Best movie adaptations of plays

[goodlead]

Posted: 4/8/18 at 4:20pm

What are your choices for the best movie adaptations of modern plays, classic plays, and musicals?

Mine are:

Modern play: Six Degrees of Separation

Classic play: Henry V (Branagh)

Musical: Hair

[JBroadway]

Posted: 4/8/18 at 5:41pm

A Streetcar Named Desire

I don't personally have any strong love for it, but culturally I think it is probably the most iconic and influential, and most highly regarded by film people. 

I'd say Chicago is probably the best musical adaptation, and Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet is my pick for Shakespeare. 

[BWAY Baby2]

Posted: 4/8/18 at 5:50pm

Fences

 

[CoercedBull]

Posted: 4/8/18 at 8:15pm

I often have a hard time with adaptations of musicals, but "Chicago" and "Cabaret" are about as good as it gets. Something about Kander and Ebb must work great for the screen, I guess.

"Fences" was mentioned already, but it's a pretty perfect adaptation. Mike Nicholls's "Angels in America" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" are both spectacular. I've never seen Pinter's "The Homecoming," much to my chagrin, but I love the 1973 film adaptation a lot.

[David10086]

Posted: 4/8/18 at 8:30pm

"6 Degrees" for play.

"Funny Girl" for musical - much better than 'Cabaret' or 'Chicago'.

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 4/8/18 at 8:36pm

The Heiress - Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift and Ralph Richardson are absolutely spellbinding.

Streetcar Named Desire 

Angels in America (HBO miniseries) - excellent, brought all the characters to life and made you care about every single character. Mike Nichols' direction is amazing.

Pygmalion - love the film with Wendy Hiller and Leslie Howard. MFL owes much to the film Pygmalion.

The Little Foxes - I know some people think Bette Davis overdid her part but I love it. 

Throne of Blood and Ran are pretty unbeatable as far as Shakespearean adaptations go.

His Girl Friday (adapted from Front Page) - making Hildy a woman all of a sudden gives the whole piece sexual tension and Cary Grant was never funnier

 

 

[The Other One]

Posted: 4/8/18 at 9:37pm

Glengarry Glen Ross for modern play.

Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet for classic play.

West Side Story for musical.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 4/8/18 at 9:40pm

Virginia Woolf for sure, but also Amadeus, Secret Honor, Marjorie Prime, and Chimes at Midnight.

[Ravenclaw]

Posted: 4/8/18 at 10:09pm

Mike Nichols's three great adaptations--Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, W;t, and Angels in America all impeccably balance faithfulness to the source material with cinematic style. His adaptation of Closer is also really captivating.

Then there are the films that have eclipsed the memories of the plays they are based on: Frost/Nixon, A Few Good Men, The King's Speech, and Brief Encounter come to mind here.

Cabaret, Chicago, The Sound of Music, and West Side Story are the obvious picks for musicals adapted to the screen. And, for what it's worth, I do love the recent adaptations of Les Miserables (despite the performance of Russel Crowe), The Last 5 Years, and Into the Woods.

As for a couple more recent films, Rabbit Hole, The History Boys, and The Normal Heart are all worth a watch.

And if you've never seen Vanya on 42nd Street, fix that ASAP.

[Peter2]

Posted: 4/8/18 at 10:27pm

Glad to see “Wit” mentioned. I think it’s just superb. 

There have been so many excellent adaptations. Looking at comedies alone, three of my favorites are “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” “The Philadelphia Story,” and “Auntie Mame.”

[ggersten]

Posted: 4/8/18 at 10:57pm

Just adding to the mix:

The Lion In Winter - that's how you open up a stage play into a film.

 

[SeanD2]

Posted: 4/8/18 at 11:15pm

I caught the new movie adaptation of Journey's End this weekend and thought it was a terrific adaptation of the play. In never felt stage bound while keeping the power of the piece I know well. Yes there were little things I missed, but it worked brilliantly on its own.

[The Other One]

Posted: 4/8/18 at 11:30pm

ggersten said: "Just adding to the mix:

The Lion In Winter - that's how you open up a stage play into a film."

Yes to this.

 

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 4/8/18 at 11:34pm

Best play to film - The Miracle Worker.

Best Musical (well not sure it's the best but my personal fav) - The Music Man

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 4/9/18 at 8:38am

modern plays:  Gaslight (Cukor), The Philadelphia Story (Cukor), The Women (Cukor), The Heiress (Wyler), Moonlight (Jenkins), Eight Women (Ozon), La Cage aux Folles (Molinari), Dangerous Liaisons (Frears), Glengarry Glen Ross (Foley), The Public Eye (Reed)
classic plays:  Henry V (Branagh), Henry V (Olivier), Hamlet (Olivier), Richard III (Olivier), Ran (Kurosawa), 
musicals:  Chicago (Marhsall), Oliver (Reed), Fiddler on the Roof (Jewison), West Side Story (Wise, Robbins), Cabaret (Fosse), Sound of Music (Wise), My Fair Lady (Cukor)

(That's 3 for Cukor, 3 for Olivier, 2 for Reed, 2 for Wise)

hon mention:  The Lion in Winter, through intrepid direction, crackerjack editing, a fine score and peerless star power, it's a fascinating movie from what remains a not very good play

Updated On: 4/9/18 at 08:38 AM

[ditsylife09]

Posted: 4/9/18 at 12:54pm

Noises Off. Can't beat that cast.

Long Day's Journey Into Night. Once again, can't beat the catst.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 4/9/18 at 1:03pm

Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 4/9/18 at 1:16pm

I think The Sound of Music film script greatly improved the stage musical's book. I could take issue with making Max and the Baroness non-singing characters, but other than that, Ernest Lehman did a fantastic job opening up the material. 

Of course, it's hard to go far wrong with that score in any format.

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 4/9/18 at 4:36pm

Chicago isn't one of my favorite musicals, but I have to say objectively, that one's about as good as a stage-to-film adaptation gets. As someone who saw the film first and enjoyed it a lot, it actually made me disappointed when I later saw the stage production.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 4/9/18 at 5:58pm

^ Which is little wonder since you're comparing the full-blown film musical to a bare bones Encores-style staging of CHICAGO onstage with glorified rehearsal clothes. Had you compared the film to the original fully staged and designed 1975 production, you might be surprised at how the theater piece would hold up.

Yay for the mention of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. There's a film that augmented the play in magnificent ways.

Crazy as it is, I'd say the same for OLIVER!. 

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 4/10/18 at 3:51am

An offbeat Hollywood adaptation of Pal Joey (1957). Ol' Blue Eyes plays Joey as pushy and with too good an opinion of himself, but as more of a likable scamp than in the musical. Film gets the full Hollywood glamour treatment with Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak.

Rodgers and Hart wrote fourteen songs for the musical, but only two, "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" and "I Could Write a Book" became standards. Four others standards are on loan from elsewhere, with Nelson Riddle arrangements.

Film was a success with critics and box office, but it isn't that well known. 

[Dave28282]

Posted: 4/10/18 at 5:32am

Elfuhbuh said: "Chicago isn't one of my favorite musicals, but I have to say objectively, that one's about as good as a stage-to-film adaptation gets. As someone who saw the film first and enjoyed it a lot, it actually made me disappointed when I later saw the stage production."

The fantastic thing about that film is that they understand "the language of sung thoughts". Most songs and lyrics in a musical take place in someone's head. The pre-recorded voices support that illusion wonderfully and this is actually essential for a musical on film to contribute to this given of sung thoughts, better than life feelings. A non-literal approach because this artform on film per definition is not. 

In many scenes in Chicago you see their thoughts taking flight. Filmed in an undefined big black space. Not just filmed in a room or a street, no, their thoughts go beyond that. I'm glad this director did not step into the pitfall of a literal approach, and mistakenly assumed that that would make emotions more raw or real. Because it's the opposite that actually works. As you can see in this movie.

I have to say that filmic wise, Evita is a gem too. In some scenes they even used the sung music as a voice over, where you can hear the character singing in her/his mind, and in between seeing other scenes edited in. It's just beautiful. They also worked with dream sequences and sung thoughts very well. Like the dance with Eva and Che, it's happening in an undefined space, it's not even really happening. It's their thoughts. The filmic magic takes it to an even higher level.

Updated On: 4/10/18 at 05:32 AM

[binau]

Posted: 4/10/18 at 7:11am

I understand why many would not agree with this (particularly in terms of vocal performances), but Tim Burton had a very unique vision for Sweeney Todd that was executed well - it is visually stunning, unique, twisted - and those orchestrations are chilling. 

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 4/10/18 at 3:22pm

Imagine a HELLO DOLLY film without  the song "Hello Dolly". Imagine a CABARET film without the song "Cabaret". That's my response to anyone who says the film of SWEENEY TODD is a great film. Eliminate the title tune (and musical thru-line) and whatever it is, it isn't a great SWEENEY TODD film.

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 4/10/18 at 4:45pm

Amadeus transcends its play.

Doubt has electric film performances.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is a masterpiece.