina,
thanks for the greta list and welcome to the site - hope you’ll return.
All the best
Rod
Lu said,
May 11, 2009 @ 10:14 am
There have been so many books turned into film.
I personally liked The English Patient, Misery, Les Laison Dangereuse, The Princess Bride,
Oliver Twist and more recently I have enjoyed the Lord of the Rings series.
Regards
Rod said,
May 11, 2009 @ 10:33 am
HI Lu
thanks for the comment and welcome to the site - hope you’ll return.
There have indeed been a lot adaptations although I sometimes wonder why there are not more. I read a lot of great books but don’t see many good films !
All the best
Rod
Phil Bookman said,
June 20, 2011 @ 11:33 pm
How about :
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
House of mirth by Edith Wharton
Kestral for a Knave by Barry Hines (filmed as ‘Kes’)
Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle
philip
Rod said,
June 21, 2011 @ 6:50 am
Phil,
interesting list, many thanks and welcome to the site.
The only one I’m not familiar with, both in book and movie terms, is the Wharton
Best
Rod