TCM Classic Film Festival (April 22-25, 2010)

[Sue Sue Applegate]

I can't wait to see everyone there! I will carry a pink balloon just like my avatar!

And if anyone wants to read about my exploits like stealing John Wayne's footprints from Grauman's or starring in Ricky's movie entitled "DON JUAN" or getting a sunburn and having to wear a Don Loper tweed suit, check out my blog here at SSO on these threads.

[Moraldo Rubini]

I can't wait to see everyone there! I will carry a pink balloon just like my avatar!
And if anyone wants to read about my exploits like stealing John Wayne's footprints from Grauman's or starring in Ricky's movie entitled "DON JUAN" or getting a sunburn and having to wear a Don Loper tweed suit, check out my blog here at SSO on these threads.

SueSue, would you do me one little favor? I've always wanted Richard Widmark's autograph. It doesn't have to be on anything special. In fact, even on a grapefruit would do...

[Birdy]

We will look for our WISH YOU WERE HERE postcards! Have a great time for all of us. I'll be back here pulling weeds.
Birdy

[moira finnie]

Just leave the Duke's boot prints there when you stop by Grauman's, okay? Do you know how much they would charge for you to carry on a block of cement on the plane home?

[Sue Sue Applegate]

No kiddin'. Ouchamagoucha on the luggage fees. But one autographed grapefruit doesn't weight that much.

I just can't seem to find the right kind of putty for my nose, though.
Funny. I'm kind of craving a Cobb salad.

[knitwit45]

SueSue, would you do me one little favor? I've always wanted Richard Widmark's autograph. It doesn't have to be on anything special. In fact, even on a grapefruit would do.

um, Jack....am I missing something here, or did you forget March 24, 2008? (the day he died)

[mongoII]

If I were able to go, my expectations would be to see Luise Rainer and Juanita Moore.
To those of you lucky to make the trip I wish you a jolly good time.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Thank you, Mongo. And I had already picked your suggestions. I am so excited about this.

Well, Heck, yawl..... I'm just excited to be out of Texas.

[MissGoddess]

Another way to keep track of Festival goings-on, IMDb.com has set up a special section
on it here:
http://www.imdb.com/features/tcm/2010/

[moira finnie]

The Movie Morlocks in attendance at the TCM Film Festival are blogging about it here too:
http://moviemorlocks.com/

There is also a thread on the TCM Message Boards about the Festival with more remarks by many of our friends and acquaintances from here and there in attendance:
http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/thread.jspa?threadID=152883&tstart=0

[pvitari]

I thought I wouldn't have computer access during the festival but the Roosevelt has two Macs in the reception area for guest use. Yay!

I stepped out of the shuttle at the hotel to find Eli Wallach standing there with a festival escort. I couldn't resist saying hello and thanks for coming to the festival. He was very gracious and chatted for a minute until it was time to get into his waiting limo. I spotted him later at the screening of A Star is Born. Also saw Peter Bogdanovich standing with his festival escort in the hotel reception area.

The restored Star Is Born was glorious on the giant screen at Graumann's Chinese, which was packed with a huge and enthusiastic crowd. They had laid out a red carpet for the festival attendees and numerous personnel waved me through as I walked down the carpet. For a few seconds, I did feel like a celebrity -- and afterwards too as there were people crowding up on the other side of the barriers -- someone famous was around. I heard someone mention Cher but I didn't see her. Robert Osborne introduced A Star Is Born and said that Joey and Lorna Luft were in the audience. He also had Alec Baldwin, who hosts the Essentials on TCM with him, come on stage and talk about TCM, movies and ASIB for a moment.

As soon as it was over, I ran next door to Mann's Chinese to see the world premiere of the restoration of Sunny Side Up. A woman from MOMA told the audience that this restoration derived from a nitrate print made from the camera negative that Fox had donated to MOMA some time ago -- the 70s? Can't remember. They made a safety acetate copy at the time but a recent look determined this copy was no longer up to current standards so they have made a brand new print on polyester film. The sound was also cleaned up digitally. The color sequence truly is lost -- it was not in this print.

Alas, no time to see Neptune's Daughter (I think it was DVD projection) by the pool with Esther Williams and Betty Garrett, but a pal of mine went and I'm sure she'll tell me all about it tomorrow. i hope the screening of Frank Capra's Dirigible went well. I really wish I could have seen Dirigible.

[Moraldo Rubini]

Keep the reportage coming, please. I love it! Joey Luft! Wish you'd taken a picture of the siblings to show us. I would've wanted to get them into a Q&A.

[pvitari]

Hi, Moraldo, I never even saw the Lufts. Supposedly they were there but in that packed auditorium they were impossible to spot. I should add that the projection of ASIB was digital and it looked splendid.

I'm writing this right next to Sue Sue Applegate -- we're using the hotel Macs and I glanced over at her and she was on Silver Screen Oasis so I exclaimed, hey I'm there too, who are you??! And it was Sue. HI SUE!!!!! Great Minds Think Alike about getting on the computer and spilling about our experiences at the TCM fest. :)

Meanwhile...

Day Two was a blast!

The entertainment started with a morning screening of a new restoration of King Kong, also a digital projection at the Graumann Chinese. It looked fantastic on that big screen and this will always be my favorite King Kong because Willis O'Brien and everyone connected with the film injected so much personality and pathos into the Big Hairy Guy. That amazing longshot of the Empire State Building, with a tiny silhouette of Kong clinging to the top while the planes circle around took my breath away. It's amazing how things stand out on the big screen that just don't strike you the same way on a television screen (even a big TV). Kong was introduced by Leonard Maltin.

Then I rushed over to the Mann Chinese to see the screening of The Big Trail. I remember when I watched this on DVD that I said to myself, boy ,would this look tremendous in the theater. Hee hee, I was right! The scope of this film is jaw-dropping -- the audience literally gasped at the sequence where the pioneers were hoisting their wagons and animals down the cliff. And a very young John Wayne sure was one handsome man. ;) This was introduced by Margaret Bodde, director of the Film Foundation, and then a woman whose name I'm very sorry I didn't catch, but she is writing a biography of director Raoul Walsh. She spoke about the immense resources marshalled for the production of this film and the extreme difficulties in recording sound outside on location in the early days of talking film.

Next on my agenda was the debut of the new print of Delmer Daves' Jubal, starring Glenn Ford as a drifter/cowhand who hires on at Ernest Borgnine's ranch and immediately runs into trouble in the form of Rod Steiger, who takes an immediate dislike to him, and Borgnine's restless and unhappy wife, Valerie French. Felicia Farr (the future Mrs. Jack Lemmon) and a young Charles Bronson were also in the cast. I have never been that big a Glenn Ford fan, but I loved him in this movie and basically loved everything about it -- including the gorgeous scenery, filmed in the Grand Tetons near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. (I've been to that area and it is truly breathtaking and beautiful.) Ernest Borgnine was sitting in the row behind me and occasionally made comments to his companion, but since it was Ernest Borgnine, I did not turn around and give him the evil eye I usually give talkers in movies. :) Leonard Maltin introduced, then Grover Crisp spoked about the difficulties of restoring this film since it had been shot in Eastmancolor and thus faded very badly, plus there were some very bad scratches on the negative. But thanks to the wonders of digital restoration, they were finally able to restore this title. After the film, Maltin held a Q&A with Borgnine, who is every bit as lively and enthusiastic as ever despite being 94 or thereabouts. It's amazing the energy of some of our senior actors!

I then took a break for dinner with a friend at the Pig and Whistle on Hollywood Boulevard -- skipping the late afternoon/early evening schedule of movies but I hadn't eaten since 8 in the morning -- and then she and I went to Top Hot. It has been my goal for many years to see a Fred & Ginger movie on the big screen (yes, it's true, I never had) and now I have accomplished that goal. This was a brand new print and it looked quite good though I think they cobbled it together from various sources as there were a number of shots that did not look as good as most of the film. Robert Osborne introduced. ;) Everything I love about this film was magnified a 100 times because of the 35mm print and the detail -- you could really see the feathers molting from Ginger's famous feather dress. ;) Because of this dress, she was nicknamed Feathers by her colleagues. Osborne told an anecdote about how he had seen Astaire and Rogers decades later at an event promoting the compilation film That's Dancing; Astaire was elderly and had trouble walking and Rogers helped him up the stairs and Osborne heard Fred say to Ginger, "Let's go, Feathers."

It is very frustrating having to miss so many films -- there are sometimes 3 or 4 I'd like to see all scheduled at the same time and I won't be able to attend any of the panels in the TCM Club Room. I'm really missing some amazing stuff. :( :( :( I imagine a lot of it will be up at the TCM website (they were videotaping the Maltin/Borgnine Q&A for example) and I hope that way I'll be able to catch up eventually on the panels and Q&As.

Well, time to hit the hay as I have to get up the crack of dawn tomorrow in order to catch the 9 a.m. screening of Playtime in 70mm at the Egyptian Theater. ;)

Tired but happy....

Paula

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Great post, Paula! Hi! Bye for now. I need my beauty sleep, plus I'm meeting this guy named Glenn later......

[moira finnie]

Oh, Paula, you are so lucky to see The Big Trail on screen! Seeing it on the tube (even a big one) is just not the same! And what I would have given to see any Delmer Daves movie on the big screen (love him and his movies), much less while sitting near Ernie Borgnine!


Thanks so much for posting here. I really look forward to more from you when you have time. Here's a picture of the Duke when he was the newly minted star of Raoul Walsh's wide screen epic: