MCannady1

Yep, I just wanted to add one more thing to my dissertation about senselessly cut films. Yes, the BBC are notorious for cut things! MY hubby and I love to watch Mystery! and in the 90's there was a great series called Adam Dalgliesh. I really enjoyed them and wished I had taped them, for..... On a vacation in the early 90's just after our daughter was born we were watching PT. 5 of A Taste for Death in our hotel room. This was the denouement of this riveting 5 part series. Well, the scenes toward the end were complete at the time and the story was quite riveting. Not so with the boxed set sold commercially later. In fact, unkind cuts altered the story! Not to spoil it for anyone, but a key person in the story was a murder victim in the church. The way this was handled toward the end was quite different! THE worst cut of all (I think) was Shroud for a Nightingale; another 5 part series of Adam Dalgliesh. At the very end, a segment of the killer's confession is quite differently interpreted than in the set now available commercially. Sadly, I did not have it on tape. However, the marvelous book by P.D. James clearly states this thunderous proclamation which is integral to the story! IT was what I remembered seeing when it was new. Also, it is one of the most profound murder confessions I have ever read. And, Adam Dalgliesh's reaction! IT was only a moment or two toward the end, but made the world of difference, as they say. (We recently lost this great mystery writer, P.D. James. A lot of her thrillers have many psychological aspects to them which are brilliantly portrayed). What is strange, is that this director clearly cares about arrangements for Mystery! These were all outstandingly done and arranged. But I guess we had other cooks to contend with who altered the "soup".. to fit the series into a shorter mode? I don't know what else was missing. Other reasons could have been afoot. Could the Alterations Fairy have been trying to make things politically correct? That may be with some (respecting criminology). AND, for those that love Jane Austen's films like Pride and Prejudice like myself and my 24 year old daughter... In '78 there was a marvelous Pride and Prejudice 5 part series which my hubby and I initially enjoyed. Recently we watched the NEW packaged set with our daughter. Good thing I taped it in the 80's when it was on again!. We later found that some of the clever wit was actually lost when this was packaged up to sell! Luckily my VHS tapes we transferred to DVD have the whole story. I am glad I happened to have the old tapes. Though not as crystal clear, the lost footage can be precious. In fact, too precious to lose. They even have delightful flute music and drawings between the episodes and a witty intro. by Alistair Cooke! Some of these films and Specials are priceless and deserve to be shown in the format in which they were originally presented!

THat is so true! Some of the stuff I saw on TV as a kid is not available now and worse yet, some are cut!A good case in point was the wonderful '34 rendition of Great Expectations. I had seen it as a kid in the 60's and when it was on again in the 80's (a UHF channel) I blythely taped it, not realizing what would happen in future when it was re-aired. Well, the day came in the early 80's when I ran out of VHS tapes. I looked around and thought! Oh, Great Expectations is always on, so I taped over it as I can always retape the film. WRONG! WHen the film was on again I was shocked to see that it was missing about 15 minutes (at least) in footage. For some reason, nearly 50 years after the film's inception they decided to cut out Valerie Hobson's part as Biddy the governess. This involved deliberate wiping out of different scenes with Valerie and Pip in the story, as well as with others. Of course. they altered the running time of the film as well. (In the 40's remake with John Mills - and more famous, Valerie Hobson stars as Estella). This really angered me, as the '34 film was really marvelous. An underrated actor, Phillips Holmes, stars as the adult Pip and the film is quite riveting. Here Jane Wyatt played Estella. My letters to the TV station were Unanswered, so I did not pursue it further. A friend who knows people at the AFI says the 30's film book lists the film with Valerie. In parentheses it says her scenes were deleted. BUT it does not say when this occurred. My hubby thinks there were 2 copies at the TV station and someone showed "the whole thing" in error. Later I bought the professional VHS to get the lost footage, but no. I never located a complete copy again. We both clearly remember the scenes with the crazed handyman who attacks Pip's sister when he thinks she is sneering at him. So, for some reason that one had to go too. In conclusion, it is like governmental issues and politics at times. We only have part of the sandwich in view. The other portion can be withheld for various reasons. I am a little wordy here, but my notation in my taping diary shows it was complete in the summer of 83.

Me too! I am very sad about celebrities we lost in plane crashes, like Patsy Ciine. I love Crazy and I Fall to Pieces. Patsy did have a lovely, clear voice. I recall my dad really liked her music. Also, Ricky Nelson! I grew up loving Rich's wonderful music like Poor Little Fool, Traveling Man, etc. Later he made a good comeback with Garden Party, etc Yes, it was tough hearing about others like Otis Redding as well. I love The DOck of the Bay... etc. John Denver... was also very gifted. Wasn't it a hang glider that crashed? When I was first starting grade school they announced the plane crash with Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. At the time the only one I had heard on the car radio was Donna by Ritchie. STill a treasured favorite today.

That is neat that you saw Bruce in the 70's! I basically loved the 60's very much and didn't listen to toomuch of the 70's until a work friend got me into them. (I missed going to concerts with my sister in the 60's I as little sister did not enthuse as much when she got married in early 70's. I got back into them, though. Sorry we are losing our musical celebrities recently. David Bowie and Paul Kantner are irreplaceable and have their roots in good rock music. I am glad we still have Bruce. HE is still quite magnetic. It is great to have Paul McCartney still writing songs and performing. Also, Mick Jagger performing still as well. Just listened on YOU TUBE to a great song we saw and heard in concert a long ago August day in '66! - I was a virtual kid! lol. The song is BLUE TURNS TO GREY and the guitar sound is quite distintive.

WE still have fans of BRucie! He certainly had talent and charisma. Interesting to see the interviews.

I like them too!

Sorry to hear the sad news about Keith!

How did we ever manage to do it before? (Before the days of DVR's). Here we can schedule our greatly anticipatedfilms to see when we can. In past years I recall coming home from school or work and scanning the TV Guide for great films. If I was working nights or had a night class, I would miss a film. It gave me something to look forward to, but was more erratic. Schedules could not be depended on for film watching if we were not available or did not feel well. Today I love the DVR and can watch what I want when I feel like it. It is another great invention like the VHS had been and the DVD player. To have a means of viewing favorite films is ultimately the key if you collect films and want to keep up your collection.

I prefer Humoresque to Torch Song too. Humoresque has a great performance by Joan. Did not care for"Gentle" Joan in Torch Song.

I like the Hopkins / McCrea film better. THought it was Richest Girl in the World but may recall it wrongly. The one I remember has Fay Wray as Miriam's friend in this film.

I like Jane RUssell and Gilbert, but also did not care for the story. I sort of remember the print looking good(about 20 years ago) when I saw it, but I burned out on the tale. I did like the music in spots.

I watched this film once before and look forward to seeing it again. The story and the cast were great.

I did not expect to like it that much, but yes it was fun!

Robert Di Nero is a very fine actor. I liked his acting advice. Interesting seeing him in 80's and 90's roles.

Hi! Just making sure all was going ok. I kind of surmised what had happened and was sorry to hear it.Take care and hope things go better for you too! I am hanging in there too. (Class and respect is an important thing here! Your point well taken).

That is wonderful news! I love Marie's films. Her wit and great acting enhanced all of her films.

Ann is quite beautiful in this picture, as she was in all of her endeavors!~~ Heading out to Wonderful sounds like a great read.

Ann still looks great! Yes, I think she was quite impressive in her films.

Hi! I am interested in classic interviews as well as music. Hope all is going well!

I was not familiar with the Weavers. It is neat to have the info. and look forward to seeing their films.

THanks! I just recalled that we have Firefox. I just went out of it and then double clicked when I returned. THank you again. I have never had it happen before- lol. All is well now, I think. Yes, that was true that Too Many Girls like the title of the movie split up America's Sweethearts. Lucy continues to be a favorite!

Thanks! I will try it. IT's the strangest thing! I have to find out which one we are using -(smile) first.Thank you and have a good day!

I just noticed that the last one I made was there looking okay, but it happens while I am typing. I am not sure what button I hit in error. I was responding to a Lucy-Desi comment. I just wanted to say that it was a good thing that they had an interpreter nurse helping Desi trying to speak with Lucy at the end It was a good thing for Lucy especially. FRom the perspective of a child, my big sister and I were devastated by the break-up too! She was 11 and I was 8 when we first heard The News. After that we sought solace in watching the episodes of the TV shows which returned each time with the Ricardos still together despite mishaps. I can only imagine how terrible that was for Lucie and Desi Jr.! Lucy was right in sitting them down and telling them there could never be another reconciliationn.

I am sorry I can't make responses. Suddenly I am having technical problems responding to any e-mails here. THe print goes side to side and merges with the former comment. I am hoping you see this. Can't imagine what happened, except I hit the wrong Button@ Sadly, it happens on all of my responses. They come out merged with former text!

Hi Jarrod, I happened to think of Random Harvest because it is in my top 10 favorites. (The top is All This and Heaven Too). I thought of Dark Angel, which I had once seen when I saw it listed here. It was also a very touching film. I can easily think of 25 great films from the 30's and 40's which I really love, including The Rains Came. No, I don't blame Love Story, like you were saying. Of course there are much worse. Yes, the gangster films were pretty violent and crime films of the 70's. The occasional swear word does not bother me, either. Come to think of it, if our Bette could have let out a couple of epithets in some of her films; Beyond the Forest, etc. or even Joan in some of her tough roles that would have been been something! Of course the romance can still come across in films. I am only saying that the way romance was projected earlier had a certain magic... If it sounds like I mean this film primarily, I guess I was in error. But speaking from the perspective of films that have that aspect. it often leads to more. Not necessarily that particular film. (At the time I was eighteen when I saw Love Story and preferred the old movies). Like I was saying though, I wouldn't mind trying again. One of my boys (33) changed his mind when his fiancee liked some of the older films from Netflix. Now he says, "I can see why you like them, Mom". I was pretty surprised. Our daughter who is 24 will watch an older film with me and then I watch a newer one with her. So I try to keep an open mind. So I guess the key word is preference. BUt you do have a good point there. Swearing in films is not the epitome of removal of romance. Other elements can contribute to that. But all of that taken aside, like you said, I nailed it. There was something pretty special about the 30's and 40's - and 50's at times. When I take my favorite films and compare with today's, it's usually no can do, but it's not always that way.