JamesJazGuitar

Tom, well of course I really love Young Man With A Horn and it is one of the best jazz centered movie to come out of Hollywood as it relates to the soul of the jazz musician. Hoagy is one of my favorite songwriters and an all around talent. I said to the wife after watching this movie (for the tenth time), if I was living in that era and I could pick one best friend it would be Hoagy. Yes, Harry James play very well in this movie and I also enjoy his sound more so than Beiderbecke. As for With A Song In My Heart and what it has to do with Jazz; Well to me what makes a song a 'jazz song' is the harmonic structure. With A Song In My Heart has a nice harmonic structure that is complex enough for us dudes to solo over the changes. While Rodgers music isn't as interesting to jam over as say, Porter or Kern, I still find Rodgers' harmonies interesting and full of feeling.

Paul Muni?

I assume Hayden is the one being punched. i.e the guy with the light hair and not the dark hair.

Last night was the first time I had seen CONFIDENTIAL AGENT, but I knew based on some movie books I had that it wasn't a very good movie. It does come off as a movie that could of been good, but Boyer just didn't come off as a spy, and as you noted I wasn't sure what Lorre was doing in this movie. The best guy was WB stock player that played the neighbor who figures out how the girl was killed. He was a hoot. Yea, it had a good WB feel, and some fine actors but it fell flat. Oh well, Bacall did look nice, but yes, she did talk louder than anyone else and appeared out of place.

What Olivia is doing here is saying 'I filed a lawsuit against Jack Warner, and didn't make any movies for over 2 years, just for my first non WB movie to be this stinker!' The actual truth is that Olivia was happy that Paramount decided to take a chance and put her in a movie before the California Supreme Court had ruled on legal clearance from WB. But all Olivia had to do was wait. Her next Paramount picture was To Each His Own, and for that she won the Oscar for Best Actress!

Wow was I NOT in the know! So I had to google him. One of the first comments I saw was: In 1941, Paramount studios started advertising him as "The Most Beautiful Man in the Movies!" The earliest movie I have seen him in is 1949's Manhandled. While in was only 33 when that was made to me he looked older and had lost that 'pretty boy' look and had that more rustic look. But I have found a great new trivia questions related to 1941. I never would of guessed.

The father was killed in Korea which is why I mentioned the DeHavilland movie To Each His Own, since the father of her child was killed in WWI. I also see a connection to A Place In The Sun, but of course in that one Monty kind of helped Winters!

The Maltese Falcon has a story related to smoking. Jack Warner was reviewing the takes and complained there was too much smoking going on in the movie and wanted some scenes redone with less smoking. Peter Lorre made a joke to Bogie and Huston something to the effect of how his character was under stress, was 'gay' (he used another term) criminal, had been beaten etc.... of course I'm smoking all the time!'. No scenes were redone because of smoking.

Hey do you have an early picture of hunk Sterling Hayden? In a million years I would of never placed him in the same 'category' as a Redford, Hunter etc... but people said he was that type when young. In the movies I love him in he is handsome but in a rustic, type of way. PS: I love Ricky Nelson! (just learned to play and sing Traveling Man last week!). Edited by: jamesjazzguitar on Sep 12, 2012 6:42 PM

My point about Kate Hepburn was the persona she put out as this independent women. A women that, in her era (and I'm thankful that this era has passed), was like a man. Well to me it comes down to if she had other lovers. I sure hope she did. Male, female, I don't care. But for me to have a romanticized view of Kate, that view is Kate with other sexual partners. When Tracy called and said 'hey, I can get away from my wife and kids, and see you now', my vision is that she would say 'well, hold on, I'll be free in a few days, and than I'll call you'! So to me her relationship with Tracy (based on my what I have read) was more like a 22 year old with the man of her dreams. That just doesn't fit the persona of the Kate I love and respect so much. So in some ways I ask myself 'who was the true Kate Hepburn'? But hey she was a very special lady, so maybe she was both people!

TopBilled the topic was the same cast in a great movie and than a not so great movie (yea, that was confusing but the original poster did clarify that). So while Not As A Stranger would be a great pick for great cast, OK movie, I don't know of any other movies this cast was in. But yea what a cast!

Jezebelle: Well I'm one that knocks the Tracy Hepburn relationship. I just cannot help it since there is so much to knock. For example, when I hear someone say Tracy was a devote Catholic. Devote? I find that POV really out of touch. Then there is Kate Hepburn as the women that wears that pants. That goes her own way. That doesn't take crap. Maybe that was how she was to others but with Tracy she was a lap dog. There when he needed her and at this beck and call, according to his schedule.

Well Davis is still #1 for me with Stanwyck #2. The main reason being is that Davis is just in a few more movies that I really love, than Stanwyck. Indeed Stanwyck was more versatile than Davis but the performances in those Davis 'women pictures' like Dark Victory and Now Voyager just floor me. But yes, Stanwyck did have a longer career of top quality movies than Davis. Many of the early 30s movies Davis was in that I enjoy were not Davis movies (a movie build 100% around Davis), while Stanwyck tended to dominate even in her early 30s movies. Then we have the noirs Stanwyck did while Davis only has The Letter (yes, ONLY The Letter,, what a performance!). I can see why someone would say Stanwyck is "overrated" since, based what I have seen here at this website over the years, Stanwyck rarely gets knocked, while the other 'greats', like Davis and Kate Hepburn do from time to time (with Kate fairly often). I always wonder; if someone feels Stanwyck is very good, but not one of the greatest, who do they think are the greatest?

Laurence of Arabia is a movie that would be relevant.

Sepiatone; She was NOT well off enough (money wise) and that was key to the plot. Her father and her lived off her uncle. This guy lived 'from The Good Book' and was a mean, hard man. It was clearly implied that if he found out, he would of kicked her and her father (who was in very poor health), to the curb. Thus for the plot to have her attempt suicide wasn't 'over the top' but realistic given the times and the circumstances. Compare this to a movie like To Each His Own with Olivia DeHavilland. Similar situation but in this movie there is a very touching scene where her father makes it clear what she has done in no ways impacts their relationship and that he is there for her (emotionally as well as financially). But she still goes out of town and gives the baby to someone else to hid it from the town that she was ever pregnant. But I agree 100%, HOW she went about her suicide attempt wasn't realistic at all.

Well I didn't mention it at this site or expect it to be mentioned since I don't see much of a link to classic movies. December 7th is remembered by a station like TCM and it's members because there are many classic movies related to that date and WWII. I also support that people should be sensitive about political comments. While threads don't have to be 100% movie generally there should be some tie to classic movies.

Yes, after To Have and Have Not, Bacall took singing lessons provided by the studio so she did her own singing in The Big Sleep. Yes, I love that version of And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine. To bad it was cut short, but one can still hear it in the background once the action cuts back to Bogie.

Tom; nice picture but something about Jane Greer, gets to me everytime!

Addison: Well said, and I agree with what you posted. Her look did get 'hard' as she aged. In The Big Sleep she looks marvelous, but she didn't have the same physical impact on me as time marched on. Also her best work (from what I read), was on the stage. She did some good movie work as you noted but not at the level of actresses that are not as well known as her. She is an icon for many reasons (mostly being Bogie's gal), that go way beyond her roles in movies. e.g. her ranking in the AFI top 25 actresses.

As for Agnes falling out the window; I have seen this many times (but not in slowed down), and to me Agnes pull on something to the viewers right (her left), right before she ' out the window. Does anyone here, see what I saw? If one has a DVD of the movie, please slow it down and look at that scene. To me Agnes clearly reaches for something in a bureau. Again, it looks like she pulls on something and then,,, she is gone out that window. Either way, she didn't fall. To me it is clear that she committed suicide. She did this to ensure Bogie would never be able to prove she was the murderer. (in fact Bogie would be accused for killing yet another person he didn't kill).

I'm not sure I really understand the topic here. For example, Powell Loy; There were in many great movies (The Thin Man, Libel etc...), but they were also put into some lame ones. If the 'goal' here to name those lame movies? Note that even in these lesser movies the team still shines to some degree but clearly the material wasn't up to pare as it relates to the talent of the stars.

Olivia DeHavilland. This picture can be found in the book The Flims of Olivia DeHavilland, which I own.

To me that first line was sarcasm, especially when one reads the comments in this posted that follow that first line. Of course only the actual poster would know for sure, but if the post is viewed as sarcasm, there isn't a question of why he changed his POV 180 degrees compare to prior postings. Simple; You see he didn't change his POV. The TCM is fine as is line is just another dig on those of us who really believe that.

Well to me 'routine' implied a studio programmer and as Arturo points out this was NOT the case with Dark Passage. Far from it in fact. Take the fact the star, Bogie doesn't appear at all in the first 40 or so minutes and the unique filming (camera) technique used at the start. As others also noted Bogie didn't play 'Rick' in this movie. WB clearly put Bogie in movies after Casablanca where he plays a tough guy hero. Those were 'routine' pictures in that they were developed and marketed to cash in on Bogie as hero. Not the case with Dark Passage. Edited by: jamesjazzguitar on Sep 9, 2012 5:45 PM

Yes, this is great news since they are showing many movies with Babs that I have never seen before.