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The Alfred Hitchcock film, The Birds, was originally a novella, also titled The Birds, by French author Daphne Maurier. It would be difficult to argue that anything is better than the movie, since the movie has become such a classic. In addition, few, if any, movies have done with sound effects (and no music) what Hitchcock did with The Birds.

The Lord of the Rings movies are very well done and follow the book quite well.  They also bring out the themes of good versus evil, friendship, sacrifice, and loyalty that are prevalent in the books.  Good discussions can ensue from watching those movies, and they are a good option when time is limited. 

I would also suggest using She's the Man in place of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.  The movie is a loose interpretation of the play, but the central themes and plot are the same.  Interestingly, the same names are also used in the movie as in the play, which piques students' interest if they ever read the play at a later date. 

I highly recommend the film adaptation of Howard's End, the E.M. Forster novel. The novel itself is extremely complex as it deals with love relationships, class struggle, gender issues, and more. The translation to a visual medium makes the issues easier to understand, and the acting by Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, and Vanessa Redgrave is superb. I think this is the only film version I actually prefer to the original work. It was released in 1992 by Merchant-Ivory Productions.

In reply to #8: I have found no good Tale of Two Cities movie.  The only good part of the 1930s version starring Ronald Coleman is the scene with Pross and Madame Defarge fighting which ends in Defarge's death.  I have rented a BBC version that has some good acting but Jerry Cruncher is conspiciously absent in a film that badly needs comic relief.  Two Cities is such a great book.  You'd think someone could make a great movie as well.

Regarding A Tale of Two Cities - There is a good miniseries that was made back in the 80s (the decade of the miniseries!!!) that I use parts of - it is really too long (a little over 3 hours) and can be a bit slow-paced at times to show the whole thing.  Just checked it on IMDB - it was made in 1989 and has James Wilby, Xavier Deluc, and Serena Gordon as Sydney, Charles, and Lucie.  You might be able to find it at your local library - I ordered my copy from amazon.com.

Regarding Twelfth Night - Why not just use the Trevor Nunn film version of the play with Helena Bonham-Carter as Olivia and Ben Kingsley as Feste?  All of my students have seen She's the Man and love it, but if there's a good version of the play, I'd much rather expose them to something they haven't already seen a billion times.