TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[EtheltoTillie]

Gee, too bad they're not showing Hot Rods to Hell on Jeanne Crain Day.  That's a campy hoot and reteams her with Dana Andrews. 

I also like Cheaper by the Dozen. 

[Sarah 103]

2 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

I would love a Thelma Ritter Day. I wonder if why it hasn't happened is TCM maintaining too rigid a definition of "star." I suppose her name has never appeared above a movie's title. (If it ever did, I'd love to know it.) But she brought more pleasure in more movies than 98% of all "stars." Maybe TCM needs to declare January "Winter Under the Character Actors."

Since many character actors tend to play more comedic roles, that would be the perfect theme for April. 

[Charlie Baker]

They did do a Character Actors Star of the Month a while back, with varied selections from week to week; I think Edward Everett Horton and S.Z. Sakall were among them.

[Milburn Stone]

3 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

It did happen, so one needn't speculate. Here's an Osborne intro from 2014 for The Mating Season.

His intro makes me really want to see The Mating Season!

[Tom Holmberg]

42 minutes ago, Charlie Baker said:

They did do a Character Actors Star of the Month a while back, with varied selections from week to week; I think Edward Everett Horton and S.Z. Sakall were among them.

Two good ones would be Frank Silvera and Royal Dano, they were always watchable no matter the movie (or TV show).

[Rinaldo]

1 hour ago, Milburn Stone said:

His intro makes me really want to see The Mating Season!

It's turned up from time to time. I saw it as part of my mop-up of the Mitchell Leisen oeuvre. Unlike others of his late-in-career films, this one stands up pretty well, though the central premise (new bride Gene Tierney assumes that her visiting mother-in-law is the new cook, and said MIL chooses never to correct her) takes a lot of swallowing. It does give Ritter a meatier role than usual, and despite the movie not being considered a major release it won her one of her Oscar nominations. And the cast is good -- Tierney, John Lund, Miriam Hopkins, et al.

Anyway, I rather expect that some SUTS soon will give Thelma Ritter a day again.

[EtheltoTillie]

I really enjoy The Mating Season, as I'm always a sucker for a good rom-com.  However, I have one objection to the plot--

Spoiler

which is that John Lund mistreats his old girlfriend when he takes up with Gene Tierney.  That is poorly explained. 

 

It definitely turns up from time to time--that's how I first saw it. 

[EtheltoTillie]

Oh, looky here--it's a YouTube video of The Mating Season!

 

 

[voiceover]

IIRC, Mary Boland had a day in August some years ago.   I’ll watch anything she was in, even if I have to mute the rest of the movie.

Because it can’t be said often enough: “Get me a bromide!…and put some gin it it.”

(ADR to Clare, Anita, Jane, & @Rinaldo, but that line will always belong to Mary)

[Tom Holmberg]

I have a soft spot for "Beau Brummell", Peter Ustinov's Prinny cracks me up.  "Who's your fat friend?"

[Suzn]

Thelma Ritter so deserves a day!  My favorite role of hers is in All About Eve and the best scene ends with her and Bette Davis exchanging a look that speaks volumes.  They were dynamite together and I have to think that their chemistry came from mutual respect and I hope friendship.

[Tom Holmberg]

1 hour ago, Suzn said:

My favorite role of hers is in All About Eve

And Rear Window!

[EtheltoTillie]

TIL that Thelma Ritter was uncredited in A Letter to Three Wives!

[fairffaxx]

I never noticed that!  And it's weird because her part is fairly large, since she appears in 2 different households (Ann Sothern's & Linda Darnell's).  Regardless, she's one of the best parts of that outstanding movie.

[Rinaldo]

6 hours ago, Suzn said:

Thelma Ritter so deserves a day!  My favorite role of hers is in All About Eve

A widely shared sentiment (and with justice). My only problem with the role (and I'm aware I'm far from the first to say it) is that she vanishes halfway through. There's no reason she couldn't have remained in the movie for more of its duration. For that reason I stick with Rear Window as my favorite TR. In any case, both are sure to be included, next time we get a Thelma Ritter day, just as they have been in past ones.

[EtheltoTillie]

4 hours ago, fairffaxx said:

I never noticed that!  And it's weird because her part is fairly large, since she appears in 2 different households (Ann Sothern's & Linda Darnell's).  Regardless, she's one of the best parts of that outstanding movie.

I never noticed it either, and I read it in Wikipedia or something I was looking at.  So then I opened up the movie (I have a copy) and checked the opening credits for myself. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

Too many great Thelma Ritter performances to name! One that hasn't been mentioned is the perpetually sloshed housekeeper Alma in Pillow Talk. The scene where she effortlessly drinks Rock Hudson under the table is an absolute gem.

[ratgirlagogo]

Well, here's the line up for Thelma Ritter's SUS day back in 2014 (at the bottom of the page under some other interesting stuff:

https://suesueapplegate.wordpress.com/2014/08/19/thelma-ritter-finally-has-her-day-on-tcm/

As you can see, no Rear Window, no All About Eve.  Yet, bafflingly, they included How the West was Won (all two hours and 45 minutes worth, with a tiny amount of Thelma) and Birdman of Alcatraz.  Neither of these could said to be "undershown" on TCM, so why on her day.  Boy I remember being annoyed at the time.

 

[Rinaldo]

On 8/9/2024 at 6:04 PM, ratgirlagogo said:

hey included How the West was Won (all two hours and 45 minutes worth, with a tiny amount of Thelma)

I dare say Marlene Dietrich fans feel similarly this year, with 2h47m of Around the World in 80 Days included for the sake of her flash of cameo (one among dozens).

Edited August 10 by Rinaldo

[Mindthinkr]

Tonight they are showing some Meryl Streep movies. I had seen Sophie’s Choice many years ago, and watched it again tonight. Her acting was amazing in this film and it’s understandable why she won the Beat Actress Oscar for it. 

[BooksRule]

I recorded a couple of the Meryl Streep movies.  I didn't record 'Sophie's Choice', 'Doubt', or 'Kramer vs. Kramer', because those are available at my library at work so I can check them out and watch them anytime.  I recorded two that I had never seen before.  I'll probably watch 'Florence Foster Jenkins' tomorrow, but I just finished watching 'Dancing at Lughnasa'.  I had never heard of this movie before.  I did like the setting of 1930s Ireland, but the movie wasn't a very happy movie (except for a couple of scenes where the sisters were getting along and singing and dancing to the songs on the 'wireless').  But the ending left me depressed and felt a little unfinished.

[EtheltoTillie]

All the Streep movies are showing up on Watch TCM if you have failed to record any. I just watched for the first time Still of the Night with Streep and Roy Scheider.  I fast forwarded through most of it as it was awfully tedious. Supposedly this is her least known and least successful film. Anyway it’s a Hitchcock thriller wannabe (count the references).  Streep works in an auction house, giving us a chance to see a lackluster auction scene in homage to North By Northwest. 

Edited August 11 by EtheltoTillie

[Palimelon]

Quote

Supposedly this is her least known and least successful film.

That and the aforementioned Dancing at Lughnasa?

[Rinaldo]

13 hours ago, Palimelon said:

That and the aforementioned Dancing at Lughnasa?

That got enough attention to get her a nomination, at least. But I haven't heard anyone mention The Seduction of Joe Tynan or Falling in Love in a very long time. And now that I think about it, what about Plenty? I recall it dimly as being at least watchable and moderately absorbing (Fred Schepsi directing a David Hare script from his own play, with a varied British cast around her), and can't see why it should have so totally vanished from collective memory.

As for Still of the Night, I recall going to see it. Anything else? A lot of quiet static scenes, carefully posed for the camera. And Streep's hair seemed awfully important as part of the visual composition, as I recall. But it was clearly an effort to make a certain kind of homage to older movies, without any of the liveliness that was also part of what made them work.

Edited August 11 by Rinaldo

[Milburn Stone]

2 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

But I haven't heard anyone mention The Seduction of Joe Tynan or Falling in Love in a very long time.

Brings to mind that Falling in Love was a relatively late entry in a dwindling category, the movie that you go to see because of the stars. I remember very clearly Mrs. Stone and I thinking, "De Niro and Streep together? We're there!"

Edited August 11 by Milburn Stone

[EtheltoTillie]

I thought of Joe Tynan the other week when they were showing The French Lieutenant’s Woman and realized that no one shows it anymore or talks about it.  But it got attention at the time of its release because of Alan Alda.  A forgettable political trifle.  They’re not even dragging it up during this election year.

I have to agree with @Rinaldo about Streep’s blond hair.  They were trying to make her into a Hitchcock blond.  It was a terrible wig, almost as bad as the one from A Cry In the Dark.  I learned a lot about wigs when I lost my hair during chemo. 

Edited August 11 by EtheltoTillie

[EtheltoTillie]

Well here’s an answer to the question of why they never had a Streep Day. Per Ben Mankiewicz, in the intro to Silkwood, her films are difficult to license. 

It was quite the fawning intro. 

[EtheltoTillie]

I’m not going to watch all of Silkwood. I remember it as a tedious message movie. Overrated. It was also the first time I realized how much I disliked Streep’s overacting. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

16 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Well here’s an answer to the question of why they never had a Streep Day. Per Ben Mankiewicz, in the intro to Silkwood, her films are difficult to license. 

It was quite the fawning intro. 

So that’s why I can never find it on any of the streaming platforms. I was a tween when I saw it. I’ve been wanting to watch it again as an adult. All I remember is the company they worked at was some kind of chemical poisoning and Streep’s character was the whistleblower and disappeared? Kind of like Erin Brockovich before Erin, except Erin worked at a law firm.

Full Disclosure: I am a huge Meryl Streep fan.(running for cover).

[Rinaldo]

12 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

It was also the first time I realized how much I disliked Streep’s overacting.

Personal viewpoints, etc., but I would never have said that "overacting" was the word. That said, I did (and do) find that many of her early film performances seem to come off "constructed" rather than lived -- as if she saw her job as building a character entirely separate from herself. That may work onstage, but the camera seems to want something different. Then around 1990, something seemed to shift. It's probably not that simple, but I date it from Defending Your Life, in which she played a contemporary woman not unlike herself, with no heavy plot responsibilities. She was silly and offhand and seemed like a real person, and from then on her performances seemed to include herself, with extensions and variations as needed, rather than subtracting herself, and I've invariably been convinced.

(By the way, I've felt the same about some other good stage actors taking years to learn how to "be" onscreen, using their technique in the right way. As far as I can tell, that's part of a life in acting, however much training one has had: learning on the job and eventually arriving at the optimum way.)

Edited August 12 by Rinaldo

[Palimelon]

Streep can be hit or miss for me. There are times where I enjoy her performance, and other times where she makes me roll my eyes at all of the ACTING!!! she does.

Apparently Jane Fonda was the first choice to play Silkwood. The movie itself is worth checking out, if only to see Cher in her other Oscar nominated performance.

Edited August 11 by Palimelon

[ruby24]

I've always wanted to see this movie and I haven't been able to find it! I'm so mad I didn't know it was going to be on TCM, I would have DVR'd it.

[EtheltoTillie]

49 minutes ago, ruby24 said:

I've always wanted to see this movie and I haven't been able to find it! I'm so mad I didn't know it was going to be on TCM, I would have DVR'd it.

All the movies are on Watch TCM, which is unusual. You can watch on computer or iPad or smart TV by linking with your cable subscription. I’m only filling this in in case you didn’t already know this. 

56 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

Personal viewpoints, etc., but I would never have said that "overacting" was the word. That said, I did (and do) find that many of her early film performances seem to come off "constructed" rather than lived -- as if she saw her job as building a character entirely separate from herself. That may work onstage, but the camera seems to want something different. Then around 1990, something seemed to shift. It's probably not that simple, but I date it from Defending Your Life, in which she played a contemporary woman not unlike herself, with no heavy plot responsibilities. She was silly and offhand and seemed like a real person, and from then on her performances seemed to include herself, with extensions and variations as needed, rather than subtracting herself, and I've invariably been convinced.

(By the way, I've felt the same about some other good stage actors learning how to "be" onscreen, using their technique in the right way. As far as I can tell, that's part of a life in acting, however much training one has had: learning on the job and eventually arriving at the optimum way.)

I call it overacting as a shorthand for what I see her doing. She has never improved for me, although I was surprisingly pleased with Florence Foster Jenkins. 

1 hour ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

So that’s why I can never find it on any of the streaming platforms. I was a tween when I saw it. I’ve been wanting to watch it again as an adult. All I remember is the company they worked at was some kind of chemical poisoning and Streep’s character was the whistleblower and disappeared? Kind of like Erin Brockovich before Erin, except Erin worked at a law firm.

Full Disclosure: I am a huge Meryl Streep fan.(running for cover).

I will forgive you Scorpio. 

Edited August 11 by EtheltoTillie

[GHScorpiosRule]

8 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I will forgive you Scorpio

😄😄😄😄😄

[EtheltoTillie]

I now have a moment to comment on Dancing at Lughnasa, which I ended up watching yesterday.  Simply incredible.  Unlike @BooksRule, I had heard of the movie, but I hadn't seen it.  Don't really know why.

It is depressing, but that is fitting, given that it is a sad story about institutionalized poverty and injustice in Ireland as well as an existential tale like No Exit.  The way the two sisters faded away and were never heard from again was so haunting.  As was the juxtaposition of the priest's turn to paganism with the local pagan rituals and how the family was shunned because of this. 

Now for Meryl Streep.  I gather they had to have her name attached to make this movie, and what a shame.  She just took me out of the story every time she appeared on the screen, and especially in contrast to the naturalism of the British- and Irish-trained actors.  Streep is always doing some kind of twitchy business with her eyes, her head, and, worst of all, her pursed lips.  She is always drawing attention to herself, and I can't stand it.  I have really tried to overlook this over many years, to undertake an objective inquiry as to whether I am really being fair, but I still come out on the same side. 

But watch the movie.  It's worth it. 

Edited August 12 by EtheltoTillie

[EtheltoTillie]

If you think Lughnasa is depressing, don't watch Ironweed.   I had never seen this either, and I gave it about ten minutes.  I bailed right after Streep belted out her bravura rendition of "He's Me Pal."  From what I understand from reviews, this is a nonstop wallow, and I could not take it.  It even includes extensive scenes of Nicholson's talking to ghosts. 

Another quibble about Lughnasa and Ironweed, both are cursed with lilting scores reminiscent of sappy Hallmark Hall of Fame movies.  (the old ones before the Christmas romance era).  Inappropriate to subject matter.

Edited August 12 by EtheltoTillie

[EtheltoTillie]

14 hours ago, Palimelon said:

Streep can be hit or miss for me. There are times where I enjoy her performance, and other times where she makes me roll my eyes at all of the ACTING!!! she does.

Apparently Jane Fonda was the first choice to play Silkwood. The movie itself is worth checking out, if only to see Cher in her other Oscar nominated performance.

Not surprised Fonda didn’t do it. She had done a nuclear story already in The China Syndrome.

[BooksRule]

11 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

The way the two sisters faded away and were never heard from again was so haunting.

Yes!  When the narrator said that, I yelled 'Wait, what?!' at the screen.

I also agree about Streep being kind of distracting.   She was very good in the role, but even though I had heard of a couple of the other actors, I didn't keep thinking of their real names (instead of concentrating on their characters) like I did with Streep.  I didn't realize that was what was happening until just now.

[EtheltoTillie]

23 minutes ago, BooksRule said:

Yes!  When the narrator said that, I yelled 'Wait, what?!' at the screen.

I also agree about Streep being kind of distracting.   She was very good in the role, but even though I had heard of a couple of the other actors, I didn't keep thinking of their real names (instead of concentrating on their characters) like I did with Streep.  I didn't realize that was what was happening until just now.

Now you will go over to the dark side with me. 

[voiceover]

15 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I now have a moment to comment on Dancing at Lughnasa

Let me now contribute to the seriousness of this discussion by revealing I have always referred to this film as Dancing at Lufthansa.  

As re: Streep.  My favorite of her films is Out of Africa.  This, mostly because Karen’s experience there tracks with something from my past — not so much as a Baroness with a coffee plantation, more a “stranger in a strange land” connection.  Streep did her justice, so much so that her flawless Danish accent didn’t annoy me.

Also liked One True Thing.  It had its problems, but Meryl played so hard against type here, she really surprised me.  Her best moment was the explosive confrontation she had with Renee Zellweger’s character.  I only saw it twice, and not since its original release, so I should really watch again to find out if that scene carries the weight it did the first time.

[Charlie Baker]

I will admit that I am an admirer of Meryl Streep.  But not always--the hype at the start of her career was a bit much and I was very much in an attitude of "Oh, yeah?" But as time and the breadth of her career unfolded, I changed my mind.

Of the stuff shown on her day:   I hadn't seen French Lieutenant's Woman since its release--TCM's airing a little while ago got some discussion going here, but I didn't get to a rewatch until her day.  It doesn't capture the tone of the book, but the period movie contrasting with the actors in it at least is something of a deconstruction and a parallel.  MS has said she wasn't thrilled with her work in this, but apart from a few actor-ish, mannered flourishes here and there, I thought she was quite good. And matched by Jeremy Irons. As for @Rinaldo's thoughts of a limited series that might better capture what John Fowles did with the book--if only streaming services were still greenlighting projects like they were a short while ago. 

Two I hadn't seen before: Still of the Night is a would-be Hitchcockian misfire, kind of surprising from Robert Benton. MS is not at fault, though, and neither is Roy Scheider, who I've felt is underappreciated. And kudos to the editor for those jump scares. Dancing at Lughnasa is a solid adaptation of a strong play.  It's a true ensemble piece, and MS didn't seem to blend in with the cast at first,  but she soon did, IMO.

I think MS is superb in Sophie's Choice and Silkwood, and, though I didn't watch it again, it's a tough one, Ironweed.  She's fun and touching as Florence Foster Jenkins with Hugh Grant in one of his best performances I've seen and a lovely turn from Big Bang Theory's Simon Helberg.

Ok, I've gone on (and on) long enough.  

[Rinaldo]

With the discussion about Meryl Streep we've been having, both extremes being represented along with muddling in the middle, I recalled that Pauline Kael devoted a paragraph to thoughts about Streep's potential, at the end of a negative review of Silkwood -- so, quite early in her career. Here it is:

Quote

Meryl Streep has been quoted as saying, "I've always felt that I can do anything." No doubt that's a wonderful feeling, and I don't think she should abandon it, but she shouldn't take it too literally, either. It may be true for her on the stage, but in movies even the greatest stars have been successes only within a certain range of roles. Katharine Hepburn didn't play Sadie Thompson or Mildred Pierce, and Ginger Rogers didn't appear in The Swan. Anna Magnani didn't try out for Scarlett O'Hara, Bette Davis wasn't cast as the second wife in Rebecca, and Garbo didn't break her heart over not doing Stella Dallas. Part of being a good movie actress is knowing what you come across as. My guess is that Meryl Streep could be a hell-raising romantic comedienne. (A tiny dirty laugh comes out of her just once in Silkwood, and it's funkier and more expressive than any of her line readings.) She has the singing voice for musical comedy, and the agility and crazy daring for knockabout farce. And maybe she can play certain serious and tragic roles too -- she was unusually effective in her supporting role in The Deer Hunter. But in her starring performances she has been giving us artificial creations. She doesn't seem to know how to draw on herself; she hasn't yet released an innate personality on the screen.

We'll all have our own opinions about how true any of that is, and (if we buy it) to what extent Streep did eventually change her ways of creating character onscreen. But I thought it was an unusual enough paragraph (PK didn't go off on tangents like this for just anybody) to merit sharing here.

Edited August 13 by Rinaldo

[EtheltoTillie]

3 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

With the discussion about Meryl Streep we've been having, both extremes being represented along with muddling in the middle, I recalled that Pauline Kael devoted a paragraph to thoughts about Streep's potential, at the end of a negative review of Silkwood -- so, quite early in her career. Here it is:

We'll all have our own opinions about how true any of that is, and (if we buy it) to what extent Streep did eventually change her ways of creating character onscreen. But I thought it was an unusual enough paragraph (PK didn't go off on tangents like this for just anybody) to merit sharing here.

Well, I read that stuff about artificial creations myself the other day, and I felt vindicated!  But I didn't post here as I felt I had yammered on enough!  

I don't like Streep's singing, and I think she is not a good romantic heroine.  I'm a cis/het woman but I think she has zero sex appeal.  I would love to comment on the snoozefest that is Out of Africa, but it wasn't shown on TCM this week LOL.  The score is great, I'll say that.   Sorry, @voiceover

Edited August 13 by EtheltoTillie

[voiceover]

Eh.  What a boring world it would be if we all agreed!

[Charlie Baker]

As part of Joseph Cotten Day tomorrow (10am ET) is The Man with a Cloak, a movie I discovered last year during Barbara Stanwyck Day, and maybe hasn't been on since.  It's a neat shortish melodrama/mystery set in 1840s NYC, revolving around a wealthy sick man, his devious housekeeper, a visitor from abroad, and a mysterious stranger.  Beautifully produced, with an excellent cast top to bottom.  It wasn't on Watch TCM last year, this time, who knows? So I'm planning to record it, I've been wanting to see it again since last year. 

[Milburn Stone]

Me, I think Meryl vindicated Pauline with her comedic performance in Devil/Prada.

[mariah23]

TCM Remembers Gena Rowlands who passed away this afternoon at age 94.

[Rinaldo]

Thanks for the alert, @Charlie Baker. Looking up The Man with a Cloak, I discovered 2 additional enticing facts about it:

• It's based on a story by John Dickson Carr, one of my very favorite mystery authors. (And I can't think of any other screen adaptations of his work.)
• It has a well-regarded and reportedly unusual score by the great David Raksin (most recognized for Laura, but of course he wrote dozens of other movie scores over the years).

So I definitely don't want to miss this one.

[EtheltoTillie]

3 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

Me, I think Meryl vindicated Pauline with her comedic performance in Devil/Prada.

Wait I’m confused. Do you think she outgrew her mannered performances?  So she fulfilled Pauline’s prediction that she might get better?  I do not like that performance but it’s better than many others. 

Apparently Ben Mank is introducing The Graduate with Mel Brooks. Maybe others. I saw it on Twitter.  Too late to tune in so will hope to catch the intro on Watch TCM. 

Edited August 15 by EtheltoTillie

[Milburn Stone]

14 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Wait I’m confused. Do you think she outgrew her mannered performances?  So she fulfilled Pauline’s prediction that she might get better?  I do not like that performance but it’s better than many others. 

 

I'll answer indirectly. I don't know about outgrowing. (Although I very much like @Rinaldo's observation that good actors learn movie acting through practice. And that her performance in Defending Your Life is very natural-feeling.) I would put it this way as regards Devil/Prada: She learned to use her mannerisms in the service of the piece.