TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[prican58]

6 hours ago, Padma said:

Love Ricardo, too, in his older films and more recently ("Khhannn!!!"). And no one else could have made "Fantasy Island" remotely watchable (or sold "Corinthian leather"as well as he did. He could do everything, but like so many Latino men & women, didn't get the roles he deserved). Lamas always seemed kind of wooden as an actor. There'd have to be someone else I really liked in the movie to make me watch.

I didn't know much about Cesar Romero at all (didn't know until reading your post that he was gay, for example). But I recently saw him on TCM in the original "Ocean's 11" and, for me, he stole the show (Sammy Davis Jr. stole it for me musically, but script-wise didn't have a lot to do. Romero was far and away the most interesting character to me, and really sold it because of his acting).  And that was against ALL of the Rat Pack!  Not bad! 

padma, Cesar totally steals the movie Mariage on the Rocks with Frank, Dino and Deborah Kerr. He is manic in it and reminds me much of his Joker. I love him.

The film doesn't depict Mexicans in a good light but acting is acting. Dude rates.

[voiceover]

I enjoyed a TCMish afternoon out today -- Hitchcock's The Lodger on the big screen, and that wasn't even the reason for the showing.  It was done to feature a giant Wurlitzer organ, with all its accompanying pipes & glory.  The accompanist said after he was just watching the film and making whatever he played fit the mood.  DAMN.

p.s.  So.  Ivor Novello is even more jaw-droppingly gorgeous on the *big* screen.  One of the few times I can think of where the real-life person = hotter than his onscreen portrayer (Jeremy Northam in Gosford Park).  I mentioned that in the post-film Q&A, and the cc department head who was leading the discussion looked at me like I'd grown another head.  No doubt jealous of my brilliant, if girly, observation.

[Jordan Baker]

I've just read several pages of posts (all entertaining), but so much to say!

Rinaldo, I'd also love to take your class!

I don't know that we had the cast recording or soundtrack of My Fair Lady, but we definitely had the soundtrack of West Side Story. I was 10 or so. Without even understanding much of it, I loved "Officer Krupke." By the end of the album, I was always in tears. I also remember hearing the Supremes sing "Somewhere" on the Ed Sullivan Show and thinking it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard.

So I'll digress a little and say that the other song that gave me that same reaction was "Wunderbar." I heard Beverly Sills sing it on either Mike Douglas or Merv Griffin and was thunderstruck. It's not surprising, I guess, that my two favorite composers are Stephen Sondheim and Cole Porter. (And, yes, I know Sondheim wrote only the lyrics to WSS.)

I'm fairly new to TCM, and I continue to be amazed at what I find when I channel surf its way. A week or two ago, I was unpacking from a trip, and caught The Third Man. I'd seen it once before but sat through the entire thing again. Joseph Cotton was such an American actor, if that makes sense. And the lead actress (Valli?) reminded me of a combination of Vivien Leigh and <someone>. And then I stumbled on Inside Daisy Clover. Not a great film, but I remember reading about it when it was released. (I was, I am ashamed to admit, a Photoplay addict when I was young.)

For every great film, of course, I manage to catch one that's less-than-great. Susan Slade, for example. It's as though someone took half the cast from A Summer Place and plopped it in this movie. Connie Stevens is no Sandra Dee, however. No wonder women my age are so confused. These were the movies of my formative years!

As to the movies that we loved as kids . . . I'd have to say that Sabrina (the original, of course) still resonates with me. The movie has so many flaws (Humphrey Bogart is way too old, the timeline seems off, etc.), but I love it anyway. When it was on TCM a few months ago, I realized that I can recite most of the film. And it has "Isn't It Romantic" AND "La Vie en Rose" in its soundtrack. Of course, that's another one of those films that probably confuses women of my generation! :)

Edited October 24, 2016 by Jordan Baker

[LilWharveyGal]

11 hours ago, voiceover said:

p.s.  So.  Ivor Novello is even more jaw-droppingly gorgeous on the *big* screen.  One of the few times I can think of where the real-life person = hotter than his onscreen portrayer (Jeremy Northam in Gosford Park).  

Heh, I'm a huge Gosford fan and I saw The Lodger for the first time a couple of years ago and this was my big takeaway, too.  Maggie Smith could never have been so rude face-to-face with the real Ivor.

(Count me as another who would like to work on my shallowness issues by taking Rinaldo's class.)

[Rinaldo]

I deal only with American musicals in the course, so Ivor Novello was outside my expertise and I've only read up on him (in a very small way) recently. I haven't seen him in film, but just the photos of him from his early movies show that he was indeed a "looker," and in a rather timeless way; some standards of male beauty change and become dated over the years, but he still looks arresting.

Though I wouldn't want a thing changed in Jeremy Northam's portrayal in Gosford Park (of many stellar performances in that movie, his is the most irresistible for me), it's written false to one aspect of Novello's identity, and one that's soft-pedaled in most biographical articles (I read several before someone came out and said it): he didn't sing at all. His identity as an actor, and his other identity as a writer of extravagantly romantic musicals, were largely separate. He did play the romantic male lead in most of his own shows, but he was a musical leading man who never sang, not even a little bit. It seems extraordinary now, but his fans must have known the deal and been happy to accept it.

[Milburn Stone]

On 10/23/2016 at 0:28 PM, prican58 said:

Red Skelton is one of my favorites and while he may not be everyone's cup of tea I think he was brilliant. It occurs to me that I don't know if he was ever compared to Danny Kaye. Both adept at the physical while Kaye was pretty quick with the verbal. I suppose DK would be classified as more of a "leading man". 

When I pose to myself the challenge of coming up with the difference between them in two words or less, those words are "rural" vs. "urban."

[Padma]

Having met Danny Kaye once (he gripped my female co-worker's hand so hard she thought he was trying to break it), I can never look at him on screen and see the "nice guy" that I'm supposed to see. As far as I could tell, off camera he was an egomaniac, mean, and a bully.  Sometimes its better just to see them "up there".

[bluepiano]

Milburn Stone, I'm assuming that you're positing DK as "urban" and Red as "rural." Though I am very much an urban type (native New Yorker who has always lived in big cities) I never found Danny Kaye funny, and in fact, some of his big starring vehicles for me border on being unwatchable and cringe-inducing. While Red Skelton's movies I find generally amusing and enjoyable light TV fare, similar to how I feel about early Bob Hope comedies.

In fact, while watching Skelton's Whistling in the Dark recently, it stuck me that Skelton and Hope vehicles of that era were fairly interchangeable, and they each could've starred in the other's movies. Their comic personas were similar: the bumbling nobody who wisecracks and tries to act big, making a fool of himself, but then somehow in the end raises to the occasion to be a hero. And gets the girl who had seemed out of his league. For example, Arlene Dahl in A Southern Yankee (Skelton), and another beautiful redhead, Rhonda Fleming, in Alias Jesse James (Hope). Perhaps Skelton's humor was more physical and Hope's more verbal, but I can still imagine Hope in The Fuller Brush Man or The Yellow Cab Man, or Skelton in The Paleface etc.

But I think that Skelton and Kaye are a good comparison in that both had big second careers as TV stars, which for many baby boomers are probably how they're primarily known. Their TV shows are some of the earliest that I can remember watching as a little kid. And if memory serves, I didn't find either funny. (I also had a colossally unfunny Danny Kaye children's record on which he sings in an annoying, pretend little kid voice, screaming things like "Mommy, gimmee a glass of water." The memory still makes me cringe, 50 years later).

Padma, I have heard similar things about Kaye. And I think some of that comes across in his acting. There's an element of self-awareness, like he wants you to understand that he's really this brilliant, sophisticated, urbane guy pretending to be a goofball. Maybe that's part of why I don't enjoy him.

Edited October 24, 2016 by bluepiano

[prican58]

The local CBS tv channel used to have a movie critic, Pat Collins. She was asked once who was her most difficult interview and she said Danny Kaye, hands down. She didn't go into a lot of detail but she said he was just mean and rude. I have always heard stuff like that about him. 

I used to work at a major hotel chain in NYC back in the 80's and Steve Allen was a frequent guest. He was rude as all get out and just plain nasty. I mentioned it to some co workers and they said he was always like that. Never nice and never respecting the front desk workers. A miserable fuck. I never watched a single thing he ever did on tv afterwards.

[bluepiano]

4 hours ago, prican58 said:

I used to work at a major hotel chain in NYC back in the 80's and Steve Allen was a frequent guest. He was rude as all get out and just plain nasty. I mentioned it to some co workers and they said he was always like that. Never nice and never respecting the front desk workers. A miserable fuck. I never watched a single thing he ever did on tv afterwards.

He was also a notorious egomaniac, a fact that was spoofed on a Simpsons episode, with Allen voicing himself.

Elvis fans will never forgive him for how he intentionally tried to humiliate The King on his first network TV appearances. He had Elvis sing "Hound Dog" to an actual hound dog. Allen had a very inflated idea of himself as a pianist/composer, and was outspoken about his disdain for rock'n'roll. Well. history has a way of sorting things out. I think a few more people today know the name Elvis Presley than Steve Allen.

On ‎10‎/‎23‎/‎2016 at 0:21 PM, Wiendish Fitch said:

Romero also co-starred with Shirley Temple in Wee Willie Winkie* and The Little Princess. When I watch them, it's difficult to believe that this dashing figure would eventually become the Joker!

He was very funny as the acrobat who pursues Greer Garson in Julia Misbehaves, which kind of surprised me, because I didn't think of him a comic actor. He had a long and varied career, including early on playing The Cisco Kid in series of low budget westerns.

Edited October 25, 2016 by bluepiano

[Bastet]

Quote

Having met Danny Kaye once (he gripped my female co-worker's hand so hard she thought he was trying to break it), I can never look at him on screen and see the "nice guy" that I'm supposed to see. As far as I could tell, off camera he was an egomaniac, mean, and a bully.

I'm not sure I've ever heard anything good about Danny Kaye other than from fans; any time I've seen reference to him by someone who actually worked with him in some capacity, it's a negative story.

I've probably mentioned here before that once I heard how awful he was to Madeline Kahn, I was permanently turned off (not that I was ever much interested in his performances to begin with).

[Milburn Stone]

In the pretty good Kaye bio Nobody's Fool, Martin Gottfried writes that Kaye would come home from a TV taping and not leave his chair for three days, deep in a black depression that nobody could extract him from.

[prican58]

Milburn Stone, that explains a lot. Does the book go into more detail about his mental health? Might just read it.

[bluepiano]

Giant on TCM last night. Again. Wasn't it on just a couple of Sundays ago? I swear they show Giant more than any other movie. Well, it's almost three and a half hours long, so it does help them fill up the schedule.

[Rinaldo]

It also fits into a number of themes that come up for programming: Taylor, Dean, 50s epics, Americana, adaptations from now-ignored novels, you name it. I actually don't recall it coming up that recently, but I could easily have forgotten. (In fact, I've never seen it.)

[Padma]

I've never seen it either, probably put off by the length. But I caught the last half hour last night and liked it so much that next time I -will- watch from the beginning. (Shallow note, aside from the weirdly colored hair, since I hadn't seen the beginning and how she aged, I thought Elizabeth Taylor was very convincing in middle age when she was only 23 IRL. Her acting in that final half hour was very good. And I always enjoy Rock Hudson and feel he's underrated, perhaps because of the awful name.)

Giant also is a good reminder how some of our great writers like Edna Ferber, who took on important themes in such entertaining stories--Cimarron, Show Boat, Giant, etc.--would be forgotten today if not for the movies (and, of course, TCM.)  The host said she'd seen Giant recently on the big screen, complete with intermission as originally shown. I think this would be a good one to put in their national release group--big stars, big film, great soap-opera-esque sweeping story, including James Dean and "rags to riches", entertaining and beautifully filmed--and even an important point about prejudice against Mexicans and discrimination in general. I'm sorry I missed the first three hours! :) 

Edited October 26, 2016 by Padma

[Wiendish Fitch]

I like Giant, warts and all, though I do find it odd how Leslie and Bick are played by two of Hollywood's most quintessential brunettes, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson, and they somehow produced 3 red-headed children. Hmmm, care to come clean, Leslie?

Also, it amuses me how much James Dean resembles Stan Lee in his "middle-aged" make-up. Seriously, I kept thinking "EXCELSIOR!"

[Athena]

3 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

I like Giant, warts and all, though I do find it odd how Leslie and Bick are played by two of Hollywood's most quintessential brunettes, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson, and they somehow produced 3 red-headed children. Hmmm, care to come clean, Leslie?

Also, it amuses me how much James Dean resembles Stan Lee in his "middle-aged" make-up. Seriously, I kept thinking "EXCELSIOR!"

Red hair is recessive ;)

Hey, you're right. He does look like a bit of Stan Lee.

I liked this movie too when I saw it years ago if only to watch the absolute eye candy of Taylor, Hudson, and Dean.

[bluepiano]

I've seen it several times, though always on TV, and always probably in bits and pieces. I don't think I've ever sat through the entire movie, start to finish. Hard to do with a movie that long on TV. It would be an interesting experience to see it in a theater, and get the benefit of wide screen for all those sweeping Texas vistas that the camera lingers so lovingly on.

One thing that does strike me each time I see it (or part of it) is how excruciatingly slow today's movie audiences would find it. It was a completely different type of movie-making, even compared to the occasional contemporary movie that goes for that kind of epic sweep. (which usually now involves lots of CG)

For me, Dean's performance is all over the map. He has some good moments, and some that border on being painful to watch. (I've read that his voice had to be dubbed in the drunken banquet scene). But I think that Liz and Rock are consistently good throughout. It was the only Academy Award nomination of Rock's career. I agree with Padma that he's a better actor than generally given credit for, in part because that name is synonymous with "movie star" and the negative baggage that implies.

He gave the performance of his career in the movie Seconds, which was a very un-movie star kind role and one that I believe he fought hard to get. To his credit. It's a great movie, but sadly Rock Hudson's name probably kept some people from taking it seriously. (Would love to see TCM screen it).

Edited October 27, 2016 by bluepiano

[Wiendish Fitch]

Love Seconds, probably Rock Hudson's finest hour. In an odd way, he plays two parts, and he's very affecting and sympathetic. Seconds is utterly chilling and thought provoking, and it apparently didn't do well upon release, but has grown in reputation in recent years.

I also like Hudson in the aforementioned Giant, Pillow Talk (he and Doris Day are too cute together), and even the much maligned Magnificent Obsession (I don't care how corny and soapy it is, I will defend that movie 'til my last breath).

[Rinaldo]

1 hour ago, bluepiano said:

It was the only Academy Award nomination of Rock's career. I agree with Padma that he's a better actor than generally given credit for, in part because that name is synonymous with "movie star" and the negative baggage that implies.

I think that some (like me, sometimes) think that way about him because he seems like the epitome of a studio-created phenomenon: someone with the desired look and overall personality, without any real acting credentials, whom the studio will turn into a "star" because they can. And like some others with that kind of backstory (no names), he could surprise us and really deliver on occasion. Like... 

Quote

He gave the performance of his career in the movie Seconds, which was a very un-movie star kind role and one that I believe he fought hard to get.

Yes, like Seconds. A striking movie, and he's terrific in it.

[ratgirlagogo]

TCM shows Giant  ALL THE TIME.  I have seen it all the way through but it doesn't do much for me.  Rinaldo is right that it fits into many theme days, but I suspect it's also an audience favorite that gets a lot of requests.  

1 hour ago, bluepiano said:

He gave the performance of his career in the movie Seconds, which was a very un-movie star kind role and one that I believe he fought hard to get. To his credit. It's a great movie, but sadly Rock Hudson's name probably kept some people from taking it seriously. (Would love to see TCM screen it).

I love this movie too - and TCM  does show it fairly regularly, usually as part of TCM Underground, the Saturday overnight exploitation block.  I know I watched it on TCM within the last year, don't remember exactly when.  I don't know what the problem was that kept this film from being more successful - it might just be that the main character (schlubby John Randolph who turns into handsome Rock Hudson) is not a very likeable character - which doesn't make the movie less interesting at all, to me; but often that's a hard sell for the audience.  Agree that Hudson is very good in this, at appearing to be not entirely at home in his own skin and not quite able to deal with being perceived as the handsome man he has always wished he were. And his dismay as he begins to uncomfortably question the reality that he has paid to have created for him........

Edited October 27, 2016 by ratgirlagogo

[bluepiano]

15 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

Agree that Hudson is very good in this, at appearing to be not entirely at home in his own skin and not quite able to deal with being perceived as the handsome man he has always wished he were. And his dismay as he begins to uncomfortably question the reality that he has paid to have created for him........

The somewhat superficial movie star image of Rock Hudson made him ironically perfect for the role. Because who would a schlubby middle aged guy of that era want to be if given a chance? Rock Hudson.

Glad to hear from other fans of the movie. I first saw it as a kid on late night TV in New York, and even if I probably couldn't fully comprehend some of its themes, it really struck me. Especially that ending. Wow.

It's an unusual move in a number of ways. The supporting cast was made up largely of stage actors, several of whom had their movie careers derailed by the blacklist. Including Will Geer, not yet kindly Grandpa Walton, who is really creepy, but still in a kind of folksy, Grandpa Walton kind of way. I think the unfamiliar faces helps get your more totally immersed in the story. You're not thinking, look, there's so-and-so.

Between this movie and The Manchurian Candidate, John Frankenheimer was certainly one of the most creative and daring directors of the 60s. (and the black-and-white cinematography by James Wong Howe is amazing).

Edited October 27, 2016 by bluepiano

[Milburn Stone]

Will have to see Seconds some day. I particularly enjoy Rock's comedic talent in Send Me No Flowers, in which he--convincingly!--plays a neurotic hypochondriac.

[voiceover]

Nora Ephron's last collection of essays ( I Remember Nothing ) includes two "listicles": "What I Will Miss" (including waffles and Pride & Prejudice) and "What I Won't Miss", which includes "Panels on Women in Film".

I laughed my ass off when I first read that, having sat through a number of those in my day.  We are of like minds on the subject.  I immediately thought about that line when this whole "Trailblazing Women" theme popped up for October.  And if there's a heaven, I wonder if she's thinking of that line too.

[Padma]

That's funny because I wanted to post something about the Trailblazing Women theme. I've kind of enjoyed the few I've seen (mostly this week) and appreciate the focus on women, including her guests to talk about the films.  Not sure about Illeana Douglas as a host though. She obviously has professional background and loves film. But, for me, she spoils it a bit because she talks too much. Also, after her guests talk, she often doesn't respond to what they've said to actually make it like a conversation. For example, you could tell that Jane Alexander on the blacklist  had a lot of things to say, but didn't get to say them, because Illeana talked too much herself and didn't follow up on what she had heard.

Tonight it was the same thing with Jane Fonda--who shared an interesting story about Katherine Hepburn, in answer to the question about what it means to be a star, but Illeana didn't seem to get anything out of it. I don't think she listens very well, which is too bad because her guests and films are good.

Edited October 28, 2016 by Padma

[Rinaldo]

I wouldn't say that Douglas doesn't listen -- I get more the impression that she doesn't trust herself to go off-script very much, which a genuine response to someone else's unrehearsed words would require. It's a shame, but I can relate -- I always write out what I'm going to say on public occasions, feeling sure that if I wing it at any point I'll embarrass myself horribly.

[bluepiano]

Is Ron Perlman being a TCM host as part of some court ordered community service? He certainly doesn't seem like he's enjoying it.

Last weekend with the Jaws series I was thinking, lighten up Ron. You're introducing movies with a mechanical shark., Not hosting a symposium on terminal diseases.

Edited October 29, 2016 by bluepiano

[bmoore4026]

Right.  If anyone has not watched the classic Universal Horror movies before, tonight's your night.  Starting a 7 central, they're showing Dracula, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Wolf Man, The Black Cat, The Uninvited, and Island of Lost Souls.  Halloween begins.

[Wiendish Fitch]

Island of Lost Souls is brilliant, so effectively eerie and unsettling (assisted, in no small part, by the lack of a score), and Charles Laughton is, well, Charles Laughton: slightly campy, weirdly charismatic, unapologetically evil (I love Laughton, can you tell?). 1996's famously wretched The Island of Dr. Moreau is a textbook example of the folly of remaking something so sublime... or, at the very least, allowing it to spiral out of control until it's reduced to a ludicrous, incomprehensible mess.

And The Invisible Man has Claude Rains in his film debut. What else needs to be said?

Edited October 28, 2016 by Wiendish Fitch

[bluepiano]

1 hour ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

And The Invisible Man has Claude Rains in his film debut. What else needs to be said?

The special effects in that movie are excellent, and very innovative for the time. The scene where he unwraps the bandages in front of the amazed and horrified locals gets me every time. I can't imagine it being done any better today. (In fact, with CG they would probably ruin it).

[bluepiano]

3 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

1996's famously wretched The Island of Dr. Moreau is a textbook example of the folly of remaking something so sublime... or, at the very least, allowing it to spiral out of control until it's reduced to a ludicrous, incomprehensible mess.

The same thing can be said to varying degrees for any number of classic horror movies.

Though I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the silly but fun Abbot and Costello movies in which they "meet" various monsters. And what a smart way for Universal to profit from combining their two greatest assets. (A&C and their monster catalog).

Edited October 29, 2016 by bluepiano

[bmoore4026]

1 hour ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

1996's famously wretched The Island of Dr. Moreau is a textbook example of the folly of remaking something so sublime... or, at the very least, allowing it to spiral out of control until it's reduced to a ludicrous, incomprehensible mess.

For those who'd like more info, here's the How Did This Get Made episode covering it: http://www.earwolf.com/episode/the-island-of-dr-moreau/

The thing that sticks in my mind is Fairuza Balk trying to escape the shoot (and country) and being stopped at the airport just before boarding the plane.

[Wiendish Fitch]

10 minutes ago, bmoore4026 said:

For those who'd like more info, here's the How Did This Get Made episode covering it: http://www.earwolf.com/episode/the-island-of-dr-moreau/

The thing that sticks in my mind is Fairuza Balk trying to escape the shoot (and country) and being stopped at the airport just before boarding the plane.

 

Not only that, but there's a whole flippin' documentary about the hellish experience: Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's "The Island of Doctor Moreau". It's available on Netflix Streaming. If you're a fan of bad movies getting dragged over the coals (as I am), this documentary is a must. For the life of me, I don't know how anyone was able to work with Marlon Brando and not achieve Caligula-levels of crazy.

40 minutes ago, bluepiano said:

The special effects in that movie are excellent, and very innovative for the time. The scene where he unwraps the bandages in front of the amazed and horrified locals gets me every time. I can't imagine it being done any better today. (In fact, with CG they would probably ruin it).

Agreed! I mean, all things considered, the effects hold up pretty well, more than 80 years later, which is no small achievement. Think about it: if we in 2016 think the effects in The Invisible Man were good, can you imagine how many minds were blown in 1933?

 

35 minutes ago, bluepiano said:

The same thing can be said to varying degrees for any number of classic horror movies.

Though I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the silly but fun Abbot and Costello movies in which they "met" various monsters. And what a smart way for Universal to profit from combining their two greatest assets. (A&C and their monster catalog).

Hey, Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein is a legit classic! It may have been a shameless gimmick, but the good folks at Universal somehow made it work.

[voiceover]

And me, how I wished for the October TCM/Fandango flick to be Karloff's The Mummy.  Can you even imagine THOSE eyes on the big screen?

Instead we got Nicholson's The Shining...eh.  Loved the book & the silent trailer (the lobby flooding).  Other than that...

November's is Breakfast at Tiffany's, which is a do.  Tiffany is the host.  I know they're trying to make her happen, so maybe the young people on this thread could jump on & tell me if you enjoy her intros (after all, they hired her for you guys).

Undoubtedly, the reason my reax is "meh" is pure jealousy .  (Shoulda been me!)

[SeanC]

The China Syndrome was interesting, being an intersection of 70s paranoia thrillers and the then-burgeoning anti-nuclear movement (though the way everybody talks about the power plant is more than a little hysterical, in retrospect).

[bmoore4026]

I'm watching The Thing from Another World right now.  John Carpenter's The Thing is more well known  and more suspenseful (along with Stan Winston monster designs and make up), but sometimes a good classic is nice, too.

Funny thing about the 1951 movie is, I think, the lead female is the character Keith David played in the 1982 film gender swapped.  The Fifties were a bit sexist, true, but that one of the people in the expedition is a woman and a tough one to boot is rather progressive.  On the other hand, they probably gender swapped the character because they didn't want a movie about men in such close quarters to come off as gay. :\

[Crisopera]

So - another in my endless series of "what makes a star?"  Watching some snappy little pre-Code RKO thrillers on William Gargan day (not sure why it was his day - wasn't his birthday), it was obvious that RKO was positioning him as a Cagney-type.  Good-looking, Irish, red-headed, brash, fast-talking, tough - but just didn't have the whatever it was that made Cagney so great.  The movies I watched were at least as good as the Warners Cagney movies.  Headline Shooter was actually pretty good, with a very spunky heroine, who provokes the ultimate Ralph Bellamy line (delivered by Mr. Bellamy himself): "But honey, what about the wedding?"

[ratgirlagogo]

20 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Hey, Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein is a legit classic!

Screening tonight on Svengoolie at 10 PM.

[ratgirlagogo]

39 minutes ago, bmoore4026 said:

Funny thing about the 1951 movie is, I think, the lead female is the character Keith David played in the 1982 film gender swapped.  The Fifties were a bit sexist, true, but that one of the people in the expedition is a woman and a tough one to boot is rather progressive.

Howard Hawks was a big believer in tough competent women and they appear in most of his films - Only Angels Have Wings, His Girl Friday (which famously casts a woman in an originally male role), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (one of the ULTIMATE female buddy films, ever).  

[Rinaldo]

In the string of scary movies on offer today and tomorrow, one that's coming up at 2:30 p.m. ET tomorrow (Monday) shouldn't be overlooked: Dead of Night from 1945. It's one of those "let's all take turns telling stories" anthologies, with multiple directors. The usual rule in such creations is that some segments will be substandard, and that's true of one of the five tales here (a golf story that wants to be a rollicking interlude to the tension, and just isn't very good or very funny). But the others work, and so does the overall frame. Several fine British actors of the time are present -- Melvyn Johns, Roland Culver, Elisabeth Welch, Miles Malleson, Googie Withers -- but the standout, as everyone rightly says, is Michael Redgrave, dominating the final story. What a magnificent actor, and what an unforgettable performance.

[ratgirlagogo]

Only slightly off topic but definitely Halloween-related - forgot to mention on this board that one of THE great horror hosts died on Thursday:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/29/arts/television/john-zacherle-dies.html?_r=0

The Cool Ghoul  almost made it for one final Halloween.  He was 98!  and still making appearances as late as this year!    Back to the great Transylvania in the sky.....

Edited October 30, 2016 by ratgirlagogo

[SeanC]

I'm not sure why the 1939 The Hunchback of Notre Dame was programmed as a Halloween film, but it's a good movie overall, even if I'm pretty sure the two credited screenwriters are actually pseudonyms for Pierre Gringoire.

[HelenBaby]

On October 29, 2016 at 0:46 AM, voiceover said:

And me, how I wished for the October TCM/Fandango flick to be Karloff's The Mummy.  Can you even imagine THOSE eyes on the big screen?

Instead we got Nicholson's The Shining...eh.  Loved the book & the silent trailer (the lobby flooding).  Other than that...

November's is Breakfast at Tiffany's, which is a do.  Tiffany is the host.  I know they're trying to make her happen, so maybe the young people on this thread could jump on & tell me if you enjoy her intros (after all, they hired her for you guys).

Undoubtedly, the reason my reax is "meh" is pure jealousy .  (Shoulda been me!)

She's alright, although both she & Ben seem to rely on their hands too much when making their point, whatever that might be. And I love Ben so I feel bad saying this about him. Tiffany, on the other hand, was very rude to a good friend of mine at the TCM Film Festival in 2015 for no reason. It's a long story, but my friend used to run a blog with a man who wanted all the credit without doing the work. They split acrimoniously and he's quite the suck up at these TCM events. Someone who works for TCM wanted to introduce my friend to Tiffany and she snubbed her. My friend surmised that her former blog partner had been talking smack about her to Tiffany. This was before TCM hired her as host. I just hope she's gotten over herself since then.

[prican58]

On 10/30/2016 at 4:18 PM, ratgirlagogo said:

Only slightly off topic but definitely Halloween-related - forgot to mention on this board that one of THE great horror hosts died on Thursday:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/29/arts/television/john-zacherle-dies.html?_r=0

The Cool Ghoul  almost made it for one final Halloween.  He was 98!  and still making appearances as late as this year!    Back to the great Transylvania in the sky.....

Damn!  I used to be so scared of him when he did his show. He was also a radio DJ in the 70's, I think. He was on channel 11 doing the Chiller Theater gig.  Ch 11 was a such a great station as it also showed most of the Classic movies when I was a kid. We had great local tv personalities back then. Crap, I'm old.

[bluepiano]

On ‎10‎/‎30‎/‎2016 at 1:18 PM, ratgirlagogo said:

Only slightly off topic but definitely Halloween-related - forgot to mention on this board that one of THE great horror hosts died on Thursday:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/29/arts/television/john-zacherle-dies.html?_r=0

Thanks for posting. I have very fond memories of him during my New York childhood, both as the host of Chiller Theater and from his show on WPLJ, which back then was my favorite FM rock station. (He had a great radio voice).

He also recorded a version of "Monster Mash" that was a hit in New York (not sure about the rest of the country) as part of an entire album of spook and monster-related rock songs.

[prican58]

bluepiano, yes to all you've said. I loved WPLJ back then when it played deep cuts and had cool over night dj's.

This is big news. 

Just found this...http://metv.com/stories/svengoolie-remembers-classic-horror-host-john-zacherle

Edited October 31, 2016 by prican58

[bluepiano]

The two stations that ushered in the era of FM rock in New York (long album cuts, no jabbering DJs and obnoxious jingles) were WPLJ and WNEW. I listened to both, both always to Zacherly's show.

WPLJ launched their rebrand as a rock station in 1971 and took it's new call letters from the 1959 song "White Port Lemon Juice" by the Four Deuces, about a drink which sounds like something only hard core (and penniless) alcoholics would drink. Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention later recorded the song.

Returning to the subject of movies, I have a pretty clear memory of watching such B movie sci-fi classics as The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman and Queen of Outer Space (with Zsa Zsa Gabor) on Chiller Theater, and also of how Zacherly would splice little cameos of himself into the movies. For instance, in a creature that lived the sewers, they would cut to him in a row boat paddling furiously.

Edited November 1, 2016 by bluepiano

[ratgirlagogo]

bluepiano:"He also recorded a version of "Monster Mash" that was a hit in New York (not sure about the rest of the country) as part of an entire album of spook and monster-related rock songs."

For some reason the quote just will not work for me at all right now.  Just wanted to say that Zacherley did many, many albums of novelty songs and spoken word, all of which were heavily promoted in Famous Monsters and similar rags and I had several of them even though I was in Los Angeles and he wasn't my horror host (mine were Ghoulita and Jeepers and Sinister Seymour) - his big initial national  hit was Dinner with Drac but all that stuff played every single Halloween on rock and roll stations around the country (later on Doctor Demento and similar shows) and he got a lot of press.  I also listened to him on WPLJ and KROQ once I was in New York and met him several times at monster conventions - he was always extremely nice, in fact if you look around the various fan sites that's something that everyone says about him, that he was always very friendly to fans, more so than most.

Edited November 1, 2016 by ratgirlagogo

[PaulaO]

Is Robert retired?  I haven't watched much TCM lately, but I never see him.