slaytonf
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Posts posted by slaytonf
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The closest I can come is The Lady With Red Hair (1940), starring Miriam Hopkins, and Claude Rains:
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/1904/Lady-with-Red-Hair/
Click on the READ THE FULL SYNOPSIS link.
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6 hours ago, Fedya said:
Not in Silver Streak.
There is a maxim among anthropologists that goes: "They always do it different in Bongo Bongo." Meaning that if an anthropologist works up the courage, or is reckless enough to make a far-reaching proposition about human behavior, some other, playing the contrarian game, is sure to chirp up, "but they do it different in Bongo Bongo."
As if the one instance of Silver Streak (1976) means that blackface is no longer hateful and racist. But I maintain that the blackface scene in that movie is just as hateful and racist and wrong as any other. It doesn't matter that it was done with the 'approval' of an African-American (Richard Pryor). Of course it was done as a sarcastic condemnation of the practice in other movies. But's no more appropriate for a member of a persecuted group to use a slur against that group than anyone else. Richard Pryor exemplifies this better than anyone else. He used the n-word in his routines, trying to own it, and drain the word of its toxic power. But he realized its inappropriateness and stopped using it.
There is another example from a movie of the studio era which might also be mentioned as an unobjectionable blackface scene. It's the dance Fred Astaire does in Swing Time (1936), 'Bojangles of Harlem' in honor of Bill Robinson. Artistically and technically it's one of the best he ever did. Now nobody I think will say it is anything but a sincere tribute to a great man and dancer, and an acknowledgement by Astaire of the debt he and other dancers owed to him. Something rare, perhaps unique for movies of that era.
But was it necessary to do it in blackface? Of course not. I know what some people will say: "It was the times." No one thought it was wrong, it was just the way things were. That's the unvarying rationale. Or rationalization. That phrase is used to excuse so much that is offensive in studio movies. But I don't buy it. People making movies knew blackface, and the general depiction of African-Americans was wrong and offensive. Just as when you hit an animal and it cries out, you know you hurt it. The African-American community made clear their condemnation of the way they were portrayed in movies through many avenues. But their voices were disregarded. So it was not that people didn't know, they just didn't care.
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7 hours ago, Wayne said:
I can find nothing hateful about the musical comedy number Abraham in Holiday Inn.
Your reaction, or lack thereof, is immaterial. Just as your indifference to vivisection, or the use of animals in testing cosmetics would be. What is important is the effect on the subjects of these scenes. And though it might be possible to find an example in history, the reaction of African-Americans on an individual, community, and institutional level has been a continual and consistent repudiation and rejection. They were identified as part of a larger practice in our, society, and government of repression that involved economic deprivation, physical intimidation, and murder.
I suggest you look beyond your narrow considerations to include those of others. You would find a better understanding of the world, the people in it, and yourself, perhaps.
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The donning of blackface by white (and sometimes black) actors was and remains a hateful and racist act. It brought with it a set of understood demeaning stereotypes about African-Americans. While it is true a lot of the gyrations and contortions of whites in blackface are derived from African-Ameircan dance and performance, they were depicted as exaggerated caricaturizations, meant to portray it as buffoonery, and ludicrous. And while it is also true whites appearing as whites also were shown as buffooons and mugging caricatures, it was meant to mock these individuals only, whereas the pejorative depictions of African-Americans was an indictment of the entire population.
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You mean, like it's too good for TCM to show? Or is this another one of those baiting posts designed to elicit more of that tired old griping about how movie watching has been ruined by the civil rights movement?
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18 hours ago, JeanneCrain said:
“The Power of Christ compels you!” 💋
It didn't compel TCM.
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Glad I could help!
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How 'bout History is Made at Night (1937), with Jean Arthur, Charles Boyer, and Colin Clive?:
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/78115/History-Is-Made-at-Night/
Click on the READ THE FULL SYNOPSIS button for the full movie description.
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In the spoofy vein, there's the Derek Flint movies, Our Man Flint (1966), and In Like Flint (1967). They are silly, and outdatedly sexist, but James Coburn plays the expert-at-everything, master-of-all-situations Flint so coolly, so self-composedly, that they end up being a lot of fun to watch.
In the more serious vein, there are the Harry Palmer movies, The Ipcress File (1965), Funeral in Berlin (1966), and Billion Dollar Brain (1967). They are a serious response to the Bond-mainia of the time, with some really good anti-establishment themes running through the storylines. Except the last one goes over the top. Not a big surprise, as it was directed by Ken Russell. A one-off with George Segal, The Quiller Memorandum (1966) is also good.
In the super-serious vein, you have something like The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1966), starring Richard Burton and Claire Bloom. Based on a John le Carré novel, it's as much a downer as you get in spy stuff.
Then there's the Eurospy genre. These were mostly shameless trashy rip-offs of the Bond movies, designed to capitalize on the frenzy generated by Sean Connery's on-screen machismo. They were made in all different countries, Italy, France, Germany, Britain, and are mostly not worth wasting the time it takes to watch the credits. There are some exceptions, including Some Girls Do (1969), Deadlier Than the Male (1967), and Danger Route (1967).
A couple of TV series, both with Alec Guiness, and both from John le Carré, are also good: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), and Smiley's People (1982).
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The real question is does the moral fabric of society corrupt film-art?
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Don't hold your breath on those. If I'm not mistaken, Disney bought them. And if there's anything with a tighter death-grip on it's property--um, I can't think of a clever ending. Anyway, it's pretty tight.
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TCM presently shows cartoons Saturday mornings. They never were shown other times than the Cartoon Alley series you mentioned, even before a lot of interstitial material was pushed out by ads for the various money-making schemes TCM has going. The one time TCM showed a lot of the WB toons was for a tribute to Chuck Jones back in 2009, I believe.
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20 hours ago, Dargo said:
(...yep, as they say, "To the victors go the spoils")
They had the Bristol 400 manufacturer's son on the program talking about it. Though I hate to admit it, I have to hand it to the germans, copying a design that hadn't even been created yet.
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Some good souls are generous enough to post episodes of the UK version of Antiques Roadshow on YouTube (it's a YT channel, so you can view it without qualms). This is not to be confused with the Antiques Road Trip show I've posted cars from. A recent show from Bristol featured a car I'd never heard of before, the Bristol 400:
I think I'm in love.
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15 hours ago, Sepiatone said:
And what too, gets tragically ignored is it only matters how TCM's usage of the word "classic" was intended.
NObody at TCM really GIVES a s**t what you, me or anyone ELSE thinks "classic" should mean in this case.
Sepiatone
Now I feel two inches tall.
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On April 6, 2019 at 1:54 PM, NipkowDisc said:
they have hordes of movies yet to show before they get a single accolade from me.
Gosh. And the whole world was holding its breath. . . .
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Oh, and Arab images, too.
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TCM has done an exploration of Native American images on film, back in 2010 (incidentally, it proved no more problematic than their series on African-Americans, women, gays, Asians, and Latinos). Here is a link to the article on it:
http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/296716|0/Race-Hollywood-Native-American-Images-On-Film.html
As for TCM being an old movie channel, this tired old misrepresentation of TCM's mission has been repeatedly pushed and pushed down over the years. Evidently, Robert Osborne himself has been powerless to prevent it:
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As usual, the father is the last one to know.
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1 hour ago, TikiSoo said:
I don't know when this went out of fashion, but it's far preferable to the present trend of wearing the tightest t-shirt and stretch pants from your pre-preggo days throughout the term.
One of the more unfortunate of current fashion trends. I'd compare it to others that have come and gone, but why fill my head with unpleasant images?
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8 hours ago, Dargo said:
"You were a little hard on the Beaver last night, weren't you Ward?!")
owooooo!!
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So as time went on, TV got touchier about marital relations. Wonder what was going on at the Cleavers?
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Did we ever see Ozzie and Harriet's bedroom?
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7 minutes ago, hamradio said:
In an episode of "Law and Order SVU", Ice-T said "a devil cake in the oven".
The more things stay the same, the more they stay the same.
NObody at TCM really GIVES a s**t what you, me or anyone ELSE thinks "classic" should mean in this case.
Well, It's happened again. . . .
in General Discussions
Posted
Shoot! Again.