Fedya

Mad Men was never anywhere near as popular as the critics made it out to be. I'd rather see a movie actually made in the 1960s than watch the nostalgia-for-the-1960s crap.

Most of the new TCM originals get two airings on the first night: one at 8:00 PM for those of us on the east coast, followed by a feature film and a second airing for those folks three hours behind the times.

Story here, which includes a couple of photos There's also an audio file available there, as well as a link to Novak's own site. The exhibit is running until April 19, in case any of you are lucky enough to be in Prague in the next two weeks.

The Barretts of Wimpole Street

I thought this was going to be all about Saul Bass.

Miloš Forman's cinematographer dies at 80 Ondříček handled the camera on quite a few of Forman's movies, first when they were both still in Communist Czechoslovakia, and then when they had both left for the west. These films include the riotous comedy The Firemen's Ball, as well as period pieces like Amadeus or Valmont. One of Ondříček's films that he did for a director other than Forman was the Mike Nichols-directed Silkwod.

Saks, who died yesterday at 93, was probably best known for his work on stage, notably directing the works of Neil Simon. On the big screen, he directed several of Simon's plays, among them The Odd Couple and Barefoot in the Park. Apart from directing Neil Simon stuff, Saks also did the really fun movie Cactus Flower which brought Goldie Hawn an Oscar and showed us just how good Ingrid Bergman was at comedy.

Alec Guinness had chemistry with his co-stars in The Man in the White Suit.

Is there an antisocial producer?

How about **** by Andy Warhol? [ducking]

Not so much highlights for me, but a few things I noticed seeing on a cursory run through the schedule: Untamed Youth: Mamie Van Doren winds up with a bunch of rock musicians in a prison work gang. Lurene Tuttle plays the judge who has a change of heart. It's one of those movies that seems awful, but winds up being fun. Zombies on Broadway: An RKO (if memory serves) B, which means pretty low budget. But the plot is just so dumb that you can't help liking this. The 129-minute version of Greed. I always thought there was a great 129-minute version of the story to be made, and damn Erich von Stroheim for coming up with something that ran to nine hours and forcing MGM to edit it down. Where was Frances Marion when MGM needed her? Split Second: A really nifty little film set against the backdrop of an impending nuclear test. 99 River Street. "This place is dying", says the woman as she puts a coin in the jukebox. One of the patrons of the dive bar gets up and says, "Revive me, baby!" as he starts to dance with her. Nobody talks like that, of course, but it's the sort of dialog that makes a movie like this fun. The Swarm is back on the schedule. Poor Olivia de Havilland.

Then you'll like June 28, when TCM goes from Godzilla, King of the Monsters to The Passion of Joan of Arc. There's two movies you never expected to see paired.

For some of us, it would require a lot of snow to melt.

If you want to see tedious and boring, wait for the next complaint about TCM showing a film from after 1970, or one with bad language.

The Cassandra Crossing is another hoot.

I liked the disclaimer at the end about these being African killer bees, and not good, honest American honeybees. I couldn't figure if Irwin Allen meant that disclaimer seriously, or as a joke to see who's reading the credits.

It's as if kids have never seen bazooms before.

Did you know that TCM doesn't show any mysteries? If you go to TCM's online weekly schedule, there's a list of genres running across the top just above the schedule. "Mystery" is not among the genres listed. (Neither is science fiction.) And When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth was nominated for its visual effects.

Actress who played Franchot Tone's love interest in 1935's Mutiny on the Bounty and later married Marlon Brando dies aged 98 She also sang the Carioca in Flying Down to Rio. Apparently she died last Thursday, but most of the obituaries are only from the past day or two. I didn't see an obituary post here. Movita with Brando and Debbie Reynolds

Hitch did, however, have a child be a killer in Marnie. And I think Sabotage is better for having the kid be killed. (The special effects, however, are woeful.)

Marion Morrison might have something to say about that. And Marian is a Czech/Slovak man's name, as in hockey player Marian Hossa.

Gene Kelly on roller skates in the finale is worth the price of admission. And you forgot the animated sequence.

Will we get a movie about hikers and bippies?

It's a lot of fun. The movie focuses on the group's 1977 tour of Australia, with the framing story of a radio reporter whose job it is to get an interview with the group. But, just like the characters in Luis Buñuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, the guy keeps coming up just short, instead interviewing a lot of regular people along the way. I wonder how many of them were actors; the taxi driver who hates ABBA must have been an actor. But the two little girls had to be real people. One of the girls says that ABBA's outfits look sexy, and both of them start laughing because they used the word "sexy". As for the group themselves, the backstage stuff is really worth seeing. The schedule isn't showing up for me. I presume TCM didn't include 9 To 5 for the SOTM salute to Hayden?