TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[Rinaldo]

1 hour ago, prican58 said:

Crisopera, CAS is a great way to see stuff one never expects to see. It can be addictive.

Unfortunately, apparently not available in my neck of the woods.

[Crisopera]

prican58, you are not kidding about addictive.  I had no idea it was still on (I used to watch it years ago), and now I record it every day.

Rinaldo, I'm sure you checked their website (http://www.classicartsshowcase.org/) - you can search by zip code.

[Rinaldo]

Yes, as far as I can tell, their website shows you the sort of channels that might carry CAS, without guaranteeing that they actually do. Going by cable listings, and the DVR search function, it's not actually scheduled by anybody on my system.

[Crisopera]

Sorry about that, Rinaldo.

[prican58]

Rinaldo, did it not work when you click on "Watch Now"?

[Rinaldo]

Yes, I can do that. But I find the option of remembering to visit the site regularly to watch random videos of indefinitely expanding length on my laptop much less appealing than having a program I can record daily without thinking about it, and save to watch or FF through when I have time.

I do appreciate the alert, though. I didn't know about this.

[voiceover]

If I were to compose a Top 5: Charming Movie Scenes, I'm certain that #1 would be the drunk scene with Garbo & Douglas in Ninotchka:

Leon: "[A radio's] a little box that you buy on the installment plan, and when you tune it in, they tell you there's a new model out."

Just gets me. Every. Time!

Edited June 5, 2017 by voiceover

[voiceover]

Watching the 1948 The Woman in White.  It's a "probably the best they could do" adaptation of the great Wilkie Collins novel, which was the first Gothic/psycho/romantic mystery.

I will credit the film with one tremendous improvement over its source: the romantic resolution.

I loved the novel until I got to the end, then I was a raging infuriated mess.  Collins blew it with his stupid Charles Darnay finish.  And I couldn't find anyone to share my grief!!

Uh...now it's been on TCM, so I can float it out here: anyone else a fan, or at least familiar with, this film, or the book?

[Rinaldo]

1 hour ago, voiceover said:

Watching the 1948 The Woman in White.  It's a "probably the best they could do" adaptation of the great Wilkie Collins novel...

Which is why I decided to give it a miss. The movie hasn't generally been lauded as a satisfying version, and I can't watch everything. Did I make a mistake?

1 hour ago, voiceover said:

anyone else a fan, or at least familiar with, this film, or the book?

I read the book, long ago (like, in the 1970s, in grad school), and saw the PBS miniseries (only 2 parts, if I recall correctly), Unfortunately I have next to no memory of the details -- just that there are only a handful of characters, and a kind of duality between two women. So I'll be no help. I don't remember being outraged at the end, just somewhat let down. It seems to me that Wilkie Collins created one immortal classic, The Moonstone (still on the list of great mysteries, and first of them chronologically). Of his other work, The Woman in White gets closest to this level by most accounts, and it still fails to transcend its own time very well. So I never even tried the next two on his list (which were reprinted by Dover), Armadale and No Name. Have you?

[Crisopera]

I was watching Fog Over Frisco (1934) and it brought up my usual question - why does one person become a star and another doesn't?  FoF is a not-bad little thriller, but the "star" question arises when you compare Bette Davis and Margaret Lindsay.  Bette Davis (top-billed) is so vibrant that when she disappears about half-way through, the rest of the movie never recovers.  Margaret Lindsay is, effectively, the female lead, and she's...fine.  Not a bad actress, comes across as intelligent, has a terrific speaking voice, and just...isn't interesting.  She played ingenues to most of the big stars of the 1930s, but just never became a star in her own right, whereas we all know what happened with Bette Davis.

[voiceover]

@Rinaldo, have yet to start Moonstone, though from what I know/have read of the genre, it's been WiW that's been heralded as his breakthrough -- mileage, I suppose.  I spent 4 nights in a row with its 660+ pages, and the terrifying twist about halfway through freaked me out so much I was almost afraid to keep going (now THAT'S a scary read!).  A handful of very evil types; a brave, resourceful heroine; and a satisfying conclusion...to the Mystery part, at least.

A little like Shirley Jackson's Haunting of Hill House, though, since much of what makes it scary is the Unseen, and how that plays on the minds of the characters.  I dispute that that can successfully transfer to the big screen (never cared for The Haunting for that reason).

What saved the film of Woman in White from the colorless performances of the leads, was the fact that they gave the heroine the fate I thought she deserved.  The author Wilkie Collins didn't write it that way, though, and I was so rabidly, violently irate put out, it may be awhile before I tackle anything else he wrote.

[Crisopera]

Watching The Lost Weekend on The Essentials last night, i think the genius of Ray Milland's performance is that Don Birnam is an asshole, drunk or not, and Milland never plays for sympathy.  Great movie, great performance.

Edited June 11, 2017 by Crisopera

[Jan Spears]

On ‎6‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 2:23 PM, Crisopera said:

why does one person become a star and another doesn't?

Some people just have "it" -- an intangible quality that the camera picks up. I was watching Night Nurse last night and Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Blondell and Clark Gable practically leap off the screen.

[Rinaldo]

A friend and I have talked about that question (he himself acts and directs), and we have come to agree that although certainly anybody needs all the skill they can get, it's essential to just somehow seem to be an interesting person -- someone who it's fascinating and enlightening to spend time with.

[Crisopera]

Yes, Night Nurse is interesting that way.  Ben Lyon, who plays the nice bootlegger, was a medium-weight star at the time and he just sort of fades into the background when Stanwyck is around.  I actually met him in London in the 1960s (he and Bebe Daniels had moved there in the 1930s after their Hollywood careers faded, and became big stars on British radio) and he was a great guy - smart, funny, and really nice.  (I was only around 8 at the time, so wasn't quite ready to grill him about pre-Code Hollywood).

[Padma]

On ‎6‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 3:56 PM, Crisopera said:

Watching The Lost Weekend on The Essentials last night, i think the genius of Ray Milland's performance is that Don Birnam is an asshole, drunk or not, and Milland never plays for sympathy.  Great movie, great performance.

I saw it for the first time and was impressed by Milland, too. Not sure how I felt about Alec Baldwin's comment (I think, not DL) that he thought of Milland as a very average actor who somehow rose to the occasion in that particular film to give a great performance. Was he "average"? Or did he not get many great parts?  Also interesting was seeing a film that had an alcoholic talking about drinking the same way as an alcoholic I know does--that if they drink enough a switch goes off in their brain and from then on they think they're hot stuff, due to the booze.

The only thing I didn't like was the upbeat ending, just because it seemed out of the blue and so unlikely based on all that preceded it.  Good film though.

[voiceover]

I don't recall if this is a UO here, but it seems to be elsewhere:

I love George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffany's.  I think the ending is one of the most romantic in movies.  And I think this is part chemistry, part Paul's wake-up speech to Holly before he leaves her in the cab.

IIRC, the actors didn't much like each other.  But knowing that romantic leads hate each other IRL has never bothered me -- I don't give a shit if the *actors* don't fall in love.

And I understand that Capote = not a fan of much about the adaptation.  Proof that even hotshot writers like TC have little/no control over the source material, once they cash the check.

But I am always charmed by his performance, and think he's a fine foil for Audrey.  He didn't obscure her glow, yet wasn't washed out by it, either.

Years ago I read Elizabeth Ashley's autobiography (Actress: Postcards from the Road).  Peppard was her 2nd husband.  And he wasn't a good one.  But she did admire his talent & integrity as an actor, and I think that rubbed off on me.  

[GreekGeek]

10 hours ago, Padma said:

The only thing I didn't like was the upbeat ending, just because it seemed out of the blue and so unlikely based on all that preceded it.  Good film though.

I re-watched it Saturday night and I agree. (Well, that and the very fake-looking bat that Don hallucinates.)  In the book--spoiler tagged in case someone is planning to read it--

Spoiler

Don steals Helen's fur coat and heads for the pawn shop to get money for a new binge.

I think that the upbeat ending may have been the only way Hollywood would agree to film the rest of the dark storyline. You can read the story here. 

[Milburn Stone]

10 hours ago, voiceover said:

I don't recall if this is a UO here, but it seems to be elsewhere:

I love George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffany's.  I think the ending is one of the most romantic in movies.  And I think this is part chemistry, part Paul's wake-up speech to Holly before he leaves her in the cab.

I don't much like Peppard in this movie or in anything, but I will give you this--the movie works, and when a movie works, you have to figure everything about it is part of what's making it work.

It's kind of like when people knock Ringo's drumming technique. His drumming, for better or worse (and I think it's great, but that's not the point), is part of what makes The Beatles The Beatles. Put a different drummer in there, the music is not the same. If you agree the records of The Beatles were great, you have to give Ringo his share of the credit.

But speaking of music, I think the wonderfulness of that BaT ending has to be shared with one more collaborator: Henry Mancini. The drama he builds under the cab ride, the escape of the cat, etc., culminating in the magnificent sense of release and resolution he brings to the alley scene in the rain, is the ingredient without which nothing else about it would work. He'd rely on his particular bag of tricks in other movies to come, but it was fresh here, and it still works every goddam time I see it.

[Padma]

6 hours ago, GreekGeek said:

I re-watched it Saturday night and I agree. (Well, that and the very fake-looking bat that Don hallucinates.)  In the book--spoiler tagged in case someone is planning to read it--

  Hide contents

Don steals Helen's fur coat and heads for the pawn shop to get money for a new binge.

I think that the upbeat ending may have been the only way Hollywood would agree to film the rest of the dark storyline. You can read the story here. 

Thank you for that spoiler. Interesting that's the kind of honesty that felt like it was missing from the film. Another movie from a book where "It's good it was made, but too bad commercial concerns trumped the author's (much better) intentions."'

Edited June 13, 2017 by Padma

[voiceover]

I sat through the last half hour of Black Narcissus tonight, and thought what I always think as the credits roll: "This is an Important Film.  Wish I liked it better."

But it always feels a bit like I'm watching Douglas Sirk redo a Merchant-Ivory flick.  The combination's a bit nauseating.

[voiceover]

Yayyy...talkin' to myself.?

Tonight looks like Italian Tourist Night, which is fortunately featuring Room With a View (if we'd gone on longer with Top 5s, this would've been on my "post-80s favorite films").

Unfortunately, it also features Light in the Piazza.  If anyone here is a fan of this movie, or likes it for whatever reason, please explain it to me.  Because I think it's one of the dumbest plots ever ("Let's see if I can pawn off my mentally challenged daughter on these dumb Italians!"), and I was gobsmacked when they went so far as to make...a musical of it!

(Rinaldo: if you'll tell me that there are some fine songs in the stage version, I'll grudgingly give it a pass.)

If you're going to give us Italian Tourist Night, at least throw me Summertime (it's got Rossano Brazzi, who's the only reason I sat through all of Piazza the first time).

And Enchanted April is a gorgeous charmer that hasn't been on network TV in ages.

See??  I fixed Italian Tourist Night!

[Constant Viewer]

I'm surprised they're not showing Three Coins in the Fountain for Italian Tourist Night. Or Only You, but I guess that would be too modern.

[Wiendish Fitch]

9 minutes ago, voiceover said:

 

Unfortunately, it also features Light in the Piazza.  If anyone here is a fan of this movie, or likes it for whatever reason, please explain it to me.  Because I think it's one of the dumbest plots ever ("Let's see if I can pawn off my mentally challenged daughter on these dumb Italians!"), and I was gobsmacked when they went so far as to make...a musical of it!

 

I don't know if I hate Light in the Piazza, but I agree it has problematic elements, especially the ending. Am I the only one who thinks

Spoiler

Meg was very much in the wrong for not telling Fabrizio and his dad the truth about Clara's condition? I mean, I appreciate that she wants her daughter to have a full life and not be denied romantic love and independence, but Fabrizio has the right to know that the woman he's pledged to live his life with is mentally challenged! Yes, her childlike mannerisms are charming now, but what about in 10, 20 years? What about her fits and other problems that he may not be able to cope with? How do we know he won't institutionalize her anyway? Even good, right-thinking people did that back then!

The ending really ruins the movie for me, which is a shame, because everyone in it is great, especially Olivia de Havilland.

[voiceover]

WF, you are definitely not the only one who puzzles over that ending.  It's probably first on my "Why This Sucks" list.

[One Tough Cookie]

On ‎6‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 8:57 PM, Padma said:

about Alec Baldwin's comment (I think, not DL) that he thought of Milland as a very average actor who somehow rose to the occasion in that particular film to give a great performance.

If Alec Baldwin officially becomes associated with CM,I will have to curtail my viewing. I loathe, despise and hate the guy for a multitude of reasons, one of them being he is a "rude, thoughtless little pig".

And h's mediocre actor with delusions adequacy.  TCM can do so much better.

Edited June 16, 2017 by One Tough Cookie

[bmoore4026]

Tonight, we have movies set in Italy.  Light in the Piazza, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, and Merchant Ivory's Room with a View, the type of movie Eddie Izzard mocks here:

[Rinaldo]

4 hours ago, voiceover said:

I was gobsmacked when they went so far as to make...a musical of it!

Not only did they make a musical of it, they made an astonishingly lyrical, moving musical of it. It had been a long time since I fell in love with a show's music like that, and it hasn't happened again since. It was one of the most transcendent experiences I've had in a theater (thanks not only to Adam Guettel's music and lyrics, and the superlative performances of everyone but especially Victoria Clark, but to the flawless direction of Bartlett Sher). I was in a trance from pretty much the first minute, and it didn't let up till the end. That's very unlike me.  It deserves much better than "a grudging pass." 

3 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Am I the only one who thinks... [etc.]

Of course not. It seems clear to me that one of the points of the story is to provoke us to think about it, make us ponder what we think about this outcome, and what we would have done. One may well think Margaret wrong, but we're invited to understand why she did what she did. 

[Padma]

4 hours ago, voiceover said:

Yayyy...talkin' to myself.?

Tonight looks like Italian Tourist Night, which is fortunately featuring Room With a View (if we'd gone on longer with Top 5s, this would've been on my "post-80s favorite films").

Unfortunately, it also features Light in the Piazza.  If anyone here is a fan of this movie, or likes it for whatever reason, please explain it to me.  Because I think it's one of the dumbest plots ever ("Let's see if I can pawn off my mentally challenged daughter on these dumb Italians!"), and I was gobsmacked when they went so far as to make...a musical of it!

(Rinaldo: if you'll tell me that there are some fine songs in the stage version, I'll grudgingly give it a pass.)

If you're going to give us Italian Tourist Night, at least throw me Summertime (it's got Rossano Brazzi, who's the only reason I sat through all of Piazza the first time).

And Enchanted April is a gorgeous charmer that hasn't been on network TV in ages.

See??  I fixed Italian Tourist Night!

I was bored by the movie, but kind of liked what I thought the point of it was--that it was possible for a beautiful, sweet young woman with a mental disability to find love. Maybe it was helped by a language barrier--and her beauty and sweetness--but I'm not sure intellectual compatibility is  all that important in many marriages.  Maybe I'm cynical, but I don't see why the language barrier was necessary to make that premise work, but I thought it made sense. And she could convert to Catholicism and meet the religions expectation, too, for faith and commitment.  I thought it was kind of a good premise, but not such a good movie.

[prican58]

Would love to have seen Rome Adventure again with Suzanne Pleshette, Troy Donahue and Rossano Brazzi. I really love the scenery and Constance Ford's small but good performance as a bookstore owner.  Even If It's Tuesday This Must Be Belgium (Pleshette girl crush here) would have been fun to see.  I see that When in Rome will be on at 6:15 Saturday. I watched it a few months ago and enjoyed Van Johnson and the always great Paul Douglas. Not really a tourist movie but close enough. 

[chitowngirl]

Tonight was my first viewing of Light in the Piazza. I first heard of it from the Tonys. Then PBS aired a Great Performance of it shortly after, which is rare to see a Broadway performance of anything at all. I was surprised that the movie was not a musical! I so enjoyed the musical, was a little disappointed by the movie. Both were charming. 

[voiceover]

2 hours ago, bmoore4026 said:

Tonight, we have movies set in Italy. 

 

Damn! wish I'd caught that.  Thanks for the head's-up.?

Well, I appreciate the chiming in as re: Piazzaria [sic].  I still don't get it.

Another Top 5 from Room?  Best Kisses!!  Julian Sands, Helena Bonham-Carter, a field outside Florence....*swoon!* *thud*

(Should ratgirl look in, she will be unsurprised to discover my #1 is Valentino & Banky in Son of the Sheik.)

[ratgirlagogo]

14 hours ago, voiceover said:

(Should ratgirl look in, she will be unsurprised to discover my #1 is Valentino & Banky in Son of the Sheik.)

I actually AM surprised it's not Novarro and Shearer in The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg.

[voiceover]

38 minutes ago, ratgirlagogo said:

I actually AM surprised it's not Novarro and Shearer in The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg.

No tongue.

[AuntiePam]

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone -- call me shallow, but damn, Vivien Leigh's wig was atrocious.  All I could do was wonder who chose it and why Ms. Leigh went along with it.  It didn't move and it was asymmetrical.  So that put me off, and then we had the narrator telling us what a good director should be showing us.  And then there's that delay in seeing Warren Beatty's face.  What was that all about?  I gave up.  Life's too short.  I think I'll just read the book.

[MisterBluxom]

On 2017-06-12 at 11:02 PM, voiceover said:

I don't recall if this is a UO here, but it seems to be elsewhere:

I love George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffany's.  I think the ending is one of the most romantic in movies.  And I think this is part chemistry, part Paul's wake-up speech to Holly before he leaves her in the cab.

IIRC, the actors didn't much like each other.  But knowing that romantic leads hate each other IRL has never bothered me -- I don't give a shit if the *actors* don't fall in love.

And I understand that Capote = not a fan of much about the adaptation.  Proof that even hotshot writers like TC have little/no control over the source material, once they cash the check.

But I am always charmed by his performance, and think he's a fine foil for Audrey.  He didn't obscure her glow, yet wasn't washed out by it, either.

Years ago I read Elizabeth Ashley's autobiography (Actress: Postcards from the Road).  Peppard was her 2nd husband.  And he wasn't a good one.  But she did admire his talent & integrity as an actor, and I think that rubbed off on me.  

"Integrity as an Actor".

Now there is one expression you don't hear too much. No Sirree!

I never realized that actors might possess anything even close to integrity. I can't imagine what it means.

You could do us all a real solid and explain just what you think it means. I'd love to hear that.

I am not trying to poke fun at you. I sincerely have no idea just what it might mean to have some sincerety as an actor.

Just to try and help out a bit, do you think it means something like, "when given a part that does not fit your personality in any way", you do your best to try and project the personality and character that is written for that part? I am skeptical because I would guess that actors have seen so many terribly written parts that they just can no longer find any way to bring sincerity to a horribly written character.

[Rinaldo]

I'm puzzled by the idea that actors might be strangers to the notion of integrity or sincerity. Doesn't their profession benefit from such qualities as much as any other?

In my reading of actors' memoirs -- I've read dozens, though admittedly it's only relatively successful practitioners who manage to get books published -- they all seem to have a rather selfless dedication to doing justice to any challenge they're given. As it's not a terribly profitable profession except for the less than one percent who become big screen stars, it's really love of the art and dedication to the challenge that drives them: how to create a sense of life and truth in the characters they're given. Like a musician or dancer, they never stop trying to do justice to the material they're given. (If it's horribly written, that may make it harder, but it doesn't stop them trying.)

If Ashley said that about Peppard, I would guess that she was saying that despite becoming a TV star eventually, invited to merely exploit his personality and charm in a weekly series, he always took the work as seriously as if he were interpreting the work of a great playwright. But that's just my guess.

[Padma]

For Bogart fans, "In A Lonely Place" is a very good film noir, directed by Ncholas Ray, and often overlooked.  I'm not a big fan of Gloria Grahame, but she's good in this and though I miss Bacall (he couldn't get Warner Bros to loan her out), he and Grahame have some scenes with real chemistry. 

I love Bogart's performance  as the screenwriter-murder suspect, from subtle moments when he's just listening to the volatile ones (one friend of his thought this character was much like the real Bogart).  Dix Steele is a very complicated character and he's perfect in the role (not the first washed up screenwriter he's played, but this has the added mystery).  There's some dry humor,  and a very an excellent supporting cast.  The ending is different from the book, but in this case,  I actually liked Ray's better than the original (they say Ray closed the set and had Grahame and Bogart work with him on improvising it).  I just wanted to point out this film is on TCM On Demand this week for anyone who might be interested.

Edited June 19, 2017 by Padma

[prican58]

Quote

Would love to have seen Rome Adventure again with Suzanne Pleshette, Troy Donahue and Rossano Brazzi. I really love the scenery and Constance Ford's small but good performance as a bookstore owner.

The TCM gods must have heard me because it's on tonight at 8pm. Yipee! Beats sitting through a Yankees game hoping they win.

Just  realized that every Friday is a travel theme. Tuesday/Belgium on the 30th. Yay.

 

P.S. Theeeeeeee Yankees win!    Just had to get that out.

Edited June 24, 2017 by prican58

[Crisopera]

So - anyone up for reviving our Top Five series of posts?  

I'd like to start by giving my Top Five Female Villains.  To be specific:  they have to commit (or abet) something actually criminal (murder, theft, etc), not just be a terrible person.  This cost me a pang, because it meant that couldn't include Florence Bates in Rebecca (although she is just a horrible, horrible person, and does provoke one of my favorite exchanges: "Most girls would give their eyes for the chance to see Monte!"  "Wouldn't that rather defeat the purpose?"), Claire Dodd in Footlight Parade (Joan Blondell gives her the ultimate kiss-off: "As long as they've got sidewalks, you've got a job!"), Joan Crawford in The Women (nothing criminal, but a terrific performance: "But when anything I wear doesn't please Stephen, I take it off") or the Queen of the Resting Bitch Face, Verree Teasdale.  

1. Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity.  Of course.  The greatest female villain of all time.  She cements it with the scene where Fred MacMurray kills her husband and the camera focuses on her face.  Chilling.  

2. Bette Davis as Leslie Crosbie in The Letter.  This is certainly one of her very best performances - the seething volcano under the tightly controlled British matron is something to see.

3. Jane Greer as Kathie in Out of the Past.  Second only to Stanwyck as the film noir femme fatale.

4. Audrey Totter as Claire Quimby in Tension (1949).  As the unfaithful wife of a meek chemist who decides to kill her using an elaborate plan, she is amazing.

5. Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca.  Yeah.  The scene where she tries to manipulate Joan Fontaine into killing herself is still legitimately scary.

So, that' s my five.  Who do you like?  Or, perhaps, like isn't the right word...

Edited June 25, 2017 by Crisopera

[GreekGeek]

I never heard of Tension, but I put it on my Netflix queue.  I would agree with the first three, and maybe replace the last two with Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Ann Blyth as Veda in Mildred Pierce.

[psychoticstate]

I enjoy the top 5 lists!  

As far as best female villains, great choices have been made.  

I would add Gene Tierney as Ellen in "Leave Her to Heaven."  Ellen was absolutely awful, between allowing her husband's brother to drown and intentionally causing herself to miscarry.

[Padma]

Just wanted to recommend today's TCM "Middle of the Night" a Paddy Chayevsky script with Frederic March outstanding as the 56 year old boss who falls in love with 24 year old Kim Novak.  I don't think much of Novak's acting generally, but to me this was her best performance of any that I've seen.  It's a "little" movie but you really feel like you're watching real people and March, as always, is as good as any of the more famous actors of his generation (Tracy, etc.), .

Edited June 26, 2017 by Padma

[Rinaldo]

5 hours ago, Crisopera said:

Bette Davis as Leslie Crosbie in The Letter.  This is certainly one of her very best performances - the seething volcano under the tightly controlled British matron is something to see.

This is a great choice. Wonderful performance, directed by the ever-helpful William Wyler, in a wonderful story derived from al play (Somerset Maugham). It's been an effective vehicle on screen 3 times. TCM sometimes shows the Davis movie in tandem with the 1929 film starring the legendary Jeanne Eagels, but I wish they'd someday go for a triple bill and add the telefilm aired in 1982 on ABC, with Lee Remick. She had that icy surface with the seething volcano underneath, too.

My prime addition to the list of villainesses would Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate. So vicious!

Edited June 26, 2017 by Rinaldo

[Silver Raven]

6 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

My prime addition to the list of vilenesses would Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate. So vicious!

She was scary as hell.

[Milburn Stone]

2 hours ago, GreekGeek said:

I never heard of Tension, but I put it on my Netflix queue.

Greekgeek, do you mean as a DVD? After reading your post I rushed right over to Netflix to add it to "My List" (of streaming movies), and it doesn't seem to be available that way. And IMDB indicates no DVD is available, although they could be wrong.

[voiceover]

Rrrrrrrrrrrramon!!!

But. (heavy sigh) Scaramouche is probably my least favorite of his silents.  No disputing Rex Ingram was one of the directing greats, but this was not a role for Novarro (maybe John Gilbert or Ronald Colman).  RI was trying to show Valentino that he could replace him with anybody.  And -- heaven help me, I love 'em both, but ugh to the thought that they could play the same roles (though I'm really turned on by the thought of Ramon in Sheik gear).

When you don't show Ramon Novarro laughing until almost 40 minutes into your film, you've wasted his appeal.  And I curse you.

The Stewart Granger version, even though it departed rather drastically from Sabatini's novel (the silent version was pretty faithful) was -- aaaauuuuggghhhhh --- better, if only because Eleanor Parker was a sexy, fun, legitimate rival to Janet Leigh.  And Granger had some snark that leavened the earnestness of the character.  And that 7-minute sword fight.

I will now salve my conflicted heart by staying up all night, watching Student Prince on a loop.

[GreekGeek]

7 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

Greekgeek, do you mean as a DVD? After reading your post I rushed right over to Netflix to add it to "My List" (of streaming movies), and it doesn't seem to be available that way. And IMDB indicates no DVD is available, although they could be wrong.

I found it on a DVD double bill with another film noir called "Where Danger Lives," which I've never heard of either.

[Milburn Stone]

1 hour ago, GreekGeek said:

I found it on a DVD double bill with another film noir called "Where Danger Lives," which I've never heard of either.

Just found that double-bill on Amazon. Thanks! Even though I've almost completely "sworn off" physical DVDs (space considerations, plethora of viewing options available to stream), I may have to get that. I'm a Totterphile.

[Crisopera]

Tension shows up on TCM quite often.  It's a oddly sunny noir, about as close as MGM could get to that gritty genre.  Nice performances all around, and Audrey Totter is something special.