What's the longest time between remakes? (1 Viewer)

[rich_d]

There was another post that was talking about long times original movies and their sequel.
That got me thinking about remakes. What is the longest span between Movie titles (i.e. remakes of the same name).
Nosferatu was pretty old but the earliest one that I could think of was "The Mummy" (1912) and The Mummy (1999).
O.k. movie experts ... what tops that?
Rich

 

[Robert Crawford]

Off the top of my head, how about "King Kong" originally made in 1933, and then the remake in 1976. I didn't count those Japanese films in which King Kong appeared with Godzilla and alike. Another candidate could be "High Noon" originally released in 1952 and remade for television in 2000. Again, I didn't count that Lee Majors television sequel.
By the way, "The Mummy" starring Boris Karloff was released in 1932. Of course, there's been several Mummy films over the years including Hammer's "The Mummy" released in the late 1950's.
Crawdaddy
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Peter Staddon: "I didn't say you can put 'Monkeybone' back!"

 

[Jason Seaver]

Thomas Edison's Frankenstein and Kenneth Branagh's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein? Though, thechnically, they're adaptations of the same source.
BTW, that 1912 The Mummy is listed as a comedy in the IMDB; Sommers's Mummy was a remake of the 1932 movie.

 

[Rob Willey]

Last of the Mohicans was a silent in the early 20's and then remade as a talkie in 1936. Remade by Michael Mann in the early 90's.
Rob
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"That suits me down to the ground."

 

[Steve_Ch]

According to the documentary that came with the Ben Hur DVD, the first Ben Hur movie was made around the turn of the century (don't remember the exact date, but it was silent and only about 15 minutes long, they did show some of that footage in the DVD). Again, according to the documentart, the Estate of the late Ben author sued for copyright violation and the case eventaully ended up in the US Supreme and the final judgement was for the Estate. That was supposed to be the first copyright violation case in the world.
In addition to the Mummy(s) and the Frankenstien(s), Vampire movies also had a long and distinguish history.

 

[Dave L]

There was a "Cleopatra" made in 1912. The 1963 version with Elizabeth Taylor was ostensibly because Fox had produced a Thed Bara version in 1917. There was also a 1934 version with Claudette Colbert. The recent version with Billy Zane and Timothy Dalton was for TV.
The 46 years between the two Twentieth Century Fox versions of "Cleopatra" tops the 34 years between the two MGM versions of "Ben Hur."

 

[Steve_Ch]

>>The 46 years between the two Twentieth Century Fox versions of "Cleopatra" tops the 34 years between the two MGM versions of "Ben Hur."

 

[Robert Crawford]

The first version of "Ben Hur" was filmed in 1907!
Crawdaddy
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Peter Staddon: "I didn't say you can put 'Monkeybone' back!"

 

[Dave L]

I realize there were versions of "Ben Hur" and even "Cleopatra" prior to those I used in my calculation. However, I was using only versions made by the same company. Just re-adapting a work previously made by others is, IMHO, not technically a remake. "The Talented Mr. Ripley" was not a remake of "Purple Noon," although both were adapted from the same book, 39 years apart.
MGM "remade" "Ben Hur" because, I believe, it owned the rights, ditto Fox and "Cleopatra," where the studio head dusted off a silent film treatment the studio made with Theda Bara and said remake it. Those earliest short silent versions were produced by other companies, since MGM and Fox didn't exist then. I believe the earliest "Ben Hur" was a film of the stage production, so even the 1925 film was not technically a remake of it since it went back to the original book source.
"Mutiny of the Bounty," however, was another true remake. MGM had the book rights and made the film in both 1935 and 1962, a 27 year gap. I would say that "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" made in both 1939 and 1969, a 30 year lag, also qualify, even though the remake added music. MGM seems like they were the champs at recycling the material they owned.
[Edited last by Dave L on November 07, 2001 at 07:20 AM]

 

[Steve_Ch]

Understood, Dave. Somehow, the chance of another Ben Hur remake (MGM or otherwise) seemed slim at best, and I think as time goes on, the "longest between original and remake" title, will no doubt go to the Mummy, Frankenstein or Dracula types of movie.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Little Nemo (1911)
and
the 1991 feature length movie (forgot the title)
80 years.