MyFavoriteFilms

I continue to find it interesting that there are people who want to keep applying words like 'masterpiece' and 'classic' to a film that is objectionable to so many. It's part of the disease of this film and how it infects viewers. I think a copy of it should be given to every African American youth with sincerest apologies (since banning it is not an option). Bogle comments on the casting of Gish which I mentioned in my original post in the thread. He takes another step: he states Griffy showed blacks and mulatto characters leering at white females (Gish's character as well as others). He implies that the director treats the African male as a sex offender. Cosby's comments are razor sharp. He says the director and non-black audiences were afraid of the power of the African American, afraid of the potential of his race. I could not agree more.

Probably the two most successful RKO stars during the Hughes era were Robert Mitchum and Robert Ryan. Robert Ryan worked almost exclusively for RKO from 1943 to 1952, making films in a variety of genres. He costarred with Mitchum in films like CROSSFIRE and THE RACKET.

Bill Cosby and historian Donald Bogle discuss the images of African-Americans in BIRTH OF A NATION. http://video.tvguide.com/TheBirthofa+Nation/TheBirthofaNationDonaldBogleBillCosby+commentary/1325132?autoplay=true This segment about D.W. Griffith's racist film aired on TCM in 2006.

- Glad to see SEPARATE TABLES on February 4th. - Deanna Durbin pops up on February 5th. - THE JOLSON STORY airs on February 6th. I have recently written about that film, having rented it from Netflix. Now if we can get the sequel, JOLSON SINGS AGAIN... - A great Fox film, THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO, airs on February 7. I'd like to see THE SUN ALSO RISES and HEMINGWAY'S ADVENTURES AS A YOUNG MAN. - THE HANGING TREE on the 8th. - COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA hits TCM on February 9th. - February 12th seems to be a day to celebrate the year 1939. I am sure people will be happy about that. - Two rarely seen Betty Grable flicks appear on the 13th: CONEY ISLAND and MOTHER WORE TIGHTS. - The original CIMARRON with Irene Dunne airs on the 15th. - February 18th brings a slew of Paddy Chayefsky films, including THE HOSPITAL, NETWORK and the rarely seen THE GODDESS. - THE INN OF THE SIXTH HAPPINESS will create a lot of happiness on the 20th. - 1945's STATE FAIR screens on the 21st...I would like to see the original with Janet Gaynor. - Jackie Cooper fans rejoice: it's SKIPPY on February 22nd. - The seldom shown postwar drama THE SEARCH on the 25th. A good story by Lillian Hellman and an excellent performance by Monty Clift. - February 27th: JOAN OF ARC starring Ingrid Bergman. This film is very hard to come by, so this is a major coup. - Billy Wilder's THE LOST WEEKEND airs on the 28th. It netted Ray Milland the Oscar. - March 1st means two versions of CYRANO DE BERGERAC.

So many great titles today: THE BATTLE AT BLOODY BEACH...excellent early 60s film with Audie Murphy AMERICAN GUERRILLA IN THE PHILIPPINES...Ty Power and the enchanting Micheline Presle THE DESERT RATS...with Richard Burton and James Mason DECISION AT DAWN...with Richard Basehart VON RYAN'S EXPRESS...one of Sinatra's later films PATTON...Oscar-worthy work by the always magnificent George Scott

The rear-screen projection involving automobiles or buses and boats or people on bicycles does not bother me so much (though it does look noticeably fake). It's when actors are on horses and supposed to be riding in the great outdoors but they are in front of a pre-filmed background. That is what I can't buy. Sometimes this is necessary because of a stunt, but many times there is no stunt work involved. And the actors are in front of these beautiful backdrops inside a studio. Why do a western if you aren't going to take the cast outside? You might as well do a drawing room comedy or a haunted house picture where it's mostly interior. The best use of outdoor photography, and thus the most believable and realistic, I have seen is in THE TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE. They wanted to do a Technicolor film outdoors. And it was done purely on location. CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA, another lush Technicolor western that boasts scenery from Glacier National Park, continues the tradition. You don't have to suspend disbelief when the story is filmed where it is set.

> Get a grip, MFF. I think you could be a bit more pleasant. I don't seem to recall making any derogative statements at you. Humor, yes. Negativity, no. I am going to state clearly that I reject BIRTH OF A NATION and refuse to consider it a classic. I will not ever change this opinion.

Yes, add KING KONG and SON OF KONG. A lot of people tend to get hung up on Val Lewton's work from the 40s (and he was brilliant, no doubt about it) but Selznick was first in mining the horror goldmine for RKO. And it was actually Selznick who recommended Lewton to helm the horror unit in the 40s. It's a shame that Howard Hughes did not use the 3-D craze more to exploit the horror genre in the 50s. They should've been doing remakes of those earlier Selznick projects with the newer technology. That's what Warners did with MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM/HOUSE OF WAX.

We would always watch reruns of Gilligan's Island after school. That's another show that should be on TVLand.

They wanted her to change it to Kit Marlowe which is the name of the character she later played on TV's Falcon Crest. Joan Collins was named after Joan Crawford (her mother's favorite movie star). And Collins actually does the Crawford role in the remake of THE WOMEN known as THE OPPOSITE SEX. It didn't hurt her to keep the same first name and basically develop the same sort of screen persona.

We can probably say that Father Dunne's story would not have made it to the screen if Father Flanagan's story had not been so successful for MGM. I can't wait for this to air today, to see how it differs...tho I am expecting the same formula.

I have never once accused anyone of being a racist on this message board. But I do think that some people are uncomfortable looking within and finding that tiny bit of hate or xenophobia that probably exists in all of us, something D.W. Griffith had no trouble putting on display in his film.

THIS really should show Mr. Ed in the afternoons when young children get home from school.

RKO did make some great movies. But like all studios, it had highs and lows due to the cyclical nature of the business. My favorite period of RKO is the early to mid-30s, before Ginger and Fred. Some of the work that David Selznick did for RKO at this time is just excellent. He brought a great deal of prestige to RKO and often did some very risky projects: THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD and my favorite, THIRTEEN WOMEN (about a pseudo-lesbian psychotic killer).

The 1990 version of MEMPHIS BELLE (inspired by the documentary) is not very crude at all. It's rather sugar-coated and romantic. LOL

I still have not seen THE KING AND I or any of the other versions. Terrible, I know. So I will take your word for it.

I had a hard time with THE PAWNBROKER. Steiger is great, but the film seemed too uneven, too disjointed. I like Steiger better as AL CAPONE.

I agree that Dodsworth's wife is probably Ruth Chatterton's most memorable role...and it's shame that people don't remember her other films as much. Her legendary status at Warners was probably eclipsed by Bette Davis.

I alluded to the studio system in my original post. When they were released by their studios and began to freelance, they were often competing for the same roles in independent projects. Many leads and character actors had been groomed similarly and had developed almost identical screen personas (Flynn & Power; Marjorie Main & Charlotte Greenwood; Charles Coburn & S.Z. Sakall). Of course, there are slight deviations within these examples. It's interesting that MGM did not put Robert Taylor in pirate movies in the 30s and 40s. That's the one difference between him and Flynn & Power. I guess MGM was too busy using him in glamorous roles opposite Garbo, Lamarr and Shearer.

Brando as Stanley is definitely one that seems hard to top. Vivien Leigh did it on the London stage, so she worked opposite another actor as Stanley before the film was made. It's hard to think of her doing so well in these scenes with someone else.

I think Tolkien was right...you can't suspend your own rules, or else the audience will know you are making it up as you go without much careful thought.

I have a feeling FATHER DUNNE will be a carbon copy of BOYS TOWN, but I am looking forward to seeing it nevertheless. And WONDERFUL CRIME is one I really want to look at, since it costars an actress from my hometown in Wisconsin...our very own Carole Landis.

What I am saying is that TVLand needs more variety. And they need more than The Andy Griffith Show to offset endless reruns of Roseanne and Raymond. I think it's a high-concept network. It's a clever way to market shows that otherwise appear on Hallmark, on TBS and on local affiliates. But they could do so much more with their programming to make it stand apart from the rest. (And I don't mean reality series or other uninspired original programming.)

I think TVLand has gone the way of AMC, into the graveyard of lost hopes and unrealized dreams. LOL TVLand airs too many recent series (and their status as classic television is debatable). I have a feeling that it is the goal of TVLand's execs to get Friends, before getting the rights to Hazel, Marcus Welby and Charlie's Angels. They should be working more with Aaron Speling Enterprises. How can you have a classic TV channel and not show any Aaron Spelling productions? I am sure Hotel is not as expensive to acquire as Charlie's Angels or Dynasty would be. And where is Love Boat...you don't get more classic than that. TVLand seems to want to show only sitcoms. Their idea of a drama is a western...and those only appear on weekends. So much potential, so much waste.

In the past, film stories may've been accepted by audiences willing to overlook the more far-fetched elements. But I can't. I don't look at them with such an 'oh it's just a movie' mentality. I want to know why the screenwriter didn't address the holes in the story...why the director let the actors off the hook...and why the viewer was given something so incredible to swallow it would've made inhaling a golf ball more desirable. I have noticed that there are things in movies I won't tolerate, even if it's a genre in which I am supposed to suspend disbelief more than usual. _The minor peeves_: excessive rear screen projection; stunt men and women who look nothing like the actors they are supposed to stand in for; dubbing on songs in which the singer's voice does not at all match the actor or actress' speaking voice; and a recent one (in current movies)..too many films today are too softly lit/too warmly lit...they use soft lighting all the time on young actors and on rugged characters in genres like westerns and action movies, it was never that way before...I want scenes with hard lighting and scenes that feel cold as well as warm. _The major peeves_: lack of foreshadowing when a stunning plot twist occurs (I think it's a ripoff and deprives viewers the chance to predict or figure something out in advance); scenes where supporting characters are practically chopped off on the edges of the frames because the emphasis has to be on the highly paid star (I can't stand that); and another big peeve is when gay actors are cast in straight parts and straight actors are cast in gay parts and they have zero chemistry with their onscreen lovers (if it's a love story, then there has to be chemistry, simple as that).