TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[Milburn Stone]

6 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

I can't believe she did a movie with Ronald Reagan though. That Hagen Girl was apparently a really bad movie -- the one that Reagan regretted. Just told this to my dad, and he replied, "Only one?" LMAO.

Does it make Bedtime for Bonzo look like Citizen Kane?

I just looked it up on the imdb. It won a Golden Globe! For most promising newcomer: Lois Maxwell! (Miss Moneypenny.)

[Rinaldo]

Given the way the studio system churned out product and kept its employees occupied, a contract player was lucky to make only one regrettable movie. Most, even the best, ended up with several.

Growing up in the 1950s, when old movies were harder to come by, my first association with Shirley Temple was as the grown-up host of Shirley Temple's Storybook, an intermittent series (maybe once a month) that dramatized familiar stories. Many of its segments survive, some in color, and I recall it fondly. Shirley would provide introductory narration and occasionally act in one (Ozma of Oz, for instance), and one of the directors was Mitchell Leisen, after his movie work dried up.

[Wiendish Fitch]

56 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

Given the way the studio system churned out product and kept its employees occupied, a contract player was lucky to make only one regrettable movie. Most, even the best, ended up with several.

Growing up in the 1950s, when old movies were harder to come by, my first association with Shirley Temple was as the grown-up host of Shirley Temple's Storybook, an intermittent series (maybe once a month) that dramatized familiar stories. Many of its segments survive, some in color, and I recall it fondly. Shirley would provide introductory narration and occasionally act in one (Ozma of Oz, for instance), and one of the directors was Mitchell Leisen, after his movie work dried up.

I would love to see the Beauty and the Beast episode with Charlton Heston and Claire Bloom. I wonder if Shirley Temple's Storybook inspired Shelley Duvall to do Fairy Tale Theatre 25 years later?

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

They're doing Shirley Temple today. I love that she's one of the child stars who managed to be successful and to avoid having her personal life messed up. Way to go, Shirl!

When you read up on Temple, there were so many things that could have lead her down the road of ruin (frightening levels of fame at such a young age, kidnapping threats, Graham Greene's pervy review of one of her films, being considered washed up at the onset of puberty)... and she emerged totally unscathed! She had a happy second marriage, a good relationship with her kids, a long career in politics, followed Betty Ford's example about being open about her struggle with breast cancer, and lived a long, eventful life, dying at 85. I don't know what she did right, but I wish more child actors followed her example.

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

I can't believe she did a movie with Ronald Reagan though. That Hagen Girl was apparently a really bad movie -- the one that Reagan regretted. Just told this to my dad, and he replied, "Only one?" LMAO.

LOL! Honestly, I think Kings Row is the only film of Reagan's he wouldn't have regretted!

Edited August 4, 2019 by Wiendish Fitch

[Milburn Stone]

1 hour ago, Rinaldo said:

Growing up in the 1950s, when old movies were harder to come by, my first association with Shirley Temple was as the grown-up host of Shirley Temple's Storybook, an intermittent series (maybe once a month) that dramatized familiar stories. Many of its segments survive, some in color, and I recall it fondly. Shirley would provide introductory narration and occasionally act in one (Ozma of Oz, for instance), and one of the directors was Mitchell Leisen, after his movie work dried up.

This was also my first awareness of her, and I too remember the show fondly. I don't remember that episode or any other in particular (you've prompted me to try to find some) but as host/narrator she projected a wonderfully warm, benign presence to a child audience. Perhaps her experience gave her above-average levels of empathy.

[Rinaldo]

Wikipedia says that the entire first (B&W) season of Shirley Temple's Storybook was released on VHS; if that's true, I never knew about it, and nobody seems to be selling used copies now.

About a dozen of its Season 2 episodes survive in good color transfers (not kinescopes); they've been issued on DVD and are available to stream on Amazon Prime (confusingly, they divide them into two seasons, but they're all from TV Season 2). My favorite among them is "Winnie the Pooh" (directed by Burt Shevelove), which includes much of the book's story, using Bil Baird Marionettes alongside an actual boy as Christopher Robin. In fact, I may go watch it again now.

[ratgirlagogo]

Documentarian D. A. Pennebaker has died.

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/d-a-pennebaker-dead-dies-dont-look-back-1203290823/

[AuntiePam]

Melvyn Douglas is certainly a revelation.  I was slightly familiar with his later movies -- Hud and The Changeling and Ghost Story.  So it was sure a surprise to watch him as a comedic leading man with Ruth Hussey in Our Wife and then leading again with Sylvia Sidney in Mary Burns, Fugitive (and Wasn't Sylvia the tiniest little thing?). 

His bio at IMdB was also a surprise -- the political background, and his marriage.  He won two Oscars, an Emmy, and a Tony. 

I like to think I'm a fan of classic movies, but it's mostly the really famous ones that i know -- the ones that show up on Jeopardy!  I'm not really familiar with the lesser-known movies and actors (lesser known today, I mean).  There are some real surprises that aren't on the Top Ten of 19-- lists. 

[fairffaxx]

One of the fairly well-known classic movies is Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948), starring Cary Grant and Myrna Loy, featuring Melvyn Douglas as "the other man" (sort of) -- he holds his own in that outstanding company.

[Robert Lynch]

I always remember Sylvia Sidney as Juno from Beetleguise. Best part she played.

[Bastet]

6 minutes ago, fairffaxx said:

One of the fairly well-known classic movies is Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948), starring Cary Grant and Myrna Loy, featuring Melvyn Douglas as "the other man" (sort of) -- he holds his own in that outstanding company.

I generally wasn't taken by Melvyn Douglas as a leading man, but I enjoy several of supporting role performances, and that's probably my favorite.  (Of course, I love pretty much everything about that movie, which was one of my favorites as a kid.)

[Charlie Baker]

Melvyn Douglas is a good foil for Greta Garbo in Ninotchka. I also have a certain fondness for Third Finger, Left Hand, where he is romantically paired with Myrna Loy.  And he worked very well with Joan Blondell in more than one film. His latter day work is very strong as Auntie Pam mentioned.  I would add the very downbeat I Never Sang for My Father to that list.

[Rinaldo]

Another intriguing role for Melvyn Douglas is in Too Many Husbands, which they didn't schedule today. It's from 1940, and is another version of the "Enoch Arden" story, as in My Favorite Wife (someone thought dead, usually shipwrecked, returns alive to find spouse remarried), and like that movie is played for comedy. Melvyn is Fred MacMurray's best friend, and after Fred is legally declared dead, Melvyn marries Fred's "widow," Jean Arthur. In this version, unlike most others, the wife isn't appalled to be an unintentional bigamist: she's rather thrilled to have both men available, because she gets something from each of them she doesn't get from the other. The conclusion is rather intriguing too, and that's all I'll say about it.

[AuntiePam]

46 minutes ago, Charlie Baker said:

I would add the very downbeat I Never Sang for My Father to that list.

It's on the schedule later tonight.  DVR is set.  Seems that this movie came out during a period of when very downbeat movies were all over the place, and downbeat is a genre (?) that I didn't appreciate in my youth.  These downbeat movies had irascible characters, always making things hard for themselves, and if they didn't actually look for conflict, they sure didn't avoid it. Now I eat that stuff up.  Maybe it's easier to relate when one has had more life experience. 

[Rinaldo]

One thing that I Never Sang for My Father means to me is my talent for absolutely terrible dead-wrong career predictions. I saw it when it first came out and thought, "Boy, that Gene Hackman is really a terrific actor; I don't suppose he'll ever become a real star." A few months later, there was The French Connection, and an eventual Oscar for it.

Other examples of my knack: I thought "Gee, that guy who was in The Harrad Experiment and A Boy and His Dog is a great example of a career that went nowhere, and a name that nobody will remember." One year later, Miami Vice and stardom for Don Johnson. And "Gee, that girl was in Myra Breckinridge and then I guess nothing since; talk about fizzling away to nothing." Months later, Charlie's Angels, and Farrah Fawcett's name and face are everywhere. It's a gift, I tell you. 🙂

Edited August 6, 2019 by Rinaldo

[voiceover]

4 hours ago, Charlie Baker said:

Melvyn Douglas is a good foil for Greta Garbo in Ninotchka. 

They share one of the two best drunk scenes ever ("Is this the will of the masses?").

Tied for first: Ronald Colman's Sydney Carton, totally wasted yet perfectly sharp in Tale of Two Cities ("You are *smug, Mr Darnay...").

Three of classic film's most elegant actors, making the screen's most watchable drunks.  Who knew.

[ratgirlagogo]

9 hours ago, AuntiePam said:

I like to think I'm a fan of classic movies, but it's mostly the really famous ones that i know -- the ones that show up on Jeopardy!  I'm not really familiar with the lesser-known movies and actors (lesser known today, I mean).  There are some real surprises that aren't on the Top Ten of 19-- lists. 

Honey, this is ALL of us here.  Everyone underestimates the sheer number of films that were made in the Golden Age.  I've watched classic films all my life, on TV and in repertory theaters and on home video - and still TCM always continues to reward me with films I've never been able to see.  Goddess bless TCM.

[ratgirlagogo]

6 hours ago, Charlie Baker said:

Melvyn Douglas is a good foil for Greta Garbo in Ninotchka

Having seen this film dozens of times I've come to feel that we underestimate how hard it was to play against Garbo.  It's a strong script ( and one of the few really funny leftist scripts of ,well, I was going to say this period, but really of any period in Hollywood) and he never seems like a milquetoast or a handsome vacancy.  Every time I see this film my high opinion of it is reinforced all over again.  As for the politics it manages to criticize Stalinism while retaining an anti-Czarist sympathy - somehow it all balances.

[benteen]

Melvyn Douglas was very good in Ninotchka and played off Garbo very well.  I have seen Being There recently and he's also very good. 

Edited August 6, 2019 by benteen

[AuntiePam]

Torch Song Trilogy had been sitting in the DVR for awhile, and I think it's gonna be there permanently.  What a wonderful romantic, heartbreaking funny hopeful movie.  Fierstein's character is just perfect -- how does someone learn to love like that?  So honest and accepting without devaluing himself. 

For anyone who doesn't know, it's three stages in the life of a drag queen in NYC.  We meet his mother (Anne Bancroft), two lovers (one a very young Broderick Crawford) and later on, a foster son.  There's humor and drama and music and a little bit of social commentary.  The big fight between Arnold and his Ma was hurtful but necessary.  The air is clear, they understand each other a bit better.

Fierstein has the most beautiful eyes this side of Liz Taylor. 

[Robert Lynch]

1 hour ago, AuntiePam said:

Torch Song Trilogy had been sitting in the DVR for awhile, and I think it's gonna be there permanently.  What a wonderful romantic, heartbreaking funny hopeful movie.  Fierstein's character is just perfect -- how does someone learn to love like that?  So honest and accepting without devaluing himself. 

For anyone who doesn't know, it's three stages in the life of a drag queen in NYC.  We meet his mother (Anne Bancroft), two lovers (one a very young Broderick Crawford) and later on, a foster son.  There's humor and drama and music and a little bit of social commentary.  The big fight between Arnold and his Ma was hurtful but necessary.  The air is clear, they understand each other a bit better.

Fierstein has the most beautiful eyes this side of Liz Taylor. 

I think you mean Matthew Broderick, but that's okay.

[Rinaldo]

In fact, though Matthew Broderick is young in the movie, I'd hesitate to say "very young," because seven years before the movie, he had played the son, David, in the pre-Broadway productions of the play (in 1981 and early 1982). It was pretty much the first role in which he got noticed. By the time I saw the play, in May 1982 (previewing for its long Broadway run), the role was played by Fisher Stevens (Broderick had moved on to preparations for Brighton Beach Memoirs).

His returning to play the relatively small role of the lover in the film (having obviously aged out of David, seven years later) was widely regarded at the time as a nice gesture of support for Fierstein and the play, and a useful shot of box-office name value to the movie, which otherwise had only Anne Bancroft (Fierstein was totally unknown outside NYC at that stage, and Brian Kerwin, a very fine actor, wasn't going to bring in hordes of fans).

[AuntiePam]

4 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

I think you mean Matthew Broderick, but that's okay.

OMG I did it again!  Broderick Crawford -- fine actor, but never accused of being pretty.

Rinaldo, thanks for the background on the role of David.  Mankiewicz acknowledged that Matthew Broderick being in the movie helped it become accepted, mainstream (or something like that) but he didn't mention that Broderick played the role of David on Broadway. 

[AuntiePam]

I Never Sang for My Father -- Gene Hackman as the son who could never measure up to his father (Melvyn Douglas).  Aren't these relationships dying out -- the father who comes up from poverty, alternately spoils and mistreats his kids, expects lifelong gratitude?  And the kid who can't give an inch, even though he might recognize his part in the estrangement? 

Well, I hope they're dying out.  We don't see so much of this in the movies anymore, maybe that's a sign.

It's so easy to see this from the outside looking in.  At the beginning, I wasn't all that happy with Margaret, the mother.  She also took her husband for granted, dismissed his interests -- but then that's what happens in long marriages -- we stop paying attention to each other. 

Also, I've been in a nursing home in the last year -- they're much better now.  My gosh but that was sad. 

[Charlie Baker]

The role of the mother in Torch Song Trilogy was written for and originated on stage by Estelle Getty, and I believe it led pretty directly to her getting Golden Girls.  Fierstein has written that she was put out over not getting to do the movie. (She might have been established, but certainly not a movie name like Ms. Bancroft.) The movie is a good adaptation and condensation of a theater piece that was lengthy, because it was three one-acts each done in a different theatrical style. 

[Rinaldo]

1 hour ago, Charlie Baker said:

[Estelle Getty] might have been established, but certainly not a movie name like Ms. Bancroft.

True, and also Ms. Bancroft was famously relentless about going after juicy roles that she wanted.

It's hard to recall now, but the "voice" of this play, its particular brand of humor, was something new and startling to audiences at the time, and the novelty must have been a big part of its multi-year Broadway run. Gay humor, here combined with Jewish humor (two characteristically American viewpoints born of what we now call "otherness"), hadn't been so openly and unashamedly delivered onstage before (OK, The Boys in the Band had some of it over a decade earlier, but minus the "unashamed" aspect), and it was both titillating and liberating to hear "what we don't talk about" the nonstop subject of a long play.

Now, all these years later, it's not a novelty or particularly shocking any more; we get this kind of comedy from many sources. But the play still stands up, I think, and so does the movie.

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

I really enjoyed watching TCM , then about 10 or 15? years ago Comcast decided to remove the channel from the less cable packages and I would have had to pay about $80.00 or more to get TCM again.

[AuntiePam]

1 hour ago, Rinaldo said:

Now, all these years later, it's not a novelty or particularly shocking any more; we get this kind of comedy from many sources. But the play still stands up, I think, and so does the movie.

(Re Torch Song Trilogy)  I can't speak for the play, but the movie doesn't seem dated at all.  I suppose the sex and language would be more explicit if it were filmed for today's audiences, but the wit and humor don't suffer for being PG-rated.  It's something I could have watched with my grandma, or my kids.

I'm sending it to my 50-ish daughter for her birthday next week.  I think she might get something from Arnold's attitude toward relationships.  Like it's okay to grieve, but you have to make room for other things too. 

Which reminds me of that quote that started I Never Sang for my Father, about how death ends a life but not a relationship. 

[freddi]

Escaping from house painters by watching “The Mortal Storm,” which I thought I had seen — but I’ve never seen that ending! (Not sure if we are allowed to talk about plot conclusions here?).  Somehow, I thought it was the film that ends with a border escape via a 1930s ski lift in the mountains— which film was that? (I know I saw it on TCM.) “The Mortal Storm” had some great skiing scenes, but IMDB places the filming sites in a studio.  

ETA:  the Wiki gives more believable information about the location shooting: “Mountain snow scenes were filmed at Salt Lake City, Utah and Sun Valley, Idaho.”

Edited August 7, 2019 by freddi

[AuntiePam]

freddi, here's a list of films that feature scenes with skiing -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mainstream_films_with_skiing_scenes. 

I remember a different ending too, but perusing those Wiki lists, I'm not seeing anything that might be the one I'm remembering.  But it's hard to tell, just from a title.

Watched The Shop Around the Corner on Jimmy Stewart's day.  It's weird (but cool) that the movie didn't involve bad accents or Americanized names, or a location change.  The movie has at least one perfect scene -- Christmas Eve when everyone's leaving the store to celebrate with friends and family.  Matoushek accosts each of them as they're leaving, hoping for an invitation, and then here comes Rudy, the new kid.  Matoushek entices him with the description of a delicious meal and they walk off together.  I think it's perfect because of the pacing -- nobody says too much or too little -- and it turned out just the way I wanted -- Matoushek has company.

[Rinaldo]

1 hour ago, AuntiePam said:

Watched The Shop Around the Corner on Jimmy Stewart's day.  It's weird (but cool) that the movie didn't involve bad accents or Americanized names, or a location change.  The movie has at least one perfect scene -- Christmas Eve when everyone's leaving the store to celebrate with friends and family.  Matoushek accosts each of them as they're leaving, hoping for an invitation, and then here comes Rudy, the new kid.  Matoushek entices him with the description of a delicious meal and they walk off together.  I think it's perfect because of the pacing -- nobody says too much or too little -- and it turned out just the way I wanted -- Matoushek has company.

I adore The Shop Around the Corner. Lovely writing, as you say (Samson Rafaelson), expertly charming direction by Ernst Lubitsch, and spot-on acting from Stewart (at his most appealing and unmannered here), Margaret Sullavan, Frank Morgan, Joseph Schildkraut, and others. The basic story -- two bickering co-workers who don't know they are each other's romantic pen pals -- has served for two subsequent movies (in the Good Old Summertime, You've Got Mail) and one of the greatest of all musicals (She Loves Me, not filmed, but there are two video versions around).

19 hours ago, freddi said:

“The Mortal Storm,” which I thought I had seen — but I’ve never seen that ending! (Not sure if we are allowed to talk about plot conclusions here?).  Somehow, I thought it was the film that ends with a border escape via a 1930s ski lift in the mountains— which film was that? (I know I saw it on TCM.) “The Mortal Storm” had some great skiing scenes, but IMDB places the filming sites in a studio.

(We've waffled on the subject over the years, but have settled on the notion that we don't worry about Spoilers here -- though one might consider it courteous, in the case of a movie depending on a shocking twist at the end, to speak carefully.)

I think the escape via ski lift (or more accurately, ski tram on cables) you're thinking of might be the end of Night Train To Munich, discussed here a few months back. Directed by the great Carol Reed, with Margaret Lockwood, Rex Harrison, Paul Henreid, and Basil Radford & Naunton Wayne doing their popular double-act as silly Englishmen.

[freddi]

6 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

I think the escape via ski lift (or more accurately, ski tram on cables) you're thinking of might be the end of Night Train To Munich, discussed here a few months back. Directed by the great Carol Reed, with Margaret Lockwood, Rex Harrison, Paul Henreid, and Basil Radford & Naunton Wayne doing their popular double-act as silly Englishmen.

Oh, that is exactly the film I was trying to remember -- I kept saying, "like Hitchcock, but it wasn't Hitchcock"!   It was the first time I had seen Night Train to Munich, and this reminds me that I had planned to watch it again.  Thank you!

Also many thanks for your comments and other information about Two for the Road, about a week ago -- it was all fascinating, and good to know that it was not just my imagination that it was advanced editing for a U.S.-company film.  I loved the way the cars (or lack of a car) and Hepburn's hairstyle always told us exactly which part of the story we were in -- just the best example of cutting across time periods and having the multiple plots add up to one big narrative.    

[Rinaldo]

Is TCM committing one of its rare technical goofs right now?  A Southern Yankee seems to be airing with its 4:3 print (the only ratio in its time) stretched wide. I can convert it back on my TV, but this is unusual for them, unless its some sort of Comcast error.

[Milburn Stone]

38 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

Is TCM committing one of its rare technical goofs right now?  A Southern Yankee seems to be airing with its 4:3 print (the only ratio in its time) stretched wide. I can convert it back on my TV, but this is unusual for them, unless its some sort of Comcast error.

Implicitly, you raise the alarming possibility that this is a harbinger of things to come--because somebody at TCM decided "people don't like to see small images on their HDTVs." (That polite "rare technical goof" language has the whiff of terror lurking behind it, unless I miss my guess.)

Edited August 9, 2019 by Milburn Stone

[Rinaldo]

2 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

(That polite "rare technical goof" language has the whiff of terror lurking behind it, unless I miss my guess.)

You do miss your guess. I meant exactly what I said, with no subtext and certainly no terror. The next movie on the air was back to normal, as I expected. TCM does indeed goof once in a great while. I remember one movie (this would be several years ago now) being shown with audio description turned on ("she moves to the table..."). Last year Tender Is the Night, though shot in 2.35:1, aired as if panned-&-scanned for the old TV ratio, 4:3. That's 3 examples (no doubt I've missed a couple) in a decade of viewing, a batting average for which human error seems more likely to be responsible than a conspiracy.

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

On ‎8‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 10:45 AM, AuntiePam said:

freddi, here's a list of films that feature scenes with skiing -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mainstream_films_with_skiing_scenes. 

I remember a different ending too, but perusing those Wiki lists, I'm not seeing anything that might be the one I'm remembering.  But it's hard to tell, just from a title.

Watched The Shop Around the Corner on Jimmy Stewart's day.  It's weird (but cool) that the movie didn't involve bad accents or Americanized names, or a location change.  The movie has at least one perfect scene -- Christmas Eve when everyone's leaving the store to celebrate with friends and family.  Matoushek accosts each of them as they're leaving, hoping for an invitation, and then here comes Rudy, the new kid.  Matoushek entices him with the description of a delicious meal and they walk off together.  I think it's perfect because of the pacing -- nobody says too much or too little -- and it turned out just the way I wanted -- Matoushek has company.

The Shop Around The Corner is a great___ movie, should be in everyone's top 20 classic Christmas movies. I'd give it a six star rating if there was one.

[Milburn Stone]

3 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

You do miss your guess. I meant exactly what I said, with no subtext and certainly no terror. The next movie on the air was back to normal, as I expected. TCM does indeed goof once in a great while. I remember one movie (this would be several years ago now) being shown with audio description turned on ("she moves to the table..."). Last year Tender Is the Night, though shot in 2.35:1, aired as if panned-&-scanned for the old TV ratio, 4:3. That's 3 examples (no doubt I've missed a couple) in a decade of viewing, a batting average for which human error seems more likely to be responsible than a conspiracy.

I'm projecting too much. The first thing that would occur to me when seeing TCM run a movie in the wrong aspect ratio is to become wracked by anxiety.

[Spartan Girl]

Since West Side Story is going to be on tonight, I'm just gonna ask it: why the hell cast Natalie Wood as Maria if she was neither Latina nor could sing? I mean no disrespect, Natalie (may she rest in peace) was a great actress and she was a good Maria and all, but still!

[Milburn Stone]

5 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Since West Side Story is going to be on tonight, I'm just gonna ask it: why the hell cast Natalie Wood as Maria if she was neither Latina nor could sing? I mean no disrespect, Natalie (may she rest in peace) was a great actress and she was a good Maria and all, but still!

It's a good question, but as I consider the possibilities, I'm not sure who they would have cast in 1960 who was A. Latina, B. Capable of singing that part, and C. A bankable star.

[Wiendish Fitch]

46 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Since West Side Story is going to be on tonight, I'm just gonna ask it: why the hell cast Natalie Wood as Maria if she was neither Latina nor could sing? I mean no disrespect, Natalie (may she rest in peace) was a great actress and she was a good Maria and all, but still!

Easy, it's the same problem we have today: stars sell, even if they're not right for the part. For every Shirley Jones in The Music Man, we get tons of, say, Russell Crowes in Les Miserables. 

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Easy, it's the same problem we have today: stars sell, even if they're not right for the part. For every Shirley Jones in The Music Man, we get tons of, say, Russell Crowes in Les Miserables. 

I thought Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia was worse, but to each their own.

At least the actress playing Maria in the remake is Latina AND a fantastic singer.

[mariah23]

2 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Since West Side Story is going to be on tonight, I'm just gonna ask it: why the hell cast Natalie Wood as Maria if she was neither Latina nor could sing? I mean no disrespect, Natalie (may she rest in peace) was a great actress and she was a good Maria and all, but still!

There's an interview with Rita Moreno that has aired on TCM in between films.  I haven't seen it in a while but Rita says that they kept pursuing Natalie even though Natalie didn't think she was right for the part.  Apparently, they offered her so much money, Natalie felt she had no choice but to accept it.

[AuntiePam]

If there's a Top Ten Noir, I'd put The Killers right up there with Out of the Past.  It was shown as part of Ava Gardner's 24-hours, and she's fine (maybe better than fine) but the movie is all Burt Lancaster.  And Burt before he perfected that toothy grin -- the one the impressionists used.  He's low-key and quiet, subdued, fatalistic -- perfect for the story.  Edmond O'Brien was fine as an insurance agent hunting down a stolen payroll, and the character actors (the "hoods") were suitably ominous, especially William Conrad. 

Director Curt Siodmak's name is familiar to me from his science fiction/horror films.  Woody Bredell -- the cinematographer -- has a gazillion credits from 1927 to 1955 (76, actually), died in 1969 at age 66.  The light and shadows in this movie really worked well with Burt's cheekbones. 

Currently watching Summer and Smoke, for Rita Moreno's day.  She's so gorgeous.

Does TCM ever do a director's month?  If not, they should. 

[Spartan Girl]

West Side Story is on now! 

Honestly, from a modern perspective, it is really really hard to find the Jets even remotely likable. At the end of the day, they're a bunch of racist bullies. The cops are no better.

And even though I get why Anita did what she did, it was still a really shitty thing to do to Maria as a friend.

[Sharpie66]

Yeah, hearing the “PRs are taking everything from us!” bs is just horrible, even more so nowadays. The Jets get some of the best songs, but they are really nasty in comparison to the Sharks who are really on the defensive throughout.

Edited August 11, 2019 by Sharpie66

[Sharpie66]

I do like Action [sorry, wrong name—it’s A-Rab, another wince-inducing thing] as the social worker in “Gee Officer Krupke”— his physical performance of disgust at Riff’s very existence is really funny.

i am looking forward to seeing what Spielberg does with the remake. If nothing else, getting the original unexpurgated lyrics will be great, and I hope that he uses the Spanish-language lyrics translated by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Edited to add—watching “Cool,” my favorite dancer is actually Baby John. He is really light on his feet and super graceful.

Edited August 11, 2019 by Sharpie66

[Rinaldo]

21 hours ago, Sharpie66 said:

i am looking forward to seeing what Spielberg does with the remake

I'm trying to keep an open mind about it, and see how it turns out. There are actually fewer lyrics changed for the movie than people sometimes think -- I can think of half a dozen words, all of them considered quite mild now. But I hope the movie shows respect for the score Bernstein and Sondheim wrote, and doesn't dumb them down by rewriting (or reorchestrating) the music, or "improving" Sondheim's lyrics. If Tony and Maria are singing for themselves, I hope they have the classical tenor and soprano the score calls for. I know, they don't care if I, an aging musicologist, approve, but it's been a very important work to me, and I want to see it respected.

[Spartan Girl]

Why are they going to leave Breakfast at Tiffany's out of Audrey Hepburn Day? It's ludicrous when that's one of her greatest movies ever!

[ruby24]

Watched The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer tonight. It was cute. Cary Grant is so effortless at romantic comedy.

[Constant Viewer]

On 8/10/2019 at 10:16 PM, Sharpie66 said:

watching “Cool,” my favorite dancer is actually Baby John. He is really light on his feet and super graceful.

It is even more impressive considering he was ill when they filmed that scene.

[Milburn Stone]

2 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

I'm trying to keep an open mind about it, and see how it turns out. There are actually fewer lyrics changed for the movie than people sometimes think -- I can think of half a dozen words, all of them considered quite mild now. But I hope the movie shows respect for the score Bernstein and Sondheim wrote, and doesn't dumb them down by rewriting (or reorchestrating) the music, or "improving" Sondheim's lyrics. 

One change Sondheim made for the 1960 movie was a new couplet in "America" that I've always thought is one of his best:

"Life is all right in America/If you're all-white in America."

Genius! Whenever I see a stage revival, I hope for that line to be interpolated, but I don't think it often is. 

Usually when lyrics are changed for the movie version, it's a downgrade. This is one case (actually the only case I know) of a lyric being improved for the movie.