# Novels into Movies: Title Changes **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 2, 2001, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-into-movies-title-changes/60557 "2001-04-02T23:12:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![exchicagoan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/0ea827/32.png) [@exchicagoan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/exchicagoan)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-into-movies-title-changes/60557/41 "2001-04-05T06:51:57Z")
THE AMBOY DUKES became CITY ACROSS THE RIVER THE MAGNIFICENT BASTARD became THE PROUD AND THE PROFANE A STONE FOR DANNY FISHER became KING CREOLE ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-into-movies-title-changes/60557/42 "2001-04-05T16:03:45Z")
The Water is Wide =\> Conrack (Pat Conroy) The Boo =\> The Lords of Discipline (Pat Conroy) The Great Santini =\> The Ace (only briefly) (Pat Conroy) ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-into-movies-title-changes/60557/43 "2001-04-05T21:25:31Z")
_Hijack #1_ > [@](#): > > Re Good Omens, fear not; Terry Gilliam is doing it. 😃 HUZZAH!!! Somebody must have some sense then. _Hijack #2_ > [@](#): > > This’n started as a British TV series, so it’s already been bungled by Hollywood - they never picked it up for air or video… Yesyes, it is lovely and wonderful… except for the fact that the Beast is a friggin cow wearing rags… I did hear it’s being readied for the big screen, but there’s no telling when it’ll actually be done. 'Nother book to movie: The overwrought but entertaining Margaret George book _The Memoirs of Cleopatra_ became the hideously painful miniseries _Cleopatra_. (Billy Zane as Marc Antony??? bleah!) ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-into-movies-title-changes/60557/44 "2001-04-05T21:42:03Z")
“Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane” —\> “The Ninth Configuration” ---
**Author:** ![FEotU](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@FEotU](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FEotU)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-into-movies-title-changes/60557/45 "2001-04-06T02:39:00Z")
Here’s a few more for the list: “Make Roon, Make Room” by Harry Harrison filmed as “Soylent Green” “The Greatest Gift” by Philip Van Doren Stern filmed as “It’s a Wonderful Life” “In God We Trust (All Others Pay Cash)” by Jean Sheppard filmed as “A Christmas Story” btw, Jean Sheppard was the narrator of the film; fans of the film should track down the book-- the movie was only a small portion of the adventures and antics in the novel. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-into-movies-title-changes/60557/46 "2001-04-06T04:36:46Z")
More title changes: The Maltese Falcon was first filmed as “Satan Met A Lady” If we’re allowed to do plays, “Casablanca” was based on “Everybody Goes to Rick’s” If “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” is considered a title change, then we’ll have to include Andy Warhol’s movies. Oh yes, Steve Martin redid Cyrano as “Roxanne” and "Silas Marner as “A Simple Twist of Fate” pesch ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-into-movies-title-changes/60557/47 "2001-04-06T05:29:01Z")
Ooooh. **pesch** , you just turned me on to some (well, maybe) good shite. Thank you and welcome to the SDMB. I just checked my “free to never effing return” library and discovered that my first Vintage edition of _Falcon_ (the acid-free paper version) is AWOL. [rant] That makes the _ninth_ Hammett book that’s slipped away from me. The guy only wrote like six novels, plus anthologies. What am I, the effing Dashiell Hammett Welfare Department? That’s it, _nobody’s_ getting my copy of _Nightmare Town_. [/rant] Nevertheless, I remember Hammett’s first paragraph describes Sam Spade as “a blond Satan.” ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-into-movies-title-changes/60557/48 "2001-04-06T12:17:09Z")
It’s not really a novel, but the short story _Super Toys Last All Summer Long_ is being turned into the Steven Spielberg movie _A.I._. ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-into-movies-title-changes/60557/49 "2001-04-06T12:46:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by UncleBill \* > \*\*The Boo =\> The Lords of Discipline (Pat Conroy) > \*\* If I’m not mistaken, the movie Lords Of Discipline was taken from the book of the same title. From what I’ve heard, some of the experiences of the Cadets in TLOD were taken from Conroy’s time at the Citadel. The Boo was a straightforward memoir if Conroy’s life at the Citadel, with an emphasis on his commanding officer, who was nicknamed The Boo. ---
**Author:** ![sewalk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@sewalk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sewalk)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-into-movies-title-changes/60557/50 "2001-04-07T06:35:42Z")
_Red Alert_ became _Dr. Strangelove or:How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb_. Definitely the best title change in history. _The Killer Department_ (not a novel, but a true story) became _Citizen X_. ---
**Author:** ![sewalk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@sewalk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sewalk)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-into-movies-title-changes/60557/51 "2001-04-07T06:51:17Z")
I just noticed, four of Stanley Kubrick’s projects are listed here. I guess he had a thing for renaming his movies if the title didn’t suit his fancy. FTR: _2001: A Space Odessey Full Metal Jacket Dr. Strangelove A.I._ A check of the IMDb also revealed _The Killing_(1956), made from Lionel White’s novel _Clean Break_. Even _Eyes Wide Shut_ was originally titled _Traumnovelle_ (Arthur Schnitzler). ---
**Author:** ![FEotU](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@FEotU](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FEotU)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-into-movies-title-changes/60557/52 "2001-04-07T07:38:36Z")
“La Morte d’Arthur” by Thomas Mallory (translated from the french) filmed as “Excalibur” ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-into-movies-title-changes/60557/53 "2001-04-07T07:40:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pesch \* > \*\*More title changes: > > The Maltese Falcon was first filmed as “Satan Met A Lady” > > If we’re allowed to do plays, “Casablanca” was based on “Everybody Goes to Rick’s” > pesch \*\* Sir Rhosis gets anal… sorry, pesch. “Satan Met A Lady” from about 1936 was actually the second filming of “The Maltese Falcon” and the worst, they changed the falcon into a horn. It was first (1931?) filmed fairly faithfully as “Dangerous Female.” And, IIRC, the play was “Everybody Comes To Rick’s,” but I may be mistaken. And to add to the OP, instead of just being picky… “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” dropped “Wonderful” when it was filmed, and the 1985 “Return To Oz was based on two of Baum’s books, “The Land of Oz” and Ozma of Oz.” Sir ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-into-movies-title-changes/60557/54 "2001-04-08T16:27:34Z")
Forgot to mention another one. _The Sheep Pig_ became **Babe**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-into-movies-title-changes/60557.md?page=2)