Books Adapted Into Movies

I realize that the standard conversation is running the other way, such as, "My god, that book is so incredible, and I just can't stand Brad Pitt." And usually running quite quickly. But there are those films that supersede the accomplishment of the text upon which they were based.

As an example I would offer the novel "Sueurs froides: d'entre les morts (Cold Sweat: From Among the Dead)," a 1954 French crime novel by Pierre Boileau and Pierre Ayraud, aka Thomas Narcejac, writing as Boileau-Narcejac. Oddly interesting in the fact that two mystery writers partnered together in writing it under a shared pseudonym it was the basis of Hitchcock's "Vertigo" and the film is far more well regarded and 'read' than the book upon which it was based.

Any other examples? Perhaps "There will be blood"?

As a teenager I saw Kubrick’s "A Clockwork Orange" probably five times before I read the book. I loved the movie but the book blew me away, and still does.

I think one function that movie versions of good books can have is to turn the viewer into a reader of the original source material, the book.

On the other hand, one of the smartest professors I have ever had (that’s you, Prof. D), who also genuinely loves books (you’d think that would be true of all English professors but, sadly, it is not) refuses to watch any literary adaptations because they interfere with his reading of the books by, of necessity, providing him with images of the characters and situations that he doesn’t want.

He doesn’t want pictorial-media generated images to displace, or even compete with, the images generated by his own imagination when he reads.

I salute his Gandhi-like dedication to the page, but I admit that I watch adaptations all the time.

Gregory Knapp
Forums Editor

In general, I love watching movie versions of books I've loved, even when they veer from strict adherence to the plot. I love seeing someone else's vision/interpretation of the story that I also connected with. To me, it's sort of like discussing a book with someone else as new nuances may emerge that I hadn't picked up on before. And, of course, I am usually spurred to re-read the book to make my comparison of the book versus movie.

My son brought me to My Dog Skip.
After four years of animation, talking animals, superheroes, puppets, and
Lord knows what all else that I had…enjoyed since Seth’s arrival, I approached
all child movies with caution. As is the case with some medications, kid movies
(for me) could only be taken on a full stomach. But his mother started a nursing
job at nights on the weekends, leaving us men to entertain one another.
So, along with mac-n-cheese, corn on the cob, and fried chicken, watching
My Dog Skip became a Friday night ritual lasting almost a year. Seth loved
watching the movie, and I loved watching him watch the movie.
I had been aware of the writer Willie Morris, and while Harry Connick, Jr.
narrated the movie fifty-two times that year, I became increasingly curious
about how much of the book made it into the flick.
I finished the book during lunch today, and comparing the memoir to the
movie is an interesting case study in the art of adapting books into movies.
The entire plot of the movie is made up: invented. It is a vehicle used to
deliver Willie and Skip to the audience. As I read the book over the past