TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[bluepiano]

I wish I could love Remember the Night as much as you all do. Stanwyck and MacMurray are both aces in it, certainly. But the mixtures of genres/moods doesn't work for me (as it doesn't in some other Preston Sturges scripts, and I know it's sort of his specialty, but I prefer his movies in which one affect dominates).

 

I understand this point of view, but for me, the acting brilliance of Barbara Stanwyck holds it all together. Because whatever the mood of the scene, whether comedy, drama, or sentimentality, she is always believable and completely in character. I'm not sure if there was ever another performer who could do the same sort of thing as well. (Maybe Cary Grant? Today TCM showed Penny Serenade, which for me would be an unwatchable piece of emotionally manipulative dreck without Cary's acting integrity).

 

It warms my heart to read all the accolades for Preston Sturges, one of the greatest and most unique talents to ever grace the American cinema. It shocks and saddens me when from time to time I talk to young people who claim to be serious students of film but who have never head of him. (They admire "Brother Where Art Thou" but have no idea where the title reference comes from.)

 

Not long ago I started a thread about performers who were stars in their time but are now generally forgotten. TCM just showed a Wheeler-Woolsey film "Nitwits." Does anyone today remember the 1930s movie team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey? Yet they made about 20 movies together within a short span of years (Woolsey died in 1938) and their popularity and box office numbers were comparable to those of contemporaries like The Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy.

Edited December 19, 2015 by bluepiano

[Spunkygal]

Currently watching all three funny hours of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and its cast of thousands. It's so difficult to name my favorite in this movie...Jonathan Winters, Phil Silvers, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar and the underrated Dick Shawn! And it was made back in the day when the $350,000 buried treasure was a lot of money in moviedom. Several of my classic movie friends don't care for this movie, but I love it. Love its innocent humor and gags.

[bluepiano]

And it was made back in the day when the $350,000 buried treasure was a lot of money in moviedom.

 

Similarly, back in 1963 IAMMMMW was considered a huge, extravagant production, but IMDB gives its estimated budget as 9.4 million. Today there are 60 second commercials with bigger budgets. I figure that to update to current standards, multiply by 20, which makes the 350k they're fighting over a prize of 7 million dollars. (More understandable they'd be willing to risk their lives in its pursuit). 

 

I learned something new today. Watching the scene in which Sylvester (Dick Shawn) does that kind of slo-mo, beatnik jazz dance with his girlfriend, I got curious about the woman and went to IMDB. Turns out that it's Barrie Chase, a legendary dancer with a huge number of movie and TV credits. She's perhaps best remembered for being Fred Astaire's partner in a couple of TV specials. So it's cool that pretty much every body who appears in this movie is "somebody."

Edited December 19, 2015 by bluepiano

[Spunkygal]

Bluepiano, I had never thought to look at the beatnik girlfriend on IMDB and she was in several movies I've seen. I was interested to learn that she was the ditzy blonde, Doris, who Vera Ellen and Danny Kaye try to fix up with Bing in White Christmas. "Never so much as kiss my foot or have an apple!" "Mutual, I'm sure!"

Back to IAMMMMW, I love that beatnik twist scene. And though I've seen it hundreds of times, Sylvester crying on his way to help Mama gets me every time!

[bluepiano]

Spunkygal, likewise I've seen that movie (and that scene) many times, but for some reason today was the first time I ever thought to find out if the woman was "somebody." I guess because it struck me as really funny, the way she dances with absolutely no expression.

 

Many times you look up somebody who plays a small part and they have no other, or very minimal, credits. So I was surprised to see the name Barrie Chase.

 

Dick Shawn always cracks me up.

Edited December 20, 2015 by bluepiano

[Rinaldo]

Yes, on my last viewing of IAMMMMW, I was following along with IMDb so as not to miss any cameos, and I noticed that that was Barrie Chase.

 

It says something that after the end of the series with Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire was determined not to form a predictable partnership with a dancer ever again, and mostly made no more than one movie with any female partner. In four cases -- Rita Hayworth, Lucille Bremer (if the Ziegfeld Follies number counts), Vera-Ellen, and Cyd Charisse -- he allowed two. But with Barrie Chase he made four TV specials.

[prican58]

Did a very quick Wiki search on Vera-Ellen (mom and I were watching That's Entertainment III) and was kind of interested to see (assuming the Wiki info was correct) that she was viewed by those in the business to be extremely exacting in her dancing, much like Astaire and one of the very best dancers. 

 

I looked her up because we didn't know if she was still living. She died at 60 years of age in 1981 of cancer but she suffered from anorexia back in the 50's which was interesting because my mom said during one of the dancing clips (forget which one) that she looked rather heavy, comparatively speaking. She also lost a daughter to SIDS. Very sad life, it seems to me and she probably should be better remembered.

[Rinaldo]

That's interesting, and yes she certainly had sadness in her life. However, I would mention that although it's widely been repeated online that she suffered from anorexia, to the point of being accepted as fact sometimes, this seems to remain in the area of speculation. Some who knew her dispute it. I certainly don't know one way or the other.

 

Her actual singing voice can be heard on the cast recording of the mid-40s stage revival of Rodgers & Hart's A Connecticut Yankee. In all her movies her singing was dubbed; apparently her rough, loud singing wasn't considered suitable onscreen. 

[Inquisitionist]

When I saw a theater showing of White Christmas a few years ago, I thought anorexia upon seeing how very thin Vera-Ellen was.  Some terrific dancing here, but her legs are like sticks.

[prican58]

I just got back from seeing Miracle On 34th Street on the big screen. It was a pretty good turn out even though it was in one of the larger screening rooms of the multiplex. I only saw one little kid about 8 or so and most of the folks were no older than middle age (whatever that means these days). 

 

While I obviously enjoyed the viewing I was not impressed with the print. I'm pretty sure this movie hasn't been restored but it was pretty dark. I suppose I was expecting vivid black and white but t'was not the case. Also, it didn't fit the screen, as if it were letter boxed but on the left and right not the top and bottom.

I am happy to have gone. I love that movie.

 

In keeping with the Maureen O'Hara theme, How Green Was My Valley is on now on TCM. Roddy McDowall or Master Roddy McDowall as he is credited, is just so adorably captivating as Hugh.  

[Milburn Stone]

When I saw a theater showing of White Christmas a few years ago, I thought anorexia upon seeing how very thin Vera-Ellen was.  Some terrific dancing here, but her legs are like sticks.

 

A considerable part of the reason her legs look like sticks in that clip is that the image has been compressed horizontally from the original VistaVision. (Squashed in from both sides.) Even Orson Welles would look svelte when given this treatment. She was thin--with an incredibly small waist--but not as thin as she looks here.

Edited December 20, 2015 by Milburn Stone

[Inquisitionist]

A considerable part of the reason her legs look like sticks in that clip is that the image has been compressed horizontally from the original VistaVision. (Squashed in from both sides.)

 

Thanks.  While I'm sure that has an effect, I'm not sure it's "considerable."  She looked pretty damned thin on-screen, too.

[prican58]

TCM and Fathom events will be showing in  2016, The Ten Commandments, On the Waterfront, The King and I and Maltese Falcon on the big screen.

Needless to say I will be there for each one. 

[elle]

TCM and Fathom events will be showing in  2016, The Ten Commandments, On the Waterfront, The King and I and Maltese Falcon on the big screen.

Needless to say I will be there for each one. 

Thanks!  I will have to keep an eye on my local theaters to see when they come out.

 

 

Born to Dance is on now - Eleanor Powell dancing and dancing with Jimmy Stewart, of whom it was said he danced well.  Jimmy singing...well....

[Rinaldo]

Oh, let's not rag on Jimmy's singing too much. We've all heard worse. Good pitch, good rhythm, even if the microphone must have been halfway down his throat to pick up that little wisp of sound. Meanwhile I'm puzzled that Eleanor's voice double sounds so pretty in "Easy To Love" after being so blah in "Rap Tap on Wood."

 

And I was impressed that Stewart could pull off even two seconds of tap alongside Eleanor Powell and not look like an idiot.

 

I'm more nonplussed (never having seen the movie complete before) by this whole elaborate operetta-style welcoming of Virginia Bruce on board. I thought we were into plain swing-style isolated songs by this time.

 

I was also momentarily startled by Una Merkel's story of how her baby's father "doesn't know." I thought unwed motherhood was verboten in that era. Turns out I was right, and it was a hasty wartime marriage before he shipped out.

Edited December 21, 2015 by Rinaldo

[Charlie Baker]

Jimmy Stewart denigrates his own singing in one of That's Entertainment movies, as I recall, and praises Cary Grant's in a segment about how MGM put everyone in musicals.  "Easy to Love" is kind of rangy, and I think he handled it pretty well. The movie's a hoot, and I won't pass up a chance to see Ms. Powell tapping away.

[Sharpie66]

Maltese Falcon on the big screen? I will definitely be looking for that one! Thanks for letting us know!

[prican58]

Say no more, fellow old movie fans. Here is a link for what will be showing.

 

http://www.tcm.com/fathom/

 

Does anyone know  if Commandments  and King and I have been restored? Seriously, if Commandments has been restored it would be a complete blast. The Fx are cheesy but if tidied up they could still impress.  

Edited December 22, 2015 by prican58

[bluepiano]

When watching the annual TCM video montage of people who have died in the preceding year, I'm always surprised to see a few people who have been out of the limelight for so long that I think, wow, I never imagined that they actually were still alive.

 

One that really struck me in this years' video was Lizabeth Scott. Probably because she is so identified with film noir of the '40s and '50s, an era that seems so long in the past. She was one of my favorite film noir femme fatales, with striking looks and that distinctive deep voice. She more than held her own with Bogart in Dead Reckoning, and was often the best thing in her movies, like the otherwise humdrum Pitfall with Dick Powell.

 

I have read that magazine stories alleging she was a lesbian (despite two marriages to men) hurt her career. Not sure if that's true, or if she intentionally walked away from movies as she was getting up into her 30s, in an era when "older women" often had trouble getting parts. I believe that she later focused on singing, and actually recorded an album. I imagine that with that smoky voice she was quite an effective singer of jazzy torch songs.

Edited December 22, 2015 by bluepiano

[Milburn Stone]

Thanks.  While I'm sure that has an effect, I'm not sure it's "considerable."  She looked pretty damned thin on-screen, too.

 

To move it from the subjective to the mathematical, the horizontal compression going from VistaVision to 4:3 (the SD ratio in which that White Christmas clip displays on YouTube) is roughly 25%. So Vera-Ellen appears 25% thinner in the YouTube clip than she actually did in the film or real life. No argument that she was very thin in real life (as I said in my first post), but in my book 25% thinner adds up to "considerable." YMMV.

Edited December 22, 2015 by Milburn Stone

[Charlie Baker]

Tina Fey is guest programmer for tonight's slate: Desk Set, My Favorite Wife, Goodbye Girl, That's Entertainment (which she says in a promo was the first movie she saw in a theater).

 

And Hitchcock all day today.

[voiceover]

I stayed up to watch Sheila Levine is Dead & Living in New York.  I have vague memories of a forensics tournament in the 70s where some girl did a clip from the book, so I tuned in for nostalgia's sake.  

Yechhhhhhh.  Definitely splashing in the shallow end of the pretentious art-y pool that was peculiar to some New York 70s films.

Except for Roy Scheider! who was more beautiful in this film than any other I've seen him in.  Plus he says all manner of perfect things to the heroine at the end.

[Julia]

Tina Fey is guest programmer for tonight's slate: Desk Set, My Favorite Wife, Goodbye Girl, That's Entertainment (which she says in a promo was the first movie she saw in a theater).

 

Bless you. My beleaguered husband, who is mildly less obsessive about this than I am, begged off, but I had enough warning to DVR.

And Hitchcock all day today.

  

I stayed up to watch Sheila Levine is Dead & Living in New York.  I have vague memories of a forensics tournament in the 70s where some girl did a clip from the book, so I tuned in for nostalgia's sake.  

Yechhhhhhh.  Definitely splashing in the shallow end of the pretentious art-y pool that was peculiar to some New York 70s films.

Except for Roy Scheider! who was more beautiful in this film than any other I've seen him in.  Plus he says all manner of perfect things to the heroine at the end.

He was, wasn't he.

And in fairness to all the pretentious assholes in that long ago Manhattan, the president of the United States appeared to be running for office on a platform of telling us to go to hell.

[ratgirlagogo]

New York in the seventies!  

          OH! pleasant exercise of hope and joy!

          For mighty were the auxiliars which then stood
          Upon our side, we who were strong in love!
          Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
          But to be young was very heaven!

[Julia]

Oh, Robert Osborne, why are you being mean to Desk Set? I think Sea of Grass, Without Love, Keeper of the Flame, and arguably (leaving aside its importance as a historical document) Guess Who's Coming to Dinner are less good Hepburn/Tracy movies, and I'd entertain an argument against State of the Union, although it might win. That's at least fifth out of nine.

Edited December 23, 2015 by Julia

[Milburn Stone]

Oh, Robert Osborne, why are you being mean to Desk Set? I think Sea of Grass, Without Love, Keeper of the Flame, and arguably (leaving aside its importance as a historical document) Guess Who's Coming to Dinner are less good Hepburn/Tracy movies, and I'd entertain an argument against State of the Union, although it might win. That's at least fifth out of nine.

 

What, in a nutshell, did he say? That it's "stagebound" or something? (That'd be my guess, since it takes place practically entirely on one lateral set with no depth.) I agree with you--it's charming and witty. 

[Julia]

What, in a nutshell, did he say? That it's "stagebound" or something? (That'd be my guess, since it takes place practically entirely on one lateral set with no depth.) I agree with you--it's charming and witty. 

 

He said he was surprised Tina Fey chose it, because he thought it was one of their worst movies. 

[elle]

He said he was surprised Tina Fey chose it, because he thought it was one of their worst movies. 

What was her reason?  (sorry, basically asking you to recap the talk)  :0)

[henrysmom]

I'm a little shocked Mr. Osbourne didn't like Desk Set.  I think that is my favorite Tracy/Hepburn movie.

Edited December 23, 2015 by henrysmom

[Milburn Stone]

I'm a little shocked Mr. Osbourne didn't like Desk Set.  I think that is my favorite Tracy/Hepburn movie.

 

 

Maybe he was once jilted by a network librarian.

[Julia]

What was her reason?  (sorry, basically asking you to recap the talk)  :0)

She seemed a bit taken aback to me. She said she liked the dialogue, all the professional women, that it took place in what was essentially 30 Rock, and how elegant Katherine Hepburn was (reconstructing from memory).

[voiceover]

*hands up in surrender*

Hey, I'm not attacking 70s Manhattan in general.  Annie Hall is one of my Top 10, and I adore Goodbye Girl. 

 

I said it about the *movies*.  There was a certain kind of dull snotty introspection to some of those pictures that was peculiar to the 70s.  Just like every decade's bad films have a quality that identify them with their era.

Yeah, I remember Carter & the national malaise.

[jjj]

I also adore "The Goodbye Girl," and although I did not need to see it this week (saw it recently), I did tune in to hear what Tina had to say, which was more about 1970s movies; most of the movies she mentioned were also the first movies I saw in a theater, so that is indeed a nostalgia factor. 

 

I am so glad TCM is airing "The Bishop's Wife" (1947 vintage, of course); if they aired it last year, I missed it, and it is a favorite Christmas movie of mine.  (Yes, I could buy the DVD, but I like taking the potluck of what I find on the television.) 

 

I think TCM has broadcast "The Trouble with Angels" in the past, and I saw it yesterday on a cable limited-commercial channel -- it is actually a great family movie with at least one Christmas scene!  I'd love to see it again on TCM. 

Edited December 25, 2015 by jjj

[CMH1981]

I love the Bishop's Wife as well, it's one of my go to holiday movies.  I noticed that TCM was using the master where the scene where Dudley and the Professor are in front of the old church pops back up in a scene later in the movie.  When they released the film on blu-ray a few years ago this is where the error came from and they eventually sent out replacement discs for it.  I was just surprised that TCM was still using the error master.

 

I wish I had recorded all the movies that Tina Fey picked for her guest host stint b/c I saw the one for That's Entertainment and I loved the banter b/t she and Osborne, plus I loved how she got Robert to razz on the interviews in that film, such as Elizabeth Taylor's faux-British accent appearing and disappearing, Mickey Rooney's interview being shot strangely, and so on and so on.  It was fun seeing Robert let loose like that, and it makes me see a little more into his off-screen persona.  I can just imagine how much fun and gossipy he could get at an intimate cocktail party after getting a little liquored up.

 

I see that TCM will be showing Wait Until Dark next week...I've seen this film a handful of times and I hope we can have a fun discussion on the relationship b/t Audrey Hepburn's character and her husband b/c it's a doozy imo.  I understand him wanting her to learn to do things on her own and be self-sufficient, but man he was a dick.  After all she went through at the end, he still forced her to gain her composure and refused to come to her, it was just a horrible dickish move.

Edited December 25, 2015 by CMH1981

[Julia]

*hands up in surrender*

Hey, I'm not attacking 70s Manhattan in general.  Annie Hall is one of my Top 10, and I adore Goodbye Girl. 

 

I said it about the *movies*.  There was a certain kind of dull snotty introspection to some of those pictures that was peculiar to the 70s.  Just like every decade's bad films have a quality that identify them with their era.

Yeah, I remember Carter & the national malaise.

Actually, it was Ford who didn't like us ;)

I don't disagree with you about at least one genre of seventies films, and certainly New York was heavily represented in that generation of directors (although I would make the case that Kubrick and Bogdanovich did as much to set the tone of joyless auteurism as anyone, and they, thank god, were not ours).

Edited December 25, 2015 by Julia

[NewDigs]

But we need to "own" Robert Altman.

[Rinaldo]

Which I do, gladly. His (best) movies gave me more joy (along with plenty of other emotions) in that decade than almost anyone else's. He wasn't NYC-oriented though. In fact, offhand I can't think of any of his films that take place there.

[NewDigs]

I was more addressing the "auteur" factor.

And now I want to (re)see Nashville.

And Three Women.

And maybe MASH.

[Milburn Stone]

A little off-topic, because I didn't see it on TCM--but it is about vintage movies. Namely, a documentary I watched through iTunes/AppleTV called Los Angeles Plays Itself. Just shy of three hours long but fascinating for its entire length! A serious social/political/aesthetic examination (studded with irony) of the ways Los Angeles has appeared in movies since the beginning. Sometimes standing in for another city, sometimes portraying Everycity, sometimes being a Los Angeles that never existed and sometimes being the one that does. The underlying theme is that we learn a lot about ourselves and the unquestioned mythology of our culture from the way Los Angeles has been used and ill-used in film.

 

Maybe it has played on TCM. But even if not, I can't imagine a TCM fan failing to enjoy it. If you commit to it, I predict three hours will fly by for you as they did for me.

Edited December 25, 2015 by Milburn Stone

[voiceover]

Actually, it was Ford who didn't like us ;)

But it was Carter's "malaise" line I remember.

 

I disagree about Bogdonavich.  What's Up, Doc? is a joyful ode to 30s comedies, plus one of those films where I can't stop laughing.  Even while I'm mouthing the lines ("Is that clear?"  "No, but it's consistent."...."Don't you know the meaning of 'propriety'?"  " 'Propriety.  Noun...' ").

Edited December 25, 2015 by voiceover

[ratgirlagogo]

I agree that  Bogdonavich developed a bad reputation that he doesn't deserve.  The whole Cybill Shepherd thing.  And truthfully she wasn't that bad an actress - but she came across in real life like the character she played in  The Heartbreak Kid and that kind of turned him into the Grodin character - not a great look as a real life couple.  Supposedly he cast her in The Last Picture Show because he interviewed her over lunch and she amused herself during the conversation by tearing the flowers on the table to pieces - and he thought that kind of offhand thoughtless destructiveness was perfect for the character of Jacy.  Sheesh.   Too bad no one thought to cast her in the Redford Great Gatsby - she would have made a great Daisy Buchanan.

[wilsie]

For anyone who wants to watch the Alastair Sim version of "A Christmas Carol" it's on FXM at 5pm today.

[bluepiano]

And in fairness to all the pretentious assholes in that long ago Manhattan, the president of the United States appeared to be running for office on a platform of telling us to go to hell.

 

I once heard a New York stand-up comic saying "you all hated us before 9/11. Then you all loved us." As native New Yorker who lived through all the demonization of the city for political purposes, for me that rang at least partially true.

 

Back in '70s Hollywood embraced the theme that NYC was a place in which crime and urban decay were totally out of control. And, echoing the views of certain Republican politicians, a place that was out of synch with "American values." Aside from the violent crime and gang movies, we even saw that theme in comedies like "The Out-of-Towners." Written, in a great cynical display of exploiting the moment, by life long New Yorker Neil Simon, a guy to whom the city had been pretty damn good. And the end of "The Out-of-Towners" Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis happily flee back to Ohio, the "real America." I wonder how much time Neil Simon has spent there.

Edited December 25, 2015 by bluepiano

[Julia]

I agree that  Bogdonavich developed a bad reputation that he doesn't deserve.  The whole Cybill Shepherd thing.  And truthfully she wasn't that bad an actress - but she came across in real life like the character she played in  The Heartbreak Kid and that kind of turned him into the Grodin character - not a great look as a real life couple.  Supposedly he cast her in The Last Picture Show because he interviewed her over lunch and she amused herself during the conversation by tearing the flowers on the table to pieces - and he thought that kind of offhand thoughtless destructiveness was perfect for the character of Jacy.  Sheesh.   Too bad no one thought to cast her in the Redford Great Gatsby - she would have made a great Daisy Buchanan.

 

OK, that's kind of genius. Because while Mia Farrow (all the evidence points to) has a quality which makes men project their dreams onto her, I've never really seen her as oblivious to her privileges. Cybill Sheppard (to her credit, I think) has always been pretty straightforward about being real comfortable with doing anything she can get away with. 

 

I once heard a New York stand-up comic saying "you all hated us before 9/11. Then you all loved us." 

 

It took a very few weeks for someone in DC to take point on the effort to get out of paying for rebuilding. JMO anyone who didn't love us before 9/11 didn't change their mind much.

[bmoore4026]

Merry Christmas, all!  Hope this was good day for you.

 

They showed Annie tonight; I'm happy.  Why Carol Burnett didn't get an Oscar nomination for Ms. Hannigan is beyond me.

 

In reading on the Wikipedia, the Razzie Awards gave little Aileen Quinn the "award" for Worst Supporting Actress.  The Razzie Awards can go screw themselves because I thought she did a great job.  I'm surprised she didn't go on to do more.  The only other thing I remember her in was a Cannon/Golan-Globus film version of The Frog Prince (with Helen Hunt as good princess Aileen Quinn's evil older sister) and that's it.

 

(Also, I didn't know this movie was directed by John Huston.  Makes me a little worried about those girls.  Yeah, I know.  I'm horrible.)

 

Ann Reinking kicked ass, but she always does.  I can see why Bob Fosse had her as a protégé/girlfriend.  The first half of the "Let's go to the movies" number was great and "We've got Annie" was a showstopper.  I always thought the latter song was better than "You won't be an orphan for long" from the musical.  It's a shame we didn't get "NYC", though.

 

Tim Curry and Bernadette Peters were fantastic as the villains, but the whole movie belonged to Ms. Burnett.  One of the best things she's ever done.  The way she delivers "She had to go bathroom!" sends me into silly giggles every time I think about it.

 

Lastly, why can't I have a Daddy Warbucks?  The Albert Finney one, specifically.  Not the Victor Garber or Jamie Foxx ones.

 

In fact, this movie had what the remake didn't - charm.  And it was not ashamed that it was a musical.  It's also a period piece, so you really can't do it in any other era except the Great Depression.  I don't care if Annie's is African American, she just has to have red hair and be in the 1930s.  If not, she ain't Annie.  And Cameron Diaz is no Carol Burnett.

[Bastet]

Oh, Robert Osborne, why are you being mean to Desk Set? I think Sea of Grass, Without Love, Keeper of the Flame, and arguably (leaving aside its importance as a historical document) Guess Who's Coming to Dinner are less good Hepburn/Tracy movies, and I'd entertain an argument against State of the Union, although it might win. That's at least fifth out of nine.

 

I'm with Tina on this one; I really enjoy Desk Set.  I'd put Without Love even with it, but agree on putting the rest - especially Sea of Grass, which I just cannot get into and always find myself wondering if I'd have liked it better with Myrna Loy as originally planned - behind it if ranking the Hepburn/Tracy collaborations.

[voiceover]

For anyone who wants to watch the Alastair Sim version of "A Christmas Carol" it's on FXM at 5pm today.

It ran for multiple showings Christmas Eve & Christmas Day; needless to say I watched and re-watched until my eyes rolled back in my head.  One of cinema's greatest performances.  That simple, small shrug to Fred's wife ("Can you forgive a pigheaded old fool...")? makes me weep every time.

Edited December 26, 2015 by voiceover

[Wiendish Fitch]

It ran for multiple showings Christmas Eve & Christmas Day; needless to say I watched and re-watched until my eyes rolled back in my head.  One of cinema's greatest performances.  That simple, small shrug to Fred's wife ("Can you forgive a pigheaded old fool...")? makes me weep every time.

 

Even though George C. Scott is far and away my favorite Scrooge, Alastair Sim comes a close second. Yes, his acting is kind of theatrical, but he really does become Scrooge, and quite seamlessly. The scene that breaks my heart is when the Ghost of Christmas Past shows him Fan's deathbed request for Scrooge to take care of Fred after Past!Scrooge has left the room. Present!Scrooge finally sees this, and is utterly devastated, because he has not only let his beloved sister down, he has wasted an opportunity to bond with Fred, who is literally the only family he has left. When Sim cries out, "Forgive me, Fan!" and covers his face, I actually want to hug the "grasping, covetous old sinner"*.

 

Another reason I like Scott, Sim, and Patrick Stewart (the bland and twee Hallmark version is only watchable because of him) as Scrooge is because they are all tall, physically imposing men. I hate it when Scrooge is portrayed as a frail, bent old man, because it makes him seem too vulnerable. One of the things that make Scrooge intimidating is that he towers over people and can still hold his own in a fight, despite his age. 

 

 

*Incidentally, Sim was only 50 when he made the movie! Either it was convincing make-up, or the poor guy just had lousy genes.

Edited December 27, 2015 by Wiendish Fitch

[wilsie]

voiceover, we have it recorded under "Switchmas" since "A Christmas Carol" ran over a minute and we wanted to get Tiny Tim and Scrooge at the end. It really is wonderful.  I'm so glad you got to watch and enjoy it so much!

[prican58]

Yeah, I was all Christmas Carol/Scrooge'd out yesterday. I watched the George C.Scott version which I remember watching when it first aired and I thought it was really good. And of course, saw the Sim version as well.

 

Miracle on 34th Street was on back to back  and I can't believe they keep playing the colorized version. At least alternate them.