From Book to Screen: Three Classic Family Adaptations

A familiar book gives a film a starting point, but the pleasure of an adaptation is seeing how another storyteller imagines it. A sentence can become a song; a chapter can become a cliffhanger; a character you pictured one way can arrive with an entirely different voice.

These three adaptations offer useful starting points for a read-and-watch evening. They are examples to explore, rather than a promise that every film or edition is available in our store. Check content guidance for your household before choosing a film for children.

The Wizard of Oz (1939): a world made visible

MGM's musical draws on L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Judy Garland plays Dorothy, whose journey brings her together with the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion. The Library of Congress exhibition traces earlier stage and screen versions as well as the familiar 1939 film.

The film's color is memorable, but it did not introduce color cinema. As the George Eastman Museum's Technicolor history documents, Becky Sharp used the three-color process for a full-length feature in 1935. What matters when watching Oz is the expressive contrast between sepia Kansas and the colorful fantasy world.

Try this: compare a passage describing a place with the film's corresponding setting. What do scenery, costume and music tell you before anyone speaks?

Five on a Treasure Island (1957): adventure in chapters

Gerald Landau directed this Children's Film Foundation adaptation of Enid Blyton's first Famous Five story. Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy become involved in a mystery around Kirrin Island. It is an eight-part cinema serial, a distinction that matters when planning how to watch it.

Instead of treating every adaptation as a single uninterrupted feature, try an episode at a time. Stop at a cliffhanger and let everyone predict the next move. The structure gives a reading group a natural way to compare the suspense of turning a page with the suspense of waiting for another installment.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971): performance changes the story

Mel Stuart's musical adapts Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with Gene Wilder as Wonka. A factory tour becomes an opportunity to compare the book's storytelling with a performer's expressions, pauses and changes of tone.

Try this: discuss whether Wonka seems welcoming, unpredictable or both. Ask which moments made you feel that way. A film can suggest something through performance that a reader might otherwise infer from description.

Make the comparison enjoyable

• Read a short section first if finishing the whole book would turn the evening into homework.
• Let each viewer choose one successful change and one moment they preferred on the page.
• Check the exact film version, disc format and subtitle information before buying. A title alone does not identify an edition.

For viewing options in the store, browse Family & Kids. For a different kind of literary adaptation aimed at older viewers, explore the Orson Welles Othello DVD listing. The best comparison begins with curiosity about what a film can do, rather than a scorecard of everything it leaves out.

Further reading: the BFI's guide to children's-book adaptations covers these films and their literary sources.