VP19

Some time ago, TCM aired the 1943 German version of "Titanic," which did have an underlying anti-British message but wasn't done in a heavyhanded manner. "Triumph Of The Will" would certainly open up a can of worms along the same lines of "The Birth Of A Nation," but 1915 Civil War views and racist black stereotypes are one thing; showing Nazism on display is another. One film I would like to see, but I'm not sure TCM has ever aired, is "Kolberg." Supposedly Goebbels spent a huge amount of money on this, seeking his country's equivalent to "Gone With The Wind" (as an epic), but it was issued not long before Germany fall and relatively few people have seen it.

> {quote:title=nitratefiend wrote:}{quote} > One historical question would be why the major studios maintained essentially a D.W. Griffith view of the Civil War up through the end of the 1930's. Uh...to not offend white southern audiences and exhibitors? (It also explains why black artists were essentially shunted into separate parts of storylines, so their scenes could be more easily cut for southern theaters.)

How about characters you wish you could have dated? For example, while in real life Constance Bennett was apparently a piece of work, dating her character Marion Kerby would have been a dream (assuming her ectoplasm -- and George -- didn't get in the way!).

> {quote:title=MyFavoriteFilms wrote:}{quote} > Let's say you can choose from three to five titles, silent or sound, from any year except 2011. > I'll go with four, since that's the number TCM uses in such things > What would you choose to introduce? I know that some posters were guest progammers a few years ago, right? Would those people select the same films again, or would they choose something else? > > Maybe using these guidelines: > - A film that has great personal meaning to you "The Miracle Of Morgan's Creek" - A film that is pure escapist entertainment, you just love it no matter how many times you've seen it "Libeled Lady" - A film that features your favorite artist in a standout role "Hands Across The Table" (Carole Lombard) - A film that represents your favorite director's best work "The Smiling Lieutenant" (Ernst Lubitsch)

> {quote:title=skimpole wrote:}{quote} > What an odd idea for a post, since it includes actresses you'd like to date because you think they're physically attractive (Phoebe Cates, Jennifer Aniston, Daryl Hannah), and because you're presumably supposed to choose actresses whose talent you admire (Ingrid Bergman, Jodie Foster, Madhabi Mukerjee, Myrna Loy, Liv Ullmann, Ana Torrent, Diane Keaton) while ignoring the fact that are not likely to have the slightest interest in you. This thread makes the assumption that 1) you could date these actresses during the time of their popularity, even if they are now deceased, and that 2) they would be interested in you (and you in them). As for "admiration," my criteria is admiring them for both talent and personality.

Interesting concept. I suppose my criteria for "dating" include: * personality * beauty * likability * intelligence (the ability to engage in lively conversation) * humor So here are my 10: 1. Carole Lombard 2. Myrna Loy 3. Julie Newmar 4. Jean Harlow 5. Cyd Charisse 6. Claudette Colbert 7. Ginger Rogers 8. Thelma Todd 9. Marlene Dietrich 10. Marilyn Monroe.

I was going to watch "Scarface" but forgot it because I had to do my taxes, grrrrr. Well, had the real "Scarface" done _his_ taxes, he might not have ended up in the federal pen.

> {quote:title=Arturo wrote:}{quote} > Catching up now: > > January 21: > > Dietrich was considered washed up more than once, most recently last year when she was considered "Boxoffice Poison" just as her Paramount contract expired. Might have been interesting to have seen her in "...Nazi Spy" if the part had been beefed up (she REALLY disliked the Hitler regime). I wonder if the other title THE CHANGELING, was ever made back then under another title (now it makes me wonder if this is the story used last year by Clint Eastwood-it DID take place in the 30s). > > Probably they (Marlene and WB) couldn't agree on a subject, which allowed her to go over to Universal to make DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (if she hasn't already). > > One of the reasons that Paulette Goddard, front-runner to play Scarlett O'Hara, did not get the part was her marital status with Charlie Chaplin, or lack therof. No marriage certificate was ever produced, although they claimed to be married. One of several couples that a (Photoplay?) article around this time tried to shame or pressure into tying the knot: Others included Clark Gable/Carole Lombard and Barbara Stanwyck/Robert Taylor. > > The review of DRAMATIC SCHOOL gives a good rationale why Luise Rainer's Hollywood career was just about over, and why Paulette Goddard would be a big star during the 40s. > > George Raft, now at liberty from Paramount, will also be prone to turn down many roles at WB when they soon sign, to the benefit of Humphrey Bogart mostly. > > Betty Grable's comments make me think she understands, and can spell, D-A-M-A-G-E C-O-N-T-R-O-L. > > Edited by: Arturo on Jan 21, 2011 7:49 PM That Photoplay article in question can be found at http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/104986.html.

I believe "Captain Fury" (an adventure, not a comedy) is among the Roach features that will be shown on TCM in the U.S. Tuesday/Wednesday next week to conclude the Roach Studios tribute.

> {quote:title=mongo wrote:}{quote} > > Carole Lombard handed out cups to the Hollywood polo team, Leslie Howard, Will Rogers, Spencer Tracy and Johnny Mack Brown And all three on the left would be victims of aviation accidents.

Glad to see "Duck Donald" has been replaced by the legitimate Donald Duck, but who is this "Roger Preston" co-starring in the Gail Patrick film?

Fay Wray -- a splendid actress who deserves to be remembered as more than just a "scream queen" -- eventually married another screenwriter, Robert Riskin (who might have married Carole Lombard in the mid-thirties, but wasn't enthusiastic about having children, which Carole wanted; she then turned to one Clark Gable). Oh, and speaking of Gable, someone asked about "Manhattan Melodrama" and re-releases of films. Studios occasionally re-issued film on weeks they had no new product; also, several theaters in large cities specialized in such fare. I know that on New Year's Day of '39, a New York "revival house" showed the 1933 Lombard film "Brief Moment" with Gene Raymond. Some of the pre-Code films underwent significant cuts to comply with the more stringent practices from Joe Breen's office.

> {quote:title=Arturo wrote:}{quote}. > > Don't think Fairbanks Jr. made either film. > "Knights Of The Round Table" wasn't made by Paramount in 1939, although MGM issued a film by that title in 1953 with Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner and Mel Ferrer as Lancelot, Guinevere and King Arthur. "Memory Of Love" was made by Lombard, but with a different leading man and with a different title: http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/371903.html

Also note the cast of "Her Wild Oat" includes a 14-year-old Loretta Young, the year before her breakthrough playing opposite Lon Chaney in "Laugh, Clown, Laugh."

I like the idea. If you read Mick LaSalle's "Dangerous Men," his follow-up to "Complicated Women" looking at the men of pre-Code, he sort of rehabilitates Warren William just as much as he did Kay Francis in his earlier book. He not only played smarmy types, but was the screen's first Perry Mason.

From what I gather, this was a film industry campaign in the fall of 1935 (the year was detected by the reference to "I Found Stella Parish") to pass a bill allow movie theaters in Pennsylvania to open on Sundays, after 2 p.m. The state had strict "blue laws" barring many businesses from opening on the Sabbath; as recently as 1933, baseball games could not be played in Pennsylvania on Sundays, and often the state's three major-league teams (the Philadelphia Athletics and Phillies, and the Pittsburgh Pirates) would play games out of state on Sundays in the midst of their homestands. The "movies-on-Sunday" short was fascinating..

> {quote:title=thomasterryjr wrote:}{quote} > I make it a habit to watch Robert Osborne and/or Ben Mankiewicz introduce and outro movies. I was planning on watching Robert Osborne introduce "This is the Night" and then turn the channel to watch "The Bourne Identity". After the introduction I decided to watch the opening credits to "This Is the Night" to see what actors and actresses were in the film. Then the film began. Blue tinting? Wow!!! This is different and it looks great. The song about the "Lady Lost Her Dress". This is getting interesting. Thelma Todd gets out of the limousine looking absolutely gorgeous. Oh my this is getting tough to turn away from. Thelma Todd has her dress torn off her by the limo driver closing the door on the train of her dress as she is walking away from the car. More singing about the:"Lady Lost Her Dress". You got me now!!! I am hooked!!! I cannot leave this movie!!! I have to watch it now!!!. What great writing and acting!!! This movie smacks of "Trouble In Paradise" and "Private Lives". Two films which I cherish. What a great Pre-Code movie from 1932 which is now one of my favorites. > > "The Match King" was interesting. It was hard to watch how an individual could be so ruthless and reckless with people as he built his empire into a domination of the match industry and world affairs. Glenda Jackson was great to see in the bit role she had in this movie. Am I glad I didn't choose to watch "The Bourne Identity". You obviously meant Glenda Farrell. "The Match King" certainly had far more resonance with audiences when it was released in December 1932, as it was only nine months after the suicide of the real-life person who inspired the film (sort of the Bernie Madoff of his day). Warren William, who played "smarmy" better than just about anyone else, was excellent in the role. As for "This Is The Night," it was a Lubitschean-style of comedy, but far more coarse than anything Ernst would have done. Still, it was plenty of fun (though it was a bit weird to see Roland Young as a sort of cad), and who can complain about seeing Thelma Todd lose her dress? (I assume those were her shapely silk-stockinged legs we saw after the dress was lost, and not a body double's; Thelma didn't need one!)

Enjoyed it. The film was indeed a coarse version of the Lubitsch style of continental comedy, and who can complain about seeing Thelma Todd lose her dress?

> {quote:title=finance wrote:}{quote} > I'm kind of surprised to hear that Clark Gable was in a discussion about Walt Whitman. Seems like a bit of a stretch for him. Maybe he was just saying "Uh-Huh. Uh-Huh". It didn't mesh with his devil-may-care, outdoorsman image -- and it's not something he or MGM played up much -- but Gable actually liked poetry. He and Jean Harlow were both well-read types.

Not many are aware that "Holiday" was first filmed in 1930, with Ann Harding in the role Katharine Hepburn played eight years later. (I believe Hepburn did play it on stage before she entered films in 1932.)

Von Sternberg's version of "An American Tragedy" led to a lawsuit by novelist Theodore Drieser and a landmark court decision. Richard Schickel wrote a story about it in the summer 2010 issue of the Directors Guild of America's magazine, and it can be found online at http://www.dgaquarterly.org/BACKISSUES/Summer2010/FeaturesJosefvonSternberg.aspx.

For Monroe's sake, I hope that only the book's jacket was upside down.

> {quote:title=Hibi wrote:}{quote} > I saw the segment last night. Hard to really make out WHAT happened. Was Marilyn putting them on? Making a joke? Or possibly just heard the name Whitman and jumped to the wrong conclusion? Then again, it's hard to believe they were discussing Walt Whitman at a Hollywood party (LOL!) I know MM KNEW who Whitman was as she did visit him and it was much publicized (later in her life)with pictures. Glad you admitted your brain cells weren't on and that you meant Carl Sandburg (who Monroe did know, and admire). If Marilyn "did visit" Whitman, I'd love to discover the time machine she invented. And we thought Hedy Lamarr was brilliant!

Given the numerous affairs Dietrich and Hughes were involved in (biographer Larry Swindell states Howard took Carole Lombard's virginity, although he couldn't mention Hughes by name because he was still alive at the time his Lombard bio was written), I can't say I'm that surprised those two got together...if they indeed did.

I would hope that if the reaction from these blocks is sufficiently positive, TCM might decide to run hour-long blocks of Our Gang and Laurel & Hardy shorts on Saturday mornings, as it did not long ago with serials. It might be a good way to get the youth audience introduced to classic Hollywood.