Sometimes a Great List
October 25, 2013 11:21 AM Subscribe
What are some lesser known film adaptations of good/great novels?
I'm creating a list to read and watch. So far I have Slaughterhouse 5, The Stranger, Housekeeping, Sometimes a Great Notion, and Wise Blood. These titles should also give you an idea of what I'm looking for.
I'm creating a list to read and watch. So far I have Slaughterhouse 5, The Stranger, Housekeeping, Sometimes a Great Notion, and Wise Blood. These titles should also give you an idea of what I'm looking for.
Best answer: If "lesser known in the English-speaking world", "loose adaptation" and "novella" fit your criteria: Stalker.
posted by griphus at 11:28 AM on October 25, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by griphus at 11:28 AM on October 25, 2013 [4 favorites]
Best answer: The best film adaptations I've seen are Fail Safe from 1964 and Nineteen Eighty-Four from 1985.
posted by Rash at 11:34 AM on October 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Rash at 11:34 AM on October 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: There's a 1951 film of Native Son starring (!!!) Richard Wright himself as Bigger Thomas. (Here is some background on the production). May be hard to get a good quality copy, though.
Sabotage is an underrated Hitchcock film from 1936 (made in Britain) adapted from Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent.
May not be enough of a "great" novel, but I'm partial to Frank Borzage's 1934 adaptation of Hans Fallada's Little Man, What Now?
posted by bubukaba at 11:36 AM on October 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Sabotage is an underrated Hitchcock film from 1936 (made in Britain) adapted from Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent.
May not be enough of a "great" novel, but I'm partial to Frank Borzage's 1934 adaptation of Hans Fallada's Little Man, What Now?
posted by bubukaba at 11:36 AM on October 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: The Castle, starring Maximilian Schell, based on the novel by Franz Kafka. It's stunning adaptation. If you have any interest in Kafka you'll love it.
posted by alms at 11:41 AM on October 25, 2013
posted by alms at 11:41 AM on October 25, 2013
My go-to example of adapting a very good, if sprawling, novel into a very good, streamlined movie is Wonder Boys, originally by Michael Chabon.
posted by psoas at 12:01 PM on October 25, 2013
posted by psoas at 12:01 PM on October 25, 2013
Best answer: Buñuel's version of Wuthering Heights
posted by TheRaven at 12:03 PM on October 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by TheRaven at 12:03 PM on October 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Under the Volcano. The Devils, based on Huxley's the Devils of Loudun.
posted by mareli at 12:22 PM on October 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by mareli at 12:22 PM on October 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Oh and there's Beau Travail, Claire Denis's loose 1999 adaptation of Melville's Billy Budd.
And another art film from 1999 — Time Regained, Raúl Ruiz adapting Proust's In Search of Lost Time.
Maybe not lesser-known enough, but David Cronenberg's Naked Lunch is extraordinary if you haven't seen it.
posted by bubukaba at 12:30 PM on October 25, 2013
And another art film from 1999 — Time Regained, Raúl Ruiz adapting Proust's In Search of Lost Time.
Maybe not lesser-known enough, but David Cronenberg's Naked Lunch is extraordinary if you haven't seen it.
posted by bubukaba at 12:30 PM on October 25, 2013
Mary Ellen Bute made a not-so-great but pretty weird adaptation of Finnegan's Wake in the mid-1960s.
posted by bubukaba at 12:41 PM on October 25, 2013
posted by bubukaba at 12:41 PM on October 25, 2013
The Grifters which is an adaptation of the Jim Thompson pulp novel. It's genre fiction, but worth watching and reading.
posted by brookeb at 12:52 PM on October 25, 2013
posted by brookeb at 12:52 PM on October 25, 2013
There's also a pretty-good recent adaptation of Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me (there's another version from 1976 which I haven't seen).
posted by Chenko at 1:06 PM on October 25, 2013
posted by Chenko at 1:06 PM on October 25, 2013
Best answer: I don't know how well it's known today, but the film adaptation of The Ox-Bow Incident is a great film adaptation of a great novel.
In another vein, The Bridges of Madison County is a horrible novel--the prose is just wretched. But the film adaptation starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood, and directed by Eastwood, is absolutely stunning. Richard LaGravenese should've taken home a boatload of Oscars for his screenplay.
posted by magstheaxe at 1:17 PM on October 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
In another vein, The Bridges of Madison County is a horrible novel--the prose is just wretched. But the film adaptation starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood, and directed by Eastwood, is absolutely stunning. Richard LaGravenese should've taken home a boatload of Oscars for his screenplay.
posted by magstheaxe at 1:17 PM on October 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Wojciech Has’, The Saragossa Manuscript (Rękopis znaleziony w Saragossie, 1965): an adaptation of Jan Potocki’s novel The Manuscript Found in Saragossa (Manuscrit trouvé à Saragosse).
posted by misteraitch at 1:54 PM on October 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by misteraitch at 1:54 PM on October 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: The Max von Sydow version of Steppenwolf, while not necessarily good, is certainly something to see.
posted by Kafkaesque at 2:34 PM on October 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Kafkaesque at 2:34 PM on October 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Speaking of Jim Thompson, Coup de Torchon is Pop. 1280, with the location moved from Texas to French West Africa.
posted by hydrophonic at 2:57 PM on October 25, 2013
posted by hydrophonic at 2:57 PM on October 25, 2013
Housekeeping (1987) with Christine Lahti adapted from the novel by Marilynne Robinson
posted by nnk at 3:01 PM on October 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by nnk at 3:01 PM on October 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
The film versions of John Grisham's novels are superior, I think (not that I've ever been able to finish a Grisham novel), because the actors can flesh out characters in a way the author never did. (Grisham's a pretty good plotter.)
posted by fivesavagepalms at 4:09 PM on October 25, 2013
posted by fivesavagepalms at 4:09 PM on October 25, 2013
The version of Persuasion with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds is gripping and unlike any other Austen adaptation
posted by runincircles at 4:31 PM on October 25, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by runincircles at 4:31 PM on October 25, 2013 [3 favorites]
I"m not sure what lesser-known means.
THE HEIRESS (based on _Washington Square_ by Henry James), with Olivia deHaviland, Montgomery Clift and Ralph Richardson.
TOM JONES.
posted by DMelanogaster at 4:47 PM on October 25, 2013
THE HEIRESS (based on _Washington Square_ by Henry James), with Olivia deHaviland, Montgomery Clift and Ralph Richardson.
TOM JONES.
posted by DMelanogaster at 4:47 PM on October 25, 2013
A Handful of Dust (1988) from the novel by Evelyn Waugh.
Buñuel's version of Wuthering Heights
Way more interesting than the more famous version. The lead actress (Irasema Dilián) is really intense!
The Max von Sydow version of Steppenwolf yt , while not necessarily good, is certainly something to see.
"Good" might be subjective, but it is something to see.
posted by ovvl at 5:00 PM on October 25, 2013
Buñuel's version of Wuthering Heights
Way more interesting than the more famous version. The lead actress (Irasema Dilián) is really intense!
The Max von Sydow version of Steppenwolf yt , while not necessarily good, is certainly something to see.
"Good" might be subjective, but it is something to see.
posted by ovvl at 5:00 PM on October 25, 2013
I can't believe I forgot: The Milagro Beanfield War is both an excellent book and movie.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 6:18 PM on October 25, 2013
posted by Benny Andajetz at 6:18 PM on October 25, 2013
I love Kent Huruf's Plainsong. It was made into a TV movie starring America Ferrera.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 6:20 PM on October 25, 2013
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 6:20 PM on October 25, 2013
The Autobiography of Ms Jane Pittman.
posted by thebrokedown at 7:07 PM on October 25, 2013
posted by thebrokedown at 7:07 PM on October 25, 2013
Ok, maybe not lesser known, but not on your list:
Catch 22
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The World According to Garp
The Accidental Tourist
posted by Kriesa at 6:41 AM on October 26, 2013
Catch 22
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The World According to Garp
The Accidental Tourist
posted by Kriesa at 6:41 AM on October 26, 2013
The 2012 film adaptation of James' What Maisie Knew is excellent, though probably not destined to be well-known.
posted by Beardman at 9:14 AM on October 26, 2013
posted by Beardman at 9:14 AM on October 26, 2013
Best answer: There's this adaption of Death in Venice.
posted by SollosQ at 9:56 AM on October 26, 2013
posted by SollosQ at 9:56 AM on October 26, 2013
The film, The Paperchase, is based on John Jay Osborn, Jr.'s book of the same title. I haven't read it, though, so cannot say if it's good or not - however the movie is excellent.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 1:03 PM on October 26, 2013
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 1:03 PM on October 26, 2013
Speaking of underrated Vonnegut adaptations: Mother Night.
posted by Sonny Jim at 12:59 AM on October 28, 2013
posted by Sonny Jim at 12:59 AM on October 28, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
All the John Irving movie adaptations that I'm familiar with (The Hotel New Hampshire, The Worls According To Garp, Cider House Rules) have been pretty true to the books and worth watching.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 11:28 AM on October 25, 2013 [1 favorite]