TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[SomeTameGazelle]

I had never heard of The Sky's the Limit with Fred Astaire and Joan Leslie before. I guess it is about as plausible as the Astaire/Rogers plots I am familiar with but because I am not used to it it seems very odd. I am primarily thinking of the moment when Joan Leslie intends to perform solo for servicemen but Astaire horns in on the act so that they sing A Lot in Common With You as a duet while performing a smoothly choreographed routine together. I'm trying to think whether there is anything similar in his numbers with Ginger because I have it in my head that they would have played it so that you could see the part where it was originally a solo and where she resists or accommodates the intrusion. 

[Rinaldo]

11 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

it seems very odd. I am primarily thinking of the moment when Joan Leslie intends to perform solo for servicemen but Astaire horns in on the act so that they sing A Lot in Common With You as a duet while performing a smoothly choreographed routine together. I'm trying to think whether there is anything similar in his numbers with Ginger because I have it in my head that they would have played it so that you could see the part where it was originally a solo and where she resists or accommodates the intrusion. 

I think your perceptions are right on. Not all of Astaire's later movies are up to the standard established in the best of the Fred+Ginger ones. In this picture, uniquely as far as I can recall, he gets sole credit for choreography, which is interesting as a suggestion that the input of a collaborator (most notably Hermes Pan) may have been more important to his process than we sometimes think. That scene in which he inserts himself into Joan Leslie's number would indeed have been handled with more dramatic nuance in those earlier pictures (think of "I'll Be Hard To Handle" or "Let Yourself Go," in both of which the impromptu nature of the dance is made clear and enjoyable).

Another example in The Sky's the Limit is "One for My Baby," which Astaire himself described as "The best song specially written for me" (it's at least in the top tier, along with a few other great ones) -- it's certainly a great sequence in the movie, I'm not saying it isn't, but it hasn't remained iconic as so many others of his dances have. The song doesn't "belong" to him as many others do. We would more readily think of Frank Sinatra in connection with it, or maybe Ella Fitzgerald (admittedly maybe because, as a Harold Arlen / Johnny Mercer creation, it most of all needs soulful jazz-influenced vocalism). It's an odd picture altogether, I feel. 

Edited April 1, 2023 by Rinaldo

[voiceover]

Here I am, eyes at half-mast, tired beyond belief but unable to resist the allure of tonight’s Late Show, One Way Passage.  IIRC, I’m not the only one here, “unable to resist” rewatching a movie on TCM that I already own.

Watching Joan & Dan break their cocktail glasses against the bar, then take it in turn to set the stems to form an “x”, pings me over to another weepy fave, Now Voyager, and Jerry lighting both the cigs in his mouth before offering one to Charlotte.  Ah: the crashing symbolism of inanimate objects!! so sexy I could slide off my fainting couch.

Where I am, of course, perched & struggling to stay awake til the end.

[ratgirlagogo]

On 4/3/2023 at 1:37 AM, voiceover said:

Here I am, eyes at half-mast, tired beyond belief but unable to resist the allure of tonight’s Late Show, One Way Passage.  IIRC, I’m not the only one here, “unable to resist” rewatching a movie on TCM that I already own.

Yep! how many times.    I'd add that I love the secondary "comic" romance between Aline McMahon and Warren Hymer - and the satisfaction I feel with their happy ending helps with the grief I feel for the tragic ending of Kay Francis and William Powell, the primary couple.

[StatisticalOutlier]

Sigh.  I'm looking at the online monthly schedule for TCM and this is the schedule on Wednesday night:

9:45 pm  Brother Orchid

10:00 pm  Brother Orcid

11:30 pm  The Life of Emile Zola

11:45 pm  The Life of Emile Zola

1:45 am  The Story of Louis Pasteur

2:00 am  The Story of Louis Pasteur

and then a bunch of them are correct, as in just one showing, but then the next night it starts the duplicates 15 minutes apart again.  And then it doesn't happen again.

It's not a huge problem, because I know whatever the schedule is on my DirecTV is what matters, but I'm so sick of sloppy work like this.  You can bet that this would never happen on a printed schedule.  Somebody would notice. 

And I realize that this is more a subject for the TCM forums, but they closed those, so I'm venting here.

[Charlie Baker]

I don't know how much of the WB tribute I will be watching. But in passing I've noticed that they are evidently showing Looney Tunes between features (nice!). Also some of the interstitial features as lead-ins--like Melanie Griffith on Jean Harlow directly before Public Enemy and interview snippets from the irascible William A. Wellman  leading right into Safe in Hell. 

That's welcome, but the schedule snafus StatisticalOutlier cites? Ugh.

[mariah23]

1 hour ago, Charlie Baker said:

I don't know how much of the WB tribute I will be watching. But in passing I've noticed that they are evidently showing Looney Tunes between features (nice!). Also some of the interstitial features as lead-ins--like Melanie Griffith on Jean Harlow directly before Public Enemy and interview snippets from the irascible William A. Wellman  leading right into Safe in Hell. 

That's welcome, but the schedule snafus StatisticalOutlier cites? Ugh.

I do know that a Looney Tunes cartoon will air every night this month before the 8PM/7PM showing.

[ratgirlagogo]

12 hours ago, Charlie Baker said:

-like Melanie Griffith on Jean Harlow directly 

Melanie Griffith on Jean Harlow is one of the worst ones.  She repeats all of the old Hollywood Babylon nastiness, acknowledges that it may not be true,  and then just says that " this is the LEGEND of Harlow."

There's no excuse for this.  She died of a kidney failure that would have killed ANYONE in 1937, not because her mother was a Christian Scientist.   Paul Bern didn't kill himself because he had some kind of "deficient" penis, it's because he was a bigamist, which would have ruined her career.  Et cetera, et cetera.  Nasty lies don't help younger film fans appreciate her talent.

Even worse than Cher on Katharine Hepburn.

[Rinaldo]

20 hours ago, mariah23 said:

I do know that a Looney Tunes cartoon will air every night this month before the 8PM/7PM showing.

I caught a wonderful example of this, for the 11pm title on Monday, Page Miss Glory. It was preceded by a Merrie Melodies cartoon from the following year (1936), with the identical title. It even had the same music, turned into a song saluting Miss Glory (after it ended, I had to leave the room for a few minutes, while the 1935 film was introduced; when its main title started up, with the same music in the same key, I was startled enough to run back in to see if they were somehow playing the cartoon again). I can't imagine that there are many examples of this kind of direct quotation. The cartoon itself is well worth a look, as it features a credit for "Moderne design," and the Art Deco elegance of its lengthy dream sequence evokes the drawings of Peter Arno or John Held Jr. from the high-class magazines of the era.

[Charlie Baker]

My annual notice of the TCM Mega Birthday Day: Bette Davis, Spencer Tracy, Gregory Peck, Melvyn Douglas, Walter Huston all born on April 5. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 4/4/2023 at 12:19 PM, Charlie Baker said:

That's welcome, but the schedule snafus StatisticalOutlier cites? Ugh.

I don't know how long the multiple entries had been there, but it's been fixed.  I did have the foresight to screenshot a portion of it so if I went back and looked again and nothing was amiss, I'd have proof, to myself most importantly, that I saw what I saw. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

There's this movie whose description on my DirecTV on-screen grid always cracks me up, but I can't ever remember what it is.  I just noticed it's on in a few minutes:  "In This Our Life" starring Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland. 

The description:  "A wretched woman runs off with her sister's husband, for starters."  That "for starters" kills me.

[Charlie Baker]

Before the showing of The Treasure of Sierra Madre,  TCM showed a twenty-minute feature on John Huston, and thankfully it's included with the movie on Watch TCM should anyone care to check it out. It's got Danny Huston reading from John's memoir, and doing the man's voice quite well, and also some narration from Eddy Von Mueller that makes a case for JH's influence on filmmakers.  Worth a look. 

[Tom Holmberg]

Early morning Sat. April 22, they are showing "Start the Revolution Without Me" a sort of "Airplane"-like take off on historical romances, starring Gene Wilder and Donald Sutherland.  Has one of my favorite movie lines: Gene Wilder: "...One day I shall be King!" Donald Sutherland "And I shall be Queen!"

[bmoore4026]

OK, I checked the schedule for May and they're keeping the Saturday morning thing with the serial, cartoon, and then the movie.  But I see they got rid of Noir Alley along with TCM Underground.  Stupid merger ruining everything for everybody!

[mariah23]

Noir Alley is staying put.

33 minutes ago, bmoore4026 said:

OK, I checked the schedule for May and they're keeping the Saturday morning thing with the serial, cartoon, and then the movie.  But I see they got rid of Noir Alley along with TCM Underground.  Stupid merger ruining everything for everybody!

Noir Alley is staying put. 

[Tom Holmberg]

49 minutes ago, bmoore4026 said:

OK, I checked the schedule for May and they're keeping the Saturday morning thing with the serial, cartoon, and then the movie.  But I see they got rid of Noir Alley along with TCM Underground.  Stupid merger ruining everything for everybody!

Is the Saturday movie still one movie in a film series?

[bmoore4026]

On 4/12/2023 at 11:11 AM, Tom Holmberg said:

Is the Saturday movie still one movie in a film series?

Yes

[Tom Holmberg]

30 minutes ago, bmoore4026 said:

Yes

Now we can still hope they'll run the "Blondie" series

[ratgirlagogo]

10 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

Now we can still hope they'll run the "Blondie" series

I hate the Blondie films personally, but I like you so if they do run them I'll be happy for you, at least.

I do love Start the Revolution Without Me.

Edited April 14, 2023 by ratgirlagogo

[mariah23]

11 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

I hate the Blondie films personally, but I like you so if they do run them I'll be happy for you, at least.

I do love Start the Revolution Without Me.

If you watch the Blondie films through the little boys eyes, then it’s quite enjoyable.

This kid knows his parents are idiots.

[bmoore4026]

On 4/13/2023 at 3:05 PM, Tom Holmberg said:

Now we can still hope they'll run the "Blondie" series

I'm holding out hope for Torchy Blaine

[Milburn Stone]

10 hours ago, bmoore4026 said:

I'm holding out hope for Torchy Blaine

A local channel in Baltimore used to run the Henry Aldrich movies. I think they were Paramount's answer to the Andy Hardy series. As a kid I didn't think about any of that, I just really liked them. 

Would be interesting to find someone's doctoral dissertation comparing the two series. 

[roseha]

On 4/14/2023 at 10:18 PM, bmoore4026 said:

I'm holding out hope for Torchy Blaine

They seem to run the Torchy Blaines every few months, I think I"ve seen all the ones with Glenda Farrell.

[Tom Holmberg]

On 4/14/2023 at 9:18 PM, bmoore4026 said:

I'm holding out hope for Torchy Blaine

I thought they've done those already, but maybe I'm mixing it up with another series.

[Rinaldo]

1 hour ago, Tom Holmberg said:

I thought they've done those already, but maybe I'm mixing it up with another series.

They did do "Torchy Blaine" pretty recently.

[voiceover]

Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson warbling “My Rifle, My Pony, and Me” is one of my favorite “And then they burst into song!!” scenes in film.  Such moments in non-musicals always seem to spring from scenes where the characters’ bonds — even when unexpected; especially when unexpected! —  are healed and made fast.  Almost Famous has “Tiny Dancer”, sung by the members of Stillwater, their groupies, and the reporter.  Casablanca has “La Marseillaise”, which also proves to be the film’s big turning point (Rick doesn’t sing but he finally takes a side).

[Suzn]

On 4/12/2023 at 9:03 AM, Tom Holmberg said:

Early morning Sat. April 22, they are showing "Start the Revolution Without Me" a sort of "Airplane"-like take off on historical romances, starring Gene Wilder and Donald Sutherland.  Has one of my favorite movie lines: Gene Wilder: "...One day I shall be King!" Donald Sutherland "And I shall be Queen!"

I love that movie!  I don't think it ever got the attention it deserves.  That line is memorable - I can see the expression on Donald Sutherland's face with that line - hilarious!

[Tom Holmberg]

36 minutes ago, Suzn said:

I love that movie!  I don't think it ever got the attention it deserves.  That line is memorable - I can see the expression on Donald Sutherland's face with that line - hilarious!

"The Big Bus" is another overlooked pre-Airplane comedy. "You eat one lousy  foot and they call you a cannibal."

[EtheltoTillie]

Last night I watched the first half of the Tab Hunter documentary and then caught Battle Cry starring Tab Hunter.  I have to finish the doc, which is very interesting.  Tab was a good looking guy!  And I didn't know he was a singer. 

Battle Cry was like a Marine Corps Peyton Place with a few war scenes thrown in.  I really liked the cheesy melodrama. 

Edited April 20, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[bmoore4026]

Saw Batman (1989) all the way through for the first time tonight instead of just bits and pieces like I had before.  Loved it.  Best superhero movie hands down.  Sorry, Marvel, but Batman had something your movies severely lack - a memorable villain.  Had anyone but Jack Nicholson played the Joker, it would not have been has good.  In fact, it might be like the Marvel antagonists and be rather forgettable.

Also, how amazing was that set design?  I could actually feel how chilly Gotham looked.

And I loved the bit with the news anchors without make up or styled hair. 

[Fool to cry]

53 minutes ago, bmoore4026 said:

Saw Batman (1989) all the way through for the first time tonight instead of just bits and pieces like I had before.  Loved it.  Best superhero movie hands down.  Sorry, Marvel, but Batman had something your movies severely lack - a memorable villain.  Had anyone but Jack Nicholson played the Joker, it would not have been has good.  In fact, it might be like the Marvel antagonists and be rather forgettable.

Also, how amazing was that set design?  I could actually feel how chilly Gotham looked.

And I loved the bit with the news anchors without make up or styled hair. 

Seeing it always brings back memories of 1989 when I was 11. That Danny Elfman score is awesome and the Prince songs while not his best are still fun. Speaking of:

 

[benteen]

I caught the end of Superman and the first hour or so of Batman. I've watched Superman more than once since I picked up the awesome DVD they put out twenty years ago bit this was the first time I'd really watched Batman in years. It was very fun. It still makes me wish for a shared universe where Christopher Reeves and Michael Keaton were both onscreen together.

[mariah23]

TCM Remembers Harry Belafonte who died this morning at age 96.

[EtheltoTillie]

9 hours ago, mariah23 said:

TCM Remembers Harry Belafonte who died this morning at age 96.

I just heard a nice segment on NPR.  Several songs played. 

[BooksRule]

On 4/19/2023 at 1:11 PM, Tom Holmberg said:

"The Big Bus" is another overlooked pre-Airplane comedy. "You eat one lousy  foot and they call you a cannibal."

I have that movie on DVD.  I might have to give it another watch.  It's been a while. It had some pretty funny moments.

[Fool to cry]

14 hours ago, BooksRule said:

I have that movie on DVD.  I might have to give it another watch.  It's been a while. It had some pretty funny moments.

One of the things I like about 70s disaster movies is they featured old movie stars like the Towering Inferno had Jennifer Jones and Fred Astaire. Funny how aging made Fred more lovable because to me young Fred Astaire had the male equivalent of RBF!

[StatisticalOutlier]

Is it possible I've aged out of Led Zeppelin?  I watched The Song Remains the Same on Friday for the first time and didn't like it at all.  The concert footage was merely okay, the backstage stuff was mildly interesting, and the "home" and fantasy sequences were pretentious and boring.  It actually reminded me of Spinal Tap, and not in a good way.

That said, I have not aged out of an appreciation of Robert Plant's torso.  That man, in his mid-20s, was made for very low hiphuggers and an open shirt.  So effortless--no glaring ab muscles from hours in the gym, but he never had to think about sucking in his gut.  However, I came away with the impression that he did think a lot about where to place his wiener in those hiphuggers.  That's show business, I guess.

I managed not to get too sucked in to Woodstock, since it was so late.  But I watched bits as I FFed through, and all of I'm Going Home by Ten Years After, marveling at how every single thing on the screen, especially during the split screens, was a choice someone made.  Then I watched Ben's intro or outro, and he noted that the editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, was nominated for an Oscar.  Mr. Outlier blurts out, "Nominated??"  A quick internet consult reveals that Patton won for editing.  I don't remember the movie at all, except the opening scene.  It must have had some very impressive editing.

 

[Tom Holmberg]

20 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

I managed not to get too sucked in to Woodstock, since it was so late.  But I watched bits as I FFed through, and all of I'm Going Home by Ten Years After, marveling at how every single thing on the screen, especially during the split screens, was a choice someone made.  Then I watched Ben's intro or outro, and he noted that the editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, was nominated for an Oscar. 

 

I saw "Woodstock" in a theater about 10 years ago or so and was surprised by the large number of the theater patrons around me complaining about Ten Years After, acting bored, yawning and making rude comments. Generational?

[Tom Holmberg]

21 hours ago, Fool to cry said:

One of the things I like about 70s disaster movies is they featured old movie stars like the Towering Inferno had Jennifer Jones and Fred Astaire. Funny how aging made Fred more lovable because to me young Fred Astaire had the male equivalent of RBF!

"The Big Bus" has Ruth Gordon as "The Old Lady"

[annzeepark914]

I was a TCM addict this past weekend: Friday:Woodstock; Saturday: Crossing Delancy; and Sunday: The Right Stuff (that Sam Shepard was so handsome 🤗). 

[Bastet]

On 4/30/2023 at 9:01 AM, Fool to cry said:

One of the things I like about 70s disaster movies is they featured old movie stars like the Towering Inferno had Jennifer Jones and Fred Astaire. Funny how aging made Fred more lovable because to me young Fred Astaire had the male equivalent of RBF!

5 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

"The Big Bus" has Ruth Gordon as "The Old Lady"

Airport 1975 has George Kennedy (of course), as well as Charlton Heston, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Gloria Swanson (in her final film, her first in over 20 years - a role Greta Garbo turned down), Dana Andrews, Martha Scott, Sid Caesar, and Myrna Loy (in a role her friend Joan Crawford turned down).  Loy signed on even before her part was written, for the opportunity to work with Caesar.  They were supposed to largely improvise their scenes, but he turned out to be painfully shy and nothing was happening.  She'd go into his trailer and try to draw him out, and they eventually got their scenes shot. 

It's a terrible movie, but fun to watch -- once.  (Which is how I feel about so many of the '70s disaster movies; I think The Poseidon Adventure is the only one I've ever watched multiple times.)  Who doesn't want to see Myrna Loy drinking with Jerry Stiller, Conrad Janis, and Norman Fell?

[Annber03]

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

It's a terrible movie, but fun to watch -- once.  (Which is how I feel about so many of the '70s disaster movies; I think The Poseidon Adventure is the only one I've ever watched multiple times.)  

I think I mentioned it somewhere here once, but my parents have told me about how they went to see Poseidon Adventure on their first date :D. They spent much of the time going all "Mystery Science Theater" on it :p. 

[ratgirlagogo]

On 4/30/2023 at 12:23 PM, StatisticalOutlier said:

the editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, was nominated for an Oscar.  Mr. Outlier blurts out, "Nominated??"  

Sorry I did  not get you here.  Did you think she was, or was not, worthy of an Oscar for Woodstock?

Edited May 2, 2023 by ratgirlagogo
typos

[Tom Holmberg]

16 hours ago, Bastet said:

It's a terrible movie, but fun to watch -- once.  (Which is how I feel about so many of the '70s disaster movies; I think The Poseidon Adventure is the only one I've ever watched multiple times.)  Who doesn't want to see Myrna Loy drinking with Jerry Stiller, Conrad Janis, and Norman Fell?

Though it had largely bad reviews when released at the end of the disaster movie cycle, I like "Cassandra Crossing" (despite O.J.).

 

I saw "Poseidon Adventure" at a sneak preview.  I was working in the third sub-basement of Marshall Field's at the time.

Edited May 2, 2023 by Tom Holmberg

[StatisticalOutlier]

9 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

Quote

the editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, was nominated for an Oscar.  Mr. Outlier blurts out, "Nominated??"  

Sorry I did  not get you here.  Did you think she was, or was not, worthy of an Oscar for Woodstock?

He meant merely nominated.  I'm gonna have to watch Patton if it ever comes around again just to see what better editing than Woodstock looks like. 

 

On 5/1/2023 at 9:09 AM, Tom Holmberg said:

I saw "Woodstock" in a theater about 10 years ago or so and was surprised by the large number of the theater patrons around me complaining about Ten Years After, acting bored, yawning and making rude comments. Generational?

Wow.  I always feel like I need a cigarette after watching it.

You never know about people's reactions.  When my brother saw This is Spinal Tap on its initial release, there were a couple of girls sitting behind him who kept complaining about how awful the clothes were, how much they hated them, until they left mid-movie.

But back to Woodstock, I don't know if it's good or bad, but I just can't watch Joe Cocker without seeing John Belushi.

[Rinaldo]

1 hour ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

He meant merely nominated.  I'm gonna have to watch Patton if it ever comes around again just to see what better editing than Woodstock looks like. 

As with so many Academy Awards over the years, it was likely a matter of which movie seemed more Worthy to the voters. To choose Patton over Woodstock was to choose solid American values over those filthy naked hippies.

1 hour ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

When my brother saw This is Spinal Tap on its initial release, there were a couple of girls sitting behind him who kept complaining about how awful the clothes were, how much they hated them, until they left mid-movie.

That reminds me of the girls sitting behind me at Blazing Saddles when it was new. When Madeline Kahn began her devastating impression of Marlene Dietrich's vocalism in "I'm tired," one of them muttered, "Ew, she doesn't have a very good voice, does she?"

Edited May 3, 2023 by Rinaldo
...several times to try to get rid of that silly line break after "To", but without success

[Fool to cry]

17 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

As with so many Academy Awards over the years, it was likely a matter of which movie seemed more Worthy to the voters. To choose Patton over Woodstock was to choose solid American values over those filthy naked hippies.

Although Let it Be did win "Best Original Song Score".  If the Beatles weren't about to break up they could have accepted in person!

My favorite part of Woodstock movie ever since I first saw it on PBS in the 90s will always be Santana's "Soul Sacrifice". Not only for the fantastic performance but the reaction shots of the crowd hearing this new band from San Francisco for the first time.

[Charlie Baker]

First night of William Powell as Star of the Month.  Two collaborations with his close second finest screen partner, Kay Francis, Jewel Robbery and the much-loved One Way Passage.   Also in there: Manhattan Melodrama.   Much more to come over the course of the month.

[StatisticalOutlier]

15 minutes ago, Fool to cry said:

My favorite part of Woodstock movie ever since I first saw it on PBS in the 90s will always be Santana's "Soul Sacrifice". Not only for the fantastic performance but the reaction shots of the crowd hearing this new band from San Francisco for the first time.

I didn't know Santana's first album hadn't come out yet when they played Woodstock.  I'll definitely look for the crowd reaction next time I watch the movie.  If I can take my eyes off the drummer--that kid was mesmerizing.