[quote=@Vilageidiotx]
If it weren't for the Tom Cruise remake, would you have been more aware of the original? Or the radio broadcast that was based on for that matter?[/quote]

Possibly. You learn about the radio broadcast factoid in school or on the Internet. The latest popular version is then easier to find.

[quote]I don't know of any cases where there was a movie that was consider great, and then was made completely forgotten by a shitty remake. The only example I can think of off the top of my head where a remake might have tarnished the reputation of the original is the Wicker Man.
[/quote]

But a lot have been mostly forgotten. Give it a hundred years.