TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[StatisticalOutlier]

I've seen quite a few silent films with live accompaniment.  One really good one was Buster Keaton's The General at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC, accompanied by the organ.  Free!

I used to go to the Telluride Film Festival in the 1980s and 1990s (not free! 😀), and among my most memorable moments was seeing Lonesome accompanied by the Alloy Orchestra.  Even though the Alloy Orchestra's cacophony is ideally suited for mayhem, there was just something about this Lonesome screening that really got to me, and it was a sensation among the people who were there.  They even brought it back like 10 years later.

As for movie-theater-in-a-movie, I've been to London one time in my life, for maybe 4 days, pre-internet (maybe around 1990?).  I was looking through the movie listings in the newspaper and saw that Michael Powell's Peeping Tom was showing.  I knew nothing about it, except that people like Martin Scorsese had the highest praise for it, and it never showed on TV or anything.  I couldn't believe the timing.

So I spent a day going to see it--figuring out where the Everyman Theater was, making my way on the Tube to Hampstead Heath, getting all turned around trying to walk to the theater, and getting in my seat the second it was starting, dripping with sweat even though it was winter. 

So I'm watching along, and it's a horror movie.  Not my cup of tea, but it's an important movie, according to important people.  And imagine my surprise when in the movie, the main guy mentions the Everyman Cinema, which is right where I'm sitting.  Talk about fate!

However, I can't say I loved the movie.  TCM showed it a couple of years ago, and I watched it again and I still don't love it.  But I've come to realize I don't love most Powell/Pressburger movies, regardless of how revered they are. 

I like I Know Where I'm Going okay, but Black Narcissus is so ridiculously overwrought I can't watch it any more.  I can watch The Red Shoes, but I would never make it a priority.  And I've tried to watch The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp I don't know how many times, and either fall asleep or give up.  Now, I've never tried to watch that one in a theater, where films generally fare much better for me.  But even if it were showing in a theater, I might not even try.  I'm coming to terms with my lack of ardor for The Archers, embarrassing as it might be.

[Tom Holmberg]

The Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago has shown a lot of silent movies with an organist.  I saw "Les Vampires" and "Fantomas" there.  Also the Music Box Theater has an organ and I've been there occasionally when they have an organist play before the feature (but not for a silent movie).

[Fool to cry]

On 3/10/2022 at 11:42 AM, StatisticalOutlier said:

I've seen quite a few silent films with live accompaniment.  One really good one was Buster Keaton's The General at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC, accompanied by the organ.  Free!

I used to go to the Telluride Film Festival in the 1980s and 1990s (not free! 😀), and among my most memorable moments was seeing Lonesome accompanied by the Alloy Orchestra.  Even though the Alloy Orchestra's cacophony is ideally suited for mayhem, there was just something about this Lonesome screening that really got to me, and it was a sensation among the people who were there.  They even brought it back like 10 years later.

As for movie-theater-in-a-movie, I've been to London one time in my life, for maybe 4 days, pre-internet (maybe around 1990?).  I was looking through the movie listings in the newspaper and saw that Michael Powell's Peeping Tom was showing.  I knew nothing about it, except that people like Martin Scorsese had the highest praise for it, and it never showed on TV or anything.  I couldn't believe the timing.

So I spent a day going to see it--figuring out where the Everyman Theater was, making my way on the Tube to Hampstead Heath, getting all turned around trying to walk to the theater, and getting in my seat the second it was starting, dripping with sweat even though it was winter. 

So I'm watching along, and it's a horror movie.  Not my cup of tea, but it's an important movie, according to important people.  And imagine my surprise when in the movie, the main guy mentions the Everyman Cinema, which is right where I'm sitting.  Talk about fate!

However, I can't say I loved the movie.  TCM showed it a couple of years ago, and I watched it again and I still don't love it.  But I've come to realize I don't love most Powell/Pressburger movies, regardless of how revered they are.

I like I Know Where I'm Going okay, but Black Narcissus is so ridiculously overwrought I can't watch it any more.  I can watch The Red Shoes, but I would never make it a priority.  And I've tried to watch The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp I don't know how many times, and either fall asleep or give up.  Now, I've never tried to watch that one in a theater, where films generally fare much better for me.  But even if it were showing in a theater, I might not even try.  I'm coming to terms with my lack of ardor for The Archers, embarrassing as it might be.

I love The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. I'm moved by the sentimentality and I also love how relevant it still is in regards in fighting fascism. I also love A Matter of Life and Death. On a visual level I love how the Powell/Pressberger uses Technicolor compared to Hollywood movies of the time.

[StatisticalOutlier]

33 minutes ago, Fool to cry said:

On a visual level I love how the Powell/Pressberger uses Technicolor compared to Hollywood movies of the time.

They always seem to have too much color to me.

[Fool to cry]

1 hour ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

They always seem to have too much color to me.

Hollywood technicolor movies are very bright and saturated and the colors have the same intensity so they're all competing with each other.  The Archers use shadows and contrast more which makes the individual colors more vivid and so makes everything hypereal. I love it.

[Rinaldo]

One Powell/Pressberger film that I'm (perhaps excessively) fond of is Oh... Rosalinda!!!, which I'm pretty sure hasn't been shown on TCM (I had to order my copy from the UK, and its issue on any form of home video is quite recent). It's an English-language version of the Viennese operetta Die Fledermaus, a 1955 follow-up to their popular film of The Tales of Hoffmann (which TCM has shown).

It's pretty faithful to the story and score, but set in the divided occupied Vienna of that decade, allowing for a multiplicity of nationalities among the characters. The eponymous Rosalinda is played the same Russian-French ballerina they'd starred in Hoffmann (voice by a Hungarian operetta star), and her maid is acted AND sung by Anneliese Rothenberger a genuine Viennese operetta (and opera) star. Michael Redgrave is French (and for once gets to use his nice singing voice onscreen), Dennis Price is English, Anthony Quayle is Russian, Mel Ferrer is American. Much voice dubbing as needed, often by fairly big opera names. A mix of fanciful and realistic sets. I can't say it's an unknown masterpiece, but I find it to be nutty fun. (But then, I know and love the original.)

Edited March 12, 2022 by Rinaldo

[SusieQ]

On 3/9/2022 at 6:08 PM, EtheltoTillie said:

@Rinaldo  Great story, and I hadn't heard it before.  I had my own related brush with greatness, and I'll tell it here at risk of getting moderated for OT talk.

Barbara Barrie lives in my neighborhood, and I used to see her at the gym all the time.  But that gym went out of business, and she may be too old to go to a gym now.  She's 91.

I resisted fangirling and never spoke to her, as that's what you have to do in NYC, but I wished I could have.  Besides her appearance Breaking Away, she's responsible for a favorite bit in Private Benjamin.  Goldie Hawn is walking penalty tours in the pouring rain, and her parents come to see her at the military base.  Barbara Barrie pulls out the back of Goldie's rain poncho and swats off the water in the way that only a Jewish mother could do.  It's brilliant. 

Do you know the song by Christine Lavin called "The Moment Slipped Away"? One of the verses is about how Christine saw a famous actress and how she wanted to tell the actress what she meant to her. Turns out the actress was Barbara Barrie!!

 

 

[EtheltoTillie]

11 hours ago, SusieQ said:

Do you know the song by Christine Lavin called "The Moment Slipped Away"? One of the verses is about how Christine saw a famous actress and how she wanted to tell the actress what she meant to her. Turns out the actress was Barbara Barrie!!

 

 

Thanks for posting this. I didn't know that singer or her song but what a funny coincidence.  You really have to avoid talking to the celebrities when they are just going about their lives.  Their lot is very difficult. On the couple of occasions when I violated that rule I was sorry I had disturbed them. When I have had to interact with celebrities as an attorney a couple of times, I have been careful to avoid mentioning their status. I like to think that Barbara Barrie would enjoy knowing that someone enjoyed her little bit of stage business, but it can’t be done without awkwardness. 

[EtheltoTillie]

16 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

One Powell/Pressberger film that I'm (perhaps excessively) fond of is Oh... Rosalinda!!!, which I'm pretty sure hasn't been shown on TCM (I had to order my copy from the UK, and its issue on any form of home video is quite recent). It's an English-language version of the Viennese operetta Die Fledermaus, a 1955 follow-up to their popular film of The Tales of Hoffmann (which TCM has shown).

It's pretty faithful to the story and score, but set in the divided occupied Vienna of that decade, allowing for a multiplicity of nationalities among the characters. The eponymous Rosalinda is played the same Russian-French ballerina they'd starred in Hoffmann (voice by a Hungarian operetta star), and her maid is acted AND sung by Anneliese Rothenberger a genuine Viennese operetta (and opera) star. Michael Redgrave is French (and for once gets to use his nice singing voice onscreen), Dennis Price is English, Anthony Quayle is Russian, Mel Ferrer is American. Much voice dubbing as needed, often by fairly big opera names. A mix of fanciful and realistic sets. I can't say it's an unknown masterpiece, but I find it to be nutty fun. (But then, I know and love the original.)

Well, that’s obscure!  I have seen the opera of Tales of Hoffman at the Met, so maybe I should seek these out. I have not watched Colonel Blimp in a long while, so I should try it. It’s available on HBO Max right now. I have a great fondness for I Know Where I’m Going. Some of the otherPowell/Pressberger films are overwrought. 

Edited March 12, 2022 by EtheltoTillie

[EtheltoTillie]

More comments on Shakespeare In Love. I love Colin Firth and I really love him in Pride and Prejudice, but I really hated his character here. That’s some great acting. 
 

I’m catching up with The Dirty Dozen. It’s amazing I’ve never seen it. What a celebration of toxic masculinity. It’s so dated, but I’m enjoying it anyway. I have previously expressed here my aversion to Robert Ryan as a romantic lead, but here is is perfectly cast as a popinjay colonel. 

Edited March 12, 2022 by EtheltoTillie

[Milburn Stone]

On 3/9/2022 at 5:08 PM, EtheltoTillie said:

Barbara Barrie lives in my neighborhood...I resisted fangirling and never spoke to her, as that's what you have to do in NYC, but I wished I could have.

I feel you. I love her.

[Rinaldo]

4 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Well, that’s obscure!  I have seen the opera of Tales of Hoffman at the Met, so maybe I should seek these out. I have not watched Colonel Blimp in a long while, so I should try it. It’s available on HBO Max right now. I have a great fondness for I Know Where I’m Going. Some of the otherPowell/Pressberger films are overwrought. 

The Tales of Hoffmann movie has turned up at least once on TCM since I became a regular viewer, and it (unlike Oh... Rosalinda!, which had to wait until the 1980s for private screenings at museums and the like) did get a US release. Most of the roles are mimed by ballet dancers (Moira Shearer, Robert Helpmann, and Léonide Massine among them), but Hoffmann himself is played and sung by Robert Rounseville, a tenor who with his concurrent premiere of the leading role in Stravinsky's opera The Rake's Progress, probably seemed on the verge of an operatic career. But he made his name in musicals, notably as the first Candide in Bernstein's operetta, and as Mr. Snow in the film of Carousel. 

[EtheltoTillie]

Quick, name an Oscar-winning movie where Leslie Howard and Clark Gable are romantic rivals. 
 

Nope, it’s not what you think. It’s A Free Soul, a 1931 pre-code melodrama, for which Lionel Barrymore won an Oscar as an alcoholic defense attorney protecting his daughter, Norma Shearer, from the depredations of gangster Gable. 

Edited March 14, 2022 by EtheltoTillie

[EtheltoTillie]

RIP William Hurt. 

[Rinaldo]

On 3/14/2022 at 8:43 AM, EtheltoTillie said:

RIP William Hurt. 

William Hurt had a curiously shaped career, which for me falls into that category of "was a really huge star for just a few years, and then wasn't." But during that time, much bigger than those too young to have seen it might believe. He debuted big in Altered States, then in less than a decade after that we had, one after another, Eyewitness, Body Heat, The Big Chill, Gorky Park, Kiss of the Spider Woman (Academy Award), Children of a Lesser God, Broadcast News, and The Accidental Tourist. And that was kind of it, for his time at the top, though his movie roles continued at the same rate and on occasion still attracted notice and awards for him. I'm not sure what, if anything, changed, and I don't mean it as a bad thing -- maybe he just decided he didn't care about grabbing the most attention-catching roles, as long as he kept getting interesting work.

Another career that feels similar to me is that of Jill Clayburgh, whom I noticed onstage and in smaller screen roles, before she became A-list in the late 1970s, for a few years. In her case, at least, I know that she was delighted with motherhood, and was content to just get some kind of movie role every year or thereabouts, to help balance the household finances. Just another example of the challenges of a life in acting, and different ways it can be handled.

[Tom Holmberg]

2 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

William Hurt had a curiously shaped career, which for me falls into that category of "was a really huge star for just a few years, and then wasn't."

I always think of it as the "ingenue syndrome." 

[Simon Boccanegra]

On 3/16/2022 at 11:35 AM, Rinaldo said:

William Hurt had a curiously shaped career, which for me falls into that category of "was a really huge star for just a few years, and then wasn't." But during that time, much bigger than those too young to have seen it might believe. He debuted big in Altered States, then in less than a decade after that we had, one after another, Eyewitness, Body Heat, The Big Chill, Gorky Park, Kiss of the Spider Woman (Academy Award), Children of a Lesser God, Broadcast News, and The Accidental Tourist. And that was kind of it, for his time at the top, though his movie roles continued at the same rate and on occasion still attracted notice and awards for him. I'm not sure what, if anything, changed, and I don't mean it as a bad thing -- maybe he just decided he didn't care about grabbing the most attention-catching roles, as long as he kept getting interesting work.

I was thinking the same thing the other day, Rinaldo. It could be argued that Hurt was the "great serious actor" leading man of movies in the '80s. It was nearly a given that he would be in something every year that would get him more raves and awards consideration. As an illustration, Roger Ebert did a piece in 1986 on another actor, and he wrote: "The movie industry does not know how he will turn out, but he holds the potential to be mentioned with Brando, De Niro, Hurt and the others who come surrounded with the aura of a special talent." I think anyone reading that today who wasn't actually going to movies in the '80s would be surprised to see Hurt in that company. They might even be unsure whether Roger meant William or John. 

I'd say the last role of that part of Hurt's career was The Doctor in 1991, just barely past the decade-turn mark.

Of course, he continued to stay busy, but it didn't seem he was considered for the same sort of things (or, as you speculate, was interested in them?). Some of it may have been the way he aged after 40. He no longer had what one of the obits called a "blond Don Draper" look, as he had had in films such as Broadcast News. 

Someone else whose peak period was very neatly circumscribed by the decade of the '80s was Kathleen Turner. She had had a run comparable to Hurt's...sometimes in the same movies. 

Edited March 20, 2022 by Simon Boccanegra

[StatisticalOutlier]

One thing I like about TCM is that it shows some movies that I wouldn't necessarily make a point to watch, like pulling out a DVD or something, but when they're on, I'll stop what I'm doing and watch it.  Most recently was The Goodbye Girl a couple of days ago.  I don't know how many times I've seen it, and there are a lot more when I watched just part of it, and it's always time well spent. 

Another is Terms of Endearment, but I don't necessarily look forward to the ending because it's so sad, but the happy ending of The Goodbye Girl, with that song playing, is so wonderful. 

[Milburn Stone]

Is it possible William Hurt was "difficult"? I don't know anything about how he was to work with, but at least a plausible hypothesis is that he fell into the category of "the guy's terrific, but not worth the trouble." 

[Rinaldo]

17 hours ago, Simon Boccanegra said:

They might even be unsure whether Roger meant William or John. 

There was also the further possibility of confusion with John Heard, emerging around 1980 as another promising "new" actor with star possibilities. I know, because I had a whole conversation in 1981 with a friend who was big on movies but terrible with names (and who -- I'm not making this up -- possibly because his first language wasn't English, under-pronounced final consonants so that he did in fact say Hurt/Heard the same), straightening out the three for him.

[StatisticalOutlier]

3 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

There was also the further possibility of confusion with John Heard, emerging around 1980 as another promising "new" actor with star possibilities.

And John Heard and William Hurt look somewhat alike.  To me, anyway.

[voiceover]

14 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

the happy ending of The Goodbye Girl, with that song playing, is so wonderful

Not to mention that it has the best ever response to “I love you”:

”Never mind that — you’re rusting my guitar!”

[Yogisbooboo64]

16 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

the happy ending of The Goodbye Girl, with that song playing, is so wonderful. 

1 hour ago, voiceover said:

Not to mention that it has the best ever response to “I love you”:

”Never mind that — you’re rusting my guitar!”

By the time Elliot says that, I'm usually in a puddle of tears....fucking love this movie, it began my love of all things Richard Dreyfuss.

[Charlie Baker]

For Oscar Sunday, CBS Sunday Morning presented two classic movie oriented stories:

The Godfather

Buster Keaton

[Inquisitionist]

On 3/21/2022 at 8:26 AM, Milburn Stone said:

Is it possible William Hurt was "difficult"? I don't know anything about how he was to work with, but at least a plausible hypothesis is that he fell into the category of "the guy's terrific, but not worth the trouble." 

Quite possible.  Fresh Air reran part of a 2010 interview with him.  Fascinating, but trippy.  

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/17/1087184983/remembering-actor-william-hurt

[Inquisitionist]

I finally watched The Heiress which I had recorded a while back.  I can see why Olivia De Havilland won the Oscar, even if I haven't seen the other four nominated performances.  She was terrific at playing plain women who have (or who develop) a spine.  

[Rinaldo]

On 3/28/2022 at 5:31 PM, Inquisitionist said:

I finally watched The Heiress which I had recorded a while back.  I can see why Olivia De Havilland won the Oscar, even if I haven't seen the other four nominated performances.  She was terrific at playing plain women who have (or who develop) a spine.  

I agree about her performance. The movie in fact offers a wonderful mélange of acting styles, which somehow (we should probably credit it to the know-how of William Wyler) all work together beautifully. We also have Miriam Hopkins, who flourished in an older, more heightened acting style, ideal for the high comedies for which she's remembered (and which works well here because the aunt is out for her own self-interest and doesn't always listen); Ralph Richardson, a master of British rhetorical classicism who also had an "inner" expressiveness that read beautifully on camera; and Montgomery Clift, a harbinger of the new inner-directed "method" beloved of that generation of American actors. Magically, they add up to an ideal ensemble -- the best kind of ensemble, where distinctive individuals blend their work without losing their individuality.

[Lady Whistleup]

Related to the golden age of movies: so I'm starting to read the new book about Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh 'Truly Madly.'

I'm horrified by the total lack of treatments for bipolar disorder. It's depressing to read story after story about how unwell Leigh was and how little could be done for her.

The book is a fairly good read.

[EtheltoTillie]

37 minutes ago, Lady Whistleup said:

Related to the golden age of movies: so I'm starting to read the new book about Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh 'Truly Madly.'

I'm horrified by the total lack of treatments for bipolar disorder. It's depressing to read story after story about how unwell Leigh was and how little could be done for her.

The book is a fairly good read.

I don’t know that I’ll read the book, but I read a review in the Wall Street journal and gleaned a lot of interesting info. I rewatched the first hour or so of GWTW the other night, and I was mesmerized by Vivian Leigh’s performance. So much facial expressiveness. 

Edited March 30, 2022 by EtheltoTillie

[EtheltoTillie]

On 3/28/2022 at 5:25 PM, Inquisitionist said:

Quite possible.  Fresh Air reran part of a 2010 interview with him.  Fascinating, but trippy.  

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/17/1087184983/remembering-actor-william-hurt

He had a bad reputation in his personal relationships. So ironic to see Marlee Matlin triumphing at Oscars again so soon after his death. They apparently had a troubled relationship.  Almost like it mirrored what was in the film. 

[EtheltoTillie]

On 3/21/2022 at 9:49 AM, Rinaldo said:

There was also the further possibility of confusion with John Heard, emerging around 1980 as another promising "new" actor with star possibilities. I know, because I had a whole conversation in 1981 with a friend who was big on movies but terrible with names (and who -- I'm not making this up -- possibly because his first language wasn't English, under-pronounced final consonants so that he did in fact say Hurt/Heard the same), straightening out the three for him.

 

On 3/21/2022 at 12:59 PM, StatisticalOutlier said:

And John Heard and William Hurt look somewhat alike.  To me, anyway.

I meant to comment on this weeks ago.  I noticed this years ago. It was funny when John Heard costarred with William Hurt’s ex-wife Mary Beth Hurt in Chilly Scenes of Winter. 

[Charlie Baker]

Tomorrow is Doris Day's centennial. TCM is showing some expected titles during the day, but has also slated some of her latter-career TV work, not widely seen these days, in the evening.

DD at 100 

 

[Charlie Baker]

April 5th is like a TCM day, the birthday of Bette Davis, Spencer Tracy, Gregory Peck, Walter Huston, and Melvyn Douglas.

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 4/2/2022 at 11:29 AM, Charlie Baker said:

Tomorrow is Doris Day's centennial. TCM is showing some expected titles during the day, but has also slated some of her latter-career TV work, not widely seen these days, in the evening.

And judging from what I saw of it, should remain not widely seen.  Did anybody else give this a shot?

[Rinaldo]

2 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

And judging from what I saw of it, should remain not widely seen.  Did anybody else give this a shot?

There's quite a story behind this late television work. Did they talk about it beforehand? When her husband died in 1968, she discovered that he and her lawyer had embezzled from her, and that moreover she'd been committed to a TV series and some specials, without her knowledge. She didn't want to do TV (she'd have been content to basically retire at this point), but in fact she very much needed to do them, to rebuild her savings.

That series, by the way, has one of the wackier histories, as sitcoms go, and (tone and subject aside -- those obviously belong to another time) is the sort of thing that would never happen today, when everyone is obsessed with continuity. It ran for 5 seasons, and changed premise every season: she's a widowed mother in the country -- now she commutes into the city -- now she moves into the city -- now she's never been married and has no kids. Supporting cast flipped in and out accordingly.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Rinaldo

[Charlie Baker]

The evening was hosted by Dave Karger and Phillip Brown, who was the child actor who played one of DD's sons in the sitcom.  (Both kids disappeared from the latter seasons, in the constant shifts @RINALDO mentions.) They touched on the circumstances that DD found herself in, but emphasized that once there, she fully threw herself into it.

The sitcom didn't seem all that great to me even as a kid; the specials are more interesting to see now.  The first one, a relaxed affair with Perry Como (with him, how could it be otherwise?), holds up better than the second, which is awash in 70s trends and humor, and not in the best way.  Both are on Watch TCM for a few days.

[StatisticalOutlier]

1 minute ago, Charlie Baker said:

The evening was hosted by Dave Karger and Phillip Brown, who was the child actor who played one of DD's sons in the sitcom.

All I saw was Brown saying that one day the director pushed his head up against a wall and Doris either saw it, or saw the immediate aftermath and the kid told her what happened, and Doris went away and a little bit later it was announced that they'd be getting a different director.  You go, Doris.

I apparently saw some of the second variety show.  It had John Denver, Rich Little, and Tim Conway, and I've never been able to stand Tim Conway for some reason.  So I didn't even watch the Tim Conway parts and it was still awful, and I'm pretty forgiving of the 70s.

59 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

When her husband died in 1968, she discovered that he and her lawyer had embezzled from her, and that moreover she'd been committed to a TV series and some specials, without her knowledge.

I remember my mother telling me about this, for some reason I can't fathom.  I also remember her talking about an actress who was really too sick to be working and had to kind of be propped up to do her scenes and then go lie down and be sick, and am thinking that was part of this Doris Day conversation, too.

And Doris's son Terry Melcher had some involvement with the Manson family, and had been living in the Cielo Drive house before Polanski and Tate moved in. 

I guess that's why I remember the conversation with my mother--pretty hot stuff for the Doris Day I knew of.

[EtheltoTillie]

I’ve known about that spousal financial abuse for a long time. The same thing happened to Debbie Reynolds. Awful how these real talents were unable to escape this. 

[Milburn Stone]

19 hours ago, Charlie Baker said:

...the specials are more interesting to see now....Both are on Watch TCM for a few days.

I'm perversely interested in seeing these. But they're not on the Watch TCM portal on Apple TV. Maybe they're on demand on Xfinity cable? I live in hope.

[StatisticalOutlier]

1 hour ago, Milburn Stone said:

I'm perversely interested in seeing these.

You were warned.

I'm old school and do everything on websites, so this may or may not help you.  But on the TCM website, the episode I saw is on there after I click WATCH NOW, and under that click WATCH MOVIES.  I'm able to log in using my DirecTV account and watch it.  That one is called "Doris Day Today" from 1975.

[Milburn Stone]

Thanks, @StatisticalOutlier. Last night I was actually able to discover Doris Day Today (or, for some reason in the atrocious graphic design of the show, Doris day toDay) on the Apple TV portal for Watch TCM. My breaking point was reached early on, when Doris sang Stephen Schwartz's "Day by Day" from Godspell. I've always loved the song, a prayer sung to God. But Doris sang it--sexily!?! WTF!?!? It wasn't just her sexy gown; she sang it with sly, come-hither, let's-get-busy vocal inflections and close-up facial expressions! I don't believe she was ignorant of the meaning of the lyric. I believe she understood the meaning of the lyric (how could you not?), and then misguidedly thought (or was advised) that performing it as a thirsty would-be seductress of the Lord would be a very 70s fresh take. I just couldn't go any further.

Edited April 7, 2022 by Milburn Stone

[Rinaldo]

Variety series and specials seem to belong to another era now, though i suppose the occasional try is still made (I seem to remember both Wayne Brady and Neil Patrick Harris attempting one, without lasting success). I wonder if a young viewer today would even know what is meant by the terms. They were omnipresent on TV for so long, and then seemed to vanish almost overnight in the early 1980s.

[Charlie Baker]

Not to dive too deeply into the subject, but it seems the closest things we have now to vintage variety shows are the late night talk shows and Saturday Night Live, or even the singing competition shows, which get labeled reality TV.  Not all that similar.  Yes, I recall the efforts of Brady and Harris, too, who would seem good candidates to headline one.

The best part of Doris day toDay was when John Denver sang his "Follow Me" with Doris offering some nice back up.  The rest...

The first one, called The Doris Mary Anne Kappelhofff (her real name, of course) Special, makes more comfortable watching and I suspect DD was more comfortable doing it.   I saw it was mislabeled on Watch TCM as Doris Day Animal Shelter Promo. There is such a promo, but then it is followed by the special. 

 

[Milburn Stone]

1 hour ago, Charlie Baker said:

The first one, called The Doris Mary Anne Kappelhofff (her real name, of course) Special, makes more comfortable watching and I suspect DD was more comfortable doing it.   I saw it was mislabeled on Watch TCM as Doris Day Animal Shelter Promo. There is such a promo, but then it is followed by the special. 

Thank you! I couldn't find the Kappelhoff because, go figure, I was looking under the correct title. I did see an entry for the Animal Shelter Promo and didn't dream this could actually be the Kappelhoff special. I will check it out.

I'm still dwelling on Doris's sexy-seductress-of-God performance of "Day by Day," and I can't help but speculate that there is a connection between this and her having been taken for all she was worth by Marty Melcher. The connection: she was a sucker for bad advice.

 

 

[EtheltoTillie]

That performance of Day By Day really took the cake, and it was reprised at the end! The bored rock guitarist strumming away was a hoot. Tim Conway in drag: oof.  I will go back and watch the rest of these later. There are three more days to catch these specials. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

I've never seen Ninotchka before, and watched it this afternoon. 

Restaurant owner:  What'll it be?

Ninotchka:  Raw beets and carrots.

Restaurant owner:  Madame, this is a restaurant, not a meadow.

Meadow!  I laughed out loud sitting here all by myself. 

Usually when I'm called on to tell a joke, I say, "Horse walks into a bar.  Bartender says, 'Why the long face?'"  Because it's short, and easy to remember.  But I may work on the one about coffee without cream if the situation can handle a little longer joke.

And I'm thinking that for Halloween, you could just wear street clothes, and that hat.

[voiceover]

40 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

I’ve never seen Ninotchka before, and watched it this afternoon

My favorite Garbo of them all!  That drunk sequence with Melvyn Douglas is *chef’s kiss-perfection.

“Radio is a little box that you buy on the installment plan and before you tune it in, they tell you there's a new model out.”  Even though my lips move while I watch it, I never tire of that scene.  All hail Lubitsch!

[Sarah 103]

On 4/6/2022 at 10:44 AM, EtheltoTillie said:

I’ve known about that spousal financial abuse for a long time. The same thing happened to Debbie Reynolds. Awful how these real talents were unable to escape this. 

I read a biography of Carrie Fisher and something that stayed with me was that Debbie Reynolds either had horrible taste in men/husbands or was just incredibly unlucky. 

[EtheltoTillie]

Well, here are the odd things I caught up with this week.  None of them could be watched all the way through.

The Cool Ones was on again.  That attempt to make a rock movie that would attract American teens was a misguided flop.  Roddy MacDowell as a tyrannical rock impresario was no help.

Wacky French films:  Les Demoiselles of Rochefort, which I suppose was an attempt to repeat the success of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.  It just comes across like a bad French version of The Cool Ones.  There's George Chakiris and Gene Kelly for the dancing.  I've never understood how they make some of these foreign films where American actors speak English and are dubbed in later. 

Zazie Dans le Metro.  I somehow never knew this was by Louis Malle!  I caught about 10 minutes near the end.  Surreal comedy is not for me.  It was interesting to see the few minutes and find out what all the fuss was about, as I know it is considered an important classic.

I'm going to watch Bob le Flambeur on Watch TCM.  I saw that many years ago at a special screening at the NY Film Festival when it was being reissued.  A good noir.  I guess that was last night's Noir Alley segment.

[Rinaldo]

22 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Les Demoiselles of Rochefort, which I suppose was an attempt to repeat the success of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.  It just comes across like a bad French version of The Cool Ones.  There's George Chakiris and Gene Kelly for the dancing. 

And Grover Dale too. For a hot minute (between this and Half a Sixpence) he seemed positioned to be the next Bobby Van (i.e. dancing juvenile suitable for secondary roles) and then it was over -- partly because they stopped making musicals.

This was indeed, in a sense, a follow-up to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, although rather than a through-sung pop opera, this is an attempt to make an American-style musical. I used to show portions of it in class as prime evidence that a talented director can love a particular genre and still have no idea how it really works. Demy clearly adored American musicals, and yet this is just preposterous (though fun in its way if your expectations are properly adjusted). But then, so many big-name American movie directors have thought they could make a movie musical without any grounding in the craft, and failed spectacularly (Peter Bogdanovich, Woody Allen, James L. Brooks...), so Demy needn't feel ashamed that he couldn't either. 

I have to disagree with the idea that the Demoiselles is

35 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

like a bad French version of The Cool Ones. 

though. A crucial difference is that this isn't trying to pander to youth and the "new music" -- it's genuinely (if ineptly) trying to make an old-fashioned screen musical. The script and lyrics (and choreography!) all betray that basic misunderstanding of the genre, but Michael Legrand's music is good, the people and mise-en-scène are pretty, and I find that it goes down pleasantly. I check out a scene or two whenever TCM airs it, even though I own the DVDs. There are worse movie musicals -- lots of them -- made by people with no cross-cultural excuse.