midnight08

Most of the Paramount, Universal and even Fox films of the 1930's ARE still in existence and HAVE been transferred from the old nitrate to safety stock. The problem is the only way anyone can watch these films is at a special film festival. Capitolfest is wonderful for showing extremely rare, seldom seen films from Universal and Paramount. Last year their featured star was Nancy Carroll. Several years ago Film Forum had a pre code film festival of Paramount and Fox films. However most of us don't have the funds to travel cross country to attend these festivals.

From what I've read Constance Bennett was a shrewd businesswoman. She became bored with moviemaking and didn't need the money due to her wise investments and other business ventures. She simply didn't care about moviemaking anymore.

There was an article about Baby Peggy in the Nitrateville forum. Someone interviewed her in the last 6 weeks and took some photos of her. It mentioned that she's become more fragile but for 97 she looks amazing.

"GregoryPeckfan" was asking about Baby Peggy's films. I know that TCM aired a special documentary about Baby Peggy along with the film "Captain January" and the shorts "Carmen Jr.", "Such Is Life" and "Peg O' The Mounted" a few years back. In the last few months they also aired "The Family Secret". I also believe that "Helen's Babies" is available as it is a Clara Bow film.

I know that this is a rarity but "Call her Savage" with Clara Bow is an awesome pre code film. It is available commercially. TCM has shown it once or twice (however late at night). My favorite pre codes are Red Headed Woman, Call Her Savage, Three On A Match and Baby Face. The only problem I find with Baby Face is the wimpy ending. It seems like a "happily ever after" ending was tacked on as an afterthought.

I'm happy to see that Marie Dressler is being recognized. Her films (with the exception of "Dinner At Eight") are rarely shown. For the last few years of her life she was the number one box office draw. When "Topbilled" mentioned in another thread that Marie was June SOTM I thought he was kidding.

Maybe you saw Marie in "Emma" as she played a maid in both "Emma" and "Christopher Bean". I could never find out exactly what the legal problems are with "Christopher Bean" other than it never having been shown on TV or released commercially. It still exists. Another one of Marie's talkies which is not available is "Caught Short". According to the Internet Movie Database the sound disks survive in the UCLA Archives but the status of the film itself is unknown.

Does anyone have any information on how Debbie Reynolds is doing? I know she's around 83 or 84 so she's getting up in age. She's one of the last of the stars from MGM's golden era and a movie icon. The poor woman also had bad luck with husbands who took advantage of her. Her first husband (Eddie Fisher) cheated on her with Elizabeth Taylor. He never took part in their two children's lives. Debbie was a single mother and sole supporter bringing up her son and daughter with no help from Eddie. Then her second husband practically bankrupt her. It took several years for Debbie to work off the debt he incurred. She went thru a lot of heartache in her life yet she always managed to carry a cheery disposition. I hope she will be ok as she certainly deserves some happiness and contentment in her golden years. I hope she knows how much her fans love her.

That photo of Joan Bennett looks like an attractive Bette Davis from "All About Eve".

I doubt it. According to the Internet Movie Database this movie has never been shown on television. There are some copyright problems with the movie (similar to the legal problems with "Letty Lynton") which prevents it from being shown. I believe that the George Eastman House has a copy of it. It was never a part of the TCM library.

Very good "MovieCollectorOH". At first I thought "The Littlest Rebel" with Shirley Temple but that was one of the first "20th Century Fox" films. I've taped every one of them with the exception of "Regeneration". You really kept accurate records.

I was shocked at that pic of Monty Clift. I would not have recognized him. He looks completely different; old and haggard. What a shame!

I never heard of this title so I looked it up on the IMD. Sounds interesting.

I'm watching "The Wolf Man" right now. I enjoy this movie but I wish that TCM would show "The Werewolf Of London". That was another version of the wolf man filmed by Universal in 1935 with Henry Hull and Warner Oland. I remember seeing it as a kid and found it also to be very atmospheric. Two Universal horror classics that TCM never shows are Dracula and The Werewolf Of London.

That photo of Lon Chaney Jr. really is awesome. It would be interesting to know the year it was taken. He was already looking old in The Wolf Man (1941). He aged quickly getting heavy and bloated.

Whenever I see that the new month schedule is up I look thru very quickly to see if there might possibly be a film or two from either Fox studios or the Carl Laemmle Universal studios era. Most months I'm disappointed because there aren't any. However for May I see two Fox rarities: Music In The Air (1934) with Gloria Swanson on 5/3 and Wild Girl (1932) with Charles Farrell and Joan Bennett on 5/22. And both are in prime time. I just hope that by the time May swings around these two titles won't disappear from the schedule as it happens a lot with these film rarities. Several months ago I could have sworn that I saw Wharf Angel on the TCM schedule for either March or April. This was right after the schedule came out. I was looking forward to it as it was one of only three movies with Dorothy Dell. However as time rolled on this movie disappeared from the schedule. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I never thought about it but after reading the posts in this thread I realized that all the stars who had February birthdays don't receive a birthday tribute because of 31 Days Of Oscar. What a shame! I agree with several of the posters that TCM's 31 Days Of Oscar is getting old and tired. If they want to continue let them put the Oscar movies in prime time during the month and leave the daytime hours for regular film programming, tribute, dedications, etc.

"Sepiatone" mentioned that after a few times the overhead kaleidoscope shots get old. That's his/her opinion. I can watch those movies over and over again and never get tired of them. As stated before, these movies had no real plot or some silly plot but who cared! All we wanted to see were those awesome musical numbers with all the fancy overhead shots. Berkeley was always trying to outdo himself so every one of those movies had something different and exciting; from the lighted violins of Golddiggers of 1933 to the photo of FDR in Footlight Parade (and of course those beautiful girls by the waterfall) to the face of Ruby Keeler dancing around in Dames. It was all so magical and made a fortune for Warner Bros. After all, this was the depression so people went to the movies to escape the harsh realism of the world and enter a world of fantasy. Busby did not disappoint them.

I guess it is true that Universal didn't have the output or well known films that Paramount had. In fact, until I became more of a film buff I only knew Universal for their horror films. Did they even have a roster of stars on their payroll besides Boris and Bela during the Laemmle era?

Isn't there anyone here on the message boards who knew Fred and/or communicated with him on a regular basis? Are Fred and Johann one and the same? If so, what happened? Was he ill or was it sudden? So many questions!

I've heard that MOMA has a beautiful pristine print of "Merely Mary Ann" with Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. It would be wonderful if TCM could get MOMA, The George Eastman House, UCLA Film Archives and Library Of Congress to come visit and bring some of their rarities to TCM. The few times they have been on TCM we had the pleasure of viewing such gems as "The Valiant", "The Trespasser" and "Delicious". This would be the only way we'll ever get to view the film rarities from the Fox and Universal vaults. Even the TCM film festivals don't show these rare films.

I've been buying some DVD's from the Universal Vault series lately and I noticed that they are all Paramount films. Why doesn't Universal put out some of the Laemmle Universal films on DVD?

I know I should have put this comment up on the Robert Osborne mistake thread but I don't know what happened to that thread. I was transferring an old VHS tape to DVD today. It was a tape from TCM back in 1999 when they were having a special presentation on Clara Bow. TCM showed "The Wild Party" for the first and only time in their history. As Robert Osborne was doing his intro for the movie he mentioned that this film was not only Clara Bow's first talkie but also Paramount's first talkie. He was wrong! The first Paramount talkie was "Interference" with William Powell. So I guess RO has been making errors for many years (not just recently). As I transfer more TCM movies from VHS to DVD I'll have to pay more attention to RO's intros to see if I find any more errors thru the years that he's made.

Is that a replica of Caitlyn Jenner? Sure looks like her.

I totally agree. I couldn't have said it better. I don't want to begin a confrontation about this topic ; I just believe that TCM could have informed us what happened with the deal. As "infinite1" stated, many of us are loyal followers who attend the festivals, attend the cruises, buy the products, DVD's (and now even wine). Why should anyone be irritated that we're simply asking for a response?