# First Film Remake?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-film-remake/217428
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 6, 2003, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-film-remake/217428 "2003-12-06T20:37:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@myles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myles)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-film-remake/217428/1 "2003-12-06T20:37:24Z")
What was the first film remake?
The earliest I can think of is Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein from 1931, which can be seen as a remake of Thomas Edison’s 1910 film Frankenstein. But there must have been earlier remakes, what were they?
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### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-film-remake/217428/2 "2003-12-06T22:16:10Z")
Well, there was a 1911 _Richard III_ that might be seen as a remake of the 1908 one. And I doubt that’s even the earliest example…
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-film-remake/217428/3 "2003-12-06T22:54:20Z")
[The Kiss](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0139738/) was first made in 1896, starring May Irwin and John C. Rice. It proved so popular that the producer (Thomas Edison) made two further versions
Over in England, Cecil Hepworth had to make several versions of [Rescued by Rover](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0000498/) (1905), as it too proved so popular that the negative wore out.
I woild give more details, but IMDB just told me that “There have been an unusually high number of pages requested by you (or from your organization’s web proxy). If you’ve just been heavily browsing, please take a break before continuing.”
Bitches.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-film-remake/217428/4 "2003-12-06T23:48:50Z")
The IMDb makes a distinction between “versions” and “remakes”. “Versions” are two different movies based on the same literary property. “Remakes” are when the original screenplay of a movie is reused by a subsequent movie, for example, the original screenplay _A Star Is Born_ (1937)\* is remade in 1954, or the original screenplay _King Kong_ is remade in 1976.
So **myles** – are you talking about “versions” or “remakes”?
- No, this was not a remake of _What Price, Hollywood?_ (1932), although it has similar plot elements.
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-film-remake/217428/5 "2003-12-07T01:04:03Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Walloon \*
> \*\*The IMDb makes a distinction between “versions” and “remakes”. “Versions” are two different movies based on the same literary property. “Remakes” are when the original screenplay of a movie is reused by a subsequent movie, for example, the original screenplay \*\*
I wonder where _The Kiss_ would fall? It’s from the play _The Widow Jones_, and consists of, well, two people kissing for about 15 seconds.
By the way, you can see it [here](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/papr:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(edmp+4038))+@field(COLLID+edison)))!
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-film-remake/217428/6 "2003-12-07T01:58:07Z")
In 1904 the film company S. Lubin filmed an unauthorized, scene-for-scene remake of Edison’s big hit _The Great Train Robbery_ (1903). Until U.S. copyright law was modified in 1912 to acknowledge photoplays, such blatant ripoffs were possible.