50 best book-to-film adaptations

Michael Hanscom did it, and even Jason Kottke linked to him – so I might as well be a follower. Besides, I’m sure most of my friends will love going through this list: the 50 best film adaptations of all time

Movies I’ve seen are marked with and M, and books I’ve read are marked with a B – just in case you couldn’t figure that out. After going through it you can also go leave a comment on kottke and complain about the lack of love for Tolkien along with all the other geeks 😛

    [B] 1984
    [BM] Alice in Wonderland
    [M] American Psycho
    [M] Breakfast at Tiffany’s
    Brighton Rock
    [BM] Catch 22
    [M] Charlie & the Chocolate Factory
    [M] A Clockwork Orange I read half the book and never finished it
    Close Range (inc Brokeback Mountain)
    The Day of the Triffids
    Devil in a Blue Dress
    [M] Different Seasons (inc The Shawshank Redemption)
    [BM] Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (aka Bladerunner) all you PKD lovers can scream and yell all you like, but I think the movie is far superior
    Doctor Zhivago
    [M] Empire of the Sun
    The English Patient
    [BM] Fight Club
    The French Lieutenant’s Woman
    [M] Get Shorty
    [M] The Godfather
    Goldfinger
    [M] Goodfellas
    [M] Heart of Darkness (aka Apocalypse Now)
    The Hound of the Baskervilles
    [M] Jaws
    [M] The Jungle Book
    A Kestrel for a Knave (aka Kes)
    [M] LA Confidential
    Les Liaisons Dangereuses well, I’ve seen two versions of it, but not the “truest” adaptation
    Lolita
    [BM] Lord of the Flies
    [M] The Maltese Falcon
    Oliver Twist
    [M] One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
    [M] Orlando
    [M] The Outsiders
    Pride and Prejudice
    The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
    The Railway Children
    Rebecca
    The Remains of the Day
    Schindler’s Ark (aka Schindler’s List)
    [M] Sin City I recently started reading the first book – must get back into it
    The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
    [M] The Talented Mr Ripley
    Tess of the D’Urbervilles
    [B] To Kill a Mockingbird
    [BM] Trainspotting
    The Vanishing
    [BM] Watership Down

I’ve both read and seen 7 of them, with another couple in the works – better than I would have expected.