50 films, Adaptations from Classic Literature
by g-tyaneus | created - 17 Oct 2012 | updated - 02 Aug 2013 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Jane Eyre (1983)
TV-PG | 239 min | Drama, Romance
A young governess falls in love with her mysterious employer, but a terrible secret puts their happiness at risk.
Stars: Zelah Clarke, Timothy Dalton, Carol Gillies, James Marcus
Votes: 3,172
2. Les Misérables (1998)
PG-13 | 134 min | Crime, Drama, History
Valjean, a former criminal, has atoned for his past and now finds himself in the midst of the French Revolution, avoiding a law-obsessed policeman hell-bent on capturing him.
Director: Bille August | Stars: Liam Neeson, Geoffrey Rush, Uma Thurman, Christopher Adamson
Votes: 38,166 | Gross: $14.10M
3. The Great Gatsby (1974)
PG | 144 min | Drama, Romance
A Midwesterner becomes fascinated with his nouveau riche neighbor, who obsesses over his lost love.
Director: Jack Clayton | Stars: Robert Redford, Mia Farrow, Bruce Dern, Karen Black
Votes: 23,565 | Gross: $6.74M
4. Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights (1992)
PG | 105 min | Drama, History, Romance
A man becomes obsessed with vengeance when his soul mate marries another man.
Director: Peter Kosminsky | Stars: Juliette Binoche, Ralph Fiennes, Janet McTeer, Sophie Ward
Votes: 12,326
5. Anna Karenina (1997)
PG-13 | 108 min | Drama, Romance
Anna (Marceau) is a wife and mother who has an affair with the handsome Count Vronsky (Bean). Based on the novel by Tolstoy.
Director: Bernard Rose | Stars: Sophie Marceau, Sean Bean, Alfred Molina, Mia Kirshner
Votes: 5,549 | Gross: $0.79M
6. The Importance of Being Earnest (1952)
Not Rated | 95 min | Comedy, Drama
When Algernon discovers that his friend, Ernest, has created a fictional brother for whenever he needs a reason to escape dull country life, Algernon poses as the brother, resulting in ever increasing confusion.
Director: Anthony Asquith | Stars: Michael Redgrave, Richard Wattis, Michael Denison, Walter Hudd
Votes: 5,192
7. Pride and Prejudice (1995)
TV-PG | 327 min | Drama, Romance
While the arrival of wealthy gentlemen sends her marriage-minded mother into a frenzy, willful and opinionated Elizabeth Bennet matches wits with haughty Mr. Darcy.
Stars: Colin Firth, Jennifer Ehle, Susannah Harker, Julia Sawalha
Votes: 76,425
8. Moby Dick (1956)
Not Rated | 116 min | Adventure, Drama
The sole survivor of a lost whaling ship relates the tale of his captain's self-destructive obsession to hunt the white whale, Moby Dick.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, Leo Genn, James Robertson Justice
Votes: 17,094 | Gross: $10.40M
9. Sense and Sensibility (1995)
PG | 136 min | Drama, Romance
Rich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her three daughters poor by the rules of inheritance. The two eldest daughters are the title opposites.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, James Fleet, Tom Wilkinson
Votes: 103,233 | Gross: $43.18M
10. A Farewell to Arms (1932)
Unrated | 80 min | Drama, Romance, War
An American ambulance driver and an English nurse fall in love in Italy during World War I.
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Gary Cooper, Helen Hayes, Adolphe Menjou, Mary Philips
Votes: 5,139
11. For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
Passed | 170 min | Adventure, Drama, History
During the Spanish Civil War, an American allied with the Republicans finds romance during a desperate mission to blow up a strategically important bridge.
Director: Sam Wood | Stars: Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff, Arturo de Córdova
Votes: 8,419 | Gross: $17.80M
12. Of Mice and Men (1992)
PG-13 | 115 min | Drama, Western
A nomadic farm worker looks after his dimwitted, gentle-giant friend during the Great Depression.
Director: Gary Sinise | Stars: John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, Ray Walston, Casey Siemaszko
Votes: 40,644 | Gross: $5.10M
13. War & Peace (1972–1973)
890 min | Drama, History, War
Napoleon's tumultuous relations with Russia including his disastrous 1812 invasion serve as the backdrop for the tangled personal lives of five aristocratic Russian families.
Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Morag Hood, Alan Dobie, Rupert Davies
Votes: 580
14. The Three Musketeers (1993)
PG | 105 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
France, 1625: Young d'Artagnan heads to Paris to join the Musketeers but the evil cardinal has disbanded them - save 3. He meets the 3, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, and joins them on their quest to save the king and country.
Director: Stephen Herek | Stars: Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris O'Donnell, Oliver Platt
Votes: 50,885 | Gross: $53.90M
15. The Brothers Karamazov (1958)
Approved | 145 min | Drama, Romance
Drama based on Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky's homonymous novel about the proud Karamazov family in 1870s Russia.
Director: Richard Brooks | Stars: Yul Brynner, Maria Schell, Claire Bloom, Lee J. Cobb
Votes: 2,537
16. Crime and Punishment (1998 TV Movie)
PG-13 | 120 min | Drama
A man who is haunted by a murder he committed.
Director: Joseph Sargent | Stars: Patrick Dempsey, Ben Kingsley, Julie Delpy, Eddie Marsan
Votes: 801
17. Oliver Twist (2005)
PG-13 | 130 min | Crime, Drama
An adaptation of the classic Dickens tale, where an orphan meets a pickpocket on the streets of London. From there, he joins a household of boys who are trained to steal for their master.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Barney Clark, Ben Kingsley, Jeremy Swift, Ian McNeice
Votes: 31,249 | Gross: $1.99M
18. East of Eden (1955)
PG | 118 min | Drama
Two brothers struggle to maintain their strict, Bible-toting father's favor.
Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: James Dean, Raymond Massey, Julie Harris, Burl Ives
Votes: 40,560
19. The Grapes Of Wrath (1940)
Passed | 129 min | Drama, History
A poor Midwest family is forced off their land. They travel to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin
Votes: 85,872 | Gross: $0.06M
20. Cannery Row (1982)
PG | 120 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Monterey, California in the 1940's. Cannery Row - the section of town where the now closed fish canneries are located - is inhabited primarily by the down and out, although many would not ... See full summary »
Director: David S. Ward | Stars: Nick Nolte, Debra Winger, Audra Lindley, Frank McRae
Votes: 3,398 | Gross: $5.30M
21. Treasure Island (1950)
PG | 96 min | Adventure, Family
The treasure seeking adventures of young Jim Hawkins and pirate captain Long John Silver.
Director: Byron Haskin | Stars: Bobby Driscoll, Robert Newton, Basil Sydney, Walter Fitzgerald
Votes: 7,291
22. Lord of the Flies (1963)
Not Rated | 92 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Schoolboys marooned on a Pacific island create their own savage civilization.
Director: Peter Brook | Stars: James Aubrey, Tom Chapin, Hugh Edwards, Roger Elwin
Votes: 17,612
23. The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)
R | 124 min | Drama, Romance
Anna and Mike portray two characters in a film set in 19th century England who fall in love despite the fact that Mike's character is engaged.
Director: Karel Reisz | Stars: Meryl Streep, Jeremy Irons, Hilton McRae, Emily Morgan
Votes: 12,315 | Gross: $22.60M
24. The Invisible Man (1933)
TV-PG | 71 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A scientist finds a way of becoming invisible, but in doing so, he becomes murderously insane.
Director: James Whale | Stars: Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, William Harrigan, Henry Travers
Votes: 30,916
25. Howards End (1992)
PG | 142 min | Drama, Romance
A businessman thwarts his wife's bequest of an estate to another woman.
Director: James Ivory | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Vanessa Redgrave, Helena Bonham Carter
Votes: 29,026 | Gross: $25.97M
26. All Quiet on the Western Front (1979 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 150 min | Drama, War
A young soldier faces profound disillusionment in the soul-destroying horror of World War I.
Director: Delbert Mann | Stars: Richard Thomas, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Ian Holm
Votes: 7,860
27. Gulliver's Travels (1996)
PG | 186 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
An Englishman returns after nine years abroad and tells strange stories of the tiny people of Lilliput, the giants of Brobdingnag, the flying island Laputa and the Houyhnhnms, a race of intelligent horses.
Stars: Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, James Fox, Robert Hardy
Votes: 6,331
28. The Man in the Iron Mask (I) (1998)
PG-13 | 132 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The cruel King Louis XIV of France has a secret twin brother whom he keeps imprisoned. Can the twin be substituted for the real king?
Director: Randall Wallace | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Gérard Depardieu
Votes: 157,310 | Gross: $56.97M
29. Beowulf (2007)
PG-13 | 115 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
The warrior Beowulf must fight and defeat the monster Grendel, who is terrorizing Denmark, and later, Grendel's Mother, who begins killing out of revenge.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Ray Winstone, Crispin Glover, Angelina Jolie, Robin Wright
Votes: 161,923 | Gross: $82.16M
30. Fellini Satyricon (1969)
R | 129 min | Drama, Fantasy, History
A series of disjointed mythical tales set in first century Rome.
Director: Federico Fellini | Stars: Martin Potter, Hiram Keller, Max Born, Salvo Randone
Votes: 14,972 | Gross: $1.14M
31. The Decameron (1971)
R | 111 min | Comedy, Drama, History
An adaptation of nine stories from Boccaccio's "Decameron".
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini | Stars: Franco Citti, Ninetto Davoli, Jovan Jovanovic, Vincenzo Amato
Votes: 9,952
32. Taras Bulba (1962)
Approved | 122 min | Adventure, Drama, History
In the 16th-century Ukraine, the Polish overlords and Ukrainian cossacks fight for control of the land but frequent Turkish invasions force them to unite against the common Turkish foe.
Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: Tony Curtis, Yul Brynner, Christine Kaufmann, Sam Wanamaker
Votes: 3,633 | Gross: $4.00M
33. A Simple Twist of Fate (1994)
PG-13 | 106 min | Drama, Comedy
His life was emotionally closed off from the world, until an orphaned baby showed up at his house.
Director: Gillies MacKinnon | Stars: Steve Martin, Gabriel Byrne, Laura Linney, Catherine O'Hara
Votes: 5,083 | Gross: $3.43M
34. The Age of Innocence (1993)
PG | 139 min | Drama, Romance
A tale of nineteenth-century New York high society in which a young lawyer falls in love with a woman separated from her husband, while he is engaged to the woman's cousin.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder, Linda Faye Farkas
Votes: 53,721 | Gross: $32.20M
35. The Bostonians (1984)
Not Rated | 122 min | Drama, Romance
A Boston feminist and a conservative Southern lawyer contend for the heart and mind of a beautiful and bright girl unsure of her future.
Director: James Ivory | Stars: Christopher Reeve, Vanessa Redgrave, Jessica Tandy, Madeleine Potter
Votes: 1,788 | Gross: $1.01M
36. Catch-22 (1970)
R | 122 min | Comedy, Drama, War
A man is trying desperately to be certified insane during World War II, so he can stop flying missions.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Alan Arkin, Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, Art Garfunkel
Votes: 22,134 | Gross: $24.91M
37. A Christmas Carol (1999 TV Movie)
PG | 95 min | Drama, Fantasy
An old bitter miser who makes excuses for his uncaring nature learns real compassion when three ghosts visit him on Christmas Eve.
Director: David Hugh Jones | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant, Joel Grey, Ian McNeice
Votes: 8,563
38. The Citadel (1938)
Passed | 110 min | Drama
Andrew Manson (Robert Donat), a young, enthusiastic doctor takes his first job in a Welsh mining town, and begins to wonder at the persistent cough many of the miners have. When his ... See full summary »
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Robert Donat, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Richardson, Rex Harrison
Votes: 1,922
39. David Copperfield (1999)
Unrated | 185 min | Drama
A gentle orphan discovers life and love in an indifferent adult world.
Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Trevor Eve, Michael Elphick, James Thornton
Votes: 4,096
40. Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)
GP | 168 min | Drama, History, Romance
Bathsheba Everdene, a willful, flirtatious, young woman, unexpectedly inherits a large farm and is romantically pursued by three very different men.
Director: John Schlesinger | Stars: Julie Christie, Peter Finch, Alan Bates, Terence Stamp
Votes: 5,205
41. Daisy Miller (1974)
G | 91 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
In this comedy of manners, Frederick Winterbourne tries to figure out the bright and bubbly Daisy Miller, only to be helped and hindered by false judgments from their fellow friends.
Director: Peter Bogdanovich | Stars: Cybill Shepherd, Barry Brown, Cloris Leachman, Mildred Natwick
Votes: 1,144 | Gross: $0.36M
42. The Killers (1964)
Passed | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Surprised that their contract victim didn't try to run away from them, two professional hit men try to find out who hired them and why.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, John Cassavetes, Clu Gulager
Votes: 7,224
43. The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)
Approved | 114 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Writer Harry Street reflects on his life as he lies dying from an infection while on safari in the shadow of Mount Kilamanjaro.
Directors: Henry King, Roy Ward Baker | Stars: Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, Ava Gardner, Hildegard Knef
Votes: 4,712 | Gross: $18.05M
44. Great Expectations (2011–2012)
60 min | Drama
The orphan Pip becomes a gentleman when his life is transformed by a mystery benefactor.
Stars: Douglas Booth, Jack Roth, Ray Winstone, David Suchet
Votes: 7,141
45. The Trial (1962)
Not Rated | 119 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
An unassuming office worker is arrested and stands trial, but he is never made aware of his charges.
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Arnoldo Foà, Jess Hahn, Billy Kearns
Votes: 19,617
46. The Fall of the House of Usher (1960)
Approved | 79 min | Drama, Horror