Best film adaptations of plays

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 7/22/17 at 9:58pm

I need something to watch. What are some of the best film adaptations of stage plays?

[carnzee]

Posted: 7/22/17 at 10:13pm

The best is probably Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

Come back to the five and dime, Jimmy Dean...is effective.

 

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 7/22/17 at 10:20pm

If it weren't for the unfortunate censoring in both Virginia Woolf and A Streetcar Named Desire, they would be perfect adaptations.

 

They are still brilliant films.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/22/17 at 10:41pm

A MEMBER OF THE WEDDING. Julie Harris, Ethel Waters and Brandon deWilde. And you don't have to worry that the play has been neutered for the film version. A seamless and perfect translation from stage to screen.

Updated On: 7/22/17 at 10:41 PM

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 7/22/17 at 10:54pm

Streetcar Named Desire.

The Heiress.

The Little Foxes.

Raisin in the Sun.

 

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 7/22/17 at 11:30pm

Kenneth Brannagh's adaptions of HENRY V and HAMLET are pretty brilliant.

On a related subject, the film of Stoppard's ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD is wonderful too.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 7/22/17 at 11:32pm

All the Way
Fences
The Miracle Worker
The Normal Heart
A Streetcar Named Desire

[sarahharty]

Posted: 7/22/17 at 11:53pm

The History Boys is an amazing film that stars the original Broadway cast! Highly recommend. 

[Jarethan]

Posted: 7/23/17 at 12:19am

I agree with most of the plays mentioned, with one exception.  I thought the Fences movie was a huge disappointment.  

I would add the following:

-- Amadeus.  I thought the movie was under-appreciated, even if it did win 8 Oscars or so.  I seem to remember the critics being lukewarm.

-- Sweet Bird of Youth

-- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

I'll add some comedies:

-- You Can't Take It With You.  The movie is better than any live production I have seen.

-- Arsenic and Old Lace.  Ditto.  Cary Grant was absolutely terrific.

-- Barefoot in the Park.  The cast was perfect.  Jane Fonda should have done more comedy, and it was the least wooden performance Redford ever gave.

-- The Philadelphia Story and Holiday.  Hepburn and Grant in sophisticated comedies...how can you lose.  I have always felt that Holiday was also under-appreciated.

-- His Girl Friday -- it was an adaptation of The Front Page, after all.

[The Other One]

Posted: 7/23/17 at 12:38am

Adding to the list: The 1931 film version of The Front Page, The Man Who Came To Dinner, The Odd Couple, A Hatful of Rain, Major Barbara, Separate Tables, The Trip to Bountiful, Glengarry Glen Ross, Frost/Nixon and The Winslow Boy (1999) are all excellent.

A couple have been mentioned that I really don't like.  I love Frank Capra, but his You Can't Take It With You misses the uniqueness of the play and Arsenic and Old Lace is too loud and stagy.  And Sweet Bird of Youth is, for much of the way through, an excellent adaptation, but its Hollywood-imposed ending kills all the good that came before.
 

Updated On: 7/23/17 at 12:38 AM

[hork]

Posted: 7/23/17 at 12:57am

Amadeus is probably my favorite movie of all time. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is up there, as well.

[ggersten]

Posted: 7/23/17 at 1:48am

Adding:

Twelve Angry Men

Harvey

Sleuth

Equus

I have a fondness for State of the Union and Desk Set - just because of the Hepburn/Tracy pairings.

But you really can't go wrong with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

[morosco]

Posted: 7/23/17 at 1:56am

Auntie Mame

[asimplegal2]

Posted: 7/23/17 at 2:09am

A Streetcar Named Desire, the first half of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and HBO Angels in America (if that counts) are my favorites

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 7/23/17 at 2:23am

I agree with everyone here, but I would like to give a shoutout to August: Osage County.

I know not everyone loved the film, but I thought that it was a very good adaption of the play and I found that much of the acting was slightly stronger than it was onstage.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 7/23/17 at 2:32am

I suppose Shakespeare adaptation is sort of a category of its own, but my personal favorite is Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet. I know it's divisive, but I think it's beautiful. I have yet to see another R&J - onstage or on film - that captures the passion in the story as well as Luhrmann does. 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 7/23/17 at 2:37am

i love A Streetcar Named Desire despite the edits for "decency," especially in Stanley's attack on Stella because i was a little confused by it when i first saw the film (i didn't know the subject matter). Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is also wonderful (also despite the edits). Angels in America is technically a miniseries but it's among my favorite adaptations of a play.

Updated On: 7/23/17 at 02:37 AM

[A Director]

Posted: 7/23/17 at 3:35am

The movie version of YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU is AWFUL.  The first time I saw it, I wanted to slap a liberal.  Frank Capra and the screenwriters had no idea what the play is about.  It is not about the Kirbys. I have no idea why they came up with the idea of Mr.Kirby wanting to buy the house.  The scene with Grandpa in jail makes me want to vomit.

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 7/23/17 at 4:46am

A Director said: "The movie version of YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU is AWFUL.  The first time I saw it, I wanted to slap a liberal.  Frank Capra and the screenwriters had no idea what the play is about.  It is not about the Kirbys. I have no idea why they came up with the idea of Mr.Kirby wanting to buy the house.  The scene with Grandpa in jail makes me want to vomit."

It's so terrible that it won best picture......

Also, slap a liberal?

 

[NOWaWarning]

Posted: 7/23/17 at 6:50am

The HBO Wit with Emma Thompson is very good

[BWAY Baby2]

Posted: 7/23/17 at 8:01am

...and very boring

 

[Auggie27]

Posted: 7/23/17 at 8:18am

Fred Schipisi directed two of the best, IMO, "Plenty," whether you like the play or not it's exquisitely cinematic, and "Six Degrees of Separation." 

[The Other One]

Posted: 7/23/17 at 9:03am

NOWaWarning said: "The HBO Wit with Emma Thompson is very good"

Yes, a true surprise.  I had loved Kathleen Chalfant on stage in Wit so much that I was annoyed to hear that Nichols was filming it without her, but the adaptation turned out to be terrific.  Emma is magnificent.

 

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/23/17 at 9:31am

DANGEROUS LIAISONS

PYGMALION

THE HEIRESS

FENCES

THE LITTLE FOXES

WIT

TWELVE ANGRY MEN

THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE

two by Fred Zinnemann: THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING and A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS

DIAL M FOR MURDER

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (underrated, shattering, for all the charges of "sanitizing," gets to the core of the play more truthfully, poetically and entertainingly than any production I've ever seen)

THE ROSE TATTOO (Magnani's performance alone makes it must see viewing)

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES

DRIVING MISS DAISY

WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?

A SOLDIER'S STORY

THE CHILDREN'S HOUR (I'm in the extreme minority here, but I find the movie, and Maclaine's performance in particular, very fine and moving)

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

KILLER JOE

PSYCHO BEACH PARTY

THE PUBLIC EYE (Carol Reed's little known film from Peter Shaffer's little known one act starring Mia Farrow, Topol and Michael Jayston - something of a gem)

GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS

THE PHILADELPHIA STORY

THE MIRACLE WORKER

THE DRESSER

BECKET

THE LION IN WINTER (star power and great direction make it far better than it is as a play)

RAN

CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT (to call it uneven may well be an understatement, but what's great in Welles's movie is extraordinarily brilliant)

Sjoberg's MISS JULIE

Ophuls's LA RONDE

Mamet's THE WINSLOW BOY

Polansky's VENUS IN FUR

Frankenheimer's THE ICEMAN COMETH (though Robert Ryan as Larry and Jeff Bridges as Don steal the movie)

Ozon's 8 WOMEN

THE DYBBUK

Olivier's HAMLET, RICHARD III and HENRY V

Zeffirelli's ROMEO AND JULIET (may not be great Shakespeare, but it is a great movie)



 

Updated On: 7/23/17 at 09:31 AM

[John Adams]

Posted: 7/23/17 at 9:46am

Another vote for Glengarry/Glen Ross. Kevin Spacey, the addition of Alec Baldwin's character/scene, and especially Jack Lemon are all amazing.

Also Dangerous Liaisons