JamesJazGuitar

I also enjoy the 33 verson over the 45 one, but like you I wouldn't say either was inferior, just different. It is sad that Fox flims are not in the best condition but I would rather be able to watch a film that is of limited quality than to not see it at all.

Good summary of this movie. Yea, I also end up liking the Kennedy character more than anyone else in the film. He was a cad but one can kind of understand how he got this way. The actions of the rest of the main character I don't understand (or if I do, I clearly don't care to).

I like Hawks' women in many of his films and as noted they had character to admire (not just window dressing). I would add to your list Jean Arthur in Only Angels Have Wings (and even the minor part a young Rita Hayworth played). But I also feel some of these actresses were only 'OK' as actresses in that their performance is somewhat forced. I see that with Dru and Bacall. Both were young and inexperienced and in some ways it shows (verses Arthur who, playing a non screwball comic role, showed she was a very experienced and fine actress). Edited by: jamesjazzguitar on Feb 11, 2012 12:36 PM

Bette looks very nice in this picture. I admit it bugs me when people knock better for her looks. Hey, she wasn't a Rita, Ava or Lana but she had style and was attractive to me.

I wouldn't fault Irena in Cat People because she was cursed. i.e. she wasn't fully responsible for her actions. Hillary Brooke in The Women In Green is a good one. Just saw that (again), a few weeks ago and she is someone I wouldn't want as an enemy. Of course Greer in Out of the Past ranks near the top of any list.

Well the tourist trade might increase if the Brits had a Hunting The Royals event. And yes, I didn't mean to say hunting with the royals! I could watch Meryl channelling anyone since she is so great at it. I think it is great that she has found so many great roles in her later years. More so than most of the actresses of the studio era.

Yes, a very good discussion that I have enjoyed. As for salad days; well maybe it has to do with salad being the first course of a meal? But hey, I married an Italian and now we have our salad as the next to last course (and of course we have to have at least 5 courses!).

Yes, it was November 2005. I saved that list on my local drive as a WORD doc, so I don't have to search for it here. It is proved very useful in these 'why has X been SOTM' type of discussions. I also used it when someone said that they could name 50 actors that should of been SOTM before Karl Malden. To me one would have to have a list before they could make such a claim. As for Joan, I get the feeling we have seen a lot of her this year (e.g. Born to be Bad has been on at least twice in the last few months as well as many of her other films). No complaint from me there. I love Joan (but I admit not as much as I do Olivia, who I'm nuts about!).

Well yes, but if we get tried of the Bushes, we replace them with the Clintons!

Wow, I see you really know your stuff and it isn't confined to only Durbin. You make a solid case that during those Durbin salad days her 'output' exceeded that of any other star at the time. So since she quit the biz at the tender age of 28, it is difficult to 'rank' her since, as you so clearly point out, most other 'greats' have a lot longer careers that transcend many different phases. As for Frank, my favorite period of his was those capital years and especially the albums he made with Nelson Riddle and Johnny Mandle. I always respect those with fine taste (especially when their taste is similar to mine ), so I'll be sure to keep a watch out for more Durbin films. This is what is so great about a station like TCM. One can still stumble across something great, that while it has been there for decades, is something we haven't been exposed too enough. Hey, on a silly note, in the first paragraph at first I used the term 'golden years' but I changed it to 'salad days' since that is what you used. Where did salad days come from??? I mean why salad instead of, say steak?!

I would pick Bogie as both Phil Marlowe and Sam Spade. Second would be Powell as Nick Charles. I rate Rathbone's Holmes lower because a really great detective wouldn't of had a dunce like Watson (as played by Bruce, not as written in the original books), be his side kick. Edited by: jamesjazzguitar on Feb 8, 2012 11:47 AM

Spend more time getting better at something I really love. For me that would be playing jazz guitar. I didn't really get serious until I was in my late 30s.

I love your post and the berry, berry comments. When I first saw this movie I said to myself; OK, his little brother looks up to him and has a pet name for him so I can expect to hear 'berry, berry' maybe twice, as a way of making this point (the affection between younger and older bro which is key to the entire theme of the movie), and that will be the end of it... Instead the makers of this movie keep this up over, and over and over again. It really is in poor taste. You would think that after the movie was showed to studio heads someone would of said 'ax out that berry, berry crap!'.

As you can see from a post I made below I also selected The Letter. I just love how the scene is set up, with the moon shinning, the normal everyday things people are doing, and a calm and still night. AND THEN,,,, Yes, a great effect indeed.

Hey, based on prior conversations we have had on related topics I believe you would understand where I was coming from. But during the various NFL and NBA lock outs the vast majority of 'working class' people I knew would ALWAYS mention the outrageous pay of the players and NEVER mention the outrageous gains by the owners. I found this funny and interesting. I would try to turn this around by asking them a question related to The Beatles; Who should get more of the pie; The 4 guys making the music or the 'suits' at the record company. The confused looks were priceless!

A lot of people have been pushing for Joel and I have been pushing for Howard since I joined. Good to see they will be SOTM. But what will I complain about now???? Oh, I'm sure I find something.

Well I'm one of those Americans that feel Britain should just do away with the entire royal order. To me it is just downright silly. People are not special because of birth. I would rather hang out with the guy who owns Virgin Airlines (just an example of someone that I find interesting), than the entire so called royal family. Time to end this folly. We have the Kardashians and they have the royals! Both not worth a hill of beans.

I agree with you here; This is why I wish TCM would change it's name to TSEM; Turner Studio Era Movies. I would still have NO problem with TSEM showing movies made from the 70s on, as long as they represented less than 10% or so of their lineup. As time marches on I don't wish for the station to show a higher and higher percent of post 60s movies. Again, I enjoy many of those movies but when I go to TCM my expectations is to see mostly studio era movies.

Who would be 10 'major stars' that you feel are more deserving than Malden? I can think of 2; Leslie Howard and Joel McCrea, but 50 sounds like an overstatement. A list of who has been SOTM is available.

I have to admit I have no idea what you are trying to get at. i.e. what 'way' you think I am. I enjoy many post 1968 movies. Many. When I use the term 'more so' it means,, well 'more so'. I like Thai food more so than Chinese. Next you will be assuming I don't like Chinese food. ! But everyone knows only Italian food is classic!

I consider Sinatra to be the 'greatest' singers of the American songbook but not one of the greatest actors. (I also feel Frank was the greatest entertainer of the 20th century) But I admit I don't understand your point about his weak Metro period. Someone I consider to be 'great' can have down periods and or weak work. Note that Day and Andrews do NOT fit my criteria as one of the greatest. I only mentioned them because I feel they have more of a lasting legacy than Durbin has (I admit neither of us can back up such a claim since determining how popular someone is, isn't easy). But I don't consider those two in the same category as Garland. Hey, I may be over hyping Garland too much, but I consider her to be the best from her era (going from a teen and into adulthood). As for Garbo, I do believe she is over hyped to some degree, but that is a discussion for another thread. But you again misunderstood what I mean by 'spotlight'. The only spotlight I care about is someone's actual work. As you know Durbin stopped making films (recordings also??), by the age of 28. All this adds to the uniqueness of Durbin. In the case of Garbo, her stopping might of added to her legacy (I think it did), but not so much with Durbin. PS: I did edit this text when I noticed that I spelled 'believe' as 'beleive' but the spell checker available here didn't catch that one. Strange but this spell checker is one of the worst I have ever used. Oh well. Edited by: jamesjazzguitar on Feb 6, 2012 8:59 PM

Poland had some guns. France had some. Didn't help them much.

I try to avoid using the term classic since it means different things to different people. I have no idea what 'classic' means. I also feel classic is a self serving term. Hey, what I like is classic and when others disagree,,, well they don't know what is classic! All I know if that generally I enjoy studio era movies (1930 - 1968) more so than movies made after that. But since the studio era did crank out a lot of movies there are indeed many low quality films made in that era.

With regards to the "mysterious ambiguous Olivia deHavilland" a review I saw on the movie in the book The Films of Olivia deHavilland knock the movie for the fact that Olivia's character is indeed to ambigous. It isn't even very clear when she dies where she stood. It was nice to see Olivia back making movies after 3 or so years away and after her great late 40s run. Olivia looked very nice in the movie but I do see what they review was getting at.

If in the aggregate the athletes take in less than the owners, how are they making outrageous salaries? Sports is very big business and takes in a lot of cash for everyone involved. I find it ironic that most of the attention is focused only on what the actual players make, when often they don't even get 50% of the pie.