Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962), Marat/Sade (1967), Inherit the Wind (1960), The Lion in Winter (1968), The Children's Hour (1961), The Odd Couple (1968), Street Scene (1931), The Boys in the Band (1970) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Stage Play Adaptation movies.
Storyline: A quiet Connecticut vacation home is the backdrop for domestic decline. Sensitive son Edmund (Dean Stockwell) returns home from spending time at sea to a family in a state of collapse. His father (Ralph Richardson) is an alcoholic miser. His mother, Mary (Katharine Hepburn), is addicted to morphine. His brother, Jamie (Jason Robards), is aggressive and unstable. As Edmund and his brother clash over how to help their mother, she becomes increasingly concerned about Edmund's worsening health.
Plot Keywords: drama, family, tragedy, literary adaptation, stage play adaptation, classic, black and white ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: The Marquis de Sade (Patrick Magee) directs the patients of Charenton mental hospital in a play about the life of Jean-Paul Marat (Ian Richardson).
Plot Keywords: drama, historical, psychological, political, revolution, mental illness, prison ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Teacher B.T. Cates is arrested for teaching Darwin's theories. Famous lawyer Henry Drummond defends him; fundamentalist politician Matthew Brady prosecutes. This is a very thinly disguised rendition of the 1925 "Scopes monkey trial" with debates between Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan taken largely from the transcripts.
Plot Keywords: courtroom drama, historical drama, evolution, based on true events, american history, 1920s, social issues ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: It's Christmas 1183, and King Henry II (Peter O'Toole) is planning to announce his successor to the throne. The jockeying for the crown, though, is complex. Henry has three sons and wants his boy Prince John (Nigel Terry) to take over. Henry's wife, Queen Eleanor (Katharine Hepburn), has other ideas. She believes their son Prince Richard (Sir Anthony Hopkins) should be King. As the family and various schemers gather for the holiday, each tries to make the indecisive King choose his or her option.
Plot Keywords: historical, drama, court, power struggle, family conflict, medieval, british history ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Karen Wright and Martha Dobie are best friends since college and they own the boarding school Wright and Dobie School for Girls with twenty students. They are working hard as headmistresses and teachers to grow the school and make it profitable. Karen is engaged with the local doctor Joe Cardin, who is the nephew of the powerful and influential Mrs. Amelia Tilford. While the spiteful and liar Mary, who is Amelia's granddaughter and a bad influence to the other girls, is punished by Karen after telling a lie, Martha has an argument with her snoopy aunt Lily Mortar in another room. Lily accuses Martha of being jealous and having an unnatural relationship with Karen. Mary's roommate Rosalie Wells overhears the shouting and tells Mary what Mrs. Mortar had said about her niece. The malicious Mary accuses Karen and Martha of being lesbians to her grandmother and Amelia spreads the gossip to the parents of the students that withdraw them from the school. Karen and Martha lose a lawsuit ...
Plot Keywords: drama, homosexuality, film noir, adaptation, stage play adaptation, lesbian, lies ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Felix's (Jack Lemmon) wife has left him and he is contemplating suicide. His friends sense his depression and one of them, Oscar (Walter Matthau), volunteers to take him in until he is fine again. The two of them are like chalk and cheese - Oscar is fun-loving, gregarious and slovenly, Felix is a shy, stay-at-home, obsessive-compulsive neat-freak. Being around Oscar brightens Felix up, but he quickly starts to irritate Oscar.
Plot Keywords: comedy, classic, 1960s, adapted screenplay, personality clash, divorce, friendship ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In a hot summer afternoon in New York, Emma Jones gossips with other neighbors of her residential building about the affair of Mrs. Anna Maurrant and the milkman Steve Sankey. When the rude Mr. Frank Maurrant arrives, they change the subject. Meanwhile, their teenage daughter Rose Maurrant is sexually harassed by her boss Mr. Bert Easter; however, she likes her Jewish neighbor Sam that has a crush on her. On the next morning, Frank tells that is traveling to Stanford on business. Mrs. Maurrant meets the gentle Sankey in her apartment, but out of the blue Frank comes back home in an announced tragedy.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Plot Keywords: drama, romance, social issues, new york, family conflict, realism, adaptation ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: It's Harold's birthday, and his closest friends throw him a party at Michael's apartment. Among Harold's presents is "Cowboy", since Harold may have trouble finding a cute young man on his own now that he's getting older. As the party progresses the self-deprecating humor of the group takes a nasty turn as the men become drunker. Climaxed by a cruel telephone "game" where each man must call someone and tell him (or her?) of his love for them.—Ron Kerrigan <mvg@whidbey.com>
Plot Keywords: stage play adaptation, 1970s, confined space, psychological drama, alcoholism, emotional conflict, black comedy ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A dashing officer of the guard and romantic poet, Cyrano de Bergerac is in love with his cousin Roxane without her knowing. His one curse in his life, he feels, is his large nose and although it may have been a forming influence in his rapier-sharp wit, he believes that Roxane will reject him. He resorts to writing letters to her on behalf of one of his cadets, Christian, who is also in love with Roxane but just doesn't know how to tell her. She falls for the poetic charm of the letters but believes that they were written by Christian.—Graeme Roy <gsr@cbmamiga.demon.co.uk>
Plot Keywords: romance, historical, drama, literary adaptation, french, classic, tragedy ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: France, 1640: Cyrano, the charismatic swordsman-poet with the absurd nose, hopelessly loves the beauteous Roxane; she, in turn, confesses to Cyrano her love for the handsome but tongue-tied Christian. The chivalrous Cyrano sets up with Christian an innocent deception, with tragic results. Much cut from the play, but dialogue not rewritten.—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Plot Keywords: romance, drama, france, swordplay, historical, tragedy, honor ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Two Americans sharing a flat in Paris, playwright Tom Chambers and painter George Curtis, fall for free-spirited Gilda Farrell. When she can't make up her mind which one of them she prefers, she proposes a "gentleman's agreement": She will move in with them as a friend and critic of their work, but they will never have sex. But when Tom goes to London to supervise a production of one of his plays, leaving Gilda alone with George, how long will their gentleman's agreement last?—Capel Cleggs <capelcleggs@my-deja.com>
Plot Keywords: comedy, romance, love triangle, classic, romantic comedy, golden age hollywood, noel coward ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In one of her most renowned roles, Bette Davis portrays Julie Marsden, a spoiled Southern belle who risks losing her suitor with her impetuous behavior. Engaged to successful banker Preston Dillard, Julie pushes him away with her arrogant and contrary ways, leading to a scandalous scene at a major social event and his subsequent departure. When Preston eventually returns and Julie attempts to win him back, she discovers that it may be too late.
Plot Keywords: drama, romance, historical, social class, 19th century, female protagonist, academy awards ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: New York working girl Susan Applegate is desperate to go home to Iowa but does not have the railway fare so she disguises herself as a child to ride half fare. Enroute she meets Philip Kirby, an Army major teaching at a military school.—Jack McKillop <jem3@donuts0.bellcore.com>
Plot Keywords: comedy, satire, classic, 1940s, black and white, intellectual, celebrity culture ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Broadway director Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore) is a bigger ham than most actors, but through sheer drive and talent he is able to build a successful career. When one of his discoveries, Lily Garland (Carole Lombard), rises to stardom and heeds the call of Hollywood, Oscar begins a career slide. He hits the skids and seems on his way out, until he chances to meet Lily again, on a train ride aboard the Twentieth Century Limited. Oscar pulls out all the stops to re-sign his former star, but it's a battle - because Lily, who is as temperamental as Oscar is, wants nothing to do with her former mentor.—Dan Navarro <daneldorado@yahoo.com>
Plot Keywords: comedy, romance, classic, hollywood, black and white, over-the-top acting, fame and fortune ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A quiet little village, and especially a pretty young woman, falls under the spell of a charming, somewhat roguish stranger who suddenly appears one day.
Plot Keywords: comedy, drama, classic, literary adaptation, stage play adaptation, rural life, black comedy ...
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