TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[Tom Holmberg]

20 hours 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."

Probably not on the BBC, but the original version is what you'd hear in pubs, etc.  People complain about "Santa Baby" too.

Thats what I thought:

https://www.nme.com/news/music/bbc-defends-decision-to-play-censored-fairytale-of-new-york-on-radio-1-2828233

 

Edited January 6, 2022 by Tom Holmberg
News Item

[Tom Holmberg]

21 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

The video I saw on YouTube had the F word.

I don't believe the official version has the "F" word (not that Shane MacGowan doesn't use the "F" word in plenty of his songs).

[Charlie Baker]

Sidney Poitier Has Died at 94 

[mariah23]

25 minutes ago, Charlie Baker said:

Sidney Poitier Has Died at 94 

Oh come on we haven’t even finished the first week of January!

[Tom Holmberg]

On 1/5/2022 at 4:30 PM, 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."

How likely, in real life, the characters in the song would say "haggard."

[Inquisitionist]

94 is a good run, but damn, the timing sucks.  Rest in Power, Mr. Tibbs.

[Charlie Baker]

On the one hand, I hesitate to post too many passings too often.  But on the other hand this one deserves commemoration here.  She and her husband Alan were a splendid team of lyricists, for many film songs.  RIP.

Marilyn Bergman

[Rinaldo]

I'm watching The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story. There's lots in it that I hadn't known (I really knew very little about his life), and I was one of the many theater-obsessed boys in decades past who, like Dave K and Leonard M, would look through Arts & Leisure for a Hirschfeld caricature, and find the NINAs.

One side note for the curious: the musical which he helped to write, Sweet Bye and Bye, has now been recorded, and proves to have a gorgeous score by Vernon Duke and Ogden Nash. So whatever its problems, it wasn't all bad.

Edited January 9, 2022 by Rinaldo

[Milburn Stone]

13 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

One side note for the curious: the musical which he helped to write, Sweet Bye and Bye, has now been recorded, and proves to have a gorgeous score by Vernon Duke and Ogden Nash.

I'm not sure I knew about this! 

I'm familiar with the title song from a Bobby Short record, and "Round About" from Anthony Perkins' performance on a Ben Bagley record, but not the rest of the score. Thanks, @Rinaldo.

[EtheltoTillie]

18 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

I'm watching The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story. There's lots in it that I hadn't known (I really knew very little about his life), and I was one of the many theater-obsessed boys in decades past who, like Dave K and Leonard M, would look through Arts & Leisure for a Hirschfeld caricature, and find the NINAs.

One side note for the curious: the musical which he helped to write, Sweet Bye and Bye, has now been recorded, and proves to have a gorgeous score by Vernon Duke and Ogden Nash. So whatever its problems, it wasn't all bad.

Y’all don’t know this but my real name is Nina. These were always special to me. 

[Miss Anne Thrope]

4 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Y’all don’t know this but my real name is Nina. These were always special to me. 

I had never considered the baggage that came with being "the" Nina until she talked about it in the doc.  Very interesting man, very interesting film.  I too grew up counting NINAs in the NYT Arts section. 

[EtheltoTillie]

12 minutes ago, Miss Anne Thrope said:

I had never considered the baggage that came with being "the" Nina until she talked about it in the doc.  Very interesting man, very interesting film.  I too grew up counting NINAs in the NYT Arts section. 

I have to rewatch this. I think they showed it many years ago on PBS. Or HBO. 

[Miss Anne Thrope]

It wasn't really traumatic --

Spoiler

basically total strangers realizing "Oh, you're Nina!" and having nothing else to say or do but gawk. But she was youngish, and it was weird. 

 

[SusieQ]

Here's another wonderful video of the great Hirschfeld. Oh, how I miss Theater Talk!!

 

[EtheltoTillie]

5 hours ago, SusieQ said:

Here's another wonderful video of the great Hirschfeld. Oh, how I miss Theater Talk!!

 

Thank you for posting!  This was mega fascinating. I love to listen to artists explain what they do. 

[SusieQ]

9 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Thank you for posting!  This was mega fascinating. I love to listen to artists explain what they do. 

You're very welcome. If you like NY theater actors, Theater Talk had lots of interviews with many of them. It was a local PBS show that ran for maybe 15 years. It was a wonderful show. 

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, SusieQ said:

You're very welcome. If you like NY theater actors, Theater Talk had lots of interviews with many of them. It was a local PBS show that ran for maybe 15 years. It was a wonderful show. 

I used to watch it from time to time.  It was always good. 

[Rinaldo]

From back in October, because now its relevant:

On 10/25/2021 at 4:26 PM, AgathaC said:

I, too, raised an eyebrow at Sutton Foster. She’s awesome and I adore her (seeing her in Thoroughly Modern Millie was one of my favorite Broadway experiences) but she doesn’t have that soprano voice and style Marian always has. And as someone who has a classical soprano voice, I feel a little more territorial than usual. There are enough roles for belters and mezzos, darn it! Leave Marian alone!

@AgathaC, someone has put Sutton Foster's "My White Knight" (audio only) up on YouTube, for however long they're allowed to keep it there. Have a listen if you dare.

On the one hand, someone had the wit to restore the original pre-Broadway semi-patter version of the song, knowing she wouldn't be able to carry it on vocal beauty alone. On the other hand, couldn't she have aimed for vocal beauty even a teeny tiny bit? 

 

[SusieQ]

3 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

From back in October, because now its relevant:

@AgathaC, someone has put Sutton Foster's "My White Knight" (audio only) up on YouTube, for however long they're allowed to keep it there. Have a listen if you dare.

On the one hand, someone had the wit to restore the original pre-Broadway semi-patter version of the song, knowing she wouldn't be able to carry it on vocal beauty alone. On the other hand, couldn't she have aimed for vocal beauty even a teeny tiny bit? 

 

Thanks for this. Now I'm not feeling so bad about not getting tickets! 

[EtheltoTillie]

15 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

From back in October, because now its relevant:

@AgathaC, someone has put Sutton Foster's "My White Knight" (audio only) up on YouTube, for however long they're allowed to keep it there. Have a listen if you dare.

On the one hand, someone had the wit to restore the original pre-Broadway semi-patter version of the song, knowing she wouldn't be able to carry it on vocal beauty alone. On the other hand, couldn't she have aimed for vocal beauty even a teeny tiny bit? 

 

This is a real shame.  There’s a Yiddish word my mother used to describe singing like this. She’d call her a “kvitcharener.”  Obviously I have to make up the spelling.  Maybe it derives from kvetch. 

Edited January 15, 2022 by EtheltoTillie

[Tom Holmberg]

I was amazed that TCM showed "I am Curious (Yellow)".  The film was originally seized by US Customs.  It was one of the first sex (soft-core porn?) films to get wide distribution in the US. It became one of the highest-grossing foreign films and got attention after Johnny Carson said on the "Tonight Show" that he had seen it and Jackie O judo thew a photographer as she left the theater.

I recall adults at the time complaining that they went to see it and it was porn, like they didn't know beforehand that it was a "sex" film.

 

[StatisticalOutlier]

7 minutes ago, Tom Holmberg said:

I was amazed that TCM showed "I am Curious (Yellow)". 

Monday night was crazy.  They were celebrating MLK...with documentaries about the Black Panthers in Chicago.  I watched all of the night's programming because I'm fascinated by the late 1960s, but if they needed a "reason" to show them, maybe include them in a general Black History Month sort of thing instead of tying them to the commemoration of MLK.

And then following that slate with I Am Curious--Yellow?  Yikes!

But I now realize, upon reading a little about it, that I Am Curious--Yellow is in part an attack on capitalism, a theme that was certainly present in the two feature-length Black Panther documentaries. 

And MLK was a critic of capitalism, as well.  So that's a possible through line, and maybe TCM was making a point about tone, with MLK and the Panthers and I Am Curious--Yellow as contrasts to each other.

[Tom Holmberg]

15 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Monday night was crazy.  They were celebrating MLK...with documentaries about the Black Panthers in Chicago.  I watched all of the night's programming because I'm fascinated by the late 1960s, but if they needed a "reason" to show them, maybe include them in a general Black History Month sort of thing instead of tying them to the commemoration of MLK.

And then following that slate with I Am Curious--Yellow?  Yikes!

But I now realize, upon reading a little about it, that I Am Curious--Yellow is in part an attack on capitalism, a theme that was certainly present in the two feature-length Black Panther documentaries. 

And MLK was a critic of capitalism, as well.  So that's a possible through line, and maybe TCM was making a point about tone, with MLK and the Panthers and I Am Curious--Yellow as contrasts to each other.

The Chicago documentaries were interesting.  My sister was in home room with him for 4 years with Fred Hampton (he overlapped me by two years).  He was very politically active even in high school.

[Fool to cry]

Nobody ever asked "Could Steve McQueen dance?" Well the answer is: Kinda?

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by Fool to cry

[Tom Holmberg]

14 minutes ago, Fool to cry said:

Nobody ever asked "Could Steve McQueen dance?" Well the answer is: Kinda?

 

That's "white people dancing".  If you watch movies or TV shows from that era of the Sixties, that's pretty much how they all danced.

[StatisticalOutlier]

9 minutes ago, Tom Holmberg said:

The Chicago documentaries were interesting.  My sister was in home room with him for 4 years with Fred Hampton (he overlapped me by two years).  He was very politically active even in high school.

He had to have been, to be like he was when he was only 21 and too dangerous to be allowed to live.

Also, apparently MLK is in I Am Curious...Yellow! 

[Tom Holmberg]

20 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

And MLK was a critic of capitalism, as well.  So that's a possible through line, and maybe TCM was making a point about tone, with MLK and the Panthers and I Am Curious--Yellow as contrasts to each other.

He was in the movie, but still its an odd choice.  I'm sure some people wouldn't be happy with the association.  BTW, "I am Curious (Yellow)" isn't really that sexy of a movie.  There's nudity, which was new at the time it was released, and the actress looked much younger than her supposed 20 years, but you have to sit through a lot of talking between the sex parts.

[EtheltoTillie]

I too wanted to post on how TCM was punking us with that choice, when I realized that MLK was in the movie!!!

I was 12 when this movie came out, and I remember all the controversy.  I finally tried to watch it, but I couldn't sit through the whole thing. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

8 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I too wanted to post on how TCM was punking us with that choice, when I realized that MLK was in the movie!!!

When I saw it on the schedule, I thought well obviously the MLK programming has to come to an end at some point, but that sure seemed like a screeching halt right into a brick wall, and possibly even disrespectful.  Now it's more like, Hmmmm.

8 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I was 12 when this movie came out, and I remember all the controversy. 

Me, too.

8 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I finally tried to watch it, but I couldn't sit through the whole thing. 

Me, too.

[Tom Holmberg]

37 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

 I finally tried to watch it, but I couldn't sit through the whole thing. 

I think the fact that this was one of the earliest movies with nudity probably accounts for its popularity at the time, but I can see the audiences at the time going "When will they shut up and take off their clothes?!"  Roger Ebert said, "Two hours of this movie will drive thoughts of sex out of your mind..."

[StatisticalOutlier]

How in the world did I make it almost to Medicare without ever sitting down and watching Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House?  I did a search in this forum and it bubbles up here occasionally, almost always very enthusiastically.  But somehow I missed it.

What a fun movie. 

(I just wish that on the plans for the house, they hadn't written "Residence of James Blanding's."  At least it wasn't on a sign hanging out in front.)

[EtheltoTillie]

1 minute ago, Tom Holmberg said:

I think the fact that this was one of the earliest movies with nudity probably accounts for its popularity at the time, but I can see the audiences at the time going "When will they shut up and take off their clothes?!"  Roger Ebert said, "Two hours of this movie will drive thoughts of sex out of your mind..."

It was popular in that it sold plenty of tickets.  To customers who were surely dissatisfied with their purchase after seeing the movie!!

I loved Roger Ebert . . .  

1 minute ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

How in the world did I make it almost to Medicare without ever sitting down and watching Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House?  I did a search in this forum and it bubbles up here occasionally, almost always very enthusiastically.  But somehow I missed it.

What a fun movie. 

(I just wish that on the plans for the house, they hadn't written "Residence of James Blanding's."  At least it wasn't on a sign hanging out in front.)

Oy a punctuation error.  I hadn't noticed but it would have given me a peeve.  It's a fun movie, though. 

[Suzn]

4 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

It was popular in that it sold plenty of tickets.  To customers who were surely dissatisfied with their purchase after seeing the movie!!

I loved Roger Ebert . . .  

Oy a punctuation error.  I hadn't noticed but it would have given me a peeve.  It's a fun movie, though. 

I always felt bad for their maid who came up with slogan, while he raked in the big bucks for being the advertising guy.

Edited January 19, 2022 by Suzn
Spelling - duh.

[mariah23]

1 hour ago, Suzn said:

I always felt bad for their maid who came up with slogan, while he racked in the big bucks for being the advertising guy.

She should have been given half of the profits.

[Bastet]

11 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

How in the world did I make it almost to Medicare without ever sitting down and watching Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House? 

I have no idea, but I'm glad you finally did.  That was one of my favorite films as a kid, and I still adore it to this day.  Myrna Loy and Cary Grant have terrific married couple chemistry (very much products of the time, certainly, but delightful), and as much as I like all the obvious moments of that, I love just as much the end of their cramped apartment bathroom scene when she pats him on the butt to get him moving.

11 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

(I just wish that on the plans for the house, they hadn't written "Residence of James Blanding's."  At least it wasn't on a sign hanging out in front.)

It's actually "Residence of Mr. & Mrs. James Blanding's", but, yeah, it's both sexist and improperly punctuated.  Wayward apostrophes are a particular peeve - years ago, I found one of my childhood coloring books, in which I had crossed out an apostrophe that didn't belong in a caption about "duckling's" - so that always jumps out at me, too.

[graybrown bird]

One of my favorite scenes in Blandings is Mrs. Blandings telling the painting contractor and his workman how to find just the right colors to paint the various rooms.  Myrna Loy is great,  but so is the actor playing the very patient contractor.  It's a brilliantly written and directed scene, and still makes me laugh after many viewings.

Edited January 20, 2022 by graybrown bird
Spelling

[Tom Holmberg]

RIP, Yvette Mimieux

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yvette_Mimieux

[EtheltoTillie]

15 hours ago, Bastet said:

I have no idea, but I'm glad you finally did.  That was one of my favorite films as a kid, and I still adore it to this day.  Myrna Loy and Cary Grant have terrific married couple chemistry (very much products of the time, certainly, but delightful), and as much as I like all the obvious moments of that, I love just as much the end of their cramped apartment bathroom scene when she pats him on the butt to get him moving.

It's actually "Residence of Mr. & Mrs. James Blanding's", but, yeah, it's both sexist and improperly punctuated.  Wayward apostrophes are a particular peeve - years ago, I found one of my childhood coloring books, in which I had crossed out an apostrophe that didn't belong in a caption about "duckling's" - so that always jumps out at me, too.

Ah, the precocious punctuation perfectionist!  Count me among your tribe.  I have been known to copy edit bulletins and signs all over. 

3 hours ago, graybrown bird said:

One of my favorite scenes in Blandings is Mrs. Blandings telling the painting contractor and his workman how to find just the right colors to paint the various rooms.  Myra Loy is great,  but so is the actor playing the very patient contractor.  It's a brilliantly written and directed scene, and still makes me laugh after many viewings.

yes the butter yellow--right?

[graybrown bird]

And not just butter yellow, but "send one of your workmen to the store to get a pound of their freshest butter" and you can't go wrong!

[Bastet]

5 hours ago, graybrown bird said:

One of my favorite scenes in Blandings is Mrs. Blandings telling the painting contractor and his workman how to find just the right colors to paint the various rooms.  Myrna Loy is great,  but so is the actor playing the very patient contractor.  It's a brilliantly written and directed scene, and still makes me laugh after many viewings.

I think of it every time I select a paint color:

 

[Charlie Baker]

Ben's latest for CBS Sunday Morning is on a character actor with genuine longevity.

James Hong

[Tom Holmberg]

I noticed that TCM is running Robert Downey's rarely seen "Putney Swope" Sat Jan. 29, 1 am (CT).

[EtheltoTillie]

22 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

I noticed that TCM is running Robert Downey's rarely seen "Putney Swope" Sat Jan. 29, 1 am (CT).

It’s also on Watch TCM. 

[Rinaldo]

On 1/28/2022 at 3:16 PM, Tom Holmberg said:

I noticed that TCM is running Robert Downey's rarely seen "Putney Swope" Sat Jan. 29, 1 am (CT).

Did anybody watch it? I had to check it out, remembering that it seemed new and subversive when I saw it upon release, knowing I would have to leave grad school for my army service within months. I was exactly the target generation for it.

Seeing it again for the first time, I can see that it took very little to seem subversive to college students in fall 1969. A knowing, pseudo-hip attitude, some hitherto-forbidden words and phrases, a mixture of B&W and color, and a structure (if that's the word) derived from improv comedy (and not all that different from currently popular Laugh-In on TV). Actual acting ability, clever writing, pacing, clear sound, editing apparently were optional features. I recognized Allen Garfield in an early scene, Antonio Fargas throughout, and Hair alumni Shelley Plimpton and Ronnie Dyson in one of the commercial parodies. I suppose all this adds up to a true time capsule of its historical moment, but not to lasting viewability. I'm glad they showed it, though.

Edited January 31, 2022 by Rinaldo

[Tom Holmberg]

1 hour ago, Rinaldo said:

Seeing it again for the first time, I can see that it took very little to seem subversive to college students in all 1969.

I agree.  I can see how its audience at the time could think it was "groovy" and "radical."  But now i would wish it had been more insightful and incisive.  That said, the idea is a good one and a good series could be made out of it.  A sort of Black "Mad Men."

[Charlie Baker]

In what I think was his most recent guest hosting appearance with Dave Karger, Leonard Maltin had some incidental plugs for his memoir, Star Struck.  I got around to reading it, and I highly recommend it. Of course it's full of anecdotes and his various encounters with names, big and not so big.  But to me it was almost as compelling to read of his background and emergence; he calls himself a "film buff who got lucky."  I related to his fascination with old movies as a kid, though I never had the access he did--with his proximity to NYC and revival or museum showings and collecting films on 8mm or later 16mm (Look them up, kids.) And the photo section is a plus.

Hopefully I'll catch Putney Swope on Watch TCM.  Not there, and it's a pity, is this past weekend's Noir Alley, Quai des Orfevres, from Henri-Georges Clouzot, best known for Wages of Fear and Diabolique. It might not the purest example of noir, like Eddie said, but it's a very well done, intriguing murder tale. And very frank, compared to Hollywood's movies of the late 40s.

[EtheltoTillie]

14 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

subversive to college students in fall 1969. A

Cough cough. Easy Rider. Very cool to this then high school student. I saw it was also on the schedule but I didn’t rewatch either one. 

Hey, Rinaldo glad to see you back. I tagged you in the theater section, hoping you could answer my burning Sondheim question. Take a look if you can. 

[Tom Holmberg]

14 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Cough cough. Easy Rider. Very cool to this then high school student. I saw it was also on the schedule but I didn’t rewatch either one.

I saw it in SF soon after it opened, in the late 1980s (i believe) I saw it in Chicago with Laszlo Kovacs talking about making it.  I think it still holds up.

Edited February 1, 2022 by Tom Holmberg

[Charlie Baker]

Just to concur--Easy Rider holds up; Putney Swope for all of its of its moment qualities doesn't,, but it is worth a look.  In addition to the cast members @RINALDO mentioned (and the ad parody with Dyson and Plimpton is probably the movie's best bit),  there's Allan Arbus, one-time husband of noted photographer Diane Arbus.  He had a long career as a character actor, and is probably most recognizable for a recurring role on TV's M*A*S*H. 

Ben mentioned before last night's showing of To Sir, with Love, that the network's Sidney Poitier tribute would air from the evening of Feb. 19th into the 20th.

[Crashcourse]

Regarding bad dancing:  As much as I loved Sidney Poitier (he was my heart throb), this scene broke my heart.