I always seem to come upon these 'booking through' memes after the fact, but I like these questions so I thought I would answer them a day late.
1. In your opinion, what is the best translation of a book to a movie? I think my all time favorite book into movie is the A&E/BBC production of Pride and Prejudice. I watch it at least once every year and enjoy every last minute of it. They seemed to stay very true to the book (which I really do need to reread), and I thought the casting of characters was very good.
This may be somewhat unpopular, but I also liked the Keira Knightley version as well--just in a different way. The newer adaptation did take some liberties with the story (one of the most glaring was the last scene, which really I could have lived without surprisingly), and Donald Sutherland as Mr. Bennet was a little on the goofy side at times, but I still enjoyed it. Other favorites of mine--Persuasion with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds, Howards End with Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham-Carter and Anthony Hopkins, The Remains of the Day with (again) Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins as well as Horatio Hornblower with Ioan Gruffudd (who is quite easy on the eyes). Can I mention one more--I really enjoy the Inspector Lynley Mysteries as well. I see that series five is going to be released in October--something to look forward to!
2. The worst? There is always one movie that comes to mind in terms of worst...The Count of Monte Cristo. I realize that the book is over 1,300 pages and how close can you get to staying true to a book like that when you are trying to make a two hour movie? It was just painful for me to watch though. I had just finished the book and was so looking forward to the movie--I'm amazed I even made it through to the end. There were lots and lots of liberties taken with the story. There was no hot air balloon scne that I could recall, and the ending was completely different than the book. Maybe it didn't help that I am not a fan of James Caviezel, but the whole thing just didn't work for me.
3. Had you read the book before seeing the movie, and did that make a difference? Generally it doesn't, but I have to say in the case of The Count of Monte Cristo it did. I think that had I not been very familiar with the story I might actually quite enjoyed the movie. Normally I will only read the book first and then quite often will watch the film adaptation after. Sometimes I will just watch the film (occasionally with the intent of reading the book later). In any case I really enjoy watching movies and as they borrow from literature very often it is hard to avoid them. And usually no matter how much I enjoy a movie, the book is still better.