darkblue
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Posts
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Days Won
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Posts posted by darkblue
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I DVR'd The Egyptian from TCM/HD as planned. It looks great -- it's a bit more letterboxed than the one I recorded from FOX HD a while back, I really have to compare the two, but as they're both from HD channels, they're taking up a lot of space on my DVR!
I have only TCM SD and my recording was full of little glitches and twitches and mini-pix's.
I've noticed that happening a lot lately with TCM content (and only with TCM!). I suspect Rogers (my cable company) is doing something wrong - probably on purpose to get me to switch over to one of their plans where I have to rent a box from them.
With a stupendous October coming up - with more movies I'm interested in recording than at any time ever before - I'm getting worried about the lost opportunity. I've had no fewer than 4 movies ruined by these visual twitches in the past couple of weeks.
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In the age of literature and sheet music when the concept of public domain was first devised, it was a wonderful idea - all you needed was authoritative text, which for a novel like Oliver Twist would be quite abundant. Practically any book is a good source. Film is vastly more complicated and I don't see how anyone could advocate that position given how public domain films already fair on home video (not...good.)
Basically, the people who would like to release film "A" would use any lousy element they could find (bad 16mm reduction TV prints from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, you see them everywhere on PD releases) because they don't want to pay the fee to use the parent studio's vastly superior film elements (the negatives and interpositives...or the better quality duplicates.) The parent studio would have little incentive to release the best editions of the films themselves because consumers are quite happy to pay less for a dramatically inferior product from those taking advantage of the public domain status. Companies like Criterion would also be less inclined towards the work for the same reason.
These problems don't exist with books but with film they are HUGE.
Meanwhile, studios would have less incentive to put in the money to preserve the great film elements that they possess because it's difficult for them to make the investment back. And it's not just home video, TV sales, which in some cases are more important in recouping the money that goes into restoration and preservation, and internet distribution would also be adversely affected.
Public domain would be a nightmare, a disaster, for film. We'd get stuck with lower quality across the board and it probably would also hinder what's made available rather than expand it.
We'll find a way to work around that. Once the 50 years is up, original prints would have to be turned over to the Public Domain Administration for cataloguing and maintenance. No more movies going extinct just because studios let them rot. Anyone interested in manufacturing dvd copies of Public Domain motion pictures would be assisted by the Administration at whatever cost is entailed in that. Such manufacturers would be able to recoup and/or profit from the sales of the dvd copies they make.
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Even now, when a composer scores a film and is paid for it, he generally retains the copyright and only licenses the filmmaker to use the music for X amount of time to include TV, DVD etc..... That's one of the screwy things that can mess up copyrights and keep films out of the public domain. If the composer retains the copyright, it's something to can leave to his descendants .... who had nothing to do with its creation.
That's why my rule would be better. If I were in charge of contract law as it applies to these movie matters, we'd be a happier society.
The public gets to pay you for a movie for 50 years - then the public owns it.
And if you don't want your music to be used in a movie - you don't think it's worth that paycheque to let it be there forever - then don't. But if I'm in charge, it's one way or the other - no exceptions.
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Many of the films are these lists are available from private collectors. If you're waiting for a TCM airing or an official DVD release, you'll be waiting for nothing. Most of these titles are public domain or have not been restored so they are not "good enough" for business purposes. Others have legal issues that would prevent work done on them but copies exist.
All movies that have ever been released for public viewing should automatically become public domain after 50 years - no exceptions.
If I were able to create laws, that's one that I would.
And, if you agreed to let any song or music of which you hold the rights to be used in any publicly-exhibited movie, you've agreed to a permanent situation - no matter the format in which the movie may be manufactured.
Don't you wish I was in charge?
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there's always a few, but frankly Hammer Horror always bores me.
It doesn't help that they play the same ones so much either. The most interesting of the Hammer films (Curse of the Werewolf, Enemy from Space, The Brides of Dracula, Scars of Dracula, etc) would be very welcome if they're gonna stay with that studio's output every Halloween.
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That recently? I'm surprised I didn't notice it. They sometimes schedule it under it's original name, regardless, which doesn't make matters any less confusing. Thanks for letting me know. I hope it gets another showing some time soon. (And that RO stops calling the Burr-ed version the original.)
Actually, it's been 3 years. June 2012. Time is moving incredibly fast for me!
Here's a thread from that time:
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"Pennies from Heaven"--(1981)--People didn't want to see a dramatic, downbeat Steve Martin in 1981. MGM gambled & lost big with this excellent film. Martin, Bernadette Peters, Jessica Walter, & Christopher Walken lip-sync to song hits of the 1930's & dance--all show undreamt of talent. Film is not a Feel-Good film--but it Is a classic that's never seen except on TCM--I've never run across it before. A Must-see or Record.
People were confused by it. Martin had become a star - something like Jim Carrey - in outrageous silly comedies for the few years prior. No seriousness. Plus, this musical used old records to which the actors lip-synched - even if they were not the same gender as the singer - which has to be the first and last time that was done in a serious movie.
Most, hearing this was a musical starring him and Bernadette Peters - who had a history of fluffy, air-heady roles - thought they were going to going to see something funny. Child murder and the selfish exploitation of vulnerable women during the Depression are not funny topics.
So, it's not surprising that it didn't hit with theater-going audiences. On home video in the years that followed, though, a much more appreciative audience began to notice what a fine film it is when expectations of lunacy-style comedy aren't the motivation for watching it, the way they were back then.
If anyone here has never seen it, don't miss it. Dark and disturbing, yet containing some great music and choreography. Pretty unique.
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Some of the films TCM has replaced on the Canadian schedule are really surprising and big disappointments. We Canadian viewers don't get AWAY FROM HER (2006), even though it's a made-in-Canada film by one of this country's most highly regarded filmmakers, Sarah Polley. That this film should be bumped from TCM Canada makes no sense, regardless of any rights issues at play.
It makes lots of "sense", I'm afraid. If the CBC - or CTV - or Global - currently hold the broadcast rights in Canada, then TCM is not permitted to show the film up here.
Fortunately, almost every public library in Canada has this one on borrowable DVD.
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I haven't been part of this argument/discussion and haven't read all of the posts yet, but I will say that horror and science fiction are more important than film noir.
Certainly are a helluva lot more of them.
Noir does seem more important to TCM, and to posters here; but although I enjoy it, I think in the scheme of things it's a lesser genre than horror, a genre that has been obsessing people's minds for millennia.
They did pass away for a reason - audiences grew tired of them.
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It can, and often has.
Don't worry about coming up with responses to that member. Negative Nelly there just comes around this thread to [...] on our conversations and song choices.
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I've noticed that Canadians and British people say that a company "are", rather than a company "is", while here in the US most of us were taught that a company is a single entity, not plural, so a company "is" rather than a company "are".
I've never heard anyone up here say "a company are". That would be stupid. Can't speak for the Brits, but I'd be surprised if any of them had ever said such a thing either.
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completely unintended on my part but so help me this may be the last time I ever complain about tcm in any way ever again.
And here I was giving you credit for coming up with a wonderfully sneaky double-entendred title. I thought it was deliberate and was quite pleased about the wit and imagination you'd displayed.
Now you say it's accidental? That's disappointing.
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Actually I have the DVD. Don't know if I have ever watched the European version. Probably need to do that. I do not play audio commentary when I watch movies. Don't mind an intro before a movie or comments after, but why watch a movie if someone is going to be talking about it the whole time and drowning out the dialogue?
I LOVE commentaries - especially if they're by the director or a film historian. Naturally, I wouldn't turn them on if I was watching the movie for the first time, but once I'm familiar with the movie I find I pick up on missed or unstated aspects through listening to the commentaries at least once. Very informative (as long as they aren't done by just the actors - those tend to be pretty superficial).
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The Big Circus (1959) I caught this the other day. Incredibly bad and cliche ridden. Lorre is like a zombie. Mature keeps pounding his palm with a walking stick throughout the entire movie. Talk about banana hands!! Kathryn Grant is so so so bad everyone spends the movie literally propping her up. If you enjoy a good bad ‘un, this one’s for you.
Loved it when I was a kid. My next door neighbor kid was a freak for the circus - couldn't get enough of them - and he and I saw it several times.
I remember that Gilbert Roland pretty much steals the whole movie and that David Nelson was surprising.
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They could show Blade Runner and keep everybody happy.
Which version?
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I want TCM to show 'Return of the Fly' (1959).
It's a nice creepy movie in black and white, cheaper than 'The Fly' (1958), but actually scarier.
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Favorite music, or favorite music "at this moment"? I don't see what you're driving at.
Some people **** about anything and everything.
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White Oleander (2002)
The lovely and artistic teen child of a murderous mother is sent into foster care. Chameleon-like, she tries to fit wherever she is, but her mother - even from prison - is having none of any happiness for her.
Every single actor in this one - from the youngest child to the most experienced adult - is pitch perfect in their performances. Alison Lohman is brilliant as the daughter - carrying the movie on her young shoulders expertly. Michelle Pfeiffer is perfectly self-centered, vicious, unlikeable in the extreme. Robin Wright gives a remarkably convincing turn as "born again" trailer trash.
This is weighty material overall, but impossible to turn away from. Truth be told, this is the 4th time I've watched this modern classic. Highly recommended.
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"Head" is short for pothead.
Yep. It was used in my "frat" house (a house I shared with 3 other guys) almost exclusively to describe what we were in the early 70's. We weren't hippies because we had jobs (most of the time).
But we were definitely heads.
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I haven't been a "head" since around 1970.
More of a "head case", I'm guessing.
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TCM finally showed 'Gojira' for the first time about a year or so ago.
I remember there were posts expressing how much better a movie it is than the American 'King of the Monsters' bastardization.
For some reason, it has not had a 2nd showing.
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I'm not sure what all that was down there from "Doreet", but they didn't appear to be "arcane phrases" from the "classic" era, unless she( I'm assuming) is implying that the SIXTIES are the "classic" era!
It is.
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Where did "I'll be a monkey's uncle" come from?
Darwin.
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Bad Timing (1980) Dir. Nicolas Roeg a very creepy thriller told in multiple flashbacks with Teresa Russell,.Art Garfunkel, Harvey Keitel, and Denholm Elliot, set mostly in Vienna.
Keitel is great in that, isn't he.
Off Topic: Favorite Music?
in Your Favorites
Posted
Back in 1980, Toronto became the coolest city in the world when a tiny multi-lingual UHF station (CFMT channel 47) created the first 7 days a week all-night show in North America.
Chuck the Security Guard would play all kinds of old and strange stuff through the night. Old episodes of The Outer Limits and Hollywood and the Stars and Fibber McGee and Molly (for example), as well as lots of peculiar shorts, very old commercials from the 50's, music videos, full-contact karate matches. Lots of weird stuff - the weirder the better. He would open the show every night by hollering "Hey, You!" and pointing out at the audience. He would sometimes repeat that after coming back from a commercial break or between episodes run that night.
Anyone who was cool became addicted to this channel at night - losing sleep constantly to watch through the nights as much as possible.
The show lasted only one year, in spite of the amazing popularity of the program - due to a conflict with the shows creator and the station management. I remember how broken-hearted an experience it was watchig the very final show.
This video, the images all of which had appeared at some time or other on the show, was played that night. The song is "Hey You" by a Toronto group called The Start.