TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[Charlie Baker]

Completely agree with Wiendish Fitch about MH.  A while back here I wrote about The Stranger's Return, a movie that deserves to be better known, but it is carried by Franchot Tone and Lionel Barrymore, and Ms. H. is uneven throughout it, sometimes convincing,, sometimes not.

[Amello]

I'm also part of those who feel Miriam Hopkins could be hit or miss. I thought she was absolutely dreadful in Becky Sharp, and then unfathomably nominated for an Oscar. However, one of my favourite performances from anyone is her role in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. If the Academy had supporting categories then, she would, or at least should, have had the win in the bag that year.

[voiceover]

A smack-my-forehead moment during Auntie Mame...Joanna Barnes is in this movie! how did I not know til now that snooty fiancée Gloria Upson grew up to be snooty fiancée Vicky Robinson in The Parent Trap?  That's one of the best straight lines ever.

[Milburn Stone]

5 hours ago, voiceover said:

A smack-my-forehead moment during Auntie Mame...Joanna Barnes is in this movie! how did I not know til now that snooty fiancée Gloria Upson grew up to be snooty fiancée Vicky Robinson in The Parent Trap?  That's one of the best straight lines ever.

I see from the imdb that she's in the Parent Trap remake as well. Does she play the snooty fiancée's mother in that?

Your post makes me think about how frequently the "stuffy wrong partner" trope has been used in the movies, going back to the screwball comedy days of the thirties (if not before). On the male side it was the "Ralph Bellamy part," while in any number of movies the stuffy wrong partner was female. Why has this been such a reliable device for enlisting audience involvement? I can only think that it touches on a deep-seated fear that we will choose a wrong partner for ourselves (or have already done so).

[Rinaldo]

29 minutes ago, Milburn Stone said:

Why has this been such a reliable device for enlisting audience involvement? I can only think that it touches on a deep-seated fear that we will choose a wrong partner for ourselves (or have already done so).

Perhaps it's just a difference of outlook or taste, but this isn't even a question for me. If we want stories of romantic attraction and eventual union, if it's not to be two hours of ever-increasing bliss, there has to be some sort of obstacle. Sometimes, certainly, the obstacle is internal -- because I teach history of musicals I think immediately of Oklahoma!, where Jud Fry is around certainly, but more essential (because it plays out in every scene) is their defensive way of interacting, with Laurey sarcastic and Curley cocky and both afraid to be vulnerable. But if the obstacle is external, it's going to be some sort of wrong partner. In many movies, especially older ones, it's a stuffy or snooty alternative partner that we can spot as "wrong" a mile off (especially handy for children's movies like The Parent Trap, I guess). Alternatively, we've had the development of the "perfectly nice, just not quite right" partner, like the ones Bill Pullman has sometimes had to play.

I'm sure those with real devotion to such movies have long since come up with a complete taxonomy of all these variants. I rather like the one that comes up in My Best Friend's Wedding and Forces of Nature, in which the pairing with which we spend most of our screen time and see to be highly workable is nevertheless not the one that the person has already committed to, and is also capable of being successful. I know some hated those movies for that very reason, but I quite like the idea that there's not necessarily just one ideal pairing for each of us, and that commitments already made do count for something.

[voiceover]

13 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

I see from the imdb that she's in the Parent Trap remake as well. Does she play the snooty fiancée's mother in that?

Yes.  And, because the movies stole everything that worked in theater and literature, I recall the "stuffy wrong partner" trope showing up in Austen and Dickens.  I like your thought on the reasoning behind it -- tapping into the fear of choosing the wrong life partner.  Certainly it's a believable obstacle, since a story without obstacles is Bambi Meets Godzilla.

Ugh, Rinaldo!  Now I'm going to have to spray down this thread with disinfectant, and burn sage sticks on every page.  You had to drag in one of the worst excuses for a romantic comedy, ever.  

To tie in the "classic movie" theme here, My Best Friend's Wedding is Myrna Loy and Jean Harlow fighting over...Ralph Bellamy.  I've liked Dermot Mulroney in other things, but here he plays the weeniest, worst excuse for a sports reporter, ever.  Who wants that??  Lack of compelling romantic lead is what torpedoed this movie for me.   (And Cameron Diaz is a 20-year-old rich girl whose daddy buys her what she wants.  A perfect wrong-choice partner in any other story.) 

The only way to redeem this POS-excuse for a movie, this embarrassment to the genre, is to make the only interesting, honorable, truly attractive character...straight.  And I cringe while writing that.

You know who wrote the best "not quite right" partners?  Nora Ephron.  You could probably pen a dissertation on her success with that; maybe call it "Turning Ralph Bellamy into Bill Pullman".  Or something.

Edited November 11, 2017 by voiceover
to link the film, in case you haven't seen it

[elle]

8 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

Alternatively, we've had the development of the "perfectly nice, just not quite right" partner, like the ones Bill Pullman has sometimes had to play.

That would make Bill the Ralph Bellamy of the 90s, as already noted.  Is there anyone to take the mantle from Bill?

Bill Pullman did get to play "the right one" in the Sandra Bullock movie While You Were Sleeping, which I think could be considered a modern day screwball comedy.  I do not recall Ralph Bellamy ever getting the girl.

Sadly, we lost another great actor, John Hillerman.  Best known for his role on Magnum PI and other tv shows, he did have a good turn as memorable characters in the movies.  We were recently talking about What's up, Doc, he was the beleaguered hotel manager, Mr. Kaltenborn, one scene but memorable:

Howard: Good morning.

Mr Kaltenborn: No, I don't think so. I'm Mr Kaltenborn, the manager of what's left of the hotel.

Howard: I'm sorry about all this whole mess here. Usually this doesn't happen.

Mr Kaltenborn: Dr Bannister, I have a message for you from the staff of the hotel.

Howard: What is it?

Mr Kaltenborn: Goodbye.

Howard: That's the entire message?

Mr Kaltenborn: We would appreciate it if you would check out.

Howard: When?

Mr Kaltenborn: Yesterday.

Howard: That soon?

[voiceover]

Yes!!  I thought of Hillerman's "Yesterday.", almost immediately (well, I would, wouldn't I). What was that -- a one-minute scene? yet: Score!

That, and his Howard Johnson, of the Rock Ridge Johnsons in Blazing Saddles:

"Howard Johnson is right!"

"Thank you, Van."

****

Cinema Paradiso was on tonight, and though it wasn't listed as a premiere, I couldn't remember ever having seen it on the channel.  Which feels wrong, considering that classic movies are practically a character in this film.

Of course, I identified with the weeping goober, who kept quoting the movie he was watching, right before the actors onscreen could say the lines.

And now that I am the same age (-ish) as middle-aged Toto, that last bit of spliced film at the end (featuring 2 of my favorite kisses: Rudolph & Vilma and Cary & Roz), gutted me this time through.

[Rinaldo]

13 hours ago, elle said:

Sadly, we lost another great actor, John Hillerman.  Best known for his role on Magnum PI and other tv shows, he did have a good turn as memorable characters in the movies.  We were recently talking about What's up, Doc

He definitely had some classic moments on film. After What's Up, Doc?, Peter Bogdanovich kept using him: effectively in Paper Moon, and rather unfortunately in At Long Last Love (he should not have been put in the position of singing -- specifically, counting beats -- onscreen, but he shares that status with several other big names in that misguided effort). And he looked as if he was becoming the new Gale Gordon (for those to whom that conveys something!) in The Betty White Show in the late 1970s -- the superbly disdainful boss. Which I suppose he did, a few years later on Magnum.

[Milburn Stone]

57 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

And he looked as if he was becoming the new Gale Gordon (for those to whom that conveys something!) in The Betty White Show in the late 1970s -- the superbly disdainful boss.

Great callout! And it makes me think how we (as a species) love our character tropes. You might almost say they're essential elements of the mythology of our culture, if you wanted to get deep about it. The Effete Disdainful Boss is right up there with the Stuffy Wrong Partner.

[Padma]

Yes, Gale Gordon and John Hillerman! A similarity I never noticed before. Hillerman did so much with his presence and voice, very clever character development for a short, chubby guy with bad hair from Texas. I always enjoyed him.

Re: snooty wrong partner. I'm not sure its true any more, but in old films the "wrong choice" was often obviously upper class compared with the right partner who was middle or working class.  Gloria in Auntie Mame is one in a long list. Kind of makes sense to do it as often as they did, given the economic composition of movie-goers.

[Rinaldo]

1 hour ago, Padma said:

in old films the "wrong choice" was often obviously upper class compared with the right partner who was middle or working class.  Gloria in Auntie Mame is one in a long list.

For sure. I also find myself recalling the film idea that we meet the wealthy suitor's parents late in the movie, and they're exclusionary bigots with at least one being alcoholic. That's the Auntie Mame idea too (to tie back into the previous topic): Joanna Barnes is the daughter of Lee Patrick and Willard Waterman in the nonmusical film, while in the musical Doria Cook is the daughter of Audrey Christie and Don Porter. 

Or the suitor from the upper class may have turned out well despite the awful parents. I suppose You Can't Take It With You is an example of that, but I was especially thinking of Forty Carats, in which as with Mame they appear only as we near the end of the story -- Edward Albert is the son of Rosemary Murphy and Don Porter. (Don Porter again!)

[Milburn Stone]

1 hour ago, Rinaldo said:

...Edward Albert is the son of Rosemary Murphy and Don Porter. (Don Porter again!)

Don Porter doesn't exactly fit into my question (he played reasonable if irritable bosses and dads on occasion) but there are actors who do: namely, those actors who've made careers out of playing a**holes. I always wonder if they ask themselves, "Er, is there something about me that makes me such a believable a*sshole?" I mean, I get that they are grateful to have steady work, and enjoy the self-esteem that comes from knowing they have the talent and technique to be convincing in these roles over and over again; but is it harmful to their self-esteem when they think about how easy it is for audiences to buy them in these parts? I worry about these things...

Edited November 11, 2017 by Milburn Stone

[voiceover]

I don't think it's the first time I've written this, but honestly -- hope some film students have read the last two pages, because there's several research topics, begging to be put to paper.

Makes *me* want to write a couple.

[Padma]

On ‎11‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 11:12 AM, Rinaldo said:

For sure. I also find myself recalling the film idea that we meet the wealthy suitor's parents late in the movie, and they're exclusionary bigots with at least one being alcoholic. That's the Auntie Mame idea too (to tie back into the previous topic): Joanna Barnes is the daughter of Lee Patrick and Willard Waterman in the nonmusical film, while in the musical Doria Cook is the daughter of Audrey Christie and Don Porter. 

Or the suitor from the upper class may have turned out well despite the awful parents. I suppose You Can't Take It With You is an example of that, but I was especially thinking of Forty Carats, in which as with Mame they appear only as we near the end of the story -- Edward Albert is the son of Rosemary Murphy and Don Porter. (Don Porter again!)

Yes, I can think of a lot of both of those kinds of situations, but I'm only thinking of older movies. I don't see a lot of new mainstream movies but I'm drawing a blank on them. I wonder if that theme is still done much, where a romance takes off in spite of class differences--and precisely because the upper class gets rejected in some way in favor of good old middle class people and values. Maybe people here will know if that'sstill a theme in contemporary (last 10 years or so?) films.

[voiceover]

5 hours ago, Padma said:

Yes, I can think of a lot of both of those kinds of situations, but I'm only thinking of older movies. I don't see a lot of new mainstream movies but I'm drawing a blank on them. I wonder if that theme is still done much, where a romance takes off in spite of class differences--and precisely because the upper class gets rejected in some way in favor of good old middle class people and values. Maybe people here will know if that's still a theme in contemporary (last 10 years or so?) films.

Check the Hallmark Channel.  Probably one-twentieth of their Christmas movie themes = royalty & commoner.

On 11/11/2017 at 0:35 PM, Milburn Stone said:

I always wonder if they ask themselves, "Er, is there something about me that makes me such a believable a*sshole?"[...] is it harmful to their self-esteem when they think about how easy it is for audiences to buy them in these parts? I worry about these things...

"Classic film neurosis 101".

[Padma]

8 hours ago, voiceover said:

Check the Hallmark Channel.  Probably one-twentieth of their Christmas movie themes = royalty & commoner.

That's not surprising., but I was really wondering more about theatrical releases. It used to be so common, and I wonder if that has changed.

[voiceover]

2 hours ago, Padma said:

That's not surprising., but I was really wondering more about theatrical releases. It used to be so common, and I wonder if that has changed.

It was a joke*.  I knew what you meant?

This is, after all, the TCM thread.

*not about the Hallmark stuff, which studies tell me was accurate

Edited November 14, 2017 by voiceover

[Rinaldo]

15 hours ago, Padma said:

I wonder if that theme is still done much, where a romance takes off in spite of class differences--and precisely because the upper class gets rejected in some way in favor of good old middle class people and values. Maybe people here will know if that'sstill a theme in contemporary (last 10 years or so?) films.

They're not movies I see (or have seen), but I do see promos for movies with such plots. I get the impression that they're not that successful, which may simply mean that they weren't good, or may mean that while such premises may seem like a good fit for certain stars who tend to come across as working-class, they don't do anything for current audiences. I'm thinking of flicks like The Beautician and the Beast (Fran Drescher, beautician, and Timothy Dalton, president of a country -- originally titled The King and Oy) or Maid in Manhattan (Jennifer Lopez, hotel maid, and Ralph Fiennes, famous politician). Surely they're not the only examples

[bmoore4026]

Iz Dick Powell Day on TCM!  Yay!

I always preferred him as Philip Marlowe, personally.

Also, did Mickey Rooney get anything for playing Puck in A Midsummer Nights Dream?  He was, what, twelve at the time?  And he kicks ass!

Also, tonight's Hollwood Blacklist spotlight will be the tragic John Garfield.

Edited November 14, 2017 by bmoore4026

[SeanC]

I had never even heard of Sergeant Rutledge prior to scanning the recent TCM listing and picking it out.  I'm surprised this doesn't get mentioned more when discussing the history of black representation in Hollywood, given that it's by one of the major auteurs of the Golden Age (albeit, in the twilight of his career) and has obvious similarities to the more famous To Kill a Mockingbird.

[Padma]

On ‎11‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 1:54 PM, voiceover said:

It was a joke*.  I knew what you meant?

This is, after all, the TCM thread.

Oh, okay! Makes sense. I must have missed it because those movies are like nails on a chalkboard (not content, which I don't know--just the way they're filmed)  I have a feeling those class differences really -aren't- much of a thing any more since it's hard to come up with them. (Also hard to believe Maid in Manhattan was 15 years ago!) If so, it would make sense with the changing times.

[ratgirlagogo]

On 11/15/2017 at 1:57 AM, Padma said:

I have a feeling those class differences really -aren't- much of a thing any more since it's hard to come up with them

Could not agree LESS.  They are as strong as ever, maybe more so, I'd argue, since the income differential in the US is so shockingly extreme.  If anything we might have a larger low-paid service work sector  than was true in the Golden Age of Hollywood.  I don't see enough current theatrical films these days  to give an opinion on how class differences are portrayed in them.  It often feels to me as though our current popular culture is more cynical (in an unhelpful whaddaya-gonna-do kind of way) than it was in the mid-20th century, but maybe I'm being unfair.

[voiceover]

The Goodbye Girl came out when I was a teen, and it didn’t take me long to fall head over heels for Richard Dreyfuss’s Elliot Garfield.  Even age cannot wither that performance in my eyes.  Nor reports of chemical assistance in some of those scenes.

What I *do* appreciate now more than I did then: Marsha Mason.  Tough to hold your own opposite   Mr “I am decent...I also happen to be naked”, but it turns out, she did.  Now I know more about classic film, and can compare her work here to Irene Dunne’s.

Just one of those movies that cheers me, every time I watch it.  David Gates & that theme!  And one of the best-ever responses to a declaration of love (“Never mind that — you’re rusting my guitar!”).

Edited November 17, 2017 by voiceover

[elle]

On 11/14/2017 at 9:55 PM, SeanC said:

I had never even heard of Sergeant Rutledge prior to scanning the recent TCM listing and picking it out.  I'm surprised this doesn't get mentioned more when discussing the history of black representation in Hollywood, given that it's by one of the major auteurs of the Golden Age (albeit, in the twilight of his career) and has obvious similarities to the more famous To Kill a Mockingbird.

It is quite the compelling drama, isn't it.  I was surprised to see it in the batch of war movies scheduled for Veteran's Day.   I do not recall ever seeing a movie set before WWI as part of a line up for that day.  This makes sense in that it was WWI that gave us Armistice Day-->Veteran's Day.  Did anyone watch that day, was there a host presentation before the movie?

[voiceover]

Every time I think I’ve decided on my favorite Lillian Gish film, I see another one and waver.  I do have to give proper respect to the last 20 minutes of The Wind, however.  

Stuck in the middle of It’s-not-the-end-of-the-world (but you can see it from here), Oklahoma.  Alone in a lean-to with just a creepy old lech and the fierce winds that drive her mad.  Yet!

She defends herself, hides the evidence, confesses to her husband, and embraces her sexuality (well, the Wind, actually, but you don’t need to be Fellini to figure that one out).  And she’s just two big eyes & hair!!

Who made a better career out of being a virgin? (hey, anybody who chooses the Lord over Ronald Colman has my respect) Yet there was such a fierceness to every performance.  Even when her character cowered onscreen, there usually came a moment afterwards where you’d see her pull herself up & just get on with it.

Edited November 18, 2017 by voiceover

[Padma]

On ‎11‎/‎16‎/‎2017 at 3:59 PM, ratgirlagogo said:

Could not agree LESS.  They are as strong as ever, maybe more so, I'd argue, since the income differential in the US is so shockingly extreme.  If anything we might have a larger low-paid service work sector  than was true in the Golden Age of Hollywood.  I don't see enough current theatrical films these days  to give an opinion on how class differences are portrayed in them.  It often feels to me as though our current popular culture is more cynical (in an unhelpful whaddaya-gonna-do kind of way) than it was in the mid-20th century, but maybe I'm being unfair.

I meant they're not strong in the movies. If there are examples to the contrary showing a different trend, I'd love to see them. Because I agree with you--income inequality has grown significantly in my lifetime.  But so has the "big investment/return" in making a movie and I don't know if studios think the idea of class differences has much commercial appeal. I don't see tons of movies but a lot seem to skew more toward embracing a fantasy of wealth and power.  About all I can think of is "Beatriz at Dinner" but that's not a romance nor does it have a happy ending like rich/poor films of the 30s, 40s, 50s.   I wouldn't be surprised if, in spite of the relevance IRL, those kinds of films just don't get made anymore.

Also, unrelated to the above, it's been interesting the TCM "films before they were musicals". I don't now why I was surprised that so many plot points/scenes in Gigi were so much like the L&L film.  Not as much as "Pygmalion", was like "My Fair Lady" but I guess--..why wouldn't it be? I missed the music (would have been fun all in French), but the only real problem for me was that Frank Villard's Gaston is paunchy and middle aged,--not at all like Louis Jordan. .

Edited November 18, 2017 by Padma

[Crisopera]

I love the French Gigi - especially its bluntness about the sex as a business side of being a professional mistress.  And the fact that they don't fudge the fact that Gigi is 15  and looks it, even dressed up (which certainly makes it read a lot creepier than intended) .  I love it, but is troubling nowadays (so is the US version).

PS - I still love the exchange between grandmother and aunt:

Aunt: Ah, Gigi reminds me so much of myself at her age!

Grandma: Yes, but Gigi's still a virgin.

(I may be paraphrasing a bit - it's been a while.)

[Milburn Stone]

7 hours ago, Padma said:

I meant [income-inequality romances are] not strong in the movies [anymore].

I share your perception that these are not as prevalent as they used to be. 

The one thing that does seem to be a perennial trope is the ridiculing of the rich. Just as Chekhov doesn't introduce a gun on the mantle in Act One unless a character is going to use it in Act Three, the movies don't introduce us to a garden wedding in Act One unless it's going to be utterly destroyed in Act Three. The movies still like to make merciless fun of the rich. Which is odd, since movies are made by rich people. But makes all the sense in the world, since the hidden message from the rich people who make movies is, "Don't revolt against us, we're just harmless ridiculous dolts."

Or else the rich are exposed as suffering just like us, only more so. Like Meryl Streep, leading a secret life of silent desperation in The Devil Wears Prada. Another message from the rich who make movies that we shouldn't hate the rich.

Edited November 18, 2017 by Milburn Stone

[ratgirlagogo]

22 hours ago, voiceover said:

Yet there was such a fierceness to every performance.  Even when her character cowered onscreen, there usually came a moment afterwards where you’d see her pull herself up & just get on with it.

Oh yeah.  There's a reason Charles Laughton cast her as the tough old swamp lady that saves the children in Night of the Hunter.  I love her.  Most of those female characters in the silents were tougher than people realize who haven't seen the films - they all look like such sugarplum angels in stills, but in the actual films they are, generally, strong women/girls who know how to handle themselves.

Edited November 19, 2017 by ratgirlagogo
speling I MEAN SPELLING

[ratgirlagogo]

19 hours ago, Padma said:

 

I meant they're not strong in the movies.

Understood.  Sorry for misreading you.  As I said I don't really see enough current theatrical films to say how class is dealt with in the Current Cinema so I leave it at that.

[GreekGeek]

On 11/13/2017 at 2:28 AM, Padma said:

Yes, I can think of a lot of both of those kinds of situations, but I'm only thinking of older movies. I don't see a lot of new mainstream movies but I'm drawing a blank on them. I wonder if that theme is still done much, where a romance takes off in spite of class differences--and precisely because the upper class gets rejected in some way in favor of good old middle class people and values. Maybe people here will know if that'sstill a theme in contemporary (last 10 years or so?) films.

It's 20 years old now (yikes!) but there was Titanic, where the nasty rich suitor gets rejected in favor of the free-spirited poor boy. Granted it's not a rom-com and he dies in the end.

When it comes to "nice but not quite right" guys, I always think of John Corbett. The My Big Fat Greek Wedding movies were the exception, where he actually gets the woman.

Edited November 20, 2017 by GreekGeek

[voiceover]

Happy Thanksgiving, my fellow TCMers!!  You’re certainly on my “What I’m Thankful For” list, this year, as always.

Miss you, Robert O.

 

On 11/19/2017 at 7:02 PM, GreekGeek said:

When it comes to "nice but not quite right" guys, I always think of John Corbett. The My Big Fat Greek Wedding movies were the exception, where he actually gets the woman.

I think we already made a category for those leading men.  It’s named for Bill Pullman.

[Rinaldo]

On 11/19/2017 at 9:02 PM, GreekGeek said:

When it comes to "nice but not quite right" guys,

This makes a good segue to my viewing of My Favorite Wife (recently recorded) today. I have a feeling I saw it once, but too long ago to remember. I... didn't like it as much as I hoped to. And I had figured any comedy from that period in Cary Grant's career would be enjoyable.

This is another iteration of the Enoch Arden story (supposedly dead person returns to find supposedly bereaved spouse remarried), with Irene Dunne returning from seven shipwrecked years to find that hubby Cary married Gail Patrick that morning. This seems to promise fast-paced comic hijinx that don't quite materialize. Part of the problem is that nobody behaves sensibly; and while I realize that irrational behavior is part of the farce tradition, it should seem reasonable and inevitable at the moment we see it happen (see What's Up, Doc?). But rather than confront Cary, Irene waves at him cutely around corners. Rather than tell his new wife the truth, Cary dithers and stammers and delays. And it just becomes irritating. The picture gets a pickup after the first hour by the  arrival of Randolph Scott, whom I've never found more welcome. He's the "not right" guy, having been the one who spent seven years on an island with Irene, and enters the movie emerging from a swimming pool, tanned and athletic and insolently assured, finally adding some vitality and hint of sexual sizzle into the movie. (Maybe Irene should dump Cary for him....) I also enjoyed Granville Bates as a surly judge, who makes a welcome reappearance toward the end.

[bmoore4026]

Just watched Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte.  Holy shit, did Olivia de Havilland bring her A game to this movie or what!?  She did evil soooo goooooood!  And Bette Davis always brought 100% to what she did.  I don't think she got an Oscar nomination for this, though, did she?   Plus, their are some legitimately terrifying moments to this movie. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

On 11/23/2017 at 6:53 PM, Rinaldo said:

This makes a good segue to my viewing of My Favorite Wife (recently recorded) today. I have a feeling I saw it once, but too long ago to remember. I... didn't like it as much as I hoped to. And I had figured any comedy from that period in Cary Grant's career would be enjoyable.

This is another iteration of the Enoch Arden story (supposedly dead person returns to find supposedly bereaved spouse remarried), with Irene Dunne returning from seven shipwrecked years to find that hubby Cary married Gail Patrick that morning. This seems to promise fast-paced comic hijinx that don't quite materialize. Part of the problem is that nobody behaves sensibly; and while I realize that irrational behavior is part of the farce tradition, it should seem reasonable and inevitable at the moment we see it happen (see What's Up, Doc?). But rather than confront Cary, Irene waves at him cutely around corners. Rather than tell his new wife the truth, Cary dithers and stammers and delays. And it just becomes irritating. The picture gets a pickup after the first hour by the  arrival of Randolph Scott, whom I've never found more welcome. He's the "not right" guy, having been the one who spent seven years on an island with Irene, and enters the movie emerging from a swimming pool, tanned and athletic and insolently assured, finally adding some vitality and hint of sexual sizzle into the movie. (Maybe Irene should dump Cary for him....) I also enjoyed Granville Bates as a surly judge, who makes a welcome reappearance toward the end.

I am probably one of 2 or 3 people on the planet who sympathized with Gail Patrick in My Favorite Wife. Yeah, she was kind of a bitch, but who wouldn't be in that situation? And here's a question: how come when Robert Mitchum denies Shelley Winters sex on their wedding night in Night of the Hunter, we're supposed to think he's evil, but when Cary Grant does it to Patrick in My Favorite Wife, it's A-OK?

[Rinaldo]

3 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

I am probably one of 2 or 3 people on the planet who sympathized with Gail Patrick in My Favorite Wife. Yeah, she was kind of a bitch, but who wouldn't be in that situation? And here's a question: how come when Robert Mitchum denies Shelley Winters sex on their wedding night in Night of the Hunter, we're supposed to think he's evil, but when Cary Grant does it to Patrick in My Favorite Wife, it's A-OK?

Oh, I think there are more of us than you think. She's not written with a terribly sympathetic personality, but she's got a legitimate gripe -- not about the previous wife being alive, which is nobody's fault, but about Cary not telling her about it in 5 seconds, the moment he knows. 

That would also be my answer to your other question: the two cases are different, because as soon as Cary Grant discovers he has a still-living first wife, that voids the marriage to Gail (no matter what the judge said). So he's right about that one point, but wrong to not explain it immediately. In general, it's hard to dislike Cary Grant, but this is one movie where I decidedly do. (That is, I hate the way he's written; he does his damnedest to make it play, but for me it just doesn't.) That's why I found Randolph Scott, who's such a block of wood in the Astaire-Rogers movies, a delightful pick-me-up in this one. Finally a man whose company I could enjoy.

I suspect movies like this one look a lot different now, when many decades of sitcoms with silly mixups and misunderstandings that could have been instantly resolved have jaundiced our reactions to this sort of story. At the time, when it was all disposable weekly entertainment (my mother tells me that even her poor Iowa farm family in the 1930s went to the movies together at least once a week), it was just a chance to see two favorite attractive stars goof around together.

[StrictTime]

14 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

I am probably one of 2 or 3 people on the planet who sympathized with Gail Patrick in My Favorite Wife. Yeah, she was kind of a bitch, but who wouldn't be in that situation? And here's a question: how come when Robert Mitchum denies Shelley Winters sex on their wedding night in Night of the Hunter, we're supposed to think he's evil, but when Cary Grant does it to Patrick in My Favorite Wife, it's A-OK?

Because RM’s character was the creepiest, most horrific EVER in film.  That movie just is too much for me to handle.

And CG is an angel from God above always, lol.

[Milburn Stone]

1 hour ago, StrictTime said:

Because RM’s character was the creepiest, most horrific EVER in film.  That movie just is too much for me to handle.

And CG is an angel from God above always, lol.

It is pretty much as simple as that, isn't it?

[prican58]

TCM's Backlot guest picked Test Pilot for his selection and it's airing now. I looked up his blog about it and he didn't really have much good to say about it. He didn't say it was terrible, just that it was just a nice picture to watch if nothing else was on. Now I won't argue that point because it's an opinion but why the hell pick that as your choice? 

[ratgirlagogo]

26 minutes ago, prican58 said:

TCM's Backlot guest picked Test Pilot for his selection and it's airing now. I looked up his blog about it and he didn't really have much good to say about it. He didn't say it was terrible, just that it was just a nice picture to watch if nothing else was on. Now I won't argue that point because it's an opinion but why the hell pick that as your choice? 

How do I find this blog? is it somewhere on the TCM site?

[prican58]

7 minutes ago, ratgirlagogo said:

How do I find this blog? is it somewhere on the TCM site?

http://diggingstarwars.blogspot.com/2012/10/test-pilot.html  Around 13:24 on this video audio of a convo he is having with somone regarding this film and Star Wars (?) I guess it's a kind of vlog. Unless you are a Star Wars geek you can ignore the first 13 minutes. I did.

[ratgirlagogo]

Thanks.  I hate video blogs so it'll be a while before I bother looking at this but thanks all the same.  Odd, with a world of movies to choose from that he would choose it.

[voiceover]

Yay!  My favorite John Gilbert is tonight’s “Silent Sunday” selection.  Bardelys the Magnificent is another successful Rafael Sabatini adaptation — IMO, probably the best  besides Captain Blood — just one of those swashbuckling pics that is truly, truly thrilling.

I know Fairbanks is everyone’s go-to guy for this sort of thing, but, DAMN.  There’s a moment when Bardelys swings from building to building, and the first time I saw it, I think my heart actually stopped.  

Gilbert’s romance with Eleanor Boardman is just the right amount of sexy with sweet.  Their scene in the rowboat ranks up there with the all-time clinches of silent movies; probably right after Valentino & Banky in Son of the Sheik, and Gilbert’s first liplock with Garbo.

eta, Things that slipped my mind: the King setting up the hero’s shaggy dog-story punchline (After his thrilling but narrow escape from the gallows, His Majesty asks Bardelys about his love life; our hero responds, “I’m about to lose my head over her!”); the King’s syncophantic sidekick: always funny, never annoying; the climactic sword fight, when the villain breaks Bardelys’s weapon. While he gamely — bemusedly, in fact — fights on, the heroine plucks the broken part from the curtain, wraps it with a scarf, and hands it back to her lover.  

The last 15 minutes of this movie are as delightful as anything to hit the screen.

Edited November 27, 2017 by voiceover

[LilWharveyGal]

I'm watching "Man-Proof" for the first time and Rosalind Russell's wedding ensemble has totally distracted me from the plot.  Is it medieval?  Futuristic?  Maybe if I ever stop laughing I'll be able to decide.

[Fairfax]

Inspired by Katharine Hepburn's party dress in Christopher Strong (1933).

[mariah23]

Don’t forget Ginger Rogers’ wedding dress in It Had to be You.  Reminds me of a certain game on American Gladiators.

[voiceover]

My favorite Western is Lonesome Dove, and I was thinking as I watched Cheyenne Social Club that John and Harley (Jimmy Stewart & Henry Fonda) are something of an early sketch of Woodrow and Gus (Tommy Lee Jones & Robert Duvall).  That opening ride to Wyoming is Fonda's funniest stuff since his Preston Sturges days.

Edited November 30, 2017 by voiceover

[prican58]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscar-winner-judy-holliday-who-fought-sexual-harassment-get-biopic-treatment-1062207?utm_source=twitter

This could be great.

[Crisopera]

So - who should be cast?  Some one like Anna Faris?  Hard to think of anyone with Holliday's comedy/music/drama chops.  Emma Stone?  Jennifer Lawrence?