I loved it too, but I was wondering if a remake would be worth the effort or if it is one of those movies that is a classic and should never be touched? Lifetime has been doing a lot of remakes. Despite top-notch casting, Beaches was not well-received and probably should not have been remade because the original was too perfect. The same is probably true here. Flowers in the Attic was better because the classic book has never seemed quite right on film, imho. There is also the expanded remake where a movie is turned into a 4 to 6 hour mini-series. That might work here where we could see more and appreciate it as a different project. Did McKenna ever find another love that would provide some happiness until Richard is born and she starts to prompt him to try to move through time? Did she have children? Did she make other attempts to contact Richard when he was younger or was the start of his professional career the only way she could find him? Would the internet and cellphones change the limited part of the story in "present day"?

I don't think McKenna found another love because I presumed that she ended up living permanently at the Grand Hotel.

I don't think she would have looked for Richard because she would have had no idea what had happened to him when he disappeared right before her eyes, after all it was the early 1900s. Then did find him when discovering maybe flyers or advertising of the opening night of his first play at Millfield College which was close to the hotel.

I can't imagine a remake for this. But that's just my opinion. I just loved Christopher Reeve in this and can't see anyone else playing the role same with Jane Seymour.

The movie was basically a period piece and don't believe it would work in present day as it was a beautiful, quite innocent love story. Present day it would have graphic sex and other stuff included which is what they do with movies these days sadly, and that would seriously ruin the story. And honestly how could they possibly improve a music score that was just so perfect for this movie.

I didn't know there was a remake of Beaches. I wouldn't have watched it anyway mainly because I cried so much in the original...

I'm trying to remember one remake that is better than the original. Can't remember coming across one yet.

Definitely no remake for Somewhere In Time. It' s perfect as it is

I like the idea that a remake can be better than the original, but it is rare. Something like Pride and Prejudice which they seem to remake every 5 years can have better versions. I prefer the Keira Knightley version to the Greer Garson version but that is probably biased by my lack of interest in black and white. Also, Newsies like Hairspray was a film, then a musical. For Newsies, I like the musical much better because they really tightened the story by making the love interest Pulitzer's daughter instead of a random girl.

They've made some really bad bad remakes. Mildred Pierce is the first one that comes to mind.

Right, remakes are generally so terrible and such hacks that they should have been banned from the start with rare exception.

And you just cannot improve on

• Christopher Reeve as Richard Collier
• Jane Seymour as Elise McKenna
• Christopher Plummer as William Fawcett Robinson
• Teresa Wright as Laura Roberts
• Bill Erwin as Arthur Biehl

With such an outstanding cast of five fine outstanding talents, what's not to like, right?

You just cannot toss this one aside without feeling affection for someone in that bunch.

@TrentTX : You say "Did McKenna ever find another love that would provide some happiness until Richard is born and she starts to prompt him to try to move through time? Did she have children? Did she make other attempts to contact Richard when he was younger or was the start of his professional career the only way she could find him?"

I believe that McKenna never had other loves, it was confirmed when Richard Collier, during his stay at the Grand Hotel in 1980, knocked on the door of the landlady and friend of McKenna: he entered, looked at the photos and this friend told him "she was a joyful person but after her performance at the theater near the lake in 1912 she was never the same again. She became sad and different all the life that followed. It must have happened something of which I do not know the cause". So it seems to me that McKenna was left alone, with no other love, no children. She found Richard Collier through the theater program that announced his play, because he had told her in 1912 that he wrote plays. This film is magnificent with this soundtrack by Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on A Theme by Paganini, Op. 43 Variation 18. Just hear the theme there An absolutely successful romance. Excuse my weird English, I use Google translate.

Has anyone watched this recently? If so, does it still stand up or is it one of those ones best left as a wonderful memory?

I ask because I've been watching Jane Seymour in Harry Wild recently, which prompted me to track down a copy of the unofficial sequel/prequel "Memoirs of Elise" and have been wallowing in John Barry's incredible score which definitely still stands up. I'm tempted to give it a rewatch but don't want it to be one of those that I'm not so impressed with in 2025.

@M.LeMarchand I haven't watched it recently, but I remember watching it during my cynical phase, expecting to laugh at it & find it sappy, but I was surprised that it's well done. Yes it's sentimental like all love stories, but there's something about it that feels rooted rather than flaky. I think it might be Christopher Reeve's lowkey performance; he doesn't go for melodrama but instead plays it almost like a cynic himself, like he doesn't believe what's happening is real. There's almost a smirk on his face. And that makes the payoff even more powerful. Jane Seymour herself is perfect. She seems born to play a role like this. In other words, I think the acting will stand the test of time.

Thanks for the thoughts. I've seen it at least 3 times (theatrical, VHS and DVD) and was recently tempted by a £3 offer on Apple but decided to be good as I have a growing virtual library of films I felt worth buying so that I can save shelf space on the DVD/Blu-Ray... that I have never watched. It's on Prime, so I just need to convince my wife who enjoyed it, but not nearly as much as me. We might have to do a trade off and I'll watch one I'm not keen on but she is.

As well as your thoughts, rewatching the "man of my dreams" scene convinced me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c87niQNda-o

@M.LeMarchand said:

Thanks for the thoughts. I've seen it at least 3 times (theatrical, VHS and DVD) and was recently tempted by a £3 offer on Apple but decided to be good as I have a growing virtual library of films I felt worth buying so that I can save shelf space on the DVD/Blu-Ray... that I have never watched. It's on Prime, so I just need to convince my wife who enjoyed it, but not nearly as much as me. We might have to do a trade off and I'll watch one I'm not keen on but she is.

As well as your thoughts, rewatching the "man of my dreams" scene convinced me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c87niQNda-o

omg what a great scene, I'd forgotten it completely! Even the camera work is very subtle and clever... Notice how all her shots are from below, as if we're in the audience separated from her by the stage, but her final line "I love you" is shot from eye level, so we feel it as if we're right in front of her. I'm sold as well.

I just noticed that Kino had announced a 4k remaster due early 2025 ...I don't think it's out yet. Is the Prime version 4k?

@rooprect said:

omg what a great scene, I'd forgotten it completely! Even the camera work is very subtle and clever... Notice how all her shots are from below, as if we're in the audience separated from her by the stage, but her final line "I love you" is shot from eye level, so we feel it as if we're right in front of her. I'm sold as well.

I just noticed that Kino had announced a 4k remaster due early 2025 ...I don't think it's out yet. Is the Prime version 4k?

I love the way Elise changes from "stage" acting to something more intimate when she begins her speech. Maybe Christopher Reeve gave her some tips on how to transform yourself on camera? It's a shame that in everything else I've seen her in Jane Seymour rarely gets a chance to show such acting. It's also a shame that Jeannot Szwarc never got a chance to develop as a director as, after a few less than successful movies, he had to head back to TV.

There was a link in the comments on the page about the 4k that had some interesting stuff about the colour in the film: https://medium.com/@mysteriosofellini/somewhere-in-time-blu-ray-color-transfer-a9bbe2e9358a . I can't put my hands on my DVD, though can't remember it being bad, and I probably can't check the quality of the Prime stream until the weekend (lots on at home) but I'm a bit worried about what it will look like. At least it won't cost any extra to check. It's not 4k and neither is the Apple offering. Apple do seem to be quite good about upgrading you to 4k if they start offering it on a movie rather than forcing you to double dip, at least.

For anyone interested, the Prime stream seems to be based on the DVD master. Colours aren't perfect, but the don't have a yellow tinge.

@M.LeMarchand said:

@rooprect said:

omg what a great scene, I'd forgotten it completely! Even the camera work is very subtle and clever... Notice how all her shots are from below, as if we're in the audience separated from her by the stage, but her final line "I love you" is shot from eye level, so we feel it as if we're right in front of her. I'm sold as well.

I just noticed that Kino had announced a 4k remaster due early 2025 ...I don't think it's out yet. Is the Prime version 4k?

I love the way Elise changes from "stage" acting to something more intimate when she begins her speech. Maybe Christopher Reeve gave her some tips on how to transform yourself on camera? It's a shame that in everything else I've seen her in Jane Seymour rarely gets a chance to show such acting. It's also a shame that Jeannot Szwarc never got a chance to develop as a director as, after a few less than successful movies, he had to head back to TV.

There was a link in the comments on the page about the 4k that had some interesting stuff about the colour in the film: https://medium.com/@mysteriosofellini/somewhere-in-time-blu-ray-color-transfer-a9bbe2e9358a . I can't put my hands on my DVD, though can't remember it being bad, and I probably can't check the quality of the Prime stream until the weekend (lots on at home) but I'm a bit worried about what it will look like. At least it won't cost any extra to check. It's not 4k and neither is the Apple offering. Apple do seem to be quite good about upgrading you to 4k if they start offering it on a movie rather than forcing you to double dip, at least.

Quite an interesting read about the colors! Usually color grading complaints are of such a subtle nature that I can't tell the difference, but the person who wrote that really did their homework, dug up an original 35mm print for comparison & also got some great quotes from Szwarc. I think it's really cool that he chose to show the past in bold French Impressionist colors rather than the cliché of b&w or the equally uninspired sepia. I hope Kino took notice and gave us the look that Szwarc intended... That would make it a total buy for me.

From the DVD caps it looks like that's not a bad compromise. So if the streaming version is based on that, and I assume they upscaled it to 1080p, I'd say they did it justice for now. But the suspense is killing me on that 4k remaster. I hope Kino doesn't let us down!