Favorite or The Best Literary Adaptations

The Age of Innocence (1993). Based on the novel by Edith Wharton

Written, Produced, and Directed by Martin Scorsese

Music by Elmer Bernstein and Itzhak Perlman

Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder, Geraldine Chaplin, Michael Gough, Alexis Smith, Alec McCowen, Richard E. Grant, Sian Philips, Stuart Wilson, Mary Beth Hurt, Jonathan Pryce, Carolyn Farina, Norman Lloyd, Robert Sean Leonard, and Miriam Margolyes

and the impeccable narration of Joanne Woodward

To Kill a Mockingbird

Perfectly cast, perfectly scored, also has that calming narration.

The Remains of the Day (1993)

Based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro

Directed by James Ivory, Produced by Ismail Merchant, Written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, and music by Franz Schubert

Starring Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, James Fox, Hugh Grant, Peter Vaughan, Michael Lonsdale, Tim Pigott-Smith, and Christopher Reeve

The 1981 TV serial of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited

Jeremy Irons, Anthony Andrews, Diana Quick, Simon Jones, Phoebe Nicholls, Claire Bloom, John Gielgud, Stéphane Audran, and Laurence Olivier

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton is underrated. It has a good cast- Laura Linney, Gillian Anderson, Eric Stoltz, Dan Aykroyd, Anthony LaPagila, Terry Kinney, and Eleanor Bron

Jane Austin’s Persuasion is perhaps my favorite of her novels. I loved the 1995 film with Ciaran Hinds and Amanda Root.

Rosemary's Baby, of course!

The Last Picture Show

2001

The World According to Garp

Forever Amber. While it strays from the text, the soul of the motion picture is solidly in place of this Pulitzer Prize winning character study of 1700 womaness published in the 1940s.

Jaws, because it was so much better than the book.

The Last Picture Show

W. Somerset Maugham’s short stories were made into three excellent and faithful portmanteau feature films in the late 1940s. They are of the highest production values and employed many of the finest English acting talents.

The first one, called “Quartet”, has adaptations of “The Facts of Life”, “The Alien Corn” (with Dirk Bogarde and Honor Blackman), “The Kite”, and “The Colonel’s Lady”. The other two films are “Trio” and “Encore”. Here is “Quartet”. The other two are also on YouTube.

I, Claudius - PBS. Derek Jacobi, Sian Phillips, Brian Blessed and John Hurt as Caligula.

Each episode unforgettable!!!

Gone With The Wind and Rebecca

"Washington Square" ➡ "The Heiress."

Obviously, 1996 BBC Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth.

Master of the game. It may have been bad but I love Diane Canon also young Hamlin,Bernie and others.

James Cain - Mildred Pierce and Double Indemnity

The 1996 Emma with Paltrow and Jeremy Northam

Bleak House, the 2005 mini series with Gillian Anderson, Timothy West, Charles Dance, Denis Lawson, Carey Mulligan, Anna Maxwell Martin, Pauline Collins, Alun Armstrong, Burn Gorman, Anne Reid, Nathaniel Parker, Joanna David, Warren Clarke, Phil Davis, and more. Must watch this again.

Wings of a Dove (1997) Helena Bonham Carter; Linus Roache, Allison Elliot (she was great)

A Scanner Darkly (2006)

Towering Inferno

R4 agree about Brideshead Revisited. IIRC the dialogue is practically lifted right out of the book. Perfect casting. Jeremy Irons went on to great success. Anthony Andrews sort of faded, but he was beautiful in Brideshead.

"Trio" has a great performance from Nigel Patrick as the title character in "Mr. Know-All." What a wonderful actor, he made the most of whatever role he had.

Honestly? Jaws.

Silence of the Lambs. The movie is WAY better than the book. Thomas Harris was kind of a shitty writer.

Maurice (1987) by E.M. Forster

A Merchant-Ivory masterpiece

James Wilby, Hugh Grant, Rupert Graves, Ben Kingsley, Simon Callow, Billie Whitelaw, Judy Parfitt, Barry Foster, Patrick Godfrey, Phoebe Nicholls, Julian Wadham, and Mr. Denholm Elliott

The Accidental Tourist

Brokeback Mountain

Howards End

No Country for Old Men

War and Peace (1967)

The Godfather film was infinitely better than the book. That was an incredible adaptation.

The EAST OF EDEN TV miniseries starring Jane Seymour was really well done. It included a lot of backstory/prequel left out of the film. Jane Seymour, Lloyd Bridges, Timothy Bottoms, Sam Bottoms (Cal), Hart Bochner (Aron), Karen Allen, Howard Duff, and best of all, DL fave Anne Baxter, chewing the scenery as a blowsy old madam! 1981

The Jewel of the Crown miniseries

Ordinary People. It a rare instance where the movie is better than the book.

R35 is that the one with Mary Tyler Moore? Or was it the one with Leslie Mann and Adam Sandler?