AndyM108

Jeez, I've never really noticed that Kay Francis had a lisp, and I've certainly never caught myself thinking about George Brent's rear end. OTOH I did notice that Phyllis Dietrichson's hair was suspiciously light colored, so it's not as if all subtle touches in movies escape my eagle eyes and ears. I'm not even 100% certain that that was really Audrey belting out all those tunes in My Fair Lady, but that's probably just excessive cynicism on my part.

I saw the re-release of Disney's "The Aristocats" in 1987 when I was 3. I suppose that "The Aristocats" was a bit more suitable for a 3 year old than "The Aristocrats", though I don't think that Uncle Walt had much to do with that one.

Well Andy, at least you didn't make the same mistake I once did on a first date back in the day. In efforts to show "how sophisticated" I was, I took a girl I had had a major crush on all through high school and when I finally screwed up enough courage to ask her out in our senior year, to so see that most "uplifting" saga of marathon dancing, "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?". Which ironically is nearly the only Jane Fonda movie I can bear to watch, other than Walk on the Wild Side and maybe Klute. But that said, I doubt I would've chosen They Shoot Horses, Don't They? for my first date. By the time that movie came around, my then-GF and I were well past the stage of needing movies to act as an aphrodisiac. We both just thought it was a terrific movie, beginning with one of the best soundtrack themes ever.

I just realized this thread could just be a way to find out how old we are! It wasn't my first movie, but I took my first date in 9th grade to see the first run screening of Auntie Mame. The second date wasn't quite as sophisticated, though: I took her to see The Blob.

I have liked all of the films of hers that I have seen. But my favorite is Trouble in Paradise. I'd venture to opine that Trouble in Paradise is one of the most unanimously appreciated films in the entire TCM repertory. The screwball fans love it, the pre-code fans love it, the fans of the three leading actors love it----and please note that it couldn't have been made under the Breen code. It's also one of those movies that just gets better and better no matter how many times you watch it.

Favorite Kay Francis movies? While she's so drop-dead gorgeous I find myself compelled to watch every one I can, the only ones that come to mind as being much above average are Trouble in Paradise, Jewel Robbery, One Way Passage, and The House on 56th Street. And only in the last of those is she really the main character in terms of charisma, though in Trouble in Paradise she's terrific in her (slightly) secondary role. Not that there aren't many others that I enjoy, but they're almost all formula movies, usually soapers, where her chief attributes are her beauty and her ability to evoke sincerity. She's not even remotely on the same page as the truly great actresses of her era such as Stanwyck, Davis, Crawford, Harlow, Loy, Arthur, Colbert, etc.

Other than Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny cartoons, the first feature movie I remember seeing was The Mob, a Broderick Crawford programmer from 1951, when I was six or seven. But since I went to see it because of being sold on it by the preview, that means I must have been to another movie the week before, probably a Saturday afternoon Western whose name I can't remember. The movie I really remember most from that year, however, was the only movie my parents refused to let me go to: The Day The Earth Stood Still, a vaguely propagandistic movie that was partly shot on location here in Washington. I tried for weeks to get them to change their minds, but they ran out the clock on the run, and I never got to see it until the AFI showed it a good 20 years later. Of course as it turned out it wasn't that great a movie, but it was the principle of the thing. As to why my parents let me see a gangster movie while barring me from The Day The Earth Stood Still, the answer is simple: I wasn't so stupid as to tell them what I was going to see when I went to the Crawford movie, and they probably just assumed it was another Western. This was in the days when parents didn't think their children were going to die if they let them walk unaccompanied a mile or two to the movie theater.

In truth I love reading film critics mainly to see if their judgment coincides with my own extremely personal taste, and secondarily for their writing ability. David Thomson is my favorite, since he both writes well and agrees with most of my biases. The late Pauline Kael was highly entertaining, but I'd no more trust her judgement about a movie than I'd trust Joe the Plumber to choose a president. Too many raves about films like Last Butter Stick in Paris were enough to make me wonder where the hell she was coming from.

I have to admit I love Sybil Jason so much that the overall quality of her other movies is secondary. When they had her 80th birthday tribute in 2009 (which was the last time they showed any of her films back-to-back) I got Little Big Shot, the two with Kay Francis (I Found Stella Parrish and Comet Over Broadway), and the one with Bogart, Ann Sheridan, and Pat O'Brien (The Great O'Malley). The one I didn't record (like an idiot) was The Captain's Kid, which with any other child star would've been a complete turkey, but with Jason playing off Guy Kibbee it was hilarious. It was briefly on YouTube, and the scene where Sybil hands Kibbee a giant knife and tells him to use it on the judge is one of my favorite comic moments in cinematic history. I just wish that TCM would give Jason another mini-slot one of these days, because IMO she's every bit as good as Shirley.

Ah, you mention the sacred word..."Criterion", Andy! Sacred is right. The last time I was in Barnes & Noble, I ventured down to their DVD section, where Criterion has a section all of its own, appropriately placed right next to the section for foreign films. And after about ten minutes of careful counting and remembering, I realized that over the past five years I'd recorded over 70 of those Criterions when they'd been playing on TCM. I felt so guilty I bought La Haine and the 5-disk set of Nikkatsu Noir (what a find!), and it didn't even bother me when I later saw La Haine was scheduled on TCM this coming July 27th. I do my share of kvetching about the number of stale old chestnuts that TCM plays too many times, but after going through that Criterion section the conviction has largely gone out of my complaining. And guess what? I just now discovered that B&N is having another Criterion half price sale that extends through July 28th. Berlin Alexanderplatz is now "only" $62.49, and hmmmmmm.... my wife's out of town, and the roof is all paid for.

I don't know whether it'd ever be possible, but I'd sure second your wish. I almost bought the boxed set during one of Criterion's half price sales, but we'd just replaced our roof and I was talked out of it. Given my love for Pabst and Lang and the other great Weimar directors, it'd be fascinating to see a "modern" director's take on that era. And what the hell, I'd just love to see the Weimar studios be given a month's worth of Friday nights all by themselves. People who aren't acquainted with some of their best work (which gets shown in dribs and drabs on TCM, but seldom in bunches) simply don't know what they're missing.

An interesting question for film buffs would be...what film in all history has been played on tv the most times. My first instinct might have been to say Casablanca, or one of the many public domain titles that used to run over and over on late night TV, but then I started thinking of the Fox Movie Channel and the many movies they've been showing a dozen or more times a year ever since they launched the network. And doesn't HBO show lots and lots of repeats? EDIT: Thinking about it a bit more, in the early days of television (i.e. before cable), there were hundreds of stations all over the country running late night movies on a regular basis, each with independently chosen selections. Many of these stations tried to save money by choosing their films from the public domain, and copies of those films were often easily available for less than $100 each, with no restrictions on multiple showings. I wouldn't want to guess which film among those was shown more times than any other, but I'd bet the answer to your question would be found there, and not among the realm of films like North By Northwest or My Fair Lady.

The first three are fine. After that, ewww! Okay, if you want to restrict it to just those first three, then fine. In fact, if you just want to run the "Shanghai Lil" number in Footlight Parade in an endless loop anytime you feel the musical urge coming on, that would also be "o" with me, as Guy Kibbee might have put it. Just don't try slipping in anything else. And BTW have you actually seen Little Big Shot? Sybil Jason's sidewalk renditions of the title song and "I'm Rolling in Money" are complete gems that make the whole movie worth watching. It's a crime that these seem to be forever removed from YouTube, as otherwise I'd link to them.

Don't get me wrong, I love this movie. And I love musicals. But really, TCM seems to show "My Fair Lady" every month. Yes, it's on again in July. Some suggestions for other musicals to show: "The King and I", "Flower Drum Song". Here's the official list of 10 acceptable musicals, in chronological order. Kindly send all other musicals into the dumpster and substitute noirs and gangster movies in their place. 42nd Street Gold Diggers of 1933 Footlight Parade Little Big Shot (well, it's got two boffo musical numbers) Singin' in the Rain A Star is Born (Garland version) Guys and Dolls Damn Yankees The Umbrellas of Cherbourg My Fair Lady Cabaret (leave in the musical numbers, cut the rest of the movie)

From the FMC Website: Tuesday, July 1: 7:20 am est, 4:20 am pst: I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE A model (Susan Hayward) climbs the ranks of the fashion industry to become a top designer and is pursued by men for her talent as well as her affection. Cast: Dan Dailey, George Sanders, Michael Gordon, Randy Stuart, Sam Jaffe, Susan Hayward Director: Michael Gordon 1951 Don't miss this one if you've never seen it. It's one of Hayward's best roles, both dated and "modern" in the same breath, but always keeping your interest and attention. I can't think of any good reason why Hayward shouldn't be a SOTM.

Notice how few of these films are gangster or crime films. Only THE ROARING TWENTIES and THEY MADE ME A CRIMINAL. That's one reason I don't think 1939 was all that great. Bingo. Once that godawful Breen code kicked in with full force in mid-1934, Hollywood movies in general became way too goody twoshoes for my taste, even though there were still some first rate exceptions, mostly in the screwball comedy genre. It wasn't until noir began to emerge in full force after Laura and Double Indemnity that the crackle that was so common in the pre-code era began to show up once again. IMO 1933 and 1950 represent the two highlight years of the studio era, and for sheer quantity of sizzlers, no years before or since can match them. 1939 wasn't even close. You can have your swashbucklers, epics, and musical spectaculars, just give me movies like these: 1933: 1. Bombshell 2. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse 3. Heroes For Sale 4. Baby Face 5. The Story of Temple Drake 6. 42nd Street / Footlight Parade (tie) 8. The Mind Reader 9. Wild Boys of the Road 10. Lady For a Day 1950: 1. All About Eve 2. The Asphalt Jungle 3. Three Came Home 4. The Damned Don't Cry 5. Whirlpool 6. The Killer That Stalked New York 7. Panic In the Streets 8. Night in the City 9. The Baron of Arizona 10. No Way Out

Every year had many great B-movies and programmers. 1939 was hardly unique in that respect. The 1945-59 period was especially abundant with independent films produced by studios like Monogram, Allied, Eagle-Lion, Parklane, and others along the same line. What would be a great idea, in fact, would to have an entire month that featured nothing BUT independently produced (or "Poverty Row") movies. It's a total fantasy thought, of course, for many reasons, but I can't think of a nicer change of pace from the Same Old Same Old that's embodied in the so-called "Essentials".

I know that there have probably been a few threads dedicated to 1939-- Hollywood's so called greatest year of film. I know that I personally participated in a thread that was dedicated to recognizing the great movies from other years of the 1930s and beyond-- the whole point of the thread was to determine whether 1939 really was the best year of film, or whether or not these films were overrated in comparison to another year's film output. After completing 2013, there was of course no true consensus answering the question of whether or not 1939 truly was Hollywood's best year because everyone's list was subjective. If your cup of tea is "entertainment" movies, then 1939 can't be topped. Fancy dress balls! Swashbuckling pirates and other kindly robbers! Killers who get talked by a priest (with a friendly reminder from Pope Breen) into acting yellow on their execution day! Fantasies about political villains committing suicide and a lone idealistic Senator walking away with the nation and the girl! And lots and lots of savages! Of course if you favor a bit more realism and a lot less fantasy and historical amnesia, then 1939 is nowhere near the top of the list. For people of this persuasion, 1932-33 or 1946 through 1950 would beat 1939 hands down, and probably many other years as well, right up to the present. The truth is that there's not a single movie on that 1939 list below that's remotely connected to the real world, which is fine for some people but not for everyone.

What!!! You're corrupting my TARANTINO thread!!! Kidding, kidding . . . . or am I? We futurists prefer the term "disrupting".

Scorcese's Top 12 is a lot more eclectic than Tarantino's. It appears to be in alphabetical order. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – Stanley Kubrick 8½ (1963) – Federico Fellini Ashes and Diamonds (1958) – Andrzej Wajda Citizen Kane (1941) – Orson Welles The Leopard (1963) – Luchino Visconti Paisan (1946) – Roberto Rossellini The Red Shoes (1948) – Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger The River (1951) – Jean Renoir Salvatore Giuliano (1962) – Francesco Rosi The Searchers (1956) – John Ford Ugetsu Monogatari (1953) – Mizoguchi Kenji Vertigo (1958) – Alfred Hitchcock

Here's Farran Nehme's (AKA The Self-Styled Siren) tribute to Ruby Dee, as posted on her blog: In Memoriam: Ruby Dee, 1922-2014

It would be interesting to see if a station like TCM would survive under a true ala carte system. They might have to lower their user fee (fee they charge the cable company that is passed on to users) and add commercials to make up the difference if there wasn't enough of a market for their brand. I'd think that TCM would have little problem surviving an a la carte system, since doing away with packaging would free up lots of money to spend on one's favorite channels on a one by one basis. While I don't know TCM's total audience, I strongly suspect that for many of its viewers, it would be right near (or at) the top of the list of channels they'd want to keep, even at a relatively steep a la carte price. I can't imagine any semi-serious film buff who wouldn't be willing to ante up for a channel like this. Not that I'd want to see this choice forced upon us, but I doubt if it would kill TCM. OTOH the minute they stuck commercials in the middle of the movies, I'd pull the plug without a second thought. We don't need another g-dmn AMC.

I think that part of the concern is that they won't wait to do a better tribute later, and will just stop at the few films they have. Everyone would be waiting in the hopes that something more extensive would come along, only to be disappointed. From what I've read and seen, the network DOES have access to the films that people have mentioned on this thread, along with a few others, that would constitute a lengthier tribute. We'd all like to hope that the network is waiting until later, but I'm not sure, and that's what I'm concerned about. That's my concern, too, and it's rooted partly in the fact that TCM seldom seems to show much interest in African American films beyond those of Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and a handful of character actors in servile (or singing and dancing) roles. It's not that they never show anything but movies featuring those two actors, but the exceptions are usually few and far between, and almost never show in prime time. Particularly noticeable for their scarcity are serious dramas: Movies like Shadows and One Potato, Two Potato get shown once and then disappear for what seems like forever. And unless I'm missing something, I've yet to see a screening of the multi-award winning Nothing But a Man (with Ivan Dixon and Abbey Lincoln), though it's been on DVD for quite some time. And while they may not own the rights to the majority of Dee's movies, with over 50 features in her repertory it's hard for me to believe that if TCM wanted to, they couldn't come up with a tribute that's longer than two of them.

How is a Cary Grant docu-short at ten tonite suppose to beat out Terence Fisher's The Brides of Dracula on Me TV? And how are either of them supposed to beat out the final innings of Masahiro Tanaka going against the Red Sox?

By now, every time I see To Be Or Not To Be on the schedule, I channel my inner Stanislav Sobinski and schedule a hike out of the theater. And then I do a search for Concentration Camp Erhardt's phone number and point him towards the schedule maker. And hell, I LIKE this film. I can only imagine my reaction if I didn't.