AddisonDeWitless

> {quote:title=hlywdkjk wrote:}{quote}And whoever was wondering, *Double Indemnity* is showing at 8pm/5pm Wednesday, December 20th. (The film's lease to the Encore Channels must have run out.) Oh good.

Yeah, yeah, but I mean, do you like Christmas in Connecticut ? Love Barbara, Love Greenstreet, Love WB films of the era, like Dennis Morgan just fine, but- eckh- the picture just does not work. I blame the "Ole Magoo." ...Oh, and the fact that Dixiebelle Lee is in it and she does not reprise her Gone with the Wind number from The Awful Truth.

> {quote:title=TopBilled wrote:}{quote}I recorded (Fatso) back in May or June of this year, and I know FMC has rescheduled it at least once since then. "(Makes the sound Sideshow Bob makes when he repeatedly steps on the rakes in the Cape Feare espisode of The Simpsons )" That movie. (again makes sound) You know Anne Bancroft directed it, not Brooks, right?

just gots to re-it: I am surprised by all the affection for Christmas in Connecticut. I would not even put it in Barbara's top 20. are they showing Double Indemnity or are pesky rights issues getting in the way of that one too ? I know it's on netflix and youtube...speaking of, someone mentioned The Night Walker, her last film and a reunion with ex-husband Robert Taylor- I watched it on youtube a few months back. I thought it was terrible, but it's a William Castle pic, and he has never done anything I liked ever.

> {quote:title=TopBilled wrote:}{quote} FATSO airs periodically on FMC. OMG. F'real? They show it on a double-bill with Ratboy or something?

> {quote:title=aimalac wrote:}{quote} Apparently TCM is not a fan of Mel Brooks. I've tried to include Mel Brooks as one of my favorites on Turners Classic Union and it comes back saying he doesn't exist. That is a shame and needs to be fixed, but I do recall that at one of the TCM Festivals, TCM's own Manksie-Wanksie-Boo-Boo interviewed Mel, which I guess was something of an atonement for his grandfather Joe's *extreme dislike and public trashing* of Brooks.

> {quote:title=Dominick wrote:}{quote}How can they have a Barbara Stanwyck film festival in December and not show "Christmas in Conneticut."? I find that very odd. A sentiment uttered by many. Not me though: I can't stand Christmas in Connecticut. It's too contrived, Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan have zero chemistry, and all that talk about "the ole' Magoo" just...eh. I give TCM a pass on this one. They showing The Furies by any chance?

> {quote:title=TopBilled wrote:}{quote}NO MAN OF HER OWN is not on the December schedule, > Her costar is not John Payne, though, but John Lund. Double nuts.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this one, but I *REALLY HOPE* they show No Man of Her Own from 1950. It's a Paramount film, sos I knows the odds are iffy, but it is a wonderful, *wonderful* women's picture slightly shaded with noir undertones- adapted pretty faithfully from the Cornell Woolrich novel I Married a Dead Man! and co-starring John Payne. La Stanwyck plays a jilted unwed mother who assumes the identity of a train crash victim in order to befriend the woman's husband's wealthy family. It's very proto-feminist, not just for Stanwyck's typical bravura performance, but also for its sympathetic look at a single motherhood. It's not often mentioned as being among *The Best of Barbara*, but it so should be. Fingers crossed.

> {quote:title=Hibi wrote:}{quote}LOL. With all that hair why would (Lassie) need one??? B****es kept getting younger.

Honey, even Lassie had a facelift.

> {quote:title=Filmgoddess wrote:}{quote}For me, she has always had a bit of a "drag queen" look about her which only got worse as she aged (look at her in her 1950s films -- she hardly even looks female). her film career is pretty thin with hardly a single truly "great" performance in any film. see, this is why i feel so iffy on these tributes, especially when they're repeated tributes to some stars whilst others are ignored. it brings out the snarkage in some of us- of course, the Good Lord knows I have no right to heap on anyone for being snarky...so I'll digress to this. Bacall was a *gorgeous* woman. Yes, there was a hardness about her as she aged, no doubt playing the HOLLYWOOD game, raising two kids, and dealing with Bogart (which by many accounts, was not an easy thing to do) had some effect on her appearance. But I think she vacillates more towards Lesbian chic territory than, say, the extended Universal Horror film that was Joan Crawford's post-1953 work. And as for great performances, she *really should* have gotten a nomination for Best Actress for To Have and Have Not, especially since 1945 was such a weak year for lead female roles. She recovered brilliantly from her post THAHN flop with Charles Boyer (no easy feat considering how young she was and how hard "the game" is, she could so easily have retreated and refused to work again) she's supoib in The Big Sleep. After that, the films she did slipped in quality a notch, but not Bacall. She does the best she can with less-than-dynamic parts in Written on the Wind and Designing Woman. She's the glue that holds Murder on the Orient Express together, she's wonderfully subtle in The Shootist, and (again) she is excellent in The Mirror Has Two Faces. Over and over Betty gets bashed for not being "all that," often from folks who've never set the world on fire themselves.

> {quote:title=Hibi wrote:}{quote}She's had facelifts? I didnt know that........... You're kidding, right?

How could you forget The Constant Nymph, Holy Matrimony, The Razor's Edge, (and all the new Fox films), and Night Flight? (Well, I understand forgetting Night Flight but...) It's been a *great* year for premieres and heretofore unseen stuff.

*Does anyone remember 1996/97?* The Mirror Has Two Faces- a thoroughly "meh" vanity project from La Streisand, labored, tedious, ambiguously moraled (to say the least,) the height of Streisand's avarice (and that is saying *a lot* ). The supporting cast (Mimi Rogers, Jeff Bridges, a cryogenically dethawed Brenda Vaccaro) are all on auto-pilot- save one castmember:*La Bacall.* For the record: Bacall is *excellent* in this (otherwise very stupid) movie. Certainly worthy of a nomination, and (yeah, considering the past sleights and heights of her career) *worthy of the award.* She gets the nomination and, in a shock of Marisa Tomeiian proportions, Kevin Spacey opens the envelope "and the Oscar goes to....(rip) Laur...um, Juliette Binoche." Bacall was gracious in defeat- go to youtube and look up the moment if you can bear to, she murmurs "sweet" when Binoche (in her odd, red velvet Dracula get-up) says she should have won, pay attention to Stephen Bogart's face though, he is ****** (and rightfully so.) After the show, I remember reading numerous write-ups wherein it was said (to paraphrase Entertainment Weekly ) "Shock of shocks: Bacall did not win the 'unremarkable performance but the old lady deserves it' award. Juliette Binoche did." *For the record,* Juliette Binoche really won the "*actually a lead performance, but here it is in the supporting category and she's more of an investment, so why not?*" award. Suddenly, a lot of writers were carping that the "diffcult" Bacall had had only a so-so career, a few good films, but mostly she road Bogie's coattails. Her follow up to MIrror, a French film whose name I don't recall, was met will "boos and hoots of laughter" as per (again) Entertainment Weekly, who by this time really seemed to have made up its mind to hate her. 1996 was *the worst year in the history of the Academy awards, hands-down.* Not just in this category, but in all of them. It was the year Hollywood said to Hollywood: "go to hell", not only biting the very hand that fed it, but sawing it off and eating it as well. The only reason I watched that year was to see Betty get her man, when she lost circa midshow, *it was the first time EVER that I have turned off The Academy Awards and not watched the rest.* (For the record, I quit watching altogether sometime after the Halle Berry victory.) Not only should Bacall have won the Oscar for the performance and yes because she's a f***ing legend, it was a travesty the way a lot of members of the press snarked about her "less than remarkable" career all of a sudden. ' Kicking someone when they're down is so tacky, kicking a Legend is just too, too much. Thoughts? Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Sep 8, 2012 3:04 PM Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Sep 8, 2012 3:09 PM

> {quote:title=misswonderly wrote:}{quote}If I'd known someone was going to start a thread about it, I'd have saved what I wrote about the film to post here. However, since I don't feel like composing a whole new comment about it, and since I'd probably say almost exactly the same thing anyway, I'm going to copy my post about *Dark Passage* from the "Lauren Bacall" thread, and paste it here. *Me too:* You might want to try reading the novel on which Dark Passage is based, also called Dark Passage. It's by David Goodis, who I've only read one other thing by- Shoot the Piano Player, which I found very disappointing. He also wrote Night Squad and...oh crap, the name alludes me, I want to say Nightfall, it was made into a decent movie with a pre-Oscar Anne Bancroft and Aldo Ray.... I was surprised by how faithful an adaptation of the book the movie is, I'd be hard pressed to name a single difference...which is why it wasn't the most exciting reading experience, but., hey, if you really like Dark Passage the movie (I have to admit, I don't think it works, but I do think it's inn-teresting) you might like the book or some of David Goodis' other works...or anything from the defunct(?), but still quite findable, Black Lizard/ Vintage Crime publishing outfit.

> {quote:title=TopBilled wrote:}{quote}Poor Lauren Bacall. If she logged on to this website and read this thread, she would be scratching her head, like I am, wondering how her career degenerated into a discussion of Batman. Weeell, I kindofsortof doubt La Bacall surfs the net much. I'd like to think she's sitting on a plush divan in her place at The Dakota, having drinks with Yoko and Sean, Carly Simon, David and Iman, Stephen Bogart, and all their respective gays- regaling everyone with a story about how Wendy Hiller's irritable bowel syndrome made that eight-page denoument scene at the end of Murder on the Orient Express an extra-special Hell for all involved. Strawberry Fields in all its Autumnal Glory can be seen out the East windows, Bogart's African Queen Oscar on the mantle (she's never bothered to pick up hers from the AMPAS HQ, still a little nonplussed about that whole Juliette Binoche thing- *which I understand completely*.) What was your question? Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Sep 7, 2012 11:30 AM

To answer your BatQuestions: The show ran for three seasons from 1966 to 1969 on ABC. The theatrical film was released by Fox between the first and second season. Lee Merriwether was Catwoman in only THIS FILM and, yes Miss Vixen, I agree with you- she's good as CW's alter ego, Miss Kitka, a Russian reporter for The Moscow Bugle, but kind of rote as Catwoman. Lee has said that she loved the role and became quite friendly with Burgess Meredith, who played (of course) The Penguin, who coached her. Newmar was Catwoman on seasons one and two of the series. She was the only villian- besides maybe King Tut- who really evolved on the show, her character becoming more frazzled- and enamored of Batman- as the show progressed. She could not do season three because of, yes, McKenna's Gold, so Eartha stepped in for all of three episodes, one of her own, one two-part with The Joker. She's a lot angrier and more hardass than Newmar, but good too. Alan Napier is on the record as saying she was "fabulous in the part" but "complained a lot on the set." Season three also saw the addition of Batgirl which speeded up the show's demise (the writing also got pretty ludicrous.) Within months of her last appearance on the show, Kitt had her infamous run-in with Lady Bird Johnson. All 122 episodes of the West/Ward series can be seen, again, in whole on youtube. Fox will not release them on DVD because, allegedly, DC Comics has refused them permission. The Hub shows the *awesome* animated series that ran from 1992-1995 as well as The New Adeventures of Batman and Batman Beyond. I am a lonely man.

Jean Hagen is also kind of sort of a non sequitor as well, although I do love her, she earned that Oscar nod for Singin' in the Rain and she's great in The Asphalt Jungle, but I imagine the rest of the month was dedicated to her tiny, almost walk-on parts in stuff like Dead Ringer and Adam's Rib... I know she and Osborne were tight in real life, and I'm not going to kvetch about including a supporting player as SOTM, wish they'd do it more.... It does seem like there is a favoratism factor though.

> {quote:title=Hibi wrote:}{quote}Yes, I remember (Alexis Smith). I like her, but she didnt have an illustrious film career........ It's a non sequitor of James Caanian proportions.

Get on youtube right now and check out The Purr-Fect Crime/ Better Luck Next Time, Hot off the Griddle/The Cat and the Fiddle, That Darn Catwoman!/ Scat, Darn Catwoman! and Catwoman Goes to College/ Batman Displays His Knowledge. They are all available in their entirety to watch for free. *Trust me, it wasn't just the body, she had real presence, talent and some ace comic timing.* Both of my nieces, aged 4 and 8, want to be Catwomen when they grow up. They refuse to accept any Catwoman other than Newmar, they won't even look at Eartha Kitt.

> {quote:title=Hibi wrote:}{quote}I was being sarcastic (LOL)........ ! You bet' not talk any smack about Julie Newmar or I will drive to Ohio and find you. (Kidding!- well, kind of.) She may have done some *awful* stuff, but she's still faaaaaabulous.

Alexis Smith was SOTM once. I make a special post just for that fact because it blows my mind.

> {quote:title=Hibi wrote:}{quote}There have been quite a few repeaters. While many worthy stars still havent been given a slot......... I believe Ronald Reagan has been SOTM twice, which (for me) is two times too many, and *no, I'm not being political.* A little odd that Ball, Bacall, Angela Lansbury and The Gipper have all been two timers, as their film careers, well, let's face it, contain maybe a half-dozen or so awesome titles and/or performances and the rest...eh. In perusing the list Clore so courteously copied and posted for us, I have to say, the names that caught my attention were notsomuch the stars as the "film debuts" "final films" and "they died so young" tributes. I HAVE TO SAY I prefer this more varied and populist approach to SOTM.

> {quote:title=Hibi wrote:}{quote}LOL. Well, Carol Lynley and Julie Newmar are in it, so it's got to be good! Julie, *absolutely,* Carol, meh...notsomuch.