misswonderly3

I had not heard of Skeeter Davis or the song "It's the End of the World" ( but not as we know it. ) But - when I looked up the song and listened to it, I realized I'd heard it many times. It was the Frankie Goes to Hollywood experience all over again; although I had heard of them -but not that song, "Relax" yet when I looked up their song, I recognized it immediatley (kind of a decadent little video for the 80s ). I guess there are a lot of songs out there that I know but don't know that I know, ..you know? The Diamonds -barely heard of them, but certainly knew "Little Darlin' ". I definitely did not know that they were Canadian. Still, what I read about them on Wiki suggests that the songs were composed by Americans, the Diamonds just performed them (most charmingly.)

infinite1, I think that is a brilliant idea. I love the commentaries that often come with dvd's, especially the ones that accompany classic films, you get so much information, and often jokes, etc. too. This would be like those commentaries, on steroids ! markfp2, you commented: "...I don't think it's a case that they've never seen most of the films, just that they aren't watching them as they are being shown...." I did not think that is what the original poster was saying. I think infinite1 knows the hosts have seen whatever film is being shown, probably many time, they are just not watching it the same time we are. When Robert O. concludes his intro or discussion with Alex and says "Let's take a look..." of course he is not about to sit there and watch the movie at that exact time as we the viewers are doing, and we know that, and Mr. O. assumes we know it. But I've never once thought that the hosts have not ever seen the film, and I don' t believe infinite1 was thinking that either. So -back to the suggestion. What a great idea ! Something really different, something to really engage filmlovers, especially those who have already seen whatever film they would be showing. As suggested, they could feel free to pause the movie to make a comment or briefly tell an ancedote, or whatever fit . This is such a fun proposal, I hope the TCM Admin people are reading this and pick up on it.

Dunno. Could be...Let's get cujas to ask Brenda when she does her annual concert in cujas' town.

There's been some discussion of Brenda Lee around here lately. Here is another Christmas song by her, not " Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", but a goofy little song called "I'm Gonna Lasso Santa Claus". The first time I heard this, I thought it was great, because little Brenda was expressing a question that many kids must have wondered about -how come Santa didn't bother with that kid down the street? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAysB6JJeh0

Also don't forget The Cheshire Cat in all versions of Alice in Wonderland, who has no head to begin with.

eleniblue, I owe you an apology. I should have scanned over this thread more carefully - I see that you did not create this thread, so everything I said about "Why do people approach this site for the first time by creating a complaint thread?" was not justified. Sorry. Although, still, it is, as far as I can tell, the very first post you logged. Whatever, everyone has the right to voice their opinion here. (Did you folks know that, apparently the term "whatever" has just been voted the most annoying word of 2010 ? )

eleniblue (like that name ), of course it's ok to criticize, if nobody ever criticized anything it would be a more boring world. However, I can't speak for anyone else, but I always wonder why, when someone is a brand new member here, and posting for the first time, they create a thread that is essentially a complaint. My feeling about this TCM messageboard site is that it exists for all kinds of reasons, but primarily to share opinions and information about old movies and TCM. Absolutely, people should feel free to be critical (hey, I've done my share of expressing my dislike of certain films and/or stars etc.). I haven't been around here all that long myself -less than a year -so I'm certainly no authority or spokesperson these forums. But I have noticed that many people will sign in and become a member here, only to create a thread that is some kind of complaint, usually about TCM and how they do things. People have a perfect right to do that, it just strikes me as odd that the thing, or at least the main thing, that motivates them is to express something negative , usually about TCM programming. It just seems to me that there are so many fun and interesting subjects to talk about, that a negative one would not be one's very first choice . Edited by: misswonderly on Dec 19, 2010 12:50 PM

No takers on my Alice in Wonderland Queen of Hearts theme? "Off with their heads !"

Valentine, I'd videotaped *Christmas Holiday* from a great old television program that used to be aired in Canada, until about 1995 or so: *Saturday Night at the Movies*, with host Elwy Yost, on the public Ontario tv station, TVO. Elwy was a dedicated classic film fan, and showed many very rare movies on his show. (another example: *Clouded Yellow* ) It was a great little program.

The fruits of labour: while clearing out a messy and little-used closet recently, I unearthed a whole array of classic movies, some of them fairly rare. What a treat ! How could I have forgotten about them? Anyway, a couple of them are Christmas films featuring Deanna Durbin: *Lady on a Train* (1945), a murder mystery, and *Christmas Holiday* (1944), an unusual noir directed by Robert Siodmak. The director isn't what makes it unusual (of course Siodmak directed a number of film noirs ) it's the cast: Deanna Durbin and...Gene Kelly ! Probably the darkest thing either of them did. (on film, anyway). These are real finds -both are highly entertainly little noirettes, and both set at Christmas time, to boot ! I strongly recommend people clean out their closets -you never know what you might find (please, no "outing" jokes ) Edited by: misswonderly on Dec 18, 2010 7:40 PM

"You're not very tall" (Carman Sternwood to Phillip Marlowe) "I try to be." (Phillip Marlowe) *The Big Sleep*

> {quote:title=MyFavoriteFilms wrote:}{quote} >... We don't have to go by a particular theme (for instance, movies where characters have their heads chopped off) Wow, this decapitation thing has really caught on, MFF. I have a suggestion: an evening of all the different versions of Alice in Wonderland (and Alice's Adventures Through the Looking Glass ), including the W.C.Fields version, the animated Disney version , and there's some bizarre French film loosely based on the Lewis Carrol classic (Louis Malle's *Black Moon* ). I suppose they could include the Tim Burton thing too. Anyway, anyone who has read Alice in Wonderland (it's actual title is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and What She Found There ) will know about the execution-happy Queen of Hearts, and how she is always ordering the chopping off of somebody or other's head.Who could resist an "Off with her head!" Lewis Carrol theme? Here is a link to the very curious world of Lewis Carrol's Alice, the beheading - not really -chapter. If you've never read this, I highly recommend you take the time to do so now: http://www.sabian.org/alicech8.htm Edited by: misswonderly on Dec 18, 2010 7:14 PM Edited by: misswonderly on Dec 19, 2010 3:55 AM

Wanda Jackson had her own special place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I'd never heard of her before (before that visit to the R and R Hall of Fame). Country or rock 'n roll, she rocks ! Don Van Vliet, also known as Captain Beefheart, died yesterday (Dec. 17). There was absolutely nobody like him. He was friends with Frank Zappa. He was very weird. He was an artist. Although not a musician himself, he knew how to make great music. Here is a sample of his unique song composition. "Click Clack" :

Twice in one day! I feel like I've wandered into a Twilight Zone episode...

What "Canadian accent"? We don't have an accent...everyone else does. :l

They sound a lot like the Stylistics; I'm thinking of "Betcha by Golly Wow". Maybe there was some personnel overlap? Can't resist posting something from "A Charlie Brown Christmas". But it's not the one everybody thinks of , it's another little number, kind of similar. Picture, if you will, Lucy, PigPen, Linus, and the girl with the naturally curly hair bopping away to "Christmas is Coming" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geMESkcGEnQ&feature=related Edited by: misswonderly on Dec 17, 2010 2:56 PM

What a coincidence that you mention Norma Shearer...that was the other "Hallelujah !" moment I was going to talk about. One of the other "mystery movies" in my treasure trove of forgotten films recorded from tcm is "A Free Soul", a very early sound picture (1929) and obviously pre-code. Norma Shearer was another star I'd never appreciated much, but in this one, wow. However, unfortunately I don't have time to talk about it right now, not in a way that would do it justice. Suffice to say that I had a similar conversion moment regarding Miss Shearer. The moral is, remember to clear out your neglected closets at least once a year, you never know what you might find.. Edited by: misswonderly on Dec 17, 2010 2:26 PM Because I changed "the" treasure trove from tcm to MY treasure trove from tcm -didn't want people to go"What? TCM has a secret treasure trove of obscure films they're not sharing? " No, this is all about house-cleaning. Literally. Edited by: misswonderly on Dec 17, 2010 2:27 PM

While cleaning out a closet recently I came across a veritable treasure trove of films I had recorded (most but not all) from TCM over the last few years. Some of these I had never gotten around to watching...some were mystery movies, not even labelled. It will be a kind of adventure, checking them out. All this was, in a way, a "Hallelujah !" moment in itself, not so much about seeing the light and changing one's mind about something, just -"Hey ! Hallelujah ! I've discovered a whole cache of unwatched classic films ! Praise be ! " But that's another story. One of these mystery films which came to light was: *Secret Heart*, with Claudette Colbert and June Allyson. I liked it, it was an odd little film with good performances all round and an engaging story. But ! - the Hallelujah moment came for me with the appearance of June Allyson. I'd always kind of disliked this actress, or perhaps dismissed is a better word. I couldn't understand why she was seemingly so popular, I wasn't particularly impressed with the films I'd seen her in, and most of all, -shameful though this is to admit - I thought she was plain, almost homely, certainly far plainer than the majority of young (ish) movie stars from her time. I confess that this is not a worthy reason to dislike an actress. But she didn't compensate for it by being exceptional in any way. So, I watched her performance in *Secret Heart* (1946), and I think I may be changing my mind about her. Not only was she sympathetic in a difficult role, which, played the wrong way, could be extremely dislikeable, but -hallelujah ! she wasn't as plain as I'd thought. Here's the thing -June Allyson's face is totally transformed when she smiles. I've never seen such a difference in a person's face as a result of this basic facial expression. June Allyson: not smiling, plain. Smiling: radiant. Hallelujah ! But...can she keep it for all her other films? Oh no, does this mean I should revisit all June's cinematic history? I don't know if I'm up to that, radiant smile notwithstanding. Speaking of which,.. Edited by: misswonderly on Dec 17, 2010 9:41 AM Edited by: misswonderly on Dec 17, 2010 11:48 AM

I agree. I like Meryl Streep well enough, but I cannot imagine her as Bette Davis. I think people have suggested Streep because of that "Word of Mouth" short (or whatever those shorts are called) on TCM, in which Meryl Streep discusses what a huge fan of Bette Davis she was and is, how Davis influenced her, and how honoured she felt when Davis sent her a personal letter, congratulating her on winning some award. While I like the fact that Streep admires Davis, I don't see her as a feasible candidate to play her in a biopic about her. rayallen's idea of Christina Ricci taking on the role is a good one. Ricci is a good actress, is about the right age (young, but older than an "ingenue" type, not that that term is ever employed anymore). Ricci is sometimes overlooked and under-rated. possibly because she has often chosen to appear in "indie" films rather than mainstream productions, and she also doesn't always play appealing characters (to her credit - of course, Bette Davis sometimes went that route too.) Ricci also has the right combination of prettiness and yet rather unusual looks, the little features, the round eyes; she doesn't exactly resemble Davis, but she's certainly more her physical type than many actresses around today. That's just a bonus, though - the real reason why I think Ricci would make a good Bette Davis is her acting ability, and her slightly off-beat persona.

casablancalover, thank you for posting all the lovely Christmas music. I especially enjoyed the "Mr. McGoo's Scrooge" song, I'd forgotten about that, when I clicked the link and the song began, something way back in my brain that connected to my little kid memories was revived . I also remember the thieves, near the end of the story, celebrating their thieving ways (chorus goes " La! La! La La La La La !" -can't forget lyrics like that ). Anyway, thought you might enjoy this very mellow and pleasant Christmas song from the wonderful Dinah Washington. Her warm generous voice embraces the happy thought of "Ole Santa" : (wish I could have found a video where you can see Dinah herself, but no matter...) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpmqrdvaN24 Edited by: misswonderly on Dec 16, 2010 5:47 PM

Well, as I've said, "It's not you, it's youtube." I really wanted to post another Christmas song today, but I couldn't because Dusty Springfield was going through my head, absolutely insisting that I post her great sexy song, "Son of a Preacher Man." I'm hoping it will help on this cold day - Dusty's warm voice, those warm horns, and that warm -no, hot. preacher's son: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZWEEm6xZvU (Uma Thurman had the good taste to like this. At least, her character did.)

strange...first finance, and now cujas, deleting and editing out with nary an explanation.

AT any point in the film does he tell Cratchit to "make it so" ?

kingrat, thanks for that informative (and nicely written) overview of Joseph Losey's work. I have seen, as I mentioned, *The Servant*, and I was thinking as I read your description of *The Criminal/The Concrete Jungle* how it sounded as though it had similarities to that film. Which you of course suggest as well. I regret that I missed TCM's screening of *The Criminal*; sounds like it's well worth seeing. I've always meant to catch *The Boy with Green Hair* (which TCM actually shows quite often), but somehow I always miss it. T*he Secret Ceremony* -0 I'm pretty sure that's in one of my cult film books, I'll have to double check. As for *Accident*, I have seen that, but so long ago it hardly counts; I can remember very little about it, except it's got something to do with some fine English family mansion, and it's very Harold Pinterish. Since Losey's work is not screened a lot on TCM (for whatever reasons - i don't want to get into that), I should watch out for his stuff when it is.

Free - aren't they the guys who did "All Right Now" ? That's the only thing I know by them. Clearly they were no one hit wonders, looks like they made a lot of music in their time. Two metres is just shy of 6 feet. Lots and lots of snow. Reminds me of Marvin Gaye (who's just as good as Joel McCrea ) and his paen to "Purple Snowflakes" :