TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[ruby24]

Ok, I got TCM back. We negotiated a longtime valued customer deal (we've been with the damn place since 1995, they better have something for us). They reduced our price and threw in the new package.

[AuntiePam]

4 hours ago, ruby24 said:

Ok, I got TCM back. We negotiated a longtime valued customer deal (we've been with the damn place since 1995, they better have something for us). They reduced our price and threw in the new package.

I've been told that this is how it's done.  It worked for me a few months ago, when I called to cancel HBO (GoT was finished).  I told the rep that I needed to reduce my bill, save some money  I ended up with a $25/month reduction for six months plus four free months of Showtime.

These carriers really need to offer some deals to longtime customers, instead of the offers they make to new ones.  If they can offer X for $ to new people for two years, why can't they offer something to us old reliables? 

[Inquisitionist]

For once, my husband's insistence on subscribing to sports packages appears to have worked in my favor.  No interruption in TCM service!  Yesterday I watched Up the Down Staircase.  I remember reading the source novel when I was about 14.  I had just entered 9th grade in a middle class junior high school in the early 1970s after doing K-8 at a Catholic school.  I was shocked to see boys and girls kissing in hallways between classes.  Imagine my utter discombobulation at reading about inner cities kids, including one who threatens a teacher with rape. My eyes were popping out constantly.

I think the movie captured the book well. Sandy Dennis had the right mix of grit and idealism.  The kids seemed very real (turns out the actor who played Jose, aka "me", was actually from the neighborhood, not a pro).  I loved seeing such stellar actresses as Eileen Heckart, Ruth White, Jean Stapleton, Florence Stanley, and even Frances Sternhagen (she took me a while to recognize) in supporting roles as teachers and staff.  

I'm going to look for a used copy of the book.  Time to revisit, I think.

[Milburn Stone]

So I went to the xfinity website, Shop/Upgrade department. It found it surprisingly difficult to locate the sports package that now includes TCM--but somehow through trial and error I eventually did. (If I remembered how I did it, I'd share it with you, but I don't. I couldn't have even told you five minutes after I did it.) It's an extra $9.95 a month. (Or at least that was the price to add it to the package I already had.) My cable bill is already high enough, but I went for it. Yes, it's like a form of extortion for TCM fans like us, but that price compared favorably to $50 for adding TCM to Hulu, YouTube, etc.

[meowmommy]

2 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

Yes, it's like a form of extortion for TCM fans like us, but that price compared favorably to $50 for adding TCM to Hulu, YouTube, etc.

I'm probably reading your post wrong, but it's not $50 to add TCM to Hulu or YouTube.  Those plans cost about $50, and they include TCM.

[Milburn Stone]

7 minutes ago, meowmommy said:

I'm probably reading your post wrong, but it's not $50 to add TCM to Hulu or YouTube.  Those plans cost about $50, and they include TCM.

You're not reading it wrong, meowmommy, but your post makes me realize I was laboring under a slight misunderstanding of what was said here. I did think it cost $50 to add TCM to those services. But the reality leaves me in the same place. I'm currently paying $12 monthly (I think) to get Hulu commercial-free. So I would have to bump that up by $38. Paying Comcast their "tribute" of $10 a month to get TCM still compares favorably.

Edited October 14, 2019 by Milburn Stone

[meowmommy]

3 minutes ago, Milburn Stone said:

I'm currently paying $12 monthly (I think) to get Hulu commercial-free.

But you're also apparently paying Comcast for their cable package.  I don't have Hulu (yet) and I'm not shilling for them, but Hulu's $50 plan includes their library + live TV, so it would take the place of your cable while giving you TCM at the same time.

[Charlie Baker]

Sorry to read of everyone's trials over retaining TCM.  Should Spectrum ever repackage it, I'm not sure what I would do, but it seems a good strategy to negotiate a deal with the carrier. 

Up the Down Staircase was a book I reread a few times, and I like the movie too, so I might have to do a revisit, as well, inspired by Inquisitionist. The author Bel Kaufman passed away not too long ago; she lived to 103.

Tomorrow daytime has a line-up of Powell and Loy with three fun comedies, a couple Thin Mans, and a couple dramatic items--Manhattan Melodrama is superior to Evelyn Prentice--all very watchable. Couldn't let those go by without a plug. 

And Wednesday morning has a favorite, somewhat lesser known Cagney vehicle--Taxi, in which he's quite wonderful and well supported by Loretta Young.

[freddi]

On 10/12/2019 at 8:10 PM, Milburn Stone said:

Well, TCM went away from my Xfinity as of tonight in Chicago. When I tune to the channel, I get a message saying I can get the channel back by going to the Xfinity website and choosing Shop/Upgrade. I guess I'll check that out tomorrow and compare the cost to the Hulu and YouTube TV options.

I guess I am the last one to learn this.  West Coast here, and it disappeared from the listings on the Comcast app and television.  I use cable because I don’t have time to chase down details like finding the sports package— but I guess I’ll have to.  What a major bummer. I can’t make any sense of their garbled reasoning online.  Why not just say “we’re taking it away because we can.” Ugh. 

[Milburn Stone]

10 minutes ago, freddi said:

I guess I am the last one to learn this.  West Coast here, and it disappeared from the listings on the Comcast app and television.  I use cable because I don’t have time to chase down details like finding the sports package— but I guess I’ll have to.  What a major bummer. I can’t make any sense of their garbled reasoning online.  Why not just say “we’re taking it away because we can.” Ugh. 

"Nice little channel you got here. Shame if anything happened to it."

[Rinaldo]

6 hours ago, Inquisitionist said:

Up the Down Staircase....  I loved seeing such stellar actresses as Eileen Heckart, Ruth White, Jean Stapleton, Florence Stanley, and even Frances Sternhagen (she took me a while to recognize) in supporting roles as teachers and staff.  

I noticed that about it when I looked the movie up for some reason a month ago. Recalling some movies, I have to stop and think, "Wait, who was the wonderful character actress in that? Was it Eileen Heckart, or Jean Stapleton, or maybe Frances Sternhagen?" It's easy in this case because the answer is all of them!

[freddi]

2 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

"Nice little channel you got here. Shame if anything happened to it."

Heh.  Or Lily Tomlin as Ernestine at the Phone Company:  "We don't care.  We don't have to."

https://snltranscripts.jt.org/76/76aphonecompany.phtml  

     "Watch this:  we just lost Peoria!"   

[Milburn Stone]

7 hours ago, Inquisitionist said:

For once, my husband's insistence on subscribing to sports packages appears to have worked in my favor.  No interruption in TCM service!  Yesterday I watched Up the Down Staircase.  

I recall seeing it on a date when it came out, and both of us loving it. It was my introduction to Sandy Dennis and I thought she was terrific. Her mannerisms weren't identifiable to me then as her mannerisms; I thought they belonged to the character. Repeated exposure to the actress over a period of time made me less fond of those mannerisms. But I want to find the movie on demand and feel again my original response to her, if I can.

[Rinaldo]

I can't pass up Laura any time it's on, even though it was one of my first DVD purchases. So many parts that shouldn't go together (the unique attitude that is Clifton Webb, stone-faced Dana Andrews, deliberately campy Vincent Price, surly Judith Anderson, goddessy-beautiful Gene Tierney, the over-the-top swoony atmosphere, the preposterous way a murder investigation is conducted, and David Raksin's indelible music coating it all), but wonderfully do. Against all reason, it's a perfect piece of entertainment.

[xaxat]

10 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

"Nice little channel you got here. Shame if anything happened to it."

I really hate the fact that the new media business model is to hold their customers hostage in order to increase their negotiation leverage. 

"Hey, we tried to reach a deal, but couldn't! So why don't you lobby your cable company/network on our behalf so you can get your channel back."

And notice, when the channel is gone, the customer doesn't get a price break.

[Charlie Baker]

The spotlight on short running times continues tomorrow--tomorrow night some noir gems: Detour, which had a restoration recently, but also The Set-Up, a corruption in boxing tale unfolding in real time with excellent direction from Robert Wise and a great performance from Robert Ryan as a has been fighter; and Narrow Margin, a strong example of high wire, suspenseful storytelling in a confined setting. 

[NowVoyager]

Viewers angered after Comcast exiles Turner Classic Movies to sports package - nj.com https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2019/10/viewers-angered-after-comcast-exiles-turner-classic-movies-to-sports-package.html

[NowVoyager]

https://mobile.twitter.com/tcm/status/1182327695201460232

Well, this link works when it wants to. However, if you google some combination of "tcm," "twitter," "comcast," etc. there are some interesting comments. Such as: Comcast disenfranchising the elderly. And: TCM somehow being complicit in the rate increase. And: an online petition.

I must say, this move hurts my heart. I discovered TCM accidentally many years ago by flipping through the channels. I don't remember now, but probably Marilyn Monroe or Audrey Hepburn made me pause & I was hooked. Well, I was raised watching holiday classics as a child: The Wizard of Oz, Miracle on 34th St., It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol, etc. But, obviously there is so much more. My exposure to classic film grew because it was so easily accessible. Having to expressly order this channel only benefits people who already appreciate classic film. I fear classic film will increasingly fade away with this seismic shift from Comcast and it truly makes me sad. It's a disgrace. I'm glad Robert Osborne is not alive to see this.

Edited October 16, 2019 by NowVoyager

[BooksRule]

I watched 'Curse of the Demon' yesterday.  I thought I had seen it before (I know I was familiar with the plot and I read the M.R. James short story it was based on years ago), but enough scenes were unfamiliar that I might have been mistaken. Dana Andrews was good, as was Niall MacGinnis. I have to agree that the decision (made by the producer) to show the demon in its entirety was a mistake.  The scenes in the night woods with the floating lights, the smoke, and the sounds (which I recognized as the same one used for the giant ants in 'Them') were really creepy (at least to me).  If they had maybe just shown a glimpse of the demon it would have been okay, but when it materialized completely it just got a little hokey-looking. 

[Snow Apple]

It's nice to see that even in this age of on-demand, streaming, DVD, etc. that we still like to watch movies just because it happens to be on.

 I lost this channel too and it's amazing how many times I still turn to that channel automatically and then think...oh yeah it's gone.

[Ubiquitous]

On ‎9‎/‎13‎/‎2019 at 2:46 PM, benteen said:

I've heard it said that if Connery had done Her Majesty's Secret Service it would have been an incredibly well remembered James Bond movie.  This wasn't a shot at Lazenby but just a general observation.

I've heard the opposite about how Connery in On Her Majesty's Secret Service would have gone.

On ‎9‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 12:08 AM, One4Sorrow2TooBad said:

 Once again those asshats at Comcast keep raising the price for people to have the  TCM channel. They lost me about 12 years ago  when the package I had was about $35.00 plus taxes etc...  Now ,I think you have to be in the package that runs $100.00 or more plus taxes etc...

Dammit, there goes my TCM Underground!

[AuntiePam]

On 10/15/2019 at 12:54 PM, Charlie Baker said:

The spotlight on short running times continues tomorrow--tomorrow night some noir gems: Detour, which had a restoration recently, but also The Set-Up, a corruption in boxing tale unfolding in real time with excellent direction from Robert Wise and a great performance from Robert Ryan as a has been fighter; and Narrow Margin, a strong example of high wire, suspenseful storytelling in a confined setting. 

Did you watch Detour?  I know that noir films are required to have a downer ending, but I fail to see why

Roberts was picked up by the highway patrol in Nevada.  He left no traces.  He had no criminal record. He looked like the proverbial everyman. He didn't use his real name anywhere that could be traced.  I choose to believe that he was picked up for hitch-hiking and that he's so relieved to be 'caught' that he'll blab everything that happened and end up in the gas chamber.

  Or did I miss something obvious?

About to watch The Set-Up which I've seen before but it's worth another look.  Robert Wise is one of my favorites.

[Milburn Stone]

38 minutes ago, Ubiquitous said:

I've heard the opposite about how Connery in On Her Majesty's Secret Service would have gone.

To me the central miscasting is not Lazenby, but Telly Savalas as Blofeld. WTF? A completely different character than the Blofeld the series had established. That, more than anything else, makes OHMSS feel like it isn't even a Bond movie.

My guess is that they had a script in which Blofeld does more physically active things (like skiing at top speed), and Donald Pleasance (or a Donald Pleasance type) wouldn't have been believable doing that. OK--so change the script.

[elle]

On 8/6/2019 at 8:10 PM, One4Sorrow2TooBad said:

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.

For everyone who has lost TCM, check to see if you can get TCM on Demand. We lost it from our cable package some years back then this year I discovered we get the on Demand version.  For us, it is found by typing in TCM (826) on the Xfinity remote, choosing the channel collection option then the on demand option.  Just pay attention to what the cursor is pointing to or you might find yourself temporarily on a channel or movie you don't want.

[ratgirlagogo]

On 10/18/2019 at 4:32 PM, AuntiePam said:

Did you watch Detour?  I know that noir films are required to have a downer ending, but I fail to see why

  Reveal spoiler

Roberts was picked up by the highway patrol in Nevada.  He left no traces.  He had no criminal record. He looked like the proverbial everyman. He didn't use his real name anywhere that could be traced.  I choose to believe that he was picked up for hitch-hiking and that he's so relieved to be 'caught' that he'll blab everything that happened and end up in the gas chamber.

  Or did I miss something obvious?

Logic and realistic legal procedures don't always come into play in these films.   And of course one possibility is that the Tom Neal character is not a very reliable narrator (i.e., he actually is guilty):

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-detour-1945

[Was-MArsenault]

13 hours ago, elle said:

For everyone who has lost TCM, check to see if you can get TCM on Demand. We lost it from our cable package some years back then this year I discovered we get the on Demand version.  For us, it is found by typing in TCM (826) on the Xfinity remote, choosing the channel collection option then the on demand option.  Just pay attention to what the cursor is pointing to or you might find yourself temporarily on a channel or movie you don't want.

I'll have to give that a try.

[AuntiePam]

14 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

Logic and realistic legal procedures don't always come into play in these films.   And of course one possibility is that the Tom Neal character is not a very reliable narrator (i.e., he actually is guilty):

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-detour-1945

Thanks for the link.  The review makes me feel better about the film's ending.  And Ebert's comments make me want to re-watch some favorites, looking at the characters in a different light.  I usually sympathize with them, men and women defeated by cruel fate.  But yeah, they've done it to themselves.  Usually. 

[elle]

On 10/20/2019 at 5:19 AM, MikaelaArsenault said:

I'll have to give that a try.

I hope it works like it does for us!   The movies have an "end date" for how long they are available, it can range from a couple of days to a week.

[roseha]

I noticed that the other day TCM was showing a series of Jean Arthur films - I would guess it was her birthday?- but I noticed that they didn't show the amazing History Is Made at Night, which starred Arthur and Charles Boyer, directed by the great Frank Borzage, set on a ship with a stunning ending scene.  I have only seen the film once in a theater, and have read that the available prints are not very good (though I don't remember a problem with the picture).  Anyway, does anyone remember if TCM has ever shown it?  I really recommend it and would love to see it again.

Edited October 22, 2019 by roseha

[Rinaldo]

15 hours ago, roseha said:

the other day TCM was showing a series of Jean Arthur films - I would guess it was her birthday?

Jean Arthur was indeed born on October 17. On the other hand, we recently had a day of Walter Huston pictures, and he was born in April. So they don't need a birthday to binge on a given performer or director. Getting to see more Walter Huston is always a good idea as far as I'm concerned (they skipped his peak, Dodsworth, this time, but they've shown it several times recently)

[elle]

15 hours ago, roseha said:

I noticed that the other day TCM was showing a series of Jean Arthur films - I would guess it was her birthday?- but I noticed that they didn't show the amazing History Is Made at Night, which starred Arthur and Charles Boyer, directed by the great Frank Borzage, set on a ship with a stunning ending scene.  I have only seen the film once in a theater, and have read that the available prints are not very good (though I don't remember a problem with the picture).  Anyway, does anyone remember if TCM has ever shown it?  I really recommend it and would love to see it again.

I do remember seeing this movie on tv. It probably was on TCM,  but I could not say when that was.  There is always one movie that is left out of a star's day of movies.  I would like to see "Trouble in Paradise" (1932 film) for the recent Kay Francis day or pre code movies.

Tonsils! Positively tonsils!

[meowmommy]

How come when I go to watch a film currently listed on the TCM app, it tells me it's unavailable, but when I search On Demand with my cable provider, I can watch it, no problem?

[Milburn Stone]

6 hours ago, meowmommy said:

How come when I go to watch a film currently listed on the TCM app, it tells me it's unavailable, but when I search On Demand with my cable provider, I can watch it, no problem?

The real question (IMO) is how a company with resources in at least the tens of billions, if not hundreds of billions--AT&T/WarnerMedia--can't support the technology to make an app that works. WatchTCM on AppleTV is pathetic. It's far more satisfying as a user experience to watch essentially the same archived TCM content on xfinity on-demand, for those that have it.

[ruby24]

I've been taking a break from TCM this month to watch horror movies for Halloween, but tonight I watched This Gun for Hire (1942). Really enjoyed it. You can see why audiences loved the Alan Ladd/Veronica Lake pairing- they were an interesting couple in a completely different way than most 1940's screen couples. Both just so hard-boiled. I've seen The Glass Key and that one was really good too. Now I've just got to watch The Blue Dahlia.

My horror movie list did include some classics- I watched The Spiral Staircase (1946), Haxan (1922), The Lodger (1944), and The Man Who Laughs (1928). I'd highly recommend all of them.

Actually, The Man Who Laughs isn't really horror (though his image did inspire the Joker character years later), but that movie is so great, it's now one of my favorite silent films. LOVED it. Really underrated I think.

[voiceover]

Infintely prefer the 1927 The Lodger.  For one thing, the director's better.

And before "subverting expectations" was even in the dictionary, Hitchcock managed it here (though I reallyreallyreally thought the

Spoiler

cop/bf

would turn out to be the killer; I believe if Hitch had helmed the remake, it might've been so). 

And Ivor Novello's title character is beautiful, haunting, & tragically believable.

Weirdly, all the classic silents I've viewed on the big screen (w/live music) have been of the horror oeuvre.  Nosferatu remains my fave because of it.  Once you've seen a larger-than-life Max Shreck do that " rise and walk" thing while shipboard, you're up all night for a week.

[freddi]

On 10/25/2019 at 5:43 AM, Milburn Stone said:

The real question (IMO) is how a company with resources in at least the tens of billions, if not hundreds of billions--AT&T/WarnerMedia--can't support the technology to make an app that works. 

I finally made my way through the Comcast online jungle to add the “sports package “ (seriously dissonant with my interests) to get TCM.  But I also managed to drop enough options that Comcast is now getting less from me each month.  For me, the On Demand viewing only works if I am subscribed to the channel. Glad for all the solidarity here, thanks! 

“A Kiss Before Dying” is always so chilling, could not look away this morning!  

[CherryMalotte]

Looking forward to this...TCM documentaries are usually pretty excellent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TkVi7gpViQ

Edited October 28, 2019 by CherryMalotte

[Rinaldo]

23 hours ago, freddi said:

“A Kiss Before Dying” is always so chilling, could not look away this morning!  

To anyone who feels similarly, may I recommend the Ira Levin book it's based on. It's even more suspenseful (not surprising from the author of Rosemary's Baby), and it pulls off a trick that movies inherently can't: The first section of the book (the first murder) is narrated in first person. Then in the next section, when the viewpoint shifts to third person, we, like everyone else, can't tell who the murderer is: we never knew his name (we probably didn't even realize that, it was done so deftly) or what he looked like, and can't pick him out from among the various men in the story.

Edited October 28, 2019 by Rinaldo

[freddi]

1 hour ago, Rinaldo said:

To anyone who feels similarly, may I recommend the Ira Levin book it's based on. It's even more suspenseful (not surprising from the author of Rosemary's Baby), and it pulls off a trick that movies inherently can't: The first section of the book (the first murder) is narrated in first person. Then in the next section, when the viewpoint shifts to third person, we, like everyone else, can't tell who the murderer is: we never knew his name (we probably didn't even realize that, it was done so deftly) or what he looked like, and can't pick him out from among the various men in the story.

I am hooked!  Will find this and enjoy!  

[Rinaldo]

I caught up with a recent Noir Alley choice, Force of Evil from 1948, written and directed by Abraham Polonsky and starring John Garfield. It's not a title I had heard of before (except in one respect that I'll mention in the next paragraph), and I would call it a standard sort of B-level entry in the "corruption of life in the cruel city" genre, helped by flavorful performances by Garfield (whose character also narrates, delivering some poetic thoughts on the bleak events), Thomas Gomez, and Marie Windsor. But Sydney Pollack and Martin Scorsese have provided tributes to the stature and importance they see in it, so there's another point of view.

For me, the element that lifts it out of the ordinary is David Raksin's music (that's where I'd heard of the movie before, in books about film scoring). The poetry, and the subcurrents churning under the hard surface, are all there in the searing musical fabric he provides, with an almost Wagnerian ending that provides the closure that the words and action (in my opinion) don't quite. There aren't many movies that could be said to be lifted to a higher level by their music (usually it can't be done): I think of Bernard Herrmann's Vertigo, Ennio Morricone's Once Upon a Time in the West, Erich Wolfgang Korngold's The Adventures of Robin Hood, possibly John Barry's Body Heat or Elmer Bernstein's Magnificent Seven... and at the top of the list, David Raksin's contributions to Laura and Force of Evil. 

Edited October 30, 2019 by Rinaldo

[BooksRule]

Watched 'Thoroughly Modern Millie' on TCM tonight. I vaguely remember seeing it in the theater, although I would have been pretty young. The only scenes that rang a bell was the theme song and the running gag of Millie's beads not hanging right on her front.  It wasn't bad, but fairly non-PC by today's standards (the evil 'Orientals' drugging and kidnapping girls as part of a 'white slavers' ring, girls only wanting to marry rich guys, etc.). And I thought it ran a little long. The music was good, though, and I loved the 1920s costumes. (One bit of trivia that Julie Andrews--who helped introduce the movie with the TCM host--told was that the director chose a color to dominate each scene. In the dance scene near the beginning, each girl was wearing a different shade of gold, yellow, etc. and the punch and decorations were yellow. At a wedding scene, the men were in black and the women were all wearing different colors of pinks, lavenders, and so on. In another scene (at the white mansion) everyone was in blacks, whites and silvers and another scene in greens. I don't know if I would have noticed if she hadn't mentioned it, but it was very effective.)

[freddi]

What a treat this evening to find Julie Andrews talking about her films and dishing up great stories from her new book.  I just love everything about “Victor/Victoria,” songs and stars and stage productions and intrigue.  Robert Preston, Leslie Ann Warren:  what gems of performances.  

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 10/29/2019 at 9:07 PM, BooksRule said:

Watched 'Thoroughly Modern Millie' on TCM tonight. I vaguely remember seeing it in the theater, although I would have been pretty young. The only scenes that rang a bell was the theme song and the running gag of Millie's beads not hanging right on her front.  It wasn't bad, but fairly non-PC by today's standards (the evil 'Orientals' drugging and kidnapping girls as part of a 'white slavers' ring, girls only wanting to marry rich guys, etc.).

I was 9 when it came out.  I watched it a while back on TCM, and all I remembered was the theme song and the beads not hanging right, too!  I certainly didn't remember anything about white slavery, so I was kind of aghast on my re-watching.

And now that I know about the color themes in the scenes, I'm going to have to watch it again next time it rolls around.

[Was-MArsenault]

So I checked TCM On Demand to see if there was anything, and that's out of the question sadly.

[VCRTracking]

Watched Hitchcock's Rope for the first time recently and I suddenly realized that Jimmy Stewart reminds me of Nicolas Cage(or Cage reminds me of Jimmy Stewart).

Edited October 31, 2019 by VCRTracking

[Milburn Stone]

1 minute ago, VCRTracking said:

Watched Hitchcock's Rope for the first time recently and I suddenly realized that Jimmy Stewart reminds me of Nicolas Cage(or Cage reminds me of Jimmy Stewart).

Watched a Perry Mason the other evening with John Dall. (He was in at least one other one too.) Did he ever play just a regular swell guy?

[VCRTracking]

1 minute ago, Milburn Stone said:

Watched a Perry Mason the other evening with John Dall. (He was in at least one other one too.) Did he ever play just a regular swell guy?

Not that I can recall. I also just watched Spartacus again where he plays an asshole Roman comrade of Olivier's Crassus! He was just made to be a sleazebag!

[freddi]

Looking at the monthly schedule, I see that “Blue” with Juliet Binoche (1993) will air at 6:00 AM on November 27 (so, 3:00 AM on the West Coast). It is a remarkable depiction of the husk of numbing grief, with tiny steps out of it.  I don’t recall seeing this previously on TCM, or its companion films “Red” and “White” (different casts, part of a “Three Colours” trilogy by Krzysztof Kieślowski). 

[Charlie Baker]

John Dall did play Bette Davis' prize student in The Corn Is Green, who was more of a swell guy than those other roles.

[benteen]

Saw a fun precode film on TCM Demand, The Penguin Pool Murder.  Anyone ever see that?