TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[roseha]

I saw Man's Castle ages ago in a revival house and remember really loving it, I am a big fan of Frank Borzage's work.

Loretta Young started in the silent era, I think at age 13 (!) in the Lon Chaney film Laugh Clown, Laugh.

[Rinaldo]

On 9/2/2023 at 12:12 AM, roseha said:

Loretta Young started in the silent era, I think at age 13 (!) in the Lon Chaney film Laugh Clown, Laugh.

She is actually said to have begun at 3 or 4 as a child extra, but I agree that it makes more sense to start at a point where she's recognizable.

[voiceover]

As the thread sportsball enthusiast, I must note that tonight’s NFL theme was a good time.

I’ll have to rewatch Paper Lion on the app, but at least I caught my favorite moment:  Alan Alda-as-George Plimpton-as-Lions QB, lining up behind his guard — instead of his center — for the snap.  That will never not be funny.

North Dallas Forty is another one I hadn’t seen in years, and it was better than I remembered: from GD Spradlin’s bastard of a head coach, to Charles Durning’s badgering, hilarious assistant, to real-life player John Matuszak.  Mac Davis is a hoot as the Don Meredith-esque QB.  His angry rant in the huddle during the championship game is as inspiring as the opening of Patton (but wayyy more violent & obscene).

But the film belongs to Nick Nolte, who brings star wide receiver Phil Elliott to…*excruciating life.  Watch him prepare for a game, or just get out of bed in the morning.  He makes you feel every twinge, creak, and ache (I’ve actually had that needle-to-the-knee injection, and Nick’s reaction to it is absolutely, exactly, horribly, right).

His plea for his job near the end is as emotional as I’ve ever seen him get onscreen.  Seeing him reduce Spradlin to near-tears of empathy is an experience.

Edited September 6, 2023 by voiceover

[Tom Holmberg]

13 hours ago, voiceover said:

I’ll have to rewatch Paper Lion on the app, but at least I caught my favorite moment:  Alan Alda-as-George Plimpton-as-Lions QB, lining up behind his guard — instead of his center — for the snap.  That will never not be funny.

Tried to watch this, bur being asportual, I couldn't sit through it all.  I thought Alan Alda did a decent job channeling George Plimpton.  Some on IMDB complain about his performance but it seemed to be close to Plimpton's calm, cool and collected aristocratic personality.

[EtheltoTillie]

I'm not a football fan so Football Day was a mixed bag for me.   I caught the end of North Dallas Forty, the big speech by Nick Nolte, and it was pretty impressive.  I will probably go back to the beginning and watch his famous opening scene of being all knocked about and unable to move.

For me the revelation was Semi-Tough.  Hilarious spoof of EST (with Bert Convy) and Rolfing (called Pelfing--with Lotte Lenya).  Ron Silver played the Russian field goal kicker.  Brian Dennehy was unrecognizable as a big doofus.  The main characters were the trio of Jill Clayburgh (team owner's daughter) and football players Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristoffersen.  They had a Jules and Jim triangle.  It was a lot of fun.  Burt Reynolds was really in his prime.  Kristoffersen did a funny spoof of a deodorant ad that mimicked Reynolds's famous Cosmopolitan Magazine pose.  The last scene was a runaway bride reminiscent of The Graduate.  Oh, and there's also Robert Preston as Clayburgh's father, and Carl Weathers and Richard Masur. 

Edited September 6, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[Rinaldo]

On 9/6/2023 at 5:43 PM, EtheltoTillie said:

For me the revelation was Semi-Tough. 

This has repeatedly been a fun surprise for me (I saw in in a theater, and once or twice since on cable, and it surprised me each time). It comes on as a sports movie, but it turns out to be a combo: satire of trendy self-help techniques, and easygoing triangle story (the Jules et Jim comparison is right on -- it's sometimes less a rivalry than 3 old pals hanging out, "two guys and a gal"). And the supporting cast is, as @EtheltoTillie listed, a delight -- it's always a joy to see the great Lotte Lenya get some screen time, and the same goes for Robert Preston (of course he'd had some big movie opportunities, but not much in the years leading up to this movie).

And it's also a reminder that for a few years, Jill Clayburgh was a bona fide movie star; in the end, apparently she didn't want it above all else, as one kind of has to to maintain that status (plus, her friends say in their memoirs, she became devoted to motherhood and enjoyed that more).

Edited September 9, 2023 by Rinaldo

[Milburn Stone]

Watched the first twenty minutes or so of Some Came Running on Watch TCM. This movie has a power over me that I can't explain. No matter how many times I see it, it pulls me back in. Somebody tell me what it is.

[Tom Holmberg]

1 hour ago, Milburn Stone said:

Somebody tell me what it is

It's a great movie!

[EtheltoTillie]

It was apparently James Caan Day recently, with two films left on Watch TCM. 

PSA: you have two days to catch the little known/seen Rabbit, Run, based on the Updike novel.  Never even knew they filmed this.  A really bizarre film, IMO.  The dialogue seemed so strange at times.  Things I can't imagine real people would say.  Plot points also.  The old clergyman with the young hot wife?  Updike apparently has a thing for religion as a theme.   I haven't read the novel, as I tried to read it and failed years ago.  Not an Updike fan.  Updike is a good comparison with Richard Russo, as they both write about struggling Rust Belt characters.  It's also like British kitchen sink dramas.

Better was Hide In Plain Sight, the only film ever directed by Caan.  He did a good job, I thought, with the made for TV type plot (torn from real headlines).  His experience in The Godfather clearly stood him in good stead directing the mobsters.  This film is available until early October, and there's an intro from Mank on the app. 

 

Edited September 8, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[EtheltoTillie]

Time for a rewatch of Some Came Running.

[benteen]

On Monday night, they are doing Leo McCarey films and they're starting out with a favorite of mine, Make Way for Tomorrow.

[EtheltoTillie]

5 hours ago, benteen said:

On Monday night, they are doing Leo McCarey films and they're starting out with a favorite of mine, Make Way for Tomorrow.

Oh, I've posted about that before.  I cannot rewatch it.  It's too sad.  But if you've never seen it, you should try it. 

[Rinaldo]

7 hours ago, benteen said:

On Monday night, they are doing Leo McCarey films

Yes, and I look forward to them as he's someone I've only recently become substantively aware of (beyond recognizing the name when it comes up in credits). 

And during the day on Monday, we have a series of biopics of writers of classic American popular song: Starting at 6:45 a.m., we get Cole Porter, Gus Kahn, Jack Norworth, Rodgers & Hart, Sigmund Romberg, and George Gershwin, one after the other. Questionable historical reliability at times, for sure, but tons of good music. And questionable-but-fun casting too, with, as the respective composers (OK, Kahn was a lyricist), Cary Grant, Danny Thomas, Dennis Morgan, Tom Drake (with Mickey Rooney), Jose Ferrer, and Robert Alda. And two helpings of Alexis Smith in fictitious partnering roles (Porter's actual wife's name but of course erasing his actual orientation; and a totally invented girlfriend for Gershwin).

[Milburn Stone]

13 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

And during the day on Monday, we have a series of biopics of writers of classic American popular song: Starting at 6:45 a.m., we get Cole Porter, Gus Kahn, Jack Norworth, Rodgers & Hart, Sigmund Romberg, and George Gershwin, one after the other. Questionable historical reliability at times, for sure, but tons of good music. And questionable-but-fun casting too...

I've always had the impression (who knows where I got it) that Night and Day and Rhapsody in Blue were terrible movies in a way that Words and Music is not. Terrible beyond the risibly unfactual. But you're suggesting that they have their merits, so I will have to dismantle the firewall that has kept me from ever watching them.

[Mindthinkr]

Last night I saw Imitation of Life was on. I thought I had watched it before and I had, but what I saw was the later version (1959) with Lana Turner. I’m so glad I did the rewatch last night because I think I liked the 1934 version with Claudette Colbert better. 

[EtheltoTillie]

Speaking of musical biopics, there was Song Without End, about Liszt, starring Dirk Bogarde.  It has a LOT of piano solo scenes.  It otherwise feels very stagy.

[EtheltoTillie]

I tried watching Honeysuckle Rose last night, but it was so draggy I turned it off during the extended party scene at the beginning.  It seemed like a lot of stoned behavior was going on in front of a camera they just let run to capture whatever happened.

Does anyone have anything more positive to say?  I'm willing to go back and watch some more if it might be worth it. 

[EtheltoTillie]

More Dirk Bogarde!

Last night I watched Damn the Defiant! a new-to-me British naval picture.  Wow!!!!  Alec Guinness is the captain, and Bogarde is the nasty second in command.  The crew mutinies and there's lots more.  I love a British naval drama.  I've seen them all, Billy Budd, all three Bounties, Horatio Hornblower (TV and film) and even Master and Commander.  This one really showed things in the most brutal light, more so than Billy Budd and the Bounty pictures.  Highly recommended.

Next was Libel!, an interesting plot, where Martin Guerre and Scapegoat (I love the version with Matthew Rhys) meet Random Harvest.  Dirk Bogarde plays two parts, a lord with amnesia and a sleazy con artist who looks exactly like him.  Also highly recommended.  Peter Ustinov and (edit)  Wilfrid Hyde-White are the dueling attorneys at the libel trial.  Olivia De Havilland is the wife. 

Edited September 14, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[EtheltoTillie]

Speaking of Wilfrid Hyde-White, there was a short-lived sitcom called The Associates in the late 70s with Martin Short as one of the new attorneys.  The old partner was played by Wilfrid Hyde-White.  In a miracle of crossover casting, one day Professor Kingsfield, John Houseman himself, comes to reminisce with his old friend (it was a Paper Chase spinoff, so not totally surprising).  Hysterically funny.  I have remembered that episode since 1980.  I was able to rewatch it recently.  You might find it somewhere.  I can't find a YouTube link right now.  It's episode 7, per IMDB. 

Edited September 14, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[EtheltoTillie]

Okay, here's episode 1 of The Associates.  The last line is fantastic. 

 

On 9/9/2023 at 11:39 AM, benteen said:

On Monday night, they are doing Leo McCarey films and they're starting out with a favorite of mine, Make Way for Tomorrow.

Did anyone end up watching this one?  Where are the teary reactions? 

[EtheltoTillie]

Tonight is the William Friedkin tribute. 

[Charlie Baker]

In the introduction to tonight's showing of The French Connection,  Ben pointedly said it was the original theatrical version.  And so it was, not the one  described in the  linked article  I posted in July.

When Censors Tamper with Classic Films

That's the TCM we know and love. Bravo!

[Charlie Baker]

Last night I happened on the evening tribute to Ellen Drew, a name not familiar to me. I wound up watching the first entry,  Christmas in July.  This was written and directed by Preston Sturges, and I had never seen it.  It's a swift farce about a  young working class stiff and dreamer, played by a very ingratiating Dick Powell, who's led to believe he won a big cash prize in a slogan contest.  Sturges gets in some gentle spoofing of consumerism and business and provides funny banter and bits. Plus there's an across-the-board wonderful assortment of character actors in the supporting roles doing their thing.  Another nice discovery.

Unfortunately it, and the second Drew movie, The Baron of Arizona, which i didn't see, aren't on Watch TCM.  Baron has Vincent Price in a non-horror lead as a wily real-estate swindler/investor in the 1800s, and it's written and directed by Samuel Fuller.

The third Ellen Drew picture is on Watch TCM, a  horror item titled Isle of the Dead with Boris Karloff, and it sounds intriguing enough to check out.

In other news, today is Greta Garbo's birthday, and the daytime schedule reflects that.

 

 

[Wiendish Fitch]

56 minutes ago, Charlie Baker said:

The third Ellen Drew picture is on Watch TCM, a  horror item titled Isle of the Dead with Boris Karloff, and it sounds intriguing enough to check out.

Isle of the Dead is my #1 favorite Val Lewton flick, and let's just say events from recent years make it feel more relevant than ever. Boris Karloff is predictably great, and Ellen Drew brings dignity and backbone to the standard ingenue role. 

57 minutes ago, Charlie Baker said:

In other news, today is Greta Garbo's birthday, and the daytime schedule reflects that.

Ah, the Great Garbo! I recently re-watched Camille. Yeah, the melodrama is a bit much (and parts of it haven't aged all that great) but... darn it all, it's just so pretty! Camille was said to be Garbo's favorite of her films. MGM made the most consistently lovely black and white films of its day (Maytime is also a notable example). 

[graybrown bird]

Anna Christie was the first Garbo film I ever saw.  I was in college in the late 1960s, and reveling in all the classic old movies shown in small makeshift venues around campus by the university's film society.  Her presence and inflection made her first line immortal: "Gimme a viskey, and don't be stingy, baby."

[Tom Holmberg]

Tonite, or actually tomorrow A.M., TCM is running "The Damned" a very bizarre, depraved Luchino Visconti film about a wealthy German family during the Nazi era.  Worth watching once if you haven't seen it.

[mariah23]

3 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

Tonite, or actually tomorrow A.M., TCM is running "The Damned" a very bizarre, depraved Luchino Visconti film about a wealthy German family during the Nazi era.  Worth watching once if you haven't seen it.

Watch for Helmut Berger who died in May.

[Tom Holmberg]

2 hours ago, mariah23 said:

Watch for Helmut Berger who died in May.

I liked him as Fantomas.

[Milburn Stone]

TCM adjacent...Watched Blanche Fury on the Criterion streaming channel. Whoa! They have it under the grouping British Noir and that's as good a genre to put the film as any.

It's a pretty darn good story. Here are some other reasons to watch it.

1) Valerie Hobson is a goddess in this. I'm not sure I've ever seen a more beautiful presence in a movie. I was half-afraid I might turn to stone from gazing at her.

2) A very good score by someone named Clifton Parker whom I'm sure I should be more familiar with! At this point I seldom hear a score that impresses me that isn't from someone I already know. I don't know this Clifton Parker from the realm of serious or light British classical music, either. @Rinaldo, you probably are familiar with him.

3) Breathtaking Technicolor photography by a team consisting of Guy Green, Geoffrey Unsworth, and Oswald Morris. 

 

[EtheltoTillie]

On 9/19/2023 at 9:07 AM, Tom Holmberg said:

Tonite, or actually tomorrow A.M., TCM is running "The Damned" a very bizarre, depraved Luchino Visconti film about a wealthy German family during the Nazi era.  Worth watching once if you haven't seen it.

Part of Dirk Bogarde tribute. Three in a row.  Darling, The Night Porter and The Damned. 

I watched Darling—excellent. Can’t watch the Night Porter. Too disturbing. Recording The Damned. 

[Tom Holmberg]

12 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Part of Dirk Bogarde tribute. Three in a row.  Darling, The Night Porter and The Damned. 

I watched Darling—excellent. Can’t watch the Night Porter. Too disturbing. Recording The Damned. 

The Damned might be too disturbing as well.

[EtheltoTillie]

18 minutes ago, Tom Holmberg said:

The Damned might be too disturbing as well.

I was prepared for that.  Will try watching over the weekend. 

There was more Dirk Bogarde in A Bridge Too Far, which I dipped into last night.  Even James Caan again.  And a million other stars.  It was very hard to follow, as it was mostly a lot of very realistic battle scenes.  A very tragic story. 

[EtheltoTillie]

20 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

TCM adjacent...Watched Blanche Fury on the Criterion streaming channel. Whoa! They have it under the grouping British Noir and that's as good a genre to put the film as any.

It's a pretty darn good story. Here are some other reasons to watch it.

1) Valerie Hobson is a goddess in this. I'm not sure I've ever seen a more beautiful presence in a movie. I was half-afraid I might turn to stone from gazing at her.

2) A very good score by someone named Clifton Parker whom I'm sure I should be more familiar with! At this point I seldom hear a score that impresses me that isn't from someone I already know. I don't know this Clifton Parker from the realm of serious or light British classical music, either. @Rinaldo, you probably are familiar with him.

3) Breathtaking Technicolor photography by a team consisting of Guy Green, Geoffrey Unsworth, and Oswald Morris. 

 

I'm going to try to catch this movie.  I looked up Hobson, and I realize she's the gal who played grown-up Estella in Great Expectations.  She may be very beautiful, but she was so jarring as the sudden replacement for IMO even more beautiful Jean Simmons, that I didn't appreciate her. 

[Rinaldo]

5 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I'm going to try to catch this movie.  I looked up Hobson, and I realize she's the gal who played grown-up Estella in Great Expectations.  She may be very beautiful, but she was so jarring as the sudden replacement for IMO even more beautiful Jean Simmons, that I didn't appreciate her. 

I've seen Valerie Hobson in a few things, and she generally seems strikingly beautiful (in that upper-class English way) but a dull actress. A partial exception was The Card (which TCM showed a couple of years ago; I think it's also on YouTube intact), in which she's lively and fun, alongside Alec Guiness, Glynis Johns, and a 20-year-old Petula Clark. I'm told she's remarkable in The Rocking Horse Winner (a film of the DH Lawrence story), but I've never had the chance to see it. She was also, as a matter of stage history, London's first Anna in The King and I. 

But yes, in Great Expectations she's a very poor trade for the incandescent young Jean Simmons when Estella grows up (I'd much prefer if Simmons had continued into the adult character, even alongside the boys changing actors as they age).

[EtheltoTillie]

@Rinaldo I caught The Card a couple of years ago myself.  What a quirky movie!  

I just watched the end on YouTube.  This is too good a concidence not to add:  The Lord who picks up Glynis Johns at the end is played by none other than Wilfrid Hyde-White (uncredited, apparently). 

Edited September 22, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[Crashcourse]

I watched Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds last night, and I couldn't help wondering what the age gap was supposed to be between Rod Taylor's character and his little sister, because she looked more like his daughter. 

I was bummed about Susanne Pleshette getting killed by the birds.  She should have moved to another town instead of mooning over Rod Taylor in Bodega Bay. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

17 minutes ago, Crashcourse said:

I watched Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds last night, and I couldn't help wondering what the age gap was supposed to be between Rod Taylor's character and his little sister, because she looked more like his daughter. 

I was bummed about Susanne Pleshette getting killed by the birds.  She should have moved to another town instead of mooning over Rod Taylor in Bodega Bay. 

I'm sorry, but I think The Birds is utterly overrated.  I find it so boring, and Tippi Hedren is such a charisma vacuum, and I 100% agree about Suzanne Pleshette's Annie. So sweet, so vibrant, yet wasting away in Bodega Bay.

Anyone else always forget that Jessica "Miss Daisy" Tandy is in this movie? I do.

Yes, the age difference between Rod Taylor's character (he's so dull I can't be bothered to remember his name) and his sister is awkwardly wide, but that's hardly the worst I've seen. Fred Astaire and Jane Powell play brother and sister in Royal Wedding... and they were a good 30 years apart! I can suspend my disbelief, but only so much (still a cute movie, though)!

[SomeTameGazelle]

1 hour ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Fred Astaire and Jane Powell play brother and sister in Royal Wedding... and they were a good 30 years apart! I can suspend my disbelief, but only so much (still a cute movie, though)!

I don't think as much about that age gap (Fred has always read as old to me in every part, so I just assume he is meant to be younger) as I do about how odd it is that all of their sibling act appears to be based on romantic storylines. 

I just got around to watching The Glass Slipper with Leslie Caron. I had not known what to expect so it was interesting to see a sulky Cinderella who gets to know the Prince before the ball and whose fairy godmother appears not to use magic. I had also imagined it was a musical but I guess it only has the one (lovely) song and several dance interludes. It wasn't perfect but I enjoyed it, especially Estelle Winwood as the fairy godmother. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

38 minutes ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

I don't think as much about that age gap (Fred has always read as old to me in every part, so I just assume he is meant to be younger) as I do about how odd it is that all of their sibling act appears to be based on romantic storylines. 

It probably wasn't much different than Fred's partnership with his sister Adele.

 

40 minutes ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

I just got around to watching The Glass Slipper with Leslie Caron. I had not known what to expect so it was interesting to see a sulky Cinderella who gets to know the Prince before the ball and whose fairy godmother appears not to use magic. I had also imagined it was a musical but I guess it only has the one (lovely) song and several dance interludes. It wasn't perfect but I enjoyed it, especially Estelle Winwood as the fairy godmother. 

The Glass Slipper is very cute and different. Leslie Caron said she based her performance off of Marlon Brando's in On the Waterfront. I do hope they release The Glass Slipper on blu ray, because the costumes at the ball are just lovely. 

[Spartan Girl]

18 minutes ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

The Glass Slipper is very cute and different. Leslie Caron said she based her performance off of Marlon Brando's in On the Waterfront. I do hope they release The Glass Slipper on blu ray, because the costumes at the ball are just lovely. 

I loved Leslie’s rebel version of Cinderella. There are very few versions that take on just how all the abuse might negatively affect her, it’s always “she persevered despite it all” which Leslie eventually does, but it’s nice to let her be a little angry and bitter—who wouldn’t be?

Edited September 22, 2023 by Spartan Girl

[Wiendish Fitch]

27 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

I loved Leslie’s rebel version of Cinderella. There are very few versions that take on just how all the abuse might negatively affect her, it’s always “she persevered despite it all” which Leslie eventually does, but it’s nice to let her be a little angry and bitter—who wouldn’t be?

Hey, if anyone's earned the right to be less than a peach once in a while, it's our gal Cindy!

Thank goodness her performance is memorable because Michael Wilding (aka the second Mr. Elizabeth Taylor) as the prince? Not so much.

[Spartan Girl]

40 minutes ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Hey, if anyone's earned the right to be less than a peach once in a while, it's our gal Cindy!

Thank goodness her performance is memorable because Michael Wilding (aka the second Mr. Elizabeth Taylor) as the prince? Not so much.

Yeah, I would have liked the movie a lot more if they had a better prince.

[Rinaldo]

I don't find The Birds boring, exactly... but it does irk me, because I'm always waiting for an explanation of just why the birds have chosen to behave this way at this point in time. I don't require a rational real-life reason -- it can be a magic amulet or a volcanic eruption or something equally silly in relation to the established world -- but I do need something. (I have this problem with other such stories/movies/plays too. Authors tend to say "Oh, it's better not to try to explain," but I strongly disagree.)

4 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

It probably wasn't much different than Fred's partnership with his sister Adele.

Indeed, a couple of times onstage they did play romantic partners -- which indicates how innocently romance was presented in musicals in the 'teens of the 20th century. (And even in movies, Fred's vibes seemed idealistically romantic rather than erotic.) Mostly, of course, they did play siblings or pals.

As to sibling age gap in movies, this doesn't feel that extreme for me (partly because Fred always seems ageless to some extent -- and leaving aside that Powell was a last-minute emergency casting, preceded on the movie by June Allyson, then Judy Garland). I find myself more bemused by the sibling age gaps in The Game (16 years) or Rain Man (25 years).

[Sarah 103]

14 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

I don't find The Birds boring, exactly... but it does irk me, because I'm always waiting for an explanation of just why the birds have chosen to behave this way at this point in time.

Personally, I find it kind of creepy that you don't know why it's suddenly happening. The fact that there is no reason, it's just a random freak occurrence of nature going crazy, makes it more disturbing, but that's just me.  

[Rinaldo]

48 minutes ago, Sarah 103 said:

Personally, I find it kind of creepy that you don't know why it's suddenly happening. The fact that there is no reason, it's just a random freak occurrence of nature going crazy, makes it more disturbing, but that's just me.  

Oh, you have loads of company. Most reactions I've read over the years seem to feel that way. But I don't; I find it "disturbing" in the sense of "irksome." And I wanted to vent about it just this once, knowing that I'm an oddball but that this forum is a friendly environment.

[mariah23]

51 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

Oh, you have loads of company. Most reactions I've read over the years seem to feel that way. But I don't; I find it "disturbing" in the sense of "irksome." And I wanted to vent about it just this once, knowing that I'm an oddball but that this forum is a friendly environment.

I need to vent too.  I hate that kid from Shane!  He’s so annoying!

And Fight Club sucked!

 

[Sarah 103]

7 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

Oh, you have loads of company. Most reactions I've read over the years seem to feel that way. But I don't; I find it "disturbing" in the sense of "irksome." And I wanted to vent about it just this once, knowing that I'm an oddball but that this forum is a friendly environment.

It's always nice to know I'm not alone. That being said, I can totally understand your viewpoint too. The first time I saw the movie I was kind of frustrated the question "why is this happening?" wasn't answered, but on a second viewing I decided it's actually better the question is left unanswered. 

As for venting, I have a whole mini-rant on the movie Grease that I am sure I have posted at some point so I won't repeat myself. 

Two classics that I cannot stand are Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (because the whole gosh, golly gee-whiz isn't America great attitude) makes me want to scream and break something, (although I do love Saunders wardrobe) and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. John knows what Joey is getting herself into if she marries him, he knows what's coming and the fact that he hasn't made that perfectly clear to her makes me angry.

Not related to my rant: Behind the scenes, it's a sad movie. I can't imagine what it must have been like for Katherine Hepburn to spend each day filming that movie wondering if Spencer Tracy would live to see another day. That must have been pure hell and torture for her. 

I feel like this post is kind of negative, so here is something positive. One of my favorite books of all time is Pictures At A Revolution by Mark Harris. I consider it a must read for any classic movie fan. Also, Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli by Mark Seal is one of my other favorite books. They are among the best production histories I have ever read. I read them and think with so many things that can go wrong, do go wrong, or could go wrong, it's amazing movies ever get made. 

Random Question related to classic movies: When did the shift from showing a letter on-screen as an insert (expecting the audience to read the letter) to having a voice-over (hearing the letter read by a character's voice) happen? 

[voiceover]

1 hour ago, Sarah 103 said:

I can't imagine what it must have been like for Katharine Hepburn to spend each day filming [Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?] wondering if Spencer Tracy would live to see another day.

From all I’ve read about those two — and it’s been a lot! I’ve always gathered that she somehow *knew he wouldn’t die before he finished filming.   Possibly a combination of his stubborn dedication to his craft, & her equally, stubbornly, willing it to be so.

Doesn’t mean it was all solemn.  Garson Kanin wrote about one of their clashes on this movie set:

After Hepburn reached a certain age, she became very self-conscious about what she felt was her “turkey neck” (check out any one of her films after 1950 — she’s always wearing either a high collar or a scarf).  She would move onscreen in a way that she thought would make her neck less noticeable…🤣

One day while they were rehearsing a scene together, she made her entrance and immediately knelt down.  An irritated Tracy asked why.  

“Spencer, I just thought it would be appropriate!”

” ‘Spehn-sah!’ “ he mocked.  “Christ! you sound like you’ve got a feather up your ass!”

So they ran it again, and this time she didn’t kneel.

Chiming in on The Birds debate: I saw it on late-night TV when I was 8 (IIRC, my parents had gone to bed & I’d sneaked back to watch).  It scared the bejesus out of me!  I had nightmares about that farmer’s eyes for weeks.   I was around the same age when The Mummy was on local access “Friday Creature Feature”, and I never quite got over watching Boris Karloff’s title character come back to life in those first ten minutes.

The scary movies of my childhood have managed to creep me out ever since.  And just as I despise modern-day villain origin stories, I think it’s far more terrifying *not to know the whys behind the bird attacks.  Thanks to Hitchcock, I side-eyed flocks of crows for years afterwards.

[Charlie Baker]

I've always liked The Birds,  even if it is not among my very favorite Hitchcocks. The why-is-this-happening question kind of bothered me, but I also went through a phase where I sided with the restaurant customer who blamed it on the presence of that decadent heiress Melanie.  The larger implication there was that the  bird uprising was somehow retribution for the behavior of humans.  That's probably laying too much heaviness on this movie.

I completely agree with @Sarah 103 about Pictures at a Revolution, a great book that thoroughly covers a fascinating period of transition in movies through examining the Best Picture Oscar nominees released in 1967.

[Bastet]

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner has some problems (it's too often simplistic, Hepburn's niece should never have been cast) but it certainly has its moments.  Spencer Tracy's final soliloquy and Katharine Hepburn's on-screen reaction to it are legendary, and Christina sending Hillary packing is one of my favorite scenes of all time: