Arturo

*I wish they would offer for sale the episodes of the mid-50s TV series they aired some 8-10 years ago, "20th Century-Fox Hour", with wraparounds by Robert Wagner...that I would buy in a heartbeat.* PS - I wish TMC would sell collections of the series they aired last year, the Studio Director;'s Showcase (or whatever it was called), because I would love to own them.

I don't have the money to buy endless DVDs, but I try to buy as many as I can. I definitely appreciate that TCM is making more and more available, especially of movies not previously available. I record as much as I can, but with no DVR device, I can only get one in the daytime hours while I;m at work. I much rather TCM generates revenue the way they do than become AMC, ruining its movies with constant commercial breaks (too bad we;re not in that alternate universe where the AMC of old, which I loved, still existed as a worthy, complementary channel to TCM, showing its Fox, RKO and Paramount classics that it would, commercial free and uncut). OR Fox Movie Channel, with its horrendous "original" programming consisting of promotions for TV shows on sister stations or its new movies, PLUS half is now devoted to FXM with newer movies shown with commercial interruption....and on the classis half (which doesnt show all that many movies pre-1970) they don't even have time for the clips with commentary right before the movie started, or even the closing series of successive Fox logos. THEY should be offering the new series of Fox Archive Classics, promoting them on-air. Better yet, I wish they would offer for sale the episodes of the mid-50s TV series they aired some 8-10 years ago, "20th Century-Fox Hour", with wraparounds by Robert Wagner...that I would buy in a heartbeat. My point is that the dissemination of more previously unavailable movies from the past is a great thing, especially when each of the new technologies coming along, like Blu-Ray, will offer the classics the general public is most familiar: GWTW, CASABLANCA. etc. The large majority of studio era titles that came out on DVD will never come out on Blu-ray, just like the large majority of same that came out VHS did not come out on DVD. So the more titles available commercially the better. ESPECIALLY if it keeps TCM from going the way of AMC or FMC

*Based on the replies, I agree with Sanfan and you that since one can assume this was the first time the guy (Garbo's dancing partner), had heard the word, it is NOT logical that he would change how he pronounces it.* Thank you. My point exactly.

just to clarify...It's not just out-and-out wrong pronunciations I'm looking for, although these can be interesting, but when people in the same movie, same scene even, will give different pronunciations for a word,

This is a great idea. Question: Would the concept concentrate on showing their 40s movies, or include some from other decades. If the former, then the chosen stars woud have to have enough movies to cover a 24 hour period (assuming that each would get 24 hours). If possible, I would include a few other names here,and to make room for them, remove some of the superstars with decades-long careers, since they are always going to be spotlighted, like Bette Davis,Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Claudette Colbert and Kate Hepburn so that we can have the likes of: Eleanor Parker June Haver Alexis Smith Susan Hayward Lizabeth Scott Jane Greer Ava Gardner Esther Williams Theresa Russell Eleanor Powell Joan Leslie Deanna Durbin Maria Montez Yvonne De Carlo Gail Russell Not to mention the numerous "lesser" lights who toiled in mostly unheralded productions, including Lois Albritton Adele Jergens Janet Blair Evelyn Keyes Marguerite Chapman Lynn Bari Nancy Kelly Evekyn Ankers Gloria Jean Vivian Blaine Mary Beth Hughes Virginia Gilmore Carole Landis Frances Langford Nina Foch Marjorie Weaver Susannah Foster Simone Simon .....Among others. The list is endless, Maybe it could be a year round tribute lol.

*I believe it was a grievous mistake in a movie to have a character hear a word new to them and then pronounce it as if they had seen it in print.* This reminds me of a humorous anecdote when I was in college, or shortly thereafter. Among my acquaintances then were a couple of people that were each friends with a (different) friend of mine. Both were of Mexican descent and spoke fluent Spanish. Well Benny had no problem in pronouncing the girl's name, Higia (approximate to English something like Ee-hya). He did this for several years while we were a part of the same circle. One day, he saw Higia's name written down, and never pronounced it correctly again ( I guess he didn't read Spanish much, if at all). From then on it was Hi-GEE-ya, with the final vowel the indeterminate schwa as opposed to the clear Spanish A. It was an eye-opener to me that he could no longer say it even remotely right.

Jamesjazzguitar wrote: *Like Garbo my wife is from Europe and she speaks 4 languages so she will pronounce foreign type of words as if they were spoken in the native language. But often many Americans will pronounce them using the English vowel sounds. e.g. I as I instead of 'E' for an Italian word.* Well, JJG, I totally get what you're saying here. But it's not that the character is less sophisticated so much, as the ACTOR who pronounced it this way because that's what he's used to. My issue with this is that since Garbo's character just told his character the name of the dance, he turns around and changes the pronunciation. This would not have happened in reality, UNLESS the character had seen it written down. Logically, he would have turned around and started to tell others the dance's name as close as possible to how Garbo's character had told him. dpompper wrote: *Certainly, I'm no expert . . . and wonder if this kind of thing is considered a "continuity" issue? Anyone?* I don't know if this would be a continuity issue. My understanding of this term is to make sure people had their hair, makeup or costumes done or worn the same in the same scene, as they go for another take or camera angle, or resume filming on another day. things of this nature.

Last night while watching TWO-FACED WOMAN I noticed (again) an instance of something that has always bothered me; namely, different cast members pronouncing the same word differently. As Garbo was dancing, she answered her partner that the dance was called "La Chica-Choca", pronouncing it pretty much as it would be in Spanish, with the CHO syllable having a Long O with no dipthongization. Her partner spread the word that the dance was the "Chica-CHAW-ca". Obvioulsy it was the actor, being an actor, who read the word as such on his script. It seems to me that prior to filming the scene, they would have come to a consensus on how to pronounce this, with the director possibly being the final word on how to say the word. In this instance it's particularly glaring (to me at least) because Garbo had just TOLD him what it was, and he CHANGED it as he repeated it. It's not an instance of an organic change, like the "Telephone" game, but rather something deliberate, BY THE ACTOR, something that helps break the delicate balance that is suspension of disbelief. I know I can be (and have been accused here of being) tediously technical about minute (pronounced MY-Nute) details, but does anyone else have a similar reaction? Better yet, can anyone think of other movie instances of a similar nature (I'm at work and typing this furtively, so none are coming to me at the moment).

I actually don't HATE The Bishop's Wife , but I'm not one of those who wistfully hold it in high regard. *And I certainly DON'T consider it really a holiday movie.* Huh? Not consider it a holiday movie?! How do you figure It takes place at Christmastime, it disusses the birth of Christ and the meaning of the first Christmas, and the contemporary dichotomy of celebrating these christian values as the true meaning of the season, as opposed to the commercialization of same. It's a sublimely perfect movie fit for the season.

I always enjoyed Loretta Young and Tyrone Power together, especially in their three costarring screwball/romantic comedies from 1937. They always made a breathtaking couple, even in SUEZ, an epic where Loretta's less than epic role had her soon refusing to extend her contract with Fox. Earlier she had turned down LLOYD'S OF LONDON when she correctly figured that she would be secondary, as it was to be a starmaking role for Power. Later,she would refuse DAY-TIME WIFE at the point of leaving the studio.

*Has anyone mentioned Pickup on South Street with Richard Widmark? I liked that film.* It was mentioned, which is why I didn't mention it.

*Ginger Rogers and Henry Fonda have amazing chemistry in TALES OF MANHATTAN. They appear in one of the segments of this portmanteau. I am surprised Zanuck did not put them together again in a movie all their own.* Well, Ginger Rogers was at Fox in 1942 when Alice Faye became pregnant,and thus unable to film ROXIE HART. Since she was on the lot filming, so fell into the multi-episode TOM. Henry Fonda finished a couple of commitments, and left for WWII, as did Zanuck. Ginger moved on to commitments at other studios. After WW2, Fonda did only two movies at 20th, then refused to re-sign. So it would have been hard to have gotten them together.

This is a complicated answer, with it varying oer the decades. In general it was a two-way street most of the time. At least since the 20s, the "gods and goddesses" of the screen were very influential fashionwise. In the 30s, the unattainable onscreen fantasy was coveted by audiences struggling to make a living. It was during this decade that this influence was made tangible. Girls copied hairstyles and makeup of their favorites, and tried to re-create theclluloid fashion shows seen at the movies. 1932 was the year that the "Letty Lynton" dress design was mass-marketed to great success. Many more tie-ins followed. 1934 saw the sale of mens' tshirts take a nose dive when Clark Gable wore none in IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT. Yet Hollywood designers tried to keep abreast of Paris fashions (Milan did not become a player untll much later; NYC was seen as following theParis lead). They dreaded a sudden shift in fashions, since they often had to design nearly a year before the outfits would be seen on screens. They were caught off guard with the drop in skirt lenhgts at theend of 1929; most Hollywood movies of 1930 loked dated stylewise. Likewise wih he NewLook of 1947; Hollywood didn't reflect this untl the following yearf.

Just something to do for today... Brits don't celebrate Thanksgiving (closest thing they have is *Guy Fawkes Day* on November 5: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night)... And, of course, Canadians celebrated Turkey Day in October... There is a scene in HANGOVER SQUARE where some kids remind Laird Cregar of the history of Guy Fawkes Day. It later gives Cregar an idea of what to do with Linda Darnell once he's strangled her...toss her body on the pyre that was built....which singed her during filming, ironically reinforcing Linda's lifelong fear of fire.

If I had the opportunity to program four noirs one evening on TCM (wow, what a difficult choice!), I'd go with some of the classic noirs from 20th Century Fox, if only because they weren't available to TCM until recently. Now to select four from a stellar body of noirs, I'd eliminate those that others have already chosen here....which means not showing such excellent films as WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS, THIEVES HIGHWAY, NIGHT AND THE CITY, or PICK-UP ON SOUTH STREET, all among the best the studio did in this style. Well, I'll give it a try: CRY OF THE CITY (1948): Taut drama (which of these isnt!?) starring Victor Mature, Richard Conte and Shelley Winters, with such memorable characters as the nurse played by Betty Garde, and Hope Emerson as the masseuse. You can almost feel you're in the gritty streets of New York at mid-century. THE STREET WITH NO NAME (1948): One of those semi-documentary procedurals, starring Mark Stevens, Richard Widmark, Barbara Lawrence in one of her best roles, Lloyd Nolan and Ed Begley as a crooked cop. NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1947): I'm surprised no one has mentioned this one. Perhaps Tyrone Power's best acting, as he desperately tried to break away from swashbuckling and matinee idol type roles. Featuring gritty writing, a great cast, and memorable characters, one of the best noirs IMHO. NO WAY OUT (1950): Not really a noir, but a racial problem/crime drama, this exciting thriller has another great performance from Richard Widmark, probably Linda Darnell's best acting, and Sidney Poitier's debut role. Quite harrowing and totally believable. During the incendiary 60s, many TV stations would not show this movie.

After one anti-semitic rant too many, I thought that I could never again enjoy Mel Gibson in another movie. But I saw GET THE GRINGO a couple of months back at my brother's house on Netflix, and I did enjoy it much more than I expected. So I guess a given star's inner a**-hole doesn't keep me from seeing them at what they do best. Edited by: Arturo on Nov 20, 2012 6:16 PM

GinnyFan wrote: *I know that I won't go to a Lindsay Lohan movie. The train wreck is just way too much in my face (and I'm beting it will be awful, anyway).* Well, when Lohan has another run-in with the law, the judge, her probation officer etc. I just feel bad for her. Here is a girl who had everything and seems to almost inexorably be throwing it away. Maybe the Liz movie will help her turn the tide....at least she is still receiving viable offers. PS - She looks gorgeous in the promo shots I've seen (and a lot like the 50s Liz IMHO)....when she was in her teens before her troubles began, I thought that with her red hair and colored eyes she looked like an incarnation of a young Ann-Margret. Hibi wrote: *"m kinda looking forward to her Liz Taylor tv movie. (Am betting it will be awful. And it's free!) If it isnt laugh inducing, I can always turn the channel............* Back in the day (late 50s-early 60s), Liz Taylor's private life was a mess, and a very public one, and if it wasn't for her propensity for life-threatening illnesses (and extreme beauty IMO), she might've been censured to the point of a backlash against her....but the days of Bergman/Rosellini were gone by then, and she only became the most publicized star in the world.

*In my mind, Hopkins and Francis were much bigger stars than Chatterton.* At her height in the early 30s, she was much bigger than either of them. But by the mid-30s, she was fading fast. I think DODSWORTH in 1936 was her Last Hurrah. Hopkins' and Francis' movie careers outlived Ruth's by a decade in the latter, and decades in the former, but more importantly, they were at the top for longer that Chatterton.

*I think the economical part is what throws me. LOL* When I say economical I mean for an A feature....this would be a mid-priced film overall, not a budget-priced feature, signifying a B or cheaper (cheaper as in less expensive...no value judgement on content on my part here).

*I think you mean Ruth Chatterton, not Miriam Hopkins* Hibi, you are so right. The trouble is that since in the early/into the mid-30s, Chatterton, Hopkins and Kay Francis seemed to have been interchangeable in producers' minds in assigning roles to them, that details of each actress's career jumble together in my mind. Thanks for the correction.

*I'll take Splendored Thing any day of the week over MARTY, which seems like a dreary little TV movie of the week. No thanks.* MARTY actually started out as a TV drama.

*I said ATWM is sort of like a B plus film or A minus film. I was making the distinction that, while it is a programmer, it could not be considered a B film. It has a somewhat elevated pedigree in terms of budget and casting and other production values. I was also suggesting that the A pictures that are not epics and do not have extravagant casts and location shooting are sort of like an A minus. Or if we are calling MALAYA a straight A, then we would have to call QUO VADIS an A plus. There is a correlational study that can be done on studio productions.* Topbilled, if I remember corectly, you are an educator. This must explain your partiality to letter grades with qualifiying pluses or minuses lol. And all these letter grade permutations is the reason I feel people nowdays don't understand the concept of "programmer" and think of it as more or less synonymous with "B". This (programmer) is a perfectly good term that covers a certain grade of A films, and to explain them as a B Plus confuses what a programmer is....just say "programmer" and it should be self-explanatory.

A few years ago, Fox released two boxsets on Tyrone Power...one focused on Swashbucklers and the other, called TP Matinee Idol, had mostly comedies with a drama or two. I had hoped that a Western collection of his movies would follow, which would include RAWHIDE and the Western in all but location, UNTAMED. Fox stopped these boxsets about 3 years ago, so I'm hoping these and other titles will be part of the new Fox Archive series (or whatever it;s called).

*Really? He was a bit old to be playing Bond. Interesting.* If I remember correctly, I think that John Payne held the rights to "Dr. No" back in the mid-50s or so. That would have been an intriguing prospect; maybe Bond would have been non-British to explain his accent...maybe Canadian?

*The questions for both actors and studio heads is how 'fair' a fixed rate, 7 year contract is as time marches on.* Actually, most of the 7 year contracts had options every six months or one year. If the studio picked up the player's option, there was usually a salary increase. So these contracts were not normally "fixed-rate". *WB got it's money worth at the start of Kay's contract but clearly not as much at the end, but overall both sides got value out of the relationship. Kay signed her deal with WB while near the top of her fame. Doing so clearly favors an actor.* Kay had the added advantage in that she was part of a "talent raid" by WB against Paramount; this also included Miriam Hopkins and William Powell. Warners was able to woo them with superior salary guarantees, but also because they were unhappy that Paramount had instituted an across the board pay cut, in order to counter sagging movie attendance as the Great Depression was reaching the depths. it is possible that Warners got as much of its money's worth at the end of Kay's contract as at the start, insomuchas Kay was filming B movies. So while her movies might no longer have been making the money they had earlier, they were substantially more economically made, being B films. Edited by: Arturo on Nov 16, 2012 9:30 PM