TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[EtheltoTillie]

On 2/26/2024 at 2:29 PM, Tom Holmberg said:

It was remade in 1974 with Lucille Ball and Bea Arthur.

No, that was a movie of the stage musical.  And it's awful.  Lucille Ball was miscast.  I really could see Bea Arthur playing Auntie Mame. 

[Rinaldo]

2 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I really could see Bea Arthur playing Auntie Mame. 

I don't know. She could have made the humor land, in a way that Ball couldn't at that stage, but casting Auntie Mama (musical or not) is a trickier operation than one might think (IMO). I'm a big believer in actors being allowed to not play characters just like themselves, and stretch their radius of limits, but some innate qualities are hard to erase, or imitate. In this case, I'm thinking of a parental, maternal quality. Mame isn't literally a mother, but a central kernel of the story is that (to her own surprise) she in effect becomes one, and it's more important and "right" for her than she had suspected. And it has nothing to do with whether someone is a parent in real life; performing is an illusion.

Rosalind Russell could convey this motherly quality. Angela Lansbury definitely did. I can't see Bea Arthur doing it (she has played mothers, but they've been of a rather remote, stern type).

I actually saw a big-scale revival of the musical Mame (at the Kennedy Center, clearly hoping to move to Broadway, but it closed with no afterlife), starring Christine Baranski. Great actress, terrific singer (best Mrs. Lovett in my experience), brilliantly funny but capable of warmth too. But onstage she wasn't a mother (despite being, by all accounts, a devoted mother in real life). That moment when she takes Patrick into her care didn't land. And there goes the ball game. Clearly she would have been much more suited to Vera.

Edited February 28 by Rinaldo

[chrisrose]

Rinaldo, I haven't seen any adaptation of Auntie Mame, but your description makes me wonder if Judy Garland could've done the role? I might be biased as a huge Judy fan, but when I think of "terrific singer", "brilliantly funny but capable of warmth", as you said... well, I think of Judy! :) And she seemed very caring and nurturing towards children in the movie A Child Is Waiting...

Anyway, despite my lack of knowledge of Mame, I enjoyed reading your thoughts and agree with you that "some innate qualities are hard to erase, or imitate"... even the best actors can be miscast!

[EtheltoTillie]

4 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

I don't know. She could have made the humor land, in a way that Ball couldn't at that stage, but casting Auntie Mama (musical or not) is a trickier operation than one might think (IMO). I'm a big believer in actors being allowed to not play characters just like themselves, and stretch their radius of limits, but some innate qualities are hard to erase, or imitate. In this case, I'm thinking of a parental, maternal quality. Mame isn't literally a mother, but a central kernel of the story is that (to her own surprise) she in effect becomes one, and it's more important and "right" for her than she had suspected. And it has nothing to do with whether someone is a parent in real life; performing is an illusion.

Rosalind Russell could convey this motherly quality. Angela Lansbury definitely did. I can't see Bea Arthur doing it (she has played mothers, but they've been of a rather remote, stern type).

I

Rosalind Russell's most motherly role was in The Trouble With Angels.  That was next level.  Auntie Mame, though, is a flamboyant mother figure.  So I could still see Bea Arthur playing motherly enough to be Auntie Mame.  I think Bea was very motherly on The Golden Girls!

Edited February 28 by EtheltoTillie

[Rinaldo]

5 hours ago, chrisrose said:

I haven't seen any adaptation of Auntie Mame, but your description makes me wonder if Judy Garland could've done the role?

Funny you should mention that! She very much wanted to do the musical on Broadway, and was under consideration. She loved the show, and attended several performances (Lansbury even arranged for her to watch from backstage -- they had worked together at MGM, of course). She could certainly have sung it wonderfully, and needed the work by that point. But (according to Lansbury) by the late 1960s she had become so unreliable for an 8-performances-a-week responsibility that the producers could never have taken the chance, and they couldn't have obtained the insurance to underwrite her participation. On TV or in a movie it might have been different.

I can think of actresses now with the presence, comic chops, warmth, and (if it were the musical) voice to do justice to Mame. But they're theater stars -- people like Victoria Clark, Donna Murphy, Kelli O'Hara -- and they mean nothing to the TV or movie audience.

[jah1986]

Auntie Mame is one of my all time favorite films. And as much as I appreciate and enjoy Judy Garland, I can't see her as Mame. I think the scene where Rosalind Russell's Mame shows her maternal nature is the first night she has Patrick and he falls asleep and she wants to make sure he's warm enough and she keeps adding blankets and eventually her fur coat, she was hooked and will do anything for her "little boy". Never could warm up to the musical version.

[chrisrose]

14 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

Funny you should mention that! She very much wanted to do the musical on Broadway, and was under consideration. She loved the show, and attended several performances (Lansbury even arranged for her to watch from backstage -- they had worked together at MGM, of course). She could certainly have sung it wonderfully, and needed the work by that point. But (according to Lansbury) by the late 1960s she had become so unreliable for an 8-performances-a-week responsibility that the producers could never have taken the chance, and they couldn't have obtained the insurance to underwrite her participation. On TV or in a movie it might have been different.

Wow! Thank you so much for sharing that history! I feel simultaneously sheepish that I didn't already know that, even though I consider myself a big fan of hers... but also proud of myself that Judy and I were on the same page. ;)

So nice of Angela Lansbury to try to help her out... It'll be nice to rewatch their rivalry in The Harvey Girls, knowing they were friendlier in real life. :)

Thanks again for your reply! I don't have access to TCM anymore, but I love visiting this thread and reading people's thoughts/learning more about classic movie history.

[Wiendish Fitch]

Oooh, I could absolutely see Judy Garland as Auntie Mame! I'm now sad that never happened. She could do warm and wacky equally well. 

I agree that The Harvey Girls is underrated. "On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe" is so damned epic and catchy! I love Virginia O'Brien in this, and Garland is reunited with Ray Bolger! Too bad John Hodiak is an utter charisma vacuum. It's funny how Angela Lansbury actually started in bad girl roles, but then aged into lovable old lady parts. 

 

[Rinaldo]

1 hour ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

It's funny how Angela Lansbury actually started in bad girl roles, but then aged into lovable old lady parts.

Which she did so well, that when she ended up getting the musical Mame in 1966 (of course they had first asked Mary Martin -- who said yes, then no -- and Ethel Merman -- who just said no -- and then they auditioned dozens of other musical ladies), many thought she must be decades too old for it, she'd been playing above her age for so long. But she was in fact a very stylish 40, and in great shape. (And of course had many decades of work ahead of her.)

[chrisrose]

1 hour ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

I agree that The Harvey Girls is underrated. "On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe" is so damned epic and catchy! I love Virginia O'Brien in this, and Garland is reunited with Ray Bolger! Too bad John Hodiak is an utter charisma vacuum.

I love The Harvey Girls too. :) This was my introduction to Virginia O'Brien and yes, she's great!

Luckily Judy has so much charisma that I didn't really notice that I didn't really notice John Who..diak. ;)

Edited February 29 by chrisrose

[Milburn Stone]

3 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Too bad John Hodiak is an utter charisma vacuum.

He does carry his weight in Hitchcock's Lifeboat, to give him his due.

[Charlie Baker]

The movie versions of stage musicals that might have been:

Doris Day as Nellie Forbush in South Pacific

Judy Garland as Rose in Gypsy

Angela Lansbury recreating Mame.

 

 

[bmoore4026]

4 hours ago, chrisrose said:

I love The Harvey Girls too. :) This was my introduction to Virginia O'Brien and yes, she's great!

Luckily Judy has so much charisma that I didn't really notice that I didn't really notice John Who..diak. ;)

I keep thinking back to the opening text to The Harvey Girls and how they helped tame the West.  I just trying to figure out in my mind how that would even be possible for waitresses to civilize the unruly frontier.  I'm guessing Fred Harvey wouldn't do business with a town that was lawless or difficult for the law to control as that would have put the women who worked for his company in danger?

Anyway, today Witness for the Prosecution was on.  An almost perfect movie.  Almost.  That sequence in Germany goes on for a bit too long and drags the picture down slightly.  Then we get to the trial and things pick up again.  Surprised Marlene Dietrich and Tyrone Power didn't get Oscar nominations.  I'm especially surprised with Marlene because she was batting a thousand in this picture.

[Charlie Baker]

A kind of long but very interesting article on the history of Paramount Pictures, as it might be up for sale.

Hollywood Reporter on Paramount Pictures

[Charlie Baker]

I wouldn't post two links to articles so closely together as a rule, but this one I thought was worthwhile and of interest.

And again, it's long-ish. From the New York Times Magazine.

How the Criterion Collection Became an Arbiter of Taste

[HyeChaps]

Silly reasoning, but IMO Judy was too short for the imposing character of Mame.

Edited March 4 by HyeChaps
Two typos

[voiceover]

Defending John Hodiak was not on this week’s Bingo card, but I must protest these goings-on.

I thought he was terrific in Lifeboat, and tbf, also the sexiest leading man Judy Garland ever had.  Garson Kanin once described “chemistry” as “Do you want to see them do it?”, and I could’ve to-tal-ly handled the precode version of that relationship.

[bmoore4026]

I've said this before but it bears repeating but the best moment in To Kill a Mockingbird is Scout showing up at the jail and stopping a lynch mob through the pure innocence of a child.  She didn't see these men as soon-to-be killers, but as men she sees often, sometimes everyday, in town and how nice they are to her.  This causes the men to back down and leave in shame.  Scout - one of the most underrated heroines in movie history.

[Fool to cry]

When a shocking reveal happens in a 1930s movie: No music. Just eerie silence.

When a shocking reveal happens in a 1940s movie:

LOUD DRAMATIC STING!

Edited March 5 by Fool to cry

[bmoore4026]

OK, AFI has to do another special like the did in the 2000s to update their 100 top Heroes and Villains list and put Anton Chigurh in the top ten villains bracket.

And that scene at the end of No Country for Old Men with Moss' wife and Anton is one of the saddest in film history.  You know she's dead as soon as she opens the bedroom door.  She does, too.  She's a lamb, he's a wolf.  The Big Bad Wolf.  God, Javier Bardem truly earned that Oscar.  They all did.

[Crashcourse]

And she told him she had just left her mother's funeral.  He was evil personified.

[voiceover]

I see that affection for John Hodiak belongs in my collection on the Island of Misfit Opinions, along with similar feelings towards Louis Hayward, Ramon Novarro, the 1940 version of Pride & Prejudice, and Kathryn Grayson’s performance in Kiss Me, Kate…

This latter preference I genuinely cherish, but also love to trot out from time to time, just to make @Rinaldo roll his eyes 🤣

[Wiendish Fitch]

7 hours ago, voiceover said:

I see that affection for John Hodiak belongs in my collection on the Island of Misfit Opinions, along with similar feelings towards Louis Hayward, Ramon Novarro, the 1940 version of Pride & Prejudice, and Kathryn Grayson’s performance in Kiss Me, Kate…

This latter preference I genuinely cherish, but also love to trot out from time to time, just to make @Rinaldo roll his eyes 🤣

Hey, I agree Kathryn Grayson is a delight in Kiss Me, Kate! It's nice not to see her play the boring ingenue for a change. The moment in "Too Darn Hot" where Ann Miller tosses off her bracelet, and Grayson catches it and hands it to Howard Keel, without missing a beat or altering her expression? *chef's kiss*

As for 1940's Pride and Prejudice, I'll say two things in its favor: I like Greer Garson as Elizabeth (even if she is too old) and the archery scene. 

[Rinaldo]

15 hours ago, voiceover said:

see that affection for John Hodiak belongs in my collection on the Island of Misfit Opinions, along with similar feelings towards Louis Hayward, Ramon Novarro, the 1940 version of Pride & Prejudice, and Kathryn Grayson’s performance in Kiss Me, Kate…

This latter preference I genuinely cherish, but also love to trot out from time to time, just to make @Rinaldo roll his eyes 🤣

Hey, I wouldn't want to spoil @voiceover's fun, so I'm happy to oblige. Our forum (probably wisely) doesn't include eyeroll among its dozen emojis, but I'll perform as expected and trot out my predictable contempt for the oeuvre of K****** G****** at all times and places. She ended my innocence, and not in a fun way.

But will I spoil @voiceover's fun anyway if I venture a reaction that the other opinions in that paragraph aren't all that lonely or misfit? I have no opinion one way or the other bout John Hodiak, so I'll stay out of that. But is there really a groundswell of loathing for Louis Hayward? I never knew. As for Ramon Novarro, plenty of people probably don't know him at all (I was once one of them), but once they (like me) eventually do, is there really widespread resistance to this delightful goofball? I haven't been keeping track, so I'll yield to the more knowledgeable.

As for Pride and Prejudice, I adore the book and find all screen adaptations a mixture of good and bad in varying proportions, but I can enjoy just about all of them when they turn up. (My own top choice is one not widely shared.) That definitely includes the 1940 one, which (along with perfectly obvious demerits) has decided pleasures to offer. Now, comparing all the screen versions of Emma... that can drive a person nuts.

Edited March 8 by Rinaldo

[voiceover]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

*wipes eyes*
 

Always happy to provoke conversations whenever and wherever I can

[Sarah 103]

7 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

Now, comparing all the screen versions of Emma... that can drive a person nuts.

Do you count Clueless as one of them? According to the Academy, Clueless was an adaptation of Emma and therefore in the best adapted screenplay as opposed to original screenplay. 

[chrisrose]

I... like Kathryn Grayson. 🤫

In general, but especially in Kiss Me Kate.  Not a big fan of The Taming Of The Shrew story...but it's a great musical.

I also really enjoy the 1940 Pride And Prejudice... love the cast and the humour! I guess some folks are upset that the costumes aren't period-accurate? But I've seen so many dull adaptations of Jane Austen (especially those stodgy, stagey BBC ones from the '80s) that I really appreciate the almost-screwball MGM version. :)

Also, John Hodiak's cute and all, but I thought Judy had great chemistry with Van Johnson in "In The Good Old Summertime" ... the banter...and also the build-up to that kiss. Whew! 🥵 (There should be a smiling sweaty emoji....just pretend that one's smiling. :))

[Rinaldo]

23 hours ago, chrisrose said:

But I've seen so many dull adaptations of Jane Austen (especially those stodgy, stagey BBC ones from the '80s)

As it happens, my definite favorite Pride and Prejudice is the stodgy, stagey BBC one from 1980. 😉

In fact, I wouldn't disagree with those adjectives for the other Austen in that particular cycle (I have the DVD box set of all 6); some are pretty dull, and a couple are hilariously dated-looking. But for me the P&P is on a higher level, and I still return to it with enjoyment. But I'm not trying to convert anyone else to my views here.

As for the MGM movie, I guess it's not right to refer to the costumes as not period-accurate? as they frankly moved the whole caboodle to a later decade, and the costumes are meant to fit that period. Not my favorite choice, but I don't let it bother me.

23 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

Do you count Clueless as one of [the versions of Emma]?

Sure. There's no doubt that it is one. But I was thinking of all the ones that kept it in period. We have

• The stodgystagy BBC miniseries from 1972 with Doran Goodwin
• The 1996 movie with Gwyneth Paltrow
• The telefilm (also 1996) with Kate Beckinsale
• The 2009 BBC miniseries with Romola Garai
• The 2020 film with Anya Taylor-Joy

What I really want is a magic computer to blend the best elements of those last 4 together in my desired proportions.

Edited March 9 by Rinaldo

[EtheltoTillie]

On 3/8/2024 at 8:49 PM, Rinaldo said:

As it happens, my definite favorite Pride and Prejudice is the stodgy, stagey BBC one from 1980. 😉

I

We love you, Rinaldo, but on this topic you have simply lost all reason.  I hadn't watched that original version since 1980, and I never had a copy of it.   I decided to pick up a used copy of the DVD because I thought it would be fair to actually rewatch, given that I have watched the (ahem) definitive 1995 version too many times to count, and I'm also a fan of the 1940 version.  I really dislike the 2005 version, as it's too modern and is too short to do the story justice.  I watched it recently just to compare, and I realized I was filling in the missing parts of the story in my mind.  The 1940 version manages to tell the whole story without inducing the feeling that something is missing, even though it's much shorter. 

Now as for this 1980 version, let me count the ways I disliked it:  1)  Blond Wickham.  2) Mary making comments that occur nowhere else.  3)  Mr. Collins:  too tall.  4) David Rintoul as Darcy:  too stiff!!!!!  Yikes.  He's actually quite good looking, but I think he only cracked a smile once.  5)  most of all:  no Colin Firth.

I didn't mind the actresses playing Eliza, Jane and Mary.  Mr. and Mrs. Bennet were okay too.  Lydia was not dopey enough.  But it was just so draggy and pale.  While watching I actually recalled the theme song from 44 years ago! 

[Bastet]

On 3/8/2024 at 4:36 PM, Sarah 103 said:

Do you count Clueless as one of them?

My favorite of the bunch.

[EtheltoTillie]

Did anyone watch Toys In the Attic?  It’s a Tennessee Williams play written by Lillian Hellman. So overwrought.  Geraldine Page was so twitchy. She’s never been a fave of mine.  Wendy Hiller was subdued and did a great job. 

[Charlie Baker]

I have not seen Toys in the Attic, but I might have to check it out. I have enjoyed other movies based on Hellman's plays, The Little Foxes and Watch on the Rhine. Geraldine Page was one of a group of Method-y, mannered actors, who could be a  bit much, but also could be powerful, I theorize, if a strong director could keep them somewhat in check. 

There was an evening of Cornel Wilde movies. It was interesting that he was something of a heartthrob romantic lead, who could swashbuckle--he was an elite fencer. As he was becoming established, generally the most impressive thing about  him was his physique. He did get to do  Leave Her to Heaven, but wanted to stretch himself more, did some modest noirs in the late 40s/early 50s that turned up on Noir Alley. And of course The Greatest Show on Earth. 

In the 60s he was producing and directing his own projects, aiming for hard-hitting survival stories.  The best known was The Naked Prey, which was considered pretty brutal in its day, and it still is a tough one.  One I hadn't seen and checked out was Beach Red, about a struggle for a Japanese-held island in WWII.  Again, some rough stuff, with an extended opening battle scene that might have influenced movies like Platoon and Saving Private Ryan. It's definitely uneven. Sometimes the limited resources are exposed, but there are some impressive shots in the battle scenes.  Some acting,  narration, and flashbacks are awkward.   It's very much of the time it was made, maybe there's some reflection on Vietnam.  And a real effort is made to humanize the Japanese.  It doesn't hold up tremendously well, but I found it worth the time. MMV.

[Rinaldo]

Toys in the Attic is atypical Hellman, veering more into Williams/Inge territory -- family undercurrents, the psychology in this case not quite made coherent. When I think about the play or movie, I always have to stop for an instant and remind myself who, out of the American playwrights of the 1950s, wrote it.

The movie is interesting to me especially because of the casting mix -- it's one of those "how on earth did all these people get into the same movie?" instances that sometimes happened around then (Wind Across the Everglades is another one). We have the inevitable lady for that school of drama at that date, Geraldine Page, at, yes, her most mannered and twitchy (she settled down and got more internal later in her career); Wendy Hiller unexpectedly (uniquely, I think, in her film career) doing this kind of American drama, and doing it well; Dean Martin, in the period when he was trying to mix an occasional serious drama in with the Westerns and comedies, and rather letting the effort show; Yvette Mimieux, the hot ingenue of the moment; and unexpectedly, what amounts to a post-career guest appearance by the divine Gene Tierney.

Given my background, my first association with Cornel Wilde is one that would make a good quiz question: What is the role played onscreen by him, Conrad Veidt, George Chakiris, and Hugh Grant? (The composer Frederic Chopin.)

[voiceover]

 

I forgot, until the opening credits, that M Emmett Walsh had a cameo (the arresting officer) in What’s Up, Doc?  It felt exactly right to watch him, on the day after we lost him, work his usual magic with just a few minutes of screen time (“No, sir — they drove in.”)

There are a handful of such teeny supporting roles in this film.  John Hillerman is a personal fave, as he John-Hillermans his way through his role as Hotel Manager:

JH: “I have a message for you from the staff of the hotel.”

Ryan O’Neal: “What is it?”

JH: “Goodbye.”

And I found a new favorite line in this, my jillionth viewing:

Madeline Khan: “Well thank you, Miss — “ 

Barbra Streisand: “Uh…Louise.” 

MK: “I thought you said ‘Sylvia’?” 

BS: “Uh yes, Sylvia-Louise…you know, with a hyphen.”

   

 

[Charlie Baker]

Cornel Wilde was Oscar-nominated for playing Chopin in A Song to Remember. Either I didn't know that or I'd forgotten.

M. Emmett Walsh was one of those indelible character actors--the ranks of whom seem to be thinning.  And of course, What's Up Doc? was part of the TCM Ryan O'Neal tribute.  I recorded Nickelodeon, which I remember liking quite a bit, but probably haven't seen since its release. 

Tonight is the salute to Norman Jewison.

Edited March 21 by Charlie Baker

[Tom Holmberg]

33 minutes ago, Charlie Baker said:

M. Emmett Walsh was one of those indelible character actors--the ranks of whom seem to be thinning

IMDB lists 233 appearances as an actor..  One of the best is "Blood Simple."

[Milburn Stone]

On 3/20/2024 at 4:05 PM, Charlie Baker said:

There was an evening of Cornel Wilde movies. 

I've been making my way through Forever Amber, a half hour at a time between other stuff. Of course I've always loved David Raksin's score, but "received wisdom" (received by me at least) is that the movie is not that good. I don't know, I think it is! Holding me pretty enthralled at least. And I know they had to sanitize the novel for the movie, but it astonishes me that one thing the movie does not whitewash is Amber's unwed pregnancy by Bruce, and the happy couple's unabashed, public elation over the now-born little bastard! Of course there must be terrible consequences in the end, but I'm taken aback that Amber and Bruce are allowed even short-lived joy and freedom from shame about a child born out of wedlock in a 1947 Hollywood film.

Edited March 22 by Milburn Stone

[EtheltoTillie]

19 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

Toys in the Attic is atypical Hellman, veering more into Williams/Inge territory -- family undercurrents, the psychology in this case not quite made coherent. When I think about the play or movie, I always have to stop for an instant and remind myself who, out of the American playwrights of the 1950s, wrote it.

The movie is interesting to me especially because of the casting mix -- it's one of those "how on earth did all these people get into the same movie?" instances that sometimes happened around then (Wind Across the Everglades is another one).

Yes, I neglected to mention Mimieux and Dean Martin.  One commentary I saw suggested George Hamilton might have been a better choice.  That would have paired Mimieux with a two-time costar (Where the Boys Are and Light in the Piazza).  I was thinking she was playing very Piazza here. 

Edited March 21 by EtheltoTillie

[Charlie Baker]

There's a line-up of made-for-TV movies from the 70s tonight on TCM.  An occasional delve into these, some of which were quite good, at least to younger me, might be nice. Tonight the titles are pretty big ones: Brian's Song, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, Duel, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, representing breakthroughs for a number of talents involved.  I believe they ran Jane Pittman before, the others I don't think so.

[Mindthinkr]

Going to record Jane Pittman tonight. Last night I recorded Moonstruck. It’s supposed to be a rainy weekend. 

[Tom Holmberg]

2 hours ago, Charlie Baker said:

Brian's Song, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, Duel, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,

"Brian's Song" is famous as a dude tearjerker.  "Duel" is a great movie by Spielberg.

[Rinaldo]

Both Brian's Song and Duel got theatrical releases -- the former (for a modest run) after it proved so popular on TV, the latter mostly abroad. I remember it was all over London the summer I lived there (1973).

[EtheltoTillie]

Norman Jewison Day:

Caught the last third of Moonstruck. Always fun. I just read that Jewison wanted to cast Cher based on her great comic timing from the old Sonny and Cher Show. 

Rewatched Fiddler. Since we had so much discussion of Pride and Prejudice recently, I was struck that Tevye and Mr. Bennet had the same plight: Five daughters and no dowry. Mr. Collins = Lazar Wolf. 
 

First time watch of The Cincinnati Kid.  Every performance is outstanding.  Ann-Margret. Ann-Margret’s cleavage as a separate character. Edward G. Robinson Steve McQueen Karl Malden Rip Torn, and those smaller roles.  Can someone tell me the name of the actor who played the menacing poker player in the opening scene?  

[Charlie Baker]

@EtheltoTillie It's this guy:

Ron Soble

I'm not very familiar with him, but it seemed he worked quite a bit.

[EtheltoTillie]

I’m a fan of jigsaw puzzles. Some people think it’s cheating if you look at the box picture. I don't agree. Ann-Margret’s character cheats at jigsaw puzzles by cutting the pieces to fit!  It’s a small spoiler to note this is a skillful use of foreshadowing. 
 Cheating is the theme of Cincinnati Kid. Both at cards and in marriage. 

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, Charlie Baker said:

@EtheltoTillie It's this guy:

Ron Soble

I'm not very familiar with him, but it seemed he worked quite a bit.

It appears he won something called a Golden Boot award. An honor for westerns. 

[EtheltoTillie]

I'm back with an OT recommendation.  I am caught up in the new Frederick Wiseman documentary on PBS.  If you missed it (I recorded it last night), they will show it again next week and it's on PBS on demand probably for a short time. I figure the people who follow TCM might also be Frederick Wiseman fans (I remember people here like the Maysles Brothers films, which are shown on TCM.  Wiseman always shows on PBS.)   This one is about the Troisgros restaurant in France. 

Edited March 23 by EtheltoTillie

[EtheltoTillie]

Here's a really interesting article about Wiseman.

https://forward.com/culture/570827/frederick-wiseman-menus-plaisirs-les-troisgros/

[EtheltoTillie]

On 3/21/2024 at 1:54 PM, Milburn Stone said:

I've been making my way through Forever Amber, a half hour at a time between other stuff. Of course I've always loved David Raksin's score, but "received wisdom" (received by me at least) is that the movie is not that good. I don't know, I think it is! Holding me pretty enthralled at least. And I know they had to sanitize the novel for the movie, but it astonishes me that one thing the movie does not whitewash is Amber's unwed pregnancy by Bruce, and the happy couple's unabashed, public elation over the now-born little bastard! Of course there must be terrible consequences in the end, but I'm taken aback that Amber and Bruce are allowed even short-lived joy and freedom from shame about a child born out of wedlock in a 1947 Hollywood film.

Well, I gave it a try, wondering why I had never watched it. It’s not shown that often. I’m afraid I’m with the received wisdom. It’s a curiosity rather than a good movie.  Cornel Wilde had no appeal whatsoever.  Couldn’t they find someone better, considering this was a high budget production with a huge audience at stake, given the popularity of the novel? As a couple they had no connection. There’s the obvious comparison to GWTW, which is also episodic, but the characters had such emotional depth. Linda Darnell, who is great in Letter to Three Wives, was just adequate here. She’s no Vivien Leigh, and she couldn’t carry this confusing mess. I don’t even know when she managed to sleep with Bruce, that’s how sanitized this was, as he kept rejecting her.  Even her little son rejects her in the end.  George Sanders played George Sanders, which was a bright spot. 
 

As for George Sanders, I’m checking out Cairo, which bills itself as a remake of The Asphalt Jungle.  Sanders is the mastermind behind the “foolproof” plot to steal King Tut’s jewels. Sure, thats a great idea. Anyway, good Egyptian noir fun so far. It’s always fun to see the mastermind assemble his crew in a heist movie. 

Edited March 24 by EtheltoTillie

[Charlie Baker]

I must say I was not as enthused as Eddie Muller over this week's Noir Alley Where Danger Lives.  But I am glad I saw it because it's a good example of what presences like Robert Mitchum and Claude Rains can bring to less than top-drawer material.