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In the intervening months since September, CONSTANT NYMPH was released on DVD thru the Warner Archives. My guess is that the disc does not have a logo throughout the picture.

CONSTANT NYMPH gets its encore performance tonight. It will be interesting to see if the TCM logo remains on screen throughout the entire airing as it did in September...

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*ROBERT RYAN* MARINE RAIDERS (1944) with Pat O'Brien & Ruth Hussey INFERNO (1953) with Rhonda Fleming & William Lundigan CITY BENEATH THE SEA (1953) with Mala Powers, Anthony Quinn & Suzann Ball ABOUT MRS. LESLIE (1954) with Shirley Booth ALASKA SEAS (1954) with Jan Sterling & Brian Keith ESCAPE TO BURMA (1955) with Barbara Stanwyck ICE PALACE (1960) with Richard Burton THE CANADIANS (1961) with John Dehner THE CROOKED ROAD (1965) with Stewart Granger THE BUSY BODY (1967) with Sid Caesar & Anne Baxter EXECUTIVE ACTION (1973) with Burt Lancaster LOLLY MADONNA XXX (1973) with Rod Steiger

*JANE EYRE (1944)* From Agee on February 12, 1944: Judging by the play, the novel must have had a good deal of inter-class, feminist, ethical, and erotic tension. Judging by the film, the novel must also have the kind of darkly transparent, hypnotic tone and pace which seem never, any more, to be achieved or even attempted in writing. There is almost no symbolic resonance and almost no really taking or revealing tension in the film; there is very little, in fact, after the first twenty minutes or so that makes it at all seriously worth seeing. Those first twenty minutes, however, which are devoted to Jane's schooling and her first meeting with Rochester, are a lush, beetlebrowed, unusually compelling piece of highly romantic screen rhetoric. I suspect Orson Welles had a hand in this stretch. For good and for bad, it has a good deal of his black-chenille-and-rhinestones manner. After that, all you get is a careful and tame production, a sadly vanilla-flavored Joan Fontaine, and Welles treating himself to road-operatic sculpturings of body, cloak, and diction, his eyes glinting in the Rembrandt gloom, at every chance, like side-orders of jelly. It is possible to enjoy his performance as dead-pan period parody; I imagine he did. I might have more if I hadn't wanted, instead, to see a good performance.

The cannibalism was not in the original story but added to the screenplay. The author of the book, Harry Harrison, is still alive and in his mid-80s. His most recent novel was published in 2010.

A soldier says to Webb: "What's your idea of a perfect woman?" Says Webb to the soldier: "A good looking blonde swinger who runs a liquor store."

There's a funny sequence where after a private has killed a sand flea, the entire group has to go out and find the dead flea. The original title of Barrett's story, which was turned into a live television production, was The Murder of a Sand Flea.

I'm still processing a few films I watched this week. Today I looked at PLAY MISTY FOR ME, which I think was great. Some wonderful artistic touches by Eastwood in his first film as director. Jessica Walter, though, pretty much steals the picture with her dynamo performance of a neurotic. I did not particularly care for ONE MORE RIVER, which aired on TCM a few nights ago. I was looking forward to it, but it fell flat in my estimation, with long dry stretches only slightly alleviated by Diana Wynyard's fine performance and James Whale's somewhat interesting direction. On Netflix, I viewed AGATHA CHRISTIE'S THE MIRROR CRACK'D. A reviewer said Liz Taylor was fat, Tony Curtis was under the influence of something, Rock Hudson was still attractive and Kim Novak still had a good body. Well, I don't know about all that, but I thought the direction and English countryside made it worth watching. Angela Lansbury, however, is sidelined for most of the picture with her Miss Marple convalescing after an injury. She is not really needed until the final fifteen minutes of the picture anyway, coming in to neatly solve the crime in its last few scenes. The best film I watched was SOYLENT GREEN. I am of the opinion that Charlton Heston should be remembered not for his biblical epics but for his science fiction work. Edward G. Robinson, meanwhile, gives a truly stellar final performance in this picture and goes out on one of the highest notes I have ever seen by a veteran movie star in a last role.

Webb's delivery of dialogue is unlike anyone else's in Hollywood. I loved the line "there's a man somewhere underneath all that baby powder." Interestingly, this was the first film script by James Lee Barrett, a former Marine. Barrett also scripted ON THE BEACH, SHENANDOAH and THE GREEN BERETS.

You're right, I don't think Malden should be SOTM. Hence, my observations/comments. You have to be more than a good actor (and sometimes you don't even have to be that) in order to be a star. I am going to start a new Joel McCrea thread in a few days, devoted to his DVD releases. I have a lot more cards to play...my sleeves (both of them) have several aces tucked in under my shirt. LOL

*ARTHUR LUCAN AS OLD MOTHER RILEY & KITTY MCSHANE AS HER DAUGHTER* OLD MOTHER RILEY (1937) OLD MOTHER RILEY IN PARIS (1938) OLD MOTHER RILEY MP (1939) OLD MOTHER RILEY JOINS UP (1939) OLD MOTHER RILEY IN SOCIETY (1940) OLD MOTHER RILEY IN BUSINESS (1940) OLD MOTHER RILEY'S CIRCUS (1941) OLD MOTHER RILEY'S GHOSTS (1941) OLD MOTHER RILEY OVERSEAS (1943) OLD MOTHER RILEY DETECTIVE (1943) OLD MOTHER RILEY AT HOME (1945) OLD MOTHER RILEY'S NEW VENTURE (1949) OLD MOTHER RILEY, HEADMISTRESS (1950) OLD MOTHER RILEY'S JUNGLE TREASURE (1952) OLD MOTHER RILEY MEETS THE VAMPIRE (1952) with Bela Lugosi

*GOVERNMENT GIRL (1943)* From Agee on December 4, 1943: GOVERNMENT GIRL, a comedy about wartime Washington, is Dudley Nichols' first shot at directing. Some of it is awful, especially some of the things gentle little Miss De Havilland has to do for laughs. But some more of it has a crude energy and lack of timidity and polish which are a pleasure even when nothing much else is doing. And here and there, especially with the surprising Sonny Tufts and other men, Nichols gets down some sharp, nasty, funny comment on business men and politicians.

*NANCY DAVIS* THE HELLCATS OF THE NAVY (1957) with Ronald Reagan

RIDERS TO THE STARS is being re-aired on April 25th at 6:30 p.m. So that will fill one of the gaps in what you have posted.

lzcutter, I wish I had the same faith as you, but when I see Angela Lansbury get yet another month and now Karl Malden, instead of a real leading actor and legitimate movie star like Joel McCrea, it makes me think that the programmers are not listening to their customers. Look at all the views and replies on your Joel McCrea for SOTM thread...that should tell them that their ratings will go up if they honor our wish, because there is a huge group of Joel McCrea fans. The more viewers they get during a month, then in theory, the more DVDs and other related media products they can sell. So it makes economic sense as well as common sense for them to get a Joel McCrea tribute on the schedule sooner rather than later. If it's a matter of securing rights to some titles, then at the very least they can offer him as a SUTS honoree, because he was under contract to RKO and there are plenty of RKO McCrea titles in the Turner library. He also made a few at MGM and United Artists, so they do have titles to use. There is no excuse for them to keep delaying this tribute, especially when fans have been clamoring for it a long time. If they continue to put it off, then that tells me the TCM Programmers are being selfish and picking the artists and titles they want, instead of what their viewers want. Now, of course, I am not speaking for all the Joel McCrea fans, and each one of us has different levels of intensity and flair when it comes to our passion for classic movies and classic film stars. But I felt like this thread was a perfect place to get in another plug about Joel McCrea. And when one of the TCM Programmers posted on this thread, I felt a sense of victory because I knew he or she had read my earlier post, and I know he or she will read this response to you. Thanks.

This is the best thread of the year (and the year's young). This is exactly what TCM needs: direct feedback and accountability to customers/viewers. After this thread falls to page 10, it needs to routinely be brought back to page one. I hope we have more threads exactly like this on other topics that programmers need to address. This is a great channel, but it has much to improve.

>I did like the way that it said "TCM tried to get a copy..." That almost had me thinking that it was in response to those of us who complain about such things here. I am most certain it was. That proves the power we have as a collective consumer group. They need to start listening to us about the overplayed titles. And about our unanimous wish that Joel McCrea finally be made Star of the Month. This has gone on long enough, and the viewers/fans of TCM deserve better.

*JOHN LUND* MISS TATLOCK'S MILLIONS (1948) with Wanda Hendrix & Barry Fitzgerald NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES (1948) with Edward G. Robinson, Gail Russell & Virginia Bruce BRIDE OF VENGEANCE (1949) with Paulette Goddard & MacDonald Carey MY FRIEND IRMA (1949) with Marie Wilson & Diana Lynn MY FRIEND IRMA GOES WEST (1950) with Marie Wilson, Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis NO MAN OF HER OWN (1950) with Barbara Stanwyck DARLING, HOW COULD YOU! (1951) with Joan Fontaine & Mona Freeman STEEL TOWN (1952) with Ann Sheridan JUST ACROSS THE STREET (1952) with Ann Sheridan BRONCO BUSTER (1952) with Scott Brady WOMAN THEY ALMOST LYNCHED (1953) with Brian Donlevy & Audrey Totter FIVE GUNS WEST (1955) with Dorothy Malone CHIEF CRAZY HORSE (1955) with Victor Mature & Suzann Ball DAKOTA INCIDENT (1956) with Linda Darnell & Dale Robertson BATTLE STATIONS (1956) with William Bendix, Keefe Braselle & Richard Boone AFFAIR IN RENO (1957) with Doris Singleton IF A MAN ANSWERS (1962) with Sandra Dee, Bobby Darin & Micheline Presle

*ANCHORS AWEIGH (1945)* From Agee on August 11, 1945: ANCHORS AWEIGH, a musical about two sailors, a girl and Jose Iturbi, is thoroughly high-spirited and enjoyable. But once I have paid my particular respects to Gene Kelly, who dances and acts excellently, and to Frank Sinatra, I might as well move on.

*BETTY GRABLE* HOLD 'EM JAIL (1932) with Wheeler & Woolsey WHAT PRICE INNOCENCE (1933) with Minna Gombell & Jean Parker THE NITWITS (1935) with Wheeler & Woolsey COLLEGIATE (1936) with Joe Penner, Jack Oakie & Frances Langford THIS WAY PLEASE (1937) with Charles Buddy Rogers CAMPUS CONFESSIONS (1938) with Eleanore Whitney GIVE ME A SAILOR (1938) with Martha Raye & Bob Hope MILLION DOLLAR LEGS (1939) with Donald O'Connor FOOTLIGHT SERENADE (1942) with John Payne, Victor Mature & Jane Wyman DIAMOND HORSESHOE (1945) with Dick Haymes & Phil Silvers THE DOLLY SISTERS (1945) with John Payne, June Haver & S.Z. Sakall WHEN MY BABY SMILES AT ME (1948) with Dan Dailey, Jack Oakie & June Havoc MEET ME AFTER THE SHOW (1951) with MacDonald Carey, Rory Calhoun & Eddie Albert THE FARMER TAKES A WIFE (1953) with Dale Robertson & Thelma Ritter THREE FOR THE SHOW (1955) with Jack Lemmon, Marge & Gower Champion

*THE EGG AND I (1947)* From Agee on May 10, 1947: THE EGG AND I asks you to believe in, and laugh at, Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert as nauseatingly clownish city people who try their hands at poultry farming. Marjorie Main, in an occasional fit of fine, wild comedy, picks the show up and brandishes it as if she were wringing its neck. I wish to God she had.

First, let me say that I will not check back into this thread. It's a vent thread, and after I write this I will have it out of my system and move on. LOL I do not think this airing of Sweeney Todd is what Ted Turner had in mind when he created TCM. Sorry. This is not classic cinema. It belongs somewhere else.

*THE JESTERS* DOUGHBOYS IN IRELAND (1943) with Kenny Baker & Jeff Donnell THE RETURN OF THE DURANGO KID (1945) with Charles Starrett BOTH BARRELS BLAZING (1945) with Charles Starrett

*THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE (1946)* From Agee on March 23, 1946: THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE may be fun to see, but I feel it has been overrated. Even though she plays it well, I am not impressed by Dorothy McGuire, or anyone else, stunting along through several reels as a suffering mute. Nor am I willingly hornswoggled by Ethel Barrymore's unprincipled use of her lighthouse eyes, wonderful as they are. Still, the movie is visually clever. And until some member of the Screen Writers' Guild takes care to correct me, neglecting as I am doing such nonentities as the set designer, cameraman and editor, I will mainly credit Robert Siodmak for that; he merely directed the show.