ElCid
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Posts posted by ElCid
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Day 31 and NO NPG email. Checked spam before deleting and it is never there. Added tcm.com to contacts and that does not help.
Couple of days ago, sent message to an administrator to see if they could get any information from TCM. No response. No postings.
The tcm.com home site still asks people to sign up.
Just sent another email to contacts at tcm.com. I used the General Questions topic and specifically asked that it not be forwarded to the Now Playing Guide whatever since that does not work.
D***. While I was typing the above, I got an automated email from tcm.com to sign up for PRINTED version of NPG through Palm Coast FL.
1:12 PM. Sent another email to TCM (calling is useless). Did not mention NPG anywhere in email, but referred to an email monthly schedule.
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I like Lizabeth Scott and believe she performed extremely well in Dead Reckoning and Martha Ivers. She did as well as Bogey in Dead Reckoning. She was good in The Company She Keeps, but not as good as Jane Greer. She was good in Too Late for Tears as well.
I think perhaps it is the roles she plays. She is not that strong, overpowering character that many others are.
Jane Greer is one of my favorites. I have always found it interesting how much more glamorous she is in Out of the Past compared to The Big Steal. But then that may be due to what the director wanted and instructions to the make-up and costume people.
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Day 27 and No Guide
Called an individual at the number provided on subscribe to NPG on tcm.com contact us questions section, Now Playing Guide.
She answered "TCM," but after several minutes stated they are not part of TCM at all. They are the people in Palm Coast FL who handled the printed NPG. She kept calling it the "viewers guide," but finally acknowledged it is the NPG. They are getting out of the business of NPG, but are answering calls for a while longer.
Told me to go to tcm.com/nowplayingemail to subscribe. I told her I had signed up several times already. She came up with a lot of excuses as to why I wasn't receiving it and why other posters weren't without fully listening to what I was saying.
Finally understood that I had done everything I was supposed to, checked Spam every day, etc, etc.
She also implied that it is only sent out the first of the month. So if you sign up on the second you have to wait a month?
Bottom line: Do NOT call 800-826-1002 to find out why not getting NPG email even though TCM site tells you to.
I went to the website and signed up again. It states the guide is sent out on 1st and 15th.
It also shows a link for concerns re: the email NPG. It goes to tcm.com's support center. There are four "popular topics" questions re: NPG, they all send you to the sign up pages and the above useless phone number.
There is a number to call and leave a message that TCM may or may not answer at some point. 404-885-5535. You can also write to Viewer Services in Atlanta, but they have never responded to any letter I have sent.
I called and left a message, but do not expect to get a return call. If you call, do not contact the number they give you for NPG - that is the Palm Coast FL number.
It would be nice if an Administrator would contact TCM to find out what the problem is and what exactly is happening. Then post an announcement.
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The thing is, I believe they CAN be discriminatory as to their choices of which commercials to have. The reason you see commercials for just about any and everything under the sun on other stations is that they're trying to make as much money from selling airtime as possible, and their audience typically expects a lot of commercials anyway, so why not? But also notice....
Most networks, to my knowledge, have never promoted the sales of "box sets" of their most popular series, even thought sets of seasons of them ARE available for purchase. Like maybe there's somewhere I could go( a store or Amazon or whatever) and buy a set of DVDs maybe, of season 1, 2, or whatever of the CBS comedy "The Big Bang Theory". But you never see them advertised on CBS during primetime or any other time on that network. My brother in law for example, bought a set of DVDs that contain ALL NINE SEASONS of "Everybody Loves Raymond", but never once saw them advertised on CBS. Found out about them while online somewhere.
TCM on the other hand, already offers DVDs of old movies for sale, and books pertaining to some movies, or past movie stars, and probably does generate some revenue that way. so all they'd need to do is just sell enough airtime to cover their operating expenses and so can afford to be more discriminating in their choices of which commercials to sell that airtime to.
Sepiatone
I think the reason networks do not offer box sets is they do not generally come out until after the series have ended. At that point, they are no longer advertising the series at all.
There is also the issue of the "box sets" may belong more to the production company than to the network that broadcast them. Maybe the networks have a deal to sell the season DVD's as a tie in to an ongoing program?
Whereas, TCM can offer box sets of movies because they will never be additions to the series. Not to mention the rights to sell them.
But my comment referred to whether or not TCM could discriminate against a company that wanted to show a commercial that was acceptable on any other network. Freedom of speech and all that.
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Appears this is now about commercials on PBS and TCM.
I have some DVD's of old commercials and old shorts about cars. Appears to me that many of them were actually commercials made for showing at movie theaters. Many were too long for TV commercials.
I do seem to remember seeing some commercials in theaters when I was a kid.
If it would save TCM, I could agree to actual commercials between movies. Of course this would open up a can of worms. They would not be able to discriminate against the pharmacy, insurance, attorney, etc. commercials.
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Couple of thoughts here, Cid. If the 'sender' of the NPG is part of a skeleton crew, maybe they don't have the capacity to send it out on a Saturday or Sunday? Also, I never was a subscriber of the Now Playing Guide, but I do remember the promos for it that asked interested parties to contact TCM via phone or mail, and the mailing address was in Palm Coast, Florida. Now, this is probably a stretch on my part, but if the print edition and the e-mail edition are both originating from Palm Coast, is it possible that Hurricane Irma caused a lengthy power outage so much as to knock out a lot of saved data on the computer system? Is it possible that the power is still out in the Palm Coast area? Again, I don't know where the origin of the 'new and improved' NPG is, but there has to be some decent customer service out there. After all, this is TCM....not some airline! (or am I being naïve?)
Day 25 and no email NPG
I considered what you said, but I do not believe that is the problem. It it was, TCM in Atlanta GA would send out emails or have one of the moderators/administrators here explain what is happening. Last time I contacted TCM via phone I was pretty much told I would get it when I got it.
I do not believe it has anything to do with Palm Coast, FL, but I could be mistaken. That area of Florida is the location for a lot of mailing sites, particularly magazines. Whereas this is an email, supposedly from TCM.
I sent a mail order to PBS in Melbourne, FL before Irma. When I sent an email to check on status, within 24 hours I had an explanation and what they were doing to resolve the problem.
I'm beginning to think that TCM never intended for there to be an email version of the NPG which would be sent to everyone who requested it. Either that or they need to call the Geek Squad - or a 12 yer old.
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Um, ok- this is getting freaky, BUT THAT WAS ANOTHER TITLE I BOUGHT THAT DAY!
Even weirder- I didn't read it then and kept the copy for about 22 years, and then about two years ago, I read it...I mentioned it in s post somewhere the other day...
I liked it, but I felt like it could've used a stronger hand in editing. It's about 20 or 30 pages too long, some of Greshams ramblings needed to be reined in a little, in my opinion at least.
Probably me, but I have noticed over the past few years that I really don't like some of the long books by authors I used to enjoy.
I am speaking of mystery, detective, suspense, thriller types. Most of the authors seem to take 400-500 pages now to say what they said in 300 pages or so when first starting out.
And I think a lot of it is way too much philosophizing by the authors. As well as an overabundance of lengthy, minute descriptions of everything.
The Noir era books were short and this resulted in good movies in a two hour or less time frame.
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And what a difference one year makes!
I remember in the summer of '67 a friend of mine spent that whole summer trying to restore a '56 DeSoto, and it was a HUGE design difference.
Sepiatone
The '55 and '56 models for all Chrysler Corp products were dramatically changed over the previous ones. It was called the Forward Look. Really put a scare into GM and Ford.
The '57 models were the expansion of Virgil Exner's designs.
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Day 24 and no NPG.
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Marcar....your post harkened me back to my high school days. I was one of only four males in a class of 25 to take Typing 1 in my junior year. All of us learned on Royal manuals. This was beneficial to me since my older sisters had also taken the class, and we had an older model Royal at home to practice on outside of school (the thing weighed a ton!). Anyway, toward the end of the semester, once we had 'mastered' the manuals, our teacher had us spend a week in the 'electric typewriting' room of the alma mater's business building. It was crazy trying to get used to the modern apparati...our fingers were so used to pounding down on the keys of the manual machines that we made many, many mistakes on the electric ones (well, at least this is what happened moreso with the guys than the girls). The keys were just so sensitive by comparison. I took the old Royal to college with me, but by the middle of my sophomore year, I purchased a second-hand IBM Selectric. I became much more proficient in using that baby as time went on, and it served me well until I got my first computer in 1987.
I was a little ahead of you in that there were no electric typewriters when I took typing. Our class was about 20% male, but my high school had two tracks - college prep and general. Many boys took typing because it would supposedly help in college. Not sure if it helped my grades, but it did help me earn money. The college I attended required that a typed report be submitted to explain any deficient conduct. I got paid to type some.
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I'll reword that. They "did" send it out to someone. A sample email "did" get temporarily posted on here (I saw it for myself). That email had a link to a marketing company in it. The marketing company is where the new online NPG is located, not TCM. You could only see the NPG if you clicked on that marketing company link. TCM may email the notifications out, but the marketing company's link is in there, thus setting off the spam filters.
It is treated no differently than the fake emails you get that look legitimate, but have links that go to strange international websites.
Which begs the question, why doesn't TCM tell us what is going on?
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Six or seven years ago I got a DVD compilation of femme fatale noir films at Hastings.
They were grainy TV prints, but the whole thing cost only about $6 and I got about 10 movies.
Blonde Ice and Too Late for Tears were the two that stood out in my mind.
I think I've seen Lizabeth Scott perform exceedingly well in the big budget films like Martha Ivers and Dead Reckoning.
But Too Late for Tears is entirely her driven vehicle and she absolutely is in control of every scene that she appears in. She's so strong in this movie that I think she's even in control of scenes that she does not appear in!
Her performance as a greed -driven control freak is not only compelling but sympathetic, believe it or not. The only other movie that ever made me feel this way about murdering thieves was Bonnie and Clyde.
Lizabeth is supported superbly by these fine actors: Arthur Kennedy, Don Defore and the Great Dan Duryea.
Looking at Dan Duryea in this movie you got to say he should have picked up Alan Ladd's mantle as a big Film Noir star,but major stardom, it never happened for him.
I grew up watching Double Indemnity so I couldn't help but see a few similarities. Yet, at the same time this is a cheaper compact movie that almost relied entirely upon the Star's performance.
Because, the writing doesn't compare with Billy Wilder, but the plot is feasible, if not entirely probable.
As you probably know by now I really love this movie. And I'm happy to hear that soon they'll be some really good prints of it out there.
I have a set with these two and four others. They are not so much grainy as dark. However, I watched TLFT on TCM recently and it seemed just as dark, particularly the significant night time scenes.
Regardless, it is a good movie and a better copy would definitely make it more enjoyable. My set also has Lady of Burlesque (Barbara Stanwyck) and Martha Ivers (Stanwyck) which I like more.
And I do think Scott was very good in Ivers and Dead Reckoning.
I have the Route 66 DVD set and Dan Duryea is in two episodes where he is very good.
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The emails from TCM are probably ending up in everyone's junk or spam folder because they contain metadata from a marketing company that is known to usually send out junk. This is just something I noticed from a couple posts where someone temporarily shared these emails. (Actually an email just containing a personalized link to the resources, said link has a questionable reputation among email providers, based on previous reported activity.)
Doubt this. I check my spam folder before deleting and no emails for NPG, whereas I have received TCM notifications there before. I added tcm.com to my email list and emails from TCM now go to my inbox.
I don't think they are sending them out, but maybe to a few, selected individuals.
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The second NARROW MARGIN lost my interest with Ann Archer.
I liked her in that role and most others that she plays.
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Is it just me or does that picture of Marie Windsor make her look a little like Allison Janney? (Played C.J. on The West Wing, among other roles.)
Janney has won 7 Emmys. Four for The West Wing and two for her role on the currently popular Mom.
And yes not that you mention it, they do resemble.
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Just saw the promo The Narrow Margin (1952) Monday at 10:00AM (EST)
The majority of the film takes place upon the RKO "Golden West Limited" set as it rattles and rolls through movie magic very believably towards Los Angeles. It's a work of Studio/Stage/Special Effects Art, the great design of the various rail car sets, the lighting effects, plus an all immersive sound design. This is all intercut with second unit exterior location material and stock footage that convey the illusion of " the jornada", a road picture on rails. There are not many road pictures as tight as this one just judging it visually and audibly alone. One of my favorites 10/10
This is one of my favorite movies. As best I can tell, The Forty-Niner was an actual Southern Pacific/Union Pacific/Chicago & Northwestern joint train between Los Angeles and Chicago. This was train they arrived in Chicago on.
Central Pacific Railroad's The Golden West Limited was fictitious. The CPRR was a subsidiary of the SPRR at the time.
However, the Santa Fe did operate The California Limited between Chicago and Los Angeles via La Junta CO. Most passenger car exteriors are of Southern Pacific cars.
This is probably first movie in which I first identified Marie Windsor and have been a fan ever since. Same for Charles McGraw, although I recognized the face.
The film was remade in 1990 as Narrow Margin with Gene Hackman and Anne Archer. Though based on The Narrow Margin, it is fairly different. It is set primarily in Canada and uses VIA Rail Canada's Canadian.
While I like The Narrow Margin better, they are both good movies and well worth watching.
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All the more reason to enjoy some nice wine while you're hanging around those dark alleys, etc.
Did anybody drink wine in Noir movies? I always think of the main characters as drinking hard liquor or beer.
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One thing that has long puzzled me is how the movie studios KNOW their movies will be seen on TV's, laptops, monitors and whatever else, BUT the credits are sized for a regular movie theater screen. In addition, they now have little pop-ups or the phone screens to show a received or sent text message. Heck, I can't read these on any of my TV's.
Of course, the people making TV shows are now doing the same thing.
I remember both BlockBuster and the mom and pop rental places. I was introduced to a lot of very good current and classic movies through them. The local BB is now a gym.
I wonder if DVD's contributed to the fall of video rentals or maybe just the lowering cost to purchase them?
Redbox (DVD rentals) is still out there in my state, but I have never used it. Do see lots of people using them and have friends who do.
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Eddie. Watch the shows for your intro and outro as much as anything.
It would be nice if when you are discussing the next show, you give us the title. Or is there a reason you don't? Used to be easy for me to just check out the printed Now Playing Guide but that has been replaced by the "still working on it" email NPG.
Now I have to remember to go to TCM and search it out on the schedule.
Thanks.
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Vinyl only made a niche "comeback" with music buffs and hipsters because of nostalgia and bucking the system, but it hasn't sold the mainstream--
A new technology only takes over when it solves a problem, and if you play one, most people still notice the problems vinyl LP had in the 70's--Not the least of which is the "Warping in the sun" problem that made us love CD's in the 80's. My sister refuses to give up her childhood LP collection and still has a turntable (even though I keep telling her that the Windjammer soundtrack is now on iTunes), and when she dug out one of her records for the kids while I was there, I thought "What's that SOUND??" It was a scratchy needle, something I literally hadn't heard in thirty years.
Say that to an LP defender, and they defend, "Yeah, that was what was so great, that made the recording real!" Er, no thanks. That's like a VHS loyalist saying "It's not a real movie unless you rewind!"
CD's are struggling outside of the collector market because
A) most people would rather buy one new hit single, and
B )there's just not many places you can play them. MP3 became more portable, and aside from the "Blast box" fantasy of college students' first apartments, most mainstream-adult stereo systems are now compact little data bars that also play the TV's stereo.
Newspaper and magazines, like Newsweek, are better on a tablet reader, because we're more paper-conscious than we were thirty years ago, and don't like cluttering up old news-obsolete issues in our living rooms from two months ago like a dentist's office. (And btw: You still get paper catalogues by mail??)
But try to apply the "Look what happened to CD's and magazines!" format to movies, and it simply doesn't work: We do sit down in one place to watch movies, we buy a whole movie, not one scene, and we WANT them to be in hard format on a big shelf in our living room, so we can have the sentimental security of knowing they're there every day.
The market will gravitate to what the public wants, and every day, it's now finding a reason why they didn't really "want" digital and streaming after all.
All we have to do is keep from throwing the baby out with the bathwater, before it can grow up and go to college.
There are lots of "places" you can play CD's. CD players are still sold in most, if not all, stores that sell music playing equipment. My computer plays CD's. They are still available on all cars that I know of. I have 2010, 2011 and 2014 vehicles and they all have CD players with one having a 6 disc CD changer. Have researched several 2017/2018 vehicles and they all have CD players.
And yes, there are lots of companies that still send out paper catalogs. All you have to do is ask them.
No one "reads" on tablets, laptops, etc. because they are more "paper-conscious" in that they are trying to save the forests, etc. They do it because it is more convenient for them or "techy" maybe. As for "cluttering up," recycle. Not to mention that electronic devices use up energy, the bulk of which comes from coal and petroleum and petroleum is the product from which the devices are made. And within a few years, most end up in landfills and/or the oceans.
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Per Eddie: Sam Fuller is "one of the greatest Americans of the 20th century" (find out why next week).
Scandal Sheet with Broderick Crawford, Donna Reed and John Derek. Dir: Phil Carlson. Screenwriters: Sherdeman, Ling, Poe and Fuller. Not sure why it took four people to write screenplay based on a book by one of them. The TCM description may be missing some punctuation. It appears that Fuller wrote the book, but did not contribute to the screenplay itself? Screenplay based on book by Fuller and Wim Winders(?) per Amazon. Full (TCM) description of movie at site below.
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/27678/Scandal-Sheet/articles.html
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Day ____ and NO Now Playing Guide email
in General Discussions
Posted
That is what nobody is addressing. You would think somebody could do a simple email or a post on this site to explain what is happening.