flickerknickers

Moviejoe, you beat me to it! I was just going to give a hearty plug to the new, restored "Casablanca" now on DVD with those ever watchable extras. You made a good point about the promos for other much-desired goodies like "Yankee Doodle Dandy" that are still not available. Well, I'm here to give a big endorsement of the newly released and restored l950 shocker, "House of Wax," with Vincent Price. But even better than that is that one of the incredible extras is the complete, restored early Technicolor scare-fest, "Mystery of the Wax Museum" from l934! This is one of my all-time horror faves. I've nearly worn out my video tape of this grisly, juicy, Pre-code thriller starring Fay Wray and Glenda Farrell who steals everything that's not nailed down as the wise-cracking reporter. The two-tone Technicolor of pastels are used to fantastic effect, with fantastic Anton Grot set designs and everything moves at neck-break speed under the direction of Michael Curtiz. You definitely get your money's worth at $14.95. And don't forget that "The Thing From Another World" from l950 has also just been released in beautiful, pristine black and white. Now, if only some wise DVD executive would put on disc all of Betty Grable's musicals, Deanna Durbin's delights, all the rest of Bette Davis' gems and other faves like "Grand Hotel," "Dinner at Eight," etc.--they would make us mighty happy film addicts! And we're ALL waiting for the deluxe, extras loaded edition of GONE WITH THE WIND!

fascinating take on john gilbert, coffeedan. This is an angle I never considered in mulling over his career. this also explains how Garbo finally got him to co-star in "Queen Christina," after she turned Laurence Olivier down. But then I wonder why Garbo didn't have the "Name Above the Title and No One Else's Name" proviso in her contract? When I watch Gilbert's silents, he's such a sensuous, charismatic figure. But when I watch him in a talkie, that entire mood is destroyed. I'm sure this is what happened when audiences first saw him open his mouth, make sounds and thus become a mere mortal like the rest of us.

From everything I've read about the talkie transition, studio heads decided to get rid of nearly all of their great silent stars beause the moguls were convinced audiences didn't want "silent stars" anymore. It's been pointed out below that the great silent stars also had huge salaries. Garbo, of course, seemed to have a good-luck angel looking out for her. David Selznick and George Cukor both wanted John Gilbert to play the Larry Renault role in "Dinner at Eight." Louis Mayer blocked this request and John Barrymore got the role--again. He was ideal in both "Grand Hotel" and "Dinner at Eight" but both movies would have given Gilbert a strong shot at continued stardom. That poor guy! He was so electrifying in "Flesh and the Devil" and "The Merry Widow."

MovieJoe, you and I are usually in sync on everything. But I have just a slight quibble about Selznick losing it after "Rebecca." I've always thought his l944 smash hit, "Since You Went Away" was fabulous. It's also listed on Variety's All-Time Grossing Movies. I also believe he put together yet another movie great, l947's "The Spiral Staircase." But after that, it was all downhill. GWTW really drained him and everyone associated with it of much of their vigor. Vivien Leigh never did anything close to GWTW except for truly depressing "Streetcar Named Desire." I watched it once and that was it. It was horrific to see the fabulous Scarlett turned into a quivering, cowering basketcase.

Thanks, Moviejoe, for your appraisal of the "Now Voyager" DVD. I was thinking of buying it, along with "Dark Victory,". Now, I'll run to my nearest Best.buy and grab me a copy. Getting back to "Now Voyager", I'll never forget watching this on the big screen of the old Regency Theater here in NYC when it held its Bette Davis film festival back in the early 80s.In that packed theater one night, hundreds of us were held spellbound by the pristine print and of course--that incredible musical score by la master--Max Steiner. The music and the images created an intense hynoptic mood that no one there ever forgot. "Dark Victory" did the same, with yet another fantastic score by Steiner. By the way, Bette the Magnificent made an appearance right after the final images of "Now Voyager" faded from the screen. She was beyond fabulous. Small, trim, dynamic, dressed in a sharply tailored black suit, pearls, you felt her power from the stage into the last row. She was the star all of us had thought a star should be. Julia, J.Lo, Gwynth--fuggadaboutit!

Many times I put on "Now Voyager" just to listen to the fabulous Max STeiner musical score. This was certainly one of his greatest creations--especially the music he wrote for the scene where "Jerry" finds "Charlotte" on her hotel terrace, they light up, they kiss and finally connect. Davis' biographers said that Jack Warner and producer Hal Wallis had originally wanted Irene Dunne, Norma Shearer, Garbo, Ginger Rogers, Joan Fontaine and Joan Crawford for the Charlotte Vale--until Queen Bette found out and raised holy hell. This is just one case where she had to literally fight for the great roles that made her career.

I do wish TCM would consider having the wonderful, warm Robert Dorian--former host of the long gone good days of AMC--as an alternate host. Robert Osborne was okay but he always seemed a little tense and formal. Osborne was more like the man on the streets. I still think it'd be great if they could have some of our very rare living movie legends on to introduce some of their old movies: like Anita Page, Liz Taylor, Shirley Temple, Jennifer Jones, Rhonda Fleming, etc.

I always wished Ramon Navarro could have gone on for a long time in talkies. He was cute, charming and he could sing, too. The new bio on him, "Beyond Paradise," claims Navarro was mainly responsible for the termination of his career when he became obsessed with becoming an opera star and ignored his movie career. Ramon supposedly turned down several juicy roles because he was touring and performing before European royalty. He started to accept horrible roles just to keep the money coming in. With his movies bombing, Louis B. Mayer finally had a good reason for kicking Navarro off the lot. Navarro had also started drinking heavily and by the time he was murdered in the early 50s, his friends were convinced he had a death wish--because he was dragging all these thugs into his mansion. John Gilbert could have lasted longer, too, if Louis Mayer had only helped him out. Garbo wanted Gilbert to play the John Barrymore role in "Grand Hotel" but Mayer nixed it. Can't you just imagine Barrymore as the doomed Baron?

this reminds me of the era when Madonna was red-hot and she was being called "The Marilyn Monroe" and the "Jean Harlow" of her time--all because she'd dyed her hair platinum. Same thing about J-lo. That nasal, Bronx twang grates on my nerves. Rita Hayworth and her ilk were one of a kind who'll never be duplicated. Dying your hair and having a multi-million dollar PR firm pushing you onto mag covers equals nothing but hype but zero magic.

did anybody see Ginger Rogers in the l943 "Tender Comrade" that TCM showed earlier this week? A very strange movie. At the end, when she gets the telegram that her husband is dead, she picks up their newborn son and makes a long, long speech about America. The camera stays on her face the whole time. Five years later, "Tender Comrade" was cited by the McCarthy UnAmerican Hearings in Washington as proof that Dalton Trumbo, one of the writers, was a leading Hollywood communist. Why? Because he used the word "Comrade" in the movie title. Yet, the movie itself, is unusually pro-American and gung-ho patriotic. This is a scary fact. That back then, the very word "comrade" could be used to destroy movie careers which happened to Trumbo and several others associated with this movie.

I've already mentioned this quite a few times but I wish TCM would show some of the great old Republic serials like "G-Men Vs. the Black Dragon" (1944), "Adventures of Captain Marvel" (1941)and "King of the Texas Rangers." Or, for Halloween, maybe have a Universal Horror festival, with all the Mummy, Wolf Man, Dracula, Ape Woman, Mad Doctor flicks. Or, maybe even a Judy Canova, Abbott and Costello festival.

I, too, am so sick of the whole drag thing. It's been done to death. I hoped the whole idea of guys-in-drag would have ended with the hugely over-rated "Some Like It Hot." I still remember the interviews Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis gave during the filming, each of them shrieking about how really macho they were, how they simply couldn't imagine men dressing up. Pu-leeze! Everytime a major male star has to "dress up", it's always the same thing. they are terribly emphathic how they're merely "acting." If you watch some of Gene Kelly's musicals, he's bad at adding scenes of him throwing a towel over his head, prancing around and lisping (i.e., "An American in Paris") which can one shudder.

i really meant "buddy rogers" instead of Buddy Clark in my entry just below. Anybody got anymore jazz babies and boys they think should be pointed out?

you said it, alix. gimme a double dose anyday of of buddy clark, billy haines, johnny (the fab) mack brown over today's (yawn) heartthrobs like ben affleck, brad pitt, tommy boy cruise.

Even Norma Desmond in "Sunset Boulevard" would thrill to this stunning restoration of the l928 legendary and much-betroubled, "Queen Kelly," from Kino International. If you're a Swanson fan like myself, you may remember that silent film clip she shows to her loverboy, William Holden. The clip is from 'Queen Kelly,' directed by Ernest Von STroheim but aborted by Swanson half-way through production. She says in an interview on the DVD that it was because she knew the censors would never allow the movie to be shown the way Stroheim was filming it. Movie stills and fragments fill out the remaining thirty minutes. Swanson is fabulous as the convent girl who somehow becomes the madam of a South American brothel. A typical Stroheim plot of the bizarre. You watch what might have been if Stroheim had only been allowed to complete the film and feel great sadness. The nearly one million dollars spent on the unfinished masterpiece all came from Swanson's own purse. Her sugar daddy, Joseph Kennedy, dumped her when he realized 'Queen Kelly' would never be realized. This is a must DVD to either rent or buy and cherish. Viva la Swanson!

Good God, what next? If a viewer turns onto to TCM, they shouldn't expect a censored interview on camera made decades ago by someone who was just being honest. Our shocked viewer might want to try 20th Century Fox Movie Channel. They've just deleted all showings of their beautifully restored Charlie Chan movies. Why? Because an Asian pressure group said the Chan movies portrayed Asians in a bigoted way. You'd think these Asian groups would be thrilled to see one of them portrayed with so much class, charm and wit. Chan certainly didn't come off as a "buck-toothed stereotype"--as one of the protestors charged--to me. The outraged viewer might also enjoy AMC these days. They own all the rights to the Lil' Rascals and Our Gang comedies but 47 of the episodes are locked up and will never be shown? Why? Because pressure groups said Buckwheat was shown as being "clumsy" and turned into a "figure of fun." Strange, but I thought that was the point of these comedy shorts. Everyone was supposed to be figures of fun.

Addicts devoted to "The Terminator" have called it everything in the book--from a parable, to an action-adventure thriller, to a good-old sci-fi yarn. I don't care what it is. It's one of my all-time faves. I watch it about once every few months. And tonight, I'll be in line at my neighborhood theater to see TM3--and our good friend Arnie is supposed to be there in person. So, until next time--I'll. Be. Buckkkk.

Yes, Yes, I second that idea, Maskedmala. We've had years and years of Chaplin, Keaton, until I'm sick of them. Let's have a cycle of rarely seen movies from other great comedians--like Mabel Normand, Ben Turpin, Fatty Arbuckle, and going way back, let's see some of John Bunny's work! At one time, I've read that this guy was the most popular man in the world, because of his comedies. Let's see what made him tick and if he still has it.

Francis X. was one gorgeous, sexy **** boy, the mature matinee idol that the public loved back in the l900s. His movies are impossible to find these days. Other than Ben Hur, where he looks fantastic, I've only seen photos of him. Wooo, that profile of his! I do know that he was yet another victim of MGM's Louis Mayer. Somehow, Bushman was suppose to meet Mayer for a party or a meeting but the message never got to Bushman. Mayer was infuriated and black-balled him in Hollywood. How Bushman got to make Ben Hur at Mayer's studio is a mystery. Bushman made a whole string of movies with his wife, Beverly Bayne. They were the J-Lo and Ben Affleck of the l900s. Wouldn't it be fantastic if someone unearthed all these flicks and we could see for ourselves this early male heart-throb?

"Harum Scarum", the Elvis Presley nightmare that TCM showed over the weekend, definitely needs to be on our destruction list. One could say that it was so bad, it was good. Not in this case. It was so depressing to see this phenomenally talented performer being showcased in another Colonel Tom Parker's concoctions of cheapness. Elvis and cast wore hideous, off-the-rack clothes, terrible photography and a terrific cast of unknowns. You think that Elvis was offered the starring movie leads in "Sweet Bird of Youth," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "A Star is Born," and dear ole Colonel Parker nixed them all. HIs "boy" had to make mucho money and he could make both him and the Colonel tons of it by making these musical quickies that raked in the dinero. Except for the dazzling "Viva Las Vegas"--and thanks mainly to the sassy Ann-Margaret--Presley's amazing talent was wasted. Let's all say it together now; Destroy. This. Movie!

One of my all-time favorite delights is to curl up in bed on a rainy afternoon and watch a doubleheader that consists of the origianal, "The Thing" (1950) and the John Carpenter l984 remake, "The Thing." Both are equally good in their own way. The old one has great atmosphere while the new one is gloriously gory and scary. The same goes for both versions of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." The Carpenter DVD, by the way, has fantastic extras--a "Making of..." interviews with much of the cast, story-boards, deleted scenes, etc. You can watch it for hours.

Moviejoe, I just watched a terrific Valentino double-feature on DVD that has not only both "The Sheik" and "Son of the Shiek" but some extra goodies. I had just read "Dark Lover," a terrific new bio on our first love male love god. On this DVD, you get a chance to watch the Valentino phenomena right on your TV--and there's a Valentino short called, "The Sheik Takes Off His Clothes," which is merely a nothing come-on since VAlentino strips down to his beach shorts and jersey. I was fortunate to catch Valentino on a big movie screen at one of NYC's old revival houses that are now shuttered. On the big screen, his sensual charisma is amazing. On the small screen, he's just a very handsome guy. You may have heard of this web DVD rental service but I belong to Netflix.com, where you can get an unlimited number of DVD's each month for just $20 a month and they have a nice gallery of silent titles. You can keep the discs as long as you want. When you return one, they send you another one off your "wish list" that you compile. This is where I got the Cecil B. Demille sex comedy, "The Affairs of Anatol" and also the Clara Bow double-feature, "A Parisian Romance" and "Down to the Sea in Ships."

If I see Demi Moore's grinning face next to her teenage boyfriend on any more magazine covers, I think I'll say something aloud that's very nasty. To me, it's such an obvious PR stunt to help re-introduce Miss Moore again to the public after her string of movie bombs led to her retirement for 4 wonderful years. Moore cannot act, she has no charisma and her whole career was built on hype. We jaded observers of the Hollywood scene wonder how long it'll take for Moore to re-assume her old nickname on movie sets: Gimme Moore. Wow, thanks, TCM, for letting me vent.

You said it, Slappy. I remember watching "Psycho" when it first came out in the early 60s and the theater was packed. It was such fun when everyone--men and women--all screamed at the shower scene and of Abrogast being attacked on the stairsteps. But nowadays, I've heard no one scream like that--and I see nearly any "horror" flick that comes out. I remember there were some screams at the end of "The Ring"--which really was startling. I would love to have been in the audiences of the 30s and 40s when movie fans began to see the "new" horror masterpieces like "Dracula" and "Mummy" and of course "Freaks." I've read where some people really did faint, become hysterical and ran out of the theater.

Slappy, you're so on the mark about Ramon Navarro in "Ben Hur"! I much prefer this silent l927 classic to the Charleston Heston version. Ramon projected a totally different personae as Ben Hur, whereas Heston was so damned atheletic and surface. Also, "Metropolis" is fantastic. I'm planning on buying the restored, deluxe version on DVD. When my friends talk about the silents, they usually refer to the comedies of Chaplin and Buster Keaton--which I've seen so many times I'm sick of them. I wish TCM would showcase other silent talents and those great Jazz Age stars--like Billie Dove, Marion Davies, Constance and Norma Talmadge.