NipkowDisc
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Posts posted by NipkowDisc
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how much of an effort is required for anybody to cut in on tcm's audience?
tcm: where GWTW, Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago live.
does tcm have any fixed cooling time for a print? do they keep them or do they get sent back after a showing?
whatever happened to their old print of Hot Spell?
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I thought this film was very funny. I agree with Cigar Joe that the visuals are the funniest part: When Topper is driving with the Kerbys in the car, but it looks like the car is driving itself and he's a passenger; When the couple starts trashing the nightclub but nobody can see them; The drunk Topper being helped by the ghosts through the bank while everyone's watching; Poor Dagwood constantly getting kicked by the ghosts. There were lots of visual gags that were hilarious. The bystanders' reactions were pretty funny too.
The reason that Cary Grant wasn't taking his meeting seriously is he's still partially sloshed from the night before. He and Mrs. Kerby partied all evening and slept in their car in front of the bank. Mrs. Kerby is still sloshed too. The Kerbys also owned a majority of the shares of the bank so I imagine that they are probably used to getting to do whatever they wanted.
I was more annoyed by Billie Burke's sing-song voice than anything Constance Bennett did. Mrs. Topper was more concerned with keeping up appearances and climbing the social ladder that she wouldn't let poor Mr. Topper do anything! She's got him on such a strict schedule and keeps him from doing anything fun because she wants to maintain a facade of respectability. She continually refers to them being "middle-aged" and constantly implies that it wouldn't be appropriate for Mr. Topper to do this or that. Poor Mr. Topper is forced to watch his wife do needlepoint while they engage in idle chit-chat, how boring would that be?
When the Kerbys die and come back as ghosts, they wonder why they're in limbo. They're not in heaven or hell. They realize that they haven't done anything good or bad to go anywhere. They decide that their good deed will be to help free their friend Topper from his boring life. Throughout most of the first half of the film, Topper exhibits some jealously toward the fun that the Kerbys seem to have and how he doesn't do anything. The comedy from the film comes from all the things the Kerbys get Topper to do to help loosen him up.
The ghost Kerbys have a fight after following Topper to the hotel which is why Cary Grant seems to disappear for awhile. I didn't think Constance Bennett was that bad. I don't think I would specifically watch a film to see her, but I wouldn't avoid a film she was in.
The reason that Cary Grant was driving with his feet in the beginning is because he and Constance Bennett were out partying all night and they're both drunk. He's just being reckless. I was curious how the car was being powered, unless Bennett was hitting the gas and brake with her left foot.
I found the film enjoyable and a good way to spend my Sunday evening. I wish I had started watching the ghost movies earlier, as I missed The Ghost and Mrs. Muir again.
Aside from Bennett, I think original choice Harlow would have been good as would Carole Lombard or Myrna Loy.
just didn't strike me as funny, that's all. it all seemed very flat.
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lawless range tonite at ten forty on movies!
john wayne sings!
my barber has gene autry pictures all over the walls of his shop.
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I've seen a clip of that years ago, and a voice-over informed it was a young GENE AUTREY who provided the singing!
Sepiatone
yeah, I did know it was a voice-over but not gene autry. thanks!
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The best sequence is Roland Young's mime while he's drunk, he's just great, you should have kept watching it's the visual comedy of the film.
maybe, I just found constance bennett's marion kerby very irritating...
even more so than barbra streisand in what's up, doc?
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lawless range tonite at ten forty on movies!
john wayne sings!
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Al Hirschfeld tackled the subject of unlikely casting in a series of drawings for Playbill back in the Sixties.
Jimmy Durante as Henry Higgins
Ethel Merman and Ernest Borgnine in "Private Lives"
Carol Burnett as Blanche DuBois
Carol Channing as Lady Macbeth
Barbara Streisand as Joan of Arc
Buddy Hackett as Hamlet
Beatrice Lillie as Ophelia
Bert Lahr as King Lear
Jason Robards, Jr. as Puck in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Cyril Ritchard as Tevye
Zero Mostel as Peter Pan
John Gielgud in "Tobacco Road"
Walter Matthau and Nancy Walker as Romeo and Juliet
Jackie Gleason in "Crime and Punishment"
Peter Ustinov as Oscar Madison and Boris Karloff as Felix Unger in "The Odd Couple"
that last one I gotta see.
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As Sakini in 'Teahouse' maybe?
Wayne's at least as good an actor as Brando, right?
Right.
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Well, I can't say as I'm exactly familiar with the laws and customs of England ca. 1900, but I think it goes against the societal norm of the time for a young widow to leave her husband's family, not that it wasn't done of course- but Tierney as Mrs. Muir exudes such a resolve that she wins out.
Secondly, I think of feminism not as the supremacy of women over men, but as equal footing (they'd be smart to rebrand it as that) and Lucy and the Captain have a definite and rather healthy balance to their relationship: they are partners, they are equals. Most important is the fact that Mrs. Muir acts as editor to the Captain; it is not only his idea, it is her effort as well; the same balance exists in the rental agreement, sleeping arrangements and rujn of the house. (a relationship not unlike the one betweem Harrison and Dunne in Anna and the King of Siam.)
Mrs. Muir is a resolute, intelligent and brave woman, she isn't frightened by a ghost or overwhlemed by daunting relations or money troubles or taking on the world as it were; she even admits she didn't love her first husband. Her misstep with George Sanders is but a hand life deals her- much like her financial hardship in losing the gold annuity- there's nothing "un-feminist" in either because she handles both as well as any man damn well could.
So yeah, i'd cite The Ghost and Mrs. Muir as a wonderful film about relationships and about equality and about the rare moments that occur in the relations of two beings where the give and take, the balance and the footing are equal.
I prefer the late 60s TV series where the setting is moved to gull cottage along rocky coastal maine, usa.
seriously, the film is a fantasy rather than a comedy.
rex harrison coulda had a field day with a more comedic script. the film is a wasted oppurtunity.
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What happened to Tentacles?
I thought something was fishy as the one TCM schedule listed it, but the other one didnt. My cable guide (online) did list it, as I scheduled it to be recorded. But when I checked it Sat. night, it wasnt on there. Visitor was listed. And sure enough, Visitor was what played. Thanks for teasing us, TCM!!!!!!!!!!!!richard harris in orca or john huston in tentacles.
no thanks for either.
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I tried to sit through Topper last nite and found it quite excruciating. not a very funny film at all. the beginning of the film has george kerby not taking a stockholders meeting very seriously while marion kerby annoys topper in his office.
I found constance bennett's "comedics" stupid and unfunny. only funny thing she did was slap the elevator guy. couldn't watch any more after her dance with roland young in the kerby's apartment. george kerby? ain't that glenn ford's real name in the fastest gun alive? cary grant wasn't any more funny then constance bennett but he certainly was more affable. I found the whole film stupid. roland young talks quite low and I can see why leo g. carroll got the part in the TV show. he sounded very much like roland young. as the film progresses we see that mrs. topper has her trained pet hubby cosmo on a strict daily regimen. he rebels by deciding to take a spin in the kerby's repaired super-charged automobile. custom-built too. at first I thought it was a cord. then he encounters the kerby's at the spot of their demise. at least we learn that dead people meander not too far. the humor's not forced. it just ain't there. the preface of the story is really lame. the kerby's drive to the bank with george mistaking his legs for his arms and I suppose that was funny in 1937? 
marion kerby is what? playful, flirtatious or just plain annoying? IMDb has nothing but praise for this film but I'm sorry. constance bennett was annoying and roland young was flat. yeah, I know his character is supposed to be flat but not the whole film. very overrated. -
I just thought the whole thing was dumb. I like the TV series much better.
lucia? gimme a break.
hope lange and edward mulhare did it much better.
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John Wayne as a Mongol warlor....errr...never mind.
Duke as genghis khan?...yes!
it worked because duke made it work.
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I liked Field a lot as Kim Novak's mother in Picnic. She was excellent as a mother wanting her daughter to marry someone with some status, so that she can have a higher social standing in town than she did. I gathered from the film, that Field's character had married her husband out of love and he ended up leaving her and her two children, and judging from their home and the fact that they rent a room in the house to Rosalind Russell, I'm guessing the family wasn't well off financially either--most likely a result of her husband leaving. In an effort to save her daughter from that fate, she was pressuring her to use her looks (before they fade) to snag a rich husband who'll keep her financially secure and help move Novak (and by proxy, herself) into a higher echelon of society. The snag in the whole plan of course, is that Novak isn't sure she loves boyfriend Cliff Robertson and Robertson's father doesn't think Novak is good enough for his son.
Field's portrayal of a mother trying to use her daughter to improve their status in the community and her subsequent struggle with her daughter's growing affection for out of work drifter, William Holden, was very effective and definitely added to the film. I think one of the most powerful moments of Picnic is at the end when Novak has her bags packed to follow Holden to Tulsa, and Field literally tries to keep Novak from leaving. When Novak breaks free of Field's clinch, it was a very important moment in the film. Field's look on her face when Novak leaves shows that she is devastated about what fate she thinks her daughter will face by shunning security in favor of love, and also the fact that her plan ultimately failed. Her other daughter, Susan Strasberg, is more headstrong and will probably be harder to coerce into such a lifestyle.
I think the kid up on the podium with no name is the sanest person in the whole film.
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I stand corrected
I thought she was hot.
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evans evans was hot if you ask me, kinda reminscent of verna bloom.
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majorie main as Ilsa in casablanca?
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on the other hand, svengoolie's print of invisible agent last nite looked real spiffy.
don't think I've seen a bad print of anything on his show.
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Yeah, it was a bad print. Maybe they can fix it and show a better one next week.
Still nice to see them doing something different, and not censoring out the offensive bits (among which was praise for Japanese internment camps!) because i feel like you can learn from such things.
and maybe they won't...
pennies count.
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since it's economical, I wonder if when tcm shows The Prisoner of Second Avenue again, if they might consider getting a hold of an older edited print.
just before ed peck dumps a bucket of water on lemmon, in the older dubbed print Lemmon says "respect my can!" which I think sounds funnier.
since tcm just showed a lousy print of the batman serial. figure it will be no trouble.
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What the heck happened HERE?? There was some "Pretty Pictures" distribution logo, followed by a lousy 16mm transfer of Chapter One. Sony has a gorgeous 35mm transfer. Did this serial go P.D. without anybody looking?????
HOLY DUPE, BATMAN!!!
maybe it's just more economical for tcm to show an inferior quality print.
just remember, RayFiola, your sacrifice is enabling tcm to continue it's uncensored commercial-free policy.
be glad.
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I hope he is okay. He's 72 years old and flying a 70+ year old vintage plane. Ridiculous. I'm happy he didn't crash into a home or onto people. I'm sick of the people who are usually millionaires, flying around in these small planes. They either don't know what they're doing or there is some kind of mechanical issue that causes them to crash. Just recently, some millionaire was flying his small plane and crashed into a home of a mother who was on maternity leave with a newborn and young child and the small plane crashes right into her home - she's minding her own business. And it bugs me when these small plane owners take their young children up with them and then crash. I'm all for a ban on these small planes. If anyone wants to fly - take a regular, full-sized jet, flown by pilots who hopefully know what they are doing. At the very least, these small planes should only be allowed to fly over areas that are not populated, residential areas.
yeah! why should we all be at the mercy of these rich flying celebs and their hedonistic recreating bents?
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the 50 foot woman's bedsheets.
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same ol' story. nuthin' to watch. lost my taste for old TV westerns like the virginian and the big valley and who can digest any more of bonanza, gunsmoke or the high chapparal? not me. can't quite cotton to wanted: dead or alive or rawhide.
gonna try to sit through invisible agent tonite on svengoolie. figure it can't be any worse than that batman serial. saw the advertisement for tcm's next disney nite on the fifteenth. why the disney outings? tcm worried about the neverending repetitiousness of their unchanging film catalog and rotation? they oughta be.
they can break out Hot Spell with an Osborne-Shirley MacLaine primetime or essentials sit-in anytime they dam well want to.
I mean who's stoppin' 'em?
I thought something was fishy as the one TCM schedule listed it, but the other one didnt. My cable guide (online) did list it, as I scheduled it to be recorded. But when I checked it Sat. night, it wasnt on there. Visitor was listed. And sure enough, Visitor was what played. Thanks for teasing us, TCM!!!!!!!!!!!!
marion kerby is what? playful, flirtatious or just plain annoying? IMDb has nothing but praise for this film but I'm sorry. constance bennett was annoying and roland young was flat. yeah, I know his character is supposed to be flat but not the whole film. very overrated.
Is this really necessary?
in General Discussions
Posted
that idiot venkman coulda had himself a 100 foot segourney weaver.