TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[graybrown bird]

I have watched It's a Wonderful Life many times over the years, and even now will watch a scene or two if I happen across it. I remember the first time I saw it-- the scene in which a desperate George Bailey comes home to his wife and children, who are all busy and happy getting ready for Christmas, banging on the piano, shouting, laughing, saying Daddy, look at this, etc.  And he blows up - so worried and terrified about what's happening down at the Savings and Loan.  His wife and kids just stop all the happy noise and stare at him, really almost scared at his sudden temper.  This scene reminded me SO MUCH of scenes from my childhood, when my dad would lose his temper like that. He was a young dad, married at 21 just back from WWII, with three kids within 5 years.  My mom was great, really like the sweet and gentle Donna Reed character in some ways, and dad was a good man but in hindsight so very YOUNG.  Anyway, George Bailey's desperation and lashing out gave me a flash of insight into my dad's burdens as a young husband and father back then.  That scene reads true to me.

[Tom Holmberg]

2 hours ago, graybrown bird said:

 Anyway, George Bailey's desperation and lashing out gave me a flash of insight into my dad's burdens as a young husband and father back then.  That scene reads true to me.

I always thought 1950s TV shows like "Father Knows Best" or "Leave it to Beaver", besides being entertainment, were sort of set up to be instruction manuals for men back from WWII on how to be fathers (even though my father was more like yours than Beaver's).

Edited November 11, 2021 by Tom Holmberg

[Wiendish Fitch]

Ok, since I break my promises all the time, I'll go ahead and express where I stand on It's a Wonderful Life.

I can acknowledge that there are very, very good things about it. The movie does a great job establishing George's good deeds and why they matter to the world, and why the world would suck without him. I find the parts where he rescued his brother as a kid and his stopping Mr. Gower from accidentally committing manslaughter incredibly affecting. The film is excellently made and structured. Yes, it's manipulative as hell, but at least it's organic manipulation, not that synthetic shit churned out by Hallmark*. Donna Reed is charming as all get out (and I never tire of the meme of her smashing the record), and I always enjoy Lionel Barrymore in ultra-cartoony villain mode.

So ...why don't I like it? First and foremost, I intensely dislike narratives that deify small towns. You could not pay me to live in Bedford Falls (Pottersville looks more fun). It feels for all the world like the citizens of Bedford Falls are conspiring to keep George there no matter what.  You don't have to be a feminist to find the Alternate Universe Mary's fate eye-rolling (oh, no, she's single, wears glasses, and works at a library!). I think George should have pulled a Phil from White Christmas and gesture to his damaged ear to guilt Harry into doing his bidding at least once. I think George's parents kind of suck, and Uncle Billy is a worthless idiot. And, because I can't say this enough, the townspeople should have, bare minimum, pitched in extra money to send George on that trip he always wanted. Honest to Pete, that would improve my opinion of the movie a hundred fold, but, of course, the ending is etched in celluloid. 

So there's my long winded opinion on It's a Wonderful Life no one asked for. You're welcome.

P.S.

@graybrown bird, that was a beautiful analysis of that scene.

Edited November 11, 2021 by Wiendish Fitch

[Suzn]

1 hour ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

 You don't have to be a feminist to find the Alternate Universe Mary's fate eye-rolling (oh, no, she's single, wears glasses, and works at a library!).

I like your entire take on the movie, but what happened to Mary without George particularly galled me.  Not only no other man wanted her, but she had no opportunities for anything but becoming a nervous, homely old maid.

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

You don't have to be a feminist to find the Alternate Universe Mary's fate eye-rolling (oh, no, she's single, wears glasses, and works at a library!).

Maybe this was an early click! moment for me, because that was one of my biggest takeaways the first time I watched this movie as a kid - Living alone in the city with a library job sounded pretty cool to me, so why did Mary look so awful and miserable?  The other one was wondering why Bedford Falls was the good place when Pottersville had so much more happening.

So, yeah, I'm with you.  I re-watched it once long ago, as an adult, and still didn't like it, all because of that awful If he'd never been born sequence and the ending.  George is utterly trapped in a life that has been filled with sacrifice and disappointment, but if he hadn't been born, everyone else's life would have been miserable.  Okay, first, really?  He's that vital that none of these people could have even functioned in life if he hadn't come along?  Second, so what?  Why is their unhappiness so much more important than his, so that his unfulfilled life is actually wonderful because he made their lives wonderful, nevermind that all their happiness resulted from him having to give something up (for which most of them didn't seem particularly grateful)?

It fetishizes self sacrifice.  Of course it's not good to be selfish, but this extreme isn't healthy.

I hate how simplistic the ending is.  He was suicidal over a lifetime of disappointment and resentment, but now that he won't be carted off to prison (I guess, because apparently Potter is just going to let it go once the money is back?), his problems are over, it's a wonderful life, and he's right where he belongs? 

 

[Suzn]

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

It fetishizes self sacrifice.  Of course it's not good to be selfish, but this extreme isn't healthy.

I hate how simplistic the ending is.  He was suicidal over a lifetime of disappointment and resentment, but now that he won't be carted off to prison (I guess, because apparently Potter is just going to let it go once the money is back?), his problems are over, it's a wonderful life, and he's right where he belongs? 

 

I'm thrilled to find that I'm not the only one to see George's sacrifices that way!

[Wiendish Fitch]

Aw, man, you guys have seriously one-upped me with your takes on It's a Wonderful Life! I started a IaWL thread in the movies board (assuming there isn't one already) so that we don't monopolize this one.

[voiceover]

I missed the intro on The Outsiders, so don’t know if this was referenced:

Mrs Mitchell read this aloud to us in 7th grade English (until the movie came out I thought “Soc” was pronounce “Sock”)...so I was a huge fan of the book first.

Years later I still like to surprise people who’ve never read the book (“BookDally has white-blond hair with NO grease!”) and people who’ve never seen the movie (“Matt Dillon plays Dally in the film!”)  Disbelieving gasps all round.

I was slow to come to affection for the film, in the way lovers of the source material can be, but — despite his looking nothing like BookDally, I always thought Dillon’s performance the best in the film.  When he was telling Johnny and Pony how to escape, he WAS BookDally — without the hair.

[voiceover]

On 11/8/2021 at 12:34 PM, Fool to cry said:

I think of Gone With the Wind as the tragic story of a woman who realized too late that her only truest friend that she didn't appreciate because she was so narcissist

So if you thumb back 100 pages ago, you’ll find me saying the same thing: “GWTW is really the story of a friendship, because the film ends when Melanie dies.”

BookMelanie was not the saint that MovieMelanie was, but Olivia’s performance was one of the best of her career.

[EtheltoTillie]

For those like me who had been waiting for a rebroadcast of To Live and Die in LA, it’s on tonight at 10 PM. 

[Fool to cry]

20 hours ago, GussieK said:

For those like me who had been waiting for a rebroadcast of To Live and Die in LA, it’s on tonight at 10 PM. 

I haven't seen that yet but I did recently see William Friedkin's "Wages of Fear" remake SORCERER starring Roy Schroeder. It's a shame being released after Star Wars hurt it at the box office because it's incredible. That Tangerine Dream score is soooooo good. Also I didn't know Bruno Cremer who played Inspector Maigret on TV in France in the 90s was in it.

[Charlie Baker]

Just a few responses to recent posts--and I'll try to be brief. :-)

On It's a Wonderful Life:  At first I thought it was just overexposure that wore the movie out with me--for years it inadvertently was in the public domain, so independent TV stations were free to air it without paying for rights, and fly-by-night video companies could issue it, as I understood it at the time.  And SO many TV series adopted the premise of what-if-so-and-so had never been be born.  But only later I was able to see what you have pointed out here, and whatever heartwarming or uplifting aspects the movie had didn't compensate or convince.

Re @VOICEOVER : The TCM intro to The Outsiders did not comment on how to pronounce "soc," but FFC did say he loved the book even if he saw it as an opportunity to regain some industry clout, was painstaking in his casting that launched a bunch of careers, and felt compelled to reissue it with restored scenes when he had sufficient clout.  

Yes, @FOOL TO CRY I concur. Sorcerer was underrated. 

Then there's The Big Cube of our Inadvertent Camp Classics.  Unlike The Cool Ones or Skidoo, it's meant to be a serious drama and fails so wildly that it really fits the classic concept of camp.  Certainly out of the creators' depths with its subject matter, and poorly executed to boot.  Continuity and logic weren't priorities.  Star Lana Turner is photographed and lit with great care, until some shots here and there when she isn't, though it must be said she still looked good.   She tries so hard to give a good performance it's almost sad.  About the same could be said for George Chakiris, and as @RINALDO said, it's too bad his career went where it did.  (Though, to allow myself a theater wonk aside, I would have loved to have seen him play Bobby in the tour of the musical Company.)

[Tom Holmberg]

On 11/13/2021 at 2:48 PM, GussieK said:

For those like me who had been waiting for a rebroadcast of To Live and Die in LA, it’s on tonight at 10 PM. 

I'll repeat my "To Live and Die in LA" story (because I like it).  I went to the sneak preview in Chicago of the film and William Peterson's parents were sitting in front of me and his mother keep going "Oh, my God!"  all through the movie.  It was pretty funny.

[Tom Holmberg]

On 11/14/2021 at 11:01 AM, Fool to cry said:

I haven't seen that yet but I did recently see William Friedkin's "Wages of Fear" remake SORCERER starring Roy Schroeder. It's a shame being released after Star Wars hurt it at the box office because it's incredible. That Tangerine Dream score is soooooo good. Also I didn't know Bruno Cremer who played Inspector Maigret on TV in France in the 90s was in it.

It's a very good movie that doesn't show up on TV very often. 

[EtheltoTillie]

I saw Sorcerer when it came out because I’m a movie geek. I guess not many others went. I can’t buy this idea that it was dwarfed by Star Wars. The audiences are so different. 

I have a Roy Scheider story. He used to live near our friend’s house in the Hamptons. We were waiting to turn at a stop sign on a real back road and he came barreling by in a pickup truck and came close to t-boning us. 

Edited November 16, 2021 by GussieK
Duh, misspelled Scheider.

[Rinaldo]

25 minutes ago, GussieK said:

I saw Sorcerer when it came out because I’m a movie geek. I guess not many others went. I can’t buy this idea that it was dwarfed by Star Wars. The audiences are so different. 

Not that I'm Everyman, but for whatever it may be worth: Sorcerer came out during my prime moviegoing years, when I went a lot. I enjoyed Star Wars like everyone else that year, and might have seen Sorcerer, but the descriptions didn't make it sound that attractive to me. And after The Exorcist, I was feeling out of sympathy with what Friedkin wanted to put on the screen (a feeling that would be confirmed 2 years later when he made Cruising). So I gave it a miss, and fact I have yet to see it.

[Fool to cry]

Calling it "Sorcerer" when it had nothing to do with magic probably didn't help. I would watch the original "Wages of Fear" first. I like that it's obvious Friedkin saw it and thought "Man, this movie would've been even better if we saw these guys' lives before they had to hide out in that town, and they drove through a dense jungle, and then had to cross a rickety bridge!" 

I saw this in the "Mr Plow" episode of The Simpsons when I was a kid but didn't know it referencing "Sorcerer" until recently!

 

 

[EtheltoTillie]

7 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

Not that I'm Everyman, but for whatever it may be worth: Sorcerer came out during my prime moviegoing years, when I went a lot. I enjoyed Star Wars like everyone else that year, and might have seen Sorcerer, but the descriptions didn't make it sound that attractive to me. And after The Exorcist, I was feeling out of sympathy with what Friedkin wanted to put on the screen (a feeling that would be confirmed 2 years later when he made Cruising). So I gave it a miss, and fact I have yet to see it.

Sorcerer really isn’t that great. And Cruising is certainly a legendary disaster.  But weren’t you one of the people who recommended To Live and Die In LA, @Rinaldo?  I could be misremembering. I finally watched it, and it’s a bit of a mess. But I liked seeing all the actors. 

Edited November 16, 2021 by GussieK

[Tom Holmberg]

12 hours ago, GussieK said:

I saw Sorcerer when it came out because I’m a movie geek. I guess not many others went. I can’t buy this idea that it was dwarfed by Star Wars. The audiences are so different.

I saw it when it came out and really liked it, but it seems to be very polarizing. Critics at the time largely panned it (Ebert however named it one of the year's to 10 films).

Edited November 16, 2021 by Tom Holmberg

[Rinaldo]

6 hours ago, GussieK said:

But weren’t you one of the people who recommended To Live and Die In LA, @Rinaldo?  I could be misremembering. I finally watched it, and it’s a bit of a mess. But I liked seeing all the actors. 

It wouldn't have been me -- I did see To Live and Die in LA once, on cable, and I guess liked it OK (big John Pankow fan for instance; he was my Mozart when I saw Amadeus on Broadway). But I recall very little about it, and didn't participate in that conversation here.

[EtheltoTillie]

Did anyone watch Dear Heart?  What a strange movie.  I just don't get why Geraldine Page is so beloved.  She's too weird.  In this movie, she's an annoying flibbertigibbet.  I understand that she is so lonely she makes friends with all the bellhops, but come on.  I loved the allusion to the possible lesbian relationship between Mary Wickes and Gladys, when they were in their room with curlers on.  I loved the mid-century modern scenery and costumes.  I really love the theme song.   They used to play it all the time on the radio in those days. 

[Rinaldo]

On 11/18/2021 at 5:34 PM, GussieK said:

Did anyone watch Dear Heart?  What a strange movie. 

What strikes me as strange is that TCM keeps scheduling it so often. Three or four years ago I was running through Henry Mancini songs of the 1960s in my head (and they did indeed play on radio all the time then), and I thought, "Boy that's a true 'forgotten' movie that'll never be seen again -- small sentimental story that was old-fashioned even then, B&W, no particular star sizzle to qualify it for revival or special attention, unnoticed even in its time." And then it turned up on TCM's schedule, and it keeps coming back. Maybe it's one that they own so it costs them nothing to use it to plug holes in the schedule?

I did watch it when it turned up a year or two ago. Nothing particular wrong with it (Page seems fine to me -- a fussy flibbertigibbet is the nature of the role, and she was a good enough actress to make it convincing), but also nothing to qualify it for being brought out so often. And the ending is truly weird: freeze-frame while the chorus gives us a full rendition of the title song.

If we're going to exhume the forgotten oeuvre of director Delbert Mann, I'd like to see the telefilms he made c. 1970 of David Copperfield (Olivier, Richardson, Hiller, Evans, Cusack father & daughter, and many more, all in a very fancy flashback structure as the twice-bereaved David tries to "write the story of his life") and Jane Eyre (GC Scott, Susannah York). They're available on DVD, but in what turn out to be blurry dubs (that I could almost believe were taped at home) that were somehow allowed official status. I'd love to see them both in clean prints.

[EtheltoTillie]

22 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

What strikes me as strange is that TCM keeps scheduling it so often. Three or four years ago I was running through Henry Mancini songs of the 1960s in my head (and they did indeed play on radio all the time then), and I thought, "Boy that's a true 'forgotten' movie that'll never be seen again -- small sentimental story that was old-fashioned even then, B&W, no particular star sizzle to qualify it for revival or special attention, unnoticed even in its time." And then it turned up on TCM's schedule, and it keeps coming back. Maybe it's one that they own so it costs them nothing to use it to plug holes in the schedule?

I did watch it when it turned up a year or two ago. Nothing particular wrong with it (Page seems fine to me -- a fussy flibbertigibbet is the nature of the role, and she was a good enough actress to make it convincing), but also nothing to qualify it for being brought out so often. And the ending is truly weird: freeze-frame while the chorus gives us a full rendition of the title song.

If we're going to exhume the forgotten oeuvre of director Delbert Mann, I'd like to see the telefilms he made c. 1970 of David Copperfield (Olivier, Richardson, Hiller, Evans, Cusack father & daughter, and many more, all in a very fancy flashback structure as the twice-bereaved David tries to "write the story of his life") and Jane Eyre (GC Scott, Susannah York). They're available on DVD, but in what turn out to be blurry dubs (that I could almost believe were taped at home) that were somehow allowed official status. I'd love to see them both in clean prints.

Don't forget Mr. Buddwing, which TCM occasionally shows.  Really strange!!!

 

Edited November 20, 2021 by GussieK

[Fool to cry]

1 hour ago, Rinaldo said:

What strikes me as strange is that TCM keeps scheduling it so often. Three or four years ago I was running through Henry Mancini songs of the 1960s in my head (and they did indeed play on radio all the time then), and I thought, "Boy that's a true 'forgotten' movie that'll never be seen again -- small sentimental story that was old-fashioned even then, B&W, no particular star sizzle to qualify it for revival or special attention, unnoticed even in its time." And then it turned up on TCM's schedule, and it keeps coming back. Maybe it's one that they own so it costs them nothing to use it to plug holes in the schedule?

I did watch it when it turned up a year or two ago. Nothing particular wrong with it (Page seems fine to me -- a fussy flibbertigibbet is the nature of the role, and she was a good enough actress to make it convincing), but also nothing to qualify it for being brought out so often. And the ending is truly weird: freeze-frame while the chorus gives us a full rendition of the title song.

If we're going to exhume the forgotten oeuvre of director Delbert Mann, I'd like to see the telefilms he made c. 1970 of David Copperfield (Olivier, Richardson, Hiller, Evans, Cusack father & daughter, and many more, all in a very fancy flashback structure as the twice-bereaved David tries to "write the story of his life") and Jane Eyre (GC Scott, Susannah York). They're available on DVD, but in what turn out to be blurry dubs (that I could almost believe were taped at home) that were somehow allowed official status. I'd love to see them both in clean prints.

Also with Pamela Franklin from The Innocents and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie as the silly but ultimately tragic Dora. I didn't know until recently she was also in a movie I saw on TV when I was a kid "Flipper's New Adventure"

I recently saw the actor who played David Copperfield in the 1972 British horror anthology "Tales From the Crypt" based on the 50s comics. In his segment he's a total bastard to a kindly old neighbor played against type by Peter Cushing who is so heartbreaking.

[Rinaldo]

4 hours ago, GussieK said:

Don't forget Mr. Buddwing, which TCM occasionally shows.  Really strange!!!

I was going to mention it as one of Mann's titles, then decided I'd already gone on way too many tangents. But yes, Mr. Buddwing. REALLY strange. All the actors must have hoped, in that decade of Richard Lester and others doing novel things with non-story and editing, that when it was all cut together it would make some sense or at least have some point. And it didn't, and doesn't.

Ah, Pamela Franklin. A youthful obsession of mine, and a career that inexplicably just faded after such a high-level beginning (how many actors have gone face to face with Maggie Smith in a shouting match and won?). She and her husband chose to relocate to the US, and she did some highly obscure movies (one virtually unseen one, Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies, actually turned up on TCM once) and lots of episodic TV dramas in the 1970s -- Bonanza, Cannon, you name it. As she reports on the DVD commentary for Miss Brodie (I'm paraphrasing from memory), on one of those jobs she heard the crew talk about setting up the shot for the girl, and she thought "All these years in the business, and I'm still 'the girl'? Maybe it's time to hang it up." And she did.

Edited November 20, 2021 by Rinaldo

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 11/18/2021 at 4:34 PM, GussieK said:

Did anyone watch Dear Heart?  What a strange movie.  I just don't get why Geraldine Page is so beloved.  She's too weird.  In this movie, she's an annoying flibbertigibbet.  I understand that she is so lonely she makes friends with all the bellhops, but come on. 

She broke my heart in this movie.

[wilsie]

8 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

She broke my heart in this movie.

Mine, too.  I was so glad for the happy ending with Henry Mancini's beautiful song.  Here's a review that sums up my feelings about the movie:  http://laurasmiscmusings.blogspot.com/2020/06/tonights-movie-dear-heart-1964-warner.html

[graybrown bird]

The final scene in Dear Heart takes place in what I think is the old Pennsylvania Station, and must have been filmed just before its demolition began in 1963.  Does anyone know for sure?

[wilsie]

13 minutes ago, graybrown bird said:

The final scene in Dear Heart takes place in what I think is the old Pennsylvania Station, and must have been filmed just before its demolition began in 1963.  Does anyone know for sure?

You are so right!  I found this here: https://dengenchronicles.com/  I had to allow them access so they knew I wasn't a robot.  

"Where was the movie Dear Heart filmed?

Although The Daily News reported in November 1963 that the Penn Station scenes were running behind schedule, Dear Heart ended their on-location filming on October 3rd. And one thing is for certain — Dear Heart was the last movie to ever be filmed in the original Penn Station."

[graybrown bird]

Wilsie, thank you!  It does add to the poignancy of that final scene. The camera draws back from the embracing couple to show the immensity of that great space.

[Fool to cry]

On 11/20/2021 at 9:30 AM, Rinaldo said:

I was going to mention it as one of Mann's titles, then decided I'd already gone on way too many tangents. But yes, Mr. Buddwing. REALLY strange. All the actors must have hoped, in that decade of Richard Lester and others doing novel things with non-story and editing, that when it was all cut together it would make some sense or at least have some point. And it didn't, and doesn't.

Ah, Pamela Franklin. A youthful obsession of mine, and a career that inexplicably just faded after such a high-level beginning (how many actors have gone face to face with Maggie Smith in a shouting match and won?). She and her husband chose to relocate to the US, and she did some highly obscure movies (one virtually unseen one, Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies, actually turned up on TCM once) and lots of episodic TV dramas in the 1970s -- Bonanza, Cannon, you name it. As she reports on the DVD commentary for Miss Brodie (I'm paraphrasing from memory), on one of those jobs she heard the crew talk about setting up the shot for the girl, and she thought "All these years in the business, and I'm still 'the girl'? Maybe it's time to hang it up." And she did.

That's a shame. I recently saw the 1970 British suspense thriller "And Then The Darkness" and she's great in it. I also was surprised to found out that she was in the second to last Green Acres episode in a back door pilot as the daughter of a hotel manager in Hawaii and it also features Pat Morita. If the pilot had been picked up the show would have been called "Pam".

The original Oceans Eleven is on Friday and while I know it's reputation as made as a lark while the Rat Pack were doing shows in Vegas I find the acting solid and dialogue surprisingly thoughtful.

[ratgirlagogo]

On 11/18/2021 at 5:34 PM, GussieK said:

Did anyone watch Dear Heart?  What a strange movie.

In the sixties there were more of these kind of quiet character study theatrical films that today would probably be made for TV or streaming.

On 11/20/2021 at 10:02 AM, Rinaldo said:

What strikes me as strange is that TCM keeps scheduling it so often.

Yes, along with Mr. Buddwing (also mentioned above) it's always puzzled me too.  I think it might be  a favorite of one of the programmers.  It also might well be a fan request favorite, the kind of movie someone would half remember from having seen on late night TV years ago and then catch half of on TCM.   I like Geraldine Fitzgerald in this although the film is not a favorite of mine.  At least part of that is that I have always disliked Glenn Ford for no really supportable reason.  I will say that Angela Lansbury's Gail Patrick/Ralph Bellamy character is the thing I like the best - "Phyllis is DONE doing!" It's obvious that she and Ford are not a good match, but unlike a lot of discarded movie fiancees, she's better off without  Ford to have the carefree NYC life she's dreamed of. NYC was much cheaper in the 60's so it would have been very doable.   I imagine her happy - just enjoying herself eating in restaurants and getting takeout, exploring the theaters, etc.,  and getting to date and play the field a little bit without getting tied down again.

What I originally came here to mention was that on Sunday, December 5th, TCM is going to be running THREE, count 'em, THREE Yiddish language movies for Hanukkah:  The Dybbuk (1937) based on Jewish folklore about spirit possession, Tevya (1939, based on the same Sholem Aleichem story that became Fiddler on the Roof), and the semi-documentary Mir kumen on (1938), about a Polish country sanitarium for Jewish city children.   Yiddish  movies  are very very rarely shown even on TCM so set your DVRs.  A glimpse into the world that the Holocaust stole from all of us.

 

[EtheltoTillie]

I just caught one of my all time favorite scenes, the opening of Flying Down to Rio, with the song “Music Makes Me.”  It has such a great swingy beat, and the comedy is so well integrated into the scene. 

Looks like it’s Fred Astaire Day. 

Edited December 1, 2021 by GussieK
typo

[EtheltoTillie]

TCM is showing Cluny Brown Tuesday night at 10 PM.  A favorite of mine and not often shown. About the awkward orphan girl who loves plumbing. 

[Rinaldo]

On 12/7/2021 at 3:35 AM, GussieK said:

TCM is showing Cluny Brown Tuesday night at 10 PM.  A favorite of mine and not often shown. About the awkward orphan girl who loves plumbing. 

I had started Cluny Brown a couple of times before, and somehow never persevered. This time I watched it all, and enjoyed it greatly. It's a different kind of "Lubitsch film" -- not so much Continental sophistication as looking at British comedy of class, including the embarrassment of a girl who "doesn't know her place" and speaks up at the wrong time in addition to her love of plumbing. It seems odd that C. Aubrey Smith felt compelled to issue a public apology for participating in it.

It's also an interesting entry in the Jennifer Jones filmography. In so many of her movies she seems the epitome of the star who got by on looks and knowing how to "take the camera", but then a few times like this (Portrait of Jennie and Beat the Devil are the others that come to mind) she's quite delightful -- her accent comes and goes, but they didn't fuss much about that then, and she quite captures the impulsive spontaneity that so embarrasses others who are trapped in the rules of polite behavior.

[EtheltoTillie]

40 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

I had started Cluny Brown a couple of times before, and somehow never persevered. This time I watched it all, and enjoyed it greatly. It's a different kind of "Lubitsch film" -- not so much Continental sophistication as looking at British comedy of class, including the embarrassment of a girl who "doesn't know her place" and speaks up at the wrong time in addition to her love of plumbing. It seems odd that C. Aubrey Smith felt compelled to issue a public apology for participating in it.

It's also an interesting entry in the Jennifer Jones filmography. In so many of her movies she seems the epitome of the star who got by on looks and knowing how to "take the camera", but then a few times like this (Portrait of Jennie and Beat the Devil are the others that come to mind) she's quite delightful -- her accent comes and goes, but they didn't fuss much about that then, and she quite captures the impulsive spontaneity that so embarrasses others who are trapped in the rules of polite behavior.

Wow, glad you are a convert.  I was rewatching yesterday and this morning by coincidence, so some details are fresh in my mind.  The movie is chock full of wonderful moments and is a great commentary on class.  Mrs. Maile and Mr. Syrette's deeply internalized subservience that expresses itself as a snobbish superiority over those lesser mortals who don't abide by the rules.  These characters were the precursors of the Downtown Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs staffers.

Charles Boyer repeatedly tweaking Mr. Wilson with the doorbell.  Cluny hitching a ride on the front of the bicycle to catch the train.  Jennifer Jones's facial expressions when she realizes she has made a faux pas.  The little boy who enjoyed watching Cluny fix the plumbing and who was squelched by his elders.  Cluny looking all sophisticated at the end, walking down Fifth Avenue.  Charles Boyer tipping the servants with the money "borrowed" from Peter Lawford. 

I realized only this week that Helen Walker (the inestimable Betty Cream) is the same actress who plays the evil psychiatrist in Nightmare Alley!  She had a really sad life.

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by GussieK

[Tom Holmberg]

Of my 4 annual Christmas movies ("Die Hard," "Scrooged," Alastair Sim's "A Christmas Carol," and "A Christmas Story") none appear to show up on TCM, not even "A Christmas Carol," though the Reginald Owen "A Christmas Carol" is going to play again before Christmas.

[Suzn]

28 minutes ago, Tom Holmberg said:

Of my 4 annual Christmas movies ("Die Hard," "Scrooged," Alastair Sim's "A Christmas Carol," and "A Christmas Story") none appear to show up on TCM, not even "A Christmas Carol," though the Reginald Owen "A Christmas Carol" is going to play again before Christmas.

I don't think they ever show the Alastair Sim version of "A Christmas Carol", which I think it the best by far.  I really dislike the Reginald Owen one.  I do like the musical "Scrooge" with Albert Finney.

[Rinaldo]

45 minutes ago, Suzn said:

I don't think they ever show the Alastair Sim version of "A Christmas Carol", which I think it the best by far.  I really dislike the Reginald Owen one.  I do like the musical "Scrooge" with Albert Finney.

They have shown the Alastair Sim version in the past. One year they showed it, the Reginald Owen, and the Seymour Hicks all in succession. They all have their various virtues, and we all have our favorites. I certainly enjoy the Sim, also the George C. Scott about equally. I don't care for the musical Scrooge at all, but though the Owen isn't a favorite of mine, it has its merits, slick and Hollywoodified though it is. It may be hopeless, but I hope someone still makes a version that sticks faithfully to Dickens in ways nobody has yet -- in particular, his four-dimensional sexless conception of Christmas Past.

[Tom Holmberg]

3 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

They have shown the Alastair Sim version in the past. One year they showed it, the Reginald Owen, and the Seymour Hicks all in succession.

I think in the past they did show the Alastair Sim version.  This year I found that it will be running on FXM.  So it looks like a double feature of "A Christmas Carol" on FXM and "A Christmas Story" on TBS.

[mariah23]

Okay isn’t it time for TCM Remembers to air?

[EtheltoTillie]

Scrooged is on AMC this minute!  More showings this weekend. 

Edited December 18, 2021 by GussieK

[HyeChaps]

They did not show Holiday Inn last year and it looks like they are not showing it this year.  Boo

[WendyCR72]

5 hours ago, mariah23 said:

Okay isn’t it time for TCM Remembers to air?

I've been looking for that for days. I hope the channel didn't stop doing these. They are always better than the Oscars remembrances.

[Tom Holmberg]

13 hours ago, mariah23 said:

Okay isn’t it time for TCM Remembers to air?

I was looking for it yesterday, but it wasn't out yet.  IMDB has its TCM Remembers predictions.  A lot of big names died last year, it might need to be extra long.

[ratgirlagogo]

18 hours ago, mariah23 said:

Okay isn’t it time for TCM Remembers to air?

 

13 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

I've been looking for that for days. I hope the channel didn't stop doing these. They are always better than the Oscars remembrances.

 

5 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

I was looking for it yesterday, but it wasn't out yet.  IMDB has its TCM Remembers predictions.  A lot of big names died last year, it might need to be extra long.

 

Scheduled for December 27th:

https://www.tcm.com/articles/Programming Article/021499/in-memoriam

[mariah23]

According to Twitter, TCM Remembers aired a few hours ago.  Someone recorded from their phone.  Lovely as usual.

[Calvada]

22 hours ago, HyeChaps said:

They did not show Holiday Inn last year and it looks like they are not showing it this year.  Boo

The blackface "Abraham" number may have something to do with it not being shown.  

[Charlie Baker]

TCM Remembers 2021 

[LilWharveyGal]

25 minutes ago, Charlie Baker said:

TCM Remembers 2021 

Beautiful.  Will someone please pass the Kleenex?