markfp2

Well, it looks like you are in luck. "THIS IS YOUR LIFE-THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION, VOL. 1" is out on DVD. It contains 18 shows including Milton Berle, Johnny Cash, Bette Davis, Laurel & Hardy, Roy Rogers and Vincent Price. Since this is volume one, I would think that more will follow. It's available from most online DVD dealers. Perhaps the easiest way is to go to the top of this page and click on "shopping". This links you to Movies Unlimited. Just search "This is Your Life" and you'll find it. They show it priced for $44.99.

Well, getting films out of archives is never as simple as it sounds. I know, I've been involved with a rare classic film convention for over 25 years and it's never easy. However, I agree with you. It always amazes me that certain archives will spend hundreds of thousands of (donated) dollars to restore films and then the only showings will be at their own location. These films should be shared and there would be no better place than TCM.

While you may be correct as to these films, just because missing parts exist in an archive, someplace, doesn't mean that TCM can get them. I'm sure if TCM had access to them they'd be delighted to show the complete films.

I don't know about Canadian regulations, but the difference in U.S. and Canadian schedules mainly results from a couple of things. First, when TCM leases films from other studios, say Paramount, their contract may not give them the Canadian rights so they have to show something else in its place. Also, TCM cannot just show anything they want from the Warner library even though both are owned by Time-Warner. I know it sounds strange, but this has been discussed here several times and there a number of legal reasons. Since TCM is new up there, it's likely that over the years Warner has leased some films to other channels in Canada and TCM can't touch them. Anyway, regardless of what you can't see, I know you'll be delighted with what you do get. Enjoy.

I don't judge performers by their sexual preference, Just like I don't judge them by the color of their skin or what religion they are. All that matters to me is their talent.

Well, I wouldn't feel too sorry for her, I understand she's had a very good career as the singing voice of stars and other singing work. I don't know anything about her personal life, but perhaps she was happy with what she was doing and didn't want to be a "star"and have all the stress that goes with it. If you want to see her face, she played "Sister Sophia" in "The Sound of Music".

"This Happy Breed" is one of a number of David Lean films TCM has leased from another company. Since the others, like "Brief Encounter", have had more than one showing I think it's likely that it will also be shown again too.

The late 1960s were a really bad time for MGM. Remember how they had to sell off the backlot and auction off all the props. I would guess that they owned the rights to the book, but decided not to spend all the money on producing what would have been a large-scale film. I wonder what became of the rights. Perhaps, they only had an "option" on the book and it reverted back to Ryan or maybe they resold them to another studio which for whatever reason never made the film either.

TCM has shown it a number of times, and since it's part of their MGM library, I imagine they'll show it again.

Gosh I hope not. While I love Sean Connery, the last thing we need is another remake of a great classic. Rex Harrison was perfect in the role.

Welcome to the boards! To answer your question, there isn't anywhere to find the schedule for One-Reel Wonders. It's been brought up here many times. TCM says that they don't schedule shorts until a day or two before they air, when they know how much time they need to fill between movies and by then it's too late to add them to the schedule. It's been suggested that they put them on the webpage, but that request has fallen on deaf ears. Maybe if enough people complain about it someday they'll find a way to do it. Sorry.

There's a beautiful restored version it available on DVD which has scenes that were cut after it's first release. You can buy it online from most dealers including TCM's shopping link to Movies Unlimited. It's a tad pricey, but well worth it.

While there isn't anything I'd like better than a good foreign film, from a practical standpoint, I doubt TCM would increase the number they show by any great amount. Frankly, too many of TCM's viewers would be turned off by them. Just look at all the flack they took, right here on this forum, for the month of Indian films and recently the Japanese anime films. In order to be successful they must maintain a varied audience. Sadly, most people don't want to watch foreign films. Yesterday, TCM ran three of the greatest Japanese films ever made and I'll bet channels were changing quicker than you could say "subtitle".

I agree, the shorts on One Reel Wonders are usually great. The idea of having them on DVD is good, but I doubt that there would be enough sales to make it worth the cost of manufacturing them. Those of us who would be interested are the minority of the DVD buying public.However I've said it before and I'll say it again, while I understand that shorts don't get scheduled until a day or two before they air, TCM should find a way to list them on-line.

I don't think it has ever been released to home video. Being a 20th Century-Fox film, I'm pretty sure that it's been shown on The Fox Movie Channel before.

If a film is in public domain anyone can show, telecast, duplicate or sell it and it's perfectly legal.There are rare exceptions like "It's a Wonderful Life" which was PD, but reverted back to the original copyright holder because they proved that they owned the literary rights to the original story which is still copyrighted. Another one is many of the Gene Autry films. The movies themselves are now PD, but nobody can do anything with them because all the music is still copyrighted. Of course they could just cut out all of Gene's songs.

The TCM programmer posted a while back that they would be getting the rights to both "Island in the Sky" and "The High and the Mighty" in January of next year. I hope that all the other non-Wayne titles that his production company has been sitting on for decades will also air.

Well, I've bought about 30 or 40 Alpha titles and they vary from so-so to very good depending on the title and source material. Ya gotta remember most of what they sell is in public domain and you can't expect a lot when buying PD. Still, they have a lot of titles that nobody else has and the price is low. I don't know what kind of films you're looking for, but another company you might try is sinistercinema.com which is a small company in Oregon that specializes in horror, sci-fi, westerns, and all sorts of other genres. All their hundreds of titles are mastered from 16mm or 35mm prints and the quality is a lot better than most of Alpha's. However, Sinister's prices are much higher. ($12.95-$16.95) They started with vhs and now they're switching over to DVD. I bought dozens from them and have been generally been pleased. The only thing I don't like about Sinister is they are very slow on shipping. My shipments to here in Upstate New York average about four weeks.

You're new here so you don't know that this has been discussed in length before. To make it simple, while both TCM and Warner Bros. Pictures are part of the Time-Warner empire, they are seperate operations. When Ted Turner bought the MGM film library it included all the pre-1948 Warner films all the pre-1986 MGM films. Later on, he sold his company including TCM and the film library to Time-Warner with an arrangement the TCM still had access to the that film library. However, for any of the later Warner films, as strange as it may seem, TCM has to lease them from Warners just like any other channel would. This means that certain films may not be available to TCM since they may already be leased to some other channel.

When it was first released in the U.S. the title was changed to "The Creeping Unknown". While the character of Quatermass was well known in the UK I guess they figured it wouldn't mean anything over here.

That's a very good question. Both of the stars have been sorely overlooked. With the titles youn mentioned Warner could easily come out two multi-film sets for each.

To me it's especially sad that Maureen Stapleton passed away. She grew up in my hometown of Troy, New York. Even after she made it on Broadway and movies she'd return home now and then. She had a love of movies and while I didn't know her personally, I met her several times. My first job was as an usher at one of the big first-run theatres and if she was in town you could bet she'd be there to see the latest film. She was always very friendly and delightful. She will be missed.

Johnny, you're correct. Universal's library, including the pre-'48 Paramounts are owned by Universal and their Parent company. I think that the few Universals that aren't either were films produced by independent producers and just released by Universal or a few that may have, by oversight, been allowed to fall into public domain. I've said it before, I just can't understand why they are leaving most of those films in the vault. They don't seem to realize that they're sitting on a goldmine.

Since you're new to TCM you don't know TCM programming patterns. They will do a month of special films like anime and a while back they did Indian "Bollywood" films which they lease from other companies. Sometimes, I imagine depending on the cost and availablity, they only have the rights to show them for a month. Other times, they will be continue to show them from time-to-time within their regular schedule mix. The best thing to do is to check the monthly schedules on-line to see what's coming up. And, of course, if it's something you really like, let TCM know so they will consider getting more.

I think you mean "The Big Parade". It's an MGM picture so it should be in the TCM library. They've shown it before and no doubt will show it again. Just be patient.