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I watched "The Ace of Hearts" (1921) the other night for the first time in a long time. I knew Lon Chaney died in 1930 and that Leatrice Joy had retired from the screen at the advent of sound and had lived to a very old age. But I had never seen any other film with John Bowers in it and wondered what happened to him. It turns out he had a very successful silent career and played the lead in most of his films in the 1920s, though not necessarily at major studios. Nitrateville.com actually had a thread about him and so I read through the information that they had. Most of the commenters seemed rather stumped at what exactly happened to him. He only had three sound roles, all minor ones. And the story is that he ran into director Henry Hathaway in 1936 when he was shooting exteriors for a film and asked for a part saying he must get work. Hathaway, though described as a friend of the guy, told him to call the studio. That seems like a rather crummy thing to say to a friend who is down on his luck. Bowers then told Hathaway that this was the last time he would ask for work from anybody and that this was the last time Hathaway would see him alive. The next day Bowers rented a boat, sailed out to sea, and apparently drowned himself. He was 50. Now Bowers' suicide apparently happened while A Star Is Born (1937) was in preproduction, and the theory is that the life and death of Norman Maine was somewhat modeled after Bowers. Also, the folks at nitrateville were wondering, if the advent of sound killed Bowers' career, why did he not go into some other line of work? There are lots of sad stories about silent actors, but many started working behind the camera or just went into a different line of business entirely and thrived. And the speculation was that he simply had no connections because there seemed to be nobody from the silent era who ever spoke of him or knew much about him. Or perhaps he was just a quiet guy or a loner. It does seem that he might have lived up every penny that he had when he was making good money. There is also the mystery of why he had no roles during the entirety of 1928, the last full year of silent film. If it was just his voice or acting style that was the problem in sound, he should have been able to find work through 1928 since only a few sound films were made that year. I looked up his filmography and he had several leading roles all through 1927. He was described as a serviceable leading man, but without much charisma. I guess the best comparison might be Robert Young, who might be largely unremembered if not for his roles on TV. Sorry to bore you with this post, but I just find it interesting that somebody could be a pretty well known star in the silent era and literally no details of their life and the turns in their career remain. It also seems like most of the silent films that he was in did not survive. How sad to be erased from film history save a possible link to a film that makes you the object lesson in how to destroy your own life and career. Not born on July 4 like John Sims of The Crowd, but born on Christmas day, which should be almost as lucky. https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?t=14410

I think we should brace ourselves for his response, which is sure to be something devastating, such as "Whatever"

I am sorry to hear about your husband. I can relate. My wife is disabled with Lupus and many other ailments. I have been her main caregiver for the past 20 years. But she does not watch TCM simply because we can not afford the cable tier that the channel is offered through. But we did have the channel for many years and got a lot of enjoyment from having it. As far as your concern about the types of films TCM currently broadcasts, they are rather limited in what they can procure. They have a set budget each month and due to the way the distributors send films to them, they often show the same or similar movies more than being able to tap into the vast amount of movies available through other sources. Having said this, TCM does a fairly good job getting as many newer films, and by that I mean films that have never been shown on the channel before in addition to the same films often repeated. Again, they are limited in what they can show simply based on the deals they can get from the distributors. And it is not just TCM, but other cable channels that are vying for films of the bygone era. Also, not many films from the 1920's, 30's 40's and 50's have been converted to a digital format. Your assertion that TCM is showing many more newer films from the 70's, 80's and 90's is not entirely accurate. I looked at the upcoming schedule over the remaining days in September and this is what I found what was being shown on TCM: 12 films from the 1920’s 14 films from the 1930’s 11 films from the 1940’s 16 films from the 1950’s 17 films from the 1960’s 5 films from the 1970’s 5 films from the 1980’s 3 films from the 1990’s I did not count shorts or docs. So even though the vast majority of films being shown are from before 1970, there are a few films from the 1970's through the 1990's, but that number is not a majority.

Burt Lancaster's Elmer Gantry is number three on my list of Best All Time Screen Performances by an Actor.

I think God put Burt Lancaster on earth for the sole purpose of playing Elmer Gantry.

It is interesting the amount of anger leveled at some decisions at TCM. I am not a fan of the redesign. It think it is generic and distracting and have written about that elsewhere and sent a comment to TCM directly about it. However, I think that overall TCM has been making fairly smart choices about how it approaches programming as we move into the 2020s. The Sunday Night Silents hosted by a film professor, the Noir Alley with the incredible Eddie Muller, the goofy fun of the TCM underground are all features I watch and enjoy. I like that they are keeping the star of the month, tributes to certain actors on a given day, guest programmers of various ilks, and have a theme or two for each month. While I could've done without the roller-skating theme, I do like that they are at least using unconventional themes from time to time. As an educator, I also don't mind that they are providing context for movies that have content that today would seem offensive. Introductions to films, which is one of the things I still quite enjoy about TCM, shouldn't ignore this history. Removing old films from the rotation because they are offensive does not remove their impact, but having at least a brief moment of context at least gives viewers something to consider - even if the intro does feel a bit superficial. I'm not sure why that would anger anyone. I think that the wine club, film cruise and film festival are all smart business tie-ins for this channel. While I do not partake in any of them, I don't have a problem with a business finding ways to make money to support their brand. It's more troubling when it seems like it has no connection to what the business really believes in. And in regards to our understanding of old and/or classic - I just hope TCM keeps it's commercial free approach and explores the range of films out there. I like the addition of foreign films and more recent pictures, providing they are actually engaging. There are such things as instant classics. I think they are negotiating the times relatively well in this regard, with mostly older films and a some newer ones thrown in, especially if it aligns with a theme for the month. TCM is still the only reason I have a cable package. I would support a streaming version and drop cable if I could. Cheers to everyone who enjoys TCM or TOM, or what have you.

Been a while, but is that the one that ends with Duvall's character preaching the gospel while chopping weeds in a chain gang? Loved that flick too. And we can't discuss movies about Religion without a mention of ELMER GANTRY, can we? I think it covers a lot of "soiled evangelists" ground. Sepiatone

Gotta wonder what the Hungarian-Polish Jew NEWMAN and the Polish Jew from Brooklyn WALLACH and the German-Dutch-English-Irish BRANDO pretending to be Hispanic has to do with "Hispanic Heritage Month", don'tcha? I would think movies with actors and actresses of actual Hispanic/Spanish roots and ancestry would make more sense. Sepiatone

The Tender Trap (1955) Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) The Women (1939)

I think my favorite of this type of film is The Apostle (1997) with Robert Duvall, who also wrote and directed it. Duvall gives his greatest performance here. He plays a preacher who commits an act of violence and then goes on the run. He finds some redemption in a small bayou town. I liked the sympathetic treatment of Southern religious people for a change.

Footloose

If I abandoned TCM, yes, I feel like I would be just fine without paying for cable (and I will not pay for a TCM streaming service). However, when you say foreign films and silents make the channel less attractive, I can't go along with you. Pre-1928 films and films spoken in another tongue- man, there's an entire universe of greatness you're missing out on. But, matters of taste are matters of taste. Still, I think if you are a true fan of film, you are doing yourself a disservice.

Duvall turns in a great performance in here, he's so completely believable. He should have taken home his second Oscar that year. Even though he wasn't a preacher, INHERIT THE WIND'S Matthew Harrison Brady (Fredric March) could certainly give a sermon among the best of them.

The Night of the Hunter Winter Light Diary of a Country Priest More recently Calvary, Silence, and First Reformed.

Dumbo (1941) It's a Wonderful Life (1946) The Godfather Part II (1974) Jurassic Park (1993) Two Days, One Night (2014)

Is this your way of indicating that all that has been written on this thread about which you started is just one big boring exercise in futility? Nothing to add to your own beginnings? Nothing to add to some of the more relevant posts responding to you? Or are you just another idiotic troll who just comes on here from time to time to shake, rattle and roll with other members of the community? You want to be taken seriously? Then you are going to have to up your game.

Fun examples yesterday! two thousand two hundred fourth category Hugs ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953) THE THRILL OF IT ALL (1963) PLANES TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES (1987)

Your initial post has generated five pages of discussion. Perhaps the reaction your comments have received is not what you would have preferred, but, one possible outcome is that no one might have responded to your post and it would have drifted down lifelessly, ending up on page 42000, to be seen again only by a TCM employee pruning dead posts from the forum. That would have been something to yawn about. If you truly believe the things you stated at the beginning of this thread, I think you should take the opportunity at all these comments to defend your position. If, however, your statement was intended merely as trolling, then I do find a yawn appropriate, since this reflex is believed by scientists to be a response to your brain needing an influx of oxygen.

Because it (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly) should be treated with as much reverence as any other Classic and shown uncut and commercial free with a knowledgeable guest host somebody along the lines of Sir Christopher Frayling giving it a proper introduction. It's a bonafide Classic.

Why, Lorna, I got a shirt just like that at Walmart last year! And dayum, Gerard does look fine in those jeans.

TODAY ON "DONAHUE," GIRLS WITH DADDY ISSUES AND THE LUCKY BASTARDS WHO BENEFIT-

HARVEY GIRLS — The girls teach the cowboys the waltz HELLO DOLLY — Dolly teaches Cornelius and Barnaby to dance in a big production number. “Look, I’m dancing!” ON MOONLIGHT BAY — Doris Day visits her little brother’s dance class to learn all the latest dances, including the Turkey Trot THE DANCING CO-ED — Lana Turner is planted in a college to win a dance contest but still has to go to dance class to pretend she’s a rookie HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE — Prof McGonnegall teaches Ron to dance before the Yule Ball LED DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT —Catherine Deneuve is a dance teacher as Francoise Dorleac plays the piano for dance class TWO GIRLS ON BROADWAY— Joan Blondell and Lana Turner are sisters who teach kids how to dance

Silver Linings Playbook learning 'The Tapioca'--Thoroughly Modern Millie everyone's learning the latest craze...Twist Around the Clock teaching 'The Freddie'--Troop Beverly Hills Ed teaches Ralph a few steps in The Honeymooners

I for one am happy to see some of the newer films airing. I've been a long time fan of TCM and it's nice to see some of these films airing uncut and in their proper aspect ratio. Something most every other channel out there would never do. Many of these films aren't even circulating around anymore so it's not as if they are airing repeatedly on several different channels. The days of going to the video store and being able to rent all of these films are long gone. Sure maybe a few will show up on Fox Movie Channel or AMC from time to time, so what? It's not as if the TCM showing of the film is happening every week. After all these years I'm thankful TCM has stayed true to their format of airing films uncut and in their theatrical ratio (whenever possible) commercial free. Think of how many channels over the years started off great and have gone downhill to the point where they are unwatchable. Remember how good AMC used to be. Remember how good TV Land used to be, one of the only channels airing all of its tv shows uncut. I've discovered so many films on TCM over the years (both new and old) that I wouldn't have otherwise. TCM is a treasure to so many millions of people out there. From time to time they are going to air something you don't care for. Show me any other channel out there that every single show or movie they air you watch and like. Go ahead, I'll wait...

You won't recognize TCM three months from now. 10? Rage? The Hot Rock? Super Cops? These "classics" never would have been shown on the old TCM, but on the new TCCM, HEY! Anything goes! Just call it "Classic". It's only going to get worse. TCM is dead. Long live TCM!

Saturday September 25, 2021 Crawford on TCM daisy kenyon harriet craig

Notorious & Indiscreet Cry Terror

Ultimate hug--"If I hold you any closer, I'll be in back of you"--A Day at the Races run-to-hug: Kramer vs. Kramer coming home hug--The Best Years of Our Lives twirling hug--Crimes of the Heart big finale hugs--The Color Purple

Caged

I think it was a tongue in cheek post.

LOOKS LIKE A MEASURING CONTEST IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN....AND NANCY BARRETT IS THERE TO TESTIFY IT'S IMPRESSIVE FROM PRIOR KNOWLEDGE.

The Kid (1921) Modern Times (1936) (Chaplin was big on hugs) Stage Door (1937) (after Kay's death) My Favorite Wife (1940) Random Harvest (1943) The Miracle Worker (1962) ("She knows!") Sounder (1972) ("Nathan!") Rain Man (1988) (this is Raymond's equivalent of a hug) Good Will Hunting (1997) ("It's not your fault") Also, Tina hugging Dr. Jaquith in Now, Voyager (1942) (couldn't find a photo)

I was flabbergasted to read that she had married her stepson....but I guess I shouldn't have been, this is Hollywood after all. Still, she was a very fine actress, and an underrated one IMO.

I have to admit James Storm (Gerard) does look a bit more fine in here than he did on the show, though he wasn't all that bad on the series either. Bad shirt or not though, David Selby still turns me on.

Gloria Grahame in Its a Wonderful Life Next: dentist or dentist office

No, that was exactly the reason I bought Suicide Blond to get the dish on **** was going on with Gloria, it didn't even go there. A good biography should cover it all, their career; the films they were in, what they might have said about the directors and other actors they worked with, and in Gloria case **** was she thinking with her off screen antics. What made that lady tick?

A lot of old movies aren't that good, they were basically well polished turds made by studios who concentrated all the best creative artists and personnel that really knew how to make those well polished turds. That is the legacy of the studio system. Out of every 1,000 films about 3% are going to be great, if they stand the test of time and cultural and social dynamics they may earn that classic appellation. You can see if you go back and view 1950's 1960's television that a lot of Hollywood studio talent siphoned off to TV as a result everything artistic got diluted over a bigger field. For example take The Twilight Zone 1959–1964 this one series had many episodes that had Classic Noir directors, John Brahm twelve Twilight Zone episodes directed The Locket, Hangover Square, and The Lodger, Joseph M. Newman four episodes directed 711 Ocean Drive, The Human Jungle, Dangerous Crossing, Robert Florey three episodes directed The Face Behind the Mask, Danger Signal, and The Crooked Way, Mitchell Leisen three episodes directed No Man of Her Own, Robert Parrish three episodes directed The Mob, and Cry Danger), Stuart Rosenberg three episodes directed (Murder, Inc.), Robert Stevens two episodes directed (The Big Caper), Christian Nyby two episodes, directed SciFi Noir The Thing from Another World), Don Siegel two episodes directed The Verdict, The Big Steal, Private Hell 36, Riot in Cell Block 11, The Lineup, other Noir directors Ralph Nelson (Transitional Noir Once a Thief), Ida Lupino (The Hitch-Hiker) and Jacques Tourneur (Out of the Past, The Leopard Man, I Walked with a Zombie and Cat People) each directed one episode. There are probably the same percentage of turds after the demise of the studio system, but now most of them are unpolished. But some of these unpolished low budget films can indeed still be classics. PS - I don't remember Rollerball being shown all that much to answer your question.

In the novels: M is Vice Admiral Sir Miles Messervy KCMG. In the Eon films: Bernard Lee's M is Messervy in the films from Dr. No (1962) through Moonraker (1979). When Robert Brown played M from Octopussy (1983) through License to Kill (1989), it was suggested by some that he was simply continuing on as the Messervy character who had been established (much like the "two Darrens"). Others believe that as Brown had previously played Admiral Hargreaves, he was still under that character name, thus giving credence to the notion that M is a designator, much like 007, rather than being representative of a name. Nothing I've read makes a compelling argument either way. Judi Dench takes over M from GoldenEye (1995) through Spectre (2015), and her name is Olivia Mansfield. When Ralph Fiennes plays M from Skyfall (2012) through No Time to Die (2021), he is Gareth Mallory. In the non-Eon films: John Huston's M in Casino Royale (1967) is named McTarry. After M is killed, David Niven's Bond becomes the new M, and the whole thing just gets more ridiculous from there. Edward Fox plays M in Never Say Never Again (1983), but I don't think a proper name is ever revealed for his character. A good, deceptive question, Peebs!

BELLS ARE RINGING — Judy Holliday learns the cha cha CENTER STAGE — all about life in a ballet school MISS CONGENIALITY — Sandra Bullock learns a dance for the pageant STEPPING OUT — Liza Minnelli is a tap dance teacher

Groucho Marx Next: Voice could put you to sleep

Buster Keaton Next: fast-talker

"A kitten being tortured by a bulldog needs Bad Luck Chester Morris Serial." Now all we need to do is re-program AutoCorrect so it does that instead. 🙂

June is still alive, go ask her LOL

No, Dave was a sweetheart. He became an attorney, he took care of Rick's kids financially and made very smart investments for them., He took care of Ozzie when Ozzie had colon cancer. Don't say anything bad about Dave or Ricky, or else! LOL ( teasing,you know you're my buddy dargo, but I loved those boys)June was on an episode of Million Dollar Listing LA, a few years ago. she wanted to sell her condo and buy a condo in the same buliding she was living in. Multi millions btw. she wanted the other condo because the terrace was larger and had grass so that she wouldn't have to walk her dog LOL.Besides, since when can't a good natured, kind, intelligent man have a beautiful wife. Lately there is more male chauvinist nonsense on these bds. and I think one of the newbies that showed up a few months ago is responsible and his posts aren't funny.

There's a lot going on in the above photo, and it's hard for me to get past how good GERARD looks in those jeans and how hideous the shirt on (apparent pioneer in the art of VOGUEING) DAVID SELBY is...

Fame (1980) Tap (1989)

Bob Hope and Katharine Hepburn In The Iron Petticoat Next: another movie with an odd pairing

I'm with you on this Swithin. I love Auntie Mame. I love White Christmas, Danny Kaye ? The Court Jester is hilarious, one of the funniest films ever, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Hans Christian Anderson, all great films. I'm glad I get enjoyment out of these.

Okay...OKAY! I've just taken the time to get an average year of release of the movies TCM will be showing in the next four days. Yeah yeah, THAT'S right! I must have WAY too much damn free time on my hands, huh! LOL Well ANYWAY, here's the year that I ended up with after doing this little calculation: 1953 And sooooo, the NEXT damn time somebody, ANYBODY, comes on here and starts complaining that "TCM doesn't show 'classic' movies anymore" AND/OR "TCM is moving in the 'wrong direction' since Robert Osborne died and went to that big screening room in the sky" AND/OR "TCM has forgotten that they should only show movies that were made before I was born" AND/OR "TCM should only show movies made before 'America went to hell' and so I can be reminded of 'better times'", I'M gonna REpost THIS very post of mine HERE in the damn thing!!! (...NOT of course that THIS would change their freakin' misconceptions, as it seems NOW DAYS the FACTS of and about ANYTHING don't seem to matter to most people once they've made their minds up about something!!!)

Yes, I remember recording SUPER COPS back in 2014 or 2015. It's an MGM film in the Turner library...so yeah, they're going to broadcast it. And they should...it's a very engaging movie.