11-04-2009, 05:00 AM | #1 |
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Films that were better than the books
We are all used to being disappointed with the film version of a book. The last big screen version of The Count of Monte Cristo was sooooo wide of the mark, it beggared belief.
So, my question is; Which Film(s) do you think were an improvement on their respective novels? I'll start it off with The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje Raphael |
11-04-2009, 06:23 AM | #2 |
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I"ve not yet come across a film that is an improvement on the book, but I do know one mini-series: Shogun by James Clavell.
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11-04-2009, 07:18 AM | #3 |
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I don't think there are any if you are talking about books being made into movies, the opposite way around though Movies/Scripts that are "novelized" are sometimes horrible novels. --- Star Wars perhaps etc...
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11-04-2009, 07:34 AM | #4 |
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"The Godfather" (I and II) are very close to the book and, in my opinion, excellent movies.
"Alive", the 1993 movie based on Piers Paul Read book (the story of the people who survived in the Andes after their plane crashed and rescue parties had given up hope of finding them), is also very good. |
11-04-2009, 09:27 AM | #5 |
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"The Bourne Identity". Robert Ludlum is so melodramatic. His idea was obviously a good one though.
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11-04-2009, 09:29 AM | #6 |
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One that comes to mind the The Third Man, by Graham Greene. (But it might now count because I think Greene wrote the book specifically with the screenplay in mind.)
Another is perhaps the Alfred Hitchcock version of The Lady Vanishes, which was based on The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White. Off-hand I can't think of any others. |
11-04-2009, 10:40 AM | #7 | |
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11-04-2009, 11:29 AM | #8 |
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"Jaws". There was a relationship in the book that was not in the movie because it did nothing for the story. This is the only case where *I've* found the movie was better.
Now, "The Exorcist" was scary whether you read it or watched it on film. |
11-04-2009, 12:12 PM | #9 |
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'Moby Dick', '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea', 'The Turn of the Screw', and the last few Harry Potters (also, possibly 'Jarhead' - but I haven't seen the movie yet).
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11-04-2009, 02:44 PM | #10 |
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I'm not sure I think they're better overall, but there are definitely certain aspects of The Lord of the Rings trilogy that are better in the movie than in the book (no Tom Bombadil or Glorfindel...)
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11-04-2009, 02:59 PM | #11 |
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I agree with you. While I find the books better overall, I thought the fighting scenes from "The Two Towers" (the movie) were excellent, whereas I couldn't really get into them in the book. This is coming from a person who really does not like fighting / war scenes in general.
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11-04-2009, 04:18 PM | #12 | |
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11-04-2009, 05:13 PM | #13 |
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Blade Runner. The Terminator.
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11-04-2009, 08:57 PM | #14 |
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I'll go out on a limb and say The Postman and The Last of the Mohicans.
Also, Star Wars. But that's because George Lucas writes terribly. I'll also throw in Marley and Me. Mostly because it makes me cry =) Last edited by jaxx6166; 11-04-2009 at 08:59 PM. |
11-04-2009, 09:26 PM | #15 |
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In my humble opinion ---
James Hilton's "Lost Horizon". The story in the novel was muddied and weakened by the device of "this is a story someone told someone who told me". The 1937 movie used straightforward story telling and "show don't tell" and the photography was so atmospheric. C S Lewis's "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe". The book was thinner in characterisation and atmosphere than the 2005 movie. The opening scenes of the London bombings and the children being sent from the city...ahh. And the witch - so sexy! Is it cheating to add "Cabaret" based on Isherwood's "Berlin Stories"? |
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