TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[Suzn]

On 4/10/2019 at 2:23 AM, voiceover said:

*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?

According to IMBD Andie MacDowell's daughter, Margaret Qualley, plays Ann Reinking.  Kelli Barrett is the actress playing Liza beautifully!

[voiceover]

4 hours ago, Suzn said:

According to IMBD Andie MacDowell's daughter, Margaret Qualley, plays Ann Reinking.  Kelli Barrett is the actress playing Liza beautifully!

Oh, if only you'd read further down the page, where this Tuesday @11:14pm I wrote:

"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."

[Suzn]

1 hour ago, voiceover said:

Oh, if only you'd read further down the page, where this Tuesday @11:14pm I wrote:

"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."

Yes, I replied after reading your original comment and saw the above after. Sorry about that.

[Charlie Baker]

If you have access to Watch TCM, The Bad and the Beautiful is now available to stream through May 5th.

[ruby24]

Yeah, I've seen that one before but it's been awhile and I kind of wanted to watch that one again. Maybe I will this week.

Edited April 29, 2019 by ruby24

[Charlie Baker]

The Robert Osborne tribute programs air tonight--I guess that's the official wrap for the anniversary commemoration.

ETA: Oops, guess not. Friday they're doing The Best of Robert Osborne Picks. 

Edited April 29, 2019 by Charlie Baker

[Tom Holmberg]

Sat. (May 4th) afternoon TCM is playing "The Train" with Burt Lancaster, a surprisingly "forgotten" film.  I've run into a lot of people who have never heard of it. Worth a watch.

[One Tough Cookie]

On 4/23/2019 at 1:16 PM, benteen said:

Oh, Moses, Moses, Mose

When I hear that I hear Eve Harrington say to Ken Richards: You better sit down, you look a little wobbly!

[tennisgurl]

On 4/26/2019 at 8:47 AM, Wiendish Fitch said:

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

Oh I love The Shop Around the Corner, its such a ridiculously charming movie. Stewart and Sullivan have such dynamite chemistry, and it has an amazing supporting cast who do so much with their supporting parts. I watch it every Christmas, and I love it more every time. 

It is really funny to me how a movie made in the early 40s has held up so much better than a movie made in the late 90s. 

I keep going back and fourth on investing in the new Criterion Collection streaming service. On the one hand, I already subscribe to probably WAY to many streaming services already, but on the other hand, it has SO many great movies that I want to watch! Choices!

[One Tough Cookie]

I ha  have a Kathrine Hepburn a memory Back in the 70s she was doing a play called "A Matter of Gravity." She played lesbian nun as I remember. Anyway, a couple came in late and made a big commotion about finding their seats. It was distracting and annoying.

Kate pulled herself  up majestically and said tot he couple "Let me know when you're done and then I shall continue"

She got a standing ovation 30 minutes into the play!

Edited May 1, 2019 by One Tough Cookie

[Milburn Stone]

On 4/30/2019 at 11:56 PM, tennisgurl said:

I keep going back and fourth on investing in the new Criterion Collection streaming service. On the one hand, I already subscribe to probably WAY to many streaming services already, but on the other hand, it has SO many great movies that I want to watch! Choices!

Color me slightly impatient with it (since it's only been in existence for three and a half weeks), but it seems like pretty much all the movies it started with on Day One are still all the movies it has. Now, that's a lot of movies! Not a ridiculous number, but definitely enough that it would take you a good long time to watch them all. But let's be realistic. You don't want to watch them all. I've been most interested in the Columbia Noirs, and have made some enjoyable discoveries among them. And now I want more noirs! And more other stuff I want to see, not the stuff I've already decided I don't need to see! But the stuff they have is always the same stuff as before.

Maybe with time that will come. 

Or maybe they've made the mistake of being undercapitalized. If the situation is, "We need more subscribers in order to have the revenue to license more films," I think they're going about it the wrong way. They'll get a ton of subscribers if they can make themselves into a film lover's wonderland. They haven't really done that yet.

Edited May 2, 2019 by Milburn Stone

[EtheltoTillie]

I recorded Marty tonight but I’m really annoyed because they showed the version without the scene where Clara talks to her parents after Marty takes her home. I never even knew about that scene until recently. 

What a brilliant movie. So many little moments. I also liked the intro with guest host Ava Duvernay. 

[ruby24]

I watched Nightmare Alley. Very interesting movie. You could tell the ending was tacked on by the studio.

I read that Guillermo del Toro is remaking this and Leonardo Dicaprio is going to star in it. Interestingly enough, I do think this material might benefit from being made now, because you could show so much more of what this version only suggests, especially all the carnival stuff. I'm guessing that part is what appeals to del Toro about it.

[wilsie]

7 hours ago, GussieK said:

I recorded Marty tonight but I’m really annoyed because they showed the version without the scene where Clara talks to her parents after Marty takes her home. I never even knew about that scene until recently. 

What a brilliant movie. So many little moments. I also liked the intro with guest host Ava Duvernay. 

I've seen that in the past but I can't remember where.  Here it is from YouTube.  I can't imagine why it was taken out.  It's so important to understand Clara and her relationship with her parents.  

[EtheltoTillie]

Thanks for posting. TCM has shown it many times. That’s why I was so disappointed that they showed the bowdlerized version last night. 

[wilsie]

3 minutes ago, GussieK said:

Thanks for posting. TCM has shown it many times. That’s why I was so disappointed that they showed the bowdlerized version last night. 

You are more than welcome.  Thank you for bringing it up.  I could have thought I imagined the Clara and parents scene  😊

[EtheltoTillie]

10 minutes ago, wilsie said:

You are more than welcome.  Thank you for bringing it up.  I could have thought I imagined the Clara and parents scene  😊

I learned about it a few years ago on the old IMDB forums. It was a jaw-dropping discovery, because this is such an iconic film, a Best Picture winner.  I thought the posters were making it up before I finally got to see it for myself.   

I love the way Chayefsky captured the accents and locutions of the working class Bronx of that era, the era of my parents. I love the line “You got an elevatah in this house?”  My family migrated to Queens in 1955, the year of this film and coincidentally the year I was born.  But my father (born 1905) always said house when talking about an apartment building.  He also used icebox — never said refrigerator. (“We got a whole half chicken in the icebox.”). 

[ratgirlagogo]

18 hours ago, GussieK said:

 That’s why I was so disappointed that they showed the bowdlerized version last night. 

I understand your disappointment, but that wasn't a bowdlerized version, it was the regular commercially distributed theatrical version.  That's what TCM is always going to show, because that is the historical edit that won all those awards, etc. Any bowdlerization wasn't done by TCM, it was done by the studio at the time.

For an example of a bowdlerized film, I'll pick one of my own favorites, If I Had A Million from 1932.  The plot is that a dying businessman decides to leave one million dollars to each of 8 strangers - each story being done by a different director.  It was shown all the time on TV in the 60's and the story that was ALWAYS left out was the one with the barroom whore who wins the money and is FINALLY able to go upstairs and sleep in that big double bed in the fancy suite - completely alone (she throws the other pillows onto the floors).  When I finally saw the complete film that sequence is the one that made me tear up the most, even more than the death row guy.   A bunch of older films were screened with cuts like that back in the day - that's why so many pre-codes were never shown at all, since they couldn't be edited into passable G-rated shape.

Edited May 6, 2019 by ratgirlagogo

[wilsie]

4 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

I understand your disappointment, but that wasn't a bowdlerized version, it was the regular commercially distributed theatrical version.  That's what TCM is always going to show, because that is the historical edit that won all those awards, etc. Any bowdlerization wasn't done by TCM, it was done by the studio at the time.

Do you know how or where the unedited version was shown?  I do remember seeing the scenes with her parents after her date somehow.  I would have thought it was on TCM.

22 hours ago, GussieK said:

I love the way Chayefsky captured the accents and locutions of the working class Bronx of that era, the era of my parents. I love the line “You got an elevatah in this house?”  My family migrated to Queens in 1955, the year of this film and coincidentally the year I was born.  But my father (born 1905) always said house when talking about an apartment building.  He also used icebox — never said refrigerator. (“We got a whole half chicken in the icebox.”). 

I can see why this is so special to you with all the sweet memories.

[EtheltoTillie]

10 minutes ago, wilsie said:

Do you know how or where the unedited version was shown?  I do remember seeing the scenes with her parents after her date somehow.  I would have thought it was on TCM.

I can see why this is so special to you with all the sweet memories.

Definitely on TCM. They must go back and forth with the two versions. 

[EtheltoTillie]

5 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

I understand your disappointment, but that wasn't a bowdlerized version, it was the regular commercially distributed theatrical version.  That's what TCM is always going to show, because that is the historical edit that won all those awards, etc. Any bowdlerization wasn't done by TCM, it was done by the studio at the time.

For an example of a bowdlerized film, I'll pick one of my own favorites, If I Had A Million from 1932.  The plot is that a dying businessman decides to leave one million dollars to each of 8 strangers - each story being done by a different director.  It was shown all the time on TV in the 60's and the story that was ALWAYS left out was the one with the barroom whore who wins the money and is FINALLY able to go upstairs and sleep in that big double bed in the fancy suite - completely alone (she throws the other pillows onto the floors).  When I finally saw the complete film that sequence is the one that made me tear up the most, even more than the death row guy.   A bunch of older films were screened with cuts like that back in the day - that's why so many pre-codes were never shown at all, since they couldn't be edited into passable G-rated shape.

I can see your point. It’s probably true that the Oscar winning version did not have that scene. Now I’d like to see If I Had a Million. I remember it from childhood, but not all the details. 

[wilsie]

32 minutes ago, GussieK said:

Definitely on TCM. They must go back and forth with the two versions. 

Thank you!

[benteen]

I haven't seen Marty in over twenty years.  I found myself watching it a lot longer than I expected to.

[Tom Holmberg]

TCM seems to be running some of the same movies over and over. "Dr. Strangelove" is on again this week, the third showing in about a month and a half.

[ratgirlagogo]

On 5/7/2019 at 10:32 AM, Tom Holmberg said:

TCM seems to be running some of the same movies over and over.

This is something they do, I'm not sure why. I don't know if they always did but they've been doing it for the past 20 years anyway.  Sometimes it's because they're promoting something they had a hand in - like  a restoration, a new soundtrack, a new box set.

[Suzn]

6 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

This is something they do, I'm not sure why. I don't know if they always did but they've been doing it for the past 20 years anyway.  Sometimes it's because they're promoting something they had a hand in - like  a restoration, a new soundtrack, a new box set.

They have ruined Meet Me St Louis for me because they run it so much.  Between things with too frequent showings and the many more recent movies, old movies that deserve to see the night of day are getting squeezed out.  I don't watch TCM nearly as much as I used to.

[Tom Holmberg]

7 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

This is something they do, I'm not sure why. I don't know if they always did but they've been doing it for the past 20 years anyway

It seemed like they used to show "The Dirty Dozen" like every month.

[AuntiePam]

1 hour ago, Tom Holmberg said:

It seemed like they used to show "The Dirty Dozen" like every month.

And yet I still put it on the DVR, every time.  That movie (almost) never gets old.

Treated myself to The Young Philadelphians, 1959, Paul Newman, Barbara Rush, Brian Keith, Paul Picerni, and Billie Burke in a sweet but sharp dithering role that only she could play.

This is another 50's movie that will send me looking for the novel, to flesh out and explain some of the characters' behavior.  For example:  Adam West's tragic character -- the bridegroom who couldn't perform on his wedding night.  Was he gay or was he impotent?  Why did he go through with a wedding to a woman who expected a relationship?  He couldn't find someone who'd just marry him for his money? 

And Paul Newman's mother -- did she just have the one night with Brian Keith, the night that produced the child?  They stayed friends for 30+ years but never hit the sack again?  Neither of them married?  They were content to watch Paul grow up?

And Dickinson -- if he was really okay with Newman and Rush getting married in just a few months, why did he subtly sabotage the relationship?  Did he know (or care) about Paul's biological father? 

Other questions too, and I suspect the novel might be a potboiler, but I like a good potboiler.

Newman was excellent in this.  I suppose the rest of the actors were good too, but when Newman's on the screen, it's hard to care about anyone else.

[mariah23]

I did my thesis on TCM and what I discovered that the reason they show movies over and over has to do with rights issues and budget.  Movies that they don't own they have to rent and it can cost a LOT.  For example, The Godfather movies.

[Rinaldo]

5 hours ago, AuntiePam said:

Treated myself to The Young Philadelphians, 1959, Paul Newman, Barbara Rush, Brian Keith, Paul Picerni, and Billie Burke in a sweet but sharp dithering role that only she could play.

This is another 50's movie that will send me looking for the novel, to flesh out and explain some of the characters' behavior.  For example:  Adam West's tragic character -- the bridegroom who couldn't perform on his wedding night.  Was he gay or was he impotent? ...

Other questions too, and I suspect the novel might be a potboiler, but I like a good potboiler.

Newman was excellent in this.  I suppose the rest of the actors were good too, but when Newman's on the screen, it's hard to care about anyone else.

I saw some of this during its airing, and am now rather sorry I didn't record it so I could watch the whole thing. It's kind of interesting that, although this comes from Paul Newman's prime period as a movie star, it doesn't get talked about (at least that I've heard) like many of his other titles from the same time.

Among the other actors we should also mention Robert Vaughn and Anthony Eisley (Hawaiian Eye!) as wealthy boys at the country club where Paul was trying to social-climb. And John Williams the actor. And later in the movie, in slinks Alexis Smith, aiming to seduce our Paul.

I too have curiosity about its source novel, The Philadelphian, clearly one of those cinder-block-sized popular novels of its time like Youngblood Hawke or the oeuvre of James Jones (or earlier, Edna Ferber). I had long thought of such popular fiction of yesteryear as the hardest books to track down now, as public libraries probably long ago weeded out their copies after nobody had checked them out for decades, and academic libraries never bothered with them. Fortunately, I find that there seems to be a wave of republication for such books lately: The Philadelphian and other works of Richard Powell are back in print and can be had as e-books too. I wonder if the epics of the Roman Empire that my father loved to get from the library have made a comeback too.

3 hours ago, mariah23 said:

the reason they show movies over and over has to do with rights issues and budget.  Movies that they don't own they have to rent and it can cost a LOT.

I suspected something like that. I also wonder if, when they do rent something, the deal entitles them to a specified number of showings and they want to get their money's worth. In any case, it's not just relatively recent movies: they seem to show The Women half a dozen times a year. And it's not just recently: it's been true as long as I've been watching. I always figure that such things subsidize the genuine rarities that they do also show.

[One Tough Cookie]

The obligatory Mother's Day Mildred Pierce will be shown on Sunday afternoon which is how I intend to spend my day.

[mariah23]

22 minutes ago, One Tough Cookie said:

The obligatory Mother's Day Mildred Pierce will be shown on Sunday afternoon which is how I intend to spend my day.

Mildred Pierce, the perfect movie to scare you from having children.

Nobody wants to have a Veda.

[AuntiePam]

5 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

 And later in the movie, in slinks Alexis Smith, aiming to seduce our Paul.

The movie's worth watching just for this.  How he got himself out of that situation -- the guy was a fast thinker. 

I've ordered the book but was surprised that it cost so much, and also surprised that it's still in print -- so many aren't.  These 50's novels are usually a dime a dozen (or almost).  I assume it was a best seller.  Wasn't that usually the case, to justify a movie?

[fairffaxx]

Your library might have the book.  Or, if your library subscribes to the Link Plus service, it could order the book from another library and lend it to you for the regular checkout period.

[NowVoyager]

12 hours ago, mariah23 said:

I did my thesis on TCM and what I discovered that the reason they show movies over and over has to do with rights issues and budget.  Movies that they don't own they have to rent and it can cost a LOT.  For example, The Godfather movies.

What a fascinating thesis! I've always been curious how TCM pays the bills--- are dvd sales, the cruise & the wine club really generating that much income?

[ratgirlagogo]

8 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

I too have curiosity about its source novel, The Philadelphian, clearly one of those cinder-block-sized popular novels of its time like Youngblood Hawke or the oeuvre of James Jones (or earlier, Edna Ferber). I had long thought of such popular fiction of yesteryear as the hardest books to track down now, as public libraries probably long ago weeded out their copies after nobody had checked them out for decades, and academic libraries never bothered with them. Fortunately, I find that there seems to be a wave of republication for such books lately: The Philadelphian and other works of Richard Powell are back in print and can be had as e-books too. I wonder if the epics of the Roman Empire that my father loved to get from the library have made a comeback too.

Any book that was ever made into a film has a certain half-life - always a good bet for a re-issue.

3 hours ago, fairffaxx said:

Your library might have the book.  Or, if your library subscribes to the Link Plus service, it could order the book from another library and lend it to you for the regular checkout period.

The general term for this is Interlibrary Loan, and most libraries will do it for you.  Before I retired I did dozens of ILLs every week for my readers and materials came pretty quickly, usually within a week and a half or so.

8 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

12 hours ago, mariah23 said:

the reason they show movies over and over has to do with rights issues and budget.  Movies that they don't own they have to rent and it can cost a LOT.

I suspected something like that. I also wonder if, when they do rent something, the deal entitles them to a specified number of showings and they want to get their money's worth. In any case, it's not just relatively recent movies: they seem to show The Women half a dozen times a year. And it's not just recently: it's been true as long as I've been watching. I always figure that such things subsidize the genuine rarities that they do also show.

I have to think it's also that they're more likely to push down hard on the crowdpleasers - thus, as you all have said, The Women, Dr. Strangelove, The Dirty Dozen, Meet Me In Saint Louis.  I'd add Giant, Pillow Talk, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, The Bad Seed.

[Charlie Baker]

Alvin Sargent passed away--a screenwriter with a long, wide-ranging career.

From Julia and Ordinary People to Spiderman

[fairffaxx]

On ‎5‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 4:41 PM, mariah23 said:

Mildred Pierce, the perfect movie to scare you from having children.

Nobody wants to have a Veda.

Earlier in the morning of Mother's Day, TCM will be showing White Heat.  Nobody wants to have a Cody either.

[fairffaxx]

23 hours ago, fairffaxx said:

Your library might have the book.  Or, if your library subscribes to the Link Plus service, it could order the book from another library and lend it to you for the regular checkout period.

20 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

... The general term for this is Interlibrary Loan, and most libraries will do it for you.  Before I retired I did dozens of ILLs every week for my readers and materials came pretty quickly, usually within a week and a half or so. ... 

My library offers both Link Plus and ILL (Interlibrary Loan).  A book that's not available through Link Plus still might be included in the ILL collection.  There was a Laura Calder cookbook that was published in Canada but not in America, which Link Plus did not have but ILL did.

[chitowngirl]

Doris Day has passed away. She was 97.

[voiceover]

Farewell Doris!

Of course, after "I read the news today; oh boy"...I heard Stockard Channing bellowing: "Won't come across, even Rock Hudson lost/His heart to Doris Daa-a-aay!"

[benteen]

RIP, Doris Day.

[mariah23]

It’s a sad day.

[Wiendish Fitch]

We won't forget you, Ms. Day. This is my favorite song of hers.

[Charlie Baker]

Truly Doris Day was one of the last of the Golden Agers.  A gifted, natural performer who made what she did look so much easier than it was.  And when she got to step out of the roles she was most identified with, the best example being Love Me or Leave Me, she showed her talents' range. 

[Milburn Stone]

One of the (to me) very most remarkable facts about Doris Day is how great she was in her very first acting role (Romance on the High Seas). You can imagine someone developing into a comedic actress of immense charm and charisma, but to possess those qualities the very first time you play a character for the camera makes you nothing less than a phenom. 

Edited May 14, 2019 by Milburn Stone

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 5/10/2019 at 6:41 PM, mariah23 said:

Mildred Pierce, the perfect movie to scare you from having children.

Nobody wants to have a Veda.

They waited until the day after Mother's Day to show The Bad Seed. 

[Morrigan2575]

On 5/10/2019 at 7:17 PM, One Tough Cookie said:

The obligatory Mother's Day Mildred Pierce will be shown on Sunday afternoon which is how I intend to spend my day.

I watched it with my mother on Sunday.  I had never seen the movie before, i did watch the HBO mini-series a few years back.  I don't even know which version of Veda was worse. 

[mariah23]

TCM will have a 24-hour tribute to Doris Day on June 9.

[Calvada]

9 minutes ago, mariah23 said:

TCM will have a 24-hour tribute to Doris Day on June 9.

I was just coming here to post that.  Twelve movies and an appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.  My DVR will be busy that day.