EugeniaH

On the strength of ugliness alone, I agree with you!

Strictly speaking I think it will definitely be considered a classic in the future, but whether or not it's a good movie is open for debate.

Frank Capra uses rain for dramatic effect in two of his early pictures, in *Forbidden* with the two leads sitting on a park bench talking about their futile relationship as the rain pours down over them, and in *Ladies of Leisure* where the rain is used as a backdrop during a long, silent scene establishing the thoughts and motives of the lead characters.

*Saw THE WOMAN ON PIER 13 (1949) on TCM today. At least 6 of the 9 top billed players got killed in this movie!* Last night I saw *Brute Force*. Wow, I thought "...Fugitive from a Chain Gang" was brutal - this one beat it! Loved it, though. Can't count how many prison movies they've made over the years...

Great idea. I'd like to invite Sam Goldwyn.

With Dead of Night, there's a big similarity between the segment with the dummy and the TZ episode "The Dummy". There are other TZ refs that I can see - I'll bet Serling saw this film back in the day.

*(Take that Steven Wright)* I love Steven Wright! My favorite joke of his is, "Do you ever experience deja vu with people you don't know?"

I was reading the latest comments on Ascot's "Plan a Dinner Party and Invite 20 Guests" thread, and it veered a little off topic into the idea of publicity stunts. It gave me this idea: If you were to plan a publicity stunt for a classic actor/actress, what would it be? Would you be involved or not? (e.g., a hot air balloon ride with x, have a star dress up as a clown or some other crazy costume, etc.) I didn't start this as a separate thread but put it here, thinking if no one could think of anything they could just ignore it and move on. )

VP, you should invite Norma Shearer, tell her to wear a red dress and then sit her next to Carole Lombard. I'd bet you'd see some interesting sparks fly!

I love how, in the space of these previous 5 posts alone, the topics went from *Top Cat*, the decor of alleys, who killed JFK, "taking a dump", and Trixie from *Speed Racer*.

If we invite the papparazzi, we could call it a "publicity stunt" and use the hall and food as a tax write-off of some kind.

Hi Tom, I'm so enjoying this intelligent discussion! I love this movie, one, and to read all the insightful comments is wonderful. I won't add my own opinion (I think there's enough great stuff here without a chime-in from the peanut gallery ) but I wanted to say thanks for thinking up all these great topics for discussion. I love the stuff you write!

Okay, I'll try and think of five or six more to bring with me. I'm just so glad you're paying for all this!

*Top Cat!!* Oh, how I loved him. He made it cool to live in the alley among the garbage cans...

Hi ugaarte! When I was about 7 I had a big "crush" on Underdog! I used to get up willingly at 6am (an incredible concept to me now) to watch his cartoons on Saturday morning. I had my friend be Mighty Mouse and we used to battle it out... I was also crazy about *The Monkees* and Peter was my love (as a singer, though, he was the worst of them!). Eventually Jim Morrison was my idol. Then John Ritter from *Three's Company*...

When I was a young teenager my friends and I used to go "antiquing", go into antique stores and browse around (we were the exciting types, huh?). But we loved all of it, and where we grew up on Long Island there were tons of these "mom and pop" places. We also used to love to go to the grounds of the old estates built in the 1920s and earlier. Eventually I started collecting old stone cherubs, gave them away during a transitory time in my life, then picked up on it again...

...And goodness, I forgot to note that Carole Lombard should be there!! She was a birthday girl the other day! If you know anything about the kinds of parties she used to give (in real life), you would want her there. Notice how I'm taking over your entire soiree, BetteDavis...

I was thinking of calling up Ray Milland, and then stopping off and picking up Errol Flynn before coming over. Is that okay? Was Jimmy Cagney on your list? I think he's free and wouldn't want to be left out. Oh, and I'd love to bring Stan Laurel and Gracie Allen. Is your place big enough? Maybe we can get one of these people to cough up and we can rent a hall. With Flynn there, it promises to be a happening...

Cool, and I want to sit RIGHT BETWEEN your numbers 7 and 8!!!

Planning a dinner party is way too much work and especially for such glitterati, so I'll crash the party of one of the other posters here.

Do not... like... turnips. No. Brussels sprouts are good with the right kind of sauce (Umeboshi vinegar is good in small amounts). The Wolf Man cracks me up. Lon Chaney Jr. running around as a scary monster with a perfectly pressed shirt on! Other "blank thread" rambles: I'm holed up in a Starbucks at the moment and I've just discovered new music (new music for me) they've been playing: Beth Orton (Stolen Car) and The Jayhawks (I'd Run Away). I'm a sucker for vocal harmonizing and with the latter especially, their music is gorgeous.

Lombard!! A life tragically cut short, and the fans who miss out on the great things she might have done.

(SansFin): "Walk around a college campus sometime. You will see students walking across the street, heads down, while texting. You will see them holding their devices in front of them, even when not in use, as if they are expecting a message any second. You will see them text messaging during class (but not in mine, since there are consequences). In the most ridiculous situations, they put their hands under their desks and text message - you can imagine what kind of "activity" this looks like." I also work at a university (not as an instructor). It's interesting to read this post because just yesterday I was walking on the campus grounds and I decided to count, out of the total number of students I saw, how many were texting, talking on the phone, listening to their iPods, etc. Not surprisingly, out of about 11, 6 were "plugged in". It was a beautiful day outside and the nature/surroundings looked beautiful, but very few of us were aware of it, or probably even cared... Also, I've had many a near-miss at work from a texting student looking down and about to collide into me. The faculty I talk to say that their teaching strategies have changed tremendously over the years, getting the students off their electronic devices and interested in learning.

...And Alice Kramden says in response to this, "I don't know whether I want to live... or die!" :^0 (No offense, Ascot, I was just quoting the show.)

Phoned it in: James Mason in *Forever Darling*.