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Saw this impeccable 1928 roadster at the gas station after leaving the Capitol Theater, a 1928 movie palace in Rome NY-how fitting!

Great idea to have a dedicated Dark Shadows thread. Thanks Lorna! I have been a fan since the initial run and have been watching ever since. I agree that Lara Parker and Kathryn Leigh Scott were marvelous actresses (KLS more subdued, while Lara occasionally veered into the Grayson Hall School of Emoting.....) I'll also note the performances of Diana Millay, Marie Wallace and Virginia Vestoff. However, my favorite actress remains Nancy Barrett, on whom I had a bit of a crush. She's appeared on a number of DVDs with commentary. I also have all of KLS's books about the show. They both note the thrill and appreciation of appearing in what basically was a summer stock experience, knowing that your character's demise didn't mean loss of employment, but the chance for resurrection in one form or another. Interesting that the female cast members were, to me, the better performers, while the men (with exceptions) seem to have been chosen primarily for their devastatingly good looks and chiseled jaw lines! I do feel for Joan's difficulties with the production, which she admitted to in various talkshow interviews. The rapid pace of script memorization, short rehearsal time and speed were quite different from her movie days.

Tuesday, August 17 Gloria Grahame SUTS 8 p.m. The Big Heat (1953). One of Grahame’s very best.

Nip, you ol' cowpuncher you, while I completely understand the concept of opinions being a subjective thing, I ALSO have to say that almost ALL your above observations which have apparently lead to this/these opinion(s) of yours about The Big Country are...well...WRONG! Yep, cowboy...WRONG! And so, lets take a look at each of them separately here: Nope, one of the things the MAKE Burl Ives' character more than just a two-dimensional one (and maybe why he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar) is when the chips are down, he STILL shows his character believing strongly in the concept of fairness, and does this by shooting down his own lowsome son (Connors). Nope again, as by not at first riding the bronco sets in motion the thought that McKay is a man so secure in himself, that he never feels the need to prove anything to any others. So, not ending up with the man she loved (McKay) because of her childish ways AND losing her idolized father isn't "comeuppance" enough for you?! Heston does almost everything a guy can do to show up Peck's McKay in the eyes of Carroll Baker, up to and including challenging McKay to a fist fight. Heston ALSO at one point grabs and almost physically assaults her in his fustrations. Uh-huh, and so THEN how would we get to the both the duel between Peck and Connors, and then the final showdown between the two patriachs in the canyon, HUH?! Heston's Steve Leech being one of those types who values loyalty above all else and even above what is right and proper (and something I've always felt YOU especially might understand) would never in a million years beat the crap out of a man he's always felt was his superior, and to say nothing about Bickford being his boss. And Jean Simmons' character being the learned woman that she was, would even think of striking the spoiled brat that Baker played, and besides something such as that making Simmons' character look less than the learned and classy woman that she was. And finally: Sorry cowpoke, but these two music themes sound little if ANY alike. And in this I now ask you, where is the sound of that stirring string movement at the beginning of this Lancer theme? (...and to say nothing about an almost completely different basic melody between the two, too!)

Bogie's celebrity homes thread made me think that it might be fun to take a look at some of the homes of vintage Hollywood celebrities. Here are some shots of the 20 acre Encino ranch owned by Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. Following Carole's death Gable would remain there for the rest of his life, I believe, hearing from one source that he suffered his fatal heart attack in the driveway.

Duffy's Tavern (1951). Ed Gardner Here We Go Again (1942) Fibber McGee and Molly The Great Gildersleeve (1942). Harold Peary The Saint (1997) Val Kilmer

Harrison Ford - Dr. Richard Kimble (The Fugitive) Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd & Christina Ricci - Morticia, Gomez, Fester & Wednesday (The Addams Family) Johnny Knoxville, Seann William Scott & Jessica Simpson - Luke, Bo & Daisy (The Dukes of Hazzard) Michael Peña & Dax Shepard - Ponch & Jon (CHiPs) Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton Jackson & Sharlto Copley - Hannibal, Face, B.A. & Murdock (The "A" Team) Antonio Banderas - Zorro (although a film character first)

Beverly Hillbillies ( Jim Varney Diedrich Bader Erika Eleniak Cloris Leachman) Charlie's Angels ( Drew Barrymore Lucy Liu Cameron Diaz) Star Trek ( William Shatner Leonard Nimoy DeForest Kelly)

The Avengers ( Uma Thurman , Ralph Fiennes) Batman ( Adam West, George Clooney, Val Kilmer) Get Smart ( Anne Hathaway , Steve Carell) Superman ( Christopher Reeve) Wyatt Earp ( Kevin Costner Wonder Woman ( Gal Gadot)

Funny thing is, I asked my mom if she named me after the character of Beth from DARK SHADOWS, she admitted she contemplated either naming me that or Elizabeth...she settled on Beth because she didn't want anyone nicknaming me 'Lizzie' (like from Lizzie Borden). Personally I would have liked to have been named after Elizabeth but hey my name's my name.

The Collins family made Beth shorten her name from Chavezorowski which would have raised eyebrows in Collinsport, having had previous unpleasantness with Polish sailors washing ashore and causing problems at The Blue Whale.

I am deep in the 1897 storyline and one thing that I am beguiled by is the character of the COLLINWOOD MAID [and love interest for QUENTIN] "BETH." Beth??? I'm sorry, MAGGIE EVANS aside, I thought it was DARK SHADOWS LAW that all FEMALE CHARACTER'S NAMES HAVE THREE SYLLABLES- Julia, Elizabeth, Carolyn, Victoria, etc... (more syllables take up more airtime I guess) so it just feels a little out of place to have someone named BETH in the mix and not, say, AMARYLLIS or EUSTACIA or CELESTINE or something like that. Just...Beth... And WHY is her last name CHAVEZ? Anyone know that?

THIS VIDEO is comprised entirely of DARK SHADOWS actors remembering what JOAN BENNETT was like. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE WATCH. PS- OH TO HAVE BEEN A FLY ON THE WALL DURING HER AND LOUIS EDMUONDS'S SUNDAY GOSSIP AND COCKTAIL SESSIONS!!!!!!!!

What Ever Happened To Baby Jane (1962) Baby Jane's 1948 Lincoln Continental

Sometimes it feels like every day is Judy Garland Day on TCM. Enough already.

Newman, Paul

The TV Show Came First: Dennis the Menace (1993)-- Mason Gamble as Dennis Mitchell, Walter Matthau as Mr. Wilson, [et al] Leave it to Beaver (1997) -- Cameron Finley as Beaver, Erik von Detten as Wally, Janine Turner as June, Christopher McDonald as Ward, [et al] The Movie Came First: Gidget (1959) -- Sandra Dee as Gidget The Bad News Bears (1976) -- Walter Matthau as Buttermaker, Tatum O'Neal as Amanda Wurlitzer, [et al] The Odd Couple (1968) -- Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison, Tony Randall as Felix Unger MASH (1970) -- Donald Sutherland as Hawkeye Pierce, Elliott Gould as Trapper John McIntyre, [et al]

I agree, it totally stinks. I admit I only throw my 2 cents in here whenever there's a particular film noir that I'm interested in, but the discussions are always fascinating.

I like learning the "whatever happened to ..." information about people. You just happened to have found yourself with a group that included sadder ends than most. The director, I discovered, lived to be 92! So that's something positive.

I used to watch this with the old tv rabbit ears in Toronto from a broadcast across the lake in Rochester. Some days you got a bit of the picture and others it was mostly just snow. But the audio came across so it was more like a radio show and that was good enough for me because I was in my Universal Monster Horror phase. I also had the Dark Shadows novelizations.

Yes, I admit Beth does sound short and simple considering some of the other names on the show. Still, Beth is a fairly popular name even for today.. I don't know anybody who names their sons Barnabas though!

I should have specified that BETH is a perfectly lovely name, it just seems so short and tame (and even contemporary?) compared to the other dramatic multisyllabic Ye Olde Fashioned names on the series. (Thank heavens you weren't named DORCAS or MAGDA!)

Funny thing is, as a child, my first exposure to Joan was watching her on the reruns of DARK SHADOWS, I didn't even know she had a film career until much later on which I saw her opposite Spencer Tracy in the original FATHER OF THE BRIDE. Since then I've been catching up with a lot of her movies. While she may not have quite the star power or versatility of Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Olivia de Havilland, Barbara Stanwyck, etc. she did have a certain something that kept you intrigued when watching her.

All originally radio: A Date with Judy (Jane Powell) Dick Tracy (Ralph Byrd, Warren Beatty) Dragnet (Jack Webb) The Green Hornet (Gordon Jones, Seth Rogen) Junior G-Men (Dead End Kids) My Friend Irma (Marie Wilson) The Whistler (Richard Dix)

I remember it too and every boy in my neighborhood wore PF Flyers, they were all athletic boys. Of course since I was a little girl, when the girls wore sneakers they were, the flat canvas Keds. I still wore the white canvas Keds as an adult but now it's Sketchers, these older feet need more support LOL

OMG! That was great Lorna! I love Nancy! And there was soooooo much gay subtext going on in the Dark Shadows, was there not?!!

also also also, forget BILLY CRYSTAL in SOAP, LOUIS EDMONDS as ROGER COLLINS (and his various relatives) really was TV'S FIRST OPENLY GAY CHARACTER, WASN'T HE? As much as I admire the seriousness of the show, I kindasorta wish they'd done a "VERY SPECIAL SWEEPS WEEK EPISODE" of DARK SHADOWS where ROGER comes out to the family at THANKSGIVING, then there's a couple beats and everyone gathered in the drawing room says IN PERFECT UNISON: "Yeah, and...?"

ALSO I watched the episode last night where THE WEREWOLF ATE DORCAS. It was great.

Nancy's observation of her signature role, Carolyn Stoddard: "She had too much money! She had too much freedom! She had too much hair!" I laughed when I heard her say that.....

I find THE V.I.P.S watchable, though certainly not up there with WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINA WOOLF? I admit. Margaret Rutherford was the best thing about the movie for me, but I have to confess I don't think it was an Oscar worthy performance. Orson's scenes bore me as well. But Rod Taylor did make good eye candy.

The show was shot live on tape, usually with just one take (something that creator Dan Curtis insisted on ) so that would be different than working on a movie where when you make a mistake you can stop filming and do another take until you get it right. I think Joan did just fine as Elizabeth and all her other roles on the show. But I agree with Roy that Nancy Barrett was the most versatile actress of the show. She was a great screamer too.

Eli Wallach

I was struck by the Genie charactor voiced by Robin Williams in Disney's animated ALADDIN that way. I sat in the theater with my mouth open at what was said, thinking, "who is going to know what he's talking about in 20 years?" I generally love Robin Williams, but think he did a huge disservice to the film by going off on contemporary politics. I can't believe Disney allowed it, ruining the timeless quality of an animated movie. That's why anything made while Walt was alive is "classic", it holds up for generations.

And btw, and seein' as how THIS cowpoke HERE appears to be on a roll here... ...sorry Tom (yeah yeah, I know, as that first actor you mentioned here once said in that Yellow Ribbon flick, "Never apolozige, Mister. It's the sign of weakness"...BUT seein' as how I've always thought THAT kind'a thought was nothin' but a big pile of cow dung...and so as I was sayin' here, sorry ) but while I think your idea that because some people might THINK of The Big Country has some sort of "pacifist message" contained within it and thus might be the reason SOME people might consider its narrative contrary to what is "supposed of" most classic westerns, don't forget here that when the chips are down, Greg Peck's McKay was NOT adverse to throwing his fists at both Heston and Connors, and even facing down Connors with that dueling pistol in his hand. And so, I've never thought of Peck's McKay as being a "pacifist" at all nor that this film presses such a message. (...nope, but MORE the message that McKay was a "thinking man" and thus was smart enough to know when and where to pick his fights and/or accept the challenge to them)

Vertigo is my favorite Hitchcock film. It is admittedly leisurely in its first half, but in my opinion, it rewards your patience with some batsh*t crazy revelations and plot twists. The emotional wallop of what happens to Jimmy Stewart's character is heartbreaking. I said earlier today in another thread it wouldn't be the first Hitchock film I'd introduce to a newbie. You need to work up to it.

Yeah, I'm not too keen on VERTIGO either. I find it rather slow and belabored. I think Hitchcock made better films.

Erickson, Leif

Wilfong, Ace -- Clark Gable in A Free Soul. (1931)

BURL IVES performance as Big Daddy is the reason I find that film mesmerizing.

I agree, I enjoy PAINT YOUR WAGON very much. Always felt Clint didn't have such a half-bad voice, either. It's a rowdy, enjoyable ramp. I think this was the only teaming of Clint and Lee Marvin as well.

I saw most of The VIPs on Margaret Rutherford day. This was retro even in 1963--it's basically Grand Hotel in an airport--but well-made. Terence Rattigan's script construction is old-fashioned and predictable, but he understands how to get the most value out of dramatically familiar situations, like the subplot about the boss who doesn't appreciate the quietly efficient secretary who's in love with him. Of course, having Rod Taylor and Maggie Smith in those roles helps a lot! I found Orson Welles' scenes to be fast-forward material, but otherwise the cast, the views of London Heathrow Airport, and Elizabeth Taylor's fur coat and cap held my attention.

A house with a gruesome history, 9820 Easton Drive in Benedict Canyon, LA. This is the house where Jean Harlow lived with her husband Paul Bern for a short while. In 1932 Bern would be found fatally shot under still mysterious circumstances. Suicide? Murder? Endless talk of a studio cover up to protect their star, with Dorothy Millette, a former girlfriend of Bern's, jumping off a boat to her death two days after his death. She had visited the house the night before he died. Harlow moved out of the house soon afterward, never speaking publicly about her husband's death. She would be dead five years later. In 1963 hair stylist Jay Sebring moved into the house with his girlfriend Sharon Tate (until she left him for Roman Polanski). Tate would tell friends of creepy experiences there. Tate reported being asleep when she saw a "creepy little man," believing it to be the ghost of Paul Bern. Terrified, she ran from the room only to see a hanging corpse with its throat slit in the hallway, she said. Six years later Tate and Sebring would both be among the gruesome victims of the Manson Family murders at 10050 Cielo Drive.

For Robert Young day: Paradise for Three is a pretty good comedy. Mary Astor, Edna May Oliver, and Frank Morgan all have good roles.

I heartily second your recommendation! As, I suspect, would Jeva Lange. The Distinguished Eucalyptus P. Millstone Rating: Five ribbits. And A Golden Croak Award! Important Trivia Ray Milland disliked his costars, telling producer George Edwards: "I'm not touching one damned frog." (To which President Georges Pompidou retorted, "Alors qui t'a demandé?") Milland walked off the movie three days before its completion (and subsequently went on to appear in The Thing with Two Heads for which he did not receive an Academy Award nomination). Required Reading Unleash the Savage Instincts: The Melting Toupee of Ray Milland

I saw the original episodes starting around the Barnabus story line after high school. I luckily, on most days, made it home just in time. So I caught the Barnabus, Adam, and Quentin storylines pretty much in toto. Then I went off to college and it wasn't available. I always got a kick out of John Karlen's Willy Loomis, and Grayson Hall's Magda, had a crush on Laura Parker, and Katherine Leigh Scott. It wasn't until the Coffin Set came out that my wife and I where able to see the complete show run. The first 200 B&W episodes play like a Gothic Film Noir and have a lot of actual on location footage. The first hint of the supernatural came with the "Phoenix" story line Rodger Collins' long missing wife returns from Egypt with a gold scarab and a power over fire. Then the tag team of Jason McGuire and Willie Loomis show up to blackmail Elizabeth over the mysterious dissapearance of her husband 20 years ago. Willie gets obsessed with the Collins family jewels finally figuring out that they may be hidden in the Collins family mausoleum. When he discovers the secret room and the chained coffin he thinks he's hit paydirt. Lol Anyway the series had some high points and some low. Lowest for me where it bogs are the beginning of the Adam storyline (it becomes a hoot when Eve is constructed), and the whole Leviathan storyline needed expensive special effects to pull off, which wasn't in their budget.

I don't know if hardcore western buffs (the ones into Wayne, Eastwood, etc.) have as high an opinion of this film as expressed by many posters here. Again, I suspect the pacifist message and relative lack of action may be a problem for them. Having said that, it's no issue for me. This is more of a "thinking man's" western, a large part of its appeal for me, while maybe less so for some others.

Yes Dargo ! My all time favorite western and so different... Peck and Wyler had many problems together,one of them is the lack of apparent cattle,At one point Ramon mentions10-30000 but all we see is a few ones here and there in a far away distance,the Hennessey' s cattle was visible but not on the Terrell's . Still it is my favorite,one of the few films i rewatch,again last night.This is the first film i wanted to buy the soundtrack(it was scarce) and i was not into that type of music at all ! All the cast is great, Heston as a villain is a rare treat.

BURL IVES and CHUCK CONNORS always come to mind with that film... terrific cast!

Johnson, Candy, played by Clark Gable in "H o n k y Tonk"

Nobody talks about this guy. I think he's great. Jack Oakie.