voranis

> {quote:title=markbeckuaf wrote:}{quote} > If you are digging on Miss Marple and Margaret Rutherford, you will be grooving to Wednesday as there is an incredible lineup of her flicks: MURDER SHE SAID (1961), MURDER AT THE GALLOP (1963), MURDER MOST FOUL (1963), and MURDER AHOY (1964)! I love the Margaret Rutherford films! I was hoping TCM would show them all in a block again. In the past year it seems like they just show one at a time, like when they showed Murder at the Gallop not too long ago. I've been hoping for a marathon again! > > The crown jewel groove of the week happens for me right in the middle, with a Wednesday night tribute to the luscious Joan Bennett!!!! It kicks off with one of the all-time greats with Eddie G and sleaze-meister himself, Dan Duryea, in SCARLET STREET (1945)!!! Fritz Lang directs and it's a winner!! This is followed by a flick I've not seen before, TRADE WINDS (1938) with Frederic March?I'm looking forward to seeing this one!! The grooves continue all night and into the morning with THE HOUSEKEEPER'S DAUGHTER (1939), THE WOMAN ON THE BEACH (1947), a very groovy flick with Robert Ryan and Charles Bickford!, and it closes out with the wacky pre-code ELEVEN MEN AND A GIRL (1930), with Joe E. Brown!!! > Scarlett Street is a classic! I remember watching an analysis of it in the PBS series American Cinema hosted by John Lithgow, in the episode "Film Noir." Joan Bennett and Edward G. Robinson are fantastic in this movie. I think Joan Bennett was a much better actress than she was given credit for over her career. Thanks, Mark, for another great summary of upcoming films for the week! Robbie

> {quote:title=hamradio wrote:}{quote} > Has anyone noticed the nice *classic* lineup for Mother's Day? > A NEW *HIGH* FOR TCM? > I'm looking forward to it! I especially love I Remember Mama with Irene Dunne, Stella Dallas with my favorite Barbara Stanwyck, Bundle of Joy with Debbie Reynolds, and Lady for a Day with the wonderful May Robson and one of my favorite directors, Frank Capra. I think TCM is still going strong!

> {quote:title=markbeckuaf wrote:}{quote} > Very cool, Voranis! > > Meanwhile, I'm watching a film I've not seen, a cool little B horror with a noir atmosphere: TORMENTED with Richard Carlson, airing on the Wolfman Mac's Chiller Drive In on Retro-TV. I wish they would add Me-TV here also, as it sounds like you have a great lineup on that channel as well. > > I agree, TCM is pretty much the only reason for cable for me. All these free digital sub-channels are pretty cool actually. Mark, The first film I saw on RetroTV's Chiller Drive-In was I Bury the Living with Richard Boone. That was a lot of fun! Unfortunately we lost RetroTV for MeTV, but I saw Tormented once before on Chiller Drive-In. MeTV is slowly rolling out nationwide, so you'll probably get it at some point. And like most other areas that have gotten MeTV so far, it will probably be an addition to RetroTV rather than a replacement. For us, it was a replacement. We always seem to have fewer TV viewing choices in our area than other areas; the fact that we got MeTV early at all is a rarity. But, we lost RetroTV in the process, which is not happening in most other areas that get MeTV. By the way, I really think you will like The Untouchables. It is far more noir-ish than Highway Patrol or Perry Mason. Like Highway Patrol, The Untouchables has a no-nonsense protagonist in Eliot Ness, played by Robert Stack. I had never liked Stack very much in the few things I had seen him in, so I didn't think I would like The Untouchables until I actually started watching it on MeTV. Unlike Highway Patrol, The Untouchables has lots of night scenes, lots of scenes in back alleys, lots of scenes in smoky nightclubs and restaurants with scheming "dames." These are the things I think of when I think of film noir. Highway Patrol only has these occasionally, depending on the plot of the episode. But with The Untouchables, it's what the entire show is about, so it's almost pure noir--at least, from what I've seen so far. I still like Highway Patrol better, but that may be because I am not as big a fan of film noir as I think you are. :-) I liked The Untouchables so much on MeTV that I bought the first DVD set from Amazon so I could watch it from the beginning. The pilot is actually a two-part episode from The Desilu Playhouse and much of the action centers around the Montmartre Cafe, the headquarters of the Capone organization being run by Frank Nitti while Capone is in prison. Ness begins making inroads into cracking the organization, and then Capone gets out of prison, returns to find his organization cowering because of Ness, and begins cracking skulls to fight back. The fun begins! I think you'll like it. Robbie

> {quote:title=markfp2 wrote:}{quote} > > {quote:title=voranis wrote:}{quote} > > The TCM online schedule AND Now Playing both say Santa Claus is supposed to air at 2 a.m., but it looks like +Night of the Lepus... > > Keep in mind that Now Playing goes to press six or more weeks before the start of that particular month so it won't show any changes. I would usually say that TCM's online schedule is the most up to date and has any last minute changes, but I'm not about to say that anymore. > > I've checking the schedules on DirecTV and the local paper's website instead. Strange that TCM can get them the right information, but not its own website. Oh, I was already aware that Now Playing could be out of date. That's why I included the fact that the online schedule was inaccurate as well in my original post. My point is that the online schedule is still having significant content problems. As I also said, my satellite guide showed Night of the Lepus playing, so I was already aware that the other services have updated information. I am aware that the satellite, cable, IMDB, Zap2It, TitanTV, SchedulesDirect, etc., etc., guides have the correct information. The point, again, is that the online schedule continues to have significant problems.

The Incredible Shrinking Man is playing again right now on the Svengoolie Saturday night horror-fest on MeTV. I just saw it last week on THIS! Twice in one week! Thank goodness for these channels! They are free OTA for people with antennas. If it weren't for TCM, FMC, Boomerang, and Encore Westerns, I'd probably ditch cable and satellite altogether...

> {quote:title=lzcutter wrote:}{quote} > They are very proud of having been awarded the Peabody Award for *NOT* changing. In an era when other networks are busy moving away from the programming that brought them viewers in the first place (see the History Channel, A&E, Bravo, etc), TCM is known through-out the industry as the one channel that still remains true to the mission statement it started with. And they have the Peabody Award to show for that. I agree completely. A&E has really changed away from what it originally was. TV Land used to show classic TV shows, but is moving away from that by going into reality and new TV shows. I think what happens is that a new executive comes in and wants to put their own "brand" on the network, shake it up to make a big name for themselves, and they move the channel away from what made it popular in the first place. Now TV Land is struggling financially. They say they have to move to reality and new TV shows because advertisers won't pay for classic TV. But this flies in the face of the fact that the channel was doing OK financially until it began to move away from classic TV and began losing viewers. Thank goodness our area now has MeTV (originally a channel only in the Chicago area that is slowly going nationwide, distributed by MGM just as THIS is) which shows classic TV 24/7, the way TV Land used to. The message boards at many classic TV sites such as sitcomsonline.com are full of viewers who want classic TV, so the demand is there, and for the time being MeTV is smart enough to fill it. Yes, the cost of broadcasting on digital subchannels the way MeTV, THIS, and RetroTV do is lower than it is for cable channels like TV Land, but the fact remains there is a strong demand for classic TV viewing and I think it was TV Land's abandonment of their identity, not the advertisers, that began hurting them financially. Compared to these other networks, TCM has remained true to its original identity. Lynn, was the Peabody specifically awarded for "not changing"? That's amazing. Is there a story about it somewhere you could give me a link to? Robbie

> {quote:title=lzcutter wrote:}{quote} > *Looked to me like Star Wars and Star Trek were copies of this* > > To his credit, George Lucas always acknowledged that *Buck Rogers*, *Flash Gordon* and Saturday serials were a major influence when it came time for him to write and make *Star Wars*. > > I was only about 8 or 9 when *Star Trek* first hit television screens and I don't remember if the Roddenbarry or the press back then made the connection. > > What I want to know about *Buck Rogers* is why were *two* directors needed for each episode! > > And why does Buddy do all the heavy lifting and Buck get all the credit? Oh wait, that's the sidekick's role! I've seen George Lucas talk about those influences. He's always been very generous in giving credit where it is due. Gene Roddenberry gave some credit to earlier sci-fi movies and shows, although he most often referred to Westerns, saying Star Trek would be like Wagon Train to the stars and could run as long as Gunsmoke or longer, if the network would give it a chance. Still, I remember Roddenberry claiming that they invented the transporter for Star Trek because the ship was too big to land on a planet (or the expenditure to escape the planet's gravity was impractical, or they didn't want to have to do shots of a shuttle landing every week), and yet we see a transporter in the much earlier Buck Rogers... What would a sci-fi show or a Western be without a sidekick? :-) By the way, is Western supposed to be capitalized or not? My instinct says it should be capitalized, yet most other genres (comedies, dramas, etc.) are not. Maybe I just think it should be capitalized because directions like west are capitalized when used as a location (e.g., "the old West").

The movie Kentucky with Loretta Young just finished airing on THIS. I used to see it on FMC, but it hasn't aired there in a long time. Thank goodness we have channels like THIS to supplement TCM and FMC...

Did anyone catch the Buck Rogers serials today? Very cool!

> {quote:title=sfpcc1 wrote:}{quote} > I DVR TCM Underground once in a while. They sure like to show the Night Of The Lepus. I recient taped Strange Behavior which had one of the strangest dance scenes I've ever seen, (outside of Romy And Michelle's High School Reunion.) Yeah, my satellite onscreen guide said Night of the Lepus even though TCM's Now Playing and its online schedule said Santa Claus. And you're right, Night of the Lepus airs a LOT on TCM Underground. Must be cheap for TCM to buy or lease or whatever it is they do to get the rights to air a movie. I saw Strange Behavior. It was definitely appropriately titled. Weird!

The TCM online schedule AND Now Playing both say Santa Claus is supposed to air at 2 a.m., but it looks like Night of the Lepus with Stuart Whitman is airing. As soon as I see Dr. McCoy--I mean, DeForest Kelley--I'll know for sure...wait, he just showed up. Definitely Night of the Lepus. First, frame errors in one of the Mike Hammer films; now, a different movie is airing from what is in the schedule? What's up, TCM? Of course, I am probably the only one who ever watches TCM Underground anyway...

> {quote:title=fredbaetz wrote:}{quote} > One of my favorite Mike Hammers was the author himself Mickey Spillane in "The Girl Hunters". This is the most brutal Mike Hammer to date and Mickey does a pretty good job. Is he a great actor.No. But he knows his character and plays him better them any other. Loved the scene in the bar when he makes a sleezy thug eat one of his bullets from "Betsy", his colt .45....If you haven't seen it, check it out... The Girl Hunters just finished airing about 30 minutes ago on TCM...

> {quote:title=audreyforever wrote:}{quote} > Hello everyone. If you don't know yet, I'm a junior in high school and absolutely adore TCM. Recently, I started a Film Club at my school where students are welcome to come on Wednesday nights to watch Classic Films. So far, we have shown: Strangers on a Train, Casablanca, Singin' in the Rain, Duck Soup, and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Next Wednesday we are showing Psycho, because my friends are interested in seeing an old Horror movie that has inspired every subsequent horror movie. > > To say the least, it is a success. However, I would like to show a WW2 movie in honor of Memorial Day, but also a color film. Any Suggestions??? I've been thinking a long time but can't think of anything. Thanks!!! I don't have enough film knowledge to make a good recommendation--there are many others in these boards who are far more knowledgeable about film than I, and who will be able to make excellent recommendations. But I would like to say I think it's great that you have taken the initiative to start the film club, and that you are taking the interests of others into consideration when selecting films, and that you are considering themes as you plan the film events. It sounds like you could have a TCM programming career in your future if you so desired! Also, I like the films you have selected so far--some great movies spanning a variety of genres. Keep up the good work!

> {quote:title=LoveFilmNoir wrote:}{quote} > > {quote:title=SansFin wrote:}{quote} > > I believe Warren William is also excellent in his The Lone Wolf character. > > I haven't seen him portray the Lone Wolf. He is one of the few 30s stars who I always look out to find on the schedule. It would be pretty interesting to see him as SOTM. I feel like most would be pleased. I have seen some of the Lone Wolf movies on TCM, and they were great!

> {quote:title=markbeckuaf wrote:}{quote} > I dug all these flicks on THIS! Sure they have ads, and all that, but it reminds me of old TV and cable back in the day. Fortunately, I have a DVR service that allows me to grab from two channels at once, so I'm all good, TCM and whatever else is out there that is also good. Retro-TV (and they have that Wolfman Mac fellow who does cheap horror films on Sat nights too), THIS-TV and their Elvira and all the other cool stuff, and also Encore Westerns. There are some other cool things out there, though few and far between. TCM is the BEST though, bar none! Speaking of Encore Westerns, which does run TV shows...I wonder why Encore Mystery doesn't run any TV shows anymore? They used to run The Avengers about ten years ago...including the B&W episodes! They also used to show Rod Serling's Night Gallery. I don't think they run any TV series anymore....

> {quote:title=markbeckuaf wrote:}{quote} > I dug all these flicks on THIS! Sure they have ads, and all that, but it reminds me of old TV and cable back in the day. Fortunately, I have a DVR service that allows me to grab from two channels at once, so I'm all good, TCM and whatever else is out there that is also good. Retro-TV (and they have that Wolfman Mac fellow who does cheap horror films on Sat nights too), THIS-TV and their Elvira and all the other cool stuff, and also Encore Westerns. There are some other cool things out there, though few and far between. TCM is the BEST though, bar none! Mark, THIS reminds me of pre-cable days when broadcast channels still showed old movies. I'd rather see the movies commercial-free, a la TCM, but THIS is showing some movies you can't see at all. Given a choice between seeing a movie with commercials or not being able to see it at all...I'll take choice #1! :-) Yeah, all the retro TV digital subchannels have Saturday night horror-fests. I've been watching Elvira on THIS and the one on Retro-TV for several years now, and now that we have MeTV, there's a similar one on Saturday nights called something like Svenghoulie out of Chicago. Retro TV also has the Kraft Suspense Theater on Saturday and Sunday nights (at 11 pm, I think), although it's retitled Crisis for syndication. You might like that--it's got a mild noir feel to it. It's a crime/mystery anthology series from the '60s. Our Highway Patrol man Broderick Crawford was in an episode not too long ago. I can't watch it anymore because we lost RetroTV for MeTV, although I think it's been a net gain for me because MeTV has more variety and I'm really digging Perry Mason and The Untouchables on it. I also like Encore Westerns. I watch Gunsmoke, The Virginian, and Lawman, plus a lot of old B&W westerns from the '50s. I imagine you might like Have Gun, Will Travel because it has a darker edge to it. A lot of people like it but for some reason I can't get into it--the "gun for hire" thing isn't for me. I sure love the theme song, though. And Paladin is a cool name! Of course, TCM is the best! Robbie

Barbara Stanwyck is my favorite actor/actress of all time. I already have two books about her. Looking forward to the new one... Robbie

> {quote:title=markbeckuaf wrote:}{quote} > Capra fans are grooving early Thursday morning with the classic YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938)! I'll admit I'm a sucker for him and this film always sucks me in! I saw You Can't Take It with You today. Frank Capra's films are always winners for me. Jean Arthur, Jimmy Stewart, and Lionel Barrymore are great as always. I loved seeing Charles Lane who guest starred in so many I Love Lucy episodes and on Petticoat Junction as well. I also loved seeing Spring Byington; the first time I ever saw her was on the '50s & '60s game show What's My Line. I also just finished up watching Spencer's Mountain. I really love the original "Waltons" film. I wasn't planning to watch the Esther Williams movies tonight, but I see Lucille Ball is in Easy to Wed so I may have to watch that. I love just about any movie she's in, even if they say her movies weren't as great as her TV shows. > And the grooves don't stop, cos following that wild silent block, we get FLESH (1932), a GREAT pre-code flick with Wallace Berry and Karen Morley and again my main man, Ricardo Cortez!! And this is followed by Mickey Spillane night! KISS ME DEADLY, MY GUN IS QUICK (never saw it before, so yeah, looking forward to it!!!), and Mickey shows up himself in THE GIRL HUNTERS!!! Wow! Rock the house!! Looking forward to seeing the Mike Hammer films on Friday night. Especially Mickey Spillane as Mike Hammer himself. The only other film I've seen Spillane in was playing himself Ring of Fear. That was a real shocker for me the first time I saw it on TCM!

The Buck Rogers serials are now showing up in the TCM online schedule. Saturday, May 7 shows Chapter Five, The Phantom Plane, at 11 a.m., and Chapter Six, The Unknown Command, at 11:30 a.m. I had hopes this had been fixed when the Moguls and Movie Stars episodes finally started showing up in the weekday 7 p.m. slots in the middle of this week, and it had! Thanks, TCM, for fixing this! Robbie

> {quote:title=sfpcc1 wrote:}{quote} > Tonight on THIS their are a couple of interesting movies on, *The Incredible Shrinking Man* and *Lady Frankenstein*. Okay I don't have great hopes on Lady Frankenstein but Joseph Cotten is in it. Yeah, they still have comericials. I watched The Incredible Shrinking Man on THIS and really enjoyed it. Also saw Lady Frankenstein as I watch Elvira's Movie Macabre every week on THIS. My expectations are always low for those films; I watch mainly nostalgic reasons. I was surprised when I saw Joseph Cotten was going to be in it.

> {quote:title=markbeckuaf wrote:}{quote} > Today was just outrageous!!! Alice White in SHOW GIRL IN HOLLYWOOD!!! Whatta dame and whatta flick, 1930, all the way baby!! > > The Bing lineup was awesome too! The earlier Road films, which I like a lot! And the pre-code GOING HOLLYWOOD!! With Marion Davies--yes! > > TCM is really rocking this week! I really enjoyed the Bing Crosby birthday tribute, especially Going My Way, Blue Skies, and Going Hollywood. Show Girl in Hollywood was great as well. Tuesday was amazing with the Mary Astor pre-code blowout. I gave up trying to keep up with that but did manage to record the Philo Vance and Perry Mason mysteries. Looking forward to seeing Mike Hammer Friday night. I wish I had been able to see Dinky on Tuesday; that looked interesting. Ironic that Jackie Cooper passed away the same day. And just finished watching Eleanor Powell and Buddy Ebsen with his gangly dancing legs (who I still say could have done just as well as Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz) in Born to Dance. Each time I watch it, it's better than the previous time. Robbie

> {quote:title=markbeckuaf wrote:}{quote} > Robbie, it's the tune that Betty Hutton sings! Mark, Cool! I think I have a recording of it from a previous airing on TCM. I keep a collection of shorts on DVD, but I haven't had time to watch them all. Darn TCM for airing 24/7! Sometimes I wish they only aired only 6 or so hours a day so I can keep up. ;-) No not really. :-) The Boomerang Channel, which is a spinoff of Cartoon Network, and part of the same Time Warner family as TCM (unless there has been another corporate change that lzcutter will tell me about), but is essentially advertiser free, although they do air ads for Boomerang and Cartoon Network in the spots where the commercials would be, used to air programs an 8 hour block each day, repeating the block twice more during the day, when they first launched. So if you weren't able to watch a show in the morning block, you could catch it in the evening after work in the second block, or you could catch it in the third block overnight if you're a night owl like me. :-) I believe the blocks were 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., 4 p.m. to midnight, and midnight to 8 a.m. Sometimes I wish TCM would do something like that, so it would be easier to keep up with what they show. No, not really. :-) Boomerang abandoned the 8-hour block format after the first few years. They also didn't do ads for Cartoon Network back in the early days, so the programs had fewer interruptions, basically just a short ad for Boomerang itself in the commercial breaks. Now they have more ads for Cartoon Network, and I'm afraid they may go fully commercial sometime soon. :-( Anyway, I am going to hunt down my previous recording of the Bob Hope & Betty Hutton short and watch it, pronto! Thanks! Robbie

> {quote:title=musicalnovelty wrote:}{quote} > > {quote:title=voranis wrote:}{quote} > > > {quote:title=markbeckuaf wrote:}{quote} > > > Wow, this is very cool!!!! "Murder He Says"! And Bob Hope! During WWII, wow! Great stuff! Thanks, TCM!!! > > > > By the way, what is this short and when did it air? > > > > Robbie > > > This is it: > > http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/401876/COMMAND-PERFORMANCE-STRICTLY-GI/ > > It was on Sunday morning, May 1. It sounds good. I read this description at the tcmdb link: >Thanks to TCM and their archives, we are treated to wonderful films and shorts like this. Originally aired on Armed Forces Radio and shown as Army & Navy Screen Magazine #20 we are presented with Bob Hopes smooth style and friends, Betty Hutton as she sings a fun song-Bob calls her a vitamin with legs, Lana Turner treats the GI's to the sounds of an American favorite- the sound of a Sizzling steak and the great Judy Galand sings as only she can "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" Bob closes this little short with a his own "Thanks to the GI's and Allies" it brings tears to your eyes. A wonderful short that shows us how important the stars were to the war effort. Thanks TCM! Tom Holbrook "The Bozologist" Where does "Murder He Says" figure into it? Robbie

Now Playing shows Moguls and Movie Stars airing today at 7 p.m. but that is not in the online schedule either. I'm glad I subscribed to Now Playing as the TCM online schedule seems to be increasing in its unreliability, rather than improving... Robbie

> {quote:title=markbeckuaf wrote:}{quote} > Wow, this is very cool!!!! "Murder He Says"! And Bob Hope! During WWII, wow! Great stuff! Thanks, TCM!!! By the way, what is this short and when did it air? Robbie