JamesJazGuitar

Andy; I'm in agreement with you. In fact, I would rate Elvis as the most disappointing 'artist' of the 20th century. i.e. the person that started out with the most potential that ended up being the biggest flop. I don't think Elvis improved in any area as time went on. e.g. he could of become a better musician. he could of become a songwriter (gee even Madonna improved her guitar playing and songwriting ability over the decades). Then there are his movies. Yea, many (most), artist sell out to some degree and produce 'crap' just to make a buck, but they also produce material that shows how they have grown as an artist. Not from Elvis. What a waste of talent.

With regards to Elvis; I just can't take him as a serious artist, especially after the early 60s. Note that while other musicians started off as commercial sell outs (e.g. The Beatles), as they matured they took more control over what they produced NOT less. I look at Elvis and his silly movies and his concert performances where he is dress liked a clown. If he didn't wish to do these things he should of found a way to complete the terms of his contract and than be independent. Yea, it is easy to put all the blame on the Parker, but that is only half the story.

Gish plays Mrs. Smith. But yea, this isn't a movie I would show to highlight Gish.

",,that feels manipulative to me". Yes, much of City For Conquest is about stirring emotions with a somewhat over the top plot. Take the last scene; One can either 'buy into' the manipulation and thus be filled with a lot of emotion or laugh at how over the top the dialog is in that scene. Add to this the Max Steiner music and yea, that is manipulation. But in some ways that is manipulation as an art form. Take a movie like Casablanca and the line 'is that cannon fire or my heart beating'. Who would ever say thus a thing? That line is corny and way over the top, but in the context of the scene it, like a lot of the dialog in the movie, stirs the emotions the screenwriter intended.

Tom: While I like the movie Cagney is too old for the role and to me it shows. Being unmarried to Peggy, being a boxer, still trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life; These are things, especially back in the 30 40 for someone under the age of 30. Not a guy that just turned 40. Yea, Cagney pulls it off mostly but still someone like Flynn would of been better for Warner to cast in that role.

I made a typo; Yes, 1899. If I remember correctly I believe it was a very minor injury, but a WC claim was filed. I had a copy of the bill but once the President of our small company found out (because I told him), he made me destroy that copy because of medical privacy concerns. I managed a data base that contained many of the medical treatments. I would search this to look up injuries from time to time. Others that came to mind was when Bing Crosby fell off a stage, Jane Fonda hurt while making CountDown, and Stella Stevens was poked by a spring while making a commercial for a mattress company (the description of that injury was a hoot). The most interesting thing I found was the basketball player Magic Johnson. I knew about his HIV case before his press conference since I was a major Lakers fan and used to search for the players just to confirm if the press releases about a player's injury matched the actual medical treatments they were getting. This was before the medical privacy standards were imposed (mainly due to protect AID patients). Now that info is encrypted.

Tom, I tend to agree with Deb comments expect about Gary Cooper. There are so many movies with Cooper in them that I really love. It think we was good in comedy, but of course mostly playing the straight man with a 'true' comic star like Arthur or Stanwyck. The exception being Along Came Jones which is a 'camp' film in many ways. Then in dramas he really moves me. Pride of the Yankees, Sergeant York, as well as his westerns.

Tom, like you I love those pre-code Cagney movies. Yea, one can find faults in them if that is what one wishes to do. They are clearly 'programmers' but they are also a hoot. Packed full of fun and action in around 80 minutes or so. Here is a funny personal story; About 30 years ago I was writing software for the workers comp medical billing industry. Well QA came to me and said there was a bug with how the software was deriving a claimant's age. NO WAY I said! Well they showed me the medical billing. The claimant's data of birth was 1899 and since I only stored the last two bytes of the year (99), it computed an age that was negative! Well I felt 'that DOB must be wrong'. I looked at the claimant's name; It was James Cagney. It had a description and it indicated he was injured while working on RagTime. It wasn't until we converted the software to be Y2K compliant that I fixed this bug. Edited by: jamesjazzguitar on Aug 14, 2012 3:01 PM

I find it interesting you site The Strawberry Blonde as a movie where Cagney gets the girl. The girl he was trying to get was Rita Hayworth. That was at the center of the plot. He failed at that and ends up with Olivia De Haviland. It really wasn't until the end of the movie that Cagney's character realizes he got the right (best), gal. That movie changed my view as it relates to romance. Like the Cagney character I was always chasing the Hayworth type of gal. Most of the time I failed but when I was successfull the relationship wasn't since the gal was way too selfish, self-centered and controling. After seeing this movie I decided to try to find my Olivia, and I did!

My favorite Eric Blore scene is the bird calling one in It's Love I'm After. A very funny comedy with Leslie Howard, Bette Davis and Olivia DeHaviland.

Yes, ranking the 6 Thin Man movies is like splitting hairs. I would also rank After The Thin Man as the 'best', due to having Steward, the studio having a better idea of what to showcase and increased production values. I rank Another Thin Man and Thin Man Goes Home as the two weakest efforts. I really enjoy Shadow of the Thin Man for the reasons noted but I rank Song of the Thin Man just a little bit higher since it has Gloria Grahame which increases the noir vibe, as well as the the jazz music theme of the movie.

Nice to see someone give Fashions of 1934 credit. Davis is low key in this film with William Powell being the star here. This film did lead to Davis saying she would never let the studio dictate her look.

Yes, but the discussion is about the restored 1929 version that of course didn't star Bette Davis.

The 1929 version has been show before? The Bette Davis 1940 version is shown a lot but I don't remember seeing the 1929 one. 8:45 The Letter (1929) Edited by: jamesjazzguitar on Jul 23, 2012 10:12 PM

I believe I read somewhere that Burr got injured and so they had others, like Davis, fill in for him. Thus I believe this went on for a few weeks in a row until Burr was well enough to return.

The painting of Gene Tierney from the film Laura.

Chrissie would always play a Kinks song at The Pretender concerts. I went to one in L.A. a few months after they had broken up. When she went to introduce the song she didn't mention Ray or the Kinks but she said 'don't fall in love with your idols'. There was some pain in her voice when saying that.

I had a great seat right in the middle, about 20 rows back and right next to an aisle so I didn't have any 'heads' blocking my view. Yes, great show. I really felt like I was back in time about 30 or so years since most of the songs were from the early years; all of the hits. Plus he talked about some of his favorites like Waterloo Sunset. A song he said was all about love and for lovers. Yea, I didn't know where I should of posted this, but 'off topic, favorite music' looked right to me even if I didn't post a link to youtube or any music.

I have never seen this Jean Arthur movie (Lady Takes a Chance) and since Jean is my fifth favorite actress I hope TCM shows it soon. Not a big fan of Wayne but him playing "somewhat dense but lovable lout" sounds interesting.

As others have pointed out Robin Hood was released in 1938. There is no evidence to suggest a massive promotion would induce younger generations to appreciate classic movies. It surely wouldn't get a 'bang for the buck'; i.e. what TCM would have to spend versus the number of new viewers such spending would attract. Maybe if someone very popular to younger folks like the Kardashians or the Jerry Shore people promoted classic movies on their reality TV shows this would bring in new viewers, but my guess is that these folks don't enjoy classic movies enough to assist TCM without asking to be paid. I compare this to the eating of healthy foods and the obesity problem. Most people know healthy foods exist, but they continue to choose to eat unhealthy foods.

Saw Ray Davies, former leader of the Kinks last night. Great show. The show started with just him playing acoustic guitar with just another guitar play. They played more the softer Kinks hits, and then a full band joined them and they played the harder rock ones. Ray was great and still full of a lot of energy.

Did she play Ms. Howell on Giligan's Island?

I have seen the cartoon a few times (once on the big screen at a revival theater when, like in the old days, they showed these adult cartoons between pictures), but I didn't make the connection until you pointed it out.

I think you're on to something here. Take the ending of To Have and Have Not. It is clear Eddie generally doesn't accept the women Harry falls for because Harry feels threatened. But at the end Bacall says the silly 'been stung by a bee' line and Harry says 'oh, you,,, you're alright'. This is his way of saying she is one of the guys and thus he isn't threatened by the relationship.

Darkblue: I was going to stay out of this but the use of a term like 'most' is something that really gets me. Often people use the term 'most' when they should use 'majority' as a way to sell their point. This is done in politics all of the time. e.g. saying "most people support XYZ", as a way to imply those the do NOT are some fringe minority. But if 'most' only reflects something < 60% or so, than the person using 'most' is being misleading (and on purpose I believe). e.g. if 45% do NOT support XYZ that isn't a fringe minority. NOW back to movies: I do agree with you that one cannot say most of the greatest movies were made after censorship was imposed. The statement was made like it was a fact instead of just an opinion. Even if 99% of film scholars believed this it would still be just their opinion and not a fact. I also find the point that censorship didn't 'harm' the quality of movies to be folly. It clearly did and while I respect the way directors, writers and producers would 'get around the code' often it is clear they are doing so and it adds a clumsy feel to the work.