lzcutter

I remember when I was a kid in the mid-1960s going to see these UNCLE movies in the theater. For the record, I grew up in the Southwestern United States.

M, Welcome to our classic film forum. Please bookmark this site in your favorites to make it easier to find. Your stories are great and we look forward to you sharing more with us mere mortals!

Best Screen Presence (overall): Lee Marvin from sidekick to badman from comedy to drama to love interest to character actor, the man with the wonderful voice left us too soon. Best Screen Presence (in a single film): Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird Despite all the competition: I've written many a post in this forum about this wonderful film. Suffice it to say, I love it.

TCM had to wait for almost a year to show this film because AMC had the original broadcast rights when the film was finally released on DVD. It could be that TCM only has a year long lease on the film. If that is the case, it will be coming to an end. I think the film premiered last February during Oscar month. As for another showing in December, anything that helps spotlight William Wellman is a-okay in my book.

Fedya, I remember TCM showing a number of DeMille movies a few years ago when they also had the premiere of the DeMille documentary by Kevin Brownlow. I remember some of those shown were some of his early silent films. You might be able to find out what films were shown in the archives of this website. Brother Kyle who is so good at ferretting out info like that might have some tips if you need them.

Brother Kyle, I'm in! Really this time!

Hey guys, I wanted to let everyone know that author and film historian, Robert Birchard, is going to be the November Guest Star at the Silver Screen Oasis: www.silverscreenoasis.com He will be there beginning Monday, Nov. 12th and will be there until Friday, Nov. 16th. So please feel free to drop by the Oasis and ask Mr. Birchard some questions regarding his books or silent films, especially. Here is some background info on Bob: Robert S. Birchard is an award-winning film editor and a writer who brings an insider's perspective and a great affection for the people who work in the picture business to his chronicles of the movies. He is the author of Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood (2004), Silent Era Filmmaking in Santa Barbara (2007), and King Cowboy: Tom Mix and the Movies (1993) He is a contributing writer to the omnibus volumes: M-G-M: When the Lion Roars and Don Miller's Hollywood Corral. His articles on Hollywood filmmakers have appeared in American Cinematographer, Statement, Film History, The Moving Image, Griffithiana, Daily Variety and Los Angeles Times Calendar. He is a past president and current board member of the preservation organization Hollywood Heritage, Inc. and is current president of The Society for Cinephiles/Cinecon which presents the annual Cinecon Classic Film Festival and contributes to film preservation projects.

Hey guys, I wanted to let everyone know that author and film historian, Robert Birchard, is going to be the November Guest Star at the Silver Screen Oasis: www.silverscreenoasis.com He will be there beginning Monday, Nov. 12th and will be there until Friday, Nov. 16th. So please feel free to drop by the Oasis and ask Mr. Birchard some questions regarding his books or silent films, especially. Here is some background info on Bob: Robert S. Birchard is an award-winning film editor and a writer who brings an insider's perspective and a great affection for the people who work in the picture business to his chronicles of the movies. He is the author of Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood (2004), Silent Era Filmmaking in Santa Barbara (2007), and King Cowboy: Tom Mix and the Movies (1993) He is a contributing writer to the omnibus volumes: M-G-M: When the Lion Roars and Don Miller's Hollywood Corral. His articles on Hollywood filmmakers have appeared in American Cinematographer, Statement, Film History, The Moving Image, Griffithiana, Daily Variety and Los Angeles Times Calendar. He is a past president and current board member of the preservation organization Hollywood Heritage, Inc. and is current president of The Society for Cinephiles/Cinecon which presents the annual Cinecon Classic Film Festival and contributes to film preservation projects.

Hey guys, I wanted to let everyone know that author and film historian, Robert Birchard, is going to be the November Guest Star at the Silver Screen Oasis: www.silverscreenoasis.com He will be there beginning Monday, Nov. 12th and will be there until Friday, Nov. 16th. So please feel free to drop by the Oasis and ask Mr. Birchard some questions regarding his books or silent films, especially. Here is some background info on Bob: Robert S. Birchard is an award-winning film editor and a writer who brings an insider's perspective and a great affection for the people who work in the picture business to his chronicles of the movies. He is the author of Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood (2004), Silent Era Filmmaking in Santa Barbara (2007), and King Cowboy: Tom Mix and the Movies (1993) He is a contributing writer to the omnibus volumes: M-G-M: When the Lion Roars and Don Miller's Hollywood Corral. His articles on Hollywood filmmakers have appeared in American Cinematographer, Statement, Film History, The Moving Image, Griffithiana, Daily Variety and Los Angeles Times Calendar. He is a past president and current board member of the preservation organization Hollywood Heritage, Inc. and is current president of The Society for Cinephiles/Cinecon which presents the annual Cinecon Classic Film Festival and contributes to film preservation projects.

Hmm, isn't that the demographics for the website rather than the TV channel?>> Dobbsy, Yep! But even though they are rough estimates they give a revealing look into the number of people who visit the TCM website and certainly offer alot of evidence to the changes that have happened here and probably explain the addition of .com to the "bug" logo. My only question, does any one know when this analysis was done?

Kyle, Does this make it Brother Kyle's Traveling TCM Challenge Show providing salvation to all who participate? Though I do like the Brother Kyle moniker.....

There is a clip from THE IRON HORSE, already in the website. I don't know whether it is from the British version or the American version that Fox is about to put in DVD.>> Jorge, From what I understand it is the American restored version that Fox is including in the Ford at Fox boxed set in December. The difference between the two, and hence the reason for the new score, is that the British version has more exposition about the Civil War and Lincoln than the American version.

<> No problem! <> I did! I am hoping for more confirmation of this from some other sources that I am a member of and as soon as I do, I will let you know! Message was edited by: lzcutter

So what are you saying, that it is theoretically impossible to have a potential fan vote on which films might be considered for new scores on an Annual basis? I still see no reason why this can't be done? Jeffrey, I was originally responding to Drednm's post about the old TCM library and wanting more info. I think your idea of Voting for New Scores is great. Anything that gives TCM and WBrosHV more ammo in budget meetings is a-okay with me. In my perfect world, WBros Home Video and TCM would have unlimited budgets to restore as many films, both silents and talkies, as they wanted. I was just trying to bring to the discussion some of the obstacles that WBHV has to overcome. The on-line discussions that the crew from WBHV does twice a year with the Home Theater Forum often gives a great deal of info as to how much their hands are tied by their budget constraints. But back to your idea of Voting, count me in! I love silents (as you know) and would love to have more them scored and available for viewing on TCM and DVD!

<> Jeffrey, If the search function ever gets restored so that we can pull up threads again without having to pull our hair out, there is a post about from TCMProgrammr regarding a post from CinesageJr where TCMProgrammr talks about the fact that the deal they have with WBros is not as good a "deal, deal" (to quote Don Rickles) as we too often imagine. While it wasn't a hostile takeover, Time Warner is a corporation with a bottom line and that affects the deal with the TCM. They don't get the old TCM library for free. They have to pay to rent the films and they have to make the deals and as I recall from the post, it is not as easy as we think. There are various mitigating circumstances. <> When Turner did the deal, the films were likely transferred from wherever Turner was storing them to the Warner's controlled vaults. That would only be sound business practise. You would want the elements under your control since you just spent a great deal of money for them. Either way, the bottom line is that Time Warner controls the film library's budget and what gets restored on a yearly basis is spread over silents, talkies, classics and foreign films. TCM, as a company, can make suggestions and can do tie-ins that benefit both WBros and TCM, but the purse strings, as I understand it, are controlled by Time Warner.

true... when TCM since had a "vault" and we had a search capablity of that vault it was misleading because even if the listed a film like CHASING RAINBOWS or FLAMING YOUTH it still didn't say how much of the film existed, what the condition was, whether it had a music track, etc.... still it would be nice if we had more inpute into what TCM shows>> hey guys, When Ted Turner owned TCM they had access to the entire RKO, pre-1949 WB and pre-1986 MGM library as those were the films that Turner owned because of his acquisition of the MGM library in the 1980s. However, when Turner merged with AOL/Time-Warner in the late 1990s, the film library was part of that merge. That film library is now under the control of Time Warner and is in the care and handling of Warner Brothers Home Video. TCM has to rent every film it shows. As I am sure you both know of the silents that remain, the most extensive library is that of MGM's (now owned by Time-Warner). Fox suffered a devasting fire in the mid -1930s that destroyed the majority of their silent film negatives and fine grain masters. Universal dumped the majority of their silents for their silver content during WW2, some of the Goldwyn silents remain because Francis ordered the majority of them not featuring or starring Gary Cooper destroyed and Paramount is all but illiterate about their silent library. I mention this because it all plays a part in what films TCM has a hand in helping to restore. It is not the higher ups at TCM that delegate which silents should be restored but the higher ups at Warner Bros and what their budgets will allow. The sad news is that silent films, like classic era films, are a niche market that does not bring in the big bucks.

<> Poinciana, Thanks for mentioning Pancho Barnes! She was a pioneer and an original that's for sure. Those looking for more info on her, she had the HBRC at Murdoc Field, the original name of Edwards Air Force Base.

Apparently the version that still exists in a few private collections cannot compare to the pristine, beautifully presented original road show version.>> Waldo, If I recall correctly, there is wonderful roadshow print in a private collection. It was screened, for one night only, in the 1990s, I believe, in NYC. Another 35mm Technicolor dye transfer, 4 track mag stero sound print, also owned by a private collector, was shown for two nights only earlier this year in NYC. Those in attendance said the print was in beautiful shape. A Danish archive has a 70mm copy. The film was shot in 65mm and not only would restoration of the film be quite costly just striking a new print would be as well, so those are yet more deterrents to being screened. Message was edited by: lzcutter

Victor, See the thread here: http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/thread.jspa?threadID=116027&tstart=15 for more discussion on the January schedule that has Jimmy Cagney as Star of the Month along with other goodies!

"Try to Remember" from the little-seen screen version of The Fantasticks.>> Filmlover, Jerry Orbach (who originated the role off-Broadway) does a great verse from this song in the closing moments of Rick McKay's "The Golden Age of Broadway". Brings tears to my eyes each time I watch the documentary

Mongo, Thanks so much for continuing the Birthday thread! I know many of us appreciate the work that went into creating it and the work that goes into keeping it current!

Jeff, FYI: The Langdon box set is coming Dec. 26th. Amazon is taking pre-orders for it now.

Movies Unlimited which is a partner with TCM is taking advance orders for "Portrait in Black" http://turnerclassic.moviesunlimited.com/product.asp?sku=D53711++ You might search the site: http://turnerclassic.moviesunlimited.com/special_list.asp?sid=r9&site_id=2&n=1 to see if they offer the other titles you are looking for.

Wings with a discussion between RO and William Wellman Jr.

The possibility of this getting made grows dimmer as the Writers Guild of America moves closer to striking.