clore

I see two Mr. Wong movies - *Doomed To Die* and *The Fatal Hour* on the 31st. I wish they were Moto films, but i'll settle for these since they don't air very often.

Yes, we read the transcript of the play in high school and I saw the movie maybe a year later. We had a book that had several plays such as this one, YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, HARVEY and THE GLASS MENAGERIE, and they were illustrated with stills from the film adaptations. WEDDING works on the page and it probably worked on the stage, but Frankie, up close and in your face on a movie or TV screen is just way too much to bear and too obviously an adult, which for me made it all the more intolerable.

Except that Emma doesn't die and the children realize they were wrong and rekindle their affection for her. I realize that, but was willing to consider that the details may have been a bit jumbled as far as the ending goes. That seems to often be the case for films not seen in decades. There was a death toward the end and a change of heart on the part of the "children" but Emma moves on to another family as I recall. You may be right on the second film. Despite being an admirer of Zinnemann, I haven't been able to sit through the film a second time and my first viewing was when I was in high school which was over 40 years ago. "Frankie" is just too annoying for me to get past the first half-hour or so again.

The third movie that you mentioned is most likely EMMA with Marie Dressler. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022854/

As I was surfing, however, and came to TCM, the bottom of the screen and the stuff I got from my "info" button said *Convicts* , but onscreen was some '50's looking prison flick with Ben Gazzara. What was THAT about? The film was CONVICTS 4 from 1962. Based on the book by real-life convict John Resko, the film is interesting albeit crude and even laughably played by a few performers. I give it points for intent if not for the execution.

And Mr. Barron is forgiven for keeping the mystery of Robby The Robot alive for future viewers. Even film afficianados don't need to know all the magician's secrets. Well, yes and no. It would have been nice to hear Frankie Darro getting a nod for his participation.

> {quote:title=Arturo wrote:}{quote}Right now I don't remember which movie adaptation of Shakespeare it was, but a classic era film based on one of his works got a lot of derision from a credit.."Additional Dialogue by...". I believe that's the 1929 version of THE TAMING OF THE SHREW with Sam Taylor supposedly getting the nod for assisting Shakespeare. Not having seen the film, I can't attest to it now being noted as an urban legend that Taylor was billed as such. A comment on the IMDb says it does not show on screen in the print that he saw.

Massage members? Whew, you have your own Freudian slip there. I saw NORTH BY NORTHWEST at NYC's Thalia Theater back in 1967. It had premiered on the CBS Friday Movie only three nights before and I was so enthusiastic about the film that I brought a few friends along who had missed the telecast. But I agree, as much as I'm familiar with the film from airings on TV ever since, and not even including its constant rotation on TCM, it is worth seeing on the big screen.

> {quote:title=Hibi wrote:}{quote}WOW. I had known about Neal, but didnt know that about Kelly. Life imitating art? Paul Kelly ended up marrying the widow of the man he killed. She also served time as an accomplice in the crime and ended up writing the source material for LADIES THEY TALK ABOUT which was the film that kicked off today's schedule.

This 1939 version of WITHIN THE LAW has two real life jailbirds in the cast. Paul Kelly had already done time for manslaughter and in the early 60s, Tom Neal would be imprisoned on a conviction for involuntary manslaughter after killing his wife. I've always thought there was a bit of a resemblance between the two: Paul Kelly Tom Neal

> {quote:title=finance wrote:}{quote}Do you think that Cary Grant was **** off that Tony Curtis imitated him in SOME LIKE IT HOT? I doubt it as OPERATION PETTICOAT came out about eight months later.

I'm not advocating a public domain system. I'm advocating fairness. I believe that $10 for a DVD of a film that is more than 60 years old is not, by any definition, fair and so I'll continue to get my stuff for free as I'm not going to feed the greedy Hollywood interests. No, you're advocating thievery by endorsing the downloading of copyrighted material. But hey, since you can do the crime, if you're caught, I'm sure that you will be willing to do the time and pay the fine. Or will it be as Rhett Butler says in a certain 73-year-old movie "You're like the thief who isn't the least bit sorry he stole, but is terribly, terribly sorry he's going to jail." I don't like certain laws anymore than you like the copyright laws, but if I'm going to take the chance on breaking them, I'm not going to promote it in an internet forum.

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BROADWAY spoofs the Barrymores, and later John Barrymore waould sadly close his career by spoofing himself. MY FAVORITE YEAR spoofs Errol Flynn, with a Barrymore anecdote thrown in for good measure ("Mr.Swann, this is for ladies only").

> {quote:title=finance wrote:}{quote} > WHAT 'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN? was somewhat reminiscent of BABY JANE. Those two were both written by Henry Farrell who also wrote the similar sounding HOW AWFUL ABOUT ALLAN.

At least Kate Hepburn never tried that. In fact, I don't think we ever saw her give birth on screen, did we? No, I can't remember such as scene, but it's been a while since I've seen SEA OF GRASS and I can't recall if we were treated to a birth scene for either the eventual Robert Walker or Phyllis Thaxter.

I know it was based on a real situation, but Lucy was 19 years older than the character she was playing. It rather strained credulity given that she was so out of focus in the film, it would have complicated the delivery process.

I'm wondering if what you saw was either the Wayne Rogers series CITY OF ANGELS or perhaps the TV-movie that was edited down from the show's first three episodes. That was titled THE NOVEMBER PLAN. I recall seeing this back in February 1976 and thinking that it was a bit too close to CHINATOWN for comfort. Maybe this link to the show's rather incongruous theme music will jog your memory. http://mythemes.tv/series/themes/opening/cityofan.mp3 It is nowhere near as evocative of the period as was the theme for the concurrent ELLERY QUEEN series: http://mythemes.tv/series/themes/opening/elleryqu.mp3

Well, I haven't seen more than three minutes of either film, so I can't intelligently dispute the point with you. Just think of the time that you saved. Three hours to spend on better pursuits.

If they can't get them, then they should do it with men and call it Whatever Happened to Baby John?. How about Nick Nolte and Gary Busey?

It's faint praise, but I think that BERSERK was a much worse film than TROG.

That TV remake was produced by Robert Aldrich's son William, who also had a producer credit on the 2004 remake of FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX. The proposed Walter Hill remake of BABY JANE will be produced by Aldrich's daughter Adell. Can't his kids make their own movies? If it must be done, I'd like to see Meryl Streep and Glenn Close. Without that kind of real-life professional "rivalry" and star power, I can't see it getting off the ground as a theatrical. Maybe sub Helen Mirren for Glenn Close, but the concept is worn, without star power, who would go see it?

Thanks prof. The PEYTON PLACE thing is weird in that it could be perceived as an insult toward the guy - if he wasn't in on the "joke." For instance, in the third BACK TO THE FUTURE film, Marty calls himself Clint Eastwood and Tannen replies "What kind of stupid name is that?" But, at the end of the film, Eastwood gets an acknowledgement in the credits, so it's obvious that he was in on it. While it could be said that PEYTON PLACE takes place before McNally became known - I think he was even still "Horace" at that point - the 1950s audience knew of him so the line about the pic coming with the frame or whatever it was, sort of backfires since everyone in the cast looks so 50s anyway. It's not like Alan Ladd's picture hanging in Sal Mineo's locker in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, that served a purpose and besides, Ladd was working for the studio at the time anyway, good promo to use one of your own stars. We in the audience were supposed to recognize him, even if we were oblivious to the implication about Mineo's character. Another goodie was Christopher Lee's voice as Mr. U.N. Owen in the 1960s version of TEN LITTLE INDIANS. I spotted that right away when I saw it theatrically at age 14, but I grew up on Hammer films.

In all my years around show business, I would have never expected a known, working actor to be utilized in such a blatant form of visual expression and not be an actual, active member of the cast! Try Celia Lovsky's portrait hanging on the wall of Mike Lagana's study in THE BIG HEAT. She's supposed to be his mother. We also ever-so-briefly (even in the total of several glimpses during the film) see Neil Hamilton's picture representing Claudette Colbert's husband in SINCE YOU WENT AWAY. We probably saw the right side of Claudette's face more often and you know how rarely that occurs.

This is where perimenopausal women play mothers to babies or infants and very young children. Sure it still physically possible for women to have children in their late 40s, but are audiences really going to believe it? Like Lucy giving birth in YOURS, MINE AND OURS?

How could I forget DONDI? I saw it nearly 50 years ago and the awfulness still haunts me.