AndyM108

*, but it seems every movie she introduces has been played 1,000 times already.* You could say that about almost every Essential choice at this point. They've run it into the ground. End it. I'd rather that they simply expand the definition of "Essential" to go beyond the current crop, and put a strict limit on any "Essential" being shown more than *once* (not even twice) every five years in that "Essentials" time slot. That would free up a lot of time slots for new and more interesting choices. The problem is that for the most part (there are a few exceptions) the TCM idea of "Essential" seems to be limited to the films that make the AFI Top 100 or Oscar winners lists, along with a scattering of other films by favored screen icons that stay well within the framework of mainstream acceptability. That may be what TCM feels is necessary to attract new viewers, but as you suggest, it quickly becomes to seem like an endless loop once you've been around for awhile.

Do you also miss Rose McGowan? I had to google the name in order to find out who Rose McGowan even was, and since I also discovered that she was co-hosting The Essentials before I began watching TCM on a regular basis, I guess the answer is "I can't miss what I never experienced." I've also never seen any of her movies. It's been even longer (2006) since Molly Haskell co-hosted The Essentials, but she's made other appearances since then, and anyway, I've known about her writing for 40 years and always found her interesting. All I want from a co-host on any TCM program is an engaging personality, a reasonable degree of articulateness, and a fair amount of knowledge of film history. Haskell and Baldwin are to me the best examples of that I've seen.

It aired as scheduled, followed by ACROSS THE PACIFIC which just ended. That's what it says on my program guide, too, but that's not what just finished showing on my TV screen. I just finished watching Bogart send Astor away a few minutes ago. Maybe it's just a Washington area or FIOS thing, but since I was torturing myself with a previously recorded Red Skelton movie during the 8:00 time slot, I have no idea what was actually showing here at that point. I only know that on my set The Maltese Falcon ran at 10:00. And since I didn't see the introduction, I wouldn't have seen any possible explanation for the switch.

Drew Barrymore seems nice enough and I couldn't care less about her looks (to each his own), but it seems every movie she introduces has been played 1,000 times already. If she has any significant knowledge of films beyond the AFI Top 100, I've yet to see much evidence of it. God, how I miss Molly Haskell and Alec Baldwin.

Now Playing had *The Maltese Falcon* scheduled for 8:00 tonight. So does the online schedule, and so does the FIOS program guide. So why am I seeing it now on my screen, at 11:33 PM? What movie actually ran at 8:00?

It must be a 10 ounce loaf. Judging by the picture and what I can see from other sources, apparently it's a 20 ounce loaf.

OK, could you pick me up two loaves of bread for $1.99? That must be some bread. I didn't believe it myself until I found it, but Dollar Tree is selling a loaf of Nature's Own Honey Wheat bread for 45 cents. I'd never heard of either the brand or the store, but here it is: http://mojosavings.com/natures-bread-0-45-dollar-tree-2/

Vertigo2, If you EVER track down *Angi Vera* WITH SUBTITLES, *PLEASE* let me know. The entire movie is on YouTube here but it's in Hungarian with no subtitles at all - - - triple ouch! *Kapo* shows fairly regularly on TCM, in June of last year and I believe again just a few months ago. Don't miss it. On the other hand I thought your remark dissing American taste seemed a little condescending in light of your comment that you just don't find most of the genres on the list compelling. Is different taste in genre appeal necessarily bad taste? Of course not, and I should have emphasized my second point: *2. All of this is strictly one person's opinion. As is my list below.* We all have our reasons for preferring some genres over others, and while we might want to explain them, nobody should be compelled to justify their own. We like what we like, and I'd say that most of us like most of all the movies that "speak our language", if not our native tongue. Oh, and BTW the next Hollywood movie I might have included in my top 10 would be one you might be familiar with, a relatively obscure film called *Vertigo.* Believe it or not, I just saw it for the first and second times last September, when TCM played it twice within 10 days. Totally mesmerizing from start to finish, and I can see why some people would even rank it #1 of all time.

Wow, Andy! There are certainly many films I would cross the street to see twice - Psycho, Lawrence of Arabia, Tootsie, The Graduate, 2001, several of the Disney animated films, My Fair Lady, Saving Private Ryan, West Side Story, etc stand out for me immediately and many big special effects movies - Close Encounters, Avatar, The Rings Trilogy, Spiderman films et al may not be great with a capital G,but they sure are a lot of fun. Two points: 1. There are other movies on that top 200 that I *did* enjoy once, and even a second time in a few cases (My Fair Lady). But most of that list represent genres I just don't find very compelling. 2. All of this is strictly one person's opinion. As is my list below. But I am sincerely curious - what are YOUR favorite movies - top ten or so? - obviously not from this list. My top 10 is really more like a top 100, but my #1 has been #1 for 35 years, and the rest would never fall out of my top 25. But the exact order of 2 through 10 varies according to my mood on any given day, and there are many others that could have been chosen instead. All of these movies have one thing in common: They speak in a language that I identify with. *1. Angi Vera (1979)* - A Hungarian drama set at the time of the Communist takeover. It centers on a young woman (Veronika Pap) who's faced with the impossible dilemma of maintaining her self-respect and having a future. *2. Kapo (1959)* - Another drama about another young woman (Susan Strasberg) whose choice is even more stark: Disguise her Jewish identity and become a guard in a concentration camp, or be sent to a certain fate in a gas chamber. *3. Pixote (1981)* - A Brazilian film about a young street urchin in the slums of Rio, as he tries to figure out life on the fly. *4. Come and See (1985)* - A Russian movie about the horrific fate of an idealistic teenager who forms the Soviet resistance movement in World War 2, and learns the hard way that there's little glory in war. *5. Bicycle Thieves (1948)* - De Sica's classic story about how one simple possession can mean all the difference between survival and desperation. *6. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)* - At this point, probably my favorite Hollywood movie. Capra and Stewart at their absolute best, and to me that's saying quite a bit. *7. Red Beard (1965)* - A close call first choice among a dozen Kurosawa / Mifune collaborations, about the gradual education of a young doctor at the hands of a great one. *8. The Sheep Has Five Legs (1952)* - The horse-faced Fernandel plays the father of quintuplets, and then plays all five quintuplets while he's at it, all scheming in their own inimitable ways. Easily my favorite comedy. *9. The Battle of Algiers (1966)* - I've probably seen this at least a dozen times, and it never wears thin. It can almost make me forget the sad state of post-revolutionary Algeria. The director, Gillo Pontecorvo, also directed my #2 film, *Kapo.* 10. *The Killers (1946)* - Along with *Out of the Past* (1947), one of the two perfect American film noirs. Ask me tomorrow and I'll probably switch the two around. The closest any of that list of 200 would get to my top 100 would be *The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)*. It may or may not be a coincidence that 3 of the 4 Hollywood movies I've mentioned here have all been from that same year. But since IMO the classic Hollywood film reached its peak from 1946 to 1950, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

*Adjusted for inflation the greatest movie of all time with greatest* *gross.* *http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm* So much for the general public's taste in movies. Other than The Godfather, The Best Years of Our Lives and Rear Window, there's not a single movie in that list of 200 that I'd cross the street to watch a second time. And other than GWTW, all that list shows is how much ticket prices have outpaced inflation. A much better measure of popularity would be would be number of admissions divided by the population at the time, a list which I'm sure would make GWTW pull even further away from the pack.

Here's a list of Hollywood endorsements in the 1940 presidential election, when Franklin D. Roosevelt was attempting to win a 3rd term against Republican Wendell Willkie: (Sorry about the formatting, but all the names in the left column were for FDR, while *ALL* names to the right of them were for Willkie. For example, Pat O'Brien was for Roosevelt, and Eve Arden and Ann Sheridan backed the Republican.) *FOR ROOSEVELT* *FOR WILLKIE* Pat O?Brien Eve Arden Ann Sheridan Walter Huston Edward Arnold Ann Sothern Robert Benchley Fred Astaire Preston Sturges Priscilla Lane Lionel Barrymore Mrs. Spencer Tracy Jane Wyman Richard Barthelmess Lee Tracy Frank Capra Wallace Beery King Vidor Katherine Hepburn Joan Blondell Henry Fonda Mrs. Humphrey Bogart ("Sluggy") Betty Grable Charles Coburn George Cukor Gary Cooper John Ford Broderick Crawford Rosemary Lane Donald Crisp Andy Devine Bing Crosby Thomas Mitchell Cecil B. DeMille Charles Bickford Walt Disney Humphrey Bogart Irene Dunne Melvyn Douglas Nelson Eddy Garson Kanin W.C. Fields Bud Schulberg Corinne Griffith Jerome Kern Margaret Hamilton James Cagney Hedda Hopper Stu Erwin Edward Everett Horton Rosalind Russell Allan Jones George Bancroft Guy Kibbee Claude Rains Harold Lloyd Eddie ?Rochester? Anderson Fred MacMurray John Garfield Leo McCarey George Raft Joel McCrea Michael Curtiz Hattie McDaniel Dorothy Parker Zeppo Marx Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Adophe Menjou Dorothy Lamour Una Merkel Edward G. Robinson Ray Milland Miriam Hopkins Robert Montgomery William Wyler Dennis Morgan Billie Burke George Murphy Ira Gershwin Edna May Oliver Anita Loos Franklin Pangborn Dore Schary Mary Pickford Jack L. Warner, Jr. Dick Powell Billy Wilder William Powell John Huston Randolph Scott

Lot (most?) TCM viewers do not go on the TCM website very often, if at all. Are you kidding? I've subscribed to Now Playing for years, but it took me about 15 minutes to realize that you can't always count on it for 100% accuracy. Your best bet is to copy and save the monthly online schedule as a Word document, and to check the daily schedule each day to see about any changes. This takes no more than 30 seconds to do, unless you're a very slow reader. Among other things, this stops you from recording movies in the middle of the night that turn out not to be what you expected. I'm also not a big fan of cancelling previously scheduled movies to make way for memorial tributes to actors or actresses whose films show up all the time anyway (like Shirley Temple), but I also realize that my viewpoint on that subject is in the minority.

I think I'm getting that he wants to show more silents and more movies from the early 30's, and that he thinks that Mostly Martha is a prelude to TCM's selling the farm. But it's hard to wade through all that verbiage without getting bogged down. And the reason for not enough silents (a point I agree with) isn't films like Mostly Martha, which generally are one and done. The much bigger reason for the relative lack of silents are those TCM contracts that oblige them to show movies like Splendor in the Grass and Rebel Without a Cause so often that they crowd out movies that lack equal capacity for attracting the "I just *LOVE* old movies but I don't want to watch anything I've never heard of" crowd.

I did not mean it to be taken seriously. I guess I should have used the blink of the eye instead of the frown, but I suppose I was feeling the members' pain at the very thought of not getting their hard-earned goody bag. And in turn I was probably feeling the effects of posting a comment on four hours sleep. My apologies for the misread, which is doubly embarrassing since I usually appreciate the deadpan cracks more than any other.

I think it was something like this:

Don't you think Morris might've been making an Ellen-esque joke there? I hope so, and if so I apologize for the misreading. It might have been clearer if he'd ended with instead of , but then we all have our own ways of expressing tongue in cheek.

Based on the originally posted TCM March schedule, I was looking forward to the seldom seen *Woman Against The World,* a 1937 drama, which was listed for 10:30 this morning. I now see that this was a misprint, and the movie to be shown is one called *Woman Against Woman,* a 1938 Mary Astor divorce comedy. Just one more reminder never to take TCM's schedules for granted.

I heard that if Academy members didn't vote for 12 Years a Slave they wouldn't get their goody bags. That's a fairly damning piece of innuendo, to put it mildly. But being as how that was Morris Steele replying to Morris Steele, ;perhaps Morris Steele would like to introduce some actual first hand or second hand evidence to back up that statement, evidence that might include one or two names of Oscar voters who are willing to be quoted for the record in defense of that rather scurrilous charge. Or is that too much to ask?

What?! Did you REALLY think they were going to award it to a special effects-laden SPACE movie, which while being a technical marvel and thus winning numerous awards for THAT, contained little if any "social significance" in its story??? The only thing that surprised me about 12 Years a Slave winning the Best Picture Oscar was that many voters in the past have sometimes seemed to be overly influenced by box office numbers and flashy production values. And in a year where none of the nominees were outright jokes, I was pleased to see that *that* sort of "bias" was overcome. As for Jake's right wing Investors' Business Daily's sour take on the movie, my reaction to that is simply "Consider the source".

TikiSoo, I know this is a belated response, but when I read your Feb13 comment I just had to quote back to you one of my all-time favorite TCM Forum moments, which was when you wrote this some time back: *"My biggest concern for kids today is not thinking ahead "that cute little hummingbird tattoo on your breast is gonna be a stork by time you?re 50"."*

Just when I thought this may be the worst month ever, with whitebread supreme Rock Hudson cluttering up the schedule (worst choice since Esther Williams and Mickey Rooney), along comes two great Jeanne Moreau movies to the rescue on the 15th. Of course they're being shown back-to-back in the middle of the night, but with a bit of luck I won't wake up to find one of those Emergency Test announcements right in the middle of the picture: *2:00 AM* * * *Lovers, The (1959)* * * *A married woman bored with her life decides to escape.* *Dir: Louis Malle Cast: Jeanne Moreau , Alain Cuny , Jean-Marc Bory .* *BW-89 mins,* *3:45 AM* * * *Elevator to the Gallows (1958)* * * *A businessman kills his boss to cover up his affair with the man's wife.* *Dir: Louis Malle Cast: Jeanne Moreau , Maurice Ronet , Georges Poujouly .* *BW-91 mins, Letterbox Format* Elevator to the Gallows is one of the greatest French noirs ever, but The Lovers is the film that put Jeanne Moreau on the map. If it's not a TCM premiere, it hasn't been shown in many years, and I'm excited to be able finally to see it. And then on the 18th there's this, which I've never even heard of before: *3:45 PM* * * *Jump Into Hell (1955)* * * *This film reenacts the battle of Dien Bien Phu, focusing on the struggles of the French troops stationed in Vietnam.* *Dir: David Butler Cast: Jack Sernas , Kurt Kaszner , Arnold Moss .* *BW-92 mins,* and that's followed by an entire evening of classic French films, something I can't recall ever having been done. That'll make up for all those Pillow Talks, etc. And in fact the entire second half of the month is absolutely terrific, which proves once again that TCM is like the weather: If you don't like it today, there's always tomorrow.

Since they don't seem to want to go with first time choices like Sanders or Hayward, I'll take a wild stab and say Robert Mitchum, who's been honored twice but not since 2007. Just *please* no more cowboys or dancers for another few years.

Those Leonard Malkin ratings are still showing up on my schedule for the films that he reviewed. Or do you mean ratings as in "G", "PG-13" and "R"? I don't ever remember those being shown anywhere but on the TV screen right before the movie begins, but maybe that's because that'd be the last thing I'd care about one way or the other. But anyway 90% of the films TCM shows were released before that ratings system was instituted.

*We had an open forum to begin our 10th grade history classes, and for an entire month one student got up in front of the class each day, armed with photos and Magic Markers, and tried to prove that the Russians' photographs of the dark side of the moon were faked. That was 55 years ago, and to this day he can't explain what had gotten into him.* I find it incredible that you stayed in touch with him all these years. Unless, of course, YOU were that kid! This kid was a very good friend of mine, with whom I spent much of my time arguing about politics, since his dad (Ralph de Toledano) was a close friend of then-VP Richard Nixon. But after going to Georgetown for his BA, my friend went out to Berkeley for his law degree, and once he was separated from his National Review family (that was his father's social set), the cobwebs began to peel from his eyes. Eventually he wound up running for Congress as a Democrat in Orange County, CA. It was a long journey from his personal dark side of the moon back in 10th grade, but he's a pretty good example of why politics should never intrude upon friendship. And hell, even his father wasn't that bad once you got to know him: His main contribution to National Review outside of politics was a jazz column.

I am wondering if UNDER MY SKIN has ever aired on TCM, and what about BODY AND SOUL or FORCE OF EVIL...? *Force of Evil* was last shown on 9/8/2010, and was also played during his 2006 SUTS day AND during his SOTM tribute in 2003. The other two were NOT shown any of those times, although I'm pretty sure that *Body and Soul* has played at least once, because I got my copy through a swap with someone who said he'd gotten it from TCM