Capuchin
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Posts posted by Capuchin
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I think it's unfortunate there are so few examples of Santa Claus in classic movies.
I guess it's because of the distribution system of the time (I remember hearing/reading somewhere that *Christmas in Connecticut* was a gamble because it wouldn't hit some theatres before August.)
We can see how angels, demons, liberated ladies, or just about any other mythic were represented or thought of during every decade, except for Santa and the Easter Bunny.
And I have to wonder how Gwenn's performance might have been different if he'd been coming off of a long line of classic Santas rather than virtually having to create the character from scratch.
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Apart from Edmund Gwenn in *Miracle on 34th Street* who was the best movie Santa Claus?
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It may be my perverse nature, but I've always considered the Sovereign Military Order of Malta as not only the smallest country but also the smallest there can be since it has absolutely no territory (its headquarters has embassy (extraterritoriality) status, but there's no bordered land they call their own).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_Military_Order_of_Malta
*Star Trek Generations . . . Loved those one liners I almost forgot about*
My absolute favorite ST line was when Data looked at a bottle of liquor. I kept thinking "Don't say it, don't say it . . ." but he did, and his line "It's green." had me laughing to hard I missed the next several minutes of the show. (You might have to be a Trekkie (or Trekite) to get the reference -- Scotty said the same line in similar circumstances in the original ST.)
*the Q-bomb . . . might be more effective as a QUEUE bomb.*
Unfortunately, I had the same idea. I say unfortunately because it ruined the movie for me -- I now, quite involuntarily, visualize the Rowan Atkinson routine where he's the devil welcoming new arrivals to his realm and tells the adulterers to line up in front of a little guillotine.
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> {quote:title=FredCDobbs wrote:}{quote}
> Maybe we can start a thread and debate whether the old films or the newer ones are "more realistic".
I don't think I'd use the term 'realistic,' but I feel movies were far more believable.
During the code, the characters had to be developed (background, motivations, etc.) so that a logical plot arc could lead to the understanding that the two are going to become intimate.
After the code, they're sweaty in the next scene.
Movies are all about suspension of disbelief, but it should be required sparingly.
Ask me to accept that two people investigating a murder find out that they're compatible and fall in love -- fine. Shove in my face that two strangers are both at the proper stage of their hormonal cycle, neither is otherwise attached, and they can find a bed within ninety-two frames of meeting each other for the first time -- not so fine.
In real life, the guys who can pick up a chick and have her in the sack within the hour, and the women who do it without knowing his last name, generally aren't nice people, so it becomes a major suspension of disbelief to accept those characters as otherwise decent, honorable, or lovable (Alfie and Bond excepted).
The collapse of the code meant that filmmakers no longer had to build believable relationships, and all too often storylines became nothing but filler between nudie shots.
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For those who might be a little hesitant about Kurosawa or know him only from *Seven Samuri* I'd suggest you record *Ikiru* and watch *The Hidden Fortress* first -- it's a great way to get into his style without being confronted by his edge.
Although others will disagree with me (they usually do), his best are (in no particular order):
*The Hidden Fortress*
*Throne of Blood*
*Iriku*
*Scandal*
*Yojimbo*
*The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail*
*Rashomon*
*Seven Samurai*
*Kagemusha*
The others are only-great instead of fantastically-great.
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I'm just surprised no one in Hollywood has decided to do a CGI and 3-D version of "Waiting for Godot."
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While the remake is a great movie (one of the few really, really good ones of its decade), imnsho it falls far short of the original in all aspects except the line: "the only living heart donor."
That line is worthy of Wilder!
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You'll think this is a joke, but I collect dust. Seriously.
A long time ago, I was visiting the Black Hills and ended up crawling over one of the scree piles from Mount Rushmore. Afterwards, I used one of those sticky-tape lint-rollers to clean my pants and decided to keep it as a souvenir (as opposed to a piece of that expensive junk they sell).
One thing led to another, friends sending me concrete dust from the Berlin wall, ash from Mt. St. Helens, etc.
It's not a large collection, and it's surely not worth anything, but it's kind of nice to have.
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> {quote:title=markbeckuaf wrote:}{quote}
> Bela Lugosi October SOTM!
> Charlie Chan fest!
> Warren William SOTM!
> Serials and series films on Saturday mornings!
I'll second all of those, and I hope they do something in June for Paulette Goddard's 100th.
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It looked like another "wonderful movies, but I've seen all the great ones" schedule . . .
. . . until . . .
*Akira Kurosawa* on the 9th!
*Ikiru*
*Throne of Blood*
*The Hidden Fortress* (a bit of a typo there -- it lists Toshir? Mifune as the director)
*Hakuchi* (although I have to admit a bit of a disappointment that they're going with the short (166 minutes) version rather than the complete film (265 minutes)
*The Lower Depths*
Then it gets better --
*The Bad Sleep Well*
*High And Low*
*Red Beard*
*I Live In Fear*
*Scandal*
And then we hit the motherload!!!!
*A Whole Day of Kurosawa* on the 23rd!!!!
*Sanshiro Sugata*
*The Most Beautiful*
*The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail*
*Sanshiro Sugata Part 2*
*No Regrets For Our Youth*
*One Wonderful Sunday*
*Drunken Angel*
*Stray Dog*
*Rashomon*
*Seven Samurai*
*Yojimbo*
*Sanjuro*
*Dodes 'Ka-Den*
And then it trails off with only-great movies --
*Dersu Uzala*
*Kagemusha*
*Ran*
WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW
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I was pleasantly surprised. I don't often watch the Guest Programmer slots because they always seem to pick very mainstream movies, and the comments too often seem memorized recaps of a critical/academic analysis of the films.
But I had to watch *The Third Man* because I somehow lost my quote sheet and needed to refresh my memory on certain passages. Her passion appeared real, her presentation natural, and a few of her observations were unique.
I wouldn't want a steady diet of her intros, but it was quite a pleasant change.
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> {quote:title=clearskies wrote:}{quote}
> Global warming is a FACT.
The problem is that there is a vast difference between global warming and anthropogenic global warming.
That the average temperature rose is reasonably well established.
The idea that the rise was caused by human activity is ridiculous.
One need only look at the Phanerozoic. CO2 levels in the Ordovician averaged 4200ppmv, more 10 times what they are now, but there were global ice ages.
Or look at the prehistoric human habitations being uncovered by receding glaciers -- in at least three periods, primitive man was living in a climate much warmer than it is now.
Or look at the fact that CO2 levels continue to rise, but all the available data shows that global temperatures have leveled over the past decade.
Or look at the fact that the people making money promoting anthropogenic global warming are not allowing independent analysis of the data used to reach the conclusion that CO2 caused global warming. A few scientists, some having received more than $20million in personal grants to research human causes of global warming, destroyed the data rather than releasing it under a Freedom of Information request.
"An Inconvenient Truth" was as scientifically accurate as "One Million B.C." and "Prehistoric Women."
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> {quote:title=hamradio wrote:}{quote}
> On my "Earth at Night" map it even shows the very large natural gas burn-off in Siberia. Why don't they send it to us instead? I'm sick of my high gas bills! The idiots, they are sending $$$ up in flames!
The quantities are so low that it isn't economical to collect and transport. A typical oil well might generates enough gas to heat half a dozen homes, but it would cost millions to build a pipeline to put it into the system. Being in Siberia ups the costs a thousandfold.
As for torture, matters changed significantly in the 60s. Modern soldiers aren't given enough information to make it worthwhile for anyone to bother forcing it out of them -- troop deployments are a matter of public record, people who know details about future operations are never put where they are easily captured, and even pilots are end-users who know virtually nothing about the technological secrets behind their equipment.
"Brainwashing" is also no longer viable -- for the same expense in time and resources, the enemy can develop a public relations campaign to sway thousands towards their cause.
How would I stand up to torture? I'd never find out. In exchange for a Pepsi and a ham sandwich, I'd tell them all I know, confident that I'm just wasting their time because I wouldn't have anything important to say.
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> {quote:title=hlywdkjk wrote:}{quote}
> Two Novembers ago, TCM had what some of us called (at the time) the "greatest month of TCM ever." That month the channel devoted the daytime hours each day to famous and popular film series. Anyone got that list of series?
I don't have a list of the series, but the schedule itself can be seen at:
http://www.classicmovies.org/turner/turner1107.htm
(Sadly, the site doesn't have listings back more than a few years.)
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> {quote:title=FredCDobbs wrote:}{quote}
> It seems to me that under the original copyright laws, when a film person or a company bought a screenplay from someone, or bought film rights to a book or short story, then those film rights were retained by the company that bought them, for the production of at least one film or maybe sequels to the film, and that was spelled out in the routine contract that covered the purchase.
While I'm not a lawyer, I've had some exposure to copyright issues, so I'll put in my two cents.
Contracts for film rights vary wildly.
Depending on the producer's finances, the agent's guile, and how desperate the author was, a contract fell somewhere between a simple work-for-hire (the studio could do anything with it and would own it forever) and a severely limited single-use (one movie to be made within a specified period of time, and the author had to approve the script before filming began).
One fairly standard clause was that the rights to the story would revert back to the author after a specified period. Unfortunately, "standard" doesn't mean "uniform" -- sometimes it was spelled out that the rights included ownership of the film, but most often it didn't state that explicitly because neither side cared (they saw no value in a movie once it had been shown).
That attitude changed when television started licensing the rights to show old movies. While some authors clearly owned the films by then, and some others had sold all their rights, the majority fell into a gray area where it became a battle of legal semantics.
The changes in copyright law isn't ex post facto because it didn't change the ownership of films, it merely extended the existing protections. Whether the studio or the author owned the movie didn't matter -- they just kept their rights, subject to pre-existing contracts.
The only instance I know of a film that was once in the public domain and which is now owned by someone is a case where it should never have been considered in the public domain -- the filmmaker hadn't filed for an extension of the copyright, but the author's copyright hadn't been sold along with the film rights, and that copyright was still in force.
Don't ever expect to understand all the nuances of copyright law. Copyright attorneys are among the highest paid lawyers in the world -- although they don't charge a lot per hour, the cases drag on for years because there's always "one more little thing" to consider.
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You do realize that you're asking for sequels, and sequels to mostly B movies . . .
TCM already did Phil Vance, Dick Tracy, Perry Mason, Whistling ( *Whistling in Dixie* etc.), Sherlock Holmes, Crime Doctor, Lone Wolf, Saint, Falcon, Dr. Gillespie, Torchy Blaine, and Nancy Drew, but I hope they repeat them all!!
Others I haven't seen lately and would like to . . .
Ellery Queen (with Margaret Linday)
Mexican Spitfire (Lupe Velez)
Scattergood (Guy Kibbee)
Charlie Chan (either Oland or Toler)
Whispering Smith (a variety of actors)
I'd also like to see the animated short series:
Bosko
Pink Panther ( *A Fly in the Pink, An Ounce of Pink* etc., not those movies ruined by Peter Sellers)
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I recorded them because I wasn't sure I had them all, and I knew that two of my copies were clipped (timer recordings that didn't catch all of the opening credits).
I can't do a side-by-side comparison on identical equipment, but I think I can safely say that the prints of this airing were considerably better than those broadcast a few years ago.
Most notable was the opening of *The Falcon and the Co-Eds.* In my old copy, the surf is pure black and white; in the new, it has a whole range of grays, making it moody rather than stark.
(Some of the difference might be attributed to the DVRs (the old one was a Philips, the new is a Sony), but I haven't noticed this much of a change in clarity/resolution/brightness with any other recordings.)
As for stars -- I thought Sanders was miscast as the Falcon. He's a great actor, there's no disputing that, but I feel he doesn't physically fit the character. Living on the edge of propriety, the Falcon sometimes has to slip in and out of places unobserved. Conway, though tallish, can obviously do that. Sanders, with his barrel chest, can't -- he's easily spotted blocks away.
Besides, to me, Conway looks more like a weasel, the kind of guy who you can only sorta trust and whose bad boy looks attract all sorts of women.
What I'd really like to see next is the Hildegarde Withers series, mostly the Edna May Oliver / James Gleason ones -- *Penguin Pool Murder, Murder on the Blackboard,* and *Murder on a Honeymoon.*
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> {quote:title=FredCDobbs wrote:}{quote}
>
> I get it! Its a comedy!
No, but it could be -- I'd love to see WA give it the *What's Up, Tiger Lily?* treatment!
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Someone who knows I'm into films told me to check out the biography of a star who appeared in about a hundred movies and was a major influence in her genre. (Okay, sounds worth looking into.)
It's about Vanessa del Rio. (Never heard of her, but there's lots of stars I don't know about.)
Her last role was with Samuel L. Jackson in *Soul Men* (Co-stars with a big name, that's good. I don't recall that title, but if it's recent, I wouldn't have taken notice.)
The book is 396 pages and weighs over fifteen pound. (What?)
Cover price is $700, but is widely discounted to $560. (Whoa!!)
"Vanessa del Rio: Fifty Years of Slightly Slutty Behavior"
Maybe I'll wait for the paperback.
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WOW! This is more than I hoped for!!
The WayBackMachine was down for maintenance when I first checked it.
tcm.com was a site for "Targeted Communication Management" in Canada!
It took just a little bit of digging, and page after page of "Not archived" screens, to find exactly what I need!
Example: http://web.archive.org/web/19980131210750/http://tcm.turner.com/CAL_TXT/#acro_file
Sadly, the .csv files and "Now Playing" .pdfs aren't archived (at least the ones I checked).
Oddly, the Eastern Time (Sizes 1-4) don't want to load, but the Central Time in Size 2 pop right up.
Example: http://web.archive.org/web/19980131213949/tcm.turner.com/CAL_TXT/9801/02/9801CT.htm (January, 1998 schedule)
I can't thank you all enough!
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> {quote:title=lzcutter wrote:}{quote}
> You could try using the Way Back Machine. It has archived copies of the old TCM website dating back to the beginning. I don't know if it has archived copies of the schedules but it might be worth a look.
Many thanks!
I looked at the WayBack site -- just my luck, it's down -- but it looks like it should do the trick.
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I'm trying to assemble a database of films shown on TCM since its inception.
I've found one site with schedules going back to 2005, but I can't find anything earlier.
My rule of thumb is that if one person has a site dedicated to something, there's bound to be another (and another, and another . . .)
Anyone know where to find old schedules online?
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Can't live without:
Audrey Hepburn
Veronica Lake
Myrna Loy
Gene Tierney
Also love:
Alice White
Ann Miller
Ann Sothern
Anna May Wong
Anne Parillaud
Audrey Totter
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Hale
Bette Davis
Billie Burke
Binnie Barnes
Carole Lombard
Carolyn Jones
Claudette Colbert
Dame May Whitty
Debbie Reynolds
Deborah Kerr
Dorothy Dandridge
Dorothy Lamour
Edna May Oliver
Elsa Lanchester
Eve Arden
Fay Wray
Faye Dunaway
Ginger Rogers
Glynis Johns
Greer Garson
Greta Garbo
Hedy Lamarr
Helen Twelvetrees
Honor Blackman
Ida Lupino
Ingrid Bergman
Irene Dunne
Jane Powell
Janice Rule
Jean Harlow
Jean Arthur
Joan Crawford
Joan Blondell
Julie Andrews
Julie Christie
June Allyson
Kay Francis
Kim Novak
Lauren Bacall
Leslie Caron
Loretta Young
Machiko Kyo
Maggie Smith
Margaret O'Brien
Margaret Lindsay
Margaret O'Brien
Marie Dressler
Marion Davies
Marlene Dietrich
Maureen O'Hara
Maureen O'Sullivan
Merle Oberon
Michiyo Aratama
Miriam Hopkins
Norma Shearer
Olivia de Havilland
Paulette Goddard
Rosalind Russell
Samantha Eggar
Shirley Jones
Shirley MacLaine
Simone Signoret
Sophia Loren
Sylvia Sidney
Virna Lisi
Wendy Barrie
and many others I can't recall at the moment.
I hate making out lists like these because some will look at it and think I'm superficial (relatively few dramatic actresses) or schizo.
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> {quote:title=hlywdkjk wrote:}{quote}
> But stating that the Government lied to its citizens over the past eight years is more fact than commentary.
And the eight years prior to that, and the century prior to that . . .
For that matter, Washington lied about Valley Forge: the winter was relatively mild -- he exaggerated the weather and hardships just to get more funds.
The [unwritten] Oscar Rules
in General Discussions
Posted
You give it for an actor's mediocre performance after snubbing their great work a couple of years before.