The Silver Screen Oasis

Don't believe this has been posted before and apologize if it has. But with our beloved Moira about to be hosted by Robert Osborne, am curious to know what -- let's say three film selections SSO members would choose if they were to be invited as guest programmers.

As I thought about this, I was startled to see how contemporary my choices would be:

THE SHOOTIST (natch, at least one Western)

THE PAPER CHASE

GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS

Keep limited to three, gang, tough though it is.

I might adhere to certain themes or styles. With permission, I'll tackle that in a later post. As for unrestricted, just any three movies, I'll do:

STAGECOACH. One of the first serious westerns.
THE MALTESE FALCON. The mold for the American detective film.
CITY LIGHTS. Chaplin's master work, and the saddest comedy ever made.

Female Jungle (Bruno VeSota 1956) -- My VeSota obsession, plus Lawrence Tierney, Jayne Mansfield & John Carradine

Une si jolie petite plage (Yves Allegret 1949) -- A gesture of thanks to a French noir made at the peak of America's Noir Golden Age

Private Property (Leslie Stevens 1960) -- Haven't seen it, have heard great things, so I'm taking advantage of the opportunity

ChiO, those are certainly esoteric choices.

Charade (1963) That delightful script by Peter Stone. Audrey, Cary, Givenchy, Walter, James, George, Ned, Tom, Dominique, and Jacques.

Out of the Past (1947) The script, Jacques Tourner, the clothes, Jane and Bob and Kirk and Rhonda, Theresa, and Dickie.

The Major and The Minor(1942) Brackett and Wilder script, directed by Billy Wilder, with Ginger, Ray, Rita, Robert, and Diana.

ChiO, those are certainly esoteric choices.

It was either that or:

Citizen Kane
Touch of Evil
F for Fake

or

Finger Man
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
The World's Greatest Sinner

Always up for saluting genius.

A Tim Carey appreciation, ChiO. I can dig it.

I've not seen a guest programmer section, I shall ponder and come back, this takes some thought.

Off the top of my head, giving you a British perspective

Pygmalion
Brief Encounter
Black Narcissus

I hope that someone at TCM is reading this! These are great choices.

Re: PRIVATE PROPERTY

I had never heard of it until, between movies at the Roxie this past Spring, a friend started regaling me in a very excited fashion about a movie, PRIVATE PROPERTY, he had discovered. It all sounded very intriguing. A couple months later, an article he wrote about it appeared in Bright Lights Film Journal. Now it's a Must-See and, therefore, I had to include it in this TCM Guest Programmer quiz. Unless Dewey snags it for the upcoming Roxie "I Wake Up Dreaming", TCM may be my only chance to see it.

The article is here.

Actor Jacques Tati
Monsieur Hulot (Mr. Hulot)

I would have a Jacques Tati Day at Turner Classic Movies ... being hard of hearing it is very easy for me to figure out what is going on and most of all his style of humor is refreshing, warm, witty, and enduring. I love Jour de fete (1949), Mon Oncle (1958), and the beloved Trafic in 1971. My Mom and Dad are big fans of his and we went to a film festival in Vancouver B.C. that showed all of these films in three days and had a blast seeing them. I'm a huge fan of him.

Eight Jacques Tati's films ...

Sylvie et le fantôme (1946)
Le Diable au corps (1947)
Jour de fête (1949)
Les Vacances de M. Hulot (1953)
Mon Oncle (1958)
Play Time (1967)
Trafic (1971)
Parade (1974)

I'm revising my choices I think I need to go back to where I started on message boards and that was with silents

The Kid (so difficult to chose a Chaplin film and I can honestly say that I haven't a favourite, to think this was made in 1921 but the comedy, as always with Chaplin, is timeless)

Flesh and The Devil (I saw this when I was a teenager when one of our channels was being a bit retro and it really stayed with me, I hadn't watched story telling like this before, I'd never seen anyone like Garbo and had never seen on screen chemistry like Garbo and Gilbert, I knew nothing of their affair, it was a fairytale land of snow and smoke, and it sizzled far more than anything I'd seen before.

The Crowd (watched a couple of years ago but rounds off this silent odessy, were The Kid has pathos and comedy, Flesh and the Devil has passion, riches, glamourous clothes, brothers in arms but The Crowd, it's like taking a trip back to 1929 as we would have experienced it, in an office, plugging away day after day, life getting harder, circumstances forcing the couple apart and the cinematography advances the art yet again)

Or, my other way into film was musicals or to be more precise dancers, so

Footlight Parade or Yankee Doodle Dandy
Top Hat
Singin in the Rain

my 3 favourite dancers at their best, very difficult to chose a film for Gene and Fred, too many good dances but The Broadway Melody cinched it for Singin in the Rain and Top Hat shows all the charm of the Ginger and Fred partnership. As for Cagney I prefer Footlight Parade as a movie but the energy and performance given in Yankee Doodle Dandy is an absolute joy to behold.