Atonement bit depressing toward the end, but over all very well done.

10 movies that are better than the books:
Gone With the Wind
From Here to Eternity
King Rat
The Firm
Enchanted April
Ice-Cold in Alex
Jurassic Park
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Long Memory
Fahrenheit 451

Most of these are good movies based on popular fiction of no particular literary merit. You could call this the “bad books get made into movies, too” category. Jurassic Park and The Firm are not especially great films, but they are superior to the books. King Rat, The Long Memory, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and Ice-Cold In Alex are very good movies based on indifferent novels.

Others are good movies made from novels that are badly marred by bigotry. Gone With the Wind obviously belongs in this category (although it could equally be moved to the first category); the movie is still racist, but it is hugely superior to the novel. From Here to Eternity has real literary merit, but the pervasive misogyny so infects the characterization of the commander’s wife (the character played by Deborah Kerr in the film) that she is not believable as a real person. The script, aided by Kerr’s performance, remedies that flaw.

Fahrenheit 451 is a concept more than it is a fully developed novel. The film deepens the characterizations, elaborates on the future world, and earns a strong emotional response.

Enchanted April is my favorite example of a movie that improves on its source. The novel is good, but the movie is superior for two reasons: the glorious spring garden more effectively serves its critical plot purpose when filmed in glowing color than when described in words; and, the film re-writes a very poor plot point to turn my least favorite couple into my favorite. Interestingly, there’s an earlier film adaptation from the early ’30s that does not offer either feature, and is, indeed, not as good as the book.

It also frequently happens with plays. There are at least two good versions of Hamlet, for example.

But, I challenge you to find films that actually improve upon the novel that they were based on. I am not talking about any source material, since I think plays and comic books lend themselves particularly well to adaptation. Short stories are even easier to adapt than novels. But, can you actually name ten films that were based on novels that are superior to their source material?

At the same time, Atonement necessarily invites comparison with its source by the very fact that it is an adaptation. It’s a critical dead end to pretend that an adaptation exists in a vacuum. On the contrary, comparing a film adaptation to its source can often be very illuminating in focusing in on the strengths and flaws of the film and, as the reflection trains interest on the original, on the source as well.

This kind of analysis does not necessarily reflect badly on the films. Some adapatations improve on their sources. Particularly in the case of adaptations of popular fiction, the movie may have lasting value while the book is deservedly forgotten. In other cases, the book and film may each offer unique pleasures; the Lord of the Rings books/films is an example.

The possibilities and limits of cinematic adaptation is something that has always interested me greatly. Atonement the movie makes for a particularly intriguing case study because it is simultaneously very faithful and not at all faithful to Atonement the novel. That contradiction throws light on both works.

I have not read the novel, and I absolutely loved this film. It was beautifully shot and surprisingly fast-paced for its subject matter. I expect this to turn up on my Top Ten list.