misswonderly3

You must be talking about *Tension*, because the character Basehart played in *He Walked by Night* is a tad unhinged. What other noirs was he in? *14th Floor* ? But that's not really a noir, is it? Oh well, just call him Ishmael, and leave it at that.

I wonder what Andy Hardy would have made of the Grateful Dead?

Whatever...I've made my point, I'm losing interest... Back to "Hallelujah ! " moments: There was talk on a thread about Burt Lancaster. One of the films mentioned was *The Killers*. Now, this is one of the very few noirs that I don't enjoy. I love the beginning, that opening scene is so well-written and well-done (well, Hemingway's dialogue, yeah), and it creates such a feeling of apprehension. Those two men who walk into the diner are menacing, no doubt about it. And I always like Edmond O'Brien. But it goes kind of downhill after that first scene. Burt's good -and so handsome ! . But then there's Ava. I've said this before, I don't "get" Ava. AS soon as she comes onscreen, I fall asleep. I've never once made it all the way through this film. At some point I always fall asleep, and I don't do that with noir. Yet everyone always says what a great film *The Killers* is, what a classic noir. So, perhaps I'll fill up on Red Bull or those little over the counter pills you get at the drugstore, the ones with the rooster crowing on the box. Something to make me stay awake. I'm hoping that the next time I attempt to watch *The Killers* I"ll not only stay awake, I'll be shouting "Hallelujah ! I've seen the light!"

I sort of doubt that Guy Lombardo would get the blood flowing the way the Bar Kays would. But maybe he's more Robert Osborne's speed.

*Eight Men Out* was on late last night. It really is a very good film; it's as much about people and the choices they make as it is about baseball. I recognized quite a few actors who have become more well-known since the making of the film. Funny how the issue with the White Sox back then was low pay - it's been a while since any professional baseball player can complain about that !

I'm sure neither of us want this to turn into one of those argumentative threads. And you know what? The topic simply isn't interesting enough to be worth doing that, anyway. All I'm saying is, I see no point in going to the trouble to post a message stating that whatever Canadian stars there were in Hollywood never went back to Canada, the implication being that somehow their "Canadian-ness" doesn't count. Who really cares, anyway? Incidentally, I notice that you don't mention how many British and European stars came to Hollywood and stayed there. How come they're still referred to as British (or German, or whatever), but Canadians are just people who never returned to their home country? You could say the same about a great many Hollywood stars. Anyway, as I said, it's not exactly a gripping subject. All I wanted to say was, Canada has done a lot better than the Dionne quints as a claim to fame.

The Strawbs - I should have posted something by them a couple of months ago; a re-formed version of them was playing in my town. Who else would have a drawing by William Blake on their album cover? The days are getting colder and colder and darker and darker. We need something to Stay Awake ! Maybe the Bar Kays will do it. I still like the idea of Osbourne and Mankiewicz, possibly with one of the guest hosts, shakin' and movin' to something danceable, played really loud. Maybe Soulfinger would inspire them: Edited by: misswonderly on Nov 3, 2010 9:03 AM Edited by: misswonderly on Nov 3, 2010 9:18 AM technical problems

Those are all great noirs, mark baby. I wonder how they decide these things. Good film noirs all day, then "Moguls and Movie Stars" all evening. How's a person supposed to do anything else but stay glued to TCM all day? Sometimes I'm kind of relieved when they show something I'm indifferent to, it means I can get on with other things without feeling I'm missing something. Love Frank Sinatra in *Suddenly* - that must be the only time Frank's played such an out and out bad guy.

MFF, this is the second time you've demoted Canada from a legitimate claim to being home to film stars of any significance. Just because they went to the U.S. , found a career there in making movies, and hence stayed there for the rest of their lives. does not take anything away from the fact that they spent their "formative years" in Canada. I do not include actors and film makers who were only born in Canada, but grew up in the States. That would be stretching things a bit. However, many talented people in film, both past and present , are from Canada and grew up there. The same thing could be said of many of Canada's great musicians. The fact is, Hollywood is located in the U.S., not Canada. Of course these actors (and other famous people in the movie making business) stay in the United States once they've made their name there -there was no such industry in their country of origin, certainly in the past. Things have changed a little since the "Golden Age of Hollywood", but without doubt, at that time there was no future in Canada for a Canadian who wanted to make it in the movies. The fact that they remained in Hollywood does not erase their original nationality. The Dionne quintuplets were just one of any number of unusual phenomena in the 40s that were in the spotlight for a brief time and then forgotten. They certainly weren't the only remarkable thing to come out of the country to the north of you. Edited by: misswonderly on Nov 2, 2010 10:41 PM Edited by: misswonderly on Nov 2, 2010 10:42 PM Edited by: misswonderly on Nov 2, 2010 10:51 PM wrote this in a hurry and then had to go back and fix it - never try to write when you're feeling indignant

You know, that's one of the aspects of noir I like best - an ordinary person, someone with whom we identify because they're "like us", normal, decent, liking to think that they behave within the confines of the law. And yet, given certain circumstances, they, too, yield to temptation and "bend" the law, "borrow" some money, "fix" the books, etc. The characters we connect with the most in noir are not the violent ones, but the mild-mannered people who are not criminal types, but who just need a break. To be completely honest, if I were overpaid ten times what what my paycheque was supposed to be, I would be seriously tempted to stay quiet about it, and my decision as to whether to report the overage or not would depend, as you said, largely on whether I thought they'd find out. (Of course these days, with computer records etc., they'd find out within hours.) The only thing that might stop me would be if the employer was a "small business" person who could ill afford such a loss. A big corporation? I'd take the money and run.

I don't deny that I probably missed a few important points re. *Miracle at Morgan Creek*. But as I said before, it's almost like a scene or two is missing. Doesn't the Betty Hutton character claim to be married, ( to someone, not sure who), doesn't she show a ring or something? I'll have to watch this thing again. The reason I thought that she must be married, and she must have proven her conjugal love for Eddie in a scene that we are not shown, is because , otherwise, Betty/Trudy has slept with someone (a) who is not Eddie and ( to whom she was not married. Or did she marry that soldier after she bumped her head? And I did not think that either of those possibilities, even the suggestion of them, would have been allowed to be shown in a film from that era. Not even a Preston Sturges comedy. It's all actually quite annoyingly confusing and coy. Yes, I thought of the Dionne quintuplets the first time I saw this film. Life wasn't much of a comedy for them, though. Canada's main claim to fame in the 1940s (outside of its formidable participation in the war.)

JOEL McCREA ! JOEL McCREA ! His birthday's the same As Guy Fawkes Day ! Truth be told, I am a big Joel McCrea fan, but the incessant doggerel with his name that I keep posting is more an addiction to fooling around with creating "poems" (undeserving of the word, I know) with his name than it is to a worship of him or his films. There's something about that name that works so well with a goofy jingle. "McCrea" rhymes with so many words. Another name like that is "Ida Lupino". Hmm... Edited by: misswonderly on Nov 2, 2010 4:31 PM

Time to Smash those Pumpkins ! Those guys are always interesting. I thought of them last night, during part of the "Moguls and Movie Stars" program. They showed part of that Georges Melies film from 1902, A Trip to the Moon. It's a very strange and charming little film from which Billy Corgan et al borrowed for their music video "Tonight Tonight" (as you probably know). Here are (is?) The Who, singing about Disguises. I was tempted to use the only video with the song that has something more than one image to look at, but the sound was very muffled (The Who of course were notorious for muddy production on their first few albums.) So here's one with just a pic of the album cover ( A Quick One While He's Away ), but at least you can hear all the inventive instrumentation on this, the semi-exotic, almost Middle-Eastern sound, and the syncopated rhythm (not sure if that's the right word for it) , in all their glory. oh, what the hell...that one's muddy-sounding too. Well, take your pick. (Or listen to the song twice; it is a very good song.) Edited by: misswonderly on Nov 2, 2010 12:19 PM

The cast of the *Rocky Horror Picture Show* discovered it.

mark, baby, I agree, *Dark Passage* is fun. I enjoy Agnes Moorehead's Madge so much - it's funny that she's so proud that she likes the colour orange. Best scene in the film: Bogart's plastic surgery, complete with disorienting camera angles and the defrocked surgeon warning Bogart that he could make him look "like a monkey or a bulldog" if he so desired. Nice reassuring speech, just before you go under the knife... Edited by: misswonderly on Nov 1, 2010 6:23 PM

What, you purposely get up at the ungodly hour of 6 am to catch a flick on tcm? I take my hat off to you ( a fedora, of course.) No, I bet you always get up at 6, rain or shine, and run three times around the block , followed by 50 push-ups and then a refreshing cold shower. Morning people ! ... I cannot wait for the time change next weekend, when we set the clocks back one hour. That's one more sweet hour I can stay in dreamland. I'm afraid I'll never be such a hard core movie fan as to get up any earlier than I have to just to catch a noir or two. redriver, thanks for the feedback on *Sidestreet*. That's a good way to put it, it's "a little more wholesome" than They Live by Night. Farley G. doesn't get involved in any armed robbery in this one. Hey, anyone can yield to the temptation to pick up a few thousand bucks just lying around waiting to be "borrowed". I'm not sure that I'd pass the opportunity by -depends; whose money, how was it going to be used, would I get caught etc. I'm not saying I'd do it for sure, but I 'd seriously consider it. My sympathies go out to Farley in this one. (But why does he decide to store the loot in that bar? Very dumb idea.)

Ok, I noticed all the noir films scheduled today and was going to post about it. There is a thread about it in General Discussions, posted by our noir fan friend, markbeckuaf. I've seen most of these,except for *Strange Bargain,* which I guess I've missed today. Who watches movies at six o'clock in the morning? Ane yet it's the rarest of the ones being screened today. I kind of wish they'd shown something like *White Heat* (a great film, but one I've seen many times and own) at 6 a.m., and saved *Strange Bargain* for later in the day. *Side Street* is an unusual little noir film -I enjoy Farley Granger's role in it, along with his sweetheart from *They Live by Night*, Cathy O'Donnell. And Jean Hagen turns in a nice little performance too. I love good bad girls. Anthony Mann does a great job here; watch out for the aeriel shots looking down on all the dinkie toy looking cars in the city streets far below. I remember being disappointed and even a little bored with *While the City Sleeps* (6:00 pm). Despite the cast -Ida Lupino, Dana Andrews, Vincent Price, George Saunders, Rhonda Fleming - you'd think it would be impossible to go wrong ! - also despite the director -Fritz Lang - I found it hard to stay awake for this one. Maybe tonight I'll try it again, and have a "Hallelujah ! " moment.

SansFin, i adore so-called "dumb jokes" ! Your Siamese cat (s) joke had me literally laughing out loud ! My cats do not have film character names. However, one is named after that Italian soft drink, "Orangina".

I recently watched for the second time Jim Jarmusche's funny, bittersweet film *Broken Flowers*. One of the best things about it was the opening theme song, There is an End. And hey, it's by Holly Golightly and the Greenhorns.( Maybe that's how our former TCM boards friend is spending all her time. She's moved up in the world. ) Anyway,this has that classic twangy pop guitar sound that always hooks me; and it somehow seems like a song for November. Have fun trying to read the Spanish translation.

Looks like the Giants may win the Fall Classic this year. I hope so, because the American League teams usually seem to get it. It's a nice change for one of hte National League teams to win . Still, it ain't over till it's over.

laffite, I love Mahler. I must admit, I may not have discovered his music on my own-I had help. My father loved classical music, and Mahler was one of his favourtie composers. My dad used to play his classical music (records, of course, back then) on Sunday afternoons.I particularly remember with great affection his sharing Mahler's 4th symphony with me, probably not only because the music is so sweet and comparatively accessible to a young kid, but also because it has a bit of a story to it. The fourth movement of this symphony contains some of the most heavenly music for soprano singing ever. Here is one version of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUhIZFoAgGE

I wish I could comment, hamradio, but I still haven't seen *Hallowe'en* or any of its sequels. All I can say is that your favourable opinion of it has caused me to become a little more open-minded about it. Perhaps I'll watch it..next Hallowe'en ! Too late now for this one. Who knows, maybe viewing this film will cause a "Hallelujah ! " moment for me. I watched *The Curse of the Demon*, which, apparently, is actually entitled *Night of the Demon*. Directed by Jacques Tourneur, it has all the hallmarks of that specialist in "eerie"'s style. I had high expectations for it, and I was not disappointed. Afterwards I read about it -it's listed in one of my "Cult Films" books. This article said that the screenplay was supposed to have been written by Charles Bennett, who had written on numerous occasions for Hitchcock. Due to some kind of mix-up too detailed to go into here, Bennett lost the rights to the story and it was picked up by Hal Chester. Although it's still a fine film, it's possible it would have been even better if Bennett had maintained control of it. Incidentally, I also read that Tourneur was against "showing" the demon ; he always preferred suggestion of the horrific to showing it. However, he lost out on this to Chester, who was also the film's producer. Chester believed the actual depiction of the monster would bring in the young crowd, ironic considering that those under sixteen weren't permitted to attend such films in Britain anyway. In any case, Tourneur still managed to create a very effective and chilling "horror" movie of the type at which he excelled. Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, and especially Niall MacGinnis as the gentlemanly but evil Dr. Karswell are all in fine form. A thoroughly enjoyable little movie. Edited by: misswonderly on Oct 31, 2010 2:28 PM

XTC made a very unusual but very good album in the early 90s - Nonsuch. Too bad these guys never really took off commercially, there's nobody else like them , they have a unique style in both their lyrics and their music. The most accessible song from Nonsuch was "Peter Pumpkinhead". There is an official video for it, but I didn't like it. I can't imagine why XTC went along with it -it makes political and historical suggestions that I don't think go with the song at all. So I just posted the version with the album cover. If you follow the lyrics you'll see that this song is both Sundayish and Hallowe'enish at the same time. "Peter Pumpkinhead" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys31GE3OJU8

Saay - don't you know, you can't think too highly of Joel McCrea. Plus, his name rhymes so easily. JOEL McCREA ! JOEL McCREA ! From Frances Dee He never did stray. (well, maybe he did, but not that I've ever heard of.) I do agree that he would have been great in more Hitchcock movies .

Right, who can forget *Young Frankenstein*? Hilarious. "Perhaps...some Ovaaahltine?" Edited by: misswonderly on Oct 30, 2010 7:34 PM