1001 Books in Film

I adore literature. But I also adore really fabulous films. The sets! The costumes! The cinematography! The score! The wonderful acting! Watching a film can be a wonderful experience.

Many, many of the 1001 books have been made into movies. What are some of your favourites, and what was it that you liked about them? What were some 1001 books that were made into horrible movies? Why didn't you like it?

(I realize there are some LibraryThing members who think the book is always better than the movie and that films are horrible. This thread isn't about which is better. If you're someone who hates movies, well, how sad for you, but go read a book and let us have our fun.)

I'll start. Out of the long list of 1001 books that I loved that became a movie that I loved, I'll pick Out of Africa.

I first read this book in the early 80s when I returned to Canada from two months in Papua New Guinea. I planned on Africa for my next adventure (still haven't made it there . . . ). I had never heard of the book but found while browsing the library shelves and just loved it. There was something about her descriptions of the climate and terrain that reminded me of New Guinea, but more importantly, the stories she told were just magical. I thought this was my personal treasure, so I was shocked to learn a few years later that it was being made into a movie, and not only that--it would star Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. Wow. How does one make Out of Africa into a movie?

Well, by going off the book, of course. The movie is actually about Dinsen's time in Africa, based on her writings and also biographies of her and Finch-Hatton. Robert Redford was horribly miscast, but somehow I forgave that particular sin. He brings a certain something to the part. And the sets! The costumes! The cinematography! The acting! I really think they did a fabulous job. And the ever-charming Michael Kitchen, who plays Berkeley Cole, looks just like a picture of the real Berkeley Cole that I have in a book. Bonus.

Any one care to take a turn, or shall I continue?

AS Byatt's Possession is one of my favourite reads of all time. But the adaptation with Gwyneth Paltrow! Horrible, horrible, horrible.

I think Everything is Illuminated was an amazing book, and the adaptation is very interesting. They threw out half the book, but it was the only way to make it filmable.

Will be back with an excellent adaptation (I hope!) once I review the list...

AS Byatt's Possession is one of my favourite reads of all time. But the adaptation with Gwyneth Paltrow! Horrible, horrible, horrible.

Interesting! I own both. Possession is on my absolutely must-read list for next year. I picked up the DVD for $5 at some sale. I'm not going to watch it until I've read the book, and I'm not expecting much. Now I'm expecting even less. I have liked Paltrow in some things though . . .

Oh, Gwynnie wasn't bad in it, it just seemed to lack the spark that made the book so exciting. I can't remember details, but they did completely munge the ending, turning it into a thriller, or something. Yetch. (Not that thrillers are bad per se, but a boring thriller? Ew.)

A Clockwork Orange would have to be my standout adaptation. Both book & movie are terrifying, yet so well done, I'm glad to have read/seen them. (But I don't necessarily want to revisit.)

It's also interesting as to *why* some adaptations are good: some are excellent because they are faithful to the source (A Clockwork Orange); some are good because they take the concepts/plot and run with it and make a good movie (The Thirty Nine Steps, with Robert Donat; Lord of the Rings); some are good because they have nothing to do with the book (shame The Orchid Thief isn't a "1001" book, because "Adaptation" was one of the best adaptations I've ever seen!).

Can we count BBC adaptations? :) Day of the Triffids (the one that scared me as a child), Brideshead Revisited, Cranford, Pride and Prejudice, Barchester Towers (as "Barchester Chronicles", I think), Jane Eyre, etc...

Sunday nights aren't half as much fun if there's no BBC bonnet fest on TV. :)

Oh, and then there's Trainspotting - another in the "Clockwork Orange" league for me. :)

And Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. There has never been a truly satisfactory adaptation to my mind, yet it's such a gloriously madcap brilliant book.

I really like Visconti's Death in Venice.

I love the story, Dirk Bogarde is the perfect actor for Gustav von Aschenbach and the music by Gustav Mahler is stunning.

There are several 1001 books where I have also seen movie versions...

Some managed to make good films and remain faithful to the original: A Clockwork Orange, The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, Sense and Sensibility, Dangerous Liaisons are all cases where you get pretty good idea about the story from either source (though I of course recommend both).

Some other took some liberties with the source material and made passable to good films:
The Name of the Rose simplified things to a nice medieval whodunnit,
The Thin Man got turned (successfully) into a screwball comedy,
The Shining switched focus on characters, King writes children best but Kubrick ignored the kid and concentrated on the father, and
Frankenstein ignored all but the most basic parts of the Shelley story.

I liked The Lord of the Rings better as a movie, actually, but then again I am no fan of Tolkien...
And I'm probably one of the few people who like Myra Breckinridge, the movie, I think it is highly visionary and only got better by time...but it is definitely a trashy flick.

I am somewhat picky on my movie watching, so I don't think I have seen a good book from 1001 list being turned into a bad movie (I liked neither version of Interview with the Vampire).

Looking at the list (2008 edition) I just realized how many movies for 1001 books I haven't seen. Of those I've both seen and read I often only remember the book or the movie.

As adaptations I liked:
Sense and Sensibility
Emma
Pride and Prejudice if the BBC version counts
Great Expectations - though it was a very modern adaptation I found they had managed to catch that morbid atmosphere nicely
A Room with a View
Gone with the Wind
Out of Africa
Pippi Longstocking - the Swedish TV show
Remains of the Day

I never managed to finish watching my DVD of Howard's End although the movie had great reviews. I'll try again.
I liked Breakfast at Tiffany’s , but it's not that close to the book.
I'd agree with hdcclassic on The Shining, the movie is good, but the focus is different.
The Tin Drum movie is quite disgusting, but so is the book. I think it's a good adaptation.
I liked only the first part of The Lord of the Rings, but it was the same with the book.

I wasn’t happy with
The Talented Mr Ripley
The Age of Innocence
The Name of the Rose and The House of Spirits – too much was lost by pressing the complex stories into the movie
Perfume
Smilla’s Sense of Snow

#5 - Can we count BBC adaptations? :) and # 9 if the BBC version counts

Relax people! There are no library thing police here. Of course those are movies! If you want to talk about a Happy Days episode where they reenacted The Tale of Two Cities, that's fine too.

The only thing I want to avoid on this thread is conversations with the LT members who hate movies and think that you can only get The Truth if you read the book. If they don't get the beautiful wonder of movies, too bad so sad for them, but don't bring it here.

Otherwise, please share your positive or negative thoughts on any adaption you feel like discussing.

Of the books from the 1001 list that I have also seen the movie, I would say that the movie versions of The Godfather and Casino Royale are better than the books. I tend to enjoy seeing action better than reading about it. I am wondering if I will like the Lord of the Rings movies better than the book (once I get around to reading it).

I really liked Capote, which was a movie about Truman Capote researching and writing In Cold Blood. I think that the book and the movie completemented one another and made the pairing more complex.

Not that I cared much for the graphic novel, but I hated the movie adaptation of Watchmen, and it ruined the song Hallelujah. Thank goodness the theater had pizza and beer so the evening wasn't a complete waste.

I haven't read Howard's End yet, but the movie was very good and so dramatic in an understated way. It is worth finishing Deern.

I seem to either see the movie or read the book, but rarely both.

I have seen and read 39 Steps, In Cold Blood, Rebecca, Little Women, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Christmas Carol (many versions), and Dracula, (several versions).

I thought most of these were good compliments of each other. I remember liking the book version of 2001: A Space Odyssey better than the film though. And not liking the US version of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Some film versions I liked e.g., Clockwork Orange, The Shining, The Name of the Rose but they didn't make me want to run out and read the book. (Although I am more intrigued about The Shining now based on Deern's comments in this thread.)

Others for various reasons e.g., Interview with the Vampire and Like Water for Chocolate really turned me off to even trying the book.

The film A Sheltering Sky was one of the most haunting films I've ever seen, and that is one I definitely intend to read as well.

One that I don't think has been mentioned yet; I loved both the book and the movie The English patient. The book for its poetic language and the movie for the astonishing visuals. And Ralph Fiennes of course - be still my beating heart :-)

Oh, oh! and nobody mentioned To kill a mockingbird? Inconceivable!

And I thought the movie Clueless was an interesting and very well done modern spin on Emma.

And I will now stop beginning my sentences with 'and'.

Others for various reasons e.g., Interview with the Vampire and Like Water for Chocolate really turned me off to even trying the book.

I have very little memory of the film version of Like Water For Chocolate, so obviously I wasn't overly impressed or disappointed, but the book is one of my all-time favourites! It's a wonderful book, and a quick read too.

A Cock and Bull Story, the fictional not-making-of documentary of a movie adaptation of Tristram Shandy. Yes, it doesn't make sense. Neither did the book. Loved both, but obviously the book is better.

I have seen two different movies of The Shining. I liked them both, but I think the second one was closer to the book. I have never read Emma (that is on my must read next year list), but I love the movie Clueless. My daughters and I like to quote it to each other. And every time I find the word "whelmed" in a book, I have to send them the quote. I have seen the movie The Spy Who Came in From the Cold recently, and I thought it was a pretty good movie. (I like a good spy novel.) I loved Pride and Prejudice, all three movies of it that I saw. I just saw the movie The Remains of the Day, and I thought it was quite good. I have been amazed by how many of these books have been made into movies.
--BJ

There's indeed two versions of The Shining, apparently King was not altogether happy with changes Kubrick made and pushed through a later version closer to the book. Haven't seen it so I don't know how that works (funnily enough, a while ago I read Danse Macabre, a book where King discusses horror in various media, and there he still viewed Kubrick's versio favorably...)

Clueless is a good movie, true, though if we start to consider interpretations that loose, there are several...Jane Eyre was a basis on the horror film White Zombie, and Robocop draws from Frankenstein...

There are some books on the list which probably are there because of the film. I haven't read The Godfather but I haven't heard much praise for the book, and of Dick books I would have picked another than Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep but because of Blade Runner connection that's his best known work.
And I don't know if Professor Unrat has remained on the classic status without the help of one of my favorite films of all time, The Blue Angel.

#18-I thought I Walked with a Zombie was the zombie movie based on Jane Eyre. I haven't seen it but I have heard the comparison.

I have never heard a comparison to White Zombie, and having seen that film a few weeks ago, I don't personally see the connection.

Ah, I think I have got my zombie films mixed...been several years since I saw either of them.

#20-Thanks. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something...

Fight Club and Choke were pretty accurate in terms of film adaptation. And I know most of Bret Easton Ellis' books/movies are on the list.

I saw the French movies Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources years ago and loved them. I recently read the books, which were written by Marcel Pagnol, and they are wonderful too.

accidental double post

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day was adapted for film in 2008.

This is a rambling post as I'm on holidays...

Love BBC adaptions so that takes care of Austen and the Bronte's.

I think Lord of the Rings was a good adaption. It still cut a lot of content but I guess a lot of it was superfluous.

Gone with the Wind is awesome.

Possession the movie does not live up to the book but I thought it was a good aid. I watched the movie with no idea it was a book too. I like the concept so much that when I caught in the credits it was a book I hunted down the book. Having watched the movie I understood the plot amongst all the poetry.

Atonement I loved as a book and movie. I thought the movie had a better ending.

Has anyone seen the movie Never Let Me Go? I want to see it. I liked the book Remains of the Day so much more than the movie, I thought the movie was dull.

The House of the Spirits and Out of Africa are both languid movies that I love but most of my friends and family think are boring.

Lolita was an ok movie but I liked the book better.
Memoirs of a Geisha again the book was better.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin I loved the movie and only got halfway through the book 4 years ago wgen my boyfriend spilled hot chocolate all over it. Penny Cruz was perfect casting in that movie.

The Shipping News disliked both the book and movie. same with Oscar and Lucinda

The Colour Purple is a great book and movie

Schindler's List vs Schindlers Ark are really different. It's too long ago since I read Schindlers Ark... all I know is I won't read it again! It definitely doesn't in my memory have the story arc that the movie did which made it harder to read.

oooo so many more.... Breakfast at Tiffany's movie is better. The Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy good adaption but book is still better. The Great Gatsby was a good adaption....

I've been meaning to watch The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The movie is supposed to be good, but it's hard for me to even imagine it as a film after reading the book. Has anyone seen the film version?

Here are a few where I thought the movie was better than the book:

The Godfather (although I enjoyed the book when I read it oh those many, many years ago)
The Graduate -- the book is quite grim, actually, and lacks the charm of a young Dustin Hoffman
Breakfast at Tiffany's -- Audrey Hepburn can fix anything
Christmas Carol -- okay, it's not that the book isn't great. Of course it is . . . but . . . all my favourite lines are in the Alister Sim version and not actually in the book. Walker!
A Room With a View -- again, not that the book isn't splendid, but . . . the costumes! the casting! the cinematography! Helena Bohnam-Carter! The naked bathing scene! One of my all-time fav movies that I can watch again and again, and a book that I got through once.

#26> I did love Oscar and Lucinda as a book, and my husband loves the movie adaptation because it was filmed where he spent his formative years.

#27> I've read the book (I don't think I really understood it, however), but have not seen the movie.

#28> Audrey Hepburn can fix anything

Absolutely! I'm fond of the book, but the movie will remain an all-time favourite of mine.

Did you see the recentish BBC version of "A Room with a View"? (LOVED the movie as a teenager, simply gorgeous stuff, must re-read the book now as an adult.) It was nicely done, only they made the vicar (Mr Beebe?) quite gay. Which wasn't quite right for the character, in my mind.

And my favourite adaptation of A Christmas Carol is "A Muppet Christmas Carol". Closely followed by the recent BBC Doctor Who take on the classic story (very nicely twisted around the whole idea of time travel, plus Michael Gambon).

"The Muppet Christmas Carol" is a big hit in our house too. I actually managed to watch the whole thing this year (usually I'm busy with Christmas chores, but this year maybe I didn't care anymore?). Anyway, I didn't realize how much singing there is in it.

I missed the recentish BBC "A Room with a View", although I had planned to watch it. When I learned about it, my reaction was "why on earth would they redo that one? How do you follow perfection?"

#28, 29> Although I love Audrey Hepburn and almost everything she has done, I have to disagree that she can fix anything. I could not sit through more than about half an hour of her version of War and Peace. I loved the book, and the movie just seemed to be plowing through some aspects of the plot too quickly, and absolutely dragging on others.

Well, I was joking. She certainly made some bad films. But I can forgive her a lot.

#31> Oh, I'd forgotten that one! But for me it was Henry Fonda as Pierre that really dragged that movie down. I like Henry Fonda, he was just so miscast there.

(Says she, who has only ever read the first bit of War and Peace. Twice. Many years ago. I'm certainly no expert on the book!)

#31 same! I loved reading War and Peace many years ago. When I saw the movie on DVD at my library and that it had Audrey Hepburn in it I was sure I would have many hours of entertainment from it ala BBC P&P.... after about an hour of it I was actively doing other things while it played in the background.

Books with movies that I thought were equally great regardless of the fact that the books had more depth:

-Moby Dick
-Gone With the Wind
-Like Water for Chocolate (must read book first or the movie will leave you scratching your head)
-Tarzan of the Apes - Watch the Johnny Weissmuller versions, there were twelve of them
-The Time Machine (must read book first and ignore early film's lack of special effects. Sort of like watching the early Star Trek TV shows, snicker, snicker. Haven't seen the more recent version)
-The Grapes of Wrath
-Lolita Nabokov's writing is worth reading the book
-Tipping the Velvet (another to read the book first)
-One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest

Four I thought were much better books than movies:
- The Color Purple
- The World According to Garp
- Interview With a Vampire
- Journey to the Center of the Earth 2008 version

For me, reading the book first allows me to enjoy the movie more because I know all the background details. Some of the above I'm sure I wouldn't have liked as well only seeing the movie.

Then again, I've seen Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day which I loved and The Graduate which was ok, but in both cases I feel no need to read the books. The movies were spoilers for me. I feel the same about To Kill a Mockingbird. It was such a great movie that I'll likely never read the book.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a really great book.
--BJ

#36 I have no doubt you are right. But I'm one of those people that very rarely reads a book more than once. I can only think of three I've read twice (many years apart): Ride the Wind by Lucia St. Clair Robson (and cried both times at the end), Outlander by Diana Gabaldon and Watership Down by Richard Adams.

Having seen a good movie version of a book, it would feel like reading it twice because I've lost the "can't wait to see how it turns out' excitement. Also, I have about fifteen books on hand in my TBR pile at any given time and a wish list on Amazon of over 100 books. In a nutshell, there are too many great stories to discover and too little time. Sigh...

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day was considerably better (and quite different) as a book. The movie flattens it into something more appealing to a modern audience and it loses the quirkiness of the character and of the narrative as a whole. The book is pretty good, surprisingly so.

#36, you make the book sound very enticing. I may have to put that on my wish list too.

I am setting a goal of reading at least 250 of the 1001 books, choosing those I think I would enjoy most. Books like War and Peace, which I tried in my twenties and didn't finish, will not be on the list. Currently I have Memoirs of a Geisha in my TBR pile and want to read it before seeing the movie. In fact it would be fun to seek out books also made into movies for a while. This thread has been an inspiration.

#39> It is a great read and not too long either. I hope you like it. :)
--BJ

A few people have already mentioned it, I'm reminded because my daughter is currently rewatching it: Lord of the Rings. I prefer the movies to the books (not that the books weren't great--they were). But the movies are outstanding--what a visual delight. And I appreciate that they filled out the female roles so the story wasn't so completely androcentric.

Some of us have fallen into a discussion on 1001 books in film under another thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/122058#2874144

And this reminds me that I have so many more films to add to this discussion. Alas, I don't have time to post right now.

A quick question since I'm here . . . can anyone recommend a good film version of Jane Eyre? When I look online, there are many to choose from. I've seen the one with William Hurt, and I really didn't like him as Rochester. I've also seen an older BBC version that looks like someone filmed a stage play. I hear the one that came out last year was really bad. I'm hesitant to hunt down others since so far my search hasn't gone well.

>43 Nickelini: I had heard the latest film version got good reviews, though I haven't seen it. Came out earlier this year, perhaps?

I've seen the new one, and it has its good and bad points. On the plus, it captures the gothic elements of the novel FAR better than any previous movie version. Lots of sweeping shots of moors and candelit rooms and whatnot. On the negative, it leaves out lots of backstory and would be totally confusing for anyone who hadn't read the book. Great on the atmosphere, not so great on the details, or the chemistry between Jane and Rochester.

My personal favorite version is the one with Samantha Morton and Ciaran Hinds- though, I must warn you, it has the worst kiss ever recorded on screen. Both actors capture their characters very well, and there's enough back story that you're not lost.

Nickelini, there's a very opinionated discussion of different film versions of Jane Eyre in "The Brontës" group here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/72075

Has anyone both read Cloud Atlas and seen the movie? I was forced to sit through the movie without having read the book, and did not enjoy it at all. It seemed to be a bunch of disconnected stories played by the same actors throughout different points in time, and if there was a meaning to it all beyond that "no man is an island," it was very unclear. The movie did make me curious about how, in reading the book, one would know that different characters are related in the way that they are in the movie where they are played by the same actor, but I would love for somebody who's experienced both to reassure me that it might be possible for me to enjoy the book even if I did not like the movie.

I have both read Cloud Atlas and seen the movie. The book is far superior. I rated it 5 stars and it's got a 4.17 rating on LT. Go read it. Now.

Yeah, I watched the movie recently, after reading the Cloud Atlas earlier this year. I fell asleep halfway through the movie and never bothered to finish it.

I thought the book was terrific though... I think I gave it 4 stars. It's very evident that all of the characters are connected in the book.

I ended up enjoying the book, although thanks to the film I was sceptical most of the way through it. By the end, I couldn't help but appreciate it though. Thanks for the reassurances.

I haven't read the book yet, but Enduring Love was on Netflix instant a while back. It is definitely unlike any other story I know.