CineMaven

Well-said about "ALL ABOUT EVE" Jackaaaaaaaaay! On HBO-S right now "PILLOW TALK" (1959) is on. And by golly, what a comic set-up. An interior decorator at war with a songwriter as they share a telephone party line. The ingredients are pure buttah. Rock Hudson is truly tall, dark and distractingly handsome. He has a sonorous voice, a nice comic touch. He has a twinkle in his eye. Tony Randall is the comic foil. He can deliver a line. Thelma Ritter is the maid...what can I say about Thelma that hasn't been said. She drunkenly rides up the elevator trading quips galore with venerable pro (elevator operator) Allen Jenkins. And then there's Doris Day. She's a doll...a dream. She's like champagne. She's sexy, silly, indignant, a voice like maple syrup, she wears designer clothes like nobody's business. Her eyes sparkle so. She's got a white gown and a short mink jacket with long white gloves that fits her like a glove. Her hair looks like cotton candy. She looks great in emerald green. She gives warm intense looks and can handle the comedy as though it's a thin layer of skin. I love them sizing each other up, the thinking out loud, the obvious deception on Rock's part stringing her along, Rock's pretense at being a Mama's boy, the lady night club singer at the piano singing "You Lied" while Tony takes Rock away.... the split screen fireworks. Twisty. They take a horse and buggy ride through Central Park with Rock holding the reins. The cab-man thinks aloud: "Hangs onto the reins like he's holdin' onto subways traps. I don't know what he's up to. I'm sure glad she's not my daughter." When Rock hides out in an obstetrician's office...I'm done! The doctor says to his receptionist/nurse: DOCTOR: "A man says he's going to have a baby and you let him get away?" NURSE: "Well he was obviously a psychopath." DOCTOR: "Miss Resnick, medical science still has many regions to explore." Oh yeah...I'm done! In thinking back to my menage-a-trois list, I was remiss if I didn't add Rock Hudson - Doris Day - Tony Randall. They are a perfect team. And I very much enjoyed their trilogy of films together. In this, when Rock Hudson sees Doris Day dancing a sexy mambo and wistfully thinks aloud: "So THAT'S the other end of your party line." We're off to the races. And I'm having a wonderful time watching the battle of the sexes. Is it really 1959? It might not be everybody's cuppa tea, but when a movie is perfect, it has no age.

7:30AM On Dangerous Ground (1951) A tough cop sent to help in a mountain manhunt falls for the quarry's blind sister. Cast: Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan, Ward Bond. Dir: Nicholas Ray. This film will air Saturday morning. Watch it if you can.

"CineM,. my comment about "telephony-web sites" is that websites... And I'm not sure why TCM's hiring web-programmers who are loading up a whole new set of tracking cookies that invade our 'devices' - just another attempt to run up per-minute cell-charges?"<< (( OLLIE T. )) >> BINGO!! Mystery solved. That's as good a theory as I've EVER heard. **** "That's beautiful...and I quite agree! Celeste Holm is laughing right now....that crazy, relieved laugh when she realizes that the little ploy Eve has worked out doesn't matter. It always makes me smile - this movie really is very funny and the twists and turns are deliciously entertaining."<< (( JACKFAVELL )) >> Thanxx so much Jaxxxon. I can see that scene in my mind's eye. I love Bette moving Celeste's drink from in front of her. **** "CineMaven: I totally second your comments...That ending is poetic justice with Eve fixing to get paid forward by 'Phoebe'..." << (( WOULDBESTAR )) >> I can't think of a more perfect and ironic and just film ending in all movies.

I'm putting "TOMBSTONE" over "GUNFIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL" though the scene where Kirk Douglas goes apoplectically ballistic on Jo Van Fleet. I just found "Tombstone" a more rivetingly told tale. Jerk that pistol.

<< (( SPIT TAKE! )) >>

"You tell I'm comin'!!! And hell's comin' with me!!!" Hands down: "TOMBSTONE." You're a daisy if you do.

All I know is that "ALL ABOUT EVE" is a perfect motion picture. It wears on me like my favorite sweater...comfy...warm. I love Bette Davis' Rita Hayworth hair; so thick and lush. It acts also. Georgie's rapier wit is so laser sharp, I felt it all the way here at home. Bette's sarcasm is like vinegar in the eye. Any number of lines is quotable, the inflections are pungent. I wish Bette and Georgie had more scenes together. It's like watching Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone fence in "Captain Blood." Look how poised Marilyn is in the face of George Sanders, Anne Baxter, Celeste Holm, pros all. She's right in there with them. It is fun to watch her, but we know where all eyes belong: Anne's no slouch, neither is Thelma, but BETTE DAVIS. Well...she does reign supreme doesn't she. "It's about time the piano realized, it has not written the concerto."

I went to the movies yesterday and saw "SUCKER PUNCH" a CGI extra- vaganza of explosions and fires and running and jumping and shooting and fighting. Acting? Minimal...but not enough to get in the way of explosions and fires and running and jumping and shooting and fighting. A least women were doing all the runnin' and jumpin' and shootin' and fightin'. Why am I bringing this up in a classic movies message board? B'cuz in one scene in this metaphor for the mistreatment of women in the mental health field in the 40 's, the five actresses were in a room debating their next plan of action, and behind them were torn posters for the movies "BLUES IN THE NIGHT" "MY DREAM IS YOURS" and "THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS." That excited me. Then there was more fire, running, jumping, shooting and fighting.

Hey there Ollie - Schedule? Y'mean, there's a schedule? I don't think so. TCM tossed it out. A few weeks ago, in fact. We don' need no steenkin' schedule! Why should TCM try to entice people to pay attention to movies? It's not as if they ever show any hidden gems or lost treasures. < SPIT (FRIGGIN') TAKE!!!! > Why Jackaaaaaay! - I'd love that! I adore them all, all the pencil thin mustaches and their wearers! Apparently, there is no programming tomorrow - March 31st doesn't even exist on the sched. I'm not big on the pencil thin mustaches. I saw a little bit of some movie with John Payne and Dennis Morgan, and John Payne had a pencil thin mustache. I didn't think it flattered him. As for the non-existent March 31st...here ya go. 6:15 AM Only Angels Have Wings (1939) A team of flyers risks their lives to deliver the mail in a mountainous South American country. Cast: Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Rita Hayworth. Dir: Howard Hawks. 8:30 AM Love Me Tonight (1932) A Parisian tailor falls in love with a princess. Cast: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Charlie Ruggles. Dir: Rouben Mamoulian. 10:00 AM The Children's Hour (1961) A malicious student tries to destroy the teachers at a girls' school. Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner. Dir: William Wyler. 12:00 PM God's Little Acre (1958) A dirt-farmer lets his family fall apart while he hunts for his grandfather's buried gold. Cast: Robert Ryan, Aldo Ray, Tina Louise. Dir: Anthony Mann. 2:00 PM Of Mice and Men (1939) A drifter and his slow-witted pal try to make their way in the West. Cast: Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr., Betty Field. Dir: Lewis Milestone. 4:00 PM Trapeze (1956) An aging trapeze star and his protigi fall for the same woman. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Gina Lollobrigida. Dir: Carol Reed. 6:00 PM Black Narcissus (1947) Nuns founding a convent in the Himalayas are tormented by the area's exotic beauty. Cast: Deborah Kerr, Sabu, Jean Simmons. Dir: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger. TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: EMPLOYEE PICKS 8:00 PM All About Eve (1950) An ambitious young actress tries to take over a star's career and love life. Cast: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders. Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz. 10:30 PM Last Of Sheila, The (1973) A game of murder among wealthy vacationers turns into the real thing. Cast: Richard Benjamin, Dyan Cannon, James Coburn. Dir: Herbert Ross. 12:45 AM Splendor in the Grass (1961) Sexual repression drives a small-town Kansas girl mad during the roaring twenties. Cast: Natalie Wood, Warren Beatty, Pat Hingle. Dir: Elia Kazan. 3:00 AM The Story Of G.I. Joe (1945) War correspondent Ernie Pyle joins an Army platoon during World War II to learn what battle is really about. Cast: Burgess Meredith, Robert Mitchum, Freddie Steele. Dir: William A. Wellman. 5:00 AM Men in Exile (1937) Gun smugglers clash with an island dictator. Cast: Dick Purcell, June Travis, Alan Baxter. Dir: John Farrow. But TCM didn't hire me, so I won't make this my job.

As much as a job this is...and a business TCM is...I wonder if one of the criteria to be hired to work for Turner Classic Movies is a love of classic movies.

A very nice tribute Jack. Very nice. Sad news.

Hi Ollie - I didn't understand your last paragraph, but you're definitely welcome about my typing up the schedule in your first paragraph. That's the way it should look. You get all the information in one fell swoop. I always think there are ulterior motives when a company changes something that works very well in the first place. What's that saying (again); "If it ain't broke, don't fix it. What's the ulterior motive.

You're so right Ollie. :-( I used to cut up the schedule and paste it onto the VHS box to know what was on the tape. Now that you have to < Click! > (Yuck!) < Click! > (Bleeech!) < Click! > (ACK!!!) this new dadblasted schedule... TCM, c'mon...give your loyal followers a break!!

TCM Programmers need a medal. I love when they block it out like that. Keep doin' wha'cha doin' TCM. (Oh not with this Message Bored) - yuck - but with your programming! :x

Hello SansFin. That's okay about my web - series. It's a project that I'm enjoying working on and if you ever have it figured out about which came first, the chicken or the egg...the bedroom office, I mean office bedroom...I think you will get a nice chuckle or two out of our crazy antics. Thanxx for even considering watching it. Now what was the last movie you saw on TCM that you enjoyed?

Musikone is quoting a poster in this thread: http://forums.tcm.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8507273

Oops! I got that backwards. Sorry.

"I'm not quite sure how he got cast in those "Mexican" bandito/revolutionary (there's a difference?) roles." Of course there is. Bandits ride and shoot; revolutionaries sing and dance.

Warner worked with Ingrid Bergman in "ADAM HAD FOUR SONS." She plays a governess to his sons and stays with the family as the boys grow to men. Richard Denning plays one of the sons as a man and he's having a dalliance with his brother's wife played by Susan Hayward. Whew! She surely was a Vixen with a capital Witch in this movie. She and Ingrid had a couple of heated arguments. I had the tv on in the background while working and he played a Mexican revolutionary at 6:00am this morning. A Mexican revolutionary? Aye yi yi. It looked pretty rough with the sound off. A lot of singing and dancing and singing and dancing and riding and shooting and poor accents (which I heard when I did unmute the film). But these were Hollywood Mexicans. The only saving grace in the film for me was Margo. Yeah, she sang and danced. But she really is Mexican. I'll take the Baxter as the amnesiatic Dr. Ordway.

I'm curious how Warner Baxter could go from "42nd Street" to Ingrid Bergman...to these "Crime Doctor" movies. But I love "B" flicks.

If there are any fans of that perennial favorite of the 1930's with the husky voice, check out "CRIME DOCTOR" this morning at 10:30AM. 10:30 AM Crime Doctor (1943) A blow on the head forces a renowned psychologist to re- member he was once a criminal. Cast: Warner Baxter, Margaret Lindsay, John Litel. Dir: Michael Gordon. BW-66 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

Here's the format...to harken back to the good ol' easy-to-read, one-stop shopping days on the Message Board: All Times Eastern 29 Tuesday 10:30 AM Crime Doctor (1943) A blow on the head forces a renowned psychologist to remember he was once a criminal. Cast: Warner Baxter, Margaret Lindsay, John Litel. Dir: Michael Gordon. BW-66 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 11:45 AM The Crime Doctor's Strangest Case (1943) A criminal psychologist searches for clues in an elderly crime victim's dreams. Cast: Warner Baxter, Lynn Merrick, Gloria Dickson. Dir: Eugene Forde. BW-68 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 1:00 PM The Crime Doctor's Courage (1945) A criminal psychiatrist investigates the murder of a two-time widower. Cast:Warner Baxter, Hillary Brooke, Jerome Cowan. Dir: George Sherman. BW-70 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format ? 2:15 PM The Crime Doctor's Warning (1945) A criminal psychologist treats an artist whose blackouts coincide with a series of murders. Cast: Warner Baxter, John Litel, Dusty Anderson. Dir: William Castle. BW-70 mins, CC, Letterbox Format 3:30 PM Crime Doctor's Manhunt (1946) A criminal psychologist investigates the murder of a veteran with amnesia. Cast: Warner Baxter, Ellen Drew, William Frawley. Dir: William Castle. BW-61 mins, CC, Letterbox Format 4:45 PM The Crime Doctor's Gamble (1947) While visiting France, a criminal psychologist tries to clear a disturbed young man of his father's murder. Cast:? Warner Baxter, Micheline Cheirel, Steven Geray. Dir: William Castle.BW-66 mins, CC, Letterbox Format 6:00 PM The Crime Doctor's Diary (1949) A criminal psychologist tries to clear his patient of arson charges. Cast:Warner Baxter, Stephen Dunne, Lois Maxwell. Dir: Seymour Friedman. BW-61 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Hi there Ollie - I'm thinking we'll be needed to do our own thread by thread schedule-analysis so we can post complete, readable, accessible info on all of TCM's threads, days in advance. I still can't figure out why they eliminated so much easily-displayed/read info and wanted to smother that data under more and more mouse-clickable, pop-ups and pages. That's tons more data-traffic on their poor ol' servers. Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men... Is there a doctor in the house? See: Noir-Gangster Forum, A Walk ON the Noir Side. Maybe TCM's paying their web-contractors by the page-transmitted now, not realizing that they get charged more for many additional pop-up pages than the old schedule's all-info-on-one-page style. Paying these folks piecemeal. Geez. What a discouraging waste of our time. I say if it ain't broke...don't fix it. I wish they'd change the schedule back the way it was. ****** SPOILERS Howdy Madame Cutter - CineT., I know Veda was a bit stuck up and obnoxious but at the end of Part 2 last night, we all but saw Mildred smothering Veda with her grief over the loss of Ray. I wonder if Veda was left with the impression (likely mistaken) that Mildred loved Ray more than Veda? Ooh yeah, I saw that. That was h-e-a-v-y. I found Ray more lovable...loving. For the first time in my "MILDRED PIERCE" experience, I began to think Veda as demonic. Might help explain why Veda hates Mildred so as the story goes forward. She was pretty hoity toity before the Hug. I got the impression Mildred was trying to (metaphorically) protect her daughter from harm. A month from now, we'll be having drinks and talking in person! Looking forward to it. :-)

Will do, Ma'am. I will say this...it goes along at a slower pace. I can really feel Mildred's desperation at getting something going after she throws Bert outta the house. (I am believing the beautiful and glamorous Kate Winslet as this Depression-era housewife. She does look very plain and ordinary in a very real way). And as for Veda... Hmmm...let's just say she's not of this Earth. She actually makes the "bad seed" look well-behaved. Something is seriously wrong with her. She has very little human emotion and the contempt she has for Mildred is astonishing...we know not where it comes from. But it's there. In spades. P.S. I see the lag time has been shortened for when one can edit one's previous post. Drat!

What a great review, MM. I really enjoyed your thoughts and your characterization of 'Smithy.' I, too, was struck by the scene of the doctors talking over Leonora's empty desk. Dr. Hoffman seemed very very wise. And so do you.