LsDoorMat

TopBilled, I am hijacking your thread one more time and then I'll let the Brando thing go. The reason Brando has never been a SOTM could be because he has a very sparse filmography of only 39 films over 50 years. And that sparse filmography is all over the map as to who controls the rights, since Brando was largely a post studio system era actor. Plus he barely has cameo roles in some of the films, including "Superman", which TCM's parent company actually owns. Plus there are rights problems with some of them, including a ridiculous situation with "Last Tango in Paris". This is where the imdb message board once came in handy for asking questions about specific films. But the founder of imdb did away with the discussion board because it does not fit with his goal of "Producing advertising that our customers really love". Don't get me started.

There has never been an authorized DVD or DVD-R release of Ceiling Zero. Warner Brothers put out a VHS release in 1993, so whatever happened to it rights wise did not happen until after that. Maybe a court case to determine who actually owns it?

I have a copy of Ceiling Zero, and if I remember correctly it had a TCM watermark on it. It could be like The Trial of Mary Dugan - TCM aired it when they first went on the air and then got pushback from the estate of Bayard Veiller, whose heirs have rights to both the 1929 and 1941 versions yet just sit on the films themselves. Ceiling Zero is in the same mess - somebody's estate has the rights, the heirs won't sell nor will they do anything themselves. If you've seen Air Mail, a 1932 Universal film, it is much like Ceiling Zero, although I don't think Ceiling Zero is derivative material. The interesting thing is that in Air Mail, Ralph Bellamy was the responsible guy and O'Brien plays the wisecracking risk taker. In Ceiling Zero it is O'Brien who is the responsible one and Cagney is the wise cracking risk taker. Air Mail did air on the old AMC because my copy of it definitely has an old AMC watermark.

They'll be waiting awhile. Always More Commercials (AMC) has the exclusive rights to airing the Godfather Trilogy until December 2019. And for all I know they may have a right to renew those exclusive rights if they have the cash.

imdb said he had 149 credited appearances. I subtracted all of the TV appearances to get the number of films that he did. But apparently imdb lumps all appearances in any TV show into one appearance, including the 34 appearances he made on "Harrigan and Son" in the early 1960s. Thus the error. The films I wish TCM could air but doubt are possible? "Honor Among Lovers" (1931) Paramount "Personal Maid" (1931) Paramount "The Final Edition" (1932) Columbia "Scandal For Sale" (1932) Universal "Strange Case of Clara Deane" (1932) Paramount "Air Mail" (1932) Universal "Laughter in Hell (1933) Universal Destination Unknown (1933) Universal Ceiling Zero (1936) WB (Rights problems) Night of Nights (1939) Paramount Escape To Glory (1940) Columbia Broadway (1942) Universal Two Yanks in Trinidad (1942) Columbia His Butler's Sister (1943) Universal Perilous Holiday (1946) Independent/Columbia Town Tamer (1965) Paramount The Sky's The Limit (1975) Disney And there is one uncredited appearance that Warner Brothers owns and seems essential if you are showing Pat O'Brien's work but seems weird if it is anytime but December. That would be 1930's "Compliments of the Season" where O'Brien plays a cop in his second filmed appearance. imdb says "My Mistake" is O'Brien's first film appearance, but apparently it is lost. Of all the films I doubt they could get, I wish they could show "Broadway". Made in 1942, this is a role George Raft thought was better than Casablanca, but it comes out weird because it is a remake of the early sound marvel, 1929's Broadway. It tries to use the slang and numbers of the 20s while everybody is dressed like the 1940s and it just does not work to the point of being campy rather than dramatic. But O'Brien is second billed, so it would definitely belong in any tribute to O'Brien.

Of the 149 credited appearances by O'Brien, 99 were TV appearances according to imdb. That leaves 50 credited film appearances. There are quite a few 30's and 40's Universals in his credits, and those films are probably in no shape to show on TCM. And good luck getting Universal to care. Some of the films he did later in his career were for Disney, so I'm not sure TCM could easily get their hands on those. But if they can make Grace Kelly SOTM with a total of eleven film appearances, then I don't know why O'Brien is not possible.

I remember that movie! I haven't thought about it in years! The thing I remember is that William Hurt's doctor just seemed a little too gruff and clueless for somebody who dealt with cancer patients every day and his transformation just a little too obvious. Hurt got lots of great roles in the 1980s and Academy nominations to boot, but around 1990, that era came to an end. But, overall, I agree. It was a good little movie.

Yes, that's the one.

Enough said. The mere presence of Joan Collins in a film makes me scurry away. Can't act, can't sing, can't dance, and she ruins "Seven Thieves" by trying to do all of them, overpowering the great Eddie G. with her awfulness. She was great in Dynasty exactly because she was such a bad actress that her interpretation of the role of Alexis in Dynasty was pure camp. Exactly what that 80s soap opera needed as it seemed to be circling the drain after season one. But I digress.

This has always been one of my favorite Flynn roles, believe it or not. It is such a departure from what he usually does. I could never figure, though, why WB set Lee Patrick up as a glamour girl in their films. Not exactly Ann Sheridan, to me she looked "facially" middle aged long before she was. Going on about her blonde hair did not change that impression.

Their Own Desire (1929) 7/10 I've been watching lots of Robert Montgomery films lately, and although I just watched this one again, I wrote this review some time ago. But it still applies. Today, most women initiate divorces. But there was a time when it was the other way around since women had few options outside of the home. If you were a woman, you'd just better hope that as the bloom fell off of your rose that your husband did not get the 7, 17, or 27 year itch. This is about the impact of one of those marriages with an itchy husband, an unlikely cad, Lewis Stone as Marlett. I like how this movie takes the time to build up the characters, always a trademark of screenwriter Frances Marion. A great deal of time is spent in the beginning to show the respect and friendship wealthy author Marlett has with his only child, Lally (Norma Shearer). Then a tell - she asks her dad as they walk up the drive, what book he is working on. He says it is a romance involving a 45 year old man. She, about 20, laughs at the idea. Marlett says that the middle aged are made of flesh and bone too. That life is not over at 30 as youngsters think, and that they thirst for romance, that "last" romance, indicating that dad might be thirsty. When they get to the top of the drive, the slender and glamorous Mrs. Chevers is talking to Lally's mom about her son, Doug, who is away at Princeton. Lally's mom is graying, a bit overweight, a bit sedentary, and Marlett calls her affectionately "mama". Indicating that he thinks of her as first Lally's mom - and a good one - and then a wife. A year passes and Marlett and his wife are planning to divorce, as is Mrs. Chevers from her husband, but Lally yet knows none of this. She walks into her dad's study and catches Mrs. Chevers and her father in a passionate embrace, talking of marriage. Then her dad tries to justify it. He says that he and her mother are not the same boy and girl who made all of those promises 23 years before. I like Lally's translations - that perhaps he sees her mom as fat and a bit boring "unlike the slick Mrs. Chevers". He says he intends to keep the house. She reminds him that doesn't matter to her since her mom is being bundled out of that house and Mrs. Cheever is being brought in to replace her. Lally says her final goodbye to him and plans to never marry because she will not be made a fool of as her mother has been, and the male sex has fallen mightily in her esteem because of her father's fall, which he won't even acknowledge as a misdeed. So off go mother and daughter for a summer vacation before mom goes to France for a divorce, which was the custom in that day. When Lally reiterates her vow to never marry, her mom is happy, which seems odd. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Marlett is not succeeding at hanging out at his old haunts with his new mistress. They both get the cold shoulder from everyone. I'm not sure why this scene was in here other than to show that people did pass moral judgment on affairs and homewreckers at that time, and that a smooth transition did not await them both if they proceed. On vacation, Lally meets a guy (Robert Montgomery) who really fancies her. They dance, they enjoy each other's company, and maybe Lally is softening on men just a bit until she discovers his full name - Jack "Doug" Chevers - son of the woman who has ousted her mother, a symbol of why she decided to not take men seriously in the first place. So Lally is one confused girl. She has a mom who encourages her to play the field due to her own bad experience with marriage. She has a dad who thinks "until death do we part" is just a phrase people like to kick around at weddings, and she has a beau who is insisting on marriage now - as in right this minute. How will this all work out? Watch and find out. This is very good writing by Frances Marion who had already had a couple of short lived marriages that did not work out and one that did that ended in her husband's sudden death just the year before. Thus she could approach this subject of love from the viewpoint of someone who had seen all of the angles. I'd highly recommend it.

I wondered about the Oscar thread too this morning. I was on a plane during the ceremony, so I could not watch. I don't know if I would have even if I had been home. However, I was surprised that there was no Oscar thread on the TCM message boards this morning. I had to go inside the "Films of 2017" thread to find even a mention of it. When I was a kid (this was a long time ago - 70s) if you wanted to watch the Oscars you had to do so live, by actually tuning in. Now there are youtubes of the highlights shortly thereafter and you can see all of the winners instantly online. However, I do enjoy the back and forth about the Oscars and who won from the TCM board members, and I missed seeing that this morning. Thanks for mentioning the movie theatre trip. If you had not done so, I would not have known it happened. Nothing I have read so far even mentioned it, so maybe everybody else, in retrospect, thinks it was a bad idea too.

Nope, I learned my lesson.

I'm 60 and I can remember having a milkman and a bread man as a kid. In the days of the milkman you usually had the old style traditional family with the wife being the homemaker and the husband having a job. Thus there was always somebody to pick up the milk shortly after it was delivered.

I think Joe Gillis was basically a decent guy too, doing what he thought he had to do to survive in dog eat dog Hollywood. It appears he does the decent thing with Nancy Olsen's character - not backstabbing a friend by taking his girl. But I wonder. Olsen's head was turned quite easily by Joe Gillis. She obviously felt passion for Joe she did not feel for Jack Webb's character, Artie, her "why not" fiance. So Joe probably drove her right back into the arms of said "why not" fiance, and into a hasty wedding. And then what? She would always be able to tell the passion she felt for Joe from the passion she did not feel for good-on-paper Artie. I wonder how long it was before she was calling the mailman by his first name?

I have never felt more robbed of time, money, and IQ points than when I sat through Top Gun in 1986.

I'm not defending Moonlight, it is just that everything you say about Moonlight I see in Cimarron and then some. I think it probably won Best Picture Oscar based on the strength of its cinematography, including the Oklahoma Land Rush scene and the tracking scenes of people moving about the boom town of Osage. The camera hadn't been able to move like this in three years with the coming of sound. And bad acting? This film was the first time I saw Richard Dix in anything and I was very surprised to see he was a good actor when I saw his other efforts after this hammy performance. And he got a Best Actor nomination out of this! The competition was thin that year - East Lynne (I think this partially survives in an archive, unsure about that), Skippy, The Front Page, and Trader Horn. I've seen them all with the exception of East Lynne, and I'm not really impressed that much by any of them, so I can see how Cimarron could have won with such weak competition. And I tend to really like the early talking films. Maybe we'll have to agree to disagree. P.S. - with your background as a film historian, have you seen East Lynne? Was it any good?

There is no dirt but there are quite a few funny anecdotes. He said that Spencer Tracy used to call him up in the middle of the night to talk about random topics. One time, after Frank Morgan's funeral, he called Cagney up and mentioned how awful Frank's brother Ralph had looked at the memorial service. Cagney mentioned that Ralph was actually seven years older than Frank. Spence then said "Wow! He looks really good then!" and hung up.

I read this book and really liked it. It says so much about Cagney by what he does not say. He won't say anything bad about his fellow actors, but he does mention one actress - not by name - in his early days that was rude to a friend of his. He said she had lots of money but no talent. I've often wondered who he was talking about, and you can figure out who it might be if you notice the actresses he worked with that he does not mention. He also makes his family life seem just fine when the fact is that his kids lived in a house separate from himself and his wife, even as children, and that his mother really disliked his wife because Cagney had a chance to marry a woman who had a great deal of money and married someone else instead. He talks a great deal about "The Irish Mafia" and really sings the praises of actor Frank McHugh. He also talks in detail about his trouble with Jack Warner.

Maybe second worst best film. As long as Cimarron is out there, I'll have to disagree.

Don't forget "Miss Mend". TCM showed this 5-10 years ago and it has a running time of 250 minutes. Not as long as some of you are mentioning, but it is definitely a long movie. Then there is the ten part "Les Vampires" of 1915 at 416 minutes.

I like what you did here. Especially incorporating foreign films like Ikiru and Rashomon. I did that a couple of times in my list, but I like how you opened up your choices to all film throughout the entire list. Well done.

One more I'd take back is James Stewart's Best Actor award in 1940 for Philadelphia Story. Anyone can see he is a supporting actor in that film, and that is probably the award he should have won. The Academy probably just felt bad that they didn't give it to him the previous year for "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington".

Not sure what the rest of your post is about, but in the last paragraph I think you are insinuating that Avatar was nominated the year after Hurt Locker. That is not true. The best pictures in competition for the year 2009 included both Avatar and Hurt Locker. The death of culture began in 1996 IMHO with the release and tremendous success of "Independence Day". That which you reward you always get more of. By 2008-2009 you could throw out any superhero movie and make half a billion at the box office, maybe more, worldwide. Actually, this is why we have these monstrosities. Because 75% of the box office comes from outside of the United States, so films are made with car chases and big explosions where proficiency in English is not required.

I'll go way back for Best Pictures. 1928-1929 - The unnominated "The Cameraman" should have won over "The Broadway Melody". 1930-1931 Anything over Cimarron 1932-1933 Duck Soup over Cavalcade 1958 Vertigo over Gigi 1987 Princess Bride over The Last Emperor 1996 - Fargo over The English Patient 2005 - Brokeback Mountain over Crash 2009 - Inglourious Basterds (SP?) over Hurt Locker- The time for the Academy to realize James Cameron was a complete hack was 12 years past due. Rewarding the unworthy work of his ex-wife was not a good way to indicate that they understood this fact.