Emil and the Detectives
Where there’s a hit there’s a writ, as they say in the music biz. In other words, if you’re good someone will copy you. Emil and the Detectives was a huge success in Germany in 1931. In spite of the fact that this British version from 1935 is almost a shot-for-shot copy, no one sued. The reason is that distributor Gaumont stumped up money for the rights from UFA, the German studio that made it. Nowadays, the film is seen less as an example of a typical business practice of the time, and more as a harbinger of the later success of its writer, Billy Wilder. By the time this remake came out, … Read more
