Coming Up on TCM

Discussion of programming on TCM.
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

SPTO -- Interesting --- I thought Get Carter excellent, but I haven't seen it in quite a while and maybe I'll feel different this time. I think I was influenced by Sir Michael more than the film. I hope I remember to look in on it.

Klondike -- I think I've seen Point Blank. Don't know if I'll be able to take all that testosterone all at once. Marvin is certainly more intense than Sir Mike could ever be.

I like Clash By Night better every time I see it. I supose that once you get over the clunky dialog and concentrate on the performances, and the look of the film, you can really see its good points. I don't think it would have been nearly as good in hands other than Lang's.

There are so very many worthwhile movies listed on the November schedule - some of the series films sound very attractive and for a change TCM is giving us things we don't see every other month. I'll probably miss most of it, but it's good to know that just about any time I turn on the TV, there will be something worth looking at.
Mr. Arkadin
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Post by Mr. Arkadin »

Juliet of the Spirits is an intriguing film. Some critics have called it “8 ½” from a female point of view and there is a lot of truth to that. Masina is great as always and the colors in this film are amazing.

Totally agree about “Divorce”. That film is one of the all time great comedies and even has a bit of La Dolce Vita fun inside.

I mentioned Our Man in Havana (1960) in another thread, but it’s worth posting again about:

Basically Guinness is a mild mannered vacuum salesman who is recruited by the British secret service to work as an agent down in Cuba.

Guinness takes the money for his daughter, but doesn't want to get involved so he just starts faking reports and drawing pictures of huge vacuum cleaners as developing weapons of destruction! The head agent is looking at the picture saying "This could turn the A-bomb into just a conventional weapon!" :lol:

Soon enough though, he has to actually deal with enemy agents that are out to get him. In one of the best scenes he plays checkers with the crooked police chief with small airplane liquor bottles for checker pieces. The rules of this game differ in that when you jump another person’s bottle, you have to drink it!

All I can say is see this film—If you’re not totally satisfied—well, I guess you’re not totally satisfied.
:P
Last edited by Mr. Arkadin on October 30th, 2007, 7:02 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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moira finnie
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Post by moira finnie »

When we critique the choices of any of TCM's programmers this or any other month, we might want to keep in mind that--unlike many of us--there are many people who might discover a new film or something in a familiar film that affects them on a new found level, depending on their life at the time. Some of us even enjoy revisiting familiar films on occasion. When a film is rotated on a schedule a bit too soon for me, I usually chalk this up to rental availability, marketing pressures and a clear sign that I've been watching TCM a bit too much. It is then time for me to put on my walking shoes and start trekking outdoors more often, with stops at the local coffee shop and the library for more social and mental stimulation, lol.

I've known people who'd never seen Katharine Hepburn or Henry Fonda until On Golden Pond and started to explore their earlier work as a result of this film. While other actors might have brought something that you can respond to in this story, it does have value for someone. I also saw the Aldredge-Sternhagen and Andrews-Plummer versions of the play and enjoyed each of them very much in different ways. It is possible that it doesn't speak to you, but in an era when few plays and fewer films are concerned with human beings, much less the elderly, it might still be a worthwhile story. I also enjoy the movie because I've been to the area where it was filmed in New Hampshire, which holds many happy memories for me.

I find the TCM line-up for November and December to be chock full of interesting, unusual and unfamiliar movies, beginning with the familiar but always beautiful Cocteau film, Beauty and the Beast tomorrow night and concluding with some John Ford movies I've never seen on New Year's Eve, such as Pilgrimage (1933).
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Post by TalkieTime »

In the Very Little TCM thread I posted some background concerning Our Man in Havana excerpted from Kovacsland: A Biography of Ernie Kovacs, by Diana Rico.

The movie was filmed just after the Castro takeover in Cuba. Some of the political tensions/situations are part of this interesting narrative.

Our Man in Havana is showing on Saturday morning 11/3/07.
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

The TCM December schedule came to me by email, and it seems to be a mix of the same old stuff and some very interesting films. A few that caught my eye:

Dec. 4
1:00 AM
Julius Caesar (1953) IMO, this version is the best of all filmed Shakespeare, and much better than it's given credit for. The cast is uniformly terrific and yes, Brando is great as Marc Antony, but James Mason is even greater as Brutus. Louis Calherne as Caesar is just the obnoxious, smarmy, demagogue that helps you to understand why his senators wanted him out. Dramatically sound, few unnessary frills, much easier to understand and follow than most Shakespeare on film.

Dec. 7
3:00 AM
If you stay up really late you can see one of the all-time worst scifi flicks, Killer Shrews. This one was a favorite when I was in college, and was shown at late-night movies' midnight shows. The shrews look an awful lot like Muppets, but this movie isn't supposed to be funny.

Dec. 10
The 1931 version of Maltese Falcon is on at 7:15 AM.
4:00 PM
There's a listing for one called We Went to College (1936). I've never seen it, but it has Charles Butterworth and Hugh Herbert in the cast, and it is described as middle-aged men trying to recapture their college days. It has possibilities -- I'm especially fond of the dry-witted and deadpan Mr. Butterworth.

Dec. 11
8:00 AM
The 1956 version of A Kiss Before Dying, which is way better than the more recent remake.

Dec. 14
10:00 PM
Bonjour Tristesse (1957). Based on a French best-seller, this soap features the not-often-enough seen Jean Seberg as a petulant teen. The movie's OK, and Seberg is worth a look if you aren't familiar with her.

Dec. 20
9:15 AM
The Next Voice You Hear -Very interesting movie about God's voice coming through the TV. Features James Whitmore and an actress by the name of Nancy Davis, who was in two good movies, among others (this one and Donovan's Brain.)

Dec. 23
4:00 PM
Lovers and Other Strangers A sort of precursor to the angst of the Manhattan Upper West Side, upper-middle-class comedy/dramas on TV over the last 20 years. This one is mostly comedy - I think it was written by Joe Bologna and Renee Taylor. For me, the most interesting part was trying to believe that Anne Meara could be the daughter of Gig Young and Cloris Leachman.

Dec. 30
2:00 AM
Wild Child. Most unfortunate to put this movie on at such a late hour. A fascinating study of a scientist (a doctor, actually) trying to integrate a feral child into French society. This is based on the true story of a little boy (called "Victor") who was found living in the forest on his own in early 19th Century France, and was taken in by a scientist who tried to "bring him up to speed" as it were. The scientist is played by director Francois Truffaut. It's a very simply told tale, but quite wonderful, and ultimately quite sad. It's also one of the movies which helped to re-popularize the 17th Century composer Vivaldi, whose piccolo concerto is used as the soundtrack (the other movie being Alan Alda's The Four Seasons.)
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Rusty
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Post by Rusty »

Hello,

I'm going back to the original post's mention of the film "Turnabout".

Here is something funny. A couple of days ago, I shopped Amazon.com for dvd items. One of the items I looked at was one of those fifty movie, ten disk dvd collections. One of the fifty films was the film "Topper Returns". One of the people rating the ten disk collection gave it a "one". A "one" rating is the lowest rating. The reason? Because he/she ordered the ten disk dvd collection and the only movie he/she wanted was "Turnabout". He/she claimed the movie "Turnabout" was replaced by "Topper Returns".

I theorize, the train of "thought" by person giving a one rating for dvd collection was something like...read list of movies for ten disk collection...sees "Topper Returns"...remembers character "Topper" created by writer Thorne Smith...remembers Thorne Smith also wrote book called "Turnabout"...remembers want to watch movie "Turnabout"..."sees" name "Turnabout" for list of movies on ten disk collection...orders ten disk collection...receives ten disk collection...sees no movie "Turnabout" listed for ten disk collection...writes bad review for ten disk collection because Thorne Smith's "Topper" item replaces Thorne Smith's "Turnabout" item. A couple of things. First, taking the time to write something that says, "I am an idiot". Second, deciphering the "thought" process of an idiot is not for the faint hearted.


Rusty
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movieman1957
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Post by movieman1957 »

For Saturday Dec. 8

12:30pm - "The Violent Men." Western (contrary to TCM's genre listing) with Glenn Ford, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson.

2:15pm - John Ford's "Two Rode Together."

Both of these had plenty of play on the Westerns channel recently but we can have them in Widescreen.

Silent Sunday Night - Midnight - John Ford's "The Iron Horse."

Discussions continue on Monday.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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Bogie
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Post by Bogie »

I quite liked The Violent Men as you surely have seen in my review. I've been meaning to watch and review Two Rode Together while it was on heavy rotation on the Western channel but saw ahead of time that it was showing on TCM. So I wisely have opted to see the film in its widescreen glory.
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

Boy, is it quiet in the office today. I should be home - it's such a nice day here in NYC. I can't believe my office is bothering to open on Monday. The latest word now is that we will close early for New Year's Eve. We are all on tenterhooks hoping that an email will come around telling us we can stay home.

So - to pass the time I was looking at January's TCM schedule. Some interesting things will be happening, including tributes to stars such as Cagney, Patricia Neal and Michael Redgrave. There appear to be a lot more silents than usual scheduled as well. Here's what caught my eye:

Jan 1 9:30 AM - The 1935 Mad Love, with Peter Lorre and the beauteous Frances Drake. Lorre goes way over the top, but keeps us interested.


Jan 3 - A day of Marion Davies films beginning at 11:15 AM, culminating in a bio of the star at 7 PM.

Jan 5 12:45 AM - Hal Roach's Turnabout, about which I raved the first time it was aired. If you like screwball, give this one a look; it's very funny and very well done.

Jan 7 8:00 PM - The Matchmaker (1958), with the luminous and too-seldom on film Shirley Booth as Dolly Levi. Hello, Dolly airs at 12:15 AM. You decide. (It's Shirley all the way for me.)

Jan 8 8:00 PM - The Pink Panther (1964) The first, and IMO the best of the PP franchise. Big studio projects were wheezing to a stop at this time, and these full-color, international, lots of action, movies were all over the place. Most are pretty forgettable, but this one gets it right.

Jan 12 6:00 AM - The 1951 version of Show Boat. I don't think this one is as good as the 1930s version with Irene Dunne, but it has some strong points, particularly Ava Gardner as Julie, and especially Joe E. Brown as Cap'n Andy. I know there was controversy about Lena Horne playing Julie for this movie, but I don't think she could have done as good a job dramatically as does Gardner.

Also on the 12th - two fantasy flicks with effects by Ray Harryhausen: Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger at 4:30, and 20,000,000 Miles to Earth at 6:00 PM. Both enjoyable for the stop-action animation, but 20 Mil is the superior film. Sinbad boasts two Hollywood offspring -- Patrick Wayne and Taryn Power and, interestingly, was directed by Sam Wanamaker.

---Continued in next post ---
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

Here's the rest of my picks for January:

Jan 13 Two films of the great and underutilized Geraldine Page: Trip to Bountiful (1985) at 8:00 PM and Summer & Smoke (1961)at 10:00 PM. I don't see Sweet Bird of Youth on the schedule - too bad.

Jan 14 A night of Val Lewton, as presented by Martin Scorsese. All the usual, including my favorite, the peculiar but compelling The Seventh Victim.

Jan 15 11:00 PM Peter Bogdanovich's Targets (1968). A flawed but worthy film. Rather seat of the pants and student-filmish looking, but that climax - the sniper at a drive-in movie -- is terrifyingly well done. Boris Karloff lends gravitas to the proceedings, and gives an excellent performance. (And yes, you are seeing right: the first unfortunate victim at the drive-in is Mike Farrell.)

Jan 21 7:30 AM A showing of Intruder in the Dust (1949), with Juano Hernandez, an actor recently featured on "In the Spotlight" by Mongo.

Jan 29 It's a Jean Harlow morning.

Jan 31 - Yippee! Three Mario Lanza movies! Silly movies, yes, but oh! that voice! At 1:30 PM we'll see That Midnight Kiss (1949); at 3:15 PM Toast of New Orleans (1950), and at 5:00 PM Because You're Mine. The first two feature the warbling Kathryn Grayson, who cannot hold a vocal candle to the powerhouse, classically trained Lanza voice. Hear it for yourself. They couldn't have picked a better singing partner to make Grayson sound vocally anemic. Can't help my prejudices - I just don't like Grayson - it's not an opera voice. When she sings with Gene Kelly you don't notice the weakness. When she sings with Lanza -- Oy, vey!
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mrsl
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Post by mrsl »

jdb1:

Birthday gift to me on Jan. 12 with the '51 version of Showboat. I so much prefer this to the Irene Dunne one. This is one of the few actors/actresses you and I disagree on in case you haven't noticed. I did write up about her in The White Cliffs of Dover but nobody seemed to want to discuss it with me. It happens to be one of the few Irene Dunne movies I really like. Unfortunately in most parts, Ms. Dunne comes off a little to sugary to me. In Love Affair, when she was supposed to be sharp and challenging, she seemed to be rude and thoughtless instead. Since the lines were virtually word for word and line for line, I felt Deborah Kerr did a better job of holding Nicky off yet keeping him interested to have some company on the ship.

Anne
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Bogie
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Post by Bogie »

Heya brooklyn girl :)

I love when you do your upcoming picks and I'll definitely try to take a look at most of them. (although i'll pass on Val Lewton)
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

mrsl wrote:jdb1:

Birthday gift to me on Jan. 12 with the '51 version of Showboat. I so much prefer this to the Irene Dunne one. This is one of the few actors/actresses you and I disagree on in case you haven't noticed. I did write up about her in The White Cliffs of Dover but nobody seemed to want to discuss it with me. It happens to be one of the few Irene Dunne movies I really like. Unfortunately in most parts, Ms. Dunne comes off a little to sugary to me. In Love Affair, when she was supposed to be sharp and challenging, she seemed to be rude and thoughtless instead. Since the lines were virtually word for word and line for line, I felt Deborah Kerr did a better job of holding Nicky off yet keeping him interested to have some company on the ship.

Anne
No, Anne, we don't disagree on Irene Dunne, if you're saying you don't adore her. Neither do I. But I think that in general the earlier sound version is better than the 1951 version. First off, I dislike Kathryn Grayson even more than I dislike Irene Dunne. Then of course, the earlier version boasts the considerable talents of Paul Robeson and Hattie McDaniel (not that the two in the later version aren't very good).

In fact, I think the 1951 version is very much "The Ava Gardner Show Boat" to the detriment of the other roles in the musical, but Gardner gives such a strong performance that it isn't such a bad thing to have that change. Compare the size and presentation of Gardner's Julie to that of Helen Morgan's perfectly fine portrayal in the 1936 version. In any event, for me, the highlight of the 1951 version will always be Joe E. Brown's warm and sensitive supporting performance as Cap'n Andy.
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moira finnie
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Post by moira finnie »

Hi Judith,
I love your upcoming choices on TCM. Your mention of Turnabout on Jan. 5th on TCM led me to discover an article on the site about Thorne Smith, whose ribald & anarchic imagination enlivened several movies in the studio era. Hmm, I can't help but wonder about parents who name their younger son Skyring...what were she and Mr. Smith thinking? This article made me want to read some of the sources cited. I'm definitely going to try to see this movie!!

Here's a link to the TCM article and a rundown of all the Thorne Smith movies showing on the 5th of Jan. All times shown are ET.:

8:00 PM
Topper (1937)
A fun-loving couple returns from the dead to help a henpecked husband. Cast: Cary Grant, Constance Bennett, Roland Young. Dir: Norman Z. McLeod. BW-98 mins, TV-G, CC

9:45 PM
Topper Takes a Trip (1939)
A glamorous ghost helps a henpecked husband save his wife from gold-digging friends. Cast: Constance Bennett, Roland Young, Billie Burke. Dir: Norman Z. McLeod. BW-80 mins, TV-G, CC

11:15 PM
I Married A Witch (1942)
A 300-year-old witch wreaks havoc when she falls in love with a young politician. Cast: Fredric March, Veronica Lake, Susan Hayward. Dir: Rene Clair. BW-77 mins, TV-G

12:45 AM
Turnabout (1940)
Battling spouses accidentally switch bodies. Cast: Adolphe Menjou, Carole Landis, John Hubbard. Dir: Hal Roach. BW-83 mins, TV-G


I'd like to add that at 4AM on Jan. 6th, TCM is airing the seldom seen
Pennies From Heaven (1981), based on the old movie and a British mini-series from the '70s. It's very good and very dark...just wish that the 1936 version with Bing Crosby and Madge Evans would turn up someday too.

4:00 AM
Pennies From Heaven (1981)
A traveling salesman's music-inspired dreams lead to tragedy. Cast: Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Jessica Harper. Dir: Herbert Ross. C-108 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format
Avatar: Frank McHugh (1898-1981)

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