As good as the novel.
by kayael1 | created - 16 Aug 2015 | updated - 7 months ago | PublicMost of the time adapted movie comes short of the novel's glory. So I made this list for sorting films which are as good as the book. They are all faithful adaptations.
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1. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)
R | 147 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born with a superior olfactory sense, creates the world's finest perfume. His work, however, takes a dark turn as he searches for the ultimate scent.
Director: Tom Tykwer | Stars: Ben Whishaw, Dustin Hoffman, Alan Rickman, Francesc Albiol
Votes: 265,919 | Gross: $2.22M
2. Waiting for Godot (2001 TV Movie)
120 min | Drama
Two tramps wait for a man named Godot, but instead meet a pompous man and his stooped-over slave.
Director: Michael Lindsay-Hogg | Stars: Barry McGovern, Johnny Murphy, Alan Stanford, Stephen Brennan
Votes: 1,627
3. Pride and Prejudice (1995)
TV-PG | 55 min | Drama, Romance
While the arrival of wealthy gentlemen sends her marriage-minded mother into a frenzy, willful and opinionated Elizabeth Bennet matches wits with haughty Mr. Darcy.
Stars: Colin Firth, Jennifer Ehle, Susannah Harker, Julia Sawalha
Votes: 92,381
4. Dune (2021)
PG-13 | 155 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A noble family becomes embroiled in a war for control over the galaxy's most valuable asset while its heir becomes troubled by visions of a dark future.
Director: Denis Villeneuve | Stars: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac
Votes: 859,147 | Gross: $108.33M
This is the half of the book. Ending is a cliffhanger.
5. Coraline (2009)
PG | 100 min | Animation, Drama, Family
Wandering her rambling old house in her boring new town, an 11-year-old Coraline discovers a hidden door to a strangely idealized version of her life. In order to stay in the fantasy, she must make a frighteningly real sacrifice.
Director: Henry Selick | Stars: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman, Jennifer Saunders
Votes: 264,036 | Gross: $75.29M
6. Misery (1990)
R | 107 min | Drama, Thriller
After a famous author is rescued from a car crash by a fan of his novels, he comes to realize that the care he is receiving is only the beginning of a nightmare of captivity and abuse.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: James Caan, Kathy Bates, Richard Farnsworth, Frances Sternhagen
Votes: 235,802 | Gross: $61.28M
7. The Dead Zone (1983)
R | 103 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A man awakens from a coma to discover he has a psychic ability to foresee future events.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt, Herbert Lom
Votes: 77,379 | Gross: $20.77M
8. The Maze Runner (2014)
PG-13 | 113 min | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Thomas is deposited in a community of boys after his memory is erased, soon learning they're all trapped in a maze that will require him to join forces with fellow "runners" for a shot at escape.
Director: Wes Ball | Stars: Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Will Poulter, Thomas Brodie-Sangster
Votes: 510,401 | Gross: $102.43M
Better than the book.
9. Carrie (1976)
R | 98 min | Horror, Mystery
Carrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, John Travolta
Votes: 206,827 | Gross: $33.80M
Both versions are good.
10. Carrie (2013)
R | 100 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A shy girl, outcast by her peers and sheltered by her religious mother, unleashes telekinetic terror on her small town after being pushed too far at her senior prom.
Director: Kimberly Peirce | Stars: Chloë Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore, Gabriella Wilde, Portia Doubleday
Votes: 148,244 | Gross: $35.27M
Both versions are good.
11. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Passed | 152 min | Drama, War
A German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Arnold Lucy
Votes: 67,722 | Gross: $3.27M
12. All Quiet on the Western Front (1979 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 150 min | Drama, War
A young soldier faces profound disillusionment in the soul-destroying horror of World War I.
Director: Delbert Mann | Stars: Richard Thomas, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Ian Holm
Votes: 10,544
Nearly as good as the 1930 version.
13. Christiane F. (1981)
R | 138 min | Biography, Drama
A teen girl in 1970s Berlin becomes addicted to heroin. Everything in her life slowly begins to distort and disappear as she befriends a small crew of junkies and falls in love with a drug-abusing male prostitute.
Director: Uli Edel | Stars: Natja Brunckhorst, Eberhard Auriga, Peggy Bussieck, Lothar Chamski
Votes: 29,458
14. The Old Man and the Sea (1999)
20 min | Animation, Short, Adventure
An old fisherman goes out on his fishing trip and makes a huge catch, the biggest of his life.
Director: Aleksandr Petrov | Stars: Gordon Pinsent, Kevin Duhaney, Yôji Matsuda, Rentarô Mikuni
Votes: 4,584
15. Fight Club (1999)
R | 139 min | Drama
An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Meat Loaf, Zach Grenier
Votes: 2,326,236 | Gross: $37.03M
16. Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
R | 128 min | Fantasy, Horror, Romance
The centuries old vampire Count Dracula comes to England to seduce his barrister Jonathan Harker's fiancée Mina Murray and inflict havoc in the foreign land.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves
Votes: 238,614 | Gross: $82.52M
17. The Hunger Games (2012)
PG-13 | 142 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Katniss Everdeen voluntarily takes her younger sister's place in the Hunger Games: a televised competition in which two teenagers from each of the twelve Districts of Panem are chosen at random to fight to the death.
Director: Gary Ross | Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci
Votes: 1,004,347 | Gross: $408.01M
18. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
PG-13 | 146 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark become targets of the Capitol after their victory in the 74th Hunger Games sparks a rebellion in the Districts of Panem.
Director: Francis Lawrence | Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Votes: 721,778 | Gross: $424.67M
19. The NeverEnding Story (1984)
PG | 102 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
A troubled boy dives into a wondrous fantasy world through the pages of a mysterious book.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Noah Hathaway, Barret Oliver, Tami Stronach, Gerald McRaney
Votes: 157,078 | Gross: $20.16M
20. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
PG | 102 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Young Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz, and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return her to her home and fulfill the others' wishes.
Directors: Victor Fleming, King Vidor | Stars: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr
Votes: 428,910 | Gross: $2.08M
21. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1987 Video)
TV-Y7 | 93 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A tornado brings Dorothy to Oz. She's given a pair of magic red shoes and told that only the Wizard has the power to send her back home.
Director: Tim Reid | Stars: Margot Kidder, Morgan Hallett, George Morris, Neil Shee
Votes: 209
This is not the 1986 series but the 1987 movie which was cut from it.
22. Papillon (1973)
R | 151 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A French convict in the 1930s befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence in the South American penal colony on Devil's Island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Victor Jory, Don Gordon
Votes: 138,448 | Gross: $53.27M
23. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
PG-13 | 112 min | Biography, Drama
The true story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffers a stroke and has to live with an almost totally paralyzed body; only his left eye isn't paralyzed.
Director: Julian Schnabel | Stars: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze, Anne Consigny
Votes: 110,455 | Gross: $5.99M
24. The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
PG-13 | 126 min | Drama, Romance
Hazel and Gus are teenagers who meet at a cancer support group and fall in love. They both share the same acerbic wit and a love of books, especially "An Imperial Affliction", so they embark on a journey to visit an author in Amsterdam.
Director: Josh Boone | Stars: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff, Laura Dern
Votes: 401,330 | Gross: $124.87M
25. The Mist (2007)
R | 126 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A freak storm unleashes a species of bloodthirsty creatures on a small town, where a small band of citizens hole up in a supermarket and fight for their lives.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher
Votes: 340,735 | Gross: $25.59M
26. Solaris (1972)
PG | 167 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A psychologist is sent to a station orbiting a distant planet in order to discover what has caused the crew to go insane.
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky | Stars: Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis, Jüri Järvet, Vladislav Dvorzhetskiy
Votes: 98,328
27. Cujo (1983)
R | 93 min | Horror, Thriller
Cujo, a friendly St. Bernard, contracts rabies and conducts a reign of terror on a small American town.
Director: Lewis Teague | Stars: Dee Wallace, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Danny Pintauro, Christopher Stone
Votes: 51,022 | Gross: $21.20M
28. Dagon (2001)
R | 98 min | Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
A boating accident runs a young man and woman ashore in a decrepit Spanish fishing town which they discover is in the grips of an ancient sea god and its monstrous half human offspring.
Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Ezra Godden, Francisco Rabal, Raquel Meroño, Macarena Gómez
Votes: 21,057
This is an adaptation of Lovecraft novella "The Shadow over Innsmouth". Not the "Dagon" story. Title is misleading.
29. Not Without My Daughter (1991)
PG-13 | 116 min | Drama, Thriller
An American woman trapped in Islamic Iran by her brutal husband must find a way for her and her daughter to escape.
Director: Brian Gilbert | Stars: Sally Field, Alfred Molina, Sheila Rosenthal, Roshan Seth
Votes: 14,685 | Gross: $14.79M
30. Apt Pupil (1998)
R | 111 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A boy blackmails his neighbor after suspecting him to be a Nazi war criminal.
Director: Bryan Singer | Stars: Ian McKellen, Brad Renfro, Joshua Jackson, Mickey Cottrell
Votes: 41,652 | Gross: $8.84M
There is some plot changes but they are all good and necessary for adaptation.
31. Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)
R | 123 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A vampire tells his epic life story: love, betrayal, loneliness, and hunger.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas, Kirsten Dunst
Votes: 347,730 | Gross: $105.26M
32. Children of Dune (2003)
Unrated | 89 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
The twins of Paul "Muad'dib" Atreides become embroiled in the political landscape of Arrakis ("Dune") and the rest of the universe.
Stars: Alec Newman, Daniela Amavia, James McAvoy, Jessica Brooks
Votes: 15,189
Title is misleading. This is for "Messiah of Dune" and "Children of Dune" both.
33. The Green Mile (1999)
R | 189 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
A tale set on death row, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the lead guard, Paul Edgecombe, recognizes John's gift, he tries to help stave off the condemned man's execution.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt
Votes: 1,408,743 | Gross: $136.80M
Very good and faithful adaptation. Casting is spot on and cinematography is great.
34. High-Rise (2015)
R | 119 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
Life for the residents of a tower block begins to run out of control.
Director: Ben Wheatley | Stars: Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans
Votes: 45,193 | Gross: $0.34M
I didn't think the book as a very good one. Neither is the movie. But it is an adaptation done right.
35. Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
Not Rated | 112 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
In an oppressive future, a fireman whose duty is to destroy all books begins to question his task.
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Oskar Werner, Julie Christie, Cyril Cusack, Anton Diffring
Votes: 45,443
Nice little novel. Nice little movie. A good adaptation. However I don't think either is great despite I am a sucker for dystopian settings.
36. Fahrenheit 451 (2018)
TV-14 | 100 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
In a terrifying care-free future, a young man, Guy Montag, whose job as a fireman is to burn all books, questions his actions after meeting a young woman - and begins to rebel against society.
Director: Ramin Bahrani | Stars: Michael B. Jordan, Aaron Davis, Cindy Katz, Michael Shannon
Votes: 22,689
I just watched this after my recent re-read of the novel. I was pleasantly surprised. It is good and faithful. But there is some modernization and minor changes which serve to translation from novel to movie. Overall I think it is really faithful to the novel.
I don't get why people didn't like this one. Maybe it was the lead actor being black or USA being shown as a totalitarian state. Also Netflix original movies are being generally disliked. People are such a chorus of parrots if there is already a strong consensus about a movie. That's my guess about low rating.
37. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
R | 136 min | Crime, Sci-Fi
In the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke
Votes: 881,812 | Gross: $6.21M
Great book. Great adaptation.
38. A Tale of Two Cities (1980 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 162 min | Drama, History, Romance
An ex-aristocrat from France and an alcoholic English lawyer find themselves crossing paths and in love with the same woman during the French Revolution.
Director: Jim Goddard | Stars: Chris Sarandon, Peter Cushing, Kenneth More, Barry Morse
Votes: 1,017
Suprisingly good. The best adaptation of the novel in my opinion.
39. Dolores Claiborne (1995)
R | 132 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A big city reporter travels to a small town where her mother has been arrested for the murder of an elderly woman for whom she worked as a housekeeper.
Director: Taylor Hackford | Stars: Kathy Bates, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Christopher Plummer, Judy Parfitt
Votes: 48,432 | Gross: $24.36M
40. Gerald's Game (2017)
TV-MA | 103 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A couple tries to spice up their marriage in a remote lake house. After the husband dies unexpectedly, the wife is left handcuffed to their bed frame and must fight to survive and break free.
Director: Mike Flanagan | Stars: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Chiara Aurelia, Carel Struycken
Votes: 127,515
I was very suprised how good this movie was. It blew me away.
41. Planet of the Apes (1968)
G | 112 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
An astronaut crew crash-lands on a planet where highly intelligent non-human ape species are dominant and humans are enslaved.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans
Votes: 193,633 | Gross: $33.40M
This one has changes in the plot for the benefit of translation from book from movie. Nevertheless I think it is really faithful to the book anyway.
42. Kafka (1991)
PG-13 | 98 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Kafka works during the day at an insurance company, where events lead him to discover a mysterious underground society with strange suppressive goals.
Director: Steven Soderbergh | Stars: Jeremy Irons, Theresa Russell, Joel Grey, Ian Holm
Votes: 10,577 | Gross: $1.06M
This is an adaptation of entire works of Kafka. It has more elements from Castle and Trial however.
43. Death on the Nile (1978)
PG | 140 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
As Hercule Poirot enjoys a luxurious cruise down the Nile, a newlywed heiress is found murdered on board. Can Poirot identify the killer before the ship reaches the end of its journey?
Director: John Guillermin | Stars: Peter Ustinov, Mia Farrow, Simon MacCorkindale, Jane Birkin
Votes: 39,868
44. The Road (I) (2009)
R | 111 min | Drama, Thriller
In a dangerous post-apocalyptic world, an ailing father defends his son as they slowly travel to the sea.
Director: John Hillcoat | Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Robert Duvall
Votes: 254,361 | Gross: $0.06M
45. A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958)
Approved | 132 min | Drama, Romance, War
On the Russian front in 1944, German private Ernst Graeber receives a leave and visits his family in Germany but Germany isn't the same country he left behind.
Director: Douglas Sirk | Stars: John Gavin, Liselotte Pulver, Jock Mahoney, Don DeFore
Votes: 3,719
46. The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
Approved | 180 min | Biography, Drama, Family
During World War II, a teenage Jewish girl named Anne Frank and her family are forced into hiding in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Millie Perkins, Shelley Winters, Joseph Schildkraut, Richard Beymer
Votes: 13,698 | Gross: $5.01M
Shot in the actual hiding place of Anne Frank. Adaptation really benefits from being a 3 hour movie due to depth and character development made possible.
47. Agir Roman (1997)
120 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A young car mechanic, while in the middle of an unlikely love affair, tries to protect the people in his poor gypsy neighborhood from a gangster who terrorizes the locals.
Director: Mustafa Altioklar | Stars: Okan Bayülgen, Müjde Ar, Savas Dinçel, Mustafa Ugurlu
Votes: 11,868
Turkish book/movie.
48. A Long Story (2012)
125 min | Drama
A long story that started and ended at the station.
Director: Osman Sinav | Stars: Kenan Imirzalioglu, Tugçe Kazaz, Mustafa Alabora, Zafer Algöz
Votes: 6,136
Turkish book/movie.
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