Greatest adaptations
by Attila85 | created - 23 Oct 2011 | updated - 24 Oct 2021 | PublicA selection of the best movies based on novels or stories I've read. Includes memorable adaptations of the works of authors like John Steinbeck, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Dickens, Henryk Sienkiewicz, Arthur C. Clarke and many others. Will be permanently updated as I read and watch more. Random order.
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1. East of Eden (1955)
PG | 118 min | Drama
Two brothers in 1910s California struggle to maintain their strict, Bible-toting father's favor as an old secret about their long-absent mother comes to light.
Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: James Dean, Raymond Massey, Julie Harris, Burl Ives
Votes: 48,800
James Dean's first magnificent role of his short career.
2. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Passed | 129 min | Drama
An Oklahoma family, driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl, joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin
Votes: 99,917 | Gross: $0.06M
The ending in the movie is less dramatic than in the novel. Read it and you'll be convinced.
3. Quo Vadis (1951)
Not Rated | 171 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
After fierce Roman commander Marcus Vinicius becomes infatuated with beautiful Christian hostage Lygia, he begins to question the tyrannical leadership of the despotic emperor Nero.
Directors: Mervyn LeRoy, Anthony Mann | Stars: Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Leo Genn, Peter Ustinov
Votes: 16,739 | Gross: $24.29M
4. Ben-Hur (1959)
G | 212 min | Adventure, Drama
After a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet
Votes: 253,561 | Gross: $74.70M
5. Planet of the Apes (1968)
G | 112 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
An astronaut crew crash-lands on a planet where highly intelligent non-human ape species are dominant and humans are enslaved.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans
Votes: 193,055 | Gross: $33.40M
In the movie the action takes place on the Earth, but in the novel all of it is happening on a different planet.
6. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 1,105,990 | Gross: $44.02M
There are a lot of differences between Stephen King's novel and Stanley Kubrick's movie. In the book Danny's relation with his father is more familiar, meanwhile in the movie Jack appears like a tough head who wants to control the lives of his wife and son. The ending is more original in the picture.
7. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984–1985)
TV-PG | 688 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson solve the mysteries of copper beeches, a Greek interpreter, the Norwood builder, a resident patient, the red-headed league, and one final problem.
Stars: Jeremy Brett, David Burke, Rosalie Williams, Eric Porter
Votes: 24,199
8. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1986–1988)
TV-PG | 781 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson solve the mysteries of the devil's foot, Silver Blaze, Wisteria Lodge and the Bruce-Partington Plans.
Stars: Jeremy Brett, Edward Hardwicke, Rosalie Williams, Colin Jeavons
Votes: 13,397
9. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1991–1993)
616 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Holmes and Dr. Watson solve the mysteries of the Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax, Thor Bridge, Shoscombe Old Place, The Boscombe Valley Mystery, The Illustrious Client and The Creeping Man.
Stars: Jeremy Brett, Edward Hardwicke, Rosalie Williams, Colin Jeavons
Votes: 6,176
10. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1994)
TV-PG | 51 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The last installment of Sherlock Holmes' investigations.
Stars: Jeremy Brett, Rosalie Williams, Edward Hardwicke, Charles Gray
Votes: 8,323
11. Sherlock Holmes (2009)
PG-13 | 128 min | Action, Adventure, Mystery
Detective Sherlock Holmes and his stalwart partner Watson engage in a battle of wits and brawn with a nemesis whose plot is a threat to all of England.
Director: Guy Ritchie | Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong
Votes: 670,717 | Gross: $209.03M
Although this movie isn't based on any novel or short story written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the illustration of the characters is excellent.
12. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Passed | 152 min | Drama, War
A German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Arnold Lucy
Votes: 67,658 | Gross: $3.27M
13. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
PG-13 | 178 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A meek Hobbit from the Shire and eight companions set out on a journey to destroy the powerful One Ring and save Middle-earth from the Dark Lord Sauron.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean
Votes: 2,006,115 | Gross: $315.54M
14. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
PG-13 | 179 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
While Frodo and Sam edge closer to Mordor with the help of the shifty Gollum, the divided fellowship makes a stand against Sauron's new ally, Saruman, and his hordes of Isengard.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom
Votes: 1,782,971 | Gross: $342.55M
15. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
PG-13 | 201 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron's army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom
Votes: 1,978,209 | Gross: $377.85M
16. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
G | 149 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
After uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter
Votes: 719,150 | Gross: $56.95M
17. The Jungle Book (1967)
G | 78 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Bagheera the Panther and Baloo the Bear have a difficult time trying to convince a boy to leave the jungle for human civilization.
Director: Wolfgang Reitherman | Stars: Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Louis Prima, Bruce Reitherman
Votes: 198,573 | Gross: $141.84M
The action of this adaptation differs from the plot of Kipling's Mowgli stories, but still remains one of the best classic Disney animation.
18. The Jungle Book (2016)
PG | 106 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
After a threat from the tiger Shere Khan forces him to flee the jungle, a man-cub named Mowgli embarks on a journey of self discovery with the help of panther Bagheera and free-spirited bear Baloo.
Director: Jon Favreau | Stars: Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba
Votes: 291,975 | Gross: $364.00M
19. A Christmas Carol (2009)
PG | 96 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
An animated retelling of Charles Dickens' classic novel about a Victorian-era miser taken on a journey of self-redemption, courtesy of several mysterious Christmas apparitions.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Steve Valentine
Votes: 129,487 | Gross: $137.86M
20. Great Expectations (1946)
Approved | 118 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery
A humble orphan boy in 1810s Kent is given the opportunity to go to London and become a gentleman, with the help of an unknown benefactor.
Director: David Lean | Stars: John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Tony Wager, Jean Simmons
Votes: 26,393
21. Oliver Twist (1948)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama
In Charles Dickens' classic tale, an orphan wends his way from cruel apprenticeship to den of thieves in search of a true home.
Director: David Lean | Stars: Robert Newton, Alec Guinness, Kay Walsh, Francis L. Sullivan
Votes: 13,652
22. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
PG | 143 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
While playing, Lucy and her siblings find a wardrobe that lands them in a mystical place called Narnia. Here they realize that it was fated and they must now unite with Aslan to defeat an evil queen.
Director: Andrew Adamson | Stars: Tilda Swinton, Georgie Henley, William Moseley, Skandar Keynes
Votes: 427,870 | Gross: $291.71M
23. The Name of the Rose (1986)
R | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
An intellectually nonconformist friar investigates a series of mysterious deaths in an isolated abbey.
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud | Stars: Sean Connery, Christian Slater, Helmut Qualtinger, Elya Baskin
Votes: 117,198 | Gross: $7.15M
24. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
R | 152 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A journalist is aided by a young female hacker in his search for the killer of a woman who has been dead for forty years.
Director: Niels Arden Oplev | Stars: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Ewa Fröling, Lena Endre
Votes: 223,310 | Gross: $10.10M
Far from being complete, but still a good movie.
25. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
R | 158 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Journalist Mikael Blomkvist is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing for 40 years by young computer hacker Lisbeth Salander.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård
Votes: 494,658 | Gross: $102.52M
Much better than the Swedish version.
26. Nosferatu (1922)
Not Rated | 94 min | Fantasy, Horror
Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Max Schreck, Alexander Granach, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder
Votes: 105,386
After more than 80 years still remains the best adaptation of Bram Stocker's "Dracula".
27. Dracula (1931)
Passed | 75 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Transylvanian vampire Count Dracula bends a naive real estate agent to his will, then takes up residence at a London estate where he sleeps in his coffin by day and searches for potential victims by night.
Directors: Tod Browning, Karl Freund | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David Manners, Dwight Frye
Votes: 58,603
28. War and Peace (1965)
GP | 393 min | Drama, Romance, War
The Russian aristocracy prepares for the French invasion on the eve of 1812.
Director: Sergey Bondarchuk | Stars: Lyudmila Saveleva, Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Sergey Bondarchuk, Boris Zakhava
Votes: 8,339 | Gross: $0.13M
29. Frankenstein (1931)
Passed | 70 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Dr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses.
Director: James Whale | Stars: Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, Boris Karloff, John Boles
Votes: 79,678
Marry Shelley's masterpiece is a Bildungsroman, but this is a classic horror movie.
30. The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Passed | 93 min | Horror
A mad, disfigured composer seeks love with a lovely young opera singer.
Directors: Rupert Julian, Lon Chaney, Ernst Laemmle, Edward Sedgwick | Stars: Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Arthur Edmund Carewe
Votes: 20,093 | Gross: $3.75M
31. Shogun (1980)
TV-MA | 109 min | Adventure, Drama, History
An English navigator becomes both a player and pawn in the complex political games in feudal Japan.
Stars: Richard Chamberlain, Toshirô Mifune, Yôko Shimada, Furankî Sakai
Votes: 15,522
A great journey to the 16th century Japan.
32. Hugo (2011)
PG | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
In 1931 Paris, an orphan living in the walls of a train station gets wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Christopher Lee, Ben Kingsley
Votes: 336,763 | Gross: $73.86M
One of the best movies of this decade.
33. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Passed | 100 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
San Francisco private detective Sam Spade takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar and their quest for a priceless statuette, with the stakes rising after his partner is murdered.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre
Votes: 166,530 | Gross: $2.11M
34. Captain Blood (1935)
Passed | 119 min | Action, Adventure, History
After treating a Monmouth rebel against King James II in 1680s England, a young Irish doctor is exiled as a slave to Jamaica where he captures a Spanish galleon and becomes the most feared pirate of the Caribbean.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Lionel Atwill, Basil Rathbone
Votes: 16,094 | Gross: $2.96M
35. Rich Man, Poor Man (1976)
TV-PG | 63 min | Drama
An examination of the trials and tribulations of the Jordache family, from the period following World War II to the late 1960s.
Stars: Peter Strauss, Nick Nolte, Susan Blakely, Dorothy McGuire
Votes: 3,420
36. The 39 Steps (1935)
Approved | 86 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A man in London tries to help a counter-espionage agent, but when the agent is killed and the man stands accused, he must go on the run to save himself and stop a spy ring that is trying to steal top-secret information.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, Lucie Mannheim, Godfrey Tearle
Votes: 61,516
Hitchcock's movie differs from John Buchan's novel by the introduction of two female characters, while The 39 Steps refers to the clandestine organisation.
37. Animal Farm (1954)
Approved | 72 min | Animation, Drama
A successful farmyard revolution by the resident animals vs. the farmer goes horribly wrong when the victors create a new tyranny among themselves.
Directors: Joy Batchelor, John Halas | Stars: Gordon Heath, Maurice Denham
Votes: 18,991
The altered ending was caused by the death of J.S. Stalin one year before the release of the movie.
38. The Reader (2008)
R | 124 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
Post-WWII Germany: Nearly a decade after his affair with an older woman came to a mysterious end, law student Michael Berg re-encounters his former lover as she defends herself in a war-crime trial.
Director: Stephen Daldry | Stars: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, Bruno Ganz, Jeanette Hain
Votes: 259,756 | Gross: $34.19M
39. Lolita (1962)
Not Rated | 153 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A middle-aged college professor becomes infatuated with a 14-year-old girl.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: James Mason, Shelley Winters, Sue Lyon, Gary Cockrell
Votes: 108,755 | Gross: $9.25M
40. Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)
PG-13 | 100 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A young peasant maid working in the house of painter Johannes Vermeer becomes his talented assistant and the model for one of his most famous works.
Director: Peter Webber | Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson, Judy Parfitt
Votes: 82,644 | Gross: $11.63M
41. The Piano Teacher (2001)
R | 131 min | Drama, Music
A young man romantically pursues his masochistic piano teacher.
Director: Michael Haneke | Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Annie Girardot, Benoît Magimel, Susanne Lothar
Votes: 71,740 | Gross: $1.90M
42. Les Misérables (2012)
PG-13 | 158 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
In 19th-century France, Jean Valjean, who for decades has been hunted by the ruthless policeman Javert after breaking parole, agrees to care for a factory worker's daughter. The decision changes their lives forever.
Director: Tom Hooper | Stars: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried
Votes: 345,939 | Gross: $148.81M
43. Life of Pi (2012)
PG | 127 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
A young man who survives a disaster at sea is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While cast away, he forms an unexpected connection with another survivor: a fearsome Bengal tiger.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Adil Hussain, Tabu
Votes: 666,648 | Gross: $124.99M
44. Gone with the Wind (1939)
Passed | 238 min | Drama, Romance, War
A sheltered and manipulative Southern belle and a roguish profiteer face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles with the end of slavery and is rebuilt during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods.
Directors: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood | Stars: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O'Neil
Votes: 334,149 | Gross: $198.68M
45. The Tin Drum (1979)
R | 142 min | Drama, War
In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.
Director: Volker Schlöndorff | Stars: David Bennent, Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler, Katharina Thalbach
Votes: 25,747
46. Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
Approved | 115 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A young New York socialite becomes interested in a young man who has moved into her apartment building, but her past threatens to get in the way.
Director: Blake Edwards | Stars: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen
Votes: 192,064
47. The Great Gatsby (2013)
PG-13 | 143 min | Drama, Romance
A writer and wall street trader, Nick Carraway, finds himself drawn to the past and lifestyle of his mysterious millionaire neighbor, Jay Gatsby, amid the riotous parties of the Jazz Age.
Director: Baz Luhrmann | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Tobey Maguire
Votes: 596,576 | Gross: $144.84M
48. Sophie's Choice (1982)
R | 150 min | Drama, Romance
Sophie is the survivor of Nazi concentration camps, who has found a reason to live with Nathan, a sparkling if unsteady American Jew obsessed with the Holocaust.
Director: Alan J. Pakula | Stars: Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Peter MacNicol, Rita Karin
Votes: 52,729 | Gross: $30.04M
49. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
PG-13 | 166 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Tells the story of Benjamin Button, a man who starts aging backwards with consequences.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, Julia Ormond
Votes: 695,453 | Gross: $127.51M
David Fincher takes F. Scott Fitzgerald's story to another level.
50. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
R | 133 min | Drama
In the Fall of 1963, a Korean War veteran and criminal pleads insanity and is admitted to a mental institution, where he rallies up the scared patients against the tyrannical nurse.
Director: Milos Forman | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Michael Berryman, Peter Brocco
Votes: 1,071,913 | Gross: $112.00M
51. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Approved | 129 min | Crime, Drama
Atticus Finch, a widowed lawyer in Depression-era Alabama, defends a Black man against an undeserved rape charge, and tries to educate his young children against prejudice.
Director: Robert Mulligan | Stars: Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton, Rosemary Murphy
Votes: 332,752
52. Fight Club (1999)
R | 139 min | Drama
An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Meat Loaf, Zach Grenier
Votes: 2,322,316 | Gross: $37.03M
53. Rebecca (1940)
Approved | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A self-conscious woman juggles adjusting to her new role as an aristocrat's wife and avoiding being intimidated by his first wife's spectral presence.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson
Votes: 146,662 | Gross: $4.36M
54. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
PG-13 | 197 min | Drama, Romance, War
The life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during World War I and then the October Revolution.
Director: David Lean | Stars: Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger
Votes: 82,049 | Gross: $111.72M
55. The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
R | 112 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Three trappers protect the daughters of a British Colonel in the midst of the French and Indian War.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Russell Means, Eric Schweig
Votes: 187,556 | Gross: $75.51M
56. Pride and Prejudice (1995)
TV-PG | 55 min | Drama, Romance
While the arrival of wealthy gentlemen sends her marriage-minded mother into a frenzy, willful and opinionated Elizabeth Bennet matches wits with haughty Mr. Darcy.
Stars: Colin Firth, Jennifer Ehle, Susannah Harker, Julia Sawalha
Votes: 92,250
57. Watchmen (2009)
R | 162 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
In a version of 1985 where superheroes exist, the murder of a colleague sends active vigilante Rorschach on the trail of a conspiracy that will change the course of history.
Director: Zack Snyder | Stars: Jackie Earle Haley, Patrick Wilson, Carla Gugino, Malin Akerman
Votes: 582,281 | Gross: $107.51M
58. V for Vendetta (2005)
R | 132 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
In a future British dystopian society, a shadowy freedom fighter, known only by the alias of "V", plots to overthrow the tyrannical government - with the help of a young woman.
Director: James McTeigue | Stars: Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman, Rupert Graves, Stephen Rea
Votes: 1,178,951 | Gross: $70.51M
59. Atonement (2007)
R | 123 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
Thirteen-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.
Director: Joe Wright | Stars: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Brenda Blethyn, Saoirse Ronan
Votes: 299,706 | Gross: $50.93M
60. Dune (2021)
PG-13 | 155 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A noble family becomes embroiled in a war for control over the galaxy's most valuable asset while its heir becomes troubled by visions of a dark future.
Director: Denis Villeneuve | Stars: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac
Votes: 852,611 | Gross: $108.33M
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