Have you ever preferred a movie over the book?

I can’t force myself through anything written by Jane Austen. While I’m perfectly comfortable spending a couple of hours yelling at the television at characters I almost entirely dislike, played beautifully by the BBC actors, the time involved in reading them is too much.

The movie Papillon for me eclipsed the book. The book itself was an immersing experience into the realm of brutal prison life from where there is no escape. The book takes you through the misery and isolation portrayed in the book and when Papillon manages to escape and the sheer determination to find a way from the clutches of that God awful place he is almost re-born when he is taken in by the villagers who give him shelter from the guards that are chasing him. The fantasy like surreal moments from that temporary respite from hell especially the butterfly tattoo part were one of the images seared in your head that reading a well written novel can only deliver.

When I saw the movie which was not only brilliantly directed, the screenplay took the book and brought it to a techincolor life that did more than justice to the book. What took it over the top was the casting of Steve McQueen as Papillon who brought to life the pain, suffering, joy, agony and eternal hope of Papillon and paired him in a genius move with a young Dustin Hoffman who also brought to life Dega one of my favorite characters in both the book and movie.

Heck I may just have to see if the movie is available to rent somewhere!

^With that beautiful description, I know I want to see it now.

@Cruiser Papillon is one of my all time favourite books. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the film. Strangely and coincidentally, the film is one of my oldest brother’s favourite films. I’ll have to get a copy of it and watch it now. Let me know if you find somewhere I can access it!

@Earthbound_Misfit Here is a link I found to the movie and I am just being transparent in that I have never used this site before…I did answer the question and the movie did start up and I am going to watch it later tonight. I will also see if it is available on cable.

I find that most Sherlock Holmes movies are more attractive than Conan Doyle’s books (except this and this. Ugh!) The books are good, but not as much as the movies.

World According to Garp was a tie, for me.
I sat through The Hunger Games, because I had no idea what it was about before hand. I liked the concept and thought it might be a better book because there seemed to be so many themes that could possibly explored, so I tried to read the second book in the series. I realised what age group it had been written for and was horribly disappointed. (Remember, I live removed from the English Speaking World a great deal, so I don’t hear reviews or previews) So, you can say that I thought the movie was better than the book. It just so happened the movie was ho-hum and the book was horrible.

I’m with @Seek on the Jane Austin stuff. I’ll sit through them just to look at the pretty costumes and practice my noises of disgust and disappointment.

Some of the interpretations of Dickens’s work has been pretty damn good. Anyone see Gillian Anderson as Mrs Havisham? (but perhaps that doesn’t count because it was a miniseries) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlR1ll0exBg But you miss out on the old English turns of phrase and such, so it is hard to compare, but I liked the miniseries.

I like the new and improved business around Sherlock Holmes. The two current tv series I find quite compelling (The BBC one is much better.) and I agree with @Mimishu1995 about those two awful movies. Never should have been made.

Oh, I loved Bleak House.

The Outsiders.

<—this 12 year old was in love

The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry.

With Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson, Eileen Brennan, Ellen Burstyn, Cloris Leachman, Clu Gulager, Randy Quaid and John Hillerman in the movie, how could the book hope to compete. Peter Bogdanovich directed, and it was filmed in black and white.
Beautiful.

I found the movie of “Brooklyn” much better than the novel.

(And I just taught a class called “Was the Book Better?: Novels to Films.”)

Blade Runner is far superior to Do The Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?

Fight Club made changes to the book that greatly improved the story.

Jaws was a much better movie than book.

Always do, I prefer moving images to the written word. Books plant the seed, a good movie brings the story to life.

I thought ‘No Country for Old Men’ was better than the book but then I saw the film first.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s movie over Capote’s book…not happy about it but that’s the way I feel…lol

Oh, oh!
“The Shining”. The original Stanley Kubrick version was brilliant. I almost see the book and the movie as two completely separate works. Good read, excellent movie. I almost don’t associate the two.