TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[StatisticalOutlier]

I thought it was treacly.  And even though it was a maudlin version, I question the use of a song called "Shiny Happy People," although there is one line about putting something in the ground, so that fits.

Demerits for obviousness, when it cuts to George Segal laughing when the song lyrics say "laughing," and cutting to Michael K. Williams starting to weep when the lyrics say "cry."

And what's with the neon glass blowing?

I hope unpopular opinions are okay here.  😀

[tennisgurl]

Awww, I really like that they used clips of some actors when they were younger and then older, like Dean Stockwell. Then the Ed Asner bit...I'm not crying, your crying...

A lot of great Christmas movies coming up. The Shop Around the Corner, A Holiday Affair, It Happened on 5th Avenue. Also The Apartment, which is technically a Christmas movie. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

3 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

I thought it was treacly.  And even though it was a maudlin version, I question the use of a song called "Shiny Happy People," although there is one line about putting something in the ground, so that fits.

Demerits for obviousness, when it cuts to George Segal laughing when the song lyrics say "laughing," and cutting to Michael K. Williams starting to weep when the lyrics say "cry."

And what's with the neon glass blowing?

I hope unpopular opinions are okay here.  😀

Hey, I happen to share your unpopular opinion. I'm so sick of the "gritty, slowed-down remix" of pop songs trend (typically heard in trailers). "Shiny Happy People" felt inappropriate and unintentionally funny. C'mon, TCM, you usually have better taste than that!

 

[Charlie Baker]

I wasn't enamored of the song choice, but as usual the visuals, the juxtapositions, the editing I felt were top notch.  Then when it moves into the number of significant figures we lost who made their impressions on me as a youth--Ed Asner, Cicely Tyson, Hal Holbrook, Olympia Dukakis, Cloris Leachman et al--that wrecked me. 

Edited December 22, 2021 by Charlie Baker

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Demerits for obviousness, when it cuts to George Segal laughing when the song lyrics say "laughing," and cutting to Michael K. Williams starting to weep when the lyrics say "cry."

I'm still undecided how I feel about the song, and I overall liked it, but this I unequivocally disliked.  Amateur hour.

[Rinaldo]

My main problem was with omissions -- one in particular, Peter Scolari. I know his big-screen filmography isn't especially extensive (his real contribution was on TV and the stage), but he has one, and he remains memorable (to those who watched TV in the 80s) as Tom Hanks's comedy partner, and fully his equal at the time. One of the two became a screen legend, the other didn't, but I'd like to see tribute paid to Peter Scolari for a moment this year.

[Charlie Baker]

I couldn't agree with you more, @Rinaldo, about Peter Scolari, though I wasn't expecting him to be included by TCM. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

5 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Awww, I really like that they used clips of some actors when they were younger and then older, like Dean Stockwell.

Me, too. 

Anybody have a clue why there was neon glassblowing?

[MissAlmond]

19 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Demerits for obviousness, when it cuts to George Segal laughing when the song lyrics say "laughing," and cutting to Michael K. Williams starting to weep when the lyrics say "cry."

But TCM Remembers has always done that coordination with song lyrics.  I know because I rewatch them a lot.  A few past examples: 2006: Close up of Moria Shearer's red shoes, lyrics: Catch us with our shoes still on.  2007:  Charles Lane who died at age 102,  lyrics I promise you will grow old.  2010: Kevin McCarthy warning passing by cars at night, lyrics: Caught in your headlights.  2014: Robin Williams, lyrics: Why you leave me? 2017: Robert Osborne walking down a staircase filled with light, lyrics Lead me into the light.  2020: Ennio Morricone, no lyrics instead the opening musical notes from The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.

That being said, I don't know what the glass blowing stands for and I'm not wild about the song choice.  Maybe it'll grow on me like 2020's which I've come to appreciate.  OTOH, I still dislike the one TCM did in 2005.  

 

Edited December 23, 2021 by MissAlmond

[graybrown bird]

It struck me as ironic that Christopher Plummer (the last actor featured) was shown in his role as Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music.  Or is it just a myth that he hated that movie?

[Fool to cry]

33 minutes ago, graybrown bird said:

It struck me as ironic that Christopher Plummer (the last actor featured) was shown in his role as Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music.  Or is it just a myth that he hated that movie?

No, he hated it but it's the thing most people know him from.

[Wiendish Fitch]

11 minutes ago, Fool to cry said:

No, he hated it but it's the thing most people know him from.

I think Plummer softened his opinion on The Sound of Music a bit as he got older. Either way, I didn't mind seeing it in the tribute... just that damn trailer music version of "Shiny Happy People"!!

Sorry, that still bugs me.

7 hours ago, MissAlmond said:

OTOH, I still dislike the one TCM did in 2005.  

Same here. That one was dreadful.

I have a mental list ranking my favorite "TCM Remembers" tributes, does that make me a compete ghoul?

[wilsie]

@Wiendish Fitch Not a ghoul, discerning.

[Wiendish Fitch]

11 minutes ago, wilsie said:

@Wiendish Fitch Not a ghoul, discerning.

I'll take it!😀

[MissAlmond]

3 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

I have a mental list ranking my favorite "TCM Remembers" tributes, does that make me a compete ghoul?

Well if you are, so am I.  How else could I remember all those TCM Remembers pairings? 

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 12/23/2021 at 6:12 AM, MissAlmond said:

But TCM Remembers has always done that coordination with song lyrics.

I didn't know that.  I don't like it because it seems lazy.  Or, more accurately, it seems like something I would do because I don't have an artistic bone in my body.

[Calvada]

On 12/21/2021 at 2:31 PM, Charlie Baker said:

TCM Remembers 2021 

I say this every year, but when are the people who produce the Academy Awards going to come to their senses and have TCM do the In memoriam segment for them?  

[Rinaldo]

On 12/23/2021 at 1:21 PM, graybrown bird said:

It struck me as ironic that Christopher Plummer (the last actor featured) was shown in his role as Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music.  Or is it just a myth that he hated that movie?

He had mixed feelings about it for a while; he had a genuine fondness for Julie Andrews, for instance, but (as with many performers) he got annoyed that he was known to the world for one popular movie, rather than many more personally meaningful projects.

However, he did revise his reaction eventually. If we may believe what he says in his autobiography (and I think we can; he tells many unflattering stories about himself), he was once "trapped" into watching the movie in the home of some friends and their children. He was all prepared to be annoyed, but in his own words:

Quote

I had not seen the movie for years and the more I watched, the more I realized what a terrific movie it is. The very best of its genre—warm, touching, joyous and absolutely timeless. I suddenly could see why it had brought such pleasure to so many people. Here was I, cynical old sod that I am, being totally seduced by the damn thing—and what’s more, I felt a sudden surge of pride that I’d been a part of it. How beautifully it had been shot, how natural the choreography, how rich the arrangements, how excellent the cast. And Robert Wise, with his innate good taste and judgment, had expertly held in the reins lest it all canter over the cliff’s edge down into a sea of treacle. But the picture belongs to Julie. Of that there is no doubt. It is her movie, her triumph. ... She thoroughly infused the story with her own spirit, her own enchantment. Of course, that glorious golden sound of hers still echoes in the shell, but her performance was the antithesis of a musical comedy turn. Banishing all artifice, she was real, true, funny and vulnerable.

 

[Milburn Stone]

Re TCM Remembers: I didn't mind the matchup of particular lyric lines to picture so much (although I agree with @StatisticalOutlier, that sort of "meta-ness" is way too easy); I minded a voice singing lyrics at all. When the track started, with the four bars of piano solo vamp, I thought, "This is perfect; they found just the right emotional underlay this time." But then the voice came in. These things work so much better when music alone is allowed to deepen the meanings of the images. Words either don't seem apt, or in the best case scenario when they do, they're redundant, because we already got the feeling. 

If TCM had gone to the original elements of the track and stripped out the vocals, I would have liked it much better.

But of course the TCM memoriam is still the best of its type these days (the Oscars used to do it well, but haven't for years). 

 

[AgathaC]

13 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

He had mixed feelings about it for a while; he had a genuine fondness for Julie Andrews, for instance, but (as with many performers) he got annoyed that he was known to the world for one popular movie, rather than many more personally meaningful projects.

However, he did revise his reaction eventually. If we may believe what he says in his autobiography (and I think we can; he tells many unflattering stories about himself), he was once "trapped" into watching the movie in the home of some friends and their children. He was all prepared to be annoyed, but in his own words:

 

What a lovely statement from Mr. Plummer. I can understand his mixed feelings and frustrations with the movie (he certainly had a long list of accomplishments and I know they were overshadowed by the enormity of TSoM). But I’m glad he came to see it in a more positive light later on. There’s a definite power in that movie — there has to be, for it to be so well-loved for so long. I’ve adored that movie since childhood but as an adult, I’ve come to really appreciate Robert Wise’s skill in taking what could have been a saccharine mess and walking that line.

I thought “you couldn’t find other clips to show?” for him, but darned if I also didn’t choke up a bit at seeing him as the Captain:

[Fool to cry]

The structure of Sound of Music is strange because it's actually 3 movies in 1. The first is about Georg learning to love his children again, the second is Maria choosing love over being a nun, and the third is the family escaping the Nazis.

Edited December 25, 2021 by Fool to cry

[EtheltoTillie]

On 12/23/2021 at 2:21 PM, graybrown bird said:

It struck me as ironic that Christopher Plummer (the last actor featured) was shown in his role as Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music.  Or is it just a myth that he hated that movie?

I wonder how he felt about The Silent Partner. I can’t imagine he didn't prefer The Sound of Music. There’s still time to catch this curiosity on Watch TCM. I had never heard of this old Canadian bank caper starring Elliot Gould as a bank teller who goes rogue and Plummer as a sadistic robber.  Even John Candy makes an appearance, as another bank employee. It’s kind of creepy. 

[EtheltoTillie]

On 12/22/2021 at 8:01 PM, Rinaldo said:

My main problem was with omissions -- one in particular, Peter Scolari. I know his big-screen filmography isn't especially extensive (his real contribution was on TV and the stage), but he has one, and he remains memorable (to those who watched TV in the 80s) as Tom Hanks's comedy partner, and fully his equal at the time. One of the two became a screen legend, the other didn't, but I'd like to see tribute paid to Peter Scolari for a moment this year.

I saw him in Wicked.  I was very late to seeing Wicked, so it was fun to see a big star. He was in another legendary sitcom, the second Bob Newhart show. But I also wouldn’t have expected to see him in TCM Remembers. 

[Lady Whistleup]

I saw The Shop Around the Corner on TCM. My favorite Christmas movie ever. The chemistry between James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan was off the charts. (Apparently Stewart was actually in love with Sullavan.) What a great film.

And Margaret Sullavan: what a tragic life.

Edited December 26, 2021 by Lady Whistleup

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 12/22/2021 at 4:49 PM, Bastet said:

I'm still undecided how I feel about the song, and I overall liked it, but this I unequivocally disliked.  Amateur hour.

I think it made more of an impression on me because I was thinking, "I know this song, but not this song," so I was listening carefully and then I realized it was "Shiny Happy People" by R.E.M., and then I realized I was for possibly the first time ever understanding the lyrics of an R.E.M. song (I'm from the "Radio Free Europe" days), and then I noticed they were matching images up to individual words.  It was all too much.

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

I was thinking, "I know this song, but not this song," so I was listening carefully and then I realized it was "Shiny Happy People" by R.E.M.,

I'm not sure how many lines it took me to realize what song was being covered - I quickly thought, "I know these lyrics," but placing the song took a bit; I got it before the chorus, but probably not by much.

[Crashcourse]

18 hours ago, Lady Whistleup said:

I saw The Shop Around the Corner on TCM. My favorite Christmas movie ever. The chemistry between James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan was off the charts. (Apparently Stewart was actually in love with Sullavan.) What a great film.

And Margaret Sullavan: what a tragic life.

I watch that movie every Christmas.  

 

[Tom Holmberg]

On 12/17/2021 at 8:53 AM, 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 finally learned why Hans Gruber from "Die Hard" is so mad, because his father Hans Gruber Sr. was killed in a toilet by Derek Flint.

[Inquisitionist]

That was an odd version of Shiny Happy People.  Until I heard the chorus, I thought someone had rewritten Mad World.  I agree with Milburn Stone that an instrumental is called for.  

[Fool to cry]

On 12/25/2021 at 9:28 PM, Lady Whistleup said:

I saw The Shop Around the Corner on TCM. My favorite Christmas movie ever. The chemistry between James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan was off the charts. (Apparently Stewart was actually in love with Sullavan.) What a great film.

And Margaret Sullavan: what a tragic life.

Her daughter Brooke Hayward was on an episode of Bonanza("The Storm") and she was the spitting image of her.

[EtheltoTillie]

I've been catching some more obscure Christmas movies, both set in general stores:

We're No Angels.  Based on a French farce.  You can tell it's a play.  Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov and Aldo Ray delight as escaped convicts from Devil's Island.  They come to rob but then are charmed by a sweet French family and put the family's lives back in order on Christmas Eve.  There are some remarkable physical comedy bits involving Louis Vuitton steamer trunks. 

Spoiler

The angels set things right courtesy of a poisonous snake that kills the evil cousin played by Basil Rathbone

 I'm using spoiler tags, because some of this is so funny and should be watched as a surprise. 

 

Spoiler

I loved the moment when the cad Paul practices crying in the mirror and then chuckles to himself but is caught by the angelic trio.  

Mon Oncle Antoine.  ***  Wow, how did I never catch this before!  It's considered a real masterpiece of Canadian cinema and cinema in general.  In one sense it plays like Jean Shepherd's A Christmas Story--if that film were set in a poor mining town in the Laurentians and was a total tragedy!  A young man lives with his uncle and aunt, who own the town general store and funeral parlor.  The coffins are upstairs with the dry goods.  There's a great scene where a pretty upper class young woman tries on a corset.  Another where a young couple gets engaged.

Spoiler

  I was particularly blown away by the sight of the uncle chowing down at the house where he went to pick up the body of another young teen. 

It's a period piece, so they still use horse-drawn sleds.  This is highly relevant. The last scene will crush you. 

*** Trigger warning:  The director has now been found to have abused young boys and has been posthumously disgraced, having his name removed from awards named after him.  Alicia Malone revealed this at the end, and it made me feel a bit unclean for having appreciated the film and the way it used the young main character. 

Edited December 30, 2021 by GussieK

[roseha]

Tonight I will watch TCM's annual New Year's Eve running of The Thin Man and After the Thin Man back to back.  I love the way that the first film takes place over Christmas and the second picks up right as the first one leaves off and runs over New Years (Myrna Loy is even wearing the same outfit).   Great to see both these films with William Powell and Myrna Loy every NYE.

[Miss Anne Thrope]

Not sure why Kay Francis is January's featured star, but I for one am thrilled. Must clear some space on the DVR.

[Suzn]

4 hours ago, Miss Anne Thrope said:

Not sure why Kay Francis is January's featured star, but I for one am thrilled. Must clear some space on the DVR.

I'm happy about Kay Francis being featured.   I'm looking forward to seeing movies I've never seen. I don't suppose that she was a great actress but I love to watch her.

[Wiendish Fitch]

1 hour ago, Suzn said:

I'm happy about Kay Francis being featured.   I'm looking forward to seeing movies I've never seen. I don't suppose that she was a great actress but I love to watch her.

She had a unique charisma. I love One Way Passage and Trouble in Paradise.

[Suzn]

1 hour ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

She had a unique charisma. I love One Way Passage and Trouble in Paradise.

I love those too.  Also good is Jewel Robbery and a role with her as a villain, In Name Only, is interesting.  It was kind of delicious to see her relish being so nasty.

[Miss Anne Thrope]

I love all of the above and Mandalay, which is kind of trashy, soapy, and very improbable, but a great watch (like a good rainy Sunday afternoon movie of yore).  

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 12/30/2021 at 12:19 PM, GussieK said:

I've been catching some more obscure Christmas movies, both set in general stores:

...

Mon Oncle Antoine. 

Are "Christmas movies" allowed to be this bleak?  Not all of it, of course, and the scenes of revealing the nativity scene and the festivities in the store on Christmas Eve were charming, and had me almost believing I could survive in a small town. 

But despair, regret, drunkenness, adultery, and death don't generally scream "Christmas movie" to me.  Of course several of them probably do scream Actual Christmas, but this is the movies.

I might not soon forget the image of that kid in the casket with his head cocked to the side because the casket was too small.  And do you think Mr. Poulin is the one who found the casket?  Holy hell.

[Tom Holmberg]

9 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Are "Christmas movies" allowed to be this bleak?  Not all of it, of course, and the scenes of revealing the nativity scene and the festivities in the store on Christmas Eve were charming, and had me almost believing I could survive in a small town. 

But despair, regret, drunkenness, adultery, and death don't generally scream "Christmas movie" to me.  Of course several of them probably do scream Actual Christmas, but this is the movies.

I might not soon forget the image of that kid in the casket with his head cocked to the side because the casket was too small.  And do you think Mr. Poulin is the one who found the casket?  Holy hell.

"Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues gets voted the most popular Christmas song in the UK every year.  

 

 

 

[EtheltoTillie]

15 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Are "Christmas movies" allowed to be this bleak?  Not all of it, of course, and the scenes of revealing the nativity scene and the festivities in the store on Christmas Eve were charming, and had me almost believing I could survive in a small town. 

But despair, regret, drunkenness, adultery, and death don't generally scream "Christmas movie" to me.  Of course several of them probably do scream Actual Christmas, but this is the movies.

I might not soon forget the image of that kid in the casket with his head cocked to the side because the casket was too small.  And do you think Mr. Poulin is the one who found the casket?  Holy hell.

Well, I did say "obscure Christmas movies."  LOL.  I did think the father is the one who found the casket, but I don't know how he got it back to the house. 

I thought the head was cocked to the side because the body had been jolted around.  I don't know if this was intended to be a Christmas movie but rather that TCM was scheduling it as one.

Edited January 3, 2022 by GussieK

[StatisticalOutlier]

3 hours ago, GussieK said:

I thought the head was cocked to the side because the body had been jolted around. 

It was like that when they first put him in, which I thought was about the saddest thing I'd ever seen.  Antoine made the decision to take a smaller casket, and then when Benoit started to drag a bigger one to the sled, Antoine stopped him and went for the smaller one.

And for all its bleakness, it had some nice comic touches.  Like the barrel of nails at the bottom of the staircase as almost a supporting actor.  And then they finally move it, and somebody walking by unconsciously dodges the place where it used to be.

TCM shows some of the strangest things sometimes.  This morning, they aired what I'd guess you'd call a travel documentary, called "Letter from Siberia," directed by Chris Marker.  Marker can be a little too out there for my taste, but this is a real gem.  It has a voiceover narration that I'm assuming replaces the original French narration, and I usually avoid dubbed anything, but the voice was perfect.  Describing the furs Siberians use, he said, "...such as the sable, a nasty little beast that would make you like furs, or the Arctic fox, a sweet little thing that would make you prefer nylon." 

And in a segment about a gold mining town, he said, "As for women, they say there were none at all in the beginning, which is a sad thought, and that later, there was only one, which sounds even worse."

I may have to give Chris Marker a second look.

This is why I cling to TCM via my DirecTV.  I can't imagine that I ever would have chosen to stream this, among the millions of things people can stream these days.  But it forced itself onto my TV, and I'm glad it did.

[EtheltoTillie]

10 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

"Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues gets voted the most popular Christmas song in the UK every year.  

 

 

 

Never heard it before.  It IS bleak!

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

 

And for all its bleakness, it had some nice comic touches.  Like the barrel of nails at the bottom of the staircase as almost a supporting actor.  And then they finally move it, and somebody walking by unconsciously dodges the place where it used to be.

TCM shows some of the strangest things sometimes.  T

 

This is why I cling to TCM via my DirecTV.

That's what made me think of Jean Shepherd--that and the period look.

Yes, I keep checking out the weird movies, too.

I could never let go of TCM.  I fortunately get a premium bundle with HBO, so I never lose it, when I hear that sometimes it has dropped off some basic bundles. 

[Bastet]

14 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

"Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues gets voted the most popular Christmas song in the UK every year.  

I need to move; that's one of the dozen or so Christmas songs I like.

[Tom Holmberg]

9 hours ago, Bastet said:

I need to move; that's one of the dozen or so Christmas songs I like.

My favorite Christmas song.  (Sadly, it makes me think of my parents.)

[EtheltoTillie]

On 1/3/2022 at 11:37 PM, Bastet said:

I need to move; that's one of the dozen or so Christmas songs I like.

Well, then you will really like Mon Oncle Antoine, if you haven’t already seen it.  Sorry, I can’t stop pushing this film. 

[GreekGeek]

On 1/3/2022 at 9:21 AM, Tom Holmberg said:

"Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues gets voted the most popular Christmas song in the UK every year.  

 

 

 

Do they still play the original version? Some have objected to it because it uses the word "faggot." There's a revised version that replaces it with "haggard."

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, GreekGeek said:

Do they still play the original version? Some have objected to it because it uses the word "faggot." There's a revised version that replaces it with "haggard."

The video I saw on YouTube had the F word.

[EtheltoTillie]

Attention, TCM fans.  I have changed my user name from GussieK.  Still the same old movie nerd. 

[mariah23]

Well what a start for 2022 TCM Remembers: Peter Bogdonavich has died at age 82.