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It’s fall, technically, on the calendar, but here in LA it’s 98 degrees and the leaves don’t change til Christmas. So help me get my fall foliage fix by posting about cinematic autumn leaves! I’ll start with one of my Halloween staples — Hitchcock’s comedy TROUBLE WITH HARRY. I love everything about this movie, especially the trees! The movie’s New England setting makes me wish I could whisk away to Vermont right now. Now help me build the Fall Leaves Film Library (the FLFL) for the Fall Foliage Film Festival (FFFF)!

Absolutely. It was Wilder's sly wink at the audience when the hearing aid was turned down in anticipation of what was coming. He'd already shown us The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, so it was his way of saying here we go again. Very clever. I think it was also to show that the little blowhard tyrant had a weak spot.

I agree MissW. I like Ferris Bueller, I also think it's a fun movie. I also like Home Alone, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles. They are fun films and I enjoy watching all of them. John Hughes was far from an "untalented hack" a comment from another poster, quite the contrary. He was a very talented filmaker. John Hughes ended his films on a possitive note, maybe that's what's bothering the grumps on the bds.

I would love some shots of the fall foliage outside your window! Here's that awesome set from ARSENIC AND OLD LACE -- I love the miniatures in the background with moving lights, a running train, steam chimney, etc. This is the Halloween movie that we always save for Halloween night because we love it so much. Here's a cast picture they took in that set:

Peyton Place!

Ferris Bueller appears to be a favourite Unfavourite ( couldn't resist trying to be oxymoronic there ) movie here on this thread. I just want to say, I absolutely understand that: Ferris, in the person of Matthew Broderick, could definitely strike people as annoying, full of himself, and smug. Yes, I can see that. However, I'm going to defend this movie , just a bit, if only because ain't nobody else speaking up for it, seems it's universally despised here. I actually think Ferris Bueller's Day Off is fun. It's kind of a teen fantasy, to just give yourself an illicit day off school , to get your friend and your girlfriend ( or boyfriend, as the case may be ) and take off for a day of freedom and mayhem. I love the "Twist and Shout" scene, for instance. Now, this is by no means on my list of favourite movies of all time, not even close. But I enjoy it whenever I've seen it ( I think, only twice, once when it first came out, and once some years later.) I don't have a problem with it. John Hughes really did have the pulse of '80s teens, and I think his films reflect that. Again, not a huge fan, but on the other hand, I find them kind of enjoyable when I come across them. Edit: I wrote the above before I saw Eric's post, denigrating John Hughes as an "untalented hack". I really think that's unfair, also, not a "consensus", there are many John Hughes fans out there. But I almost never agree w ith Eric, so there ya go.

How about setting off a couple of bottle rockets instead? Maybe stick a lit sparkler in Ben Mankiewicz's......hair.

Ben Mankiewicz trying to be funny. Now that is horror.

George Raft and Edward G. Robinson did not like one another. Therefore I always found it appropriate that the gunman who pops out of the birthday cake to tommy gun Spats into another world was played by Edward G. Robinson Jr.. After all, Spats final words after getting shot are, "Some joke."

...nor does it generally apply in most genre pieces. By the time this happens we are so deep in Suspension of Disbelief Land it didn't even matter. But yeah ,,, She didn't just jam it her mouth like some guy would. There was a hint of the dainty feminine the way she broke off the pieces one of the time. It seemed a nice detail. [ETA➡️ She still comes across hungry as a horse, though. Also, I liked the way she described the living hell of the shoelace factory. Maybe there was no other news that day. ***

All That Heaven Allows (1955) by Douglas Sirk Far From Heaven (2002) inspired by Douglas Sirk

Well, as someone whose location is New Hampshire; yep, Lydecker's Peyton Place is pretty close enough! Why, it actually hits the nail on the head! Now strangely, I always have liked the little graveyard set between Mortimer's and Elaine's houses in "Arsenic and Old Lace." There's really not much to it, and it's in black and white to boot; but what little there is is full of Halloweenish atmosphere and foreboding. Just like Halloween is supposed to be when you're a kid. But I do think "The Trouble with Harry" tops them all for scenery -- absolutely my favorite time of year up here.

now THAT'S a good one

I've told young directors for years to avoid just this sort of dreck. I "get it" that breaking the rules can be seen as fun or "awesome," but it's mostly not. A friend of mine worked on Mindhunter, and if you watch that series, you'll see how precise and limited the camera movement is. The camera moves when it needs to and it doesn't move otherwise. That a channel that caters to classic film lovers is doing this is absurd. It's like watching some stupid sports set with 8 macho guys talking smack about football, while the camera roams the set. But to do it when there is only ONE presenter is just mind-numbing.

Little House on the Aviary

"Some say why do I wear a hearing aid in this picture, but I say..." Yes?

Hollywood Story, 1951 1 hr, 15 min. Directed by William Castle. Starring Richard Conte, Jim Backus, Julie Adams, Richard Egan, Fred Clark. Several silent film stars have cameos as themselves including Francis X. Bushman. Shot on the old Chaplin Films lot. Well paced and acted murder mystery about an old silent film star "Franklin Ferrara". LOOSELY based on the still-unsolved murder of William Desmond Taylor, but if you know anything about that case you may be disappointed in how much this story diverges. Doesn't attempt to solve the real murder, but enjoyable if taken as a work of fiction. Which it is. 7/10 Full movie

Probably not the right answer, but in The Big Combo, Brian Donlevy's character wears a hearing aid. Just before Donlevy is machine-gunned to death, Richard Conte yanks out Donlevy's hearing aid and there's a shot of the muzzle flashes from the Thompsons, but with no sound. Go to 1:10:00

Probably no important reason beyond just adding another element to his character. And didn't he also add a bit of slight comic relief in the act of turning the aid's volume down just before the guy jumped up from within the cake to blast George Raft and his hoods with a Tommy gun? Sepiatone

Control freak Hitchcock liked his movies exactly two hours long, so he's represented three times. Foreign Correspondent (1940) Stalag 17 (1953) The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) I Want to Live! (1958) A Man for All Seasons (1966) Family Plot (1976) The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979) Blue Velvet (1986) Jean de Florette (1986) After the Wedding (2006) The Skin I Live In (2011)

I found The Glass Wall to be interesting, but not all that good of a movie. The premise was somewhat far fetched and how did he make the front page of the newspaper before he even jumped ship? I wouldn't call it a Noir, but rather a drama movie. Of course we don't know what happened to Gassman and Graham after the rescue on top of the United Nations Building. Nor to Jerry Paris since he walked off the job he had been desperate for and left his fiancé crying over it. I assume Gassman was supposed to be Jewish, but don't recall this actually being said. Wonder why. The "laws" that would effectively keep him from ever being eligible to come to US seemed a bit of a stretch in the way they were to be applied. He jumped ship and illegally entered the US, but the Immigration Service was going to give him until 7:00 AM to return to the ship before it departed. Then the immigration official stated that because he apparently committed assault and battery, he could never be admitted. While the police official said they would probably call it self defense (actually defense of Gloria Graham), he was still officially wanted for A&B at end of movie. When the burlesque dancer got into the back of the cab, she didn't see the man sitting on the other side as she got in?????

Just illustrating your wonderful examples: THE FOUR SEASONS (never heard of this one, but I love Carol Burnett and Alan Alda, so I'll have to check it out!) FLY AWAY HOME WHEN HARRY MET SALLY THOSE CALLOWAYS (forgot this one had such gorgeous fall foliage!)

Last year we had full moon on Halloween, 2nd that month (a "blue moon"?) :

I thought Eddie and Dana would discuss the meaning of the title which is even more timely now. It could be interpreted several ways. The noir cinematography is excellent but the script was over the top and hysterical even for 1953. One guy who's not a criminal, a commie spy, and does not have a communicable disease trying to seek refugee status jumps ship and a big manhunt starts. He gets his picture on the front page of the newspaper with a giant headline and a task force is set up to capture him? Richard Kimble didn't get that much attention for 4 years. As a hyper paranoid, anxiety driven nightmare of an immigrant trying to reboot his life, it does work on the same level as classic paranoia films like Nightmare and DOA. Ivan Tors looked at the UN in this film as a new symbol of hope and progress, a similar theme in Colossus of New York. It's interesting that he was given permission to film there (the first film to do so) while Hitchcock was denied permission for North By Northwest. Director and cowriter Maxwell Shane was in charge of the first year of Superman (George Reeves). His stories were too dark and violent so he was replaced.

Not to defend Ferris, but hen you think about it, most movie character behaviour comes off as pretty crazy when judged by real world standards. In a lot of cases, part of their appeal is things people fantasize about doing if they weren't held back by those very necessary social conventions.

I assumed that Mario's horror connection was his participation in "Sex and the City."

My opinion after a binge watch of 1956. Hoping for responses of what others think.Top 10 movies1. Bad Seed, The 2. Searchers, The 3. Man Who Knew Too Much, The4. Around the World in 80 Days5. Court Jester, The6. Harder They Fall, The7. Attack8. Forbidden Planet9. Rainmaker, The10. King and I, TheBest Actor: Burt Lancaster (Rainmaker, The)Best Actress: Deborah Kerr (King and I, The)Best Supporting Actor: Eddie Albert (Attack)Best Supporting Actress: Patty McCormack (Bad Seed, The)Titles watched: 155TV titles watched: series 71; episodes 826; serial 1; total serial episodes 25; special 1

Good interview this afternoon on NPR's FRESH AIR with Eddie Muller as the guest: https://www.npr.org/2021/10/04/1043036861/noir-alley-host-celebrates-cinemas-double-crosses-and-doomed-characters

One interpretation might be that Melanie takes to heart she truly is "the cause of it all" as the hysterical mother at the Tides Restaurant accuses her of being, so she goes up to the attic as a sort of "penance", knowing full well the birds might be congregating there.

Great selection of films. Lewton made some really classic flicks in the 40's.

Would the opposite of a wooden performance be natural? I liked Jerry Paris in this role as well. Always enjoyed him in the DvD show. Perfect casting, chemistry, writing, and direction. Lightning in a bottle.

DABNEY COLEMAN is still alive at age 89 so he could be staying busy doing some TCM intros! Gotta do somethin', right? As long as yer breethin' ye may as well stay busy! (I noted Dabney Coleman's ex-wife, JEAN HALE, died recently. How's that for a 'segue' to nowhere!). 🙃

Little Napoleon may have been a little tyrant but today the actor who played him is the sole survivor of Some Like It Hot. Maybe it pays to have roles in which you scream a lot. You get a lot out of your system that way. "So who's the wise guy that said I look like Il Duce?"

Interesting video, though I personally think she should have won for THE SUNDOWNERS. Another favorite performance of hers of mine is THE INNOCENTS. It looks like Glenn Close may be following in her footsteps as the 'always an oscar nominee, never an oscar winner' actress.

Hehe indeed I did! I like to change it up every month or so, so I decided Clara Bow as a clown gave more Halloween vibes😂

LOL! I know.. Headline in the Daily News! Front page stuff. I did like the bit when the stripper brought him home although the sleeping part was far fetched.

Y'know, I've seen other movies, even from the '30's and '40's(and can't recall which ones) that had a name in the opening credits but I haven't been able to spot anywhere in the flick. But putting in previously cut out scenes with people not originally credited is something I'm not familiar with. I've liked this movie from jump, probably because of the history of me and some buddies scampering off with their Dad's copies of PLAYBOY and in my early adulthood subscribing to the mag and being entertained also by many of the humorous JEAN SHEPHERD "semiautobiographical" stories, including "A Christmas Story" 's amalgam of stories from Shepherd's "In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash". 1. There were NO "toddlers" in either a snowsuit or bunny suit. The snowsuit scene( hilarious in it's "I can't put my arms down!" protest) involves charactEr "Randy" younger brother of main protagonist RALPHIE, and as Randy was getting prepared for walking to school in a Cleveland, Ohio winter, a 1940's Mom might feel all that layering was necessary. And of course, Randy being school age meant he was WAY past being the age of a toddler. And it was older brother RALPHIE in the rabbit outfit, which as you might recall, was a bunny designed one piece PAJAMA, made by an Aunt of his that Ralphie explained, "Labored under the belief that I was not only a girl, but perpetually four years old." 2. The parents were as nice as most typical parents of 1940 probably were, with the Mother(you might have noticed) very nice in spite of Dad, who, like most Dads of the time, typically displayed a lot of bluster. But inside was just an old softie, as if you recall, it was HE that provided his son with the much coveted Daisy BB gun the Mother was all against, issuing her deadly "You'll shoot your eye out". protest( and one me, my brother and many other friends often heard as well). And her niceness came out in the form of coyly getting finicky Randy to eat his dinner, and never mentioning Ralphie's outburst of profanity when he was whipping the snot out of neighborhood bully SCUT FARKUS to Dad. And Scut was the only kid really nasty to the other kids, So I don't get that complaint. And what kid DIDN'T, ever in their life, want some particular toy or whatever for Christmas SO bad, it totally consumed their thoughts the entire Christmas season? And be honest... How many here actually ran the risk of getting "soap poisoning" for foolishly emitting some profanity at one time or another? Sepiatone Sepiatone

Indeed! But, where did "Legendre" come from? Was it in the script? In the original 74-minute preview print? I suspect that the answer lies in Mr. Rhodes' monograph.

Send Me No Flowers ('64)

Tuesday, October 5/6 midnight. Il Posto aka The Sound of Trumpets (1961). By Ermanno Olmi. I would recommend this one.

Keeler, Ruby

The scenes of Times Square were interesting and the movie was okay. The old Hollywood hokum of serial coincidences, last minutes escapes, happy ending, etc. diluted the social themes of the picture somewhat. A poor immigrant comes to New York and at the conclusion falls into a bed of roses. Yeah, whatever. But the scruffy, low rent environment is always enjoyable in a noir or semi-noir. And this was the first Hollywood picture to feature the plight of workers in the shoelace industry, which at the time was full of awful labor practices. This led to the formation of the International Brotherhood of Shoelace and Aglet Workers, which greatly improved working conditions in the industry. So The Glass Wall was good for something after all.

I liked The Glass Wall. While it was a message picture, I think it had an important message. Here is Peter, an immigrant, a concentration camp survivor, who stows away to the US in hopes of starting a new life. He wants to leave his war torn country. He's full of optimism and hope, but needs to find the man whom he helped during the war in order to stay in the US legally. Then Peter comes across Gloria Grahame, a woman who is barely scraping by. And while Grahame is surviving on tea and half eaten donuts, she is not starving. She has a place to live. While obviously it's not ideal and she wants more out of her life, she is much better off than others in more impoverished countries. As Peter notes, she is lucky to have a place to sleep, especially alone. He points out that she has a lot more than other people around the world. Others around the world have suffered much more than she has. I also thought the ending was very powerful with Peter symbolically begging the nations of the world to come together for the sake of peace and humanity. I loved when he reunites with Tom and Grahame and says, "I was looking for you and you found me." I also found the scenes with the Hungarian immigrant family interesting. When Tanya invited Peter to lie in the bed with her children, I thought that was very strange. But, I loved when Freddie said something about Peter being a "stupid immigrant" and his mother reminding him that his own father was a "stupid immigrant." People seem to forget that unless you're a Native American, that you yourself are the result of immigration. I also loved the scenes of the band. Though as someone who played clarinet from 5th grade through 12th, I found it fascinating how many different notes Tom made on the clarinet with all the holes covered and never moving his fingers. I really enjoyed the film, especially the cinematography. I also found the title fitting as it is definitely evident that the place in which someone is born can definitely establish the luxuries that one is entitled to and how people can be prejudiced towards those who weren't as lucky and are trying to improve their own life. We still see it today.

Doesn't anyone at TCM remember the Letterbox short that ran for years and years? "I get the heebie-jeebies thinking of (insert name of host here) panned and scanned." I should think that one just doesn't play fast and loose with the Gospel According to Pollack. But I do wonder if anyone now at TCM knows who Sydney Pollack was?! Oh, quel dommage. Quel dommage.

The guy died really unfortunately young, you know. Just sayin'. I thought Planes, Trains and Automobiles was really brilliant.

Silent versions of — DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME THE LODGER Also HAXAN THE GOLEM

In the Cool of the Day (1963). Jane Fonda plays a woman best known for wearing a hideous black wig. She's married to publisher/editor Arthur Hill. His colleague Peter Finch comes over from London to visit, and somehow it gets suggested that the two couples go on a vacation together. Finch has a deeply unhappy wife in Angela Lansbury, who blames her husband for a car crash that killed their son and left her scarred. Not to be outdone, Fonda has some sort of chronic lung issue. Anyhow, Fonda and Hill are set to go to Europe when Hill's dad gets ill, leaving Fonda to go alone. In one of the most surprising plot twists (not) in a movie, Finch and Fonda start developing feelings for each other that intensify as they and Lansbury travel around Greece. Unfortunately, the story is pallid, and even the cinematography of the Greek locations seems less than it could have been. From what I've read, Fonda and Lansbury have had nothing good to say about this movie, and it's not difficult to see why. 4/10

Behold! A visual clue:

Monday, October 4 Boy, during the day it’s the same old horror movies year after year. Instead I’ll go with .. 8 p.m. Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980). Sissy Spacek’s tour de force.

And the speaking voice was something special too. She was one of those actresses who articulated every word, not in any stilted way but just clearly and simply, so that you got every nuance. She was especially good with quick back-and-forth banter but could handle dense passages of dialogue, comic or dramatic, equally well. She was always a pleasure to listen to as well as to look at. I recorded The Grass is Greener overnight but haven't watched it yet. It's been years but I'm eager to see it again, even though it plays like a staged drawing-room comedy.