5 Movies That Are a Masterclass in How To Adapt a Book

The art of adapting a book is genuinely difficult. Follow it too closely, and you risk doing nothing differently, failing to properly translate the literary language into the cinematic form. Conversely, if you change too much, you risk altering the very fabric of the story, not only alienating the fans of the source material but perhaps even offending them. It’s no surprise that so many movie adaptations fail these days: they either fail to respect the source material enough or they don’t do enough to stand out, merely settling for being “meh” rather than “wow.”

We’re here to discuss the ones that actually pull it off, the rare movies that take the source material and not only respect it but, more importantly, understand and elevate it. They take everything that worked on the page and successfully translate it into the cinematic language we all know and love. A few make significant changes to the text, but they still maintain the story’s essence, delivering something that might seem different but is the same at its core. These movies are true masterclasses in how to adapt a book for the big screen, the standard that many screenwriters and directors should follow.

‘The Wizard of Oz’ (1939)

Image via Warner Bros.

Adapting a book for the big screen doesn’t always mean doing a one-on-one version—in fact, it rarely means that. The best movie adaptations can make significant alterations to the source material yet still keep the vibe of the story, the core themes, the nature of the characters, and the basic tone. A truly masterful movie, however, finds a way to enhance everything that worked on the page in an inherently cinematic language. In the case of The Wizard of Oz, it was through the use of color and song.

Now, there are a ton of differences between The Wizard of Oz and its source material, Frank L. Baum‘s book series. Yet, the movie is so whimsical, so heartfelt and purely enjoyable that you not only forgive them but actually get fully on board with them. By the time Dorothy leaves the sepia of Kansas to enter the Technicolor world of Oz, you are fully immersed in the movie, and there’s no going back. The use of Technicolor was key in turning The Wizard of Oz into the pinnacle of fantasy, and important changes, like having Judy Garland wear a red wig in pigtails and changing the slippers from silver to ruby, gave the movie an identity. Indeed, the iconography has become part of cinema’s very fabric. The songs, written by Harold Arden and E.Y. “Yip” Harburg, added further charm and expanded on the emotional themes of the story, especially the sorrowful theme “Over the Rainbow.”

‘The Godfather’ (1972)

Image via Paramount Pictures

The movie adaptations that greatly surpass their source material, to the point where they become the standard of their respective franchise, can be counted with one hand. In a way, they begin and end with The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola‘s big-screen adaptation of the gangster novel by Mario Puzo. Both the movie and the book tell the story of the Corleone Family, headed by Don Vito Corleone, whose son, Michael, begins to take over as a series of conflicts threaten the clan’s dominance.

The difference between the book and the movie is quite significant here. The former is highly regarded indeed, but its adaptation is arguably the best American movie of all time. It’s to both Coppola and Puzo’s credit, as the screenwriters, that they took the book’s sprawling and at times messy narrative and turned it into a streamlined family tragedy. Subplots were outright removed, and storylines were sharpened. The themes of ambition, generational baggage, crime, and the allure and corruptive force of power are intact, but by focusing on a tight-knit group of characters and how their influence poisons those around them, the movie is much more powerful. The Godfather is widely attributed with shaping our modern perception of the mafia; the book introduced this new idea of the mob, and the movie perfected it.

‘The Princess Bride’ (1987)

Image via 20th Century Studios

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The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure, The “Good Parts” Version is the seminal fantasy romance written by William Goldman in 1973. Highly humorous, ironic, and self-referential, the book is a masterpiece of metafiction where the author presents an abridged version of another tale, providing constant commentary on the side. It is widely celebrated as a wholly original and delightful work, a singular fantasy that worked perfectly in its original form. How to adapt such a tale?

As it turns out, only Goldman could do it. The film adaptation of The Princess Bride is just as charming and imaginative, and possibly funnier. Goldman’s genius begins with how he replicates the metaphictional quality of his book: rather than using the same trope, the movie frames the story of farmhand Westley (Cary Elwes) and his love, Buttercup (Robin Wright), as a fairy tale being told by a grandfather (Peter Falk) to his sick grandson (Fred Savage). From there, the movie stays just as fresh, fast-paced, quick-witted, and outright irresistible as the book. The legacy of both works has only gotten better with time—the movie is perhaps better known, though. However, Goldman’s adaptation remains the gold standard for how to take a truly singular work and replicate it in a new form while still respecting everything that makes it unique.

‘The Remains of the Day’ (1993)

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Few writers are as prominent or highly regarded as the mighty Kazuo Ishiguro. The Nobel Prize winner is behind multiple modern classics, but his magnum opus is undeniably The Remains of the Day, a tale of the conflict that arises between duty and the pursuit of personal fulfillment. The plot chronicles the life of devoted butler Stevens, whose blind loyalty to his master, Lord Darlington, slowly shapes his life, even as changes around the world and his own bond with the housekeeper, Miss Kenton, introduce conflict to his otherwise rigorous existence.

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and an uncredited Harold Pinter translated Ishiguro’s sorrowful, poignant tale into the big screen, and the result was nothing short of masterful. The 1993 movie version of The Remains of the Day is a perfect adaptation, capturing the book’s profound, somber, and deeply introspective tone and complementing it with lush visuals, elegant camera movements, and two outstanding and quietly powerful performances by Sir Anthony Hopkins and Dame Emma Thompson. Both works are melancholy, though Ishiguro’s book is perhaps more hopeful in its conclusion. The true genius of the movie is how it takes a book that relies entirely on a character’s private and fiercely guarded thoughts and translates it into a movie that is pulled back yet no less cinematic.

‘The Lord of the Rings’ (2001-2003)

Image via New Line/courtesy Everett Collection

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Adapting a book is challenging enough, but when the book in question has legions of devoted fans, a comprehensive world that ranks among the most detailed and complex ever created, and a larger-than-life story on a truly sweeping scale, then the task becomes borderline impossible. Such was the challenge that Peter Jackson faced while adapting J. R. R. Tolkien‘s seminal work, The Lord of the Rings. As is well known, the plot centers on the young Hobbit Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood), who must carry the One Ring to the fires of Mount Doom. Aided by the Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo faces the Ring’s corruption as the Dark Lord Sauron amasses an army to take over Middle-earth.

It wouldn’t be an overstatement to call the Lord of the Rings movies the very apex of the fantasy genre. The work that Jackson and fellow screenwriters Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh, and Stephen Sinclair did is truly impressive in how economically it translates the main events of the books into the big screen. From the get-go, they establish Middle-earth as a place of whimsy and danger, populated by fascinating creatures and haunted by ancient evils while still making it feel tactile and lived-in. Much of the worldbuilding comes organically through dialogue, but exposition is still used effectively. The movies arguably surpass the books when it comes to the massive, jaw-dropping battle sequences; indeed, the action in the trilogy is unlike anything we’ve seen before or since. Tolkien’s lore is deep and mesmerizing, with the author allowing himself the freedom to expand upon it at length. The screenwriters streamline the story while still delving into Middle-earth’s story, making for a saga that is the epitome of what epic fantasy should be.