Based on Books

by vinyua | created - 22 Feb 2013 | updated - 5 months ago | Public

Successful, IMO, plays/novels adaptations

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1. The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (2008)

PG-13 | 102 min | Drama, Romance

51 Metascore

A rebellious socialite defies social conventions for a once-in-a-lifetime shot at true love, only to see her hopes shattered after a priceless diamond vanishes into thin air. Adapted from a long-lost Tennessee Williams screenplay.

Director: Jodie Markell | Stars: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Evans, Will Patton, Ann-Margret

Votes: 2,827 | Gross: $0.12M

2. The Painted Veil (2006)

PG-13 | 125 min | Drama, Romance

69 Metascore

Dr Walter gets married to the beautiful Kitty but soon finds out that she is cheating on him. Battling his way through problems, he heads to China to fight a dreaded disease spread in a small village.

Director: John Curran | Stars: Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Catherine An

Votes: 95,970 | Gross: $8.06M

3. A Good Woman (2004)

PG | 93 min | Drama, Comedy, Romance

53 Metascore

A 1930s American socialite creates a scandal in the expatriate high society of the Amalfi Coast of Italy when she forms a secretive relationship with a wealthy American unbeknownst to his young wife.

Director: Mike Barker | Stars: Helen Hunt, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Wilkinson, Milena Vukotic

Votes: 14,109 | Gross: $0.22M

4. Pride and Prejudice (1995)

TV-PG | 55 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: 92,377

5. Jane Eyre (2006)

TV-PG | 58 min | Drama, Romance

A young governess falls in love with her brooding and complex master. However, his dark past may destroy their relationship forever.

Stars: Ruth Wilson, Toby Stephens, Lorraine Ashbourne, Aidan McArdle

Votes: 22,381

6. Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)

PG | 117 min | Comedy, Drama

Two minor characters from the play 'Hamlet' stumble around unaware of their scripted lives and unable to deviate from them.

Director: Tom Stoppard | Stars: Gary Oldman, Tim Roth, Richard Dreyfuss, Livio Badurina

Votes: 23,864 | Gross: $0.74M

7. Orlando (1992)

PG-13 | 94 min | Biography, Drama, Fantasy

75 Metascore

After Queen Elizabeth I commands him not to grow old, a young nobleman struggles with love and his place in the world.

Director: Sally Potter | Stars: Tilda Swinton, Billy Zane, Quentin Crisp, Jimmy Somerville

Votes: 18,732 | Gross: $5.29M

8. Being Julia (2004)

R | 104 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

65 Metascore

Set in 1930s London, this movie involves stage actors and actresses and their experiences with love and revenge.

Director: István Szabó | Stars: Annette Bening, Michael Gambon, Maury Chaykin, Jeremy Irons

Votes: 12,933 | Gross: $7.74M

9. Ragtime (1981)

PG | 155 min | Drama

57 Metascore

A young black pianist becomes embroiled in the lives of an upper-class white family set among the racial tensions, infidelity, violence and other nostalgic events in early 1900s New York City.

Director: Milos Forman | Stars: James Cagney, Elizabeth McGovern, Howard E. Rollins Jr., Brad Dourif

Votes: 10,564 | Gross: $21.02M

10. The Hours (2002)

PG-13 | 110 min | Drama, Romance

80 Metascore

The story of how the novel "Mrs. Dalloway" affects three generations of women, all of whom, in one way or another, have had to deal with suicide in their lives.

Director: Stephen Daldry | Stars: Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Stephen Dillane

Votes: 138,557 | Gross: $41.68M

11. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

R | 133 min | Drama

84 Metascore

In the Fall of 1963, a Korean War veteran and criminal pleads insanity and is admitted to a mental institution, where he rallies up the scared patients against the tyrannical nurse.

Director: Milos Forman | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Michael Berryman, Peter Brocco

Votes: 1,073,039 | Gross: $112.00M

12. A Home at the End of the World (2004)

R | 97 min | Drama, Romance

59 Metascore

A boy who has experienced many losses in his life grows to manhood and enters into a love triangle with a woman and his boyhood friend.

Director: Michael Mayer | Stars: Colin Farrell, Dallas Roberts, Robin Wright, Sissy Spacek

Votes: 14,005 | Gross: $1.03M

13. The Great Gatsby (1974)

PG | 144 min | Drama, Romance

43 Metascore

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: 26,869 | Gross: $6.74M

14. Valmont (1989)

R | 137 min | Drama, Romance

55 Metascore

France before 1789: When a widow hears that her lover is to marry her cousin's daughter, she asks the playboy Valmont to take the girl's virginity. But first she bets him, with her body as prize, to seduce a virtuous, young, married woman.

Director: Milos Forman | Stars: Colin Firth, Annette Bening, Meg Tilly, Fairuza Balk

Votes: 14,306 | Gross: $1.13M

15. ShakespeaRe-Told (2005)

TV-PG | 360 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

A modern re-telling of four William Shakespeare stories.

Stars: Nick Malinowski, James McAvoy, Shirley Henderson, Sarah Parish

Votes: 1,473

16. Sherlock (2010–2017)

TV-14 | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

The quirky spin on Conan Doyle's iconic sleuth pitches him as a "high-functioning sociopath" in modern-day London. Assisting him in his investigations: Afghanistan War vet John Watson, who's introduced to Holmes by a mutual acquaintance.

Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Una Stubbs, Rupert Graves

Votes: 999,820

17. Emma (1996 TV Movie)

TV-G | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

Faithful, enchanting adaptation of Jane Austen's nineteenth-century tale of Emma Woodhouse--a clever young woman whose mischievous matchmaking schemes nearly end up jeopardizing her own shot at romance.

Director: Diarmuid Lawrence | Stars: Kate Beckinsale, Bernard Hepton, Mark Strong, Samantha Bond

Votes: 6,082

18. Emma (2009)

TV-PG | 62 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

Emma Woodhouse, a wealthy young woman living in the early 19th century, whose misplaced confidence in her matchmaking abilities occasions several romantic misadventures, which leads her into deeper meanings of love and life

Stars: Romola Garai, Michael Gambon, Jonny Lee Miller, Jodhi May

Votes: 18,058

19. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

Not Rated | 108 min | Drama

84 Metascore

Brick is an alcoholic ex-football player who drinks his days away and resists the affections of his wife. A reunion with his terminal father jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.

Director: Richard Brooks | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Jack Carson

Votes: 53,446 | Gross: $17.57M

20. Anna Karenina (1977)

500 min | Drama, History, Romance

Anna Karenina is the young wife of an older husband. She has an affair with the handsome Count Vronsky. By following her desires, Anna complicates her life.

Stars: Nicola Pagett, Stuart Wilson, Eric Porter, Robert Swann

Votes: 290

21. The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)

PG | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

60 Metascore

In 1890s London, two friends use the same pseudonym ("Ernest") for their on-the-sly activities. Hilarity ensues.

Director: Oliver Parker | Stars: Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Frances O'Connor, Reese Witherspoon

Votes: 24,748 | Gross: $8.38M

22. An Ideal Husband (I) (1999)

PG-13 | 97 min | Comedy, Romance

67 Metascore

London 1895: Cabinet minister, Sir Chiltern, and bachelor, Lord Goring, are victims of scheming women.

Director: Oliver Parker | Stars: Rupert Everett, Julianne Moore, Peter Vaughan, Minnie Driver

Votes: 16,726 | Gross: $18.54M

23. Thank You for Smoking (2005)

R | 92 min | Comedy, Drama

71 Metascore

Satirical comedy follows the machinations of Big Tobacco's chief spokesman, Nick Naylor, who spins on behalf of cigarettes while trying to remain a role model for his 12-year old son.

Director: Jason Reitman | Stars: Aaron Eckhart, Cameron Bright, Maria Bello, Joan Lunden

Votes: 229,011 | Gross: $24.79M

24. The End of the Affair (1999)

R | 102 min | Drama, Romance

65 Metascore

A desperate man tries to find out why his beloved left him years ago.

Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore, Stephen Rea, Heather-Jay Jones

Votes: 23,958 | Gross: $10.66M

25. Sense and Sensibility (1995)

PG | 136 min | Drama, Romance

84 Metascore

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: 125,814 | Gross: $43.18M

26. Northanger Abbey (2007 TV Movie)

PG | 84 min | Drama, Romance

A young woman's penchant for sensational Gothic novels leads to misunderstandings in the matters of the heart.

Director: Jon Jones | Stars: Geraldine James, Michael Judd, Julia Dearden, Gerry O'Brien

Votes: 16,211

27. The Forsyte Saga (2002–2003)

TV-PG | 276 min | Drama, History, Romance

Chronicles the lives of three generations of the upper-middle-class British family, the Forsytes, from the 1870s to 1920.

Stars: Damian Lewis, Rupert Graves, Gina McKee, Amanda Root

Votes: 6,550

28. Sense & Sensibility (2008)

TV-14 | 58 min | Drama, Romance

The sisters Eleanor and Marianne Dashwood try to find love and security in the 1800's. These two sisters coudn't be more different. Where Eleanor is calm and always acts proper Marianne is passionate and usally forgets herself.

Stars: Dominic Cooper, Charity Wakefield, Hattie Morahan, Janet McTeer

Votes: 13,000

29. Coriolanus (2011)

R | 123 min | Drama, Thriller, War

79 Metascore

A banished hero of Rome allies with a sworn enemy to take his revenge on the city.

Director: Ralph Fiennes | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Brian Cox, Lubna Azabal

Votes: 33,527 | Gross: $0.76M

30. Bleak House (2005)

TV-PG | 30 min | Crime, Drama

A suspenseful tale about the injustices of the 19th Century English legal system.

Stars: Anna Maxwell Martin, Carey Mulligan, Denis Lawson, Gillian Anderson

Votes: 10,637

31. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

PG | 122 min | Drama

97 Metascore

Disturbed Blanche DuBois moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her brutish brother-in-law while her reality crumbles around her.

Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, Karl Malden

Votes: 114,410 | Gross: $8.00M

32. A Streetcar Named Desire (1995 TV Movie)

156 min | Drama

Tennessee Williams' Blanche DuBois (Jessica Lange) lives in New Orleans with her sister, Stella, and brutish brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski (Alec Baldwin).

Director: Glenn Jordan | Stars: Jessica Lange, Alec Baldwin, John Goodman, Diane Lane

Votes: 1,289

33. Mansfield Park (2007 TV Movie)

TV-PG | 88 min | Drama, Romance

The classic tale by Jane Austen of family scandal, social graces, and the unrequited love between cousins.

Director: Iain B. MacDonald | Stars: Julia Joyce, Douglas Hodge, Maggie O'Neill, Tara Berwin

Votes: 7,553

34. Screen Two (1985–1998)
Episode: Persuasion (1995)

PG | 103 min | Drama

Theatrical film of Persuasion with Ciaran Hinds & Amanda Root. Directed by Roger Michell.

Director: Roger Michell | Stars: Amanda Root, Ciarán Hinds, Susan Fleetwood, Corin Redgrave

Votes: 11,398 | Gross: $5.46M

35. Vanity Fair (1998)

Not Rated | 50 min | Drama, Romance

An adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's classic story of parvenue Becky Sharp's rise from obscure and humble origins to her subsequent ignominious fall from Society; set against the ... See full summary »

Stars: Natasha Little, Frances Grey, Philip Glenister, David Ross

Votes: 1,733

36. Vanity Fair (2004)

PG-13 | 141 min | Drama

53 Metascore

Growing up poor in London, Becky Sharp defies her poverty-stricken background and ascends the social ladder alongside her best friend, Amelia Sedley.

Director: Mira Nair | Stars: Reese Witherspoon, Romola Garai, James Purefoy, Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Votes: 23,508 | Gross: $16.14M

37. Persuasion (2007 TV Movie)

Not Rated | 93 min | Action, Drama, Family

Anne was in love with Frederick, who was rejected by her snobby parents 8 years ago. They've now hit hard times and rent out their mansion to his brother-in-law. He returns a Royal Navy captain. Will he remember Anne?

Director: Adrian Shergold | Stars: Sally Hawkins, Alice Krige, Anthony Head, Julia Davis

Votes: 16,512

38. Richard III (1995)

R | 110 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, War

86 Metascore

The classic Shakespearean play about the murderously scheming 15th-century king is reimagined in an alternative setting of 1930s England as clouds of fascism gather.

Director: Richard Loncraine | Stars: Ian McKellen, Annette Bening, Christopher Bowen, Edward Jewesbury

Votes: 15,578 | Gross: $2.60M

39. The Hollow Crown (2012–2016)

TV-14 | 150 min | Drama, History, War

A mini-series of adaptations of Shakespeare's history plays: Richard II, Henry IV: Parts 1 and 2, and Henry V.

Stars: Anton Lesser, Simon Russell Beale, Tom Georgeson, John Mackay

Votes: 7,319

40. The Tempest (I) (2010)

PG-13 | 110 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

43 Metascore

Shakespeare's epic play is translated from page to screen, with the gender of the main character, Prospero, changed from male to female.

Director: Julie Taymor | Stars: Helen Mirren, Felicity Jones, Djimon Hounsou, Russell Brand

Votes: 8,202 | Gross: $0.28M

41. Disquiet (2010)

90 min | Drama

A room in Lisbon. A man dreams and establishes a theory to make it come true. This film is based on The Book of Disquiet , the posthumous work of the Portuguese writer Fernando Pessoa. It ... See full summary »

Director: João Botelho | Stars: Cláudio da Silva, Pedro Lamares, Ricardo Aibéo, Suzie Peterson

Votes: 478

42. Great Expectations (1998)

R | 111 min | Drama, Romance

55 Metascore

Modernization of Charles Dickens' classic story finds the hapless Finn as a painter in New York City pursuing his unrequited and haughty childhood love.

Director: Alfonso Cuarón | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Hank Azaria, Chris Cooper

Votes: 56,941 | Gross: $26.33M

43. Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)

Approved | 120 min | Drama, Romance

53 Metascore

A drifter and a faded film star, both traumatized by Hollywood, arrive to the guy's hometown, where the old bitter memories revive again.

Director: Richard Brooks | Stars: Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Shirley Knight, Ed Begley

Votes: 8,480

44. A Young Doctor's Notebook & Other Stories (2012–2013)

TV-MA | 23 min | Comedy, Drama, History

In the early 20th century, a young doctor arrives in a small Russian village around the time of the Russian Revolution to work in the local hospital.

Stars: Jon Hamm, Daniel Radcliffe, Rosie Cavaliero, Adam Godley

Votes: 16,555

45. Night Watch (2004)

R | 114 min | Action, Fantasy, Horror

58 Metascore

A fantasy-horror set in present-day Moscow where the respective forces that control daytime and nighttime do battle.

Director: Timur Bekmambetov | Stars: Konstantin Khabenskiy, Vladimir Menshov, Mariya Poroshina, Valeriy Zolotukhin

Votes: 55,399 | Gross: $1.49M

46. Generation P (2011)

112 min | Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi

65 Metascore

A chronicle of the rise of the advertising industry in Post-Soviet Russia.

Director: Victor Ginzburg | Stars: Vladimir Epifantsev, Mikhail Efremov, Andrey Fomin, Sergey Shnurov

Votes: 4,311 | Gross: $0.01M

47. The Geographer Drank His Globe Away (2013)

Not Rated | 120 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance

The ordinary troubles of the ordinary teacher in the ordinary class during the ordinary midlife crisis.

Director: Aleksandr Veledinskiy | Stars: Konstantin Khabenskiy, Elena Lyadova, Aleksandr Robak, Evgenia Brik

Votes: 5,806

48. War & Peace (2016)

TV-14 | 63 min | Drama, History, Romance

As the Russian conflict with Napoleon reaches its peak, five aristocratic families face the possibility of their lives being changed forever.

Stars: Paul Dano, James Norton, Lily James, Adrian Edmondson

Votes: 26,656

49. The Durrells (2016–2019)

TV-PG | 46 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama

Louisa Durrell raises her four children single-handedly after her husband's death. Following a financial crisis, the family moves to the Greek island of Corfu and tries to adapt to life there.

Stars: Keeley Hawes, Josh O'Connor, Milo Parker, Daisy Waterstone

Votes: 14,228

50. Much Ado About Nothing (I) (2012)

PG-13 | 109 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

78 Metascore

A modern retelling of Shakespeare's classic comedy about two pairs of lovers with different takes on romance and a way with words.

Director: Joss Whedon | Stars: Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker, Fran Kranz, Jillian Morgese

Votes: 17,092 | Gross: $4.33M

51. Indignation (2016)

R | 110 min | Drama, Romance

78 Metascore

In 1951, Marcus, a working-class Jewish student from New Jersey, attends a small Ohio college, where he struggles with sexual repression and cultural disaffection, amid the ongoing Korean War.

Director: James Schamus | Stars: Logan Lerman, Sarah Gadon, Tijuana Ricks, Sue Dahlman

Votes: 12,629 | Gross: $3.40M

52. Lady Macbeth (2016)

R | 89 min | Drama, Romance

76 Metascore

In 19th-century rural England, a young bride who has been sold into marriage discovers an unstoppable desire within herself as she enters into an affair with a worker on her estate.

Director: William Oldroyd | Stars: Florence Pugh, Cosmo Jarvis, Paul Hilton, Naomi Ackie

Votes: 27,310 | Gross: $1.13M

53. Persuasion (1971)

225 min | History, Romance

Anne Elliot is convinced to break off her engagement to Frederick Wentworth. When her father rents the family estate to Admiral Croft, Anne is forced to accompany Frederick. Will he and Anne rekindle the old flame?

Stars: Ann Firbank, Bryan Marshall, Marian Spencer, Richard Vernon

Votes: 593

54. Miss Julie (1999)

R | 103 min | Drama

46 Metascore

A footman seduces a count's daughter.

Director: Mike Figgis | Stars: Saffron Burrows, Peter Mullan, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Tam Dean Burn

Votes: 1,622 | Gross: $0.01M

55. A Tale of Two Cities (1980 TV Movie)

Not Rated | 162 min | Drama, History, Romance

An ex-aristocrat from France and an alcoholic English lawyer find themselves crossing paths and in love with the same woman during the French Revolution.

Director: Jim Goddard | Stars: Chris Sarandon, Peter Cushing, Kenneth More, Barry Morse

Votes: 1,017

56. The Moonstone (2016)

TV-G | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

A diamond goes missing after a party at an English country house, and numerous suspects have a motive for its disappearance.

Stars: Josh Silver, Leo Wringer, Terenia Edwards, Nisa Cole

Votes: 658

57. The Moonstone (1996 TV Movie)

112 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

When the fabulous Moonstone diamond is stolen, all the suspects appear to have alibis. Even the young girl who owns the diamond won't say whom she saw took it. A dear family friend calls in... See full summary »

Director: Robert Bierman | Stars: Greg Wise, Keeley Hawes, Terrence Hardiman, Mellan Mitchell

Votes: 544

58. Onegin (1999)

R | 106 min | Drama, Romance

59 Metascore

Russia, 1820s: Onegin inherits his uncle's country estate and moves there from St. Petersburg. He befriends his neighbor, Lensky, and meets Tatyana through him. She falls in love with Onegin but he just wants friendship.

Director: Martha Fiennes | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Liv Tyler, Toby Stephens, Lena Headey

Votes: 8,315 | Gross: $0.21M

59. The Man in the Iron Mask (I) (1998)

PG-13 | 132 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

49 Metascore

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: 178,913 | Gross: $56.97M

60. Emma (1996)

PG | 120 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

66 Metascore

While matchmaking for friends and neighbours, a young 19th Century Englishwoman nearly misses her own chance at love.

Director: Douglas McGrath | Stars: Gwyneth Paltrow, James Cosmo, Greta Scacchi, Alan Cumming

Votes: 41,641 | Gross: $22.20M



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