Seeds | In Defense Of Remakes

Story by Greg Bright 

| Published Sep 6, 2011

McG to remake Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece “Dial M for Murder.”

In many ways this remake is one of the most depressing things I’ve heard in a long time. Joseph McGinty Nichol (better known just as McG) is a director whose talent is so inferior to Alfred Hitchcock’s that to compare the two would be nothing short of an insult to the latter. Hitchcock made more masterpieces than McG has made films (and we won’t even delve into just how bad McG’s films have been).

So why, after all this, am I inclined to defend remakes? Because the power of film enables a single story to be told hundreds of different ways. The 1954 version of “Dial M for Murder” was a perfect example of Hitchcockian cinema; an ice-cold blonde, subjective camera shots, and beautifully melodramatic music. Yet there is no reason why the same story couldn’t be a perfect example of McG-style cinema, whatever that may be.

The movie industry holds unlimited potential for the artist. Each cinematic artist may elect to play the characters differently, plot different camera angles, or change set designs. Hollywood could green-light ten different remakes of “Dial M for Murder” and no two would look even close to one another, because the power of the cinema is endless.

Now, this isn’t to say McG’s version will be anywhere near as good as Hitchcock’s. It can’t be. Hitchcock’s resumé was far more extensive, and indeed more impressive, than Mc’s will ever be. However, that doesn’t mean McG should be barred from remaking “Dial M for Murder,” because every artist has something to express, something to get off their chest, some style to employ, and if we don’t explore the endless possibilities of what film can be, both good and bad, then we aren’t doing the medium justice. So let him remake the film, and let the audience decide if they want to remember it alongside the Hitchcock version or let it be forgotten like thousands of others.