Biopics of Writers, Poets and Playwright
by ursulahemard | created - 19 Jul 2011 | updated - 6 months ago | PublicBiographical Films on Famous Writers/Authors, Playwright and Poets (research started in 2007 and work is still in progress)
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101. The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne (2000)
60 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Adventure
The fantastic steampunk adventures of the future science fiction writer and his friends, the Foggs and Passepartout.
Stars: Francesca Hunt, Michel Courtemanche, Chris Demetral, Michael Praed
Votes: 328
Jules Gabriel Verne ( February 8, 1828 – March 24, 1905) was a French author who pioneered the science-fiction genre. He is best known for novels such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), A Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before air travel and practical submarines were invented, and before practical means of space travel had been devised. He is the second most translated individual author in the world, according to Index Translationum. Some of his books have also been made into live-action and animated films and television shows. Verne, along with Hugo Gernsback and H. G. Wells, is often popularly referred to as the "Father of Science Fiction"
102. Borstal Boy (2000)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama, Romance
Irish teenager political activist and future writer Brendan Behan is befriended in a British borstal (reformatory) by a liberal warden.
Director: Peter Sheridan | Stars: Shawn Hatosy, Danny Dyer, Eamon Glancy, Ian McElhinney
Votes: 2,571 | Gross: $0.09M
Brendan Francis Behan (Irish: Breandán Ó Beacháin; 9 February 1923 – 20 March 1964) was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, and playwright who wrote in both Irish and English. He was also an Irish republican and a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army.
103. Sade (2000)
100 min | Biography, Drama, History
A man prepares himself to be transferred to a detention center and rest home where he will relive one more time the highlights of his youth.
Director: Benoît Jacquot | Stars: Daniel Auteuil, Marianne Denicourt, Jeanne Balibar, Grégoire Colin
Votes: 1,834 | Gross: $0.03M
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade (2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814) was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle. His works include novels, short stories, plays, dialogues, and political tracts; in his lifetime some were published under his own name, while others appeared anonymously and Sade denied being their author. He is best known for his erotic works, which combined philosophical discourse with pornography, depicting sexual fantasies with an emphasis on violence, criminality, and blasphemy against the Catholic Church. He was a proponent of extreme freedom, unrestrained by morality, religion or law.
104. The Farewell (2000)
97 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
It is one of the last days of an exceptionally hot summer in 1956. Bertolt Brecht (Bierbichler) is about to leave his lakeside house among the tall birches in Brandenburg to return to ... See full summary »
Director: Jan Schütte | Stars: Josef Bierbichler, Monica Bleibtreu, Jeanette Hain, Elfriede Irrall
Votes: 197 | Gross: $0.01M
Bertolt Brecht (born Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht 10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956) was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director. An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the Berliner Ensemble—the post-war theatre company operated by Brecht and his wife, long-time collaborator and actress Helene Weigel.
105. Before Night Falls (2000)
R | 133 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The life of Cuban poet and novelist, Reinaldo Arenas.
Director: Julian Schnabel | Stars: Javier Bardem, Johnny Depp, Olatz López Garmendia, Giovani Florido
Votes: 26,379 | Gross: $4.22M
Reinaldo Arenas (July 16, 1943 – December 7, 1990) was a Cuban poet, novelist, and playwright who despite his early sympathy for the 1959 revolution, grew critical of and then rebelled against the Cuban government.
106. Pandaemonium (2000)
PG-13 | 124 min | Biography, Drama
Friendship and betrayal between two poets during the French Revolution.
Director: Julien Temple | Stars: Linus Roache, John Hannah, Samantha Morton, Emily Woof
Votes: 883
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (21 October 1772 – 25 July 1834) was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets.
William Wordsworth (7 April 1770 – 23 April 1850) was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads.
107. Piñero (2001)
R | 103 min | Biography, Drama
Miguel Pinero's creative and turbulent life was cut short at age 40: a Tony Award nominee who did time at Sing-Sing, a volatile urban poet whose work is recognized as a precursor to rap and hip-hop, and a writer of hit TV shows.
Director: Leon Ichaso | Stars: Benjamin Bratt, Giancarlo Esposito, Talisa Soto, Nelson Vasquez
Votes: 1,404 | Gross: $1.42M
Miguel Piñero (19 December 1946 – 18 June 1988) was a Puerto Rican playwright, actor, and co-founder of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe.
108. Iris (I) (2001)
R | 91 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
True story of the lifelong romance between novelist Iris Murdoch and her husband John Bayley, from their student days through her battle with Alzheimer's disease.
Director: Richard Eyre | Stars: Judi Dench, Jim Broadbent, Kate Winslet, Hugh Bonneville
Votes: 19,145 | Gross: $1.29M
Dame Iris Murdoch DBE (15 July 1919 – 8 February 1999) was an Irish-born British author and philosopher, best known for her novels about political and social questions of good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her first published novel, Under the Net, was selected in 2001 by the editorial board as one of Modern Library's 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. In 1987, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 2008, The Times named Murdoch among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
109. Last Call (2002 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 96 min | Biography, Drama
Renowned writer F. Scott Fitzgerald is living the last months of his life with his youthful secretary, confidant and protege who later wrote a memoir of their time together.
Director: Henry Bromell | Stars: Jeremy Irons, Neve Campbell, Sissy Spacek, Shannon Lawson
Votes: 987
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost Generation" of the 1920s. He finished four novels, This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, Tender is the Night and his most famous, The Great Gatsby. A fifth, unfinished novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon was published posthumously. Fitzgerald also wrote many short stories that treat themes of youth and promise along with despair and age.
110. The Hours (2002)
PG-13 | 110 min | Drama, Romance
The story of how the novel "Mrs. Dalloway" affects three generations of women, all of whom, in one way or another, have had to deal with suicide in their lives.
Director: Stephen Daldry | Stars: Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Stephen Dillane
Votes: 138,543 | Gross: $41.68M
Adeline Virginia Woolf (25 January 1882 – 28 March 1941) was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century.
111. The Road from Coorain (2002 TV Movie)
97 min | Biography, Drama
A compelling tale based on Australian writer Jill Ker Conway's celebrated autobiography about a heroic and ambitious woman's struggle for independence, and her complex relationship with her mother.
Director: Brendan Maher | Stars: Juliet Stevenson, Richard Roxburgh, Katherine Slattery, Tim Guinee
Votes: 134
Jill Ker Conway (born 9 October 1934) is an Australian-American author. Well known for her autobiographies, in particular her first memoir, The Road from Coorain. Conway was born in Hillston, New South Wales in the outback of Australia. Together with her two brothers, Conway was raised in near-total isolation on a family owned 73 square kilometres (18,000 acres) tract of land, Coorain (aboriginal word for "windy place"), which was eventually expanded into 129 square kilometres (32,000 acres). On Coorain she lived a lonely life, and grew up without playmates except for her brothers. She was schooled entirely by her mother and a country governess.
112. American Splendor (2003)
R | 101 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
An original mix of fiction and reality illuminates the life of comic book hero everyman Harvey Pekar.
Directors: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini | Stars: Paul Giamatti, Shari Springer Berman, Harvey Pekar, Chris Ambrose
Votes: 52,377 | Gross: $6.00M
Harvey Lawrence Pekar (October 8, 1939 – July 12, 2010) was an American underground comic book writer, music critic and media personality, best known for his autobiographical American Splendor comic series. In 2003, the series inspired a critically acclaimed film adaptation of the same name.
113. Byron (2003 TV Movie)
147 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Following the success of his poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage", Byron becomes the toast of London.
Director: Julian Farino | Stars: Stephen Campbell Moore, Oliver Milburn, Michael Elwyn, Jonny Lee Miller
Votes: 1,157
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet and a leading figure in Romanticism. Amongst Byron's best-known works are the brief poems She Walks in Beauty, When We Two Parted, and So, we'll go no more a roving, in addition to the narrative poems Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and Don Juan. He is regarded as one of the greatest British poets and remains widely read and influential.
114. Sylvia (2003)
R | 100 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Story of the relationship between poets Edward James "Ted" Hughes and Sylvia Plath.
Director: Christine Jeffs | Stars: Gwyneth Paltrow, Daniel Craig, Lucy Davenport, David Birkin
Votes: 11,265 | Gross: $1.30M
Sylvia Plath (October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. Born in Massachusetts, she studied at Smith College and Newnham College, Cambridge before receiving acclaim as a professional poet and writer. She married fellow poet Ted Hughes in 1956 and they lived together first in the United States and then England, having two children together: Frieda and Nicholas. Following a long struggle with depression and a marital separation, Plath committed suicide in 1963. Controversy continues to surround the events of her life and death, as well as her writing and legacy. Plath is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for her two collections The Colossus and Other Poems and Ariel. In 1982, she became the first poet to win a Pulitzer Prize posthumously, for The Collected Poems. She also wrote The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical novel published shortly before her death.
115. Finding Neverland (2004)
PG | 106 min | Biography, Drama, Family
The story of Sir J.M. Barrie's friendship with a family who inspired him to create Peter Pan.
Director: Marc Forster | Stars: Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Julie Christie, Radha Mitchell
Votes: 212,072 | Gross: $51.68M
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM (9 May 1860 – 19 June 1937) was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan.
116. Colette, une femme libre (2004– )
115 min | Biography
Stars: Marie Trintignant, Wladimir Yordanoff, Lambert Wilson, Barbara Schulz
Votes: 52
Colette was the surname of the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954). She is best known for her novel Gigi, upon which Lerner and Loewe based the stage and film musical comedies of the same title.
117. Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures (2004 TV Movie)
90 min | Drama
Late in 1926 acclaimed mystery writer Agatha Christie disappears after marital problems and creates a media frenzy.
Director: Richard Curson Smith | Stars: Olivia Williams, Anna Massey, Raymond Coulthard, Stephen Boxer
Votes: 249
Agatha Christie, DBE, (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 80 detective novels—especially those featuring Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple—and her successful West End theatre plays.
118. Hunger auf Leben (2004 TV Movie)
95 min | Biography, Drama
Biographical TV-Movie about the live of the popular East-German novelist Brigitte Reimann. Follows her private life and her fight for and against her country and herself.
Director: Markus Imboden | Stars: Martina Gedeck, Kai Wiesinger, Ulrich Mühe, Heinrich Schmieder
Votes: 100
Brigitte Reimann (b. July 21, 1933, Burg bei Magdeburg, d. February 22, 1973, East Berlin) was a German writer who is best known for her posthumously published novel Franziska Linkerhand.
119. The Libertine (2004)
R | 114 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of John Wilmot, a.k.a. the Earl of Rochester, a 17th century poet who famously drank and debauched his way to an early grave, only to earn posthumous critical acclaim for his life's work.
Director: Laurence Dunmore | Stars: Johnny Depp, Samantha Morton, John Malkovich, Paul Ritter
Votes: 37,793 | Gross: $4.84M
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1 April 1647 – 26 July 1680), styled Viscount Wilmot between 1652 and 1658, was an English Libertine poet, a friend of King Charles II, and the writer of much satirical and bawdy poetry. He was the toast of the Restoration court and a patron of the arts. He married an heiress, Elizabeth Malet, and had many mistresses, including the actress Elizabeth Barry.
120. The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam (2005)
PG | 95 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
Kamran is a 12-year-old boy in the present day who discovers that his ancestor is 11th-century mathematician, astronomer, and poet of Persia Omar Khayyam. The story has been passed down in ... See full summary »
Director: Kayvan Mashayekh | Stars: Adam Echahly, Bruno Lastra, Moritz Bleibtreu, Rade Serbedzija
Votes: 805 | Gross: $0.22M
Omar Khayyám (18 May 1048–1131) was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, philosopher and poet. He also wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, and music.
121. A Waste of Shame: The Mystery of Shakespeare and His Sonnets (2005 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 85 min | Drama
A mystery in Shakespeare's sonnets is explored.
Director: John McKay | Stars: Rupert Graves, Tom Sturridge, Indira Varma, Zoë Wanamaker
Votes: 261
William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564; died 23 April 1616)[nb 1] was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.
122. Factotum (2005)
R | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
This drama centers on Hank Chinaski, the fictional alter-ego of "Factotum" author Charles Bukowski, who wanders around Los Angeles, CA trying to live off jobs which don't interfere with his primary interest, which is writing. Along the way, he fends off the distractions offered by women, drinking and gambling.
Director: Bent Hamer | Stars: Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor, Marisa Tomei, Didier Flamand
Votes: 15,040 | Gross: $0.81M
Henry Charles Bukowski (born Heinrich Karl Bukowski; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles. It is marked by an emphasis on the ordinary lives of poor Americans, the act of writing, alcohol, relationships with women and the drudgery of work. Bukowski wrote thousands of poems, hundreds of short stories and six novels, eventually publishing over sixty books. In 1986 Time called Bukowski a "laureate of American lowlife".
123. Capote (2005)
R | 114 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
In 1959, Truman Capote learns of the murder of a Kansas family and decides to write a book about the case. While researching for his novel In Cold Blood, Capote forms a relationship with one of the killers, Perry Smith, who is on death row.
Director: Bennett Miller | Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Clifton Collins Jr., Catherine Keener, Allie Mickelson
Votes: 140,806 | Gross: $28.75M
Truman Capote (September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) and true crime novel In Cold Blood (1966), which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At least 20 films and television dramas have been produced from Capote novels, stories and screenplays.
124. The Brothers Grimm (2005)
PG-13 | 118 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Will and Jake Grimm are traveling con-artists who encounter a genuine fairy-tale curse which requires true courage instead of their usual bogus exorcisms.
Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Matt Damon, Heath Ledger, Monica Bellucci, Petr Ratimec
Votes: 126,285 | Gross: $37.92M
The Brothers Grimm (German: Die Brüder Grimm or Die Gebrüder Grimm), Jacob Grimm (January 4, 1785 – September 20, 1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (February 24, 1786 – December 16, 1859), were German academics, linguists and cultural researchers who collected folklore and published several collections of it as Grimm's Fairy Tales, which became very popular.
125. The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton (2006 TV Movie)
85 min | Biography
In 19th century Victorian England, Mrs. Isabella Beeton produced what became an essential book for housewives of the day. She was married at a relatively young age to Sam Beeton, a ... See full summary »
Director: Jon Jones | Stars: Anna Madeley, JJ Feild, Jim Carter, Anna Chancellor
Votes: 333
Isabella Mary Beeton (née Mayson) (12 March 1836 – 6 February 1865), universally known as Mrs Beeton, was the English author of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, and is one of the most famous cookery writers.
126. Miss Potter (2006)
PG | 88 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The story of Beatrix Potter, the author of the beloved and best-selling children's book, "The Tale of Peter Rabbit", and her struggle for love, happiness, and success.
Director: Chris Noonan | Stars: Renée Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, Emily Watson, Barbara Flynn
Votes: 32,030 | Gross: $2.98M
Helen Beatrix Potter (28 July 1866 – 22 December 1943) was an English author, illustrator, natural scientist and conservationist best known for children's books featuring anthropomorphic characters such as in The Tale of Peter Rabbit which celebrated the British landscape and country life.
127. Les amants du Flore (2006 TV Movie)
104 min | Biography, Drama
Biographical film about French writers Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre and their relationship.
Director: Ilan Duran Cohen | Stars: Anna Mouglalis, Lorànt Deutsch, Caroline Silhol, Kal Weber
Votes: 639
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) and Simone-Ernestine-Lucie-Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir, often shortened to Simone de Beauvoir (January 9, 1908 – April 14, 1986)
128. Sartre, Years of Passion (2006– )
165 min | Biography
Biographical film about French writer Jean-Paul Sartre, concentrating on his passionate affairs with women.
Stars: Denis Podalydès, Anne Alvaro, Maya Sansa, Frédéric Gorny
Votes: 141
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) and Simone-Ernestine-Lucie-Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir, often shortened to Simone de Beauvoir (January 9, 1908 – April 14, 1986)
129. Infamous (2006)
R | 110 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
While researching his novel "In Cold Blood", Truman Capote develops a close relationship with convicted murderers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith.
Director: Douglas McGrath | Stars: Toby Jones, Daniel Craig, Sandra Bullock, Sigourney Weaver
Votes: 18,223 | Gross: $1.15M
Truman Capote (September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) and true crime novel In Cold Blood (1966), which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At least 20 films and television dramas have been produced from Capote novels, stories and screenplays.
130. Becoming Jane (2007)
PG | 120 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A biographical portrait of a pre-fame Jane Austen and her romance with a young Irishman.
Director: Julian Jarrold | Stars: Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, Julie Walters, James Cromwell
Votes: 65,114 | Gross: $18.67M
Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.
131. Molière (2007)
PG-13 | 120 min | Biography, Comedy
To satisfy his creditors, a witty actor reinvents himself as a satirical playwright, with uproarious, yet bittersweet, results.
Director: Laurent Tirard | Stars: Romain Duris, Fabrice Luchini, Laura Morante, Edouard Baer
Votes: 6,573 | Gross: $0.64M
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, (baptised January 15, 1622 – February 17, 1673) was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature. Among Molière's best-known works are Le Misanthrope (The Misanthrope), L'École des femmes (The School for Wives), Tartuffe ou L'Imposteur, (Tartuffe or the Hypocrite), L'Avare (The Miser), Le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid), and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (The Bourgeois Gentleman).
132. Jean de La Fontaine - Le défi (2007)
100 min | Biography, History
Biography of the French poet Jean de la Fontaine, who lived in the times of Louis XIV.
Director: Daniel Vigne | Stars: Lorànt Deutsch, Philippe Torreton, Sara Forestier, Jean-Claude Dreyfus
Votes: 150
Jean de La Fontaine (July 8, 1621, Château-Thierry – April 13, 1695, Paris) was the most famous French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his Fables, which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Europe and numerous alternative versions in France, and in French regional languages.
133. Daphne (2007 TV Movie)
90 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Daphne Du Maurier, author of "Rebecca" and "Jamaica Inn," becomes attracted to the wife of a publisher and to an actress.
Director: Clare Beavan | Stars: Geraldine Somerville, Elizabeth McGovern, Janet McTeer, Andrew Havill
Votes: 569
Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE (13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was a British author and playwright. Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca (which won the Best Picture Oscar in 1941) and Jamaica Inn and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now". The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
134. Miss Austen Regrets (2007 TV Movie)
TV-G | 90 min | Biography, Drama, History
In the later years of her life, as she's approaching the age of forty, the novelist Jane Austen helps her niece find a husband.
Director: Jeremy Lovering | Stars: Samuel Roukin, Olivia Williams, Greta Scacchi, Imogen Poots
Votes: 3,610
Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.
135. Sagan (2008)
117 min | Biography
France, 1950s. From the Quartier Latin to Saint-Tropez via New York, a young Parisienne becomes the icon of a whole generation. In 1954, 19-year-old Francoise Sagan shot to fame with her ... See full summary »
Director: Diane Kurys | Stars: Sylvie Testud, Pierre Palmade, Jeanne Balibar, Arielle Dombasle
Votes: 888
Françoise Sagan (21 June 1935 – 24 September 2004) – real name Françoise Quoirez – was a French playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. Hailed as "a charming little monster" by François Mauriac on the front page of Le Figaro, Sagan was known for works with strong romantic themes involving wealthy and disillusioned bourgeois characters. Her best-known novel was her first – Bonjour Tristesse (1954) – which was written when she was a teenager.
136. The Edge of Love (2008)
R | 110 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Two feisty, free-spirited women are connected by the brilliant, charismatic poet who loves them both.
Director: John Maybury | Stars: Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Matthew Rhys, Simon Armstrong
Votes: 18,947 | Gross: $0.03M
Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself. His public readings, particularly in America, won him great acclaim; his sonorous voice with a subtle Welsh lilt became almost as famous as his works. His best-known works include the "play for voices" Under Milk Wood and the celebrated villanelle for his dying father, "Do not go gentle into that good night". Appreciative critics have also noted the craftsmanship and compression of poems such as "In my Craft or Sullen Art" and the rhapsodic lyricism of "Fern Hill'".
137. The Last Station (2009)
R | 112 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A historical drama that illustrates Russian author Leo Tolstoy's (Christopher Plummer's) struggle to balance fame and wealth with his commitment to a life devoid of material things.
Director: Michael Hoffman | Stars: Helen Mirren, James McAvoy, Christopher Plummer, Paul Giamatti
Votes: 19,165 | Gross: $6.62M
Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy (September 9, 1828 – November 20, 1910) was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist fiction. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.
138. Bright Star (2009)
PG | 119 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The three-year romance between 19th-century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne near the end of his life.
Director: Jane Campion | Stars: Abbie Cornish, Ben Whishaw, Paul Schneider, Kerry Fox
Votes: 28,709 | Gross: $4.44M
John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death. During his life, his poems were not generally well received by critics; however, after his death, his reputation grew to the extent that by the end of the 19th century he had become one of the most beloved of all English poets.
139. Young Goethe in Love (2010)
Not Rated | 102 min | Biography, Romance
After aspiring poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe fails his law exams, he's sent to a sleepy provincial court to reform. Instead, he falls for Lotte, a young woman who is promised to another man.
Director: Philipp Stölzl | Stars: Alexander Fehling, Miriam Stein, Moritz Bleibtreu, Volker Bruch
Votes: 3,075 | Gross: $0.16M
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long poem of modern European literature. His other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, and the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther.
140. Howl (2010)
R | 84 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
As Allen Ginsberg talks about his life and art, his most famous poem is illustrated in animation while the obscenity trial of the work is dramatized.
Directors: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman | Stars: James Franco, Todd Rotondi, Jon Prescott, Aaron Tveit
Votes: 13,407 | Gross: $0.62M
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet who vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression. In the 1950s, Ginsberg was a leading figure of the Beat Generation. Ginsberg's epic poem "Howl", in which he celebrates his fellow "angel-headed hipsters" and harshly denounces what he saw as the destructive forces of capitalism and conformity in the United States, is one of the classic poems of the Beat Generation.
The poem, dedicated to writer Carl Solomon, has the opening:
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by
madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn
looking for an angry fix...
141. Dumas (2010)
Not Rated | 105 min | Comedy, Drama, History
When Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet, his ghostwriter, are at the summit of their collaboration, Auguste decides to pass himself off as Alexandre in order to seduce Charlotte, a fervent admirer of the great man.
Director: Safy Nebbou | Stars: Gérard Depardieu, Benoît Poelvoorde, Dominique Blanc, Mélanie Thierry
Votes: 699
Alexandre Dumas, born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870) was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world. Many of his novels, including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne were originally serialized. He also wrote plays and magazine articles and was a prolific correspondent.
142. The Beautiful and the Damned
Biography, Drama, Romance | Announced
The true story of Zelda Fitzgerald (and her famous husband F. Scott), the Jazz Age icons who lived large, soared high and crashed very hard.
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost Generation" of the 1920s. He finished four novels, This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, Tender is the Night and his most famous, The Great Gatsby. A fifth, unfinished novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon was published posthumously. Fitzgerald also wrote many short stories that treat themes of youth and promise along with despair and age.
143. La très excellente et divertissante histoire de François Rabelais (2010 TV Movie)
200 min | Drama
Director: Hervé Baslé | Stars: Michel Aumont, Eric Elmosnino, Bernadette Lafont, Anne Azoulay
Votes: 29
François Rabelais (c. 1494 – 9 April 1553) was a major French Renaissance writer, doctor and Renaissance humanist. He has historically been regarded as a writer of fantasy, satire, the grotesque, and bawdy jokes and songs.
144. Brontë
Drama | Announced
On the wuthering moors of 19th century Yorkshire, the Bronte sisters emerge from the haven of their hidden fantasy worlds, from beneath the wing of their domineering father and brother's ... See full summary »
Director: Angela Workman
The Brontës (were a 19th century literary family associated with Haworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The sisters, Charlotte (born 21 April 1816), Emily (born 30 July 1818), and Anne (born 17 January 1820), are well known as a trio of sibling poets and novelists. They originally published their poems and novels under masculine pseudonyms, following the custom of the times practised by female writers. Their stories immediately attracted attention, although not always the best, for their passion and originality. Charlotte's Jane Eyre was the first to know success, while Emily's Wuthering Heights, Anne's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and other works were later to be accepted as masterpieces of literature.
145. The Rum Diary (2011)
R | 119 min | Comedy, Drama
American journalist Paul Kemp takes on a freelance job in Puerto Rico for a local newspaper during the 1960s and struggles to find a balance between island culture and the expatriates who live there.
Director: Bruce Robinson | Stars: Johnny Depp, Giovanni Ribisi, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Rispoli
Votes: 108,029 | Gross: $13.10M
Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary (1998), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971) and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 (1973).
146. Prick Up Your Ears (1987)
R | 105 min | Biography, Drama
Biographer John Lahr is writing a book about playwright Joe Orton. Joe and Kenneth meet at drama school and live together for ten years as lovers and collaborators. Both want to be writers, but only one of them is successful.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Gary Oldman, Alfred Molina, Vanessa Redgrave, Wallace Shawn
Votes: 6,540 | Gross: $1.65M
John Kingsley ("Joe") Orton (1 January 1933 – 9 August 1967) was an English playwright. In a short but prolific career lasting from 1964 until his death, he shocked, outraged and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies. The adjective Ortonesque is now used to refer to something characterised by a dark but farcical cynicism.
147. Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012 TV Movie)
TV-MA | 155 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A drama centered on the romance between Ernest Hemingway and World War II correspondent Martha Gellhorn, Hemingway's inspiration for For Whom the Bell Tolls, and the only woman who ever asked for a divorce from the writer.
Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Nicole Kidman, Clive Owen, David Strathairn, Rodrigo Santoro
Votes: 10,419
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist and Martha Ellis Gellhorn (November 8, 1908 – February 15, 1998) was an American novelist, travel writer, and journalist, who is now considered one of the greatest war correspondents of the 20th century
148. Kill Your Darlings (2013)
R | 104 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A murder in 1944 draws together the great poets of the beat generation: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs.
Director: John Krokidas | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan, Michael C. Hall, Ben Foster
Votes: 41,254 | Gross: $1.03M
the college days of some of the earliest members of the Beat Generation (Lucien Carr, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac), their interactions, and the killing in Riverside Park.
149. The Invisible Woman (2013)
R | 111 min | Biography, Drama, History
At the height of his career, Charles Dickens meets a younger woman who becomes his secret lover until his death.
Director: Ralph Fiennes | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Kristin Scott Thomas, Tom Hollander
Votes: 10,480 | Gross: $1.23M
Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic.
150. The Chatterley Affair (2006 TV Movie)
Unrated | 90 min | Drama, Romance
The trial, under The Obscene Publications Act, of the publishers of D.H. Lawrence's 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' in 1960 was a sensation that consumed the nation. The movie follows two ... See full summary »
Director: James Hawes | Stars: Rafe Spall, Louise Delamere, Mary Healey, Gerard Horan
Votes: 468
David Herbert Richards Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence.
151. Enid (2009 TV Movie)
82 min | Biography, Drama
Edwardian child Enid Blyton begins to tell stories to her brothers as an escape from their parents' rows before the father deserts the family. While training as a teacher after the Great ... See full summary »
Director: James Hawes | Stars: Helena Bonham Carter, Matthew Macfadyen, Denis Lawson, Claire Rushbrook
Votes: 1,673
Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer whose books have been among the world's bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Blyton's books are still enormously popular, and have been translated into almost 90 languages; her first book, Child Whispers, a 24-page collection of poems, was published in 1922. She wrote on a wide range of topics including education, natural history, fantasy, mystery stories and biblical narratives, but is best remembered today for her Noddy, Famous Five, and Secret Seven series.
152. Papa Hemingway in Cuba (2015)
R | 110 min | Biography, Drama
In 1959, a young journalist ventures to Havana, Cuba to meet his idol, the legendary Ernest Hemingway who helped him find his literary voice, while the Cuban Revolution comes to a boil around them.
Director: Bob Yari | Stars: Giovanni Ribisi, Joely Richardson, Adrian Sparks, Minka Kelly
Votes: 1,678 | Gross: $1.12M
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist.
153. A Poet in New York (2014 TV Movie)
72 min | Biography, Drama
A look at Welsh poet Dylan Thomas's fatal visit to New York City, and his stormy relationship with his wife Caitlin.
Director: Aisling Walsh | Stars: Tom Hollander, Phoebe Fox, Ewen Bremner, Celt Llewelyn Jones
Votes: 290
Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "And death shall have no dominion", the "play for voices", Under Milk Wood, and stories and radio broadcasts such as A Child's Christmas in Wales and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog. He became popular in his lifetime and remained so after his premature death in New York. In his later life he acquired a reputation, which he encouraged, as a "roistering, drunken and doomed poet"
154. The Broken Tower (2011)
Not Rated | 99 min | Biography, Drama, History
A biography of American poet Hart Crane who committed suicide at the age of 32 by jumping off the steamship SS Orizaba.
Director: James Franco | Stars: James Franco, Michael Shannon, Stacey Miller, Richard Abate
Votes: 1,307
Harold Hart Crane (July 21, 1899 – April 27, 1932) was an American poet.
The Broken Tower is a 2011 American black-and-white student film directed, written, produced, edited by and starring James Franco. The film was made by Franco as his Masters thesis for his MFA in filmmaking from New York University. The film is about American poet Hart Crane. Franco appears in the starring role as Crane along with Michael Shannon as one of Crane's lovers. The Broken Tower made its world premiere in April 2011 at Boston College. It was shown at the 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival (LAFF) in June and released on DVD in 2012.
155. Violette (2013)
Not Rated | 139 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Violette Leduc, born a bastard at the beginning of last century, meets Simone de Beauvoir in the years after the war in St-Germain-des-Prés. Then begins an intense relationship between the ... See full summary »
Director: Martin Provost | Stars: Emmanuelle Devos, Sandrine Kiberlain, Olivier Gourmet, Catherine Hiegel
Votes: 2,189
Violette Leduc (7 April 1907 – 28 May 1972) was a French author.
156. That Night in Varennes (1982)
R | 150 min | Drama, History
During the French Revolution, a surprising company shares a coach, trying to catch up something - the time itself, perhaps.
Director: Ettore Scola | Stars: Jean-Louis Barrault, Marcello Mastroianni, Hanna Schygulla, Harvey Keitel
Votes: 2,533
Nicolas-Edme Rétif or Nicolas-Edme Restif (23 October 1734 – 3 February 1806), also known as Rétif de la Bretonne, was a French novelist. The term retifism for shoe fetishism was named after him.
157. Guy de Maupassant (1982)
131 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The life and times of the famous French writer Guy de Maupassant.
Director: Michel Drach | Stars: Claude Brasseur, Jean Carmet, Miou-Miou, Simone Signoret
Votes: 168
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a popular French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents.
158. A Tale of Love and Darkness (2015)
PG-13 | 95 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of Amos Oz's youth, set against the backdrop of the end of the British Mandate for Palestine and the early years of the State of Israel. The film details the young man's relationship with his mother and his beginnings as a writer, while looking at what happens when the stories we tell become the stories we live.
Director: Natalie Portman | Stars: Natalie Portman, Gilad Kahana, Amir Tessler, Moni Moshonov
Votes: 4,352 | Gross: $0.57M
Amos Oz (born May 4, 1939, birth name Amos Klausner) is an Israeli writer, novelist, journalist and intellectual. He is also a professor of literature at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba.
Oz's work has been published in 42 languages, including Arabic, in 43 countries. He has received many honours and awards, among them the Legion of Honour of France, the Goethe Prize, the Prince of Asturias Award in Literature, the Heinrich Heine Prize and the Israel Prize. In 2007, a selection from the Chinese translation of A Tale of Love and Darkness was the first work of modern Hebrew literature to appear in an official Chinese textbook.
Since 1967, Oz has been a prominent advocate of a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
159. Genius (2016)
PG-13 | 104 min | Biography, Drama
A chronicle of Max Perkins's time as the book editor at Scribner, where he oversaw works by Thomas Wolfe, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others.
Director: Michael Grandage | Stars: Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Laura Linney
Votes: 21,370 | Gross: $1.36M
William Maxwell Evarts ("Max") Perkins (September 20, 1884 – June 17, 1947), (was the editor for Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe). He has been described as the most famous literary editor, and Thomas Clayton Wolfe (October 3, 1900 – September 15, 1938) was an American novelist of the early twentieth century.
160. Trumbo (2015)
R | 124 min | Biography, Drama
In 1947, Dalton Trumbo was Hollywood's top screenwriter, until he and other artists were jailed and blacklisted for their political beliefs.
Director: Jay Roach | Stars: Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Louis C.K.
Votes: 84,796 | Gross: $7.86M
James Dalton Trumbo (December 9, 1905 – September 10, 1976) was an American screenwriter and novelist, who scripted films including Roman Holiday, Exodus, Spartacus, and Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.
161. The End of the Tour (2015)
R | 106 min | Biography, Drama
The story of the five-day interview between Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky and acclaimed novelist David Foster Wallace, which took place right after the 1996 publication of Wallace's groundbreaking epic novel, 'Infinite Jest.'
Director: James Ponsoldt | Stars: Jason Segel, Jesse Eisenberg, Anna Chlumsky, Mamie Gummer
Votes: 32,587 | Gross: $2.99M
David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008) was an American author of novels, short stories and essays, as well as a professor of English and creative writing. Wallace is widely known for his 1996 novel Infinite Jest, which was cited by Time magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005.
162. Florbela (2012)
Not Rated | 119 min | Biography, Drama
Shaken by a divorce in the 1920s, Portuguese poetess Florbela Espanca uses her writing to deal with her tumultuous relationship with men, eroticism and love.
Director: Vicente Alves do Ó | Stars: Dalila Carmo, Ivo Canelas, Albano Jerónimo, José Neves
Votes: 522
Florbela Espanca (birth name Flor Bela de Alma da Conceição)(Vila Viçosa, December 8, 1894 – Matosinhos, December 8, 1930) was a Portuguese poet. She had a tumultuous and eventful life that shaped her love, erotic and feminine writings. Fernando Pessoa later would call her "a twin soul of mine".
163. Black Butterflies (2011)
Not Rated | 100 min | Biography, Drama
In Apartheid-torn South Africa, poet Ingrid Jonker (Carice van Houten) struggles tragically in search of love and a sense of home.
Director: Paula van der Oest | Stars: Carice van Houten, Liam Cunningham, Rutger Hauer, Graham Clarke
Votes: 2,354
Ingrid Jonker (19 September 1933 – 19 July 1965) (OIS), was a South African poet. Although she wrote in Afrikaans, her poems have been widely translated into other languages. Jonker has reached iconic status in South Africa and is often called the South African Sylvia Plath, owing to the intensity of her work and the tragic course of her turbulent life.
164. Hella W (2011)
82 min | Biography, Drama, History
The life of a heroine. The life and work of Hella Wuolijoki. A poet, spy and millionaire, she turned into an internationally acclaimed businesswoman, politician and playwright, who ... See full summary »
Director: Juha Wuolijoki | Stars: Tiina Weckström, Hannu-Pekka Björkman, Matleena Kuusniemi, Maria Heiskanen
Votes: 380
Hella Wuolijoki (née Ella Marie Murrik; July 22, 1886 – February 2, 1954[1]), known by the pen name Juhani Tervapää, was an Estonian-born Finnish writer known for her Niskavuori series.
165. Magic Beyond Words: The J.K. Rowling Story (2011 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 90 min | Biography, Drama
An inspiring look at JK Rowling's rise to become one of the most influential writers-from her humble beginnings as an imaginative young girl and awkward teenager to the loss of her mother and the genesis of the Harry Potter phenomenon.
Director: Paul A. Kaufman | Stars: Poppy Montgomery, Emily Holmes, Antonio Cupo, Janet Kidder
Votes: 2,763
Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE FRSL born 31 July 1965), pen names J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, is a British novelist, screenwriter and film producer best known as the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series.
166. Leonie (2010)
PG-13 | 102 min | Biography, Drama
A film about the life and relationships of the early 20th century American educator, editor, and journalist Leonie Gilmour, the mother of the acclaimed artist and architect Isamu Noguchi.
Director: Hisako Matsui | Stars: Emily Mortimer, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Shidô Nakamura, Christina Hendricks
Votes: 607
Léonie Gilmour (June 17, 1873 - December 31, 1933) was an American educator, editor, and journalist. She was the lover and editor of the writer Yone Noguchi and the mother of sculptor Isamu Noguchi and dancer Ailes Gilmour. She is the subject of the feature film Leonie (2010) and the book Leonie Gilmour: When East Weds West (2013).
167. The Outlaw (2010)
106 min | Biography, Drama, History
A chronicle of the life of Lope de Vega, the Spanish playwright who dominated Spain's early Golden Age of theater.
Director: Andrucha Waddington | Stars: Alberto Ammann, Leonor Watling, Pilar López de Ayala, Ramon Pujol
Votes: 1,150
Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (25 November 1562 – 27 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet and novelist. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Century of Baroque literature. His reputation in the world of Spanish literature is second only to that of Cervantes, while the sheer volume of his literary output is unequalled, making him one of the most prolific authors in the history of literature.
168. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
PG-13 | 112 min | Biography, Drama
The true story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffers a stroke and has to live with an almost totally paralyzed body; only his left eye isn't paralyzed.
Director: Julian Schnabel | Stars: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze, Anne Consigny
Votes: 110,444 | Gross: $5.99M
Jean-Dominique Bauby (23 April 1952 – 9 March 1997) was a well-known French actor, author and editor of the French fashion magazine ELLE. He had two children with Sylvie de la Rochefoucauld, a son named Théophile and a daughter named Céleste.
169. Hemingway vs. Callaghan (2003 TV Movie)
180 min | Biography, Drama
A mini-series based on the true story of the friendship between Ernest Hemingway and Morley Callaghan in Toronto and Paris between 1923 and 1929.
Director: Michael DeCarlo | Stars: Vincent Walsh, Robin Dunne, Gordon Pinsent, Jewelle Blackman
Votes: 51
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist.
170. Klassikko (2001)
80 min | Comedy, Drama
A self-loving fictional autobiography of author Kari Hotakainen
Director: Kari Väänänen | Stars: Martti Suosalo, Janne Hyytiäinen, Matti Onnismaa, Pertti Sveholm
Votes: 859
Kari Hotakainen (b. 9 January 1957 in Pori, Finland) is a Finnish writer. Hotakainen started his writing career as a reporter in Pori. In 1986, he moved to Helsinki. He became a full-time writer in 1996. He has two children with his wife, sound technician Tarja Laaksonen, whom he married in 1983. He has also worked as a copywriter and as a columnist for the Helsingin Sanomat.
171. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
R | 118 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
An oddball journalist and his psychopathic lawyer travel to Las Vegas for a series of psychedelic escapades.
Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Tobey Maguire, Michael Lee Gogin
Votes: 301,609 | Gross: $10.68M
Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author, and the founder of the gonzo journalism movement.
172. Hemingway (1988)
100 min | Biography
Of all the memorable characters created by Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning author Ernest Hemingway, none was more complicated, more fascinating, or more charismatic than Hemingway himself.... See full summary »
Stars: Stacy Keach, Josephine Chaplin, Marisa Berenson, Lisa Banes
Votes: 129
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist.
173. The Legendary Life of Ernest Hemingway (1989 TV Movie)
100 min | Drama
Traces the legendary author's life, from the images and memories of his early boyhood, to his tragic suicide at 62. We first meet Hemingway as a young boy dominated by the virile figure of ... See full summary »
Director: José María Sánchez | Stars: Victor Garber, Rom Anderson, Karen Black, Gianni Cavina
Votes: 118
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist.
174. Where the Buffalo Roam (1980)
R | 99 min | Biography, Comedy
Semi-biographical film based on the experiences of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson.
Director: Art Linson | Stars: Peter Boyle, Bill Murray, Bruno Kirby, Rene Auberjonois
Votes: 12,680 | Gross: $6.66M
Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author, and the founder of the gonzo journalism movement.
175. House of Death (1932)
91 min | Biography, Drama
Some episodes in the life of Dostoevsky. The cardinal change in Dostoevsky's worldview, his coming from revolutionary ideas to the preaching of humility and mercy are demonstrated.
Director: Vasili Fyodorov | Stars: Nikolay Khmelyov, Nikolay Podgorny, Nikolai Vitovtov, Nikolai Radin
Votes: 60
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (11 November 1821 – 9 February 1881),sometimes transliterated Dostoevsky, was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist and philosopher.
176. Fleming (2014)
TV-MA | 44 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Look at the 007 creator, Ian Fleming, and his early life set against the permissive society of war-torn WWII London.
Stars: Dominic Cooper, Lara Pulver, Samuel West, Anna Chancellor
Votes: 5,280
Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was an English author, journalist and naval intelligence officer who is best known for his James Bond series of spy novels.
177. Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
PG-13 | 125 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Author P.L. Travers reflects on her childhood after reluctantly meeting with Walt Disney, who seeks to adapt her Mary Poppins books for the big screen.
Director: John Lee Hancock | Stars: Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Annie Rose Buckley, Colin Farrell
Votes: 170,072 | Gross: $83.30M
Pamela Lyndon Travers, OBE (born Helen Lyndon Goff; 9 August 1899 – 23 April 1996), was an Australian-born British novelist, actress, and journalist who migrated to England and lived most of her adult life there.[1] She is known best for the Mary Poppins series of children's books featuring the magical English nanny Mary Poppins.
178. Pasolini (2014)
84 min | Biography, Drama
A kaleidoscopic look at the last day of Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini in 1975.
Director: Abel Ferrara | Stars: Willem Dafoe, Ninetto Davoli, Riccardo Scamarcio, Valerio Mastandrea
Votes: 4,557 | Gross: $0.03M
Pier Paolo Pasolini (5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian film director, poet, writer and intellectual. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure. He had a unique and extraordinary cultural versatility, becoming a highly controversial figure in the process. While his work remains controversial to this day, in the years since his death Pasolini has come to be valued by many as a prophetic intellectual and a major figure in Italian literature and cinematic arts.
179. Boku to tsuma no 1778 no monogatari (2011)
139 min | Drama
A science fiction writer finds out his wife has cancer, and decides to write her a story every day to keep her alive, like a reverse Scheherazade or perhaps to cope with the inevitability of his loss.
Director: Mamoru Hoshi | Stars: Kazuyuki Asano, Jun Fubuki, Yôko Imamoto, Tai Kageyama
Votes: 291
Taku Mayumura (眉村 卓 Mayumura Taku, 20 October 1934 - ) is a Japanese science fiction writer who won the Seiun Award for Novel twice. In 2004 his Shiseikan (司政官, one story of the Shiseikan series), written in 1974, was translated into English. Mayumura is also a Juvenile Fiction writer whose works have been adapted into TV Drama, Cinema film, and Anime.
180. Affairs of Maupassant (1935)
Passed | 86 min | Drama, Romance
A story of the romance of Maria Baschkirtzeff and Guy de Maupassant beginning with their first meeting leading to other meetings and the development of their ill-fated romance.
Director: Henry Koster | Stars: Lili Darvas, Hans Jaray, S.Z. Sakall, Attila Hörbiger
Votes: 18
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a French writer, remembered as a master of the short story form, and as a representative of the naturalist school of writers, who depicted human lives and destinies and social forces in disillusioned and often pessimistic terms.
181. Amour Fou (2014)
Not Rated | 96 min | Comedy, Drama
Berlin, the Romantic Era. Young poet Heinrich wishes to conquer the inevitability of death through love, yet is unable to convince his skeptical cousin Marie to join him in a suicide pact. ... See full summary »
Director: Jessica Hausner | Stars: Christian Friedel, Birte Schnöink, Stephan Grossmann, Sandra Hüller
Votes: 1,748 | Gross: $0.01M
Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist (18 October 1777 – 21 November 1811) was a German poet, dramatist, novelist and short story writer. The Kleist Prize, a prestigious prize for German literature, is named after him, as was the Kleist Theater in his birthplace.
182. Beloved Sisters (2014)
Not Rated | 138 min | Drama, History, Romance
The 18th century literary genius Friedrich Schiller falls in love with the sisters Charlotte and Caroline von Lengefeld. After a passionate summer together in a menage a trois, jealousy and rivalry endanger their union.
Director: Dominik Graf | Stars: Hannah Herzsprung, Florian Stetter, Henriette Confurius, Claudia Messner
Votes: 1,599 | Gross: $0.05M
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (10 November 1759 – 9 May 1805) was a German poet, philosopher, physician, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with the already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. They frequently discussed issues concerning aesthetics, and Schiller encouraged Goethe to finish works he left as sketches. This relationship and these discussions led to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism. They also worked together on Xenien, a collection of short satirical poems in which both Schiller and Goethe challenge opponents to their philosophical vision.
183. Brain on Fire (2016)
PG-13 | 88 min | Biography, Drama
A young, capable professional cannot explain her newly erratic behavior.
Director: Gerard Barrett | Stars: Chloë Grace Moretz, Thomas Mann, Richard Armitage, Carrie-Anne Moss
Votes: 24,194
Susannah Cahalan is an American journalist and author, known for writing her memoir, Brain on Fire, about her hospitalization with a rare auto-immune disease, anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. She has worked for the New York Post.
184. A Burning Passion: The Margaret Mitchell Story (1994 TV Movie)
PG-13 | 95 min | Biography, Drama
Biography of American novelist Margaret Mitchell, who wrote "Gone With The Wind".
Director: Larry Peerce | Stars: Shannen Doherty, Dale Midkiff, Matt Mulhern, Ann Wedgeworth
Votes: 230
Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (November 8, 1900 – August 16, 1949) was an American author and journalist. One novel by Mitchell was published during her lifetime, the American Civil War-era novel, Gone with the Wind, for which she won the National Book Award for Most Distinguished Novel of 1936[1] and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937. In more recent years, a collection of Mitchell's girlhood writings and a novella she wrote as a teenager, Lost Laysen, have been published. A collection of articles written by Mitchell for The Atlanta Journal was republished in book form.
185. The Young Rebel (1967)
M | 111 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
A highly fictionalized filming of the early life of Miguel de Cervantes, author of "Don Quixote".
Director: Vincent Sherman | Stars: Horst Buchholz, Gina Lollobrigida, José Ferrer, Louis Jourdan
Votes: 209
Miguel de Cervantes (29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616),was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright.
His major work, Don Quixote, considered to be the first modern European novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written. His influence on the Spanish language has been so great that the language is often called la lengua de Cervantes ("the language of Cervantes").He was dubbed El Príncipe de los Ingenios ("The Prince of Wits")
186. Love Sins (1987)
113 min | Biography, Drama
D'Annunzio is a father who is annoyed with the prospect of another child on the way. Frankly megalomaniac and penniless, he goes from city to city writing his scandalous works.
Director: Sergio Nasca | Stars: Robert Powell, Stefania Sandrelli, Laurent Terzieff, Florence Guérin
Votes: 93
General Gabriele D'Annunzio, Prince of Montenevoso, Duke of Gallese OMS CMG MVM (12 March 1863 – 1 March 1938), sometimes spelled d'Annunzio, was an Italian writer, poet, journalist, playwright and soldier during World War I. He occupied a prominent place in Italian literature from 1889 to 1910 and after that political life from 1914 to 1924. He was often referred to under the epithets Il Vate ("the Poet")or Il Profeta ("the Prophet").
187. Fallada: The Last Chapter (1988)
100 min | Biography
The last decade (1937-47) of poet Hans Fallada's life. He lives with his family in Carwitz. His craving for harmony collides with the circumstances of the times and his own inner turmoil. ... See full summary »
Director: Roland Gräf | Stars: Jörg Gudzuhn, Jutta Wachowiak, Katrin Sass, Corinna Harfouch
Votes: 34
Hans Fallada (born Rudolf Wilhelm Friedrich Ditzen; 21 July 1893 – 5 February 1947) was a German writer of the first half of the 20th century. Some of his better known novels include Little Man, What Now? (1932) and Every Man Dies Alone (1947). His works belong predominantly to the New Objectivity literary style, with precise details and journalistic veneration of the facts. Fallada's pseudonym derives from a combination of characters found in the Grimm's Fairy Tales: the protagonist of Hans in Luck (KHM 83) and a horse named Falada in The Goose Girl.
188. Friedrich Schiller - Der Triumph eines Genies (1940)
102 min | Drama
Friedrich Schiller - The triumph of a genius.
Director: Herbert Maisch | Stars: Heinrich George, Lil Dagover, Horst Caspar, Friedrich Kayßler
Votes: 88
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (10 November 1759 – 9 May 1805) was a German poet, philosopher, physician, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with the already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. They frequently discussed issues concerning aesthetics, and Schiller encouraged Goethe to finish works he left as sketches. This relationship and these discussions led to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism. They also worked together on Xenien, a collection of short satirical poems in which both Schiller and Goethe challenge opponents to their philosophical vision.
189. Karl May (1974)
187 min | Biography, Drama, History
This ethereal, three-hour biopic is the middle film in Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's "German Trilogy" on the mythological foundations of the Third Reich.
Director: Hans-Jürgen Syberberg | Stars: Helmut Käutner, Kristina Söderbaum, Käthe Gold, Attila Hörbiger
Votes: 173
Karl (Carl) Friedrich May (25 February 1842 – 30 March 1912) was a German writer best known for his adventure novels set in the American Old West. His main protagonists are Winnetou and Old Shatterhand. May set similar books in the Orient and Middle East in which the main protagonists were Kara Ben Nemsi and Hadschi Halef Omar, Latin America and Germany. May also wrote poetry, a play, and composed music; he was a proficient player of several musical instruments. Many of his works were adapted for film, stage, audio dramas and comics. Later in his career, May turned to philosophical and spiritual genres.
190. The Lost Boys (1978)
274 min | Biography, Drama
The story of J.M. Barrie and his relationship with the Llewelyn-Davies family. Barrie writes PETER PAN for the five boys, and later adopts George, Jack, Peter, Michael, and Nicholas.
Stars: Ian Holm, Anna Cropper, William Hootkins, Maureen O'Brien
Votes: 125
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM (9 May 1860 – 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland but moved to London, where he wrote a number of successful novels and plays. There he met the Llewelyn Davies boys, who inspired him to write about a baby boy who has magical adventures in Kensington Gardens (included in The Little White Bird), then to write Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, a "fairy play" about an ageless boy and an ordinary girl named Wendy who have adventures in the fantasy setting of Neverland.
191. Mah e Mir (2016)
146 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A modern poet Jamal who is against the traditional Urdu Poetry reads the biography of Mir Taqi Mir,one of the greatest poets of the 18th century. And sees Mir's reflection on his personality.
Director: Anjum Shahzad | Stars: Iman Ali, Inam Hasan, Syed Fazal Hussain, Alyy Khan
Votes: 679
Meer Muhammad Taqi Meer (Urdu: مِیر تقی مِیرؔ—Mīr Taqī Mīr), whose takhallus (pen name) was Mir (Urdu: مِیرؔ—Mīr) (sometimes also spelt Meer Taqi Meer), was the leading Urdu poet of the 18th century, and one of the pioneers who gave shape to the Urdu language itself. He was one of the principal poets of the Delhi School of the Urdu ghazal and remains arguably the foremost name in Urdu poetry often remembered as Khudā-e sukhan (god of poetry).
192. My Heart Is Mine Alone (1997)
90 min | Biography, Drama
The life of Jewish Expressionist poet and performance artist, Else Lasker-Schüler (1869-1945), told chronologically in vignettes given context by archival footage of turn-of-the-century ... See full summary »
Director: Helma Sanders-Brahms | Stars: Nicolai Albrecht, Janina Berge, Dagmar Bertram, Klaus Bunk
Votes: 35
Else Lasker-Schüler (February 11, 1869 – January 22, 1945) was a Jewish German poet and playwright famous for her bohemian lifestyle in Berlin. She was one of the few women affiliated with the Expressionist movement. Lasker-Schüler fled Nazi Germany and lived out the rest of her life in Jerusalem and Gottfried Benn (2 May 1886 – 7 July 1956) was a German poet and essayist.
193. Queen of the Desert (2015)
PG-13 | 128 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
A chronicle of Gertrude Bell's life, a traveler, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer, and political attaché for the British Empire at the dawn of the twentieth century.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Nicole Kidman, James Franco, Robert Pattinson, Damian Lewis
Votes: 12,584
Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell, CBE (14 July 1868 – 12 July 1926) was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, spy and archaeologist who explored, mapped, and became highly influential to British imperial policy-making due to her knowledge and contacts, built up through extensive travels in Greater Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and Arabia. Along with T. E. Lawrence, Bell helped establish the Hashemite dynasties in what is today Jordan as well as in Iraq.
She played a major role in establishing and helping administer the modern state of Iraq, utilising her unique perspective from her travels and relations with tribal leaders throughout the Middle East. During her lifetime she was highly esteemed and trusted by British officials and given an immense amount of power for a woman at the time. She has been described as "one of the few representatives of His Majesty's Government remembered by the Arabs with anything resembling affection".
194. Reaching for the Moon (2013)
Not Rated | 118 min | Biography, Drama, History
A chronicle of the tragic love affair between American poet Elizabeth Bishop and Brazilian architect Lota de Macedo Soares.
Director: Bruno Barreto | Stars: Glória Pires, Miranda Otto, Tracy Middendorf, Marcello Airoldi
Votes: 3,570 | Gross: $0.04M
Elizabeth Bishop (February 8, 1911 – October 6, 1979) was an American poet and short-story writer. Poet Laureate of the United States from 1949 to 1950, the Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry in 1956, the National Book Award winner in 1970, and the recipient of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1976.
195. A Season in Hell (1971)
130 min | Biography, Drama
About the last months Arthur Rimbaud spent in Africa before his untimely death (at only 37), trafficking in arms and maybe in slaves. Earlier moments of Rimbaud's life are explored with a frequent use of flashbacks.
Director: Nelo Risi | Stars: Terence Stamp, Jean-Claude Brialy, Florinda Bolkan, Pier Paolo Capponi
Votes: 79
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) and Paul-Marie Verlaine (30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896)
196. Testament of Youth (2014)
PG-13 | 129 min | Biography, Drama, History
A British woman recalls coming of age during World War I - a story of young love, the futility of war, and how to make sense of the darkest times.
Director: James Kent | Stars: Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington, Taron Egerton, Dominic West
Votes: 30,508 | Gross: $1.82M
Vera Mary Brittain, Lady Catlin (29 December 1893 – 29 March 1970) was an English writer, feminist, and pacifist. Her best-selling 1933 memoir Testament of Youth recounted her experiences during the First World War and the beginning of her journey towards pacifism.
197.
Screenplay (1986–1993)
Episode:
Boswell & Johnson's Tour of the Western Isles
(1993)
30 min | Drama
In the autumn of 1773, the English writer Samuel Johnson visits the Hebrides, or Western Isles, off the North-West coast of Scotland. With him are his friend, the Scotsman James Boswell, ... See full summary »
Director: John Byrne | Stars: Robbie Coltrane, John Sessions, Celia Imrie, Ruth McGhie
Votes: 26
Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 [O.S. 7 September] – 13 December 1784), often referred to as Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer.
198. Christopher and His Kind (2011 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 90 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
How real-life British-American author Christopher Isherwood and his German boyfriend Heinz met and fell in love during the 1930s and the rise of Nazism.
Director: Geoffrey Sax | Stars: Matt Smith, Imogen Poots, Lindsay Duncan, Perry Millward
Votes: 4,637
Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood (26 August 1904 – 4 January 1986) was an English novelist.
199. HG Wells' War with the World (2006 TV Movie)
Biography, Drama
Drawing upon H.G. Wells' An Experiment in Autobiography and framed by his 1934 visit to the Soviet Union to interview its leader Joseph Stalin, the movie follows Wells' transformation from ... See full summary »
Director: James Kent | Stars: Michael Sheen, Sally Hawkins, Sarah Winman, Dermot Crowley
Votes: 110
Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946), known primarily as H. G. Wells,[3][4] was a prolific English writer in many genres, including the novel, history, politics, and social commentary, and textbooks and rules for war games. Wells is now best remembered for his science fiction novels, and is called the father of science fiction, along with Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback.[5][6][a] His most notable science fiction works include The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898). He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in four different years.
200. My Boy Jack (2007 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 95 min | Biography, Drama, History
Author Rudyard Kipling and his wife search for their 18-year-old son after he goes missing during World War I.
Director: Brian Kirk | Stars: David Haig, Daniel Radcliffe, Kim Cattrall, Carey Mulligan
Votes: 5,658
Joseph Rudyard Kipling (30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)[1] was an English short-story writer, poet, and novelist.
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