TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[ratgirlagogo]

On 4/3/2019 at 1:01 AM, voiceover said:

Mata Hari is one of my faves, although -- @ratgirlagogo should prolly sit down for this -- Ramon Novarro is the weakest link here.  I've always thought it would've served that pairing best as a *silent film.  

*gasp*     *thud*

Whew.  Thank god I wasn't far from my fainting couch.  I've always thought this might have worked better as a silent film.  In some ways it looks better in stills.

I also find this binge viewing approach to featuring a star kind of odd and unsatisfying.  I like having the time , well, first, to see everything, and then to think about what I've seen.  I love Garbo and I'm glad I didn't just plow through all her movies in a few days, the first time I saw them.

Edited April 5, 2019 by ratgirlagogo
spelng. jeez.

[voiceover]

6 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

  In some ways it looks better in stills.

I read this first as "better in stilts".

Now I'm seeing it that way.

[mariah23]

The July Schedule is up on the General Discussions forum at TCM.  If you are a fan of the film STAR WARS, don't forget to watch or record on July 30 and 31!

[Sharpie66]

On 4/2/2019 at 7:08 AM, Tom Holmberg said:

And every year the plot that librarians will lose their jobs to computers becomes, regrettably, more realistic.

(I worked for 4 1/2 years of evening and weekend classes to get my Masters in Library and Information Sciences, and now my job wants me to use the title “Senior Information Acquisition Specialist” instead of Librarian, but I am the last stubborn holdout. I worked too hard for that title, damnit!)

[StatisticalOutlier]

11 hours ago, Sharpie66 said:

(I worked for 4 1/2 years of evening and weekend classes to get my Masters in Library and Information Sciences,

Mad props to you.   I needed an elective in college and signed up for Library Science, thinking it might be interesting and useful.  Went to the first class and got a load of the workload indicated in the syllabus and immediately dropped it.  I took Linear Algebra instead because I wanted something easier.

[Rinaldo]

Last night I was thrilled to see Diner again, after some years away from it. What a lineup of young talent Barry Levinson cast, most (as Ben M said) either new to film, or getting a boost to a beginning career. Steve Guttenberg, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Daniel Stern, Tim Daly, Ellen Barkin, Paul Reiser. And I always sniffle helplessly for these sorts of "friends hanging out but realizing it can't last" stories, with the final shot freeze-framing them into the past.

[StatisticalOutlier]

4 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

Last night I was thrilled to see Diner again, after some years away from it.

I had the pleasure of introducing Mr. Outlier to Diner a few years go.  He loved it as much as I do (thank heavens--there's always a little bit of an acid test in those viewings).

For some reason, I just love the fat guy working his way through the left side of the menu or whatever, in one night.  And plink goes down a very well-gnawed chicken bone. 

But my favorite line is, "Fenwick is in the manger!" and everybody leaps to action.  Like that's a common battle cry.

[Tom Holmberg]

On ‎4‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 10:37 AM, Sharpie66 said:

now my job wants me to use the title “Senior Information Acquisition Specialist” instead of Librarian

My theory is that these admins. went into Library Science and then discovered it wasn't "cool" (all their friends went to computers), so they think they are making it "cool", when, in fact, they are making it obsolete.

[ratgirlagogo]

8 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

On 4/7/2019 at 11:37 AM, Sharpie66 said:

now my job wants me to use the title “Senior Information Acquisition Specialist” instead of Librarian

My theory is that these admins. went into Library Science and then discovered it wasn't "cool" (all their friends went to computers), so they think they are making it "cool", when, in fact, they are making it obsolete.

I could rant at length about library admins (and sadly, other library workers sometimes) who just don't get that the permanently cool thing about the library is that it isn't cool.

About the job title though, I believe that the push in many library systems is to replace as many workers as possible with cheaper non-librarians.  For example the New York Public Library, where I worked until I retired last year, did away with the job title Branch Librarian some years ago and replaced it with Library Manager (this is in the circulating branch system, not the research collections).    You don't need a degree in library science to be a Branch Manager - in fact you don't even need an undergraduate degree, just a certain number of years in the system.  Also bonus!  Branch Managers are not included as part of the collective bargaining unit, and can be demoted or fired at will.  

Sorry for the off-topic stuff. You may all return to your usual focus on TCM.

Edited April 9, 2019 by ratgirlagogo

[Tom Holmberg]

5 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

You don't need a degree in library science to be a Branch Manager

I'll love it when library boards decide that library admins. don't need a library degree either and hire MBAs for the job (of course I'll be retired by then, hopefully).

[Sharpie66]

FYI, I work for a legal publisher, and apparently, the title “librarian” confuses people who only associate librarians with books, not research information, thus the Senior Info Acquisition Specialist title.

A recent movie I saw that featured a corporate library staff helping with vital research is Spotlight. There might be more like that in earlier films—can anyone think of one from Classic Hollywood?

[voiceover]

*bursts into thread, out of breath*

All you Cabaret fans (uh...just me?) need to check out tonight's premiere of Fosse & Verdon.  Andie MacDowell's daughter shows up as Liza, and she's not bad.  

But Michelle Williams is terrific (didn't know Gwen had so much influence on some of my favorite moments in that film), and Sam Rockwell is rather an older-looking Roy Scheider-as-Pretend-Fosse, Fosse. 

p.s.: dear @ratgirlagogo!! You were a librarian??? Totes ups your coolness factor -- as if that was needed.

p.s.s.: @Sharpie66: As in Desk Set?

[Milburn Stone]

I subscribed to the new Criterion Channel via AppleTV last night, and am feeling pretty good about it. The user-interface is miles ahead of Filmstruck's (it's almost parity with every other major portal, whereas Filmstruck was pathetic). "Scrubbing" through time on a film is easier, but you don't get the visual thumbnails while scrubbing that every other channel gives you. Don't know what's up with that, but WatchTCM is the same way in that regard, and so was Filmstruck, so clearly whoever was involved with the design of those channels is also somehow involved with Criterion Channel--they just made some progress this time. The film I watched had a tendency to skip a frame about every seven seconds--don't know why they can't get that right. But back on the plus side, selecting a film from the Criterion Channel menu is easier than with either of its predecessors.

The film was one of Criterion's Columbia Noir selections, The Lineup, directed by Don Siegel. Had time to watch the first half hour and will definitely return to it! It's engrossing.

Edited April 10, 2019 by Milburn Stone

[fairffaxx]

Red Dust is on TCM right now.  Every time I see it, I realize again that it may be the best movie ever made. 

[ruby24]

1 hour ago, fairffaxx said:

Red Dust is on TCM right now.  Every time I see it, I realize again that it may be the best movie ever made. 

Oooh, that's a good one. I'll have to turn it on.

[Charlie Baker]

Love Red Dust.  Gable, Harlow, Astor simply great.

[ruby24]

I just watched Kiss Me Kate and the best part about it was that Bob Fosse dance number near the end. That was awesome.

Actually a lot of the dance numbers were really good.

[Rinaldo]

1 hour ago, ruby24 said:

I just watched Kiss Me Kate and the best part about it was that Bob Fosse dance number near the end. That was awesome.

Actually a lot of the dance numbers were really good.

I'll endorse all that. I love the show, but the movie drains a lot of the fun out of it, what with the bowdlerized lyrics and the Leading Lady Who Shall Not Be Named. (I have no complaint about Howard Keel.) But the dancing kids are delightful (having all three of Tommy Rall, Bobby Van, and Bob Fosse in your cast is like a miraculous meeting of the great dancing juveniles of the 1950s), Hermes Pan's choreography for them is highly entertaining, and the interpolated "From This Moment On" (including Fosse's section that he created for himself and Carol Haney) is just transcendent.

[Charlie Baker]

RIP Bibi Andersson.

Luminous Presence in Bergman Films

[mariah23]

I know I'm a day late but happy 25th TCM!  Now off to pay taxes!

[ruby24]

Saw A Matter of Life and Death on Monday night. It was terrific! That was one of those I hadn't got around to seeing yet, but of course it lived up to its reputation. Great movie.

I've made it a goal to watch more TCM, to catch up with films I haven't seen. I'll be watching Gentleman's Agreement tonight for the first time- it's one of just 10 Best Picture winners I haven't seen yet.

[Tom Holmberg]

51 minutes ago, ruby24 said:

I'll be watching Gentleman's Agreement tonight for the first time- it's one of just 10 Best Picture winners I haven't seen yet.

Almost anything with Gregory Peck is interesting.  Some people think GA is talky and wears its heart on its sleeve, but I've always found it satisfying. (Obviously, if made today, Peck would be kicking ass and taking names.)

[Rinaldo]

30 minutes ago, Tom Holmberg said:

Some people think GA is talky and wears its heart on its sleeve, but I've always found it satisfying.

If you hire Moss Hart to write your screenplay, "talky" is built in (cf. A Star Is Born), and I mostly enjoy the talk in this movie (especially June Havoc's gleefully un-PC character). It does suffer from the same problem as other well-intentioned "issue" pictures of later years, that the discriminated-against people in the story gets their problems solved (or at least noticed) by benevolent "majority" folks. (The standard joke after the movie's release was release was that its message was "be nice to Jewish people; they might turn out to be Gentile" -- which someone then footnoted as "they might turn out to be Gregory Peck.") Still, a well-made example of its type.

[Tom Holmberg]

7 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

It does suffer from the same problem as other well-intentioned "issue" pictures of later years, that the discriminated-against people in the story gets their problems solved (or at least noticed) by benevolent "majority" folks.

Of course the audience of the film isn't those discriminated against, but those "majority folks."  I understand the complaint, but given when the film was made, I give it some slack in that regard. Sometimes I think I wouldn't mind a "well-meaning" film these days.

[Rinaldo]

52 minutes ago, Tom Holmberg said:

Sometimes I think I wouldn't mind a "well-meaning" film these days.

We still get them, in movies like Green Book. Its framing as the idea that if a bigot can learn to be better, everything will be OK, felt very retrograde to me.

But that's by the by. I too will cut Gentleman's Agreement some slack. It was somewhat novel at the time (when even well-intentioned people thought "we don't talk about such things"), and I did make clear (I hope) that I wasn't harshly condemning it or anything. But I like it best when it shows us the marginal subtleties: internalized anti-Semitism from those who are "passing" (like that Havoc character), and statements that begin with "Of course I'm not prejudiced, but..."

[ruby24]

I watched Gentleman's Agreement! I liked it. It was preachy and earnest, but I think some of the points made in it are still valid today, especially the part about him realizing that the biggest lesson from the whole thing was about the "nice" people who claim to be against these things but do nothing about it, enable it and hide from any action.

I really didn't want him to end up with Dorothy McGuire at the end. I know you're supposed to think she's now changed, but after that whole speech she made to him when she walked out the door about being happy to be born Christian, I thought he was better off without her. Plus, you could tell some of her own comments were so disingenuous about the whole thing- she never wanted him to be doing this at all, and she even said so. We're really supposed to believe she changed?

There's no way she would be dating him if he was actually Jewish.

This is the definitely the predecessor to movies like Guess Who's Coming to Dinner all the way through Green Book. You can see the similarities along with the similar criticisms even, like the protagonist of this movie not even being Jewish. John Garfield should have been the lead. Or at the very least, make Peck's character actually Jewish.

[xaxat]

Talk about a coincidence. At the same time the Department of Justice will be releasing the Mueller Report to the public, TCM will be showing the movie Confidential Report.

[ratgirlagogo]

6 hours ago, xaxat said:

TCM will be showing the movie Confidential Report.

AKA Mr Arkadin.

[Charlie Baker]

I've been trying to catch some of the 25th anniversary material.  (Though I enjoy the snippets from the festival red carpet very much too.)  The dedications I've caught (without watching the films in most cases) were good--a former NYC cop dedicated King Kong, his favorite film since childhood, to a colleague who was also very into classic films.  Two people dedicated movies to a parent, a man honoring his mother with The Thin Man (Gotta love that) and a woman her father with A Guy Named Joe.  Both said they first watched the movies with their parents as kids on TV.

On the actual anniversary they showed Robert Osborne's signing the channel on with GWTW.   Bittersweet, to say the least. So many of us still miss that gentleman.  An evening of Private Screenings interviews coming up Mon. the 29th.

Unrelated:  first I knew there was a restoration of the cult noir classic Detour, which turned up this afternoon.  Looks so much better than the print they had been using. It's on Watch TCM.

Edited April 18, 2019 by Charlie Baker

[ruby24]

I watched Calamity Jane last night and wow. The gay subtext of that movie is absolutely screaming. It's more of a romance between Doris Day and Allyn Ann McLerie than it is her and Howard Keel!

Edited April 21, 2019 by ruby24

[Spartan Girl]

@Wiendish Fitch recent post about The Slipper and the Rose in the HY Movie Moments thread got me to check out the movie for the first time since I was a kid. And now that I revisited it I kind of understand why I barely remembered it...because honestly, aside from the fairy godmother and the little dog (the best characters in the movie IMO) it's not the best version of Cinderella I've seen. I usually love fairy tales/musicals, but this just ran a little too long for my taste.

The costumes were gorgeous though.

[Rinaldo]

11 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

@Wiendish Fitch recent post about The Slipper and the Rose in the HY Movie Moments thread got me to check out the movie for the first time since I was a kid. And now that I revisited it I kind of understand why I barely remembered it...because honestly, aside from the fairy godmother and the little dog (the best characters in the movie IMO) it's not the best version of Cinderella I've seen. I usually love fairy tales/musicals, but this just ran a little too long for my taste.

The costumes were gorgeous though.

I'm really fond of The Slipper and the Rose, but I think this is a fair assessment. The costumes, the location filming, and Angela Morley's sumptuous orchestrations are gorgeous. I can't fault the cast either (Annette Crosbie! Margaret Lockwood!).

But it's way way overextended, and that was true even before the extra 20 minutes (cut for US distribution) were restored. If you're going to carry on past the expected end point, you'd better have a really good reason, and something really exciting after that point to justify it. And they didn't.

First, the slipper hunt doesn't work; so time passes, the prince gives up, and then eventually his squire just... happens to see a girl frolicking with a matching slipper. So that solves it. 

Except it doesn't, because she's local and therefore doesn't solve the dynastic problem of needing to ally with another nation through marriage. So she's sent secretly away, and the irate prince says OK, he'll marry whatever princess they say, but he'll never have sex with her. (Of course he doesn't use those words, but that's the message -- their line will die out.)

So then, having not paid attention this whole time, the fairy godmother finds Cinderella inhabiting a Fragonard painting somewhere, brings her back, blows a magic trumpet, and the strategic marriage is made via a cousin instead. Why she couldn't have done all this a lot earlier, if she was going to intervene at all, is left unexplained.

I'm afraid it needed a cigar-chomping soulless American producer to intervene before filming started and demand some tightening-up in the script. And even if that didn't happen, the present version could lose 10 or 15 minutes just by tightening up the very leisurely editing (all the shots showing us how people strolled from one location to another).

And with all that acknowledged, I still love it.

Edited April 21, 2019 by Rinaldo

[Rinaldo]

Announcement for those who like to catch old musicals: On Friday at 2 pm, TCM is showing Girl Crazy -- not the Mickey-and-Judy version of the Gershwin show that they air with some frequency, but the 1932 one that I (dedicated scholar of the composer though I am) have never managed to encounter. It's a Wheeler and Woolsey vehicle (itself a thing I know about only through reputation) that keeps 3 of the stage songs and adds a new one (fortunately supplied by the Gershwin brothers). I'll certainly be there.

Edited April 21, 2019 by Rinaldo

[Wiendish Fitch]

Good and fair assessment on The Slipper and the Rose, you guys. :)

I love it, even if I have to agree that the ending drags quite terribly. Then again, I sometimes feel that way about All About Eve (and I love it way more than The Slipper and the Rose!). Just goes to show that flaws don't always have to dampen our enjoyment of a movie (so go jump in a lake, CinemaSins).

[Rinaldo]

2 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

flaws don't always have to dampen our enjoyment of a movie (so go jump in a lake, CinemaSins).

Very true. 

This is going to connect up, so bear with me: I was a regular reader of Pauline Kael's movie criticism during her long tenure at The New Yorker. (Didn't always agree, but that's not the point of reading good criticism.) I've turned a more skeptical eye on her with the passing of years and as more has been revealed about her life. But one point for which is I continue to consider her outstanding (and don't think she has many rivals) is her deep knowledge of other arts: plays, opera, and especially novels. She surprisingly considered literature her first love: she had read all of Henry James and a great deal of other great novelists, and could bring her knowledge to bear on unmatched dissections of movies based on their work.

AND almost more importantly, the perspective this provides when considering even excellent movies. I recall quotes like "at points it's a little boring, but most great novels have a stretch like that too, without its compromising their greatness" or "like War and Peace, it has flaws and in the long run they don't matter." (I know I'm paraphrasing and maybe even reassembling her words, but I don't think I'm falsifying.)

Not that All about Eve or, heaven knows, The Slipper and the Rose are War and Peace. But the point is still a good one to remember. Even agreed-on masterpieces aren't perfect.

[Spartan Girl]

On 4/21/2019 at 2:54 PM, Wiendish Fitch said:

Just goes to show that flaws don't always have to dampen our enjoyment of a movie

True.  I'll remember that the next time you and I disagree about a movie 😉

Edited April 23, 2019 by Spartan Girl

[benteen]

Speaking of films with flaws, The Ten Commandments.  Now, it doesn't air on TCM of course but it has to have some of the campiest dialogue imaginable and the acting isn't much better at times.  That being said, it's one of the most impressive pieces of movie cinema you're ever going to see from a production standpoint and the campy/hammy acting is another reason I like to watch the movie so much when it airs on Easter.  I enjoy watching it and I enjoy making fun of it.

"Oh, Moses, Moses, Moses."

Edited April 23, 2019 by benteen

[ruby24]

Just watched Fort Apache. Was Henry Fonda's character supposed to be heroic in this? As far as I could tell he led a bunch of people to their entirely unnecessary, stupid and senseless deaths. For NO reason. But at the end they were acting like he was a hero. Or was that just a cover-up for his stupidity?

[Rinaldo]

I first saw The Ten Commandments at our suburban theater when it was new. I was too young to know who any of the actors were (except Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, and, for some reason, Nina Foch), and I -- like the audience I was in, I dare say -- didn't tune in to anything campy in the dialogue. I just enjoyed the heck out of it.

But one thing I regret: Even though it was no longer a "road show" engagement, they were still selling the souvenir program, and I bought one. I found it absolutely fascinating, everything about the additional sources beyond the Bible, and details about Egyptian monarchy (and how Nefretiri is not an error for Nefertiti, thank you very much), and most of all the costume designers' article about how they designed distinctive fabric patterns for each of the twelve tribes, with samples. As usually happens with such treasures over decades in the life of a family, it vanished. I'd sure like to see that program again! The movie, too.

[voiceover]

9 hours ago, ruby24 said:

Just watched Fort Apache. Was Henry Fonda's character supposed to be heroic in this? As far as I could tell he led a bunch of people to their entirely unnecessary, stupid and senseless deaths. For NO reason. But at the end they were acting like he was a hero. Or was that just a cover-up for his stupidity?

Not even a little bit.  It's John Wayne's York who's the skilled soldier, with the respect & trust of his regiment, with the knowledge of and compassion for the local Native American population.  But he's supplanted by Fonda's Thursday, given the assignment off his success in a different kind of war.  He doesn't know what he doesn't know, and men die because of it.

Wayne's speech at the end is more of a h/t to the brotherhood of soldiers than their arrogant, doomed leader.

P.S.: the system won't let me correct my previous post re: Fosse/Verdon: Andie MacDowell's daughter didn't play Liza Minnelli; she's cast here as Ann Reinking.  Oops.

[crowsworks]

On 4/21/2019 at 5:47 PM, Rinaldo said:

Very true. 

This is going to connect up, so bear with me: I was a regular reader of Pauline Kael's movie criticism during her long tenure at The New Yorker. (Didn't always agree, but that's not the point of reading good criticism.) I've turned a more skeptical eye on her with the passing of years and as more has been revealed about her life. But one point for which is I continue to consider her outstanding (and don't think she has many rivals) is her deep knowledge of other arts: plays, opera, and especially novels. She surprisingly considered literature her first love: she had read all of Henry James and a great deal of other great novelists, and could bring her knowledge to bear on unmatched dissections of movies based on their work.

AND almost more importantly, the perspective this provides when considering even excellent movies. I recall quotes like "at points it's a little boring, but most great novels have a stretch like that too, without its compromising their greatness" or "like War and Peace, it has flaws and in the long run they don't matter." (I know I'm paraphrasing and maybe even reassembling her words, but I don't think I'm falsifying.)

Not that All about Eve or, heaven knows, The Slipper and the Rose are War and Peace. But the point is still a good one to remember. Even agreed-on masterpieces aren't perfect.

If you love old movies get you to Ms Kael's books. I love her writing so much and you can look at favorite movies with fresh appreciation,  

On 4/11/2019 at 1:14 PM, fairffaxx said:

Red Dust is on TCM right now.  Every time I see it, I realize again that it may be the best movie ever made. 

The remake was GAH but Red Dust was a precode delight. Harlow was adorable. 

[ratgirlagogo]

1 hour ago, voiceover said:

10 hours ago, ruby24 said:

Just watched Fort Apache. Was Henry Fonda's character supposed to be heroic in this? As far as I could tell he led a bunch of people to their entirely unnecessary, stupid and senseless deaths. For NO reason. But at the end they were acting like he was a hero. Or was that just a cover-up for his stupidity?

Not even a little bit.  It's John Wayne's York who's the skilled soldier, with the respect & trust of his regiment, with the knowledge of and compassion for the local Native American population.  But he's supplanted by Fonda's Thursday, given the assignment off his success in a different kind of war.  He doesn't know what he doesn't know, and men die because of it.

Wayne's speech at the end is more of a h/t to the brotherhood of soldiers than their arrogant, doomed leader.

Henry Fonda's character is based on General Custer, so  as voiceover said that's a big no.   It's not just that cavalrymen die, it's that lots of Indians die too, and the treaty is broken, with all that follows from that. Our whole country is worse off because of it.  The fawning treatment of the character at the end always bothered me too - of course it is an early example of "print the legend" for John Ford.  Thus part of  my ongoing love-hate relationship to  Ford's movies.

I have an unambiguous love for Shirley Temple's performance in this film, though (which I assume you watched today as part of her birthday celebration).  I understand why she might have been tired of movie work after spending her whole childhood doing it - but she was so good as an adult actress (unlike so many child stars)  that I really wish she had done more films as a grown up.

Edited April 24, 2019 by ratgirlagogo

[benteen]

15 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

I first saw The Ten Commandments at our suburban theater when it was new. I was too young to know who any of the actors were (except Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, and, for some reason, Nina Foch), and I -- like the audience I was in, I dare say -- didn't tune in to anything campy in the dialogue. I just enjoyed the heck out of it.

But one thing I regret: Even though it was no longer a "road show" engagement, they were still selling the souvenir program, and I bought one. I found it absolutely fascinating, everything about the additional sources beyond the Bible, and details about Egyptian monarchy (and how Nefretiri is not an error for Nefertiti, thank you very much), and most of all the costume designers' article about how they designed distinctive fabric patterns for each of the twelve tribes, with samples. As usually happens with such treasures over decades in the life of a family, it vanished. I'd sure like to see that program again! The movie, too.

That's a tough one to lose.  But it's cool that you got to see it in the movies.

[Rinaldo]

3 hours ago, benteen said:

That [the 10 Commandments souvenir program] 's a tough one to lose. 

Actually I feel foolish about my elegiac tone there. A minute's look on eBay revealed that there are lots of copies up for bid, and even one cheap one to Buy Now, which I grabbed. (Apparently there's a little wear and tear, which is fine by me.) So it's on its way.

3 hours ago, benteen said:

But it's cool that you got to see it in the movies.

It got a theater showing from TCM a few years back; maybe it will again. Actually I now recall that I did see it again, in Munich in 1973, dubbed into German (I went to a lot of English-language movies during my summer in Europe, as a fun way to practice my German). Die zehn Gebote!

[voiceover]

14 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

 I did see it again, in Munich in 1973, dubbed into German (I went to a lot of English-language movies during my summer in Europe, as a fun way to practice my German). Die zehn Gebote!

Hee.  I have (courtesy eBay) an auf Deutsch theatrical poster of one of my all-time faves.  And I mostly jumped on it because of the title: "Is' was, Doc?"

How could I not have *that.

[ruby24]

Just watched Night and the City. Great movie. Dark, sleazy, gritty. Richard Widmark was so great at playing a sleaze.

Edited April 25, 2019 by ruby24

[Rinaldo]

14 hours ago, voiceover said:

Hee.  I have (courtesy eBay) an auf Deutsch theatrical poster of one of my all-time faves.  And I mostly jumped on it because of the title: "Is' was, Doc?"

Ha! Funny you should mention that. 

Is' was, Doc? was my first German-dubbed movie of all, my second day in Cologne. There, in Munich, and Vienna, I also caught Mach's noch einmal, Sam; Die letzte Vorstellung (= picture show); Alles, was Sie über Sex wissen wollte, amber nicht zu fragen wagten; and Kabarett.

I noticed that although in general the translation and dubbing was highly skilled, they had some trouble with the idiosyncratic comedic American voices -- their equivalents for Barbra Streisand and Woody Allen were too gentle and ordinary (and they missed some of the characteristic Allen humor in both his movies -- they genuinely didn't notice that tiny remarks-in-passing were also jokes, and translated them straight). They also had a couple of interesting challenges with Cabaret: in the movie the characters themselves alternate between English and German, with mistakes in both directions that they talk or laugh about -- these were handled very cleverly by reconceiving the dialogue, I was impressed. And of course they wanted to leave Liza Minnelli's singing intact, so they frankly subtitled it, without worrying about any inconsistency.

Edited April 25, 2019 by Rinaldo

[mariah23]

The Essentials returns to TCM starting May 4 with Ben Mankiewicz and director Ava DuVernay!

Edited April 25, 2019 by mariah23
Correct spelling of “DuVernay” is important

[Rinaldo]

The Shop Around the Corner was one of the choices Thursday, and a great one. A pleasure to see at any time, the source of one of the tip-top great musicals (She Loves Me). And James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan were never better.

[Wiendish Fitch]

30 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

The Shop Around the Corner was one of the choices Thursday, and a great one. A pleasure to see at any time, the source of one of the tip-top great musicals (She Loves Me). And James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan were never better.

Love The Shop Around the Corner! Everyone is in top form: Ernst Lubitsch's direction (as much as I like Trouble in Paradise, I think Shop might be his best film) James Stewart, Margaret Sullivan, even the usually annoying Frank Morgan!

I agree with Lindsay Ellis: The Shop Around the Corner has somehow aged so much better than You've Got Mail.