LsDoorMat

Ring of Terror (1962) featuring the world's oldest medical students. A B film by an independent producer. It is funny AND stupid.

I absolutely love "Anchorman". Maybe you'd have to be a woman breaking into a male dominated industry in the late 70s (I was) to get it. But there are pieces of it that are just so ridiculous it is funny. It was TRYING to be ridiculous. On the other hand Gigli (2003) is just a stupid movie, IMHO. It was stupid and bad with very stupid dialogue. It was so stupid and bad it broke up the stars, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, who had been in a romantic relationship. And the tagline "The violent story about how a criminal lesbian, a tough-guy hitman with a heart of gold, and a mentally challenged man came to be best friends through a hostage." ???? It is actually an object lesson on the value of the studio system, that prevented really embarrassingly bad stuff from being made. Budget = 54M, USA box office = 6M. I don't think anybody would think of it as a cult film, and it doesn't have the excuse of Manos or "Ring of Terror" or any of the Ed Wood films of being made on the cheap by bad writers, bad directors, and no-name stars, which made the smart remarks in MST3K possible.

Oh yes, definitely have I seen stupid movies. I'd say anybody who has ever watched "Manos the Hands of Fate" would probably say that. Either that or they would call it indecipherable. The guy who posted this really has a great review as an intro. I couldn't say it better. Make sure you read it. Also check out "Ring of Terror", a public domain film that is very stupid.

This car looks somewhat like the French "Citroen", which is , ironically, almost identical to the French word for "lemon" - citron.

Go to Amazon and type in the search field "Robert Osborne". You'll find he did author and co-author some other books, but none was more substantive than his 85 Years of Oscar. One thing I wish Mr. Osborne had done, although he did do it in a way in bits and pieces he left in interviews over the years, is write his autobiography. He could have had it released upon his death to avoid any problems for TCM. There is a 100 minute interview with SAG that he did in 2009, years before he was ill, in which he pretty much lets it all hang out. It's over at youtube and pretty easy to find. It was posted three days after his death, and if you listen to the entire thing, you'll figure like I did that he probably told the SAG folks that he would talk candidly about his life ONLY if the interview was released AFTER his death, so as to not cause any controversy for TCM.

I can see this being a problem for DVD, but I would think that the original broadcast rights remain.

You might want to watch Donlevy in "A Gentleman After Dark". Donlevy stars and is pretty good in it, but that is not the main reason to watch. It is a sound production code remake of 1928's silent "Forgotten Faces", shown at Capitolfest in 2014. It is as close as you can probably get to watching this late silent era classic.

Buster Keaton is my favorite comic of all time. Charley Chase - particularly in combination with Thelma Todd - comes in a close second. The Marx Brothers come in third.

I'm really sorry about your books. That scenario always worries me about my own books. Warner Brothers put out two excellent DVD sets on Warner Brothers and MGM. They are "MGM: The Lion Roars" and "You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story". Universal put out a documentary entitled "Universal Horror" which is packaged with many of their classic Hollywood horror franchise DVDs. How could a studio (Universal) be behind the making of such a great story - which really encompasses the history of horror in films - and be so disinterested in their own film history? Nothing replaces a good book, but these DVDs are pretty informative.

Why not put them all on DVD? Why doesn't TCM play them anymore? I think the answer to my first question is - too specialized to be profitable. I think the answer to my second question is - Because somebody somewhere would get confused and believe Osborne is still alive. TCM is showing a few on his tribute night in May, but there are a ton of these things we never see anymore. Some haven't been seen in - 15 years? - I'll have to rely on you guys with the complete history of TCM schedules for that exact information. Here is a list of all TCM Private Screenings that are out there and those that are on DVD or available from other sources. Robert Osborne (2014), "Conversations With Robert Osborne" Liza Minnelli (2010), "Conversations with Robert Osborne" Ernest Borgnine (2009), Walter Mirisch (2008), Norman Jewison (2007), Jane Fonda (2007), - currently on youtube Stanley Donen (2006), Child Stars (2006) former child stars Margaret O'Brien, Jane Withers, Dickie Moore and Darryl Hickman, Angela Lansbury (2006), - currently on youtube Sidney Lumet (2005), Lauren Bacall (2005), - currently on youtube Patricia Neal (2004), Shirley MacLaine (2003), - currently on youtube as "Private Sessions" Debbie Reynolds (2002), - currently on youtube James Garner (2001), Rod Steiger (2000), - currently on youtube Betty Hutton (2000), - currently on youtube Tony Curtis (1999), Leslie Caron (1999), Anthony Quinn (1999), June Allyson (1998), Lemmon/Matthau (1998), Charlton Heston (1998), Ann Miller (1997), Mickey Rooney (1997), "Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection" Robert Mitchum/Jane Russell (1996), "Robert Mitchum Signature Collection" Esther Williams (1996), "Esther Williams TCM Spotlight Collection, Volume 1" Jane Powell (1995), "Classic Musicals From the Dream Factory, Volume 3" I know I've seen the one on child stars and some of the more recent ones. But many of these seem lost to the ages such as the ones with Tony Curtis, Charleton Heston, or Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. Maybe they haven't been shown in so long because as Robert Osborne got older and sicker TCM did not want to show the contrast with a 60 something Robert. I do wish TCM would have shown all of these on Robert's Tribute day or at least put them out on the Warner Archive where it literally costs them nothing because it is burn on demand.

In General Discussions, it seems that you have to remain in the realm of film topics. Sometimes threads get moved to other forums, but I haven't seen many deleted. If you go to the "Off Topic Chit-Chat" forum, I gather you can say pretty much anything controversial that you wish as long as you don't get either personal or profane. My own experience? There was one poster on these boards a couple of years ago who from time to time would call me "stupid". I would shoot back with a scathing but not profane response. I was bullied horribly as a child and I AM NOT going to take that stuff as an adult. She would promptly have my post removed. A couple of times somebody called her "stupid" without using the actual word, as she did. She would have their post removed. She could sure dish it out but could not take it. Fortunately, she seems to have moved on and doesn't post around here (much) anymore.

I'm mainly a collector of history and engineering books, and Metaxas is probably my favorite author, but I do have some movie books. I guess the first one I ever collected was the - at that time - 60 Years of Oscar by Robert Osborne. I remember when I bought it I was wondering "Is this the guy who introduces movies over on The Movie Channel?". At the time that is all that I knew about him. I also have his bobble head, and I've updated the Oscar book up to the last he published. As far as other movie books, I have "Buster Keaton - Cut to the Chase" - This author makes a bunch of assumptions, but if you want details on Buster's life and his extended family, then this is the best source I've found. "Bulls, Balls, Bicycles, and Actors" - Charles Bickford's autobiography still leaves a bunch of unanswered questions, but if you want a bunch of good stories about his acting days, this is it. "The Missing Reel" - In September 1890, on his way to Washington, DC. to file a patent on the first moving picture camera and projector, French inventor Augustin Le Prince vanished, and neither he nor his body were ever found. Meanwhile, Thomas Edison was granted a patent for the same invention. This rather incoherent book is the only one I've found about the fascinating possibilities of what could have happened. "The Universal Story" (1983) - So the "story" is missing the last 35 years. "RKO Radio Pictures" - History of RKO, complete with stories about how Fred Astaire tried badly to get out of his contract with them. "A Song in the Dark" - About the dawn of sound musicals (1926-1930) and early sound in general. Richard Barrios is about the funniest author I know. In reference to 1928's "The Singing Fool" he says "What is this film that makes The Jazz Singer look like Ibsen?" "Dangerous Curves Atop Hollywood Heels" - Story of several women of early Hollywood and their sad ends. Some the average film history buff will know, some were new to me. Very well researched. "Michael Curtiz: A Life in Film" - Definitely worth your time. The guy is not likeable, but boy is he fascinating. "Hank and Jim" - The story of the 50 year friendship between Henry Fonda, liberal, and James Stewart, conservative. "Sunday Nights at Seven: The Jack Benny Story" - Autobiography of Jack Benny. He didn't finish the autobiography due to his sudden death of pancreatic cancer, so his daughter and George Burns flesh out the story. I'd give it five stars for Benny's part of the story, but I'd knock one off because his daughter repeatedly tries to make this about her and her "mommy problems" with Mary. "Cagney on Cagney" - Cagney's autobiography is a good read that details his problems with Warner Brothers along with the rest of his career and life. Cagney always considered himself a dancer - he wasn't interested in watching his own films unless he was dancing in it. He also considered himself a farmer at heart, and did not like the Hollywood scene. "The Talkies: American Cinema's Transition to Sound, 1926-1931 - This is a very dry academic book with lots of information. Definitely not a light read. To put it bluntly, it makes the transition to sound seem boring. Looking forward- I have "Backwards and in Heels: The Past, Present And Future Of Women Working In Film" on preorder. It is written by our own Alicia Malone. I'll let you know how it goes. I have more books on film and film history, but these are the ones I own that stick out in my memory as unique.

Well, now this I must see. AND I know where I can get a copy too. It would be great if Universal would just sell their classic film collection - along with the pre 1949 Paramounts - to WB, if they are interested.

I really didn't like Harlow that much in this film or "The Public Enemy". In "Enemy" she is supposed to be from Texas but sounds like she is from Queens??? MGM and the persona they gave her were the best things that ever happened to her. She only had a seven year career in film, but is still probably better remembered than some who had careers that lasted decades.

The first all talking feature film, 1928's "Lights of New York", will be released by the Warner Archive on April 17. This is its first release in its entirety on any format. There were scenes from it on "The Dawn of Sound Laserdisc". Let me just say it is delightfully awful, from the mixed metaphors -"So you think you can have any chicken you want and throw me back in the deck!" to lines so common we don't even know where they come from - "Take him for a ride" or "I've lived, and I've loved, and I've lost!". From Singin in the Rain - "Did somebody get paid to write this dialog?". It's full of people you've probably never heard of before, particularly the stars - Helene Costello (sister of Delores Costello) and Cullen Landis, and directed by Bryan Foy of the "Seven Little Foys". Foy mainly directed shorts during his career, including several Vitaphone shorts that still exist. I think this may be the only feature film he directed that is still with us. Also note Gladys Brockwell, who was making a good transition to sound from silent films when an automobile accident cut her life short in 1929. Supposedly Ms. Brockwell's mother was seen repeatedly viewing the last film Gladys made - "The Drake Case" - as long as it ran in theatres. I guess a talking record of her daughter on film, keeping the illusion of her life around just a bit longer, was a comfort to her.

One thing I noticed in "Hell's Angels" and again in "Scarface" - two early talkies from Howard Hughes. The women are always faithless! Even the mother in "Scarface". And they are not faithless in a believable way. It seems Howard Hughes may have loved women, but didn't like or trust them at all.

Young Man of Manhattan is on youtube. It's not a great copy, but it's watchable.

It's a shame that so much of Colbert's early work was over at Paramount. You have to go to the gray market to see any of them. The best of them is "Young Man of Manhattan", in which Colbert and her actual husband Norman Foster play two newspaper columnists who marry after a whirlwind courtship. What gets in the way is Foster's character's lack of professional ambition, and the fact that he is being ardently pursued by a college girl flapper played by a 19 year old Ginger Rogers. And then there is a pesky case of blindness brought on by prohibition era booze. "The Big Pond" has Colbert as a debutante in love with a poor Frenchman, played by Maurice Chevalier. When they want to marry, Colbert's dad decides to use reverse psychology, accept Chevalier, take him back to the US with them, give him a job in his factory, and prove to his daughter that he could never fit in. But things don't work out quite that way. Her earliest surviving sound film "The Hole in the Wall" is about a bunch of fake psychics with Edward G. Robinson playing opposite Colbert. I'd only recommend this one for fans of the early talkies as the entire thing is a mixed bag. For example, there is a train wreck where the camera goes to different people on the train just prior to the wreck to get an idea of the human toll. But the wreck itself just looks like a kid's model train falling off of a hill.

Charles Bickford. Even after reading his autobiography there is so much I don't know about this interesting guy. He wanted to be on the stage - he did that and did it well. He went to be a leading man at MGM and got tangled up with Louis B in the early 30s and that never ended well for anybody. He got Fox to commit to signing him as a leading man but then got mauled by a tiger and Fox backed out of their contract. So he did a series of B films and then decided to be a supporting actor in A films and he did that well. Apparently he was a success in business. He was married to the same woman for over 50 years, had two children with her, and not once mentions either his children or his wife in his autobiography. He was buried in an obscure unmarked grave in spite of having great wealth at the time of his death.

"Looks like Stormy weather - last tango in Moscow" - great title.

Actually, it is the 2nd of 4 "Michael Curtiz Days", but that includes a great deal of Flynn.

Thanks for your condolences. I always felt that when I lost one parent I would lose the other shortly thereafter, especially once they got into their 80s. I've always wanted to go to Wisconsin (in summer). There's a restaurant there that backs up to a hill and has sheep grazing on its roof. That would be something to see. Mom breaking a hip from a standing position and THEN falling is what started it all. She had a massive heart attack coming out of surgery, and after she died, dad died of heart failure. Women are trained to be on the alert for breast cancer, but I think osteoporosis doesn't get enough attention because it is silent and slow. The fact is, if mom had not broken that hip, they might both still be alive. Sorry to get so OT.

I was a teenager in the 70's - born in 1958 - and I remember these cheap slasher films when they were actually coming out. We still had drive-in theaters at the time, and I think many of them were made so couples could go somewhere legitimate - the drive-in - and make out. And, yes, the 70s were the first full decade where you could break conventions, and independent film makers could still afford to hire a bunch of bad actors, have someone write a bad script, and be able to distribute the result. I think the end results of these 70s experiments are interesting in a way that rivals only some of the early sound film disasters of 1928-1931.

Well, since i'm diabetic and have other health problems as well, moving me and my sea of medications is like moving the Barnum and Bailey circus. Plus the TSA eyes my caravan very suspiciously and they can be a real pain with the refrigerated medications, because there is an ice pack involved and everything MUST be carried on. So, not as often as I would like. I did take two trips to DFW in March. Unfortunately, it was to attend my parents' funerals, who died two weeks apart at ages 90 (mom) and 92 (dad) after 62 years of marriage. DFW has changed so much since I moved away 25 years ago. They have a rail system, HOT lanes attached to every major thoroughfare, and there are cranes putting up new skyscrapers everywhere and jobs, jobs, jobs. Coming home to the DC area I told my husband that the DC area looks downright depressed in comparison. The problem is, I think, that in the DC area we have too many lawyers. They know how to attach themselves to other peoples' incomes and they know how to complain and stop progress, but they really aren't creative themselves. It IS very humid and hot in Houston and Corpus Christi. Most of the roofs there have to be replaced not because of time, or sun, or even hail but because they literally rot from the humidity. It is hot and humid in Dallas. They don't have much of a winter, and I can remember having to turn my AC on every month of the year for at least one day when I lived there. It is hotter than Hades in DFW from about May to October. Do you have an allergy to ragweed? Don't move there! It will drive you crazy. Sorry for the long post, but my home state and the contrast with DC is something about which I will chatter on at length.

I know that AMC viewers are no longer like TCM viewers. I'm just remembering when AMC showed studio era films. I know they are trying to go to that "younger demographic", I know that they are probably doing better at turning a profit. However, like someone else here mentioned, it was the only place you could find the rare Fox, Universal, and Paramount films that no longer have a home anywhere. Now the so-called classic part of Fox Movie Channel should be renamed "How Fox went to s**t after Darryl F. Zanuck lost interest and went to Europe". They show a bunch of C- films from the late 50s and early 60s and nothing of the classic rarities they once showed. I have been able to find some of the rare Universals and Paramounts on the collector scene, but these are always DVDs burned from old AMC tapes because they still have the watermark. You don't know what you've got until it's gone.