Swithin

This non-specific Asian currency is quite a resentful beverage.

Well, Addy, those convention scenes, apart from giving us a real taste of what they were like, add color to the film. Sort of like the pink and green lettering in your posts. How do you do that? I can't even figure out how to post photos (not that I want to)! And yes, Wilson was certainly better than Going My Way, and Knox head and shoulders above one of my least favorite screen presences: Crosby. And by the way, where are our resident Canadians? Knox was a Canadian, they should be in here cheering him on!

I think that's because Nixon looked awful and sweated. He had been ill, or not feeling well, and the studio was too hot. There was that story about the air conditioning which I heard recently but dont remember the details.

I remember enjoying it, and loving the music. I ran out and bought the LP! ("...they go up tiddly up up, they go down tiddly down down.")

Addison, all those things about the film you find excessive are what make it a well-rounded epic for me -- I particularly LOVE those convention scenes. They're fairly accurately portrayed, and they're a part of our history as well. (And I like Eddie Foy, too). As far as suffrage goes, I don't know why they didn't include it, maybe they did and they cut it out -- this is an entertainment movie after all. Interestingly, Champ Clark, Wilson's closest rival for the nomination, was an earlier supporter of suffrage than was Wilson. Clark's daughter was a prominent suffragette.

Yes, I think Jackson was folksy -- but of course he was married to Beulah Bondi! I was listening to some of JFK's speeches recently. I really liked them, they represent the old style of oratory, as FDR does as well.

I would like to see that 1934 Great Expectations again, haven't seen it for years. It is not highly regarded, but I remember it fondly. (I think that David Lean's celebrated later version is rather over-stuffed, literary, and not Lean as his best, despite a great cast).

darkblue, you make an important point. Since the age of Reagen, television has dictated the way politicians speak to some extent. The age of heightened oratory is (sadly) over. The media make a big deal of emphasizing that our presidents should be "like us;" or they use that dreaded line line, "someone we would want to have a beer with." In previous ages, the speech style was different. It's largely television that has ruined that. Obama has gone back to the more "dignified" way of speaking; but then they call him professorial and mean it as an insult! When they called Wilson "The Professor," or "The Schoolmaster," it was meant as a compliment.

Sepia, One forgets, in making one's occasional feeble attempts at clever little posts, that they might actually be taken seriously!

Thanks, I hate to respond so quickly or when I've just done one, but I knew the author (Bob Anderson) pretty well, and I was just talking about him at lunch yesterday. Back with another later.

*I Never Sang for My Father*

Correct!

Document which allows me to visit the place where Bram Stoker died.

I love this film, as I've made clear. But, not having seen it in many years, I didn't remember how timely it was. Wilson going out to talk to the nation because of the intransigence of Congress! This is a very rich, multi-layered film. And that Democratic convention of 1912! Amazing. And I love all that newsreel stuff -- did you spot Al Jolson, Marie Dressler, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, et. al.? Thank you TCM for a great warm evening, as the snow piles up outside.

Wilson's mother was English (from Cumbria), and there was a touch of it in his speaking style. And he had to lose whatever vestiges of a Virginia accent he had! And of course, Alexander Knox was Canadian. And of course in those days many cultivated people did affect English speech. Wait till you hear Senator Lodge, who as a New England Yankee had an even greater British connection!

Reminds me of the old joke (apologies in advance if this offends anyone): First girl: "I found a contraceptive on the patio." Second girl: "What's a patio?"

Finance, what's an amphetamine? Well nasty on WEA in terms of being slushy. When the snow/sleet/rain turns to pure snow, it will be alot nicer!

I missed it when it came out and have always wanted to see it. Recorded it and hope to watch it during the blizzard tomorrow.

Just got back from a lunch date -- it's hard wearing a Balaclava and specs, but it's nasty out there on West End Avenue. *My Gal Sal* looks like a good print of a very enjoyable film. Ray, that's fascinating stuff about the *Wilson* score, thanks for that! Finance, what's a greenie?

Or as Alice Kramden put it so eloquently: "I wanna look at Liberace!!!"

There's alot of solid history in the film, but of course it's not a documentary, so it's not 100% accurate! And it does omit Wilson's warts. (To use one of my favorite words, it is rather hagiographic.) Although the film opens (as I recall) when he's President of Princeton, he was from Virginia and shared some of the unfortunate sentiments of his place and time. This is not touched upon. Wilson's vision for the League of Nations is an important feature of the movie, and, despite the U.S. reluctance to join that body, it was the forerunner of the United Nations. The film is really an epic -- not in the biblical/ancient epic sense, but in the sense of scale and scope. Although it wasn't a success when it opened, Zanuck spared no expense with production, and that shows.

I saw it once in a cut version -- they cut out much of the World War I newsreel footage. Since today's airing (according to my cable company) gives the running time as 154 minutes, which is the same as the IMDB runtime, hopefully, whether this is a premiere or not, it's the full version. My Gal Sal is also listed as a premiere on my cable schedule.

That's possible -- my cable company (RCN) lists it as a premiere, but they could be wrong.

*Wilson* is one of my all-time favorite biographical films. It has scope -- it deals with a pretty big chunk of the man's life, not just a small episode; it has an incredible cast and production values; and it's really moving. The depiction of the political convention is fascinating and reminds us of what fun those things used to be (for better or worse)! Alexander Knox, IMHO, gives one of the screen's best performances by an actor, ever, and in supporting roles, Ruth Nelson, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Charles Coburn, Thomas Mitchell, and Sir Cedric Hardwicke (as Senator Henry Cabot Lodge) are terrific. Another of my favorite Fox films (and a TCM premiere) is also on TCM today -- *My Gal Sal*, about the song writer Paul Dresser (brother of novelist Theodore Dreiser). Dresser wrote what is now the Indiana state song, among other hits. It's one of those hugely enjoyable gay '90s in New York films, with great songs and period color.

Totally agree, Hibi. Not only did I love Gods and Monsters, McKellen was certainly robbed of an Oscar, particularly since the winner that year was one of the most annoying actors in history -- Roberto Benigni!