What classic movies would you like to see a remake of?

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Della said:
I haven’t seen the remake of The Blob, but the original wasn’t that great, either, although it was an original idea, for which I give it credit.

There have been attempts at remaking Mysterious Island–all dismal failures. The original is a little gem that needs no remakes. It’s not totally faithful to Verne, but then, Verne wrote for a different audience in a difference age. His works generally work best on film if given some rewrites, as in Journey to the Center of the Earth with James Madison–another little gem. Remakes of that film have also been blah to terrible.

No, when a film works, it works and should usually be left alone, as in It’s a Wonderful Life or Casablanca. A good film transcends time to reach new audiences. If it doesn’t, only then , IMHO, should anyone try to remake the same story.
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Mysterious Island and Journey to the Center of the Earth are little gems.
Wasn’t there also a movie Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea that the later TV show was based on? I don’t know if that was based on a Jules Verne story or not.
 
Which version of War of the Worlds is the best? - the Gene Barry version or the
Tom Cruise version?
 
Sophie_Lawrence said:
Foreign films being remade with For American audiences. The Magnificent Seven is loosely based remake of the Seven Samurai. The Departed is based on a Japanese film. I believe the horror film The Ring is based on a Japanese horror film.

Oh, also Scent of a woman was based on an Italian film. They are loosely based versions though, not specific remakes.
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The Departed was actually an adaptation of a Hong Kong film, Infernal Affairs.
 
7_Sorrows said:
Mysterious Island and Journey to the Center of the Earth are little gems.
Wasn’t there also a movie Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea that the later TV show was based on? I don’t know if that was based on a Jules Verne story or not.
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You’re thinking of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Disney made the best version of that. I don’t know what if any book VTRBOFS was based on. It seems it was an original story. I haven’t really liked viewing it again–for a family-oriented film, it just isn’t fun. Although, it was daring to make a woman the villain of the piece.
7 Sorrows:
Which version of War of the Worlds is the best? - the Gene Barry version or the Tom Cruise version?
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IMO, the Gene Barry was the best–a George Pal production. The design of the alien craft walking on beams instead of legs was pure genius, although the alien itself doesn’t hold up well. Still, the storytelling was excellently done.

The Tom Cruise version hews closer to the book and the special effects are top rate, but it lacks sympathy for the characters or for the fate of earth, for that matter. By the time the aliens captured his whiny kid, I was ready to hand her over, myself. 😛 It lacked heart, as do so many newer films.
 
Della said:
You’re thinking of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Disney made the best version of that. I don’t know what if any book VTRBOFS was based on. It seems it was an original story. I haven’t really liked viewing it again–for a family-oriented film, it just isn’t fun. Although, it was daring to make a woman the villain of the piece.

IMO, the Gene Barry was the best–a George Pal production. The design of the alien craft walking on beams instead of legs was pure genius, although the alien itself doesn’t hold up well. Still, the storytelling was excellently done.

The Tom Cruise version hews closer to the book and the special effects are top rate, but it lacks sympathy for the characters or for the fate of earth, for that matter. By the time the aliens captured his whiny kid, I was ready to hand her over, myself. 😛 It lacked heart, as do so many newer films.
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:rotfl: she was whiny wasn’t she and the son pouted throughout the movie.

You are right, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is what I am thinking of.
I wish I could find a 3 disc set that had Mysterious Island, Journey to the Center of the
Earth and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
 
7_Sorrows said:
:rotfl: she was whiny wasn’t she and the son pouted throughout the movie.
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Yeah, if they were going for sympathy, they didn’t get mine with these two bratty characters. 😛
You are right, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is what I am thinking of.
I wish I could find a 3 disc set that had Mysterious Island, Journey to the Center of the
Earth and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
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I have all three–but separate purchases. My dh and I collect DVDs and have two bookcases full of them. I like to watch each or any of these great old films, on rainy days with a cup of hot cocoa. 🙂
 
Della said:
Yeah, if they were going for sympathy, they didn’t get mine with these two bratty characters. 😛

I have all three–but separate purchases. My dh and I collect DVDs and have two bookcases full of them. I like to watch each or any of these great old films, on rainy days with a cup of hot cocoa. 🙂
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I had a VHS collection of easily 200+ movies, then we went to DVD.
I haven’t replaced my complete VHS collection with DVD’s yet. I maybe have 18-25 is
all.
 
Here’s one: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I watched the movie first, and was surprised to find that the book depicts a much darker, cynical view of human nature than the movie; there are pretty much no heroes in that story, maybe Frankie’s stepfather comes close but even he admits he’s being selfish when he proposes to Frankie’s mother.

I’m not sure if I’d even enjoy a movie version that is more faithful to the original story, as I was let down by it. But I’m sure that it would suit the tendency for modern films to be dark and nihilistic.

Oddly, the same author wrote Joy in the Morning, set in the same world, and touching on some of the same themes, but much more innocent and optimistic, possibly because, unlike Frankie, Annie manages to leave behind the tenement life and embrace middle class living with her college educated, lawyer husband. Makes me wonder if Betty Smith actually had some classist tendencies.
 
Singing in the Rain with every actor replaced by Keifer Sutherland
 
ToeInTheWater said:
Here’s one: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I watched the movie first, and was surprised to find that the book depicts a much darker, cynical view of human nature than the movie; there are pretty much no heroes in that story, maybe Frankie’s stepfather comes close but even he admits he’s being selfish when he proposes to Frankie’s mother.

I’m not sure if I’d even enjoy a movie version that is more faithful to the original story, as I was let down by it. But I’m sure that it would suit the tendency for modern films to be dark and nihilistic.

Oddly, the same author wrote Joy in the Morning, set in the same world, and touching on some of the same themes, but much more innocent and optimistic, possibly because, unlike Frankie, Annie manages to leave behind the tenement life and embrace middle class living with her college educated, lawyer husband. Makes me wonder if Betty Smith actually had some classist tendencies.
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I just saw A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for the first time, and I haven’t read the book. I wasn’t expecting I’d need as many tissues as I did.

I have a question, if you or anybody else can answer. It seemed that the family was an Irish family, I was just curious why did the Grandma have an Eastern European accent?
 
Mary_Gail_36 said:
I just saw A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for the first time, and I haven’t read the book. I wasn’t expecting I’d need as many tissues as I did.

I have a question, if you or anybody else can answer. It seemed that the family was an Irish family, I was just curious why did the Grandma have an Eastern European accent?
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I noticed the movie was on recently, but I haven’t seen it. I did read the book many many years ago.
Was the movie good?
 
I would like to see a remake of one of my favorite movies - Gaslight with Charles Boyer
and Ingrid Bergman.
I would not want them to update the movie to present day time, but leave it in Victorian
England.
 
7_Sorrows said:
I would like to see a remake of one of my favorite movies - Gaslight with Charles Boyer
and Ingrid Bergman.
I would not want them to update the movie to present day time, but leave it in Victorian
England.
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Along the same lines, remakes of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Picture of Dorian Gray would be welcome–if done true to the original stories and not overly CGI’ed to death or some modernist agenda crammed into them. :rolleyes:
 
Della said:
Along the same lines, remakes of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Picture of Dorian Gray would be welcome–if done true to the original stories and not overly CGI’ed to death or some modernist agenda crammed into them. :rolleyes:
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I agree. Do you have a favorite rendition of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? I like the version with Spencer Tracy. He did a good job.
 
7_Sorrows said:
I agree. Do you have a favorite rendition of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? I like the version with Spencer Tracy. He did a good job.
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I saw a made-for-TV version many years ago, I think, as well as the ST film. I don’t remember much about the TV version. The ST film is well-done, but portrays sex as an evil drive that men have to tame instead of a natural instinct that needs, like all our instincts, the grace of God to put in its proper context. It was based on the popular Scottish-Victorian notion that sex is evil–part of the duality between body and soul favored by then Presbyterians. I have no idea what they believe about that now days.
 
KevinAK said:
The Orson Welled version:D
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Someone did a film version very like the OW version in that it followed HGW story much closer in characters and situation. It wasn’t a particularly good version–as OW realized the original story’s weaknesses and made his own changes, but it was an effort to portray WOTW as HGW envisioned it.
 
Mary_Gail_36 said:
If I were a film maker, I’d keep the script for Marty basically the same and just change things that date the film. Like the line “just packed with Tomatoes”. Marty was only supposed to be 35. I’m not sure how old Borgnine was when ha made it, but he looked older than 34.
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Borgnine was 37 when they started filming Marty. I think he was just one of those actors who always looked old.

Like the two generations of police commissioner on Blue Bloods. Len Cariou is only 5 years older than his TV “son”, Tom Selleck.
 
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