Films MGM could’ve remade in the early 60s instead of the ones they did

 After Ben Hur MGM went on a remake kick. Not surprising considering the success of Ben Hur.

Their choices sunk the studio
- Cimarron
- Mutiny on the Bounty
- Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Also throw in Jumbo.
 

Okay trying not to be too wise in hindsight but... all the remakes made sense. Big screen and colour worked on all.

Mutiny on the Bounty especially. Shot in Tahiti. Gorgeous.

Where the studio really stuffed up with that one? They went into production without a fixed script and a star who overpowered the director. They really just needed to shoot the 1935 script. Update it a little. But it was involving water and going to Tahiti. They needed calm heads. People good on location. Not to make a masterpiece. Just to get spectacle. They should’ve cast Charlton Heston or Burt Lancaster or Kirk Douglas. A little bit of a diva but basically pros.

Cimarron had the right male star and director. But problem - it’s a woman’s story. They gave the female lead to Maria Schell - but then geared the film to Glenn Ford. They needed to have a matching female star, Elizabeth Taylor would’ve been ideal but if not her then I don’t know Debbie Reynolds. Make it more about her. Tell the story of her falling for Ford and so on.

Four Horsemen was the most obvious misfire. Update to WW2 - why? That not fatal but... Glenn Ford killed it. And female stars. Needed to be sexy. Sexless director. Incidentally, this didn’t need to be a big spectacle.

Other flops.
- Wonderful World of Brothers Grimm. Charming film. But dull, dull brothers. Just needed to tell fairytales. Not the dull brothers. Just too much money spent. Blown up too much.
- Billy Rose’s Jumbo. Great star and ideal director. Lost heaps. Musical possibly too old.
 

What else could they have remade from the MGM library? As in, a big budget spectacle
- Tale of Two Cities? Yes but the Brits did it in 1958.
- Marie Antoinette? Yes, but only if right star... Elizabeth Taylor or nothing.
- Gone with the Wind? No point. Same with Wizard of Oz.
- San Francisco? Yes!! Colour, better effects. No Gable but... you could do Glenn Ford.
- The Good Earth? No. Too problematic. Needed genuine Chinese actors by the 960s.
- The Big Parade? Interesting. A big hit. But public more war weary in 1925 than 1960?
- The Birth of a Nation? No!
- The Thief of Badgad? Yes. If they’d gotten the rights. They could’ve done big Robin Hood too.
- The Scarlet Letter? Too depressing.