Close to the book?....

[Hilarious Joke]

For me, hands down the best film adaptation is the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Done perfectly, IMHO.

[TK-421]

I agree and I don't care what other purists might think. LOTR by Peter Jackson was the best set of fantasy films made, period. Not 100% perfect, but 99% IMHO. Still love to watch the extended edition DVD's at home.

[Overread]

I think LotR worked because of 2 main things

1) most (if not all) people accept that the original is almost too big for a film adaptation - least one that will be profetable. Could you imagine a film company backing a series of films where nothing much happens in the first film (that being life in the shire)

2) It was top rate editing, acting, CGI and scrip writing which brought it all together into an enjoyable film

I think the only place that it went wrong was to leave out the Scouring of the Shire - and I don't think I am alone in this - it was something that brought the world of Middle Earth together to me

[Majimaune]

Originally Posted by Hilarious Joke

For me, hands down the best film adaptation is the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Done perfectly, IMHO.

LotR was done well but I was disappointed by it. I mean I love the movies but going close to the book...I see it used more as a guideline than anything else.

[The Procrastinator]

LOTR was well done and don't think a better version will be filmed - but I have a love-hate relationship with some of it. Some of the character changes really irked me, and I think on the whole it could have been done with more understatement and less melodrama. But then, that goes for many, many movies. The removal of Bombadil I could live with, filming him effectively would have been nigh impossible, but the cutting of the Scouring of the Shire was an absolute disappointment - that was the real ending, the completion of the circle, and the movies don't have the same satisfying end as a result. Prefer the book by a long shot, as pretty as the movies may be.

Contact has already been mentioned, and I would like to add my voice to those who thought the movie was stronger than the book. The book was perhaps too worthy, and I think it was the right decision for the movie to focus more on Ellie.

Another fan (have I no compassion on your nerves!) of the Beeb's Pride and Prejudice with Firth and Ehle. I have my quibbles with it but they will never top those portrayals of Mr Collins, Mr and Mrs Bennet, Lydia, Sir William Lucas, Miss Bingley, and Lady Catherine. Hilarious, excellent stuff. I love miniseries adaptations in general, as they have the leisure to explore more of the subtleties and let the minor characters shine, as they should.

Having said that, I love the movie of Austen's Persuasion, starring Ciaran Hinds and Amanda Root - they managed to pack heaps of subtleties in there, it rewards rewatching and is an excellent adaptation.

Peter Weir's Master and Commander was a good effort, too. I don't mind departures from the original story, these are sometimes vital in such a change of medium, as long as the spirit remains intact - and the spirit of the books remained whole for me with this one (I am not entirely convinced of the same for LOTR).

[Nesacat]

One top of my list would be Call of Cthulhu. It's all grainy and looks terribly amateurish but it manages to capture the essence of the short story.

I personally loved the three Lord of the Rings movies and watch them regularly on DVD.

And although they are rather different from the books, I have a very soft spot for Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein and his Much Ado About Nothing as well as Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula for being visually beautiful and bringing difficult tales to the big screen.

Macbeth is my favourite Shakespeare play so I try and watch any adaptation of it. The two I like best come from Akira Kurasawa (Throne of Blood) and Roman Polanski (Macbeth).

Also thought Remains of the Day and Silence of the Lambs were both very well done and portrayed the characters as they appeared in the books.

The Prestige was very well done and here I read the book after having watched the movie and very much not disappointed with the movie.

[Nesacat]

I apologise for the double post but I just remembered this and had to post it before it slipped away and his someplace again.

The movie Saragossa Manuscript based on the book The Manuscript Found in the Saragossa by Jan Potocki is very well done. It's a Chinese puzzle box basically with a story in a story in a story. The movie is pretty old and done in black and white.

[Joel007]

LoTR was the best adaptation (after the token debate about Elijah Baggins). I can't think of any others that I have been completely happy with. There may be some adaptations where I have only seen the film and never read the book though.

[Teresa Edgerton]

Originally Posted by The Procrastinator

Having said that, I love the movie of Austen's Persuasion, starring Ciaran Hinds and Amanda Root - they managed to pack heaps of subtleties in there, it rewards rewatching and is an excellent adaptation.

Ah, you've come up with one theatrical release that I can agree was faithful to the book. I love that one. And it reminds me that the Gwyneth Paltrow Emma was pretty good, too. I prefer the Kate Beckinsale version, but the Paltrow version really only has one significant flaw, in that the Mr. Knightley doesn't appear old enough.

I also thought The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was pretty darn close to the book.

I love LOTR, I think Peter Jackson put together an amazing trilogy of movies. But I really can't say they were faithful to the books except in spots. Where they are faithful, they are fabulous; sometimes when they stray, the reasons for doing so seem good and right, and they are still fabulous; but there are several changes that don't make sense to me, ardent partisan though I am.

And I do think it will be possible for someone, someday, to do a more faithful adaptation, now that it's been proved that the books can be successfully adapted to the screen.

[clovis-man]

Re Frankenstein:

Originally Posted by Foxbat

I vaguely remember a mini series from the seventies. I think it was a BBC production and I think it had Jon Finch in it. I also vaguely remember that it was quite good and pretty accurate.....then again, my memory might be a little vague

It was done in 1973 by Universal Studios. It featured David McCallum as the good Doctor and Michael Sarrazin as the creature in a great piece of casting. He is beautiful at first and only becomes ugly as the story progresses. Worth seeing.

DVD Empire - Item - Frankenstein: The True Story / DVD-Video

[clovis-man]

RE LOTR:

Originally Posted by Teresa Edgerton

And I do think it will be possible for someone, someday, to do a more faithful adaptation, now that it's been proved that the books can be successfully adapted to the screen.

I'm not too sure about this. An illustration: In 1962, Peter Ustinov made what I consider to be a very good adaptation of Billy Budd for the big screen. It featured the director as Captain Vere, Robert Ryan as the evil Claggert and a very young Terence Stamp as the innocent Billy budd. Filmed in glorious black & white with a good score played by the LPO (IIRC). I thought it captured the essence of Melville's tale.

Billy Budd (1962)

Stanley Kaufmann, the acerbic New Republic film critic, panned it and said it had spoiled the possibility of a "good" adaptation of the story ever being done. I think he was wrong about the quality of the film, but may have been right about the possibility of another effort. It has been 46 years now. Unless it's Journey to the Center of the Earth or War of theWorlds, there's usually not much motivation for a redo. And if there is one, it may pale in comparison to the original, e.g., Flight of the Phoenix. Sort of a "why bother" mentality, I guess.

[AE35Unit]

Originally Posted by The Ace

Can't remember the author now, but a horror novel called, 'The Keep.'

It ran on the premise that the vampire legends of Eastern Europe had a basis in fact, an immortal monster who could take human form, cast no reflections and turned his victims (in this case a squad of Nazi soldiers) into zombies.

Although largely well-made, the film missed many of the more subtle moments (Like the jewish professor showing a crucifix to the monster who pretends to be terrified and provoking a crisis of faith.)

The big disappointment, though, was the ending, with the monster's nemesis, 'The red-haired Man,' finding love and redemption, a message giving as much hope for the future as the monster's destruction and the surviving nazis departing for Barbarossa.

The ending was changed (perhaps to leave room for a sequel ) in a way that left me profoundly unsatisfied.

F Paul Wilson?
Only one i can think of is 2001,but then if i watch a film i use the excuse that it saves me having to read the book!

[Teresa Edgerton]

Originally Posted by clovis-man

RE LOTR:

I'm not too sure about this. An illustration: In 1962, Peter Ustinov made what I consider to be a very good adaptation of Billy Budd for the big screen. It featured the director as Captain Vere, Robert Ryan as the evil Claggert and a very young Terence Stamp as the innocent Billy budd. Filmed in glorious black & white with a good score played by the LPO (IIRC). I thought it captured the essence of Melville's tale.

Billy Budd (1962)

But think of all the adaptations of books that have been remade, sometimes many times over. While we're on the subject of Melville, there was a recent mini-series Moby Dick. I've seen several Ivanhoes, numerous Jane Eyres (three within the last twelve years), a number of Frankensteins have already been mentioned in this thread -- I could go on and on. I think there will always be remakes of successful adaptations of high profile classics. In the case of LOTR, I think it's not so much a question of if as of when (and whether it will be a movie or a mini-series, though I think it will be the latter).

[Overread]

I just remembered one of my all time favourite cartoon filmes - and its very faithful to the book (as I found out much later) The picwick (SP?) cartoon version of Treasure Island. Old animation (colour) and dated but faithful and well made

[AE35Unit]

{SF MODE OFF}Oh i've just thought of an excellent example,Oliver Twist! I read the book last year and loved it,and the old B/W film by David Lean(?) was very much up to the job!{SF MODE ON}