Book Adaptations - When They Work

I’m sure we’ve all seen film adaptations of books that we’ve loathed (”not true to the book” etc) but what about the ones that work?

The Ian Fleming Bond books I think transferred well. Some of them have had pretty good audio adaptations too.

I was sorry to hear about the death of Sir Sean Connery today who did sterling work there! Also loved his roles in The Hunt For Red October and The Untouchables, amongst many others.

A good film adaptation will bring a book to life for viewers and may even encourage them to go and read the book for themselves.

A Muppet Christmas Carol is upfront about telling viewers to do exactly that right at the end of the movie.

For me, The Lord of the Rings adaptation brought to life for me The Shire etc as I had seen it in my own imagination when reading the trilogy. It remains my favourite adaptation.

I accept that not every element in a novel is going to make it to the big screen version for various reasons but what you do want is to be true to the spirit of what the book’s author intended.

As long as a film does that, it is going to work.