To this date, there has never been a sucessful film version of Don Quixote, after many atempts to bring Cervantes’ story to life.
Are there any other’s you guys know of, in particually those that have been tried, but failed for what ever reason.
Does Battlefield Earth count? I heard it was a decent book.
[Maude]Xenu’s gonna get you for that.[/Maude]
Anything by Poe.
This doesn’t meet the standard of “particularly those that have been tried”, but Catcher in the Rye was never a successful movie.
Or a movie.
The *Illiad * of Homer.
Actually, there was a fairly good Russian version of the story (if you can get used to them saying “Don Quixote de la Mancheski.” 
). This may be it. But generally, you are right.
I’d say there’s never been a completly successful film of Alice in Wonderland and for the same reason as Don Quixote – it’s a very picaresque book, with a lot of incidents but no real story. The best Alice was probably the TV version of 1999, which rewrote the story to give it a plot (Alice was preparing to recite and used the events as material. Even Walt Disney didn’t like the Disney version.
Cat’s Cradle and others by Vonnegut (though Slaughterhouse 5 and Mother Night both made surprisingly good movies)
Remembrance of Things Past by Proust
Several by Mark Twain (*The Gilded Age, Roughing It, Captain Stormfield, *etc.)
The Hobbit.
You can also add Huckleberry Finn to that list. In all the attempts to film it, I don’t anybody has gotten that one right.
Hmm… none of the movies based on Lovecraft’s works seemed to work.
I question whether there’s been an effective attempt to make a movie of Dostoyevski’s Crime and Punishment.
Most Stephen King, especially Thinner. The exceptions are: The Stand, The Green Mile, and Dreamcatcher.
A Prayer for Owen Meany was the basis for the God-awful Simon Birch. After seeing that movie, I wanted a time machine so I could get my wasted time and money back. Yech.
I’d give you your money back if you could go back in time and stop them from making the movie in the first place!
Robert Heinlein’s books have a very poor track record being made into films. Same with Isaac Asimov.
Although I was really rooting for Terry Gilliam. Kepp meaning to see the documentary but I think it would just break my heart.
"Cat’s Cradle and others by Vonnegut "…now that’s an intersting thought. I’d love to see Cat’s Cradle but there are so many ways to screw it up.
And I guess, of famous books never made into movies we’d have to mention “Confederacy of Dunces.”
It will. I really wish he could have made that movie.
It may still happen. In the movie, Gilliam says he wants to try again, and he is still alive.
I would have liked to see Orson Wellers version too, but that’s never going to happen.
Bonfire of the Vanities
I would add The Shawshank Redemption the list of exceptions. Still one of my favorite flicks of all time.
Spider Kiss by Harlan Ellison should be done. At the right time, it would be a fantastic movie.
I think this one’s probably too obvious, but The Hunchback of Notre Dame has never been a good movie. I’ve seen the old silent film version, as well as the Disney version. The silent film was best of the two, but that’s not saying much.