Stephan55

http://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/08/12/just-a-cigar/ Whether he actually said it or not is kinda moot, the message is clear and appropo, he may very well have said it and it certainly sounds like something he would have said,... especially in one of his more lucid moments between cocaine highs. Anyway, I'm sure even top-bill would subscribe to the following ideology, especially if it promotes some hidden prurience... "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend".

"Finance" is a She? :0 Now I really am confused, ... ?:| Has He always been a She, or has something recently been added, err, taken away?

Jeesh guys, as Freud (perhaps one of, if not the biggest, promoter of subliminal Idish messages -- next to TopBilled ) once confessed, "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and a bed is just a place to sleep." okay, I added that second part. But seriously guys (and gals) I think some of us are really reaching on this topic for, quite frankly, messages that only exist in the individual viewers mind/s. Sometimes a bed is hard to come by... case in point, the time when a couple of our founding fathers were once forced to share a coveted bed, or sleep on the floor.... In 1774, on a way to a meeting, Franklin and the committee spent a night in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The Inn was so full that Benjamin Franklin and John Adams were forced to share a bed. The result was a somewhat farcical matter recorded by Adams in his diary which gave a delightful glimpse of Franklin's personality and the odd couple relationship he had over the years with Adams.... http://www.highminds.com/Franklin_Allegory.php

"Wild Rovers" (1971) a great little buddy western that I wish TCM would play sometime. But nothing sexual implied between the two men in that movie.

Don't know if you were replying to me or not, but when I say "a pretty boy," I mean just that. He was one of those incredibly good-looking young men. Certainly attractive to the ladies, and likely to many men as well. But I don't imply that he was feminine in any way, he was just a very good-looking kid. And I think that he handled the part of Jesse just fine. And when I say that he was brash & boisterous, I do mean that as the cocky, self-assured characters that he portrayed on screen, especially during the latter 1930's and early 40's, prior to his enlistment in the Corp. As far as I am aware, the off-screen Power was practically always a very congenial gentleman, though he also apparently had a great sense of humour. Certainly a very likable guy that people enjoyed hanging out with. I wish that I could have been privileged to have met Ty, the man.

Gable & Tracy in "Test Pilot." I loved that film as a kid,.. still do, but Tracy's third wheel, odd-man-out relationship with Gable and Loy, is a bit odd to me today. Sure, he loves Gable... but the older I get, the more twisted their relationship seems to become. Certainly much more ambiguously ambivalent than the one like they had in "Boom Town" with Claudette Colbert and Hedy Lamar. Regarding "Sometimes A Great Notion," they did play that one for laughs, in-fact it was Richard Jaeckel's clowning around with Newman in that scene that caused his own death.... I found myself laughing right with him on how silly they looked, right up to the teary-eyed end. But in reality it can happen, just like that... Before I saw that movie I remember swimming with this girl at the beach. We got caught in a rip-tide. It was easy enough to swim parallel to the beach and get out of, but the look of this beautiful young girl, hair a muss, sputtering, with salty snot running out of her nose struck me as hilarious at the moment... I couldn't contain myself. Then she said, "Don't laugh, I'm drowning!" and we both began laughing so hard that it was hard to keep the sea out. I thought, "My god, if we don't get out of this soon we'll literally die laughing..." and we almost did. LOL "Lassie," perfect! How many times was she a he playing a she. Good thing they were Collies, a German Sheperd could never have gotten away with the gender ruse. Edited by: Stephan55 on Aug 28, 2012 10:35 PM

I tried to make a timelier post yesterday but for some reason the board or the net or the PC I was using (or any combination thereof) were incredibly slow. Regarding the movie: I've always loved this version of "Jesse James," and of course the sequel "The Return of Frank James," which I hope that TCM will also air sometime in the near future. The 1939 "Jesse James," dramatic license et al, is for me the best. Of all Jesse James films that I've seen, (though I do enjoy Audie Murphy the actor, and have the highest respect for Audie Murphy, the man), and found the Philip Kaufman interpretation of "The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid" (1972) with Cliff Robertson as Cole Younger and Robert Duvall as Jesse James very interesting. And for pure psychological schmaltz "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (2007) directed by Andrew Dominik, with Brad Pitt, as a ruthlessly twisted Jesse, and Casey Affleck, as an equally twisted Robert Ford, is hard to beat. But I think for pure enjoyment Henry King's "Jesse James" (1939) is damn near perfect. The casting of all involved is great. Each complements the other, and the pacing is never slow. Watching this movie again, reminded me of why I liked such later "buddy" westerns, in particular George Roy Hill's "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969) with Redford & Newman. In 1969 that movie played for 18 consecutive weeks at my hometown theater, and I probably saw it 15 Saturday nights, of those 18 weeks. It played with "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" which I also saw part of those weeks, though with far from the same pleasure that I derived from "Butch & Sundance." When I was in High School, the general weekend routine was Friday night dance at the Moose Lodge, and Saturday night at the Lamarr theater. The mission for both was almost always the same: girls, alcohol and rowdy behavior (not necessarily always in that sequence), but having seen "Butch..." so many times I knew the film by heart, and it allowed me to focus on my primary mission of going to the movies in those days, which was to meet girls. But I can't say that I ever got tired of that flick, and still enjoy it to this day. I think the reason why I enjoyed it so much is that in many ways it subliminally reminded me of the earlier "Jesse James." In fact I found many of the scenes in that film strangely reminiscent of "Jesse,"... The doubling up on the horse scene, riding away from the posse, flinging money to distract the posse from the chase, and the jumping off the cliff scene into the river, Of course Hill did that one without the horses... I wonder if Hill was a big fan of "Jesse James" (1939) when he was a kid? Sure seems like he might have been. Regarding the actor: Tyrone Power has always been one of my favorite actors. Yep, he was an energetic, brash & boisterous "pretty boy" when he was young, but heck,... he was young! He was only 25 in '39, and had the world by the tail! Comparing his boyish good looks in the 30s... "Marie Antoinette" (1938), Ty was 24, and "Lloyd's of London" (1936), he was 22,... crap, even I was good looking at 22! Heck, if he appeared to be aristocratic, perhaps it was because he came from such a long and distinguished line of Tyrone Power thespians, going back to the 18th century.... He, like Robert Taylor, and Errol Flynn were almost too good-looking when they were young pups. Being that "pretty" made it difficult for them to shine as actors. They were cast "Like beautiful women," in many of the roles that they got, and lost out on other, perhaps more serious ones, too often because of those very same looks. Being too good looking can sometimes be a handicap, especially for a serious actor or actress. But like Taylor and Flynn, Ty aged, perhaps not quite so gracefully after the 40's, but as his fine and gentle looks became craggier, and rougher, it had the benefit of allowing him to engage more mature roles. He was noticably different after WW2. In "The Razor's Edge" (1946), he was still only 32, but a much harder 32. I read somewhere that he thought his best film was "Nightmare Alley" (1947), in it he certainly ran the gamut and really stretched, as an actor. A not very likeable rascal, who almost goes mad! A far cry from his earlier screen persona. I also really liked him in "Rawhide" (1951). His character was a far cry from the more flamboyant "Jesse James." "Rawhide" was a much more realistic type of western. The action was more subdued which, for me, made the suspense leading up to the finale scene that much more effective, There were a few, like "Pony Soldier," (1953), "The Mississippi Gambler" & "King of the Khyber Rifles" (also 1953) where one could get a whiff of that older "younger" Tyrone Power, but then he'd pop one off like "Abandon Ship!" & "The Sun Also Rises," and his grand finale "Witness for the Prosecution" (1957), and Tyrone the actor would shine! The older I get, the more I appreciate and enjoy Tyrone Power's brief 44 years on earth! Unlike Flynn, Power was able to successfully reach beyond his earlier typecast, and yet, aside from a weak heart, he was still athletic enough to play the swashbuckler role with youthful panache, whenever he was cast to do so in his latter years. Regarding his sexuality,... all of his women never questioned it, and neither did his friends. It's easy to write a slurr against someone after they're dead. It may sell a few books, but I question the veracity of those who say that men like Grant and Scott (and even myself, in my younger, rowdier days) who shared a bachelor pad so that they could more easily party and bed the ladies, also used it to pork each other as well. The very thought is disgusting to me. And yet those latter two were man enough, and secure enough within their masculinity to joke about the sometimes awkward appearance their relationship... Two very good-looking guys sharing the same roof... might have on those whose minds were in the dirt. Hear-say, to me is not truth... and certainly wouldn't hold up in a court of law. But along the hear-say line is also the rumor that Power was cursed, (or blessed) with his father's unibrow, and, just as Tom Cruise today, lent himself to plucking, waxing, and even electrolysis, to create the the illusion of a natural hairline. Does just saying that make it so? No, but it will arouse suspicion, curiosity and conjecture in those that don't really know. Also, regarding actors not resembling the "real" person that they are portraying on screen,... to anyone who fancies him or herself to be knowledgeable about film history, this should come as no surprize. Most people went and go to the movies to see their favorite stars in the bigger-than-life role of those "real people," whomever they are or were. And a real actor can capture the essence of either the living person that they are portraying, or the director and screen writers interpretation of that person if they are dead. Case in point, Gary Cooper won two of his back-to-back oscars portraying contemporary people. People who were outstanding and heroic in their own right. But Coop didn't look anything like Alvin York, nor could he even play baseball. Yet he captured the essence of both of those two men that he portrayed on screen so well, that those that knew York and Gehrig said that no one could have played them better than Gary Cooper! Power may have not looked a whit like the photographs of the real Jesse James, but that's not really the point... is it?

hlywdkjk Thanks so much for all of that wonderful Kong trivia. Well if Cooper said he cut the spider scene in '33, then there is no way that anyone beyond that cut could have seen it... i guess I must have made it up in my head... I feel shattered, sorta the same feeling that I had when I discovered who santa really was, and who he wasn't. I imagine that in the 50's there were numerous versions of Kong being shown on televison, from the more complete 1933, to the 1938 heavily edited version. But I stand firm that the first version of Kong that I saw did have that brunette dropped from Kongs hand in New York, because as a kid i would later look for it and too often it wouldn't be there. Likewise the chomping, squishing, stripping, sniffing scenes mentioned. I used to count the sailors from the time they passed through the gate to rescue Ann, to the number attacked by the Brontosaurus, and those knocked off the log... Sometimes the number would add up to the "12 members of our party that met horrible deaths," from Armstrong's (aka Carl Denham) on-stage speech, and sometimes not. I think that when I freeze framed the film once I actually counted 14 or 15 sailors (including Cabot & Armstrong) running through the gate, down to I think 8 or 9 when Cabot makes it across the log, with 6 or 7 on the log, and Armstrong pulling up the rear. I'll have to watch my video/s again and do a few pause counts to be sure. But between King Kong being shown in its 100-104 minute length, cut down to fit 90 minute time slots, with commercials, I've noticed an awful lot of cuts at different times while growing up, everything from missing the overture, to what appears to have been akin to that 1938 censor butcher, and worse. Boy I wished I could have been around to have seen the "original" 125 minute film with those tricerotops and spiders, et al. before any of those later edits cut it down. I grew up loving anything Kong and thrilled (& mused) over "Son of Kong" (where was mom?), the Styracosaurus attack, the giant short faced bear battle with "baby" Kong, and more. My only dissappointments were that the movie was so short and that Kong, Jr. drowned, and Skull Island was destroyed, thereby preventing any further visits and sequels to my horrifyingly favorite fantasy island. To think that island had stood for millions of years, and then just decided to sink beneath the waves, at that particular time, like a lost Atlantis. Every time I see King Kong, and I can and have watched it, over and over again, dozens of times,... I find myself ever more amazed at the incredible attention to detail, and ground breaking special effects of that day that perhaps have never been equaled. I remember reading during the early film shoots that the animators could see their actual "fingerprints" on Kong's hide of trimmed rabbit fur. They thought that the whole movie would be trashed because it took so long to film those sequences. But what the viewers, including myself, saw was Kong's rippling muscles beneath that fur causing the hair to bristle on his back and legs, as he strained in combat or against that great gate. It made Kong appear even more life-like and added to his character. Max Steiner's score in Kong was and still is phenomenal! I beleive that it was the first time that a film score had been integrated as an integral part of any film, and in the case of Kong, became a major character in its own right, throughout the entire movie. I cannot even imagine Kong without the Steiner soundtrack. But when I listen to that soundtrack I can imagine the entire film. I'm so jazzed now I'm going to have to dig out my old Kong videos, find that Peter Jackson remake, and have an all night mini Kong film festival! (After Tarzan, of course) When it comes to King Kong, I hope I never grow up!

Hmmm.... That's an interesting possibility, Kriegerg69. I used to be crazy about anything that had my favorite "monsters" in them (be they Universal, RKO, or from whomever). I collected bubblegum cards, magzines, models, anything that I could get my hands on, and yes I do recall seeing those images... But, in my mind, I was watching TV as a much younger child, in mid 1950s S. Calif. Possibly saw some Kong movie of the week showing, and it had scenes in it that were later removed (i.e. the head biting, squishing, & sniffing scenes) and still later edited back in. It was at that time that my mental image of the spider pit scene first began, and this was long before I was old enough to begin collecting stuff on my own. However, the mind is a quirky organ, capable of making dreams seem real, and reality seem like a dream, so I will concede the possibility that I "created" the mental scenario from still images that I may have seen at that time, but do not recall. However, if that is what I did, then it does fit the definition of childhood confabulation.... As long as I don't start doing the same thing today, I should be alright for a few more years, at least,... I hope ???? But its still a mystery to me. Any possibilty that some Calif. studio actually had access to one of those original director's cuts, and played it on a local commercial station. Then later that print was either reedited or lost? If that could have happened I feel certain that there must still be at least a few others still alive that saw the same thing, and perhaps harbor those same "memories." If there are any TCM fans out there that share this common "memory" bond, please speak up! I know stranger things have happened.

Apparently you are correct, on both counts. I've searched high & low and cannot find a copy of the original release of "Johnny Got His Gun" anywhere. Yes, TCM did show the most complete edit apparently available. I've read that the spider pit scene was removed from Kong long ago,... long before I should have been able to have viewed it in the mid 1950's on television. Yet that memory has been with me since then, long before Peter Jackson's version of what he thought it must have been, based on whatever limited archival stills & footage he was able to view. So I don't know where my mind picked that scene up, if I actually never saw it. All of my mental faculties are still intact, for what that's worth, so I know that I'm not confabulating. Yet, as you say, I should never have been able to have seen it,... according to the "records." tis a mystery.

I grew up on and nostalgically love all of the old universal "monster' originals. Like Swithin, I too own a legacy DVD collection of the same. I haven't gone the way of BlueRay yet, perhaps I don't want to spoil the enjoyment I derive from my "old" technologiy DVDs, and out-of-date VHS tapes, but I'm wondering how BlueRay can "improve" upon what I already have when it comes to these particular classics?

I'm not replying to anyone in particular but to the thread as a whole. I remember when TCM aired "Johnny Got His Gun" a couple of years back. It was the same edited video release that I'd already seen. I, and a few others vividly remembered the original 1971 theatrical release and the first time that it was broadcast on television in the 1990s. Since that time there were a few seconds removed from several scenes, for only god & the censors know why. I caught a couple of the deletes myself: brief frontal nudity, and a slightly more explicity implied scene of **** of poor Johnny by a compassionate nurse. None-the-less, the movie and its message was, and still is, exceptionally powerful, and this was, and sadly probably is, the most complete version of this Dalton Trumbo classic currently available, so I do not fault TCM. They did not edit the film, and Only those of us who remember will ever know what was actually missing. And "Johnny" is a film that deserves to be seen again, and again. However, there is another editing that has haunted me since I was a child. I remember, as a kid, seeing my favorite movie of all-time on TV (King Kong, 1933) and vividly remembered the crab or spider sequence that followed those hapless sailors that were knocked off that giant log by Kong into that primieval chasm. When I was a teen I even paid to see a matinee release of the "unedited original" movie on the big screen. There was a minute or so of edits restored to the earlier television versions, i.e. Kong biting the heads off of people and chewing them up, and squishing them in the mud with his foot. And a funny little scene on the cliff where he partially disrobed an unconscious Fay Wray and sniffed his fingers after doing so. Evidently those restored scenes had been thought too violent and too explicit for a younger audiences eyes, but nowhere was the "spider" scene from my youthful memory. After watching this movie so many times I began to think that perhaps I had only imagined there was such an original scene. Then came the Peter Jackson remake. He was as much enamoured with Kong as I, and in his video he recalled and even tried to recreate the scene which had long been in my memory. Where the original edited scene is today nobody seems to know, but at least Peter and I can remember that it was once really there, and not a fable of our minds. None-the-less I am always very happy whenever TCM airs my old favorite, as incompletely complete as the version is.

It was a closed system, likely made possible due to the advent of VCRs, but I remember a night in the No-Tell-Motel with my future ex-wife. There were mirrors on the ceiling, a hot-tub, a coin operated vibrating bed, and a coin box for closed circuit pornographic videos that would play on one of the TV channels. we stayed up all night reading excerpts from "The Sensuous Man," "The Sensuous Woman," and "The Sensuous Couple." I think it was in the early 1970s. I can't really be sure, but I think that some of those movies were classics. Ahhh, sweet memories!

I agree with you Fred, all films are dated. I think that is part of the charm. When I see one of those TCM shorts that rag on how the Jazz age in 1920s-30s is going to corrupt the morals of a generation, it makes me smile. They were dead serious, but I heard those same fears expressed in the 50s about R&R and now I have my own doubts about head-bangers and rap music. So this is an age old theme that probably every generation has faced from the dawn of ritualized music. I found the dialogue in TBYOOL to be as understandable and relevant (for me anyway) today as it likely was then. But then I'm not that far removed from the WW2 generation. On the flip side, when I converse with many of the younger people today, many times they haven't a clue as to what I'm talking about. Not that I don't make sense, but some of the colloquialisms that I grew up with and sometimes still use don't make sense to them. I'm a pretty adaptable guy, and if they are truly interested in the conversation I don't mind explaining in more common terms that they can understand, but it reminds me how quickly the vernacular of the day can change. BTW, one of my favorite monologues from one of our favorite movies is when Freddy, supposedly intoxicated, stands up and relates a little parable about how he applied his banking experience (and jargon) in a tactical combat situation. Words to the effect that, one day his commander approached him and said sergeant, we must take that hill. Where upon Fred replies, Sir, I don't think we have the assets necessary to take that hill. To which the commander replied, none-the-less, we must take that hill. Fred then resolutely responds, Sorry sir, but no collateral, no hill. So the hill wasn't taken, and we lost the war. There's a moral to that story, but I'm too intoxicated to remember what it was.... Myrna smiles, she knows the moral. That story, like an insider joke, wasn't for everybody in the audience, but it was for those who did understand the moral to explain it to those who didn't,... when, or if, they asked. Great piece of script writing (and an excellent delivery by Freddy). And, in my opinion, generationally timeless. Oh and BTW, I ditto that observation 100% ValeskaSuratt.

I remember seeing I'LL NEVER FORGET YOU as a kid and loved it. I was drawn to Christopher Reeve & Jane Seymour in SOMEWHWERE IN TIME (1980), because it reminded me a bit of the earlier movie. But it wasn't until last night that I saw the "original" version, BERKELEY SQUARE (1933) with Leslie Howard. I am very greatful to TCM for finally showing it. It also reminded me of another "differently familiar," themed fantasy time-travel movie that I also saw as a kid and enjoyed (and wish that TCM would air sometime): THE REMARKABLE ANDREW (1942) with William Holden and Brian Donlevy. It got me to thinking about other movie remakes that I first saw before I had any idea that there was an earlier, or in some cases several earlier, versions. I long thought that 3 GODFATHERS (1948), with John Wayne, was an original, and loved it. Then on TCM I watched THREE GODFATHERS (1936), with Chester Morris, and later, HELL'S HEROES (1930) with Charles Bickford, and found myself appreciating all three films, though practically word for word/scene for scene repeats of each other. Now I've discovered that there is another, older, silent version: THE THREE GODFATHERS (1916), with Harry Carey, that I wish TCM could gain access to and air for me (us) to see and enjoy! When I first saw PYGMALION (1938) with Leslie Howard & Wendy Hiller I was amazed that it was practically an exact duplicate of one of my favorite musicals: MY FAIR LADY (1964), with Audrey Hepburn & Rex Harrison. I kept expecting Leslie and Wendy to break out in familiar song, but they didn't I remembered seeing another intermediate rendition of the Shaw play as a child: KITTY (1945) with Paulette Goddard & Ray Milland, that I thoroughly enjoyed, long before the 1964 remake was made. Once I discovered that they were all based on the same George Bernard Shaw play, the similarities ceased to surprise me, but did stimulate me to seek out the Greek mythological roots and begin reading Ovid. By the time PRETTY WOMAN (1990) with Richard Gere & Julia Roberts came around I had become quite familiar with the theme! I'm really enjoying this Star of the Month tribute to Leslie Howard. Prior to TCM I'd only really remembered seeing him in a few, sometimes secondary roles such as in GWTW (1939) and THE 49th PARALLEL (1941), THE PETRIFIED FOREST (1936), OF HUMAN BONDAGE (1934), and, of course, THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (1934). Through watching his films and Robert Osbornes comentary I am gaining a greater appreciation for this complex man who was of Jewish Prussian stock, a WWI veteran, shot down by German Messerschmitts while enroute to neutral Lisbon during WW II. The plane wreakage, bodies of passengers & crew, along with all but German photographic evidence, sinking to the bottom of the English Channel to be lost, perhaps forever. The curious circumstances of his sudden demise have lead some to speculate & rumor that he may have been on an obscure mission for British Intelligence ???? As usual, thanks to Mr. Fred C. Dobbs for the links to always interesting tidbits of info

I think that Drew is lovely, and in no way warrants such a ruthless comparison as you've made with Michael Jackson. That tragic figure turned a good-looking black-man into an ugly white woman..... I have no idea where you're coming from with that petty jab! That aside, did anyone else experience deja vous in watching a repeat of last Saturday evenings "Alice Adams" essentials...????? I swear that this was shown earlier this year in either late March or sometime in April. I even recall the same surprize when Robert asked Drew in the end commentary if she'd read the book, and she said no, and he said that he had some bad news... in the book the ending was nothing like the movie... Why this Robert & Drew "essentials" re-run at this early time? Can anybody put forward a logical answer?

I learned long ago to generally expect disappointment when watching a movie rendition of a book that I may have enjoyed, Likewise when I go to the book after enjoying the movie. They seldom are equal to each other. Though, on rare occassions, they may be equally as good in their own right, despite the differences. I find that generally, either too much dramatic license is taken that it renders the movie unrecognizable from its hardback namesake, in all except perhaps the "title," or the book is so epic in scope that the cost of putting all the scenes I'd like to see on the big-screen are simply too cost/time prohibitive. i.e. it took three Jurrasic Park sequels to get most of the first Michael Crichton novel on the screen. Anyways... Robert enlightened Drew at the end commentary, to her obvious surprize, that Tarkington's book ending was a polar opposite to the screen ending. Such is Hollywood

Although I never considered her a "major" star, I certainly enjoyed seeing her in any movie that she appeared in. She always appeared to be the intelligent sort that for some reason should have been smart enough to be wary of the Frank Sinatra type,.... i.e. The Tender Trap (1955), And deserved much better than she got in her on-screen romances. Some say that she was beginning to experience some memory loss as recent as 2002. Shoot, I sometimes experience that now.... Interesting that in real life she married a man less than half her age when she was 87, in 2004. Sorta like the flipside of Tony Randal, only without the child.... I should be so lucky to have a woman less than half my age interested in me "if" I ever reach 87???? I hope he made her happy during their last 8 years together...

I grew up on Black & White movies from a black & white TV. As a child, color movies was something I got to see when the family went to the drive-in. I was in my late teens before we owned a color TV and the color wasn't all that accurate, though we all thoug t it was something great. That was when I first discovered that some of my old black & white favorites had actually been made in color. I enjoy color movies, but I appreciate the black and white films that I grew up on, and those producers and directors that chose & choose to make their movies in Black & White for artistic purposes, even though color was and is an affordable option for them. I've heard some say that films like "Pride & Prejudice" were originally planned to be made in color, but all the available color film stock at that time had been gobbled up by the "Gone With The Wind" project. With that in mind, when I see "Pride & Prejudice" I wonder what those flowing gown scenes would look like in color. I am not offended by a good colorization of a beloved "classic" film. My taste is diverse enough to allow me to enjoy both vanilla & chocolate, as well as neopolitan & even rainbow sherbert. My favorite single film of all time is "King Kong" (1933), I long loved it in black & white, but every now and then I like to pull out a colorized edition that I acquired and look at what those artists eyes imagined the color of Kong's world to be. It may not be the true color that I'm seeing, but I know that I'm looking at someone's labor of love to render my favorite into an image of beauty that can only be seen through the eyes of an artist. Nope, good artistic coloring of a "classic" does not offend me. However a badly shot film, be it color or black & white, is sometimes painful to watch. But a well done film in practically any shade of dark & light, or color, is still a film done well. So long as I can have my cake and eat it too (both the original & a decent color rendition, when available), though I may have my preferences, if its worth enjoying, I will enjoy it, either way.

Hi Sophalee, Next to 'The Music Man," I remember "The Dark At The Top Of The Stairs" as one of my favorite Robert Preston movies. Now that you folks have brought it up, I can't remember for sure when I last saw it. But I remember it from my high school days being shown late at night when I got of work during a weekend. It wasn't that old a movie then. Robert Preston was a traveling salesman (farm implements, I think), a proud man that lost his job and was having a hard time of it, because he couldn't give his daughter a prom dress? and didn't want his family to know what he was going through. I remember Shirley Knight as a young, innocent ****, who fell for this sensitive young Jewish kid who was a cadet at some military academy, I think he commited suicide late in the movie. And the moma's boy son that kept getting between Robert Preston & Dorothy McGuire when they needed some alone time. I think Angela Lansbury was a hairdresser in this small town that had the hots for her old flame, Robert, and she was one whom he could confide in, when his wife would turn him away. I think at the end Preston gives his son some money for him and his friend to go to the movies, and orders them to stay and see it twice, so that he and Dorothy would have enough time... The boys had a little conversation as they were walking away, and one says to the other something to the effect that he wasn't sure why parents were sometimes so generous, but it seemed to happen like clockwork evey Saturady? at his house... Anyway, I may not have the dialogue precise, but the scene made me smile then, when I first saw it, and now as I try my best to remember it. I sure would like to see this movie again myself, perhaps TCM will air it for us???? I did a little searching around, Amazon doesn't have the DVD, but does have several of the plays by William Inge, whom I just found out also wrote: "Come Back Little Sheba," "Picnic," "Bus Stop," as well as "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs." All turned into hit movies that I enjoy! I had no idea that before Delbert Mann directed the 1960 Warner Bros. film version, that in 1957, Elia Kazan directed the hit play version, which also had a stellar cast: Eileen Heckart, Pat Hingle, and Teresa Wright, & Frank Overton, among others. I did find the DVD title at this link: [orders@urbanclassicmovies.com|mailto:orders@urbanclassicmovies.com] "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs" (DVD) Item# 9052 $9.95 http://yhst-128241803912219.stores.yahoo.net/9052.html I can't vouch for the credibility of the site, or the quality of the product, but thought I'd pass the info on for anybody willing to make a chance order and pass the info back on to the rest of us. I can't remember TCM ever showing it, sure wish they would if they can. I'd like to see it again before I die, but if I don't I still can remember the movie pretty well, and I guess now I can order the play from Amazon and at least read it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Whoops, looks like I was typing when ugaarte was posting. After reading his? post, I can hear those lines coming back to me as well. Thanks for the screenshot links as well looks like we can't post a link to another website even though this title does not appear to be available through the TCM store... Oh well, maybe you can find it by googling like I did. Let us know with another post if you end up ordering the movie and if the DVD quality is good I'll likely order one for myself as well. Edited by: Stephan55 on Jul 11, 2012 7:15 PM

Somehow I was drawn to the title of this thread. There are so many, many things that are "new" that are so incredibly inferior to the "old" that I scarce know whit to make my comment. .....One thing that I find very annoying on commercial television is all these auto adds that claim high milage. And people that I talk to that think they are getting great miles per gallon when their expensive new compact gets 30 miles per gallon on the highway. I knew an original owner of a 1928 model A ford with a 4 cylinder engine who still got (with an original, unmodified engine) 33 miles per gallon. He said that he could drive that car 45 miles an hr all day long without a sputter. That car was built like a tank, to last, and it has. And 45 doesn't sound like much to day, but that was long before the interstates were built, and rough, unpaved roads were the norm. But then, at the dawn of the age of the gasoline powered engine, the original "Tin Lizzy" model-T Ford was designed to run on biofuels. When I was a kid, and gas cost around 25 cents per gallon (I even remember "gas wars" with 12 cent per gallon gas), I had a friend who bought one of the first US Honda car imports, a two cylinder 600 cc air cooled motorcycle engine that got 40+ MPG and could keep up with 65-70 mph frwy traffic speed limits. I bought one, a coupe, & drove it cross country, no sweat! It was built out of heavier and sturdier steel than the later versions and still had both pep & economy. I had a VW van that got 30 mpg hwy. Datsan (Nisson) had a 1200 cc car that got 35 on the hwy. Fiat had a cute little "Spyder" two seater sports car that got 35 hwy. The US reached peak oil in 1970 and for the first time we "needed" to import foreign oil to meet our energy demands. In the early 1970s diesel fuel was cheaper than gasoline, & could be had for 15 cents per gallon. VW had both a diesel Rabbit car and what they called a rabbit "truck" that got 45 mpg. After the 1974 Arab oil embargo, President Carter reduced the hwy speed limit to 55 mph (among other things) to conserve energy. Many auto makers, including American ones, began focusing more on economy and less on unneeded horsepower. In 1980 when the US national debt reached its first trillion, the price of a US gallon of gasoline averaged 50 cents. Presidential candidate Anderson wanted to double that to a dollar and use the difference to pay off the national debt. He was the only candidate that did more than play the blame game and actually had a tangible, if unpopular solution to that big and growing problem. But truck drivers claimed the high cost of fuel would drive them out of business causing the US economy to collapse, and the US citizenry balked at paying $1 per gallon at the pump, so it didn't happen, and the debt continued to grow unchecked, and what are we paying now for fuel? From the late 70s through to the early 1990s one could purchase "reasonably" priced vehicles in the U.S. (sadly mostly imports) that routinely got better than 30 mpg on the hwy. Toyota had a "Starlit' that got 49 mpg hwy, Honda had economical 4 cylinder "Civics" that got from 35-45 mpg, depending on the grade level, and a little 2 seater CRV that got 59 mpg hwy. VW kept up with their Rabbit line in both gas & diesel, Ford sold their import "Fiesta" & later "Festiva" that got 42 mpg hwy. Chevy marketed a 3 cylinder Suzuki as the "Sprint" (later sold as the GEO Metro) they had a low grade model which got 59+ per gallon on the hwy. I bought a higher grade Metro in 1993 that was marketed to only get 50 mpg hwy, but I squeaked 59 mpg out of it several times on cross-country trips. There were numerous small trucks that routinely got 25-35 mpg hwy in gasoline models: the Ford "Courier" (by Mazda), the Dodge "mini-Ram" (by Mitsubishi), the Chevy "Luv" (by Isuzu). Throughout the 1980s the same manufacturers went on a diesel engine kick and Mazda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Toyota and Isuzu mini-pickups could be had that topped 39-45 mpg, with the additional torque of a durable, high-speed diesel engine. I had both an unmodified Nissan gasoline 4 cylinder 2.4 L short-bed mini-truck that I was able to get 33 mpg on the hwy, and an Isuzu long-bed (7') diesel that routinely achieved 42-44 mpg hwy with no effort. GM was even pioneering an electric car. Then came the mid 1990's. Strangely, as we became ever more dependant on foreign oil, the need to conserve apparently became (and is) no longer neccessary. The speed limit was lifted and continues accelerate. And for some strange reason most of those once common 40+ mpg vehicles vanished from U.S. sales floor shores. Here, Today, one has to spend a small fortune on a hybrid to achieve what was once a commonality with a non-hybrid gas or diesel powered car or small truck. We have more horsepower than we know what to do with it, and a new generation, blinded by false advertisements, thinks that getting a car that acheives 30 plus mpg is something really special. While in Europe Ford markets a diesel-hybrid car that gets 65 mpg but will not sell it over here. Instead of using what native fossil fuel is left to transition us to an age of "newer" (really very old) renewable, sustainable source/s of energy, we have an energy "plan" to poison our even more precious fossil ground water in an effort to postpone the inevitable for perhaps another 25-30 years.... No, in my experience, "New" isn't always new, and in many ways something new is far inferior to what it is attempting to replace. So much for my rant... on this subject.

Haaaa! I knew you were listening I do agree with you regarding Jean, Lana & Betty... But I see a year hasn't yet changed your taste or mellowed your sensibilities when it comes to our sweet little Hayley!

Luv Hayley, Had a childhood crush on her that hasn't gone away! Was devastated when I heard she'd married that lucky old ****. I'm sure that I haven't seen every one of her films, but I've enjoyed all of those that I have seen.... Hey Fred, "The Family Way" was recently aired, did you get a chance to see it again? If you did I bet you probably changed your mind, given a second chance to reassess that little scene that caused you such angst last year... lol

I just took a little stroll back to memory lane and reread the thread. Many thanks slaytonf & lzcutter for the help and links.

Alittle over a year ago tcm played "The Family Way" (1966) I caught the tail end of it when it was played again yesterday, but unfortunetly missed the classic little fleeting scene that Fred C. Dobbs made such a fuss over last year regarding Hayley Mills' exposed little tail end. I recall that we had a very humourous discussion, and now I can not see this film or any Hayley Mills film without hearing some of Freddy's comments ring in my mind. I always smile. Unfortunetly I cannot find either his or my own posts from that time anywhere. Have all our old posts and threads from a year or so ago dissappeared? It used to be that when you clicked on your own, or another member's name that you could find links to every one of the posts that they or you ever made on the TCM fan boards. Is there anyway to access our old posts?