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OK, I may be stretching things a bit, because all I can think of are movies based on graphic novels, but I thought V for Vendetta, Hellboy, American Splendor, and Sin City are all worthy adaptations of a printed story. Sin City is probably cheating since the storyboards were taken straight out of the comics, but I digress...
Anybody think of any other adaptations to film that are actually worthy of carrying the source material's title?
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"Gone With the Wind" handled Margaret Mitchell's lengthy book and stuck close to what was on the printed page---they left a good deal out (Scarlett O'Hara had a child by each husband before Rhett, for example), but kept a lot of Mitchell's dialog and individual scenes, mostly in the places they actually were in the novel. (You can't say "Lord of the Rings" did that...)
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Gone With The Wind is an exception. It was SO popular that Mitchell herself was on the set, I hear. They did it HER way or no way.
Just what I remember hearing about the filming.
Oh, I thought of one that did it right. Crichton's DISCLOSURE. It followed the book pretty closely. They made one change that I didn't like -- the lawyer with the spanish surname was an anglo married to an hispanic. Annoying but not tragic. AND, they left one character -- the know-it-all professor or something -- and storyline out entirely which was an improvement over the book.
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[This message has been edited by arriki (edited March 01, 2007).]
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Nah, the way I heard it, it was the exact opposite---Mitchell sold the book, turned down a chance to write the script, got a friend hired as historical consultant (who was only listened to occasionally), and generally stayed away from it all...expressed regret for a few things but was generally satisfied.
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There's so many, when you include Comics and Graphic Novels: Alien VS Predator American Splendor Batman (1989) Batman Begins Blade Bullteproof Monk Casper Dick Tracy Red Sonja Constantine The Covenant The Crow Daredevil Electra Fantastic Four From Hell Ghost Rider Hellboy Howard the Duck Hulk A History of Violence Judge Dredd The Mask Men in Black and Men In Black II Monkeybone Mystery Men The Phantom The Punisher (2004) League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Popeye Road to Perdition The Rocketeer The Shadow Sin City -- two more are planned. Spawn Spiderman and the sequels Superman Tank Girl TMNT Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Timecop "V" for Vendetta X-men and the sequels and that's just the live-action movies; not including the animated or made-for T.V. movies or shows.
[This message has been edited by InarticulateBabbler (edited March 01, 2007).]
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TRUE GRIT was very true to the book, except for the way it ended, and they way they changed it made sense to me.
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Y'know, there's only one movie on Inarticulate Babbler's list that I liked ("Howard the Duck," which wasn't near as bad as legend would have it)---but I haven't seen the comics it derives from. Of the rest, I think I've seen only three or four of them.
It's hard to think of a book I loved where I also loved the movie. "Gone With the Wind" is pretty much it. (I liked the "Lord of the Rings" movies.) Most works of immortal literature that I like I know from the film versions. Of things I'm well versed in (classic SF, say), there have been so few movies, and those that were filmed bore little resemblance to the stories, and were mostly no good.
I'll recommend "The Thing From Another World," from John W. Campbell's "Who Goes There?" (The 1950s version, not the 1980s remake.) Nothing like the story (which I read first), but good in its own right.
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By the way, I have enjoyed movies made of many of the classics (including movies of plays by Shakespeare) because I find it interesting to see how the well-known, and often well-loved, characters are portrayed by different actors and in different settings and according to different interpretations by different directors.
I have copies of (or have at least seen) and enjoyed several different versions of WUTHERING HEIGHTS, JANE EYRE, LITTLE WOMEN, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, HAMLET, TAMING OF THE SHREW, TWELFTH NIGHT, ROMEO AND JULIET, and so on. Some are better than others in some ways and some are better than others in other ways.
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Kathleen's comments reminded me to look through my own DVD (and tape) collection, and I turned up three where I've read the books and seen the movies and liked both a lot.
"Double Indemnity." The movie followed the same plot and characters, with a few alterations (in particular the ending), and it all hung together just fine.
"Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House." The book was fun, but essentially an intellectual stunt. The movie improved the characters.
"A Night to Remember." This is one of my top-ten-of-all-time movies. The book, of course, dealt with the real life events of the sinking of the Titanic, where the movie successfully dramatized these, better than any other version (I know of at least eight, most of which I've seen in part or in whole.)
In all these cases, I saw the movie before I read the book---in the case of "Mr. Blandings," about twenty years later.
*****
On Shakespeare and the movies---I just can't relate to Shakespeare on the printed page. I've read all of them (I think), but they only come alive when I've seen them, on stage (a few amateur productions, none recently) or on TV or in the movies (lots of them lots of times). Since Shakespeare intended his plays to be seen (apparently), rather than read, it's hard to feel much disappointment in not getting it when reading them.
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I don't think of Shakespeare's works as books per se--perhaps because they're plays and read like plays.
RobertNowall, The list was of just comic book-based movies. And I was judging them by accuracy or integrity, not whether I approved of their idea.
I am looking forward to 300 this friday, though.
It'll be interesting to see if they make Kevin J. Anderson's Captain Nemo anything like the novel.
I liked LOTR, too, RobertNowall. And, Kathleen, I've liked quite a few versions of Hamlet, including Mel Gibson's portayal. If I was thinking on the lines of plays, I certainly would've mentioned Brighton Beach Memoirs--and its sequel--Biloxi Blues.
I will have a more complete list, now that I have comics out of the way.
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The Shawshank Redemption Stand by Me Goodfellas The Godfather The Sicillian Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Fight Club The Hound of the Baskervilles One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest The Outsiders The Thirteenth Warrior (Eaters of the Dead) Timeline Ben Hur Schindler's List (Schindler's Ark) Bladerunner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) Dangerous Liaisons (Les Liaisons Dangereuses) Lord of the Flies To Kill a Mockingbrid A Time to Kill The Da Vinci Code A Christmas Story The Count of Monte Christo Searching for Bobby Fischer The Last of the Mohicans Forrest Gump Jaws The Jungle Book Phantoms Hideaway The Prestige Gangs of New York The Postman The World According to Garp Jurassic Park The Illisionist The Postman Always Rings Twice
Non-Animated Versions
[This message has been edited by InarticulateBabbler (edited March 05, 2007).]
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Sometimes, even if I know there's a book (comic or regular) that the movie is based on, I still can't compare---simply because I haven't read it. Sometimes the book is obscure (That recent Spielberg movie based on a Philip K. Dick short story---"Minority Report," I think, but my memory is fogged up at the moment---but I do remember that I looked for the story in the various Dick collections I have to hand (mostly predating his posthumous fame), but it was in none of them.)
"InarticulateBabbler"'s list reminded me of a few more movies where I did read the book, usually before, sometimes after. ("Stand By Me," "The Hound of the Baskervilles," "Jaws," "The Postman," and "The World According to Garp.") One ("Hound") I liked better...one ("Jaws") I liked neither the book nor the movie...and the three others I thought the book was better.
At least two others, I've read the book, ("Shawshank Redemption" and "Blade Runner,") but I don't believe I've ever sat through the entire whole movie in either case. Life---and probably my attention span---is short.
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Rosencranz and Guildenstern are Dead is one of my top 5 desert island movies. You know, the list of what you'd take if you could only watch 5 movies for the rest of your life... It's a Tom Stoppard play, and the movie stays true to the play (though it's been a while since I've read or seen it.)
And I don't know the genesis - but The Princess Bride is also one of my top 5, and an excellent book. I don't know if it's the case of a book written for/after the movie, though, I was introduced to both simultaneously.
It's not the same as the graphic novel, but its true to the integrity of Frank Miller's story. It's very well done, and portrays the Spartans admirably. Even the leading reseasrcher on the Battle of Thermopylae has given his approval--and with good cause. Frank Miller even approved of the director's separate but valid view of his work.
I was impressed. Even my wife was impressed--and that is truly surprising. She doesn't normally like those types of epics.
[This message has been edited by InarticulateBabbler (edited March 10, 2007).]
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"300" is from a graphic novel? Geez...I thought they just took the battle and decided to make a movie out of it.
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KayTi, THE PRINCESS BRIDE was written long before the movie. That was the only movie I have ever seen in a theater that I went back to see the next night. I've gone to see other movies again after having seen them for the first time in a theater, but that's the only one I had to see again right away.
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That makes me feel better, somehow, Kathleen. Feels more authentic for a book to be made into a movie than for a movie to be written up into a book. I had a feeling, but wasn't sure.
I do still love both! I have a 5 year old boy and I always feel like the grandpa when I'm telling him about whatever book I'm currently reading - "True love, pirates, swordfights!" I retell him the story of the books I read - it keeps him entertained for countless hours in the car. I've retold Eragon and Inkwell most recently. It's exciting to think that he'll soon be a good enough reader to read the source for many of these books I've long loved. Or, gasp, even something I've written!
We've watched the movie The Princess Bride a few times lately. I was introduced to it when it was already on video - we lived overseas during the time it came out, otherwise I suspect I would have had the same experience you did. I think I might have to try reading that one aloud to the kids, hmm...hadn't thought to do that yet.
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I can't believe I forgot the The Godfather. It took two, three-hour movies to tell the story, but they did good. As far as Mario Puzo is concerned, The Sicilian was excellent, too. They had to change a couple of components, but I believe that they stayed true to the story's integrity.Posts: 3687 | Registered: Jan 2007
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Did anybody see Children of Men? It was a complete departure from the book, but I liked it better.
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Loved the movie (Children of Men.) Haven't read the book. I've recommended the movie to a LOT of people, though. And in the back of my mind as I'm writing, I have a comment that Richard Roeper (the Roeper half of Ebert & Roeper) said in his review of this movie. Doing from memory an approximation of his quote, "Some day someone will do a science fiction story where everyone is wearing pastels and the world is bright..." It was a tongue-in-cheek commentary on how physically gray and dark the movie is, although I would say it's theme is not so gray and dark, but rather hopeful.
But the point is - I've got this quote in my head from Roeper and I want to write science fiction that could conceivably contain pastels. Which is why I'm focusing my current efforts on writing near-term sci-fi, often with young characters. My idea is that in living on the moon, space stations, or other planets, we'll find that some of the problems we face are the same as the ones we face now.
Anyway, random point of inspiration for me, and glad to have another good reason to plug the movie - it's a phenomenal movie. If you haven't seen it, you really should.
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Nearly every movie set in the near future seems to be set in a depressing semi-Orwellian nightmare post-industrial kind of world---doesn't anything ever happen outside the ruined cities? In a way, it's a failure of Hollywood imagination.
The only exception to the general run-of-the-future out of Hollywood was the "future" sequences in "Back to the Future Part II." An "alternate present" was grimy in the usual Hollywood way, but the "future" looked like some people were having a good time. ("Star Wars," as I recall, was set "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away." And some scenes had their share of grime, too.)
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The Princess Bride was of course originally written by S. Morgenstern, a Florinese author who wrote it probably 100 years ago. The movie is actually an abridged version of the original which had a lot of political satire and Florinese history between the adventure and romance scenes. The book was abridged by William Goldman in 1973 and made into a movie in 87.
And Florin is a real place too. Its over by Italy or something - I swear.
William Goldman is the owner of the Eiffel Tower in Paris France but is currently trying to sell it in order to raise cash to make another movie out of an S. Morgenstern book, The Silent Gondoliers. If your interested I handle many of his financial affairs.
quote: Nearly every movie set in the near future seems to be set in a depressing semi-Orwellian nightmare post-industrial kind of world---doesn't anything ever happen outside the ruined cities?
Demolition Man It showed a little of both, but made it a silly cliche.
The names are escaping me at the moment, but I have seen quite a few that show "bright colors", but, they are so loud and plastic when they are, that it seems more like a parody.
[This message has been edited by InarticulateBabbler (edited April 23, 2007).]
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devil's advocate (the movie) was both better and worse than the book. It was fun to look at what they chose to change and chose to keep. Both book and movie were sort of big sloppy, ginormous spectacles. And tnwilz, i might have to chip in on that eiffel tower thing just to keep goldman's sbridging business going. Did anybody besides me ever send to the publisher for the piece of the story that didn't get into the book? I can't even remember how old I was when I did that, anymore. I think I was a flapper at the time. Prohibition, not swift.
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Which is why I'm focusing my current efforts on writing near-term sci-fi, often with young characters. My idea is that in living on the moon, space stations, or other planets, we'll find that some of the problems we face are the same as the ones we face now.
