Books into film and television

M. Butterfly

From the play M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang

Madame Bovary

From the novel Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Madame Butterfly

New version of the Puccini opera Madame Butterfly

The Maddening

From the 1987 novel Playmates by Andrew Neiderman

Maddigan's quest (TV -2006)

From the 2005 novel Maddigan's fantasia by Margaret Mahy

Madeline

From the novels Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

The Madness of King George

From the play The Madness of George III by Alan Bennett

Madonna: innocence lost

From the 1991 book Madonna unauthorised by Christopher Anderson

The Magic Christian

From the 1960 novel The Magic Christian by Terry Southern

The Magic pudding

From the novel The Magic pudding by Norman Lindsay

The Magic sword

From the 1998 novel Quest for Camelot by Vera Chapman

The Magician's house

TV series based on four children's novels by William Corlett. The Steps up the chimney(1990); The Door in the tree(1991);The Tunnel behind the waterfall (1991) and The Bridge in the clouds (1992)

Maigret and the burglar's wife

From the 1955 novel Maigret and the burglar's wife by Georges Simenon

Maigret and the Hotel Majestic

From the novel Maigret and the Hotel Majestic by Georges Simenon, translated 1977

Maigret and the mad woman

From the novel Maigret and the mad woman by Georges Simenon, translated 1972

Maigret goes to school

From the novel Maigret goes to school by Georges Simenon, translated 1957

Maigret on home ground

From the novel Maigret on home ground by Georges Simenon, first translated in 1941 as Maigret keeps a rendezvous

Maigret on the defensive

From the novel Maigret on the defensive by Georges Simenon, translated 1966

Maigret sets a trap

From the novel Maigret sets a trap by Georges Simenon, translated 1965

Malone

From the 1980 novel Shotgun by William Wingate

The Maltese Falcon

From the 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

Mamma mia

British playwright Catherine Johnson wrote the book for this hugely successful stage musical which is set on an idyllic Greek island where a daughter, on the eve of her wedding, brings together three men from her mother’s past of twenty years ago to find out the identity of her father. It’s all set to the music of Abba and has been performed here, there and generally everywhere. Phyllida Lloyd, a big name in British theatre, directs and the cast includes Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, Amanda Seyfried, Julie Walters, Christine Baranski and Dominic Cooper.
Read the Book ~ About the Film

Man and boy

From the 1999 novel Man and boy by Tony Parsons

The Man in the attic

Based on a case history in the 1965 book Sex and the criminal mind by Norman Winski

The Man in the iron mask

From the novel The Man in the iron mask by Alexandre Dumas

The Man in the white suit

From the 1954 play The Man in the white suit by Roger MacDougall

Man on fire (twice filmed: 1987 & 2004)

From the 1980 novel Man on fire by A. J. Quinnell

The Man with the golden gun

From the Ian Fleming novel The Man with the golden gun

The Man without a face

From the 1972 novel The Man without a face by Isabelle Holland

The Man who haunted himself

From a short story The Case of Mr Pelham by Anthony Armstrong

The Man who captured Eichmann

Based on the 1990 book Eichmann in my hands by Peter Z. Malkin and Harry Stein

The Man who made husbands jealous

From the novel The Man who made husbands jealous by Jilly Cooper

The Manchurian candidate

This is a remake of a movie classic which was taken from Richard Condon's 1960 novel. The story of an American war hero who is brainwashed into becoming an assassin featured memorable performances from Frank Sinatra as the war hero and Angela Lansbury as the classic monster mom. In the new version, directed by Jonathan Demme, the stars are Liev Schrieber, Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep. Read the Book ~ About the 2004 Film

Mansfield Park

From the novel Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Manuela

From the 1955 novel Manuela by William Howard Woods

Mao’s last dancer

Cunxin Li’s 2003 book has been an international bestseller. Plucked from poverty, Li Cunxin was brought to Beijing to learn ballet. Later, after defecting from China, he became world renowned as a principal dancer in both the Houston and the Australian Ballets. Jan Sardi, who wrote the script for the David Helfgott film Shine, has adapted the book and Bruce Beresford is directing on location in China and Australia. Chi Cao, principal dancer in the Royal Birmingham Ballet, plays the leading role and others in the cast include Joan Chen, Kyle MacLachlan, Jack Thompson, Amanda Schull, Bruce Greenwood and Penne Hackforth-Jones.
Read the Book ~ About the Film

Marathon man

From the 1974 novel Marathon man by William Goldman

Margaret's Museum

Based on the short story The Glace Bay Miner's Museum by Sheldon Currie

Marie-Antoinette

Antonia Fraser's 2001 biography, Marie Antoinette: the journey is an attempt in some ways to rescue the reputation of this historical figure from being primarily known as the scapegoat for the French Revolution. The film version has been shot entirely in France, a lot at Versailles, and is directed by Sofia Coppola, an A-list director after Lost in translation. The title character is played by Kirsten Dunst with Jason Schwartzman as Louis XVI, Rip Torn as Louis XV, Judy Davis, Marianne Faithfull, Asia Argento, Shirley Henderson, Steve Coogan and a number of others, French, American and British.
Read the Book ~ About the Film

Mark Twain and me

Based on the 1961 book Enchantment: a little girl's friendship with Mark Twain by Dorothy Quick.

Marley and me

John Grogan’s 2005 book has been a big bestseller, especially in America, and it is the kind of book that makes some people go “awwh” and others make other noises. It fits into that American tradition of heart warming, lesson learning books like “Tuesdays with Morrie” as it tells the story of Grogan and his wife and the Labrador they had for thirteen years and the lessons they learned. The film version is directed by David Frankel who made The devil wore Prada with Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston as John Grogan and wife and Alan Arkin.
Read the Book ~ About the Film

Marnie

From the 1961 novel Marnie by Winston Graham

A Marriage of convenience

From the 1991 novel A Marriage of convenience by Georgia Bockoven

Martin Chuzzlewit

From the novel Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens

Marvin's room

From the play Marvin's room by Scott McPherson

Mary and Tim

From the 1974 novel Tim by Colleen McCullough

Mary Poppins

From the novel Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

From the novel Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley

Master and commander: The far side of the world

Adapted from two novels in Patrick O'Brian series of novels, Master and commander (1969) and The far side of the world (1984)

The Matchmaker

From the play The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder. In his Three plays

Matilda

From the novel Matilda by Roald Dahl

Maybe baby

From the novel Inconceivable by Ben Elton

Me and my shadow

From the 1998 book Me and my shadow by Lorna Luft

Mean girls

Rosalind Wiseman's book Queen bees and wannabes: helping your daughter survive cliques, gossip, boyfriends and other realities of adolescence might seem to be only suitable for a documentary but it has instead been adapted by a T.V. writer into a film titled Mean girls. The book is more of an inspiration for the film which tells the story of a girl (Lindsay Lohan) who has lived with her anthropologist parents in Africa and on their return to America has to enrol in a high school where she finds the usual clique of nasty girls known to filmgoers from many movies over the years are running the show.
Read the Book ~ About the Film

Meet the ancestors

Tie-in book by Julian D. Richards

Meet Joe Black

From the 1929 play Death takes a holiday by Walter Ferris which was a translation of an Italian play by Alberto Casella

Melissa

From the 1967 novel My wife Melissa by Francis Durbridge

Member of the wedding

From the 1946 novel Member of the wedding by Carson McCullers

Memoirs of a Geisha

When it came out in 1997 Arthur Golden's novel was a huge bestseller and film rights were snapped up. For some years Steven Spielberg was going to direct but he was constantly sidetracked on to other projects. The book, the account of the life of a young Japanese geisha in the period before World War II, has been adapted for the screen by three big name scriptwriters and directed by Rob Marshall who last made Chicago. The cast is headed by Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi (both from Crouching tiger, hidden dragon), Gong Li, Tsai Chin and Ken Watanabe (The last samurai).
Read the Book ~ About the Film

Memoirs of an invisible man

From the 1987 novel Memoirs of an invisible man by H. F. Saint

Memory and desire

Based on the short story Of Memory and Desire by Peter Wells. In his collection Dangerous desires

The men who stare at goats

Jon Ronson is an English journalist and documentary film maker and his 2004 book is a funny and alarming book about the American military and its involvement with the supernatural and the wackier fringes of belief. It is a very clever satirical work (a nonfiction Catch-22 of sorts) but it is also a scary one in that the author swears all the lunacy he observed is true. Grant Heslov directs and there is a top flight cast led by George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, Robert Patrick and Stephen Lang.
Read the Book ~ About the Film

Menu for murder

From the 1988 novel Murder at the P. T. A. luncheon by Valerie Wolzien

Mercury rising

From the novel Simple Simon by Ryne Douglas Pearson

The mermaid chair (TV-2007)

From the 2005 novel The mermaid chair by Sue Monk Kidd

Mermaids

From the 1988 novel Mermaids by Patty Dann

Merry Andrew

From the short story The Romance of Henry Menafee by Paul Gallico

Messiah

From the 1999 novel Messiah by Boris Starling

Michael Jordan: the road to victory

From the 1992 book Taking to the air: the rise of Michael Jordan by Jim Naughton

Michael Palin's Hemingway adventure

Tie-in book

Middlemarch

From the novel Middlemarch by George Eliot

Midnight cowboy (1969)

From the 1965 novel Midnight cowboy by James Leo Herlihy

Midnight in the garden of good and evil

From the book Midnight in the garden of good and evil by John Berendt

Midnight Sting

From the novel The Diggstown ringers by Leonard Wise

Midsomer murders

Originals written for TV based on a series of books by Caroline Graham

Midsomer Murders Death in disguise

From the novel Death in disguise by Caroline Graham

Midsomer Murders - A Death of a hollow man

From the novel A Death of a hollow man by Caroline Graham

Midsomer murders - Blood will out

From the novel Blood will out by Caroline Graham

Midwives

From the 1997 novel Midwives by Chris Bohjalian

The Mighty

From the 1993 novel Freak the mighty by Rodman Philbrick

A mighty heart.

Mariane Pearl, journalist and award-winning documentary film director, tells the tragic story of the kidnap and murder of her husband, journalist Daniel Pearl, in Pakistan in the aftermath of 9/11, and her intense involvement in the search for him. British director Michael Winter bottom went to India to film the story and Angelina Jolie plays the lead role. Daniel Pearl is played by Dan Futterman.
Read the Book ~ About the Film

Mildred Pierce

From the 1941 novel Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain

Million Dollar Baby

The late F.X. Toole's 2000 book is composed of the novella and five short stories set in the tough world of boxing in East L.A. Toole had been a bullfighter, actor, bartender but most notably a boxer. The film version is Clint Eastwood's directorial followup to the very successful Mystic river. Eastwood himself plays a retired boxer who runs a gym with another former fighter, played by Morgan Freeman. The very traditional world of the two men is turned around when a woman (Hilary Swank) decides she wants to step into the ring.
Read the Book ~ About the Film

Millions (2004)

From the 2004 novel Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Minority report

From the short story Minority report by Philip K. Dick. In the collection The Days of Perky Pat

Miracle Alley

From the novel Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz

Miracle on the 17th green

From the 1996 novel Miracle on the 17th green by James Patterson

Miracle on 34th Street

From the 1947 story Miracle on 34th Street by Valentine Davies

The Mirror crack'd

From the 1962 novel The Mirror crack'd from side to side by Agatha Christie

Misery

From the novel Misery by Stephen King

Miss Pettigrew lives a day

This is a delightful novel first published in 1938 and recently republished by the enterprising British publisher, Persephone. The lady of the title is a middle aged governess who has had a drab life among employers who’ve either ignored or mistreated her. She goes to the house of one Miss Delycia LaFosse and ends up as confidante and friend to a socialite and a part of a raffish nightclubbing set. Frances McDormand is playing Miss Pettigrew with Amy Adams as Miss LaFosse and Shirley Henderson as Edythe Dubarry, the beauty parlour owner who takes Miss Pettigrew in hand. The men in the busy love life of Miss LaFosse are played by Mark Strong, Lee Pace and Ciaran Hinds.
Read the Book ~ About the Film

The missing

This grim western about a woman who must join forces with a tracker to hunt down a mystical psychopath killer who has kidnapped a number of teenage girls is based on a 1995 novel, The last ride, by Tom Eidson. Eidson is one of the best novelists around writing serious novels set in the Old West. Read the Book ~ About the Film

Missing

From the 1978 book The Execution of Charles Horman by Thomas Hauser

Missing (TV-2006)

From the novel Missing, first translated 2003, by Karin Alvtegen

Missionaries

Tie-in book by Julian Pettifer

The Mist

Frank Darabont, who made two of the best Stephen King adaptations, The green mile and The Shawshank redemption, originally wanted to make a film version of the King short story The mist, which appeared in the 1985 collection, Skeleton crew. Now, about twenty years later, he is bringing this story to the screen. It’s more of a visceral horror yarn than the two previous King adaptations he has done as it concerns a group of small town people who take refuge in a supermarket when a thick mist engulfs the town. Unsurprisingly, the mist is the cover for some nasty evil critters out to get whoever they come across. The cast is headed by Thomas Jane, Andre Braugher, Marcia Gay Harden, Alexa Davalos and Toby Jones.
Read the Book ~ About the Film

Mistress Of Spices

Chitra Divakaruni's 1997 novel is an exotic work that mixes a sort of magic realism with a story of an Asian woman who comes to America and runs a store in California where she's able to tell what people need and give them the right spices! This gift has a price: she can't leave the store, she's not allowed to touch another human and can only love the spices. Into the store comes a handsome American man and the spice girl has to make a choice. The lead character is played by Aishwarya Rai (from Bride and prejudice), a former Miss World with Dylan McDermott as the male lead. The directors are Paul Berges and Gurinder Chadra, the writing-directing team behind Bride and prejudice and Bend it like Beckham.
Read the Book ~ About the Film

The Mists of Avalon

From the 1982 novel The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Mitre 10 changing rooms

Tie-in book by Debra Millar

Mixed blessings

From the novel Mixed blessings by Danielle Steel

Modesty Blaise

Based upon the comic strip character, created and novelised by Peter O'Donnell

Moll Flanders

From the novel Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe

Molokai: the story of Father Damien

From the bookMolokai: the story of Father Damien by Hilde Eynikel

The Mommy market

From the 1966 novel The Mommy market by Nancy Brelis

The Monarch of the glen

From the 1941 novel The Monarch of the glen by Compton Mackenzie. In his Highland omnibus

Monday after the miracle

From the 1982 play Monday after the miracle by William Gibson

The Monkey's mask

From the prose poem The Monkey's mask by Dorothy Porter

A Month by the lake

From the novel A Month by the lake by H .E. Bates. In his collection An Aspidistra in Babylon

A Month in the country

From the novel A Month in the country by J. L. Carr

A Month of Sundays

From the 1985 play A Month of Sundays by Bob Larbey

Monty Roberts - The Real horse whisperer

His autobiography is The Man who listens to horses

The Moon spinners

From the novel The Moon spinners by Mary Stewart

Moonfleet

From the 1898 novel Moonfleet by J. Meade Falkner

Moonlight and Valentino

From the 1989 play Moonlight and Valentino by Ellen Simon

Moonlight becomes you

From the 1996 novel Moonlight becomes you by Mary Higgins Clark

The Moonraker

From a play The Moonraker by Arthur Watkyn

Moonraker

Loosely based on Fleming's novel Moonraker. Novelized by Christopher Wood under the title James Bond and Moonraker

The Moonstone

From the novel The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Mortal fear

From the novel Mortal fear by Robin Cook

Morvern Callar

From the 1995 novel Morvern Callar by Alan Warner

Mosley

Based on two books Beyond the pale and The Rules of the game by Nicholas Mosley

A Most deadly family

From the 1999 book The Mother, the son and the socialite by Adrian Havill

The Moth

From the novel The Moth by Catherine Cookson

Mother Love

From the novel Mother Love by Domini Taylor.

Mother Night

From the novel Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut

Mother's boys

From the 1988 novel Mother's boys by Bernard Taylor

Mothertime

From the novel Mothertime by Gillian White

The Mothman prophecies

From the book The Mothman prophecies by John A. Keel

The motorcycle diaries (2004)

From the 1996 book The motorcycle diaries by Ernesto (Che) Guevara and the book With Che through Latin America by Alberto Granado

The Mouse in the corner

From a short story The Mouse in the corner by Ruth Rendell. Not in a Rendell collection

Mr and Mrs Bridge

From the 1959 novel Mrs Bridge and the 1969 novel Mr Bridge by Evan S. Connell

Mr Blanding builds his dream house

From the 1946 novel Mr Blanding builds his dream house by Eric Hodgins

Mr Deeds

This is a remake of a classic film Mr Deeds goes to town. It was based on the short story Opera hat by Clarence Budington Kelland

Mr Denning drives north

From the 1950 novel Mr Denning drives north by Alec Coppel

Mr In-Between (2001)

From the 1998 novel Mr In-Between by Neil Cross

Mr Murder

From the novel Mr Murder by Dean R. Koontz

Mrs 'Arris goes to Paris

From the novel Mrs 'Arris goes to Paris by Paul Gallico

Mrs Bradley mysteries

Based on the novels of Gladys Mitchell

Mrs Caldicot's cabbage war

From the 1993 novel Mrs Caldicot's cabbage war by Vernon Coleman

Mrs Dalloway

From the novel Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Mrs Doubtfire

From the novel Alias Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont

Elizabeth Taylor's 1971 story is a small beautifully written masterpiece, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, about a recently widowed wman who comes to spend her remaining days at the hotel of the title. Her family are not particularly attentive and it is only the attention of a struggling young writer named Ludo that gives her hope for the future. The writer is based on novelist Paul Bailey who befriended Taylor some years earlier. The novel was filmed for television in 1973 with Celia Johnson as Mrs Palfrey.
Read the Book ~ About the Film

Mrs Winterbourne

From the 1948 novel I married a dead man by Cornell Woolrich. In The Cornell Woolrich omnibus

Much ado about nothing

From the Shakespeare play Much ado about nothing

Munich (2006)

From the 1984 book Vengeance by George Jonas

Murder my sweet (1944)

From the 1940 novel Farewell my lovely by Raymond Chandler

Murder of innocence

Based on the 1990 book Murder of innocence by Joel Kaplan, George Papajohn and Eric Zorn

Murder on the Orient Express

From the 1934 novel Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

From the novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Murder most foul

From the 1952 novel Mrs McGinty's dead by Agatha Christie

The murder room (2004)

From the 2003 novel The murder room by P.D. James

Murderer's Row

Loosely based upon the Matt Helm novels by Donald Hamilton

Murphy's law (2001)

Tie in novel Murphy's law (2002) by Colin Bateman

Must love dogs (2005)

From the 2002 novel Must love dogs by Clare Cook

My Breast

Based on the 1992 book My Breast: One woman's cancer story by Joyce Wadler

My Brother's wife

From the 1977 play The Middle Ages by A. R. Gurney

My Darling Clementine

From the 1931 book Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshal by Stuart Lake

My family and other animals

Gerald Durrell’s 1956 book is a much loved affectionate autobiography of Durrell’s early years with his eccentric family on Corfu. It was made into a British television series in 1987 with Hannah Gordon playing Durrell’s warm and sympathetic mother and Brian Blessed as the larger than life taxi driver who is there to help them out. The new version is a one-off and was filmed on Corfu with Eugene Simon as the young Gerald. Mother is played by Imelda Staunton and A .J. Gill, in the Sunday Times, didn’t think much of her but praise doesn’t come easily to him most of the time. The taxi driver in this version is played by Omid Djalil and the production was shown on British television over the Christmas period.
Read the Book ~ About the Film

My friend Joe

From the 1991 novel Johnny, my friend by Peter Pohl, translated from the Swedish

My Friend Walter

From the novel My Friend Walter by Michael Morpurgo

My house in Umbria (2004)

From the 1991 novella My house in Umbria by William Trevor

My husband, my killer

From the 1992 book My husband, my killer by Lindsay Simpson and Sandra Harvey

My Louisiana sky

From the 1998 novel My Louisiana sky by Kimberly Willis Holt

My Mother's ghost

Based on the novel Someone else's ghost by Margaret Buffie

My sister’s keeper

Previously Jodi Picoult’s novels have ended up as television movies which is often the destination of issues based fiction. This one will be a big screen production and it will be interesting to see if it breaks through and attracts the same large audience that read her novels. The story concerns a teenage girl who had been conceived as a genetic match for her sister with cancer. The girl’s decision to fight for the rights of her own body lead to a court case in which her mother has to defend herself. Abigail Breslin plays the girl and Sofia Vassilieva is her sister. Cameron Diaz plays the mother and Alec Baldwin the girl’s lawyer with Jason Patric and Joan Cusack also in the cast.
Read the Book ~ About the film

My Son the fanatic

From the short story My Son the fanatic by Hanif Kureishi. In the collection Love in a blue time by Hanif Kureishi

My zinc bed (2008)

From the play My Zinc Bed, first performed 2000, by David Hare.

The mysteries of Pittsburgh

Set in industrial Pittsburgh in the mid-eighties, this adaptation of Michael Chabon’s 1988 novel, his fiction debut, chronicles the last summer of Art Bechstein’s (Jon Foster) youth. Art meets the witty and handsome Arthur Lecomte, who then introduces Art to the equally stunning Jane (Sienna Miller), her boyfriend, the legendary Cleveland (Peter Sarsgaard), and worldly, exotic and slightly eccentric Phlox (Mena Suvari). The film version has apparently removed the character of Arthur from the mix. In the course of one summer, this group of colourful friends dominate Art’s life as he comes to terms with life, love and his sexuality. It has taken a long time for the novel to come to the screen and his later novel, Wonder boys, beat it by years.
Read the Book ~ About the Film

A Mysterious affair at Styles

From the novel A Mysterious affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

Mysterious skin (2005)

From the 1995 novel Mysterious skin by Scott Heim

The Mystery of men

From the novel The Mystery of men by Guy Bellamy

The mystic masseur (2001)

From the 1957 novel The mystic masseur by V.S. Naipaul

Mystic river

From the 2001 novel Mystic river by Dennis Lehane