[OT] Movies based on book HELP

[Agback]

"The Cruel Sea" by Nicholas Montsarrat is superb and made a decent film.

The early James Bond films were based on novels by Ian Fleming; later ones on the titles of Fleming stories; the latest on things Fleming might have said if he'd thought of them. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is probably the best, although it has the worst Bond.

"The African Queen" with Humphrey Bogart and Kate Hepburn is a classic film and is based on a novel by CS Forester.

Speaking of Forester, his novel "The Happy Return" was made into a film starring Gregory Peck and called, if memory serves, something like "Captain Hornblower, RN".

And speaking of Peck, he was in a decent film version of "To Kill a Mockingbird".

"Pride and Prejudice" is a must-read novel, and has been made into a film several times.

"The Three Musketeers" is a great novel by Alexandre Dumas (pere), and has been made into a film several times. The recent brat pack production stank, but there is an old Gene Kelly version that is pretty good, and there was an outstanding version made by Rank/Fox and released in two parts in 1973-74 (starring Michael York, Racquel Welch, Charlton Heston, Fay Dunaway, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain, Spike Milligan...). Try to get the translation by Anthony Burgess.

Speaking of Dumas (pere), the recent "The Count of Monte Cristo" was based on his novel of the same name and (the recent production) is better. Similarly, "The Man in the Iron Mask" is one of his, and the recent movie version with Gabriel Byrne, John Malkovitch etc. is good.

Dumas (pere) naturally suggests Dumas (fils). "Moulin Rouge" was based on his novel "La Dames aux Camélias", via his stage play adaptation "Camille" and Verdi's operatic version "La Traviata".

There are lots more. Give me time to think.

Regards,


Agback

 

[Droogie]

Yep, that's the one. The remake is horrible. I remember liking exactly 3 seconds of the 1999 version.

And how. It stunk on ice.

 

[Aitch Eye]

I'll just jump on the bandwagon saying the original version of The Haunting was a really cool, classy movie.

Which reminds me of The Legend of Hellhouse, which was based on the novel Hell House by Richard Matheson. He also did the screenplay.

Since they seem to have no problems with reinterpretations of Shakespeare, there's Ran and Throne of Blood directed by Akira Kurosawa, based on King Lear and Macbeth respectively. Actually, if they watched Clueless, there's 10 Things I Hate About You from The Taming of the Shrew. There's also O from Othello, but I have no idea if it's any good.

 

[Aitch Eye]

Embarrassing as it is to post directly after myself, I just remembered Ernest K. Gann's Fate is the Hunter, which a lot of people consider one of -- if not the -- best books on flying ever written. It was sort of made into a movie with Glenn Ford, and the inherent difficulty of adapting the material and the solution they came up with might make a good discussion.

 

[starwolf]

In regards to A Clockwork Orange the latest americna printing of the novel now includes the last chapter that was originally only available in the UK version.

Reading the book without the last chapter, seeing the movie, and then reading the last chapter should spark quite a bit of debate and critical thinking.

 

[Rune]

Let's not forget the novels by Philip K. Dick, which have been turned into movies.

Personally, my favorite is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep/[/i]Bladerunner[/i]. I actually prefer the movie to the book, on this one!

Oh, and, while we're at it, how about Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter?

Originally posted by Agback:
"The Three Musketeers" is a great novel by Alexandre Dumas (pere), and has been made into a film several times. The recent brat pack production stank, but ... there was an outstanding version made by Rank/Fox and released in two parts in 1973-74 (starring Michael York, Racquel Welch, Charlton Heston, Fay Dunaway, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain, Spike Milligan...). Try to get the translation by Anthony Burgess.

I'll have to agree with this one; there's nothing quite so satisfying as watching Charlton Heston play Cardinal Richelieu. He just does such a good bastard!