OLD FAVOURITES

Southland Times, Issue 23179, 21 April 1937, Page 9

OLD FAVOURITES

RANSACKING FILM LIBRARIES SEARCH FOR GOOD STORIES In an epidemic of remakes, the screen has turned to the successes of the past for material, says a writer in The New York Times. Virtually every studio Las rifled its files seeking yams made prior to 1930 which did gratifying business at the box office. In addition to those pictures which, in the light of history, are regarded as epics, there is brisk trade among offerings of lesser importance. Old, but popular, scenarios are being dusted off, their backgrounds altered, their titles changed, and are being issued as new yarns. Most of them are in the B and C category.

Samuel Goldwyn attributes the remake trend to a ten-year cycle. He feels that it is only about once in a decade that stars, writers, director and producer can be brought together in proper combination to remake an old favourite satisfactorily. Strive as he might, he says, unless a producer has the right personalities in each division, the film would prove a disappointment to those who remembered the original version and would lose money. To prove this point, Mr Goldwyn cites the casting of several films now being remade, “Stella Dallas,” “Seventh Heaven,” “Prisoner of Zenda,” “Irene,” “The Tresspasser” among them. Among those already released during the season which have acquitted themselves satisfactorily are “Dark Angel,” “Little Lord Fauntleroy,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Ruggles of Red Gap” and “God’s Country and the Woman.”

As a rule the original titles are retained in the first-grade pictures, for the studios are openly remaking old successes. When they are altered, it is generally for a reason. “The Student Prince,” once made as “Old Heidelberg,” was changed because the stage version of the piece is more famous than the film which Ernst Lubitsch directed for Metro. New Backgrounds Title changes on the B and C product are solely for the purpose of disguise, which is rarely a motive with the first-line films. “Swing High, Swing Low,” which Paramount is making from “Burlesque,” is the only one in the A classification whose origin is being concealed. Warners have had particular success in making low-budget films from their old successes. They moved “Five Star Final” out of a newspaper office into a radio station and it became “Two Against the World.” The locale of “Cabin in the Cotton” was shifted to Arkansas and the film will emerge as “White Bondage.” “The Butter and Egg Man,” going from the stage to a night club, becomes “Dance, Charlie, Dance, “Blessed Event” was transmuted into “Here Comes Carter.” One of the more interesting alterations is in “War Lord,” for it shows what a change in background will do. It was originally “The Bad Man” and the line which Holbrook Blinn delivered—“l am the bes’ dam’ caballero in all Mexico”—will emerge from the lips of Boris Karloff, in proper pidgin English, as “Me bes’ dam’ bandit in all China.” One studio has had some trouble with its remakes because it believed that a change of title and cast was all that was necessary to conceal the origin of a series of Western stories it has been making for years. These Westerns have gone out year after year under new names and with new players, but the same old plots have been followed. Recently complaints have been coming in from exhibitors saying that the patrons keep insisting they have seen the picture before. Many of the theatre men never bother to look at the second film on their dual bills; if the customers want to, that’s their responsibility. Consequently, few exhibitors discovered the deceit themselves, but when they learned they were paying rentals for the same pictures they had been showing for years they protested. There is another side to that situation, however. A famous Western star transferred his allegiance to a new lot a few months ago and the producer assigned to him began a frantic search for new material. The star halted him, saying, “Never mind. I’ve got my old scripts here.” The producer protested, but the actor was firm. “I’ve been getting by for years with these plots,” he said. “I’ve made every one of them at least a half dozen times and I’m not going to jeopardize my popularity now by shifting to new stories.”