[favorite pre-code film]

1 hour ago, charvakan said:

Great topic.  I agree with the consensus favorites Red Dust, Baby Face, and Red Headed Woman, as well as Three on a Match and others.  I'm not sure I saw anyone mention The Match King with Warren William, but it's great.  By the way, his Perry Mason series shows a lawyer literally helping a client get away with murder in the Howling Dog, something that a year later would probably not have been allowed.

Jewell Robbery's best line:  "Someone's outside--I can hear the gwavel cwunching!"

TCM has shown The Match King,  which as you note is a really good film with William and soon to be Flynn's wife,   French actress, Lili Damita.

Yea,  pre-code Mason films were more faithful to the novels than Production code films or the T.V.  series.      

 

[What Are You Listening To?]

One of the first rock songs I learn when I was in a cover band many decades ago:
 

 

 

[FAKE John Wayne Movies]

36 minutes ago, DougieB said:

It's hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that anyone could accept John Wayne as "new product". I'm really feeling my age.

As you know there are a lot of people that reject any and all black and white films.     Wayne is iconic,  especially to a certain segment of the population.    

So I could see a father with children that are teens (as well as their grandfather) wanting to expose them to Wayne films and the films being "modernized"  could help in that regard.

The proof of if doing so was a good idea or not, from the POV of those that did this,   is only based on their sales;  Did they sell more of these "new product" versions than the original one?    

[on svengoolie tonite]

1 hour ago, LuckyDan said:

Early Nicholson-Arkoff and set in a girls school. I don't see anything to complain about here. 

 

What film are you referencing?      I ask because others are discussing Blood of Dracula,  the film for this Saturday,  which was released in 1957 and the above photo is dated 1974.   Also I don't see a link between Blood of Dracula and Nicholson-Arkoff. 

 

[Emperor of the North]

1 hour ago, Mr. Gorman said:

One thing I remember about EMPEROR OF THE NORTH was the filmmakers were daring enough to show Lee Marvin with horrible teeth.  Very few movies show their lead actor with awful choppers.  → Usually no matter how grubby the surroundings are the actors still have pearly whites to flash toward the camera. 

I reckon most filmmakers/studios figure they don't want to repulse their audience by showing too many rotten choppers on-screen!  🦷

Have another dentin → 🦷

Where the teeth actually his,  or did the costume department use artificial teeth to achieve a more realistic hobo?

 

[Funniest TCM One Line Film Descriptions You've Read Lately.]

On 9/22/2021 at 2:34 PM, Fausterlitz said:

And apparently board readers need Auto-Correct to protect them from verboten words like b-l-a-c-k-i-e (which I assume was originally a reference to Boston B-l-a-c-k-i-e).

This is why I just use;  Chester Morris serial.    I enjoy this serial,  especially the first film, since it also stars Rochelle Hudson. 

 

[Emperor of the North]

1 hour ago, unwatchable said:

Yes, an unusual film.   Hobo hype. No less true than the type of things people put into their resumes these days.

I had to look up the storyline for this film and hobo-hype fits to a T.      Marvin and Carradine in competition for hobo of the year.

 

[Noir Alley]

7 hours ago, Katie_G said:

Gloria really deserves to have a good biography written about her.  I didn't like Suicide Blonde, and not only because the catchy name is so misleading.   It's a thin 183 page bio that seems mainly drawn from the author's interviews with her sister Joy Mitchum.  The other book Nakano mentioned is better, imo,  but it deals mainly with her work.

For an actor I define a good biography as one that most covers their career;  the films they were in,   what they might have said about the directors and other actors they worked with,  and in Gloria case,  how she developed her hard-but-vulnerable-no-nonsense screen persona,  which we see starting in 1947 in Crossfire  and Song of the Thin Man.  

But I assume any biography about Gloria would focus mainly on her off-screen "antics" (mainly the relationship and marriages with Nicholas Ray and his son,  Tony).    I'm really not that interested in that angle (for any actor,.  musician, artist or celebrity).

Thus I might check out that other-book that "deals mainly with her work".

 

[What Are You Watching Now?]

16 minutes ago, ColonelLudlow said:

Rage, from George C. Scott night.

You know, I've never been able to understand why TCM will not air one of my favourite George C. Scott movies: Islands In The Stream.  Anybody know why? Is it too dark? Or, is it that bad?

Islands in  The Stream is a Paramount film released in 1977 and thus,  TCM would have to go-out-of-their way to lease film.    (such a film isn't part of the Ted Turner library of films that is now owned by TCM's parent Time-Warner).

 

[Noir Alley]

13 hours ago, Dargo said:

Heck, I'm old enough to remember wondering how in the world Ozzie and Harriet's BORING son ended up getting a hot babe like June up there to marry him.

(...she was WAY hotter than that Harmon girl Ricky married, ya know) 

 

I forgot about that.     June was added to the cast of the T.V. show.

[The sad, slow death of TCM.]

1 hour ago, Vautrin said:

It's often the views of the customers on social media that get corporations in hot water, not the products or

services themselves. TCM doesn't really care if a small number of people don't like their new logo or sets

or their harmless superficial social commentary.

 

Well I guess it all depends on how defines "product";   as you have seen some TCM viewers believe the social commentary is part of the TCM "product"  (i.e.to them it is not only the movies  shown).

While I find that POV silly,   it could impact viewership.        E.g.   if a guy with orange hair was to advise his followers not to watch TCM because TCM hates white people based on their social commentary,    that could be something that would impact TCM's bottom line.      

(just like if famous African-Americans like Oprah said to boycott TCM because they are showing films like GWTW or Birth of a Nation etc..).

  

[What Are You Listening To?]

Well since wind appears to be a theme:

 

[Noir Alley]

23 minutes ago, ElCid said:

Not on a train - not big enough.  One of the misconceptions re: passenger trains and cars is how spacious they are based on what is in the movies.  Most times, the studios built special sets so the rooms and other areas would be larger than in reality.  They would also reduce the number of people in the club car, diners and so forth.

I think the director of Murder on the Orient Express (1974) intentionally used sets with accurate spacing, particularly in the bedroom scenes.

Of course I knew the photo wasn't taken on a train.   I was just making a joke since the other poster mentioned that Hell Bound featured a feet fetish and trains. 

Also,   who cares about trains when there is a photo of a Playmate of the Year.     Even Casey Jones wouldn't  go there.

 

[The sad, slow death of TCM.]

5 minutes ago, Vautrin said:

Do folks still think that large corporations care about what a small number of their customers

like or dislike about their product? Hilarious.

In these times,  large corporations do care about the potential harm a small number of customers can do using social media.     It would be foolish not to have a strategy to try to minimize that potential harm. 

 

[The sad, slow death of TCM.]

1 minute ago, rjbartrop said:

It's already happening.  Look up "Radwood".   It's alays almost exactly 25 years ago that they stopped building "real" cars.

But yes, there is a big difference between classic, and just old.   Good films still got made after the studio era, and some of them rightly deserve the title of Classic. 

Even films that are just old are still interesting as glimpses into another time, whether it's one we remember fondly, or one that happened before we were born. 

Just an aside bout the studio era.  In some ways, we seem to be headed beck to the studio system as the companies that make movies are also increasingly involved on the distribution end.

 

TCM uses "classic" as just a marketing term it has  no actual meaning with regards to the qualify of the film.

E.g.  how many 30s "programmers" are high qualify films?   Few IMO.   The studios made these to be released one time as the "B" picture.    

Hey,  I love many of those films warts and all because I'm a fan of the actors and directors of that era,  but they are not high qualify films and they were never meant to be. 

[Sydney Greenstreet as SOTM November 2021]

Great to see Sydney Greenstreet as SOTM.     Also happy to see TCM is showing  THAT WAY WITH WOMEN (1947) with Dane Clark and Martha Vickers.

This was a film Warners had Vickers star in after her splash as Carmen in The Big Sleep.    Silly film but fun with Greenstreet playing Vickers' father.

Vickers has a lot of nice outfits (daddy is rich),  and she wears them well:

[The sad, slow death of TCM.]

1 hour ago, fxreyman said:

It will be interesting to see if Ootsy will be coming back to comment on our thoughts....

I gave the  same reply I always do:  as long as 80% or so of the films TCM shows are American Studio-Era films (pre-1969),  I'm fine with the brand.

What we are seeing is the same-old-same-old;   TCM shows a couple of post-2000 films and oh,  my,, oh my,,,,   all is lost!

 

[Noir Alley]

15 hours ago, Katie_G said:

Just practicing my free linked pics skills ...

One reviewer called Hell Bound  "Like "The Killing" But with Foot Fetishism and Trains"  😄

 

June Blair was Playboy's Playmate of the Month,  the same year Hell Bound came out (1957).     Here is a photo where she is paying a lot of attention to her feet.

Don't know if the photo was  taken on a train or not.

 

[The sad, slow death of TCM.]

Next people will be saying that TCM didn't show post-2000 films back in 1998!

 

[I Just Watched...]

57 minutes ago, nakano said:

Yes Alain Delon is in my top 5 for most beautiful leading man in the movies,he has made many good films,he has an extensive filmography,a varied one.I think he dies in 17 of them (as he made many action films) if not more, he will be 86 in november,he was a great pal of JeanPaul Belmondo who died 2 weeks ago.

Delon was a very handsome and dashing actor.    Just saw him a few days ago in The Sicilian Clan.      The film also stars Jean Gabin and Lino Ventura.

I only saw the last half and the ending and how Delon makes-outs,   didn't surprise me.   

[The sad, slow death of TCM.]

27 minutes ago, ElCid said:

Late to this discussion, but the problem is the conflict between "classic" and old movies.  TCM shows old movies, but not all are classic.  However, I have been exposed to and entertained by many "old" movies and have purchased the DVD's because of that exposure.  Lot of them were B movies, at best.  Some SciFi movies shown on TCM are C's, but very entertaining.

As for old or "classic," it is a moving target. The same argument occurs in the old car hobby.  God Forbid, they are now including cars from the 70's and 80's as "classics" and soon cars from the 90's.  Roughly 25 years ago.

 

I assume you're joking with the "god forbid";   to someone 25,  a car from the 70s is something their grandparents owned  and in their mind a "classic".

The moving-target is why I don't use "classic";   instead I try to use  something that is actually meaningful;  E.g.  car from the 70s or studio-era movie.

 

[The sad, slow death of TCM.]

2 minutes ago, unwatchable said:

I beg to differ.  Refraining from airing these horribly offensive films would have lessened the risk of apoplexy in the fragile flowers out there in movieland. What they want, though, is to have a straw man to batter around. How can one put their virtue on display if there are no longer any films to  declare racist, misogynistic, etc.? That is the real problem for those who are pure of soul and bereft of sin. Unless they have some "injustice" or "outdated yada yada"  over which they can clutch their pearls and shed crocodile tears, they are incomplete.

 

Not sure where you big to differ;    if  your  point is that nothing short of a full banning of  these films will satisfy the cancel-activist,     I agree with that 100%.    

But it appears when you say "What they want" that "they"  is TCM's management and that TCM desired to have their cake and eat it too.       I just don't see it that way based on the comments made by Ms.  Stewart with regards to the new museum and TCM's programming;   Note that the Academy Museum will feature films like GWTW,  Birth of a  Nation,  etc...  just like TCM does;  because they are part of film history and history shouldn't be erased. 

 

 

 

[The sad, slow death of TCM.]

2 hours ago, unwatchable said:

Yeah, that's downright ridiculous. Virtue signaling for all the lemmings. Say, here's an idea- if TCM management and hosts are so offended by content in films such as Gone With the Wind or The Searchers, then why don't they simply stop airing such films? In this way, perhaps we can avoid seeing BM faint dead away on screen. I don't want to hear people apologizing for the work of others.  Just stop showing these films. There.  All better now.  Banky/bottle/bedtime.  Sweet dreams, delicate creature.

TCM was stuck between the activist that wished for them to no longer show films these activist deemed "unsavory" and the view of movie lovers and fans of  the network that these movies need to be shown.   That "canceling" them was not the solution to anything.         This was explained  by Jacqueline Stewart,   director at the new Academy of Motion Picture here in So Cal and also a TCM host.      

No way was TCM going to give-in to these silly,  at best,  misguided,  cancel  culture activist.      But to reduce negative endless BS from the activist especially here in LA LA Land,   TCM felt it had to add some commentary.      I believe TCM made the right choice given the circumstances.  

[I Just Watched...]

1 hour ago, King Rat said:

This film was shown in drive-ins throughout the South for years. A huge regional favorite, despite the limitations of script and cast.

I can see that;  two guys get some dates,  some moonshine and along with the film,   it sounds like a nice evening!

 

[The sad, slow death of TCM.]

15 minutes ago, Kikiki said:

As long as the comments remain polite and constructive. No need to stink up the joint. 
 

For me the main rub is that beautiful logo that just was cast aside for something relatively meaningless. Entities spend millions every year developing recognizable identities; maybe a brand new logo works, but most of the time it doesn’t.  And, the content has seemed to shift ever so slightly since the roll out of the “changes”. I hope the wonderful films of the 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s aren’t sacrificed for the sake of 70s and 80s films that are shown everywhere else. What has made TCM (or “Tom” as we call it since the new logo) so unique is being able to see films that weren’t readily available anywhere else. It would be a shame to lose that. 

As you well know TCM has shown post studio-era films (> 1969 IMO),  since the start;  Osborne even mentions this in his opening statements about the brand back in 1994.

As long as 80 plus percent of the films TCM shows are American studio-era talking films,    I'm fine with the brand.     TCM programmers can show whatever they want during that remaining 19 or so percent.     That includes silent films,  foreign films,   post American studio era films,  etc...

Based on actual data from a guy with a database of every film TCM has shown,  TCM remains in that plus 80% range.