speedracer5

Lol. I do. I might just be a weirdo though. While I can't say that I see everything in the movies, I do go out occasionally. I see people of all ages, not just children and not just the dreaded millenials. I would venture to say that movie theaters aren't as popular now, aside from Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and whatever other things people use to stream films, is because the prices are so high. Even though movie theater chains claim that they only make money off of the concessions--which is probably why those are so high. The movie studios are probably charging the theater chains an exorbitant amount of money to show the film, so the theater chains have to recoup their expenses somehow. The last movies I've seen in the theater are the ones that have been repeatedly derided here (even without the "derider" having seen the film) and they've all been excellent. There are still good films being made. The last movie I saw was TCM's two night only showing of White Christmas. My husband and I, at 30, were not the youngest ones there. There were people of all ages there enjoying this film. I think it's great to see that there are people of all generations interested in seeing films from the Golden Era. On Jan 11 and Jan 14, TCM is showing The Wizard of Oz in select theaters. I plan on going to that one as well :-)

I picked up this same Don Knotts collection a few months ago. I haven't watched it yet though. I'm looking forward to it. Don Knotts is hilarious. I loved him in The Andy Griffith Show and Three's Company. Re: The Sun Also Rises. I have wanted to see this, but have been hesistant, because I've heard how much older and haggard "my Errol" looked and I'm afraid that it'll be true. Although I've heard the same about his early 1950s films and I was pleasantly surprised to see that he didn't look that bad, just older. I don't expect him to look the same in a 1958 movie as he did in 1935's Captain Blood of course. I guess I shouldn't be so shallow, but that's the truth as to why I haven't watched this film yet.

I think it is supposed to be a social networking site, except unlike facebook, instagram, etc. the users share about their love of films (and related topics) instead of their love of themselves. There is a profile feature, the ability to have "friends," create groups about a specific topic, join said groups, and write blogs. The problem with it in my opinion is that it hasn't been designed properly for the website to flow and work properly. The profile feature is constrained by character limits. There is no ability to personalize and really give a good idea of "you" to others on the site. I also hate the fact that the formatting on the blogs and message boards within the groups don't allow for proper formatting. Instead of being able to make paragraphs to ease the reading of long statements, everything is one big block. You also cannot edit after posting, which I find irritating. I dislike how all the sections are displayed with large thumbnails instead of allowing a user to toggle between a list format or the thumbnails. It is also difficult to find blogs and groups about a specific topic. There are many issues with the CFU site. The concept is good and I would participate, however, the way the site is laid out right now, it just doesn't work for me. I find the message boards preferable.

If that's the case, then maybe Oz is some sort of parallel universe. Oz is Kansas, but is Kansas on acid.

Maybe the state fair is where the Wizard got all that chintzy crap he gives to people seeking his assistance. He makes up some BS about how they had [whatever] the whole time and then re-gifts the junk he won from the Carnie games at the fair! Maybe he enters hot air balloon championships. Can you race those things? Re: the WWOTW and her big carbon footprint. I forgot about her hourglass and lets not forget the red smoke that appears when she enters and exits somewhere. No wonder she's green! She's probably stained her skin as a result of the rough chemicals she uses to make her dramatic entrances and exits. Perhaps that's why it only takes water to melt her. She's probably ruined her body. The Emerald City definitely earned its reputation as a "green city." After all, they had a horse that could change colors instead of getting multiple horses in different colors. Not to mention the beauty department who cleans up what someone already has instead of getting something new. I like that they recycle.

I knew about Betty Grable from her guest appearance on an episode of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour and from reading in Desi Arnaz's autobiography (or maybe another book?) that before Lucy, Arnaz dated Betty Grable. I had seen her appearance on 'Lucy-Desi' multiple times and figured that she must have been one of those stars who were "popular at the time." I hadn't realized how extensive a career she had prior to that late-1950s TV appearance. Thanks to this past summer's SUTS spotlight on Grable, I got to see what she was known for. I probably watched more live TCM that day than I had all year. I usually record everything, but I actually watched I think 5 Grable movies in a row and recorded others I missed. Thanks to Dargo's recommendation, I also saw her noir turn in I Wake Up Screaming. Betty Grable was fantastic and I hope that TCM continues to gain access to her films.

I don't know if The Wizard ruled over everything. He definitely had the inhabitants of Oz fooled that he was so powerful. Toto exposed that scam right away. He seemed to serve as more of a counselor where he helped people find things out about themselves that they didn't realize. What is he going to do with the Witch's broom? Is it an alternative travel vehicle to use when his balloon inevitably gets a hole in it or he runs out of fuel? Or perhaps the broom was a less morbid way to prove that the witch was gone. Though, The Wizard only told Dorothy to bring the broom, he didn't say anything about killing her. We're lucky that Dorothy didn't bring the Witch's head back on a pike. I like the idea that Glinda was green conscious. Definitely more environmentally friendly than the Wicked Witch polluting the air with her threatening smoke messages and polluting the poppy fields with chemicals. I know The Wizard was planning on bringing Dorothy home in the balloon. Does this mean that Oz and Kansas exist within the same world? Or is the balloon capable of traveling between worlds? With Dorothy not in the balloon, I wonder where The Wizard went?

Interesting. I'm not a fan of Peter Lawford. His voice irritates me. But I've only seen him younger in his 40s movies. Maybe he's less annoying in the 50s? I can't see him as Nick Charles, but I haven't seen it either so I can't judge his performance. I don't have the Thin Man boxed set, I collected the movies individually. I see on Netflix, the bonus disc from the box set is available. I'll try to get my hands on it. That's interesting about Lawford using his own vehicle. If it was indeed a rare vehicle, that would definitely add to the idea that the Charleses were well off.

Here are some great photos by Phil Stern:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-phil-stern-dies-at-95-20141214-story.html Phil Stern was a photographer for Life and Look magazines and was also a WWII combat photographer. He was known for getting more candid photos of the stars. He photographed many famous Golden Era stars like Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando and so many more.

Agreed. One day, when it was pouring rain outside, I got out all my Robin Hood movies and watched them. Compared to Errol Flynn, Cary Elwes, Daffy Duck, and even the Disney cartoon Robin Hood, Kevin Costner's interpretation is so dull. He lacks the energy, the charm, everything that Robin Hood traditionally possesses, Costner lacks. The best person in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was Alan Rickman. His interpretation of the Sheriff of Nottingham was like the rock n' roll Sheriff of Nottingham. He was my favorite character. The film, if you were to sub-out Costner and replace him with someone else, like Brad Pitt for example, it would have been better. The problem with Costner, is that he kept making what I can only imagine were Kevin Costner vanity projects-- Waterworld, The Postman, etc. and he tries so hard with them, but the first mis-step was always casting himself as the lead. Some of his films have good ideas, but he doesn't execute the character very well. Maybe he should stay behind the camera. I can't believe Dances With Wolves won Best Picture over Goodfellas.

While I wasn't looking at Blair as "nubile," I can see where that would come from. She's definitely grown up since The Exorcist and she was wearing the skin tight roller disco costumes and bikinis. I thought she was "cute" and believable as the "flautist prodigy turned roller boogie skating champion." I thought her co-star was terrible and it annoyed me when he kept doing ice skating jumps in his routine. Maybe skating is skating, but I wanted to see dancing. I loved the costumes and all the routines. Makes me sad that roller rinks were pretty much done when I was growing up. There might be a few here and there but they're definitely not in their heyday anymore. While I still maintain that Xanadu is my favorite roller disco skating movie, I feel like I need to see Skatetown USA too, so then I can probably assert my opinion that Xanadu is still my favorite roller disco skating movie. I hate to say it, but if I found Roller Boogie for under $5 somewhere, I'd probably buy it.

I'll definitely check out 'Martha Ivers,' Stanwyck appeared in some very good film noirs. I loved Sorry Wrong Number. Great ending there as well. Cry Wolf was a departure for Flynn and I thought he was excellent. It just goes to show how versatile and underrated he was as an actor. He could do more than swashbuckle and look hot in tights I'll have to see more of Heflin. I've seen him in: Santa Fe Trail, They Died With Their Boots On, The Three Musketeers and Presenting Lily Mars. Looks like quite a few of his films are slated to air in the next few weeks.

The Coroner was hilarious. Not only can the witch not bathe, it also must never rain in Oz. After Dorothy murders the witch, granted it was justifiable homicide as she had lit the Scarecrow on fire (which let's face it, if you're made of straw, catching on fire is inevitable) but the guards act grateful that Dorothy had freed them from the Witch's tyranny. They clearly outnumbered her and her flying monkey minions, why didn't they just kill her? Maybe they didn't know that water was her kryptonite.

Lol. Flynn appears in a mystery/comedy film Footsteps in the Dark (kind of in the Thin Man vein) where he plays a banker by day and mystery novelist by night. His mystery writing ends up getting him involved in a real mystery. The film was funny. Flynn was beautiful as always. It also features three great character actors: Alan Hale, William Frawley, and Lee Patrick. The funniest part in my opinion is when Australian Flynn speaks in a fake stereotypical "Texas" accent. Flynn also appears in a film noir, Cry Wolf, co-starring Barbara Stanwyck. I thought the film was pretty good as well. Of course, I'd probably watch Flynn in anything. I never tire of looking at the man. He could be doing a dog food commercial and I'd be entranced. Does The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers also have Barbara Stanwyck? I think I remember seeing that one scheduled during Stanwycks SUTS tribute and didn't watch it for whatever reason. I think it's because I recorded like 5 other Stanwyck films. I've liked Van Heflin in the films I've seen with him (mostly Flynn and Judy Garland movies). I'll look out for this one as well.

That's good to know. Sadly, Marin might be the only person from the film who is still alive. I still think the Munchkins are a little creepy. Not the actors, just the characters. Though the whole "follow the yellow brick road" exchange cracks me up--probably the funniest part of the whole Munchkin sequence. Follow the yellow brick road! (nasely voice) Follow the yellow brick road! (gravely nasely voice) Follow the yellow brick road! (high pitched squeaky voice) And at the end, when the wizard takes off in the balloon, because he started the balloon and untied the ropes while Dorothy was saying goodbye, why couldn't he bring the balloon back down? If he didn't know how, how did he land in Oz? Did he crash land? I know that the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion all had their brain, heart and courage (respectively) inside of them the whole time, but what was up with the chintzy crap the Wizard gave them?

The Pre-Codes that I've seen were really good. It's amazing that these films pretty much have the type of subject matter that films nowadays do, then we had the time period where the films were sanitized (although there are many filmmakers who were excellent at skirting around the Production Code using innuendo in their films) and now we're back pretty much where the pre-codes started, except with more profanity and explicit sex. The Pre-Codes were more clever in many respects than today's films. In Red Headed Woman, there was a scene where you can very clearly see Jean Harlow's n ipple. I wasn't a fan of Harlow at first, but she's growing on me. I saw Double Harness with Harding and William Powell. I honestly recorded it for Powell, because at the time, I hadn't heard of Harding. I would like to see some more of her work. I just saw Don't Bet on Blondes with your Warren William last week. I really liked him. I recorded the film though for the two fleeting scenes of my boyfriend, Errol Flynn. How about we double, you and William and me and Flynn? I'll look out for Impact, thanks for the recommendation. I'll also look out for Lizabeth Scott. I have seen her in that noir she made with Bogart.

I was born in the mid 80s, my dad was born in the early 60s. I had heard of the Nick and Nora TV Show, but that was after I'd seen the movies. Murder By Death sounds interesting. I'll definitely make sure to DVR it when it airs on TCM. Thanks for the recommendation!

LIKE!! That description of The Wizard of Oz is hilarious. Maybe we could apply a b&w filter to the film, add some contrast, and turn the film into a horror movie. I wonder what the Wicked Witch of the East was doing before she met her demise? Perhaps she was adding some touch-ups to the yellow brick road or something. Maybe she was replanting the flowers in Munchkin land.

Is Munchkin land in Glinda's jurisdiction? If so, it must be a huge land seeing that she has to travel by bubble.

I think Sally Field, Susan Sarandon, Rita Moreno and Kevin Spacey would all be great choices. Although some of the actors who are still active in film might not have as much time to dedicate to hosting. Although, I'm not sure how much time they spend on their hosting duties and whether hosting the Essentials would be a huge commitment. I think Cher would be a great choice. She's interesting (to say the least), intelligent, experienced in film-making and knowledgeable about film. She would also be well known to the public and might attract more viewers.

I'm not sure I have the Fox Movie Channel! We have Dish right now, but in a couple months, my husband and I hope to be moving into our own house and we're probably going to go with a different provider. (Right now, we're living with my parents as a means to save up for our house and pay off some debts so I don't have much say in what TV we have). I've heard a lot about this channel on this board. When I set up my new TV provider, I'll have to see which plan includes FMC as well as TCM. It's good to know that FMC is commercial free for 12 hours. I can't be bothered with commercials.

LIKE! (I ran out of likes earlier, lol) While I had heard of the term "pre-code" prior to TCM, I didn't really know what that meant in terms of content of film. Thanks to the Pre-Code Fridays in September, I got to see quite a few of them. Now, when I look at the month schedule, I can identify pre-codes by the year of release and some of the actors who appear. I just learned about Ann Harding and your beloved Warren William. Ann Harding, in particular stood out to me because of her hair. There aren't many actresses from that time period who didn't have the bobbed hair with the tight waves. I wonder how hard her hair was to keep clean?

LIKE ! (I went "like" amuck on a different thread earlier today and ran out of likes) I absolutely love film noir. I had probably only seen two film noir films prior to TCM-- The Maltese Falcon and Double Indemnity. Thanks to TCM I have seen so many more that I loved: Gilda, the Lake/Ladd collaborations, Conflict... Not TCM persay, but thanks to a recommendation by Dargo on the board this summer, I saw I Wake Up Screaming and loved it. I'm also digging all the gangster films that TCM shows. Their pre-code Fridays this past September was awesome. I'm looking forward to the Roadshow Musicals Friday Night Spotlight in March. I know TCM has its critics, but for my money, TCM always provides me with more films than I can keep up with on my DVR-- I can't say the same for most other channels.

That makes sense. I figured that with the film contracts and budget and all, their Essentials choices might be limited. I was curious because it seems that there are films chosen in which Robert O doesn't believe they should be labeled "essential." It's interesting to hear the the co-host have to defend their selection against Robert. I don't think I've ever seen a segment where the co-host disagreed with Robert O. I think this is an interesting perspective to show as it shows how "Essential" is subjective.