Books Adapted for Films in which Changes were made to story and characters that you actually liked

[Al Jackson]

My only reservation about the '53 version is that Wells had no truck with religion (see also, The Island of Dr. Moreau), while George Pal was quite religious and the ending of the movie reflects that.

Randy M.

Yeah that seems to have been injected by Pal, because it occurs again in Conquest of Space , maybe in When World's Collide.
The 1953 War of the Worlds is an odd film, it is a clever condensation of the novel, but about as snappy and with tremendous pace as there could be.
The running time is only 85 min. !
It is a modernization , so to speak, dialog is not cliché, it has odd touches like all the WWII refugee scientists at Pacific Tech trying to solve mystery of the Martians. It does not have all of Well's philosophizing , just as well, because this didn't work in the 2005 movie.
Spielberg was putting together Munich while working on his WoW , it sometimes looks like he let the second unit make the film!

 

[BAYLOR]

Yeah that seems to have been injected by Pal, because it occurs again in Conquest of Space , maybe in When World's Collide.
The 1953 War of the Worlds is an odd film, it is a clever condensation of the novel, but about as snappy and with tremendous pace as there could be.
The running time is only 85 min. !
It is a modernization , so to speak, dialog is not cliché, it has odd touches like all the WWII refugee scientists at Pacific Tech trying to solve mystery of the Martians. It does not have all of Well's philosophizing , just as well, because this didn't work in the 2005 movie.
Spielberg was putting together Munich while working on his WoW , it sometimes looks like he let the second unit make the film!

Its curious that they didn't do a19th century period adaptation to War of the Worlds in 1953.

 

[BAYLOR]

Goldfinger -- the plot to irradiate the gold in Fort Knox seems more plausible than stealing the gold. (It's been years since I read the book, so apologies if I'm misremembering the plot.)

Psycho -- the book is entertaining on its own terms, but Hitchcock and his writer, Jim Stefano, improved the novel by changing Norman from a dislikable slob into a character almost Jimmy Stewart-like, wearing his high school jacket, and quietly polite. It added an element of pitch-black satire (I think paralleling Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt) on the American obsession with motherhood and parent/child relations, also voyeurism ... see below ...

Rear Window -- another Hitchcock, with the actual Jimmy Stewart making for a likable, relatable, enjoyable Peeping Tom. It's been far too long since I read the Cornell Woolrich novella that this is based on, but I don't recall him filling out the characters being spied on like the movie does. And again Hitchcock and his writer add an element of comedy to the adapted story, this time satirizing our complicity in the voyeurism and by extension the voyeurism of watching movies/TV.


Randy M.

In the case of The Rear Window. Hitchcock tried unsuccessfully to get Woolrich to write the screenplay adaptation for the film.

 

[BAYLOR]

I recently re-read Star Ship Troopers, and the opening is a action sequence, it is 1000 times better than any action sequence Verhoeven had in the film... Verhoeven totally ejected the action sequence that ended the novel for a more comic book version.

We're they supposed to be doing s remake of Starship Troopers more inline with the book?

 

[Al Jackson]

Its curious that they didn't do a19th century period adaptation to War of the Worlds in 1953.

I have not seen the new BBC in-period War of the Worlds ...
There was an attempt by some guy in England , Pendragon Films?, who made about a 1/4 of the story hoping to get financing, finished it on a shoestring , it is supposed to awful.
Welp even tho they spent 2 million in 1953 , in-period, done proper, would have cost more... surprised they got it done in 53.... it did good enough box office

 

[tobl]

We're they supposed to be doing s remake of Starship Troopers more inline with the book?

really? that would be nice

 

[KGeo777]

I love the scene of the reverend walking towards the Martian machine in the Pal version. It's a great visual sequence and interesting contrast--alien vs religious man. For the time I imagine it might have added an extra horrific element to drive home the power of the invaders (along with the bomb explosion).

 

[Al Jackson]

I love the scene of the reverend walking towards the Martian machine in the Pal version. It's a great visual sequence and interesting contrast--alien vs religious man. For the time I imagine it might have added an extra horrific element to drive home the power of the invaders (along with the bomb explosion).

As written by Barré Lyndon and directed by Byron Haskin it is effective.
I saw this film first in 1953, the year of release. I went and read the Wells novel right after.
That content is almost anti-Wells , Well's gave up on religion, he did not claim to be an atheist , but he was not an agnostic either.
The film has the great Sir Cedric Hardwicke as voice over narrative, the beginning is very effective, using Well's words.
The ending has Hardwicke giving credit to God for creating microorganisms to defeat the Martians!
In the novel there is none of this, the ending is almost poetic in Wells description of the defeat of the Martians, but there is no religious context.
This topic , in a different context comes up again , in Pal's Conquest of Space (1955) tho it is fumble bum and silly,
Tho Haskin once again directed that movie, there was a different screenwriter, so I think this was Pal interjecting.
There are hints in Pal's When Worlds Collide, but none of this in Destination Moon or his other good (I won't say fine) Wells adaptation The Time Machine.
We not only have the voice over but also Dr. Forrester searching churches and taking final refuge in one at the end.
Whew... does not take away from a clever adaptation but sure does make the ending maudlin in a way Wells never intended.

 

[Al Jackson]

We're they supposed to be doing s remake of Starship Troopers more inline with the book?

You know also Have Spacesuit Will Travel has been optioned but I don't know what has happened to that.
The film made from Heinlein's Puppet Masters is an OK movie, but felt dated.
Oddly apparently Heinlein kinda wrote that hoping it would attract a movie option... it would have been good if it had of been made in 1955 , tho they would of had to eliminate the semi nudity. I think Invasion of the Body Snatchers kind of killed it. Plus a number of other invasion movies.

 

[BAYLOR]

You know also Have Spacesuit Will Travel has been optioned but I don't know what has happened to that.
The film made from Heinlein's Puppet Masters is an OK movie, but felt dated.
Oddly apparently Heinlein kinda wrote that hoping it would attract a movie option... it would have been good if it had of been made in 1955 , tho they would of had to eliminate the semi nudity. I think Invasion of the Body Snatchers kind of killed it. Plus a number of other invasion movies.

Ive never read Have Spacesuit will travel, but I recall reading about it being optioned

Heinlein's The Puppet Masters book was very good read , The movie adaptation was somewhat decent but could have been a whole lot better Jack Fineey's Invasion of the Body Snatcher novel was a bit better. The 56 and 78 film adaptations of Body Snatchers are both equally good. I liv the Kevin McCartht cameo in the 78 film and the movie ending.

 

[KGeo777]

Kevin McCarthy also appears in LOONEY TUNES BACK IN ACTION in the Area 51 scene but by then he is tired and (I think)blue in the face.

 

[BigBadBob141]

REF: Randy M.
"Rear Window", I've read the novella by Cornell Woolrich a long time ago, thought it was pretty good at the time, but the Hitchcock film is my number one favorite of them all.
Mind you Hitchcock could be a bit of a b****r, he liked to play with people in a not always nice way.
In one scene in which a couple are sleeping on the balcony of their apartment because of the heat, it starts to rain breaking the heat wave, they try to get their mattress back in before it gets wet.
Hitchcock told the one of the couple to take it in through the door, to the other he said to take it in through the open bedroom window, then he sat back and watched as they filmed the ensuing wrestling match!

 

[alexvss]

We're they supposed to be doing s remake of Starship Troopers more inline with the book?

There's an anime adaptation that few people know about. They say it's more alligned with the novel.

 

[Mon0Zer0]

I dislike the film immensely.

Blasphemy!

Tbh, The shining is the only film I know of that gets scarier with subsequent watches. When I first watched it, I was non-plussed, but as I get older it really has got under my skin.

 

[Mon0Zer0]

I still think it is the best film of the book. There is the 2005 H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds I'd like to see one day.

The 53 version has a special place in my heart.

I wasn't too keen on the '05 version when first released, but on re-watching I think it's a fine movie with some truly haunting moments.

 

[tobl]

There's an anime adaptation that few people know about. They say it's more alligned with the novel.

anime? you mean in a movie or a bd tv show?

 

[alexvss]

anime? you mean in a movie or a bd tv show?

It's an OVA, which means direct-to-video. You can find all episodes for free on YouTube.

Starship Troopers (OVA) - Wikipedia

 

[tobl]

It's an OVA, which means direct-to-video. You can find all episodes for free on YouTube.

Starship Troopers (OVA) - Wikiped

just watched first episode....not interested. golgo 13 is way better

 

[BAYLOR]

There's an anime adaptation that few people know about. They say it's more alligned with the novel.

It was made in the late 1970's or early 1980's , Ive heard of it.

You might. find the tv series Roughnecks Starship Trooper Chronicles ot be of interest. Its a CGI seres, Looks a bit dated but its a good series moves thing more towards book but does keep some of the satire.

 

[tobl]

It was made in the late 1970's or early 1980's , Ive heard of it.

You might. find the tv series Roughnecks Starship Trooper Chronicles ot be of interest. Its a CGI seres, Looks a bit dated but its a good series moves thing more towards book but does keep some of the satire.

that one is good