# Faithful film adaptations of books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 11, 2013, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604 "2013-03-11T03:07:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@Kuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuru)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604/1 "2013-03-11T03:07:16Z")
Film adaptations of novels often stray far from their source material. Due to time restraints films will often purge subplots, omit characters or merge them. All of which makes sense considering most people don’t want to sit through a 10 hour film, and most standalone novels don’t have enough plot to warrant being split into multiple parts (_The Hobbit_?). What gets me is when the theme of a book is disregarded, or the plot changed so drastically that if it wasn’t for the title you wouldn’t even recognise it (_I Robot_, _Starship Troopers_). Short stories usually allow for more faithful renditions but even then can have inexplicable changes that indicate that the film makers were cashing in on name recognition for their shitty film (_The Lawnmower Man_). Of course, some books would be completely unfilmable unless changes were made. Sometimes these changes work (_Naked Lunch_) and sometimes they don’t. _A Scanner Darkly_ and _Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas_ seemed pretty much spot on to me. Both kept the spirit and the majority of scenes and characters of their source. It probably helped that both novels were very short. Which films do you think are the most faithful to their source? ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604/2 "2013-03-11T03:43:01Z")
Deliverance ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604/3 "2013-03-11T03:50:34Z")
Shawshank redemption comes up in these threads a lot. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604/4 "2013-03-11T04:08:49Z")
The 1979 TV adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy sticks very closely to the book. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604/5 "2013-03-11T04:24:22Z")
_No Country for Old Men_ – extremely faithful, including most of the dialogue. No added characters, nothing important left out. Also _The Godfather_ – Coppola left out that subplot about the woman who had that special surgery, but if I remember right, the movie stayed close to the book. Sometimes a movie will leave me with questions, usually about a character’s motivation. _King’s Row_ is an example. The incest wasn’t entirely left out of the movie, but it was more explicit (but not graphic) in the book. Others where the movie prompted me to read the book and I was pleased with the adaptation: _The Magnificent Ambersons, Leave Her to Heaven, Alice Adams, Dodsworth, Of Human Bondage, The Missing, Therese Raquin, A Very Long Engagement, Jean deFlorette/Manon of the Spring, Stardust, The Dollmaker, Lonesome Dove, Night of the Hunter_. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604/6 "2013-03-11T04:52:22Z")
**The Road** - the only difference I recall is that several of the more horrific scenes in the book were toned down or omitted. ---
**Author:** ![Kuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@Kuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuru)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604/7 "2013-03-11T05:02:57Z")
> [@tellyworth](#): > > The 1979 TV adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy sticks very closely to the book. That’s interesting - I see it was a 7 part mini series with a total running time of 315 minutes. The 2011 film was only 127 minutes. How did it compare? ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604/8 "2013-03-11T05:05:45Z")
I found the film version of _The Princess Bride_ to be very faithful to the book (which is my favorite book in all the world). Of course, they had to leave out some of the good parts, but the wacky and sweet spirit of the book was certainly there. William Goldman is both an accomplished novelist and an expert screenwriter, but in the hands of a less capable director this could have been a mess despite the great screenplay. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604/9 "2013-03-11T05:25:39Z")
_ **Winter’s Bone** _ changed a few things, but not much. Same for _ **The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo** _, _ **The Reader** _, _**The Ghost [Writer]**_ and the Harry Potter movies. ---
**Author:** ![Kuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@Kuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuru)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604/10 "2013-03-11T06:33:46Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#): > > I found the film version of _The Princess Bride_ to be very faithful to the book (which is my favorite book in all the world) That’s good to hear. I always meant to read it to my daughter when she was younger but never got around to it. I’ll just have to read it by myself 🙂 > [@pinkfreud](#): > > William Goldman is both an accomplished novelist and an expert screenwriter, but in the hands of a less capable director this could have been a mess despite the great screenplay. I remember the film of _Marathon Man_ being fairly close to the book. I read _Magic_ but haven’t seen the movie. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604/11 "2013-03-11T06:44:43Z")
Best I can blurt out right now in terms of casting and directing: Best: the Harry Potter Series Worst: The Lord of the Rings ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604/12 "2013-03-11T09:06:15Z")
I thought the _Watchmen_ film was a very faithful working, which is prob uncommon for graphic novel adaptations. It was the worse for it IMHO, film was quite good but pretty stodgy. Could have done with less reverence for the source material, so sort of the inverse of previous Alan Moore adaptations. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604/13 "2013-03-11T09:22:36Z")
Except for being truncated & simplifying the characters of Harold Lauder & Nadine, the TV miniseries of Stephen King’s THE STAND is pretty darn close! The 1970s BBC Louis Jourdan COUNT DRACULA & Branaugh’s FRANKENSTEIN are both close enough to the books in my estimation. (As for including all the main characters, Coppola’s DRACULA is closer to the book, but the tone is very different.) ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604/14 "2013-03-11T10:04:58Z")
_To Kill a Mockingbird_ is, in my opinion, a very faithful movie adaptation of the book. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604/15 "2013-03-11T10:10:30Z")
The min-series **Shogun** was close to the novel. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604/16 "2013-03-11T10:14:54Z")
> [@Critical1](#): > > Shawshank redemption comes up in these threads a lot. The Green Mile was very faithful to the novel. I was going to mention Kenneth Branaugh’s _Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein_, but I see I was beaten to it. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604/17 "2013-03-11T10:15:20Z")
Shaka Zulu was close enough (no official storybook though,) just basing it it on online posted accounts of Finn and Farewell, as with the James Michener novel. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604/18 "2013-03-11T10:35:21Z")
> [@Kuru](#): > > That’s interesting - I see it was a 7 part mini series with a total running time of 315 minutes. > > The 2011 film was only 127 minutes. How did it compare? They did well trimming the story down to its essentials for the film. It’s stylish, and I actually like some of the things they changed (the opening scenes in Budapest in particular). The mini series is slow and methodical, but that’s the point. And Alec Guinness is so damn perfect that it almost seems unfair to compare them. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604/19 "2013-03-11T11:34:50Z")
I think _Atonement_ the movie was very close to the book, maybe even an improvement on the book. I actually did not understand exactly what happened in the book until I saw the movie. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604/20 "2013-03-11T11:37:01Z")
Aside from changing the sex of one character (!) _The Andromeda Strain_ was astonishingly faithful to Crichton’s book. I was pretty amazed when I saw it. There were some changes, but _Gone With The Wind_ was also surprisingly faithful to its source. Especially surprising, considering when it was made. Not only the extraordinary length of the film, but this was an age when they tended to ameliorate plot elements to make them more palatable to the audience\*. GWTW gave us the unvarnished awfulness without sugar coating. I agree that it’s a prejudiced view of the South and the Civil War, but it’s precisely reflecting the book in that – it’s the Civil War as seen through the eyes of the daughter of a plantation owner. \*Look at what they did to Frankenstein. They started with Peggy Webling’s play, not the book. Then they threw out the 19th century plot and reset it in the 20th century, then significantly changed the characters. (And they switched the First names of Victor Frankenstein and Henry Clerval. God knows why. Maybe they tested better) Then they eliminated the Monster’s attack on Henry’s bride. Then, after the film nwas done, they decided that Henry didn’t really die, after all, he survived. Then, when they needed a sequel, they decided the Monster didn’t die either. The novel, by contrast, has people being killed left and right. You almost don’t recognize it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faithful-film-adaptations-of-books/652604.md?page=2)