MovieFanLaura

I love this schedule! George Brent is someone I've really come to appreciate over the last couple years, especially after seeing more of his early ("pre-mustache") work. I love FEMALE -- perhaps one of the most entertaining pre-Codes of all time. There are a couple on that day I haven't recorded yet -- looking forward to it!

"Farrah certainly should have been included." What is your reasoning for your opinion? Do you consider her a movie star rather than a TV star? Just curious. Some actors (like the wonderful Miss Sothern) are both film and TV stars, but I'm hard pressed to think of a single theatrical film of Fawcett's that was notable. Her best work, such as THE BURNING BED, was for TV. (For the record, I didn't think Michael Jackson should have been included either...) Just my two cents...

I was surprised people expected Farrah to be included as, while she made some films, she achieved her greatest fame on television. (So, for that matter, did Arthur.) My impression is that the Academy memorial segment is supposed to be a tribute to those in the film industry, not celebrities/TV stars in general. ?? The omissions were intentional: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/2010/03/09/2010-03-09_ryan_oneal_stunned_over_academys_decision_to_leave_farrah_fawcett_out_of_oscars_.html

I'm especially delighted about THE LIFE OF JIMMY DOLAN with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Loretta Young, which is supposed to be quite good and I missed the last time around. There is also a fabulous day of obscure Evelyn Keyes movies!! GROUNDS FOR MARRIAGE is one of the only Kathryn Grayson movies I haven't seen, and I've really been wanting to see GOD IS MY CO-PILOT with Dennis Morgan. Lots of other great stuff in May. Thank you, TCM!

I wonder what actor had the most movies remade? Seems like Fredric March must be high on the list...DR. JEKYLL, THE BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE STREET, LES MISERABLES and THE BUCCANEER come to mind off the top of my head. I adore March but although I like his version of BARRETTS very much, I lean toward preferring the Jennifer Jones-Bill Travers remake. I'm in the minority on that, but the later version has much to recommend it.

The "set re-use" discovery I have enjoyed the most: near the end of THE HUCKSTERS with Clark Gable he goes to visit an office building. He was standing in the hallway and I had the feeling it was reallllly familiar. It suddenly dawned on me where I'd seen that hallway before: it was actually a painting, and Donald O'Connor danced up it in "Make 'Em Laugh" in SINGIN' IN THE RAIN! I put in the SINGIN' IN THE RAIN DVD and compared detail by detail and verified it was the same. Regarding earlier comments, the same shipboard set used in TITANIC and GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES was also used in DANGEROUS CROSSING with Jeanne Crain. I think A BLUEPRINT FOR MURDER used it too. As I recall, sets from MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS turned up in both CYNTHIA and LITTLE WOMEN. There are many such examples of reuse of sets. You can find movie sets and stock footage reused later in TV shows, too; for instance MAVERICK reused footage from JEZEBEL and SAN ANTONIO.

A lovely tribute. Thank you -- and thanks to Mr. Lubitsch!!

I came across THE BLUE LAGOON on YouTube last night and watched most of the second half (need to go back to the beginning!). It was quite enjoyable although I found the ending disturbing. It sent me to Google to figure it out since it was slightly ambiguous.

Thanks much for the good news on the Deanna Durbin set. I have become a major fan over the last couple years. Her movies have been all been delightful.

Thanks much for the good news on the Deanna Durbin set. I have become a major fan over the last couple years. Her movies have been all been delightful.

My dad was trying to play his Archive DVD-Rs on a DVD player which is built into a TV set along with a VCR. The DVD player is not a recorder, but I wonder if the presence of a VCR was the problem for the 3 discs he couldn't play.

A follow-up to my note about the difficulty my father had playing Warner Archive discs: he has a friend who has several DVD players for business reasons. The Archive discs my dad couldn't play wouldn't play on his friend's nicest/newest equipment, but would play on a Walmart cheapie that cost around $30. Strange! It's a bit disconcerting knowing that the Warner Archive DVD-Rs are randomly not going to play on all players... I have not had any difficulty myself with approximately 10 Archive DVD-Rs to date.

We'll definitely exchange them. I'm a bit concerned as we are slightly past the 30-day window from purchase, due to the holidays and the fact I had to ship his order to him in another state, but I'm assuming if they won't play the Archive will stand behind their product. Thanks for your feedback! Edited by: MovieFanLaura on Jan 12, 2010 1:41 PM

Thanks, as always, for keeping us posted here on the new Archive releases. Query: My father and I split an Archive order during a pre-Christmas sale. He has started playing them and three out of four of his Archive DVDs have an FBI warning show on screen and then don't play; the screen goes blank. The fourth is fine. He has previously played at least one of my Archive DVDs on his DVD player without a problem. He's going to try playing his DVDs on a friend's DVD player to see if they work there, out of curiosity, but it looks like we'll have to exchange them. Has anyone else had a problem with Archive DVDs not playing? So far mine are fine but I'm going to try out those I haven't played yet to make sure they play OK.

Eleanor Parker Joan Bennett Ray Milland (especially if it means TCM would turn loose more Paramount titles; I'm excited they're showing KITTY and LADY IN THE DARK in the next couple months) Claudette Colbert (ditto the Paramount comment) Fred MacMurray (and ditto...) Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Marsha Hunt Robert Montgomery Dennis Morgan Edited by: MovieFanLaura on Jan 7, 2010 11:07 PM

The Bing had matinees as far back as the '70s, at the same time the Vagabond was in operation...I remember my parents pulling me out of school early one day to go see a matinee of Fred Astaire in THREE LITTLE WORDS. (I think it was the day before Thanksgiving, or something like that...I seem to recall they were Wednesday matinees at the time.) I saw other matinees at various times, although we usually attended the evening screenings. The only problem with the matinees, at least at that point, was that they sometimes attracted audiences heavily comprised of elderly viewers who tended to speak very loudly to each other during the movies. But in those pre-cable, pre-VHS days, you put up with what you had to in order to see classic movies. And the museum's film curator, Ron Haver, was sort of an in-person version of Robert Osborne -- he really made the screenings fun. I wish I'd been able to see last November's matinee of Robert Taylor in KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE, but our daughter was coming home from college for Thanksgiving that day so I missed it for a good reason! Edited by: MovieFanLaura on Jan 6, 2010 5:54 PM

"Ah a Bing theater goer." I spent many, many nights during my teenage years watching old movies at the Bing, the Vagabond, and the Tiffany theaters. I'm fortunate I had parents willing to make the drive from No. Orange County a few times a month! Was just at the Bing in November for the first time in a few years, seeing an Audrey Hepburn double bill. Need to go more often!

I'm thrilled TCM has pried loose another Paramount title, LADY IN THE DARK with Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland. I haven't seen it since the L.A. Co. Museum of Art showed it when I was a teenager in the late '70s or early '80s. And I love that one of their shorts is an old Tupperware industrial documentary. That and DELICIOUS DISHES which was pointed out by someone else sound like fun "extras."

I love Loretta and am looking forward to this day. I've never seen SHE HAD TO SAY YES or PLAY GIRL. LIFE BEGINS is a short little pre-Code that's a must, if only for its bizarre depiction of a maternity ward, where women apparently give birth without feeling a single labor pain (or looking pregnant) and women aren't allowed to know why they're taking medicine... I'm very partial to RACHEL AND THE STRANGER. It's shown on TCM fairly often but for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, it's a charming story of a marriage of convenience turning to love. William Holden and Robert Mitchum as costars are hard to beat.

"And Robert Taylor is Star of the Month." YES!!!!! I have become a big Taylor fan over the last couple years and think he has been very underrated. Love him in movies like WESTWARD THE WOMEN, ROGUE COP, HIGH WALL, THE BRIBE, and PARTY GIRL. Thrilled that attention is going to be called to his long career and hope new fans will discover him.

One of the great things about TCM is that we're able in many cases to view movies from the breadth of an actor's entire career and get past decades-old stereotypes, i.e., Fred MacMurray as the sweater-wearing dad (he turns out to be quite a hunk in movies like NO TIME FOR LOVE, and have an interesting dark edge in others) and George Brent as boring or a bad actor. I started looking at George Brent in a whole new light after seeing him in his "pre-mustache" pre-Codes like FEMALE and THE PURCHASE PRICE. He was really quite an interesting actor. His early performances were typically less somber and more energetic -- the subject matter of many of his later movies demanded more serious performances -- but I have since moved on to seeing many of his later films, like MY REPUTATION and TOMORROW IS FOREVER, and feel that he has been unjustly underrated. I don't know enough about George Raft to comment, but I feel there are usually valuable things to be found in any actor's career, and I personally think it's more interesting to focus positively on what an actor brought to classic films. The more movies I see, the more I find to appreciate. JMHO.

I seem to recall CLUNY BROWN was one of Osborne's picks last Christmas time... I was glad to tape it then, I hadn't seen it in years --

Robert Montgomery received the first of his two Oscar nominations as Best Actor for NIGHT MUST FALL --

Thanks for the tip! I should head over to Amazon UK and look at the prices for some of the things I'm interested in. Have been having a great time working my way through Reg. 2 sets of James Mason and Anna Neagle -- also got Durbin's HERS TO HOLD and have watched that one.

Be sure to read this interesting article about some changes coming to the Archive: http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/movies/dvd_extra_warner_archive_gets_some_IE4IHpdxVXmQZzAvfVBwQL