vanjac14

IMO it doesn't hurt to have 2 chances to see these, they are seldom seem, and worth seeing twice. The pay stations like SHO etc. show the same films for months, several time a week. TCM does pretty well, again, IMO. Van

10/14 should be 10/15 in the last post.

The PBS special, American Masters: Gene Kelly, was on Ch. 60 in the San Franc. CA area tonight, 10/14. Has anyone else see this? An excellent companion piece to TCM's musicals. An exceptional and talented dancer, director, etc. Van

I liked Pennies from Heaven very much. Have watched it on tape several times lately. I love the mix of the music with the heart-rending background scenes of poverty, starvation, the depression, etc. Esp. when the bum sings and dances the title song, with the horrors in the background.

gwt said >Van I hear you I once heard someone say Ginger Rogers did >everything Fred Astaire did in a dress, in high heels and >backwards! Exactly! Van (I am used to the usenet convention of everything getting quoted with > < . BTW, do many of you ever visit Usenet forums. I was on the net long before there was any web, and Usenet and email was all we had. It worked. Of course, all the graphics are great, high speed etc. I used to sit there with my 2400 bps modem. We thought it terms of a few Kbytes of data--I would never consider dealing with something like a whole Meg. I had no idea things would explode as they did.)

To those who didn't like all 3 "That's Entertainment" on one night--that's what a VCR is for. I taped it and still am watching part II. I am glad they were all together, as it made it easy to tape. Now I have them all to watch whenever I feel like it. Don't let the time they happen to come on TV mean anything as far as watching them. We can now watch what we feel like watching just about anytime. BTW, I get DISH satellite, and I used to tape one thing while watching another. DISH doesn't allow that. Why are they so out of it. Its not hard to set things up so that this is possible. If cable can do it, certainly satellite can do it. I tried to tell them that, but they put it off into the indefinite future. Maybe if enough people put some pressure on them? Van

Hope this is the right place for this comment about TCM doing dancing and musicals. ------------- Thanks to TCM for putting on all these great films without commercials to ruin things. I am enjoying the musicals and dancing, but I want to say something I have long thought: I see "That's Entertainment" and talk by and about Gene Kelley and others (I can' bring myself to criticize Fred Astaire, he is great, and other men are also great dancers). However it is the women dancers that make the performances. I don't think enough attention is paid to this fact. Its like ballet, the men are good, but the stars are the women--and they do it on their toes (ballet) or in high heels. And the great clothes and costumes. There is nothing like watching someone dance like Sid (Cyd?) Charisse (sp?) or Ginger Rogers--there are so many great and beautiful women dancers . Men talk like women are sort of sidekicks, rather than the main stars. Am I getting my point across here? Van

I like the Age of Innocence. I have seen some complaints that "nothing happens" or that its too subdued and low key, e.g., no sex. But that is one of the things I like. It gives the feeling of the repression of sex that was felt before 1900, IMO. (Obviously I wan't alive, but I believe Victorian attitudes put a heavy hand on peoples behavior.)

Love me Tonight is a great film. Did you hear Robert Osbourne going on about it? He is right. How do great films like this get missed and sink into obscurity. Thank god for TCM! Van

I have never seen Polanky's Macbeth. I saw Kurosawa's version, I forget the title, where the forest moves toward the castle and T. Mifune gets an arrow thru the neck. I will look for it at the video store. I also should get a combo DVD VDR player. Tapes are getting to be like old Betamax tapes--obsolete. Maybe DVD is good enough to get to a steady state for a while. I guess this is how technology evolves. I wonder when and if computers will get to a semi-steady state? Van

I went and rented some videos: La Ronde, The Bride Wore Black,An Autumn Afternoon (Ozu)-- I have always like this one, and some Shakespeare, Richard III (1955), King Lear (1971), Othello (1952, O. Welles).

I thought you were talking about the S. King novel made into Carrie. I guess I should have known we are talking about classics. I have never seen that Carrie. I would like to. I have heard of the book, but can't recall if I ever read it or not--probably not. Van

All I have seen of "Letter from an Unknown Woman" is the clip that TCM showed in Scorcese's 3 pt. US films documentaries. It looked good though, and I would like to see it. Makes me think of some others too, like EG Robinson in that film where he murders a heartless woman who takes him for a ride.(Scarlett Street?) It has Dan Duryea, always great too. Saw him in "The Killing" recently, that was TCM I think. My mind is wandering all over, sorry. I have seen Olivier in Henry V, but not Richard III. I saw Portrait of Jennie recently too. I have always liked it. Kenneth Brannah was the name I was thinking of. At first, I thought I could never like him, as he can't play a hero like Olivier can (he does both Henry V and Hamlet), but as I said I have even grown to appreciate him. I thought his recent "Much Ado About Nothing" was pretty good (not great, but I enjoyed it). I don't recall much about Carrie. I didn't even know the people you mention were in it. I will have to watch it again soon. Van

I decided to put this in 2 posts, or it would be too long. I also get DISH and Showtime channels, with Sundance CH, etc. I saw Lawrence Olivier do Hamlet recently. I was one of those who didn't have the patience or tenacity to get into Shakespeare for the 1st 55 years of my life, but now that I have finally learned how to watch/read him, I understand why people rave about him. IMO, you have to watch carefully, and see it several times to appreciate Shakespeare. It doesn't hurt to go to Project Gutenburg and get the text and read it too, which is what I do. But you get more than you put in. After seeing Hamlet twice, I really started to appreciate it. It gets better everytime I see it. It is one of the few things one can watch again and again and it just gets better. I even got to like--damn, his name is on the tip of my tongue--he did Hamlet, complete version, and "Much Ado about Nothing". Anyway, I even like his versions of Shakespeare, though after Lawrence Olivier, what can I say?

I was looking over this topic, as I have heard of "Letter from an Unknown Woman", e.g Martin Scorcese speaks of it in his 3 part US movie series, and it sounds like a great film. Strange how it takes time to figure out which films are good. I guess one needs perspective, like with most everything. Anyway, I would like to see it. I must say in my 1st post, that TCM is a great network, and free. Like getting all of Carl Dreyer's movies, and many other simliar things for those of us who like good films--I guess we are called film buffs or some such thing. Anyway, I see the Heiress mentioned. Truly one of the all time greats. I have it on tape and never tire of it. I will watch again soon. I have many on tape that I watch over and over. Do people really think deHavilland is not beautiful? Even made up to be ugly, she clearly is not really ugly, not by a long shot. A beautiful woman, IMO. BTW, does anyone ever watch Classic Arts TV. I saw a clip of an interview with Joan Fontaine. There are many great documentaries out there on films/actors/filmakers/artists. I would like to see some more on TCM. Does anyone from management read these posts? Van