AndyM108

A Letter to Three Wives is definitely a drama. It's no more of a comedy than All Through The Night or Stalag 17, even though both of those movies also had many comic moments scattered throughout.

I wouldn't put Crawford in the class of Stanwyck or Davis, but other than those two I can't think of another actress who's been in so many enjoyable movies, all the way from silents such as The Unknown to classic horror films such as Whatever Became of Baby Jane? and Strait-Jacket. One particular thing I also like about Crawford is that almost all of her best remembered films are set in the present, firmly rooted in contemporary life. Very few of these idiotic costume dramas and period pieces for her, thank God. However insane and melodramatic some of her roles may be, they're almost always a product of her time and place. How many other actresses can claim as many first rate dramas in their repertory? Sudden Fear Rain A Woman's Face Possessed (the 1947 film) Paid The Damned Don't Cry Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Mildred Pierce The Women* Flamingo Road That's hardly a complete list, either, but I think the point is clear. *a movie in which she zinged one of the great comic lines ever to the gossipmongering Mrs. Fowler, as played by Rosalind Russell: *"Do come again, Mrs. PROWLER"*

There was something like that in "Battleground." It happened at a checkpoint where they got into a discussion about baseball and one of the Germans dressed as an American soldier messed up. Not sure if that is the one you mean but that is what popped into my head. Thanks, movieman. I can't remember whether I've even seen Battleground, but by a stroke of fortunate coincidence it's showing in the pre-dawn hours tonight, so I'll know the answer tomorrow if nobody else clues me in before then. None of the plot synopses of Battleground that I can find online mention the incident, but I've heard so many references to it over the years that I doubt it's just something I dreamed up.

Last night I watched the last hour of Stalag 17, a movie I hadn't seen in many years. When Sefton (William Holden) discovers that Sgt. Price (Peter Graves) is the real German informer, his discovery centers around *(SPOILER ALERT)* a swinging light bulb and a hollowed out chess piece. But here's what's been driving me slightly nuts ever since the movie ended: Since it wasn't Stalag 17, what movie was it where the spy within the P.O.W. ranks was uncovered when he mistakenly said that the Brooklyn Dodgers were in the same baseball league as the Yankees? It's a classic scene that I'd always associated with Stalag 17, but obviously my distant memory was off. So what movie am I thinking of? Was William Bendix in it?

I can think of at least 50 actors and actresses I've have chosen before June Allyson, but OTOH if I can survive Mickey Rooney, Esther Williams, "Singing Cowboys" and "Teen Idols", I figure I can survive pretty much any form of month-long punishment that TCM can dole out. And as Jack Webb said in Red Nightmare. . . . "Don't worry Jerry, that bullet will never reach you. Because, you see, Jerry, *in America there's always a tomorrow.* "

I guess George Sanders will have to wait until his 200th birthday in 2106 to get his long deserved tribute. Even a SUTS day for The World's Greatest Cad would be appreciated at this point.

And that means that even with all those newer Australian movies being given Friday nights, the majority of May films will come from just two decades: The 1930's and the 1940's.

*But anyway, the "Cathedral" in question was St. John the Divine, which is Episcopalian. And since most everyone I knew back then was either Catholic or Jewish, we looked at St. John as just a big building.* I look at ALL churches as "big buildings" I'm Episcopalian. Just think of us as "Catholic Lite". We have the Saints, the communion, but no confession, nuns and our clergy can marry. Sepiatone Me, I was raised in the Church of the Sunday Newspapers: New York Times, Washington Post, Washington Sunday Star,, and since it arrived at the drug store on Sundays, there was also The Sporting News. Services began at 7:00 AM and often lasted through lunch, with strictly informal dress.

With the changes to this message board they have removed all the syntax. Now you have to search around and guess how to quote someone .Because of that, mix ups like this one are inevitable. Copy. Paste. Italicize. Comment below that. And if you're making a reply to more than one person, name each person you're responding to in order to avoid confusion.

Here is the TCM schedule for January, 1995, showing very few newer films and none from the 1990s, 2000s, or 2010s: http://i59.tinypic.com/rbw0hg.jpg Newer films in Jan. of 1995: 1960s 29 1970s 11 1980s 4 Total: 44 NONE from the 1990s, 2000s, or 2010s. Gotta give them credit there for not showing 25 years worth of movies that hadn't yet been made! And they must be keeping it up, because right now they're not showing any movies from 2015 through 2039! I remember when TCM aired the big Will Rogers film festival in the middle of the night about 4 years ago. Several very rare old films, shown on TCM only once, while everyone was asleep, and most people here missed the festival. While we always get the three separate annual Elvis film festivals in the daytime and prime time. And Bullitt seems to always turn up in daytime or prime time. That was on Tuesday, December 28, 2010, and the Will Rogers films ran straight through from 8:00 PM to 6:30 AM. I'd rather have had them from 8:00 AM to 6:30 PM myself, but more people probably saw those first few in prime time than would have likely watched the entire batch, had they been screened during the day. And anyway, that's why they invented DVD recorders (I got all of those Rogers movies on disks) and DVR machines. You can also sign up for e-mail reminders if you have a hard time remembering when they're playing. But if you want to substitute Will Rogers for Elvis each and every time "Old Peanut Butter and Banana" appears on the schedule, then hey, I'm with you all the way. I never met a Will Rogers movie that I didn't like.

But it's not us fans of more modern and foreign movies who've been complaining about the current mix. The complainers seem to be almost exclusively those who want to see that 20% of recent and foreign films reduced *below* that.

One thing I wondered about at first: wouldn't it have been interesting if the daughter had also turned out to be a fraud, if she'd hired or coaxed the "Count" and his son to pretend , just as Annie or rather, "the Dude" (long before Jeff Bridges' "Dude") had orchestrated Annie's deception on such a large and impressive scale. That would have made for a great variant, and it got me to thinking about my favorite part in my favorite comedy, Bombshell, where Lee Tracy hires a bunch of bit actors to impersonate a family of snobbish society swells in an effort to con Jean Harlow into renouncing her society fantasies and returning to her movie career.

I can almost guarantee that there is probably less cursing on my block of West 110th Street today than there was in 1950. Even the Rosie Perez of Night on Earth would've had a hard time keeping up with some of us sweet little six year olds.

Contact the Encore people and ask them to lower their prices and show wide-stretch-era films. Either that, or demand it from TCM and be prepared to pay higher fees to receive TCM, since the newer movies will cost more for TCM to rent, and TCM will also have to raise rates to make up for the loss of all the old-movie fans who cut the cable and decide to watch old movies via the internet for free. Fred, you're the one who's constantly complaining about TCM, not me. I'm quite satisfied with their longstanding mix of older and newer films. I don't like the vast majority of newer movies any more than you do, but TCM seems to do an excellent job of weeding out the garbage. Your complaint seems to be that they show any new movies at all. And if TCM doesn't have a newer movie I'd like to see? Well, that's why I keep my membership in Netflix. Encore doesn't even enter into the picture, since most of what they show is the usual Hollywood blockbuster crap.

*Do not like commercials and LOVE 30's and 40's movies.* Millions of people feel the same way. That's why the channel has been popular for the past 20 years. There are plenty of other channels for more modern movies. But every last one of those "other" channels either charges premium subscription prices or pollutes their films with one commercial after another. For people who like great movies from a wide stretch of eras without being bombarded by mid-film advertising pitches, there's been no real alternative to TCM since AMC and the FMC sold their souls to the beancounters.

Films directed by Black directors & starring Black actors seems to be noticeably absent from the February movie-line up. While "Imitation of Life" and "Lilies of the Field" are both fantastic, it might be nice to see some of the other movies not typically played. Perhaps a tribute to the First Black director Oscar Micheaux. I expected more of you TCM. #disappointed. The problem is that Black History Month coincides with 31 Days of Oscar, and this puts a severe restriction on the films that are going to be aired during February. And of course TCM's primary sources of film are drawn from the "golden age" of movies, when blacks were depicted by Hollywood almost exclusively in servile and stereotyped roles. That said, I completely agree with you that TCM's airing of African American oriented films is disappointingly limited. It seems as if the same Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte movies account for nearly half of what gets shown, and when we get the occasional Oscar Micheaux or independent film, it's usually in the middle of the night, and not repeated for years. In the past 4+ years I've managed to record quite a few rarities, but you have to watch the program guide like a hawk and record at every opportunity. Because if you miss them the first time, it'll be a long time before they ever show up again, unlike all those Poitier and Belafonte movies.

I couldn't agree with you more that Lady For A Day is one of Capra's best. And you're right, it's the entire cast that's the real star, not just William and Robson, great as they are. I've always thought that this version is infinitely better than the 1961 remake, not just because William and Robson are much better cast for their roles than Ford and Davis, but more likely because the original was filmed so close to the written story that the lively Broadway scene that Runyon depicted was still based on living characters. Whereas the 1961 version seemed more like an historical costume piece than "Grabbed from the headlines", as this one was. And yes, Ned Sparks is sublime. But isn't he always? I'd love to see him get a SUTS day at some point.

Wasn't 110th Street considered the southern boundary of Harlem, as immortalized in Bobby Womack's "Across 110th Street"? Along with the not-too-bad Anthony Quinn movie of the same name, yes. But the block we lived on, between Columbus and Manhattan Avenues, faced Morningside Park. Harlem itself began north of 110th St., but a few blocks to the east, where the north side of the street faced the northern boundary of Central Park. OTOH our stretch of 110th Street was the only English-speaking residential street in that area that I knew, since every numbered street from 109th on south was all Puerto Rican for as far as a six year old could venture unaccompanied. We were told to stick to the avenues and stay off the side streets whenever we wandered out alone, although at the time Morningside Park was still considered safe - - - That didn't last too long. But of course my old address (352 W 110th) is now a high rise "luxury" building, with 2 BR/2 BA condos selling for $995,000. When we lived there, a 2BR/1BA cost my parents $40 a month. (Hey, where do I sign up for one of them *time machines????* )

How can there be cursing on a street named Cathedral Parkway? Now, if you had lived on Incarceration Street, it may have been a different story. We kids got around that by calling it 110th Street, which is also what it was to the post office. But anyway, the "Cathedral" in question was St. John the Divine, which is Episcopalian. And since most everyone I knew back then was either Catholic or Jewish, we looked at St. John as just a big building.

To address what someone else said about western stars-- TCM spent a month one summer just a few years ago devoted to singing cowboys. That was a case of shooing away many dead birds with one brief month's worth of stones. It was over before I could even groan out a yodel. Plus, Joel McCrea was Star of the Month and many of his titles were westerns. So there has been great variety. I didn't claim 100% immunization, but McCrea made his mark in movies long before he decided he was too old for romantic leads. Bottom line is that other than Wayne and those Singing Cowboys, the only time that the SOTM honored a star who's primarily (if not all that accurately) seen as a "western" actor was when Gary Cooper was chosen back in 2006. So we've got 3 Waynes, 1 Cooper and 1 set of spur-booted balladeers in 20 years. Which comes out to one every four years, and that seems just about right.

Find legal street parking right in front of a Broadway night club.

(Wayne) is one of TCM's most popular stars. I look at all those Wayne tributes this way: Every time TCM splurges on Wayne, that's one less splurge they're likely to devote to any other cowboy star. It's as if all these Wayne bombs are a vaccination that immunizes the TCM schedule from coming down with recurrent plagues of even more insufferable westerns. It stings for a few seconds, but the long range benefit is worth it.

Well, ya know Andy, I hope you realize that if you'd excise the parts of your above statement which I've taken the liberty to place within parentheses, then you've pretty much made a very valid AND factual statement in the GENERAL sense of things. What, you don't realize that "media bias" is the cause of everything from the Arctic Vortex to teenage pregnancies? Little do you know, my friend, little do you know!

When Mitchum was SOTM in October of 2005, TCM showed 32 of his movies and 1 documentary on five consecutive days, October 3rd through the 7th. But that same month they also showed 36 Alfred Hitchcock movies between the 24th and the 30th. This had to be one of the few times where the SOTM wasn't given a cover photo on Now Playing - - - that honor was given to Hitchcock.

Why did the Seahawks and Bucs trade conferences in '77? It was part of the original expansion agreement, whose purpose was to guarantee that all 26 other NFL teams would get to play each of the new franchises once in either of their first two seasons in the league, while TB and Seattle played each other twice. In neither of the first two seasons did either team play any other interconference games. That was when the NFL had a 14 game schedule, and then in 1978 when the NFL went to 16 games, the Bucs and Seahawks were scheduled as "normal" teams.