LonesomePolecat

Christopher Robin - Bruce Reitherman (and his siblings) in *The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh*

I wish to shamelessly plug this thread. Everyone should contribute. It's loads of fun. But really I am only posting so this thread will be on page 1 when I post my schedule so it'll be easy to find.

This is a movie I've heard people mention as the worst best picture of them all. I thought that would be pretty hard to call. Can anything be worse than The Greatest Show on Earth? But I had very low expectations when I saw this, watching it just for the sake of adding it to my "movies I've seen" list. But I actually really enjoyed this movie. I was surprised. Maybe having just finished seeing "Downton Abbey" I was in the mindset of the era and ready for it, but I did enjoy it. I see why it would vex others, having beat so many other great movies, but I still did enjoy it. It is, as was said, a "through the years epic" like Cimarron. And I thought how interesting it was especially to watch it in terms of what we are going through today, which is another great depression and time of major debauchery.

I think that's an awesome definition. As a young whippersnapper I have a very different view of what "new" is compared to others, and what "old" is. Like I remember someone saying nothing released after 1969 should be shown on TCM, but to me "Amadeus" (1984) is a classic movie. it's great, and it's old enough to have stood some kind of test of time. Then, to me, even newer than that is "Hunt for Red October" (1990 I think). Here again. Great, old enough to have been somewhere, and I don't remember it being released, so to me it's not a "new" movie. But to someone who saw "Lawrence of Arabia" or "Miracle on 34th Street" when they were brand new, 1990 is too recent. Or, hey, I go to church with a woman who just turned 109. This means she remembers Max Sennet comedies. To her, having seen the 1920s Ben Hur, the 1959 Ben Hur might be too new to be called a classic. I also think foreign films have a whole other standard as far as time goes, and that's probably because, as the "definition" goes, it stands out in a special way. It has to to be seen in America out of all the great films from other countries. Not that I want all 1990s and 2000s movies on TCM, or even very many very often, but, as it was said, "classic" is subjective.

No, I am a huge "Seven Brides" fan, and that is one of my favorite numbers from the movie. But there are so many. I did pick the name out of love.

Cactus Flower Drum Song next: Go

To get back to Musicals, then, I was watching the American Masters ep about Jerome Robbins and I remembered a musical number that I adore more than pretty much any other musical number: The bottle dance in *Fiddler on the Roof* --gets me every time!

Xanadu

128 "You're pregnant?! Oh, honey, I hope it looks just like me!"

What about Gene Kelly? A great actor, not just a musical performer. Dick Powell is a good one to discuss. He got better as the years went on. In the early years he was pretty stagey and awful (Gold DIggers, 42nd Street, Midsummer's, etc), but starting, I think, with Christmas in July, he becomes a much better actor. I guess he just needed experience and a good director, eh? Fred Astaire is kind of the same way. His early acting isn't very good, but later on he does better and better, so by the time he's in On the Beach he's a good actor who doesn't have to sing or dance to be cast in a film. (Though why waste him like that?) On that, a person with a lovely singing voice, in fact a professional singer, who did a great job acting, IMHO, was Petula Clark, who was the lead opposite Fred Astaire in Finian's Rainbow. I was surprised at how good she was. And a "singer" who can't act? Esther WIlliams.

And don't forget the famous dance duet with Shirley Temple and Bojangles (right?) in "The Littlest Rebel". That's somewhere in the 30s. I think it's shown in either "That's Entertainment" or "That's Dancing." (I'm full of certainty today).

I was also wondering why Westerns were so polarizing. I was actually surprised to learn that there are still enough people who like westerns to have Encore Westerns. I personally love them, but a lot of people my age don't. Strange.

I too am including a made-up movie. I'm using it as a way to remake a real movie that should have been better, and could have been. But you'll see. Mine will be up soon, as soon as I decided on which schedule to post.....

I actually got sucked into The Heiress when it was on TV recently, having not seen it in YEARS. Brilliant movie, and appropriate for Oscar month. I don't feel like it's shown to death, but then I guess any movie would seem like it's been shown to death if you don't want to see it more than once every few years. Though we complain about Oscar month (yes, "we"--I don't like all the 70s, 80s, 90s, and especially 2000s movies, especially the R-rated ones), they wouldn't do it if it didn't get viewers. Maybe Oscar month pays for the other amazing 11 months. And, hey, they are showing several movies that they never show and that I am excited to tape (yes I still use a VCR) and add to my collection, like Amadeus and Cyrano de Bergerac (1990). To paraphrase Lincoln, "You can please some of the people all the time and all of the people some of the time but you can't please all of the people all of the time."

Trail of the Pink Panther

Tinkerbell - from Disney's *Peter Pan*

Maggie Smith has the best lines in the series. Parlly that's because she makes them the best lines with her amazing phrasing. "What is a week-end?"

I ADORE the Marx Brothers!!! But not their films past Day at the Races. I think they are so funny. Wordplay, slapstick, and musical humor! Hysterical, clever puns, innuendo, and instrument playing too. Oh how I love them. But I know lots of people that don't get the jokes, aka think the jokes are funny, so they hate them. Therefore it would seem that the Marx Brothers polarize people, doesn't it? Interesting....

1) Your favorite Fred & Ginger dance number? *I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket* from Follow the Fleet because they're being funny, which is a change, and Fred looks snappy in a sailor costume 2) Your favorite dancing partner for Gene Kelly? *Donald O'Connor* of course, but for females no one but *Cyd Charisse* dances as well as him for it to be fully satisfying 3) Your favorite Marx Brother musical number? *Freedonia's Going to War* from Duck Soup 4) Your favorite moment of singing in a film that is not a musical? Probably *The Man in the Flying Trapeze* from It Happened One Night But if you don't count "Here Comes the Groom" as a musical (they sing a few times, but I don't know), then it's *In the Cool Cool Cool of the Evening* with Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman, because it was all in one take, and it's a great song 5) Your favorite moment of dancing in a film that is not a musical? The entire Gene Kelly segment, but especially *On Our Little Houseboat Built For Two* from "What a Way to Go" --- it's a parody of musical numbers, but it has two real dancers in it: Gene Kelly and Shirley MacLaine. It makes fun of lots of old musicals. Musically it mocks dubbing, Nelson Eddy & Jeanette MacDonald, and quotes other musicals: "Anchors aweigh and hit the deck, Louisa!". Dance-wise it also directly quotes from Singin' in the Rain. How appropo, since Gene is really dancing. 6) Favorite musical number not featuring Astaire or Kelly? *Cool* from West Side Story Edited by: LonesomePolecat on Feb 1, 2011 6:36 PM

I didn't think it was all black and white like you said. I mean we hate O'Brien, and she seems pure evil, but right after she moves the soap, she looks in the mirror and says "This isn't you" and turns to prevent disaster. When it's too late she feels remorse. She isn't suddenly liked by everyone, but she has realized she can take her snideness too far, and that Thomas has been a bad influence. Also, lady Mary, from the beginning a jerk who doesn't want to go into mourning for her fiance, starts rethinking her smugness and pride once she is humiliated.

For the love of Pete, do some character actors, please!!! Mildred Natwick Ward Bond Victor McLaghlen guy kibbee spring byington etc etc etc

Awesome. Thanks.

I noticed that Miniver lifting too. And I know it was intentional, so I enjoyed it. I adored Downton Abbey, but, arg---cliffhanger!

Ooooooooooooooooo!!!!! I'm excited! I hope everyone will join the fun. You'd be surprised how easy it is once you start to do it. And how fun. But I warn you----addicting. You find yourself watching movies thinking of ways it could fit with other movies, or thinking of filmmakers that never get featured, etc etc etc. I always ask for the list of previous SOTMs, since I like to have an SOTM that's not been used before. But this time I found it myself. Just to help out, in case you were wondering, here's the list: STAR OF THE MONTH: May 1994: Greta Garbo June 1994: Glenn Ford July 1994: Greer Garson Aug.1994: Edward G. Robinson Sept.1994: Barbara Stanwyck Oct.1994: Angela Lansbury Nov.1994 John Garfield Dec.1994: Jan.1995: Esther Williams Feb.1995: Ronald Reagan Mar.1995: Apr.1995: Doris Day May 1995: Myrna Loy June 1995: Errol Flynn July 1995: G. Kelly (Gene or Grace?) Aug.1995: Paul Muni Sept.1995: Jane Powell Oct.1995: Clark Gable Nov.1995: Barrymores Dec.1995: Bing Crosby Jan.1996: Deborah Kerr Feb.1996: Robert Young Mar.1996 April 1996: Irene Dunne May 1996: James Stewart June 1996: Rosalind Russell July 1996: Fred Astaire Aug.1996: Ann Sheridan Sept.1996: Van Johnson Oct.1996: Kathryn Grayson Nov.1996: Robert Mitchum Dec.1996: Gary Cooper Jan.97: Jean Arthur Feb.97: Eleanor Parker Mar.97: 31 Days of Oscar Apr.97: Ava Gardner May 97: George Brent June 97: June Allyson July 97: John and Walter Huston (also Director of the Month) Aug.97: Cary Grant Sept.97: Ida Lupino Oct.97: Walter Pidgeon Nov.97: Katharine Hepburn Dec.97: Best of ?97 Jan.1998: Lana Turner Feb.1998: Charlton Heston Mar.1998:31 Days of Oscar April 1998: Red Skelton May 1998: Olivia de Havilland June 1998: James Cagney July 1998: Lucille Ball August 1998: Joan Crawford Sept.1998: John Wayne Oct.1998: Cyd Charisse Nov.1998: Claude Rains Dec.1998: Best of ?98 Jan.1999: Elizabeth Taylor Feb.1999: William Powell March 1999: 31 Days of Oscar (probably) April 1999: Dennis Morgan May 1999: Bette Davis June 1999: Mickey Rooney July1999: Natalie Wood August 1999: Peter Sellers Sept.1999: Norma Shearer Oct. 1999: Gregory Peck Nov. 1999: Ginger Rogers Dec. 1999: Burt Lancaster Jan. 2000: Debbie Reynolds Feb. 2000: Robert Ryan March 2000: 31 Days of Oscars (probably) April 2000: Spencer Tracy May 2000: Alexis Smith June 2000:Wallace Beery July 2000: Judy Garland August 2000: film debuts Sept 2000: Jane Wyman October 2000: Dick Powell Nov 2000: Frank Sinatra Dec. 2000: Lauren Bacall Jan. 2001: Elvis Presley Feb.2001: Jean Hagen March 2001: 31 Days of Oscar (probably) Apr.2001: Knighted Actors May 2001: Jean Harlow June 2001: W.C. Fields July 2001: Ann Sothern Aug.2001: James Garner Sept. 2001: Robert Taylor Oct. 2001: Lana Turner Nov.2001: Glenn Ford Dec.2001: The Marx Brothers Jan. 2002: Marlene Dietrich Feb. 2002: Kirk Douglas March 2002: 31 Days of Oscar April 2002: Barbara Stanwyck May 2002: Edward G. Robinson June 2002: Greta Garbo July 2002: Sidney Poitier Aug. 2002: Joan Crawford Sept. 2002: Van Heflin Oct. 2002: Final films Nov. 2002: Shelly Winters Dec. 2002: Montgomery Clift Jan. 2003: Doris Day Feb. 2003: John Garfield Mar. 2003: 31 Days of Oscar Apr. 2003: Harold Lloyd May 2003: Olivia de Havilland June 2003: TV Actors in Films July 2003: Lee Marvin Aug. 2003: 1st Summer Under the Stars (see below) Sept. 2003: James Mason Oct. 2003: Boris Karloff Nov. 2003: Shirley MacLaine Dec. 2003: David Niven Jan. 2004: Katherine Hepburn Feb.2004: 31 Days of Oscar Mar.2004: Charles Chaplin Apr. 2004: Judy Garland May 2004: Greer Garson June 2004: Cary Grant July 2004: Stars That Died Before Their Time Aug.2004: 2nd Summer Under the Stars (see below) Sept.2004: Myrna Loy Oct. 2004: Peter Lorre Nov.2004: Clark Gable Dec. 2004: James Stewart Jan.2005: Canadian Actors Feb. 2005: 31 Days of Oscar Mar. 2005: Claudette Colbert Apr. 2005: Errol Flynn May 2005: Orson Welles June 2005: Ingrid Bergman July 2005: Audrey Hepburn Aug. 2005: 3rd Summer Under the Stars (see below) Sept.2005: Greta Garbo Oct.2005: Robert Mitchum Nov.2005: Joan Fontaine Dec. 2005: Bing Crosby Jan. 2006: Robert Montgomery Feb.2006: 31 Days of Oscar Mar.2006: Nelson Eddy & Jeanette MacDonald Apr.2006: Deborah Kerr May 2006: Bette Davis June 2006: Anthony Quinn July 2006: Elizabeth Taylor Aug.2006: 4th Summer Under the Stars (see below) Sept.2006: William Holden Oct.2006: Child Stars Nov.2006: Lucille Ball Dec. 2006: Gary Cooper Jan.2007: Jean Arthur Feb.2007: 31 Days of Oscar Mar.2007: Gene Kelly Apr.2007: Rita Hayworth May 2007: John Wayne and Katherine Hepburn June 2007: Ida Lupino July 2007: Randolph Scott Aug.2007: 5th Summer Under the Stars (see below) Sept.2007: A Star is Born (starmaking/breakthrough performances) Oct.2007: Henry Fonda Nov.2007: Guest Programmer Month Dec.2007: Irene Dunne Jan.2008: James Cagney Feb.2008: 31 Days of Oscar Mar.2008: Acting Dynasties Apr.2008: Hedy Lamarr May 2008: Frank Sinatra June 2008: Sophia Loren July 2008: Rosalind Russell Aug.2008: 6th annual Summer Under the Stars (see below) Sept.2008: Kay Francis Oct.2008: Carole Lombard Nov.2008: Charles Laughton Dec. 2008: Joseph Cotton Jan. 2009: Jack Lemmon Feb. 2009: 31 Days of Oscar Mar. 2009: Ronald Reagan April 2009: Funny Ladies and 15th Anniversary May 2009: Sean Connery June 2009: Great Directors July 2009: Stewart Granger August 2009: Summer Under the Stars Sept. 2009: Claude Rains Oct. 2009: Leslie Caron Nov. 2009: Grace Kelly Dec. 2009: Humphrey Bogart Jan. 2010: ?The Method? Feb. 2010: 31 Days of Oscar March 2010: Ginger Rogers April 2010: Robert Taylor May 2010: Donna Reed June 2010: Natalie Wood July 2010: Gregory Peck August 2010: SUTS Sept. 2010: Vivien Leigh Oct. 2010: Fredric March Nov 2010 Ava Gardner Dec 2010 Mickey Rooney Jan 2011 Peter Sellers Feb 2011 31 Days of Oscar (if anyone will go through March and April to divine the next ones, feel free to post) GOOD LUCK!!

How cool that Fiddler means so much to us all. I now want to see that Murder She Wrote. I guess no matter what TV show or Movie you're doing, if you have a jury room as part of the story, you have to reference it somehow. I love the episode of Monk where Monk gets on a jury and they have very obvious quotes, like "There's always one" and "And we go into extra innings," with of course Monk being the one who says not guilty.