Armchair BEA Day#5 – Book to Movie Adaptations

Sharon Lathan

Sharon Lathan is the best-selling author of The Darcy Saga, a ten-volume sequel series to Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice.

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[…] as promised, the answers to the Book to Movie Adaptations Quiz posted on May 30 for Armchair BEA […]

Cindy Hatmaker

Here’s my answers; and don’t laugh….I swear I didn’t cheat! lol

A = 9
B = 11
C = 7
D = 1
E = 4
F = 12
G = 2
H = 6
I = 5
J = 3
K = 10
L = 8

Anji

Some books I’d love to see get decent film adaptations (or preferably TV series, due to the time contraints in adapting books to film) are the novels of John Wyndham. The Day of the Triffids had one,(very poor) film adaptation in the early 60s and a couple of TV adaptations here (1981 & 2012). The Midwich Cuckoos has had two or three adaptations (Village of the Damned, twice, and Children of the Damned), none of which have been terribly satisfactory.

I’d love to see decent versions of these, plus The Kraken Wakes (my second favourite after Triffids), the Chrysalids and The Trouble with Lichen. Obviously they’d have to be updated for a modern audience if they were set in the present day but I guess they could be made as period drama and set at the time they were written i.e. the 50s.

Seems odd to think that time could now be referred to as period drama but it is 60 years ago. In the 60s, dramas about the Victorians 60 years earlier were always regarded as period drama but I guess that’s a whole different debate!

Alisha (My Need to Read)

Okay, so just finished taking the quiz…

A=9, B=11, C=7, D=1, E=4, F=12, G=2, H=6, I=10, J=3, K=5, L=8

…and oh my goodness, I had to pair Die Hard last because I had no idea it was an adaptation! Die hard is literally one of my top two favorite movies (it’s tied with Pride & Pride and Prejudice, lol). How could I have not known this?!?!

Thank you for expanding my horizons! ^_^

Alisha (My Need to Read)

Absolutely fantastic post; thank you for sharing! Regarding adaptations, methinks the Lord of the Rings films were examples of great film adaptation that stays faithful to the spirit of the source material while acknowledging the conventions and necessities of producing for film. Peter Jackson’s filming extra material and cutting comprehensive director’s cuts? Brilliant!

Same with Jurrasic Park. Captured the spirit of the book, but really stood on its own as a mesmerizing movie. You almost have to experience both book and film now in order to really get the full vision realized.

What are your thoughts about sci-fi adaptations? Many of the big sci fi film adaptations are based on older works. Because of that, the film versions often take many liberties in “modernizing” the tale. (Philip K. Dick is a frequent source. Films like Minority Report; Blade Runner; Total Recall; The Adjustment Bureau; Paycheck)

Katrina @ Bookish Things

Wow. I haven’t read many of the ones you pictured, but I loved the movies. I didn’t know Die Hard was a book either.

Katie @ Doing Dewey

I love book to movie adaptations and am actually hosting a book to movie challenge. Finding out movies I love are based on books (I had no idea about Die Hard!), is one of my favorite things about seeing everyone’s reviews for the challenge 🙂

Deborah

I am not a big movie watcher although I agree with you about Chronicles of Narnia and Hint for Red October. One book I read ,duMaurier’s Rebecca, I saw as a TV movie starring Jeremy Brett…thought that was well done & it didn’t disappoint. Also agree with the Lord of the Rings.

I did not fill out the quiz because I couldn’t figure out any answers..sorry. I angsted all day over how to respond as this topic, for me, is extraordinarily difficult.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Deborah

Just thought of another good one….Timeline by Michael Crichton starring Gerard Butler.

Deborah

Speaking of Gerald Butler…2004 Phantom of the Opera as well. Of course it follows the Webber musical…. But a decent adaptation of the book

Suzanne Cowles

Dune…shrug, such a great series of books that just didn’t transfer to the big screen. I often wonder now with superior special effects, if Dune could be remade. Here’s a little trivia: When the first Alien film was being made, the guys that made the model of the Nostromo commercial mining vessel went to work on Dune. So say 1976. Don’t you think now it would be so much better?

The Host…another one. I love Stephanie Meyer but that movie blew chunks. I also was extremely hard to watch. I couldn’t tell which one of the girls was talking and it gave me a headache. The technique on paper is probably way better.

Thanks for sharing, because I love movies.

Katherine

Quiz: A-9, B-11, C-7, D-1, E-4, F-12, G-2, H-6, I-10, J-3, K-5, L-8; A Christmas Story was my major block. Never read it or watched it!

The Body is definitely one of my favorites. Speaking of King, The Mist is pretty darn good, if even more depressing than the original story. Me being me, I have to mention The Prestige (based on the book of the same name by Christopher Priest) and The Illusionist (based on Steven Milhauser’s story “Eisenheim the Illusionist”). In the later case, only the skeleton of what became the movie is in the story, but the feeling and details are translated so well. I’ve enjoyed the Bourne films (I’ve read some Ludlum, but not the Bourne books), but Gilroy’s comment seems to imply that he doesn’t have a lot of respect for the source material, which is disappointing. It’s pretty much the opposite of something like The Illusionist. Neil Burger seems to have really liked the story that he sort of reinvented for film.

sprite

Okay, I think I got them, although Blade Runner and Die Hard gave me some trouble:
1D 2G 3J 4E 5K 6H 7C 8L 9A 10I 11B 12F

Stephanie L

I won’t even attempt the quiz. I’m a reader (vs. a watcher) and the amount of movies I’ve watched is truly minimal, I’m one of those people who rarely watches what I’ve read because I get so frustrated. LOL I’ve seen and read Hunt for Red October and love both. I agree with you on Chronicles of Narnia, but I’ve been unwilling to see LOTR because I didn’t want to get frustrated. On your advice, I may cave.

Wesley at Library Educated

Loved the quiz! I didn’t know Field of Dreams came from a book…

Bieke @ Istyria book blog

I love Jurassic Park (the movie), haven’t read the book yet! But I did read and watch Memoirs of a Geisha and I loved both! You and I picked the same topic of choice today! 😀

Anji

Hi again, Sharon!

You know, I had NO idea that the Bourne adaptations were such a mess! I actually quite enjoyed the first three films as thrillers (haven’t seen the fourth) but I hated that they killed off Marie. I haven’t read the novels, or any other Robert Ludlum for that matter, I have to confess, but from what you and Joy have both said, I now have more books to add to my TBR list. I do like a good thriller/action novel.

Of the films you’ve mentioned in the picture list, I agree with you on all the ones I’ve seen, which is about half. I thought Alec Baldwin was the best of all the actor’s who’ve played Jack Ryan. Haven’t seen Ender’s Game yet but will do soon as our son keeps promising to lend us his DVD. It’s one of my favourite sci-fi novels. i first read it many years ago when it was still a short story/novella, before it was expanded into the novel it is now. I also have it as an audiobook. We have several versions of Dune and it is very much, IMHO, a flawed masterpiece. I remember hearing/reading somewhere, years ago, that the original cut of the David Lynch film ran to five or six hours. Would love to see THAT version!

I won’t enter your quiz, as I’ve only seen half of the films in the list, but I DO recognise the ones I’ve seen.

Have a good weekend!

Anji

Just realised I’ve used an inappropriate apostrophe above. It should be actors not actor’s. I’m a bit OCD about apostrophes, I’m afraid!

Anji

Ah yes, Sting! Don’t forget, as well, the pre-Star Trek and X-Men Patrick Stewart as Gurney Halleck.

The TV series is one of the versions we’ve seen, but don’t actually own, on DVD. We do have the sequel though, (it was in a bargain section at the supermarket recently). Our version is called Dune Apocalypse but I believe it was also known as Children of Dune and quite a few roles were re-cast for it. It also features a young James MacAvoy as Paul Atreides’ son, Leto.

I just read this about Mr. MacAvoy on Imdb; “Joe Wright considered him for a role in his Pride & Prejudice (2005). Both director and actor refused to name the part. Interesting!

Charlene @ Bookish Whimsy

Out of all the movies in your quiz, I’ve only seen Die Hard, so I mostly just used what I’ve heard about the films to match the books. I hope I got these right!
A-9, B-11, C-7, D-1, E-4, F-12, G-2, H-6, I-10, J-3, K-5, L-8

I love book to movie adaptations – especially when I loved the book, it’s great to see it realized on screen. Sure sometimes it is a complete disappointment, but when it’s good, it’s really nice to have a visual of a fave book. My favorite is a classic – Jane Eyre with my two favorite versions being the recent 2011 film, and the 1973 miniseries. They do adapt a lot of classics though! I often think that some Austen adaptations improve on the book – mostly because the story can get more emotional in a film, while the books are so dry and witty. I don’t think of myself as a big Austen fan, but some of her adaptations I really loved!

Joy Dawn King

I loved Rascal by Sterling North – the book and the movie. Also, The Biscuit Eater, So Dear to My Heart, PolIyanna, and Mary Poppins (because of the music – loved Saving Mr. Banks too) It appears that the movie industry tends to translate kids books into movies with a little more integrity than books written for adults. Wonder why?

I am not much of a movie watcher so I’ll pass on this quiz. However, Both my husband and I feel exactly the same about the Bourne books vs. the movie. It makes me sad to watch them – so I don’t.

Thank you so much, Sharon. This ArmchairBEA has been fun. The time zone difference that made it a challenge this morning for the Twitter party now makes it easier for me to comment on tomorrow’s post at a reasonable hour here on the west coast. Enjoy your Friday.

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