I'm about to dig deep into this subject, but oh well.
I think lots of movies made prior to the mid 50s could be remade today and have great success.
The cinematography was poor compared to modern techniques & technology, and I mean the most basic aspects of filming, not special effects. The only experience they had was filming stage performances and what little they had learned since. Most movies prior to 1950 or so felt like plays being filmed instead of actual movies. At the time it was cutting edge, but modern audiences are bored to tears.
Lighting, sound, blocking, transitions, etc...all of these feel ancient in movies prior to early 1950s because most of it was designed for the stage. They were doing the best they could, and it was truly phenominal at the time, but it doesn't hold up well with modern audiences.
The speech patterns & accents were also a huge factor. Most actors had cut their teeth in radio & stage unlike movie actors of today. Their speaking style reflected what is known as the Trans-Alantic or Mid-Atlantic accent. This QUICK VIDEO explains it well. Modern audiences are immediately turned off as soon as they hear it.
The movie from this time period that I would most like to see re-made is Arsenic and Old Lace. The play might be my all-time favorite because the story is hilarious and would hold up well today...not as a re-telling, but as a genuine remake almost word-for-word.
The story has tons of all the timeless qualities that would need no (or very little) changes: lots of physical comedy, crazy characters, and dark comedy in a light-hearted way. Some jokes would need to be modernized, though.
One change would probably be that a major character was an escaped convict who got plastic surgery to help change his identity, but the guy who did the surgery was drunk and made him look like Boris Karloff. Part of the joke was that Karloff played that roll in the original run on Broadway (but Karloff could not play that part in the movie due to contract disputes). Modernizing that joke/part with the modern version of that actor (whover that may be) would be necessary & hilarious.
Other than those, along with a couple of other minor tweaks to the script, I think this movie could be a huge hit in the mid-2020s, even if it's still set in the mid-1940s.
I think lots of movies made prior to the mid 50s could be remade today and have great success.
The cinematography was poor compared to modern techniques & technology, and I mean the most basic aspects of filming, not special effects. The only experience they had was filming stage performances and what little they had learned since. Most movies prior to 1950 or so felt like plays being filmed instead of actual movies. At the time it was cutting edge, but modern audiences are bored to tears.
Lighting, sound, blocking, transitions, etc...all of these feel ancient in movies prior to early 1950s because most of it was designed for the stage. They were doing the best they could, and it was truly phenominal at the time, but it doesn't hold up well with modern audiences.
The speech patterns & accents were also a huge factor. Most actors had cut their teeth in radio & stage unlike movie actors of today. Their speaking style reflected what is known as the Trans-Alantic or Mid-Atlantic accent. This QUICK VIDEO explains it well. Modern audiences are immediately turned off as soon as they hear it.
The movie from this time period that I would most like to see re-made is Arsenic and Old Lace. The play might be my all-time favorite because the story is hilarious and would hold up well today...not as a re-telling, but as a genuine remake almost word-for-word.
The story has tons of all the timeless qualities that would need no (or very little) changes: lots of physical comedy, crazy characters, and dark comedy in a light-hearted way. Some jokes would need to be modernized, though.
One change would probably be that a major character was an escaped convict who got plastic surgery to help change his identity, but the guy who did the surgery was drunk and made him look like Boris Karloff. Part of the joke was that Karloff played that roll in the original run on Broadway (but Karloff could not play that part in the movie due to contract disputes). Modernizing that joke/part with the modern version of that actor (whover that may be) would be necessary & hilarious.
Other than those, along with a couple of other minor tweaks to the script, I think this movie could be a huge hit in the mid-2020s, even if it's still set in the mid-1940s.
