By all means, go ahead and vidi the 1937 version with Sir Cedric Hardwicke (before his title), and Paul Robson.
Exteriors filmed on location (without sound, dubbed in during post production), the battle scenes are impressive, if only for the sheer number of extras hired locally.
But, for me, the film was a great letdown for all of its positives. Paul Robson, a fine actor and one of the greatest singers of the 20th Century, steals the show, but not in the way I most wanted him to.
He sings.
Which would be fine in concert, but here his songs (pseudo-spirituals) are so frequent and not plot developing, it's as if the rest of the cast thought they were making an adventure film, but he thought it was a musical. This makes the final product seem like a bizarre graft of the two types.
Yeah, I was disappointed.
Watch it for your full appreciation of the original material, but I think you'll quickly go back to the 1950 version.
As for the 1985 version--it was the only movie I ever paid to see which after the first 15 minutes or so, I asked the lady I was with if she wanted to leave. She said, "No. It might get better."
It didn't. That version has likely killed any chance of there being any new versions for the foreseeable future.
TVAG
does a mash-up and gets a sci-fi command vehicle.
