TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[Wiendish Fitch]

Surely someone out there agrees with this... John Wayne. Seriously, he is beautiful is Stagecoach.

 

I'm not a fan of the Duke, but before he became the #1 Movie Cowboy of All Time, John Wayne was remarkably, boyishly cute. Check out his "blink and you'll miss him" bit part in 1933's Baby Face. Here's a pic I found: 

[Padma]

Speaking of Olivier, TCM On Demand is showing "The Entertainer"--great performance and the first film for both Albert Finney and Alan Bates. He married Joan Plowright, who plays his daughter very sympathetically, soon after filming was over. For all his looks and charm (some allowed to occasionally come through here) Olivier later said, "I have an affinity with Archie Rice. It's what I really am. I'm not like Hamlet."  Good slice-of-life film from John Osbourne/Tony Richardson.

 

Slightly OT (hopefully not OR) , for anyone who has Amazon PRIME and enjoys the free streaming movies/videos/etc, the 7" Kindle is on sale for $39. I bought it for double that just a couple of months ago--and it's really been a great inexpensive little tablet away when TCM isn't an option. Plus, unlike my previous one, the ablity to add 128 GB of storage space (as well as unltd cloud storage) is very handy for movies, etc..

Edited February 14, 2016 by Padma

[prican58]

Fabulous, Fitch.

[Rinaldo]

Yes, it's the 1976 book, Milburn Stone.

 

 

I did think he and Vanessa Redgrave did a surprisingly good job in what I would have thought was the impossible job of following Paul Scofield and Wendy Hiller in Man for All Seasons.

 

He was a genuine admirer of the play and did it onstage as often as he could persuade managements to do it. He inaugurated the Mill Run Theatre in Niles, Illinois (near his original hometown; and now sadly demolished, like nearly all such suburban legit theaters) with A Man for All Seasons. He and director Harold J. Kennedy (in his delightful book No Pickle, No Performance) both tell the story of how they were still building the theater during rehearsal period. Anyway, Heston admired Scofield but thought he himself could bring out different values -- particularly a lightness in the early scenes before he's challenged (as the play makes clear that More is a reluctant martyr and would rather evade the issue if possible).

 

One value of his movie is the restoration of the Common Man narrator character. He's one of the elements in the play that I like best, and I do miss him in the Zinneman movie.

[prican58]

The best thing about 31 Days of Oscar is that you know you will be seeing Casablanca again. For the umpteenth time. I'm giving up Downton Abbey tonight for Rick, Ilsa and assorted vultures.

[Moose135]

The best thing about 31 Days of Oscar is that you know you will be seeing Casablanca again. For the umpteenth time. I'm giving up Downton Abbey tonight for Rick, Ilsa and assorted vultures.

 

I'm glad DVDs don't wear out, or I'd have had to replace mine several times by now, but I was thrilled to see it on tonight!

[Rinaldo]

Today I caught up with The Americanization of Emily, which I hadn't seen since it was new in 1964 and my father took me to see it. I of course missed a lot of the nuances and undercurrents at that age, but my memory was accurate that a lot of the dialogue consists of extensive ideology-stuffed speeches, delivered at length and sounding "written" rather than anything a person might actually speak. Well (I now know), that's Paddy Chayefsky for you: The Hospital and Network are just the same in that respect. Sometimes a speech isn't too long, and a good actor grabs hold of it and makes something memorable of it. Sometimes, James Garner manages it; sometimes, nobody could.

 

Still, James Garner is very appealing here (he has said this is his favorite of his films, and I can see why). Julie Andrews, though still learning as a movie actress, matches up with him well and they have some nice scenes together (that I understand better now). Joyce Grenfell (unknown to me back then, of course) handles some impossible emotional transitions with aplomb and brings off some wry moments enjoyably. 

 

Plus, Johnny Mandel's underscoring (later turned into a song called "Emily") is really really pretty.

[Julia]

I'm a little unhappy that they announced Watch on the Rhine and they're showing Now, Voyager. Not that Now, Voyager isn't a fine film, I've just seen it roughly four times as many times.

[prican58]

Moose, it's always more fun when it comes on the tube than putting on the dvd. 

Ordinarily I don't really sit through many films in Feb but being as it's too damn cold here in the northeast I was pretty happy watching The Awful Truth ( I had forgotten how funny it is), Philadelphia Story, Adam's Rib, Born Yesterday. Love Affair was on too early so I missed Boyer and Ouspenskaya scenes which I love.

[Milburn Stone]

We saw the Coen Bros. Hail, Caesar! yesterday and I just wanted to say that anyone who loves TCM will love this movie. But not for the reason you might think! The previews are deceptive. The movie is not a madcap romp behind-the-scenes of an MGM-type studio circa 1951. It's much more serious than that. Funny as hell also, but not at all in the way the preview makes you think. It's an elegy for that time, place, and art, as much as it is a comedy that savagely skewers it. A savage elegy--something only the Coen Bros. could bring off.

[Inquisitionist]

Today I caught up with The Americanization of Emily, which I hadn't seen since it was new in 1964 and my father took me to see it.

 

Oh, shoot, did I just miss this on TCM?  Real life has been intruding on my DVR-monitoring.  I haven't seen this one in quite a while, but remember thinking that Garner and Andrews played off each other very well -- and that it was a tad risqué for 1964.

[Rinaldo]

Garner and Andrews retained a (professional) fondness for each other, I think; each always spoke well of the other, both considered this movie their favorite, and of course they re-teamed in Victor/Victoria. They did pair very well in this.

 

As to it being risqué for 1964: yes, I think so too, but it's hard to recall the historical moment accurately. (I was there, but I was still in high school, and rather innocent for my age.) We tend to think that that era was all Rock Hudson / Doris Day, she preserving her purity at all cost, but of course there was a lot more going on than that. The new working-class British drama films showed a fair amount of casual sex, for instance. But of course this was a Hollywood product even if partially filmed in the UK. And Julie Andrews was our heroine, a nice woman with whose viewpoint we were meant to (some of the time) identify, but she talked about regularly having one-night stands with wounded soldiers, and her affair with Garner wasn't just left to implication (she said she hoped she wouldn't get pregnant). So I think it was indeed a sign that the times were a-changin'.

 

I just read that Julie Andrews has said that this movie was very fortunately timed for her career: if she had done Mary Poppins and Maria von Trapp literally back to back as her first two films, she might have been hopelessly typecast in the eyes of producers and audiences. As it was, she still suffered from it a bit (I remember upset letters to the editor any time one of the glossy magazines interviewed her and showed a little skin, like a modest bathing suit).

Edited February 15, 2016 by Rinaldo

[Padma]

I saw "The Americanization of Emily" for the first time last year (on TCM) and was very impressed by it. I don't see a lot of current films but does anyone make movies mocking war, the irony and absurdity of it any more? I can't remember anything like this, or Strangelove or MASH, or even a film where someone is "rahrah" about war in the beginning and realizes he's been sold a bill of goods by the end.

 

50 years later and the U.S. is still at war, but movie-wise there seems just kind of a dull acceptance of it, maybe showing the violence in negative light but not really making a moral stand against it. I could be wrong, but I'm having trouble thinking of a recent movie with a similar point of view as "Emily".

[prican58]

Kings's Row is on at 3:45 pm EST for those of you who want to catch Ronnie Reagan's best performance ever. Also for Charles Coburn playing quite the nasty, mean, vindictive doctor.

My favorite grandma (besides my own) Maria Ouspenskaya is also in it. I love her.

[voiceover]

Casablanca and Now, Voyager back-to-back was like eating a whole box of Godiva -- washed down by Moet & Chandon -- at one sitting.  LoveloveLOVE 'EM both.  Think Bette & Paul had such steamy chem (one of the few post-Code kissing scenes that's smokin'...even without the cigs), and post-transformation, she was jaw-dropping.

 

And darling, darling Claude! ("If he gets a word in edgewise, it'll be a major Italian victory!")  I still gnash my teeth over his Capt Renault losing to Charles Coburn in More the Merrier.  IMO, one of the all-time supporting performances.

 

p.s., As re: heartthrob status...I'm sure it's been mentioned before, but with all this talk of O'Toole & Lawrence, it's worth re-quoting Noel Coward's line to the actor: If you'd been any prettier, they would've had to call it Florence of Arabia.  

​And I'd have to throw in Robert Donat to the swoonworthy list.

Edited February 16, 2016 by voiceover

[Crisopera]

Yes, I'm also very fond of Robert Donat - particularly in The Count of Monte Cristo and The Ghost Goes West.  Again, a gorgeous speaking voice never hurts.

 

And if you want to see O'Toole pre-LoA nose job, TCM has a clip up from a movie called The Day They Robbed the Bank of England (1960).

 

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/347906/Day-They-Robbed-The-Bank-Of-England-The-Movie-Clip-The-Mood-Of-The-Fish.html

 

He's still incredibly handsome.

Edited February 16, 2016 by Crisopera

[elle]

 

And darling, darling Claude! ("If he gets a word in edgewise, it'll be a major Italian victory!")

Speaking of hearthrobs!  If one doesn't see it in Casablanca, one can not miss it in Now, Voyager!  I know in past discussions, it has been mentioned that Bette Davis should have gone with him rather than Paul Henreid. (also very dashing!)

 

And someone with a better memory could you cite the quote Laurence Oliver said about Robert Donat?  It was something about Donat being the greatest Shakespearean actor to every appear on stage.

 

Please excuse me if I am wrong about this, I did go back to check, but with my vision messed up by allergies, I may have missed it.  That said....

Jimmy Stewart!  My first movie star crush.  

 

William Powell, never a misstep from b/w to color.  Bacall should have married him in How to Marry a Millionaire,  holding or non-holding.

 

Voices -- George Sanders gets me every time, even when he is being a swine.

 

And to add another to the category of bluest eyes ever, I'd like to submit Donald O'Conner.  They are mesmerizing!  I dare say he steals scene from Gene Kelly, not an easy thing to do.

[voiceover]

Yes, I'm also very fond of Robert Donat - particularly in The Count of Monte Cristo and The Ghost Goes West.  Again, a gorgeous speaking voice never hurts.

Check out my fave of his: Knight Without Armour [sic] -- he's a British spy during the Russian Revolution who rescues Countess Marlene Dietrich.  And the sex in the forest..dneiaihcwvhaudfswvedwa [wow, I fainted on my keyboard while recollecting]

[prican58]

elle, put Donald's Make 'em Laugh routine next to Gene's Singin' In the Rain dance and it really is hard to pick one over the other. Enough words have been written and said re Gene's but Donald's actually brings tears to my eyes because it's so perfectly done. 

Thankfully one doesn't have to choose in the Moses Supposes dance and the early vaudeville matching suit gig. They are both equally amazing.

 

And yeah, that Casablanca / Now, Voyager double header was simply marvelous. I love how Rick's face just falls as he is riding off on the train without Ilsa. Like he's been kicked in the gut.

Oh, I watched Desperate Journey with Flynn and Reagan last night and really enjoyed myself! I really do find Ronald Reagan very appealing in his movies...at least the better ones like King's Row and Santa Fe Trail which I wish TCM would air. He is just so likeably American, if I my say so.  

 

Never could vote for him, though. 

Edited February 17, 2016 by prican58

[elle]

 

Thankfully one doesn't have to choose in the Moses Supposes dance and the early vaudeville matching suit gig. They are both equally amazing.

Those dance scenes are *most see* for me, especially "Moses Supposes".  I love how the song moves seamlessly (to me) into the a great tap dance.

[Rinaldo]

I just wish the song "Moses Supposes" didn't annoy me so. A snooty elocution teacher uses an exercise that included "toeses"? (Ah, the ever-sloppy Comden and Green. None of the Brown-Freed songs reused for the movie have lazy lyrics like this.) But the dance is a joy, as are all the dances. And no argument about the virtuosity of Donald O'Connor.

[bluepiano]

On the subject of good leading men (and I'm another straight guy chiming in), for me there was never anyone like Cary Grant. And he never lost it, if you think of him in Charade, which he made at 59. I love the tribute to Cary Grant that Michael Caine filmed for TCM, where he talks about how watching Cary on screen taught him to be a man in the best sense of the word. (Caine himself was always quite the charmer.)

 

Talk of the Town is a treat because you get both Ronald Colman AND Cary Grant. Two icons with very different styles. I bet they had fun working together.

 

When I was a kid, Paul Newman and Steve McQueen each embodied the kind of cool that we all aspired to. I just rewatched Bullitt, which I hadn't seen in years. Everyone remembers the car chase, but otherwise, it's a fairly slow paced movie, which would no doubt be a huge bore to the current generation used to seeing a "thriller" in which something blows up every 30 seconds. (And it was pleasure to see a car chase that was real stunt driving, instead of CG).

 

It was sad that McQueen died while still a relatively young man, and also when he was taking on more challenging roles and developing into a first rate actor, after years of being considered as mostly just a "movie star."

Edited February 17, 2016 by bluepiano

[Milburn Stone]

I just wish the song "Moses Supposes" didn't annoy me so. A snooty elocution teacher uses an exercise that included "toeses"? (Ah, the ever-sloppy Comden and Green. None of the Brown-Freed songs reused for the movie have lazy lyrics like this.) But the dance is a joy, as are all the dances. And no argument about the virtuosity of Donald O'Connor.

 

I'm going to defend both Comden and Green and the song. :) Here is how I've always justified to myself that an elocution teacher would use the word "toeses" in an exercise. He knows it's a deliberately child-like, silly word. He employs it to make the exercise more fun for his pupils. Or, even though he doesn't seem like a particularly fun-loving guy, he has adopted the exercise whole (we are to believe this is a standard diction exercise in the world of 1927), from others who do employ the silly word to make the exercise more fun for their pupils. Anyway, I've never had a problem with it. (Nor have I found C & G to be guilty of sloppiness in general. Was just listening to the score of Hallelujah, Baby! the other day and being delighted by their handiwork all over again. Same applies to Fade Out Fade In, which I heard again, not too long ago.)

 

Actually, are we sure that Comden and Green wrote "Moses Supposes," and not Roger Edens?

Edited February 17, 2016 by Milburn Stone

[elle]

First, can I just say how cool, like totally cool, that there is a place where one can see a serious discussion about the merits or lack of a song such as "Moses Supposes"?  :0D

 

On the subject of good leading men (and I'm another straight guy chiming in), for me there was never anyone like Cary Grant. And he never lost it, if you think of him in Charade, which he made at 59. I love the tribute to Cary Grant that Michael Caine filmed for TCM, where he talks about how watching Cary on screen taught him to be a man in the best sense of the word. (Caine himself was always quite the charmer.)

I love Charade!  I also love that he played the non-love interest/fairy god-father and happily married man in Walk, Don't Run.  The way he says goodbye to the two little kids began to feel like a good bye to his movie fans as well.

 

The tribute Caine made for TCM about Cary Grant is great!  I know I've used this word a lot, but how could you not "love" his story about the woman turning to Grant and saying how you don't see movie stars in Hollywood anymore and the ever gracious Grant just laughed as replied how one did not.

 

When I was a kid, Paul Newman and Steve McQueen each embodied the kind of cool that we all aspired to. I just rewatched Bullitt, which I hadn't seen in years. Everyone remembers the car chase, but otherwise, it's a fairly slow paced movie, which would no doubt be a huge bore to the current generation used to seeing a "thriller" in which something blows up every 30 seconds. (And it was pleasure to see a car chase that was real stunt driving, instead of CG).

It was sad that McQueen died while still a relatively young man, and also when he was taking on more challenging roles and developing into a first rate actor, after years of being considered as mostly just a "movie star."

I would like to think that there are many who miss the slow build of a good thriller and I am more than willing to introduce them to such movies.  It did take me a while to warm up to Bullit (being a "modern movie" after all), now I enjoy the whole movie.  I am a sucker for the chase on the tarmac around the airplanes, but I enjoy watching McQueen figure out the story.  (an added plus was learning the the bad guy (Felice Orlandi), the one trying to escape, was married to Alice Ghostley until his death.)

 

I am sorry that Steve McQueen, and others of his time, thought of TV as "not good enough" and often disparaged their own work.  With all the retro TV stations, I have had a chance to catch up on his show "Wanted: Dead or Alive".  It would be a great shame for future generations not to be able to see him in this show, he is so good.

 

Otoh, I am glad that McQueen and Newman did get paired up to do The Towering Inferno just as I am glad that he did not get the role (money issues) in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as I can not imagine a better duo than Newman/Redford in that movie.

[Moose135]

When I was a kid, Paul Newman and Steve McQueen each embodied the kind of cool that we all aspired to. I just rewatched Bullitt, which I hadn't seen in years. Everyone remembers the car chase, but otherwise, it's a fairly slow paced movie, which would no doubt be a huge bore to the current generation used to seeing a "thriller" in which something blows up every 30 seconds. (And it was pleasure to see a car chase that was real stunt driving, instead of CG).

 

I remember seeing Bullitt as a kid shortly after it first came out - I think an uncle took a bunch of us cousins to see it one holiday weekend. I needed to see it again when I was old enough to really understand what was going on to appreciate it.  But that chase scene was pure Hollywood magic - no way a Mustang keeps up with a Charger like that! ;-)

[Rinaldo]

(Nor have I found C & G to be guilty of sloppiness in general. Was just listening to the score of Hallelujah, Baby! the other day and being delighted by their handiwork all over again. Same applies to Fade Out Fade In, which I heard again, not too long ago.)

 

Actually, are we sure that Comden and Green wrote "Moses Supposes," and not Roger Edens?

Yes, on the latter point. At least all credit listings I've seen are the same as what appears in Wikipedia: "Moses Supposes" (music by Roger Edens, lyrics by Comden and Green)

 

On their general career as lyricists, I guess I have to chalk it up to matters of taste. Many admire them, and by universal account they were lovely people to know and to work with. And I can think of a few occasions when they rose to the occasion beautifully and supplied just-right words for a classic ballad: "Make Someone Happy" and "Just in Time" immediately come to mind. But when they're being clever, it's just not my humorous (or whimsical) wavelength, I guess: trying either too hard (writing one more refrain than they had an idea for in "If" or "Drop That Name") or not enough ("Did you stop for what hey?"). Chacun a son gout.

[elle]

 

Chacun a son gout.

Or "goat", as a fun TA used to say (kind of like a mnemonic)

 

 

("Did you stop for what hey?").

I don't how it played on the stage, but I love the movie version with Sinatra and Betty Garrett.

[prican58]

March 8th at midnight TCM is airing Abbott & Costello's Who Done It?  It is really worth watching even if you don't have big love for the duo. It's a murder mystery at a radio station. Great gags and Mary Wickes.

 

It's been ages since I've seen it and will mos prob do the TCM Watch since the airing is mid week. Next to The Time of Their Lives, it's the best. I'm more a fan of their old tv show but those two films are must see.

[Milburn Stone]

I don't how it played on the stage, but I love the movie version with Sinatra and Betty Garrett.

 

If you want to get a sense of how "did you stop for what hey" played in the theater, the 1960 studio cast recording of the song "Come Up to My Place" features Nancy Walker, who played Hildy in the original 1944 Broadway production. (You can download the song for 99¢ from iTunes.)

[Sharpie66]

I've seen Nancy Walker's version of "Come Up to My Place" from some B&W tv show, and it was terrific! I'll have to look it up on YouTube to see if it's available there for rewatching.

[voiceover]

There's only one thing to defend about the Streisand/Kristofferson A Star is Born:  It was a great soundtrack.  The last track was the two of them singing "Evergreen", and it was gorgeous! she laughs at his cracking "Holy Moses!" at the end of it, which charmed.  I noticed that she flubs a line in the last number ("Watch Closely Now") -- they got it right on the album, making me wonder whythehell Barbra the Perfectionist didn't overdub it for the film.

That's all I can or will defend.  It's even worse than I remember it.

[Rinaldo]

Starting right now, one of my favorites: The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella. Directed by Bryan Forbes around some of the prettiest castles in Bavaria, songs by the Sherman brothers, a cast including Richard Chamberlain, Gemma Craven, Annette Crosbie, Margaret Lockwood, Michael Hordern, Edith Evans (her last film, and she sings!), and Kenneth More. What more could one want?

Edited February 22, 2016 by Rinaldo

[bmoore4026]

The Slipper and The Rose was on just now.  I remember seeing this a long time ago on The Disney Channel and I remembered how boring it was.

 

Yes, kiddies who come to see a Cinderella movie love to hear about geo-political situations c.18th Century.

 

Anyway, the costumes were superb, the cinematography gorgeous, the dancing was neat, and some of the songs were good.  Why "When He Danced With Me" was nominated for Best Song rather than "Suddenly" is beyond me?

 

I was really flipping between watching this and The Walking Dead (show comes on right during the ball sequence, so I missed much of the show), and, knowing what we know now about Richard Chamberlain, I was fancying an alternate ending where Prince Charming ran off with his guy friend.

 

What gets me is why didn't Gemma Craven, who played Cinderella, go on to do bigger things?  She sang beautifully and was a decent actress.

[Rinaldo]

It's not boring to me, but I'll admit that there's too much of it -- even more now that the DVD cut has restored the 3 sequences cut in the US release (not just for TV airing, as Forbes mis-remembers on the commentary track), adding 20 minutes to what was already rather too long for what it is. Forbes & co. were given too much freedom and needed a soulless producer to tell them stuff like "If you're going to have the glass-slipper search not work, then you need a better payoff than 'months later, the valet bumped into a girl with another slipper, 20 minutes added and we've gained nothing." And similarly with the "she's not a princess so they can't marry after all" business. It sends things into a tailspin just where we're expecting it to wrap up, and the eventual disentangling takes its time.

 

And yet I feel a fondness for it and want to see all of it. And though in general I worry about only my own reaction to a piece of entertainment, I can report that some of the most extraneous bits, like "What a Comforting Thing to Know" in the crypt, and "Protocolegorically Correct" (an obvious attempt by the Shermans at another "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"), seem to be just where it picks up for kids -- less talk, more activity. 

 

I do think this is the Sherman brothers' best score, it's gorgeously orchestrated by Angela Morley, and "He Danced with Me" is absolutely the song I would have chosen to nominate too. It got into my head from the very first hearing. And isn't Annette Crosbie the most delightful fairy godmother ever? I also love the bitchy lines Margaret Lockwood gets as the stepmother. With superb hauteur: "And do not think to take refuge with the staff. The staff have been dismissed. You are now the staff."

 

It's so often a puzzlement why one career takes off and another doesn't, isn't it? I agree that Gemma Craven, plucked out of semi-obscurity at the Bristol Old Vic, did very well here (though I recall one or two of the original reviews calling her fat!! in coded terms like "more physically substantial than one expects." Which is nasty as well as untrue and irrelevant.). She did get some good stage roles in the UK, and a fair amount of British TV (one of the stars of the original miniseries version of ​Pennies from Heaven). But not much in the way of movies, it's true. Acting is a hard career.

[Wiendish Fitch]

I adore The Slipper and the Rose, and I will defend it to my last breath. I think Gemma Craven has continued to act, so that's something. I really like that they didn't cast the usual, blue-eyed blonde, tall glass of water to play Cinderella, but instead cast a petite, brown-eyed redhead. Isn't it refreshing that the Prince not only has a personality and a substantial part to play, but is also a delightful snarker as well ("Our guards couldn't find a haystack, much less a needle!")? 

 

I love all the songs, and if I had my way, "Secret Kingdom" would have been nominated. 

Edited February 22, 2016 by Wiendish Fitch

[Milburn Stone]

I do think this is the Sherman brothers' best score...

 

I will have to look into The Slipper and the Rose; I'm not familiar with it. But Rinaldo, I'm interested in your opinion of the one Sherman Brothers song in all of their oeuvre (that I've heard) that I think is decent. "The Age of Not Believing," from Bedknobs and Broomsticks. It has a sophistication that makes me wonder if the Sherman Brothers (the same team that wrote all that sing-songy crap) could actually have written it. I know they did, but it's such an outlier.

[bmoore4026]

Rinaldo, on 22 Feb 2016 - 12:15 PM, said:

"I also love the bitchy lines Margaret Lockwood gets as the stepmother. With superb hauteur: "And do not think to take refuge with the staff. The staff have been dismissed. You are now the staff."

 

The way she says "HOW DARE SHE FORGIVE ME!" after Cinderella goes off with the prince was dynamite :D

[Rinaldo]

I don't know "The Age of Not Believing," Milburn Stone! I'll have to acquaint myself with it. I do hear a musical (though perhaps not lyrical) sophistication in their ​Slipper and the Rose material. Admittedly the Morley orchestration helps. Here's the big waltz:

 

 

I see that the movie is available for a week On Demand at tcm.com.

Edited February 23, 2016 by Rinaldo

[Wiendish Fitch]

The way she says "HOW DARE SHE FORGIVE ME!" after Cinderella goes off with the prince was dynamite :D

 

BWAH! Yeah, that was classic. :) Margaret Lockwood rocked.

[Milburn Stone]

"The Age of Not Believing":

 

[ennui]

I'm not a fan of the Duke, but before he became the #1 Movie Cowboy of All Time, John Wayne was remarkably, boyishly cute. Check out his "blink and you'll miss him" bit part in 1933's Baby Face. Here's a pic I found: 

I’ve always liked John Wayne, but even more so as I get older. And yes, I found him attractive, even in his later years. He had an aura, a quiet confidence, and yet he had great comic timing. As an American icon, he is irreplaceable.

“The Shootist” guts me every time.

[prican58]

I’ve always liked John Wayne, but even more so as I get older. And yes, I found him attractive, even in his later years. He had an aura, a quiet confidence, and yet he had great comic timing. As an American icon, he is irreplaceable.

“The Shootist” guts me every time.

Ditto. I get that way about him as well. He is a sort of security blanket for me. He always makes me comfortable, like the bad guys got no chance. Yeah, I guess that's the point of "John Wayne" in the first place. But even in non western/war films,he has that effect.

 

I love the idea that Bacall and Wayne each at opposite ends of the political spectrum, actually liked each other and made 2 films together. Just goes to show that everybody can get along.

I wonder if they ever spoke about politics? I'm guessing not...agree to disagree.

[Rinaldo]

I'm heartened by stories like that, too. Like Charlton Heston and Vanessa Redgrave choosing to work together (mostly onstage but also his Man for All Seasons film) multiple times. I respect friendly disagreement.

 

Milburn Stone, thanks for sharing the song. I agree, it's a nice subtle piece of work.

Edited February 23, 2016 by Rinaldo

[elle]

A well known set of best friends on the opposite ends of the political spectrum were Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda.  I always thought it was a shame that they only did one movie together.

[Julia]

Oh, good news, they made more.

http://www.imdb.com/search/title?roles=nm0000020,nm0000071&title_type=feature,tv_episode,video,tv_movie,tv_special,mini_series,documentary,game,short

I've never heard of On Our Merry Way. Now I want to see it.

[ennui]

Trivia regarding The Shootist. I don’t have a source, or any links … only my memory …  It was probably from one of the many John Wayne tributes shortly after his passing. Ron Howard (who has since gone on to become an amazing, accomplished director/producer) was talking about how much he learned from John while filming. One of the biggest, simplest things, which may sound silly … there was a scene where young Ron needed to look tough (this is hard to explain without the visual). Ron made (a face), and John said, “Close your mouth. No one looks tough with their mouth open.” And Ron made (the new face) … huge difference. I don't know why that comment stayed with me all of these years.

There’s a strong theory that Wayne’s cancer, and many others, came from filming in Nevada at the nuclear test site. I think it was “The Conqueror,” where most of the cast and crew died from cancer. Since most people smoked in those days, we may never know, but it’s worth considering.

[Julia]

ennui, it's a really horrifying story. All the more so because it's really hard to understand what anyone was thinking on any possible level. 

[Bastet]

I love the idea that Bacall and Wayne each at opposite ends of the political spectrum, actually liked each other and made 2 films together.

 

And Katharine Hepburn found herself quite surprised by how much she respected him and enjoyed working with him.  I always keep that in mind about John Wayne the person, because I am very much not a fan of John Wayne the persona.

[MissT]

There’s a strong theory that Wayne’s cancer, and many others, came from filming in Nevada at the nuclear test site. I think it was “The Conqueror,” where most of the cast and crew died from cancer. Since most people smoked in those days, we may never know, but it’s worth considering.

I wouldn't doubt this is some of the cause of the death of most of the cast, most were heavy smokers.  But I believe some of it contributed to their deaths.  I've read and researched this story many times.  Susan Hayward, Agnes Moorehead, John Wayne and many others.

 

From Wiki:

The exterior scenes were shot on location near St. George, Utah, 137 miles (220 km) downwind of the United States government's Nevada National Security Site. In 1953, extensive above-ground nuclear weapons testing (11 total) occurred at the test site as part of Operation Upshot-Knothole. The cast and crew spent many difficult weeks on location, and in addition Hughes later shipped 60 tons of dirt back to Hollywood in order to match the Utah terrain and lend realism to studio re-shoots.[6] The filmmakers knew about the nuclear tests[6] but the federal government reassured residents that the tests caused no hazard to public health.[15]

Director Powell died of cancer in January 1963, seven years after the film's release. Armendáriz was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 1960, and committed suicide in June 1963 after he learned his condition had become terminal. Hayward, Wayne, and Moorehead all died of cancer in the 1970s. Hoyt died of lung cancer in 1991. Skeptics point to other factors such as the wide use of tobacco — Wayne and Moorehead in particular were heavy smokers, and Wayne himself believed his lung cancer to have been a result of his six-packs-a-day cigarette habit.[16] The cast and crew totaled 220 people. By the end of 1980, as ascertained by People magazine, 91 of them had developed some form of cancer and 46 had died of the disease. Several of Wayne and Hayward's relatives also had cancer scares after visiting the set. Michael Wayne developed skin cancer, his brother Patrick had a benign tumor removed from his breast, and Hayward's son Tim Barker had a benign tumor removed from his mouth.[15][17]

Dr. Robert Pendleton, then a professor of biology at the University of Utah, is reported to have stated in 1980, "With these numbers, this case could qualify as an epidemic. The connection between fallout radiation and cancer in individual cases has been practically impossible to prove conclusively. But in a group this size you'd expect only 30-some cancers to develop. With 91 cancer cases, I think the tie-in to their exposure on the set of The Conqueror would hold up in a court of law." Several cast and crew members, as well as relatives of those who died, considered suing the government for negligence, claiming it knew more about the hazards in the area than it let on.[15][18] Statistically, however, the odds of developing cancer for men in the U.S. population are 43% and the odds of dying of cancer are 23% (slightly lower in women at 38% and 19%, respectively).[19] Because the primary cast and crew numbered about 220, and a considerable number of cancer cases would be expected, controversy exists as to whether the actual results are attributable to radiation at the nearby nuclear weapons test site.

Edited February 24, 2016 by MissT

[ennui]

We were all naïve about radiation. I can remember drills in elementary school where they said that in the event of attack, we should hide underneath our desks. Very effective.

 

Giant is on today. I love that film. Elizabeth was so beautiful, Rock so handsome.