Recreation

Books into film and television

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10 things I hate about you
Modern reworking of The Taming of the shrew
100 rifles
From the 1966 novel The Californio by Robert Macleod
101 dalmatians
From the 1956 novel 101 dalmatians by Dodie Smith
13th warrior
From the novel Eaters of the dead by Michael Crichton
13 days
Based on the 1997 book The Kennedy tapes: inside the White House during the Cuban missile crisis by Ernest R. May and Philip D. Zelikow
Everything's eventual cover1408
This one is based on a short story of the same name which appears in Stephen King’s 2002 collection, Everything’s eventual. It’s about a writer who’s made a career out of debunking the whole world of the paranormal and expects to be able to do the same when he checks into the notorious room 1408 at a hotel. Naturally, he gets more than he bargained for. Mikael Hafstrom directs a cast led by John Cusack (as the writer), Samuel L. Jackson (as the hotel manager), Mary McCormack and Len Cariou.
Read the Book ~ About the Film
1914-18
Tie-in book by JM Winter
The 1940s house
Tie-in book by Juliet Gardiner
2001: a space odyssey
From the short story The Sentinel later published as a novella under film title 2001: a space odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
2010
From the novel 2010: odyssey two by Arthur C. Clarke
20,000 Leagues under the sea
From the novel 20,000 Leagues under the sea by Jules Verne
300 by Frank Miller300 (2007)
Based on the 2000 Frank Miller graphic novel 300
39 Steps
From the novel The 39 Steps by John Buchan
4 Weddings & a funeral
is not based on a book. The poem in it is W. H. Auden's Funeral blues aka Stop all the clocks and it's in any complete Auden as well as Tell me the truth about love: ten poems
8 women
Based on a 1981 French play Huit femmes by Robert Thomas
9 1/2 Weeks
From the 1978 novel 9 1/2 Weeks by Elizabeth McNeill
About a boy
From the novel About a boy by Nick Hornby
About Schmidt
From the 1996 novel About Schmidt by Louis Begley
The Absent minded professor
From the story A situation of gravity by Samuel Taylor
Absolute power
From the novel Absolute power by David Baldacci
Accident
From the 1965 novel Accident by Nicholas Mosley
Ada
From the 1959 novel Ada Dallas by Wirt Williams
Adaptation
From the 1998 book The Orchid thief by Susan Orlean
Adrian Mole: the cappucino years
From the novel Adrian Mole: the cappucino years by Sue Townsend
An Advancement of learning
From the 1971 novel An Advancement of learning by Reginald Hill
The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen
From the novel The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen by Rudolph Erich Raspe
The Adventures of Captain Fabian
From the novel Fabulous Ann Medlock by Robert T. Shannon
The Adventures of Huck Finn
From the novel The Adventures of Huck Finn by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Pinocchio
From the novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
Agnes Browne
From the novel The Mammy by Brendan O'Carroll
After dark, my sweet (1990)
From the 1955 novel After dark, my sweet by Jim Thompson
Ahead of the class (2005)
From the 2003 book Ahead of the class by Marie Stubbs
AI
From the short story Supertoys last all summer long by Brian Aldiss
Ainsley Harriott's gourmet express
Tie-in book by Ainsley Harriot
Ainsley's big cook out
Tie-in book (1999) by Ainsley Harriot
Ainsley's barbecue bible
Tie-in book by Ainsley Harriot
Air America
From the 1979 book Air America by Christopher Robbins
The Alchemists
From the 1996 novel Alchemist by Peter James
Alex
From the novel Alex by Tessa Duder
Alfie
From the play Alfie by Bill Naughton
Alfie
Bill Naughton's 1963 play became famous when it was adapted into one of the more famous British films of the 1960s. The film became something of a sixties icon and made Michael Caine into an international star. Caine played the title character, a Cockney womaniser who manages to avoid any kind of commitment to the many women in his life. The new version transfers most of the action to New York although ironically most was filmed in London, Liverpool and Manchester. This time Jude Law portrays Alfie and he will be talking direct to camera as Caine did in the original. The women in his life are played by Marisa Tomei, Susan Sarandon, Jane Krakowski and Sienna Miller
Read the Book ~ About the Film
Alice in Wonderland
From the story Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Alice through the looking glass
From the story Alice through the looking glass by Lewis Carroll
Alistair Maclean's Death train
From the novel Alistair Maclean's Death train by Alastair MacNeill
Alive
From the book Alive by Piers Paul Read
All creatures great and small
From the 1972 book All creatures great and small by James Herriot
All quiet on the western front
From the novel All quiet on the western front by Erich Maria Remarque
All the king's men
From the 1992 book The Vanished batallion by Nigel McCrery
All the King's men (2006)
Robert Penn Warren's 1946 novel won the Pulitzer Prize and went on to be a much lauded movie in 1949. The major actors Broderick Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge won Oscars for their portrayals of wily Southern politician Willie Stark and his campaign manager. The book is a veiled portrait of the famous Southern populist Governor Huey Long of Louisiana. The novel was later adapted a stage play and even an opera. Steven Zaillian, screenwriter of Schindler's list, is directing a new version with Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Patricia Clarkson and Mark Ruffalo.
Read the Book ~ About the Film
All the pretty horses
From the 1992 novel All the pretty horses by Cormac McCarthy
All the way up
From the 1962 play Semi-detached by David Turner
All the winters that have been
From the 1995 novel All the winters that have been by Evan Maxwell
Almost dead
From the 1988 novel Resurrection by William Valtos
Along came a spider
From the 1993 novel Along came a spider by James Patterson
The Ambushers
Loosely based upon the Matt Helm novels by Donald Hamilton
American buffalo
From the play American buffalo by David Mamet
An American dream
From the novel An American dream by Norman Mailer
American gangster (2007)
Based on the magazine article - in New York Magazine, 14/4/2000 - "The return of Superbly" by Mark Jacobsen
American psycho
From the novel American psycho by Brett Easton Ellis
American splendor
From the 1994 book Our cancer years by Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner
American Visions
Tie-in book by Robert Hughes
The Americanisation of Emily
From the 1959 novel The Americanisation of Emily by William Bradford Huie
Amistad
Not based on any particular book - there have been acrimonious court cases in US to try to prove this
Among the cinders (1983)
From the 1965 novel Among the cinders by Maurice Shadbolt
Amongst women
From the novel Amongst women by John McGahern
The Amityville Horror
From the book The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson
Anastasia
From the play Anastasia by Marcelle Maurette in Plays of the year, volume 9
Anatomy of hell (2004)
From the 2001 French novel Pornocratie by Catherine Breillat
And the band played on
Based on the book And the band played on by Randy Shilts
And the beat goes on
From the 1991 book And the beat goes on by Sonny Bono
And the sea will tell
Based on the book And the sea will tell by Vincent Bugliosi
And then there were none
From the novel And then there were none, originally published as Ten little niggers, by Agatha Christie
And when did you last see your father?
Blake Morrison’s highly readable memoir of his doctor father first appeared in 1993. It’s a very touching and honest memoir of a man who was affectionate, loved by his family and his patients but also a man who couldn’t resist getting something cheap or for free if he could wangle it, who was impatient, loved practical jokes and possibly had a roving eye. Morrison followed this some years later with an equally revealing and moving memoir of his mother. This has been a long time coming to the screen with Anaud Tucker, who made the film biography of Jacqueline Du Pre, directing. Colin Firth plays Morrison with Gina McKee as his wife. The father is played by Jim Broadbent and the mother by Juliet Stevenson.
Read the Book ~ About the Film
Andre
Based on the 1975 book A Seal Called Andre by Harry Goodridge and Lew Dietz
The Andromeda Strain
From the novel The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
The real life of Angel Deverell
One of the biggest surprise successes of recent years has been the screen adaptation of Elizabeth Taylor’s superb novel Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont. That novel had already been adapted twice to the screen before, in British and French television adaptations, and a couple of her other novels and some of her short stories were adapted for television as well. Her earlier novel, Angel, which was published in 1957, is about Angelica Deverell, a teenager at the turn of the 20th century. She’s the daughter of a widow who keeps a grocery shop in a dull provincial backstreet and who works hard to pay for the daughter’s education so she can 'better herself'. Angel, however, rejects the drabness of her daily life and, retreats into a world of romantic dreams, writing stories remarkable for their extravagance and fantasy. To those around her it is simply folie de grandeur, but she knows better... She knows she is different, that she will grow up to be a feted authoress, owner of great riches and of the mysterious Paradise House. The novel attracted the interest of French film director Francois Ozon (Swimming pool, Eight women, etc) and he has chosen it as his first English language film. Angel is played by Romola Garai with an impressive cast that includes Sam Neill, Charlotte Rampling, Lucy Russell and Jacqueline Tong.
Read the Book ~ About the Film
Angel heart
From the 1978 novel Angel heart by William Hjortsberg
Angels and insects
From the novella Morpho Eugenia in the Angels and insects book by A.S. Byatt
Angels In America
From the play Angels In America by Tony Kushner
Angela's ashes
From the book Angela's ashes by Frank McCourt
Angie
Based on the novel Angie, I says by Avra Wing
Angus, thongs and full frontal snogging
Louise Rennison’s 1999 YA novel is coming to the screen directed by Gurinder Chadha who made Bend it like Beckham and Bride and prejudice. The main character, Georgia (who features in a series of novels of which this is the first) is played by Georgia Groome and her father is played by comedian Alan Davies with the film being made on location in Eastbourne on the South Coast.
Read the Book ~ About the Film
The Animal factory
From the 1977 novel The Animal factory by Edward Bunker
Anita and me
From the 1996 novel Anita and me by Meera Syal
Anna Karenina
From the novel Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea etc
From the novels by L. M. Montgomery
Annie
From the musical play Annie by Charles Strouse
Answer me (2004)
From the novella, first translated 2002, Rispondimi, by Susanna Tamaro
Antiques roadshow
Tie-in book
Anthony Adverse
From the 1933 novel Anthony Adverse by Hervey Allen
Antonio Carluccio's Southern Italian feast
Tie-in book by Antonio Carluccio
Anybody's nightmare
From the 1998 book Anybody's nightmare by Angela and Tim Devlin
Anything to survive
Based on the 1981 non fiction book Almost too late by Elmo Wortman
Apocalypse now
Loosely based on the Joseph Conrad novella Heart of darkness
The Apocalypse watch
From the 1995 novel The Apocalypse watch by Robert Ludlum
Apollo 13
From the 1994 book Lost Moon: The Perilous voyage of Apollo 13 by Jim Lovell
Apparition
From the 1992 novel Apparition by Steve Szilagyi
The Apple dumpling gang
From the 1971 novel The Apple dumpling gang by Jack M. Bickham
Apt Pupil
From the novella Apt Pupil by Stephen King in his collection Different seasons
Aquamarine
The 2001 children's novel by the popular author Alice Hoffman is about two twelve year old girls who are best friends spending their last summer together before one of them moves away. The main thrust of the story is their discovery of a broken-hearted mermaid in the swimming pool of a deserted beach club. The film is aimed at the lucrative market of pre-teen girls and teen singer JoJo and Emma Roberts play the girls with Sara Paxton as the mermaid. It has been filmed on Queensland's Gold Coast.
Read the Book ~ About the Film
Aristocrats
From the 1994 book Aristocrats by Stella Tillyard
Armadillo (2001)
Based on the 1998 novel Armadillo by William Boyd
The Arrow
Based on the 1988 book Shutting down the national dream by Greig Stewart
Arsenic and old lace
From the play Arsenic and old lace by Joseph Kesselring
As far my feet will carry me
Based on As far my feet will carry me by Josef Martin Bauer (translated into English from German in 1957)
The assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford.
Ron Hansen’s 1983 novel is a fictional account of the story of Robert Ford who joined the Jesse James gang then became resentful of the gang leader and devised a plan to kill him. The film version features Brad Pitt as Jesse James, Sam Shepard as his brother Frank, Mary Louise Parker as his wife and Casey Affleck as Ford.
Read the Book ~ About the Film
Assault at West Point
Based on the 1972 book Court martial: a black man in America by John F. Marszalek
The Associate
From the novel The Partner by Jenaro Prieto (first translated into English in 1931)
Asterix and the big fight
From the comic Asterix and the big fight by Goscinny
Asterix and Cleopatra
From the comic Asterix and Cleopatra by Goscinny
Asterix in Britain
From the comic Asterix in Britain by Goscinny
Asterix the Gaul
From the comic Asterix the Gaul by Goscinny
Asterix vs Caesar
From the comic Asterix vs Caesar by Goscinny
Asylum
Patrick McGrath's 1996 novel is a grim compulsively readable story set mostly in a psychiatric hospital in the late 1950s. It is about the wife of the new superintendent and how she becomes involved in an obsessive and dangerous relationship with a patient. The film features N.Z. actor Martin Csokas as the patient with Natasha Richardson as the wife and Hugh Bonneville as her husband. Ian McKellen plays the psychiatrist through whose eyes the story unfolds.
Read the Book ~ About the Film
At war with the army
From the 1949 play At war with the army by James Allardice
Atonement
Ian McEwan’s 2001 Booker Prize winning novel is an elegiac tale of another time and place which begins at a big English country house in the 1930s. A young girl mistakes a communication between her sister and the housekeeper’s son and a wrongful accusation of rape is made. The atonement is made by the girl in the years after. There’s more than a hint of Merchant-Ivory about the setting but the novel has a complexity and power that overshadows the nostalgia/heritage industry nature of the setting and playwright Christopher Hampton is a good choice for the script. Joe Wright, who directed the recent film version of Pride and prejudice, is behind the camera. The part of the young girl is taken by new comer Saoirse Ronan and the lovers by Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. The large supporting cast includes Brenda Blethyn, Vanessa Redgrave, Abbie Cornish, Romola Garai, Emily Watson, Kristin Scott Thomas and Rue McClanahan.
Read the Book ~ About the Film
Attack of the clones: Star wars Episode II
Tie-in novel by R.A. Salvatore. See also If You Like… Star Wars
Au Petit Marguery
From the 1991 novel Au Petit Marguery by Laurent Benegul
Auto focus
From the 1993 book The Murder of Bob Crane by Robert Graysmith
An Autumn shroud
Based on the 1975 novel An April shroud by Reginald Hill
The Avenging angel
From a novel The Avenging angel by Gary Stewart
Awake to danger
Based on the 1986 novel The Other side of dark by Joan Lowery Nixon
Away from her (2006)
From the short story The bear come over the mountain by Alice Munro
An Awfully big adventure
From the novel An Awfully big adventure by Beryl Bainbridge
The ax (2005)
From the 1997 novel The ax by Donald E. Westlake
Ay, Carmela
From the 1985 novel Ay, Carmela by Jose Sanchez Sinisterra