TopBilled

I like the Dorothy Dandridge films on the 29th. Good job on that!

Yes, I thought he handled THE HUMAN COMEDY very well. He knew the nostalgia lovers would be salivating over it and that the high-brow critics would be slamming it. He takes a middle-of-the-road approach and regards the picture as more of a curiosity. I bet that is how he would've reviewed Disney live action films in the 60s, like say POLLYANNA, if he had been around.

*ESTELITA/ESTELITA RODRIGUEZ* MEXICANA (1945) with Tito Guizar & Leo Carrillo SUSANNA PASS (1949) with Roy Rogers & Dale Evans THE GOLDEN STALLION (1949) with Roy Rogers & Dale Evans FEDERAL AGENT AT LARGE (1950) with Dorothy Patrick & Kent Taylor BELLE OF OLD MEXICO (1950) with Robert Rockwell & Dorothy Patrick TWILIGHT OF THE SIERRAS (1950) with Roy Rogers SUNSET IN THE WEST (1950) with Roy Rogers CALIFORNIA PASSAGE (1950) with Forrest Tucker & Adele Mara HIT PARADE OF 1951 (1950) with John Carroll & Marie McDonald IN OLD AMARILLO (1951) with Roy Rogers PALS OF THE GOLDEN WEST (1951) with Roy Rogers & Dale Evans CUBAN FIREBALL (1951) with Warren Douglas HAVANA ROSE (1951) with Bill Williams & Hugh Herbert SOUTH PACIFIC TRAIL (1952) with Rex Allen & Koko THE FABULOUS SENORITA (1952) with Rita Moreno TROPICAL HEAT WAVE (1952) with Robert Hutton & Grant Withers TROPIC ZONE (1953) with Ronald Reagan & Rhonda Fleming JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER (1966) with John Lupton & Cal Bolder

*ANGEL AND THE BADMAN (1947)* From Agee on March 22, 1947: John Wayne's first production mixes up Quakers with gun-bearing cowboys. The result is unpretentious, sweet-tempered and quite likable.

*MAN MOUNTAIN DEAN* WE'RE IN THE MONEY (1935) with Joan Blondell & Glenda Farrell RECKLESS (1935) with Jean Harlow & William Powell BIG CITY (1937) with Luise Rainer & Spencer Tracy THREE LEGIONNAIRES (1937) with Robert Armstrong & Lyle Talbot THE GLADIATOR (1938) with Joe E. Brown & June Travis

*THE HUMAN COMEDY (1943)* From Agee on March 20, 1943: The film is an effort to create, through a series of lyrically casual, almost plotless scenes, the image of a good family in a good time in wartime. Most of my friends detest it. A good many millions of other people, I suspect, will like it, as they liked the Andy Hardy films. I do not agree with either side. I think my friends are too frightened of tearjerkers to grant that they can be not only valid but great. I think the audience at large is too friendly, too gullible, too eager to be seduced. The picture is mainly a mess, but as a mixture of typical with atypical failure, and in its rare successes, it interests me more than any other film I have seen for a good while.

I'd love an evening of Preminger's noir on TCM...LAURA, FALLEN ANGEL, WHIRLPOOL, WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS, THE 13TH LETTER and ANGEL FACE.

> Hey, I'm the Olivia nut around here, and I only picked two of her films (Its Love I'm After, Strawberry Blond), as part of my four. Those are both good selections. She made four films with Bette Davis, and that would make a great evening of programming: IT'S LOVE I'M AFTER THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX IN THIS OUR LIFE HUSH...HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE

*CARNIVAL IN COSTA RICA (1947)* From Agee on May 10, 1947: I liked the score by Lecuona for this Technicolor musical. There are some fine Costa Rican backgrounds, a medium-good solo by Massine, who designed the generally uninteresting dances, and the dancing and acting of Vera-Ellen. I even liked Dick Haymes. I was also interested to see that Anne Revere, as a Kansan, was shown to be happily married to J. Carroll Naish, as a thoroughly Costa Rican coffee planter.

*MOLLY PICON* MAZEL TOV (1932) with Jacob Kalich YIDDLE WITH HIS FIDDLE (1936) with Max Bozyk MARMELE (1939) with Edmund Zayenda COME BLOW YOUR HORN (1963) with Frank Sinatra & Lee J. Cobb FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (1971) with Topol FOR PETE'S SAKE (1974) with Barbra Streisand & Michael Sarrazin

For some reason, Judy Canova is a guilty pleasure of mine. I am watching IN CALIENTE tonight, and Judy is at the very beginning of her film career. She does a hilarious number with Edward Everett Horton. Why these two were not put together again is truly a loss for us film fans. My favorite Judy Canova film is SIS HOPKINS. Yes, it is corn. But I love the way her low-brow humor collides with Susan Hayward's much more sophisticated diva. They play cousins! This is a film I would love to see on TCM.

THIEVES HIGHWAY also benefits from a nice supporting turn by Jack Oakie. It's really a very good film.

Thanks for the reminder!

*ALAN FREED* ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK (1956) with Bill Haley DON'T KNOCK THE ROCK (1956) with Alan Dale, Patricia Hardy & Fay Baker MISTER ROCK AND ROLL (1957) with Lois O'Brien GO, JOHNNY, GO! (1959) with Chuck Berry

*JOURNEY INTO FEAR (1943)* From Agee on February 20, 1943: JOURNEY INTO FEAR is disappointing. Orson Welles' adaptation of Eric Ambler's stories has sophistication without much journeying. However, it is good to see so likable an entertainer as Welles making an unpretentious pleasure-picture.

I find it interesting that people wait for TCM to show them a certain film, especially if it's already commercially available elsewhere. Where TCM is worth its weight in gold is those times that rediscovered flims, not yet released, get a chance to rebuild an audience due to a special broadcast.

Not counting myself, I don't know of anyone who's been lucky enough to kiss such handsome beautiful faces...except for my girl Olivia. Let's have a night of passion on TCM. *THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON (1942)* *THE HEIRESS (1949)* *MY COUSIN RACHEL (1952)* *LIBEL (1959)* I didn't even select her pictures with John Lund, John Forsythe, Rossano Brazzi and James Caan. If I had a second night, then I surely would!

I want everyone to know that I have been behaving and have not offered any opinions on this subject. LOL I do think there are a lot of other threads where posters express frustration with the TCM repeats. But we have to remember all the great premieres they bring to us throughout the year. Screening THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE on TCM last September has been the high point for me (and I'm sure it has been for others, too).

It has aired on FMC in the past and is available thru Netflix which is where I had first seen it a year ago. The cable guide gives it only two stars. It works because former-real life marrieds Basehart and Cortese have an intriguing chemistry. I think it should've aired on TCM primetime, and I would present it as part of a double-feature with Preminger's WHIRLPOOL, made at Fox around the same time. They both have the same haunting atmosphere and noir deliciousness. For those that are interested, check out the Criterion restored version of THIEVES HIGHWAY, the other film Cortese made at Fox as part of her multi-picture contract.

*GREEN GRASS OF WYOMING (1948)* From Agee on June 19, 1948: A white stallion and a black mare which are as magnificent as anything on the contemporary screen; and several considerably less magnificent human beings, who are around too much.

*WHITNEY HOUSTON* THE BODYGUARD (1992) with Kevin Costner WAITING TO EXHALE (1995) with Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine & Gregory Hines THE PREACHER'S WIFE (1996) with Denzel Washington & Gregory Hines RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA (1997) with Brandi, Bernadette Peters & Whoopi Goldberg SPARKLE (2012) with Jordin Sparks

You're right.

There's a thread somewhere on one of these forums about actors who appear in both the original and the remake. I don't know if we added Herbert Marshall to that for THE LETTER. If not, we should.

Well, we will find out in four or five days what the few missing gaps may be.

*A LOVER'S RETURN (1948)* From Agee on February 14, 1948: Louis Jouvet, in charge of a ballet troupe, gets back to Lyon after twenty years. He torments the bourgeoisie types who did him dirt. The story is essentially trash, but it is acutely understood, easily filmed and nicely played. Pleasant ballet stuff, backstage and on.