Whether is books that are hundreds of years old, or they are from the last few decades, some amazing movies have been adaptions of the classics. Sometimes the movies play it fairly straightforward, while other times huge, but tasteful, changes are made. Either way, this is our list of great movies adapted from the canon of great literature. One note - there are dozens of great Shakespeare adaptions but those deserve their own list, so there are none here.
Pride & Prejudice
Jane Austen is one of the most beloved authors in Western literature and many of her books have been adapted. Pride & Prejudice, first written in 1813, has been adapted multiple times, including a great version in 2005 with Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy and Keira Knightley as Elizabeth.
Clueless
Did you know that Clueless is a loose adaption of Jane Austen's novel Emma? The book was set in its time, in 1815. It's always fun when classic books are reimagined well for modern times.
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott's 1868 classic Little Women is still a wildly popular book, especially with women and girls. Despite being well over 100 years old, it's completely reliable. Over the years, it's been adapted for every medium, but Greta Gerwig's 2019 version may have become the standard to judge all the others.
To Kill A Mockingbird
It could be argued that To Kill A Mockingbird is the most important book of the 20th Century. It's hard to quantify what kind of effect it's had on younger generations and their attitude on race in America. The movie is almost as important. It's rare that movie has a real impact on society like this Gregory Peck-led classic.
Sense And Sensibility
Jane Austen's first book, Sense And Sensibility, is still one of the most popular books in the world. As such, it's been adapted countless times on stage and screen, but most people would agree that the 1995 version starring Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson is the best.
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now is a dark movie. It's one man's journey into the depths of hell, as set during the Vietnam War. It also shows just how much war is just war, no matter the time or place. It's all based on Joseph Conrad's classic Heart of Darkness, which is set 70 years early in the Congo, but the themes and emotions are the same.
Great Expectations
A lot of Charles Dickens novels have been adapted into movies. One of the more notorious adaptations is Alfonso Cuarón's Great Expectations from 1998. Starring Gwyneth Paltrow as Estella and Ethan Hawke as Finn, set in modern-day New York, it's a classic tale of unrequited love.
Oliver!
The 1968 musical Oliver! is an important movie for anyone who grew up with it. It's scary at times, but it's got some very singable songs for kids of all ages. It's all based on the Charles Dickens classic Oliver Twist about orphans and street urchins. The most Dickensian of Dickens novels.
O Brother Where Art Thou?
Leave it to the Coen Brothers to come up with one of the most creative adaptions of one of the oldest stories on earth. O Brother Where Art Thou? is (very) loosely based on Homer's Odyssey. Sure, the brothers change some parts around and set in the South during the Depression, but when you recreate with Cyclops as John Goodman wearing an eye patch, you deserve to be on this list.
Dangerous Liaisons
Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos is one of the most important and popular French novels of all time. In 1988 Stephen Frears adapted the novel as Dangerous Liaisons and it's, frankly, amazing. It's not the only it's been adapted either.
The Great Gatsby
Not everyone loves Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of The Great Gatsby. As only Lurhmann can, it's a mix of period pieces, combined with modern music and sensibility. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Gatsby perfectly as if he jumped off the pages of the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic.
Roxanne
Steve Martin stars as a fireman in love with a beautiful woman played by Darryl Hannah but cannot get over his one physical flaw, a huge nose. If this sounds like the classic play Cyrano de Bergerac, you'd be right. They even worked in de Bergerac's famous sword fighting skills with a tennis racquet fight. It's a great nod to the original story.
For Whom the Bell Tolls
When For Whom the Bell Tolls was first adapted into a movie, in 1943, it was actually pretty contemporary. Ernest Hemingway released the hit novel about the Spanish Civil War in 1940 and the war had only ended a year before that. While we think of For Whom the Bell Tolls as classic, it was modern at the time.
Young Frankenstein
Mary Shelley's classic horror novel Frankenstein has been adapted dozens of times in dozens of ways. For that reason, we thought it would be fun to list one of the most fun versions of it. Young Frankenstein is one of Mel Brooks' greatest movies and is responsible for one of the funniest scenes in any spoof film when Frankenstein and his monster sing and dance.
The Count Of Monte Cristo (2002)
Alexander Dumas is responsible for some of the most lasting stories in Western civilization and The Count Of Monte Cristo is near the top of that list. Like others on this list, it's no stranger to being adapted to stage and screen but for our money, the 2002 version with Jim Caviezel in the lead role wins.
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
It's hard to overstate the influence that Jules Verne has had on science fiction literature. He is the godfather of all, really. A lot of his books have been adapted for the big screen, but the 1954 Disney classic 20,000 Leagues Under Sea starring Kirk Douglas is still the best. It's remarkable how well it holds up all these decades later.
Bridget Jones's Diary
One of the more recent novels and adaptions on this list is Bridget Jones's Diary. The book was first released in 1996 and the beloved movie, the first in a successful series starring Renée Zellweger as Bridget was released five years later. The book's author, Helen Fielding, has made no secret that it was heavily influenced by Pride and Prejudice, even naming one of the characters Darcy. In a great twist of fate, Mark Darcy is played by Colin Firth in the movie, who also played Mr. Darcy in an adaption of the Jane Austen novel on the BBC in the '90s.
The Lord Of The Rings
You knew we couldn't leave The Lord of the Rings trilogy off this list. Even though the books feel timeless, they didn't actually get released until the 1950s. They were instant hits and instant classics, though.
Treasure Island
There have been a lot of adaptions of Treasure Island, as with others on this list. It's hard to pick one to go with from this list and it's tempting to go with the Muppet version from the '90s. There is also a wild version starring Orson Welles from 1972. Ultimately though, the definitive adaption of this beloved Robert Louis Stevenson classic has to be the 1950 Disney version.
Lord Of The Flies
It's a little surprising the Lord Of The Flies hasn't been adapted more, to be honest. The classic William Golding novel has been adapted twice, but not since 1990. It's such a classic tale, one that kids still read today in school it seems like it would be ripe for a modern retelling.
Scrooged
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol has been told in many, many different ways over the years. If you want a really fun version, look no further than the somewhat raunchy Bill Murray-led retelling of the classic tale in Scrooged. Carol Kane as the ghost of Christmas Present is particularly fantastic.
All Quiet on the Western Front
Until recently, there number of World War II films far outnumbered those set in the First World War. That has been changing lately and one very fine example is the 2022 German production of All Quiet on the Western Front. It became a huge hit all over the world on Netflix and it's a pretty faithful adaption of the classic novel by Erich Maria Remarque. There is also an amazing pre-code version from 1930 worth checking out.
The Secret Garden
How many people knew someone or was someone who thought The Secret Garden was the greatest book they'd ever read as a kid? Everyone, right? The book, released in 1911 and written by Frances Hodgson Burnett has been a staple in kids' bedrooms for more than a century now so it's no surprise that it's been adapted a number of times, most recently in 2020 starring Colin Firth.
Cruel Intentions
We couldn't resist. We had to include Cruel Intentions on this list. Not only does it have one of the best examples of music being used to perfection in movies, but it's also a really fun movie to laugh with or laugh at. It's based on Les Liaisons dangereuses, but it's so ridiculous it's hard to see through the modern retelling to the original. That doesn't make it less amazing.
Beowulf
The epic poem Beowulf is one of the earliest examples of English literature. It's also notoriously hard to read in the original old English and has been the bane of high school kids forever. That didn't stop Robert Zemeckis from adapting it in 2007 to the big screen. It's a trippy movie, but it's as hard to follow as the poem is.
The Man in the Iron Mask
Leonardo DiCaprio stars in The Man in the Iron Mask, one of the many adaptations of a version of the Alexander Dumas characters from The Three Musketeers. It's a fine movie, but there are other adaptions that are ultimately more fun.
The Age of Innocence
Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence was an instant classic when it was released in 1905. It's been such a big hit over the years, it's no surprise it's received three different film treatments, going all the way back to the 1920s and the Silent Film Era. In 1993 Martin Scorsese released a fantastic version starring Winona Ryder and Daniel Day-Lewis.
Doctor Zhivago
Like a lot of Russian literature through the centuries, Doctor Zhivago is pretty impenetrable at first, but well worth sticking with until it clicks. The same could be said about the movie, released in 1967, less than a decade after the book was first published.
Of Mice And Men
john Steinbeck's Derepression-era Of Mice And Men is one of the truly great novels of the 20th Century. First published in 1937, the book, about migrants headed to California in the 1930s, has been adapted a number of times, including most recently in 1992 starring Gary Sinise and John Malkovich.
Nineteen Eighty-Four
George Orwell's classic 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four is one of the most referenced books of the last 75 years. The term "big brother" has become synonymous with government surveillance. The movie, released in 1984 and starring John Hurt is a faithful adaption as disturbing as the book.
Bram Stoker's Dracula
The story of Dracula has been told dozens of times on stage and screen, so it's hard to pick one for this list, but since we must, let's go with Bram Stoker's Dracula from 1992, if for no other reason than Francis Ford Coppola keeping the author's name in the title. It's as faithful an adaption as there is, and truly a classic for anyone who grew up with it.
The Three Musketeers (1948)
Three are a ton of different versions of the Alexander Dumas characters from The Three Musketeers. If you want a really fun adaptation, look no further than the version from 1948 starring Gene Kelly. It's literally everything you could ever want from a swashbuckling movie in the golden age of Hollywood.
