Casathious
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Posts posted by Casathious
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Thank you, I appreciate your comments on the subject; indeed, I will enjoy whatever films TCM has in store for December, and I think the points you made about the difficulty in obtaining the film rights are probably quite valid, although I do hope that they manage to get a few of them in next near, particularly the ones that I know they have access to, such as "The Bishop's Wife", as you mentioned.
And, as much as I do love the classics, I enjoy being exposed to unknown gems, not the least of which is in fact "Remember the Night" which I saw for the first time a few years ago on TCM, and I am sure I will enjoy it this year too (I have always particularly appreciated the vast number of Barbara Stanwyck treasures that TCM has unearthed for its viewers, "The Locked Door" being another rarity). Nevertheless, I do hope that someone with authority does catch wind of my perhaps trivial complaint and will at least do his or her best to ameliorate the situation for next December!
Edited by: Casathious on Nov 17, 2009 11:02 PM
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Firstly, allow me to address a few of the other comments. In response to one comment which asked why I waited until this year to complain, my answer is that the omission has bothered me for many years, but the omission alone in years past was not enough to provoke a direct response from me; however, it is only this year that TCM chose to have a Christmas movie marathon and a Frank Capra movie marathon in the same month, which I simply consider an insult to injury, if you will. I merely feel that the film's absence is underscored as it has not previously been due to the Capra marathon, so I feel that perhaps they should have had the Capra marathon either in November or January or sometime else entirely.
Also, another user said the following:
"I expect this holiday season to be an especially "tetchy" one. Beyond the No *It's A Wonderful Life? threads I am bracing for the "Why no White Christmas?", "Why no The Bishop's Wife?" and "Why no A Christmas Story?" comments.
Recommending Remember The Night and It Happened On Fifth Avenue will only go so far.
Kyle in Hollywood"
For the sake of time, I feel the need to pick my battles; I can't afford to get riled up about everything. But now that the subject has been brought up, I am indeed upset about the absence of not only "It's a Wonderful Life", but almost all of the perennial Christmas classics. Now, I know there will be some sanctimonious film critics who dub these so-called "classics" as kitsch or hackneyed and only enjoyable to those of crass tastes, but I do not concur! I myself have seen nearly all the classic films as well as many lesser-known films; however, I have come to realise that, in many cases, the classics are considered classics for a reason. And, while NBC may own the rights to some, they could not own every last one of them. I would love to see "The Bishop's Wife" on TCM this year; in fact, I suggested it on this very website. They showed it last year, I distinctly remember. But why do they never show such classics as "Holiday Inn" or "White Christmas"? I think it is a fair question. And why can I never remember them having shown the 1951 version of "A Christmas Carol", which is arguably the definitive version. The only Christmas films that TCM seems to have shown in recent years without fail are "Christmas In Connecticut" (1945), "A Christmas Carol" (1938) and "Meet Me In St Louis" (1944). I am certainly not complaining about this, as both "Christmas In Connecticut" and "Meet Me In St Louis" are amongst my all-time favourite films; but I do not think they should show these to the exclusion of any others. As for "Miracle on 34th Street", I know NBC must have the rights to this since they show it annually after the Parade on Thanksgiving Day, although on a completely unrelated tangent it seems even NBC has opted not to show "Miracle on 34th Street" this year on Thanksgiving, and is instead showing "Dr Doolittle" in its place (as if anyone wants to see that on Thanksgiving!), which bothers me as much as TCM's omission of "It''s a Wonderful Life"; but I digress (though I'd like to hear from anyone on the "Miracle on 34th Street" subject too, if you are interested).
The question I have is indeed "why"? I truly do not think it would be too much to ask of TCM for it to appease the endlessly-sentimental, nostalgic portion of its viewers who revel in watching holiday classics on TCM, by the fire with snow outside, sipping glasses of eggnog! I'd love to see Robert Osborne's input on a few of the classics that you just can't get from a DVD! I really feel that, at the very least, they could throw in just a few more perennial favourites each year for good measure--that's all I'm asking for!
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I received my long-awaited December issue of "Now Playing" in the mail today that features Humphrey Bogart on the cover. While I am always eager to see what films are scheduled for a particular month, I especially await the December issue with bated breath as I love seeing what holiday films will be shown around Christmastime. When the issue finally arrived and I saw the cover, I became doubly excited, since in the lower left-hand corner it made specific mention of not only holiday films but also the man responsible for the all-time greatest of such Christmas films, "It's a Wonderful Life", Frank Capra! So, I opened the magazine up looked for the featured pages about the films; there was a full-page spread about Capra's films, directly adjacent to a full-page spread titled "Home for the Holidays", discussing the Christmas films on the schedule. I read both of these articles, assuming that "It's a Wonderful Life's" inclusion on the month's schedule was a foregone conclusion. However, much to my shock and dismay, when I turned to pages 18-19 to see the complete titles and times scheduled, I could not find "It's a Wonderful Life" on the schedule. I thought that I must be mistaken, or that it must have been erroneously omitted. Yet, when I turned to the title index in the back, I was stunned to discover it was indeed absent from the schedule.
Now, I ask you fellow viewers, am I the only one who is stunned and perturbed by this omission? I personally frankly cannot believe that, around Christmastime, when one would expect to see the film on television regardless, that "It's a Wonderful Life" would not be shown during the very time of year it is most appropriate to be seen, on the best possible channel on which it can be seen, and during a marathon devoted to the film's director, no less! And of course the irony is further enhanced by advertising the respective Frank Capra and Holiday Movie marathon's right next to each other in the magazine.
Please tell me I am warranted in my indignation; if anyone else is similarly annoyed or wishes to add any input, I welcome your responses!
Happy Birthday, Jeanette MacDonald!
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I just wanted to formally wish the wonderful Jeanette MacDonald a happy posthumous 107th birthday...I am so happy TCM is having a tribute to her today; it seems TCM is the only place that does remember MacDonald these days!
My only wish is that TCM would show some of MacDonald's more obscure early films, such as 1930's The Vagabond King, which I understand is one of the first all "talking," all-color films, and I would love to be able to see it for the first time. I love her films with Nelson Eddy, of course, but some of her earlier films seem to be languishing away in the vaults somewhere. Other early films of hers such as The Love Parade, Monte Carlo, One Hour with You and Love Me Tonight I already own on DVD, but it would still be nice for TCM to show these once in a while on occasions such as today to introduce some of MacDonald's earlier films to its audience.
Does anyone else share this sentiment?