Two happenings have brought me to a cool question. First, it’s summer in the city and the schedules are out for big screen public film viewings in DC. Picnics on the green and pleasant evenings revisiting old films – perfect summer fun. Second, First Book’s hurricane response, Book Relief, celebrated the support of some great people in New Orleans on Tuesday, June 6, namely the Embassy of Japan and our friends from Toshiba who have already financially suppported Book Relief and are now generously sending 50 big electronic units to the Gulf for libraries and school districts. On the heels of that, our longtime friends from the Walt Disney Company are contributing 5 DVDs to accompany each and every unit and the DVDs are all movies made from children’s books, like Narnia and Holes!
So here’s the question: What’s your favorite movie made from a book? Mine is easy and always has been: To Kill a Mockingbird. A great book and a great movie. Atticus Rules!! And ….. What’s Your Favorite?
I enjoyed the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, then when the movie came out I was happy to see John Cusack and Kevin Spacey as the main characters – they are both such great actors and really brought these roles to life. The movie was great…….but not as good as the book :)
It’s been awhile since I saw it, but the movie, Angels & Insects, inspired me to start reading A.S. Byatt’s books. They’re incredible. As I remember, the movie was pretty great too.
My favorite is hands down Little Women. Its got a great cast (Susan Sarandon is the perfect Marmy) and is lots of fun. My mom and I watch it every Christmas. And the book is even better…!
I have a weakness for “Escape to Witch Mountain” (the original Disney version), from the book by Alexander Key.
This is a hard one because there are so many good ones to choose from. One that really stands out is the movie “The Hours” from the book by Michael Cunningham. This is one movie that I actually liked better than the book. They do some amazing things with cinematography and scene transitions that convey even more than the written word.
I was nervous to see the movie “Memoirs of a Geisha” because I loved the book so much and wasn’t sure how the movie could live up to it. I recently saw the movie and was pleasantly surprised. It was quite beautifully done.
I love the film version of “Emma” starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Northam. It really captures one of Jane Austen’s most funny (and flawed) heroines. The scene when they shoot arrows together in the garden is priceless.
“Sophie’s Choice.” While I find that most movies short-change the great books upon which they are based, this was one case where the film was as magnificent and devastating as Styron’s book. I only saw the movie once and doubt I could ever watch it again, though.