The October Schedule for TCM

[MissGoddess]

Who's John Litel?

The Velt Claws sounds interesting. Is it a "Lone Wolf" mystery?

[CineMaven]

You know John Litel. You've seen him in everything. Wavy hair...big voice. Here he is:


JOHN LITEL

Does he look familiar to you? Nancy Drew's father. Henry Aldrich's father. He's my "go to" guy when I can't get my Sammy. ( )

As for Warren William... ooops! ( ) ...I omitted the synopsis:

"THE CASE OF THE VELVET CLAWS" ( 1934 )
Perry Mason's honeymoon with Della Street is interrupted by the murder of a scandal sheet.

Glad to see Perry made an honest woman of Della. But you know, Perry tying the knot is like Ben Cartwright tying the knot...or James Bond tying the knot. I'm thinking those Velvet Claws probably belong to Della since Perry made her wait so long.

[MissGoddess]

oh, him! okay, now i know he's #2 for you, after sammy. i think i just saw him recently, too, maybe in a tv show.
and i forgot the wolf was perry mason, too!

p.s.
i wouldn't interrupt MY honeymoon over the murder of a scandal sheet...i'd celebrate even more!

[Western Guy]

MissGoddess, on another filmsite, John Litel's death (in front of his young son yet!) in Errol Flynn's DODGE CITY was voted one of the most devastating killings in movies. Litel also played the doctor who resurrects the blood-seeking zombie Humphrey Bogart in THE RETURN OF DR. X.

[CineMaven]

p.s.
i wouldn't interrupt MY honeymoon over the murder of a scandal sheet...i'd celebrate even more!

Ha! You're no Nora Charles. Seee...you're a Romantic.

[MissGoddess]

MissGoddess, on another filmsite, John Litel's death (in front of his young son yet!) in Errol Flynn's DODGE CITY was voted one of the most devastating killings in movies. Litel also played the doctor who resurrects the blood-seeking zombie Humphrey Bogart in THE RETURN OF DR. X.

Thanks, Stone. His face never really registered but now he may stick in my mind better.

[JackFavell]

Can't wait for The Law in Her Hands, and I'm also looking forward to the other law movies tomorrow morning. Thanks for reminding me, T! I always get the Margaret Lindsey movie mixed up with Ruth Hussey's Within the Law, which was a remake of a remake of a remake, about a shopgirl who is wrongly sent to prison and becomes a lawyer for revenge.

Lucky Star is on tonight, this will be my first time seeing it.

[JackFavell]

All three movies you mentioned at the beginning of your post are just gorgeous, kingrat, and in such different ways. Anyone who wants to become a cinematographer should be required to see them.

On Sunday morning, the little played Deadline at Dawn will be shown at 6:30 AM ET. I can't recommend this quirky movie enough! Now is the time to get this one recorded, it's not on very often.

It's got a script by Clifford Odets (sorry king) and is based on a story by Cornell Woolrich. It also marks the directing debut of Harold Clurman, the Group Theatre's founding member who enjoyed the process so much he left Hollywood forever after making this movie and never came back.

Deadline at Dawn has a wonderful cast. Bill Williams is the hapless rube sailor, in the city for 24 hours, who after a night on the town finds money in his pocket belonging to a woman who has been murdered. The problem is, he can't quite remember if he is the one who did it. Susan Hayward is at her very best as a street wise New York City girl who loses her hard edges when, against her better judgment, she helps the young man. Paul Lukas is, as always, brilliant as the cabbie who takes them under his wing, and encourages their back-tracing through the night to find out what actually happened.

Various street people enter the young sailor's life, including Joseph Calleia as a surprisingly sympathetic gangster, Roman Bohnen as a man grief stricken over his cat's imminent death, Jerome Cowan as a shady banana saleseman, and Marvin Miller as a creepy blind piano player named Sleepy Parsons. Osa Massen and Lola Lane are cryptic, sleazy and fascinating as jaded beauties of the Big Apple, and there are appearances by Edward Gargan, Byron Foulger, Jason Robards, Sr., Al Bridge (yes!), Constance Worth, Steven Geray, and Joe Sawyer, not to mention a million other sweaty, odd denizens of NYC. In other words, it's a classic movie lover's dream!

check out the camera work by Nicholas Musuraca:

[youtube][/youtube]

Don't miss it, and be sure to get a copy to keep. You'll want to watch this one again.

[CineMaven]

Dagnabit! Fell asleep on "BRIEF ENCOUNTER" and "DEADLINE AT DAWN." In and out of sleep I'd see Celia and Susan. Is that Trevor Howard or wavy haired Bill Williams...

"Deadline..." I kept thinking "Geez Susan you're so mean to this poor sailor. Sounded like a real New Yorker, "Whaddya mean WE, I'm not helping you. This is your problem." I like the clip above with Lola Lane. Wow! As light & blonde & sweet as her little sister, Priscilla was, Lola was dark, and looked dangerous. She made me think of Lynn Bari. She fit right in to noir. She should've been bigger.

"BRIEF ENCOUNTER." I'd awaken periodically and felt like Celia Johnson was reading me a bedtime story. "Brief Encounter" was like a bedtime story come to life. She would say "I couldn't see his face, and then he came in and turned around..." ( I'm paraphrasing ) and then Trevor Howard would come in and turn around. The combination of her telling her story plus seeing the words turn into action, just really struck me this time. "Brief Encounter": the almost-having-an-affair movie. It's so quiet, two average ordinary people who become very attracted to each other. And it all starts so innocently, innocuously. How easy it is to slip away from the predictable and comfortable and taken-for-granted, into something different; something that touches a different chord. And then to NOT be together. Guess that makes the memory, the desire - stronger?? Almost...but not quite. I haven't seen this movie in a long long time. Aw heck, let me go to YouTube and complete what I didn't finish.

[JackFavell]

I was really impressed with Lola Lane too, MAN! In noir, she's terrific. And those lines! The first line of the movie, she greets her own husband with, " Aren't you dead yet?" WOW! Cold. "She was no lullaby, but she had brains like a man." It's a full blooded character she's made out of just those little hints given in the script. I would have liked to see her for longer in this movie, but of course, a girl like that was made to murder.

Brief Encounter is sooooo moving, just your few sentences got me right into it's mood, T. I think it draws you in so easily, in such a sly way, making the ordinary special, it's deceptively simple, surprising no one has done it before or since so well.

[JackFavell]

Oh yeah, if you want to see the rest of Deadline at Dawn it's here:

[CineMaven]

Thank you for the compliment on my muddled jumble of words. Deceptively simple...yes. And I still want to write up my thoughts about "FALLEN IDOL." THAT movie was excruciatingly tight. What WAS I thinking over the past thirty years that I haven't seen that film twenty times already! Sheesh, I need a Cinematic MRI!!! And thanx for the link to "DEADLINE AT DAWN." "Aren't you dead yet?" is noiringly chilling. ( Love it. ) And your words: "...Of course a girl like that was made to murder," would be the brilliant start to a film noir. Who here cannot hear Robert Ryan voice-over YOUR line. Very Nice!

Back to the grindstone. Editing.

[JackFavell]

Good luck! I hope it all goes smooth as silk. Of course, I'm being selfish saying that, as I can't wait to see this season of Meg...

I can't wait for your writeup on The Fallen Idol!

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Me, too! Here come more MEG!