JackBurley

"What wag at TCM came up with this scheduling? A joke is a joke, fellas, but you go too far." I thought this was TCM at its best! A day of Richard Dix (n?e Ernest Brimmer)? I was barely aware of this RKO actor. I'll confess that I often confused him with Richard Barthlemess. No more! I was delighted to finally have the opportunity to see the Oscar winning Cimarron (and to witness the performances of Irene Dunne and Edna Mae Oliver!), but also so many forgotten films from this actor. It was an education. And this is an important role of TCM, to show us the rarely seen, to remind of us the forgotten legacy of Hollywood. Thank you TCM!

I really enjoy Angela Basset's work and had no idea that she is married to Courtney B. Vance. I saw him on Broadway in John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation. He was fantastic in this role, and I was very sorry that he wasn't cast for the film version. Will Smith's interpretation of the role was so watered down. Sigh... Thanks, Mr. Mongo!

"The GLAMOUR COLLECTION: Lombard, West, Dietrich did even worse in sales." I'm a big buyer of DVDs and love Lombard and Dietrich. I've come close to buying their Glamour Collections many times, but because there are no extras on them, I always refrain... Where do you get your stats on the sales of these collections? I'd be fascinated to look over DVD sales records. Are they on-line?

Yes, I was referring to checking out those movies. Glad to hear you're enjoying them!

"If Saturday isn't a good night, you could replace "Silent Sunday Nights" with the comedies." You like to live dangerously, Tulsamackman. Those are fighting words to the Silent Movie fans!

How interesting. I wonder if crickets were what the sound f/x person used for the film... The only sound that I remember from Them! was of the child screaming "Them!" at the beginning of the film.

"I have the Deanna Durbin Sweetheart set and I must say that it wasn't very well marketed. I had no idea it existed until I stumbled across it in my local Borders bookstore filed alphabetically in the comedy section." I had a similar plight with the Deanna Durbin Sweetheart collection. I looked everywhere for it, finally stumbling upon it at the Virgin Records across from Manhattan's Union Square. It still seemed odd to me that I couldn't find it anywhere else, so I looked more at Tower and discovered that they filed it under "Deanna" rather than "Durban", "Sweethearts Collection" or the title of any of the movies.

Yikes! I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe I was mixing it up with My Favorite Wife, since The More the Merrier would have been a good title for that one too. I know that I didn't intend to put Walk, Don't Run on the list. Too bad Cary Grant's final film was lacking. It's the only movie of his that I saw in the theatres upon initial release. The possibility of this makes me feel aged... Anyway, I've gone down and replaced The More the Merrier with Bringing Up Baby. Doing so, I see that I have far more dramas that I'd like to add, rather than comedies: Blonde Venus, An Affair To Remember... Has anyone seen Suzy? That's high on my list of unseend Grant flicks.

"Has TCM ever devoted a day to a particular director before?" I'm still pretty new here, but it's been my sense that they don't have "director days", but rather will devote a month to a particular director. So maybe there's a Lumet Month in your future...

Ken Richmond is someone we've all seen. Some admired his physique. He heightened our feeling of anticipation that we were about to experience something special. He set the tone. He passed away on Thursday, August 3, 2006. Ken Richmond was the 6'5" wrestler who strikes the gong before the opening credits for the British J. Arthur Rank Studio pictures. He was 80 years old when he died of a heart attack in Christchurch, on England's south coast. The resonance of the gong actually wasn't derived from Mr. Richmond's mallet, however. The gong that we see was papier-mach?. Mr. Richmond was often quoted as saying, "If you hit that gong, you would have gone straight through it." He was paid 100 pounds (about $280 back then) in 1954 to strip down, grease up and swing his mallet at the 5-foot gong. He was the fourth and last ringer to be used for this "fanfare". Before ringing the gong, Mr. Richmond won the bronze medal in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki; and a gold medal in the 1954 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, BC. He also had small roles in films, such as the wrestler Nikolas in Jules Dassin's Night and the City. As a Jehovah's Witness, he was a conscientious objector during World War II and was jailed for it.

I watched Six Hits and a Miss the other night. This 1942 musical short (featuring the singing group Six Hits and a Miss) was basically a music video. And an enjoyable one at that! Metry's right, the Soundies were all "music videos"...

We watch Pieces of April and Home for the Holidays on Thanksgivings now. Groundhog Day on -- well you know... The Apartment is seen around Christmas every year. Every Hallowe'en gets something "scary". Last year was Wait Until Dark; Frankenstein (1931) was the previous year.

October will be our month, nygirl! Here is the list of upcoming Gene Kelly movies: Brigadoon - August 23 Words and Music - August 24 An American In Paris - September 4 On the Town - October 3 Anchors Aweigh - October 4 Thousands Cheer - October 4 Pilot 5 - October 4 The Three Musketeers - October 16

"It Happened One Night! Arsenic And Old Lace." "Young Frankenstein" "A Hard's Day Night Runners-up: Vertigo Andrei Rublev Murder on the Orient Express JFK Bram Stoker's Dracula I encourage y'all to remind us how these movies opened and what it was about their beginnings that stayed with you. Vertigo is the only opening of those listed above that I clearly remember. And that is the chase that send James Stewart over the rooftops of San Francisco. [This follows the Saul Bass/Bernard Herrmann credits, of course.] Scottie (Stewart's character) slips and finds himself dangling from the eaves. The vertigo that he experiences here only exacerbates his acrophobia, and gives the audience an idea of what's to come. It establishes his neurosis, which is -- and will be again -- his achille's heel. And it's because of this event that he is chosen to return to private detective work and follow Madeleine... But what about these others. Why are they your favorites?

"What, no votes for WEE WILLIE WINKIE?" You jest, but there was a time when this was my favorite movie. Okay, I was four, but still... Cesar Romero seemed so dashing. Shirley Temple was an excellent peace maker in the middle east. My, but we need her now...

"I could have done without the civil war section. I thought it slowed things down and could have easily been "told" when Peppard came home." I found it interesting that this was the one section you found superfluous. It's my understanding that the Civil War section was the only piece in the film that was directed by John Ford. It's been so long since I've seen this, though I have a recollection of seeing it as a child in Cinerama at a big roadshow theatre in Salt Lake City. You all have my curiosity piqued...

From the window of my office I see a highrise across the street that looks very much like the "Tonight on TCM" clip; so I love it. Whenever I need a quick break, I look up and imagine that I'm watching TCM and await the film titles to come rolling in...

Dog Day Afternoon is one of my favorite Sidney Lumet. I also feel fortunate that he's still working. This year he released the interesting Find Me Guilty, which thematically tied in with his Twelve Angry Men from years ago. Now he's filming Before the Devil Knows You're Dead with a great cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Albert Finney, Marisa Tomei, and Rosemary Harris. I remember being properly depressed after seeing The Pawnbroker in an "Existentialism in Film" class (ah, school daze...). On my need to see list: Long Days Journey Into Night and Equus.

"What do you think of the 'remakes', all starring Steve Martin." They're remakes in name only...

That's definitely The Major and the Minor; one of the sexiest and funniest comedies around (thanks to Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder)...

"Tyrone Power in 'Captain from Castile' ... but I can't remember the blonde girl." Might it have been Barbara Lawrence?

"They have been mentioned before but I have to add 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' for it's message. The other is 'Them', That sound was in my head for weeks afterward, and I think that's when I started to dislike crickets. Crickets? I wonder if you intended to mention The Beginning of the End, the 1957 Sci-Fi wherein giant grasshoppers take over? Them! preceded this one by a few years, but it involved giant ants that took over. I can hear the pitch meeting at AB-PT Pictures: "It'll be just like Them! but better -- it'll have locusts!" You are so right: The Day the Earth Stood Still is a terrific picture. Patricia Neal, Billy Grey, the stalwart Michael Rennie, and that hunk of steel, Gort! Though it is such a reflection of its time, I think it still works today. And Bernard Herrmann's score is a knock-out!

Thanks for the erratum, Ayres! I thought it came from something that was pre-American In Paris. I'm impressed that you remembered about the post! 'Twas good of you to update us. This further proves the point that there are so many Gene Kelly movies out there that are not played. I love The Pirate, Singin' in the Rain, the aforementioned An American In Paris, Summer Stock, Cover Girl, For Me and My Gal, but it's only been this last year that I've seen Take Me Out to the Ballgame and I've never had the opportunity to see: Seagulls Over Sorrento The Devil Makes Three It's a Big Country Living in a Big Way The Cross of Lorraine Thousands Cheer Du Barry Was a Lady Pilot #5 That's a lot of Kelly for me to be missing. Now I'm wishing Mr. Kelley were one of the featured players for this month's Summer Under the Stars! Thanks again!

filmlover, I suspect you are a treasure. What a bittersweet sight. Bittersweet, because I see all that I've missed by not getting TCM sooner. These look like great resources; too bad we can only get them back to 2002. Garbo, filmlover told us about this yesterday; that we can buy these: http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/message.jspa?messageID=7823445#7823445

Susan Kohner is alive and well. An acquaintance of mine was producing a revival of Imitation of Life and was in negotiations with Ms. Kohner regarding a personal appearance. This event didn't happen (it was going to be last month), but she was well.