SansFin

I thank you for those wonderful lists of notable events. I rarely judge things by large splashes. It was of more importance to me that TCM has continued their excellence in introducing new movies into the schedules. The ten TCM premiers in 2012 which meant the most to me were: *A Man and a Woman* (1966) *The Double Man* (1967) *The Fall of the House of Usher* (1949) *The House of Seven Gables* (1940) *The Exile* (1947) *Arabian Nights* (1942) *The Diary of a Chambermaid* (1946) *A Night in Paradise* (1946) *Games* (1967) and *Musashi Miyamoto,* *Duel at Ichijoji Temple* and *Duel at Ganryu Island* as the Samurai Trilogy. I must admit my weakness that I could not wait when I saw these scheduled and I acquired most of them by other means so that I could watch them immediately.

> {quote:title=Filmgoddess wrote:}{quote} > It all depends on how you set-up your HDTV. It will display it any way you choose. None of our HDTVs have a user-input option of an aspect ratio of 1:18 but it is my understanding that HDTVs will display in that format if it is contained in an HD signal.

> {quote:title=Swithin wrote:}{quote} > But on TCM HD, the film fills more of my screen without distorting the image. I can use the TV controls to change the image on TCM SD, but then I lose bits around the edges. With HD, I get a bigger picture which is true to the aspect ratio. It is my understanding that HDTVs use the aspect ratio contained in the HD signal and size it to the maximum of the display. Not all of the possible aspect ratios and sizes are available to the user for SD.

> {quote:title=slaytonf wrote:}{quote} > It looked like it was an Indian movie. It is a Russian movie about Italian Count Alessandro di Cagliostro who mixed occultism and mysticism from many areas for his performances. I assume that none have cared to watch the entire movie. That scene is a poor introduction to the movie as the 'ritual' is meant to look cheap and gaudy for the benefit of the rustic 'customer'. I am greatly prejudiced as it is one of my favorite movies and it is based on one of my favorite stories by Tolstoy. Subtitles are available by using the 'CC' button at the bottom of the image window and then chosing 'English' as translation.

I have always loved P. G. Wodehouse and the Laurie / Fry collaboration seem to me as if the roles were written for them! http://youtu.be/9VGItt9cCgc

I begin with this caveat in the interest of being fair: I am cynical. Intermissions are placed after an important and memorable scene so that the audience will carry with them a sense of the movie during the interval and they will anticipate its resumption. Filmmakers of today are incapable of crafting such a scene and so they have had to abandon intermissions..

> {quote:title=JackFavell wrote:}{quote} > You set it all up so clearly in my mind, I thank you and MissGoddess for your kind words. I had a general feeling of her motivation but had not thought to rationalize it to the point of being able to put it into words before now. I am happy to see that it may be more than sophistry. > We as women still fight our passions to this day, I have at times had to fight for my passions but he always gives in eventually.

> {quote:title=jamesjazzguitar wrote:}{quote} > Even my point about color noirs could be 'off'' since I only checked a few noir sources. I believe that the categorization of some color films as noir films in several major, respected databases and/or review sites with no caveats or justification why those particular color films might be considered noir puts the 'color films can be noir' firmly in the 'true by public consensus' camp. Any argument why those movies are not noir would then have to center on why they do not meet some critical aspects of being considered noir other than their color depth. That could change the situation to 'color films can be of a genre which some label as noir' as what is true by public consensus. I would dismiss any person who stated: 'noir must be black and white' as single-minded fanatics and it would be a waste of my time to debate with them, and an exercise in 'head impacts brick wall' to try to enlighten them.

> {quote:title=MissGoddess wrote:}{quote} > Maybe I should have had more faith in him, but like Ro said, they really knew little of one another, and so I might have feared he was not going to be able to stand and deliver, so to speak. I believe we have a great disconnect in that children were a major factor for women of the time. She was willing to set aside her pride and remain with a man who showed every sign of being a coward even although she knew it might mean a hard and bitter life. She felt she had not the right to make such a choice for her children and the only method available to her to prevent her bringing children into that life was to deny him her bed. I believe this is reinforced by her not leaving him until after their night together. He had not changed. Her opinion of him had not changed. The only difference was that she knew her desires would lead to more such incidents and it was inevitable that she would come into the family way. She had to flee before her weakness caused misery for her children. It is a sign of the times that she stated she could not remain with a man of whom she was ashamed. The root of such pride was fear. The most important thing a woman could say of a man was that he was a good father. That went above any physical attributes and was more objective than any quality which caused her to love him. Not being a good father was shameful for both man and wife. She had no reason to believe he could or would protect his children and set a good example for them.

> {quote:title=rohanaka wrote:}{quote} > I think that it goes back to that whole 'pride" thing. I believe fear can be separate and overriding. It is much the same as taking an apartment that is in the middle of a middle-class neighborhood but is a longer commute to work than a similar apartment on the border of a slum. Appearances mean less than a reduced risk from muggings, rapes and burglaries. She stays with him because her love is greater than her pride. She can not be a true wife to him because of fear for what her children might endure. I believe pride is a petit emotion which would have manifested itself either as trying to shame him into action or her leaving him and making him prove himself before she would take him back. That she did neither makes me believe there was a more powerful motivation. > I wonder what she'd have thought of him had he shared more of his past with her before they wed. The movie would have been much shorter!

> {quote:title=rohanaka wrote:}{quote} > She saw him as the weaker man. And it never (ever) entered her mind to think it was actually a sign of STRENGTH that he could walk away and not give in to the taunts and threats of her loud mouth beligerent brother. She had seen him laid out on the parlor floor by a single punch on their wedding day. She received her furniture and 'things' through the efforts of others after he did nothing. She was being cheated out of her fortune because he thought that demanding what was rightfully hers would bring them shame. How long would it be before her brother forced them to sell him the cottage and land and then refuse to pay? Was she facing a future homeless and penniless because she had married a man who would not stand up for their rights and who would never fight back? He gave her no cause to believe otherwise. He gave her no indication that he had a reason for being passive. I believe that fear was as much her motivation as pride. She would have great fear also for what kind of lives their children might have if he was truly a coward who would not protect them.

My choice for best drama of the series is: *Du rififi chez les hommes* (1955) which is airing tonight. I love *How to Steal a Million* (1966) very much! The chemistry is perfect! It is enhanced that they are both well cast as sophisticated and stylish people who get very dithery when things go wrong.

> {quote:title=Filmgoddess wrote:}{quote} > I just assume that if you're posting it, it must be your opinion unless you state it's the opinion of someone else. I think all those other qualifiers are rather redundant. My posts often contain many things other than my opinions. There are things held as true by public consensus. There are things I assume to be true because there is no reasonable dissent. There are my conjectures and calculations. There are also provable facts and statistics. I believe that stating: "I believe" at the opening also instills the proper mood in that it reminds me as I am writing that I am not speaking from a position of authority and it reminds the reader that my statements are meant to be subjective rather than objective.

> {quote:title=Filmgoddess wrote:}{quote} > I don't remotely see the comparison or the analogy. I spent seven days in the real world not knowing what to expect or what I might experience. I believe that shows I am comfortable spending a few minutes in the vicarious experience of a book or movie which happens to come along unexpectedly until I decide if it is worth finishing. I often took trips on little notice and no planning. I have often watched movies for no reason other than they were airing when I had some free time. I have found also that I was missing some excellent programs because I knew a little of them and had decided I would likely not enjoy them but when I lost a bet and had to watch some I fell in love with them.

I am sorry to say that the extra clues have only served to remove what I believe might be the general area of the commonality.

We have both had a very long and hard day. The crab legs, sour cream, ginger snaps, rum, vodka, crackers and hand-vacuum are all assembled on a tray beside the bed. I must nip under the shower while he picks the DVDs and loads the machines so we will have not to get up to manually switch any and can do it all by remote. In the immortal, scintillating and succinct words of Samuel Pepys: "... and so to bed." I hope all here take care and have a safe holiday!

The way he says with such finality: "Now it is goulash" in *Christmas in Connecticut* makes me laugh even now thinking of it.

I believe I will always find it magical. It is more so that it was done on a limited budget with time constraints. I find it is a wonderful story and that it works in many layers and is generously sprinkled with absurdities makes it more special. It is one of the few movies where I can point to no one scene as my favorite because there are so many which are perfect in their own way.

> {quote:title=Fedya wrote:}{quote} >> I have often wondered was the standard for greatness was before the invention of the bread-slicing machine. > Obviously, it was [the banana slicer That looks to be an amazing product and the reviews of how it has changed people's lives are very heartwarming! It surely is faster and easier than the old method of needle and thread before peeling.

That is a very wonderful present! I have liked him very much in all of his roles. He always added very much to a movie.

> {quote:title=Filmgoddess wrote:}{quote} > I have never once in my life -- nor would I -- watched a movie, read a book, or looked at a piece of art without first having gleaned some basic facts about what I was about to see or read. I liked to date pilots who flew jets for large corporations because they were educated and polite and had generous expense accounts during their layovers and they had to stay out of trouble lest their corporation disown them. I had one time ten days with no work commitments. My date for that first night had to take me home early because he had to fly before dawn to pick up a person. I asked and he said he could take me with him. Pilots were often allowed to do that when the airplane would be empty. I made him not tell me where we were going. I bought a phrase book at the airport when we arrived because it was a country whose language I did not know. I made the message: "take me to a little museum at least forty kilometers from this city" and I then handed that note to a taxi driver. We drove over an hour's worth of hills on narrow roads in a car I thought might die at any second. I spent the day looking at paintings and sculptures which were created by artists whose name may have never been mentioned in any art book. I saw relics of battles from various centuries with no idea who was fighting or why. I ordered meals by pointing to strange words on menus. I spent four lovely days in that village doing not a single planned thing. I returned to the airport and it took me three more days to find a way to go home with no money. I do not know if I never heard the name of the village or if I blocked it from my mind each time it was said near me. That was in July, 1976. I can close my eyes and see that the bottom of the painting of a young mother was faint at the bottom as if the setting sun had a few minutes to bleach it each day before it set behind the hills. The painting of a knight was obvious artistic license as he was tall and proud and the suit of armor next to it with the same name was a full head shorter than I was. One of the bells of the church was off-key and the priest was not local as his accent was not the same as others there. I do not know how I could ever have such an experience if I pored through guidebooks and read reviews and tried to assess from others' opinions what I might find interesting or memorable.

> {quote:title=EugeniaH wrote:}{quote} > no one is responding to my post. It must be me... ? I am sorry to say that I often do not respond to your threads because it would only be a "me too" post which I hate and if I try to add support I am taking the focus away from your eloquence.

> {quote:title=finance wrote:}{quote} > Most seem that think that Stanwyck is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I have often wondered was the standard for greatness was before the invention of the bread-slicing machine.

> {quote:title=Dargo2 wrote:}{quote} > I ask what is wrong with starting a sentence in rebuttal with the words, "I'm sorry, but I disagree...", I have used a variation of that phrase when I believe it is appropriate but I can not in good conscience use it all of the time because it does happen at times that to be honest I would have to say: "I am very glad to say that I disagree with you because to think as you do I would have to be an uneducated and unprincipled lout with my head so very far up my backside I would need a glass belly-button to see where I am going". I doubt that would set the proper tenor for a serious discussion of the issues. On the other issue you raised: Shooting: I have stated my opinion. You have stated yours. We disagree. I hope we can find common points of agreement in the future.

> {quote:title=CineMaven wrote:}{quote} >Ah-ha...clever clever, SO clever Sans Fin. Why did the diode in my sarcasm detector chose this moment to explode? > You & Capuchin have a great romantic New Year!! Four of us will bring in the New Year together in bed watching movies. It will be him, M. Cl?ment, Prince Smirnoff and me. I expect the middle two to be dead by morning.