TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[Rinaldo]

Speaking of Leslie Howard, Pygmalion and Romeo, does anyone else think it must have been weird for Mrs. Patrick Campbell (the actress Shaw wrote Eliza Doolittle for) to play Juliet's nurse in the Norma Shearer Romeo and Juliet with Henry Higgins playing Romeo?

It might have been (though they say that Mrs. P. C. was glad just to get any job in her later years, and was grateful that the Hollywood studios paid her well when she was greatly in need of money). But the nurse in that Romeo and Juliet movie was played by Edna May Oliver. The closest to a grand lady of the British stage in that version was Violet Kemble-Cooper as Lady Capulet.

[Julia]

It might have been (though they say that Mrs. P. C. was glad just to get any job in her later years, and was grateful that the Hollywood studios paid her well when she was greatly in need of money). But the nurse in that Romeo and Juliet movie was played by Edna May Oliver. The closest to a grand lady of the British stage in that version was Violet Kemble-Cooper as Lady Capulet.

 

Oh, you're right. I guess the unrepeatably nasty comment i heard about came from the production of Riptide...

[aradia22]

 

I've heard different accounts.  Who knows what he really thought? Contrarian bastard.

Ha! I'm adding this to my list of favorite insults.

[Rinaldo]

An "unrepeatably nasty" comment demands to be repeated....

 

Shaw was "polite in public" even about the final scene that the filmmakers added behind his back to the Pygmalion movie (that got retained as the ending of My Fair Lady) -- which they were able to get around his "all additional dialogue to be by GBS" contract because all the lines are lifted from earlier scenes that he really had written. He was even enthusiastic about that dreary Caesar and Cleopatra movie. Or who knows? -- maybe he really liked it.

[Julia]

OK, then.

 

Apparently Mrs. Campbell wasn't happy about Norma Shearer's having her own very special keylight which was brighter than everyone else's to make her look younger, so she told someone she was appearing in a movie as "Norma Shearer's nubian slave."

[Milburn Stone]

Shaw was "polite in public" even about the final scene that the filmmakers added behind his back to the Pygmalion movie (that got retained as the ending of My Fair Lady) -- which they were able to get around his "all additional dialogue to be by GBS" contract because all the lines are lifted from earlier scenes that he really had written. He was even enthusiastic about that dreary Caesar and Cleopatra movie. Or who knows? -- maybe he really liked it.

 

Or, an offshoot of "maybe he really liked it"--maybe he really liked it because it was a tremendous success. 

[Rinaldo]

It wasn't, though. I quote Wikipedia: "The film was described as a "box office stinker" at the time, and almost ended Pascal's career." It wasn't the cast he'd hoped for either (he tried desperately to convince John Gielgud to play Caesar, and he was unhappy about some other casting choices, like Stewart Granger). But his policy of saying nothing negative in public about Pascal's productions remained constant.

 

Of course it was still a fairly faithful filming of one of his plays, and the first one in color; old as he was by that point, such novelties may have been enough to make him happy. 

[Milburn Stone]

My bad. I was referring to the film of Pygmalion, not Caesar and Cleopatra. But my reply could be taken the other way.

 

I do wonder if Shaw kept quiet about the Pygmalion film because it was a success. But your pointing out that he remained mum even when an adaptation was a failure makes me question this, and ascribe the more honorable motive to him.

Edited December 19, 2014 by Milburn Stone

[Crisopera]

I really don't like that Caesar and Cleopatra.  I do think the casting is off - Vivien Leigh is too old for Cleo (not that 32 is old, but the color photography is not flattering, and Cleo is supposed to be a teenager, and she compensates by being coy and kittenish).  And they had the perfect Cleo on set - the 16-year-old Jean Simmons was playing a "Harpist".  I adore Claude Rains, but this is really an overripe slice of ham.  And I don't think Stewart Granger is bad at all (and I'm generally not a fan).

Edited December 19, 2014 by Crisopera

[Rinaldo]

I guess I find myself in partial disagreement there. I think Vivien Leigh is terrific as Cleopatra, and she looks young and beautiful and seductive to me. Does GBS ever mention her age in the play's dialogue? The crucial thing is that she is "young" relative to the aged Caesar, and has been further infantilized by her sheltered royal life. All of that comes off very well to my mind.

 

I'm of two minds about Rains. I rather like that he's a humorous self-deprecating bloke -- it's how the part is written, though not how it had been played onstage by the august Forbes-Robertson and others (and surely how Gielgud would have done it too, had he chosen to film). But the whole production is on a vast spectacular scale (biggest sets yet built in the UK, and so on) that is at odds with his and Leigh's acting scale, and the offhand chamber-ish nature of the script. It's as if nobody really thought the production though.

 

I enjoy Granger myself; he's fun. But his performing personality certainly isn't the character Shaw wrote (a wispy artsy juvenile). I don't know... maybe we're better off to ignore the author's intent and enjoy SG's swashbuckling performance in its place.

 

In practical terms, of course (and I know you now this), Simmons's Cleopatra was never going to happen at this moment. She had done only bits up to this point, and her breakthroughs as someone to pay attention to were in the next 2 or 3 years: Estella in Great Expectations, and of course Ophelia.

Edited December 19, 2014 by Rinaldo

[Coffeecup]

Has anybody seen the 1934 Cleopatra (the Cecil B. DeMille production), with Claudette Colbert starring? Henry Wilcoxon played Marc Anthony and Warren William played Julius Caesar. I'm not a big Claudette fan, but I thought she did an excellent job as Cleopatra. She played the character as a brilliant schemer. She also expressed the authority and sense of responsibility of a queen. I liked Vivien Leigh as Cleopatra but I never got a sense of authority from her. Claudette's portrayal was deeper.

 

The 1934 film was beautiful to watch, even in black and white. I love DeMille's big spectacular sets. That elaborate barge slowly gliding down the Nile, when Cleopatra seduces Marc Anthony --- just gorgeous.

[aradia22]

I have been watching Du Barry Was a Lady (1943). I say I "have been watching" it because I've been watching it in pieces. I can never seem to find the time to finish it. Overall, it's not the worst older movie I've seen. That honor would probably go to something I didn't finish, or maybe something that I did. But it doesn't really have a reason for being. I love the crazy over the top costumes whether it's in the production numbers or just for the "real life" scenes. So many feathers. So many garish colors. I'm not the biggest Cole Porter fan and I think that's reflected in my response to the score. I loved the "Do I Love You" reprisals and the brassy band numbers and harmonies but I could leave the rest of it. Even Virginia O'Brien's number didn't work for me. I think that expressionless routine needs to be paired with the right number. There was no reason to put it with Salome. I think this is my first Red Skelton movie not counting Ziegfeld Follies. He was fine. He didn't really win me over but I didn't dislike him either. Once again, Gene Kelly failed to sell me on a romance. He's so often charming in his dance routines but when it comes time to woo the girl most of the time I either don't buy it or he comes off like a jerk. He was a jerk in this movie. But Lucille Ball's May was kind of jerk too. This plot made very little sense. I mean, there's a way to sell a girl trying to marry for money instead of love and this was not it. If possible the dream sequence/flashback into the past made less sense. Or more sense? Now I'm confused.

 

I'd pull out some of the band numbers and Do I Love You and maybe leave this on the background to look at the costumes. Also, was that Jo Stafford? Any recommendations for that genre of music (I'm terrible at identifying genres) would be appreciated.

[Milburn Stone]

Du Barry Was a Lady is one of my favorite forties musicals despite it's less-than-compelling story line, because of its several musical moments. Couldn't disagree more about Virginia O'Brien's "Salome"--a wonderfully comic song (Yip Harburg lyric) that provides her the platform for an iconic performance. And I love seeing the Dorsey band and Jo Stafford in those Louis XIV-era wigs. Somehow it makes their music hipper than ever. (And Jo Stafford sexier than ever. But maybe that's just me.)

[aradia22]

 

Couldn't disagree more about Virginia O'Brien's "Salome"--a wonderfully comic song (Yip Harburg lyric) that provides her the platform for an iconic performance.

Eh. To each his own. I wasn't a fan of the song in general and I didn't think it made great use of her gimmick. I prefer her number in Ziegfeld Follies. Anyway, I finished up the movie. To go along with the flatness of the rest of the movie they rushed the resolution of the romantic plot and inexplicably burst into song. 

[Rinaldo]

For those who didn't know: this evening TCM will present "Treasures from the Disney Vault," co-hosted by Leonard Maltin, something they plan to do occasionally, concentrating on seldom-seen items. Tonight will start with cartoon shorts including the first Chip&Dale, then an hour from the original Disneyland show, The Reluctant Dragon (the "how animation is done" feature from 1941 with embedded cartoons), Davy Crockett, a True-Life Adventure, Third Man on the Mountain and then the behind-the-scenes episode about making it.

[elle]

For those who didn't know: this evening TCM will present "Treasures from the Disney Vault," co-hosted by Leonard Maltin, something they plan to do occasionally, concentrating on seldom-seen items. 

I wonder if this part of the animation series they have been showing.

 

Still, it is a bit mind boggling for me TCM showing Disney specials?  Disney showing a non-Disney Ardman production "Arthur Christmas"?

[aradia22]

I decided to put on Trouble in Paradise (1932) as a treat for myself. For a shorter movie, it's very charming and well-executed. I wouldn't put it way up there with my favorite romances but I would rank it pretty highly on my favorite thief/caper/heist plots list. I wasn't sure about Herbert Marshall at first because I'm personally not attracted to him but I don't think it would have worked with a more attractive male lead. He was attractive enough to believably romance the target but not so attractive that he'd draw too much attention. Nice script. Great costumes. Very elegant on the whole. It was fairly straightforward but it did keep me guessing and there were some nice choices in the way it was filmed (e.g. the clock) that weren't super out there but kept things interesting. It was more than a "point and shoot" movie. I'm glad they ended up together in the end. I think Miriam Hopkins maybe just has one of those faces that looks a bit old but this is the prettiest I've seen her and I thought her performance style which tends to go very flighty in other roles was just perfect here. Kay Francis didn't have much to do but she was fine. The only other thing that threw me was the accents. I love all the languages used in the movie but it was difficult remembering where everyone was supposed to be from with the accents they were using.

 

If you haven't seen it yet, I would definitely recommend this one when it comes up again.

[prican58]

Ok it is not TCM but ABC is airing Sound of Music now as a sing along with song lyrics. i remember seeing this film as a child of 7 or so. So impressive on the big screen. 

[ratgirlagogo]

 

I decided to put on Trouble in Paradise (1932) as a treat for myself.

 

Trouble in Paradise is a masterpiece, Lubitsch at his best.  That opening scene between Marshall and Hopkins

as they gradually realize they're both con artists and not aristocrats

 is a thing of beauty.  LIke you I also don't usually quite find Marshall attractive - except in this film, and Blonde Venus.    He is so damned charming it overwhelms the rest of my reactions to him. By the way did you know his right leg was a prosthetic - he lost the leg while serving in WWI.  When  look at the way he moves around to compensate for it - it's almost a dancing, gliding kind of walk.   TiP  also may be the only movie I've ever  found Miriam Hopkins actually likeable.  In general I find her almost intolerably cutesey and mannered, but I like her in this.  Of course  Kay Francis is glorious - it's a subtler performance than it seems at first I think, especially toward the end where she realizes that

Marshall has been trying to steal from her, even though he loved her.

 It's a killer scene between the two of them, the painful, gallant 1930's way they try to just thank each other for the memories.   

Edited December 22, 2014 by ratgirlagogo

[Charlie Baker]

I'd recommend Trouble in Paradise, too.  And second what ratgirlagogo says about Ms. Hopkins. Plus that supporting cast is pretty delightful.

[aradia22]

Now I'm running into that problem when the DVR is full but almost everything I want to watch deserves to be seen in its entirety. Some examples: The Women, The Thin Man, Bringing Up Baby, The Awful Truth, The Big Sleep, Kiss Me Kate, Show Boat, The Pirate, Kismet, The Red Shoes, Gilda, The 39 Steps, Pride and Prejudice, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Casablanca, Eyes Without a Face, Cat People, Duel in the Sun, East of Eden, Gaslight. *huffs* I don't know where to start!

[ratgirlagogo]

 

I don't know where to start!

Well, hell, of course you obviously NEED to see ALL of them.  For christ's sake.  As if.

[Badger]

TCM has shown the original "Parent Trap" which was a Disney film.
 

[Julia]

I think if I had to pick an iconic performance for Virginia O'Brian it would be the Wild, Wild West number from Harvey Girls. It's one of my two favorite comic musical performances in an old musical (along with Dolores Grey's Thanks A Lot, But No Thanks from It's Always Fair Weather).

[Coffeecup]

For those who didn't know: this evening TCM will present "Treasures from the Disney Vault," co-hosted by Leonard Maltin, something they plan to do occasionally, concentrating on seldom-seen items. Tonight will start with cartoon shorts including the first Chip&Dale, then an hour from the original Disneyland show, The Reluctant Dragon (the "how animation is done" feature from 1941 with embedded cartoons), Davy Crockett, a True-Life Adventure, Third Man on the Mountain and then the behind-the-scenes episode about making it.

This was a great Nostalgia Night for me! I was a little kid in the 1950s and I loved watching Disney programs. I was a big Davy Crockett fan, had the coonskin cap and all. I've remembered the DC theme song all my life. Enjoyed watching the movie. I had forgotten how they had the group of singers doing voiceover narrations of the plot. Tonight I started bursting into laughter every time the singers chimed in. They sounded like a goofy Greek chorus.

 

I got so interested that I watched the next two Disney movies, "The Vanishing Prairie" documentary and "Third Man on the Mountain." The Prairie movie was one of the Disney wildlife movies I always loved to watch. This one featured prairie dogs in their natural habitat, along with other critters such as burrowing owls, ferrets, coyotes, buffalo and a rattlesnake. The music score sounds schmaltzy to me as an adult, but it sounded perfectly fitting back in the 50s. The man who narrated the show, Winston Hibler,  was very kid-friendly, saying things a child could laugh at while still getting educational material across about the animals. (He was also one of the screenplay writers.) I looked up information on this movie later (on IMDB) and found that it won the Oscar for "Best Documentary, Features" in 1955.

 

I had never seen Third Man on the Mountain and don't remember even hearing about it as a child. The star was a very young James McArthur. The story, set in a Swiss village, was about James' longing to climb the Matterhorn (called The Citadel in the movie) as a personal challenge because his father, a climber, had been killed trying to reach the summit. A kind Englishman (Michael Rennie) becomes his friend and helps him achieve his dream, against the wishes of his family. I am not even interested in rock climbing, but I sat there fascinated watching them (stunt men, in many scenes) performing incredible, dangerous climbing feats. TCM showed a documentary on the making of the film afterwards. You could see how dangerous it really was. Leonard Maltin, commenting on the movie, said it was an outstanding achievement considering that all the action was real, not computer-generated or trick-filmed with actors on a blank soundstage with the outdoor background "photoshopped" in later, as movies are made today.

 

Incidentally, when I was reading the article about the Davy Crockett movie on the TCM website, they said that Fess Parker was disappointed that he became typecast as Crockett and never could develop his career in a more serious direction. The producers of the Western "The Searchers" wanted him, but he was under contract to Disney, and Disney refused to loan him out. That was a very interesting bit of information. I wonder what role he was offered -- the John Wayne role, Ethan Edwards, or the Jeffrey Hunter role, Martin Pawley. He would have been good in either role. Although none of us Searchers fans can imagine anyone being better than Wayne as Ethan, it's fascinating to think what Fess could have done with the role. Fess had a subtle brooding quality that would have fit the Ethan character perfectly.

Edited December 22, 2014 by Coffeecup

[Rinaldo]

I remember that very first "Disneyland" show! The family gathered in front of the tube that Sunday to see this new thing. I, being a little kid, was disappointed it wasn't all cartoons, and this "park we haven't finished building yet" meant nothing to me. I do remember getting caught up on Davy Crockett (not sure now if I had a "coonskin" cap, but I rather fear that I did). I also have a memory of the subsequent movie that brings my dear father to mind -- bless him, he was never very good at reading the details; he was constantly buying a slightly wrong recording or book. When the family belatedly went out one Saturday night to see Davy Crockett at the movies, in color!, we fell for a now-notorious trap. An older Davy Crockett movie existed, he being a historic figure and all, and a canny distributor had booked it into second-run theaters more cheaply than the shiny new item. And sure enough, as the lights dimmed, there it started in glorious B&W and with actors we'd never seen before and no song. I can laugh now, but I sure was upset then! In fact, I think this TCM showing may be my first time to see it edited as a movie, in color.

[Milburn Stone]

The episode of Disneyland brought back great memories. But looking at it from the perspective of an adult, it becomes clear, as it wasn't to me as a child, what a pioneer in cross-promotional infomercial exploitation Walt Disney was! I tried not to think of this, but really, there are a lot of ills in today's marketing-mad world that we could lay at Walt's doorstep. The guy from Disney Corp. who was on TCM referred to him as a visionary, which he was in several ways, but sadly, this was one of the ways!

 

But I forgive him.

Edited December 22, 2014 by Milburn Stone

[Bastet]

*huffs* I don't know where to start!

 

Why, with The Thin Man, obviously. 

 

It really is a good contender -- it's set at Christmas, so it's timely, and it's fast-paced and just plain fun.  One of the most enjoyable films ever made.

[Bastet]

Here's an article about this Turner/Disney collaboration.

[Charlie Baker]

I watched Remember the Night and while I can see how it might be a little much for 2000-teens audiences, for the most part I was with it through the shifts in tone/genre. Ms. Stanwyck of course is wonderful--and Mr. MacMurray keeps up with her.  It's kind of amazing to me that they would also work together so well as a totally different type couple to say the least in Double Indemnity. (Though there are suggestions of noir in RTN, despite the sentiment and holiday trappings.)  The supporting cast full of eccentrics is a lot of fun, too.  The movie does deserve to be more of a go-to holiday film than it is.

 

And on the holiday note, a happy one to all TCMers here at Previously TV.

[Milburn Stone]

I wonder if RTN's lack of a holiday-film reputation is owing to its title, which lacks any obvious reference to Christmas.

 

On the other hand, there's Deanna Durbin's Christmas Holiday, which despite its title is anything but a heartwarming holiday film for the whole family! (Word has it. I haven't seen it, or Remember the Night.)

[3pwood]

... Deanna Durbin's Christmas Holiday, which despite its title is anything but a heartwarming holiday film for the whole family! (Word has it. I haven't seen it, or Remember the Night.)

 

I haven't seen Christmas Holiday but I recently read the Somerset Maugham novel it's based on & loved it -- hardly heartwarming & fairly frank for its time, but truly moving -- I doubt that the movie lives up to the book, but I do want to see it.

 

Remember The Night is a real treat & I enjoy it more each time I watch it.  The plot is a bit farfetched but the ending is unusually honest & everyone involved makes the whole thing work.  Written by Preston Sturges, directed by Mitchell Leisen, starring Stanwyck & MacMurray -- no wonder it's so good.  

[Coffeecup]

I've had a great time watching the Judy Garland holiday-themed movies this Christmas season --  "Meet Me in St. Louis," "In the Good Old Summertime," (which was set mostly at Christmastime), and "Love Finds Andy Hardy."  Judy was so good! 

 

Just have one little quibble about "Summertime." In one of her musical numbers, "I Don't Care," her costume was completely out of line with the rest of the movie. The story was set in the early 1900s, and everybody wore period costumes. But in this number, she wore a very modern-looking bright red dress and red heels. (Classic, simple style dress -- you could wear it today and look fine.)  I wonder whose idea that was? A friend watching the movie with me said Judy must have insisted on wearing that dress, but I don't think she had any control over her wardrobe. The costume designer for the women in that movie was Irene. (Last name Lentz, but she didn't use it professionally.)

 

Robert Osborne said in his introduction to the movie that Judy was a last-minute replacement for June Allyson, who was unable to complete work on another movie in time to do Summertime. He said Judy had had some problems that made the studio wary of casting her, so she was determined to prove to them that she could do a good job (which she did). In that kind of situation, I don't think Judy would have been making any diva demands about her wardrobe.

[voiceover]

Merry Christmas, fellow TCMers!!

 

I found out that the best Christmas Carol is an FXM marathon, so I'm willing to climb down off my high horse and apologize to the programmers.  Though it misses a lot by not having Robert introduce it, and by having -- ugh -- commercials.

 

The Maltin Disney book is out of print!   Boo.  Amazon has "used & new" available.  Loved seeing Fess Parker again.  Vanishing Prairie reminded me of The Restless Sea, which we watched in science class.  Hoping that will be in the Disney queue.

[Milburn Stone]

I've had a great time watching the Judy Garland holiday-themed movies this Christmas season --  "Meet Me in St. Louis," "In the Good Old Summertime," (which was set mostly at Christmastime)...

 

I caught the tale end of In the Good Old Summertime and was amused to see that it was exactly the same as the ending of Easter Parade...with the addition of Baby Liza.

[Rinaldo]

But in this number, she wore a very modern-looking bright red dress and red heels. ... A friend watching the movie with me said Judy must have insisted on wearing that dress, but I don't think she had any control over her wardrobe. ...  I don't think Judy would have been making any diva demands about her wardrobe.

A star of her magnitude, in that era, always had some control over her wardrobe. A standard quote from the time (I think it's attributed to Mitchell Leisen) is "If she's not satisfied with how she looks to the camera, she won't be giving her full attention to her performance."

 

It needn't be in the form of ultimatums or hissy fits; there can be quite calm talks about which alternative she likes and what her preference would be. Audrey Hepburn was always gracious and well liked by those she worked with, and not one to play the diva behind the scenes: but it was understood that if the setting was modern-day, her clothes would be designed by Givenchy. And in My Fair Lady she insisted on that towering lacquered hairdo for the Embassy Ball, despite the misgivings of Cecil Beaton, the official designer.

 

Or in the case of Good Old Summertime, it might not have been Garland's doing at all. Sometimes management decides that at one point in the film their star needs to look "like herself," period be damned. I've seen it happen in other movies, though at the moment I can't recall an example.

[Milburn Stone]

Or in the case of Good Old Summertime, it might not have been Garland's doing at all. Sometimes management decides that at one point in the film their star needs to look "like herself," period be damned. I've seen it happen in other movies, though at the moment I can't recall an example.

 

Just going from memory, but I seem to recall an Esther Williams movie or two in which the choice of swimsuit she was wearing was not guided by fidelity to the film's period as much as what the red-blooded American male wanted to see her in.

[Julia]

None of Doris Day's period movies were particularly authentic, at least when it came to her costumes.

[Milburn Stone]

Nursing a flu, so yesterday I saw two afternoon movies in a row. They were doing a Henry Fonda hunk, and the two movies I saw were Young Mr. Lincoln and The Male Animal.

 

Both brought tears to my eyes, and I don't think it was the flu.

 

Somehow I'd never seen Young Mr. Lincoln before. What a wonderful film, and what an iconic performance. No one but Henry Fonda could have done it. I suppose Gary Cooper might have been considered, but if so, thank God he didn't get the part. Cooper would have been a caricature of the man and of himself. Fonda was Lincoln.

 

The Male Animal, while a comedy, had echoes of Young Mr. Lincoln, in its mild-mannered lead character who stands up for what's right in the face of the mob. Again, no one but Fonda could have made as much of it. (Was amused by three Lincoln references in the dialogue, which I'm sure were not only meant to evoke our 16th president but Fonda's indelible 1939 performance as our 16th president, which would have been fresh in the minds of the 1942 audience. A little wink, as it were.)

 

The middle-aged and older Henry Fonda gave many a good performance, but nothing that will live forever in film history as these two performances will. And in my love for the young actor giving these two extraordinary performances (one mythic, one comic), my mind turned sadly to the spectacle of older Henry Fonda doing the twist with Lauren Bacall in Sex and the Single Girl. I suppose it was good that he was game for anything, but what a comedown.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Milburn Stone

[Rinaldo]

But the older Fonda delivered some original, startling performances too. Like his villain-to-end-them-all in Once Upon a Time in the West.

[Julia]

I really liked The Male Animal, more I think because it had such dignity compared to the horrific "remake"

Edited December 27, 2014 by Julia

[Milburn Stone]

I really liked The Male Animal, more I think because it had such dignity compared to the horrific "remake"

 

I've only seen bits and pieces of She's Working Her Way Through College, but considering that the date of the movie is 1952, whatever slight, implicit leftist leanings remained in The Male Animal must have been thoroughly expunged.

[Charlie Baker]

It is true that Fonda's output as his career progressed varied widely.    Also true that his Lincoln and Tom Joad are iconic.  As well as two from what you could call the middle period:  Mr. Roberts and the juror in Twelve Angry Men.

 

Friday Night Spotlight wrapped up its month on Charles Walters.  I skipped Billy Rose's Jumbo, which I find pretty resistible except for Jimmy Durante.  Then there was The Unsinkable Molly Brown, which I vacillate on. This time around I pretty much enjoyed it.  I wonder if it was any better in the stage version, and I know there has been some attempt to revive it recently.  Followed by Please Don't Eat the Daisies, which has some sharp comedy in it as well as some corn, and some unreal takes on the theater world. For example, I can't see any NY paper allowing its chief critic to review a Broadway show the producer of which is a close personal friend. (Godfather of his children, yet!)  And as I noted way back, Doris Day stuck in some of the worst costumes of her career.  Only IMO, of course. :-) Overall it's a fun movie.  They wrapped the tribute with Two Loves, which is a pretty obscure one with Shirley MacLaine, which I've never seen and didn't DVR. Anyone else know it?

 

RO wrapped it by announcing that Monday night they will show Walk, Don't Run, which happened to be the last movie of both Cary Grant and Charles Walters.

 

Don't think White Christmas is in TCM's rotation, even if it is in the database. (And I think it's different enough from Holiday Inn to see no reason to compare them.) Saw it for the first time in a few years.  I generally get a kick out of it.  Crosby and Kaye's ease with each other, Rosemary Clooney at her most sincere and in fine voice,  Vera Ellen and John Brascia dancing like dynamite (and Kaye just about keeping up with them!) and Mary Wickes and Dean Jagger besides. Yeah, it's corny, old-school musical comedy plotting and some of the songs aren't exactly Berlin at his best.  But hey, 'twas the season.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Charlie Baker

[Julia]

I've only seen bits and pieces of She's Working Her Way Through College, but considering that the date of the movie is 1952, whatever slight, implicit leftist leanings remained in The Male Animal must have been thoroughly expunged.

The central conflict was Virginia Mayo's inalienable right as an american to star in the class musical despite having earned the money for college working as a hooch dancer.

[Milburn Stone]

The central conflict was Virginia Mayo's inalienable right as an american to star in the class musical despite having earned the money for college working as a hooch dancer.

 

Inspiring.

[Julia]

Inspiring.

 

Oh, you have no idea. Remember the subplot from The Major and The Minor where Robert Benchley recognizes Ginger Rogers as a young working girl whose (unavailable) charms he attempted to avail himself of, and he machinates behind the scenes to get rid of her so his wife won't find out?

 

Well, in this one Virginia Mayo figures out what's going on and blackmails him into backing off Professor Reagan and letting her star in the play. All of which means that Mrs. Professor Reagan, who felt that the important principle at stake was that her husband had no right to jeopardize her ability to live in the style to which she was accustomed, could come back to him, since he was prevented from actually taking action on behalf of his principles.

 

This would, of course, have all been more difficult if it hadn't been made clear approximately 160 times in the course of the film that the young lady had (improbably for a theatrical type) maintained her virtue to the point where she could freeze a pint of ice cream by rolling it between her thighs. As it is, she and Gene Nelson settled in for the long haul of 32 year old celibacy.

 

Like you said, 1952.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Julia

[aradia22]

 

Nursing a flu, so yesterday I saw two afternoon movies in a row.

Aw, I'm sorry you weren't feeling well. Hopefully you'll be back on your feet soon. Sorry, I find myself only able to speak in platitudes when it's something real.

 

my mind turned sadly to the spectacle of older Henry Fonda doing the twist with Lauren Bacall in Sex and the Single Girl.

I think that's one of the bright spots in that movie.

[3pwood]

Nursing a flu, so yesterday I saw two afternoon movies in a row. They were doing a Henry Fonda hunk, and the two movies I saw were Young Mr. Lincoln and The Male Animal.

 

Both brought tears to my eyes, and I don't think it was the flu.

 

I agree about both -- & in between, he made The Grapes Of Wrath (1940) & The Lady Eve (1941), two perfect performances at opposite ends of the scale. Then his later career included two of my favorites:  Advise And Consent  (1962) & The Best Man (1964).  Such a gift.

 

Hope you're feeling better now, Milburn Stone -- just out of curiosity:  did you get a flu shot this year? 

[Crisopera]

I think you'll all appreciate this, uh, review of White Christmas, from the Tom and Lorenzo website: http://tomandlorenzo.com/2013/12/t-los-white-christmas/

It's a killer.  I was watching the American Masters Bing Crosby show, and even he didn't like the movie very much.  Mind you, it's better than Holiday Inn, if only because the leading ladies are at least memorable (and extremely talented!).  And at least they don't do a number in blackface.

 

Hope you're feeling better, Milburn Stone - and a happy holiday season to all my fellow TCM fans!

Edited December 28, 2014 by Crisopera

[magicdog]

 

Don't think White Christmas is in TCM's rotation

 

I've seen it twice this month - both on AMC!   Odd TCM didn't air it.  Holiday Inn also ran on AMC, preceding WC;   I suppose it was to compare and contrast.

 

 

 

And I think it's different enough from Holiday Inn to see no reason to compare them

 

There's very little to compare - except for the inn, two entertainers, and the events taking place in Vermont (or was Holiday Inn set in Connecticut?).  I found White Christmas to be a significant improvement.