Best Play to Film Adaptations
Best Play to Film Adaptations
Jay94
Featured Actor Joined: 4/10/11
#1Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 3:02am
I would include:
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Amadeus
A Streetcar Named Desire
The Philadelphia Story
#2Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 5:52am
On Golden Pond.
The diary of Anne Frank.
The Rise and Fall of Little Voice.
The Woman in Black (Not sure this one counts as it is based on the book that then became the play...I think!)
Updated On: 8/30/13 at 05:52 AM
#2Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 5:59am
The Matchmaker
Come Back Little Sheba
Picnic
The Rose Tattoo
The Time of the Cuckoo, released in the US as Summertime and as Summer Madness in the UK
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs
Born Yesterday
The Elephant Man isn't based on the play but on the same source material as the play. I hadn't seen it in years but I saw it last month and it's such a fine film.
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Lion in Winter
Blithe Spirit
A Man for All Seasons
Becket
The Little Foxes
A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1935 (Warner Bros.)
Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet
Hamlet by Olivier and by Branagh
Polanski's Macbeth
Olivier's Henry V
Barefoot in the Park - guilty pleasure
Updated On: 8/30/13 at 05:59 AM
#3Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 6:29am
In addition to the ones mentioned:
Cat On a Hot Tin Roof
You Can't Take It With You
The King's Speech
Driving Miss Daisy
Gaslight (Angel Street)
Idiot's Delight
Casablanca
The Trip to Bountiful
His Girl Friday (The Front Page)
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Updated On: 8/30/13 at 06:29 AM
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
The Other One
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/1/08
#4Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 6:45am
Putting in a word for:
A Hatful of Rain
The History Boys
The Odd Couple
The Great White Hope
The Best Man
Play It Again, Sam
Marvin's Room
Mister Roberts
Wait Until Dark
Dial 'M' For Murder
The Country Girl
Six Degrees of Separation
Glengarry Glen Ross
Middle of the Night
A Raisin In The Sun
Separate Tables
The Winslow Boy
An Ideal Husband
Pygmalion
Major Barbara
The Prisoner of Second Avenue
The Night of the Iguana
The Killing of Sister George
Updated On: 9/1/13 at 06:45 AM
#5Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 7:10am
~ i love the film versions of:
~ steel magnolias
~ crimes of the heart
~ a thousand clowns
~ the moon is blue
~ the prime of miss jean brodie
~ dinner at eight
~ same time, next year
and
~ cactus flower
Updated On: 8/30/13 at 07:10 AM
After Eight
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
#6Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 7:37am
La Cage aux Folles
Le Dîner de Cons
The Matchmaker
#7Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 8:03amHopefully we can add August Osage County to the list soon!!
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#8Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 8:10am
Gaslight
Rashomon
His Girl Friday
Summertime
The Member of the Wedding
Dangerous Liaisons (counting this as from the play in addition to from the novel)
The Winslow Boy (Mamet)
The Dresser
Brief Encounter
The Little Foxes
Dinner at Eight
The Philadelphia Story
You Can't Take It With You
The Sunshine Boys
Becket
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Pygmalion
La Cage aux Folles
The Public Eye
Henry V (Branagh)
Henry V (Olivier)
Richard III (Olivier)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (Reinhardt)
Romeo and Juliet (Zeffirelli)
The Children's Hour
Stage Door
The Women
hon. mention:
The Rose Tattoo and Marvin's Room (because Magnani and Keaton, respectively, give two of the most perfect performances one could ever hope to see on screen)
The Lion in Winter (Anthony Harvey's direction and a stellar cast somehow miraculously made a great film out of a mediocre play)
The Old Maid and Old Acquaintance (Davis and Hopkins together x 2)
Dial M for Murder and Rope (because second rate Hitchcock is better than first rate just about anyone else)
These Three (the most artful bowdlerization (a delesbianization of the Children's Hour) ever made)
Updated On: 8/31/13 at 08:10 AM
#9Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 8:13am
And while i wouldn't call them entirely successful, I have a great fondness for:
Arsenic and Old Lace
Our Town (the performances and the score)
Only When I Laugh (The Gingerbread Lady)
The Odd Couple
Miss Firecracker
A Member of the Wedding
Shirley Valentine
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Updated On: 8/30/13 at 08:13 AM
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#10Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 8:23am
Not to turn this thread "bitchy," but the worst play to film adaptations:
Agnes of God
Torch Song Trilogy
Brighton Beach Memoirs
The Corn Is Green
The Front Page
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
dreaming
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/24/09
#11Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 8:26am
The Miracle Worker is atop my list
(most of the others have been mentioned)
#12Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 8:40am
I'm so sick of people turning plays into movies! 
#13Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 8:41am
~ well, since besty did start it i would add:
'star spangled girl' - - - unwatchable - - - ugh.
#14Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 8:51am
^ I was given a copy of the DVD, and I've never opened it.
I remember seeing the movie as a kid (in the theatre) and thinking it was "dumb" back then.
And I even loved "Lost Horizon" back then. LOL
EDIT: There are a lot of really great ones listed here. I think I need to have a play-to-movie marathon this weekend.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Updated On: 8/30/13 at 08:51 AM
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#15Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 9:02am
~ how could i have forgotten!
~ one of my all-time favorites: butterflies are free!!!
#16Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 9:08am
Having recently watched "Butterflies Are Free," I concur!
Great performances by Hawn, Albert, and especially Eileen Heckart's Oscar-winning turn.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#17Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 9:20amI thought that the HBO adaptation of Angels in America was pretty good, even if they did cut out/alter two scenes that I love.
The Other One
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/1/08
#18Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 9:39am
I Am a Camera and The Member of the Wedding are good ones no one mentioned. Odd, you'd think we'd have Julie Harris on our minds right now! IAaC seems awfully hard to come by these days, maybe people aren't familiar with it.
The Other One
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/1/08
#19Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 9:45am
One I forgot is the underrated film version of Craig Lucas's The Dying Gaul.
One that might have made a "worst adaptations" list is the film version of Craig Lucas's Reckless. Awful! And the original production at Circle Rep was such a gem.
Jay94
Featured Actor Joined: 4/10/11
#20Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 9:53am
No one has mentioned 'Sleuth'. Great performances with a great production design.
The 1953 version of 'Julius Caesar' with James Mason and Marlon Brando hasn't been mentioned. Sometimes Shakespeare doesn't always play well on screen (particularly with Hollywood actors way out of their depth) but that production was extremely entertaining and accessible. Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet was also top-notch.
I'm really looking forward to August: Osage County. I hope it lives up to the play.
Updated On: 8/30/13 at 09:53 AM
Jay94
Featured Actor Joined: 4/10/11
#21Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 10:00amAnd Frost/Nixon of course. A remarkable example of translating a play to the screen by opening it up and making it cinematic. Just terrific.
#22Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 10:00amBorn Yesterday, folks. I also liked The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the Moon Marigolds and Equus, but I know I'm in the minority.
"Through The Sacrifice You Made, We Can't Believe The Price You Paid..For Love!"
KathyNYC2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/2/10
#23Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 10:09am
Miracle Worker is on top of my list also.
And Wait until Dark
(not that I would not LOVE to see these stage again.)
Updated On: 8/30/13 at 10:09 AM
Roscoe
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#24Best Play to Film Adaptations
Posted: 8/30/13 at 10:12amRASHOMON wasn't based on a play.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
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