Loved this film. Saw the remake first and found it over long, boring and doris day frankly embaressing - whenever she started that singing I prayed for someone to shoot her (in the film of course, not in real life :-))
Whereas this was very original, quirky, fun, surprising, even today.
Remake was technically better perhaps, but does that on its own really count for much in cinema?
Doris Day´s indeed the worst thing about the remake; generally though the acting in the 1956 film is somewhat better. And yes, being "technically better" does count for quite a bit - why shouldn´t it? The original has its charms - mostly the humor the remake lacks - but it´s also less sinister and suspenseful (the opera house sequences don´t really even compare) and the final shootout is very poorly handled, not to mention it´s become to look utterly cliched after decades upon decades of films ending in a shootouts. Overall, I do think the original ranks a notch below the remake.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
Well I can't say I agree with any of you opinions on these films.
The remake was dull, flat, cheesy and forgetable. Amaturish actually. By which I mean it was like a typical remake by a Hollywood hack with a big budget whereas the original was like a low budget independant from a talented director.
Which is what I meant by, does "technically better" really count for much.
Probably I used the wrong term, since by "technically better" I was referring not to directing or editing skills, which I'd say were noticably better in the original, but to easy things, like the remake had the advantage of more modern cameras and sound recording equipment.
The 1956 film is far from Hitchcock´s best work, but I don´t think any of his later period movies can be described as "amateurish". It´s certainly much better paced and more atmospheric than the generally crude original - which he might have as well made a straight comedy because there was hardly any genuine suspense in sight at all.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
Many of his later films were poorer than his earlier work IMO. Was Torn Curtain a great film?
I found the remake of TMWKTM much inferior. The set piece at the albert hall in the second one was handled very poorly compared to the earlier version. Doris Day was laughable in this sequence, the direction much inferior.
When I said the second film was better technically I should have said 'higher production value', which is what I meant and is obviously not the same thing. This was the only superior aspect to it.
Just as Hitch's 39 Steps ranks head and shoulders above all the vastly inferior versions which followed it.
So OK you have a different opinion, you obviously value production value more than other factors. For me the remake offers very few reasons to rewatch it, or even watch it once.
But you're welcome to your opinion :-)
I never said all his later films were great - and Torn Curtain in particular is one of his weakest efforts, on a certain level almost like some understudy imitating Hitchcock.
And how, from anything I wrote, is it "obvious" that I "value production value more than other factors"? I made it perfectly clear why, in my opinion, the original doesn´t work as well as it should - the lack of suspense in all but a few scenes, the largely inferior acting, the concert hall set piece that should have been drawn out more elaborately, the final shootout that looked kinda silly and poorly edited...
All of which isn´t to say it´s a bad film, exactly - and I don´t think it´s ´that´ much worse than the remake, either.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
I found this film much better than the remake. It was brief and to the point without laboured explanations or needlessly dramatic scenes. i thought this one was darker too and has the benefits of Peter Lorre, though he wasn't as present as I hoped.
A bird sings and the mountain's silence deepens.share
It may be brief but it is poorly edited/paced. It failed to draw me in properly and soon after they got back to London my mind started to wander. There are good things in here but I'm not convinced they really work together as a whole.
I can't comment on the remake. I haven't seen it for 20+ years.