Adaptations that you prefer to the original novel/play etc.

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I'd venture Kubrick's The Shining, but perhaps I'm biased because I saw the film first.
I find the film far, far creepier, and despite King's protests I think the evisceration of the book (Jack Torrance's background history, for example)works in the films' favour, true testament to the adage that the less you see/know/understand the creepier it is. A shame the topiary animals weren't included though, I would have liked to see what Kubrick would have done with that. I also prefer the films' ending, King seems to have problems finishing his novels.
Off the top of my head I can't think of any more examples, I'm sure their are many more.

― David S, Monday, 16 June 2003 22:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Lord of the Rings.

Sue me.

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 16 June 2003 22:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Clockwork Orange.

― David S, Monday, 16 June 2003 22:48 (twenty-two years ago)

LOTR seconded. The omission of Tom Bombadil has enhanced the material considerably.

The Orchid Thief, obv.

― Sommermute (Wintermute), Monday, 16 June 2003 22:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I'll back you on Lord of the Rings and The Shining, but I really love Burgess as an author so he gets the edge over the Kubrick adaptation. I don't watch enough movies to contribute to this thread, though.

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 16 June 2003 22:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I intended this thread for Film, but put it in here by mistake. The Clockwork Orange call is a close one. How can you read the book without picturing the film? Not necessarily a negative or positive judgement on either, just putting that thought out there.

― David S, Monday, 16 June 2003 23:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Easy, you read the book without having seen the film. Works for me.

― Matt (Matt), Monday, 16 June 2003 23:10 (twenty-two years ago)

I boo you Shining people. Boo.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 16 June 2003 23:18 (twenty-two years ago)

You boo us?

― David S, Tuesday, 17 June 2003 00:24 (twenty-two years ago)

In Kubrick's Shining, there's too little sense of a powerful, perverting force at work, exploiting the weakest link. (Spoiler>) We don't get that wonderful, pivotal moment where the real Torrance returns, briefly, to tell his son he loves him and urge him to flee. Yeah, there's too much information in the book, but Kubrick stripped away the emotional core and (as King said) the tragedy. What's left? An incredibly well-made, memorable film that just doesn't mean anything much.

― ChristineSH (chrissie1068), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 00:47 (twenty-two years ago)

American Psycho.

― David Beckhouse (David Beckhouse), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 03:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Fight Club, I think. I go back and forth on that. The book is very film-like to begin with, so the movie sort of feels like it fulfills the book.

Godfather, without a doubt. I like the book, but it's a beach-novel: the movie is a beach-novel with ominous oranges.

LOTR, yeah, so far. I was always more an admirer of Tolkien than a fan, though.

There are things about Disney's Alice in Wonderland which work very well and mesh with what Carroll was doing, things which -- because they're visual or aural -- he couldn't do. I can never quite make up my mind about whether that means I like the movie better, even if I decide to forgive it its lamest moments.

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 03:54 (twenty-two years ago)

It's funny, about Alice in Wonderland: it's been filmed about a million times over the last century because it seems like it's just made to be adapted - all the colorful characters and incidents, the witty dialogue, the strong heroine - and yet it almost never works on film. The problem is that there's no real plot, the whole story being a dream and all. The Disney version has some wonderful stuff in it, and my reading of the book has always been colored by it, but it seems more like a bunch of shorts put together than a real movie. I haven't seen Jan Svankmejer's "Alice," which is supposed to be great.

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 07:07 (twenty-two years ago)

The Godfather.
Jaws.

To note two bloody obvious ones.

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 08:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I read A Clockwork Orange years before I saw the film. In a way it is a close call, but they are great in very different ways. In the book the power is (nearly) all in the language and in the film it's (nearly) all in the imagery. So, good examples of each medium playing to its strengths I guess?

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 08:36 (twenty-two years ago)

eleven months pass...

Bosko Balaban Stats For Season

Name Bosko Balaban
Team Aston Villa
Total Appearances 0
Starts 0
Substituted 0
Total Minutes Played 0
Avg Minutes Played Per Start 0
Goals 0
Avg Goal Mins When Starting 0.0
Avg Mins Played/Goal Scored 0
Goals Scored As Sub 0
Number of Bookings 0
Total Booking Minutes 0
Avg Bookings Per Start 0
Number of Red Cards 0
Total Red Card Minutes 0
Avg Red Cards Per Start 0

― bosko, Monday, 14 June 2004 03:20 (twenty-one years ago)

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