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In a word: CRAP

Many excellent films.... Had watched Love and Death the other night and had forgotten how funny it is. For funny: Annie Hall A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy Radio Days Sleeper Small Time Crooks Broadway Danny Rose Play It Again Sam For drama Interiors Blue Jasmine September Manhattan Husbands and Wives Scoop Match Point

from the silent era: 1. John Gilbert 2. Emil Jannings 3. Lon Chaney 4. William Haines 5. Wallace Reid 1, Lillian Gish 2. Norma Talmadge 3. Mary Pickford 4. Marion Davies 5. Gloria Swanson

Actors 1. Edward G. Robinson 2. Humphrey Bogart 3. Charlie Chaplin 4. Laurence Olivier 5. Fredric March runners up Daniel Day-Lewis, Jimmy Stewart, John Gilbert, William Holden, Jack Lemmon. Actresses 1. Bette Davis 2. Meryl Streep 3. Lillian Gish 4. Joan Crawford 5. Katharine Hepburn runners up Miriam Hopkins, Marion Davies, Anne Bancroft, Jane Fonda, Norma Talmadge.

Licensing agreements can be for broadcast on TCM, video streaming, showing at festivals..... each license can specifically includes or exclude are of these.....

every single day

I'd still vote for Marion Davies as SOTM in December to celebrate two new DVD releases later this year: When Knighthood Was in Flower and The Bride's Play ... both 1922. Both films would be television premieres. Davies has never been SOTM, was a major star from 1917 until her retirement in 1937, and TCM likely has in place licensing agreements for more than 20 of her films.

Paramount is notoriously difficult to deal with and has just about zero interest in its library of classic films.

Doesn't seem worth the effort.... I've already seen and have 99% of what they show anyway..... TW just merged with some other corporate giant so maybe access will improve.....

That's weird.... no one offered me anything free..... LOL TCM reception is so bad here in rural Maine and since I can't tape/record anything anyway (it's blocked), I haven't watched TCM in over 5 years..... I can't even get their streaming thru Time-Warner

I'd vote for MARION DAVIES, especially since there will be 2 new to DVD silent films coming out later this year. Davies has never been SOTM, but I'm not paying for a "membership" in order to have official input. From what I could see, there was basically nothing offered for your money/membership.....

no administrators working at TCM today......................

The Five O'Clock Girl was a 1928 film based on a Broadway musical. Marion Davies started filming this project as a silent but it was switched by MGM to a talkie and co-starred Charles King, Joel McCrea, and Aileen Pringle. Sources say that filming proceeded for 3 or 4 weeks before the project was shelved by Louis B. Mayer after an argument with William Randolph Hearst after seeing the rough cut. Some sources say Hearst decided Davies should not make her talkie debut playing a shop girl (even though she'd already been starring in films for more than a decade); others says Mayer shelved it because he couldn't have his way (whatever that was). In any case, the film supposedly shelved has never been seen. Odd that sources don't just say it was destroyed, but it's also odd that the existing film, even if it was never finished and released, was not part of Davies' personal collection (which she donated to Library of Congress in the 1950s). Trade papers of the day printed lots of updates and tidbits about the production of The Five O'Clock Girl since it was to be Davies' starring debut in a talkie. Some say the project was rushed because they only filmed it while waiting for Rosalie (another Davies project) to get underway. A sign of trouble was that the original director, Alfred Green, was replaced by Robert Z. Leonard. Rumors persisted that Davies couldn't talk (she had a stutter) or sing, but when Davies' talkie debut in Marianne DID hit theaters, it was proven she had absolutely no problems with talking or singing. Rosalie didn't get made at MGM until 1937. The Five O'Clock Girl, which included the hit song "Thinking of You," seems to have been lost in the mists of time.

Many good things in the article but struck me as being (needlessly) snotty toward Joan Fontaine.

She's superb in To Each His Own..... and don't forget My Cousin Rachel

Libel is actually a very good film.

100 years old.... amazing! One of the all-time greats.....

Thanks Jeff, but TCM premiered my Enchantment project November 2014. And yes it would be great if they picked up The Bride's Play and When Knighthood Was in Flower, both are great prints as good as Enchantment. As I've said most of the MGM silents are complete and in good condition (you forgot Yolanda and Janice Meredith) and Warners owns them all now. A few of these have been shown at festivals but they probably all need some restoration and obviously all need scores. And who knows, there might be copyright issues. But aside from broadcasts on TCM, Warners would also release MOD DVDs. The Restless Sex turned out pretty well, considering it was not restored by Library of Congress. Really looking forward to 2 new Marion Davies DVDs later this year!

So did Norma Desmond.

Marie Dressler was a great star. She was a star on stage, a star in silent films, and one of the biggest stars of the early talkie era. Not only was Dressler a fabulous comedienne, she could sing, and she was never afraid to poke fun at herself. She was also a terrific dramatic actress. She was lucky in the late 20s (her comeback) and early 30s to work with some very big stars in some very big films. Dinner at Eight, Hollywood Revue of 1929, Min and Bill, Anna Christie, Tugboat Annie, The Patsy, Let Us Be Gay, The Divine Lady, The Girl Said No were all hits. Her teaming with Polly Moran in Dangerous Females, Reducing, Politics, Prosperity showcased her as a star. Emma won her a second Oscar nomination. During this time she worked with Greta Garbo, Wallace Beery, Myrna Loy, Marion Davies, William Haines, Bessie Love, Norma Shearer, Corinne Griffith, Anita Page, Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore, and even Rudy Vallee. Earlier in her silent films she worked with Charlie Chaplin, Mabel Normand, and Johnny Hines. Dressler was sort of the ultimate underdog and audiences responded. She was a superb talent.

Maybe because it's a Paramount release.... although I thought it was public domain. It would have been nice to see this during the Marie Dressler salute....

Has TCM ever shown this hilarious short film starring Marie Dressler and Polly Moran as two old biddies alone in a remote house with a dangerous crook on the loose?

https://criterionblues.com/2016/06/26/ccu42-silent-film-music-with-ben-model/ Radio interview with Ben Model in which he talks about Marion Davies projects and mentions me.

For example.... Operator 13 (1934) took in more than $1M at the box office, but was considered a flop. Mayer used this film (and some creative accounting) to justify why Davies would not have done well in The Barretts of Wimpole Street or in the upcoming Marie Antoinette. While the former film was a hit, the latter was a flop for Norma Shearer. Oddly both Operator 13 and Barretts earned between $1M and $1.2M in US/Canada, but the Shearer film did better overseas.

I think the Davies "failure" rate has lingered in film history, and that continued perception has prejudiced people to dismiss her as a no-talent or as a star only because of Hearst's money. The real and true indicator is what her films took in at the box office. She was a popular star of the time. Box office for her films compares favorably with box office for most actresses of her time.