VP19

I think you will enjoy it. Interesting feminist film (without being polemic). Incidentally, some years back someone created a stonewashed poster for the film that purposely evoked those made by studios during the classic Hollywood era. If someone can track it down and post it here (Kyle?), it would be appreciated.

Getting back to '30s movies (how did I miss this thread earlier?) -- unquestionably my favorite film decade -- I'm going to, pardon the pun, reel off many of my favorites. And I do mean many (more than 60). All Quiet On The Western Front Animal Crackers Morocco Little Caesar The Smiling Lieutenant The Public Enemy City Lights Monkey Business (1931) Night Nurse Virtue One-Way Passage I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang Red-Headed Woman Horse Feathers Scarface Jewel Robbery Red Dust Million Dollar Legs (1932) What Price Hollywood Taxi! Shanghai Express Trouble In Paradise Gabriel Over The White House No Man Of Her Own (1932) King Kong Bombshell Queen Christina Baby Face The Kennel Murder Case 42nd Street Duck Soup Footlight Parade Design For Living Gold Diggers Of 1933 Hold Your Man Hard To Handle Manhattan Melodrama Twentieth Century The Gay Divorcee It Happened One Night The Thin Man Hands Across The Table Mutiny On The Bounty Top Hat The Gilded Lily A Night At The Opera Libeled Lady Modern Times My Man Godfrey Way Out West (1936) Topper The Awful Truth Nothing Sacred Too Hot To Handle Topper Takes A Trip Ninotchka The Wizard Of Oz Destry Rides Again Stagecoach Mr. Smith Goes To Washington Confessions Of A Nazi Spy Gone With The Wind

Let's not forget that Hedda not only was an actress prior to becoming a Hollywood columnist, but came from a respected acting family. So she had a pretty good sense of what the industry was about. Interesting to hear Hopper's comments regarding how the Hays code hemmed in writers, and perhaps that had led to the situation the movies were in at the time, where it was becoming less of a writers' medium and more of one controlled by producers. (Something that must have pleased Louis B. Mayer at producer-oriented MGM, the industry's dominant studio.)

> {quote:title=VP19 wrote:}{quote} > Did the Bijou draw the short straw and have to play the reissue of "Parnell"? (Legend has it that Carole Lombard issued fliers about the film, which she liked to tease Clark Gable about, when it came out in 1937, though I've never seen one of them.) Looks like Carole got her "revenge" the very next day, when the Bijou showed "Nothing Sacred." (A cheer for second-run theaters -- or do they qualify as "revival houses"?)

Did the Bijou draw the short straw and have to play the reissue of "Parnell"? (Legend has it that Carole Lombard issued fliers about the film, which she liked to tease Clark Gable about, when it came out in 1937, though I've never seen one of them.)

I would have selected "I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang" (which probably has the most impact to modern-day audiences) or "Gabriel Over The White House," but Louis B. Mayer hated the latter film (even though it was released by his studio through William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Productions, which produced more than Marion Davies projects). I can't imagine Mayer would have instructed his considerable MGM bloc to vote for it.

The film also inspired a syndicated TV series in the late 1950s, with the wonderful Barbara Eden in the cast.

Some intriguing titles there; I am particularly thrilled to see a 1920 film from Marion Davies, before she had really established herself as a comedic actress (or before Hearst tried to pigeonhole her into historical epics). I would love to have one of Carole Lombard's Fox films (e.g. "Marriage In Transit") that she made before her 1926 automobile accident among the remaining ones in the batch; none are currently available. Will cross my fingers...

I use IrfanView, which has an option called "greyscale."

> {quote:title=mongo wrote:}{quote} > > Carole Lombard and Clark Gable in stitches This was taken at a party (at the Trocadero, I believe) in July 1938, following the premiere of "Marie Antoinette."

I'm not going to comment directly on "Trouble The Water" since I frankly don't know much about it other than its Katrina-related theme, but if self-financed films are indeed the topic it is a part of, why couldn't TCM show Robert Townsend's famed "Hollywood Shuffle" from the late eighties, with its comedic discussion of black roles in films? Oh, and Fred, if TCM shouldn't show films about Katrina because documentaries are available, should we go along the slippery slope and eliminate all World War II films from TCM's schedule because the real stuff can be found on the History Channel and the Military Channel?

> {quote:title=mongo wrote:}{quote} > > Work on "True Confession" apparently left Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, writer Claude Binyon, director Wesley Ruggles and Una Merkel very hungry Claude Binyon was an editor for Variety before becoming a screenwriter; legend has it he composed the magazine's famous 1929 headline, "Wall St. Lays An Egg." For more on Binyon -- including another photo of him with Lombard and MacMurray -- go to http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/76563.html.

> {quote:title=MyFavoriteFilms wrote:}{quote} > > I just noticed TCM put up the Essentials lineup for the upcoming year in the Movie News Section. The four selections for August are: > > > > 8/6/2011 Stage Door > > > > 8/13/2011 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance > > > > 8/20/2011 A Place in the Sun > > > > 8/27/2011 A Letter to Three Wives (whohoo!!!) > > > > I'm guessing it will be Hepburn, Stewart, Taylor, and Kirk Douglas chosen for those days. > > Good detective work. I think it will be Clift, since they did Taylor last year. > > They won't pick Vera Miles. If they are choosing a western as the essential, it will have as its focus one of the male stars. I don't see Alec Baldwin discussing a female in a western. No way. LOL > > They do Hepburn so darn often...I hope that instead of Kate, STAGE DOOR will be for Ginger, Lucy, Ann Miller or Adolphe Menjou. Even Andrea Leeds would be better than KH again. K. Hepburn has been featured on SUTS six times -- more than any other actor of either gender -- so I'm hoping it's not for her. And you would think, with Ginger's centenary coming in July, that she would be its star of the month (just as Carole Lombard was in October 2008 and Jean Harlow will be in March). So let's hope "Stage Door" will represent either Ann Miller or Lucille Ball.

I note a few films ("The Misfits," "Bringing Up Baby") will be shown twice. Is this a new policy for "The Essentials," or has this occurred before?

> {quote:title=gagman66 wrote:}{quote} > VP19, > > Gloria Swanson just isn't going to happen. Unfortunately, TCM doesn't have access to very many of her films to speak of. They would have to pick up some titles they have never shown, or haven't shown in many years. Such as *MALE AND FEMALE,* and *THE AFFAIRS OF ANATOL,* which TCM has run in the past. And *WHY CHANGE YOUR WIFE,* and *DON'T CHANGE YOUR HUSBAND,* which have never aired. Plus they would need to add a least a couple films from the Paramount vault as well. Say *STAGE STRUCK (1925),* and *FINE MANNERS (1926).* Bot exist in pristine prints at George Eastman House. Among the United Artists features *SADIE THOMPSON (1928),* and *QUEEN KEELY (1929)* are available and have been shown on TCM. It would be nice if a good print of *THE LOVE OF SUNYA (1927)* were around, but I'm not aware of one that is in broadcast format at this time. If that unfortunately is the case, what relatively unheralded silent-era star could TCM show as part of its SUTS? I'd love to see Constance Talmadge, someone I want to learn more about, but since she didn't make any talking pictures, that frankly won't happen. Colleen Moore would be a good candidate, too, but I don't know how many of her films (both silent and sound) TCM would be able to get rights for.

> {quote:title=filmlover wrote:}{quote} > So, there I was, just wandering through this museum in modern day San Francisco and I come across an exhibit about a 19th century writer (who looks a bit like Malcolm McDowell wearing a moustache). And they have this this oddball device that you can sit in, except for the sign that says "keep off," which you know is a clarion call to battle for me. Anyway, a few flashy lights and bodiless voices later, I wander out of the museum to find a newsstand where I discover it is Friday, *February 3, 1939*: > Just as long as Jack the Ripper didn't accompany you...

After checking past lists, here's what my August SUTS would look like: 1. James Stewart 2. Cyd Charisse 3. James Cagney 4. Claudette Colbert 5. Franchot Tone 6. Constance Bennett 7. Marlon Brando 8. Myrna Loy 9. Laurence Olivier 10. Irene Dunne 11. Sophia Loren 12. Walter Connolly 13. Barbara Stanwyck 14. Burt Lancaster 15. Loretta Young 16. Gene Kelly 17. Joan Blondell 18. Robert Mitchum 19. Carole Lombard* 20. William Holden 21. Rita Hayworth 22. Warren William 23. Bing Crosby 24. Kay Francis 25. Clark Gable 26. Gloria Swanson 27. Joel McCrea 28. Marlene Dietrich 29. William Powell 30. Anna May Wong 31. Gary Cooper *My birthday is Aug. 19, and what better way to celebrate than 24 hours of my all-time favorite actress? I think it's a pretty good mix, perhaps a bit heavy on the '30s. Anna May Wong, who's never been a SUTS selection, would be the "minority" star this year (it doesn't have to be black, and Sidney Poitier, Lena Horne and Woody Strode have already been chosen). There would be several other newcomers -- Charisse, Tone, Young, Blondell, William, Connolly (a terrific, well-remembered character actor, though if TCM wanted to first do the more recognizable Frank Morgan and hold Connolly for 2012, I would have no objections) and Swanson (c'mon, TCM, show there's more to her than Norma Desmond!). What do you think?

What radio program was Tyrone Power on? I should note that about this time, Carole Lombard was a regular on a Sunday night radio show called "The Circle" with Cary Grant, Groucho Marx and a few others. You'd think something with that kind of star power would succeed, but it didn't (it was too scripted, not spontaneous), and Lombard left before NBC pulled the plug on the series.

> {quote:title=MyFavoriteFilms wrote:}{quote} > > And anyone who has been honored in the previous 3 or 4 years is generally out. > > I agree. Check my listing of past SUTS rosters (at the "Carole & Co." entries listed below) and you'll find that isn't necessarily true. Heck, in the eight years of the concept, Katharine Hepburn has been featured six times.

To help with your SUTS choices, a listing of past stars who have received that honor: http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/325428.html and http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/325906.html Obviously, as a Carole Lombard fan I'd like to see her be on SUTS for the first time since 2006, but she was Star of the Month in October 2008 (her centenary) so that might work against her. I echo earlier suggestions for Anita Page and Constance Bennett, and would like to see Walter Connolly or Frank Morgan be honored to represent character actors.

> {quote:title=filmlover wrote:}{quote} > > {quote:title=traceyk65 wrote:}{quote} > > Yeah, I know. It seemed like you were using a different show/movie about time travel each time (the first one was Time Tunnel, right?) so I wondered if you were going to be maybe valet parking the deLorian for this crazy white-haired guy and decided to take it for a spin and you got it up to 88 mph when WHAM!... > > tracey, in order, they have been: > > Jan. 10 - DeLorean, 88 mph: "Back to the Future" > Jan. 11 - resting on a bed at the Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island: "Somewhere in Time" > Jan. 17 - TARDIS (aka Time and Relative Dimension In Space): Doctor Who > Jan. 19 - Walking distance to Homewood: "Walking Distance" Twilight Zone episode > Jan. 20 - Odds Bodkins, riding along, hitting head on a tree branch: "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" > Jan. 27 - Project Tic Toc, Doug and Tony: "The Time Tunnel" > Jan. 29 - Quantum Leap Accelerator: "Quantum Leap" > > More to come. Whichever way you go back...take me with you!

I sense that many gays who like Joan Crawford are particularly fans of her post-MGM period, when her look became more severe and her acting style grew more over-the-top. It's the whole "diva" approach. It's interesting to wonder why some actresses have become icons to gay males over the years (Crawford, Davis, Garland), while others of similar talent who may have been either supportive of gays (Lombard, Loy) or suspected of being gay/bi themselves (Colbert, Dietrich) never quite gained that status. Were they too naturalistic in their approach to acting that those men who wished to emulate women (e.g., female impersonators, who weren't inherently gay) were thus not attracted to them?

> {quote:title=traceyk65 wrote:}{quote} > > {quote:title=filmlover wrote:}{quote} > > All I did was step into the Quantum Leap Accelerator and, suddenly I was in the body of a newsstand seller on this *Sunday, January 29th, 1939*: > > > > When do you get your DeLorean? LOL This is "Quantum Leap," not "Back To The Future"; think Scott Bakula, not Michael J. Fox. (The body-changing part should have tipped you off.)

As a native Syracusan, I hope that the 2012 Cinefest will be able to use the downtown Landmark Theater (formerly the Loew's State), which is currently being renovated to expand the stage to make it a better venue for stage productions.

> > For all those clamoring for "Morocco" last month when "Shanghai Express" was shown, get out your tuxedos and gorilla costumes because it's on the schedule. No, you save the gorilla costume for "Blonde Venus." To "hot voodoo"!