Stephan55

Hi Lori, I too really liked RAWHIDE, a very realistic low key western, and one of Tyrone Power's best. I can't recall ever seeing it on TCM. It wasn't available on NETFLIX to rent so I finally broke down and bought a box set of 4 classic westerns from Amazon, just so I could get RAWHIDE. There was another Tyrone Power & Susan Hayward film that TCM did play at least once around 2007, but I didn't record it then... It's also one of those hard to find films and I wish TCM would air it again (been waiting 5 years now...) I can't remember the name but it co-starred Richard Egan. It was like a western, only took place in South Africa. Colonists in covered wagons looking for new land that always belongs to somebody else. This time I think it was Zulus who attacked the train and Ty and a bunch of Afrikan rangers on horseback ride to the rescue. Hayward's husband is killed, but she carries on and starts a farm. She falls for Ty but Egan is also trying to woe her. I think she has Ty's kid, but Egan hangs in there working for her but loses his leg after a tree that he was chopping down, because of a sentimental association between Ty & Hayward, falls on him. He becomes a one legged vengeful outlaw and eventually he and his one-time friend Ty have a showdown. somewhere in the film I think that an extremely valuable diamond is discovered on her farm... Anyway, i can't think of the name of the film, but it was a good action yarn. Does anything I've said about it sound familiar? Off the top I can't think of any other movies that featured Tyrone Power & Susan Hayward together... can you?

The last time that I saw it on TCM was June 2009. I think that its certainly due (over due) for a replay....

I know I'm not imagining this, but i didn't see any credits at the beginning of the movie, and when the movie ended so abruptly, with Jean Seberg turning her head, to a sudden cut of the TCM holiday season promo, just before Robert & guest host came back on, that there were no end credits either... Just like the movie was created out of thin air with no director, producer, writer, or actor credits, no end music, no nothing! zippo... Did anybody else catch that? It kinda annoyed me because I'm one of those weirdo's that actually enjoys reading those credits, and recapping them in the end with exit music, along with whatever other information I can pick up on the film. This time I got neither, not in the beginning, or the end. Surely the original movie had credits? Did TCM deliberately cut them out... What's going on? I've seen this happen far too many times of late.

The 1965 version is the only one I've ever seen. I'd really like to see (preferably on TCM) the 1935 screen version with the adaptation written by non-other than Ruth ( *King Kong* ) Rose (the life partner of Ernest B. Schoedsack), and starring Helen Gahagan (as SHE), Randolph Scott and Helen Mack As I understand, it was the double feature viewing of *KING KONG* & *SHE* in the 30s that stimulated Ray Harryhausen to venture into stop motion animation, and triggered a life long friendship with the late great Ray Bradbury. Of course I've read that there have been numerous silent screen adaptations of the H. Rider Haggard classic from 1908 - 1925, any of which would be a treat to watch! I hope TCM is listening... hint, hint

See how easy it is for a thread, anybodies thread, to find itself interwoven into a myriad of seemingly unrelated topics.... > {quote:title=MerryPickford wrote: > > }{quote}I have an interesting sense of humor and I hope not to offend anybody on here. I think that you will find it difficult to offend some, and easy to offend some others, but the only thing that is likely to be truly offensive is something said with a deliberately cruel or malicious intent, aside from that most of us here are generally open minded and have pretty thick hides, I think. > {quote:title=MerryPickford wrote: > > }{quote}I'm also a female in my 20s that lives in Los Angeles and frequents old film screenings. Not to imply that everyone that watches TCM are older and males but ... I think that it's terrific that you are young and female and enjoy "classic" movies (many of us still aren't in agreement as to just what that subjective term actually means, yet) though most of us here have yet to reveal our ages, i'd say that many of the most frequent posters here are probably older and male, but certainly not all of us. I think that if truth be known we pretty much run the age gamut. The one thing that we all seem to have in common here, along with a diversity of opinions, is that we do, inspite of some of our complaints, really do share an affection for this TCM station, what it represents and most of the movies that it shows. When I first began watching this station I limited myself to my old favorites, then, over a relatively short period of time, something wonderful happened... i began watching movies that i thought I wouldn't like and found myself enjoying them. Now my taste in film is as broad as my taste in food, music and literature.... and what's more, each interest feeds off and expands the others. For me, it's hard to be narrow minded in one arena and broad minded in another, and so I find myself in the realm of Will Rogers when it comes to cinema, in that I can rarely say that I've watched a movie that I didn't find something worthwhile in the watching. Be they silents, foreign films, musicals, comedies, documentary or docudrama, melo or dark dramas, film noir, war, anti-war, westerns, fantasy, sci-fi or horror, whatever the genre may be, i seem to find something enjoyable or interestingly worthwhile in them all. I owe that to TCM. And, likewise, I think that TCM has expanded the horizons of most of its viewer audience. > {quote:title=MerryPickford wrote: > > }{quote}I just started a thread about the things I find humorous in not so much the films on TCM but just the intros/outros and interviews that take place. I've found over recent years that I will be drawn to watch a movie that I've already seen many times before, if it falls in one of those Robert Osborne, Ben Mankiwicz, or guest programer viewing slots. I think I do this just so I can hear the comments and maybe pick-up a tidbit of something I didn't know before from a different perspective, but often I'll find myself sitting through another entire viewing, just to see if I can see things differently than I did before, through another viewers eyes. I'll be looking for your other thread, thanks!

Oh No... really... Now I've got to watch more South Park. I've seen a few of their episodes, about body lice, santa vs jesus, the christmas pooh & transsexuals, ... well I guess over the years I've seen quite a few episodes. They never fail to entertain with shock & awe.. and point stinky fingers at human eccentricity & biggotry, to say the least. But no, I've never seen that episode, yet. Now of course I want to.

When it comes to the 1935 version of *COTW* & the 1930 version of *MD*, aside from the prologue reference to the actual sinking of the Essex by a maddened **** whale which was likely Melville's inspiration for the book, neither film resembled either book except in title and the names of a few characters. IMO this is why classic movie adaptations are generally poor reflections of the novels that they claim to be so loosely adapted from, especially from the early Hollywood era. Not that they can't be entertaining on their own merit, but generally disappoint one who read the book first. However there are a few excellent adaptation examples, usually in the form of a mini-series and most often aired from the BBC & PBS. In *COTW* I remember seeing an outake where Reginald Owen shot Oakie, which was such a beloved character that most viewers couldn't handle him being killed off in such a callous manner, so they edited him back to life in the end. What intrigues me most these days about *COTW* (1935) is the offscreen/onscreen romance between Gable & Loretta, and the ensuing love child that he apparently never claimed... I generally like Gable in his movies, but in real life the impression I have of the guy was as an opportunistic womanizing cad.

{quote:title=darkblue wrote:}{quote} > > You can order Sea Monkeys here > Just don't introduce any human spermatozoa into the fishbowl. It could culminate in missile warfare. > Can't say that I ever even considered that.... Is your comment based on actual experience? that reminds me of some old movie short I watched sometime long ago.... Maybe Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Amazing stories.... Not exactly sure from where/when. But there was this scientist who created an artificial world (in minute scale) in a large fishbowl type chamber with the atmosphere of ancient earth, charged it up (perhaps with human ****?) and proteins & enzymes combined and life began... Then rapidly evolved through all the stages of evolution, as on earth. Eventually tiny microscopic humanoid beings appeared, and eventually advanced to modern times with micro warfare.. including nuclear weapons... I can't remember exactly how it ended... but I think that they advanced somewhat beyond the the observers time into a prescience cataclysmic future... Anyway, there were many thoughtful & bizarre undertones that reminded me of a Serling script... So with Sea Monkeys... who knows?...

I know he is... That is why this little excercise into how frequently TCM has actually aired Scorsese films is surprizingly enlightening. I had no idea until now how spartan they actually were. I guess I'm kind of isolated by deliberately limiting myself to TCM & PBS along with maybe a couple of other channels with my precious viewing time. But I've grown to absolutely detest most commercial television, or rather the imbicilic commercials in television. When I do occassionally watch them I feel like an alien from another planet and can't believe a lot of what I'm seeing advertised, and how. I suppose that a lot of what I wish TCM would air (i.e. *List*...) is being aired elsewhere, but I'm blissfully unaware, until someone brings it up.

*The Hill* (1965) directed by Sidney Lumet aired on TCM in May 2009, & again 5/27/2012 when Ben Mankiewicz was the TCM host (recorded it). Like wise, I've been on the lookout for *The List of Adrian Messenger*, I haven't seen that all-star spoof in decades and wish that TCM would play it some time.... soon Regarding when TCM will air *Raging Bull* again, is anyones guess... It's going on 5 years now so I think it's well over do for a rerun. Sorry for my stacatto replies but my time on the internet is rationed these days, so I'm not on for very long. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks aimalac, I was unsure of those dates, I remember watching the *King Of Comedy*, and enjoying it, but for some reason failed to record it so I could watch it again or share.... Like wise *Italianamerican*. Hopefully next time I'll be ready. Though sometimes when I view something that I recorded earlier I discover that the cable company let me down with a foiled broadcast (freeze-ups & pixilation galore) I absolutely hate it when that happens, especially on a rarely broadcast film. So I may have tried to record the above but had to discard it. My cable provider ruined *THE MOUNTAIN* for me when it played last month. I do have an older Asian import DVD that I bought of the film, but I really wanted one that I recorded from TCM, oh well. Hopefully we won't have to wait years for TCM to repeat that one...?????

I remembered first seeing THE BRIDGE (1959) long ago, when I was a kid. i thought it was an extremely powerful antiwar film. Not quite on a par with Milestone's, ALL'S QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, but certainly up there. I was fortunate to acquire a copy and watched it again, after decades, just a few years ago. Now, I'm charged to dig it out and dust it off for another viewing. thanks

Let's see, according to my inferior data base, I recorded The Age of Innocence (1934, Philip Moeller, director version, NOT the 1993 Martin Scorsese version), early Jan. 2012. Not sure when the 1993 version was aired. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) aired at least twice: June 2009 & again early June 2012. I recorded Boxcar Bertha (1972) in Dec 2010, but I know that it has been repeated since. Goodfellas (1990) played at least once in June 2009. Italianamerican (1974) unsure when TCM aired it last. The King of Comedy (1983) unsure when TCM aired it last. Kundun (1997) unsure when TCM aired it last. The Last Waltz (1978) unsure whenTtCM aired it last. Mean Streets (1973) aired at least once in June 2009. New York, New York (1977) aired 4/12/2012, when Robert Osborne, hosted it live at the TCM annual Film Festival. Raging Bull (1980) aired at least once in February 2008. Taxi Driver (1976) aired September 2009. If this information is helpful, great, if not, it's the best that I can come up with in five minutes. But, it is free. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Whew, SansFin, I didn't realized that it was such an ordeal. I apologize for steering Mike00 in your direction for additional information. I only did so because you offered such a quick response with relevant information, I thought that perhaps it wasn't a very big deal. I know that a lot of people spend a lot of time on these boards offering whatever in opinions, advice and such, I don't think any of us expect to get paid for what we share. I have a lot of DVDs, some purchased from Walmart, Amazon, and elswhere, and some recorded from TCM, & some that I've traded for with other TCM viewers. I've found that I actually enjoy those traded TCM 480p dvds even more than the generally better quality comercial ones, I think its because there is some added personality in a dvd that I watch that someone else is sharing with me, by virture that they have watched it and we have agreed to trade and share with each other. Not quite as intimate as a letter, but better than a commercial product. I don't think that those of us who record TCM movies do it because we are cheapskates, and unwilling to purchase a movie that we enjoy. I think that we do it as sort of a hobby, and when you watch something that you've recorded earlier and viewed before, there are additional memories that go along with the viewing, especially if some of the pre & post commentary is caught on the recording as well. There are also many, many films that TCM shows that are available from no where else, in either comercial VHS or DVD format. Anyway, sorry if I offended you by suggesting that you might be able & willing to offer additional info.

Mike00, "recently" is kinda subjective, depending on the user of the term. *Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore* (1974) & *New York, New York* (1977), & I think *Boxcar Bertha* (1972) were aired before and repeated earlier this year ( New York, New York may have been a TCM premier this year????) . I can only recall seeing *Goodfellas* (1990), *Taxi Driver* (1976), *Raging Bull* (1980), *Mean Streets* (1973), and *Kundun* (1997), only once on TCM since 2008. I think that *The King of Comedy* (1983), *Italianamerican* (1974), *The Last Waltz* (1978), and *The* *Age of Innocence* (1993), have been shown more than once on TCM during this same time frame, perhaps SansFin or someone else can come up with the precise viewing times, if you require that information... But you are very correct when you say that TCM rarely airs a Martin Scorcese film, which makes it so very special when they do.

Welcome to the TCM message boards. I hope that you find your stay here to be a pleasant one. I think that you will find (if you haven't already) that TCM shows quite an eclectic mix that should mesh quite nicely with your diverse tastes in cinema. Likewise You will find the membership here to be quite diverse in their tastes as well, in all except perhaps the common flavor of what is perhaps the most unique station on air today. Martin Scorsese is kind of a rare and special treat on TCM. I'm pretty confident that TCM has shown at different times some of Scorsese's earlier works such as Boxcar Bertha, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, New York, New York, The Age of Innocence, and The King of Comedy. And I think I can recall seeing at least once on TCM: Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, Goodfellas, Casino, and maybe even Raging Bull, and Kundun. as to some of Scorsese's more recent and/or controversial subjects, we are still waiting to see what the future brings. Don't fear, Merry, you haven't disrupted anything here. The more the merrier. As in any diverse forum please try not to take anything personal, and do try to keep an open mind, When you get to know more of the posters, I think that you will find most of us try to be helpful and incitefull, though as in any place you will find that not everyone agrees with each other, and some are quite quick and verbose in saying so. Have fun and enjoy!!!

TCM showed this once in it's entirety a few years ago... I think that I'm ready to see it again and hope TCM will air it a second time, soon. The first time that I saw HEAVEN's GATE (the movie, not the cult) in a theater I felt it was a bit to long and somewhat disjointed. But I think that it was just me at the time as when I saw it a second time, after reading up on the actual events and characters of the Johnson County War, I found the movie to have a flavor of more fact than fiction, and viewed it as more of a docudrama depiction, and actually enjoyed it, the second time. Then again, I found that to be the case with me and all of Michael Cimino's films. They all required a second and more viewing to appreciate.

Long ago I noticed that there were occassional discrepencies between the "Month Schedule," which I use to print out months in advance and rely, sometimes too heavily upon, vs the more current, and generally more reliable "Full TCM schedule." Generally, when there is a discrepency between the two, the "Full TCM schedule" will be more accurate. I used to rationalize that the difference/s were due to the "Month Schedule" being posted so much further in advance, that the programers used it as more of an outline to follow, but couldn't account for some last minute difficulties when obtaining movies outside of the TCM library and also when there was an unforeseen loss of an old TCM friend which necessitated an otherwise unplanned tribute. I've even missed recording a favorite movie that was listed in the "Month Schedule" because I forgot to double check the "Full TCM schedule" before adjusting my recorder's timer. However, on several occassions of late I've noticed abrupt cuts to the endings of movies that I've been watching, nothing as drastic as what happened in our TCM Holloween premier of THE MUMMY's HAND, but annoying for someone like me, just the same. Even when I go out to see a movie on the "big screen" I'm one of those guys who sits through the exit music watching the screen credits roll by. Like wise, when I watch a movie on TCM, I look forward to the complete informative experience. So when the exit music is playing and the credits are on the screen, and then they abruptly cut away before the music actually ends, it's an obvious program error.... At least that's what i hope... and not a deliberate act to get a little more in between feature promotion, when there is otherwise ample time between one movie and the next. But if it is programer error, I've noticed it far to often of late, so maybe there's someone new on board at TCM that's still learning his or her craft, at the viewers expense. If such is the case, I hope that they learn it quickly. To me the mantra of "complete & uncut" is more than just words when it comes to TCM. And that includes the entire film from beginning logos to the exit music & credits. Often that is where I find those obscure actors that weren't "big enough" to get in on the opening credits, and sometimes one finds more little gems of info, like the names of individual songs and who played them, etc. there at the very end. So please TCM, get your act together, and don't cut away prematurely, wait until the exit music ends and the screen goes legitimately black, before you move on to the in between promos. And this is just a critical observation, not a general complaint aginst TCM, which is my favorite movie channel. No proverbial "sour grapes" intended, though I must confess that it does sour me somewhat, when it happens. I just want TCM to be all that it can be and live up to the standards that it promotes and that we have grown to expect with consistency.

Granted, a lot of plot holes as presented.... I'd like to see the original "Frankenstein" (1931) script. As Shelly wrote it, the creature wanted his "father" (actually Victor Frankenstein in the book) to create a woman for him, one of his own kind, so that he would'nt be lonely. (This was dabbled with in the sequel "Bride of" ) Victor eventually agreed, but later reneged on the deal. The monster promised him that he would be there on his (Victor's) wedding night. But not before first killing Victor's younger brother, William, and later Victor's bride, Elizabeth, to teach him the meaning of loneliness by losing that which he loved. Victor Frankenstein then spends the remainder of his life chasing after his elusive creation in revenge... Much better novel than either of the Whale originals. Both movies and the book had enough pathos for me to sympathize with the plight of the creature... created, and rejected, unloved and hated for being what he was.... The 1994 Kenneth Branagh film version with Robert De Niro was far more faithful to the book. But there will always be a special place in my heart for the early Universal films of my youth, especially the first two by Whale, plot holes and all.

Did any of you record THE MOUNTAIN (1956) with Spencer Tracy and Robert Wagner shown earlier this month? If you have a good DVD recording of THE MOUNTAIN would you be willing to swap a copy of it with me? I'm also looking for a good copy of RASPUTIN AND THE EMPRESS (1932) with John, Ethel, and Lionel Barrymore, shown once a few years ago on TCM. I have accumulated quite a few TCM recordings over the years. I've learned to only record on genuine quality Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim discs. I usually will record a feature that is 128 min or less at SP speed. If the feature is 165 or more min then I'll use multiple discs at SP. If the feature is over 128 min but less than 165 min then I'll record using SPP speed. For short features 65 min or less, I'll either record at HQ speed or combine a couple at SP or maybe SPP. If you are interested please PM me back with a list of your favorites that you don't have & would like to see, and if TCM has shown them in the last few years, I may have recorded some of them. I'll let you know. A lot of what I like isn't even offered on commercial DVD and I'd much rather trade DVDs this way, than purchase from Amazon or elsewhere. Anyway, if you think that you might be interested please send me a pm and let me know!

The greatest movie "monster" for me will always be the original Willis O'Brien animated KING KONG (1933). Though I never saw him as a "monster" except that he was monstrous in size, I always rooted for him to somehow win, inspite of it all... Since my childhood and to this day it's the only movie that I've never tired of seeing despite hundreds of viewings. And each time i see it I find more to appreciate. Not the scariest, though the concept of being lost or trapped in a prehistoric world could be a frightening one. Great, fast paced adventure from the beginning to the end, and like a good meal, always leaves me wanting more!. There have been other, scarier monsters in movies. The mindless flesh eaters like Caltiki, and the zombies from Romero's original "Night of the Living Dead" presented in a quasi newsbroadcast format, giant telepathic crabs, all seemed to scare the dickens out of me. but not Frankenstein, Dracula, the wolfman, the mummy, the invisible man, and others of their ilk. karloffs Frankenstein, was an empathic creature for me. In both the '31 original & '35 "Bride of," I even found myself weeping along with him and the old blind man as they found in each other a friend of the heart in a cold & lonely, persecuting world. The real monsters were Victor Frankenstein and the villagers intent upon destroying him. I loved the wolfman, and as a kid wished that I had Lon Chaney, Jr's, lycanthropic abilities... not to rip someones throat out, but to be able to transform myself into a wild creature of the night, to run fleetfootedly, and see in the dark. To be able to relate with the other wild things as one.... Bela's Dracula certainly seemed the most malevolent and deliberately evil of the bunch. However, as I grew older I found myself attracted to the vampire's abilities. Once again, a lycanthropic attraction. To be able to transform oneself into a creature of the night, not just at the fullness of the moon, or only into a wolf, but at any time of any night, and into any creature that one willed, or even a smokey mist. To be able to fly anywhere one wanted, and to have the power to sudue the will of others with a mere glance. As a young, precocious, preadolescent boy I don't think I have to elaborate on where I would have taken such aphrodisiac abilities if I'd had them. Of course my idea of necking and Bela's count, probably weren't exactly the same.... As I grew older still, the thought of an eternal "youthful" life, with the wisdom and wealth of the ages also became attractive attributes. Rain's invisible man never frightened me either. Even as a child I enjoyed his twisted James Whale sense of humor, as one would laugh at a bad but somehow funny joke. Once again, the thought of what I'd do with the marvelous powers of invisibility, if I possessed them, was a powerful attractant. But listening to Claude discuss the foibles of invisibilty, and in even greater detail when I read the Wells novel, somewhat detracted from the attraction... And though universal included him as a movie monster model, I never saw "the hunchback of Notre Dame" as anything other than a poor but noble soul trapped in a deformed body. In as much as I love the marvelous Chaney, Sr., Laughton's rendition of Quasimodo is the one that I saw first and sticks with me the best! I'll never forget his parting lines as the camera panned away in that last scene as he sat, perched among the stone gargoyles of Notre Dame... That movie and others, got me to reading Hugo, Shelly, Stoker, Stevenson, Poe, Verne, Wells, and other authors of a bygone era. When I stop to re-think about the most horrifyingly, monstrous monster of them all, both from my childhood memories of growing up, and perhaps to this day... depicted both on film and in reality, was (is) man himself.... From the spectre of a post WMD holocaust world of mutant survivors... to our accelerated corporate ambitions to alter the natural course of things with artificially created GMOs and through "our" chronic environmental abuse and neglect... to the individual and mass cruelties we inflict upon each other daily because of religious, gender, ethnic, and ad infinitum bias', hatreds & indifference... On second thought, or perhaps in full circle back to Kong, I rediscover that man can be the Greatest "movie" monster of them all...

That's right! Tracy did have about 30 years on Wagner, age wise. Much easier to take as an uncle or father than a much, much older brother. Let's see, my grandmother had 11 kids, the oldest born around 1925, the youngest was born in 1950... well that's a 25 year difference, so I guess thirty years is pushing the envelope, but well within probability. Heck, Tony Randal had a kid shortly before he passed on in his 80's, of course he had a much, much younger wife at the time, but if he had a son when he was a young man of 20 or so, there could even be a 50 or 60 year difference between step brothers. I can't remember if in THE MOUNTAIN the two had the same mom or not? If I remember, Tracy's character had some part in rearing his younger brother, and felt he was somehow to blame for his bad behavier. I wonder if the novel (by Henry Troyat) is still available? It might enlighten us as to the birth circumstance a bit, (if it wasn't just a casting call?) Just checked, it's out of print. According to wikipedia Henry Troyat (1911 – 2007) "wrote over a 100 books, novels and biographies, (all in French) among them those of Anton Chekhov, Catherine the Great, Rasputin, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ivan the Terrible and Leo Tolstoy. Troyat's best-known work is "La neige en deuil," which was adapted as an English-language film in 1956 under the title "The Mountain." " Sounds like a writer that I'd enjoy, if more of his works were translated into English.

Welcome to the TCM fan boards! I hope that you find the time you spend here to be informative, entertaining, and maybe a bit of both. I too am a big Spencer Tracy fan and had not seen THE MOUNTAIN for many, many years, and was very much looking forward to seeing it again. I can't recall TCM ever showing it before so it may have been a TCM premier. Likewise, I had to be away at work, so I set my dvd recorder for what I'd hoped would be an enjoyable evening viewing my old favorite, but alas my cable provider had hiccups that day and my recording of THE MOUNTAIN was pixalatingly useless to watch. THE MOUNTAIN isn't on the TCM schedule for the next few months and I suppose it's anyone's guess when (or if) they'll ever show it again (depends on whether its in the TCM library or they had to rent it from someone else) I was hoping that someone on these boards might have made a good TCM recording of THE MOUNTAIN that they'd be willing to either sell or swap with me for one from my TCM collection? I mentioned this in another Tracy thread but so far, no one seems interested. Anyway, welcome again, lawstermind if you spend much time here you will find this place to be a diverse group of opinionated oldsters, youngsters and in-betweeners, but we all seem to share a common love of movies in general and classic movies in particular (whatever that term means to the individual viewer). And most of us feel we've found both on TCM!

Thanks again for the link slaytonf. Yeah I see it's not listed as a TCM replay in the foreseeable future. Too bad for me. I don't suppose you might know anybody who made a decent TCM recording of THE MOUNTAIN that they'd be willing to sell or trade with me, do you?

I heard that Spence's nose got frostbit when he was playing with Wagner on "The Mountain." A little off-topic, here, but since you all are Spencer Tracy fans I thought I'd mention how bummed I am since yesterday night. I was all excited about TCM showing THE MOUNTAIN (1956) yesterday. I can't recall ever seeing it on TCM before (maybe it was a premier?) and I hadn't seen the movie for decades and was really looking forward to watching it last night, when I got off from work. I'd set my dvd recorder in anticipation. Then, when I hit play I got a nice intro but just as things were beginning to get good, my cable provider failed me. Pixilation & freeze-ups ruined the movie for me. Does anybody know if TCM will be rescreening THE MOUNTAIN again anytime soon? I didn't see it on next months (November's) schedule. If not, I was wondering if any of you Tracy o'**** might have made an SP DVD recording of THE MOUNTAIN that turned out good. If so, would you consider making a copy and mailing it to me for a renumeration of cost of disc, postage, and your time? Or perhaps we could swap for one of my recordings that you may not have? (NOTE: I only record on quality Taiyo Yuden or genuine Verbatim dvds in HQ for movies less than 65 min long, & SP for movies up to 128 min or 3 or more hrs long using multiple discs, & SPP for movies that are over 128 min but less than 160 min long) If any of you are willing, would you please let me know what you think is fair in a PM?

Thanks for the link slaytonf I kinda figured that is what is going on, but wanted confirmation. Thanks! Sure wish the word "vacation" was a real word in my vocabulary. The only way I ever come anywhere close to getting one is between contracts and jobs. I think that Ben Mankiewicz has come a long way and does very very well in carrying more of Robert's load each year. When the time comes for Robert to retire (which I hope is not for a very long time, yet), I think Ben will be well groomed for the role of full-time evening host. "Retire," hmmm, that's another word that sounds like a fantasy for me.

I'm sure that somebody must have already asked and answered this question earlier this month, but since I don't know where that thread is I'll beg your pardon and ask it again.... *Where is Robert Osborne? ?:|* Is he ill? or is he on another vacation? if the latter, is this (will this be) a regularly scheduled vacation month as part of a new contract deal with TCM? I am enjoying Ben Mankiwicz as the evening host, but each week I keep expecting to see Robert's face again, and then Ben comes on and simply says that he is covering for Robert Osborne, but makes no mention why, or where Bob might be? If he's taking a vacation, or whatever, I would like to know, and if he is ill, as a concerned fan, I'd also like to know. Thanks for anyone willing to give me a heads up on this.