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best book to movie adaptation

C

confoundit

New Member
There are plently of movie translations that slaughter the book, but what book remained the most intact, and consequently made the best movie.
 
confoundit said:
There are plently of movie translations that slaughter the book, but what book remained the most intact, and consequently made the best movie.
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The movie Gettysburg from the book The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara is truer to the book then any I've seen, but it was definitely not a great movie. Gone with the Wind was a very very good movie that managed to remain faithful to the book.
 
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson stayed pretty much the same from book to movie and I liked both.
 
Michael Ondaatje's "The English Patient" - the movie was different from the book in some ways, but I thought both were wonderful. The film did a good job of capturing the essence of the story, better than usual.

I also liked "The Last Temptation of Christ", another one where the movie was somewhat different from the book, but I felt like the differences enhanced the story.

I don't think that a film can ever be exactly like a book, and I often don't like movies that are made from books - my expectations of what it should be versus what it actually ends up being tend to get in the way. When someone does get it right I'm always surprised and end up feeling like the book that I loved was actually made better because the film gave me a richer perspective of it.
 
Room With a View is crisper than the book, but I still find it a delightful movie version. Maggie Smith is perfect.
 
liktareadmore63 said:
the shawshank redemption was pretty dead on, as far as i can remember but its been years sinse ive read it
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The Shawshank Redemption was fairly faithful, but the movie had some added dramatic elements.
 
I don't think a book can be fully realized by a movie because my expectations for books are much different, not higher, but different. I would never want to read a book that is high in action, for that i watch a movie. I expect different experiences from books, movies, and interactive entertainment.

This may also explain why I don't read as much as you all obviously do. I expect an insane amount of substance from novels and will not waste time on shallow entertainment from the written medium. For that, I'll watch a movie (not to say that movies can't deliver substance, especially from the independent scene)
 
liktareadmore63 said:
Whats elements do you mean? : )
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Its been a while since I saw the movie, but I'll give it my best shot. AT the beginning, when the newbie gets beaten by the guards, they added more to the illegal stuff Andy was doing for the warden, the kid that knew who really killed Andy's wife was killed instead of just getting transferred...that's all I can think of right now. The movie had everything the book had (with the difference in Andy's height and build), they just added little bits here and there to heighten the drama, and quite possibly to lengthen it, the Shawshank Redemption was only a novella.
 
cajunmama said:
Its been a while since I saw the movie, but I'll give it my best shot. AT the beginning, when the newbie gets beaten by the guards, they added more to the illegal stuff Andy was doing for the warden, the kid that knew who really killed Andy's wife was killed instead of just getting transferred...that's all I can think of right now. The movie had everything the book had (with the difference in Andy's height and build), they just added little bits here and there to heighten the drama, and quite possibly to lengthen it, the Shawshank Redemption was only a novella.
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ahh, as soon as i read what you said i remembered, good memory you have. the things they added didnt hurt the movie and make me shake my head as i watched , like other book to movies ive seen which is why i think they did a good job. thanks for the memory jog
 
It's funny you guys should mention this because one of my big things is that people often don't realize that their favorite movies came from books. Jurassic Park, the Shawshank Redemption, The Princess Bride, The Godfather, Fight Club... the list goes on. I can't help but think that if people knew this they'd read more.

*Ahem* but back to the topic. I can hardly ever think of any movie that was better than the book, Shawshank being the big exception. Stephen King's novels are usually really terrible when they're translated to film.
 
I dont think its reasonable to expect that a film will faithfully reproduce a book, given that most films run for about 90 minutes and tell a story in a completely different way. However if it is done well, a film can represent a book and do it very well. I'm always interested in book to film adaptations as I love both mediums, and one of the best I've seen is Emma Thompsons adaptation of Jane Austens Sense and Sensibility. Thompson obviously really connected with Austens writing and drew out the elements of the book so well that it becomes an almost perfect representation of Austen acute observations of social mores, her irony, her humour. She even wrote her Oscar acceptance speech in the style of Austen. I like to think that if someone who doesn't read a lot sees a film adapted from a book, and likes it, they may go on to read the book and find it really rewarding and then go on and read other books...
 
KristoCat said:
It's funny you guys should mention this because one of my big things is that people often don't realize that their favorite movies came from books. Jurassic Park, the Shawshank Redemption, The Princess Bride, The Godfather, Fight Club... the list goes on. I can't help but think that if people knew this they'd read more.

*Ahem* but back to the topic. I can hardly ever think of any movie that was better than the book, Shawshank being the big exception. Stephen King's novels are usually really terrible when they're translated to film.
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Jurassic Park killed the book. It's not whether the movie was good, but if you liked the book, as i did, you would find it painful to watch the characters becoming hollywood stereotypes (they even went as far as completely reversing the two child characters.
 
KristoCat said:
I can hardly ever think of any movie that was better than the book, Shawshank being the big exception.
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I agree. Shawshank was the only movie I've ever seen that I thought was better than the book. I think the main reason was that since the original was a novella, the movie was able to flesh out the characters and plot more slowly and thoroughly.
 
Yup, I agree that Shawshank Redemption was as good a movie as it was a book, and pretty much the only one. I have a habit now of, when I see that a movie is coming out, and it looks like something I'd watch, I find out if it has been a book, then I read the book and may or may not watch the movie.
 
LOTR. Yeah there were parts axed but the movies were still really well done and acceptably faithful to me. A Clockwork Orange was also very well done. Yeah the sex/music themes were slightly twisted by Kubrick but they worked in his way just as well as the book's method worked.

A Christmas Carol was very well done too. Of course there is only one real version of that movie. 1951 with Alastaire Sim. :)
 
books made into film

best book made into a film for me is silence of the lambs it was word for word a one of my fav books of all time :)
 
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