The September 2013 TCM Schedule

[CineMaven]

Watched "GOLDDIGGERS OF 1933." Whew! Some of it had old grey whiskers on it. But the second half pepped up when Joan Blondell and Aline MacMahon go to town on Guy Kibbee and Warren William. But Blondell in that "My Forgotten Man" absolutely hits it out of the ball park. That whole ending number is dramatic and moving ...and current.

[moira finnie]

The movie that made me realize what a good actress Kim Novak could be is on tonight: MIddle of the Night (1959). Beautifully written by Paddy Chayevsky and so well told by Novak, Fredric March, and company. One of director Delbert Mann's slice-of-life films and a real gem.

[movieman1957]

Joel McCrea through the day tomorrow.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Just wanted to jump in here with a little GUN CRAZY 'Redux" for tonight's edition of THE ESSENTIALS...

Annie Laurie Starr,

How could you ever become mixed up with a no good loser like Barton Tare?

Then it started something that nobody could stop!

A road trip.....

A woman he would do anything for...and I mean anything!

That first touch, that moment of love’s first blush….

The steamroller of passion. …


If you love noir and want to indulge the hidden pulp-novel voyeur lurking around in your cinematic soul, check out Peggy Cummins and John Dall in Gun Crazy on Saturday during <strong>The Essentials</strong> on TCM. It's amazing what they did on the reported $400,000 budget, and if you've never seen it, it's a must!

Miss Cummins flew in from London for the TCM Film Festival 2012, and I hope she knows how much we appreciated it!

An earlier screening of Gun Crazy on May 16, 2012, on TCM was a delight, and Robert Osborne's introduction then included comments that I heartily agreed with. When Peggy Cummins attended the Turner Classic Movies Festival 2012, Mr. Osborne stated that she was "beautiful, trim, and a great guest," and I completely concur. During my chats with Ms. Cummins, she revealed how she was still so personally surprised at the continued popularity of Gun Crazy, but was totally delighted about the fun she has had talking about it at festivals and screenings through the ensuing years since it's first release.

At the 2012 festival, Ms. Cummins was bubbly, personable, and visited amicably with passholders, and always seemed to be cheerful and smiling every instance I saw her (3 or 4 times). Film Noir Foundation CEO Eddie Muller interviewed Ms. Cummins prior to the screening of Gun Crazy at the 2012 festival.

Senior TCM Researcher Alexa Foreman, Miss Peggy Cummins, and TCM Talent Coordinator Darcy Hettrick at the closing party in Club TCM, 2012...

POSSIBLE SPOILERS:

Pay special attention to the continuous long shot right before and during the robbery because it is amazing. According to one source, "the bank heist sequence was done entirely in one take, with no one outside the principal actors and people inside the bank aware that a movie was being filmed." When John Dall (as Bart Tare) states, "I hope we find a parking space," he really meant it, as there was no guarantee that there would be one available! Ultimately, during the final sequence of the bank robbery scene, someone in the background screams that there's been "a bank robbery," and it was actually a bystander who saw the filming and assumed the worst.*


And I also read somewhere that Joseph Lewis, the director, wanted an actor who was openly homosexual as John Dall was in order to emphasize the ambiguity and emasculation of the character of Bart Tare. During the first few moments of Gun Crazy when Bart is out in the yard and shoots the BB gun, and the little chick falls over, it sets up the entire scenario that reveals that when he has a gun, he achieves the ultimate in masculine power. And if he reaches the pinnacle of macho, he needs a dangerous equal like Peggy Cummins as Annie Laurie Starr.

But I enjoy watching John Dall. He always seems as if he's concealing something that other characters present in his scenes never seem to realize, and he continually appears as if he knows the score, and everyone else is clueless. Ever notice all his screen moments in Spartacus? I can't help but watch his e-ver-y move. Even the role he played in Rope seems tailor made for his abilities.

A better "Bonnie and Clyde" noir just doesn't exist in classic filmdom.

Don't miss it this Saturday night, September 28, on Turner Classic Movies' ongoing series, The Essentials, with Host Robert Osborne and Actress/Producer/Director Drew Barrymore.

Read more about Peggy Cummins here:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0192033/?ref_=sr_1
And John Dall here:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0197982/?ref_=sr_1

*IMDB

[JackFavell]

John Dall is in Spartacus? I'm going to have to attempt to watch it....

[CineMaven]

Good pictorial run-down on "Gun Crazy" Christy. Yeah...I remember Dall in "Spartacus." Annie Laurie. She's a pistol.

...And crazy.

[JackFavell]

Watched Gun Crazy again last night and saw even more in it than the last few times. Sue Sue, thanks for mentioning that incredible all in one shot at the bank. I had noticed it last time, just the robbery section, but somehow never noticed it was literally almost 5 solid minutes without a cut. No wonder the actors were nervous! Imagine having to drive around doing your dialogue for a few minutes, no edit, then hit your mark while driving a car, then continue the scene all the way through the robbery, including the chat with the policeman AND his bludgeoning, then get back into the car and drive off, and the camera is STILL rolling. Incredible! Hitch himself would have been proud of that scene. Wonder how many times it took to get it. If it was once, I wouldn't be surprised, they were all such pros.

[Professional Tourist]

A heads-up for those who subscribe to TCM: tomorrow (Monday 9/30) at 6pm EDT, Magnificient Obsession (1954) will be shown. An opportunity for those who do not have the Criterion DVD to see/record one of the best (IMHO) AM-flicks.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Thanks, Jackie. I really enjoy that film. I can't take my eyes off of Peggy Cummins' eyes! Drew was even making a comment about how expressive her eyes are in this film. Yes, John Dall is a total hoot in Spartacus. He is supposed to be married to "It was just ghastly" Joanna Barnes in this one, and Dall has a scene with Olivier that is quite memorable.

Cinemaven, She is a pistol, that Annie Laurie. Dall, as Bart Tare, has such a great final scene, there, too.

Professional Tourist, I'll be watching. Any comments about Aggie and her experiences on this film? I would love to hear about them.

[Professional Tourist]

Professional Tourist, I'll be watching. Any comments about Aggie and her experiences on this film? I would love to hear about them.

No, not much that I've heard. I know of one quote from her regarding her two films for Douglas Sirk, which is from an interview she gave to a Jane Wyman biographer, as excerpted in the Tranberg AM bio. Basically that she preferred All That Heaven Allows and felt she wasn't at her best in MO. I disagree completely -- I like her work in both pictures, but MO is my favorite by far. Most people (including reviewers) tend to see her character of Nancy Ashford as 'the sympathetic nurse'. I won't post my full review here, but I see Nancy as more complex than that -- if one looks under the surface.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Thanks, PT!

[JackFavell]

Wyler is the king of deep focus, who usually squeezes his important shots through a bottleneck created by hallways, or some kind of forced perspective, like that shot through the car window at Fred's apartment or the hallway with Myrna Loy who realizes Fredric March is back home. But he never had the fluidity or risky suspense that Lewis achieves in that long take from Gun Crazy which is one camera shot for several minutes. The shot actually encompasses not only the section through the window at the bank, but also the 3 minutes before it as they drive around and around, plus the section afterwards as they drive off. Your attention is somehow purposefully diverted, first by what's outside the window (the cop and Bart's escape), and then by Annie Laurie's face when they make it out of town. How he got the cameraman to move the camera close in on Annie and then through the window and back again I'll never know. It's breathtaking.

[CineMaven]

I noticed, this time, the camera dollying into Annie Laurie's face when she turned to look out the back window for the cops. Jaxxon, I'm just going to call you Tag Gallegher. Good describing.