NewYorkGuy

I guess this has been discussed before, but after seeing this thread on the boards for ages I finally tuned in to this block of cartoons this morning. I couldn't keep watching. I get irritated at reformatting to fit flat screen TV ratios. I realize not everyone feels this way.

Completely out of sync. Audio lagged behind the video a good two+ seconds.

I finally watched it from recording it on my DVR -- and no problems with freezing through Spectrum, so I'm sorry to hear this for those of you commenting about it. Because I thought it was terrific. Highlight was excerpts from the audio interview with Francis himself from 1957. He was a pistol, and not at all shy about tooting his own horn.

I just want to acknowledge that TCM finally ran a Cinemascope cartoon in full letter box last Saturday morning, the Spike & Tyke film "Brat Cats." Nothing irritates me more than seeing a widescreen flick suddenly switching to pan and scan after the opening credits. So, thanks, TCM!

The Long, Long Trailer was on last week and it looked grainy. Then I noticed it wasn't fully letterboxed. So much for honoring Lucy as Star of the Month.

Meg. "Newbie - 3 posts." Now I'm wondering where the third one is.

I recorded it back then. There was a "notorious" screening of it without masking along the top that revealed studio lights and the rigging of the backdrops.

The problem with our Spectrum boxes is that they automatically shut off after several hours if you haven't sent an external signal to them such as a channel change. So if you've left the house for work one morning you can't program them to record from, say, 3:55 a.m. to 6:30 to ensure capturing a movie that might exceed a 2 hr. 15 min. block like above. You have to set to record the block before and after, and you're going to have a glitch on either side. Oh, well.

I settled down to watch my DVR recording of this well regarded film that was among the network premieres on Ingrid Bergman Day. Listed as having a 2 hour running time in the monthly schedule, in fact it must have been a version with pieces restored because it exceeded the 2 hr. 15 min. block allotted for it on Spectrum. So I'm missing the ending. I'm not here to ask what happens in "Arch of Triumph" -- I'm going to assume they'll program it again someday -- only to say this happens occasionally and it's really disappointing/irritating. I don't know whether the issue is with TCM or the c

Yeah, it's ridiculous, and TCM needs to stop the swoop to no more than one back and forth within one intro or outro. It's already ripe for parody, and we're only on day 3.

Well, the color palette in Ben's intro/outro is very beige/brown -- very 70s. The furniture looks very 50s. I guess there's no room for a bright color anywhere, whereas there used to be at least one accent piece -- a pillow cushion; a vase. Overall it's OK and doesn't call attention to itself, which is kind of the point I guess. But, yeah, the back and forth tracking of the camera does call attention to itself, and I hope that calms down, or stops.

Finally watched "The Road to Hong Kong" on my DVR. Very little about Hong Kong and a lot about outer space nonsense, with Joan Collins as the romance object for both Crosby and Hope. What a stinker.

Well, if TCM has played it many times before, did they play it in letterbox or the way they showed it the other day? Because after the opening letterbox titles it reverted to flatscreen format before switching back to full letterbox only for the end titles. Really annoying.

Carole King's "Now and Forever" was unfairly treated twice. Madonna's contract for "A League of Their Own" entitled her to have the end title song, shoving "Now and Forever" out, and somewhat misused as the opening title where the soundtrack faded it out instead of allowing its last notes to fully resolve. And then Madonna's dirge "This Used to Be My Playground" was Oscar nominated while the Academy overlooked the gorgeous and wistfully uplifting Carole King number. Audio only below.

With only one exception three or four weekends ago when it was in the correct aspect ratio, the Saturday morning Popeye cartoon has been squashed (or stretched; take your pick) since they got into the mid 1950s color shorts. It might have been a programming error the first time, but how it keeps happening week after week seems to be intentional for some reason.