You're quite right Pierre, "Last Holiday" isn't one of Sir Alec's
greatest films, although I must confess that I do have an enormous
affection for it, as it was, oddly enough, the film that really
sparked my interest in Sir Alec and his work. Like yourself, I take
comfort and harbour hopes that the original version of "Last Holiday"
will be released to coincide with the new film. After all, the
original version of "The Ladykillers" was released onto DVD to
coincide with the UK cinema release of the Coen Brothers remake...

Best wishes,

Louise.

--- In siralecguinness@yahoogroups.com, <pbellema@a...> wrote:
>
>
> On Tue, 26 Oct 2004, Louise Bell wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Another piece of rather worrying news...
> >
> >
> > Rappers LL COOL J and QUEEN LATIFAH are joining forces to remake a
> > classic ALEC GUINNESS comedy.
> >
> > The two stars have been cast in the modern adaptation of 1950
British
> > comedy LAST HOLIDAY.
> >
> > LL Cool J, real name JAMES TODD SMITH, will play an ex-convict who
> > has a secret crush on Latifah's character.
> >
> > The original film, which was written by JB PRIESTLEY, starred
> > Guinness as a clerk who discovers he only has months to live and
> > decides to take one last holiday, during which he's mistaken for
an
> > eccentric aristocrat.
> >
> > The new version will be directed by WAYNE WANG and Latifah, real
name
> > DANA OWENS, will play the dying clerk holidaying in Europe.
> >
> >
> > Is nothing sacred?
> >
> Nothing is, evidently! And this one is not merely a threat :
according to
> imdb, the project is actually in preproduction.
>
> Two remarks however...
>
> 1) LAST HOLIDAY is not, by any means, one of Sir Alec`s best. While
> certainly worth seeing (but mostly for his performance), the film,
yet to
> be released on DVD, has serious weaknesses, compared to most of the
other
> Ealing comedies.
>
> 2) There is a point with those so-called adaptations where they veer
away
> from the original so much that they are no longer offensive. A
"remake" in
> which the whole historical and social context is changed (a context
which
> accounts for much of the original`s charm), where the main
character is
> transformed from a thin white male into a not so thin black female,
etc.
> etc.is no longer a remake, but - at best - merely a film more or
less
> loosely based on the same "idea" as the original.
>
> Finally, like THE LADYKILLERS II, that film will probably be a dud!
>
> And who knows? Something good may come out of it, like the reissue
of the
> original in DVD format (and, if so, let them remake others!...
> especially the more obscure ones, like BARNACLE BILL, which I would
really
> like to have in that format)
>
> Pierre