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The average length of a novel has changed drastically over the past 50 years. What was once a popular novel at 200 pages, is now closer to 700. That's a lot of material to fit into a movie. On the other hand, a lot of that novel's material amounts to "filler," or at least to a great deal of background material designed to round out the novel's characters, and their world.
It's always been my opinion that a good director and good actors can communicate much of that background with the right setting, scene, expression, and turn of a phrase. If they do it right, a lot of material can be condensed down to a feature-length movie without leaving the feeling that a lot was left out.
The problem is, most movies are churned out so fast that few of them take the time to do this properly.
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