Emily Dean

I love "utter nonsense" on Saturday night and really appreciate Svengoolie. While his show is much "corn" I like the actor's details that he provides and often find myself quite surprised at times, like last night's Don Porter who I remember from my fifties and sixties television watching.

Actually Tom and George both spent their early lives in England when the family fled the Russian Revolution. They sound alike mostly because they both attended the same public schools and if you haven't noticed most of the English educated in these schools usually have a different manner of speaking from the general public (even when they come from a region with a pronounced accent such as Manchester or Liverpool). As for their sound this most likely is due to their sharing the same genes for the resonance of their voices. If you watch BBC programs, or BBC World Wide news you will hear all the announcers speaking with the same sound and accent.

You can buy Memory of the Camps and George Stevens' films at Amazon.com. While I would like to...I don't know if I could actually bear to open the package and watch. Hitchcock also filmed a documentary and I believe it is on You Tube or something similar. I really enjoyed the series "Five Came Back" and encourage all the posters here to buy the book. It is either hardbound or e-reader. It is very compelling and I read each director's section before the night of the discussion. The only thing I didn't like is the fact that the documentaries were shown after the film. I would have preferred it the other way round, but who am I to question the 20 year old programmers. For those of you still interested I encourage you to view "Victory at Sea" as well. It covers both the North Atlantic and the Pacific. I remember watching this series on TV (ours had a blonde hardwood container with doors) and my father made us watch. The music was done by Richard Rodgers and is rather dramatic. He had an Uncle who was a British maritime sailor who was killed in the North Atlantic prior to 1941 so the North Atlantic episodes really resonated in our home. Additionally my parents returned home in 1943 in the midst of a North Atlantic convoy and my mother's recounting sounds like something out of a movie with the fear of moonlight, listnening for the sounds of airplanes and the checking each morning to see if all the ships were in sight and wearing her life vest night and day.

Actually Tom Conway was a MGM cotract player who also performed on radio as well. He followed his brother as the "Falcon" when George got bored...and a little known fact is he was the voice of the Collie in 100 Dalmations who led the Dalmations back home and George Sanders was Shere Khan the Bengel Tiger in "The Jungle Book". Who knew right Tom also was an English detective on a NBC Radio show. Happy watching or "I Spy" the Sanders Brothers.

Thanks Top Billed...appreicate it. I will set my reminder and thank goodness it is on before my bedtime. Did you know that George was married to Ronald Coleman's wife? I had no idea but in the biography by Brian Aherne they were very happy together and it may have been one of the reasons his life "went out of him" later on. They really had a very interesting adventure together and I surely enjoyed the book. Actually the title of the book "A Dreadful Man" was a result of what George categorized himself in a letter to Brian.

When will Lured be on TCM in the states. Help me here otherwise I may miss it. I hope it isn't on after my bedtime...I don't VCR or anything like that. Cannot even figure out how to watch "Watch TCM" Modern age challenged.

You know I love that car. Is there any history on what it is...did it really exist? Always a puzzel to me as it reminds me of today's modern Fiat (I wonder if the car's reviews were as bad as though for the current Fiat?)

I am excited but it still doesn't answer my need for a better recognition of George and his work. Have been reading two biographies and I do believe what you see of George in the movies is really a glimpse of George. For someone who, according to him, abhored working in the movies he made a lot of them and I always found him (his character) mesmerizing. Loved him in Rebecca, idolized him in the Picture of Dorian Gray and Voyage to Italy. Everyone hop on board, there are enough George films out there to warrant a SOTM.

Totally disagree....love the film, absolutely adore Charles Coburn and Jean Arthur. Remember the film was of the time and in the time...not today.

Ok everyone!!! Let us get this straight, if it is for Tim Conway the originatory should edit the title...if it is for Tom Coway, George's brother, then please move the discussion under George Sanders as a SOTM. Now that Tom's name is mentioned...the two would make wonderful brothers of the month. Am in the process of reading the Brian Aherne biography of George (mostly a group of compelling letters and communication from his wife Benita to Aherne) but regardless very interesting. As a strong supporter of George Sanders I encourage any Tom Conway fans to migrate to the George Postings. Wouldn't it be great, days devoted to interchangeable films with the brothers.

I love trains, the sound, the whistle. I live in the MidWest, not far from Kansas City and there are many trains moving through. I especially love the trains at night!!!! oh I miss trains. You definitely don't have time to fall in love on a plane or catch up with the man you love (Love in the Afternoon) or kill your dreadful Uncle Charlie (Shadow of a Doubt). Many train afficiandos ride the rails when they can but it is not the same. I wanted to re-live "move trains" and had the opportunity to do so when I went to Omaha. They have a fantastic rail depot and it has been restored inside as well. Additionally they have preserved rail cars from the different eras that you are able to tour and sit in.... If you want to read a great book about trains, train stations and middle-Westerners during World War II, I encourage you to read "Once About a Town, the Miracle of the North Platte Canteen" it has trains and lots of other scenarios that exhibit America as it once was. You can read a review on Goodreads and puruse the canteen via photos on the Canteens own website. Woo!! Woo!!

Hey TCM fans, WWII buffs and the younger generation...watch TCM tonight and either recall along with the stories from your parents or look at what the world would have possibly been if not for the likes of the Allies and the record of events by George Stevens. This is the final week of the "Five Came Back" series and the most compelling (not to denigrate the others but this weeks topic is much more devastating) of the activities of the previous directors. You will see events through the first allied "eyes" to witness the outcome of the Nazi effort and it will make you glad that the UK, the USA and others challenged the German expansion. If this doesn't make you grateful for the actions of your parents and grandparents I don't know what else will. A lesson to all who are wishy washy over international events and to retreat into the comfort of today's world of narcissism....be careful because this potential outcome can happen again. As my decades of life move toward the sunset I am very happy that I lived in the era that I have and experienced a world where one was not glued to various screens (remember when stations went off the air at 2200) that isolate thought but to have been exposed to a world where a difference of opinions was welcome and the country was more outward looking...than focused on its screen. Well I am off now before I become one of the screen deadheads.

Oh that is exciting. I have heard bits and pieces of the "War of the World" but never the whole thing. I love Orson Wells so I will be definitey watching.

I do believe the lack of voice overs for introductions is being unaware that some visually impaired viewers are unable to discern what is next. They have no access to the TV guide in the papers or other items so I do believe it is a dis-service to those who rely on sense other than hearing. With the TCM news I believe the voice has changed as I did not find the news (except for too many repeats) annoying until they changed the voice...at least as I hear it.

Well, as I was watching the shows for content, script and actors' performance I really didn't have time to watch it from a politically correct standpoint. You are right there were no black actors on television (with the exception of Amos'n Andy) and Nat King Cole (no actor but one heck of a singer) in the fifties just as for most of us growing up during that time period there wern't many in the school or in the movies. It was the times.....so judge for the time period. It won't be far in the future and "they" whoever they are will be judging us.

I don't know that Mr. Hulot would agree (Hulot's Holiday), regardless if you don't want George as a SOTM who would you like to see, then start a community. Or is your snarkiness a George Sanders imitation?

I too watched the anthology last night and really enjoyed each and everyone. I appreciated getting to watch new and old stars and I believe the programs and storys were excellent. While the scenery wasn't exactly up to today's quality, for its time it is pretty good. Especially when you know that these were one-off shows where sets would not be used multiple times. I was seven and eight respectively so when I was seven I couldn't have watched as we didn't have a TV set then and when I was eight I know for darn sure I was in bed. I too can understand why audiences watched the storys as they were all excellent and all dealt with moral values and issues facing young and old alike in the fifties. I agree TCM should be congratulated for obtaining these shows and let's not forget the people who preserved them. Thanks TCM.

Well I truly thought that by the end of his life, if his biographry is truly indicative of the man, he was exhausted. Just living with two of the Gabor sisters would have done any man in and added to the fact that by the end of the 1960's he began to think of his life as a factory worker (in this case the studios) as I believe many of the older actors felt. If you read the history of MGM or Warner Bros (especially WB) they were truly factorys. So in the end I do believe he was exhausted with his job and most likely himself.

For those of you who get ME-TV on your cable you can watch Superman every Saturday from 4 to 5 CST for me. "Gosh Superman" ........!! I'll miss you Jimmy.

Actually it was during the filming of the Italian air war I believe. I too watched this weeks films and was amazed at both the Memphis Belle and the Italian air war campaign. I have to say I watched Mrs. Miniver as well and for the life I of me I can't believe I still issue little sobs with the ending speech by the Vicar and a set of chills as they play "Hope and Glory". Thought the Memphis Belle flight film was terrific and certainly took the war closer to home for Americans who most likely would not have been presented with a first hand glimpse of the air war over Europe. The one thing I truly loved about the movie is the sounds of the B-17. There is nothing more resonating than the sound of those four engines and combined in the squadron take-off truly awe enspiring. I was lucky enough to get to enter a B-17 not to long ago...and you cannot in anyway truly understand the crew's experience until you enter one and experience sitting in the cockpit, or more importantly the tail gunner's position. The group sponsoring the exhibit also took veterans for a free ride (others paid) and to hear the sounds of the engines over my house put me right in the middle of Mrs. Miniver. The only thing missing was my Anderson shelter and the search lights. I also had the privilege and awe of watching a fly over in England during the 50th Anniversary of VE-Day and the sound of the Lancaster is truly a magnificant event. One of the reasons I watch the Dambusters on the Memorial Day Weekend. I think the TCM series is being well presented (although I could have had the documentaries first) and I liked the organization of it. Next week will be George Steven's chapter and nothing will prepare you for the films he captured of the European Allied Forces. Also I get to see "The More the Marrier" truly one of the best Jean Arthur films there are. For everone here who has posted and not read the book, you cannot miss it nor truly be a "poster" if you haven't absorbed it in its entirety. Happy reading

Thank you for your quiet and even response to Walt Disney. I agree with you regarding his artistic and creative strength. His life and accomplishments are truly a demonstration of creative and organizational skills to develop the contributions that he made for the six decades of his life. Last night I was watching the series again, as repeated on another PBS station and the exerpts from "The Wonderful World of Disney" brought back memories of Sunday nights and looking forward to the show. I know my parents took me to see or I watched on TV (I can't remember) some of the documentaries he produced that were really marvelous to ponder on the screen. The one thing I will always remember is the "Wind in the Willows" with Mr. Toad. The story is a great favourite of mine and even when I was in my 40's and proving you cannot shake the childhood out of you, I opted for "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" at Disney World ....I and another group of excited kids. Several years ago when in New York I visited an architectual exhibit of all the plans and models for Disney Land and Disney World. Here was a real tribute to his creativeness and skills reviewed with awe and reverence in a Museum of Architecture...truly an exhibit to his creativty and vision.

Well you will find it on Amazon.com...(naturally) and what I don't find there I find at Amazon UK. Did you know that George was born in St. Petersberg and that he spent the first decade or so of his life in Russia and Finland. He did come from British stock on both sides although one side had emigrated early to Russia and set up business in what is now Estonia. So that air of smugness (regardless of whether he is a character in Dorian Gray or Village of the Dammed comes naturally. Please do the films and I'll do life highlights.

Wouldn't it be great to have several evenings of Willie Best and "Rochester", Eddie Anderson. Rochester was the greatest foil that Jack Benny ever had if you exclude his violin

No...my book is by Richard Vanderbeets titled "George Sanders, An Exhausted Life". Poor George by the sixties he did look totally exhausted by it all. Great read with large amount of quotes and great source notes. I usually judge books like this based on source notes. Snob that I am.

How I loved my "Jimmy"....the bowtie, the sweater vest, the checked coat and always accompanied by Lois in her hat, suit, gloves and handbag...what I wouldn't do for a Nash Rambler convertible and Jimmy at my side. Gosh Superman, we'll miss Jimmy.