TopBilled
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Posts posted by TopBilled
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I don't like the idea of dinging the TCM programmers. But clearly, we can say that rescheduling SINCE YOU WENT AWAY so soon was filler.
It's a good film, but thumbs down on this decision, because there are many other good films that need to be shown. It wouldn't be so bad if the film was only 75 minutes long...but it eats up a large 3-hour chunk of broadcast time.
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Thanks for the comments. One thing nobody has mentioned is the fact that not everyone has offspring.
Another thing we're not addressing is why we don't see independent films or documentaries tackle this issue in today's movies. Is it too depressing a subject? After all, just how much entertainment value is there in a story like MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW...?
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We don't really have performers like that today. I suppose if someone like Harold Peary came up the ranks today, he would pay his dues on a show like Saturday Night Live.
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Personally, I would like to see the last few films that Ingrid Bergman made before coming to Hollywood. Two of them were remade in the U.S....INTERMEZZO, which she did for Selznick with Leslie Howard; and A WOMAN'S FACE, which MGM bought for Joan Crawford.
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*HAROLD PEARY AS GILDERSLEEVE*
COMIN' ROUND THE MOUNTAIN (1940) with Bob Burns, Una Merkel & Jerry Colonna
THE GREAT GILDERSLEEVE (1942) with Jane Darwell
SEVEN DAYS' LEAVE (1942) with Victor Mature & Lucille Ball
GILDERSLEEVE ON BROADWAY (1943) with Billie Burke & Claire Carleton
GILDERSLEEVE'S BAD DAY (1943) with Jane Darwell
GILDERSLEEVE'S GHOST (1944) with Marion Martin
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Disagree.
Rita was strong in all her roles, even in westerns like THEY CAME TO CORDURA or THE WRATH OF GOD.
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TCM is re-airing Leo McCarey's MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW.
This story haunts me a bit, I must confess. I don't think conditions have changed much in almost 75 years. We have just as many older folks in America living at or near the poverty level as we ever did.
The phrase 'over the hill and to the poor house' is just as relevant as ever. Except one main difference is that the plight of the elderly is no longer subject matter for movies in age-conscious Hollywood.
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I would define Gilda as a woman very much in charge of her sex life. She uses her femininity to do as much damage to those men as they do to her.
However, this is not the role I was thinking of when I mentioned Hayworth. I would rate her strong presence in other films above GILDA...namely, THE LOVES OF CARMEN; AFFAIR IN TRINIDAD and THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI.
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Charlton Heston and Rosalind Cash more than kiss in THE OMEGA MAN. She conceives a child by him.
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Of the ones you mentioned, I would say that the Stanwyck picture THE LADY GAMBLES has the greatest chance of surfacing on TCM. Why? Well, because TCM partnered with Universal and issued it on a special disc...so with all the cross-promotional marketing possibilities, I think that one is a natural for airplay. Also, it seems to fall into many categories given its cast, its theme and its genre.
SORRY, WRONG NUMBER is in dire need of restoration. It would work well during the 31 days of Oscar since it was Stanwyck's fourth Oscar nomination for the best actress award.
I think BODY AND SOUL is controlled by Lions Gate. Considering how often TCM schedules all those John Garfield tributes, this one seems like it should show up.
I would expect CRISS CROSS to appear on the Encore Suspense channel, and I am surprised it hasn't. Encore relies heavily on the Universal catalogue, and this is a Universal picture.
SUDDEN FEAR was made at RKO (Crawford's only film for that studio). Kino has issued a copy of it on DVD, but it is a rather shoddy print. This film should definitely be restored. Again, it would work for the 31 days of Oscar, since Crawford did receive an Oscar nod for her part as a woman in peril.
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I think we will eventually see the Irene Dunne version of BACK STREET. Most of her film work from the 30s seems to make it on to the market (her later stuff, from the early 50s does not).
If THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE and CONSTANT NYMPH have taught us anything this past year, it's that there is hope for something like DESERT SONG 43 to make its way back to audiences...especially because there is a market for it.
And on another front...aside from the singing cowboys tribute back in the summer, we seldom see Roy Rogers and Dale Evans films. The Encore westerns channel focuses on Gene Autry, probably because Autry's estate controls those and they have been lovingly restored.
But all those Rogers-Evans titles have fallen through the cracks (either because their copyrights lapsed and only poor prints exist in the public domain or because Lions Gate which controls much of the old Republic catalogue does not seem to find any value in restoring and remarketing them). This is where TCM could help save an important part of American film history.
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Add Rita Hayworth to the list. She never played weak-willed women.
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You're right. LAURA has been off-limits, and it's a shame, because it really does deserve to be seen on TCM. It pops up occasionally on the Encore Suspense channel.
DOUBLE INDEMNITY, a Paramount picture, is another one that hardly ever plays on TCM. Odd considering that it's so well-known and it's a Billy Wilder film, and TCM's programmers love him.
I haven't seen Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO on TCM in at least three years. October doesn't seem like October, or rather Halloween doesn't seem like Halloween, without PSYCHO airing on TCM.
And speaking of Audrey Hepburn and Paramount titles, where's ROMAN HOLIDAY or even SABRINA? Those should definitely be in heavy rotation. It doesn't get more classic than that.
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I think it's probably easier to just list a handful of actresses, and then have folks seek titles in their respective filmographies.
I already mentioned Bette Davis. Barbara Stanwyck is another one...she definitely played strong dames, even her rare victim roles had bite to them. Joan Crawford's work should be viewed. And so should Lauren Bacall's work and Lizabeth Scott's.
Don't forget Patricia Neal.
I think even someone like Ann Sheridan proves she's a sassy, brassy lady who should be taken seriously, even in lighter film fare.
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There is discussion in another thread about IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE not being shown on TCM. Supposedly, NBC has the rights tied up for several years. This is not the only classic film that is being prevented from coming to TCM, obviously.
I think THE GODFATHER trilogy has been exclusively leased to AMC for the foreseeable future.
And of course, it will probably be years before we see THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH on TCM, since Fox seems to jealously guard that title.
Then we have films like THE AFRICAN QUEEN which should be shown oftener but for some reason are hard for TCM to obtain for more than one rare showing every few years.
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Ray Danton & Shelley Winters:
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*GRANDMA'S BOY (1922)*
Harold Lloyd depends more on story and situation than any of the other major comedians. He has an expertly expressive body and even more expressive teeth, and out of his thesaurus of smiles he can at a moment's notice blend prissiness, breeziness and asininity, and still remain tremendously likable.
His movies are more extroverted and closer to ordinary life than any others of the best comedies. He is especially good at putting a very timid, spoiled or brassy young fellow through devastating embarrassments.
In GRANDMA'S BOY, he arrives dressed strictly up to date and finds that the ancient colored butler wears a similar flowered waistcoat. Next, he gets one wandering, nervous forefinger dreadfully stuck in a fancy little vase. And the girl begins cheerfully to try to identify that queer smell which dilates from him; Grandpa's best suit is rife with mothballs.
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*FIBBER MCGEE & MOLLY*
LOOK WHO'S LAUGHING (1941) with Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy & Lucille Ball
HERE WE GO AGAIN (1942) with Edgar Bergen
HEAVENLY DAYS (1944) with Eugene Pallette & Gordon Oliver
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I would suggest focusing on Bette Davis' filmography. Start with Bette in THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX. Also, I would say that Bette has a very strong role in THE LETTER (1940) which is scheduled on TCM in January. Even Bette's later stuff, where she plays a potentially deranged servant in the British thriller THE NANNY deserves a look.
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Another image from the film, this time it's Claire Bloom:
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>She was also in GOOD SAM the other night.
I noticed that, too. It was a small part at the beginning of her Hollywood career.
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Clearly, she is a favorite of the programmers.
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>It wasn't just the kind of veiled innuendo and fleeting erotic imagery which audiences were increasingly becoming used to. It was going to engage them in some kind of dialogue, and that's what unnerved people who were used to talking about this stuff in hushed tones, if at all.
And this film, THE CHAPMAN REPORT, has a lot of erotic imagery.
I am surprised that Warners has not remade it. There are always complaints in Hollywood that there are no parts for older women. This story has plenty of them. Of course, in today's politically correct environment, one of the female leads would have to be changed to an ethnic type, either an Asian, Latina or African American.
If TCM reschedules this film, I think it would work perfectly in a primetime block featuring NO DOWN PAYMENT, BACHELOR IN PARADISE and THE STEPFORD WIVES.
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I am eager to see THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER. I am surprised I have not taken the chance to watch it in all these years...thanks to TCM, I will at last get that chance.
As for Roman, I can understand today's birthday tribute. But it did seem a bit strange for them to showcase her back in November...there were so many other celebrity birthdays and recent deaths that merited star tributes. However, since I am a fan of Ruth Roman, I am not complaining about her getting all this airtime on TCM.
Miscegenation in Hollywood
in General Discussions
Posted
>The World of Suzie Wong, 1960, is a beautiful love story set Hong Kong between a Caucasian American (William Holden) and a Chinese prostitute (Nancy Kwan).
Only in Hollywood could a prostitute find love and it be a celebrated movie event. Personally, I never found PRETTY WOMAN to be very realistic.