CaveGirl

Right on, Lawrence! Now you being such a nicer person than I, may have somewhat "warmed" to the show, but I can hold a grudge for a long time. Consequently, I will never ever ever be a fan of the show and, by the way I'm sure I would find your off the collar comments much funnier than that bozo and his replicants! Thanks for a very well expressed opinion.

Terry Melcher and the Beach Boys are just lucky they weren't around when the Manson gang went searching out those who dissed the singing abilities of Charlie!

Despite the fact that I might get banned or suspended for my hard line on this very important topic, I shall say with much disrespect that I thoroughly hate, detest, despise and abhor this show. Now I say this as a big fan of movies, and especially B-movies which were meant to be taken seriously, but turned out to be shall we say, a bit more amusing than they should be. If one is not a serious fan of such films, than you perhaps love and adore MST3000, because you like your laughs pointed out to you being that you don't even care who John Agar is, or if Ed Wood likes to wear pink angora sweaters. But if you are a devoted movie fan of films that might be in the "Psychotronic Encyclopedia" then I will hope that you, like moi, like to find your own humor in such oddities on celluloid. I don't need some lame-o host who thinks he is hilarious, to talk over all the unintentionally amusing lines in these flicks and replace such magnificent malapropisms with inane asides. Plus I hate the little roboty creatures who accompany that cretin who thinks he is so darn funny...but isn't. He reminds me of drunks who put on lampshades at parties and think they are Don Rickles. Okay, excoriate me for my strong opinion if you like or whatever. I shall be watching "Zontar the Thing from Venus" and laughing without having someone explain things to me, as if I have no common sense myself on what is funny on film. Bah humbug!

And a great Nazi he way, GP I mean.

Interestingly, he did play that part in "The Entertainer" where he was a bit of a loser and not a very heroic or important character. I believe he said that he felt very inferior in the role, and mentioned that to him, one of the greatest actors of all time was Mickey Rooney, since Olivier said he could play comedy, drama, sing, dance and was good at all of them. Olivier admitted that doing comedy was quite a stretch for him. In Olivier's defense, he might have played Iago but I'm sure no studio would have let him take the second lead. CF, speaking of taking a secondary part, didn't you enjoy seeing Sir John Gielgud as the butler in the Dudley Moore flick? If you didn't though, tell the truth as I can take it!

Lawrence, I've read many books on serial killers, mostly to protect myself by knowing the signs of one, and the majority have one thing in common. They often have been abused as children or have some kind of serious head injury to the frontal lobe. Of course we all know the triad of signs to watch for in childhood, like pyromania, enuresis and cruelty to animals. One wonders if such signs were noticed early enough if the makings of a serial killer would be abrogated? Problem is, often if there is abuse in the home, such signs would never be noticed by a complicit parental figure anyway. As you and the book stated, most serial killers are of average intelligence and not super monsters of any kind.

What once might have been controversial, sometimes loses that audacity as years go by. I'm sure Joan Crawford in "Our Dancing Daughters" was looked askance at, by many moralistic folks in her day while now that film is pretty tame. Some films stay controversial through many decades though, like Pasolini's "Salo". A film I saw awhile back, that was banned a lot when released was "I Spit on Your Grave". Personally I found nothing objectionable about it, but then maybe that's because I'm a woman and the theme of justified retribution was deemed timely. Name some films which remain controversial and some that lose their banned status slowly but surely as time goes by.

Okay, TB are you psychic or what? Last nite I'm watching my dvd set of the tv series "Science Fiction Theatre" from 1955-1957, that I just got recently and every episode starts with the logo for ZIV on the screen. I kept thinking, "What is ZIV; I've never even heard of it; I need to research this tomorrow." Well, tomorrow is here and thanks to you now I don't need to since you've answered my question. THANKS!

I just read a book written by an FBI profiler who talks about this very thing, Holden. He believes that by not seeing serial killers as people but designating them as monsters who are sick, we negate what they are really doing and create legends of them as iconic murdering stars, similar to Freddie Kreuger or Leatherface. This is why I say what Gein did is "interesting" in an abnormal psychology way. To call him "sick" though true in some context, only makes his actions seem as if he is not responsible for them because he has a mental illness causing him to kill, and as most know the majority of serial killers are not insane in an legal way. The book I read made me think more about not labelling serial killer types as "sick" as that is too easy a tag to use to explain their crimes.

Calling you, Our Man Dargo makes me wonder if you are from Flint, Michigan?

I have mixed feelings about this topic. On the one hand, I can see why just for employment purposes any group of people would be a bit upset if a part called for one of their segment of society, and yet the powers that be always gave it to someone not of their kind. On the other hand, this is about acting and in Shakespeare's day we had men playing women, and isn't acting all about being able to be something you maybe are not? If we go a bit further down this lane, perhaps the big play now touted continually, "Hamilton" could have some people beefing about the same type of countercasting issues? Let's face it, Lawrence Olivier is fine as "Othello" but that does not mean an actor of color should not also play the part too.

CF, don't forget it also stars Lee Aker, who played Rusty in "Rin Tin Tin", as the little brat, uh...I mean small dear child who is kidnapped. I wonder what he is doing today?

Love Joan! She was always so sassy, young or old. Speaking of her, it was not till a few years back that I realized that Gloria Blondell who played Honeybee on the tv show "The Life of Riley" with William Bendix, was the sister of Joan. I had always thought she was her daughter as she seemed much younger but according to IMDB Joan is only four years older. Gloria did have a movie career but mostly bit parts compared to Joan, but the resemblance is amazing!

I will be of no help in expediting this chore since I manually go through my TCM guide each month when it arrives and actually mark with a colored red Sharpie, every dang film that I want to see, with big arrows on pages that have really important things not to miss. By the time I get through with it. it looks like it is bleeding all over. If someone does find a quicker way to know about great silents on the schedule, due to your post, Jeff I will now thank you in advance for asking the question.

Admittedly, you called it, Lorna as poor Ken was no Adonis, Lothario or Romeo! Looking at this picture though, I now think he looks a bit like John Larroquette.

I cannot rate these books in a best or worst category, but I just can say why I enjoyed them! "Elvis" by Albert Goldman This book is amazingly researched and gives incredible background info on E's family, with even genealogical stuff and revampings of many legends of the star, for example though it was always said that Elvis Aron was born first before twin Jesse Garon, that was just another legendary fact that was untrue. "Ecstasy and Me" by Hedy Lamarr The most egotistical autobiography I have ever read and perhaps the most hilarious. Hedy recounts the men she has engaged with in various activities to the penultimate degree. Fun fun fun! "The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock" by Donald Spoto Just like the Elvis book, Spoto has gone deep into the life of the director and unearthed the good, the bad and the ugly. All is mesmerizing!

Burgess starred in my favorite "Twilight Zone" episode, called "Time Enough at Last". Though he is wonderful in any part, as bookworm Henry Bemis he was beyond compare. One really feels for the little guy as he sits on the steps at the end saying "Not fair". I read awhile back that those steps used in the scene were from a segent of George Pal's "The Time Machine" and belonged to the Eloi. I thought they looked a little expensive for a TZ episode. Thanks for featuring Meredith, TB!

I think it is hilarious that you call Ken Murray the "homely" guy, Lorna. And I'm sure he would agree as he had a great sense of humor. I may be assuming you were not being facetious, when I say that he had a long career on the stage, in small parts in movies, in radio and in early television. As you say, thanks to him and his habit of filming stars he knew in the off time, we all share in the fun of seeing them at play, or in color, like W.C. Fields. Murray was most famous initially for his "Blackouts" comedy show on stage during the war years, with "dumb blonde" Marie Wilson, and later was host for "Queen for a Day" I think. Since he had early stage experience with Earl Carroll's revue as a comedian it served him well in all his later endeavors hosting his own clips on tv and talk shows. Sorry for butting in on your fun post but I'm sure most of our grandparents would remember Murray and enjoyed his old footage, just as you did, Lorna. Great write-up of the stuff that was showcased on "HWM" today!

It's so funny because I had already seen and had on tape all three of these Max Ophuls' films but when Criterion came out with those new dvd covers back in the day, I had to buy all three of them. The art truly is beautiful and worthy of being a giant poster to be sure!

SOTD was scheduled in the original booklet but now seems to have been removed. No problem since of all the anthology ones scheduled, that is the one I would give up.

Sorry I am too late to command you to tape "La Ronde" which is amazing! You can make up for it by taping "Quartet". Both films are superior entertainment, Lawrence.

Hey, Down if you liked that film, I'm wondering if you also like "The Mechanic" with Charles Bronson and Jan-Michael Vincent?

This is a very interesting question, similar to one that I was going to post and riff off Miss Wonderly's recent post, Palmerin. I had brothers who were older than I, but being very nice brothers they would allow me to tag along when they went to see movies with their male friends, which explains why I enjoy cheesy science fiction films, horror tales and all other things that neighborhood boys would have loved. I tend to now go for the lowbrow or highbrow films most, since they seem the most creative and for which I received an appreciation after reading the book "The Tastemakers" while in college. The boys I hung out with who were all older, did not go for highbrow stuff but all male oriented type things that were popular at the time, but viewed it all with a jaundiced and humorous eye, a trait which I was lucky to assimilate. They also were big western fans but I don't see too much about that being discussed in the general section here.

And here I thought it was about Conway Twitty for all these years!

Just a reminder that tonite on TCM there is a plethora of great anthology films, with stories by Somerset Maugham, O. Henry, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Guy de Maupassant. My favorites [as if anyone here cares!] are, "The Alien Corn", "The Ransom of Red Chief", "Rappacini's Daughter", and "The Masque". But let's face it, there is not a one of the tales contained within the films directed by the likes of Max Ophuls and others, that is not delightful, moving or entertaining. Here's the lineup: 8:00 PM O. HENRY'S FULL HOUSE (1952) Five stories reveal O. Henry's gift for the surprise ending. Dir: Henry Koster Cast: John Steinbeck , Charles Laughton , Marilyn Monroe . BW-118 mins, CC, 10:15 PM QUARTET (1948) W. Somerset Maugham introduces four of his most famous short stories. Dir: Ken Annakin Cast: Basil Radford , Naunton Wayne , Ian Fleming . BW-120 mins, 12:30 AM TWICE-TOLD TALES (1963) A poisonous young beauty, the secrets of eternal life and a haunted house chill this collection of Nathaniel Hawthorne stories. Dir: Sidney Salkow Cast: Vincent Price , Sebastian Cabot , Mari Blanchard . C-120 mins, CC, Letterbox Format 2:45 AM HOUSE OF PLEASURE (1954) Three stories explore the intersection of pleasure, purity and sex. Dir: Max Ophüls Cast: Claude Dauphin , Gaby Morlay , Jean Galland . BW-98 mins,