Real OT: Books made into movies

susnfx · Post by **susnfx** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 7:54 am

Book: Flowers for Algernon (fair)
Movie: Charly (for which Cliff Robertson won an Oscar in the 60s)
Interesting story about a mentally retarded man who is given an experimental operation and becomes a genius. The movie was very good (if you ignore the silly but obligatory 60s "psychedelic" camera work in a couple of places). Read the book after seeing the movie; it couldn't live up to Robertson's portrayal of Charly.
Susan

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 1:25 pm

Read the book, didn't see the movie because
I thought it would break my heart.

Just saw a film 'The Truce' from a book
byan Italian Jewish chemist. Tells
the story of how he is liberated from
Auschwitz and makes his way back
to Italy. Italian film but John Turturro
stars--very much like life. Didn't
read the book.
Also a wonderfully ribald italian film
version of the Decameron.

susnfx · Post by **susnfx** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 3:49 pm

jim stone wrote:Read the book, didn't see the movie because
I thought it would break my heart.

It would have, Jim. Charly was a definite tear-jerker.

rebl_rn · Post by **rebl_rn** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 4:00 pm

One not mentioned yet is Gone With The Wind - both are excellent. I honestly don't know which is better, the book or the movie.

Usually I do prefer the book to the movie. I find in general my imagination is so much better than any film could possibly do. But there are some movies that do the book justice, like LOTR, Gettysburg, GWTW.

Beth

RonKiley · Post by **RonKiley** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 4:26 pm

The old man and the Sea book: great movie: lower than terrible. In fact all of Hemingways books that were made into movies were terrible.

Ron

Ridseard · Post by **Ridseard** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 4:52 pm

The Grapes of Wrath. Great book, outstanding movie!

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 7:52 pm

The Bible-- both are excellent...

TonyHiggins · Post by **TonyHiggins** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 8:19 pm

brewerpaul wrote:The Bible-- both are excellent...

I'd like Peter Jackson to do the Book of Revelations. Woa. Think about it.
Charlton Heston will always be the astronaut in Planet of the Apes to me.
Tony

tkelly · Post by **tkelly** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 8:27 pm

Beloved
book is excellent
movie only fair

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 8:42 pm

Of Mice and Men. The book was incredible and I haven't seen a bad version of it on film (and I've seen three versions).

carrie · Post by **carrie** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 9:05 pm

This past spring I saw Nicholas Nickleby, a very satisfying adaptation of the Dickens novel, with Nathan Lane as the wonderfully theatrical Vincent Crummles in some hilarious scenes. But the 9-hour Royal Shakespeare Company stage version about 20 years ago was just perfection: without question my absolute favorite experience in the theatre.

Carol

carrie · Post by **carrie** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 9:08 pm

For that matter, Great Expectations is also both a great book and a great movie, the David Lean version.

C

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 9:14 pm

cskinner wrote:This past spring I saw Nicholas Nickleby, a very satisfying adaptation of the Dickens novel, with Nathan Lane as the wonderfully theatrical Vincent Crummles in some hilarious scenes. But the 9-hour Royal Shakespeare Company stage version about 20 years ago was just perfection: without question my absolute favorite experience in the theatre.

Carol

Did I read that right? NINE hours?

You must be REALLY intelligent, Carol!

Was there a bathroom break anywhere in there?

carrie · Post by **carrie** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 9:18 pm

blackhawk wrote: Was there a bathroom break anywhere in there?

Heehee. There was actually a dinner break. And the production involved the audience in deliciously creative ways, so the time flew. Honestly, 9 hours just wasn't long enough. I saw it twice.

Carol

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 10:00 pm

I recently saw a movie of a book I once read... course I also saw Nicholas Nickleby... the old black and white version... Where was I?

Oh! I recently saw a movie of a book that I read. The movie wasn't just like how I remembered the book, but I could have remembered the book wrongly. I know some people remember things differently than they actually happen. I'm not usually one of those people, but I'm giving Walt Disney the benefit of the doubt.

Anyway, when I was a young lad we had these animal books. One of the books was entitled, "Lad, a Dog." But it wasn't that book. Actually we still have those books, somewhere. Anyway one of the books was Rascal. Now, I didn't actually read Rascal from that set of books, but read a paperback of it, in high school. Anyway, that was the movie I saw, that I had read the book of. Well, I've seen other movies that I had read the book of, but that was the one I was referring to. It was a Disney movie. It had the Bride of Frankenstein lady, who also played an obnoxious neighbor, whose husband was that guy off of My Three Sons, on another Disney movie. But not the remake of that other Disney movie... the original version, with Dean Jones, Hayley Mills, and Roddy McDowell. The new version of that movie had Doug E. "Sanka" Doug and Christina Ricci. But I didn't read the book of that, though I've read that it is a good book. But Rascal was the Disney movie that I recently saw, that I had read the book of.