CaveGirl

Kay, can I be your new best friend? I love Henry Hull! I'll watch anything with him in it. My grandma actually saw him in a play way back in the 1920's and kept the original program which I own now. Maybe we can start a fan club for him?

Speaking of "wracking" that Paul Newman film of the 1950's called "The Wrack" was really good.

But now they look like the illegitimate children of Steve Buscemi and the zombie from "I Walked with a Zombie". Or Judy Geeson as their mommy, from "To Sir With Love".

Wow, these are all great suggestions. I've never seen "Peter Ibbetson" but from that picture it looks to be a film right down my alley. Thanks!

Katherine Helmond was scary in "Brazil". Warren Beatty might not look dumb, but Milton Armitage did as Dobie Gillis's nemesis.

The Olson Twins in anything.

Thanks, Palmerin! I've never seen that film so appreciate your knowledge.

Maybe the Love Bug got him?

Fun movie! The part when Dorie's [?] purse falls off the ledge is actually frightening.

I wonder if it was Adolph Wong's that W.C. Fields kept talking about in that movie where he was trying to rest on his outdoor porch. Remember how Baby Leroy kept trying to drop that screwdriver down the hole above William Claude's head, while he was snoring. Sorry for the interruption.

Well, sure those films are played a lot but it's not like there are not 22 more hours each day for other films that are more obscure. I have no problem with classics being played more frequently even if I have to get up at 3am to watch some oddball film like "Stranger on the Third Floor".

But Speedracer,there was someone who didn't like Fred Astaire. Wasn't it a talent scout for a studio who said all he could see in Fred was that he was balding and could dance a little. Not too complimentary.

Hoody Doody? Or was it his brother Double Doody?

Thanks, Palmerin, James and FL! Yes, how could I forget Johnny Stompanato. Just the name conjurs up an image of Lana and her gangster boyfriend on the beach. Yes, good choice. And Jeffrey Dahmer did have some similarities to Hannibal. But they should have made a film about how Dahmer wanted to keep his zombies alive, after he injected them with some fluids so he could keep them as friends.

Swithin, you mean you did not use the "Tongue in Cheek" icon to telescope your jocular point? Tsk tsk...for shame. I don't know if I am Asian as I have not as yet had my DNA checked by that Ancestry.com site. I've been seeing the ad where the guy who thought he was German just found out he was Irish instead and wondering if I could be Swedish/Viennese instead of Mesopotamian/Polish. That Ancestry ad reminds me of the "Fawlty Towers" episode where Basil insults all the German guests with National Socialist references. Uh, what were we talking about again? Oh yeah, welcome again to our new Asian-Australian guest!

"Festivus"? Wasn't he a character on "Gunsmoke" played by Ken Curtis? He always reminded me of Ernest T. Bass. Just kidding, I know all about Festivus, puffy shirts, Superman, and shrinkage too.

I guess I should not hold my breath waiting for Tom Neal? Do women who cause men to shoot each other or try to kill their inamorata's current love, get blackballed. Poor old Barbara Payton is I guess a non-issue then. How about incestuous type relationships, like Gloria Grahame marrying her step-son? Would that make her a persona non grata too?

Always loved her, both in grade A films and in things like "The Leech Woman". She was a lovely personage to view on screen. Thanks for the update on her passing.

You're so funny, Frazier! When I said this about Robert and Ben that "They work well off each other" I meant in my mind they work well as alternating hosts for TCM. Just like I would say that Carole Lombard works well with Irene Dunne, but would really mean that putting a film of Carole Lombard on after putting on a film of Irene Dunne, is a good move. Sorry for the elipsis and sorry that I forgot that others can't read my mind, which is a bit outre to be sure.

I wonder what year it was that Joe Kennedy took Gloria, his current mistress to the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port to have dinner with all the family, including Rose? Even Swanson was admittedly perplexed and amazed at that audacity. I think I would rather date that dapper Menjou than Joe Kennedy.

Yes, Film Lover that naughty Kubrick again messes with a book. I am a little more forgiviing for messing with King, than I would be for messing with anything written by Vladimir Nabokov but you make most salient points. Why the book "The Shining" and the film are like night and day, but even Cole Porter would not approve. The book "Lolita" most certainly did not have the Peter Sellers character acting out like he did continually and I bet Nabokov was fit to be tied, but all in all I guess James Mason's strong portrayal of Humbert Humbert [ I started to type Nicely Nicely and then Duran Duran!] did sway me a bit. And Lolita is described a bit differently than Sue Lyon but I won't go there. Thanks for your most astute remarks!

Welcome, Mrcracker! One can do an investigative study of films on the IMDB, but if I am wanting to purchase one I usually do a perfunctory check at Movies Unlimited and their website, as they have multitudes of titles and more seemingly than anyone and I've been buying from them for eons. I don't know their exact connection to TCM but they seemed to be the place that was supplying the films advertised for sale by TCM. Someone here who knows the exact connection between the two will probably elucidate it for my benefit. I also get catalogs from Kino, Criterion and others but admittedly some rare films which are not as famous are not available from any of the above. I have some books which detail the histories of all the films of each of the giant movie companies, and their availability or if they are lost but my books are probably all out of print, even though the information is still mostly valid. Doesn't IMDB still have the icons for films on dvd and tape and where they are sold anymore? I just get online and google any and all info on a film I want, and I usually find it whether on Ebay or other places. One can usually tell it is a bootleg from the cover illustrations on the jewelcase. Just curious...what particular films are you looking for? Best of luck!

Frazier, The quote police are performing a citizen's arrest on you for ripping off an old Grouch Marx line about joining certain Beverly Hills country clubs. But I say, if you steal always do it from the best so I've paid your bail bond.

Well, there you go Frazier! Now I know I have good taste. Thanks for concurring. I bet you also like Gig Young in its companion TZ case..."Walking Distance"?

Well, having respect for all writers and their creative process I hate, despise and abhor any filmmaker or star who thinks that they have the right to change integral plot points to fit their own maladjusted agendas. Now sure, occasionally you have the cult classic that results from one who would take a highbrow film like Bergman's "The Virgin Spring" and turn it into something like "Last House on the Left" famous for the best marketing tagline of "Keep repeating, it is just a movie, it is just a movie." I can forgive that, as I think it was a creative urban guerilla move, worthy of Che Guevara. And I realize, films are a different medium than books and occasional changes or cuts must be made, as were those to Eugene O'Neill's "Mourning Becomes Electra" or others. But what does not pass muster is altering the very important plot elements which make the point of the story, to pad parts for supposed stars of said projects. For example, Tom Cruise in the masterful tale by Phillip K. Dick called "Minority Report". This story has an intricate plotline, which has to be followed or the intent of the insights are undermined. And the only part that as written could have been played by Cruise, was for the younger man not the older one, who is the whole basis for the tale. But being that Cruise and the powers that be, wanted him to be the center of the film, everything was altered to give him basically the role of the older participant, which made no sense in terms of the original storyline and took an amazing story and turned it into the typical Tom Cruise action flick. Only those who have read the original Dick masterpiece will probably get why this change made the film so mediocre. I blame the director for not caring, and yes I do know his name, and of course Cruise for putting himself above the creator's intent. My guess is that Cruise would probably want to alter Shakespeare, and give Othello's lines to Iago if he got the chance, and who knows where that leaves Desdemona? Okay, I'm done. What films gall you the most with their incipient changes from book to film?