And The Film Gods Smile: Warners Hesitates to Greenlight A Remake of "The Thin Man"

It's bad enough when Hollywood rakes over the old coals in an effort for a new idea. But how many times should a studio ruin a perfect classic by remaking it?  Peter Jackson learned the hard way not to monkey around with King Kong.  Meg Ryan probably fired her agent (or should have) after co-starring in the dismal remake of The Women.

Thankfully, Warners is putting a hold on a projected remake of The Thin Man, starring Johnny Depp and to be directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago, Nine).  The budget was apparently over $100 million to start...and Nora Charles hadn't even been cast yet! 

Warners may be scared by the lukewarm response to Dark Shadows, Depp's current flop for the studio. (Luckily, director Marshall is moving on to a project better suited for his tastes: an adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Into The Woods.)

The Thin Man is the classic M-G-M series starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as a former detective and his society wife who keep getting mixed up in murder.  The first one, shot in only 13 days, set a standard for sophisticated sleuthing that lasts to this day (see any episode of Hart to Hart for its influence).

Sometimes there is no need to remake a classic.  The Thin Man still stands on its own.  To update it would take it out of the 1930s, where it worked so well.  And as for "sophistication," well, I like Johnny Depp.  But that isn't the first word I think of when I watch him on screen.

Can you think of any other ill-fated remakes that should have been left undone?  Ones that pop into my mind: the painful Streisand remake of A Star Is Born.  The new Total Recall.  The horrible remake of The Stepford Wives.  Feel free to add to my list.

To order the full Thin Man series on DVD: