TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[elle]

Anyway, is today's TCM theme Britain Day?  I mean, yesterday they had movies set in Ireland, so I guess they don't want the other British Isles to feel left out?

It was Robert Donat's birthday.

What was the theme for today?  The majority of the movies during the day were Katherine Hepburn movies of mixed quality.  The evening was dedicated to a director of bad sci fi-ish movies.

 

It was in this topic, back in August, that we mentioned the August 1974 New York magazine article by Anne Hollander about this very aspect of movie costume. She discussed the then-recent films of The Great Gatsby and The Three Musketeers with captioned photos to show the respects in which the movies' historical faithfulness was modified to suit current notions of attractiveness. (Actually, she gave the latter quite high marks in general, but noted that Faye Dunaway and especially Raquel Welch had their own stylists to protect their images.) It's a very fun read, and I just wish there were a whole book with this sort of detail.

 

I would love a book with that sort of detail too!

 

Gatsby was filmed in 1974.  I am currently watching "Death on the Nile" filmed in 1978.  I wonder what she would have to say about the costumes of this movie.

 

 

As Milburn Stone says, it's always been that way and always will be -- on screen or onstage. We may think we do better now, but in future years, our period films will look "pure 2015".

It is amusing that the one movie set in 2015 - "Back to the Future II" - does not look at all like our current 2015. ;0)

[monakane]

I like the 1940 one, even though I share the complaints about the costume choices, but I think it does work as a film, even if Greer Garson was too old for the part. I liked her and Olivier together, and I really liked his Darcy, which is the most different interpretation of him from all the films I've seen.

 

But my favorite is the 2005 one, with Keira Knightley. It's so romantic and cinematic, I just love it. Makes me swoon every time.

 

I like the 2005 version too.  Judi Dench is my favorite Lady Catherine.  I like Kiera Knightley and Matthew MacFayden as Elizabeth and Darcy.  Kiera captures Elizabeth's spirit nicely.  My only complaint is the costumes.  The colors are very drab and the empire dresses do Kiera no favors.  I think MacFayden is very sexy and romantic in the movie, but Colin Firth is and always will be Darcy to me.  

[3pwood]

Don't forget:  as part of Ann Sothern Month, "A Letter To Three Wives" will be shown next Wednesday, March 25, at 8pm (EDT).  

[Julia]

Don't forget:  as part of Ann Sothern Month, "A Letter To Three Wives" will be shown next Wednesday, March 25, at 8pm (EDT).  

 

I love that movie. Celeste Holms' voice is just so purring and evil.

[monakane]

I love that movie. Celeste Holms' voice is just so purring and evil.

 

I love this board.  It's a stream of consciousness.  I read Celeste Holm and think "Gentlemen's Agreement" and "All About Eve" which leads me to all things Bette Davis or Gregory Peck.  I have spent way too much time over the years watching old movies.

[voiceover]

Robert Osborne is having a medical procedure

 

This is hitting me hard -- not just because I love & adore & worship him.  But today they told my dad he has cancer, and surgery is Monday, and I know this isn't the place for this, but I am all undone.

My thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery for Robert.

[ratgirlagogo]

I light a digital candle for your father and for Robert.  Bless.

[WendyCR72]

Oh, @voiceover, I pray everything works out for your father! And for Mr. Osborne, of course, but keep your chin up!

[roseha]

My prayers also for you and your dad voiceover.  Also best wishes for Mr. Osborne.

[Milburn Stone]

Ditto.

[Charlie Baker]

And another ditto.

[HelenBaby]

OMG I love Now, Voyager so much!

When I was a kid Bette Davis was still working and I mainly associated her with Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) I hadn't seen it but I knew it was scary and she was hideous looking. Fast forward about 30 years and TCM starts. She received a lot of airplay because of her Warner Brothers films. I saw All This, and Heaven Too. That did it. I'll watch just about anything in which she appeared. That's when I discovered the scope of her talent. She became my favorite actress of all time. There are others I enjoy and discovered through watching TCM all these years, but no one will ever take her place as my favorite.

If you aren't familiar with her work, do yourself a favor and seek out a few of her films. Sally Field mentioned Jezebel, The Letter and Little Foxes. Those are a good start; however, those are some of her less sympathetic roles even though she's excellent in all of them. But check out All This, and Heaven Too (one of my favorites) and some of her films when she was younger like some of her programmers she made prior to Of Human Bondage. She could be flirty and fun. I could go on & on. What a talent!

[voiceover]

You cannot know what your posts (and digital candles!) mean to me, and my dad.  Thank you.

[aradia22]

Maybe I've got Encores on the brain but I decided to put on Lady Be Good (1941). Yes, I know it's nothing like the musical but I was in the mood to hear the song. And just so you know, I didn't manage to finish it. I'm halfway through. Here are my thoughts at this point.

 

They had me from the adorable dog. I'm a sucker for a cute dog in old movies. Unless the movie is about the dog. I don't watch dog movies. 

 

The vocals from both leads are very sweet. They're very pretty without being so amazing (like Judy Garland amazing for instance) where it would stretch believability to buy them as a songwriting team instead of professional singers. The story is not terribly realistic (though songwriting is rarely portrayed realistically in fiction... see Nashville, Smash, Empire... EVERYTHING) but it's a kind of love letter to songwriting partnerships all the same and I enjoyed that aspect. Right now it's reminding me a bit of My Favorite Wife. The husband has a major flaw and he comes around because of his jealousy (we'll see how it plays out here). I'm enjoying the Adrian costumes. I love pleats and glitter and this movie does not disappoint. Also, those hats! The 1940's was not that ridiculous. How did no one comment on her hats? 

 

Virginia O'Brien is cute in the movie so far. I think the running gag about her appetite was funnier than her version of Your Words, My Music. I think her stone-faced joke works best for me when she gets to break it. That is, it's funny to see her flat and then smile when she gets a steak or a pickle instead of just watching her not react to anything. That's just my opinion. Was the actor playing Buddy lip-syncing? His version felt a little off. 

 

The script is cute so far. I'm not totally sure where it's going and the structure isn't strong in that sense (more built around the songs) but there are some nice lines here and there.

 

Yes, to the Berry Brothers' tap number. Now that is some tap, On the Twentieth Century. It was electric. I wonder if they'll come back later in the film.

 

The part with the sheet music selling like hotcakes made me laugh. Really? I can buy the albums selling out but I refuse to believe that even in the 1940's there would be crazy crowds clamoring to buy sheet music. Was Red Skelton's job (I couldn't understand him when he said his title) a real thing? Going around shilling songs? Oh, unfortunate (and frankly confusing) Chinese stereotype. To be fair to this silly section of the movie, Lady Be Good is a really catchy, great song.

[ratgirlagogo]

 

The part with the sheet music selling like hotcakes made me laugh. Really? I can buy the albums selling out but I refuse to believe that even in the 1940's there would be crazy crowds clamoring to buy sheet music

I know it seems bizarre from our standpoint, and I don't know the numbers really (although I'll bet Rinaldo does), but sheet music was still very much a thing in WW2 and part of what Billboard used to determine the Hit Parade type status of a song.  On the other hand the whole idea of a song plugger - well, yes by that point they'd be plugging songs to to radio dj's, presumably including payola and all that.

Edited March 23, 2015 by ratgirlagogo

[prican58]

I've got the  dvd  The Mark of Zorro with Ty Power on. I think it is my favorite movie of his with regards to pure entertainment . He plays the fop so well and I love the Sombrero Blanco dance with Darnell. I love how Diego is playing all these people for fools. Such fun. And I can never stop myself from saying "Pardon me,but did I see you in Rebecca?" every time I see Gale Sondergaard.( quote from Abbott & Costello's The Time of Their Lives.)

 

May I also ask if anyone else shares my delight in Basil Rathbone in these types of films? His character here is almost comical. He and Ty are dueling now. This is so much fun  to watch!

Edited March 23, 2015 by prican58

[ratgirlagogo]

Love the Zorro series with anybody, really (Zorro's Fighting Legion is really an excellent movie serial, for example, even for people who think they don't like serials) and agree that Tyrone Power played an incredibly charismatic Zorro.

 

Basil Rathbone - is one of my classic movie crushes.

Edited March 23, 2015 by ratgirlagogo

[HelenBaby]

Aradia22--the guy who played Buddy was John Carroll, who did sing in reality, so maybe it was just bad dubbing. It's been a while since I saw it, but you have to suspend disbelief because those were Gershwin songs. Lol. The only thing I remember is Powell dancing with the cute dog.

[Rinaldo]

Friday was another "Road Show" evening on TCM -- the big limited engagements of the 1960s-70s with overtures and all. I was around then, but one I missed (partly, I now read, because its initial distribution was botched) was Darling Lili, and I used to have a soft spot for Julie Andrews, so I caught up with it.

 

Oh dear, what a dog. Lots of documentary-like battle sequences interspersed with some shallow back-and-forth between Miss Julie and Rock Hudson, a pairing which generates no sparks at all (as both of them could with others). That costume thing we've been talking about here: the look may have passed for WWI then, but not now. And some serious story problems: though serious things -- lives, the outcome of a war -- are at stake, most scenes are treated as jolly romps or romantic misunderstandings. And somehow after Lili is publicly revealed as a spy for the Germans, once peace is declared her British audience still adores her.

 

At least the pre-credits song, "Whistling Away the Dark," is haunting. And effectively filmed (only her distant face visible initially, as the first image in the movie) until the instrumental refrain where she starts circling the stage and flapping her arms around, which apparently is the signature move that drives her audience nuts.

[Julia]

voiceover, I'm late to the party, but I wish you peace and your father health.

[Milburn Stone]

Friday was another "Road Show" evening on TCM -- the big limited engagements of the 1960s-70s with overtures and all. I was around then, but one I missed (partly, I now read, because its initial distribution was botched) was Darling Lili, and I used to have a soft spot for Julie Andrews, so I caught up with it.

 

Oh dear, what a dog. 

 

I caught about twenty minutes of Star, which I've never seen one minute of before. Was this on the same night, or on a Julie Andrews night? Not sure. Anyway--Dog City.

 

I do like the song Cahn and Van Heusen wrote for it, however, with which I'm familiar from the Sinatra recording. Does the song appear in the film? (Or was it one of those that publicized a film without being in it?) If so, where does it appear? And does it get a good treatment?

[Julia]

I caught about twenty minutes of Star, which I've never seen one minute of before. Was this on the same night, or on a Julie Andrews night? Not sure. Anyway--Dog City.

 

I thought Julie Andrews was wasted as Gertrude Lawrence, but I kind of liked Daniel Massey as Noel Coward (and had no idea until I hit IMDB to confirm his name that he was Raymond Massey's kid)

[Crs97]

voiceover, thinking about you today and hoping your dad's surgery went well.

 

For those of you who need a laugh, The In-Laws will be aired this week - the original one, not the abomination that starred Michael Douglas.  Actually, when my dad was diagnosed with cancer, I bought my parents this movie so that we could have a few hours of just fun in the midst of all the doctors' appointments and chemo.

[Rinaldo]

I do like the song Cahn and Van Heusen wrote for [Star!], however, with which I'm familiar from the Sinatra recording. Does the song appear in the film? (Or was it one of those that publicized a film without being in it?) If so, where does it appear? And does it get a good treatment?

 

Yes, it's in the film. We hear Julie Andrews sing it over the (fictitious) opening credits of the B&W movie about Lawrence that opens the movie we're watching. (There are no "real" opening credits, though there's a lengthy overture before it starts.)

 

Thereafter, all the songs are actual songs from her career, by Gershwin, Porter, Weill, and others. Most are poorly staged (by Michael Kidd), with no attempt at evoking the (sometimes famous) original stagings. As with Darling Lili, the costumes were designed by Donald Brooks, but they don't particularly flatter her. Or maybe it's that Julie Andrews, charming and lovely as she was/is, was never a natural clotheshorse, someone with the oomph, the swagger, to make the most of a "star" costume. Many movie stars -- Loren, Stanwyck, Streisand come to mind -- had that gift, but I don't think Andrews did.

[HelenBaby]

I posted this on another board, but I just could not believe how bad Star! was. I love Julie Andrews. I wanted to Be Julie Andrews when I was a kid, but the script let her down. And I had no idea Gertrude Lawrence was such a bitch.

Love her wardrobe in the film though.

[voiceover]

Running in to grab all of you & say, Good news!  The surgeon said what he was expecting to find was instead a mass that typically forms -- for reasons no one knows -- near the bladder, but it does not look like cancer.  Final lab results by Friday, but so far == miracle,wonderful, fabulous news!  

I showed Dad this thread, with your good wishes, before they took him to surgery, and he smiled hugely & sent his thanks.  I could see how moved he was.

Thank you all for your words, I can't tell you how much they meant.  I'm babbling incoherently.

Now I pray for the same good news for Robert O.

[Wiendish Fitch]

Running in to grab all of you & say, Good news!  The surgeon said what he was expecting to find was instead a mass that typically forms -- for reasons no one knows -- near the bladder, but it does not look like cancer.  Final lab results by Friday, but so far == miracle,wonderful, fabulous news!  

I showed Dad this thread, with your good wishes, before they took him to surgery, and he smiled hugely & sent his thanks.  I could see how moved he was.

Thank you all for your words, I can't tell you how much they meant.  I'm babbling incoherently.

Now I pray for the same good news for Robert O.

Glad to hear it, voiceover. :)

[Milburn Stone]

Thereafter, all the songs are actual songs from her career, by Gershwin, Porter, Weill, and others. Most are poorly staged (by Michael Kidd)...

 

The portion of the movie I saw included a number where she was some sort of Indian (as in, India) vamp. If there is a High Heaven, this stank to it.

[Rinaldo]

And I had no idea Gertrude Lawrence was such a bitch.

Don't assume anything the movie tells us is true. They had a story they wanted to tell (the star's public personality vs. her "real" self), and they didn't let accuracy stand in the way. I'm not naive -- I'm sure Gertie Lawrence had her bitchy and mercenary episodes. But she was also genuinely adored by people who knew her, throughout her life. No doubt she was as complicated a person as the rest of us

 

The portion of the movie I saw included a number where she was some sort of Indian (as in, India) vamp. If there is a High Heaven, this stank to it.

That would be "The Physician" ("but he never said he loved me") from Nymph Errant, Cole Porter's London musical for her, never staged on Broadway. Yep, that's the worst of the bunch; I couldn't believe when I saw it in the movie theater that this was the best staging that a bunch of top professionals could come up with; my high school talent show would have considered it tacky. (And if it matters, in Nymph Errant Evangeline does sing it while part of a Turkish harem, but the essence of Lawrence's style was never to seem to be working hard or even to care much -- insouciance was her trademark. All that by-the-numbers cavorting and gesticulating was horrifyingly wrong.) I don't know who could have played Gertie Lawrence, she being so much one of a kind. Accent aside, the young Madeline Kahn might have had something of the essence.

[Crs97]

Praise be, voiceover! Will continue to hold y'all close in prayer this week, but that sure is a nice start to it!

[aradia22]

Made scones instead of watching the rest of Lady Be Good. I have no regrets. 

[Crisopera]

Wonderful news, voiceover!

 

I'm hideously embarrassed to say that Star  was but one of a number of big roadshow movies that I adored when they were released.  (In my defense, I was very young at the time and they were sparkly.)  (Even more tragically, Hello, Dolly! was another.)  But, oh, man, Julie Andrews is so miscast as Gertrude Lawrence, all bounce and jolly-hockey-sticks, and completely unbelievable.

[WendyCR72]

Running in to grab all of you & say, Good news!  The surgeon said what he was expecting to find was instead a mass that typically forms -- for reasons no one knows -- near the bladder, but it does not look like cancer.  Final lab results by Friday, but so far == miracle,wonderful, fabulous news!  

I showed Dad this thread, with your good wishes, before they took him to surgery, and he smiled hugely & sent his thanks.  I could see how moved he was.

Thank you all for your words, I can't tell you how much they meant.  I'm babbling incoherently.

Now I pray for the same good news for Robert O.

 

Fantastic news! I hope your father's surgery goes well and continues to bring good news!  :-)

[ratgirlagogo]

Congratulations voiceover, such great news.

 

 

For those of you who need a laugh, The In-Laws will be aired this week - the original one

Serpentine!  Serpentine!  One of the funniest movies of the seventies, and Arkin and Falk are magic together.

[Coffeecup]

Voiceover, I'm happy to hear the good news about your father. I hope that there will be more good news on Friday.

 

Watched "Grey Gardens" tonight. It was fascinating. Sad too, when you look at it as an observation of the tensions in a caregiver relationship between elderly mother and middle-aged daughter. Big Edie was not as mean to Little Edie as I expected, from the articles I read about the documentary before seeing it. For example, the TCM article said the film "explores a relationship that alternates between extremes of love and hate," but I really didn't see any hatred.

 

The dilapidated condition of the once-elegant house was distressing when you consider that the family was very wealthy and this was a house in the exclusive Hamptons. Since Big Edie and Little Edie seemed to be hermits, somebody on the outside must have been paying the utility bills and arranging for the groceries to be delivered.  Lawyer? Accountant? Some family member?  I kept wondering why the family didn't pay for a housecleaning service, grounds service and  caregivers to come in and help Little Edie. I guess the Bouvier and Kennedy families were just too embarrassed by these two women to go out of their way to help them.

 

Robert's guest, documentary film maker Barbara Kopple, said that after Big Edie died, Little Edie sold the house to Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee in 1979. He and his wife, journalist Sally Quinn, restored the house. It took a huge amount of work. Here is a 2014 article about the restoration.

http://curbed.com/archives/2014/10/23/ben-bradlee-sally-quinn-grey-gardens-restoration.php

 

Re my comment above about the family not helping the two Edies, the Curbed article said that Jackie Kennedy Onassis did send in a work crew in the early 1970s and had the house cleaned up (JKO was reacting to the bad publicity about the squalor the women were living in), but by the time the documentary film was made, the Edies had let it get dirty and run-down again.

Edited March 24, 2015 by Coffeecup

[Rinaldo]

I'm hideously embarrassed to say that Star  was but one of a number of big roadshow movies that I adored when they were released.  (In my defense, I was very young at the time and they were sparkly.)  (Even more tragically, Hello, Dolly! was another.)  ...

I don't see anything so very embarrassing about enjoying Star at the time -- but then I have a personal investment in saying so: I was not very young at the time, I was a college senior. And I distinctly remember saying to friends, "That was bad, but I liked it anyway." It may have been the first movie to which I voiced that reaction.

 

And I'll come to the (partial) defense of Hello, Dolly! even now; nothing "tragic" there. Yes, Michael Crawford and Marianne McAndrew are hard to take (I always chapter-skip when I get to their scenes), Streisand is miscast, Matthau is off acting by himself and getting no help from his director (Gene Kelly seems not to know how to stage or pace some of the scenes). BUT: miscast or not, Streisand is radiating charisma and talent, and almost singlehandedly brings the bloated production to life -- if someone 50 years from now wants to know why she was a movie star, this is the movie I'd point them to. And though I just said "bloated," I also enjoy the big production numbers, old-fashioned as they were even at the time, and Jerry Herman's songs remain as catchy as they always were. And some of the kids in the subplots are delightful: E.J. Peaker, Danny Lockin, Tommy Tune. The film's not a total loss by any means, even if I have to enjoy it in pieces.

[Wiendish Fitch]

Is it weird that Michael Crawford is my favorite thing about Hello, Dolly! ? Yeah, he's never been the greatest actor, but, between way-too-young Barbra Streisand and tone-deaf Walter Matthau, he seems to be the only well-cast principal cast member, and darned if he doesn't give it his all. I confess some of my opinion is colored by Wall-E (God, I love "Put on Your Sunday Clothes"), but, yeah, overall, Hello, Dolly! is a disappointment. What's worse is the pedigree behind the scenes: Michael Kidd, the wonderful choreographer behind The Band Wagon and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers? Lennie Hayton, the great composer also from MGM's golden years (and husband of Lena Horne, in case you care)? Directed by Gene flippin' Kelly?! How could such a mass of talent create something so... meh?

Edited March 24, 2015 by Wiendish Fitch

[aradia22]

 

BUT: miscast or not, Streisand is radiating charisma and talent, and almost singlehandedly brings the bloated production to life -- if someone 50 years from now wants to know why she was a movie star, this is the movie I'd point them to.

I have very vague memories of Hello Dolly. I must have been less than 12 the last time I watched it and I'm not entirely sure I've ever watched the whole thing through. Nevertheless, what really stands out is Streisand. I don't think I was fully invested in the story at the time so I didn't pick up on her being too young. I remember hating Michael Crawford and being really turned off of tenors. I'd like to revisit it one of these days.

[Charlie Baker]

I hadn't seen Funny Girl so the original release of Hello, Dolly was my first encounter with Streisand.  Yep, the movie has its problems, all right, which you all have enumerated.  (And I don't think the show itself is all that great on stage, apart from being a supreme diva vehicle.)  And Ms. S. is miscast, but the spectacular singing alone made me a believer. Once I knew who Tommy Tune was, it was fun to remember him as the seven foot tall artist who supposedly couldn't dance.

[Aethera]

If you find Michael Crawford not a great actor but enjoyable, may I suggest my best friend's favorite childhood movie: Condorman.  One of those So Terrible It's Great movies.

[Milburn Stone]

And I'll come to the (partial) defense of Hello, Dolly! even now; nothing "tragic" there. Yes, Michael Crawford and Marianne McAndrew are hard to take (I always chapter-skip when I get to their scenes), Streisand is miscast, Matthau is off acting by himself and getting no help from his director (Gene Kelly seems not to know how to stage or pace some of the scenes). BUT: miscast or not, Streisand is radiating charisma and talent, and almost singlehandedly brings the bloated production to life -- if someone 50 years from now wants to know why she was a movie star, this is the movie I'd point them to. And though I just said "bloated," I also enjoy the big production numbers, old-fashioned as they were even at the time, and Jerry Herman's songs remain as catchy as they always were. And some of the kids in the subplots are delightful: E.J. Peaker, Danny Lockin, Tommy Tune. The film's not a total loss by any means, even if I have to enjoy it in pieces.

 

I agree with most of this, and in particular want to shout out to the new song Jerry Herman wrote for Streisand to kick off the film, "Just Leave Everything to Me." (I'm having a faint deja vu sense of having written about this on this thread before; apologies if so.) That song is not only perfect for the character of Dolly Levi; it is so obviously a piece of special material written expressly for Streisand herself, playing off the public's perception of Barbra as a "control freak," and having her fully not just owning up to it but owning it. (Streisand, through Herman, is saying, "All those things you read about me? They're true, and if you don't like it, go f*ck yourself!") Because it works on both these levels, it unites Streisand with Dolly Levi, makes it seem like Dolly Levi was the role Streisand was born to play; it's probably the funniest song Herman ever wrote, as well as being one of the most glorious. The film has to go a long way to squander the good will that opening creates. It does squander it, but it takes it a while...

Edited March 24, 2015 by Milburn Stone

[HelenBaby]

Anybody watch the Alan Arkin interview with Robert Osborne from last year's film festival?

I think that this is why Robert is indispensable to TCM, and why I'll be sad to see the day he retires. He so good at getting actors to talk about their trials & tribulations as a person & an artist, as well as their triumphs. Compared to James Lipton, who also does these long form interviews, Robert doesn't need to be the center of attention like Lipton does. I enjoy Inside the Actors Studio for what it is, but too often Lipton shines the spotlight on himself. He's well prepared, but Osborne seems to be more flexible in that he lets the interviewee take the lead. And Robert listens, whereas

Lipton just wants to get through his stack of cards.

I don't mean to get off on that tangent. It was a good interview.

Edited March 25, 2015 by HelenBaby

[bmoore4026]

Awww, it was B-Western day today and I missed most of it :(

 

Watched Tim Holt's Target.  The major plot point is a woman marshal coming to clean up the standard B-Western town. 

 

I noticed that the male characters don't seem to refer to her by her name (Terri) or her surname (Moran).  They don't think I even heard them call her "miss".  They almost invariably referred to her as "the girl".

 

I like my B-Westerns yet my 21st Century mind can't help but cringe any time they refer to the woman characters as just "the girl".

Edited March 25, 2015 by bmoore4026

[Rinaldo]

That reminds me of what Pamela Franklin, who gave such an extraordinary performance opposite Maggie Smith in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and then quit the business in the 1980s, said on the DVD commentary: having married an American and ended up doing lots of US episodic TV, she was waiting on the set of some show (Hawaii 5-0? Barnaby Jones?) and heard the director say that they now had to set up for the girl. And she asked herself, "Is this what it comes to after all these years in the business, I'm still 'the girl'? Maybe it's time to hang it up." And she did.

[ratgirlagogo]

 

 

Watched Tim Holt's Target.  The major plot point is a woman marshal coming to clean up the standard B-Western town.

I noticed that the male characters don't seem to refer to her by her name (Terri) or her surname (Moran).  They don't think I even heard them call her "miss".  They almost invariably referred to her as "the girl".

I like my B-Westerns yet my 21st Century mind can't help but cringe any time they refer to the woman characters as just "the girl".

Have to agree.  I like Tim Holt, but this is not one one of his better pictures.  "The girl" would have been a stronger character if this movie had been made back in the 30's or 40's, when the female characters in B-westerns were generally important independent characters.  It's especially annoying since a similar kind of crackshot female gunfighter character was presented to much better effect by Jane Russell in  Son of Paleface the same year - the same idea, where the unmet character has a man's name and  a much feared reputation by the other characters who believe her to be a man.

Edited March 26, 2015 by ratgirlagogo

[NowVoyager]

OMG I love Now, Voyager so much!

Well, HelenBaby I'm quite fond of you, too!

Seriously, I love anything Bette Davis---the way she deliberately played down her looks when appropriate for a role; those big gorgeous eyes. This film is one of my favorites (obviously) because of the complexity of the protagonist's life; nothing was tied up in a neat little bow. Not to mention: Best. Movie. Makeover. Ever. That scene where a crowd awaits her tardy arrival for a shore trip & the camera pans up to her wearing That Hat. Just stunning!

[Snarklepuss]

Did anyone see the special TCM theater presentation of Rear Window this week?  I got an email about it and found out it was being shown only a few miles from me.  I'm very glad I didn't miss it.  It's one of my all time favorites plus I had never seen it on the big screen before.  I was so moved, I was near tears all the way through.  It was almost like seeing the movie for the first time.  The impact of certain scenes was far greater than when watching it on a TV.  The last time I saw the movie I didn't even have my big screen TV yet so this was truly an amazing experience.  Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly did indeed have great chemistry in the movie.  Plus I could see a lot more of the detail inside the apartment buildings.  I wish I had remembered to tell this board in advance about this....I know TCM is now showing classics like this in selected theaters around the country so I'm hoping for more experiences like this in the future.  I have seen other old movies in theaters before but none of them were in color and had a widescreen format like this one.

Edited March 27, 2015 by Snarklepuss

[Rinaldo]

Of no interest to anyone but me, I guess, but... my memory of Rear Window on the big screen was at a drive-in movie -- the old Sunset Drive-In just north of Chicago, which was a regular summer Saturday-night outing for my family through the 1950s. The format, of course, was a kids' movie followed by a grown-up movie during which the kids were expected to doze off in the back seat.

 

And the first grown-up movie that intrigued me enough to try to stay awake was Rear Window; I thought it was a cool setup. But I made it only halfway through. (A couple of years later my parents woke me up for the end of The Man Who Knew Too Much because they knew I would enjoy the musical details, the murder timed to the orchestral climax and recovering the boy via the song. And a couple of years later still, North By Northwest kept me awake start to finish; I was now old enough to follow the story pretty well. Hitchcock made a good entry point for children to learn about narrative and suspense!)

Edited March 27, 2015 by Rinaldo

[HelenBaby]

I've been following the Film Festival on twitter & Facebook and I so wish I could be there. It looks like so much fun. I wish I was 20 years younger because I would be there. I am going on the cruise in November so that will be fun too.

[Snarklepuss]

Of no interest to anyone but me, I guess, but... my memory of Rear Window on the big screen was at a drive-in movie -- the old Sunset Drive-n just north of Chicago, which was a regular summer Saturday-night outing for my family through the 1950s. The format, of course, was a kids' movie followed by a grown-up movie during which the kids were expected to doze off in the back seat.

 

Actually I found this interesting!  Rear Window was before my time by a few years.  When I mentioned seeing it to my Dad the other day, he told me he saw it in a theater on 96th St. and Broadway in New York with my Mom when it came out.  My mom was a big Hitchcock fan.  When I was a little kid we'd watch his TV show.