LsDoorMat

Go easy on Palmerin. I think we know what he is trying to say. He is just picking one year where, IMHO, the Oscar choice was not the best choice. We've had this general "Oscar blew it" discussion before on this board in many forms. The Academy often hands out awards like they are driving down the street in a car looking in the rearview mirror instead of ahead. e.g. 1952's "Greatest Show on Earth" being named Best Picture in a year when The Quiet Man and High Noon were also nominated, and Singin in The Rain wasn't even nominated for Best Picture. They probably thought this was their last chance to give an Oscar to DeMille. James Stewart for sure deserved a Best Actor academy award at some point in his career, but he was really a supporting actor in "Philadelphia Story" when he won. It's likely the academy felt he had been passed over unfairly in 1939 for "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington". And speaking of Cimarron - if you watch that today, isn't that just about the hammiest film with the hammiest performance by Richard Dix you've ever seen? I would guess it won because of what was then stunning camera work. Remember the talkies had been pretty much static from the transition to sound up to this point. "The Public Enemy" - probably the work that holds up the best from the same time period in which Cimarron was eligible - was only nominated for best original story. As for who determines the real classics, I think time determines that.

What is the controversy? I've always thought Goodfellas was the best picture of 1990. It was the best film about the mob from the working gangster's point of view ever made. Of course "The Godfather" is the view from the executive suite and not even in competition with Goodfellas.

The Turner Broadcasting System has not existed since 1996 when Ted Turner sold his communications empire and his film library to Warner Brothers. So today TCM belongs to WB and has to license all of their films. TCM was a labor of love for Ted Turner. WB just sees TCM as another brick in its business model. I'm sure WB would have no problem turning TCM upside down if they thought they could make more money. "Tonight on TCM - 2002's "Phone Booth" - because both phone booths and TCM's viewers are almost extinct. Brought to you by that drug that cures a rash by damping your immune system so much that lymphoma is likely. But then we can sell you even more drugs you can't afford." America - where everything is for sale. And I can remember when the Discovery Channel was about walking with dinosaurs and Wild Discovery. Now it is the home of Naked and Afraid. And you should be afraid. Very afraid.

That the studios could afford to take chances and sometimes those chances worked out better than they thought. Psycho is one example - Paramount thought it would bomb. Marty was made intentionally to lose money because the producers were making too much money back in the days of the 90% income tax bracket. Today everything is manufactured from a formula to be a sure hit with 14 year olds. Most films are actually made with minimal dialogue - especially the action films - because 75% of the box office is coming from outside of the U.S.. I got some of this info from an online article. My favorite line: "Marty is a 1955 drama starring Ernest Borgnine (you probably, tragically, know him best for his work as Mermaid Man from SpongeBob SquarePants) ...."

Maybe they are changing formats or introducing commercials IN the movies and want to get their money from every potential backlot member they can before they pull the old switcheroo. I'm just remembering it was October 2002 when AMC did this. One day I am watching "It Happened One Night" the next day they are airing "Officer and a Gentleman" minus the sex, nudity, and bad language so they can squeeze in commercials for Nexium. Just wondering. Anything is game with Robert O. gone.

I remember the Hitchcock blackout running from 1980 -1983. I remember when people finally got the ability to view them again. Rope, Vertigo, and Rear Window made the rounds at movie theaters.

You're missing another really good 46 noir - "The Locket". As in "Undercurrent" Mitchum is one of the good guys. Maybe 46 was such a good year for noir because, after WWII, Hollywood just couldn't go back to the prewar production code era innocent years of 1934-1939 with bunches of period pieces and adventurous fairy tales. But to satisfy the production code you needed films in which the bad guy is still punished, so you just make the entire (starring) cast bad to the bone. Thus you have room for some ambiguity.

Love is All Around - Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) We've Got to Get You a Woman - Cold Feet (1983) Love Train - Last Days of Disco (1998) Now and Forever - A League of Their Own (1992) Let The River Run - Working Girl (1988) Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong - Officer and a Gentleman (1982) Let's Spill The Beans - Stolen Harmony (1935) I Would Walk 500 Miles - Benny and Joon (1993) Benny and the Jets - Aloha, Bobby and Rose (1975) Hard Day's Night - Hard Day's Night (1964)

That's exactly what I mean.

After I made my list I looked at some of the other lists and saw "Green For Danger" and "The Verdict", also two of my faves for sure. I also love Sister Kenny. That one really had a touching ending. And the fact that doctors won't take Kenny's methods seriously when she shows them proof positive - let me just say as a diabetic I've experienced the same arrogance and stubbornness from doctors when dealing with what works with my illness. I think it is something that they give doctors along with their sheepskin as they exit medical school - stubbornness and arrogance. Sometimes it's hard to remember AND shoehorn all of your favorites for one year into one top ten list. I've never cared for Gilda because every character in the film is so unlikeable. The only thing it really does is show Rita Hayworth at her most beautiful, IMHO.

My list of favorites from 1946: The Dark Mirror Its a wonderful life The Razor's Edge The Killers The Stranger Best Years of Our Lives To Each His Own The Jolson Story 13 Rue Madeleine Secret of the Whistler I guess one comment I have about 1946. It was the first year where A-list films were not necessarily about WWII in some way. In just about every other film from 1942-1945 I want to stand up at the midpoint of most of these films and shout "I get it already! The Nazis are EEEVIL!". Then there is the fact that whenever Keye Luke shows up in a Kildare-without-Kildare film he has to make at least one speech indicating he is of Chinese ancestry, not Japanese, and make some long winded speech about how he hates the Japanese, I guess so that nobody who bought a ticket thinks that there is a Japanese person with a major supporting role in an American film. And I love Casablanca (1942), but even that great film, where Bogey is really playing a Han Solo for the 40s with a side of cynicism brought on by a broken heart, there are some eye rolling moments.

I really loved him in Ed Wood. He really became Bela Lugosi. "This is the most uncomfortable coffin I've ever been in. Your selection is quite shoddy. You are wasting my time."

Isn't it goofy that so many of these films, which were primetime stuff on HBO forty years ago, would be great for TCM Underground today. This is a trip down memory lane for me. I had forgotten all about Lipstick.

Leaving unfaithful wives and/or their lovers to rot behind a sealed up brick wall seems to be a common theme in movies, doesn't it? Perhaps this was the first time it was done on film? There is also Don Juan (1926) and The Pit and the Pendulum (1961). There may have been others?

I have not now nor have I ever seen this listed on the American TCM schedule for 4:15PM 7/8. Instead it is "I Shot Jesse James", a film whose title takes the mystery out of everything because we know who got shot and who did it just from the title. But apparently that is not the point of this 1949 Sam Fuller film. Is this one of those American/Canadian film rights things where for once the Canadians come out on top with "Run of the Arrow"? Just wondering.

Thanks very much! A millennial view on some of the less well known classics. Sounds like a fascinating read!

Ronald Colman was under contract with Sam Goldwyn for quite a few years and he also did some films for Paramount that are now under the control of Universal, "The Light That Failed" is one of those films. Warner Brothers Home Entertainment Group bought distribution rights to 74 of the Goldwyn films, and that could explain the availability of his early films to TCM. Plus TCM has made some kind of agreement with Universal to show their films. I'm going to guess that Universal Vault is getting ready to release "The Light That Failed", a Paramount under their control, to DVD, so it probably has been restored to some degree. Likewise "The Late George Apley" is a Fox film, shown a few times before on TCM, but largely unavailable to TCM as long as Fox Movie Channel was still a classic channel. Now that it is a shadow of its former self, with only C- Fox classic films showing during the day such as "The Day the Fish Came Out" being on a continuous loop, the classics from Fox are much more available to TCM. "Champagne for Caesar" I bought on DVD from Image a few years ago, a truly hilarious film, with Celeste Holm as a temptress I believe? CFC was made by now defunct Cardinal Pictures through United Artists. They also made "The Well", "The Second Woman", "DOA", "Impact", and "My Dear Secretary". Some of these are clearly public domain and some are not. I'm guessing that CFC is in some kind of legal limbo/copyright hell as far as distribution rights go, and that it may be unavailable to TCM. All of this is probably why Ronald Colman has never been SOTM and had only one SUTS day. He didn't make that many films for RKO/WB/MGM, so his best work may have been unavailable to TCM until now.

A Woman's Vengeance (1948) The title says too much... ... for example it would be a bummer if "Star Wars" (SPOILER WARNING FOR ANYBODY LIVING ON A DESERT ISLAND THE LAST FORTY YEARS) had been named "My Trouble with Dad who Dresses in Black and uses Black Magic a Tad". Yet there is some mystery until about 2/3 of the way into the film, and at that point it is just very good acting that carries the day. Wealthy Henry Maurier (Charles Boyer) has an invalid wife, Emily (Rachel Kempson). And Emily whines about her condition, whines about her husband wishing she were dead, and apparently, from what Henry says, was not great companionship when she was well. Emily perhaps is picking up on the fact that Henry has an 18 year old mistress, Doris (Ann Blythe), who is getting impatient being just the mistress and being hidden away. The Mauriers also have a family friend, Janet Spence (Jessica Tandy), who is 35 and has remained unmarried all of these years taking care of her invalid dad, although she never sounds as though she thinks he is a burden. Henry finds great intellectual companionship with Janet as they talk over art, music, and literature. Henry has a problem relative in Emily's brother, who is constantly sponging off of Emily, or at least trying to. Henry intercepts him at every opportunity and tears up any checks Emily writes him. One night Henry breaks his own rule and takes Doris out in public, only for Emily's brother to see them together. He blackmails Henry for 500 dollars which he says he will collect the next morning or he will tell Emily all about it. But that is one check he will never collect, because when Henry returns home that night he learns that his wife died of a heart attack earlier in the evening. The maid is blamed for serving Emily red currants rather than the bland diet the doctor prescribed, thus upsetting her delicate system and bringing on the fatal attack. Henry's wealth must be inherited, because he has no patience or prudence. He marries Doris before Emily is cold and takes to redecorating the house to his new wife's liking. The maid, brilliantly played by Mildred Natwick, begins to suspect that maybe Emily was murdered rather than just dying of some random heart attack. Plus she is increasingly resenting being blamed for Emily's death. An autopsy is performed and arsenic is found in Emily's system. So, who did it? Everyone thinks Henry did, and the new hot young wife, a mistress while his wife was still living, does not help any, along with other circumstantial evidence. But from the title we know a woman did it. But which one? The maid for being promised things by Emily she knew she would never receive? The new wife for getting tired of waiting for Henry to marry her? Janet for perhaps thinking that Henry cared for her only to be supplanted by someone half her age? Or maybe Emily herself, who may have known more than she was telling and wanted to end her own suffering and point the finger of guilt at Henry at the same time? Well, watch and find out, as Sir Cedric Hardwicke as the doctor cleverly unravels the whole thing like some sexagenarian protagonist from an 80s TV mystery show. This is one of Boyer's most likable roles, even if he is a two faced adulterer here. That says something for his acting (and his roles). 7/10 Source - Universal Vault DVD (overpriced, but in this case, worth it)

The Putin Interviews (2017) Actually these interviews were filmed in 2015. Director Oliver Stone travels about with Vladimir Putin and produces four hours of "interview" time. It's not really an interview, as it shows Stone doing some interviewing and also accompanying Putin as he plays a hockey game - something he said he learned just three years before this was filmed (2015) - and as he does some judo - he holds a black belt. The thing is, Vladimir Putin comes across as an eloquent and thoughtful guy, not like the fat little dictator of North Korea who is well fed versus his starving subjects and always tries to dress "cool" but as a result just looks ridiculous. Every time Stone tries to bring up something unpleasant about either Russia past or present, Putin has an answer. Stone brings up Stalin, what a monster he was, and yet there are still statues to him. Putin brings up Napoleon and how France admits that what he did was a disgrace yet there are still statues to him. He mentions England's Oliver Cromwell and how he became a dictator and that yet there are statues to him in his home country. When questioned about gay rights in Russia, he even has a compassionate liberal answer for that. He is well versed in history and politics past and present of both the West and Russia, and never loses his cool. And remember, this guy was in the KGB from 1975 to 1990. Stone asks Putin if he has ever seen "Dr. Strangelove". Putin admits he has not. So Putin stops and takes the time to watch the movie with Stone, although from his expression - and it doesn't change much EVER - you can tell he is probably humoring him. In spite of that, at the end, Putin makes some well thought out remarks about the film that could have been forged into a superior review. The point is - this is not the guy I was expecting. Plus, you can tell he somewhat charmed Oliver Stone. If this is the same Putin that Donald Trump met, who apparently knows how to shift his presentation to his company, Trump could have easily been putty in his hands. Watch it - all four hours if you have the time - I think it will be a revelation. Source: Showtime

The story about Judy Garland and MGM as I remember it was that she was slated to do "Annie Get Your Gun", that it even went into shooting, but Judy was so out of it with drug and alcohol hangovers that they had to replace her and that it was then that the affiliation was ended. I do remember seeing outtakes of Judy as Annie and her messing up quite badly, but I can't remember where I saw these.

West always had such a good attitude towards his short lived fame in "Batman". He never took himself too seriously and loved making fun of the role in the years that followed. I saw an interview with him several years ago and he said he considered himself lucky to have such good friends, to have worked in an industry he loved, and to have been a big part of 60s pop culture even if it didn't last long. He was truly a class act.

What an odd coincidence. I got my first DVD recorder because of all of the precode stuff that was coming on during the "Gay Images in Film" series in June 2007 - the same theme ten years ago to the month. Richard Barrios and Robert Osborne were doing the hosting. Then, however, it was the movies that had some gay theme or often just one line. I think it might have been the last time TCM played "Wonder Bar". This time it appears to be the players or directors that are featured, not the films.

Rikers (2016) I wasn't surprised, yet I was horrified. This PBS documentary, part of the Independent Lens series, is about life at Rikers Island, which acts as the local jail for New York City. It consisted of conversations with several former inmates of Rikers Island as they recounted the time they spent there - often years - awaiting trial because they did not have bail money. The things they had to say about other inmates I did not find too surprising - show no weakness, attempts at friendship are probably just attempts to ferret out weakness, show any weakness and other inmates will steal all of your stuff including your food, don't be a deep sleeper and if you don't have a home-made weapon at your ready you are in trouble, always stand up for yourself. One inmate said he joined a prison gang just to survive on the inside. The institution itself was a bit of an education, at least for middle class me. The inmates said the guards were no better than the inmates. They would loose two prisoners who hated each other and take bets on who won the inevitable fight. Guards would let fights in progress finish before they intervened, again betting on the outcome, and if you tried to get a guard in trouble they would put you in solitary. There you are in dim drab surroundings, you get no visits, and you don't get enough food to sustain yourself so you have to save food so when you are really hungry you have something to eat. Apparently these people are not just whining because several multi million dollar settlements have been paid out by NYC on behalf of the treatment of prisoners at Rikers, and all have agreed that Rikers should be divided into five smaller jails dispersed throughout the city. One interesting thing - the inmates who were interviewed were eloquent and insightful, about themselves and the institution, but they all "fit the narrative" you might say of people you would expect to get in trouble with the law. They came from broken homes or drug addicted parents, they came from poverty, had little education, and one girl spent three years there because she could not make bail only in the end to be acquitted of all charges. I would say, all fit the narrative but one - There was one woman who was raised middle class, was white, had a bachelor's degree, had a husband and three children, and had a good job with a law firm only to one day decide to help herself to 300,000 dollars from a trust fund. I was interested in her story so I googled her just to see what happened. In 2009 she was working at ANOTHER law firm, this time in Pennsylvania, and AGAIN stole money - this time 100K - partially to pay restitution to the law firm in New York City! Maybe "ban the box" is not such a good idea after all! At any rate, this is a very good documentary that largely lets the inmates - and some hidden cameras - speak for themselves. Just don't be expecting an uplifting experience. 9/10

I just watched "Wizard of Lies" about Bernie Madoff, starring Robert DeNiro in the title role and Michele Pfeiffer as his wife. This film takes the approach of assuming that the wife and sons knew nothing until Bernie told them right before he was arrested. If there is anything the Bernie Madoff story would teach you, it is "Don't steal from the very rich". The movie emphasized all of the little people who lost everything to the Ponzi scheme, but there were enough people with enough money left over that they could hire attorneys and even claw back money from people who withdrew all of their money before Bernie went bust, even though they knew nothing of the scheme. Compare that to what happened to the banksters who swindled the entire nation - which was absolutely nothing, or Enron, where the law had to practically be shamed into prosecuting the executives who swindled investors. Anyways, back to "The Wizard". Good acting by DeNiro, but Michelle Pfeiffer came across even better IMHO. At one point, while Bernie is under house arrest, she and Bernie decide to commit suicide in "a nice way" using Ambien and a bunch of other pharmaceuticals they have around the house. It doesn't work - they wake up the next morning. But as they lay in bed expecting to die, who pops up on the TV screen they are watching but Robert Osborne and TCM with him introducing Judy Garland singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". What an odd touch. I didn't even think anybody at HBO knew TCM existed.

Sorry to be so ahead of schedule given the title of this thread, but I have to get up at 4:45AM on weekdays so I just want to mention this one film, "An American Tragedy", while I am awake and somewhat conscious. It is one of those rare precode Paramounts owned by Universal, and it is on Wednesday May 17 at 9:30PM EST. It is the precode version of "A Place in the Sun". The precode version makes the discarded girl that Shelley Winters played in "A Place in the Sun" the sympathetic character. Also, I don't want anybody to miss it just because Leonard Maltin rates it only 2/4 stars. He must be off his nut to rate such a good film so low. Usually when Maltin does this and I scratch my head over it, I watch the film and realize it violates some aspect of political correctness, which is no reason to downvote a film from so long ago. At any rate, don't miss it!