5. Ulysses
Arguably James Joyce's finest novel, but definitely his most impenetrable. Approximately 265,000 words long, tightly structured and utilising a stream of consciousness style of narrative, the adventures of Leopold Bloom seems a Herculean task to be made into a satisfactory film, and that's even before you take into account the allusions to masturbation which saw the novel banned for a time. Not only was Ulysses successfully adapted for the screen, by Fred Haines and Joseph Strick in 1967, but it was an excellent watch in its own right. The screenplay, taken entirely from lines in the book's narrative, was nominated for an Oscar the following year, proof that high-level literature can be adapted for the screen unmolested and still have a wide appeal. Like the novel, the film wasn't without controversy. It was the first movie to feature the word "f**k", and was not granted a mainstream release in the city of its setting, Dublin, until the 21st century.