TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[Rinaldo]

On 9/11/2021 at 10:00 AM, Inquisitionist said:

Carol Reed and team did a great job staging those big production numbers.  On a walking tour of London almost 30 years, led by an actor/carpenter, we thought we were seeing the "crescent" of houses where Who Will Buy... was filmed (our guide said he recalled dancing there), but according to many reports, the entire movie was filmed on sets at Shepperton Studios.  Amazing!

As interested as I am in the movie (I think I bought the original souvenir book from the roadshow showings), I somehow didn't know this. In fact, I'm still a bit incredulous: that crescent looked so vast and real, exactly like the ones that get filmed in London and Bath! I find that Shepperton does have a "back lot" that allows outdoor sets, so at least I don't have to believe that they built all that indoors. One of my favorite visual memories is the alley outside Fagin's lair, in which three-dimensional buildings blend with painted vistas, which usually isn't successful in other movies, but really works here.

I should also mention choreographer Onna White, who was so brilliant at making group numbers convincing and exciting on screen. She didn't achieve the immortality of Robbins or Fosse or Michael Bennett, but the caliber of the work she did in The Music Man, Bye Bye Birdie, and Oliver! speaks for itself.

Edited September 16, 2021 by Rinaldo

[Milburn Stone]

On 9/10/2021 at 1:30 PM, Rinaldo said:

And I have to give a special word (given my own speciality) to John Green for his extraordinary orchestrations [for Oliver!], some of the best a movie musical ever had.

All these years I've misremembered that John Williams did the musical direction (as he did for two other musicals he didn't write, Goodbye Mr. Chips and Fiddler on the Roof). I will spend whatever years are left to me remembering that it was Green.

[Rinaldo]

2 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

John Williams did the musical direction (as he did for two other musicals he didn't write, Goodbye Mr. Chips and Fiddler on the Roof).

The Sherman Brothers' Tom Sawyer too.

[Charlie Baker]

The timing for this seems a bit late, since we're on the verge of a new podcast season for The Plot Thickens, about Lucille Ball.  But this linked piece is about Julie Salamon and her approach in converting her book The Devil's Candy into the podcast.

Rekindling Bonfire

 

[Milburn Stone]

2 hours ago, Charlie Baker said:

...this linked piece is about Julie Salamon and her approach in converting her book The Devil's Candy into the podcast.

Since you brought it up...I have enjoyed this podcast. Have not yet heard the final episode, but am looking forward to hearing it. Salamon does a good job with the series, and it's great hearing the original audio of her interviews.

I have two quibbles, one with Salamon, one with Ben Mankiewicz.

1) With Julie: Why, oh why, does she allow herself to fall into the podcast cliché of the unnecessary pronoun? "Brian DePalma, he didn't agree." "Lucy Fisher, she was concerned." Etc., ad nauseam. Just say "Brian DePalma didn't agree." "Lucy Fisher was concerned." Salamon is a good writer who knows better! Color me disappointed.

2) With Ben: His intros and outros are wholly unnecessary. You could remove them and the podcast would not only be just as good, it would be better. Perhaps TPTB at TCM thought his presence was necessary for "branding." Perhaps Ben himself said, "Hey, I'm the star of TCM, any podcast without me on it is going out there over my dead body." Perhaps a combination of the two factors.

 

[EtheltoTillie]

TCM fans:  stop what you are doing and set your DVRs now!  TCM is showing, for the first time, as far as I can tell, one of my favorites, a real curiosity, at 6 AM Eastern time Wednesday morning. 

Yes, it's About Face, the little known musical version of Brother Rat.  You know Brother Rat?   They show it frequently--they even did a couple of weeks ago.  The one with Ronald Reagan and Eddie Albert.  They are students at a military academy, and one is secretly married and his wife is pregnant.  If you think hilarity ensues, wait till you see the musical version, with a star turn by a very young Joel Grey.  Don't forget Eddie Bracken and Gordon MacRae.

Why do I love this movie?  'Cause it's so strange!  It's utterly ridiculous.  When I was a kid they used to have a daily show (in NYC on our local channel, WOR) called Million Dollar Movie. They'd show the same movie every day for a week.  Somehow when I was about 12, I caught one showing of this movie and had to keep watching it.  I purchased my own copy a couple a few years ago, since it is so rarely shown. 

Has anyone ever heard of it or seen it?  I hope some of you will watch and report back. 

Edited September 14, 2021 by GussieK

[Charlie Baker]

OK, @GussieK -- you have me intrigued with About Face.  And it kicks off a Gordon MacRae daytime lineup.  Handsome man with beautiful voice, and not a bad actor.  They do not have his best known films, Oklahoma and Carousel, but they do have his obscure, dramatic change of pace Backfire and a couple nostalgia fest musicals with Doris Day.

[AgathaC]

Today is Lauren Bacall day on TCM and I will forever have a soft spot for her movies with Bogie.

Thanks to my grandfather’s VCR and love of movies, I grew up watching older movies but I never branched out beyond musicals and a few comedies. Then, on my 13th birthday, I happened to catch an airing of To Have and Have Not. The next day, I went to my grandparents’ house, grabbed his Maltin guide and searched his collection for any other Bogie/Bacall pairings (he had them all). That set off a chain reaction into other movies, other stars, and a new obsession.

I think it was the chemistry and finding it at the right time in my life where I could really be open to the art of classic films. The fact that he was married and there was a 25-year age difference is kind of squicky but the magic in that movie and The Big Sleep, in particular, can’t be denied. I haven’t ever cared as much for Dark Passage and I see Key Largo as belonging more to Edward G Robinson and Claire Trevor.

So, thanks Bogie and Bacall! (Though I’m not sure my husband appreciates my enormous DVD and book collections.)

[Charlie Baker]

OK, well, About Face is the silliest thing I've seen in some time, and silliness can be a good thing now and then.  It's not as overtly campy or inept as something like The Cool Ones, which we talked about a while back.  I don't know Brother Rat,  or how much About Face changes the plot, but I guess someone on IMDB accurately likened it to a 1950s cleaned-up version of Police Academy set in a military school.  And with song and dance.   Joel Grey,  barely out of his teens (if he was, actually, when this was shot), shall we say, pulls out every last stop.  I think this is one I have to be in the right frame of mind to watch...if I weren't it could drive me up the wall.  This first time I had fun. 

[mariah23]

Another TCM Remembers: friend of TCM Jane Powell has died at age 92.

[Wiendish Fitch]

1 minute ago, mariah23 said:

Another TCM Remembers: friend of TCM Jane Powell has died at age 92.

She was an underrated talent; she is so good in Royal Wedding. One of MGM's last stars, she will be missed.

[EtheltoTillie]

7 hours ago, Charlie Baker said:

OK, well, About Face is the silliest thing I've seen in some time, and silliness can be a good thing now and then.  It's not as overtly campy or inept as something like The Cool Ones, which we talked about a while back.  I don't know Brother Rat,  or how much About Face changes the plot, but I guess someone on IMDB accurately likened it to a 1950s cleaned-up version of Police Academy set in a military school.  And with song and dance.   Joel Grey,  barely out of his teens (if he was, actually, when this was shot), shall we say, pulls out every last stop.  I think this is one I have to be in the right frame of mind to watch...if I weren't it could drive me up the wall.  This first time I had fun. 

I'm so glad someone got to see it!  Brother Rat is still showing on Watch TCM.  I have only ever watched it once, and I just watched a bit of it again now.  It seems to follow the plot very similarly.  But it's just not as much fun without the absurd musical numbers.  I may go back and watch the rest later.   Also, the Gordon MacRae equivalent is kind of awful, unlike the Gordon MacRae character in About Face, who is more of a lovable rogue. 

[AgathaC]

I do enjoy Jane Powell. Royal Wedding is a big one, of course, but I always had a soft spot for Two Weeks With Love, featuring an adorably spunky Debbie Reynolds as her younger sister. It’s so sad to see the greats slip away.

Jane was married to fellow former child star Dick (Dickie) Moore, who wrote a very good book about child stars of the Golden Age: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (But Don’t Have Sex or Take the Car). It’s pretty sad in places but a fascinating look at kids in Hollywood and their varying experiences.

[chitowngirl]

Jane Powell in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers!

[Charlie Baker]

Jane Powell has said she didn't quit movies, they quit her, and she was certainly talented enough to have had a longer film career than she did. 

I know some find story elements of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers problematic in this day and age.  But the script and score are tightly crafted, the Michael Kidd choreography and the men who dance it are great.  And Ms. Powell was the movie's secret weapon.  She made a completely convincing, strong, practical heroine who was more than a match for her husband and brothers-in-law.

Edited September 17, 2021 by Charlie Baker

[EtheltoTillie]

Speaking of problematic content, the Wooden Indian number in About Face needs one of those reframing discussions, and some of the sex role assumptions are over the top. Meanwhile, Brother Rat opens with the playing of Dixie, and the house where Priscilla Lane lives has a black lawn jockey in front. 

[SomeTameGazelle]

17 hours ago, Charlie Baker said:

Jane Powell has said she didn't quit movies, they quit her, and she was certainly talented enough to have had a longer film career than she did. 

I know some find story elements of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers problematic in this day and age.  But the script and score are tightly crafted, the Michael Kidd choreography and the men who dance it are great.  And Ms. Powell was the movie's secret weapon.  She made a completely convincing, strong, practical heroine who was more than a match for her husband and brothers-in-law.

No-one should imagine that in reality if you kidnap a woman she will eventually gladly marry you. But Seven Brides is one of my favourite movies and it does a pretty good job of showing that Adam was wrong to suggest the plan and the brothers were wrong to go through with it: Millie banishes them from the house as punishment and to keep the women safe until the spring thaw. 

[Bastet]

I can't stand Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, but agree that Powell's performance is terrific.  And I enjoy her playing against type in The Female Animal.  That's an interesting watch all around, because it's a film not at all worthy of its cast, who were all unhappy their careers were not what they used to be and never would be again (in fact, it wound up being Hedy Lamarr's final film), but you mostly can't tell that from the performances.

[Rinaldo]

Jane Powell was a real trouper. When the movies no longer wanted her, she kept going on TV and onstage... intermittently, but persistently. In 2003, I saw her play the mother of Howard McGillin and Richard Kind in the Sondheim musical Bounce (in Chicago and then in DC). She has said that although she was initially excited to meet Sondheim and to create a role in a new stage musical, she was disappointed that the role wasn't more interesting or challenging -- and she wasn't wrong about that; it (and the show) sadly didn't amount to much. But it does show that her avidity to keep finding new things to perform never stopped.

[Rinaldo]

Early alert: Friday afternoon at 1:30 pm ET, TCM is again showing The Cool Ones. I posted about it in July, and they didn't put it On Demand then, so if you're gnashing your teeth about having missed it then, this is your chance; set that DVR. It's truly one of the unintentional-camp classics, blissfully bonkers from start to finish. 

After it they're showing Catalina Caper, which I've previously only encountered (in abridged form) as one of the most entertaining early segments of Mystery Science Theater 3000. This one isn't any kind of classic; it's merely an unusually dopey beach movie, with a stolen treasure, Tommy Kirk, Lyle Waggoner, goofy villains, and musical performances from The Cascades and Little Richard. If you're into that sort of nonsense, it's worth a look.

[EtheltoTillie]

On 9/18/2021 at 11:47 AM, Rinaldo said:

Jane Powell was a real trouper. When the movies no longer wanted her, she kept going on TV and onstage... intermittently, but persistently. In 2003, I saw her play the mother of Howard McGillin and Richard Kind in the Sondheim musical Bounce (in Chicago and then in DC). She has said that although she was initially excited to meet Sondheim and to create a role in a new stage musical, she was disappointed that the role wasn't more interesting or challenging -- and she wasn't wrong about that; it (and the show) sadly didn't amount to much. But it does show that her avidity to keep finding new things to perform never stopped.

In 1974 my now husband and I were college students.  We took his grandmother to see Jane Powell in a Broadway revival of Irene.  Powell had replaced Debbie Reynolds. Grandma had few joys in life, and one of them was her love for my husband and me. Another was cooking us enormous quantities of Italian food. Another for some reason was Jane Powell. She really wanted to see Jane Powell.  It was not the greatest show but we enjoyed taking her. 

[EtheltoTillie]

I used to see Richard Kind all the time at the gym before I moved uptown a few blocks and joined another gym. 

[Milburn Stone]

On 9/18/2021 at 10:47 AM, Rinaldo said:

Jane Powell was a real trouper. When the movies no longer wanted her, she kept going on TV and onstage... intermittently, but persistently. In 2003, I saw her play the mother of Howard McGillin and Richard Kind in the Sondheim musical Bounce (in Chicago and then in DC). She has said that although she was initially excited to meet Sondheim and to create a role in a new stage musical, she was disappointed that the role wasn't more interesting or challenging -- and she wasn't wrong about that; it (and the show) sadly didn't amount to much. But it does show that her avidity to keep finding new things to perform never stopped.

I'm glad for the opportunity to have seen Jane Powell in that, too. (In Chicago.) I kind of think the role was a little more substantial than either you or she thought. As the mother who makes no bones about preferring one son to the other, and is oblivious to the attentions of the "lesser" son, creating all kinds of pain for him, she did have something to play, and she put it across. (Armchair psychoanalysis: In the role of bad mother, she was a stand-in for Sondheim's mother Foxy.) 

Edited September 20, 2021 by Milburn Stone

[Charlie Baker]

Not to get too Theater Talk-y here, but I would have liked to have seen Bounce, to see Ms. Powell and other cast members who were preserved on the cast recording,  and to see what the show was before it played New York as Road Show with changes made.  I did see Road Show.

To get it a little more on topic, Wilson Mizner of the brothers/subjects of the musical was, among other things,  a screenwriter from silents to pre-Code, with credits including the much-loved-here One Way Passage.

[Charlie Baker]

Back to recent TCM fare: guest programmer Dana Delany and Eddie Muller made a good pair for Saturday night's selections.  The first two films I hadn't seen.  Once a Thief is a mid-60s type noir, gritty and stylish.  Couldn't decide if Alain Delon and Ann-Margret (Whew, what eyefuls!) were really good or really overwrought.  Jack Palance and Van Heflin (Whose SUTS day gave me an even deeper appreciation for him) were rock solid. A strong, tough watch.  Man on a TIghtrope is based on the factual story of a circus escaping Communist oppression with an outstanding Fredric March and Dana Delany's favorite Gloria Grahame.  She stuck around for Noir Alley because GG was in this week's selection Human Desire.  

All in all, the TCM I know and love. 

[ctlady]

So after never having seen it, and saw TCM had it on this past Sunday morning, I finally saw Gaslight. Was disappointed how gullible Paula was portrayed.  I was waiting for the AHA moment when she finally figured out what Gregory was up to and turned the tables on him.

Of course, the lengths he went to to find those jewels could've been waaaaay shortened by him saying, "Hey, honey - I think I'm going to clean out the attic for my office" 

No more sneaking out at night under the guise of 'work' to douse the gaslight and walk around all night searching through auntie's things.

[letter8358]

58 minutes ago, ctlady said:

So after never having seen it, and saw TCM had it on this past Sunday morning, I finally saw Gaslight. Was disappointed how gullible Paula was portrayed.  I was waiting for the AHA moment when she finally figured out what Gregory was up to and turned the tables on him.

Of course, the lengths he went to to find those jewels could've been waaaaay shortened by him saying, "Hey, honey - I think I'm going to clean out the attic for my office" 

No more sneaking out at night under the guise of 'work' to douse the gaslight and walk around all night searching through auntie's things.

One of Angela Lansbury's first roles. She was 19 then.

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 9/20/2021 at 11:41 AM, Charlie Baker said:

Back to recent TCM fare: guest programmer Dana Delany and Eddie Muller made a good pair for Saturday night's selections.  The first two films I hadn't seen.  Once a Thief is a mid-60s type noir, gritty and stylish.  Couldn't decide if Alain Delon and Ann-Margret (Whew, what eyefuls!) were really good or really overwrought. 

I think they were overwrought.

And Dana Delany was saying how they were the most beautiful people in the world, but there's just something about Alain Delon that keeps me from getting there.  I have the same problem with Michael Sarrazin.  I think it may be something about the twinkly eyes?

As for Ann-Margret, the next day I was watching a show on the local PBS channel about towns in the Chicago suburbs, and they were talking about Swedish immigrants and they put up a photo of a little girl, and before they identified her, I thought, "That's Ann-Margret."  And it was!  I always think it's crazy when someone is so recognizable from a childhood photo, especially someone like Ann-Margret, who is simply beautiful and therefore probably not uniquely asymmetrical or something similarly memorable.

On 9/20/2021 at 11:41 AM, Charlie Baker said:

Jack Palance and Van Heflin (Whose SUTS day gave me an even deeper appreciation for him) were rock solid. A strong, tough watch. 

I liked Eddie Muller's "Drop the gun!!"  I literally said the same thing, out loud.  Mr. Outlier came out from the other room to see what was going on.

But, what's a SUTS day?

On 9/20/2021 at 11:41 AM, Charlie Baker said:

Man on a TIghtrope is based on the factual story of a circus escaping Communist oppression with an outstanding Fredric March and Dana Delany's favorite Gloria Grahame. 

I started watching it even though I'm not a fan of circuses.  And stayed, mainly because of Frederic March.  I've seen plenty of things with him in them, but he's never stuck in my mind individually (like, say, Van Heflin or Jack Palance or Alain Delon).  I don't think I could pick him out of a lineup.

But he was fabulous in this.  I was exhausted watching him running around, and that encounter he had with the other circus owner was a joy to watch.  It turned into an unexpectedly good movie.

And then, the very next day, apparently when I wasn't watching the show on PBS, I read an opinion piece decrying how the University of Wisconsin has removed March's name from its theaters.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/opinion/wisconsin-Fredric-March.html

TCM had its fingerprints all over me last weekend.

[Charlie Baker]

SUTS=Summer under the Stars.  The stuff I saw from the day devoted to Heflin really impressed me. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

7 minutes ago, Charlie Baker said:

SUTS=Summer under the Stars.  The stuff I saw from the day devoted to Heflin really impressed me. 

Ah, thanks.  I've never embraced him because I find his buggy eyes off-putting (but I liked him in this).  So I don't like Alain Delon because of his twinkly eyes, and Van Heflin because of his buggy eyes.  I'm detecting a pattern.

But speaking of eyes, what about the albino looking guy in Once a Thief?  I'm not sure if he was more menacing with those dark glasses on or off.  Either way, every time he went near the little girl I shuddered.  Dang, he was scary.  For good reason, of course.

[Charlie Baker]

Quote

9 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

what about the albino looking guy in Once a Thief? ... Dang, he was scary. 

 

A very creepy bad guy, for sure.  The actor, someone I wasn't familiar with, evidently specialized in the type.

John Davis Chandler

[EtheltoTillie]

4 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

But, what's a SUTS day?

I started watching it even though I'm not a fan of circuses.  And stayed, mainly because of Frederic March.  I've seen plenty of things with him in them, but he's never stuck in my mind individually (like, say, Van Heflin or Jack Palance or Alain Delon).  I don't think I could pick him out of a lineup.

But he was fabulous in this.  I was exhausted watching him running around, and that encounter he had with the other circus owner was a joy to watch.  It turned into an unexpectedly good movie.

And then, the very next day, apparently when I wasn't watching the show on PBS, I read an opinion piece decrying how the University of Wisconsin has removed March's name from its theaters.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/opinion/wisconsin-Fredric-March.html

TCM had its fingerprints all over me last weekend.

I read something else about that Wisconsin mess a couple of weeks ago when TCM had Fredric March day.  I was just randomly googling info about March.  Then I read it in the Times last weekend.  I'm not sure why they suddenly picked it up.   I missed the Tightrope movie, and I'm going to try to catch it. 

ETA:  apparently the Times was picking up on an attempt to lobby the Governor of Wisconsin to rescind the ban. 

Edited September 21, 2021 by GussieK

[Suzn]

On 9/21/2021 at 1:07 PM, StatisticalOutlier said:

I think they were overwrought.

And Dana Delany was saying how they were the most beautiful people in the world, but there's just something about Alain Delon that keeps me from getting there.  I have the same problem with Michael Sarrazin.  I think it may be something about the twinkly eyes?

 

I vote overwrought.

I watched Once a Thief because of comments here, but really didn't care for it.  Alain Delon:  I can see that objectively he is very good looking, but don't "feel" that at all.  He's kind of bland and my eyes don't go to him.

It made no sense that he didn't drop the gun, unless it was suicide by cop.

[PaulaO]

On 9/16/2021 at 7:18 PM, GussieK said:

Speaking of problematic content, the Wooden Indian number in About Face needs one of those reframing discussions, and some of the sex role assumptions are over the top. Meanwhile, Brother Rat opens with the playing of Dixie, and the house where Priscilla Lane lives has a black lawn jockey in front. 

A little late, but daily I drive by a house with a black lawn jockey.  White  upper middle class neighborhood.  The first time I saw it I was WTF.  The second time I stopped to take a picture....

[mariah23]

Congratulations to TCM host Jacqueline Stewart to receiving a MacArthur Grant!!  She's shown at :50 mark.

 

[Charlie Baker]

She's also the first artistic director of the about-to-open Academy museum, as I learned last night when she introduced Citizen Kane and Malcolm X with Dave Karger. She's also on the faculty of the University of Chicago.

At any rate, congratulations to her indeed!

[Milburn Stone]

On 9/16/2021 at 7:18 PM, GussieK said:

Speaking of problematic content, the Wooden Indian number in About Face needs one of those reframing discussions...

My perception (anecdotal, based on a small sample) is that TCM has given up doing these, for the excellent reason that they came to the realization that there'd be no end to doing these if they kept it up. They showed Good News recently and Alicia Malone made no mention of the "Pass Your Peace Pipe" number to help us know how to receive it without being devastated. Similarly, I recall I saw a film on TCM recently in which someone wore blackface in one scene or affected what was understood at the time to be a "black accent," and apparently TCM considered its viewers mature enough to receive this scene without thorough preparation. I really do conjecture they came to the position of realizing they'd be issuing gender and/or race content-warnings for every movie they showed if they continued down that road.

[mariah23]

TCM Remembers: Disney Legend Tommy Kirk dead at age 79.

[EtheltoTillie]

Good for Jacqueline Stewart.  That Academy museum looks interesting.  I saw some segments about it a couple of nights ago.  If I ever get back to California, I will go!

 

7 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

My perception (anecdotal, based on a small sample) is that TCM has given up doing these, for the excellent reason that they came to the realization that there'd be no end to doing these if they kept it up.

I agree.  I think they just did it as an introduction to the idea of "reframing," but they left it up to the world to do their own analysis going forward. 

[EtheltoTillie]

22 hours ago, Charlie Baker said:

She's also the first artistic director of the about-to-open Academy museum, as I learned last night when she introduced Citizen Kane and Malcolm X with Dave Karger. She's also on the faculty of the University of Chicago.

At any rate, congratulations to her indeed!

I rewatched Malcolm X that night.  I stayed up quite late to do it.  It was so compelling.  It's like a fever dream. 

[Suzn]

8 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

My perception (anecdotal, based on a small sample) is that TCM has given up doing these, for the excellent reason that they came to the realization that there'd be no end to doing these if they kept it up. They showed Good News recently and Alicia Malone made no mention of the "Pass Your Peace Pipe" number to help us know how to receive it without being devastated. Similarly, I recall I saw a film on TCM recently in which someone wore blackface in one scene or affected what was understood at the time to be a "black accent," and apparently TCM considered its viewers mature enough to receive this scene without thorough preparation. I really do conjecture they came to the position of realizing they'd be issuing gender and/or race content-warnings for every movie they showed if they continued down that road.

I've got mixed feelings about this.  Adults shouldn't "need" to have all the problematic aspects of vintage movies pointed out, discussed, and explained.  However, I find an examination of these things interesting and some historical prospective is worthwhile.  The feature on blackface and minstrel shows was particularly good.  I'm not sure how these topics should be handled, only that there is room for some of it to be an ongoing offering. 

[Charlie Baker]

Deborah Kerr

The hundredth anniversary of her birth is today.  The line-up all day today consists of her films.

 

[Wiendish Fitch]

7 minutes ago, Charlie Baker said:

Deborah Kerr

The hundredth anniversary of her birth is today.  The line-up all day today consists of her films.

 

Happy Birthday, Ms. Kerr, you are gone, but not forgotten.

She truly was a class act. My favorite of her films are The Innocents and Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison.

[EtheltoTillie]

2 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Happy Birthday, Ms. Kerr, you are gone, but not forgotten.

She truly was a class act. My favorite of her films are The Innocents and Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison.

I also love The King and I and The Sundowners.  They showed a real stinker of hers a few weeks ago:  Count Your Blessings, with Rossano Brazzi playing her adulterous husband.  I could not sit through it, even to hear Kerr's plummy voice. 

They're also showing Dream Wife, another turkey. 

[Tom Holmberg]

22 hours ago, mariah23 said:

TCM Remembers: Disney Legend Tommy Kirk dead at age 79.

I always like Tommy Kirk as an kid actor, but I hope this doesn't mean TCM will be rerunning "Catalina Caper" again.

[Charlie Baker]

A look at the Academy Museum with a few comments from Jacqueline Stewart.

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

 

[Luckylyn]

On 9/30/2021 at 11:02 AM, Charlie Baker said:

Deborah Kerr

The hundredth anniversary of her birth is today.  The line-up all day today consists of her films.

 

The YouTube channel Be Kind Rewind did a great video covering Deborah Kerr’s career.  It’s a great channel with several videos about various actresses.

[Rinaldo]

On 9/30/2021 at 11:10 AM, Wiendish Fitch said:

[Deborah Kerr] truly was a class act. My favorite of her films are The Innocents and Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison.

The Innocents is wonderful all around, and she's on fire in it. The Turn of the Screw is a hard story to dramatize (my favorite composer, Benjamin Britten, made a terrific opera out of it), if one is going to maintain the ambiguity about the ghosts' actual presence. But the movie manages it miraculously, and she (after so much over-exposure in governess/teacher kinds of roles) delivers 100%.

Another film in which Kerr is impressive (not shown this time, but a fairly regular visitor to TCM) is Edward, My Son, from early in her career. She has a secondary role in it, as wife to (miscast) Spencer Tracy and mother to the unseen Edward, but she's extraordinarily fine in her progression from middle-class young wife & mother to wife of unscrupulous tycoon to sloppy drunk (and self-aware, even self-mocking about it).

On 9/30/2021 at 2:46 PM, Tom Holmberg said:

I always like Tommy Kirk as an kid actor, but I hope this doesn't mean TCM will be rerunning "Catalina Caper" again.

Eh, there are worse things they could show again. Catalina Caper is at least modest fun in its mediocrity. (Though most fun of all as roasted by MST3K.)

[Charlie Baker]

On CBS Sunday Morning:

Ben Interviews Daniel Craig

 

 

[SomeTameGazelle]

I watched The Grass Is Greener on Deborah Kerr day. I enjoyed it a lot. I read that Rex Harrison was originally supposed to play the Cary Grant role. I can definitely picture his hidebound attitude preventing him from telling his wife he loved her in a way I didn't quite feel from Grant. 

I did love Kerr explaining to Robert Mitchum that an Englishman would convey his compliment of the wife through her husband first.