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Based on the Book…
Literature has inspired some of the greatest films ever made.
Literary adaptations often get a bad press, with the books’ fans lamenting the necessary excision of events in the book or the loss of tone and character. Yet the best film adaptations capture the mood of the original or completely reimagine the stories in their transition to the big screen. Works by Emile Bronte, Joseph Conrad, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Thomas Hardy and more inspired these great films, with Francis Ford Coppola transporting Heart of Darkness to Vietnam in Apocalypse Now and Michael Winterbottom reimagining Tess of the d’Urbervilles in 21st century India in Trishna. Shelley and Stoker certainly couldn’t have predicted the influence their books would have in the future, with Frankenstein and Dracula having been adapted countless times for the big screen.
GomorrahGomorrah
Crime 2008 132 minsDirector: Matteo Garrone
Matteo Garrone's unnervingly authentic Naples crime drama won the Grand Prix at Cannes before inspiring a hit TV series.
Effi BriestEffi Briest
Drama 1974 140 minsDirector: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Fassbinder's exquisitely subtle rendition of Fontane’s great novel, starring the great Hanna Schygulla as the titular 17-year-old who is forced into a socially advantageous marriage with a much older man.
Dead RingersDead Ringers
Horror 1988 116 minsDirector: David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg's multi award-winning psychological thriller exploring the bizarre lives of identical twins Elliot and Beverly, both played by Jeremy Irons.
Prick Up Your EarsPrick Up Your Ears
Biopic 1987 110 minsDirector: Stephen Frears
A celebration of outrageous British playwright Joe Orton’s irreverent and charismatic talent, starring Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina.
A Farewell to ArmsA Farewell to Arms
Romance 1932 89 minsDirector: Frank Borzage
Based on the best-selling 1929 novel by Ernest Hemingway, Gary Cooper stars in Frank Borzage's Oscar-winning adaptation of the tragic Great War romance.
Les Enfants TerriblesLes Enfants Terribles
Drama 1949 106 minsDirector: Jean-Pierre Melville
Jean-Pierre Melville’s film of Jean Cocteau's controversial novel about a teenage brother and sister and their intense, closeted relationship.
Oliver TwistOliver Twist
Period drama 1948 116 minsDirector: David Lean
Arguably the essential Dickens adaptation, David Lean’s evocative portrayal of Victorian London in sooty black and white features Alec Guinness as a memorably sinister Fagin.
Great Expectations Great Expectations
Drama 1947 118 minsDirector: David Lean
The first of David Lean’s two Dickens adaptations is one of the finest British literary interpretations and one of the most acclaimed of all British films.
The Fall of the House of UsherThe Fall of the House of Usher
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1982 16 minsDirector: Jan Svankmajer
The first of Švankmajer's 'tactile experiments', chosen partly because the title was on an official list of 'approved' texts. In this version there are no humans, just a glimpse of a live raven as the camera roams around an eerie derelict house.
Fantastic PlanetFantastic Planet
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1973 72 minsDirector: René Laloux
René Laloux and Roland Topor’s surreal, psychedelic sci-fi animation imagines a world in which humanoid creatures are kept as pets by a race of giants.
Things to ComeThings to Come
Science Fiction 1936 97 minsDirector: William Cameron Menzies
H.G. Wells' chilling vision of the future, which imagines the 20th Century as a near-endless war and struggle against tyranny, remains a key milestone in British science fiction.
MillenniumMillennium
Science Fiction 1989 101 minsDirector: Michael Anderson
Flight crash investigator Bill Smith (Kris Kristofferson) discovers that time travellers from the future are visiting the present day and stealing passengers from doomed aircraft to repopulate a future, infertile human race.
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Horror 1925 91 minsSilentDirector: Rupert Julian
'Man of a thousand faces' Lon Chaney stars in the first version of Gaston Leroux's oft-filmed novel.
NosferatuNosferatu
Horror 1922 89 minsSilentDirector: F.W. Murnau
This influential Dracula adaptation contains some of the most famous images of expressionist film, and remains shocking and stylish after 100 years.
Nosferatu the VampyreNosferatu the Vampyre
Horror 1979 107 minsDirector: Werner Herzog
English language version of Herzog’s stimulating take on the Dracula story starring Klaus Kinski, with echoes of Murnau’s 1922 Nosferatu.
Brick LaneBrick Lane
Drama 2007 97 minsDirector: Sarah Gavron
Sarah Gavron’s subtle and intelligent adaptation of Monica Ali’s acclaimed novel charts the experiences of a Bangladeshi woman in London.
Odd Man OutOdd Man Out
Crime 1947 116 minsDirector: Carol Reed
Wounded during a robbery, a gunman attempts to escape police in Carol Reed's moody Irish thriller, starring James Mason.
Mogul MowgliMogul Mowgli
Drama 2020 89 minsDirector: Bassam Tariq
Bassam Tariq’s visceral directorial debut, co-written with Riz Ahmed, finds a British-Pakistani rapper’s life spiralling out of control when, on the cusp of success, he succumbs to a debilitating illness.
The American FriendThe American Friend
Film noir 1978 121 minsDirector: Wim Wenders
Acclaimed director Wim Wenders, with the help of Dennis Hopper, transforms Patricia Highsmith's novel 'Ripley's Game' into a gripping European noir.
The Scarlet LetterThe Scarlet Letter
Period drama 1972 90 minsDirector: Wim Wenders
Wim Wenders adapts the acclaimed novel in which a Puritan village chastises a young mother for giving birth out of wedlock.
Wrong MoveWrong Move
Road movie 1975 99 minsDirector: Wim Wenders
A young man journeys across Germany to find his voice as a writer in Wim Wenders' celebrated road movie.
The Ipcress FileThe Ipcress File
Crime 1965 108 minsDirector: Sidney J. Furie
The coolest spy of all – Michael Caine’s Harry Palmer – makes his brilliant big screen debut in this landmark British spy thriller.
The Lodger: A Story of the London FogThe Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
Crime 1926 91 minsSilentDirector: Alfred Hitchcock
Ivor Novello plays a strange lodger who may be behind a number of Jack the Ripper-style killings in Alfred Hitchcock’s silent thriller.
The 39 StepsThe 39 Steps
Thriller 1935 83 minsDirector: Alfred Hitchcock
Sublime and suspenseful version of the popular John Buchan spy thriller from the master of suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock.
SabotageSabotage
Thriller 1936 77 minsDirector: Alfred Hitchcock
A cinema owner works with a ring of terrorists, with drastic effects on his wife and her brother, in Hitchcock’s London-set thriller.
Young and InnocentYoung and Innocent
Thriller 1937 83 minsDirector: Alfred Hitchcock
In Hitchcock's early thriller, the witness to a murder is accused of the crime, evading arrest to track the real killer.
The Lady VanishesThe Lady Vanishes
Thriller 1938 96 minsDirector: Alfred Hitchcock
An old woman disappears mysteriously on a busy train in Hitchcock’s delightful classic.
Innocence of MemoriesInnocence of Memories
Documentary 2016 97 minsDirector: Grant Gee
A multi-layered melding of fiction and fact, about Nobel prize-winner Orhan Pamuk and his Istanbul Museum of Innocence.
Cobra VerdeCobra Verde
Drama 1987 110 minsDirector: Werner Herzog
Klaus Kinski and Werner Herzog’s final collaboration is a typically wild and adventurous story of a bandit who trains an army of women to topple a slave-trading king
The Castle of OtrantoThe Castle of Otranto
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1977 18 minsDirector: Jan Svankmajer
Czech animator Jan Švankmajer's adaptation of Horace Walpole's Gothic novel.
Uncle SilasUncle Silas
Drama 1947 98 minsDirector: Charles Frank
Gothic chiller based on the novel by J. Sheridan Le Fanu. Jean Simmons stars as an heiress pursued by her unbalanced uncle and his perverted son.
The Spy in BlackThe Spy in Black
War 1939 79 minsDirector: Michael Powell
A masterful thriller with true flair, The Spy In Black has a much larger importance: it threw Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger together for the first time.
A Night to RememberA Night to Remember
Disaster 1958 123 minsDirector: Roy Ward Baker
Widely regarded as the finest film account of the sinking of the Titanic, this moving seafaring disaster tale will grip you from start to finish.
The Lower DepthsThe Lower Depths
Drama 1957 125 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s adaptation of Maxim Gorky’s novel, in which inhabitants of a slum revel in illusions to avoid bitter reality.
In the FogIn the Fog
War 2012 123 minsDirector: Sergei Loznitsa
A suspected Nazi collaborator and his Partisan abductors join forces to escape pursuing German forces, in this vibrantly shot war drama.
High and LowHigh and Low
Crime 1963 143 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s procedural crime masterpiece, from Ed McBain’s gritty novel, follows an industrialist who faces an agonising choice as a result of a botched kidnapping by ruthless criminals.
The Devil Rides OutThe Devil Rides Out
Horror 1968 95 minsDirector: Terence Fisher
Dennis Wheatley's occult tale is given the Hammer treatment.
Death and The CompassDeath and The Compass
1996 86 minsDirector: Alex Cox
Alex Cox’s visually stunning, deliciously dark adaptation of the short story by acclaimed Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges.
Mademoiselle ChambonMademoiselle Chambon
Drama 2009 100 minsDirector: Stéphane Brizé
When a happily married man decides to volunteer at his son’s school, he begins to form a romantic bond with a teacher in this intimate French drama.
It Always Rains on SundayIt Always Rains on Sunday
Drama 1947 88 minsDirector: Robert Hamer
Austerity noir: Ealing's downbeat but compelling East End thriller.
Hell Is a CityHell Is a City
Police drama 1960 96 minsDirector: Val Guest
Punchy crime thriller with a realist streak as Stanley Baker pursues a fugitive through the streets of Manchester.
Whisky Galore!Whisky Galore!
Comedy 1949 83 minsDirector: Alexander Mackendrick
Ealing's thirstiest comedy: "the longest unsponsored advertisement ever to reach cinema screens"?
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