CaveGirl

I watched all of the films presented last night on TCM in the Condemned Festival as hosted by Sister Rose Pacatte, and listened to all her prologues and epilogues. In the first film “The Story of Temple Drake” I fear the Legion of Decency should have been glad that no mention was made of the “corn cob” bit that I recall from reading the story in my college class on American Southern writers with Faulkner at the head of the milieu, as it was a much more raw expose of the situation. Yet to my jaded eyes TSOTD was hard hitting and still relevant. Sister Rose makes mention that Temple is the book is not so nice as Temple in the movie, which is certainly good to know, and I did note that they changed the name of the **** from I think Popeye to Trigger, probably to save spinach prices from descending. The next film was the highly regarded “Black Narcissus” by Powell and Pressburger. When Sister Rose reviles the critics in LA for their negative reviews of “Black Narcissus” by impugning their male smugness, she exemplifies amusingly the biblical aphorism of “Strain at a gnat, swallow a camel” [Matthew 23:24] in not realizing her adherence to a church which has continually kept woman and nuns as subservient, which is much worse than one bad film review but I digress. In BN it is often said and also by Sister Rose that the “mad nun”, Sister Ruth is in need of therapy of a mentally medicinal type, but to my mind she may be the only sane person in the film. Sure Cardiff shows her lust blowing up in the face of Mister Dean as a red glow, but perhaps being stifled away in a convent in rarified states, only brings out normal human tendencies of jealousy and lust, which is symbolized by the bell tower, which is so phallic a statement. The ruins in Pompeii produced wind chimes in priapic forms that created sounds not dissimilar from those tintinnabulations emanating from the deserted harem palace walls. Jealousy has been represented in films with bell tower scenes from as far back as Bunuel’s “El” in 1953 to “Vertigo” in 1958, since the clapper and the outer shell resemble a union and it is not probably a coincidence of the similarity of the words “cloca” and “cloaca”. The next film was “Design for Living” in which Sister Rose describes only the platonic relationship between the threesome, wherein when Hopkins describes it as a “gentlemen’s agreement, but I’m no gentleman” it is obvious that much more is occurring. Sister Rose states that the church never said it was a sin via the Legion of Decency ratings to attend a condemned film, yet I have it on good authority through relations alive at the time that when one was obliged during Mass in the 1930’s and later to pledge their support to not attend such films, that it was always mentioned that they were an “occasion of sin” as described by their Baltimore Catechisms and Catholic Telegraph newspapers, of which the bishops of the Legion of Decency had control. Sister Rose also states that of the Lubitsch touch there may have been some who thought the innuendo was funny, which begs the question, who and is the subtext that Lubitsch humor is immoral in its sophistication? I got the feeling that Sister Rose did not find it funny, but I may be assuming too much. In “The Outlaw” we find Sister Rose stating that one of the objections to the film by the LOD was due to “disrespect toward sheriffs” and though risible, I can only assume that the bishops had never engaged in reading western lore which abounds with such distortions of outlaw connections, since the Hughes’ film is full of John Ford type “print the legend” over the truth commonalities. I would hardly expect Billy the Kid to be deferential to any sheriff which would be so ludicrous. By the way, making a point of saying that Russell’s photo used in the ads where she is laying back against the hay, was never even in the film as being a critical issue in the LOD decision, makes one wonder if the LOD or nuns should have been protesting all the figures of angels portrayed with wings, which adorn buildings, books and holy cards yet don't seem to be supported by biblical text? We end with “Baby Face” and thankfully by this time, I had decided for myself that the good sister was a bit out of her element in reviewing any of these films. It is a rather like asking a taster at Carlo Rossi to assess the wine of her employer as being sound. Far be it from me to say she is a shill and question her ethics, but some might describe her with the antiquated term “company man” [in an organization which will never accord her the rights of a man] spewing out the company gospel, in defense of itself but just repackaged to be more palatable to latter day standards and to whitewash the past. I’m sure she is a very nice lady but was not a perfect impartial choice to host such a series. If you actually watched all the prologues, epilogues and films I would be interested in your comments, yea or nay.

I feel terrible that I forgot Antoine's birthday so I want to wish him a very happy 88th birthday! Can you believe that he is 88 and still around? Amazing and what is also amazing are all his great performances on film like in stuff like "Shake, Rattle and Roll", "The Girl Can't Help It", "Jamboree" and "The Big Beat". On top of that I love the way he turns a single syllable word like "thrill" into two syllables, as in "the-rill". That takes talent! He turned 88 on February 26 and was born in 1928. So glad he is still with us. Any other fans here?

C'mon Dargo, I bet you just loved her in "Up the Down Staircase". You told me that you wished she had been your homeroom teacher!

Don't forget that besides Jerry L. Lewis, we also had John Drew Barrymore acting up a storm. And who doesn't want Mamie Van Doren in any movie with her famed bullet brassiere?

Yep, that looks a lot more like Jerry!

For some reason, I always liked Barry Fitzgerald's brother Arthur Shields much more. He was a bit more devilish I think.

That's great to know. I just assumed that many original endings had been lost so won't be in the televised ones unless they had been restored with found footage, or it was a film which ignored the code and was released as is, like TMIB. Thanks, SR! By the way, the Legion of Decency was founded in 1934 by American Bishops [no women!] to ostensibly have control over the opinions of followers on films the LOD found objectionable, and to keep Catholics from attending thereby having a bit of a hammerlock on studios who went against the standards by keeping ticket sales low. The ratings were guided by the treatment of various subjects on screen rather than by any artistic or overall content or meaning. The film could be condemned if it had "whole or partial nudity" [which knocks out the Pieta!] or "immoral behaviour, actual or suggested" [ which would cause the Bible to be condemned for mentioning Mary Magdalen]. I think in 1965, the LOD gave the highly serious and meaningful film "The Pawnbroker" a C-rating for the brief showing of an upper female body part. By 1966, realizing perhaps that they had lost all control of most people, the LOD became the National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures and supported the Motion Picture Association of America from 1968 to 1971, at which time they parted ways. In the 1960's, when the Legion had condemned films like Polanski's "Knife in the Water" and Bergman's "The Silence" which they said was "vulgar" and "insulting to mature audiences" and "dangerously close to pornography" they began the descent to their nadir of influence worldwide.

C'mon don't sugar coat it, Infinite, tell us what you really think!

Edd Kookie Byrnes was cute but then that was only after he had his nose job!

DC did a really bad job of caricaturing Jerry in this cover!

I got the impression that they are showing the expurgated versions only but maybe I'm wrong. I would kill to see the unexpurgated ones, but I won't hold my breath, GGG.

I've always liked Van Johnson although it seems sometimes he gets a rap for getting roles during the Big One, due to many major male stars being inducted and unavailable. But I think that kind of thinking does him a disservice. He is quite appealing in many different kinds of roles and always entertaining. As a talk show guest he also was an interesting man to hear and wasn't he famous for always wearing the red socks? Thanks for recognizing him, Miss Wonderly!

Thanks, Holden for spotlighting the schedule. All I know is, that I went through my mailed copy and marked with a red highlighter all the films I wanted to remember to watch and there were scads of really old and obscure films I'd not seen and I am THRILLED! Thanks TCM for raiding the vaults!

Norma got a reprieve and went on the road as a gossip columnist for the E-Channel on tv.

I've always liked Silvana Mangano since I saw her in "Bitter Rice" but I've never seen this film. Your review makes me really want to so thanks for sharing, Lawrence!

Excellent choices, thanks, FL! I just realized "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" could be an all singing film to be sure.

Kind of like here, DGF!

Right on, James that is what I meant. A lot of films in the 1930's are accused of just being staged plays on film, but often that does not bother me either. TPF is a great film!

As every good [and bad] Catholic knows, if one wants to find fodder for a fun film, then one need only look to the Index of Forbidden Books to find a tale that would make a great film. The legend also it that the Vatican has the largest collection of pornography in the world in their library being that they would confiscate it and then add it to their domain. If true, I wonder if Russ Meyer ever availed himself of their library for new ideas? But I digress. Tonight TCM begins the Condemned series of films banned by the Vatican, with I think "The Story of Temple Drake". I am very curious what Sister Rose Pacatte will be saying since she seems to already have a non-appreciative attitude toward vintage films, in the interview below calling the films in the series to be "old" and "not very good" anyway. This opinion might be at odds with those of many film buffs who appreciate vintage films and there are many classics on the list of condemned films to be sure. But I will leave it to others to dispute or agree with the good sister after one is privy to her remarks. I know I shall be watching all the films tonight with her comments, but will you? For some reason these addresses down below will not pop up [Vatican conspiracy?], so just put the following in as a Google search and the article comes up: catholic philly sister rose tcm http://catholicphilly.com/2016/02/us-world-news/culture/condemned-movie-series-to-be-featured-in-march-on-tcm/ ‘Condemned’ movie series to be featured in March on TCM - Catholic Philly

I always liked Julius Garfein or whatever his real name is. I credit that with why I also like Peter Falk so much since they so remind me of each other. Thanks for the list, TB!

Sorry for being so cryptic, Down. And yes, for me "MDWA" is the best all-talking film. Now you may have a difference of opinion here and I would like to hear your favorite all-talking film, with no other qualities to report on. Or you could do something like, an all surfing film, or an all tap dancing one or whatever.

I saw Gary Lewis at an oldies show last year. Never thought he could sing but the crowd loved him because he was so thrilled to be performing it seemed. He told a funny story about Jerry. Gary said a young journalist was interviewing him and said "I love your father's music!" Gary said "What song do you mean for example?" and the girl said "Great Balls of Fire". Gary said he told Jerry about it and Jerry said "I guess I need to be accompanying myself on piano more."

Dargo, you should only eat oysters in months without an "o" and snails in months without an "s", or an "e" for escargots. Not doing so could explain any dyspepsia.

I sure hope Rinty had lush accommodations in his retirement years after making all that money for his humans,TB.

But that movie came way before the Doris Day image of being "virginal". As Oscar Levant said "I knew Doris before she was a virgin."