h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Can anyone name a film based on a book that is better than the book?

C Hawke

Frankenstein (any of them)

A kid's film

The Borrowers.

Hey Frankenstein was a good book. And I don't think many of the movies had much to do with the book.

Except of course the K. Branagh version which was the book....and quite the scariest frankenstein movies I have ever see....
Errrm, 'A Room With A View"...but that could be that I read after seeing.....it has that affect....

Jurassic park, Congo or just about any Michael Crichton book - possibly with the exception of the Andromeda Strain.

from the flames...

Death In Venice. Dirk Bogarde's performance as Professor Von Achenbach is one of the finest pieces of acting I have ever seen.

TV films,any Dalziel and Pascoe episodes.

...Jurasic Park et al film first or book first? I think maybe film 1st but not sure.

I thought the TV version of Gullivers Travels with Ted Danson was great but haven't read the book, apart from a section at school, seem to remember it very dry.

1984 was a great film to, and I gave up on that book.

C Hawke

How about `The Shining` by Stephen King. or `Jaws` by P.Benchley.

The book for Jurassic Park was *definitely* written before the movie. The book was published in 1990, and the movie came out in 1993.

However, the second and third Jurassic Park books were apparently written after the first movie was in the works, and seem to have been written with potential movies in mind.

Personally, I loved the book and detested the movie. The book did an amazing job of stimulating me to think about chaos theory, biotechnology patent law, and bioethics. All of those issues were pretty much eliminated for the film version, and more action scenes were inserted in place of the book's thoughtful dialogue.

I hated Jane Eyre until I watched a really good film version, and now I love the book. I thought the movie for "Girl, Interrupted" was better than the book in parts, albeit not all the way through. And I've enjoyed all of the movies based on Tom Clancy novels far more than I did the books.


mikey

'The shining' is a great book, and the film was a bit boaring...

I'm not sure, but Blade Runner is a close call - the director's cut of course


Dancer

i could barely get through jane eyre but the movie was better, if only slightly.

'To Have and Have Not', 'A Clockwork Orange' and, in certain respects, 'Forbidden Planet'.

Was 2001 a book first or film? Whatever I think the film wins.

CH

2001 the film and the book i believe were written more or less at the same time - the only major inconsistancy they failed to get rid of was the Saturn/Jupiter thing. The only reason Jupiter even came into the film was because they couldn't afford/couldn't make Saturns rings. This is one of the very few times I have enjoyed a film more after reading the book - the reverse is normally true.

Its interesting that three of the films mentioned here are Kubrick creations. Just goes to show that the man was a genius.

If genius = someone I don't understand half the time, very true!

Hey that makes me a genius then

CH

at CH