clore
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Posts posted by clore
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>>He is the male Bette Davis in many ways and their pairing is inspired casting.
It's a lot better than their subsequent pairing in BUNNY O'HARE.
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>>You know if Mr. Osborn & Mr. Mankiewicz were actually viewing these "hosted" movies with us, as they'd like us to believe, they'd catch these same glitches and make mention of them in their post movie comments. Now that would really be an entertaining, shared "bonding" experience.
That's a good point - and an amusing one. It would be almost as funny as the old SCTV sketches with Joe Flaherty as Count Floyd promising us a real scary movie tonight - GEORGY GIRL!
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>>If I recall correctly, there are some DVD covers that give away plot twists.
The DVD for the 1968 PLANET OF THE APES is the first one that comes to mind.
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>>You might be surprised at what discussions take place at TCM headquarters from the staff's reading of these boards. And if the membership here is concerned, TCM is concerned.
Thank you for the kind words in your post.
I probably would be surprised at some of what goes on in discussion, but I do believe that this forum is watched and that some of what is discussed here is discussed there.
Actually, if I didn't think so, I wouldn't have bothered writing it. I spent 30 years in the broadcast industry in various positions, rising up from one step above the mail room to having been the director of broadcast operations at a NYC network affiliate. I've been in sales, programming and marketing, so I do understand how all of these departments relate to each other.
I may be saluting myself here, but i like to think that TCM would not want its viewers to be apathetic. Being an insomniac, I probably see more hours of the channel than I should, but I would not leave the TV on to TCM if I did not appreciate their efforts in the first place.
To me, the fall guy shouldn't be the one who perhaps slipped up once or twice, or had too many things on his plate to do them all effectively. In my opinion, the guilty party or parties should be the ones who don't initiate effective safeguards. Not being in the loop there, I can't be certain of day-to-day operations, but such snafus as you mentioned, or the airing of THE PRISONER OF SECOND AVENUE that was sanitized for broadcast are all the type that can be prevented.
If one bangs his head on the top of the doorway every time he enters, he can't blame it on the door. He must make the decision to either make a bigger archway or learn to duck. I'm not saying that TCM bangs its metaphorical head every day, but it may be time to start thinking about a new doorway or remembering to duck.
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>>I'm game for watching a Lang film I've yet to watch, too. I still need to watch Western Union, Moonfleet, Liliom, and the Indian Epic.
Maybe it's been mentioned, but you can watch Moonfleet on Thursday, October 21.
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>>I've had a couple ideas stolen directly from my programming. It's so fun to see since the whole point of the challenge, for me, is a giant request.
You are to be congratulated for that, as well as anyone who has proposed an idea that has had some influence.
And TCM should be congratulated for listening to its audience.
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Well, I wish that I could say whether I know about staff conditions there. But I do know from friends and contacts in the business that more and more get to hear the rah-rah speech of "we have to do more with less" as staffs are cut. This may just be a case of having to do more with no more being added.
Establishing the brand name is relatively easy - give the people what they want at a fair price. It's maintaining that brand name that is the hard part, especially as one tries to put the brand on more and more products.
The core business is what the customer sees on his TV screen. To paraphrase the woman from Alaska in that Film Festival promo, "They don't watch TV to hear about how great the magazine and apps are, they don't care for fancy festival action and they do want to watch a good story." Recent flubs belie her claim that "If TCM is connected to it, it's got to be good." But it does go to show the power of the brand name and their increasing efforts to promote it.
But at what cost?
You can't keep promoting yourself as being the entity that shows films the way they were meant to be seen if the credits are blacked out and the climax runs backward. Or if you have Scorsese and **** getting the heebie-jeebies over pan-and-scan films and then showing them.
Part of the problem is that TCM has educated the audience, it has raised their collective consciousness. No one complaining here about what we've seen in the way of errors is asking for more - we're expecting what we had for about 14 years and have gotten used to seeing. That's what the TCM brand stood for - the utmost consideration for the viewer.
Yes, I appreciate the rare films and the barely seen ones, and I salute TCM on its overall intent. But I've invested a huge percentage of my viewing time to the station and while I'm the first to stand up when I hear some say that it's going the route of AMC, I will raise my voice when it appears that the channel is going the way of not being TCM.
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Chances are that if someone were to just spot check the first five minutes of each film, errors such as this or films that aren't widescreen can be caught. As long as they don't arrive the day before airtime, that leaves plenty of time for a possible correction.
If someone saw the blackout of the credits of A STAR IS BORN, they just might have looked to see if there were any other such goofs during the film and the whole thing could have been prevented.
i like to think that this goes beyond being critical, it's just good business sense. For all they know, it could have been A STAR IS PORN mislabeled.
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>>I sat down to enjoy this classic and the first glitch for me was 1:04 min of dead space (black, silent screen) right after the 'Selznick International' bit, that ate through the movie title and credits, opening with the family sitting around the table. Nobody else on this forum has commented about this so it may have been a coincidental and unfortunetly not uncommon error from my cable provider.
I dis say in the very first post "First the film went to black during the credits, now it just did a rewind and we'll get to see Norman commit suicide again."
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Just don't look at the IMDb cast list prior to watching as it gives an important plot twist away. I've tried several times to get them to change that, but as the listing accurately reflects the film's closing credits, they won't revise it.
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>>...but the only variance was their selection of Siege of the Saxons instead of The Black Knight when/where they needed to fill a 90 minute time slot. Both are Columbia releases, and both have been previously shown on TCM.
SIEGE OF THE SAXONS does contain a fair amount of footage from THE BLACK KNIGHT.
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I remember reading an interview with director Bretaigne Windust. He claimed that it happened on the set of WINTER MEETING. Bette Davis asked cinematographer Ernest Haller "Ernie, why can't you make me look like I did in JEZABEL?"
Supposedly Haller replied "But Bette, I was ten years younger then."
Windust claimed that while the anecdote had been used for other actresses, this did happen on his set and he swore that it was true.
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I heard that the Sirk Collection went out with defective copies of THE TARNISHED ANGELS. My friend got an e-mail from TCM stating that there was a defect in the printing of all Tarnished Angels DVDs and that they would send him a replacement at no cost. It seems they left the ending off the picture.
After the scene with Jack Carson in the courtyard, it jumps to the end credits. The final scene between Hudson and Malone is gone!
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We have it on good authority via Ygor in GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN that the monster's father was Frankenstein and his mother was the light'ning (sic).
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I.A.L. Diamond claimed it was true. Curtis said that Frees assisted him as sometimes he (Curtis) could not sustain the voice for lengthy takes.
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>>Isn't there a scene in Son of Frankenstein where Basil Rathbone complains that people are starting to refer to the monster as "Frankenstein?"
Yes, you're quite right. I forgot about that reference. Good catch!
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I wouldn't pay that for all four of them. I just ordered a combo of BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS and THEM and it cost eight dollars.
There's not a single DVD in my collection for which I paid 25 bucks.
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>>Neither played Frankenstein; they each played Frankenstein's monster, a rather significant distinction.
Yes, that's true, but then we'd have to change the title of ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN or I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN.
Yesterday, TCM ran a 1941 short titled THIRD DIMENSIONAL MURDER which had actor Ed Payson dressed up as the monster but called "Frankenstein" several times. Just goes to show, only a decade after the first Karloff chapter and already the monster was referred to by his creator's name.
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The outro for THE MUMMY'S SHROUD had R.O. saying that the studio where Hammer was shooting its early films was known as "The Bray."
Never in 50 years of reading and researching Hammer Films have I ever heard of Bray Studios referred to as "The Bray."
Must be like the horse in THE BLACK STALLION being called "The Black."
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I'll be the first to admit that the man knows the history of the Oscars far better than I do. I've just never been interested enough to fill my head with that stuff since for as long as i can remember, the majority of films that I liked weren't considered worthy of nomination.
He's evidently a very trusting man, counting on staff to provide him with accurate info. He has my sympathy there.
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What? Did R.O. just say that Chris Lee was the first to play Frankenstein, Dracula and the Mummy?
That will come as a surprise to Lon Chaney, Jr.
It is interesting that there are two actors in THE MUMMY who have played Dracula. Raymond Huntley who plays Joseph Whemple played the Count on London stage in the late 1920s.
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>>Nor do I have reason to doubt 'clore'.
That's very nice of you, I'll have to dig up the tape that I made, maybe I recorded the intro. That may take a day or two as with 1,200 cassettes, I had to put some in storage to get rid of some of the clutter.
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Here's a program advisory for TCM on January 18:
Silent Partner, The (1955)
A once-famous comedy star drowns his sorrows in a bar. Cast: Buster Keaton, Zasu Pitts, Joe E. Brown. Dir: George Marshall. BW-30 mins,
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There appear to be a whole bunch of those old "Screen Directors Playhouse" episodes being run that night.
Before anyone starts complaining that TV shows don't belong, let me enthusiastically disagree. There are some talented actors and directors involved and if TCM didn't bring this to us, we would probably never get to see them.
There's even one with Buster Keaton and ZaSu Pitts that just may drive a certain poster through some incredible highs and lows.
What just happened to A Star is Born?
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>>I should have weighed in on this sooner.
That's OK, I'm sure that you guys were aware and I'm glad to have this forum to be able to present to you a fan's perspective.
Thank you though for stopping by and I hope that you've taken the comments here in the good faith in which they were offered.