THE TCM 2013 CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL: TOTAL IMMERSION...
Posted: May 5th, 2013, 11:59 am
The Fourth TCM Classic Film Festival ( 2013 ) was so much fun. I didn’t see as many movies as I have seen my past two years, because this time, I was taken under the wing by a group of film buffs that made being a part of their shenanigans just that much more fun and interesting.
Under their wing - Classic film fans from all parts
of the world.
I did see most everything I wanted to see, and...I made a new discovery thanks to the help of new friends.
Here are my digs:
...And I was snug as a bug in a rug ( with a bed four times as large as my sleeper compartment when I took Amtrak back. )
The night before the festival I was to meet my new friend ( that I met here in NY ) and her friends at The Formosa. At the Roosevelt's valet area all the beautiful people were wrangling for their cars. I was surrounded by short spandex skirts and high high stiletto high heels. ( Stilts! ) I didn't want to fight through that ( and besides, no bellman would probably pay l'il ol' me any attention with all those 20-year old legs & thighs flying around ) so I went back to the desk and asked the Hotel to call a cab for me. "What's the address to the Formosa?" I ask. "Just tell the cabbie, The Formosa. He'll know." Wouldn't you know it when I hop in the cab and tell the driver where I want to go as we leave the parking area, the cabbie says "The Formosa? I have to call a friend."
When we get to Santa Monica Blvd., he pulled up in front of some club looking at his GPS or something. I told him I was stepping out to ask directions; I wasn't trying to beat the fare. ( Stepping out a cab in NY w/o paying your fare is a capital offense! ) When I asked the doorman at this club where the Formosa was, he pointed diagonally across the street. "D'0H!!!" And now the cabdriver knows where the Formosa is.
I met up with my new friend, her old friends, and drinking ensued at the Formosa!
I bought the SPOTLIGHT pass, which garnered me this bag of goodies within the nice big primary colors bag we got:
A lapel pin, Marx Bros. DVD, Alfred Newman Movie Soundtracks, "Hollywood Rides
A Bike" book, and various magazines, and a festival poster.
If I have any complaints about the festival, ( and I’ll get ‘em outta the way now ) here are two things that irked me:
( * ) I did not like the bifurcated logo for the TCM Film Festival, that represented nothing of classic film for me.
Was TCM being a bit whimsical? I guess. I understand them joining genres together: ( Samurai / dance; western / motorcycle flicks; crime / romance; hot air balloon / parachute ) If only they had used some iconic images in those representations.
There'll be differing opinions on that score I'm sure. Speaking only for myself, I’d have been happier if they used the images of iconic film stars. I think we have enough glamour girls and western stars and dancers that are easily recognizable and representative of different genres.
( * ) I understand those holding the Essential, Classic, Matinee & Palace passes ALL stood in ONE LINE. That makes no sense to me and seems a bit unfair. Someone who buys a Matinee Pass ( $349 ) decides to get on line a half an hour earlier than someone who bought a Classic Pass ( $549 ) thus allowed to go into the theatre first? Huh?!! Why spend that extra $200 if you’re not going to get priority entry. I’m not talking about what events you’re allowed to enter. I’m talking about the priority you’re given when you can enter.
...And if TCM says they can’t have four or five lines clogging up the entrance to the theatre, then I say don’t have four or five level of passes.
As for bobbing and weaving my way down Hollywood Boulevard between The Egyptian & Grauman’s Chinese Theatres, it got so that I was able to recognize the same indigent people on the street during my four days in Hollywood. Everybody’s gotta live, but woweeee. I guess that’s Hollywood! Is there a Chamber of Commerce in the house?
THURSDAY - APRIL 25th 2013
Thursday morning was a breakfast get together to welcome TCM-City's Butterscotchgreer into the Festival fold. It was nice meeting her for the first time...putting a face and bubbly personality to a name from the TCM Message Board. I was a bit distracted at breakfast ‘cuz a lot was going to happen that day, but it was very pleasant getting together with her and the other denizens of TCM-City. Butterscotchgreer treated herself to her first trip traveling alone. She couldn’t know it then, but she wouldn’t be alone for long.
* * *
My group o’ gals wanted to go to Club TCM to participate in the “S0 YOU THINK YOU KNOW THE MOVIES” trivia contest. They’ve asked me to be on their team. Sure, I’m game. They kept telling me that there was this other group of folks who kept telling them “You’re going down!” What? Threaten us? Harumph!!! We’ll see about that. We’re all pretty movie savvy so I had no fear or worries. This would be a piece of cake.
After the first question, I was scared out of my wits. Crikey,these questions were tough!!! I didn’t expect: “Name the actress who played opposite Bogart in “Casablanca.” But I also didn’t expect: ”Name the actor who played John Foster Kane’s son in ‘Citizen Kane.’" They’re joking, aren't they They weren’t. My heart sunk with each question. But hell, our goal was just to beat Team Emberly, not feed the damn fish! Ugh!!
* * *
After we lost the trivia contest ( TCM-City's Filmlover and his group were the champs! Congratulations!) I raced over to wait on line to get a bleacher seat for the RED CARPET event. I walked the red carpet my first year. Walked...HA! I was rushed along by a TCM wrangler. As the carpet became a blur with them rushing all of us along, I could see the people in the bleachers had a ringside seat of everything. Right then and there I vowed...next year. Well for the past two years I’ve sat in the bleachers AND LOVED IT! In fact, I was on line with the same ladies I was on line with last year. It really felt like Olde Home Week. ( Hey Mary, Patty, Lu & Pat!! ) You wait on line, you’re given a number and you enter the velvet rope area in an orderly manner. ( Woe unto you if you have to use the restroom BEFORE the numbers are given. Those linespeople are strict! In fact, I tricked one of them to get a number for one of my new fast friends on line whose sister went to the ladies room. Shhhhh! )
There’s the press on the one side of the carpet, Tom Brown ( dashing in his tux ) on the carpet, and us bleacher babes on the other side of the red carpet. It’s so much fun to scream and shout and applaud the stars strolling down the carpet. We fight to get their attention away from the press. It was great seeing the passholders in all their Sunday finery walking down the red carpet too. We give ‘em much love as well. This year I saw JANE WITHERS, TIPPI HEDREN, BARBARA RUSH, MAX VON SYDOW, JACQUELINE WHITE, COLEEN GRAY, ANN BLYTH etc. on the red carpet. I screamed the loudest for Ann Blyth. She is my raison d’etre for coming to California.
* * *
SPOILERS
I couldn’t stay to the bitter end of the Red Carpet review b’cuz I had to get to the theatre to see my evening’s movies.
“THE KILLING.”
I rushed from the Red Carpet to see the Coleen Gray intro. She seems frail, but has presence of mind to relay working on set and with Kubrick ( though she wished he had a more hands on approach with her. ) Coleen! Coleen! I’m looking at a woman who looked into the eyes of and held in the big strong arms of John Wayne, Victor Mature & Tyrone Power. (( Sigh! )) Some girls have all the luck. You can see King Rat’s more detailed account here. I also thank you Brother Rat, for coming to my rescue with my Soaking Wet Buttered Popcorn Malfunction! Yuck!
And then there is MARIE WINDSOR.
Marie Windsor as Sherry. She'd rather be a widow quicker
than Tammy Wynette can spell D-I-V-O-R-C-E.
I know “The Killing” is oftimes compared to its counterpart “THE ASPHALT JUNGLE” but “The Killing” is different from “The Asphalt Jungle.” “Asphalt...” focuses on the cast of characters and their backstory; “The Killing” is kind of cold and dispassionate. The plot is about the precision of the heist. Crazy Timothy Carey does his Kirk Douglas teeth impression. I think the man is certifiably insane. ( Not that anything's wrong with that! ) But they let him out of the booby hatch to make movies. He’s off-kilter and his scenes with James Edwards were tense! It was as taut as pulling a rubber band you have on your wrist as tight as possible. James Edwards starts out with the upper hand over Carey, as an authority figure in uniform. But when Edwards starts being overly grateful for Carey talking to him as an equal, it was too much for Crazy Guggenheim. His final shocking response to Edwards does the trick to push the security guard away once and for all. After all, Carey has a racehorse he has to kill.
I loved the boxer ( Kola Kwariani ) who causes a distraction at the bar. He seemed a European type gentleman, with the strength of ten men. ( He reminds me of Stanislus Zbyszko in “Night & the City.” ) And hey look here...it was so nice to see Joe Sawyer tenderly interact with his invalid wife, a 180 degree contrast opposite the antithesis of marriage: Marie Windsor / Elisha Cook, Jr. - George & Sherry. By jiminy they were absolutely in a Marriage made in Hell. Wait a minute. Hell might’ve been too good for ‘em. When Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck are bad, I love ‘em. But I think I have room in my heart for Marie. Ahhhhh Marie, Marie. Her Sherry is ALL about the money. And George ( Cook, Jr. ) is all about Sherry. I thought I was looking at the drama between a snake vs. a mongoose in their scenes together. I fell into the rhythm and pattern of their language and way of communicating. Their slow quiet way of speaking w/nary a breath taken between sentences...between words...between each other. Heaven to watch! It was a match made in psychosexual symbiotic hell.
“The Killing” in Kubrick’s steady and sure hand was like watching a Swiss master watchmaker thread the intricate plot around the minutest of cogs. What a tasty time piece Kubrick baked. And when this souffle all falls apart ( sort of like my butter soaked bag of popcorn!!! ) as it does...as it must...in the only silly and foolish way fate deals its blow, Sterling Hayden’s reaction is perfect. Stunned, this automaton can only be just pulled away by his girlfriend ( Coleen Gray ) from the scene of the crime. Just walk away. I’m telling you, it’s perfect. But you know this already.
The last ten seconds of the film is beyond perfect. Ahhh! The good ol' days. When movies knew how to end.
* * *
My movie companion paid homage to her Scandinavian roots with “NINOTCHKA” and was scheduled to see “SUMMERTIME” but I persuaded her to see:
“SAFE IN HELL.”
SHE: “What’s it about?”
ME: “I’m going to let it unfold for you. It’s a pre-code.” ( Haha! So...they call me Concentration Camp Groucho? Ey? Say the Secret Word: pre-code and... )
Film historian DONALD BOGLE interviewed William Wellman’s son and Wellman, Jr. is quite a wealth of information on his father. When “Mild Bill” Wellman & Mr. Bogle start rattling off his Dad’s movies, I’m astounded at the myriad of genres Wellman had command of. I wanted more of Donald Bogle at this festival. And of Wellman as well ( father & son. )
There is a packed audience in Chinese Multiplex Theatre 6 for “Safe In Hell” and I just know in my bones that my movie companion will NOT be disappointed.
“Safe In Hell” is almost a sort of a kind of a sick, twisted “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” tale, with Dorothy Mackaill saddled with this motley crue of felonous scum. She is somehow able to control them. ( After all, they don’t bum rush her in her room, do they. ) Mackaill’s a hard brassy blonde, with some softness to her, but not much, really. A woman’s lot in pre-code is never an easy one. Fate throws the deck at Mackaill and Mackaill throws it right back at Fate and the crowd loved the film, you can tell. She’s my hero. She won’t compromise. And there’s a price to pay for that. In her high heels, walking down a dirt road, she meets Fate.
And I survive Day One of the Film Festival.
Under their wing - Classic film fans from all parts
of the world.
I did see most everything I wanted to see, and...I made a new discovery thanks to the help of new friends.
Here are my digs:
...And I was snug as a bug in a rug ( with a bed four times as large as my sleeper compartment when I took Amtrak back. )
The night before the festival I was to meet my new friend ( that I met here in NY ) and her friends at The Formosa. At the Roosevelt's valet area all the beautiful people were wrangling for their cars. I was surrounded by short spandex skirts and high high stiletto high heels. ( Stilts! ) I didn't want to fight through that ( and besides, no bellman would probably pay l'il ol' me any attention with all those 20-year old legs & thighs flying around ) so I went back to the desk and asked the Hotel to call a cab for me. "What's the address to the Formosa?" I ask. "Just tell the cabbie, The Formosa. He'll know." Wouldn't you know it when I hop in the cab and tell the driver where I want to go as we leave the parking area, the cabbie says "The Formosa? I have to call a friend."
When we get to Santa Monica Blvd., he pulled up in front of some club looking at his GPS or something. I told him I was stepping out to ask directions; I wasn't trying to beat the fare. ( Stepping out a cab in NY w/o paying your fare is a capital offense! ) When I asked the doorman at this club where the Formosa was, he pointed diagonally across the street. "D'0H!!!" And now the cabdriver knows where the Formosa is.
I met up with my new friend, her old friends, and drinking ensued at the Formosa!
I bought the SPOTLIGHT pass, which garnered me this bag of goodies within the nice big primary colors bag we got:
A lapel pin, Marx Bros. DVD, Alfred Newman Movie Soundtracks, "Hollywood Rides
A Bike" book, and various magazines, and a festival poster.
If I have any complaints about the festival, ( and I’ll get ‘em outta the way now ) here are two things that irked me:
( * ) I did not like the bifurcated logo for the TCM Film Festival, that represented nothing of classic film for me.
Was TCM being a bit whimsical? I guess. I understand them joining genres together: ( Samurai / dance; western / motorcycle flicks; crime / romance; hot air balloon / parachute ) If only they had used some iconic images in those representations.
There'll be differing opinions on that score I'm sure. Speaking only for myself, I’d have been happier if they used the images of iconic film stars. I think we have enough glamour girls and western stars and dancers that are easily recognizable and representative of different genres.
( * ) I understand those holding the Essential, Classic, Matinee & Palace passes ALL stood in ONE LINE. That makes no sense to me and seems a bit unfair. Someone who buys a Matinee Pass ( $349 ) decides to get on line a half an hour earlier than someone who bought a Classic Pass ( $549 ) thus allowed to go into the theatre first? Huh?!! Why spend that extra $200 if you’re not going to get priority entry. I’m not talking about what events you’re allowed to enter. I’m talking about the priority you’re given when you can enter.
...And if TCM says they can’t have four or five lines clogging up the entrance to the theatre, then I say don’t have four or five level of passes.
As for bobbing and weaving my way down Hollywood Boulevard between The Egyptian & Grauman’s Chinese Theatres, it got so that I was able to recognize the same indigent people on the street during my four days in Hollywood. Everybody’s gotta live, but woweeee. I guess that’s Hollywood! Is there a Chamber of Commerce in the house?
THURSDAY - APRIL 25th 2013
Thursday morning was a breakfast get together to welcome TCM-City's Butterscotchgreer into the Festival fold. It was nice meeting her for the first time...putting a face and bubbly personality to a name from the TCM Message Board. I was a bit distracted at breakfast ‘cuz a lot was going to happen that day, but it was very pleasant getting together with her and the other denizens of TCM-City. Butterscotchgreer treated herself to her first trip traveling alone. She couldn’t know it then, but she wouldn’t be alone for long.
* * *
My group o’ gals wanted to go to Club TCM to participate in the “S0 YOU THINK YOU KNOW THE MOVIES” trivia contest. They’ve asked me to be on their team. Sure, I’m game. They kept telling me that there was this other group of folks who kept telling them “You’re going down!” What? Threaten us? Harumph!!! We’ll see about that. We’re all pretty movie savvy so I had no fear or worries. This would be a piece of cake.
After the first question, I was scared out of my wits. Crikey,these questions were tough!!! I didn’t expect: “Name the actress who played opposite Bogart in “Casablanca.” But I also didn’t expect: ”Name the actor who played John Foster Kane’s son in ‘Citizen Kane.’" They’re joking, aren't they They weren’t. My heart sunk with each question. But hell, our goal was just to beat Team Emberly, not feed the damn fish! Ugh!!
* * *
After we lost the trivia contest ( TCM-City's Filmlover and his group were the champs! Congratulations!) I raced over to wait on line to get a bleacher seat for the RED CARPET event. I walked the red carpet my first year. Walked...HA! I was rushed along by a TCM wrangler. As the carpet became a blur with them rushing all of us along, I could see the people in the bleachers had a ringside seat of everything. Right then and there I vowed...next year. Well for the past two years I’ve sat in the bleachers AND LOVED IT! In fact, I was on line with the same ladies I was on line with last year. It really felt like Olde Home Week. ( Hey Mary, Patty, Lu & Pat!! ) You wait on line, you’re given a number and you enter the velvet rope area in an orderly manner. ( Woe unto you if you have to use the restroom BEFORE the numbers are given. Those linespeople are strict! In fact, I tricked one of them to get a number for one of my new fast friends on line whose sister went to the ladies room. Shhhhh! )
There’s the press on the one side of the carpet, Tom Brown ( dashing in his tux ) on the carpet, and us bleacher babes on the other side of the red carpet. It’s so much fun to scream and shout and applaud the stars strolling down the carpet. We fight to get their attention away from the press. It was great seeing the passholders in all their Sunday finery walking down the red carpet too. We give ‘em much love as well. This year I saw JANE WITHERS, TIPPI HEDREN, BARBARA RUSH, MAX VON SYDOW, JACQUELINE WHITE, COLEEN GRAY, ANN BLYTH etc. on the red carpet. I screamed the loudest for Ann Blyth. She is my raison d’etre for coming to California.
* * *
SPOILERS
I couldn’t stay to the bitter end of the Red Carpet review b’cuz I had to get to the theatre to see my evening’s movies.
“THE KILLING.”
I rushed from the Red Carpet to see the Coleen Gray intro. She seems frail, but has presence of mind to relay working on set and with Kubrick ( though she wished he had a more hands on approach with her. ) Coleen! Coleen! I’m looking at a woman who looked into the eyes of and held in the big strong arms of John Wayne, Victor Mature & Tyrone Power. (( Sigh! )) Some girls have all the luck. You can see King Rat’s more detailed account here. I also thank you Brother Rat, for coming to my rescue with my Soaking Wet Buttered Popcorn Malfunction! Yuck!
And then there is MARIE WINDSOR.
Marie Windsor as Sherry. She'd rather be a widow quicker
than Tammy Wynette can spell D-I-V-O-R-C-E.
I know “The Killing” is oftimes compared to its counterpart “THE ASPHALT JUNGLE” but “The Killing” is different from “The Asphalt Jungle.” “Asphalt...” focuses on the cast of characters and their backstory; “The Killing” is kind of cold and dispassionate. The plot is about the precision of the heist. Crazy Timothy Carey does his Kirk Douglas teeth impression. I think the man is certifiably insane. ( Not that anything's wrong with that! ) But they let him out of the booby hatch to make movies. He’s off-kilter and his scenes with James Edwards were tense! It was as taut as pulling a rubber band you have on your wrist as tight as possible. James Edwards starts out with the upper hand over Carey, as an authority figure in uniform. But when Edwards starts being overly grateful for Carey talking to him as an equal, it was too much for Crazy Guggenheim. His final shocking response to Edwards does the trick to push the security guard away once and for all. After all, Carey has a racehorse he has to kill.
I loved the boxer ( Kola Kwariani ) who causes a distraction at the bar. He seemed a European type gentleman, with the strength of ten men. ( He reminds me of Stanislus Zbyszko in “Night & the City.” ) And hey look here...it was so nice to see Joe Sawyer tenderly interact with his invalid wife, a 180 degree contrast opposite the antithesis of marriage: Marie Windsor / Elisha Cook, Jr. - George & Sherry. By jiminy they were absolutely in a Marriage made in Hell. Wait a minute. Hell might’ve been too good for ‘em. When Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck are bad, I love ‘em. But I think I have room in my heart for Marie. Ahhhhh Marie, Marie. Her Sherry is ALL about the money. And George ( Cook, Jr. ) is all about Sherry. I thought I was looking at the drama between a snake vs. a mongoose in their scenes together. I fell into the rhythm and pattern of their language and way of communicating. Their slow quiet way of speaking w/nary a breath taken between sentences...between words...between each other. Heaven to watch! It was a match made in psychosexual symbiotic hell.
“The Killing” in Kubrick’s steady and sure hand was like watching a Swiss master watchmaker thread the intricate plot around the minutest of cogs. What a tasty time piece Kubrick baked. And when this souffle all falls apart ( sort of like my butter soaked bag of popcorn!!! ) as it does...as it must...in the only silly and foolish way fate deals its blow, Sterling Hayden’s reaction is perfect. Stunned, this automaton can only be just pulled away by his girlfriend ( Coleen Gray ) from the scene of the crime. Just walk away. I’m telling you, it’s perfect. But you know this already.
The last ten seconds of the film is beyond perfect. Ahhh! The good ol' days. When movies knew how to end.
* * *
My movie companion paid homage to her Scandinavian roots with “NINOTCHKA” and was scheduled to see “SUMMERTIME” but I persuaded her to see:
“SAFE IN HELL.”
SHE: “What’s it about?”
ME: “I’m going to let it unfold for you. It’s a pre-code.” ( Haha! So...they call me Concentration Camp Groucho? Ey? Say the Secret Word: pre-code and... )
Film historian DONALD BOGLE interviewed William Wellman’s son and Wellman, Jr. is quite a wealth of information on his father. When “Mild Bill” Wellman & Mr. Bogle start rattling off his Dad’s movies, I’m astounded at the myriad of genres Wellman had command of. I wanted more of Donald Bogle at this festival. And of Wellman as well ( father & son. )
There is a packed audience in Chinese Multiplex Theatre 6 for “Safe In Hell” and I just know in my bones that my movie companion will NOT be disappointed.
“Safe In Hell” is almost a sort of a kind of a sick, twisted “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” tale, with Dorothy Mackaill saddled with this motley crue of felonous scum. She is somehow able to control them. ( After all, they don’t bum rush her in her room, do they. ) Mackaill’s a hard brassy blonde, with some softness to her, but not much, really. A woman’s lot in pre-code is never an easy one. Fate throws the deck at Mackaill and Mackaill throws it right back at Fate and the crowd loved the film, you can tell. She’s my hero. She won’t compromise. And there’s a price to pay for that. In her high heels, walking down a dirt road, she meets Fate.
And I survive Day One of the Film Festival.