Strangers on a Train (1951)

Patricia Highsmith’s novels have provided many an inspiration for big-screen adaptations from 1999’s The Talented Mr. Ripley to 2015’s Carol (based on The Price of Salt), but perhaps none loom as large as Alfred Hitchcock’s take on Strangers on a Train. The film has become an iconic reference point—from its criss-cross motif to its shoe-focused opening scene to its carnival-esque conclusion. But because of censorship laws, the plot actually deviates greatly from the original novel. In the book, Guy (Farley Granger) is so guilt-ridden by Bruno’s (Robert Walker) murder of his ex-wife that he is driven to complete the murderous exchange and kill Bruno’s father. Given this, he meets a very different end in the novel as opposed to the film, where Bruno’s climactic death frees him to enjoy marital bliss with his new wife.

Wicked (2003)

For fans of the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, the notion of a brightly-colored, high-energy Broadway musical adaptation probably seemed like an idea even crazier than Glinda and Elphaba being best friends. The story’s roots are the same—the wicked witch, Elphaba, is a misunderstood outcast who only wants to improve social and political conditions for all the citizens of Oz. But while the musical becomes more a pop-ballad-friendly meditation on friendship and the long-reaching impacts we have on our friends’ lives, the book is a much darker commentary on authoritarian government and how we vilify the “other.” Perhaps the darkest thing the musical sheds is Fiyero’s fate; while he becomes Elphaba’s lover in some steamy chapters, he doesn’t survive the collateral damage on the page.