Hi,
Blade Runner ... takes the top prize for me.
Dr. Zhivago ... probably because the music was fantastic and made the film better.
The Tin Drum ... the book is hard to read all around. The film is much more fun and strange!
The Devils ... Ken Russell's opus from Aldous Huxley biography (better description than novel), is outstanding! The book gets into the politics, though.
Other side notes:
Wuthering Heights - Several versions, and Luis Bunuel's is actually better than the book, though it would be hard pressed to think that it was taken from this book. Recommended.
Arthur C. Clarke does not translate nicely to movies. 2001, was a travesty, but we liked it because of its outlandish style. Many of his novels are way too out there.
Ray Bradbury stuff doesn't translate well, either, and the film is either weird, or ... really bad!
Shakespeare, is the one writer, whose stuff can only work, when updated and not thought of as a medieval story, because both you and I and everyone here, would have thrown tomatoes at the actors and laugh at the guys trying to play girls. Some excellent versions:
- Peter Brook's King Lear -- Unreal actors work. One of the best of all Willy films.
- Derek Jarman's Edward 2nd -- Actually a Marlowe play, but it fits. The play will have you asleep very quickly!
- Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet is highly romanticized and well done.
- Richard III with Ian McKellen is unreal and out of this world
- Kurosawa's RAN is a King Lear version. Awesome film!
- Brannagh's film with Emma and various folks is great. And Michael Keaton doing his Monty Python impression is even better!
- Greenaway's Prospero's Books is an insane version of The Tempest, but unfortunately it is not a film that many of us will want to see, because it is way out there and insane. John Gielgud's readings are beautiful, and rarely will you EVER understand and appreciate words that sound so clear as they do here.
- Peter Brook's incendiary and amazing version of Midsummer Night's Dream with Diana Rigg and David Warner, is not available but can be found as a bootleg video here and there.
- Paul Mazursky's version of The Tempest, gets the award for the ... wtf ... but is otherwise excellent.
- Jean Luc Godard gets the clown award for "Godard's King Lear" and "Godard's Carmen", both of which have nothing to do with nothing, but are ...
The Fencing Master - novel by the Spanish author at the turn of the century is still the best fencing film ever made.
Werner Herzog's version of Kasper Hauser is more fun to enjoy ... and clever.
Luis Bunuel's version of STevenson's classic is still the best and was stolen by Tom Hanks and his folks.
There are many versions of Dracula and Frankenstein, and none of them are really satisfying, although it's hard to not appreciate the early version with Bela Lugosi's well done wording, and then appreciate the physical style of Christopher Lee. As far as the Baron, Peter Cushing is the best, and better than the book. The monster is "softer" in the book than in any of the films.
Other vampire stories. Carmilla has never been done properly, and most of it has to do with the sex in it, s it would fit better as a RRR film, if not close to the X rating. Ann Rice's stuff is better on the book because you can get the subliminal stuff. And her erotica is far superior to the regular novels, which have too much ajax for me!
Peter Weir's film "The Last Wave" is better in the film, than the book.
Lucy Irvine's book about her adventure, is way better in the film, although in the book you get to read all her thoughts, but Oliver Reed, made the book better and the story more interesting, by making him less predictable.
(Have to look at my list of films to see what I missed!)