Coming Up on TCM

[JackFavell]

I watched Wilde, they were right, the battle between Richardson and Morley was the highlight of the film. SO well done. Morley was superb, but then, when was he not? This movie was way ahead of it's time. It is disturbing in the regard that it never fully addresses the main issue... whether Wilde actually was involved in affairs of the heart and body with other men... and also whether it was an abomination or a question of personal freedom. Perhaps it's better that it never falls on one side or the other. However, the reason they don't address it becomes clear toward the end of the trial, when Morley magnificently portrays the cracks in Wilde's psyche, as he realizes he's made a slip of the tongue, meant to portray him as innocent of the charges, but which reveal a deep love of beautiful men. How very very sad a movie it is.

A side question, not intended to detract in any way from Morley's outstanding acting, and probably unanswerable, as are so many of my questions about the unknowable Richardson. Richardson, who is excellent as the hectoring voice of British conservatism and 'upright' morals, I've read in a few places was homophobic, never with any actual evidence given. He was by all accounts best friends with John Gielgud, and remained staunchly so when Gielgud was going through his own very public trial. Yet here he appears in a movie so very far ahead of it's time which at the heart is basically about the hounding of a man purely because of his sexual orientation. So why would he commit to be in this movie if he were homophobic?

[moira finnie]

I agree about the superb acting in high British style with subtle line readings evoking every nuance from the actual words, but thought that Morley projected his character's crumpled spirits as the trial progressed and faced his own self-destruction with a mixture of disbelief and guilt that was very moving.

JF, I'm sure it was possible for Ralph Richardson (and many of his generation) to compartmentalize his feelings about homosexuality and his love and respect for John Gielgud, but how anyone could work in the theater or the arts for decades and not be aware or gain some insight into and compassion for the lives of others is puzzling. But that was then and it was probably something that people chose to ignore.

[moira finnie]

I am curious about what you think of A Millionaire for Christy. I'm not sure why, but some scenes lie there dead on arrival and then there is one great, well-played romantic yet comic scene between MacMurray and Eleanor Parker late at night alone in a desolate spot near a train (late at night encounters with a leading lady despite his resolve to avoid them were a Fred specialty before he went the flubber route. Think of the walk along the banks of Niagara Falls at night in Remember the Night (1941) and trying not to think of each other at 2am in Carole Lombard's apartment in Hands Across the Table (1935). "A Millionaire..." is worth a look and interesting, with California locations that are sometimes fascinating time capsules, but the film needed a tighter script, a Mitchell Leisen behind the camera...or something.

[ChiO]

Also on Sunday night is THE BOY AND THE PIRATES (1960), innocently described by TCM as "OK fantasy-adventure for kids about a boy who is magically transported back to the days of pirates on the high seas."

Yes, but it is also a fine opportunity to introduce the kids to a Bert I. Gordon movie with Timothy Carey.

[JackFavell]

Moira and kingrat, you put into words what I was thinking about Richardson, certainly one would have to be deaf blind and dumb not to be aware of homosexuality if one spent any time in the theatre. Thank you for trying to answer the question for me. I get confused, because, though he was considered a bit conservative as a man, he was never conservative in his friendships or his art, in fact he seemed very forward thinking where those two items were concerned.

Though it very well could be true that he was anti-gay as an abstract cause, I do have a problem with these homophobic labels applied to Richardson. I guess I'd like to think it was another case of someone imposing what they thought Richardson felt onto his psyche, extrapolated from something he might have said in jest or in frustration or just to be cryptic. I have never, ever seen any evidence of outward homophobia in the books about him, nor any quotes that would lead to this conclusion, and I pride myself on having read every one available. The one that might be most useful is John Gielgud's book, which I haven't read yet. I know Richardson and his wife were considered extremely rude on occasion, but those events are substantiated. Sometimes I think because of his old fashioned and somewhat eccentric behavior, Richardson became a bit of a lightning rod for speculation - his ability to shift subjects and topics to suit his mood could lead people to believe so many weird things about him. His very unknowableness makes him a target of those who would put forward an unpleasant idea about him. And again, if one was so vehement about the subject, why appear in this movie at all? I think sometimes, certain episodes of his cantankerousness were seen as an overall life view. Then again, he may have been a staunch anti-gay proponent. I just hate seeing something written about him with no backup. I thought maybe one of you might have some insight into the subject, and I was right. Your thoughts about how some were so very deluded on the subject at the time really help me to see how it might have happened.

I REALLY thought John Neville portrayed Bosie perfectly, and I never even thought about his age!He seemed quite young to me, though erudite. Everything I have read about Bosie was there, the weakness, the hatred of his father, the way he backed Wilde into a corner with his dad and then walked away without ever being able to stand up to him for himself. I love John Neville ever since I saw him in The First Churchills, and he didn't disappoint me here, in fact, quite the contrary, I thought he and Morley were spot on, dead perfect recreations. The caliber of the acting was so very high in this film, I only wish the budget for the film had matched it.

I would totally agree about how the old school acting styles of Morley and Richardson suited the material, made it something more, leading up to that shattering, witty utterance that forced Wilde to look deep into himself. It's almost as if the entire tone of the play changed into modern drama at that point. I absolutely saw how the bending of language, the many twists on line readings, helped to make this play into something at once incredibly witty and also very sad. The way language was used 'as a weapon' on both sides and most of all, against reality was very clearly shown and transformed the movie into, for me anyway, great art.

I was very pleased with the movie overall, and I hope that TCM will show it again.

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi,

For what it's worth, my 2 cents:

I always considered Alec Guinness the best of the British actors,
followed by Ralph Richardson and Michael Redgrave.
Robert Morley and Peter Ustinov would be next.

I never really cared for Laurence Olivier nor Richard Burton - both overacting hams to me.

Of course, I have always adored Rex Harrison, even though I could see that he was always playing Rex Harrison - on stage and in film and in reality......
He was very good to me when I was a kid and gave me a lavish 18th birthday party in Porofino way back in the dark ages....
Gads - was I ever 18???!!!........

Larry

[JackFavell]

I love all your choices, Larry! All excellent actors who I like very much.

I do like Olivier as well but am not sure how I would rank him.

He fell out of my favor for a while, but is now moving back up my list. The movie that totally surprised me recently with Olivier was The Beggar's Opera. It's not great, but good lord! The man seems to have been able to do anything he set his mind to.

[moira finnie]

Leslie Howard and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. had an interesting chemistry in their early talkies. Two of them are on TCM late tonight. They both have considerable appeal to anyone interested in the actors [Paul Lukas, Helen Chandler and Margaret Lindsay among them] and in films that reflected the disquieting atmosphere of post-WWI society.

1:45 AM (ET)
Outward Bound (1930)
Passengers on a fog-shrouded ship learn that they are lost souls on the way to heaven or hell.
Dir: Robert Milton Cast: Leslie Howard , Douglas Fairbanks Jr. , Helen Chandler .
BW-83 mins, TV-PG,



Howard appeared in the original stage production of Sutton Vane's durable tale of the afterlife six years before this film was made. He had played the young, suicidal composer then, but that role was taken by a young Doug Jr. with Helen Chandler as the very believable girl who loves him. Leslie Howard took the role of the cynical journalist whose restless, embittered spirit vexes everyone on board ship, who include Beryl Mercer as Mrs. Midget and Dudley Digges as The Examiner. This may be shown in the only available but rather creaky print that is the best that TCM could find (hopefully with subtitles, since the last time I saw this, the sound was poor). Still haunting, and perhaps even more effective in the more familiar John Garfield-Paul Henried version as Between Two Worlds in the '40s. Well worth a look if you are intrigued by this type of story.


3:15 AM (ET)
Captured! (1933)
While in a POW camp, a man discovers his best friend was his wife's lover.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth Cast: Leslie Howard , Douglas Fairbanks Jr. , Paul Lukas .
BW-69 mins, TV-G,



A bleak but interesting forgotten film about a POW camp in WWI, but well worth seeing for the chemistry between Howard and Fairbanks and the splendid underplaying by Paul Lukas. Margaret Lindsay is the fulcrum seen in flashback. Poor Margaret! The boys had all the really romantic scenes of stoicism and divided loyalties--don't miss the tension between them nor Leslie's final catharsis, which was pretty startling in a pre-code burst of violence. J. Carrol Naish is quite memorable as a cracked inmate. You can see more here.

The original trailer is here:
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/1455 ... iler-.html

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Thanks, kingrat! I did see a litttle bit of A Millionaire For Christy! How can I not love that title? It's just so thoughtful. Eleanor Parker was so cute! Her clothes were adorable, and Fred was nice...

Larry, Alec Guiness is also a personal favorite of mine. Did you ever see Captain's Paradise with Yvonne DeCarlo? I've read all of his delightful autobiographies.

Burton? Hammy? Naaaawwwww...... But I do have a certain fondness for that wastrel from Wales...

Getting ready to settle in with Smilin' Through....

[JackFavell]

I loved seeing Leslie all night long as I went in and out of sleep. I have all of these on dvd, copied at some point or other from TCM already. I think Howard is actually more effective in the movies you posted, Moira, than in many of his better known films.

[moira finnie]

Getting ready to settle in with Smilin' Through....

I recorded that one, but I hope to see it soon. Did you like its romantic extravagance?

I loved seeing Leslie all night long as I went in and out of sleep. I have all of these on dvd, copied at some point or other from TCM already. I think Howard is actually more effective in the movies you posted, Moira, than in many of his better known films.

I think that Howard enjoyed these roles better than the "big" movies he did later too. I had not seen Outward Bound in a long time. He really took his wastrel character to the depth of despair; it was hard to believe that he was making his feature film debut (though he had appeared in small parts in short silent movies).

[JackFavell]

I just find it hard to believe that he and John Garfield could play the same character, and they both make it work!

Smilin Through really gets me! I love those kind of romantic ghost stories though. Secrets is actually better than I thought it would be, despite the switch in gears halfway through.

Leslie has been a favorite of mine for years, since I saw him in Pygmalion as a tender tween and fell lock stock and barrel in love with him. I I always wish I could get people to watch him in anything other than GWTW. I think I prefer him in roles that let his overweening ego shine, like It's Love I'm After... he's got a sense of silliness and fun behind the harumphing that totally cracks me up. Like my favorite moment in Pygmalion, where he is busily talking about how dignified and wonderful he is, then trips over the stairs as he's trying to make a grand exit.

But then there are those sensitive doomed roles, like Alan in The Petrified Forest or Captured, that make me swoon. And of course, his absent minded bit, in First of the Few and 49th Parallel, he is so dear in those. A terribly underrated star.

[moira finnie]

Oh, Wen, it's so nice to read that someone else likes Leslie Howard. I love the movies you named. I think he was at his best in comedies such as Stand-In and It's Love I'm After, as well as the classic Pygmalion, though his underplaying in The Petrified Forest, Captured!, and Intermezzo have a quiet intensity that seems naturalistic. Have you seen the WWII film, Pimpernel Smith (1941), one of Howard's last movies? I don't think many people know this one, which for me at least, was much more fun than the original inspiration, The Scarlet Pimpernel. It can be seen here on youtube and streaming online at Netflix.

*Bump* because this is on tonight

On Thursday, July 19th TCM welcomes Ben Burtt and Craig Barron, Academy Award winning sound and visual effects craftsmen who are also very personable and big classic film fans. This event is part of the network's ongoing partnership with The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as "TCM Presents the Science of Movie Making: Co-Hosted by Ben Burtt and Craig Barron."

As part of their visit, Ben Burtt will demonstrate the specially made Harold Hill arrow that produced his "favorite movie sound" --that zing of the arrows used in The Adventures of Robin Hood, and he will also discuss the uniquely resonant gun shot sound used in Gunga Din (an effect that Burtt used when working on the Indiana Jones films). Craig Barron will also talk about the highly theatrical but effective use of matte paintings and the visual trompe l'oeil that were such a seamless and integral part of Citizen Kane. Both men, who have conducted presentations on the milestone sci-fi film Forbidden Planet previously, will also discuss the significance of this movie as an enormous step forward in blending live action and animation, as well as sound effects that continue to influence filmmakers today.

Below, Burtt and Barron can be seen on the just-released TCM Podcast with these two gifted individuals, followed by the films that they will be introducing with Robert Osborne on that upcomng evening:
[youtube][/youtube]

8:00 PM
Forbidden Planet (1956)
A group of space troopers investigates the destruction of a colony on a remote planet.
Dir: Fred McLeod Wilcox Cast: Walter Pidgeon , Anne Francis , Leslie Nielsen .
C-99 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

10:00 PM
Gunga Din (1939)
Three British soldiers seek treasure during an uprising in India.
Dir: George Stevens Cast: Cary Grant , Victor McLaglen , Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
BW-117 mins, TV-PG, CC

12:15 AM
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
The bandit king of Sherwood Forest leads his Merry Men in a battle against the corrupt Prince John.
Dir: Michael Curtiz Cast: Errol Flynn , Olivia de Havilland , Basil Rathbone .
C-102 mins, TV-G, CC,

2:15 AM
Citizen Kane (1941)
The investigation of a publishing tycoon's dying words reveals conflicting stories about his scandalous life.
Dir: Orson Welles Cast: Joseph Cotten , Dorothy Comingore , Agnes Moorehead .
BW-120 mins, TV-PG, CC