TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[ratgirlagogo]

I do remember that being a favorite of yours, yes. Now I just have to figure out how it features in the Arrow storyline.  *hmmmmm*  Bye the bye another classic movie reference in the same episode (and not really needing any explanation) was the big Adventures of Robin Hood (the Erroll Flynn one) poster on Felicity Smoak's apartment wall.

Edited November 8, 2014 by ratgirlagogo

[prican58]

Hey I dig westerns, too. My dad loved them so I got the bug early. He also loves boxing as do I and I'll pretty much watch any boxing movie, too.

 

Silents. I really like them but I need to set aside time to watch them, since you really do need to pay attention, I mean you just can't walk away for a moment. 

 

coffecup, Worth seems worth watching. Young Coop is so effing beautiful and I am interested in seeing how Coleman affects me without that beautiful voice to listen to.

[Bastet]

Anyway, for the November Star of the Month, instead of an individual actor, TCM is featuring silent movies.

 

Damn you, Turner and Dish! 

[mariah23]

Damn you, Turner and Dish! 

Ditto!  If anyone wants, I could PM you my uncle's email and password so you could watch it online.  Also, I always read the articles.  I love absorbing film history!

[prican58]

The Big Knife at 10:45 tonight. It sounds intriguing. Jack Palance, Rod Steiger and Ida Lupino from 1955. Has any one ever seen it? The local PBS station is playing The Big Sleep with Bogart but I can always change it after the book store scene with Dorothy Malone. I adore that scene. 

 

Funny I just realized both films have similar titles.

 

I am watching Limelight now. Was this the first time he and Buster Keaton appeared together?

Edited November 8, 2014 by prican58

[Crisopera]

Has anyone read that new book Tinseltown about the William Desmond Taylor murder?  it's being touted as the definitive solution to whodunit, but the last book about the murder (A Cast of Killers from 1986) also claimed that.  I want to know if the new book is worth the price.  All the talk about silent movies brought it to mind.  BTW, I watched Enchantment (1921), which was pretty damn weird.  it starred Marion Davies, who is wonderful in comedy.  However, apparently Hearst liked to see her in fairy-tale or historical dramas, as a sweet and gentle maiden.  In Enchantment, she plays a naughty flapper whose father gets the idea that she needs to be "tamed" when he sees a performance of The Taming of the Shrew, so he hires the lead actor to "tame" her.  I have to say I ff'ed through many of the "taming" sequences, but toward the end she stars in an apparently for charity version of Sleeping Beauty, which is massively elaborate.  (I have to say, the dress she wore in Beauty was absolutely gorgeous - much more attractive than her shapeless early-flapper get-ups.  And her mother kept wearing these dresses with little trailing pieces of material on each side - I couldn't understand why she wasn't tripping all the time. But I digress.)  And of course by the end she is tamed.  Not one of her better vehicles.  (If you've never seen Marion Davies, take a look at The Patsy or Show People.  She's really funny.)

Edited November 9, 2014 by Crisopera

[magicdog]

Damn you, Turner and Dish!

 

 

I'm another Dish subscriber whose only lament is the loss of her TCM!  I couldn't care less about CNN, TruTV, et al.  The fact that silent movies are getting the focus makes me all the madder! 

 

If I may, perhaps I could discuss one of the last movies I caught on TCM before it was lost:  "The Very Idea" (1929).  This early talkie deals with the subject of eugenics and it made for some rather uncomfortable viewing.  Of course the subject would bite its fans in the ass when Hitler (among others) would take it to the next level years later.

 

The main story is a wealthy childless couple who yearn to have a child but haven't been able to conceive.  Their friend (who is a specialist in eugenics and all it promises) arranges to have two people who are genetically matched to have a perfect child (who happen to be the couple's chauffer and maid) and when the child is born, the couple can adopt it.  They agree to this and leave town for about a year.  Meanwhile, the friend makes the arrangements and the baby is born, but the chauffer and maid fall in love and marry - then claim they will raise their own child.  Eventually, the friend panics and tries to get the couple (who returned from their year long vacation) to (gasp!) adopt a kid from the local orphanage;  unfortunately the child is not deemed worthy and they choose not to go through with the adoption.  By movie's end, the couple learns they're finally pregnant with their own baby and all is happily ever after!

 

 

Uggh!  Do I have to even say it?  It's a safe bet the Code would have put the kibosh on this one at the start!

[Rick Kitchen]

Ack, Comcast just put TCM on an entirely different tier of channels that would require us to shell out another $10 a month.  I just can't.  :(

[ratgirlagogo]

 

I am watching Limelight now. Was this the first time he and Buster Keaton appeared together?

Aside from a promotional film called Seeing Stars that I've never seen, yes.  Their scenes together move me to tears, just watching the two greatest silent comedians together.

 

 

Has anyone read that new book Tinseltown about the William Desmond Taylor murder?

On my list, but haven't read it yet.  I did just finish Christina Rice's biography of Ann Dvorak and can recommend that pretty highly.  It's expensive as university press titles always are, but you can ought to be able to get it from the library.

http://www.amazon.com/Ann-Dvorak-Hollywoods-Forgotten-Classics/dp/0813144264/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415575955&s

Edited November 9, 2014 by ratgirlagogo

[ratgirlagogo]

 

I especially want to see "The Winning of Barbara Worth," a silent Western about two men in love with the same woman, on Tuesday, Nov. 11 at 7:30 a.m

I did catch this one.  My first thought is that I just hate the way all these more prestige silent films are always tinted these days.  I know, I know, it's more authentic, it's the way they were shown (or so I'm told).  On the other hand I think the films would just LOOK better in plain old black and silver.  And on a junior high school note, this whole thing with outdoor day scenes always being filmed in yellow - when the Colorado River broke the dam, it looked like Kingsford was being flooded in an ocean of pee. I find the tinting distracting, is what I'm saying.   It takes me out of the story in a bad way.

My second thought is that Ronald Colman came across more movie-starrishly than Gary Cooper, which I wasn't expecting.  Cooper looked skinny and kind of uncertain of his footing, whereas Colman was a leading man even  minus his gorgeous voice.  I did not much care for Vilma Banky who was beautiful but just kind of there.

Aside from the tinting the cinematography is beautiful, an example of everything I love about Westerns - the huge desert vistas, the footage of the people in the wagons, etc.  "Get a pair of spurs!"  (Oh - and Mr Rat snickered at the scene with the three cows walking across the foreground - with the light from the mirrored reflectors clearly shining on them.)  Real animals  and nice miniature work with the dam and the floods, instead of CGI animals and effects.  The evil banker 1% vs. the 99% plot is so timeless - but the happy ending is unfortunately something we can only get from classic films, apparently.

[Coffeecup]

Ratgirlagogo and prican58, so happy to find some other Westerns fans!

I too thought Cooper looked inexperienced in "The Winning of Barbara Worth." Well, actually he WAS pretty green at the time. Ronald Coleman was amazing. He totally owned the screen in each of his scenes. I couldn't look away from him. That's true charisma. Cooper was like that later, but in this movie it was Coleman who mesmerized me.

About Marion Davies: after I discovered her on TCM, I couldn't understand the unkind caricature of her that Orson Welles and his collaborators did in "Citizen Kane." They cast an actress named Dorothy Comingore as Susan Alexander, which everyone now understands was a represenatation of Marion as William Randolph Hearst's mistress. The Susan character was presented as a woman of only average looks, with a squeaky nasal voice, an exaggerated lower class accent, and no talent. That was worlds away from Marion, who was truly beautiful and did have considerable talent.

Speaking of Orson Welles, I was so happy when TCM showed "The Third Man" the other night. That is one of the movies on my Nearly Perfect list. The great acting, the gripping plot, the stark shadows, the odd camera angles, and that fabulous zither music! It was a stroke of genius to score the movie with zither music.

[Rinaldo]

About Marion Davies: after I discovered her on TCM, I couldn't understand the unkind caricature of her that Orson Welles and his collaborators did in "Citizen Kane." ... That was worlds away from Marion, who was truly beautiful and did have considerable talent.

Indeed, it would be a shame if anybody thought that Marion Davies was anything like that character. As to the "why," I go along with those who speculate that they got so involved with doing a takeoff on Hearst, that with the heedlessness of relative youth (you never really think about who you're hurting)), they couldn't resist including her too. The main point of contact between the real and the fictional character was the idea of pretension in the way the man presents his inamorata: Hearst preferred Davies in grand costume pictures, while she liked (and was best suited to) comedy. So we see that Susan has a tiny thin voice that might be okay among friends for an after-dinner song or two, but Kane insists on her starring in a French grand opera, to disastrous result.

Speaking of Orson Welles, I was so happy when TCM showed "The Third Man" the other night. That is one of the movies on my Nearly Perfect list. The great acting, the gripping plot, the stark shadows, the odd camera angles, and that fabulous zither music! It was a stroke of genius to score the movie with zither music.

I always feel as if Carol Reed doesn't get enough recognition as a director. I mean, I know he's not obscure or disliked. But when people make up the "great director" lists (the sort that have, oh, Bergman, Hawks, Kurosawa, Hitchcock, Cukor, name your favorites), he's never included. Maybe it's because he didn't have a "signature style," the sort where you know it's him immediately? or a typical subject matter? But look at the variety and quality of his movies. Just sticking to the ones I know: Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol, The Third Man, The Man Between, A Kid for Two Farthings, Trapeze, Our Man in Havana, The Agony and the Ecstasy, Oliver! That's consistent as to both high quality and good entertainment value, it seems to me.

[Crisopera]

I completely agree about the underrating of Carol Reed.  Not only is The Third Man a masterpiece (Welles's entrance is shiver-inducing), but Night Train to Munich is one of the best Hitchcock movies Hitchcock didn't direct, and The Fallen Idol has one of the greatest child performances ever put on film (and absolutely agonizing suspense).  Granted, his last two movies are really, really terrible and I not much of a fan of Oliver! (I don't like the original musical much, and I think the movie is ponderous at best).  I'm sorry he won the Best Director Oscar for Oliver! - he should have won for The Third Man (although it's hard to argue with Joseph L. Mankiewicz for All About Eve...)  (Interestingly, looking at the imdb entry for The Fallen Idol, it says that Reed had real problems withBobby Henrey's short attention span and that the performance had to be put together in the editing room.  You'd never know it.)

[Rinaldo]

[i'm] not much of a fan of Oliver! (I don't like the original musical much, and I think the movie is ponderous at best).  \

I don't much care for the stage musical Oliver! either, but for me (acknowledging that tastes differ) this is one of the rare cases when a movie version absolutely elevated the quality of a stage show. The clunky songs (like Bill Sykes's blatant "I'm evil!" number) are omitted, the good ones are well performed, the atmosphere is delicious (one of the very rare times a mixture of stylized and real decor worked well in a movie), John Green's orchestrations are about the best ever heard in a film musical, the pace is gripping and fun. A lot of what I'm listing has to do with other contributors, but I don't think it's a coincidence when all participants are working at the very top of their game. Once again, the modestly masterful Mr. Reed combined everything just right.

[elle]

 Hearst preferred Davies in grand costume pictures, while she liked (and was best suited to) comedy. 

Speaking of which, on right now is a costume drama "Hearts Divided" starring Marion Davies as an American, Dick Powell as Jerome Bonaparte, and Claude Rains as his more famous brother Napoleon.

 

A fictionalized version of the Louisiana Purchase and politics of the time, as expected the best part of the movie is Claude Rains.

[ratgirlagogo]

 

as expected the best part of the movie is Claude Rains.

 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just fucking love him.

[prican58]

He's dreamy!!!!!  Seriously. 

 

Love how he is a character actor yet has an uncanny ability to steal the show from the stars, much like Charles Coburn. Coburn did it in The More The Merrier where he totally blows Joel and Jean out of the water (and they were damn good, too). I know that character actors often did that (Beaulah Bondi comes to mind) but Rains, if he had been taller and more "handsome" could have been THE leading man. Love him. 

 

Rains was the most intriguing character in Notorious and while I love Cary Grant and worship Bergman (in my mind the most beautiful actress of her day), Rains ran circles around them in my opinion, naturally

 

Dick Powell as Jerome Bonaparte? How excrutiatingly strange that sounds! Rains would just have to be the best thing about the picture. Wonder what he thought of that filming experience?

 

rat, elle and all you other Rains' fan check this out. Looks like a great read.

 

http://www.monstershow.net/claude_rains__an_actor_s_voice_67931.htm

Edited November 14, 2014 by prican58

[ratgirlagogo]

 

He's dreamy!!!!!  Seriously.

 It's kind of comic to me how hot he is in Notorious and even more, in Deception.  Even in Casablanca, in the back of my mind I keep thinking that if that young girl has to bang him to get passage out of Casablanca - that her big problem would be that she'd never go back to her fiance after banging Claude Rains. 

[Rinaldo]

Claude Rains got perhaps his biggest above-the-title role in Caesar and Cleopatra, with Vivien Leigh. (As we now know, he was second choice to John Gielgud, whom Shaw begged to take the part -- but Gielgud still felt uncomfortable on film at this point.) His witty delivery is actually well suited to Shaw's conception of Caesar, but the production is so ponderously directed by Gabriel Pascal that it's hopeless.

[prican58]

Certainment, ma cherie! I would just feed off his thoughts, comments and snarkiness.  Miss Bulgaria would've had to say to her hubby.. "so long, Sammy. See you in Miami! (thanks Bugs Bunny, for that quote.)

Have you seen the dedication by John Gielgud on TCM, ratgirl? On point, Sir John. Alert the media,

 

Rinaldo, I've tried to sit through that but couldn't last. It was on late one time and I had no energy to endure it.

Edited November 15, 2014 by prican58

[ratgirlagogo]

 

Have you seen the dedication by John Gielgud on TCM, ratgirl? On point, Sir John.

Yes, that's one of the really good ones, right up there with Jennifer Jason Leigh's piece on Barbara Stanwyck.

[aradia22]

I finally got around to watching the rest of Double Harness (1933). Ann Harding fell rather flat for me but overall the movie was just tonally off. I was expecting romantic comedy. Instead I got a comedy that wasn't that funny and more of a witty drama. But it failed even as that. And it didn't work as a drama. I think they were going for romantic comedy/witty drama but they didn't commit and so everything just felt muted. The script wasn't bad. It was smart. But it was a short film and they didn't do a great job of developing the characters and the actors didn't make up the difference. It wasn't bad but it's not a must watch.

[aradia22]

I also had time to watch Three on a Match (1932). I was really excited for this movie but if I didn't know anything about it I probably wouldn't have stuck with it. Weird montages and newspaper clippings are not how you keep an audience engaged. I thought the child actors weren't bad though. Did people really think of a radio are a "wireless telephone"? I did end up enjoying the movie in spite of all the transition sequences as the performances were super solid across the board. Lyle Talbot was a little over the top at the end in the desperate man act and of course there was a bit of camp with Ann Dvorak

addicted to cocaine and jumping out that window

but all in all, very solid acting. Even the over the top moments, felt in line with the parts as written and not like bad acting. It was nice to see Bette Davis in this role. I feel like in the movies I've seen she's often... hard.. in a way. Here she was smart but didn't have that toughness that for me makes her a little distant. I disliked Lyle Talbot from the start because the last time I saw him he was the rapey guy in She Had to Say Yes. Young Humphrey Bogart was an interesting surprise. He really shone in a small part. I was into it. Played by someone else, I don't think it would have worked as well. 

 

I did kind of feel like the overall plot was a bit of a letdown. One of these days I'd like to see a movie that has some solution for a woman in Vivian's position that doesn't involve one of the standard options and feels like a genuine, satisfying solution. They could have taken time away from the transitions to flesh out Joan Blondell's and Bette Davis' characters more. It was called Three on a Match but it was really about Dvorak and aside from tying the title in to a saying I'm not sure why they were so set on pretending it was about the three women. Because it wasn't.

[One Tough Cookie]

I finally watched DODSWORTH after having recorded it a while ago.  A glorious movie.  I would like to discus it more, but I don't know to do spoilers...can anyone help me?  thanks.

Edited November 19, 2014 by One More Time

[Bastet]

The spoiler icon is the one that looks like the symbol for NO -- the O with a line through it, last one on the right.  Just highlight the text you want to hide and click on that.

 

Or you can just type in the code:

(without the space before the ])

Edited November 19, 2014 by Bastet

[Coffeecup]

 

It's kind of comic to me how hot he is in Notorious and even more, in Deception.  Even in Casablanca, in the back of my mind I keep thinking that if that young girl has to bang him to get passage out of Casablanca - that her big problem would be that she'd never go back to her fiance after banging Claude Rains.

Oooh, yessss! He was hot in Deception. (For those who don't know the movie: )In Deception, Claude played an arrogant conductor. I wonder if his character was based on one of the great conductors of the day; they tended to be very imperious. For example, Leopold Stokowski was known as a "showman" with "a flair for the theatrical," (according to his Wikipedia bio), which sounds a lot like Claude's character Alexander Hollenius. In Deception, Claude had been having an affair with Bette Davis. He had been buying her lavish gifts too. But Bette dropped Claude when she got back in touch with cellist Paul Henreid. She thought he had died in WWII Europe. She married Paul, making Claude very jealous, and refused to ever tell Paul she'd been Claude's lover. She concealed from Paul that she remained in touch with Claude. The rest of the movie consisted of Bette hovering over Paul and being mawkishly devoted to him, even secretly talking Claude into letting Paul play a concerto with his orchestra. (Not going to give away the ending, will just say that Bette sacrificed herself for Paul and his music career.)

I spent the whole movie wondering why Bette didn't just stick with Claude! He was egotistical, but brilliant and handsome, plus he gave her mink coats and other nice gifts. What an ungrateful girlfriend she was, lol, and a bit two-faced as well. She didn't want to be Claude's lover again, but she still wanted him to do favors for her and her new husband. I like Paul Henreid, but his character was bland and boring, just too nice and too noble, compared to the wicked, charming and sexy Claude.

Just read in Wikipedia that Claude was married six times. Sounds like he must have been a real-life hottie.

Prican58, thanks for the link to the Claude Rains biography. I want to get that book.

Edited November 20, 2014 by Coffeecup

[Milburn Stone]

Prican58, thanks for the link to the Claude Rains biography.

 

Ditto. I got the book from Amazon, and it looks good.

Edited November 20, 2014 by Milburn Stone

[voiceover]

About Marion Davies: after I discovered her on TCM, I couldn't understand the unkind caricature of her that Orson Welles and his collaborators did in "Citizen Kane."

 

Late to this convo, but I love Davies in her silent comedies too (the ones listed, plus The Red Mill).  That was where her strength was -- light comedy and dead-on imitations of fellow actresses (see The Patsy).

Welles was quoted later that he actually liked and respected Marion and regretted that the Susan character was how people thought of her for years.

[Charlie Baker]

The New York Times does a piece on Robert Osborne with this bit on TCM fans:

 

 

As always, the films are organized by themes so beguiling that you sit down to watch “North by Northwest,” and the next thing you know, weeks have passed, and your family has left you — so you might as well finish watching “Bringing Up Baby.” Again.

 

Though of course, those of us on this thread are more into the obscurities. ;-)

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/movies/robert-osborne-is-the-face-of-tcm.html?_r=2

[ratgirlagogo]

 

I spent the whole movie wondering why Bette didn't just stick with Claude!

To say that I have often wondered the same thing is the understatement of the year. :)

 

 

I like Paul Henreid, but his character was bland and boring, just too nice and too noble, compared to the wicked, charming and sexy Claude.

Exactly.  As in Casablanca we understand that we're supposed to see that he's the better man - but jesus, who actually thinks so when they watch the movie?

Edited November 20, 2014 by ratgirlagogo

[aradia22]

I'll just be here in the corner then not thinking he was attractive in Deception. I'll grant you that Paul Henreid was bland and Claude Rains was more dynamic. But I didn't find him physically attractive and he seemed to be the embodiment of a little man. 

[ratgirlagogo]

 

But I didn't find him physically attractive and he seemed to be the embodiment of a little man.

Of course varying opinions are the big fun of a site like this. More for me as they say.   I will just point out as an old broad that a Porsche has certain advantages over an eighteen-wheeler.

[elle]

As in Casablanca we understand that we're supposed to see that he's the better man - but jesus, who actually thinks so when they watch the movie?

Do you mean Paul the better man than Bogie or the better man than Claude?

 

The young woman from Bulgaria in Casablanca was in love with her husband.  It wasn't a matter of just having sex, it was a matter of not only betraying her husband but also betraying herself and everything she believed in.  It was a good example of how desperate people were and how unscrupoulous people used that desperation.   Also, character-wise, it is the turning point for Rick's character to step up and be noble.

 

I'll just be here in the corner then not thinking he was attractive in Deception.

I'll join you in that corner, aradia22 :0)  He is one of my favorite actors and often played great villains.  Depending on the movie role, I don't think he'd be my first choice either.

 

I will just point out as an old broad that a Porsche has certain advantages over an eighteen-wheeler.

I can not think of any other site where I would see (potentially) Paul Henreid compared to an eighteen-wheeler. ;0)

[Constant Viewer]

So glad to hear the Claude Raines love, he had one of the best speaking voices.  I always wished Bette Davis had turned to him in Now Voyager. 

[prican58]

I'd like to thank myself for the link, as I am expecting the book by the end of Friday,

 

Also bought The Groucho Letters as I have developed an intense hunger for all things Groucho.

 

Wish I could have been in Manhattan today for the viewing of Miracle On 34th Street outside Macy's. Employment is a bitch. My Amazon spree also included the dvd for Miracle, The Mark of Zorro and the TCM collection of Errol Flynn's films. I consider all of these to be "comfort films". They make me happy. Oh, and did I mention Singin' In The Rain, as well? If I lived in Buffalo I'd be a happy camper (If there was electricity) for a little while.

 

To anyone in western NY State, please be careful, stay strong and know that lots of us are thinking of you.

[elle]

So glad to hear the Claude Raines love, he had one of the best speaking voices.  I always wished Bette Davis had turned to him in Now Voyager. 

So did she (Bette), if I remember correctly an article I read.  I like to think the two of them Charlotte and Dr. Jaquith went on to work a lot together and do great things with the hospital.

[Coffeecup]

Has anybody read the biography of Bette Davis, "Dark Victory" by Ed Sikov? I got it from Amazon earlier this year. Chapter 16 has a few pages about Deception. The author said that according to Paul Henreid's memoirs, they were forced to change the ending of the movie because the Production Code Administration demanded that Bette's character be punished for having an affair with Claude. Henreid said the PCA imposed the violent ending, and he said it was "a thoroughly unbelievable situation, and the entire picture suffered from it." Bette blamed the PCA too. She is quoted: "Deception was completely ruined by censorship. We wrote the last scene, in which I had to confess my crime, ten thousand ways, but they were all so phony we never did get a solution." (Since there's a rule here about spoilers, I won't say what her crime was... it involved her getting even with Claude.)

I didn't know until I researched it today that this film was the second version. It was originally a 1928 play called "Jealousy," (also called "Obsession,") and was an English language adaptation of the French play "Monsieur Lambertheir." It was filmed by Paramount in 1929 with the title "Jealousy." The director was Jean de Limur. Jeanne Eagels, Frederic March and Halliwell Hobbes were the stars. Their characters' names were Yvonne, Pierre and Rigaud, respectively. (Character names for the 1946 version were Christine, Karel and Alexander.) This was one of only two sound pictures Jeanne Eagels made, and it was her last role; she died that year. According to Wikipedia, "No known prints of Jealousy are known to exist and it is now considered lost." That's a shame. I would have liked to see it.

Edited November 21, 2014 by Coffeecup

[Badger]

Ironically, Bette Davis also starred in a remake of "The Letter" which was the other sound movie Jeanne Eagels did and for which she received a posthumous Oscar nomination.  That also had a different ending also due to the Production Code.

[mariah23]

We're back on DISH baby!

[Bastet]

Yes!  I'm still bummed about missing the opportunity to record The Prizefighter and The Lady on DVD to replace my VHS copy, but I'm just happy to have the channel back.  And, since TCM repeats its catalog over and over and over, just about everything I missed during the blackout will come around again.  I sure would have liked to watch some of those silent films, though.

[Coffeecup]

Ironically, Bette Davis also starred in a remake of "The Letter" which was the other sound movie Jeanne Eagels did and for which she received a posthumous Oscar nomination.  That also had a different ending also due to the Production Code.

I think the version of "The Letter" with Bette Davis was superior. Maybe it was the combined acting skills of the entire cast; maybe it was the haunting, startling opening scene; maybe it was the suspense at the end, when you knew what was going to happen and you wanted to scream at Bette, "Don't go out there!"... whatever it was, I prefer the second one.

Edited November 22, 2014 by Coffeecup

[ratgirlagogo]

 

I can not think of any other site where I would see (potentially) Paul Henreid compared to an eighteen-wheeler. ;0)

Oh, fuck all y'all, I just know what I like:)  The thing is, I actually DO like Paul Henreid ( and eighteen-wheelers and men that resemble them more than he does) but hell, you all know what I mean.

 

I also wish the Jeanne Eagels version of "Jealousy" would surface somewhere, somehow.    I always kind of assumed that screenwriter  John Collier's contribution to Deception was the sardonic wit that he was so famous for - but I'd love to see the earlier version and find out.

Edited November 22, 2014 by ratgirlagogo

[3pwood]

Has TCM shown either of the Jeanne Eagles talkies?  I'd love to see them -- don't think I've ever seen her in anything.  (Can't imagine any version of "The Letter" being better than the one with Bette Davis, though.)

[mariah23]

Yes!  I'm still bummed about missing the opportunity to record The Prizefighter and The Lady on DVD to replace my VHS copy, but I'm just happy to have the channel back.  And, since TCM repeats its catalog over and over and over, just about everything I missed during the blackout will come around again.  I sure would have liked to watch some of those silent films, though.

The Prizefighter and the Lady is on tonight.

[Bastet]

Disc popped in and timer set -- thanks for the heads up!

[mariah23]

No problem.

[Rinaldo]

Has TCM shown either of the Jeanne Eagles talkies?  I'd love to see them -- don't think I've ever seen her in anything.  (Can't imagine any version of "The Letter" being better than the one with Bette Davis, though.)

 

They did show The Letter (followed by the Davis) a few months ago.

 

The one that I think pretty nearly matches the Bette Davis version is the Lee Remick one. It was an ABC Movie of the Week around 1982, and I recall it being very good, and she terrific in it (that mix of smolder and coldness that the part requires was right up her alley). I wish TCM would show that one as well -- there's no outlet for the telefilms of that era, and there were a ton of them (this being one of the best). TCM does show TV material on occasion; I remember they used the PBS Sweeney Todd as part of their Angela Lansbury tribute.

Edited November 23, 2014 by Rinaldo

[Badger]

Yes, they have shown Jeanne Eagels version of "The Letter" usually as part of the Oscars celebration.  You can also find it on Youtube.  TCM also showed it at least once as part of a theme of movies plus their remakes.

 

I remember liking it very much but if you've seen Bette Davis version, the ending of the earlier one does seem a bit abrupt.

[3pwood]

They did show The Letter (followed by the Davis) a few months ago.

 

The one that I think pretty nearly matches the Bette Davis version is the Lee Remick one. It was an ABC Movie of the Week around 1982, and I recall it being very good, and she terrific in it (that mix of smolder and coldness that the part requires was right up her alley).

 

I'd love to see Lee Remick in The Letter!  Such a sweet, pretty little blue-eyed blonde -- but quite different on the inside, as she showed so effectively in Anatomy Of A Murder.  I wonder if Bette Davis saw her performance &, if so, what she thought of it.

[Bastet]

TCM does show TV material on occasion

 

Heh; my reintroduction following the Turner/Dish blackout yesterday was Duel -- a TV movie by then-unknown director Steven Spielberg. 

 

Why it became a cult classic I cannot say, yet I'll watch it any time it's on.

 

Speaking of TV ... I know it would be longer than the usual interstitial, even if they could make business sense of buying the rights, but in a perfect world I'd love to see TCM air episodes of TV shows in which classic film actors appeared.