VP19
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Posts posted by VP19
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For years TCM would rerun one of its many documentary programs every month or two. But recently that has stopped. Off the top of my head, I would guess the last "vintage" documentary to be seen was the Val Lewton documentary which was shown during Halloween last fall.
I'd love to see TCM's Busby Berkeley documentary again. And the program about the Freed Unit at MGM. And the Steve McQueen or Brando programs.
I don't know if the absence of these programs is an oversight but I want to register my vote for them to return to schedule.
A suggestion to TCM: For a future month, how about spending a month where every weeknight's programming begins at 8 (ET) with an older TCM documentary that hasn't run in a while, followed by several films from the personality or topic in question? If that is deemed too much, maybe make it two nights a week during the month, allowing eight to 10 such documentaries to air once more.
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I see Greta Garbo, Carole Lombard, Cary Grant, Olivia De Havilland, Jimmy Stewart among others as being great in any film era. If she were dropped into the scene today at a young age, Garbo would have been even bigger with the right marketing machine behind her, I have no doubt. And i'm not even the world's biggest Garbo fan.
I don't know if a Garbo in her early twenties would be interested in working in movies today, at least not the big commercial films from the major studios. Very little of its product would be the vehicles she would be interested in making. She would probably limit herself to the indy and art-house circuit.
Keep in mind that movies today are shown for a far different audience than was the case in Garbo's time. Instead of multiplexes that basically gear their product for big opening weekends from audiences comprised of teens and twentysomethings, you had a variety of houses, with films showing first at downtown palaces, then the smaller "nabes" (neighborhood theaters) and finally small-town and rural theaters as well as second-run houses. And with no television or Internet, you either stayed home to listen to the radio or you went to the movie theater.
A young Carole and Cary et al might not be as selective as Garbo where movies are concerned, but whereas Grant might have been able to make it as a major star along the lines of a George Clooney, the weak drawing power of today's actresses compared to their '30s counterparts would have limited Lombard, just as it did the equally lumnious Michelle Pfeiffer (who turned 54 today!).
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Another thing to keep in mind is that TCM has gained access to far more films than it did at the beginning, including libraries from some studios that heretofore weren't available (Columbia, Universal for its product and much pre-1948 Paramount and so on). Often, TCM has a limited period (a few years at most) to run them. so they may bump some of the product seen earlier.
And while part of me might like TCM to run only the films I like, the rational rest of me thinks, "Were that the case, I wouldn't get any work done."
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And directed by Garson Kanin, one of his earliest credits.
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I apologize for being a bit late to the discussion, and I thank Carole Sampeck for the nice things she said about "Carole & Co."
Regarding the man in the white jacket -- he's not Fiorello LaGuardia, who was rather pudgy, including in the face. However, that doesn't mean he couldn't have been relatively short. Also, keep in mind that given Roosevelt's condition, many of his office items may have been brought down a few inches to accommodate his status, so the woman (whether it was Lombard or not) thus might have appeared a bit taller than she actually was.
I still think it's Carole, with the angle, or lighting, perhaps slightly altering the shade of her hair in the photograph. I may have to contact the providers of this photo to see if I can get confirmation -- and use this thread as evidence there is some controversy. Moreover, if this ran in print at the time, the Newspaper Archive might have it.
As I've written before, all this shows an elemental difference between 1940 culture and today's: if Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie visited the White House, it wouldn't go unnoticed.
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Sad to say, here in the U.S., there were sterilization programs even after World War II, including one in North Carolina that increasingly became racially motivated:
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There's still a member here that goes by ThelmaTodd. Check the Nazi Titanic thread.
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The film was renamed "Four Hours To Kill" and was released in April 1935. I only discovered this by going through a list of Leisen movies and matching the cast, as I had never heard of it by that title.
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Some Nazi agents in California were able to buy a ranch in the Pacific Palisades where a community of fascists lived; their dream was that when Germany conquered America, this would be where Hitler and his cronies would call home while in the States. The day after Pearl Harbor, police raided the place and its occupants were captured. You can learn more about this compound at http://www.express.co.uk/features/view/308791 and http://articles.latimes.com/1990-11-18/local/me-6808_1_rustic-canyon.
Oh, and one of the ironies: The people fronting for the Nazis were dissatisfied with prospective designs for a mansion on the site, and thus called for plans from noted Los Angeles architect Paul Williams...who was black.
Fascinating story, another example of the Nazis' perverse affection for Hollywood.
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*A Lady to Love *has been shown on TCM but it's not Banky's last film. In 1930 she also made a German film for Victor Seastrom which was a version of *A Lady to Love. *In 1933 Banky starred in another German film called *The Rebel*, which I have a copy of (but have never watched).
*A Lady to Love* was remade in 1940 as *They Knew What They Wanted *with Carole Lombard, Charles Laughton, and William Gargan.
Actually, "They Knew What They Wanted" began as a play by Sidney Howard in 1925. "A Lady To Love" (which I plead unfamiliarity with) may have been an early film adaptation.
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Hi VP19. Do you or anyone happen to know if the History channel (H2) is going to repeat the documentary that aired last night? I have On-Demand, but I can't find it under the History Channel specials.
Have no idea. You might want to check the History Channel website (not sure of that URL, but I'm certain you can track that down).
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I'm the one who posted that 1994 TCM schedule of their first ten days. I still have all the old schedules and can post more, if folks are interested.
Please do -- perhaps one each day, if possible, beginning with May 1994 (if you have it), then going chronologically.
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I do recall seeing part of the German "Titanic" on TCM a few years ago.
The History Channel documentary was a real eye-opener for me. I was aware there was a propaganda element to it, but I never realized what a high-level production Goebbels planned, or how its original director died under murky circumstances.
The transfer of huge resources to "Titanic" and the later "Kolberg" (a film whose story I had been aware of), at a time when Germany desperately needed everything it could muster for the war effort, probably played a part in the Allies' victory. Goebbels' interest in film, and in trying to keep up with and possibly surpass Hollywood, is perversely fascinating
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A happy 18th to TCM!
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Great news! Sony/Columbia and TCM are collaborating on a 5-film box set, "Columbia Pictures Pre-Code Collection," featuring movies from 1931 and '32 starring Carole Lombard ("Virtue"), Barbara Stanwyck ("Ten Cents A Dance," "Shopworn"), Jean Harlow ("Three Wise Girls") and even a young John Wayne (1931's "Arizona," which is a romantic melodrama, not a western!).
Robert Osborne will introduce the films, and extras include photo galleries, lobby cards, posters, even censor board notes.
The list price is $59.99, but you can save $5 by pre-ordering at http://shop.tcm.com/detail.php?p=371865. I've written more about this at http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/502827.html.
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"Transgression" is an "official" Ricardo Cortez pre-Code...his character is killed off: http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/162206.html
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Kay Francis and Eddie G are spotlighted today! Right now, A NOTORIOUS AFFAIR (1930) is on, and it rocks! Kay Francis, OMG, she is devastatingly vampish in this one! And man, Basil Rathbone sure seems young in this one! And I totally dig Billie Dove!!
Next up is GUILTY HANDS (1931) a great pre-code with Lionel Barrymore and Kay, then TRANSGRESSION (1931), a typical pre-code plot, but nicely done with Kay and my main man, Ricardo Cortez! Then a pre-code treat if there ever was one, with Kay and William Powell mixing it up in JEWEL ROBBERY (1932)!!
In "A Notorious Affair," you hear Rathbone saying another character wanted to "verbally vivisect me"; how can you go wrong with dialogue like that?
And with William Powell disarming his foes by offering them cigarettes (which they don't know are laced with marijuana that makes them, well, rather goofy) in "Jewel Robbery"...let's just say that if someone at Warners had paid attention, this film should have been released in the late 1960s to play the college circuit. Bill Powell and drug humor? "Jewel Robbery" is a weird blend of "Trouble In Paradise" and "Reefer Madness."
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Mitali77 wrote: "LOL! [Gavin] always had trouble showing expressions on his face, like he had a lot of botox work done."
Yep! And thus perfectly suited to go into the Diplomatic Corps(U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, 1981-1986) after it finally became apparent he couldn't act on screen. ;-)
Hey, he was married to the wondrous Constance Towers (a Samuel Fuller favorite), so he must have had something going for him.
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It ran on TCM on:
December 21, 2010
and
March 16, 2011.
Yes, and anyone who saw or heard it would think that Janet Gaynor was the world's tallest female Munchkin. Her speaking voice in that film rivals Kristin Chenoweth's for pure squeakiness (and that's nothing against Kristin, who's wonderful in so many ways, including her singing).
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It's rare that TCM does a star birthday salute when it falls on a Sunday. Mix that in with the upcoming Day SOTM tribute (or, as I titled my "Carole & Co." entry on the event, "Star of the Month: Day, for a week"), and it was probably difficult to fit things in. Debbie and Jane get their share of honors from the channel, and I'm certain more is to come.
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This came to mind when watching "Gold Diggers Of 1933"; imagine if that had been filmed in 3-D, especially during "We're In The Money" when the camera focuses closer and closer and closer on Ginger Rogers, to the point where all you see is her mouth. Imagine being in the orchestra section of a downtown movie palace, and it appears you are going to be swallowed whole by the mega-Ginger. (What a way to go!)
Anyone want to suggest other classic movies in hypothetical 3-D, and what effect they would have had they been shot in that process?
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What I find truly amazing is looking at the schedule below and seeing how films play for only three days and they are gone, some less than that. For example, "Private Number," which was the first run for this June 1936 release was only booked for three days, a Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, not even Friday! When you think about the time spent in the studio putting such a film together, if you blinked it was gone.
However, there was a definite pattern to releases then -- a few days in the downtown palaces, then soon a few more days' run in outlying neighborhood houses, and after that (if your community was large enough) second-run theaters. If you missed something the first time around, you would have another chance. albeit at a venue that wasn't quite as spiffy.
To get an idea of the process, check out this entry of mine, where I examined advertising for Carole Lombard movies in my hometown of Syracuse, N.Y., in 1930 and '31: http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/480529.html
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My three film wishes:
*1. A Cary-Carole comedy*...the king and queen of screwball hold court.
*2. Gary Cooper and Myrna Loy make some sort of movie together* -- they were childhood friends from Helena, Mont., but they never appeared in the same film!
*3. William Powell star in a film under the direction of Ernst Lubitsch* -- Bill's illness prevented him from starring opposite Garbo in "Ninotchka." Powell + Lubitsch likely = sublime. Perhaps pair him with a leading lady he never worked with (Barbara Stanwyck?).
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Here's an entry I did a few years ago regarding a 1933 Photoplay article where famed Hollywood masseuse Sylvia discussed how she helped Carole Lombard shed a few pounds... http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/110803.html
To get an idea of what Lombard looked like when she was deemed "Carol(e) of the curves," visit http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c149/VP19/carolelombardmacksennett00a.jpg. She's a bit shaplier than the '30s Lombard we know and love, but she was hardly fat. (Nor was her later self overly skinny compared to contemporaries such as Constance Bennett, who was nicknamed "the human clotheshanger" because she was so slim.)
why is TCM becoming less classic
in General Discussions
Posted
Generally, the "newer" (post-1970) films TCM shows have some connection to the classic era. Someone noted that "Pennies From Heaven" and "Rich And Famous" (both 1981) were on TCM in its early days; well, both fit the theme of the channel, the former examining life during the Depression (using movies and song as a tie-in), the latter being the final film directed by the famed George Cukor. I recall TCM once had a night of films starring Goldie Hawn, but they were the type of movies in which Goldie was working in the classic comedy tradition (e.g. "Foul Play," "Seems Like Old Times").
"TCM Underground" airs at a time when a lot of young people are watching TV (late Friday night, no school the following day). If it gets them interested in the channel as a whole, it's a fine starting point to get them to watch at other times (and you would be surprised how many classic movie blogs are operated by folks in their teens and 20s). It serves its purpose every bit as does "Silent Sunday Nights" and the international films that follow.
Drew Barrymore is understandably proud of her family's accomplishments in entertainment, and probably has some knowledge of classic Hollywood for that very reason. But she's admitted she herself has a lot to learn about some other facets of the golden age, and one of the nice things about "The Essentials" is that you see the guest co-host develop his or her knowledge of classic film (and none were completely bereft of knowledge to begin with; otherwise, TCM wouldn't have hired them). I suppose many people would like to see a guest co-host already armed with such knowledge (e.g., Molly Haskell), and I would have no qualm with that, either. But most of the viewers aren't professional film historians, and it's fun to see Drew learning along with the rest of us, while possessing at least a feel for what moviemaking is like. (Oh, and Drew -- if you're back next season, please make sure one of the films shown is "Twentieth Century"; I'd love to hear your thoughts on what may be John's greatest performance, not to mention the film that put Carole Lombard -- someone you've often been compared to -- on the map.)
In closing, I'll simply say I love TCM, the repertory house of TV, and I think there's very little to worry about as long as they possess both a superlative film library and contract programming rights with virtually every studio in the business. (Even Fox is supplying TCM with more product these days.)