Book and movie.

[Svengoolie 3]

Name a movie you've read the book it was based on or the adaptation of it.

"Fantastic voyage".  Contrary to opinion,  the movie was not  based on the book but the book was based on the movie.  The film makers tapped Isaac asimov to do an adaptation of the movie with no idea whatsoever how fast saint Isaac wrote. He had  the book out long before the movie,  and the book was so much better. It pointed out the innumerable  science flaws in the movie and patched them,  making it quite long.

[Trevor]

Stephen King's The Shining: frightening book, blah film.
Peter Straub's Ghost Story: eerie book, crappy film.
David Westheimer's Von Ryan's Express: great book, awful film.
David Morrell's First Blood: great book, great film.
Jack Higgins' The Eagle Has Landed: great book, terrible film.
Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park: great book, great film.
The Bible: great book: film didn't cover enough of it 

[Alex]

Anne Rice - Interview With The Vampire. Decent film, god-awful book where the heroes spent the whole time whining about everything. For my money, it remains the worst book I have ever read and I have no idea why I kept reading the sequels for so long hoping they would get less self indulgent.

Robert Heinlein - Starship Troopers. Fun movie, somewhat plodding as a novel.

Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien. Good adaption even if it missed out my favourite bits of the novel. I think the novel is good, but perhaps overpraised by people who manage to make it the whole way through.

The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien. Fun enough kids book. Jackson let his ego run away with him on making the movies though. This should never have been a movie trilogy.

[Trevor]

Thomas Eidson's The Missing: good book, good film.
Nicholas Conde's The Religion: scary book, scary film (made as The Believers)

[Alex]

Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park: great book, great film.

The guy who played Maj. Pribluda in that film was a big comedian in Scotland. I think this was his only dramatic role.

[Trevor]

Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park: great book, great film.

The guy who played Maj. Pribluda in that film was a big comedian in Scotland. I think this was his only dramatic role.

Yes, the great Rikki Fulton.  



I remember seeing his comedy series Scotch and Wry: the episode with him giving Mark McManus (as Jim Taggart) a parking ticket is hilarious.

[Alex]

Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park: great book, great film.

The guy who played Maj. Pribluda in that film was a big comedian in Scotland. I think this was his only dramatic role.

Yes, the great Rikki Fulton.  



I remember seeing his comedy series Scotch and Wry: the episode with him giving Mark McManus (as Jim Taggart) a parking ticket is hilarious.

Yeah, his show was essential viewing every Hogmanay. Didn't know it was ever shown outside Scotland though, nice to hear others got to see him. The Rev I.M. Jolly was my favourite character. Anyway, I thought he was really good in Gorky Park and it was a great shame he chose not to do more movies. He was happy with his decisions though.

[Rev. Powell]

Interestingly, I'm watching the new TV adaptation of "Catch-22" right now, one of the best novels of all time.

I believe Mike Nichols' 1970 movie adaptation is very underrated.

The TV miniseries is very different from both the movie and the novel. It downplays a lot of Joseph Heller's original black comedy and absurdism and presents the material in a more realistic way, more in the style of M*A*S*H*.

It's not the choice I would have made, and I think it's not as good as the original book or movie, but it is interesting. I am not one of those who wants the film adaptation to be a faithful adaptation of the book. If I want that I'll read the book again. I want the adapter to shake things up a little and make it their own.

[RCMerchant]

.the HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson. Fantastic book, good movie (1963 version, mind you.)
.the EXORCIST by William Peter Blatty- Good book and movie.
.Rev- I too read CATCH 22, and found the book so much better than the film.

[bob]

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - fantastic book, the 2013film  was great -- but the book is better

[The Burgomaster]

* NIGHTWING by Martin Cruz Smith - Scary, suspenseful book about bats and bubonic plague. Silly movie with fake-looking bats.

* THE GODFATHER by Mario Puzo - Good book, great movie (actually, the book covers parts of GODFATHER, PART II as well).

* THE EXORCIST by William Peter Blatty - Great book, great movie.

* KILLSHOT by Elmore Leonard - Excellent book, disappointing movie.

* THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME by Victor Hugo - One of my favorite novels. The Charles Laughton and Lon Chaney movies are excellent. Other film versions are okay.

* SALEM'S LOT by Stephen King - My favorite Stephen King novel. The movie is good, too (despite David Soul).

* KING RAT by James Clavell - Excellent book. Very good movie.

* THE SENTINEL by Jeffrey Konvitz - Scary book, crappy movie.

* ROSEMARY'S BABY by Ira Levin - Excellent book, excellent movie.

* TAI PAN by James Clavell - Excellent book, tremendously disappointing movie.

* MARATHON MAN by William Goldman - Excellent book, excellent movie (but the book is better).

* MAGIC by William Goldman - Excellent book, pretty good movie.

[RCMerchant]

.PSYCHO by Robert Bloch.  Mediocre book, great movie.

[Svengoolie 3]

The time machine.  I read the book and I gotta tell you that none of the movies had the balls to be true to it.  In the movies it was always a war or a disaster that divided humanity into the morlocks and the eloi.  In he book what destroyed humanity was basically unchecked and uncontrolled big business  and the way it dehumanjzed and brutalized working peopel whole letting the rich become utterly idle and decadent.

The book was based on how the English class and economic system of the 19tn century was so hard towards the poor and working classes it made them angry and brutish,  while the rich lived in decadent luxury.

Wells forsaw this leading,  eventually,  to a absolute division of the human race into the brutal,  but hard working morlocks who kept things running and the rich who became utterly useless and helpless after being served hand and foot  so long.

None of the movies touched on this theme.  In the 50's it would have been labled "comyoonist! " and the makers atttacked.

I'd like to see a more faithful adaptation if the time machine especially in lght of the growing class divisions in america.

[RCMerchant]

FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelly.
Yeah I know- but the book is a crashing bore.
FRANKENSTEIN (1931) and the BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN outdistance it by miles.
I could say the same for DR.JEKYLL AND MR.HYDE by Stevenson, compared to the '32 movie.

[pacman000]

I liked Shelly's book, but it was more interesting than scary.

I want a new adaption of Doyle's The Lost World; the restored silent version's good, but it takes too many liberties. There was a TV version made in the mid-90's which followed the plot better, but it was dull. And Irwin Allen's version was just a generic adventure movie.