Entertainment

The Best Movies Based on Plays

2.9k votes 382 voters 29.1k views 60 items

List Rules Films that were based on a play, but NO musicals. Vote up the best movies that were originally stage / theatre productions.

There are tons of famous plays, and the glitz and glamour of attending the theatre is a truly unique experience. While few things are more powerful than the excitement of live theatre, many plays were just so good, they were begging to be turning into a movie. Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar Named Desire were both made into successful film adaptations, and Glengarry Glen Ross was originally based on a David Mamet play. What are the best movies based on plays? Vote up the best films below and see where your favorites rank.

This movies on this list were all based on plays and have been ranked by users as the best. They span many genres as well, including films adapted from Shakespeare plays. Whether you like drama, thrillers, hilarious comedy, or even musicals, there is certainly a movie here that you will enjoy.

Vote up the best films below, that started life as a play for the stage, or add one you love that isn't already on the list.

list ordered by

A Streetcar Named Desire Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Karl Malden

Based on the Tennessee Williams play of the same name. A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1951 American drama film adaptation of Tennessee Williams's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 play of the same name. It is the story of a southern lady, Blanche Dubois, ...more

Amadeus Jeffrey Jones, Cynthia Nixon, Christine Ebersole

Based on Peter Shaffer's play of the same name. Amadeus - Directors Cut is a 1984 biography drama film written by Peter Shaffer and directed by Milos Forman.

Arsenic and Old Lace Cary Grant, Peter Lorre, Raymond Massey

Based on Joseph Kesselring's play of the same name. Arsenic and Old Lace is a 1944 American dark comedy film directed by Frank Capra, starring Cary Grant, and based on Joseph Kesselring's play Arsenic and Old Lace. The script adaptation was by ...more

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives

Based on the Tennessee Williams play of the same name. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a 1958 American drama film directed by Richard Brooks. It is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by Tennessee Williams adapted by Richard Brooks ...more

Casablanca is listed (or ranked) 5 on the list The Best Movies Based on Plays

but chickens double d added Casablanca Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre

Based on Murray Burnett and Joan Alison's play, Everybody Comes to Rick's.

Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and based on Murray Burnett and Joan Alison's unproduced stage play Everybody Comes to Rick's. The film stars ...more

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal

Based on the Edward Albee play of the same name. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a 1966 American black comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols. The screenplay by Ernest Lehman is an adaptation of the play of the same title by Edward ...more

Death of a Salesman Dustin Hoffman, John Malkovich, Charles Durning

Based on Arthur Miller's play of the same name. Death of a Salesman is a 1985 CBS made for television film directed by Volker Schlöndorff, based on the 1949 play of the same name by Arthur Miller. It stars Dustin Hoffman, Kate Reid, John ...more

Glengarry Glen Ross Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey

Based on the David Mamet play of the same name. Glengarry Glen Ross is a 1992 American drama, adapted by David Mamet from his 1984 Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning play of the same name, and directed by James Foley. The film depicts two days ...more

but chickens double d added Dracula Bela Lugosi, Tod Browning, Carla Laemmle

Based on Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston's play of the same name.

Dracula is a 1931 vampire-horror film directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula. The film was produced by Universal and is based on the 1924 stage play Dracula by ...more

Inherit the Wind Spencer Tracy, Gene Kelly, Harry Morgan

Based on Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee's play of the same name. Inherit the Wind is a 1960 Hollywood film adaptation of the 1955 play of the same name, written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, directed by Stanley Kramer. It stars Spencer Tracy as ...more

jonathan-guerra added The Odd Couple Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Herb Edelman

Based on Neil Simon's play of the same name.

The Odd Couple is a 1968 American black comedy film written by Neil Simon, based on his play The Odd Couple, directed by Gene Saks, and starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. It is the story ...more

Tom Islava added Fences Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen Henderson

Based on August wilson's play of the same name

but chickens double d added My Fair Lady Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Jeremy Brett

Based on George Bernard Shaw's play, Pygmalion.

My Fair Lady is a 1964 American musical film adaptation of the Lerner and Loewe stage musical of the same name based on the 1938 film adaptation of the original 1913 stage play Pygmalion by ...more

but chickens double d added Dial M for Murder Grace Kelly, Alfred Hitchcock, Ray Milland

Based on Frederick Knott's play of the same name.

This film is a 1954 3-D American thriller film in Warnercolor directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, and Robert Cummings. The screenplay and the successful stage play ...more

but chickens double d added A Raisin in the Sun Sidney Poitier, Louis Gossett, Jr.

Based on Lorraine Hansberry's play of the same name.

A Raisin in the Sun is a 1961 drama film, starring Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Claudia McNeil, Diana Sands, Roy Glenn, and Louis Gossett, and adapted from the play of the same name by Lorraine ...more

but chickens double d added A Few Good Men Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Jack Nicholson

Based on Aaron Sorkin's play of the same name.

A Few Good Men is a 1992 American legal drama film directed by Rob Reiner, based on the play by Aaron Sorkin. Military lawyer Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) defends Marines accused of ...more

Lisa Finlinson added Driving Miss Daisy Morgan Freeman, Dan Aykroyd, Jessica Tandy

Based on Alfred Uhry's play of the same name.

Driving Miss Daisy is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Bruce Beresford and written by Alfred Uhry, based on Uhry's play of the same name. The film stars Jessica Tandy, Morgan ...more

but chickens double d added The Philadelphia Story Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart

Based on Philip Barry's play of the same name.

The Philadelphia Story is a 1940 American romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor, starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart and featuring Ruth Hussey. Based on the ...more

but chickens double d added Wait Until Dark Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Robby Benson

Based on Frederick Knott's play of the same name.

Wait Until Dark is a suspense-thriller film directed by Terence Young and produced by Mel Ferrer. It stars Audrey Hepburn as a young blind woman, Alan Arkin as a violent criminal searching for ...more

Chris Langham added Hamlet Kate Winslet, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal

Hamlet is a 1996 Shakespearean tragedy film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, adapted for the screen and directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also stars in the titular role as Prince ...more

but chickens double d added The Lion in Winter Anthony Hopkins, Katharine Hepburn, Peter O'Toole

Based on James Goldman's play of the same name.

The Lion in Winter is a 1968 historical drama film made by Avco Embassy Pictures, based on the Broadway play by James Goldman. It was directed by Anthony Harvey and produced by Joseph E. Levine ...more

DeborahTragasz added The Crucible Winona Ryder, Daniel Day-Lewis, Jeffrey Jones

The Crucible is a 1996 drama film written by Arthur Miller and based on his play of the same name. It was directed by Nicholas Hytner and stars Daniel Day-Lewis as John Proctor, Winona Ryder as ...more

naslaughs added Much Ado About Nothing Kate Beckinsale, Denzel Washington, Keanu Reeves

Much Ado About Nothing is a 1993 British/American romantic comedy film based on William Shakespeare's play of the same name. It was adapted for the screen and directed by Kenneth Branagh who ...more

August: Osage County Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Ewan McGregor

Based on Tracy Letts's play of the same name. August: Osage County is a 2013 American comedy-drama film directed by John Wells, based on the play by Tracy Letts. A look at the lives of the strong-willed women of the Weston family, whose ...more

JoséValente added Long Day's Journey Into Night Katharine Hepburn, Jason Robards Jr., Dean Stockwell

Based on Eugene O'Neill's play of the same name.

Long Day's Journey into Night is a film by Canadian director David Wellington, released in 1996. An adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's play Long Day's Journey into Night, the film starred William ...more