TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[Rinaldo]

I can remember drills in elementary school where they said that in the event of attack, we should hide underneath our desks. 

Everyone who was in elementary school in the 1950s remembers that. Except me. Though I remember the daily air-raid siren tests, and other ominous background noises of the time, I'm pretty sure my Chicago school never did any of the under-the-desk business. And I have a pretty thorough memory of first and second grade: I remember our being taught "Dites-moi" in both French and English (multilingual!) which I now realize was practically a brand-new song then, and I remember the day we were informed that from now on we would be inserting "under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance.

[elle]

We were all naïve about radiation. I can remember drills in elementary school where they said that in the event of attack, we should hide underneath our desks. Very effective.

The flip side of that is 20-30 years later when we were basically told we could do nothing and told we could fight against the mad direction the world seemed to be headed.

 

Which leads to all sorts of fun trying to explain the movies of both "eras" to my daughter from the campy horror of Them! to my favorite "from my youth" movie War Games, add in things like **that's a computer?!** makes for fun movie watching.

 

**Travel Tip - if you are ever in South Dakota on I-90, either to or from Wall, take a quick break and see the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site (U.S. National Park).  It is not huge, and the tours to the actual silo site are usually sold out early in the morning, it is still an interesting look into that part of our history.  As a plus it can then be referenced when watching some of those old and not so old movies.

 

 

Giant is on today. I love that film. Elizabeth was so beautiful, Rock so handsome.

And James Dean.  That is another movie where I can not watch it in its entirety.  (and I would have chosen Rod Taylor) ;0)

Edited February 25, 2016 by elle

[Milburn Stone]

Everyone who was in elementary school in the 1950s remembers that. Except me. Though I remember the daily air-raid siren tests, and other ominous background noises of the time, I'm pretty sure my Chicago school never did any of the under-the-desk business. 

 

Ditto in Baltimore. But I'll tell you what we did do. All children went into the large square foyer outside the classrooms and crouched down against the wall. Yeah, that was gonna work.

 

I wonder whether that "Duck and Cover" short subject planted false memories in some people. 

[Sharpie66]

By the time they got to my generation (born in 1966, so early-wave GenX), it wasn't "duck and cover," it was "put your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodbye as you watch the fireball destroy everything." I saw War Games in the theater, and watched The Day After and the UK film Threads (sooo much more frightening that The Day After, btw--it will leave you scarred for life!), and they were all of a piece.

[Rinaldo]

Testament belongs in that era and genre, too.

[MissT]

Testament belongs in that era and genre, too.

Born in 67 -- I definitely remember this movie and to this day it scared me to death.  I've never forgotten it.   It was just on some random cable channel a few months ago and I couldn't watch it.  The Day After gives me the chills as well.  The scenes of the missile's flying up to the sky and everyone just watching --- unnerves me.

 

Has anyone seen Fail Safe -- great movie with Henry Fonda and a list of great actors.

Edited February 26, 2016 by MissT

[elle]

Born in 67 -- I definitely remember this movie and to this day it scared me to death.  I've never forgotten it.   It was just on some random cable channel a few months ago and I couldn't watch it.  The Day After gives me the chills as well.  The scenes of the missile's flying up to the sky and everyone just watching --- unnerves me.

 

Has anyone seen Fail Safe -- great movie with Henry Fonda and a list of great actors.

The Day After is one that will always stay with me.  I don't think people (them yung'uns) really appreciate how big of a deal it was when it aired.  (there was an 80s retrospective, semi-famous actors/comedians of our generation were being interviewed, when this movie was brought up, they made fun of it!  I was literally yelling at the tv!)

 

Miracle Mile (1988) with Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham, plus John Agar!; was the movie on a random cable channel that I found that I wish I did not watch.  It is interesting premise, but very depressing.

 

Fail Safe - excellent movie, well acted by all!  It is interesting to make that a double feature with Dr. Strangelove.  They both tell a similar story, but in very different ways.

 

On the Beach is another good, but ultimately depressing movie.  Another movie with many good actors.

 

Switching up a bit

I remember our being taught "Dites-moi" in both French and English (multilingual!) which I now realize was practically a brand-new song then,

It took me an embarrassingly long time to remember what was special about this song.  My subconscious picked up the tune right away but it took awhile before it seeped up to my memory and I had that hand to head slap moment of "oh! of course!"

[henrysmom]

I have what I think is a hilariously naive government pamphlet from the 1960s on what to do in case of a nuclear explosion.  Among the handy hints given was that you should spray the kids down with DDT (not sure of the thought process behind that one because it wasn't explained) and that you could create a great bomb shelter in your basement out of an old desk and a few boards (you and the family hunker down under the desk and put the boards around the desk as a makeshift lean-to that would keep the radiation out.  I've often wondered if anybody actually took these suggestions seriously.

[Padma]

I enjoyed rewatching "Seven Days in May" a week or so ago, really good adaptation by Rod Serling and excellent performances by March, Douglas, Lancaster and  Edmund O'Brien in it. It was interesting, given the idea of a military coup, how much JFK liked the book and--despite Pentagon opposition to the movie--he went to Camp David one weekend so that Frankenheimer could stage and film at the WH gate a rightwing protest (of the Kennedy-like president who was seeking peace with the Soviets)  . 

 

Kennedy even told a friend that he found the idea of a rightwing coup in America very plausible, but thought it would be led by the CIA rather than the military. He even said, "If I had three things happen that angered the Right--two more like the Bay of Pigs--I could see something like this happening. But it won't happen on my watch."

 

The film was supposed to come out in Dec. 1963 but was delayed a couple of months because of the assassination. Lancaster and some other liberals (Robert Ryan, Will Geer) went on to make a very good, little seen, film speculating that the JFK assassination HAD been orchestrated by rightwingers connected to the military and intelligence agencies, and funded by Southern conservatives' oil money.

 

The producers even printed their own articles criticizing the Warren Commission and passed them out like newspapers at the theaters.  But in 1973, critics panned, "Executive Action" and it quickly exited the box office. In some ways, its one of the scariest films of the period, even though done on a shoestring budget, unlike "JFK".

Edited February 27, 2016 by Padma

[ratgirlagogo]

The weekly air raid test in my hometown was always at 10 AM every Friday morning.  We did the crawling under the desk thing at my (Catholic parish) school and I know they did it in the public schools as well. This was the sixties and plenty of people who could afford them actually DID have personal bomb shelters but for the rest of us there were public ones all over town, clearly marked with the scary atom sign, usually under churches and schools.  The big black humor joke was that it was surprising Russia's spies hadn't informed their overlords that the perfect time to bomb us would be 10 AM on a Friday. 

 

 

The Day After is one that will always stay with me.  I don't think people (them yung'uns) really appreciate how big of a deal it was when it aired.  (there was an 80s retrospective, semi-famous actors/comedians of our generation were being interviewed, when this movie was brought up, they made fun of it!  I was literally yelling at the tv!)

We had a screening party for this at my food coop and people were  freaking out and crying.  It's not really a good movie but yes, it's upsetting.    It's amazing to me that so many today  seriously think this could never happen now.

 

My mother's come-to-Jesus film on this topic was On The Beach - at the time she saw it I was a toddler and she was pregnant with my brother.  The plotline with Anthony Perkins explaining to his wife how to kill herself and their daughter before the Big One really, really got to  her.

Edited February 27, 2016 by ratgirlagogo

[Sharpie66]

Testament belongs in that era and genre, too.

I actually spoke to Jane Alexander once (she signed her memoir for me), and I told her that Testament was my favorite film of hers. She said it was one of her favorites as well, and that the scene of her washing her son in the bathtub was the hardest thing to do on that film.

[ennui]

By the time they got to my generation (born in 1966, so early-wave GenX), it wasn't "duck and cover," it was "put your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodbye as you watch the fireball destroy everything." I saw War Games in the theater, and watched The Day After and the UK film Threads (sooo much more frightening that The Day After, btw--it will leave you scarred for life!), and they were all of a piece.

Somehow, I doubt that’s what they told you in kindergarten.  :)

As futile as “duck and cover” may be, small children need to know that the Grownups have A Plan. In the absence of their parents, small children need to know that someone is going to take care of them. So, I understand the philosophy. I also remember the school bus driver telling us she had a strategy to fight off the Zodiac killer, so we didn’t need to fear – unfortunately, we weren’t worried about the Zodiac killer until she said that.

I thought On the Beach was well done, and yes, ultimately depressing. But Ava wore her pearls, iirc. I’m often distracted by clothing and accessories.

[Amello]

My Man Godfrey (1936) - William Powell is always fascinating to watch. Carole Lombard's character was all over the place, but she made it work, and was a bright spot, earning that Oscar nomination. Of course, Alice Brady should be in every movie and I wouldn't complain. I could watch her do anything.

 

The Petrified Forest (1936) - This was my favourite Leslie Howard performance that I've seen. He was hilarious, and completely endearing. And Humphrey Bogart looked so good in his first major role. Who said hostage crises have to be so dire? Sure, it ended in tears, but the the journey to get there was fascinating.

[Julia]

The Petrified Forest (1936) - This was my favourite Leslie Howard performance that I've seen. He was hilarious, and completely endearing. And Humphrey Bogart looked so good in his first major role. Who said hostage crises have to be so dire? Sure, it ended in tears, but the the journey to get there was fascinating.

The ending of Petrified Forest has always reminded me a little of the end of Bride of Frankenstein: we belong dead. I thought the weird intimacy between Mantee and Howard's character came from their being the only two in that room who knew they weren't getting out alive, and they were more or less at peace with that.

[Charlie Baker]

Very nice piece on our own Robert Osborne on CBS Sunday Morning Oscar show today.

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/for-robert-osborne-movies-are-life-only-better/

[Julia]

Mo Rocca is a gem. I think he's the closest thing we have to a new Charles Kuralt.

[Crisopera]

I was rewatching Mr. Skeffington (1944) over the weekend (after not having seen it for several years) and realized just how awful Bette Davis's character is.  I have to say this made it a real chore to watch, especially since she used this grating, high-pitched voice.  I did love the pretty accurate period costumes by Orry-Kelly, the terrific wigs by Margaret Donovan, and the lovely performance by Claude Rains.  And it was entertaining to see an uncredited Dolores Gray as a nightclub singer (singing "It Had to Be You").  But it'll be several years before I rewatch it again.

[Julia]

it was entertaining to see an uncredited Dolores Gray as a nightclub singer (singing "It Had to Be You").

 

Oh, I wish you hadn't said that. I managed to resist Mr. Skeffington this time around, and now I'm going to have to watch it.

[mariah23]

Another one to add to 2016 TCM Remembers: Oscar-winner George Kennedy has died at age 91.

[elle]

Another one to add to 2016 TCM Remembers: Oscar-winner George Kennedy has died at age 91.

It's getting that they don't call them emergencies any more, the call them "Patroni's."

 

Thank you, Mr. Kennedy!

[prican58]

I am so bored right now so I have decided to watch some Marx Bros clips. I love this one here...Dr Hackenbush making Mr Whitmore crazy from A Day at The Races.

 

Crazy! 

 

[ratgirlagogo]

 

I have decided to watch some Marx Bros

Always a good idea.

[bmoore4026]

Well, they're having Merchant Ivory movies Tuesdays this month, I believe.

 

Here's Eddie Izzard's interpretation of such movies:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjC3R6jOtUo

[Julia]

He left out the part where everyone inexplicably wants to marry Helena Bonham Carter.

[bmoore4026]

Julia, on 02 Mar 2016 - 05:08 AM, said:

He left out the part where everyone inexplicably wants to marry Helena Bonham Carter.

 

Reasons

[elle]

Well, they're having Merchant Ivory movies Tuesdays this month, I believe.

 

Here's Eddie Izzard's interpretation of such movies:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjC3R6jOtUo

One really needs to put a warning up about a video like this one...I nearly choked on my tea with the "Death Star" bit! %-)

[Julia]

Reasons

that reason knows not of, presumably.

[Rinaldo]

Speaking of Merchant-Ivory, I recorded A Room with a View, mostly to see what sort of intro they'd give it. And also, I'll admit, to see if it would be edited for telecast. I know that would be against their policy, but I can't offhand recall any of their other movies involving them with full male nudity before, or female for that matter. Am I wrong about that? (It was intact, of course.)

 

It was also a trip down memory lane, recalling a time when Judi Dench was pretty much an unfamiliar face on the big screen, and Daniel Day-Lewis was just getting started in supporting roles.

[bmoore4026]

Watching A Funny Thing Happened on the way to The Forum right now.

 

Phil Silvers, Jack Gilford, and Phil Silvers are great, as is the guy playing Miles (and a hottie to boot).  However, the rest of the singing is a bit lackluster.  Whoever they got to dub Philia's singing voice either didn't have it or must have been tired because it didn't sound good.  Michael Crawford felt a bit flat, which is surprising, while Michael Hordern should have been dubbed over because he was flat out awful.  One thing I cannot abide is whispering or breathless talk-singing (I'm looking at you Richard Harris in Camelot ), so he ruined the "Everybody ought to have a maid" number.

 

Speaking of numbers, a lot from the show were cut from the movie, which only makes the movie feel dull.  I mean, what's the point of having a musical if you don't have musical numbers every seven to ten minutes?

 

I will say this, though: I like Zero Mostel a lot more than that hammier-than-a-deli Nathan Lane.

Edited March 3, 2016 by bmoore4026

[Crisopera]

If I remember correctly, A Room with a View and My Beautiful Launderette opened in New York within a week of each other, leading me to realize that Daniel Day-Lewis was one of the most spectacular actors I had ever seen - and I have not changed my mind from that day to this.  Phenomenal.

[elle]

Speaking of Merchant-Ivory, I recorded A Room with a View, mostly to see what sort of intro they'd give it. And also, I'll admit, to see if it would be edited for telecast. I know that would be against their policy, but I can't offhand recall any of their other movies involving them with full male nudity before, or female for that matter. Am I wrong about that? (It was intact, of course.)

 

It was also a trip down memory lane, recalling a time when Judi Dench was pretty much an unfamiliar face on the big screen, and Daniel Day-Lewis was just getting started in supporting roles.

Only in pre-code movies that I recall anything of female nudity being shown on TCM.  They have shown the Franco Zeffirelli Romeo and Juliet intact with the back view of Leonard Whiting.

 

It is fun to watch "modern" movies (post-60s) to see those who are famous now.  So often my reaction is the shocked "they were so young!"

 

Watching A Funny Thing Happened on the way to The Forum right now.

 

Phil Silvers, Jack Gilford, and Phil Silvers are great, as is the guy playing Miles (and a hottie to boot).  However, the rest of the singing is a bit lackluster.  Whoever they got to dub Philia's singing voice either didn't have it or must have been tired because it didn't sound good.  Michael Crawford felt a bit flat, which is surprising, while Michael Hordern should have been dubbed over because he was flat out awful.  One thing I cannot abide is whispering or breathless talk-singing (I'm looking at you Richard Harris in Camelot ), so he ruined the "Everybody ought to have a maid" number.

 

Speaking of numbers, a lot from the show were cut from the movie, which only makes the movie feel dull.  I mean, what's the point of having a musical if you don't have musical numbers every seven to ten minutes?

 

I will say this, though: I like Zero Mostel a lot more than that hammier-than-a-deli Nathan Lane.

*gasp* Richard Harris is wonderful in Camelot!   -- also -- mmv!

 

You forgot to mention Buster Keaton in the list above.  It is a glorified cameo, but he makes the most of it!

 

It is interesting to me that you bring up this topic, play/movie, at this time as I recently opted not to see the "Guys and Dolls" as presented at a local high school.  I debated about going, especially as my daughter kept saying to me that it was my favorite play.  I had to correct her that it was one of my favorite movie musicals.  To get an idea of what it might be like, I checked out some videos ranging from Nathan Lane and Peter Gallagher to the more recent Broadway versions to the high school variety.  I figured out pretty quickly that I would probably not enjoy myself.  I adore Stubby Kaye as Nicely Nicely Johnson.  It was hard for me to see how the number "Sit Down" is staged versus the movie.

 

I did have to laugh at one of the comments about how Sky's song "Lucky be a Lady" inevitably prompts some grouchy middle aged lady to say that Brando did it better.  Or course he did, he had the benefit of multiple takes.  (and I love that scene too,  but I'll only to admit to grouchy)

 

And speaking of young...I was really surprised to see J.K. Simmons as "Benny Southstreet".

[Rinaldo]

If I remember correctly, A Room with a View and My Beautiful Launderette opened in New York within a week of each other, leading me to realize that Daniel Day-Lewis was one of the most spectacular actors I had ever seen

Yes, that was quite a "hi, here I am" year for DDL, wasn't it? All the more so as neither was a showy performance; he just seemed to inhabit both characters so naturally that one might assume they'd just found the right "type" and cast him. But seeing both -- the prissy Edwardian fop and the contemporary London street punk -- made for an astonishing experience.

 

Even as a musician who writes about (and edits restored scores of) musicals, I have no problem with Michael Hordern's singing in Forum. In a cast of comedians, it's a given that we'll get a variety of vocal approaches -- the more, the better.

 

As to the omission of songs from this movie (which of course has a long history in film adaptations of stage musicals)... I'm of two minds about it in this case. It's a very unusual score, as Sondheim has admitted, in that for the most part the songs don't obey the traditional function of songs in a musical: rather than furthering the story or characters, they're interludes, respites, extensions of a moment of reflection. I could wish that "Comedy Tonight" had been used in its full proper scene-setting function, rather than just accompanying the main titles, and that the lovely and funny "Love, I Hear" had been kept. But "I'm Calm" says what it has to say in 20 seconds but has to go on for several minutes, and the same can be said of "That'll Show Him" and "That Dirty Old Man" (one-joke songs, Sondheim calls them). "Impossible" maybe carries its weight better and would be worth keeping... but it's hard to figure out the "right" way to film this show. I certainly think Richard Lester's pre-MTV way of cutting away every 3 seconds hurts the flow and keeps the performers from developing a rhythm (essential in farce). I would have liked to see someone experiment with frankly unrealistic stage-like settings.

 

And Zero Mostel was great in this role of course, but so was Nathan Lane. (Where is ham appropriate if not here?)

Edited March 3, 2016 by Rinaldo

[prican58]

Was there anyone more gorgeous than 1930's Robert Taylor?  Damn. So. Pretty. He is a distraction even from Harlow and Garbo. Never a fan of his acting, especially in his career of the 40/50's. But in his early films he is not so bad.

 

In "Personal Property" it seems rather obvious that Harlow doesn't look healthy. Her face looks weary. Sad to think she wasn't long for this world. 

 

Cool! :    http://moviemorlocks.com/2016/03/03/warning-tcms-condemned-film-festival-is-here/#more-90509

Edited March 4, 2016 by prican58

[elle]

 

Cool! :    http://moviemorlocks...ere/#more-90509

I wonder what the article meant when referring to "special circumstances" films, which are to be shown the last night of the "festival".   Ice Castles is on that list, not a movie I would think would be part of a "Condemned Classics Festivals" (or classic anything, mmv).

[ratgirlagogo]

 

I can't offhand recall any of their other movies involving them with full male nudity before, or female for that matter. Am I wrong about that? 

 

Only in pre-code movies that I recall anything of female nudity being shown on TCM.

They don't censor anything they decide to show.  The Turner Underground drive-in movies from (mostly) the sixties seventies and eighties (for example) always show the male and female nudity and gore.  They showed the 1938 exploitation classic Child Bride complete with the real nudity of the actual twelve year old star of the film, for example.  I think they may limit their more adult material to after 9 pm, but I don't know.

[bluepiano]

Loved watching the Jean Harlow movies today. When I was younger and would hear her name, I assumed she was something of a joke. Like the Jayne Mansfield of her time. But she was a very talented comedienne. She was not conventionally pretty when compared to contemporaries like Myrna Loy or Carole Lombard, but she had great on-camera appeal. And a nice pair of legs, which she showed off at every opportunity.

 

Red-Headed Woman in particular was a hoot. It doesn't jibe with our current sensibility, but the girl from the wrong side of the tracks who uses sex to rise up in the world back then was perceived as something of a feminist heroine. Barbara Stanwyck played similar roles, but often in her movies she eventually realized the error of her ways. I love that in Red-Headed Woman the character played by Harlow is completely unrepentant about anything she's done, and in the end has the last laugh at all the people who morally judged her. (Thanks to it being a pre-code movie, the "bad girl" didn't need to be punished).

Edited March 5, 2016 by bluepiano

[elle]

Sabrina - what can one say but LOVELY?  (it's on tonight!)

 

I know I have said before that I wish that tptb would have cast William Holden in the Linus role.  While I can not seem to think of  who I would place in the David role, I do enjoy WH's performance as the irresponsible brother.  How fun it would have been to have him play both roles?  mmv

 

 

 

Barbara Stanwyck played similar roles, but often in her movies she eventually realized the error of her ways.

In a way, yes, but in some ways no.  In Ladies of Leisure, she tries to kill herself because she can not go back to the life she had been living, after having met and fallen in love with probably the last decent man in NY. She is saved, not punished, and reunited with a man who truly loves her.

 

In Baby Face she is unrepentant until the end where she runs off the boat to rescue George Brent from financial ruin, but to also share his fate whatever it may be.  Yes, again because of love, but he is just as corrupt as she is.  (I like to think that her maid, Theresa Harris, gets off the boat in France and with whatever Barbara had left behind started a new life of her own.)

 

 

 

(Thanks to it being a pre-code movie, the "bad girl" didn't need to be punished).

A while ago, there was some kind of documentary about women in Hollywood, they were interviews with Sherry Lansing (producer) and Glenn Close about the movie "Fatal Attraction".  Here was a case where current filmmakers could learn something from *Old Hollywood*.  In both of their interviews, Lansing and Close expressed surprise that Close's character was viewed not as a strong woman not letting a man take advantage of her but as the villain of the piece -a psycho killer - and that many thought it was a movie against women.

 

Compare that movie to Red-headed Woman, where Jean Harlow's character gets away with shooting her husband, and later is shown not only surviving but thriving.

Edited March 6, 2016 by elle

[Padma]

Sabrina - what can one say but LOVELY?  (it's on tonight!)

 

I know I have said before that I wish that tptb would have cast William Holden in the Linus role.  While I can not seem to think of  who I would place in the David role, I do enjoy WH's performance as the irresponsible brother.  How fun it would have been to have him play both roles?  mmv

 

Lovely, delightful, charming.... I couldn't agree more about Sabrina. I love the movie even though Bogart was so miscast. He and Audrey Hepburn had zero chemistry to me and it was almost sad at the end to see her running off with such a stiff.

 

I'm sure you know that Billy Wilder's first choice for Linus was Cary Grant. I can't help thinking of that whenever I watch it as they are two of my favorites and I can't remember any film they were ever in together. (It didn't help Bogart's performance that, per Wilder's autobiography, he was very jealous that Wilder, Holden and Hepburn were all good friends often hanging out together and that Bogart was in a foul mood throughout the movie, convinced that they were all conspiring against him and Wilder was going to make him look bad so he could "give" the picture to the other two.)

 

I definitely could see Bogart's attractiveness in other kinds of roles, just not this one. I think either Holden or Grant could have done it--to make someone as glum and uptight and humorless as Linus gradually become more appealing. Linus didn't have to be handsome, but he needed to have something more to him--suppressed warmth, joy, depth, something.. The writing had it, just not the performance, imo. But, still a fun movie, in spite of that.

Edited March 6, 2016 by Padma

[Julia]

I have trouble seeing Glenn Close's character as any kind of feminist hero. She slept with someone who she knew to be married, who never suggested that they had a future, and she was psychotically needy enough to punish him for not leaving his family by torturing and killing his daughter's pet and trying to kill his wife. I can understand Glenn Close and Sherry Lansing being defensive about putting a misogynist archetype on the screen, but defending that character is kind of grotesque.

What I liked about the pre-code women is that they were very direct about taking out the people who got in their way. If Fatal Attraction had been a pre-code movie, Michael Douglas would have died halfway through, and it would have been a much better movie.

Edited March 6, 2016 by Julia

[ennui]

I have trouble seeing Glenn Close's character as any kind of feminist hero. She slept with someone who she knew to be married,

And the Michael Douglas character gets off scot-free?

RE Fatal Attraction, I remember watching this with my mother, and we both sided with Alex. We did wonder if she was really pregnant, and then she went off the deep end and became unsympathetic. However, it’s not nice to sleep with people and toss them like used Kleenex.

RE Humphrey Bogart, some women liked him, some did not. I like that he was not classically handsome. Men that aren’t pretty are often very attractive.

O/T Does anyone know why Encore Westerns is showing “Twelve O’Clock High”? I like Gregory Peck, but I’m not seeing any sagebrush or horses.

[Julia]

And the Michael Douglas character gets off scot-free?

Well, since she chose to punish his wife and daughter for his infidelity, yes, he did.

[prican58]

Maybe it was the drinking and smoking but the young Bogart was quite the good looking man.

 

http://static.socialitelife.com/uploads/2014/08/14/humphrey-bogart-tbt-lead-600x450.jpg

 

In Casablanca's Paris scenes, when he is driving the car you can see the good looks.

[mariah23]

Nancy Reagan has died at age 94.

[elle]

Lovely, delightful, charming.... I couldn't agree more about Sabrina. I love the movie even though Bogart was so miscast. He and Audrey Hepburn had zero chemistry to me and it was almost sad at the end to see her running off with such a stiff.

 

I'm sure you know that Billy Wilder's first choice for Linus was Cary Grant. I can't help thinking of that whenever I watch it as they are two of my favorites and I can't remember any film they were ever in together. (It didn't help Bogart's performance that, per Wilder's autobiography, he was very jealous that Wilder, Holden and Hepburn were all good friends often hanging out together and that Bogart was in a foul mood throughout the movie, convinced that they were all conspiring against him and Wilder was going to make him look bad so he could "give" the picture to the other two.)

 

I definitely could see Bogart's attractiveness in other kinds of roles, just not this one. I think either Holden or Grant could have done it--to make someone as glum and uptight and humorless as Linus gradually become more appealing. Linus didn't have to be handsome, but he needed to have something more to him--suppressed warmth, joy, depth, something.. The writing had it, just not the performance, imo. But, still a fun movie, in spite of that.

Bogart, it is said, wanted Lauren Bacall to play the role of Sabrina.  Another reason for him not to be happy during production.

 

I can not see Cary Grant in the role of Linus at the time it was made.  I mean really, Grant or Holden?  Sorry, not a contest for me. :0)

 

And, I have said here before, to the shock of family and friends, I actually like the remake with Harrison Ford because I think it was better cast and, importantly, appropriately updated to the times it was made.

 

I can't help thinking of that whenever I watch it as they are two of my favorites and I can't remember any film they were ever in together

If you mean Grant and Hepburn, then you must go immediately and find Charade directed by Stanley Donen.  Not only are the two great in the movie, but the movie itself is a good mystery all set in Paris.  Lots of fun location shots.   Do NOT be confused by the remake (shudder!)

 

Paris When It Sizzles is my favorite movie with Holden and Hepburn.  You can see the affection the two of them had for each other in real life and they seem to be having fun in the movie.  Old friends, once lovers, meeting again.  (The movie plot is something else entirely, but is a fun romp with lots of cameos!)

 

I don't find a movie where Grant and Holden starred together.

 

What I liked about the pre-code women is that they were very direct about taking out the people who got in their way. If Fatal Attraction had been a pre-code movie, Michael Douglas would have died halfway through, and it would have been a much better movie.

Hee!  And then the two women would have either become friends or go on to be better off without MD or both.  Or Glenn Close has a best friend who helps her come to her senses and see Douglas' character for the bounder (rounder?) he is.   That movie was made with Myrna Loy, Robert Montgomery, and Ann Harding -- the pre code (natch') When Ladies Meet.

 

And bringing both topics together....one of the rare Carole Lombard movies I like her in is In Name Only with Cary Grant and a vicious Kay Francis.  Made in 1939, that would be post-code I believe, it is rare in making the "wronged wife" the bad guy and wow, is she mean!

[elle]

Nancy Reagan has died at age 94.

The movie I remember watching that she was the star and I realized it was her is the movie Shadow on the Wall with Ann Sothern.  She was such a dominating figure in the 80s as our First Lady that I think most people forget she had her own movie career.

[chitowngirl]

Elle, your post about Sabrina and Charade were exactly what I was typing when you posted! And I also like the remake. I would love to see a version of Sabrina edited with Harrison Ford and Audrey! The biggest difference between the two movies, to me,were that there were two different Sabrina's. Julia Ormond's Sabrina was still insecure that she could "land" David, but Audrey's Sabrina felt she was up to the task. Ymmv.

[Padma]

If you mean Grant and Hepburn, then you must go immediately and find Charade directed by Stanley Donen.  Not only are the two great in the movie, but the movie itself is a good mystery all set in Paris.  Lots of fun location shots.   Do NOT be confused by the remake (shudder!)

 

Paris When It Sizzles is my favorite movie with Holden and Hepburn.  You can see the affection the two of them had for each other in real life and they seem to be having fun in the movie.  Old friends, once lovers, meeting again.  (The movie plot is something else entirely, but is a fun romp with lots of cameos!)

 

I don't find a movie where Grant and Holden starred together.

 

Yes, I meant Holden and Grant, but I agree with you about Charade. I also thought "Paris When It Sizzles" was fun, even though the critics hated it. I read that it actually wasn't fun for Holden and Hepburn to make it because he was stlll in love with her, hoping to get back together, drinking heavily while she--still wanting to be "just friends" had moved on.  The cameos are fun and, as a big Noel Coward fan, it was great to see him even in a small comical part.

The movie I remember watching that she was the star and I realized it was her is the movie Shadow on the Wall with Ann Sothern.  She was such a dominating figure in the 80s as our First Lady that I think most people forget she had her own movie career.

I just saw a clip with the two of them in "Hellcats of the Navy"--pretty bad, but fun to see a POTUS and First Lady acting in a movie together. I'm sure TCM will show it in a few days, along with what people think of as her best film, "The Next Voice You Hear" with James Whitmore. Oddly enough, for someone who was so driven in real life to be beautiful, glamorous, and "of high society", she was at her best as an actress playing kind of ordinary, relatable working class women. An amazing life and I've always agreed with those who felt we owed her some thanks for working with some others in his inner circle to push RR to meet with Gorbachev and negotiate the reduction of nuclear weapons. (What a life!)

[Julia]

Hee!  And then the two women would have either become friends or go on to be better off without MD or both.  Or Glenn Close has a best friend who helps her come to her senses and see Douglas' character for the bounder (rounder?) he is.   That movie was made with Myrna Loy, Robert Montgomery, and Ann Harding -- the pre code (natch') When Ladies Meet.

I'm picturing Glenn Close as Miriam Hopkins, for some reason, but Robert Montgomery would make a perfect Michael Douglas. Although I don't know if I'm being fair to him, but I've never entirely forgiven him for Busman's Honeymoon.

[3pwood]

Hee!  And then the two women would have either become friends or go on to be better off without MD or both.  Or Glenn Close has a best friend who helps her come to her senses and see Douglas' character for the bounder (rounder?) he is.   That movie was made with Myrna Loy, Robert Montgomery, and Ann Harding -- the pre code (natch') When Ladies Meet.

 

The 1941 version of When Ladies Meet is also good, with Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor, Greer Garson, & Herbert Marshall as the philandering husband -- it's post-Code, but I don't recall it differing from the 1933 version.  I do prefer the original because of its excellent cast -- no contest (for me) between Myrna Loy & Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery & Robert Taylor, Ann Harding & Greer Garson, though I admit to being torn between Frank Morgan & Herbert Marshall.  

[prican58]

Ok, while I really love the old stuff from the 30's and 40's but I am no snob.

 

Just stumbled onto Gidget Goes Hawaiian from 1961. Of course the scene I come in on is with the seriously swoon worthy James Darren. I just adore him. He is so handsome, can't take my eyes off him.

 

And then there's Michael Callan and I don't think I've ever seen him this young and this good looking. OMG, I had no idea he could dance! I'm talking Gene Kelly kind of dancing. And it's actually him, not a double

 

And Joby Baker, too. I love seeing him.

 

I love these 60's beach type films. Everybody is always so well dressed and perfectly coiffed.

 

I think I like Sandra Dee better as Gidget than Deborah Walley but I always thought Walley was cute.

 

Just noticed that the next movie is Ride the Wild Surf. I saw that on tv when I was a teenager and always liked it. Fabian, Yvonne Craig and Barbara Eden. Can't wait,

Edited March 7, 2016 by prican58