markfp2

Glad I could help. One word about the shorts link that Jack sent you. You need to check it every few days. TCM doesn't list them in the regular schedules because they only schedule shorts a few days before they run, when they know how much time they need to fill between features.

It's all true. I recently mentioned on another post that the tv station, where I work, has some titles under contract that we can't run until 2014. That may sound extreme, but they are recent films. I wouldn't think TCM would go out that far, but four or five years wouldn't surprise me.

It's just called the "1925 Studio Tour". It's not out on DVD, but TCM runs it several times a year.

I guess this is one of those "damned if you do, damned if you don't" issues. TCM has shown "Blackboard Jungle" at least a dozen times, many in prime time. If films get run too often in prime people complain. If they show them at 6am instead they complain too. There's just no winning. There really are people who watch TCM at that hour and there's no reason they shouldn't see top films either. Both "A Raisin in the Sun" and "The Slender Thread" have been run recently. While "Ivy" wasn't the greatest film, it was an interesting insight into a period of Poitier's career and worth seeing. I do agree that "Pressure Point" is one of his overlooked films with a fine performence, but I imagine, if TCM didn't include it, they don't have the rights to it.

You're incorrect when you say "...I would think that any movie could be had." Many movies are not available for one reason or an other. Leasing movies for tv isn't like going down to the local Blockbuster and just picking out some titles. It's very complicated and deals may have to be made years in advance. Many titles are locked up on other channels. Even if they aren't showing them right now, they may have the rights for years to come. I work for a tv station and right now we have a number of films under contract that we can't run until 2014. Having an insight into the business, I think TCM does an amazing job at getting what they do get from outside studios. As for getting a library list, I doubt that they'd release it as it would be considered proprietary business information. There seems to be a lot of confusion about the TCM database. It comes from an outside source and since it lists something like 140,000 films, most of what is shown on TCM is naturally listed, but it doesn't mean they have every film in their library. I only wish they did.

So sad. I always enjoyed Brun's performances. He was one of the really good character actors of this era.

If that was the promo I'm thinking of, it was designed to be shown to the theatre owners, not the general public. I think the publicity department got carried away and announced titles that MGM only had option to buy. Remember, the studio was in very bad shape in the 1960s and probably didn't have the money to make those films and let their options lapse. Too bad.

Go to the top of the page and click on "schedule". On the right side near the top you can click on the schedules for this month, next month, and the month after. If you're in Canada, click on "Canadian schedule" then you can get either this month or next month's schedule. Don't ask me why you can't get the third month on the Canadian schedule. Remember, if you are using the Canadian schedule, it does vary slightly from the U.S. one because TCM doesn't always have the Canadian rights to some films.

I've been doing it for over 25 years. I sent you a private message. Just click on private message at the top of this page.

There are thousands of films that can't be shown for one reason or another. Mainly, rights problems. Remember, in many cases, even though the major studios released certain films, they didn't actually own them. They just had the distribution rights. Look at how long the rights to "The High and The Mighty" and the other films that were produced by John Wayne's company where not available. That's because the rights went to his estate when he died and there was some problem within the family about releasing them. Sadly, many films are either stored in some warehouse or even in the producer's widow's garage and nobody is interested in releasing. I've said it before, it's really sad that so many films just seem to vanish.

You know, this question has started fist fights among film buffs, but I've never really thought of it as a western. Just because the bad guys ride horses and carry guns doesn't mean it's a western. To me it's more of an adventure film. However, it doesn't matter what it's called, it's still one of the great classics.

I imagine casting came down to who was available, liked the role and was willing to work for the salary offered. That's what usually happens with the "all-star cast" epics like this and "The Longest Day".

Both films are masterpieces, although part one is my favorite of the two. These two films are my answer to anyone who says "they didn't make classics after the 1950s". As for part three, I can't even talk about it in the same paragraph as the first two. Well, maybe one word.....JUNK!

Funny you should mention this, I just went through this over the last few weeks.I have to say it was like choosing what child I would keep. First, I went through all the prerecorded tapes I had bought, over the years, and chose the ones I wanted to keep. I had already replaced a lot of these with DVD so that helped narrow it down. I pretty much kept titles that were not available on DVD or some that I didn't want to rebuy and would just dub to DVD. Of the many that remained, first I offered them to a friend of mine who loves movies, but can't afford to buy many. What she didn't take I gave to the local public library. They don't buy VHS anymore, but will accept them as a donation. What they didn't want they put out, at their annual used book sale, for 50 cents or a dollar. Next, I went through the same process with the tapes I recorded (mostly from TCM). I ended up keeping more of these because many more are no longer being shown on TCM. Again, I gave my friend first dibs and since the library would only accept commercially made tapes, I ended up donating the remaing tapes to the county nursing home to show to the old-timers who love these kinds of films. All in all, I kept a little over 300 titles. I made a goal of dubbing two a day so that they will all be on DVD within 6 months. I guess I could have thrown others in the trash or tried and sell them at a garage sale, buy I rather find them a home where they'll be appreciated.

I agree with you. I think a day of Jolson would be great. Since TCM seems to be having good luck getting some Columbia films from Sony, perhaps they can get "The Jolson Story" and "Jolson Sings Again". I would also love to see a Jolson DVD collection.

She's Molly Haskell (I think I got the name right) and she's a film critic. I picked up the same feeling you did about her. You have to remember, that many critics think their whole mission in life is to find fault with films and the more popular the film is the more faults they have to find. Well, she's entitled to her opinion about films as much as I'm entitled to mine about critics. I hope she's not going to be a regular on TCM.

While TCM recently has been running a number of Fox films, I believe that tcmprogrammer said, in a post, it was a very small package of films that they leased from Fox. It may very well be that Fox is indeed saving "Jane Eyre" for it's own channel. I know we are spoiled and think of TCM as the "ultimate" source of classic films, but in reality, they simply can't show everything. I wish they could.

The TCM database is just that, a collection of information on something like 130,000 different films. It really has no relationship to what's in the TCM library other than the fact that most of those films are listed in it..The information is provided to TCM from another source. I think it's a great resource and very helpful.

You can't. Once the day is over it's gone from the schedule. Your best bet would be to either subscribe to TCM's NOW PLAYING program guide which is well worth the cost and save those, or click on "schedule" and print up each month's schedule. Right now, they go as far as October. By the way, the film you mentioned is the 1973 Spanish film "SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE".While there is a chance that TCM will show it again, it is also available on DVD. I imagine most online DVD retailers would have it including TCM's "shopping" link at the top of this page.

Another one of Rita's films that I would sell my grandmother's false teeth to have is "A Taste of Honey". Which I think was her best performance. Again, like "The Trap" it's available in England, but not here.

From what I've read on other forums, it's a newly restored version.

Hey, welcome to the boards. We don't deal with who's "cool" or not here. We all have one thing in common and that's a passion for films. While I think most of us lean towards classics, any film talk is welcome here. Although, there are a few folks who will disagree with me on that. I don't think there are any real rules, we just treat each other with respect even when opinions differ. You won't find the insults and name calling that you'll find on other forums here. Not to say things don't get a little hot now and then. If you adore old films, as you say, this is the place to be.

I really liked "The Trap" (or anything with Rita Tushingham, for that matter) and would love to see it again. However, it hasn't been available to TV in this country in many years. I believe the U.S. distributor lost the rights to it. It is available in England on DVD, but since they use a different TV system than we do, DVDs won't play on U.S. players.

I've never heard of "The War Widow" and don't know if it was ever released on home video or DVD, but here's a couple of places you can try: shoppbs.org (PBS's own shopping site) or just go to the top of this page and click on "shopping" which will link you to one of the largest retailers of videos in the country. If they don't have it, most likely it isn't available. Good luck.

I'm pretty sure TCM ran "Beat The Devil" with in the last year or so. If I'm right, then keep watching the schedule as there's a good chance that they'll rerun it.