HarryLong

*I find your discussions about women's gowns fascinating,do you know anything about Jeff Chandler?* No one else got that?

Did I read that correctly? REMEMBER THE NIGHT is considered a noir? By who?

*What was the purpose of VHS 20+ years ago and what is the purchase of DVD today if a person can't make personal copies of their favorite programs and movies?* I've got a news flash for ya: These films are protected by copyright and you have no legal "right" to make copies. The court case cited some posts back merely makes reference to time-shifting & by extension, creating a personal library copy from on-air sources. But the studios have every legal right (& every financial interest) in preventing you from doing so. They want you to purchase their pre-recorded material (and legitimate, pre-recorded VHS tapes were generally copy-guarded, btw). Adding copyguard to broadcast or cable signals also dates back to the 1990s at least when premium channels such as HBO started protecting their signals. Now I'm not saying absolutely that TCM is blocking their signal because Osborne is holding up copies of films available from Warner Home Video or on the TCM label by going to the store section of this site (which is actually the Movies Unlimited Catalogue) or because of TCM affiliation with Movies Unlimited, but no one seemed to be having recording problems before then. And the post from talkietime just confirms my suspicion that you happen to have lucked out in having a cable or sattelite provider that isn't passing on TCM's signal block (which also appears not to be in force on all films).

I see the "Gowns by... " credit & the first name that springs to mind is Vera West. She created all those creations for Universal horror heroines in the 1930s and 1940s.

*But maybe one thing that he is slightly guilty of is that he did not really step outside the box enough and stretch his acting muscles like he should.* Very definitely. I think it's in Cameron Crowe's book of interviews with Billy Wilder that MacMurray fought Wilder on doing the part in DOUBLE INDEMNITY because he didn't want to or didn't think he could play a villain. (Interesting that the next time Wilder used him - in THE APARTMENT - he again cast him as a crud.)

I wish I knew. I, too saw it on TV back in the 1990s sometime. As I'm an Ulmer completeist, I'd love to get my hands on it. TCM didn't show it a few years back when they did their Ulmer salute & I don't know of any gray market dealers who have it. If you find it anywhere, let the rest of us (well, me, anywaw) know.

*do your research on which models may give you trouble with copyright protection.* I might be wrong, but I was under the impression that all DVD recorders had the copyguard detection software in place. Itw as part of the agreement whereby the movie studios allowed the machines to be made available at the home use level. If you know someone capable of such re-monkeying, the software can be disabled. There are also several little boxes (I call them Veeblefetzers) available that defeat the copyguard in most cases. It is also my understanding that local cable companies aren't "adding" the CG but are rather "allowing" it. That is, it is added by the provider (in this case TCM) but some cable companies might not choose to broadcast that part of the signal. As to why TCM has decided to block home recording of their broadcasts: well, you might notice that Robert Osborne is more frequently holding up DVD boxes & plugging same or the Movies Unlimited catalogue... And I'll also note that I don't think putting the material on a VHS tape or a DVR prior to transferring it to DVDR is a work-around. I have several home-recorded tapes that looked/played fine, but wouldn't transfer to DVDR because the tape copied the CG as well.

*Funny how this 'billing' was such a big deal with stars but hey stars have egos* I wish I could remember the movie & the director, but in one Spencer Tracy / Katherine Hepburn film it was suggested to Tracy that he allow Hepburn top-billing because she was the lady. Tracy's response was, "This is a movie, not a lifeboat, chowderhead." Aside from ego, salaries were involved.

I guess MURDER HE SAID is a Fred movie, too...

Much as I hate to admit it (I'm a major Fred fan myself), Fred never really caught fire with the public or the studio (or both?) and became a top-tier star. Until his work for Disney the best that can be said is that his movies were So&So and Fred movies (HANDS ACROSS THE TABLE, ALICE ADAMS, DOUBLE INDEMNITY). And it's arguable, too, if things like THE ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR are thought of primarily as Fred movies or Disney movies... probably the latter. Oh, wait! I got one! FAIR WIND TO JAVA is definitely a Fred movie.

Oops!

Yup. I can DVDR them & save $25 a pop.

If you can record from other channels, then I suspect your cable company is one of the ones has added a copyguard to their signal for TCM. Do you get any kind of on-screen message? Or do you get a black screen or mangled picture with a soundtrack on thye recording?

*Harry, for the record, Mr. Wayne did attempt to serve but like Errol Flynn had a health issue that rendered him unable. He made attempts to go around them but his studio was making similar attempts for him not to and he never did.* Interesting. I'd certainly always heard (& heard it for years) that Wayne cited his family as grounds for not serving - though that certainly didn't stop a good many other Hollywood leading men from volunteering. But it would also make sense that Herbert Yates - who was making mor emoney on Wayne by loaning him out to other studios than it could by making films with him - might not want to lose his cash machine. I could buy that explanation. BTW, I'm not sure if you've ever heard/read the story that in fact Wayne _was_ looked askance upon by some of the cast of EXPENDABLE. John Ford solved the problem by being a miserable s.o.b. to way, picking on him endlessly that eventually the rest of the cast staged a minor mutiny against Ford & insisted he stop.

*the extreme cost on American taxpayers to support a military like this in a nuclear age (especially when toy soldiers can be replaced by atomic bombs)* Oh, heck. Atomic bombs are so five years ago. We're looking at warfare by computer virus these days, according to recent news reports. Why drop a bomb when you can shut off a city's power or water supply? Edited by: HarryLong on Oct 11, 2010 2:32 PM

But does anyone in MAGIC TOWN wind up in a bale of hay?

Fay really shoulda gotten residuals! Not a good screamer, but certainly an unforgettable one: Grayson Hall on DARK SHADOWS.

This is not Lew's finest hour. I prefer the earlier adaption, THE LADY AND THE MONSTER. Nothing beats Erich von Stroheim telling Vera Rhuba Ralston (you just don't get names like that any more in films) to get him the gigli saw.

*At the time, BestBuy advertised Collection #1 as "released in conjunction with..." notations and since the films are all remastered, I figured BestBuy either upfronted some portion of the restoration costs OR gave them a guaranteed Retail Outlet and shelf space.* *BestBuy had a similar "We have first-rights for retail" arrangement for Collection #2, although I don't recall seeing any campaigning OTHER than "Best Buy exclusive!" in various ads.* This is going back a few years so my memory may not be entirely accurate, but... my recollection is that Universal releasing initially through Best Buy was simple a marketing gimmick. I don't think BB had paid anything for restoration, nor do I recall that any real restoration was done other than digital transfer of the titles. Aside from the Paramount DR. CYCLOPS all the titles are from the 1950s & Universal's materials from that time are in reasonably good condition. (BTW - Amazon (and possibly other outlets) has these two collections ... er ... collected at a failrly good price for 10 movies.)

*There is a difference between gore and bloody- most of the Hammer films have plenty of blood which now looks kind of fake.* I think I made that observation in my previous post. But, as I said, it depends on one's definition. I once showed the two Phibes films to a small gathering & some were disturbed by the "gore." BTW... Anyone else notice that Robert Osborne's intro (or outro, rather) to THE DEVIL'S BRIDE suggested that Christopher Lee played Fu Manchu for Hammer? The same mistake is repeated in one of the write-ups on this site for the Friday night Hammer films (can't offhand recall which one).

I sense a new crusade...

Very different between then and now in so many ways, not the least of which is a litle thing called the Draft - which we no longer have. Until thatw as abolished it was a given that a certain number of men would serve in the military no matter if we were at peace or at war. Additionally in the 1940s Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito were seen as huge threats to world stability - in retrospect Hitler was the biggest threat and it was only after the war that the general public understood just how big a monster Hitler was. Osama Bin Laden probably doesn't register in quite the same way. I wonder if he should? But you're right in that most Hollywood male stars volunteered for WWII; they weren't drafted. A look at the cast list at the beginning of THEY WERE EXPENDABLE is quite instructive; everyone is listed with their rank (except John Wayne of all the actors - he fought the war on soundstages). I can't think of anyone in Hollwywood who volunteered to fight in Korea, though some were no doubt drafted at some point. It is also important to recall those, like Lew Ayres, whose careers were derailed by claiming Conscientious Objector status.

Absolutely one of the funniest movies ever made. I first stumbled on this (back on AMC, I think) with no idea what I'd be seeing except a comedy with Fred MacMurray and Marjorie Main. You'll probably notice some similarities to Bob Hope's GHOSTBREAKERS in the plotting... and keep your ears sharp for the "All Things Considered" theme...

Well, no one gets gunned down in SOMEWHERE IN TIME...

*I'm reading Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master right now (I'm about half way through) and while I don't like the writer's style all the time, the book is opening my eyes to Victor Fleming, the director in a way I've never looked at his films before.* A friend passed this on to me or I'd never have bothered with it, as I really don't care for Fleming's work. But it did alter one - as it turns out erroneous - assumption I'd had about Fleming. I assumed he was a studio "hack" who simply took on whatever assignment the studio handed him. It turns out he initiated most of his own projects or, at the very least, took on only what interested him. For most of his tenure at MGM he refused to sign a contract and worked for the studio on a film-by- film basis. Now, I can't say I like his work any better after having read the book (I just find his style too ham-fisted), but I can certainly see that he wasn't a hack.