BOOTLEG FILES 869: “Lulu” (1962 German drama starring Nadja Tiller and Hildegard Knef).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: On a public domain label that probably didn’t have the rights to the film.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the proverbial cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Unlikely.

Remaking classic films is almost always a surefire mistake, since cinematic lightning rarely strikes twice. But it is easy to understand the temptation of going that route. After all, audiences don’t have to be cajoled into considering an unknown quantity with a remake, and the new versions usually take advantage of presentation opportunities not present in the original production – think of silent films remade in the sound era, black-and-white works reimagined in widescreen color, racy offerings that could unveiled without censorship constraints, and old-school epics refashioned with cutting-edge special effects to make them even more epic in scope.
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