TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[elle]

Did anyone catch Thursday's banned movies?

[Charlie Baker]

I saw The Carey Treatment, which is very 70s, and a pretty standard murder mystery, directed by Blake Edwards based on a Michael Crichton novel (written under a different name). It was condemned largely because the plot revolves around abortion and pro-abortion sentiments are expressed.  The cast was full of good character actors. There was a lot of Boston location shooting.  James Coburn was the lead, and he certainly was a distinctive presence.  

 

I didn't watch The Competition, but I did hear Sr. Rose say that the reason for its being considered objectionable was that the characters had sex without the benefit of marriage and the movie was not coy about it. She also went on to say the movie could play broadcast TV these days without a ripple. 

 

I have Those Lips, Those Eyes awaiting me on the DVR.  It's theater-oriented, has Frank Langella, and was recommended to me by a friend.  Don't know what was the problem with it until I watch.

[Rinaldo]

She also went on to say [The Competition] could play broadcast TV these days without a ripple. 

Well, I do recall one flash of frontal male nudity from the rear, if you follow me, that's probably still too much for the networks.

[Milburn Stone]

I saw The Carey Treatment, which is very 70s, and a pretty standard murder mystery, directed by Blake Edwards based on a Michael Crichton novel (written under a different name). It was condemned largely because the plot revolves around abortion and pro-abortion sentiments are expressed.

 

I miss the 70s. (And its movies.)

[Rinaldo]

The 70s were really "my" movie decade. At the start of it I went into an army band in the DC area, which left me lots of leisure time to see almost every new movie that came out (so I pretty much did), and I kept up the habit as much as I could when I return to grad school in 1973. It was quite a period for movies, American movies particularly, with directors like Altman, Mazursky, Coppola, Allen, Ritchie, Scorsese, and many more finding their voices and stretching themselves. Sometimes it was hard to find just an uncomplicated evening's entertainment (that changed when Spielberg and Lucas really got going in later years of the decade, which -- though not really their fault -- led to less fortunate changes in the industry), but the sense of new voices all around was exhilarating.

 

This Sporcle quiz, if one cares to take it, is indicative of the big box-office hits each year. (And of course some of the best work wasn't the most commercially successful.) Certainly there's some junk in there, but it's remarkable how varied the list is: there's room for many sorts of work, some of it pretty ambitious.

 

The 1970s were my time in other ways too. It's an easy answer when friends get together and play the "favorite decade" game.

[Julia]

 This Sporcle quiz, if one cares to take it, is indicative of the big box-office hits each year. (And of course some of the best work wasn't the most commercially successful.) Certainly there's some junk in there, but it's remarkable how varied the list is: there's room for many sorts of work, some of it pretty ambitious.

 

Only 72%. I think I type too slowly.

[Milburn Stone]

To my shame, I got a mere 64%. But that's partly because of things like entering one Burt Reynolds movie when the answer was another, when in fact all Burt Reynolds movies of the 70s are the same. :)

[Rinaldo]

Mmmm... I suspect that if you showed up for a Smokey and the Bandit, and you got Deliverance, you'd notice a difference.

 

And then there's At Long Last Love....

[Milburn Stone]

Mmmm... I suspect that if you showed up for a Smokey and the Bandit, and you got Deliverance, you'd notice a difference.

 

And then there's At Long Last Love....

 

Very true. My overgeneralization for the sake of a joke had more to do with the interchangeability of, say, a Cannonball Run with a Smokey and the Bandit. To give Burt credit where due, I could add The Longest Yard to your list.

[ratgirlagogo]

And Starting Over, and Hooper.  Not to take anything away from Smokey and the Bandit and his other classic  drive-in car chase movies.

[Charlie Baker]

The quiz was fun, and I agree about the seventies. The film industry has changed a lot since.  A while back I was getting into some of the obscure 70s titles TCM scheduled and I hadn't seen.  When I saw Michael Clayton, I thought in the 70s this would pass as a mainstream project a big star might do (like Warren Beatty in Parallax View) as opposed to George Clooney doing a small scale, serious, kinda indie project. 

 

For those keeping score on the Catholic condemned movie front: Those Lips, Those Eyes (which is modest, and uneven, but fun) was too heavily into the sexual aspect of the story.  And Sr. Rose agreed with the assessment.  True, the leading lady got naked.  But it wasn't overdone.  And the dialogue was pretty racy, I guess, at times.

 

From the sister's remarks, I take it she didn't do an intro for Ice Castles--so will we ever know the objections to it? :-)

 

One more week of these films.

[bmoore4026]

I'm kind of surprised over this year's Easter Sunday schedule.  I mean, yes, they're showing King of Kings and Easter Parade.  But where's The Robe or Quo Vadis or Jesus Christ Superstar?  Kind of disappointed :(

 

Edit: Oh, and I forgot Ben-Hur

 

Edit: And I just saw the commercial after King of Kings about how Thursdays in March were dedicated to movies denounced by the Catholic League.  I MISSED OUT ON AWESOME STUFF THIS MARCH!

Edited March 28, 2016 by bmoore4026

[BooksRule]

I'm probably more excited than I should be that I just noticed that my cable company added some more HD channels to the line-up, including TCM!  I know that most of the movies aren't in HD, but I always noticed the lack of the 'crispness' that even non-HD movies/shows have on a non-HD channel.  I can't wait to look ahead to see what movies are coming up.  I know I'll watch this channel much more than I have in the past.  (I'm also now getting my AMC channel in HD, which I mostly watch for 'The Walking Dead'.  I'm not sure if watching that show in HD is a good thing or a bad thing--because of the gore, you know).

[voiceover]

King of Kings has one of my Top 10 movie themes.  I would love to attend a concert that featured an all-classic-theme program (to hear KoK, and Magnificent Seven, and GWTW themes live --- *sigh*) -- I know they're out there, and I feel certain there was even one 6 or 7 years ago in the town where I live.

 

Happy Easter, all!

[bluepiano]

And Cyd Charisse as the second wife. And much as I love Gail Patrick, it makes a lot more sense to me that a man who still loves his late wife would go for Cyd Charisse circa 1962.

 

Here's some surviving footage.

 

For me, one of the things that doesn't work in My Favorite Wife is the relationship between Cary and the Gail Patrick character. She's attractive and rich, but has no sense of humor and is pretty much a cold fish. Hard to believe that Cary would fall in love with her, or want her to be step-mother to his kids. She's like the complete opposite of his dead wife. Maybe that's supposed to be the idea. And also, by making her unlikeable, the audience doesn't feel bad over how shabbily she's treated when Irene Dunne returns.

 

In Move Over Darling, Polly Bergen plays the second wife as a neurotic ditz, but she's not unlikeable. I think that works better. (In Too Many Husbands, another version of the same story, except with a presumably dead husband returning from the South Seas, there's doubt as to who Jean Arthur is ultimately going to choose, Fred MacMurray or Melvyn Douglas.That actually makes things more interesting).

 

Thanks for posting the link to the Something's Gotta Give footage. I'm looking forward to watching it. Cyd Charisse is a favorite of mine. Her movie characters are generally so likeable, so I'm curious about how she plays this part.

 

Is this the only movie where Marilyn Monroe ever played a mother? I can't think of another one.

 

Edited March 28, 2016 by bluepiano

[Rinaldo]

 (In Too Many Husbands, another version of the same story, except with a presumably dead husband returning from the South Seas, there's doubt as to who Jean Arthur is ultimately going to choose, Fred MacMurray or Melvyn Douglas. That actually makes things more interesting).

Another difference in that version is that, rather than being wracked with distress at her dilemma, or guilt over her hasty remarriage, Jean Arthur is delighted to have two men to choose between, each with attractive qualities the other lacks. That makes things more interesting too, and it's rather unexpected to see the female version of the story given more freedom. Even at the end, after the inevitable legal decision that only the first marriage is legal, she can't stop dancing with both at the fadeout.

[Crisopera]

After watching Easter Parade last night, I find that it's one of the few movies where I wish Fred Astaire had lost out with the leading lady.  His character is such a jerk (obviously written with Gene Kelly and his For Me and My Gal chemistry with Judy Garland in mind) that I always want her to end up with Peter Lawford - he's age-appropriate, adorable, and rich!

 

And I have to say that Irene did not do right by Judy Garland in the costume department - most of them are terribly unflattering - bad colors, bad lengths, not terribly well-fitting (especially her ugly lavender number for the Ziegfeld audition scene).  And Ann Miller looks absolutely gorgeous in her gowns.

 

That said, it does have some amazing numbers - especially "Drum Crazy" and the gorgeous ballad "Better Luck Next Time".  And much as I love "Steppin' Out With My Baby", it's unfortunately cringeworthy to realize that it's in blackface (more like light-beige-face, but still).  I'm also a (guilty-pleasure) fan of the magazine-cover/fashion-show numbers (as in "The Girl on the Magazine Cover" in this and "Cover Girl" in the movie of the same name).

[Milburn Stone]

 I'm also a (guilty-pleasure) fan of the magazine-cover/fashion-show numbers (as in "The Girl on the Magazine Cover" in this and "Cover Girl" in the movie of the same name).

 

I (guilty-pleasurely) join you. Would you add the sendup in Funny Girl? I would!

[Julia]

I'm not going to defend Judy Garland's styling in the Ziegfeld audition scene - the suit was dumpy, and the hair made her look twenty years older. I do think the dress she wore for the final Easter Parade number was probably the shape most suited to her of anything I ever saw her in.

[aradia22]

I seem to only want to be in England for museum exhibits but they're great exhibits... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3506342/V-stage-new-Vivien-Leigh-exhibition-featuring-100-unseen-pieces.html

[Padma]

...That said, it does have some amazing numbers - especially "Drum Crazy" and the gorgeous ballad "Better Luck Next Time".  And much as I love "Steppin' Out With My Baby", it's unfortunately cringeworthy to realize that it's in blackface (more like light-beige-face, but still).  I'm also a (guilty-pleasure) fan of the magazine-cover/fashion-show numbers (as in "The Girl on the Magazine Cover" in this and "Cover Girl" in the movie of the same name).

I love Drum Crazy, actually any time Fred taps and drums--Daddy Longlegs is another--is just so great. Tapping with four feet? Drumming with four hands? I wish he did those numbers more often. I love this amazing 3 and a half minutes--continuous dancing/drumming, unedited--from "Damsel in Distress". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI4iGnY5ml0  So great.

 

I agree not every outfit suited Judy while Ann always looked gorgeous. But the contrast between the two characters as dancers and as personalities was fun -- so many great numbers and IB songs -- and the white dress at the end is beautiful for her, so maybe some of the rest was a build up to her transformation/happy ending.

[bluepiano]

Another difference in that version is that, rather than being wracked with distress at her dilemma, or guilt over her hasty remarriage, Jean Arthur is delighted to have two men to choose between, each with attractive qualities the other lacks. 

 

For the sake of completeness, I'll also mention Three for the Show from 1955, in which Jack Lemmon returns (he was reported killed at sea during the Korean War) to find wife Betty Grable about to marry his best friend and song writing partner Gower Champion. But that one ends happily, as Gower winds up with the character played by real-life wife Marge.

 

The genesis of all these movies is the poem Enoch Arden, by Alfred Tennyson, which was actually made into a movie by D.W. Griffith in 1911. There was another silent version made in 1915 with Lillian Gish. In the original story, Enoch Arden is a sailor presumed lost at sea, who returns to learn his wife has remarried. Unlike all the later movie versions, it's a tragedy, not a comedy, as Enoch never reveals himself. In My Favorite Wife, Cary Grant and Irene Dunne's last name is Arden.

[Milburn Stone]

For the sake of completeness, I'll also mention Three for the Show from 1955, in which Jack Lemmon returns (he was reported killed at sea during the Korean War) to find wife Betty Grable about to marry his best friend and song writing partner Gower Champion. But that one ends happily, as Gower winds up with the character played by real-life wife Marge.

 

Wow--a multiple loan-out deal. (Grable from Fox and the Champions from MGM, joining Lemmon at Columbia.) Probably at this point in the decline and fall of the movie musical, no studio gave a flying fig.

[Julia]

The genesis of all these movies is the poem Enoch Arden, by Alfred Tennyson, which was actually made into a movie by D.W. Griffith in 1911. There was another silent version made in 1915 with Lillian Gish. In the original story, Enoch Arden is a sailor presumed lost at sea, who returns to learn his wife has remarried. Unlike all the later movie versions, it's a tragedy, not a comedy, as Enoch never reveals himself. In My Favorite Wife, Cary Grant and Irene Dunne's last name is Arden.

 

There was a Claudette Colbert/Orson Welles version of this called Tomorrow is Forever. Welles is badly hurt in WW1 and decides not to return to Colbert (who he doesn't realize he has a son with) and be a burden. She thinks he's dead and marries George Brent, who twenty years later hires a chemist nobody realizes is Welles.

Edited March 28, 2016 by Julia

[Rinaldo]

[Please ignore.]

Edited March 29, 2016 by Rinaldo

[Rinaldo]

Wow--a multiple loan-out deal. (Grable from Fox and the Champions from MGM, joining Lemmon at Columbia.) Probably at this point in the decline and fall of the movie musical, no studio gave a flying fig.

 

That's the sort of thing I always want to know more about, because it's so seldom the focus of a story. By the 1950s, which stars were still under studio contract? What were the trades involved in loan-outs? Who were the contract players at each studio?

 

Famously, Universal was the last studio to maintain a stable of contract players (used mostly for TV), lasting into the early 1980s, but I've never seen a definitive listing. I know that Sharon Gless likes to say she was the last of the breed, and I know Howard McGillin was one in the 1970s, but there must be many more.

[mariah23]

Another one for TCM Remembers: Patty Duke has died. I didn't even know she was sick!

That's the sort of thing I always want to know more about, because it's so seldom the focus of a story. By the 1950s, which stars were still under studio contract? What were the trades involved in loan-outs? Who were the contract players at each studio?

Famously, Universal was the last studio to maintain a stable of contract players (used mostly for TV), lasting into the early 1980s, but I've never seen a definitive listing. I know that Sharon Gless likes to say she was the last of the breed, and I know Howard McGillin was one in the 1970s, but there must be many more.

The reason they cast Robert Taylor and Cyd Charisse in 1958's Party Girl is because they were the two remaining stars under contract to TCM.

[Bastet]

Another one for TCM Remembers: Patty Duke has died. I didn't even know she was sick!

 

She may not have been; she died of sepsis from a ruptured intestine.

[Inquisitionist]

Somehow, I would not have been surprised if Patty Duke had passed away 40 years ago.  But to survive all the tumult in her life until age 69 and then die from a ruptured intestine seems so bizarre. 

[prican58]

The Patty Duke news is so sad. Her sitcom back in the 60's was fun and the theme song is still stuck in my head. Lots of respect to her coming out as bipolar quite some time ago when most celebs might have shunned such declarations. Good actress and I always remember the TV movie she did with the also wonderful Al Freeman,Jr back in the 70's called My Sweet Charlie  http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/414851/My-Sweet-Charlie/

 

Didn't Jean Harlow die of sepsis as well?

 

Sharon Gless' statement is fairly true, I think. I think the tv networks used a studio system in the 70's and you always saw the same actors showing up on the tv dramas and sitcoms of the day. She was one as were folks like Susan St James, John Rubenstein and others. 

After deciding to switch to acting, Gless took classes and in 1974 signed a 10-year contract with Universal Studios. Near the end of her contract, she was identified in the media as the last of the studio contract players[4] — a salaried, old Hollywood apprentice system which Universal was the last to employ. Actress Elizabeth Baur is Gless's first cousin.[5]

Career[edit]

 

I took the above from Wikipedia. Elizabeth Baur was on Ironside for many seasons and I figure she was also part of the system.

That was how I was able to commit to memory the names and faces of so many actors because they kept popping up on every show. I even remember Tony Geary from General Hospital playing a minister on The Partridge Family. I also remember seeing David Cassidy and Barry Williams on Bonanza before they were cast in their sitcoms.

 

The studio system (tv and movies) probably sucked more often than not but it really was the training ground to learn the biz. No studio, no show biz.

[Crisopera]

Very sad about Patty Duke.  She was one of the best ever child/adolescent actors - she gave a genuinely phenomenal performance in The Miracle Worker.  Her scenes with Anne Bancroft are amazing.

[Wiendish Fitch]

Very sad about Patty Duke.  She was one of the best ever child/adolescent actors - she gave a genuinely phenomenal performance in The Miracle Worker.  Her scenes with Anne Bancroft are amazing.

 

I second that. Patty Duke in The Miracle Worker is in my personal Hall of Fame with Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz, Sarah Polley in The Sweet Hereafter, and Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone as the most phenomenal acting by a teenager ever. She's nothing short of extraordinary in The Miracle Worker, and just thinking about the water pump scene is enough to get me emotional.

Edited March 30, 2016 by Wiendish Fitch

[ratgirlagogo]

Yes, she was great.  My other favorite performances from her would be Valley of the Dolls(speaking of Judy Garland) and A Christmas Memory. Sure I'll think of others.

Edited March 31, 2016 by ratgirlagogo

[voiceover]

I'm not going to defend Judy Garland's styling in the Ziegfeld audition scene - the suit was dumpy, and the hair made her look twenty years older.

Is that the scene where they sing "The Midnight Choo-choo"?  because that was a number reshot for...some reason....and Judy had put on some weight by then.  That's why she looks so different.

[Charlie Baker]

Patty Duke did spend most of her career in a lot of TV movies, including playing Annie Sullivan in a Miracle Worker remake, which I remember being better than I expected it to be,and playing herself in the filmed version of her memoir.

 

But she got some positive notice for Me, Natalie, post Valley of the Dolls, which I haven't seen since I was a kid.  I wonder how that late 60s movie holds up.

[Rinaldo]

I saw her on Broadway in 2003 in the Trevor Nunn revival of Oklahoma!, which she joined in the last months of its run as Aunt Eller. As the only time I saw her on a stage, and in retrospect my last look at her (I seem to have missed her subsequent TV appearances), I wish it had been more memorable. She did all the approved things in the part, but she somehow didn't fall within the range of type (Charlotte Greenwood, Margaret Hamilton, Mary Wickes...) that will bring Aunt Eller to life. Still, a trouper as always.

[Milburn Stone]

I saw her on Broadway in 2003 in the Trevor Nunn revival of Oklahoma!, which she joined in the last months of its run as Aunt Eller....She somehow didn't fall within the range of type (Charlotte Greenwood, Margaret Hamilton, Mary Wickes...) that will bring Aunt Eller to life...

 

A tangent: It's been a while since I've seen the movie version. Did they insert/allow any of Charlotte Greenwood's de rigueur high leg lifts into Aunt Eller's choreography, or was it strictly Agnes de Mille all the way? (Not discounting the possibility that de Mille might have gladly inserted them.)

[Rinaldo]

I watched once with that in mind. Weirdly, I think there is one as Aunt Eller gives way to Will in "Kansas City," but it's off at the edge of the screen, moving out of shot, not featured in any way. If you're going to include that trademark of hers (and I can't imagine de Mille minding), wouldn't you draw attention to it?

[prican58]

I am watching the BBC documentary series  Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film from 1980, narrated by James Mason (swoon). I think I've seen it before but still, it's captivating.

 

[bmoore4026]

Right, I don't know if this belongs here or one of the movie subforums but I'm posting it here because it talks about the stars and directors and produces of the Golden Age of Hollywood (among other topics like Madonna), but I found this podcast and I have fallen instantly in love with it: http://podbay.fm/show/858124601

[jjj]

What has happened to TCM movies OnDemand at Comcast?  They seem to have completely disappeared.  I really used that feature a lot to view films I had missed each week. 

[Charlie Baker]

TCM On Demand recently disappeared from my Time Warner service, then reappeared with fewer selections than usual.  

[Sharpie66]

prican58, thank you so much for letting me know about that Silent Movie series! I'm partway through it now, and am highly enjoying it.

Edited April 5, 2016 by Sharpie66

[bluepiano]

Just watched Pennies from Heaven, which TCM showed last week and I DVRed. I did not know that the classic song was originally written for this movie. (And nominated for a Best Song Oscar, 1936). The movie's pretty lightweight, but interesting to see a young Bing Crosby playing a footloose "troubadour," which is probably closer to his real nature than a priest. And there's a wonderful Louis Armstrong and band musical number. Satchmo also got a chance to deliver some lines and show his great comic timing. He should've had more movie roles, but hey, we know about the dismal opportunities for black actors back in those days.

 

I also had to go to IMDB to look up Edith Fellows. It struck me that unlike most child actresses who had lead roles in that period, she is not conventionally pretty. Her IMDB bio is quite interesting, including the tidbit that at one point fellow former child star Jackie Cooper announced he was going to make a biopic of her life, though that never materialized. It was nice that after various career and personal struggles she was active doing character parts on TV in the '80s.

Edited April 5, 2016 by bluepiano

[Padma]

Nice to have a Gregory Peck day today, including "On the Beach" which doesn't get shown nearly enough. I forgot he was in Cape Fear (Mitchum staying so strongly in memory) and there are always people to recommend To Kill a Mockingbird to who have, surprisingly, never seen it but are newly aware because of the new novel's publicity (and recent death) of Harper Lee. Peck was, to my way of thinking, an awful lot the same from one movie to the next, but with TKaM it was just such a perfect blend of actor and role, where you couldn't imagine anyone else doing it better. I wasn't around for the films today, but am looking forward to the 2 hour interview with Peck shown later this evening.

 

I notice my TCM On Demand with Time Warner has also been greatly reduced of late in both quantity and quality. I'm still hoping some of these will show up there.

Edited April 6, 2016 by Padma

[prican58]

prican58, thank you so much for letting me know about that Silent Movie series! I'm partway through it now, and am highly enjoying it.

Glad you got to see it. It's great seeing the "shimmering, glowing stars in the cinema firmament."  Lina Lamont slays me.

 

It's such a great series.

[revbfc]

I know it was on a week or so ago, but I just got around to watching Wayership Down. I had forgotten how much that movie made me cry.

I also finally got to rewatching Bakshi's Lord of the Rings. Does anybody else have a strong love/hate relationship with his work like I do? I'm in awe of his style and how brave his craft is, but the finished product can leave me angry at times.

[elle]

 

Ice Castles

I've gone back and caught up with the posts I missed.  Was the censoring of Ice Castles ever explained?

 

I've stumbled across a channel "GETTV" that has an eclectic mix of movies (something from the 70s, then something from the 30s) and commercials.  It's not TCM, but I'll take it!

 

The 30s movie was Blind Date with Ann Southern and Neil Hamilton.  Always strange to see "Commissioner Gordon" (Batman!) as a young man.  There is a marathon dance scene in it, which I find I can no longer watch after finally seeing They Shoot Horses, Don't They? all the way through.  Other than that it is a typical poor girl-rich boy romance. 

 

The 70s, er 1967 movie was the always fun Who's Minding the Mint?, a who's who of now familiar faces.  I came in late, does anyone remember why Dorothy Provine's character is wearing a ballerina costume?

[ratgirlagogo]

 

I've stumbled across a channel "GETTV" that has an eclectic mix of movies

Yes,  they seem to have the Columbia catalog.  I've seen a lot of films on GetTV that were new to me, and I especially like that they will feature various B movie series like Lone Wolf, Whistler, and Boston Blackie.

[chitowngirl]

The 70s, er 1967 movie was the always fun Who's Minding the Mint?, a who's who of now familiar faces.  I came in late, does anyone remember why Dorothy Provine's character is wearing a ballerina costume?

IIRC, she was needed to cut the money and she was at a dance class.