bhryun

Hello, Not too long ago I watched an old movie on Turner Classic Movies and for the life of me I can't seem to find any reference to it on the web or in the TCM database. If anyone can figure out which movie this is wins a big THANK YOU from me. Era: 30's - 40's Premise: A ex-con (who used to be a musicain I think) buys a nightclub where they have swing bands playing on a nightly basis, a gang of young kids crash the place and bring in a transistor radio and turn it up full blast disrupting the place. The owner asks the kids why they are doing that and they say their leader told them to do so and that they don't like the music the band plays. The owner of the nightclub then visits the gang leader found in an old abandoned theater where the gang hangs out. He confronts the gang leader and is surprised that he is only a young punk with a big chip on his shoulder. The owner then asks the gang leader if he would like to work for him at $25 per week. The young gang leader says OK then takes the young kid under his wing giving him free run of his home and tries to teach him how to be a man rather than a punk. He gets him a nice dress suit, gives him boxing lessons, gives him the key to his house so he can come and go, etc. Soon afterwards the owners ex partner in crime is up for parole and asks the owner if he could get a job at his place which will help him get paroled. Everyone tells him he is crazy to give him a job but he goes ahead anyway and hires his old partner in crime who hasn't changed a bit and has plans to take over the owners nightclub. Soon the partner in crime starts wreaking havoc with the owners business by trying to buy and bribe his band members to play somewhere else, he gets caught doing so and now it's open game, the crime partner turns ruthless and burns down the owners nightclub with the help of the leader of the gang. In the process someone gets killed and the leader of the gang has a change of heart because he didn't want anyone to get hurt, to he goes to the owner and they devise a plan to catch his ex partner in crime at the old theater. The kids have a hey day with the gangsters when they arrive at the old theater and some of them get strung up by curtain ropes. Soon after the cops arrive and catch the bad guy and the owner and the leader of the gang are then on good terms and they all live happily ever after. One distinguishing parting scene is where a tough girl in the gang smiles and you see that she had some of her teeth knocked out in the brawl with the gangsters. For the life of me I cannot remember any of the charcters name or the actors or actresses. It had to be in the 30's or 40's since they mainly had swing music which is the premise of the show. These are not the Dead End Kids, or any other name they used throughout their career, these were relatively unknown kids. The leader of the gang was very funny to watch and had a big chip on his shoulder and didn't trust anyone. Everyone in the movie used the word "Swell" in almost every sentence. Anyone know this movie? Pulling my hair out in Florida Scott

Haha...It is a great movie! It's the best Monty Python movie, in my opinion. "Help! Help! I'm being repressed...Did you see him repressing me?" LOL. Great stuff.

I'll send you an email. Though I should warn you that the very end was cut off... Heather

In referring to occasional flops, didn't Bette Davis once say to an interviewer, "Well, they can't all be zingers!" Or was it Charles Pierce in one of his wonderful impersonations of Davis? Or was it Margo Channing impersonating Davis?

I've been researching an old Hollywood estate and recently discovered it was once in the hands of John W. "Jack" McDermott (1892-1946), silent film writer/director. His brother Edward M. McD (1896-1931?) was a "philm" editor. I am trying to track down bio info beyond IMDB-type lists. The estate may have been the site of Jack's famous "wacky" house, built from movie props, with all its secret tunnels and passages. Legendary comedy star Harold Lloyd conducted some of his photography hobby at the pool. I think the house is long gone, but I have photos of the pool, which was, if not wacky, very, very kitschily decorated and lasted into the 1950s. (Some of it survives.) The main feature of the pool was a 14' high spider mural overlooking the site. Was it once a movie prop, like much of his house? Did it have some deep meaning? After Jack's death the property passed (I think) to nephew Edward J. McD (1917?-?), and I have zero info on him. It's been an interesting detective story so far. Any help or sources? Rowan

Mongo - Thanks for your reply re "School for Scoundrels". Can you suggest a web site or other source which sells the dvd or vhs?

If you wish to read a revealing and moving book about some of the stars' private lives, I would suggest Axel Madsen's The Sewing Circle: Hollywood's Greatest Secret: Female Stars Who Loved Other Women, 1995. It's not a cheap expose on celebrities' sexual orientations, but rather a well-researched work on the social conditions of the times and how these stars really led two lives. Arranged marriages that never worked, psychiatrists who were quite unsympathetic and studio bosses who would tear up contracts in an instant were all daily factors that controlled their lives. It took until 1969 for the American Psychiatric Association to finally state that homosexuality was not a mental disorder. To think of the guilt, stress and fear some of these women went through is terrible to contemplate.

Keep watching the schedule - GABRIEL seems to pop up relatively often.

I think that the efforts by Warners and others answers your question that there is indeed a huge market for old movies on DVD. Just look at the box sets they are releasing: FILM NOIR, THIN MAN, FRED AND GINGER, GANGSTERS, CRAWFORD, DAVIS, GARBO; upcoming Busby Berkely, Pre-Code box set, more Gangsters, Harold Lloyd (shorts and features) from New Line, etc. While I wish Universal would get in the act more aggressively and release the '30s/40s Paramounts in thier library (Fields, Jean Arthur, Dietrich, Colbert, Leissen, STernberg, etc.) at least they've started the trickle with the Gary Cooper set. This is a great time to be a classic movie lover!

Well, Vallo, as a classic movie fan, surely you must have figured out how to tape/record on a VCR, a DVD or get TIVO? I just hope TCM plays more of the pre-Code films, and don't care what time of day they are on; I can always record them and watch them at any time.

Yes, johnnyweekes70, the book I was referring to was the one by Ed Sikov. And I think there was another excuse Clift made (although I don't recall the source), claiming he "was romantically involved with a socialite" who lived in New York and he wanted to spend more time with her instead of working in Hollywood for several months.

Just a clarification... Gort! Klaatu barada nikto! Love that movie.. Cinemafv

I am trying to find out who played the eldest daughter in cheaper by the dozen with jeanne crain about the gilbreth family.

I have to say that Bette Davis is my favorite actress of all time. Since I watch TCM all the time I have caught her in movies I'd never heard of & they all were so good, because she was in it. LOVE HER!!!!!

Robert DeNiro's "You talkin' to me?" mirror exchange in Taxi Driver Monty Python and the Holy Grail-"It's only a flesh wound" Monty Python and the Holy Grail-"Are you suggesting that coconuts migrate?" I could go on and on with the Monty Python quotes...

Jane Greer in Out of the Past. She was amazing in that role. She is the epitome of a femme fatale.

Among the men, Ossie Davis and Robert Donat always have my heart; among the women, Audrey Hepburn. Reginna

Bad news folks-the DVD is cancelled. This from a query sent to the BBC Shop: "Thank you for your interest in the Shop. Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstance "Scrooge" will not be released. We apologize for the inconvenience." No word on what the hold up might be.

Dear cowbtony: What does it matter whether Mrs. Danvers' love was platonic or erotic? Love is Love --- and I would be profoundly impressed that Mrs. Danvers possessed either kind. Reginna

I also wanted to add that I watched some of the Kirk Douglas day on TCM as well as Cary Grant. I think it's great that TCM highlights a particular actor/actress for each day of the month. Perhaps they should do this more than once per year as there are so many stars to select from. On a side note, I rented the movie "Streetcar Named Desire" the other day and all I can say is that Marlon Brando sizzles in this movie - he is just the most sexy, handsome thing I've ever seen in movies. I notice TCM will have a Marlon Brando day on Friday, Aug. 19th. I can't wait to see some of his other films. I wonder if anyone else has seen Streetcar Named Desire - if not, I implore you to watch his films on Friday, Aug. 19th - if nothing else, you should try to catch Streetcar Named Desire, this guy is spectacular (fanning myself off right now). I also would like to watch the Jimmy Stewart and Irene Dunne days at TCM.

Hello - new to the TCM board. I think the TCM Summer Under the Stars is very good.

I note that several posts mention Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) in Rebecca Over the years I have read several references to the lesbian overtones in some of Mrs. Danvers' scenes with Mrs. de Winter (Joan Fontaine). Particularly cited is the scene when Mrs. Danvers proudly shows the new Mrs. de Winter the deceased wife's clothing, particularly her undergarments, while speaking in glowing terms of the first Mrs. de Winter. How is this an example of lesbianism? Couldn't Mrs. Danvers simply miss a woman she had worked for who died a tragic death? By admiring her undergarments (made by a local nunnery) she could be showing the new Mrs. de Winter that her former employer was a woman of great taste and refinement. What do you think? Maybe guys don't pick up on this--or maybe some writers wanted to embellish something that wasn't there. Now in all fairness, I have never read the book. Perhaps this subject is more delineated in the novel.

I just read an excellent book on the great director, Billy Wilder. It's a large work, divided into detailed chapters about each film Wilder directed. The chapter on Sunset Boulevard revealed a fact new to me: Montgomery Clift was all set to play Joe Gillis, but backed out of the role two weeks before principal photography was to begin. Understandably, Wilder was furious. Clift's reason? He had just finished filming The Heiress with Olivia de Havilland, and claimed that "He didn't want to play another role opposite an older woman." Since William Holden was under contract with Paramount, several executives suggested that Wilder consider him. But Holden hadn't had a successful film since Golden Boy years earlier, so Wilder was reluctant. Well, as we all know, Sunset Boulevard guaranteed Holden's stardom for years. So what do you think? Who would you prefer? Could you see Montgomery Clift in this role?

I wish I could have lived during that time!

In "Black Widow" I absolutely love Ginger Rogers. In the scene where she tells the young girl to get out of town...and as the young girl tries to close the door on GInger..BAM... I love her in this picture! "Double Indemnity"- Barbara Stanwyck "Wizard of Oz"- Margaret Hamilton ( Wicked Witch..why not?) Bette and Joan both had their times.