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Actually, I didn't much care for Here Comes Mr. Jordan, though I can't say if I wouldn't have liked it more if I weren't comparing it to a film I'd already liked.
Sure, there's no inherent devaluation in remakes, covers, revivals .... but the human analytical element of comparison almost always brought to bear cannot be disrergarded out of hand.
It happens all the times with books adapted to film. I usually loathe any movie where I've read the book first. The stereotype exists for a reason: the book's always better than the movie. Often - if I know there's a movie coming out based on a good book - I'll wait till the movie opens so's I can watch it first and then read the book. That way, I'm likely to enjoy both. The other way, I'll only enjoy one.
That value system of comparisons doesn't exist outside the human foible-ridden nature of man, but there it is. Knowing better doesn't seem to help much either, 'leastways not with me.
And N.A. was right earlier .... it's easy to be lax about cover songs: who cares about 3 minutes? But movies take up a couple of hours. And books! What if we had to deal with lousy book remakes?? What a waste of time that would be!
(and why is it that books aren't remade? Why only songs and movies and plays? I don't think I've come across too many re-written novels.)
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