MyFavoriteFilms

Our racist history can end at a certain point in time. It does not need to be excused or perpetuated through film. Remember when I posted those reviews from users on the TCM database? One was from a home-school parent who uses it to teach about racism and to educate her children in a way that is more enlightened than D.W. Griffith ever was. The fact that the film was popular back in the proverbial day does not mean audiences were necessarily clamoring for tales of racism. A lot of extra-filmic factors went into why patrons watched the movies they did. It's liberating to identify and label BIRTH OF A NATION as a racist film. It gives today's viewer power over the ignorance of the past.

Maybe Robert Osborne's gossipy tidbits will become another link. This will be a full-service schedule.

Any time characters are trying to put on the big show, it's a ludicrous premise. How many people in real life go around trying to put on the big show? LOL It's one of the most overused musical plots in history. But in this case, the elements combine in such a fun way that it's irresistible.

Of course the director was a segregationist and a racist...what other kind of person would make a film where the **** are heroes???

The last time I watched THE SET UP, I used a stopwatch and compared real time with the way time was shown advancing on the street clock in the movie. I remember it not being perfectly exact. However, the diegesis of THE SET UP is, for the most part, spatially and temporally continuous. It mimics a theatrical situation.

Yes, the little figurines are knocked off one by one in both the 45 and 65 versions.

I purposely left Vivien off the original post for GONE WITH THE WIND. I believe Selznick should've cast Miriam Hopkins and will think this way forever. I can't even pick her for STREETCAR (I love her technique, but I prefer her playing a Brit, instead of an anachronistic southern belle). The film she should've made and backed out of was SEPARATE TABLES. I disagree about Bette as Baby Jane Hudson. I think she and Joan were both miscast in that film, although they do an excellent job imitating former child stars. The film should've been cast with actresses who actually were child stars in Hollywood back then. There were plenty of these gals they could've hired. The novelty aspect would've been greater. I agree about Peter O'Toole as LAWRENCE. Everything is so right about that casting.

Oh, I love TEA FOR TWO. It's my favorite Doris Day musical. That cast! S.Z. Sakall is used as more than a comic prop in this one. And Eve Arden has a lot of screen time with some great zingers. I could watch this one over and over.

> This is just "food for thought", I like to travel foward in time about 100 years (2100-2110) and like to see how that generation views us. Can *we* be doing something wrong today we don't know about but that future generation would be judging us for those reasons. Yes. I think there are many things wrong in today's society that will be condemned by succeeding generations. And they will make mistakes, too. LOL

Back in the late 80s and early 90s, Nick at Nite showed Lassie and My Three Sons as well as The Ann Sothern Show. That's my idea of classic TV, not things that were produced a few years ago.

> I'm at the library at this moment, and have just checked out AND THEN THERE WERE NONE and TOWARD ZERO. Inspired by this thread! That's great! Let us know your thoughts on the Christie film when you have seen it...

> {quote:title=Kinokima wrote:}{quote} > The Producers was not making fun of the Holocaust but Nazis. I am going to wait until 98 other people agree, then I will disagree. LOL

Well, at least she tried new variations. LOL

> You should then specify that. Something along the lines of Main could have done Charlotte Greenwood's bucolic roles, or rural roles, or hayseed roles, instead of a general statement like that. No, Turo, I don't think it necessary to write posts that meet with one other poster's approval. Sorry.

I have been unhappy with most of the other posts in this thread, because I don't like the way some people are presenting their arguments. But I think you did an excellent job. I also happen to agree about THE PRODUCERS...atrocious and tasteless, and he's Jewish. It would be like an out gay filmmaker choosing to do a film that made fun of what happened to Matthew Shepard. Egregious...and not one bit funny.

Allen's female leads of the past (Diane Keaton and Mia Farrow) are now replaced by Scarlet Johannson (in two of his last few films). I read an interview with Jim Belushi. He said something that I think made sense. He was describing the television sitcom landscape. He mentioned Tim Allen, George Lopez and himself...he said that in real life the guys they play on these working class comedies would never get really sexy wives. LOL

I have only had FMC for a year...from what I have read from other posters on these boards plus the comments on the TCM database, it appears that these two titles scheduled for February (MOTHER WORE TIGHTS and CONEY ISLAND) are very seldom aired on television. They have yet to receive DVD releases. I am sure we have Mr. Osborne to thank for these on TCM.

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE/TEN LITTLE INDIANS seems to be the antithesis of Christie's MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS. In the first tale, they're all victims. In the second one, they're all killers.

I agree about Woody Allen. When I watched MATCH POINT, I kept wondering why the Allen part went to Jonathan Rhys Meyers...then I realized that in order for him to get some of these films made, he has to agree to let the studio cast younger, more attractive male (and female) leads. It made a $70 million profit, which is better than many of the films he has starred in during the past decade. At least his writing and direction are 'young enough.' But he hasn't appeared on-screen in a film of his since 2006. The last five features (including the forthcoming MIDNIGHT IN PARIS) have been done exclusively with Woody Allen 'surrogates.' LOL

Maybe it means there's going to be a commercial in between the first and second parts. I'm sure they split it on the schedule for a reason.

Never would've thought about Preston in that role. Interesting. I wanted to mention Rex Harrison in MY FAIR LADY...supposedly, Cary Grant was offered the part but he insisted that Harrison duplicate his celebrated stage performance and turned it down. John Wayne was not the first choice for THE SHOOTIST. It became his iconic swan song.

CAVALCADE, based on Noel Coward's original story, airs with frequency on FMC. It's worth a screening on TCM.

MEN IN HER LIFE is available thru Netflix but customer reviews indicate the quality of the print is substandard. I am hoping TCM has a crisper print.

Sorry to hear you did not get a good recording of WONDERFUL CRIME. It's a nifty little screwball comedy with elements of mystery and suspense. Carole is teamed with real-life buddy Pat O'Brien and George Murphy. O'Brien hired Carole for two films (these were done by his independent production company, away from his home studio of RKO and her home base of Fox). When she died in 1948, he was one of her pallbearers, along with her other close friend Cesar Romero. I wish TCM would screen more of Carole's films. They tend to show her earlier work for Hal Roach Studios...and do not often air her features at Fox. FMC has scheduled WINTERTIME next month. Here are some upcoming air times for Carole: NOVEMBER 21 I Wake Up Screaming - Fox Movie Channel 7:00AM (Eastern) NOVEMBER 24 Turnabout - Turner Classic Movies 6:00AM DECEMBER 12 I Wake Up Screaming - Fox Movie Channel 10:00AM (Eastern) DECEMBER 19 Wintertime - Fox Movie Channel 8:00AM (Eastern) DECEMBER 20 I Wake Up Screaming - Fox Movie Channel 11:00AM (Eastern) JANUARY 11 Topper Returns - Turner Classic Movies 11:00AM JANUARY 25 Turnabout - Turner Classic Movies 3:00AM JANUARY 26 Topper Returns - Turner Classic Movies 2:45PM

Comedy is, to varying degrees, the satire of human life. It may be very droll and subtle, or it may be very farcical and exaggerated. In all such cases, there is going to be plot contrivance, in order for the writer to make a point. Plot holes can (and do) happen in all genres. I don't think a viewer wants to feel cheated...even if the storyline is somewhat far-fetched, it has to seem like a logical progression for a character to get from point A to point B and back again. I remember reading an interview done on two of the writers for I Love Lucy. They mentioned the Superman episode. If they had just put Lucy on a ledge, it would have been very unbelievable. But having her get stuck in an unrented apartment, then having to go out the window to crawl along the ledge and get caught in a rainstorm was something the audience could buy. It was the idea of taking a simple premise (being locked out) and building it almost to the point of absurdity...yet, it still had some grounding in reality. The audience will go along for the ride if they can see the 'logical' phases of a character's lunatic circumstances. But if you just throw it on them without some sort of common sense or depiction of a general sequence of events, they won't believe it.