TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[mariah23]

TCM Remembers: Angela Lansbury has died five days before her 97th birthday.

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, mariah23 said:

TCM Remembers: Angela Lansbury has died five days before her 97th birthday.

Farewell, Ms. Lansbury.  Just watched her in a new movie for me:  Kind Lady.  Angela played another snippy maid, a la Gaslight.   I still enjoy Murder, She Wrote reruns. 

[voiceover]

I’m glad the “Remembers” included a shot of her as Miss Price in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, because it’s the first time I saw her in anything, and I just loved her.

[Rinaldo]

Also, just a day before Angela Lansbury, we lost Michael Callan at 86. A self-taught dancer, he was the original Riff in West Side Story (Jerome Robbins liked his dancing but needed multiple auditions to be persuaded of his acting ability) but was unable to repeat the role in the film due to the contract with Columbia he had by then. Among his many movie and TV appearances, he's perhaps best remembered for Gidget Goes Hawaiian (which showcased his dancing) and Cat Ballou.

[BooksRule]

1 hour ago, Rinaldo said:

Among his many movie and TV appearances, he's perhaps best remembered for Gidget Goes Hawaiian (which showcased his dancing) and Cat Ballou.

I haven't seen 'Gidget goes Hawaiian' in many, many years.  I have 'Cat Ballou' on DVD and watch it occasionally.  I did recently re-watch 'Mysterious Island' (my favorite Verne adaptation, second place is 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' with James Mason).  Callan was good in the Verne movie.

[caracas1914]

On 10/5/2022 at 11:38 AM, Rinaldo said:

Marilyn Miller is one of those musical stage performers, like Gertrude Lawrence, who were widely adored as special charismatic stars in a way that can be difficult to substantiate through their film work. Only in "Wild Rose" in Sally (coincidentally the only segment for which the original color film survives) do I see the magic happen, and understand.

Are there any others who belong in this category? 

I'm not sure if it's because she had few movie roles worthy of her talent, but Helen Morgan as Julie in the 1936 "Showboat" comes to mind.

[EtheltoTillie]

On 10/10/2022 at 2:55 AM, Rinaldo said:

And immediately after it, continuing a possible theme of "nice little 70s flicks you may have missed," is Corvette Summer, a coming-of-age anecdote with Mark Hamill trying to track down his stolen car, and Annie Potts as a friendly hooker. Also with Eugene Roche and TK Carter. This was filmed between the first two Star Wars movies, and Hamill's facial scarring from his automobile accident (The Empire Strikes Back created an incident to explain it) is evident.

Thanks for recommending this.  I was channel surfing and caught the tail end of Return of the Jedi, and I was really enjoying those teddy bears, and I was reminded to look for this movie on Watch TCM.  I loved it!   Newcomer Annie Potts was terrific.  Mark Hamill reminded me of David Spade at times, but when he hopped on the bicycle, he reminded me of Dennis Christopher in Breaking Away.  ( I also tried Slither, but I couldn't get through it.) 

[EtheltoTillie]

On 10/12/2022 at 12:41 PM, Rinaldo said:

Also, just a day before Angela Lansbury, we lost Michael Callan at 86. A self-taught dancer, he was the original Riff in West Side Story (Jerome Robbins liked his dancing but needed multiple auditions to be persuaded of his acting ability) but was unable to repeat the role in the film due to the contract with Columbia he had by then. Among his many movie and TV appearances, he's perhaps best remembered for Gidget Goes Hawaiian (which showcased his dancing) and Cat Ballou.

Well, I first saw him on the silly sitcom Occasional Wife.  But I see he was in The Boy Friend.  I love the music for The Boy Friend.  I was an adult amateur tap student for awhile, and our teacher used to use the songs for our class.  I saw a revival at the Sag Harbor theater a few years ago, directed by (original cast member) Julie Andrews!

Edited October 14, 2022 by EtheltoTillie

[Calvada]

TCM will air a 24-hour tribute to Angela Lansbury on November 21.  Here's the lineup:  National Velvet (1944), The Three Musketeers (1948), Tenth Avenue Angel (1948), If Winter Comes (1947), All Fall Down (1962), Dear Heart (1964), The Harvey Girls (1946), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Gaslight (1944), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), Kind Lady (1951), and Sweeney Todd (1982).  

[Rinaldo]

On 10/14/2022 at 1:47 AM, caracas1914 said:

I'm not sure if it's because she had few movie roles worthy of her talent, but Helen Morgan as Julie in the 1936 "Showboat" comes to mind.

I agree that she had too few movie roles (her vehicle Sweet Adeline was filmed with Irene Dunne instead), but when I see her performance in Show Boat I get what her stardom was about right away (admitting that such reactions are personal for each of us). And it's fascinating that the quintessential lovelorn torch singer of the 1920s was a trembly soprano voice, not the husky alto that later became obligatory for such roles.

[voiceover]

Had to shout out Michael Callan, who starred in the only beach movie I’ve seen more than once (*cough* thirty times).  I always thought Deborah Walley’s Gidget blew it when she chose James Darren’s moody Moondoggie over Michael’s talented, sparky Eddie Horner.

[Charlie Baker]

He didn't want this stuff to go for sale on eBay.

Robert DeNiro Archive

Edited October 16, 2022 by Charlie Baker

[Rinaldo]

On 10/14/2022 at 9:03 PM, Calvada said:

TCM will air a 24-hour tribute to Angela Lansbury on November 21.  Here's the lineup:  National Velvet (1944), The Three Musketeers (1948), Tenth Avenue Angel (1948), If Winter Comes (1947), All Fall Down (1962), Dear Heart (1964), The Harvey Girls (1946), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Gaslight (1944), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), Kind Lady (1951), and Sweeney Todd (1982).  

This seems like a nice lineup (Bedknobs and Broomsticks now being unavailable thanks to Disney+). The Manchurian Candidate is of course essential for this, likewise Dorian Gray and Gaslight, and I'm glad they once again chose to include that Sweeney Todd even though it's a live video of a stage performance -- our picture of her would be incomplete without it. The others have their claims, though TCM plays Dear Heart to death for some reason; for an alternative from her brittle-upperclass-urban-lady phase, The World of Henry Orient or The Reluctant Debutante might be fresher. And I might lose The Harvey Girls (she's very secondary in it, and doesn't even get to sing for herself) in favor of something like The Court Jester or The Pirates of Penzance (it's not a good movie, but it's never shown any more, and she does get plenty of singing and goofy comedy in it) or even Something for Everyone (an outré curiosity that's been ignored since its theater run, and not without reason -- Hal Prince really couldn't direct movies). I do hope they'll have interesting things to say about her.

[EtheltoTillie]

15 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

e, The World of Henry Orient or T

Yes, I wish they would show that again.

[Charlie Baker]

Something for Everyone has eluded me--yes, it would have been a good occasion to show it. I really should get around to seeking it out.  And there's a title in her filmography that I have a perverse curiosity about--Please Murder Me, in which she starred opposite Raymond Burr.  It's a low budget item that used an abandoned supermarket space as its soundstage.  If I am remembering accurately, Ms. Lansbury said ,in the Martin Gottfried authorized biography of her, that she needed the money and took the role for the paycheck.. 

Edited October 16, 2022 by Charlie Baker

[Rinaldo]

I meant to ask: I'm unfamiliar with 3 of the earlier films: Tenth Avenue Angel, If Winter Comes, Kind Lady. Can anybody here recommend any of these?

[EtheltoTillie]

10 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

I meant to ask: I'm unfamiliar with 3 of the earlier films: Tenth Avenue Angel, If Winter Comes, Kind Lady. Can anybody here recommend any of these?

I posted earlier about Kind Lady.  I happened to watch it a couple of weeks ago, just before Lansbury died.  You should try it.  Lansbury plays a maid who is a bit like her Gaslight character.  It has a great cast:  Besides AL, it has Ethel Barrymore, Keenan Wynn, Betsy Blair, and Maurice Evans.  Swindlers take over Barrymore's life and try to steal all her money. 

I haven't seen the other two, so I guess I will put them on my list.

This morning I started watching Angela Lansbury's version of Mrs. 'Arris goes to Paris.  You can catch it on YouTube.  I was watching the new version and became somewhat annoyed with it and stopped in the middle.  Then I learned that there was also a 1992 TV movie version with AL and found it on YouTube.  Seems to have been produced and directed by her sons.  I don't know if I can sit through either one.  The plots differ significantly.  I have not read the book. 

(SIDE NOTE:  The new version of Mrs. Harris has the most extraordinary Dior fashion show, which for a costume and fashion maven like me was worth the price of admission.  There's a great Dior/Balenciaga comparison show right now at the FIT museum in NYC.  Catch it if you are nearby before it closes in November.  The FIT museum is a gem.  Free admission and never crowded.)

[SusieQ]

Thanks for the FIT recommendation. It is a neat little (free!) museum. I've been there a few times and have enjoyed it. Will check it out.

[mariah23]

16 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

I meant to ask: I'm unfamiliar with 3 of the earlier films: Tenth Avenue Angel, If Winter Comes, Kind Lady. Can anybody here recommend any of these?

If Winter Comes shows how MGM would cast Lansbury as women who were much older than she actually was.  I believe that 21-year-old Angela was playing a woman at least TWO DECADES older.  She plays the wife to middle-aged Walter Pidgeon!  Although Deborah Kerr is also in this the woman who got away from Pidgeon.  Now sitting here thinking about it, what the hell was MGM thinking casting two twenty-somethings as love interests to Walter Pidgeon?!

[meowmommy]

1 hour ago, mariah23 said:

If Winter Comes shows how MGM would cast Lansbury as women who were much older than she actually was.  

Or playing Laurence Harvey's mother in The Manchurian Candidate despite being only three years older than he was. 

[Schnickelfritz]

17 hours ago, meowmommy said:

Or playing Laurence Harvey's mother in The Manchurian Candidate despite being only three years older than he was. 

And most importantly, making you believe it!

She was also only 9 years older than Elvis in Blue Hawaii, playing the slightly ditzy (and sadly racist) and very southern Sarah Lee ("Here's our boy Chadwick home from the wo-ah"),  Her range of roles is pretty amazing.

RIP 😭

[Charlie Baker]

This about slipped by me.  Showing twice tonight, it's a documentary on the graphic designer of some memorable logos: 007, West Side Story, Manhattan.

By Design: The Joe Caroff Story

TV Insider

I suppose it's an arbitrary call as to whether it shows up on Watch TCM, but surely it's possible.

[Rinaldo]

Watching Cabaret for the first time in a long time. It was connected with the Joe Caroff Story just mentioned, as he designed the poster; that being the theme, I found it odd that (unless I blinked at some point) they never actually showed us the poster in question. I could remember it easily enough, but still, if that was the point....

In addition to enjoying Cabaret again, I was reminded that it doesn't seem to show up on TCM often -- and then I realized that the previous movie of the same story, I Am a Camera, never appears on TCM at all. In fact, I've never seen it. The author of the source material, Christopher Isherwood, apparently hated the film, but I'd love to check it out for myself, with Laurence Harvey as Isherwood and Julie Harris as Sally, it has to be of some interest.

It's one of the many titles discussed by Douglas Brode in his fascinating book Lost Films of the Fifties -- not genuinely "lost" films, but titles that were reasonably popular in that decade, sometimes greatly successful, that nobody talks about any more. A few of them have been rescued by TCM, but a lot more remain unseen. Another that comes to mind is another adaptation of a play-that-became-a-musical, The Matchmaker, with Shirley Booth as Dolly Levi. It's delightful (and unusual for its time with the constant direct address to the viewer) and I don't know why it's ignored. Maybe all of this (like many such questions) is connected with which studio currently has the rights, and how available they make their back catalog.

Edited October 20, 2022 by Rinaldo

[EtheltoTillie]

I've seen The Matchmaker.  It has Anthony Perkins, right?

I've never seen I Am a Camera either.  If it has Laurence Harvey, it would be interesting.

[SomeTameGazelle]

1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I've seen The Matchmaker.  It has Anthony Perkins, right?

And Shirley Maclaine and Robert Morse. I'm sure I have seen it as well but it must have been at least 25 years ago.

[Charlie Baker]

Novelist Richard Russo writes about Paul Newman and the newly released autobiography compiled from the same raw materials that Ethan Hawke used in his docuseries The Last Movie Stars.

Humanity and Star Power

[Tom Holmberg]

Today is Hammer horror day on TCM.

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 10/17/2022 at 1:37 PM, mariah23 said:

If Winter Comes shows how MGM would cast Lansbury as women who were much older than she actually was. 

Fresh Air replayed a couple of interviews with Angela Lansbury, and she talked about this:

GROSS: Did you feel comfortable at MGM in Hollywood in the '40s with all the kind of glamour and publicity surrounding the movies then?

LANSBURY: It was a hard adjustment for me. I wanted to play the game, you know? I wanted to be like the rest of the girls. I was still enough of an adolescent in my heart although I always say that I sort of missed my adolescence. But part of me wanted to be like the girls who were under contract. But I really wasn't. I just didn't fit in that mold. And I know now that it was a difficult period of trying to be what I really wasn't.

The only - let's say the comfort I took was - and even then I kind of leant on it - was the fact that I knew that I was an actress and that I could play different roles because I was continuously being offered extraordinary stretches, shall we say, as an actress to play parts which were way out of my range. However, I would do it, and I managed to just skin by by the skin of my teeth, playing roles where I was much older than I actually was. I was playing Frank Morgan's wife as the queen of France in "The Three Musketeers." I got to dress up and look kind of staggering and terrific with all of this paraphernalia that was laid on me. But I was still way out of my age range. So I was never going to get to play the girl next door, and I was never going to be groomed to be a glamorous movie star. And I sort of realized that, so I had to make peace with myself on that score.

GROSS: Well, how did you feel about playing the older women?

LANSBURY: I hated it. I mean, I didn't enjoy it, and I fought it, and I tried hard. I would go to the studio heads and say, look, don't make me play this part. But they would sort of say, well, if you will play that part this week, we'll let you do such and so next week - kind of attitude. So I would end up doing it. It all added to my training, really. It was like training on the job. And I think you never - nothing ever goes to waste as an actress. You docket it all away, and you remember, and you use stuff later. So it was - it didn't do any harm. And I was being paid. Good heavens. So, you know, I was under contract, and I was making 500 a week or 750 a week, which, in those days, was an enormous amount of money. It enabled me to help my family. And so I was a working actress.

https://www.npr.org/2022/10/21/1130199313/remembering-angela-lansbury-a-legend-of-the-stage-and-screen

I wonder if it ultimately worked out to her advantage to look older when she was young (and I do think she did--it wasn't just acting), because that meant she didn't have as far to fall as she did get older (given how Hollywood treats aging women). 

[Charlie Baker]

James Caan Tribute November 1st

And I caught a promo for Musical Matinee, on Saturday afternoons starting in November, hosted by Dave Karger.  It won't just be standard musicals, but "music oriented" films, concerts, documentaries.

[EtheltoTillie]

I loved 36 Hours, with a preposterous plot that was super suspenseful nonetheless. James Garner is an American intelligence officer on the eve of the D Day invasion. He is kidnapped by Nazis to try to find out what he knows. John Banner gets a small role as an early Sgt. Schulz incarnation. 
 

Not With My Wife, You Don’t was utterly unwatchable. Horrendous politics. I just could not stand the sexist rivalry between Tony Curtis and George C. Scott. Virna Lisi was gorgeous. 

Edited October 29, 2022 by EtheltoTillie

[Tom Holmberg]

6 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I loved 36 Hours, with a preposterous plot that was super suspenseful nonetheless. James Garner is an American intelligence officer on the eve of the D Day invasion. He is kidnapped by Nazis to try to find out what he knows. John Banner gets a small role as an early Sgt. Schulz incarnation. 
 

Good movie.  Remember reading the story prior to the movie coming out.

[EtheltoTillie]

More re 36 Hours.  The character played by Eva Marie Saint, a Jewish woman taken from a concentration camp and forced to participate in the Nazi charade, was so tragic. Brilliantly written and acted. I have known Holocaust survivors, and they carry so much horror with them every day, and survivor’s guilt. I have never seen this so well represented on screen. 

Edited October 29, 2022 by EtheltoTillie

[chessiegal]

I only caught the end of 36 Hours. I'll have to keep an eye out for it. It has 2 of my tv boyfriends - Rod Taylor and James Garner.

[EtheltoTillie]

31 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

I only caught the end of 36 Hours. I'll have to keep an eye out for it. It has 2 of my tv boyfriends - Rod Taylor and James Garner.

Yes, Rod Taylor as the American-born Nazi.  The movie is on Watch TCM until November 27!  

[Tom Holmberg]

This afternoon TCM is running "House of Dark Shadows" a nice bit of nostalgia for those who watched the soap opera daily (though without all those bloopers on the TV show).

[Calvada]

12 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I loved 36 Hours, with a preposterous plot that was super suspenseful nonetheless. James Garner is an American intelligence officer on the eve of the D Day invasion. He is kidnapped by Nazis to try to find out what he knows. John Banner gets a small role as an early Sgt. Schulz incarnation. 

I have seen 36 Hours several times, but I always enjoy a re-watch.  But then I'd enjoy watching James Garner peeling potatoes or reading the phone book.   

[Charlie Baker]

After twenty years, the New York Times publishes an obituary for a notable film editor.

Dorothy Spencer

[StatisticalOutlier]

Those of you who like old movies might also be interested in automats (it co-starred in That Touch of Mink), and TCM is showing the documentary The Automat twice on Tuesday, November 24 22.

I saw it when it was released in theaters.  I can't say it's a great documentary; it seemed like the director got an in with Mel Brooks and he was very much on board, but it didn't really have anywhere to go.  Regardless, the subject matter really carried it for me. 

Sadly, I never got to go to an automat.  My first visit to NYC was in 1984 and I didn't think to go to an automat.  Then again, by that point automats weren't what they used to be, so maybe it's better that I didn't go, if it was going to be a dispiriting experience.

Edited November 16, 2022 by StatisticalOutlier

[chessiegal]

1 minute ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Sadly, I never got to go to an automat.

OMG! Automats!! I grew up 30 miles west of Philadelphia, and every year before Christmas and Easter my mother would take us by train to Philadelphia to buy my Christmas and Easter dress at Wannamaker's. We would have lunch at an automat, and I was in hog's heaven with my nickels, dimes, and quarters to get the food. I cared more about lunch than the dresses.

[Schnickelfritz]

21 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Those of you who like old movies might also be interested in automats (it co-starred in That Touch of Mink), and TCM is showing the documentary The Automat twice on Tuesday, November 24.

It's being shown Tuesday, November 22.

Thanks for the heads up!!

ETA - I only point this out as I was trying to find it to DVR by date instead of day and confused myself. Not trying to step on any toes. I really am thankful the showing was mentioned.

Edited November 16, 2022 by Schnickelfritz

[Milburn Stone]

To the child that was me, The Automat was nothing short of magical.

[Charlie Baker]

TCM has been doing more of those Reframing features on weekends throughout November, of which I was not aware. 

And they sneaked in a guest programmer who wasn't present in studio last night. Martin Scorsese is about to turn 80 and he chose some films he found influential for the line-up.  I haven't seen the first two, and frankly wasn't up for either of them last night, Ashes and Diamonds, and Gospel According to St. Matthew.  The last one was Jules and Jim, which I  love. 

This past weekend's Noir Alley was a good one--Tension.  A very fine cast: Audrey Totter doing her noir bad girl thing, Cyd Charisse not dancing as a good girl, Richard Basehart as a dominated husband finding his spine, and the eye-opener for me, Barry Sullivan going all-in as a cynical, underhanded police detective.  

All of the above are on Watch TCM, Next week Noir Alley is showing a movie I've seen--a first for a good while. The Unfaithful is a toned-down re-working of The Letter, worth watching at least once, for among other things, Eve Arden in a strong supporting role. 

[jah1986]

16 hours ago, chessiegal said:

OMG! Automats!! I grew up 30 miles west of Philadelphia, and every year before Christmas and Easter my mother would take us by train to Philadelphia to buy my Christmas and Easter dress at Wannamaker's. We would have lunch at an automat, and I was in hog's heaven with my nickels, dimes, and quarters to get the food. I cared more about lunch than the dresses.

I grew up in Philly and it was a special treat, to my little self in the 70s, when my parents would take me to the automat. I just loved watching the food go by. Usually happened when we were shopping at Wanamakers. Going to keep an eye out for this documentary.

[StatisticalOutlier]

13 hours ago, Schnickelfritz said:

ETA - I only point this out as I was trying to find it to DVR by date instead of day and confused myself. Not trying to step on any toes. I really am thankful the showing was mentioned.

I'm starting to believe my purpose in life is correcting people on the internet, so your correction was greatly appreciated.  Accuracy matters!

[EtheltoTillie]

I'm really looking forward to the Automat movie.  We used to go when I was a kid.  The one we used to go to in Queens is now a Hooters!

The NYPL had an Automat exhibit a few years ago, and they gave out the Horn & Hardart recipe for mac and cheese.  It's delicious.  It has a little bit of tomato and sugar in it.  Otherwise, it's a basic white sauce with melted cheese.  Then the casserole is baked. 

[Rinaldo]

My only experience of an automat would have been 1971 or thereabouts, when I was stationed in DC in an army band, but able to get to NYC for an occasional theater-oriented Saturday. I would plan ahead (got to original productions of Company and Follies) and have a cheap lunch somewhere. One time I stumbled upon an automat, and was thrilled -- I thought of them as almost legendary artifacts of the past, and there was one right in front of me. Naturally I had to experience it, and I'm glad I didn't miss it.

[Mindthinkr]

I really enjoyed a movie I saw last night on TCM. The Last of Shelia. It was one of the first of the gather them together to see whodunnit films. 

[EtheltoTillie]

3 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

My only experience of an automat would have been 1971 or thereabouts, when I was stationed in DC in an army band, but able to get to NYC for an occasional theater-oriented Saturday. I would plan ahead (got to original productions of Company and Follies) and have a cheap lunch somewhere. One time I stumbled upon an automat, and was thrilled -- I thought of them as almost legendary artifacts of the past, and there was one right in front of me. Naturally I had to experience it, and I'm glad I didn't miss it.

Yes!  In those same years my friends and I were in high school.  We would travel in to "the city" from Queens for Broadway matinees on Saturdays.  We would get student rush tickets for $2 or $5.  And we would lunch at the Automat at 47th and Broadway.  Probably same one you went to.  Did not know you were in an Army band, Rinaldo!  That's impressive.  I guess you played the saxophone, judging from your icon.

Edited November 18, 2022 by EtheltoTillie

[giovannif7]

6 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

I really enjoyed a movie I saw last night on TCM. The Last of Shelia. It was one of the first of the gather them together to see whodunnit films. 

I saw TLOS in the theaters when it was first released, and loved how different it was than the heteronormative pablum the majority of the movies at the time were peddling. It wasn't until much later I realized it was co-written by Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim and actor pal Anthony Perkins, which explains a lot about the intricate puzzle plot, the Hollywood-focused power dynamics and the inclusion of sexual fluidity. It's been one of my go-to recommendations for decades.

[Rinaldo]

I'm a longtime fan of The Last of Sheila myself. It has its faults (the sound recording isn't always up to standard, and some of the secrets have dated rather badly), but I still love it and am always glad to see it again. (I always find myself surprised and impressed by how good Raquel Welch is in it. Dyan Cannon is of course no surprise.) Perkins and Sondheim later wrote another mystery script, and I'm sorry it was never made. 

Edited November 19, 2022 by Rinaldo