Movies Re-Made

I stayed home sick today. Spent the day watching TV, taking naps and nothing much else.  Just feel pretty lousy and haven’t any energy to do anything.

One thing I did do was watch the movie “My Favorite Wife” starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunn made in 1940.  It was re-made in 1963 as “Move Over, Darling” starring James Garner and Doris Day.  I have seen the re-make many times but had only seen the original once before.  After having seen it yesterday, I think I really like the original better.  It put more emphasis on the relationship between Cary Grant and Irene Dunn and kept the supporting characters in a supporting role.  In the re-make, it seemed like such a conglomeration of characters, each vying for their story to be told that the whole dynamic of a wife coming back to her husband after seven years (and being presumed dead) was lost.  That was an interesting story in and of itself.  The added sub-plot of the second wife trying to psychoanalyze her husband, although interesting, didn’t need all the screen time that the second movie gave it.  And the added sub-plot of the time the first wife spent on the island with Steve Burkett, the other guy shipwrecked with her, although also interesting, didn’t need all the time the second movie gave it.  The story about a husband trying to tell his second wife that his first wife came back and dealing with the confusion of the whole thing was handled in a very comical way in the first movie without becoming too campy.

I have noticed this about a number of movies that, when re-made, really don’t stand up to the original.  For example, “The Philadelphia Story” from 1940 starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart was much better than the re-make of “High Society” from 1956 starring Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.  Then there is “Cheaper by the Dozen” from 1950, which so closely followed the book it was like the book came to life in the movie.  Word for word, line for line.  The re-make, done in 2003, only shared the title with the original.  That, and there were 12 kids in the story.  Otherwise, it had no resemblance to the book or the original movie.  Very disappointing if you had seen the original or loved the book as much as I did when I was growing up.

I suppose that if you just see a re-make as an original movie and never see the original or never read the book, then the movie can be enjoyable all on it’s own.  My brother is always telling me that the original “Ocean’s 11” is much better than the re-make.  I have never seen the original so, for me, the re-make is a wonderful movie that I have enjoyed seeing more than once.  I guess, when it comes to movies, ignorance can be bliss.