TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[bluepiano]

Larry Parks is best known for playing Jolson in two bio pix, and his lack of charisma didn't help there either. (After being a victim of McCarthy era blacklisting, he made few movies and focused on a stage and nightclub career, appearing often with wife Betty Garrett).

 

Love is Better than Ever was made during kind of a middle period for Liz Taylor, post adolescent stardom, but before she blossomed into a serious dramatic actress. Watching it, I kept thinking that she was miscast in the kind of froth you'd expect to star the likes of June Allyson or Debbie Reynolds. Maybe because she was almost too beautiful, as opposed to cute. Or because even doing lightweight comedy you sensed there was something more intense going on within her. 

 

I've often heard people say that the two greatest all-around movie talents ever were Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. Interestingly, I think it's possible with both to be in awe of their talents without particularly enjoying their performances. I know that Mickey really rubs some people the wrong way, but for me, Judy is a mixed bag. In some of her movies she is totally charming and captivating, but in others, there's a kind of desperation that puts me off.

 

I recently read about her long standing on-and-off affair with the great lyricist Johnny Mercer, something I didn't know. Backstage gossip usually bores me, but as I'm a huge Mercer fan, this definitely caught my eye.

Edited April 18, 2016 by bluepiano

[Padma]

Larry Parks is best known for playing Jolson in two bio pix, and his lack of charisma didn't help there either. (After being a victim of McCarthy era blacklisting, he made few movies and focused on a stage and nightclub career, appearing often with wife Betty Garrett).

You may be right about Larry Parks' lack of charisma, but you couldn't prove it by me!  That was the first movie musical I ever saw on television--on our old B/W even though it was filmed in Technicolor--and I loved it and rewatch it so happily whenever it's on. I always think that maybe Parks was more earnest and boyish than the real Jolson, but I enjoyed it--and William Demarest--both nominated for Oscars for it. Plus, Parks did a fantastic job lip-syncing Jolson singing his songs again for the movie. Honestly, I think it's one of the better musical bio-pics, a great bit of Americana. (However, I agree completely that I'd picture Larry Parks--fan though I am--in an Elizabeth Taylor movie as, maybe, her brother, not her love interest).

 

Speaking of which, back to Rooney, I admired in "Girl Crazy" how he embraced his shortness. At a time when so many short men were standing on boxes or having taller leading ladies standing in a ditch, he has scenes where he and Judy stand eye to eye in their street clothes and they are -exactly- the same height. It looked kind of odd (where it doesn't, for some reason, in couples' dances), but I liked that he did it especially as he was a man, not a boy. 

Edited April 19, 2016 by Padma

[prican58]

I think it's rather impossible to find the American Masters doc anywhere. Ebay does have one but I've had issues with them and really do not want to buy anything there.

 

So I guess I'll make like Columbus and search high and low for my doc. 

[Milburn Stone]

Speaking of which, back to Rooney, I admired in "Girl Crazy" how he embraced his shortness. At a time when so many short men were standing on boxes or having taller leading ladies standing in a ditch, he has scenes where he and Judy stand eye to eye in their street clothes and they are -exactly- the same height. 

 

Not to mention all the scenes in that movie in which he's with women who tower over him.

 

It's like they were cast for that purpose. And he was game. (Almost masochistically so.)

Edited April 19, 2016 by Milburn Stone

[Milburn Stone]

Love is Better than Ever was made during kind of a middle period for Liz Taylor, post adolescent stardom, but before she blossomed into a serious dramatic actress. Watching it, I kept thinking that she was miscast in the kind of froth you'd expect to star the likes of June Allyson or Debbie Reynolds. Maybe because she was almost too beautiful, as opposed to cute. Or because even doing lightweight comedy you sensed there was something more intense going on within her. 

 

That's an interesting observation. It might have been a slightly better movie with June or Debbie. Or a less weird one, anyway. It would have been an ordinary, mediocre, unremarkable, mildly enjoyable B movie. Instead of a--what the hell is this? movie.

 

The upside of the casting: You could leave the movie for twenty minutes as it played (as I did), come back to it, and get everything out of it that you would have if you'd stayed in the room. Because Elizabeth Taylor was still there, hypnotically, bewitchingly, awesomely, disablingly beautiful.

Edited April 19, 2016 by Milburn Stone

[henrysmom]

 

Judy is a mixed bag. In some of her movies she is totally charming and captivating, but in others, there's a kind of desperation that puts me off.

 

I can certainly see Judy's great talent but I actually almost dislike watching her, especially in her later films.  There is such a fragility there--it is almost painful to watch.   I recently rewatched the movie Summer Stock and I was struck by how gentle Gene Kelly seemed to be with her. Not really like the character at all, but just a moment where an actor knew somebody he loved was struggling, and he seemed to want to help her in any way he could.

[Julia]

Not to mention all the scenes in that movie in which he's with women who tower over him.

 

It's like they were cast for that purpose. And he was game. (Almost masochistically so.)

 

Maybe it's that he was so overwhelmingly popular, but you really have to admire the kind of self-confidence it had to take to be at the verge of transitioning into adult romantic male lead roles and let himself be thrown around like a beanbag by June Allyson.

Edited April 19, 2016 by Julia

[Milburn Stone]

Maybe it's that he was so overwhelmingly popular, but you really have to admire the kind of self-confidence it had to take to be at the verge of transitioning into adult romantic male lead roles and let himself be thrown around like a beanbag by June Allyson.

 

Let alone to marry Ava Gardner.

[bluepiano]

He was also married, among others, to a tall, lovely actress named Martha Vickers, best known for playing Lauren Bacall's wanton younger sister in The Big Sleep.

 

Reminds me of a story my father once told me. He had a cousin who was involved in horse racing in New York, who invited him to some big annual racing industry ball. He said that all the jockeys had tall, statuesque showgirl wives.

 

The one movie I can think of where Mickey's height was made an issue of was the laughably inaccurate bio-pic about songwriters Rodgers and Hart, Words and Music. The real Lorenz Hart was in fact very short, and considered himself physically ugly, but he was also a tormented repressed homosexual and self-destructive alcoholic. In the movie, it's all about Mickey's complex over his height, and he dies of a heart attack standing (I kid you not) in front of a store window display of elevator shoes.

Edited April 19, 2016 by bluepiano

[Rinaldo]

In the movie, it's all about Mickey's complex over his height, and he dies of a heart attack standing (I kid you not) in front of a store window display of elevator shoes.

Oh Lord. Even after you assure us you're not kidding, I find that I'm hoping you are anyway. I have the DVD for this movie, as part of a boxed set that I wanted for other titles, but I've never watched it. Now I may keep it that way forever.

[bluepiano]

Oh Lord. Even after you assure us you're not kidding, I find that I'm hoping you are anyway. I have the DVD for this movie, as part of a boxed set that I wanted for other titles, but I've never watched it. Now I may keep it that way forever.

 

If you're a fan of the classic American songbook, it's still worth seeing for the sublime music performed by an all-star cast. I'm not a fan of some of the performer choices, but there are some real standouts, like Lena Horne singing "The Lady is Tramp" and Mel Torme's "Blue Moon." And the jazz ballet to "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue," danced by Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen, is amazing. (Lots of Judy Garland too, for her fans)

 

You can always fast forward through the "dramatic" sequences. Hollywood biographies of entertainers are notoriously inaccurate, but this one takes the cake. The word "sanitized" doesn't even begin to cover it. Including the homosexual Hart being given a fictional girlfriend, played by Betty Garret. And Richard Rodgers and his wife, and Hart, in real life all sophisticated Jewish New Yorkers, seem to have stepped out of an Iowa corn field.

 

As for the death scene, don't want to spoil it for you, but the cheesiness is epic.

Edited April 20, 2016 by bluepiano

[Crisopera]

At least there's nothing that quite reaches the same heights of bad taste as Frank Sinatra, wearing white white-tie-and-tails, standing on a white pillar and singing "Ol' Man River" in 'Til the Clouds Roll By.

[Julia]

Oh Lord. Even after you assure us you're not kidding, I find that I'm hoping you are anyway. I have the DVD for this movie, as part of a boxed set that I wanted for other titles, but I've never watched it. Now I may keep it that way forever.

 

Oh, sadly no. He went into a decline when Betty Garret didn't want to pitch woo, or something like that, and tried to drink away the shortness.

 

It does have the last appearance of Mickey and Judy together in a movie singing I Wish I Were in Love Again.

Edited April 19, 2016 by Julia

[prican58]

I guess today is under water day as every film has an aquatic theme. Right now there's Around the World Under the Sea from 1966 which I have never heard of. Interesting cast includes Lloyd Bridges, Keenan Wynn, Marshall Thompson, Brian Kelly ( the dad from Flipper) and in all his Illya Kuriakin style David McCallum. Not a big under the sea fan but it's sit-thru-able due to the cast. I think Lloyd deserves a day for his b-day which would probably be the only way to see Home of The Brave. Love that film but I don't recall TCM playing it in recent years during Memorial Day or Veterans Day marathons.

 

After this is one I am curious to see. The Decks Ran Red 1958 with James Mason and Dorothy Dandridge!!!  Ha Cha Cha!!

[Rinaldo]

[There] are some real standouts, like Lena Horne singing "The Lady is [a] Tramp"

 

And the jazz ballet to "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue," danced by Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen, is amazing.

 

The word "sanitized" doesn't even begin to cover it. Including the homosexual Hart being given a fictional girlfriend, played by Betty Garrett.

 

And Richard Rodgers and his wife, and Hart, in real life all sophisticated Jewish New Yorkers, seem to have stepped out of an Iowa corn field.\

(So much to respond to here!) I've already seen that "The Lady Is a Tramp." It's on YouTube, and I was looking for a clip to show a student who had never heard of Lena Horne and wanted to know why she was such a big deal. She's sizzling in it.

 

At point I must have seen that "Slaughter on 10th Avenue" (was it in one of the That's Entertainment!s?), because I remember my disappointment that they didn't even try to do the classic Balanchine staging. Of course it's a given that none of the songs in a musical biopic like this are anything like the actual original stage situations.

 

The treatment of Hart, wrong though it is, is pretty much the same as Cole Porter got in Night and Day. He too was given an ersatz girlfriend in the person of Alexis Smith. (This seemed to be her mission in that period; didn't she perform the same service for Gershwin in Rhapsody in Blue? -- not that he was gay in real life, but she was a fictional contrivance.)

 

There's a dissertation somewhere in the reluctance of the (mostly Jewish) movie producers in that period to depict Jewish biographical subjects as such. I suppose it was a commercially motivated yielding to the idea that "middle America won't go for it," whether that was true or not.

[prican58]

I'm a big fan of the British films of the late 50's/early 60's so I am quite excited to be watching A Taste of Honey from 1961. I know TCM has showcased these films before but I wish they would air them more frequently.

 

I love the black and white working class feel of them. 

[Rinaldo]

I agree, prican58. My love also goes back to the "minor" British comedies of a slightly earlier period, which never seem to air. I've caught Passport to Pimlico, and decades ago saw The Happiest Days of Your Life,  but have yet to see titles like Folly To Be Wise or Laughter in Paradise and the others that Pauline Kael used to rave about in her capsule writeups that I've never had a chance to see.

[Milburn Stone]

And the jazz ballet to "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue," danced by Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen, is amazing.

 

I find I'm always getting this, SIngin' in the Rain's "Broadway Rhythm Ballet," and The Bandwagon's "Girl Hunt Ballet" mixed up. I mean, I can remember who was paired with whom in which, but the events that happen in the ballets all blend together for me. If you ask me which of the three has the George Raft surrogate flipping the coin, I'll come up with Singin' in the Rain, but it might take me a moment.  I guess Words and Music's "Slaughter" was the template. (Or was it Laurey's "Dream Ballet"?)

 

As for the silliness of W&M's depiction of Rodgers & Hart, yes, of course, but I always find something appealing about Tom Drake. He's not a thing like Richard Rodgers, but when I watch the movie, I want Richard Rodgers to be more like him rather than vice versa.

Edited April 20, 2016 by Milburn Stone

[bluepiano]

What sets apart "Slaughter" for me is that it's an incredibly beautiful and brilliant piece of music, and shows that RR could've had a career as a writer of American symphonic music. (I'm admittedly a big Rogers fan, having been related to him by marriage).

Edited April 20, 2016 by bluepiano

[ratgirlagogo]

 

two big radio stars of the time, Joe Penner (a weird amalgam of Pee Wee Herman and Bert Lahr) and Parkyakarkus, who did dialect humor (his character was a truculent Greek immigrant).  Parkyakarkus actually had a couple of funny lines (he was the father of Albert Brooks), but Joe Penner was incredibly unfunny.

We are all about ancient old radio shows Chez Rat and I can tell you decisively that NOBODY remembers why Joe Penner was ever considered funny.  I don't just mean that current day fans of this material like Mr Rat and me don't get it - I'm saying that performers and writers we have talked to who worked in 1930's and 1940's network radio ALSO can't remember why anyone thought he was funny.  His big comic catchphrase was "Wanna buy a duck?"  I'm not even sure who I'd compare him to in terms of recent unfunny popular comics - I've seen Adam Sandler be actually funny on occasion so he doesn't really fit the bill either,  but I guess he might be the closest.  Jim Belushi? Emo Philips?

[Rinaldo]

What sets apart "Slaughter" for me is that it's an incredibly beautiful and brilliant piece of music, and shows that RR could've had a career as a writer of American symphonic music....

I would have to disagree that he could have done that. "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" is a brilliant piece of ballet scoring, and Richard Rodgers is absolutely one of the top creators of American song, ever -- I admire and revere him more and more every year. HIs body of work is absolutely stunning in its memorability and inspiration. No question.

 

But for something like "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" he supplied one or more pages of musical themes (imperishable, inspired ones) for piano, which a dance arranger repeated and extended into the full length of the ballet, and then Hans Spialek turned into orchestral sounds.

 

None of this is to Rodgers's discredit, and none of it is secret; that's how the theater system works. But a writer of symphonic music conceives a full extended orchestral movement himself, without assistance, and this was not a skill that Rodgers was ever called on to develop. For me, it's enough that he stands on an immortal level with a handful of others of his era (Berlin, Kern, Gershwin, Porter, probably Arlen), achieving near-perfection in that realm.

[Milburn Stone]

Emo Philips?

 

Is hilarious! (Unpopular opinion?)

[Sharpie66]

(Back in the day, I had an Emo Phillips comedy album on tape that I wore out from listening to it. It made me laugh so hard, and reminded me of early Robin Williams' albums.)

[Julia]

I thought Emo Phillips was generally as smart and funny as Andy Kaufman generally wasn't, although they each had their moments. There, a really unpopular opinion...

 

Does Chez Rat have someplace online to find those shows?

[Milburn Stone]

Trying bravely :) to combine Emo and the topic, I'll ask: Wouldn't it be amazing to have Emo be the TCM guest for an evening? I wonder what movies he'd pick. The mind reels.

 

I imagine him being drawn to the movies of Todd Solondz. "I like a feel-good movie as much as the next man," I can hear him saying.

Edited April 21, 2016 by Milburn Stone

[elle]

Must give some love to Jim Belushi.  I think of him as a go to guy of supporting characters.

[kscoaster]

I imagine him being drawn to the movies of Todd Solondz. "I like a feel-good movie as much as the next man," I can hear him saying.

 

I can't imagine him not saying that...

[editorgrrl]

NOBODY remembers why Joe Penner was ever considered funny.

His big comic catchphrase was "Wanna buy a duck?" I'm not even sure who I'd compare him to in terms of recent unfunny popular comics.

Joe Penner was country corn, like Bob the Cable Guy, Jim Foxworthy, Jim Varney, or Hee-Haw.

You can stream or download a free clip of Joe Penner with Rudy Vallée from July 13, 1933, at https://www.otrcat.com/p/joe-penner

From Wikipedia:

He was launched on his successful radio career by Rudy Vallée, appearances which led to his own Sunday evening half-hour, The Baker's Broadcast, which began on the Blue Network October 8, 1933.

Penner was a zany comic, noted for his famed catchphrase, "Wanna buy a duck?", and his low hyuck-hyuck laugh. Penner's other memorable catchphrase, often triggered by someone else's double entendre remark, was, "You naaaasss-ty man!"

Edited April 21, 2016 by editorgrrl

[prican58]

Joe Penner must have been quite the guy.

 

[bluepiano]

Sad that Penner died of a heart attack at only 36. I guess that's why he's also so forgotten today. Unlike other radio stars of the period, he didn't live long enough to have a second career on early television.

 

 

I'm a big fan of the British films of the late 50's/early 60's so I am quite excited to be watching A Taste of Honey from 1961. I know TCM has showcased these films before but I wish they would air them more frequently.

 

I love the black and white working class feel of them. 

 

One movie from that period that I remember seeing on TV as a kid was The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. It had a huge impact on me, convincing me that any attempt to rebel against authority would result in my being mercilessly ground into the dirt under the boot of the establishment. But seriously, those movies, while very well made and acted, were almost relentlessly depressing, conveying the drabness and dead-end nature of lower middle class British life.

 

One exception I can think of was Georgy Girl, which was set in the same milieu but was a comedy, with a very charming performance by Lynn Redgrave.

 

If you think about it, maybe The Beatles ended that era. Instead of drab, working class London, the movies started giving us swinging, happening, mod and cool London.

[Sharpie66]

The movie that stands out in my head from the early-'60s British B&W genre is Séance on a Wet Afternoon, with Richard Attenborough and Kim Stanley. That was really good!

[Amello]

I watched the Astarie & Rogers picture, Swing Time, last night. I think 'A Fine Romance' may just be the best thing I've seen from their partnership so far. Stellar. I don't want to get it out of my head.

[Rinaldo]

those movies, while very well made and acted, were almost relentlessly depressing, conveying the drabness and dead-end nature of lower middle class British life.

 

One exception I can think of was Georgy Girl, which was set in the same milieu but was a comedy, with a very charming performance by Lynn Redgrave.

In form, it is indeed a comedy. But man, I remember there being a lot of very uncomfortable moments along the way. I was happy that Georgy ended up a winner, but I wasn't smiling often along the way. Maybe I owe it another viewing, 50 years later.

I watched the Astarie & Rogers picture, Swing Time, last night. I think 'A Fine Romance' may just be the best thing I've seen from their partnership so far. Stellar. I don't want to get it out of my head.

I love that movie so much. And "A Fine Romance" is not only splendid in itself, but it goes in counterpoint with the other big love song, "The Way You Look Tonight"! I had known both songs (they're classics, after all) before I ever saw the movie, and when Fred and Ginger sang them together as the finale, my head about exploded. And great as they are, the ones I really swoon over when I see the movie are "Pick Yourself Up" and "Never Gonna Dance." Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields can't be beat.

[Wiendish Fitch]

I want to love Swing Time; truly, I do. Astaire and Rogers's dances are consistently astonishing: "Pick Yourself Up"? Never fails to lift my spirits (and Ginger's reaction when Fred reveals that he can really dance is 2 of the most glorious seconds ever) "Waltz in Swing Time"? A delight from start to finish. "Bojangles of Harlem"? The only defendable blackface number in history. "Never Gonna Dance"? Gives me chills every damn time I see it.

 

 But, good lord, that plot! That creaking, groaning, stakes-free plot, the utterly worthless, unfunny Disposable Love Interests (at least Erik Rhodes and Ralph Bellamy were allowed to be entertaining), the snore-inducing gambling scenes, that labored running gag with the pants... and do not, DO NOT get me started on that creepy, leering, horrible, fun as a funeral "comic relief" Victor Moore (my hatred of this awful character knows no bounds). 

[prican58]

Erick Rhodes just seals the deal. So funny as Bedinni.

[prican58]

I agree, prican58. My love also goes back to the "minor" British comedies of a slightly earlier period, which never seem to air. I've caught Passport to Pimlico, and decades ago saw The Happiest Days of Your Life,  but have yet to see titles like Folly To Be Wise or Laughter in Paradise and the others that Pauline Kael used to rave about in her capsule writeups that I've never had a chance to see.

A common link seems to be Alistair Sim and Margaret Rutherford. Worth searching for as I think discovering Brit films gives one the feeling experienced when viewing American classics for the first time. I love getting to see the greats we all heard about as kids like Gielgud, Redgrave, Richardson as well as Vivien Leigh beyond the Hollywood films she made.

 

I wonder if folks in the UK get the exposure to their own classics that we enjoy with TCM or even those channels that edit and show commercials. They may be edited but it's serviceable if one doesn't have access to cable/dish/direct.

The movie that stands out in my head from the early-'60s British B&W genre is Séance on a Wet Afternoon, with Richard Attenborough and Kim Stanley. That was really good!

Just looked this up and it sounds divine!

 

Watching Love Is On the Air from 1937 which holds the distinction of being Ronnie Reagan's film debut. I actually am always willing to watch him as he has this charm about him. Red blooded American Man stuff. Mr Nice Guy.  

In watching the cast I see Ben Welden. Who is he, you may ask? First time I remember seeing him was in the old Superman series with George Reeves and he usually played some gangster or gangster's henchman and I never found out his name until now.

 

Another character actor from Superman was Herb Vigran and he shows up in countless films over the years.

 

http://movie-dude.co.uk/Ben%20Welden%20%20The%20Saint%20in%20New%20York%20(1938).jpg

 

https://free-classic-tv-shows.com/Drama/Four-Star-Playhouse/1956-07-19-s4-ep40-The-Stand-In-Ida-Lupino/Herb-Vigran-1956.jpg

Edited April 22, 2016 by prican58

[Julia]

Maybe this is a UO? But one of the things I love about The Way You Look Tonight is that the message of that song is so unashamedly profoundly messed up - if my illusions about you survive, I'll love you forever, maybe?

Edited April 22, 2016 by Julia

[Milburn Stone]

But, good lord, that plot! That creaking, groaning, stakes-free plot, the utterly worthless, unfunny Disposable Love Interests (at least Erik Rhodes and Ralph Bellamy were allowed to be entertaining), the snore-inducing gambling scenes, that labored running gag with the pants... and do not, DO NOT get me started on that creepy, leering, horrible, fun as a funeral "comic relief" Victor Moore (my hatred of this awful character knows no bounds). 

 

But what about Helen Broderick? She was good.

[Padma]

Watching Love Is On the Air from 1937 which holds the distinction of being Ronnie Reagan's film debut. I actually am always willing to watch him as he has this charm about him. Red blooded American Man stuff. Mr Nice Guy.  

Nice to see someone writing something positive about Reagan's acting, even though he certainly had a lot of B movies (where "B" was in "bad" scripts and/or direction). He always fascinates me in his films, I don't know if it's because he went on to become president, or because I'm always wondering if there was more there, if he'd just had some better parts. Not too dramatically demanding--maybe the westerns he longed to do where not much emoting was required. (I've never seen The Queen of Montana which had such a funny poster with Barbara Stanwcyk standing prominently in larger-than-life stature fully decked in cowboy outfit and Reagan was a small man, sitting down far behind her. But Reagan loved being in that film, and always wanted more westerns, so I was curious how he was.)

 

My favorite film of his is The Hasty Heart, with Richard Todd in the lead. Oddly, I've always kind of pictured Reagan instead of Dick Powell as Phillip Marlowe. He wasn't the actor his best friend William Holden was--though on the surface they seem so similar in looks--but it would have been interesting to see what he would have done with the lead in a film with a good script and a good director. He always gave the impression that somehow there might be more there (his assistants said he gave that impression in the WH too, but there really wasn't more...so maybe not. Still, it would have been interesting to see him in a really good film.)

[Rinaldo]

I want to love Swing Time; truly, I do. Astaire and Rogers's dances are consistently astonishing: "Pick Yourself Up"? Never fails to lift my spirits (and Ginger's reaction when Fred reveals that he can really dance is 2 of the most glorious seconds ever) "Waltz in Swing Time"? A delight from start to finish. "Bojangles of Harlem"? The only defendable blackface number in history. "Never Gonna Dance"? Gives me chills every damn time I see it.

 

 But, good lord, that plot! That creaking, groaning, stakes-free plot, the utterly worthless, unfunny Disposable Love Interests (at least Erik Rhodes and Ralph Bellamy were allowed to be entertaining), the snore-inducing gambling scenes, that labored running gag with the pants... and do not, DO NOT get me started on that creepy, leering, horrible, fun as a funeral "comic relief" Victor Moore (my hatred of this awful character knows no bounds). 

(Before I get started on your second paragraph, a thought related to the first:) When I was getting to know a new faculty colleague, a specialist in African-American music among other things, we were happily sharing our feelings about favorite movie classics, and I said my favorite Astaire-Rogers, easily, was Swing Time. And then I felt compelled to add, "Of course, it's a bummer that my favorite contains his only blackface number." And he lit up and said, "Oh no! That's a tribute from one of the greatest dancers ever, to another of the greatest! Who could be embarrassed about that?"

 

OK, now as to the plot. I can't honestly disagree with anything you say. I'll even add one more complaint: that the structure (unlike most of the series) makes us wait ridiculously long for the first song. (At least it's then a doozy, "Pick Yourself Up.") But there are little compensatory rewards along the way. Helen Broderick, as Milburn Stone said. Georges Metaxa (as the rival bandleader) too -- I get a kick out of remembering that he starred in some Broadway musicals in the 1930s (including one of my favorites, The Cat and the Fiddle), and this is pretty much his only preservation on film. And something similar helps me with Victor Moore: he was a big star in stage musicals for about a decade (the original Throttlebottom! the original Moonface! more!), and here he is, forever on film.

 

And the plot has something to recommend it too, despite everything. "Never Gonna Dance" wouldn't be the grand culmination it is without all the events leading up to it, which it recaps for us. And one of the dialogue devices works on me like a charm: the repeated "there isn't gonna be a dance" phrase when plans keep getting frustrated, and then in the last scene, "there isn't gonna be a wedding." Dance = wedding, yes, in an Astaire-Rogers movie that's true. Dancing is how you learn who your soulmate is, how you fall in love, how you join together in the closest possible way.

[elle]

 

I love that movie so much. And "A Fine Romance" is not only splendid in itself, but it goes in counterpoint with the other big love song, "The Way You Look Tonight"! I had known both songs (they're classics, after all) before I ever saw the movie, and when Fred and Ginger sang them together as the finale, my head about exploded. And great as they are, the ones I really swoon over when I see the movie are "Pick Yourself Up" and "Never Gonna Dance."

I had not realized that these four favorite songs and dances were all in the same movie.  I know I often wander in and out of the movie when it is on, skipping from dance to dance.  I do wonder at the end though about Fred's old band members.  Doesn't this movie start with them trying to keep him from getting married so he won't leave the band and then he ends up married anyway?

 

For the whole movie experience, I prefer the The Gay Divorcee or Top Hat., which I frequently mix up.

 

 

My favorite film of his (RR) is The Hasty Heart, with Richard Todd in the lead.

That is a good movie, it takes a while to get in to it, but worth the time!

 

 

(I've never seen The Queen of Montana which had such a funny poster with Barbara Stanwcyk standing prominently in larger-than-life stature fully decked in cowboy outfit and Reagan was a small man, sitting down far behind her. But Reagan loved being in that film, and always wanted more westerns, so I was curious how he was.)

Also, one of the great sight gags in Back to the Future, hinting at an even funnier line that comes up later.  Reagan it is said laugh so hard that he asked the White House projectionist to roll the film back just so he could hear it again.

 

Dr. Emmett Brown: Then tell me, future boy, who's President of the United States in 1985?

Marty McFly: Ronald Reagan.

Dr. Emmett Brown: Ronald Reagan? The actor?

[chuckles in disbelief]

[prican58]

Padma, Hasty Heart is my second fave RR film. He is his usual self and Richard Todd gives just a wonderful performance and Patricia Neal is just one who can do no wrong in my eyes.

Ronnie just seemed too "actory" to me as if he is just reading/saying lines. But yet he is quite mesmerising. Don't get me started on his politics, but I like his presence.

 

My fave is Kings Row. I don't know if the character was just so like him that he couldn't help but give a good perf or if it was the script (prob both). Playing opposite Ann Sheridan was a big help, I'm sure. I understand they got along very well.

 

I don't think he would have risen to a Holden level as I feel he was basically a serviceable actor. But he does bring something. 

 

i liked him in Santa Fe Trail with Errol Flynn and again with Flynn and Raymond Massey in Desperate Journey.

 

 

After viewing that clip I must say that better material such as this would have made his film legacy more than Bedtime for Bonzo. So yes, he may not have become Holden level but he could have been better than he is remembered by most.

Edited April 22, 2016 by prican58

[bluepiano]

A few months ago TCM showed The Girl from Jones Beach, in which Ronnie was hard to swallow as a wolfish playboy who pretends to be a recent immigrant in order to romance Virginia Mayo, who teaches a night school citizenship class.

 

But definitely the weirdest experience I've had watching RR was in his last movie, Dan Siegel's 1964 version of The Killers, starring Lee Marvin, John Cassavetes, and Angie Dickenson. Ronnie is surprisingly effective, and actually pretty scary, as a vicious mobster, in what I believe was the only time he ever played a villain. By 1964 he looked and sounded not that different than he would as President. So it's definitely strange to hear him threatening to rub people out, or see him smacking Angie Dickenson around. (Makes you realize that an actor can play any role. Even President).

Edited April 22, 2016 by bluepiano

[Julia]

But, good lord, that plot! That creaking, groaning, stakes-free plot, the utterly worthless, unfunny Disposable Love Interests (at least Erik Rhodes and Ralph Bellamy were allowed to be entertaining), the snore-inducing gambling scenes, that labored running gag with the pants... and do not, DO NOT get me started on that creepy, leering, horrible, fun as a funeral "comic relief" Victor Moore (my hatred of this awful character knows no bounds). 

 

The your friends are doing you a favor by destroying your life for horribly selfish reasons thing was choice too.

 

Nice to see someone writing something positive about Reagan's acting, even though he certainly had a lot of B movies (where "B" was in "bad" scripts and/or direction). He always fascinates me in his films, I don't know if it's because he went on to become president, or because I'm always wondering if there was more there, if he'd just had some better parts. Not too dramatically demanding--maybe the westerns he longed to do where not much emoting was required.

 

I had major issues with his career in public life, but I thought he was kind of charming as the shiftless juvenile in Dark Victory and the jock in Knute Rockne.

[Milburn Stone]

i liked him...with Flynn and Raymond Massey in Desperate Journey.

 

 

That sarcastic quote from "Deutschland Uber Alles" is so Max Steiner I can't stand it.

Edited April 22, 2016 by Milburn Stone

[Padma]

Ronnie just seemed too "actory" to me as if he is just reading/saying lines. But yet he is quite mesmerising. Don't get me started on his politics, but I like his presence.

He did to me to, and yet he's not bad, really. I think that's why I always watch him and think of how Holden would have done the same part but brought that "realness" to it in a way that Reagan usually couldn't. It's hard to explain what's missing--at the same time he has something--and its fascinating to see how he can only take a part so far--often isn't bad, but isn't really really good either.

 

I thought King's Row was one of his best, too, not so much early on as the cocky young friend, but after he loses everything. That final scene with the famous line ("Where's the rest of me?") could have been such a joke in the theater, but I thought he did it perfectly.

 

I never saw "The Killers", but Don Siegel directed Reagan in one of my least favorite of his movies, "Night Into Night". It's another that seems like it should be good--black and white, film noir, kind of gothic atmosphere, capable director--but isn't. The premise sounds interesting enough, too--Reagan is a scientist who comes to this dark southern town as a man on the verge of an emotional breakdown because he's hiding a terrible secret. There's a love interest for him who's also tormented (Viveca Lindfors). She's a widow who is hearing the voice of her dead husband. The buildings have kind of a gothic style and there's even a big dramatic hurricane toward the end. Unfortunately, what makes it ridiculous is the terrible secret that is driving him toward suicide

he has epilepsy

.

 

That kind of thing happened so much with his films. "Storm Warnings" is another, where he plays a DA fighting the KKK in a southern town. Ginger Rogers arrives in town as Doris Day's glamorous sister-in-law who sees the Klan kill a man, then realizes one of them is Doris' husband.

 

Sounds interesting but is ruined by the way they talk about the Klan. It's more like the Mafia, with nothing at all to do with hating blacks or Jews. Everyone else does a better job acting-wise in it than Reagan.

 

And I'd forgotten, Elle, about that funny moment in "Back to the Future".  For all his faults as a politician and president, at least Reagan could laugh at himself and had a good sense of humor. It's always so strange to watch his movies and remember that he went on to be president (as Lou Cannon said, "The Role of a Lifetime").

[Julia]

I experience him as inauthentic as an actor, but I wonder how much of that is that is the small town putting a shiny face on for the neighbors way middle America conducted itself back then. He could be giving an authentic performance as an inauthentic character, if that makes any sense.

[Milburn Stone]

I think what makes Reagan compelling as an actor (not saying he's a great actor--but he compels your attention) is the sound of his voice. It's not generic. The sound itself, the timbre combined with the Middle American (not more common among actors at the time Mid-Atlantic) dialect, combined with his (probably innate) mastery of the music in his voice, sounds like a "good guy" you instinctively like, regardless of the inanity of the plot or dialogue.

Edited April 22, 2016 by Milburn Stone

[prican58]

Blonde Crazy (1931). This is what I love. Pre-code  Cagney, Blondell, Louis Calhern, a slim-ish Guy Kibbee and assorted WB character actors. Ray Milland is supposed to show up but haven't seen him yet.  

 

Joanie has already slapped Jimmy 3 times and hit him hard. Even knocked him down and he just keeps coming back for more. Blondell was so pretty and damn if she didn't just slap him a 5th time! The sound effects dept really sells it. 

 

Always loved WB films as they were some of the first ones I ever saw. WB and 1930's RKO/Radio films are like comfort food.

 

Milburn, RR's experience as a radio announcer helped him tremendously. He does have a voice that's soothing, clear and precise. BTW there is a film he co stars in with George Murphy and he plays Murphy's son! I had always thought the two resembled each other and Hollywood pretty much confirmed it. Funny how their lives took similar paths after acting. Don't think I have ever seen RR dance in a movie. GM was no Astaire but he was alright.

 

Milland just showed. That's another voice that woos. Handsome. 

Edited April 22, 2016 by prican58

[bluepiano]

Yeah, Blonde Crazy is a trip. I DVRed it the last time TCM showed it, and I think I watched it two or three times because I couldn't get over how audacious it was. For one example, that scene in the hotel lobby where the detectives are talking about predators, and those women walk by chatting blithely about all the married men they've blackmailed. "I always say, speak ten languages, but never put anything in writing." It's just a little throw away scene, not even part of the actual plot, but it contributes to theme that the world is composed of the takers and the taken.

 

After the Production Code came in, it would be about 40 years before Hollywood ever made a movie that tough and cynical about human nature. If ever. As a story of con men (and con women) The Sting and even Glengarry Glen Ross are like Mother Goose compared to Blonde Crazy, in which everyone is on the make and cheating everyone else, even the supposed pillars of society.

 

Man, I love pre-Code Hollywood.

Edited April 23, 2016 by bluepiano