During recent months, all studios have announced a long series of remade pictures—about three times more than they've dared attempt in previous seasons. A few will carry original titles and will be plainly advertised as remakes. But the vast majority will go out to the public disguised under new titles.
With dozens of the finest writers in the world under contract and ling away their time awaiting assignments that never seem to come, Hollywood always seems to resort to the remake in a tight spot. There are scores of works on the shelves of each studio that are considered "standard" for periodical revisions. Some have gone before the cameras three and even four times. Among the latter are such weather-beaten epics as "Within the Law, "Huckleberry Finn; Sawyer," "The Cat and the Canary," "The Three Musketeers" and "The Gorilla."
RKO has just completed "The Girl and the Gambler," which audiences have seen in the past as "The Dove." Only a few stray situations were changed. The old film "The Girl From Havana" has become "The Girl From Mexico." practically the same except for its change of locale. Warners expect to come out soon with "The Drug King," to be carved directly from "The Match King" of several years back. "The Roaring Road," which once served Wallace Reid, has been turned into, "The Crowd Roars."
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