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I agree that Monroe and Fox did patch things up right before she died, but I think finishing the picture would've been an uphill battle for her. Obviously, they would have to replace Cukor, since she and Cukor were professionally at odds, and then they would have to find a director who could get new footage out of her that matched the stuff Cukor already shot. She would have a lot to prove on set to repair her already damaged reputation. I am sure that she would've prevailed and the picture would've eventually been completed, but it may have become another CLEOPATRA with budget over-runs due to her erratic mental state at this time. It's a shame that she did not get the chance to rebound and really sustain her star power. She died too young and too tragically. Hiring Doris Day probably had its own share of issues, but comparatively speaking, it was perhaps better for the sake of this picture that Marilyn had been replaced. Doris and Jim Garner do a great job saving this troubled venture.

Hudson only made one film with Day in the 50s. PILLOW TALK was released at the very end of the decade, in October 1959. The other two comedies they made with Tony Randall were released in the 60s. He did a few comedies with Gina Lollobrigida in the 60s, and there was one with Paula Prentiss that was directed by Howard Hawks. In the 50s, Hudson was used more by Universal in action flicks, westerns and melodramas directed by Douglas Sirk. As for Day, her 50s output was largely a continuation of her earlier film work in the late 40s at Warners. After she left Warners and signed with Universal, she underwent an image makeover and started making more risque sex farces. I think her best film of the 50s, aside from PILLOW TALK which is her most known classic, is IT HAPPENED TO JANE, costarring Jack Lemmon. It perfectly captures the Day persona, the bright and bubbly and wholesome American girl determined to share her joy with the world.

Thank you. They are also focusing on musical biographies in July. The Rusty series continues each Saturday morning with the last installment, RUSTY'S BIRTHDAY, airing at the end of the month. Since one of the JUNGLE JIM entries pops up at the beginning of the month, I am wondering if that will be the next series in September. They have obviously leased JUNGLE JIM from Sony, so my guess is we'll see more. Meanwhile, a batch of FALCON flicks with George Sanders airs on the 3rd, following a few of his SAINT titles. Of interest to fans of classic Paramount films is the fact that ELEPHANT WALK, starring Dana Andrews and Elizabeth, screens on July 2nd. And as I hoped for in another post, STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER, does make it on to the 4th of July schedule. Good! Spike Lee is guest programmer. There is also another evening where an unnamed guest programmer has selected James Stewart westerns. Perhaps that is incorrectly labeled, or maybe it is an indicator that Robert Osborne is going on vacation and we will have another batch of replacement hosts...?

Here's the line-up: _July 3_ STAND-IN...with Joan Blondell & Humphrey Bogart GONE WITH THE WIND...with Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable & Olivia de Havilland FIRST OF THE FEW...with David Niven THE LAMP STILL BURNS...with Stewart Granger...Howard only served as producer of this one. GENTLE SEX...with Joan Greenwood...This British production is a film that he directed and did not appear in as an actor. He does serve as the uncredited narrator, however. _July 10_ FIVE AND TEN...with Marion Davies NEVER THE TWAIN SHALL MEET...with Conchita Montenegro OF HUMAN BONDAGE...with Bette Davis THE PETRIFIED FOREST...with Bette Davis, Genevieve Tobin & Humphrey Bogart _July 17_ ROMEO AND JULIET...with Norma Shearer OUTWARD BOUND...with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. & Helen Chandler...This was Howard's first Hollywood film. A FREE SOUL...with Norma Shearer & Clark Gable CAPTURED!...with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. & Paul Lukas SMILIN' THROUGH...with Norma Shearer & Fredric March _July 24_ PYGMALION...with Wendy Hiller...He served as co-director. DEVOTION...with Ann Harding THE ANIMAL KINGDOM...with Ann Harding & Myrna Loy BERKELY SQUARE...with Heather Angel _July 31_ SECRETS...with Mary Pickford BRITISH AGENT...with Kay Francis THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL...with Merle Oberon & Raymond Massey 49TH PARALLEL...with Raymond Massey & Laurence Olivier

I thought about that, too. But POPI was also pulled off the schedule. That is a United Artists picture already in the Turner library, and it has had a DVD release.

Interesting comment. Some of them I edit, if there are references to obscure foreign films he is comparing a well-known film to...but many times, he does a series of films he has seen during a week and yes, they are very brief. Occasionally, he will just write a single sentence about a film, promising to review it more fully in a later commentary (he may or may not fulfill that promise).

It is interesting that he describes the supporting cast as minor players. Of course, some of them would have long successful careers, people like Lauren Bacall and Dorothy Malone.

*George C. Scott as George S. Patton* He reprises his role as PATTON, the decorated general in a made-for-TV sequel called THE LAST DAYS OF PATTON which fills in the missing gaps of the earlier film.

*ROSSANA RORY* THE RIVER CHANGES (1956) with Harald Maresch THE BIG BOODLE (1957) with Errol Flynn THE ANGEL WORE RED (1960) with Ava Gardner, Dirk Bogarde & Joseph Cotten COME SEPTEMBER (196) with Rock Hudson & Gina Lollobrigida

*THE BIG SLEEP (1946)* From Agee on August 31, 1946: THE BIG SLEEP is a violent, smoky cocktail shaken together from most of the printable misdemeanors and some that aren't. It's one of those Raymond Chandler Specials which puts you, along with the cast, into a state of semi-amnesia through which tough action and reaction drum with something of the nonsensical solace of hard rain on a tin roof. Humphrey Bogart and several proficient minor players keep anchoring it some sufficient kind of reality.

Yes, THE CLOCK is one of those MGM stories that you have to just accept and go along with for the ride. I find it interesting that Judy is so luminous in this picture, considering that it is not shot in Technicolor. I am always just utterly captivated watching her and Robert Walker in it.

Fred, It is definitely interesting to read what you have referenced. However, keep in mind that Adrian Scott was not only a producer, but he was a screenwriter. So if they had to find another writer to tone down the Communist overtures, then it may have been that he was trying to remove some of Scott's earlier material.

Yes, it could work that way. You would have to come up with a title or description that links those two performances of his.

Thanks for the link to the article. I particularly like ALVAREZ KELLY...and I would suggest that TCM show THE MOUNTAIN, a Paramount picture he did with Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner and Claire Trevor. In a way, he was like Robert Wise in that he worked successfully across a variety of genres with top name stars and big budgets. His collaborator during those fruitful days at RKO was producer-writer Adrian Scott. Scott was also blacklisted and part of the Hollywood Ten. When Dmytryk recanted, he named Scott as a subversive whose goal was to put Communist ideas into films. Together they made some very influential film noir like MURDER MY SWEET, CORNERED and CROSSFIRE. For many years, Dmytryk's testimony was resented by the Scotts and their friends.

*SONG OF LOVE (1947)* From Agee on November 8, 1947: The film takes the liberty of showing Johannes Brahms declare his love for Clara Schumann. Liberties are also taken with the music. Even so short a piece as Brahms's G-Minor Rhapsody is haggled to bits. I don't like these kinds of license even when they are excusable, or unavoidable. But very much to my surprise I did rather like SONG OF LOVE. All such inaccuracies and mutilations, and some clumsy casting, and some wrongly styled acting, were in my feeling more than counterbalanced by the real tenderness and quiet in which the picture was obviously undertaken.

I happen to think Garland's best work is in THE CLOCK, which I love very much. She is also effective in A CHILD IS WAITING. She proved herself as a capable dramatic actress more than once.

*STUART WADE* MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR (1954) with Anne Kimbell TEENAGE MONSTER (1958) with Anne Gwynne

*Non-Witch Margaret Hamilton* I had to search under 'Margaret Hamilton beautiful' in order to find this picture! She plays a very kind landlady in RKO's CHATTERBOX and does a wonderful job as a stern but caring schoolmarm in Republic's THE RED PONY.

Well, we know that GONE WITH THE WIND will air in July for the Howard tribute. So when that one shows up as being scheduled on the TCM database, we will be able to find some of the other titles.

Dmytryk was definitely an animated character. I remember him talking very excitedly about the making of CROSSFIRE, which I think he felt was his best film. He told us that the original story called for the victim to be gay, not Jewish. So, contrary to popular belief, this film was not RKO's answer to GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT. Instead, the RKO brass chose to go the anti-semitic route, instead of the homosexual route, due to the restrictions of the production code. They could imply the killer hated gays as much as he hated Jews, but while they could mention anti-Jewish sentiment, they could not touch the gay issue with a ten-foot pole. I think Dmytryk felt that as great as CROSSFIRE turned out, he could've made it even better if they had been allowed to address the gays in the military issue, this all the way back in 1947.

Lori, Dmytryk's career did flourish for the next twenty years. In fact, he was one of those guys who remained in such great demand that he did not really have to find work directing episodic television. After his film career went into decline, he was much older and semi-retired, and he turned to teaching.

I don't remember ever seeing this film on Encore before. It is scheduled for just two airings tonight. Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur costar in De Mille's western adventure as Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.

Another good one that Encore shows from time to time is THE GAL WHO TOOK THE WEST. Charles Coburn and Scott Brady are her costars. She ages into an old woman in that film!

*Gig Young in Doris Day Movies* He's second fiddle to Clark Gable in TEACHER'S PET and to Cary Grant in THAT TOUCH OF MINK.

*RAQUEL TORRES* WHITE SHADOWS IN THE SOUTH SEAS (1928) with Monte Blue THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS RAY (1929) with Lily Damita & Duncan Renaldo ESTRELLADOS (1930) with Buster Keaton & William Haines THE SEA BAT (1930) with Charles Bickford & Nils Asther UNDER A TEXAS MOON (1930) with Frank Fay & Myrna Loy THE WOMAN I STOLE (1933) with Jack Holt & Fay Wray DUCK SOUP (1933) with the Marx Bros. SO THIS IS AFRICA (1933) with Wheeler & Woolsey