TopBilled

The part of Carlotta in DINNER AT EIGHT was probably a composite, based on several people. The flamboyant director that Jack Buchanan plays in 1953's THE BAND WAGON is said to be based on Orson Welles and Jose Ferrer. I suppose a studio feels safer if a screenplay incorporates the traits of more than one well-known person into an individual character to lessen the chances of being sued.

*Spring Byington* To Fay Bainter in THE WAR AGAINST MRS. HADLEY: I just wanted to know what stand I should take about the cherry trees. They're so decorative-- but they _are_ Japanese.

I rented NIGHT FLIGHT from Netflix about a month ago. I was surprised it did not have a long wait. It was definitely worth viewing. Now if we can just get the rights cleared up about LETTY LYNTON.

You're welcome. SISTER SARAH airs from time to time on the Encore Westerns channel. I would like to see it pop up on TCM.

>Now we all suffer as Universal seems to be sitting on the bulk of the Paramount library as well as a hefty chunk of their own titles. I just read that Fox is starting its own Archives line (finally). Now, we need Universal to jump in and start offering consumers classics from their own brand as well as the Paramount library.

*JON FINCH* MACBETH (1971) with Francesca Annis LADY CAROLINE LAMB (1972) with Richard Chamberlain & Laurence Olivier FRENZY (1972) with Billie Whitelaw & Anna Massey THE LAST DAYS OF MAN ON EARTH (1973) with Sterling Hayden & George Coulouris

*Noir by Number* Peter Lorre is a STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR, while Edmond O'Brien runs a gambling racket at 711 OCEAN DRIVE.

*SHERLOCK, JR. (1924)* This is not one of Buster Keaton's funniest (none of his full-length films were), but it is about a hundred times as funny as anything made today. Some of the houses, yards and streets are even more beautifully photographed than was usual in the old comedies. And one chase gag, involving a motorcycle and a long-line of ditch diggers, is hair-raising both in its mechanical perfection and as a piece of better-than conscious surrealism.

*WINGED VICTORY (1944)* From Agee on January 6, 1945: WINGED VICTORY has some briskly interesting and well-assembled material about the training and testing and rejecting phases of Air Force life. Aside from that, I suppose, it is all right, but I do not enjoy having anyone try to persuade me, so cheerfully and energetically, that the Air Force personnel is without exception composed of boy scouts old enough to shave.

*Acquanetta as Paula Dupree, the Ape Woman* She's a JUNGLE WOMAN, a held CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN.

*ACQUANETTA* JUNGLE WOMAN (1944) with Evelyn Ankers, J. Carrol Naish & Milburn Stone CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN (1943) with John Carradine, Milburn Stone & Evelyn Ankers DEAD MAN'S EYES (1944) with Lon Chaney Jr. & Jean Parker TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD WOMAN (1946) with Johnny Weissmuller & Brenda Joyce THE SWORD OF MONTE CRISTO (1951) with George Montgomery LOST CONTINENT (1951) with Cesar Romero & Hillary Brooke

Interesting idea. In January, TCM did present a recorded stage performance of Angela Lansbury in SWEENEY TODD.

Bright Road (not Bright Star) is often repeated during Black history month in February. I agree it's a worthwhile film.

>I just mentioned in another thread that I once didn't know the difference between Lawrence Tierney and Lawrence Harvey, but that was prior to actually having watched either. The one difference is they do not spell their first names the same. The British actor is Laurence Harvey.

*SECRET BEYOND THE DOOR (1948)* From Agee on February 14, 1948: Because he thought his mother didn't love him, the poor fellow (Michael Redgrave) developed a terrible, but of course forgivable, compulsion to kill women. Fritz Lang gets a few wood-silky highlights out of this sow's ear, but it is a hopeless job and a worthless movie.

*Esther Williams & Fernando Lamas* Esther is DANGEROUS WHEN WET, especially when Fernando is directing her in the MAGIC FOUNTAIN.

*RICHARD HARRIS* THE NIGHT FIGHTERS (1960) with Robert Mitchum THE LONG AND THE SHORT AND THE TALL (1961) with Richard Todd & Laurence Harvey THE HEROES OF TELEMARK (1965) with Kirk Douglas MAJOR DUNDEE (1965) with Charlton Heston & Jim Hutton THE BIBLE (1966) with John Huston & Franco Nero CAPRICE (1967) with Doris Day CAMELOT (1967) with Vanessa Redgrave, Franco Nero & David Hemmings THE MOLLY MAGUIRES (1970) with Sean Connery & Samantha Eggar A MAN CALLED HORSE (1970) with Judith Anderson CROMWELL (1970) with Alec Guinness & Robert Morley BLOOMFIELD (1971) with Romy Schneider MAN IN THE WILDERNESS (1971) with John Huston & Henry Wilcoxon THE DEADLY TRACKERS (1973) with Rod Taylor 99 AND 44/100% DEAD (1974) with Edmond O'Brien & Bradford Dilman JUGGERNAUT (1974) with Omar Shariff, David Hemmings & Anthony Hopkins ECHOES OF A SUMMER (1976) with Jodie Foster, Lois Nettleton & Geraldine Fitzgerald THE CASSANDRA CROSSING (1976) with Sophia Loren, Burt Lancaster & Ava Gardner THE RETURN OF A MAN CALLED HORSE (1976) with Gale Sondergaard ORCA (1977) with Charlotte Rampling THE WILD GEESE (1978) with Richard Burton & Roger Moore RAVAGERS (1979) with Art Carney & Ernest Borgnine

*State Fairs* From Janet Gaynor to Ann-Margret, all's fair in love and fun.

*GALE STORM* UNCLE JOE (1941) with Slim Summerville & ZaSu Pitts FRECKLES COMES HOME (1942) with Johnny Downs FOREIGN AGENT (1942) with John Shelton RHYTHM PARADE (1942) with Robert Lowery COSMO JONES, CRIME SLASHER (1943) with Edgar Kennedy & Richard Cromwell REVENGE OF THE ZOMBIES (1943) with John Carradine NEARLY EIGHTEEN (1943) with Rick Vallin CAMPUS RHYTHM (1943) with Johnny Downs & Robert Lowery WHERE ARE YOUR CHILDREN? (1943) with Jackie Cooper FOREVER YOURS (1945) with C. Aubrey Smith & Johnny Mack Brown G.I. HONEYMOON (1945) with Peter Cookson & Arline Judge SUNBONNET SUE (1945) with Phil Regan SWING PARADE OF 1946 (1946) with Phil Regan & The Three Stooges IT HAPPENED ON FIFTH AVENUE (1947) with Don DeFore & Victor Moore THE DUDE GOES WEST (1948) with Eddie Albert STAMPEDE (1949) with Rod Cameron & Johnny Mack Brown ABANDONED (1949) with Dennis O'Keefe & Jeff Chandler THE KID FROM TEXAS (1950) with Audie Murphy CURTAIN CALL AT CACTUS CREEK (1950) with Donald O'Connor & Walter Brennan THE UNDERWORLD STORY (1950) with Dan Duryea & Herbert Marshall BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN (1950) with Mark Stevens & Edmond O'Brien AL JENNINGS OF OKLAHOMA (1951) with Dan Duryea & Dick Foran THE TEXAS RANGERS (1951) with George Montgomery & Jerome Courtland WOMAN OF THE NORTH COUNTRY (1952) with Rod Cameron & Ruth Hussey

*CONFLICT (1945)* From Agee on August 11, 1945: Another domestic murder piece (Humphrey Bogart & Rose Hobart) that is quite well done. But its story is so fancy that it becomes tiresome.

You are most welcome. I think even Agee's harshness is easy to take, because there's always truth in what he says...and his ultimate goal is for Hollywood to do right by the average movie patron. Often I wonder what he would probably feel about today's output.

Apparently, he felt she was too much of a feminist, and he argued with her a lot about the interpretation of her character. But she's exceptionally good in the role, so she must've had the right instincts! They never worked together again.

Thanks, clore, I wasn't sure exactly when that happened. The remake, with Don Murray and Abby Dalton, was released in 1966.

Here's my opinion (for what it's worth)...and I have said this about Summer Under the Stars and about 31 Days of Oscar. Why can't they leave six hours open in the morning for their usual programming (to show precodes and other classics fans want to see) and then devote 18 hours, itself a lengthy chunk of time, to the month-long theme...? This could apply to holidays, too. Then, it does not get monotonous and everyone is happy. Also, I don't want to play the cultural/race card, but how come Irish films get a whole day on March 17th, and nothing is shown for Kwanzaa? I suppose the African-Americans get Martin Luther King Day in January, but why do we need 24 hours of Irish-themed movies? This is really not a national holiday in the U.S. (I am of Irish descent, so I feel I can say this.) As for Christmas, have you ever seen them play Universal's noir classic CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY starring Gene Kelly and Deanna Durbin? Now that would really break the monotony considerably! And I am going to use this opportunity to plug my favorite horror film, BLACK CHRISTMAS, which I think should be shown every year if we are going to do hours upon hours of holiday-themed programming on the 24th and the 25th of December.

*Thelma Ritter Nomination* Thelma Ritter earned six Academy Award nominations-- the first was for her work in ALL ABOUT EVE and the final nod was for her role as Burt Lancaster's mother in BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ.