lzcutter
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Posts posted by lzcutter
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And for those interested in seeing RO when he was young, just published and on the Dinah Shore show with the likes of Shelley Winters and Olivia de Haviland:
http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/thread.jspa?messageID=7863860
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Filmlover,
True or not, it's a great building and one that looks like it was built for a Hollywood mogul, star or as a bribe.
Gotta love old Hollywood, when scandals were about love, sex, shootings, murder and all that jazz and not about check fraud, embezzlement or what movie just failed at the box office.
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I think the rumors regained traction and became part of the old Hollywood mythology when Kenneth Anger wrote "Hollywood Babylon". This book while a fun read is filled with inaccuracies, falsehoods and misinformation.
Yet, because it got published and was a best seller people believe it. It was published in the early to mid-1970s, and most of the scandals he writes about were during the golden age of the studios when studio heads and publicists controlled the news of their stars.
Readers were more than willing back then to believe their beloved stars had feet of clay and were just as capable of bad judgement as the rest of us.
Unfortunately, Anger blurred the line between truth and fiction just enough to ensure a best seller and stay out of court.
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Special Announcement
The Classic Cinema College is proud to announce our upcoming Spring Frolic that begins next week.
We are still putting the final touches on the programming and events we will be offering. If there is an event that you would like to suggest or host, please don't be shy. We need all the help we can find to make this another memorable triple C event.
A date and time for our annual Picnic will be announced shortly.
As always, the Spring Frolic will include the famous (or maybe that should be infamous) Good Friday Chariot Race featuring alumni Charlton Heston and anyone crazy enough to challenge him. A sign up sheet is posted in the Athletic Department so mosey on over and add your name.
We in Film Restoration will be having a Film Festival and Preservation Seminar as well. Our student teacher, Filmlover, has been challenging many of his students to try their hand at scheduling for our twice weekly CCC Night at the Movies. We are hoping that he will schedule some of those highlight.
Our Musical Heritage Restoration Specialist, JackBurley, is rumored to have an idea or two for Variety Show featuring some of the best singing and dancing the campus has to offer.
We hear that the boys in the Motor Pool, finally having cried into their towels long enough, are planning a baseball game. Interested parties should sign up with Robert Armstrong.
James "Call Me Jimmy" Stewart and his wonderful pooka pal, Harvey are working with our Staff Mixologist, Hollywood Kyle as well as Professors Powell and Loy on the bar.
Stay tuned for further developments!
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Moira,
The shot of Randolph Scott (cue chorus) on his horse looks as if it was shot up near Lone Pine, California.
About twice a month I get as far as Mojave (just down the road from Lone Pine) so those mountains look very familiar to me. One of these days, I will get to Lone Pine and check out the Alabama Hills.
One of these days.
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Here's the link to a new article by Kevin Brownlow on his favorite subject, Silent Films:
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Charles Chaplin: The Goldrush
John Wayne: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Marilyn Monroe: Some Like It Hot
Ingrid Bergman: Casablanca
James Stewart: Harvey
Cary Grant: North by Northwest
Henry Fonda: Once Upon a Time in the West
Greta Garbo: Queen Christina
Errol Flynn: Robin Hood
Ginger Rogers: Swing Time
Audrey Hepburn: Breakfast at Tiffany's
James Cagney: Public Enemy
Sidney Poitier: In the Heat of the Night
James Dean: Giant
Gary Cooper: The Winning of Barbara Worth
Sean Connery: The Man Who Would Be King
Rita Hayworth: The Lady from Shanghi
Humphrey Bogart: Tp Have and Have Not
Peter Sellers: The Pink Panther
Robert Donat: Good-Bye Mr Chips
George Raft: They Drive by Night
Peter Lorre: Harvey
Marlon Brando: The Godfather
Gene Kelly: Singing in the Rain
Robert Redford: The Sting
Olivia de Havilland: The Heiress
Joan Crawford: Mildred Pierce
Robert DeNiro: Bang the Drum Slowly
Orson Welles: Magnificent Ambersons
Tyrone Power: The Mark of Zorro
Paul Muni: The Life of Emile Zola
Fred Astaire: Swing Time
Clint Eastwood: Dirty Harry
Spencer Tracy: Tortilla Flat
Gregory Peck: To Kill a Mockingbird
Laurence Olivier: That Hamilton Woman
Doris Day: Calamity Jane
Elizabeth Taylor: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Barbara Stanwyck: Ball of Fire
Jack Lemmon: Mr. Roberts
Katherine Hepburn: Adam's Rib
Bette Davis: The Petrified Forest
Kirk Douglas: Spartacus
Boris Karloff: Targets
William Holden: Sunset Blvd
Marx Brothers: Duck Soup
Walt Disney: Pinocchio
Buster Keaton: Steamboat Bill, Jr
Vivien Leigh: Gone with the Wind
Judy Garland: A Star is Born
Robert Mitchum: Night of the Hunter
Alfred Hitchcock: Foreign Correspondent
Frank Capra: It's a Wonderful Life
Alan Ladd: Shane
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Sci-fi film composer Herman Stein has died.
He composed the music for This Planet Earth, Creature From the Black Lagoon, It Came From Outer Space and many more.
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It doesn't cost any more to dub a 1933 film to digital than it does to dub a 1995 film to digital.>>
But they will make more money faster with the 1995 film in rentals and sales of DVDs.
Anyway, most of the best of the old films are already on digitial. >>
Yes, because the well known classic films such as Gone With the Wind, Wizard of Oz and Casablanca are beloved films that cut across the generations.
The lesser known, more obscure films, however, are a harder sell and typically don't have the sales numbers that modern films, boxed sets of modern television, classic tv showsor the beloved classics have.
So, there is not the push by the studios to convert them to digital quickly.
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Any film already available on a 35 mm or 16 mm print or on any kind of video tape can be converted to "digital" with one standard dub of the film. >>
Yes Fred,
But it costs money to dub them to digital tape. They don't just grab the old analog tape and dub it across.
Very often they will go back to the fine grain masters, do any repair or restoration work and transfer from that.
All that costs money both in tape, machine time, work time and labor.
As I said, it is not a top priority for any studio. Home Entertainment Divisions, like Warners, understand that these films need to be restored and preserved.
As you and I have talked about before, not every studio understands that.
Digital technology has been a revolution in technology and it is evolving much quicker than when analog tape was the standard bearer.
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The size of the Warners Library (all RKO, all pre-1986 MGM and all Warner Bros films) makes it one of the largest Film Libraries.
George Feltenstein even said during the recent HTF chat that it will still take years to get that library completely converted to digital. As I said, it is costly and can be very labor intensive because the elements are not always in the best of shape.
As for TCM running more films from the Warners Library, this forum is filled with threads of people complaining about there not being enough variety in the schedule of classic films. There is one thread dedicated to the rerunning of Bringing Up Baby and many others.
As TCM Programmr has pointed out, they have been working hard to get more films from other studios so that we can enjoy the films we have been clamoring to see.
The films in the WBros library are great but a steady diet of them and only them tends to leave us hungry for the other studios films.
TCM has a viewership of over 60 million and the majority of those viewers don't post on this message board.
They are trying to keep us all happy.
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Ronald,
In 1937- 20th Century-Fox (NJ)- Negatives for most of , if not all, pre-1935 Fox films destroyed. Big problem was that original negatives and fine grain masters were stored in the same vault.
?Cleopatra? starring Theda Bara is lost, so is "Way Down East" as well as films starring William Farnum, Harry Carey and Tom Mix are lost. Also companies such as Educational Pictures, World-Wide that Fox sub-distributed for are lost.
So, it is possible that the film is lost.
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The movie is such a thing of beauty to me that I am unable to watch it without tears in my eyes>>
Ben,
I start tearing up as soon as I hear the first notes of the music over the opening credits.
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CONFIDENTIAL
Prof. E. G. Robinson
Professor,
I wanted to let you know that I am trying to locate Lancaster. He is on campus but is being rather reclusive at the moment. I suspect he is enjoying a long lunch with one of his many female admirers. He does have a way with the women. That smile and "Hello Baby" line of his melts heart all across the campus.
Heston says that he will be able to join us for the meeting. He is almost done with the Chariot Race Track so that he can begin practicing for Good Friday's race.
Also, my brother, Judge Priest, says to let you know that he can be of help if we need it.
See you this afternoon.
Please destroy this message.
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I've never seen his celebrated turn in The Last Picture Show. I'd better rent that one day. >>
MissG,
Run, do not walk, to Netflix and put this in your queue. Make it your next rental. You won't be disappointed. The black and white photography, the dying town, the young men who want to escape it and Sam the Lion who sees all that it has been both in his personal and his public life.
Special thanks goes to Bogdanovich's then wife, Polly Platt, for finding the story and the locations.
The only other performance that came close that year to Johnson's was Richard Jaeckel's in Sometimes a Great Notion.
Two actors from the same era in two very different films with a similar ending for their characters.
Truth be told, I remember Jaeckel's spoiler scene more than Johnson's.
But, I would not have wanted to be a Academy member having to choose between the two.
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Ben,
It's my favorite too. I saw it at the old Guild Theater in Las Vegas when I was but five years old (would have been 1962). My bio-dad took me to see it, Then afterwards took me to the Coronet (or maybe Woolworth's) Five and Dime (they were both downtown on Fremont Street within spitting distance of the Guild).
Seeing the movie at the Guild Theater was one of the last things I did with my bio-dad
But it wouldn't be until a few years later when I was watching the late night movie on KLAS, Channel 8 that I would see the movie again and sat entranced from 11:30 on. When I saw Scout in the ham costume the memories came flooding back.
Can't tell you how glad I am that Howard Hughes didn't wake up that night and demand they cut to commercial and begin showing Ice Station Zebra.
There is a God.
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Moira,
The AFI Salutes:
I totally agree on your point that TCM should show the early years of the AFI Tributes to film makers such as John Ford, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock and the other early winners. These specials were less about the Q rating of those involved and more about the person being honored. Directed by John Ford, the Bogdanovich documentary, was originally commissioned for the AFI salute to John Ford, its first honoree.
From your keyboard to TCM's ear via the AFI rights department, those would be worthy of being shown on TCM because they are about classic studio era films, stars and film makers.
Made for TV Movies:
Before tv movies became the women in peril staples, they were the format where you could address the social issues of the day.
QBVII was one of my favorite tv movies from back in the day. Others include:
Brian's Song
That Certain Summer
The Glass House
Go Tell Alice
Attica
The Neon Ceiling
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
The Execution of Private Slovick
The Night Stalker
Duel
Police Story (before it became a series)
Toma
Kojack (from which the series came)
The Waltons' Thanksgiving Story
A Case of Rape
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Three Musketeers
A Man Without a Country
Great Expectations
David Cooperfield
Wonderful miniseries include:
Centennial
Holocaust
Shogun
Rich Man, Poor Man
The Winds of War
Roots
Lonesome Dove
and numerous Hallmark Hall of Fame broadcasts, many of which have been lovingly restored by UCLA Film and Television.
But the Made for TV Movies, Miniseries and Hallmark Hall of Fames should be shown on another channel dedicated to the history of television, not TCM.
Now, those early AFI tributes, that's different.
Message was edited by:
lzcutter for clarification
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Not sure how controversial they were in their day, hopefully they'll just seem a bit dated now>>
It may be hard to imagine in today's culture but they were plenty controversial in their day. The films that Kyle wrote about were very different from the other films with gay characters that are being shown during the month. Alot of it has to do with the death of the Hayes/Breen code and some of has to do with the maturing of American cinema and movie goers.
But as one who came of age during that era and being into films as much as I was (and still am), I remember them being very controversial. I'm sure there are others who can back me up on that.
Staircase with Rex Harrison and Richard Burton as bickering London hairstylists. They were two of the most heterosexual men on the planet back in the 1960s and here they were playing two gay men. No one raised much of an eyebrow when Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal did Brokeback Mountain but thirty five years ago this was eyebrow raising material.
The Boys in the Band was a Broadway play that kept critics and talk show hosts alike talking for months. There are some dated stereotypes in that film and some of them may be offensive to viewers if not placed in a historical context.
The Fox with Sandy Dennis and Anne Hayward as lesbian lovers that Keir Dullea comes between. Trust me, there weren't many lesbian themed films thirty five years ago and people's reaction to this film and the others such as The Killing of Sister George was very loud and very vocal.
Yes, they will appear a bit dated when seen through the eyes of today's culture and as I said, they will likely contain some offensive stereotypes.
Which is why I think Kyle was thinking that a gay spokesperson taking the Donald Bogel role with Robert Osborne might help to put these films in their proper context.
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In that day of the future when one has the opportunity to go to a list of every film ever made and pick one for a night's viewing,>>
Filmlover,
Will that day of every film still in existence (thanks coffedan for pointing out that not every film ever made still exists) being available for download be a reality in our lifetime?
Given how much the Home Entertainment Divisions of studios like Warners Bros and Fox have to fight to keep their classic film restoration/preservation/transfer budgets intact or increased, I wonder how quickly that scenario will be come reality.
I have no doubt that the day will come but I don't know that it will happen in my lifetime and I still have a lot of years left to enjoy classic films.
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The Garbo version of The Painted Veil is scheduled to run on TCM this June.
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No hornet's nest.
Maybe it was:
David Frost (though like Cavett, not likely), Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas or Joey Bishop?
Or it could have been an actor or celebrity that was guest hosting. Burt Reynolds used to guest host a great deal on talk shows.
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What's wrong with an evening of movies with gay and lesbian characters? It's hard enough to find classic movies that deal with this openly, which is a shame, really.>>
Cscope,
Did you read what Kyle posted? He's not saying there is anything wrong with TCM showing gay films.
He is saying that given that three of the films being shown that evening were very controversial in their day, that having someone who is the equivalent to Donald Bogle (from last May's Race in Film month) to put the films in their historical context might be helpful.
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I'm pretty sure that it was Johnny Carson. I thought he was pretty creepy, and then later all the stories of his power in Hollywood came to light. As I recall, it seems like she was going to discuss her volunteer work, and he just wanted to dish the dirt.>>
Knitter,
I don't think it was Carson. He was the consumate old school late night host and asking a question like that does not sound like Carson.
Sounds more like something Joan Rivers would have asked either as the guest host of The Tonight Show or on her own late night talk show.
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After reading the book,I thought Jem really began to mature and understand life's cruelty after Mrs.Dubose's death. Her character had a very important role in the book.
Would the movie have had more of an impact if Mrs.Dubose been incorporated?>>
Respect,
The book, as I recall (and its been years since I read it) focused on the growing up of both Jem and Scout. As you noted, Mrs. Dubose's death has a big influence on Jem.
The movie, however, is subtly weighted towards Scout's growing up and the impact that year and a half has on her.
The life lessons she learns often include Jem and Dill but we experience the movie through her eyes more than any other character.
Angel and the Badman!
in Westerns
Posted
SueSue,
According to the latest biography on Gene Autry which basically concludes that he was a good guy, who worked hard and whom Richard Schickel reminded us Angelenos in his review last Sunday, did more than other star to put his money where his mouth was in preserving history (the Autry National Center for the West), Autry had a long affair with Gail Russell.