path40a

This should be a thread we can have a lot of fun with ... What would happen if you woke up one day and your world had been transformed such that everyone you encountered was a stereotypical character actor from the classic film era? For instance: - when you went to a hotel, Franklin Pangborn was the man behind the desk - when you needed a police officer, Cliff Clark arrived to help - when you hired a manservant, Eric Blore was at your service, or - when you hired a maid, Rafaela Ottiano was available - when you needed an accountant, Charles Halton was there - when you went to an informal restaurant, Irving Bacon was behind the counter and Bess Flowers was always around in the background somewhere! Now it?s your turn to continue this short list ...

I just had a chance to view the May, 2006 schedule once again and was struck by how many documentary-type programs will be shown. They are scattered throughout the month, but are also concentrated on May 8th.

I feel like John Turturro's character in Quiz Show (1994): Marty (1955), Delbert Mann?

BTW, Kevin Bacon isn't even in the top 1,000 "best connected" actors in the movie universe according to some students who have too much time on their hands at UVA: http://www.cs.virginia.edu/oracle/center_list.html Rod Steiger is!

This week's TCM Picks have been posted: http://www.classicfilmguide.com/index.php?s=tcm#mar9 and to follow-up last week's post, you might want to check out A Song is Born (1948), which premiered on TCM a few months ago, this Wednesday night (8 PM ET). Even though it's a remake (of Ball of Fire (1941)), it's still pretty good. Another entertaining (Western) remake will air on Thursday night, The Spoilers (1942), as John Wayne & Randolph Scott battle over Marlene Dietrich. On Friday, several lesser known ( pictures will be shown including Lee Tracy, Eugene Pallette, & the beautiful Lupe Velez starring in a pretty good comedy called The Half-Naked Truth (1933), which is followed by a terrific gem, What Every Woman Knows (1934), featuring Helen Hayes's last performance before she quit making movies for nearly 20 years. Saturday, The Hustler (1961) will usher in a new season of TCM Essentials; it will be followed by the very first Jack Lemmon-Walter Matthau comedy (from writer/director Billy Wilder), The Fortune Cookie (1966). The second helpings of Nelson Eddy & Jeanette MacDonald (TCM's SOTM) and Divorce Remorse are followed by a salute to Busby Berkeley's unique choreography next Wednesday which will kick off with one I've been looking forward to seeing for some time now, Footlight Parade (1933).

FWIW, I've included a little more background wrt the true history in my brief review of this film: http://www.classicfilmguide.com/index.php?s=other_reviews&item=94

The film you're looking for is Boys' Night Out (1962) with James Garner, Tony Randall, Howard Duff, and Kim Novak (among others). For a complete synopsis: http://www.classicfilmguide.com/index.php?s=pageA&item=193 Wow, that's strange. There were no responses to this question just two minutes ago when I read this thread. Now there are a dozen;-) Message was edited by: path40a

"Really in the mood for some John Wanye Westerns." You won't have to wait long - next Thursday night, TCM will air The Spoilers (1942) followed by Dark Command (1940), though these are lesser known than the ones you mentioned. Plus, Rio Grande (1950) will be on twice this month. After that, however, there aren't any Wayne Westerns on the schedule through the end of May (though he will appear in some other titles on the schedule, like The Quiet Man (1952)).

complete this sentence watching The Fighting Sullivans (1944) on DVD (which I just received from Netflix).

When I type in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) into the database and open the associated link, it tells me that it will next shown on May 31 and at what time. That's good. But it doesn't work for all titles. For example, when I type in My Neighbor Totoro (which is also being shown in May), it says "This title is not currently scheduled". Perhaps this is because the latter film is not in TCM's library? In any case, the response is inaccurate.

Yes, it's a good schedule, filmlover, and you did a great job of summarizing things. It's funny that another thread in the Favorites folder was just started regarding what everyone's favorite Bette Davis role was, and here we'll get a chance to see most of them, in addition to a new documentary I've not seen titled "Stardust: The Bette Davis Story (2005)"! Also, kudos to TCM for showing Birth of a Nation (1915), which is sure to stir up things on these boards, like the topic did last spring (as I recall), when tcmprogrammer posted that they'd probably be showing it again in the right context. However, given the more recent topics around here, I think May 30th's line-up (films from the 90's, oh no!) and the fact that the anime films are being shown again (even though they'll air during the wee hours) will cause more cries of horror;-) A couple of specific titles I'm looking forward to seeing (again) are The Joe Louis Story & How to Marry a Millionaire, in addition to the annual Memorial Day weekend programming that I always enjoy.

Of course it would, Kyle. In fact, when I scour the schedule every month, I usually find more than a handful of "rare" films (e.g. those that aren't in Maltin's guide or which have less than 5 votes on imdb.com) that TCM will be showing. I almost always Tivo these and review them (putting them in the obscure films section on my website). A lot of these are B movies (frequently Westerns) or other films which run just more than an hour, while most of the others are pre-codes like the Robert Montgomery films which aired in January. Some are quite good too!

Thanks, I hope everyone who wanted to watch the LPS got a chance to see it because it's not currently scheduled to air again anytime soon. FWIW, for those who noticed that three of my Wednesday picks had "review forthcoming" when I posted this week's reminder, you'll notice that I've completed watching and reviewing those films now.

The Corn is Green (I should say, I love so many of her films and it's impossible to pick just one, but if I had to ...)

Great find, Kyle! I was excited to see some newer (infrequently shown) titles like "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Foreign Correspondent, Written on the Wind, and The Manchurian Candidate" (in addition to Stalag 17)!.

Rameses?

Melanie, everyone is invited to participate in the challenge. Don't prejudge your choices and assume no one would be interested in seeing your picks. BTW, would it be possible for you to stop inserting the fancy graphics into each of your posts? Not only are some folks connecting to these boards on slower links such that the pictures etc. inhibit their response time (and perhaps too their participation), but I find the moving objects to be very distracting. Hence, I tend to skip over whatever you've written to get to those that I can read without getting a headache;-) Thanks for your consideration in this matter.

Oops, my bad. It seems the delay is due to some film titles (licensing?) that tcmprogrammer is trying to get for May: http://forums.turnerclassicmovies.com/jive/tcm/message.jspa?messageID=7782237#7782237 I won't be going to Las Vegas anytime soon;-)

At the top of each post, there is an indication "response to"; I'm sorry if my post was unclear such that you thought it was directed at you. Yes, I know, in fact, you and I are on the same page wrt the Now Playing Guide, which I have said many times is a great value at (actually, less than) $1/month ... especially since it lists the TCM premieres and (as I just found out) which films are being broadcast with DVS. I don't understand why ANYONE would kill a ream of paper & ink to print out the schedule to save (?) money. BTW, welcome to the boards! And, I too am anxiously awaiting the May schedule (as are a bunch of others, apparently). Hey, I started this thread;-) Message was edited by: path40a

If I were a betting man, I'd guess that the delay in posting the May schedule has to do with TCM's attempting to fix the printing problem that you (and others) complained about when the old format was changed back in December. I'm sure the schedule itself has been ready for some time, especially given tcmprogrammer's post about some of its content several days ago. Moral of the story - quit complaining so vociferously about the small stuff;-)

These are good posts allie, and you're welcome to put them in the Great Movie Alert! thread in the favorites folder, if you'd rather. I think more people might see them there. Also, I'd love to read your comments (I assume you've clipped these from somewhere else, an on-line TV Guide?). In any case, since I'm very familiar with the ones in this last post, let me add my recommendations for a couple of the more obscure titles that others may not have seen: The Half Naked Truth (1932) & What Every Woman Knows (1934). I was planning to include both of these gems in my post to the Great Movie Alert! next Tuesday.

I agree with filmlover, I think synopses might make the posts too long. However, I think a comment (particularly for any more obscure titles) might be in order. I hate to suggest a format, because I don't want to stifle any creativity, but perhaps the titles could be listed on their own separate lines (next to their start times?) with a one-line description listed on the right hand side? If someone wants to do something more comprehensive (e.g. with capsule reviews or links to such), feel free. I'm not sure that there is a posting size limitation with TCM's message board software.

Cheaper By The Dozen?

You're very welcome. There are A LOT of great topics buried within these boards, and almost everything had been discussed even before I got here in 2003! Some new board software was installed last fall and it appears that the search engine only goes back to that date (September, 2005 or thereabouts), which makes it harder to find the older topics (what a shame). And, believe it or not, until recently, virtually every one of the discussions were civil AND about classic movies too;-)

Thank you for this very informative response. The best possible on-line schedule is getting even better - great news! Though it may not always seem so, there are those of us who appreciate your efforts and the fact that you listen to our input. The library search would indeed be great to have once again.