When it comes to taking plays and adapting them into movies there are several struggles to overcome, though the selections listed below are easy enough to recommend due to the fact that they’ve been handled quite well. One of the main problems is that movies can do far more than a stage play can as they are not limited by space and mobility. A play must take place on the stage and nowhere else, as that is the scope in which it is shown. A movie however can venture far and wide and is bound only by the budget to which it must adhere. That’s just one hurdle among many that tends to come with play to movie adaptations.
There are several others, but I’d rather get to the recommendations.
5. Brighton Beach Memoirs
Brighton Beach Memoirs is kind of a coming of age story as Eugene has to eventually learn what it’s like to be a young man growing up in the Brighton Beach area and coming to grips with his feelings about sex. It’s also a film that might not seem like it would fit into today’s overly critical scene but it’s still something that back in the day was fairly normal and is at the very least insightful.
4. Amadeus
True genius is the product of madness if you’ve any belief in something inspired beyond human experience. Mozart was supposedly a man possessed by the beauty and haunting quality of his music but little else. His mannerisms were said to be quite crude at times, but his music was something derived from a source that could only be called divine. With great talent however there is a tremendous price to be paid.
3. The Sound of Music
This goes to show that critics don’t know everything, as the critics of the time bashed this film relentlessly for numerous reasons. Yet people flocked to the film and it ended up winning no less than 5 Oscars. This is a big reason why I tend to not listen to critics, they seemed to have removed themselves from the everyday experience that movie goers tend to enjoy and look at nothing but the possibility of an error here and there.
2. Glengarry Glen Ross
This film is one of those that shows American capitalism at its finest. The actors are so openly horrible to each other that one can imagine that walking into a sales room would be akin to stepping into a wolf den wearing nothing but a bloody steak around your neck and expecting to leave in one piece. This movie definitely shows the darker side of the real estate business and just what we as consumers almost never get to witness.
1. Les Miserables
Some might argue but I really believe this is one of the top films that’s been adapted from the stage that deserves some credit. One reason is that the scope of the thing is so intensely grand that you would need a film to show it properly, and top notch actors, both on stage and in film, to portray the characters as they need to be shown. Both stage and film adaptations were wonderful, and heartbreaking all at once.
There are many others, but these were among the best.
Follow Us
