TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[Charlie Baker]

The two documentaries are very interesting watching.   For sure Pauline Kael was divisive, but her writing was compelling.  I found a NYT article on the Z channel documentary. The tragic and violent story of the programmer Jerry Harvey made the film makers and participants wary of any glorification of him, according to the piece.  Apart from that,  I couldn't help but see a parallel between the fall of Z (having to add sports) and what might be happening to TCM with these cuts. 

Z Channel

Edited June 22, 2023 by Charlie Baker
To add link and revise.

[MissAlmond]

2 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

Update on the story, in which the 3 directors express confidence coming out of their conversations with Zaslav. (Whether that confidence is warranted, we shall see.)

https://deadline.com/2023/06/steven-spielberg-martin-scorsese-set-david-zaslav-meeting-regarding-tcm-layoffs-update-with-statement-1235422098/

Personally, I wouldn't trust him. Zaslav seems the type who says what you want to hear during the meeting then does what he wanted to do once you're out the door. 

Edited June 22, 2023 by MissAlmond

[mariah23]

5 minutes ago, MissAlmond said:

Personally, I wouldn't trust him. Zaslav seems the type who says what you want to hear during the meeting then does what he wanted to do once you're out the door. 

I’m afraid of that too.  However they and others have their eyes on him.

Plus Zaslav doesn’t know who he is messing with.  Think the “Swifties” are bad…

Edited June 22, 2023 by mariah23

[ruby24]

He's a lying snake. When the takeover was first reported everyone there was optimistic too based on what he said. The journalist who first wrote the article touting the likelihood of TCM's safety said she feels like a fool now, as everything she wrote based on his and his people's assurances turned out to be straight up lies.

So yeah- I doubt what he said to them to make them feel heartened is in any way true. They should know better.

[Rinaldo]

8 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

As to the Pauline Kael documentary, she was a character.  I never joined the cult, although I always read her in the New Yorker.  She seemed to be quite humorless.  She wrote a nasty takedown of Andrew Sarris, but then she was upset when Renata Adler wrote a nasty takedown of her. 

I genuinely don't understand those last two sentences. If anything, she would be censured by her opponents for levity and cracking jokes when they thought she should have been solemn. I'll agree that she went to town in print on Sarris; I enjoyed what she wrote and thought that his particular statements deserved it, but no doubt that's my own bias. But her public response to Adler was "I'm sorry that Ms. Adler doesn't respond to my writing." If she was upset, she kept it to herself, and I don't see what more one can expect. She maintained a civil tone, which is more than Sarris did in his paragraph after Kael's death.

To be clear, I'm in no way a single-minded Karl acolyte, though I bought and read all her books as they came out. She could be callously dismissive, tone-deaf, and willing to arbitrarily change her standards if it suited her purpose. Toward the end of her writing, the actual content and quality of the movies seemed to matter less to her than what kind of essay she could weave about them. And there are a couple of troubling ethical lapses in her life & work. That admitted, I gained an enormous amount from reading her over the years. She's one of the three essayists who have meant the most to me in terms of my own perceptions and writing.

[EtheltoTillie]

6 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

I genuinely don't understand those last two sentences. If anything, she would be censured by her opponents for levity and cracking jokes when they thought she should have been solemn. I'll agree that she went to town in print on Sarris; I enjoyed what she wrote and thought that his particular statements deserved it, but no doubt that's my own bias. But her public response to Adler was "I'm sorry that Ms. Adler doesn't respond to my writing." If she was upset, she kept it to herself, and I don't see what more one can expect. She maintained a civil tone, which is more than Sarris did in his paragraph after Kael's death.

To be clear, I'm in no way a single-minded Karl acolyte, though I bought and read all her books as they came out. She could be callously dismissive, tone-deaf, and willing to arbitrarily change her standards if it suited her purpose. Toward the end of her writing, the actual content and quality of the movies seemed to matter less to her than what kind of essay she could weave about them. And there are a couple of troubling ethical lapses in her life & work. That admitted, I gained an enormous amount from reading her over the years. She's one of the three essayists who have meant the most to me in terms of my own perceptions and writing.

Ah, I see what you mean.   Somewhat unclear.  The two sentences were not meant to be linked.  I just thought it was interesting about the two takedowns.  As far as humorless, that's how she came across in the documentary when she was shown being interviewed. 

[Rinaldo]

1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Ah, I see what you mean.   Somewhat unclear.  The two sentences were not meant to be linked.  I just thought it was interesting about the two takedowns.  As far as humorless, that's how she came across in the documentary when she was shown being interviewed. 

It's true about the two takedowns, but I do think she handled the one directed at her with vastly more class, by pretty much not responding.

It's been long enough since I've seen the documentary that I won't try to recall how she came across there, humor-wise. Her writing, though, is peppered with frequent little side jokes, some of which I could wish she'd refrained from. She did seem to lack perspective about herself, though, treating her daughter as her lifelong indentured servant, feigning innocence about the existence of "Paulettes," and the like. Those sorts of areas were, I think, her real vulnerable points.

[voiceover]

Pour one out for the Star of the Month, and her Little Women.   After tonight’s screening, Ben spoke of Kate’s reason for choosing the movie’s Oscar-winning screenwriters (Victor Heerman & Sarah Mason): they loved the book [she said], and so did she.

Well, *that pinged.  I’ve loved that book since childhood, and game recognizes game.  That affection was in her performance; in the film’s structure; in every scene.  The first time I watched as her Jo slid down the bannister (it’s quicker to dust that way, after all), my 10-year-old self thought, “Who is that??  I like her!”

And she’s been my favorite ever since.

[Milburn Stone]

11 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

I bought and read all her books as they came out...I gained an enormous amount from reading her over the years. She's one of the three essayists who have meant the most to me in terms of my own perceptions and writing.

I had to quote these excerpts because they speak for me. If it were an affidavit, I would sign it.

I had the privilege of interviewing her in person once, at length, in her Central Park West apartment. The part of that interview that comes to mind now was her answer to my question, "Who, among other movie critics, do you read?" She answered: "In any time, there's only been one writer on the movies who mattered. In the thirties it was Otis Ferguson. In the forties it was James Agee. Now, it's me."

You might think this to be evidence of an astounding egotism. Or you might call it a clear-headed statement of fact, innocent of the sin of false modesty. I say the latter.

Edited June 23, 2023 by Milburn Stone

[Charlie Baker]

Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide  says Little Women "offers endless pleasure no matter how many times you've seen it." Yep.  Though I was surprised by how much I liked Greta Gerwig's version, this one is still and always the best. 

And then shown before it last night was Holiday, which I've gushed about here before.  A wonder and it still makes me laugh. 

 

[Wiendish Fitch]

No offense to anyone else who has ever played Jo March, but if ever there was an actress who seemed placed on this earth to portray Louisa May Alcott's immortal heroine, it's Katharine Hepburn.

The woman basically was Jo March.

[Sarah 103]

I think this article was when I started to really seriously worry about the future of TCM. (It clearly took me longer to get to that point than others here).

https://variety.com/2023/music/news/warner-bros-discovery-500-million-deal-sell-film-tv-music-publishing-assets-1235652398/

[mariah23]

Mods if you want to delete this then that’s okay.

 

Here is my letter to Zaslav I sent on Wednesday 

THE GUTTING OF TCM
 

I was crushed last night when I read about your firing of the heart of TCM: Pola Changnon, Charlie Tabesh, Genevieve McGillicuddy, Anne Wilson and Dexter Fedor.

And for what?  To save a few measly bucks?!  Why don’t you write off that crappy Flash movie?  There was no way I was going to pay money to sit through another mediocre attempt to start the DC universe and support that wannabe cult leader.

Like many other fans, TCM is not just a favorite channel, it is a lifestyle.  TCM gets us through some of the toughest times in our lives-illnesses, deaths, depression and COVID.  A lot of us have formed friendships through our love of TCM.  We have regular watch parties.  It is because of TCM I have discovered some of my favorite performers: Barbara Stanwyck, Rosalind Russell, Katharine Hepburn, Kentucky’s own Irene Dunne, Fred MacMurray and the Unsolved Mysteries guy Robert Stack.  I want to introduce TCM to my future children one day and show them the silent film comedian Harold Lloyd who my grandfather was named after.


You have pissed off the wrong fan base.  Some of TCM’s biggest fans include filmmakers you want to join the WBD family: Spielberg, Scorsese, plus Bill Hader, Ryan Reynolds’s, Cher, Tom Hanks, etc.  What other channel can boast that level of talent?

You think Swifties, Synderbots and the BTS army are bad, then you haven’t met classic film fans.

In closing, you, David Zaslav, don’t deserve to sit at Jack Warner’s desk.  He understood the value of cinema.  

Miss Mariah Abell
Cinephile 
Lover of TCM ( I did my thesis on TCM thank you very much)

P.S.  I am still pissed off that you let Looney Tunes cartoons expire!!  TCM should take over Looney Tunes; they would treat the cartoons with the respect they deserve!!

[tres bien]

Apparently Zaslav is doing to TCM what he did to CNN

[mariah23]

12 minutes ago, tres bien said:

Apparently Zaslav is doing to TCM what he did to CNN

And Discovery Channel and HLN

[Guest]

It looks as if TCM will be around awhile longer...

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/tcm-shakeup-michael-de-luca-pamela-abdy-1235522844/

[Milburn Stone]

2 hours ago, artisto said:

It looks as if TCM will be around awhile longer...

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/tcm-shakeup-michael-de-luca-pamela-abdy-1235522844/

This is heartening! I'm going to allow myself to be optimistic.

As for the link re the Warners music catalog that @Sarah 103 sent, I'm also OK with this. Warner, through its Rhino subsidiary, did an excellent job with classic film music in the nineties, with execs George Feltenstein and Marilee Bradford in charge. But Warners has been doing squat with their film music assets for some time now. Sony, on the other hand, has done better with the Columbia and RCA catalogs that it owns, in particular reissuing a box set of the Charles Gerhardt-conducted RCA Classic Film Scores series in 2020. So if Sony buys the Warners catalog, it could be a good thing.

Here's a link to that recent Gerhardt reissue set, still in print from Sony:

https://www.amazon.com/Gerhardt-Conducts-PHILHARMONIC-ORCHESTRA-AMBROSIAN/dp/B082BWZRCH/

[Sarah 103]

@Milburn StoneI misunderstood the article. I thought they were talking about the movies and music publishing, not just the music publishing. Thank you for the important and useful clarification. 

[Rinaldo]

4 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

Sony, on the other hand, has done better with the Columbia and RCA catalogs that it owns, in particular reissuing a box set of the Charles Gerhardt-conducted RCA Classic Film Scores series in 2020. 

This is a very good point. Sony has produced a massive number of these box sets, in many cases making digital transfers of classic recordings available for the first time ever. And various websites periodically run promotions offering these sets at substantial discounts. They have certainly enabled me to enrich my personal CD library, not only with the Classic Film Scores series (having long dithered over which of the 14 volumes I should buy, I was happy to find it feasible to buy 'em all in one swoop), but -- with apologies for music digression, but it suggests the breadth of the project -- all of Eileen Farrell's work for the label both pop & classical, the legendary Toscanini recordings of Verdi, Pierre Boulez conducting Ravel, and Charles Rosen's unique piano recordings. They're curating their back catalog like few other labels.

I was fascinated and grateful to read what @Milburn Stone said about talking to Pauline Kael. In that connection, maybe it's not out of line for me to mention that the best book I know about is Craig Seligman's Sontag and Keel: Opposites Attract Me. Despite half the book being devoted to Susan Sontag, who doesn't interest me that much (though I once stood behind her in a buffet line), Seligman is exceptionally focused on both the strong and weak points of Kael's work. He gives due attention to Renata Adler's attack (analyzing the weakness of her argument, while in the end saluting her as the most coherent anti-Pauline writer, because she's so sincere about her visceral antipathy), and exposes the silliness of the attempt of some rival critics to paint her as homophobic (anybody who read her collected work knows how inapplicable that is). Seligman's little book ends up being more substansive than Brian Kellow's full-length biography that came out afterward.

[voiceover]

On 6/23/2023 at 8:14 AM, Wiendish Fitch said:

 

No offense to anyone else who has ever played Jo March, but if ever there was an actress who seemed placed on this earth to portray Louisa May Alcott's immortal heroine, it's Katharine Hepburn.

The woman basically was Jo March.

 

Worth repeating.

The more I learned about her over the years, the more I understood that my 10-year-old self knew what she was talking about.

[BooksRule]

If you haven't had a chance to see it yet, I highly recommend the documentary 'Harold and Lillian: a Hollywood love story.  TCM is airing it on Wednesday evening.  It gives a good look at Hollywood of the 40s (and later) as well as what goes into researching for a film (costume looks, sets, etc.) I first heard about it when I read an article about how Lillian's vast archive of research materials was soon to be without a home.  As a librarian, I wished I could have found room in my university's library (as part of our film studies collection)! 

If it's okay to post this, here is the trailer for the film: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4683668/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_3_nm_0_q_harold%20and%20lillian

 

[mariah23]

WE DID IT!!!

https://www.indiewire.com/news/breaking-news/steven-spielberg-paul-thomas-anderson-martin-scorsese-guide-tcm-programming-1234879549/

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 6/25/2023 at 7:57 PM, BooksRule said:

'Harold and Lillian: a Hollywood love story.  TCM is airing it on Wednesday evening.  It gives a good look at Hollywood of the 40s (and later) as well as what goes into researching for a film (costume looks, sets, etc.)

This was fantastic.  It reminded me that every single thing you see in a movie was thought up and put there by somebody.  I didn't know movies had researchers who told them what a Jewish girl's underwear looked like in 1905 (Fiddler on the Roof).  And that there wouldn't be a lot of photos of these garments, so Lillian went to Fairfax Avenue to look for women who would have been girls in 1905, to ask them what the underwear looked like.  Turns out the bloomers have scalloped edges.

I knew what storyboards are, but I never really thought about who drew them, and it never occurred to me that the person who put the storyboard together might not be the director.  The correlation they showed between some of Harold's storyboards and the eventual films was amazing.  He "directed" The Graduate; Mike Nichols put it on film.  And Harold didn't even like the script!

Lillian is a doll, and I would gladly spend many hours listening to her stories.  She had a lot of heartbreak in her life (spending her childhood in orphanages, for starters), but looked at everything in such a matter of fact way. 

I loved how casually she told the story about the drug kingpin who offered to fly her to South America on his private jet so she could tell the people making Scarface what a cocaine cutting room looks like, and the big fight she and Harold had when he said she was out of her mind to even think about going.

I can see how her library became the hangout place for all the people at the studio, including Tom Waits.  Didn't see that coming.

Her Rolodex is something to behold.  It's nice that her library is digitized and on the internet for all to use (at her insistence), but I think there's something lost with the demise of a Rolodex of sources and a library of books and articles with pictures.  And a bunch of people hanging around there.

I can't get over how much I enjoyed this documentary. 

[BooksRule]

8 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Her Rolodex is something to behold.  It's nice that her library is digitized and on the internet for all to use (at her insistence), but I think there's something lost with the demise of a Rolodex of sources and a library of books and articles with pictures.  And a bunch of people hanging around there.

I can't get over how much I enjoyed this documentary. 

Wasn't it fascinating?  I haven't had a chance to re-watch it (I've recorded it). I first saw it as an online screening when an article about finding a home for her research library came out and it included the screening link.  

I'm a research (and collections) librarian who appreciates having the convenience of online databases and the entire world available for researching via the internet, but I also miss the days of having everything in print and you had to search through piles of stuff to find what you needed.  Especially vertical files.  I loved going through drawers of files that contained folders of brochures, clippings, etc.  There's something missing when you just google a place you want to visit instead of finding a tri-fold brochure buried somewhere (or better yet, sending away to have a copy mailed to you at home!) that you sit down with anticipation to read cover to cover. 

[mariah23]

TCM Remembers: Alan Arkin dead at 89.

[Shelbie]

On 6/25/2023 at 8:57 PM, BooksRule said:

If you haven't had a chance to see it yet, I highly recommend the documentary 'Harold and Lillian: a Hollywood love story.  TCM is airing it on Wednesday evening.  It gives a good look at Hollywood of the 40s (and later) as well as what goes into researching for a film (costume looks, sets, etc.) I first heard about it when I read an article about how Lillian's vast archive of research materials was soon to be without a home.  As a librarian, I wished I could have found room in my university's library (as part of our film studies collection)! 

If it's okay to post this, here is the trailer for the film: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4683668/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_3_nm_0_q_harold%20and%20lillian

 

Thank you so much for this recommendation.

Every Sunday I go through the guide and look at everything that TCM is showing that week. I record any movie that looks interesting or has an actor I like. I probably would have skipped over this but remembered reading your post.

It was terrific and I enjoyed every minute. Harold was great but Lillian was wonderful. 

[graybrown bird]

My cable provider ( Spectrum) just sent me a letter informing me of a wonderful improvement coming to my Spectrum experience in July:  faster downloads (or something) plus many new channels.  In small print on the reverse side were listed the channels I will be losing -- all I could see were the letters "TCM."   Gahhh -- Is there no recourse? Is this happening elsewhere?

Edited June 30, 2023 by graybrown bird
Spelling

[EtheltoTillie]

41 minutes ago, graybrown bird said:

My cable provider ( Spectrum) just sent me a letter informing me of a wonderful improvement coming to my Spectrum experience in July:  faster downloads (or something) plus many new channels.  In small print on the reverse side were listed the channels I will be losing -- all I could see were the letters "TCM."   Gahhh -- Is there no recourse? Is this happening elsewhere?

I have spectrum, and we are not losing TCM, but I have a really robust tier of services. 

[SunnyBeBe]

Does anyone recall the name of a movie……think it’s from the 90s.  It’s about a woman who recalls in flashbacks terrible abuse from her childhood, including abuse from her father when they lived in a farm….she recalled the sound of animals crying when being slaughtered by her father…not sure which animal….rabbits, goats,…..?  It seems the lead woman character was played by Nicole Kidman, but can’t find it in her filmography. 

[EtheltoTillie]

30 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Does anyone recall the name of a movie……think it’s from the 90s.  It’s about a woman who recalls in flashbacks terrible abuse from her childhood, including abuse from her father when they lived in a farm….she recalled the sound of animals crying when being slaughtered by her father…not sure which animal….rabbits, goats,…..?  It seems the lead woman character was played by Nicole Kidman, but can’t find it in her filmography. 

Could it be Cold Mountain?  It’s about a farm. I don’t remember it but it could be?  

[SunnyBeBe]

47 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Could it be Cold Mountain?  It’s about a farm. I don’t remember it but it could be?  

I’ll explore it. I did see that movie, but I don’t think that’s it. The one I’m trying to recall seemed to have a title that had an animals name in it.  I know…it sounds weird.  Thanks. 

[Suzn]

2 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Does anyone recall the name of a movie……think it’s from the 90s.  It’s about a woman who recalls in flashbacks terrible abuse from her childhood, including abuse from her father when they lived in a farm….she recalled the sound of animals crying when being slaughtered by her father…not sure which animal….rabbits, goats,…..?  It seems the lead woman character was played by Nicole Kidman, but can’t find it in her filmography. 

Silence of the Lambs? - Jody Foster

[roseha]

On 6/30/2023 at 6:24 PM, graybrown bird said:

My cable provider ( Spectrum) just sent me a letter informing me of a wonderful improvement coming to my Spectrum experience in July:  faster downloads (or something) plus many new channels.  In small print on the reverse side were listed the channels I will be losing -- all I could see were the letters "TCM."   Gahhh -- Is there no recourse? Is this happening elsewhere?

I hope not!  I have a little known deal with Spectrum called TV Choice which allows me to have a fairly cheap rate and watch 12 cable channels that I picked out when I signed up for it.  If they take TCM off my plan I will be steamed.  However I haven't had any communication from them about it, all they do is send me endless emails about their mobile phone service, which I don't want.

[graybrown bird]

I get their endless emails too -- But now this letter with the "good news" masking a poison pill about TCM.  I am going to try to reach a human being at Spectrum to see if anything can be done.

[SunnyBeBe]

22 hours ago, Suzn said:

Silence of the Lambs? - Jody Foster

Hmmm….I’ll check it out.  Thanks!  

[Charlie Baker]

Some TCM weirdness going on:

1. Watch TCM hasn't been updated for a few days, evidently.

2. Outros from the hosts were victims of budget slashing?  But both Ben and Dave tweeted outros have been reinstated and will be seen again starting in September.

Glad that Noir Alley didn't cut Eddie's outros.  Now if Saturday's offering, the offbeat, beautifully acted Deep Valley turns up on an updated Watch TCM, that would be nice.

[voiceover]

Watching 1776 for about the 1,776th time..(eh, low-hanging fruit).  What a perfect choice to play Jefferson was Ken Howard! towering over everyone else but especially William Daniels’ John Adams; grinning at him when he refuses to back down to the “unalienable” rewrite.

So many emotional, hilarious, stirring moments.  Two favorites:

Best punchline to a song: “Saltpeter, John!!!”

Best moment from a supporting player: Lyman Hall quoting Edmund Burke before sliding Georgia’s vote to “Yea”.

[Guest]

Yahoo article dated 07/04/23:

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/tcm-reinstated-programmer-charles-tabesh-231015100.html

[Milburn Stone]

At least he knows there is such a thing as Watch TCM. (Whether he'll have time to attend to it with no help from staff is another matter.)

[lurkerbee]

Gifting this Washington Post article:

Want to suffer Hollywood’s wrath? Mess with TCM, you dirty rats!

[Suzn]

On 7/5/2023 at 8:40 PM, lurkerbee said:

Gifting this Washington Post article:

 

Want to suffer Hollywood’s wrath? Mess with TCM, you dirty rats!

From article linked above:

"TCM is still primarily thought of as a cable and satellite offering, but it is available for live-streaming through Hulu, Sling and DirecTV Stream and more."

Since TCM is available for live streaming, I don't know why it's written about as though it's only available by cable.  I get it on Hulu Live and my signing up for Hulu was dependent on TCM being on the line up.

[EtheltoTillie]

17 hours ago, Suzn said:

From article linked above:

"TCM is still primarily thought of as a cable and satellite offering, but it is available for live-streaming through Hulu, Sling and DirecTV Stream and more."

Since TCM is available for live streaming, I don't know why it's written about as though it's only available by cable.  I get it on Hulu Live and my signing up for Hulu was dependent on TCM being on the line up.

But isn’t that just a substitute way of watching the channel for cable cutters?  It’s still a channel, not an app.  What about Watch TCM?  That’s an app that you cannot pay separately for. You have to log in with your cable company or satellite provider credentials. Can you log in to Watch TCM with Hulu as your provider?  I’ve never looked to see if it was on the list.

BTW, you can also watch the channel live stream on Watch TCM, with the advantage of having both west coast and east coast feeds. Since Watch TCM includes both the live feed and the slate of movies they decide to repeat on demand for a week or month, I often just tune to the app on Roku. They should just sell that as a streaming app in that format, and it would be quite popular, I think. But I would not want an app that was just the live channel without the on demand feature. 

[Milburn Stone]

3 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I would not want an app that was just the live channel without the on demand feature. 

Agree. 

I wonder if the thing that's stopped them is that they have some weird deal with Comcast and the other cable providers that if TCM offers a freestanding streaming app, Comcast will refuse to carry TCM on cable. Which TCM would hate more than most channels, simply because the one group that has been slow to cut the cord and move to streaming is old people, and that's the same demographic that makes up most of TCM's viewership. HBO can afford to lose some cord-cutters because they'll scoop them up in their streaming app MAX. TCM can't afford to lose any more cable subscribers than it's already losing due to, er, attrition, if you get my drift.

[Irlandesa]

I love discovering movies I've never heard of before.  Last weekend, I watched Come Fly with Me (1963). It was very lightweight about flight attendants on the US to Paris to Vienna route and their love interests.  For some reason, I find something so charming about old travel movies.  Even though capturing scenery has improved in recent years, there's just a vibe I can't describe. 

[EtheltoTillie]

8 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

I love discovering movies I've never heard of before.  Last weekend, I watched Come Fly with Me (1963). It was very lightweight about flight attendants on the US to Paris to Vienna route and their love interests.  For some reason, I find something so charming about old travel movies.  Even though capturing scenery has improved in recent years, there's just a vibe I can't describe. 

I’ve never sat down and watched this movie, but I’ve certainly heard of it. The song was such a big hit at the time. Used to play on the radio all the time. Then they used the song for airline ads. 

Edited July 9, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[graybrown bird]

I think part of the charm about old travel movies like this one is how dressed up people were when they traveled by plane or train.  Life looked glamorous!

[EtheltoTillie]

I got all excited about watching Come Fly With Me, and it's no longer on Watch TCM, although I had seen it listed there last week next to Where the Boys Are, also with Dolores Hart.  That one is still showing.  The Watch TCM lineup has not been updated for a week or so, as someone noted upthread.  Something's up, and it doesn't feel good. 

I started watching The Bad Sleep Well, and I have to finish it before it goes away tomorrow or the next day.  It's one Kurosawa movie I had not seen.  I love the Kurosawa movies where they seem to be so Western and yet they're not.  It starts with a mob wedding, famously homaged in The Godfather, I suppose. 

[Irlandesa]

I'm talking a little bit more about capturing scenery where they filming on location instead of in a studio but yes, the glamorous aspect is kind of fun to watch.  It kind of made me want to go and watch Pan Am which I didn't watch when it first aired. 

Not that I'd want to have to get dressed to travel but it's fun to watch.

[Charlie Baker]

I hesitated to post this because my own reaction was WTH (or worse) bur it might be useful information for some of us here to have.  I hasten to say it's not directly TCM and/or Warner Discovery related right now.

When Censors Tamper with Classic Films

TCM did show Pink Flamingos in the wee small hours a short while ago, I assume uncut. And the last showing of Gone with the Wind had Ben referring people to Jacqueline Stewart's intro on Max regarding the content. 

Something more positive--the month-long Spotlight on B pictures got off to a good start. The three Lionel Atwill movies--Beggars in Ermine, Absolute Quiet, and The Secret of the Blue Room, each a different genre--were brisk and very entertaining products of the 1930s.

[voiceover]

3 hours ago, Charlie Baker said:

TCM did show Pink Flamingos in the wee small hours a short while ago, I assume uncut.

Well, that was a tagline for TCM (“uncut”), once upon a time, and it was a reason film fans flocked to the channel.

I didn’t see French Connection last time it was screened, so I cannot verify other accounts that claim that TCM aired the new “cut” version.  I can only hope they didn’t.