lzcutter
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Posts posted by lzcutter
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Bobby,
I don't think it can be from London After Midnight as that film and elements were lost in one of the big vault fires at MGM almost forty years ago.
I believe there was a remake of Midnight and that may have been the clip that was used.
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Well, I finally watched my recording of it, since there was finally nothing of interest to me on TCM>>
Brad,
You missed Cinema Paradiso ?
It is a wonderful movie!
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Not being a big sports fan, I opted for Cinema Paradiso this evening.
This film is so magical. I had completely forgotten the old trick we used to do of smacking the film to figure out which side the emulsion was on.
I haven't seen a carbon arc projector since my days in college. (They may have a set in the projection booth at the Avalon on Catalina Island. Mr Cutter and I got a tour of the booth years ago, but I don't feel safe saying for sure it was all these years later.)
We had a pair of carbon arc projectors in Bovard Auditorium and we had a projectionist that could run them. The booth in Bovard had the shields that would drop over the portals from back in the nitrate days. Our projectionist even kept his dinner warm the same way Alfredo did. The fire in the booth had me on the edge of my seat. Very realistic at least from accounts that I have heard and read.
Love the score (can't believe that Ennio has never won an Oscar-at least the Academy is giving him an honorary one this year), love the story, love the movie. Great kissing montage at the end. Was that a quick glimpse of Ginger Rogers almost in the buff that I saw? Sure looked like her.
Thanks TCM for the last four nights of great films!
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Jack,
We'll keep you posted on upcoming films. Who knows, we might get lucky and you can visit us down here!
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> I wish Ben Johnson had tried earlier on to play a
> couple of leads. He was the one I looked for in
> 'The Last Picture Show', because the scenes he was
> in were more alive and gritty.>>
Anne,
There is a wonderful documentary titled "Third Cowboy from the Right" about the life and career of Ben Johnson.
If you can find this on Netflix or Blockbuster or some other source, I bet you would love it.
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Cinemafan,
Irving Pichel is credited as the narrator:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0681635/
Hope this helps!
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Memo to: Professor Klondike, School of History
From: Lzcutter, Interim Dean (and not liking it one bit)
Dear Professor Klondike.
I had a wonderful time conversing with you at your welcome to the College party at the pub earlier this week.
I am writing to you concerning two things, The first, please see attached memo regarding staffer Mr. Tourneur and Professor Jack Burley in our Film Restoration Department. These zombie like creatures simply cannot be charged with Film Restoration. The scratches from their walking through sugar cane fields on the negatives, films and sound elements would be unacceptable by any standard.
Also, I am starting to hear rumors of a run-in between Wrestling Coach Victor McLaglen and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams.
Please be advised that we can not have anymore adverse publicity or stories in the press regarding the College in light of our Holiday party.
Anything you can suggest, especially in conjunction with Prof. Burley's problem gratefully accepted.
By the way, Dean Finnie (aka Buffalo Gal to you) sends her love.
Regards,
Interim Dean Lzcutter, School of Film Restoration (looking for a vacation)
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To: Dean Finnie, Blair General Hospital
From Interim Dean Lzcutter, School of Film Restoration
Dear Dean Finnie,
I have talked at length with Dr. Gillespie and he assures me that the bumps and bruises you received while touring the Great White North should heal just fine given the proper time.
By the way, Dr Gillespie sounds very knowledgeable and his assistant, one Dr. Kildare, referred to by many here as Dr. McDreamy, has much of the staff simply swooning.
You are in such good hands the rest of the staff is positively green with envy. Even Chancellor Stone has relented since talking with Dr. Gillespie, and has authorized that you take as much time in recovering as you need. (Lucky you!)
In the meantime, I have been appointed the interim dean (imagine my surprise and delight).
I am cc:ing you on this memo from Jack Burley regarding the terrible help he is being sent by the HR department, especially one staffer, Mr. Tourneur:
"My initial project was to reunite Cole Porter's "Voodoo" number with the Minnelli footage of his wife. Ethel Griffies told me that some deranged woman kept a cannister of the footage in Orson Welles' attic (this we will be investigating), thus saving it from the MGM fire.
Mr. Tourneur over in HR keeps sending me these assistants that he thinks are appropriate for the job. But they're useless. They're constantly stumbling about and behaving as if they're in a trance. They're filthy too, as if they spent their nights wandering through thickets of sugar cane. At this rate, I'll never complete my first goal."
As you know sugar cane and nitrate and safety film just don't mix well together. Sugar cane is entirely too abrasive to be in contact with film, negative and sound elements.
I have decided to consult Prof. Klondike on how best to deal with the problem of these zombie like creatures and Mr. Tourneur.
Please be advised that we will take all steps necessary to keep the good name of the college out of the paper.
Our Chief Information Officer, Kyle in Hollywood, will draft all of our press releases dealing with this problem.
Regards,
Lzcutter, Interim Dean (in need of a vacation)
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We watched this movie on TCM this evening. Mr Cutter had not seen it since we have been together. He loved it a great deal so here's hoping we make it to Monument Valley this fall.
That said, I LOVE this film. No great surprise there for those here that know me. I think this is one of John Ford's best. Monument Valley never looked better.
Kudos to the guys with the smoke pots and wind machines. They had the breeze down just right.
Kudos to the camera crew out there in Monument Valley, making it all look like a Remington painting. Shooting in Technicolor out there probably was not easy.
Even the studio shots look like Remington. Love the storm scene. I know Ford berated the cinematographer forever more but poor Winton Hoch was probably scared to death if the scene didn't expose right Ford would hold him responsible forever more. Damned if he did, damned if didn't perhaps?
The script and director. A great melding of the two with a cast that could pull it off.
Subtle Things that stand out:
Ben Johnson ROCKS! Always has since I saw him in this role early on. A rodeo rider and stuntman whom Ford discovered if I remember the story correctly.
Brittles has not had a drink since his wife died. He was probably Quincannon's drinking buddy up till then.
He and Quincannon have been together since the early days of the Civil War.
Tyree and the other Southerners, especially Trooper Smith, probably fought against Brittles and Quincannon at some point during the Civil War. Yet, out here on the Western frontier, past differences are laid to rest.
Nathan Brittles cares enough about Quincannon to get him sent to the brig rather than be put in harms way.
When anyone asks why did Wayne win the Oscar for True Grit? Tell them to watch this film, The Searchers and Liberty Valance.
A true melding of a director, cast, script and location.
------Lest We Forget
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lzcutter is a film editor so she also has a vast technical knowledge as well.>>
Chris,
I don't know that I would call it vast but it has served me well over the years.
Thank you for the compliment. Other very knowledgeable folks about the industry are Cinesage, Jr, Markfp2, JonParker, CoffeeDan and Path40a.
Kyle in Hollywood can tell you where to find most anything you are looking for on this website.
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Dirk,
It's okay, it's the annual TCM salute: 31 Days of Oscar (goes from now until the first few days of March).
During this time you will see both classic films and films from the last few years.
TCM is not becoming AMC, it is just saluting Oscar nominated and Oscar winning films, actors and craftspeople.
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Dan,
It may be that the older CBS/Fox vhs was made from a print that contained all the scenes.
The new version may have been from a print that had that scene cut out at one time. Back in the day, when prints used to circulate around networks, they would cut the print to make the film fit the running time that the network had alloted.
Many networks and stations had a set running time for showing older films
Many of the films in the RKO film library had the negatives re-cut so that prints fitting the standard running time (allowing for commercials because every show had commercials in those days) could be made and shipped around the country.
Has Marty been restored recently? Does anyone know?
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Hollis,
Thanks for the compliment. I am one of the regulars around here so I hope we will be chatting often.
Welcome and glad to have you on board!
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Kyle,
Excellent analysis! I would wager (being the betting girl I am) that you are "on the nosey" with this one.
Good catch on FFC not participating. I wonder if FFC ever got over working with Brando in "ANow". I vaguely recall that FFC wasn't not thrilled about Brando showing up in the condition he did. FFC was expecting the Brando from their "Godfather" days. Of course, FFC was not in great shape during "AN" either.
I would hope they mended whatever fences between them before Brando passed away. Still, given the plethora of actors and filmmakers speaking of Brando, FFC seems very absent, especially since he wanted Brando for "Godfather" and Paramount didn't.
Either way, if it is more than two hours, I think Brando holds the title for biggest doc made about a star or filmmaker done by TCM. As TCM is financing, am hoping they were able to use a plethora of film clips.
If it is three hours (or more), I almost prefer this to him being SOTM, because they will still show some of his films and it is a chance for all of us to learn alot more about Brando the man, the actor and the influence.
Hoping, hoping, hoping....
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Kyle,
Wow, a two part documentary! I wonder if it a two hour doc or a four hour doc? I can't imagine them cutting up a two hour doc to show over two days. However a four hour doc, that makes more sense.
If it is a four hour, two part doc, I think that is a first for TCM. I can't recall any other TCM commissioned four hour doc on a star or a filmmaker.
Sounds like a great documentary and am looking forward to seeing it because of all the people talking about Brando. If they use extensive film clips, it won't have been cheap to do, either.
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Scarebaby,
Not to worry, it's February and the 31 Days of Oscar salute (goes until the first few days of March).
Cartoon Alley, Sunday Silents and all the regular genre programming should return after the Oscar salute is over.
Happens every February, come rain or shine.
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Vertigo,
I totally agree with you in regards to the message boards and modern films. I have been railing about it off and on for almost a year now. It is one of the quirks of this board that I just don't understand.
We are all here because we love classic films and some of us because we love film. I don't understand the need to make a point about how great classic films are by dissing films of today. Classic films (and actors and craftspeople) are great. But there have been some great films made in the last forty years, the last thirty years and so one. There were some great films made in 2006.
Hollywood didn't stop making great films when they stopped making black and white films, nor when the code died nor when the studio system finally gasped its last breath.
If they had, films wouldn't still be made. Granted, a great deal has changed about movie making (especially from the corporate, blockbuster mentality that runs the game today) in the last twenty five years, yet filmmakers working for studios and working independently still manage to make good films.
Anyone who does these days deserves applause because the bottom line is making movies isn't easy.
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Hollis,
When Ted Turner owned TCM and its film library, the film library consisted of all RKO films, pre-1949 Warner Bros films, and pre-1986 MGM films.
However, Turner did the merge with Time Warner back in the late 1990s/early 2000s, the film library came under the care and handling of Warner Brothers Studios. For the first time in more than thirty years, the Warners film library was reunited.
According to a post from TCMProgrammr about a year ago, TCM now has to rent/lease evry film it shows TCM probably has some sort of "deal, deal" (as Don Rickles would say) with WBros for showing films originally owned by TCM and possibly films from the rest of the WBros library.
TCM recently cemented a great deal (from the looks of things) with Sony to show films from the Columbia Studios film library, also things seem to be warming up between Paramount (maybe that regime change was good for something) and TCM and Universal and TCM. Even Disney seems to have joined the 21st century because we are being treated to live action films from the Disney classic library.
20th Century Fox has its own movie channel - FMC- and so TCM only rarely (it seems) gets films from Fox.
There are a couple of ways to suggest movies for TCM to run. One is the Suggest a Movie tab at the top of the page of the website. Many posters have said that TCM is now running films that they have requested via this tab.
Also, those who participate in the TCM Programming Challenge (a new one has started), have had many of our ideas from the last four challenges appear on the TCM schedule as well.
It can be complicated trying to keep all the studios and who owns what clear in one's mind. I have a cheat sheet that I put together on my computer desktop so I don't get confused.
Welcome and hope that helps!
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For the record, since I get the feeling my original post might have been misconstrued as y'all were talking about musicals and then I posted about the men who freed the camera from the shackles of the microphone at a time when the microphone was king.
I wasn't referring to the musical genre in my post but to guys like "Wild" Bill Wellman, Raoul Walsh and Howard Hawks.
I think that guys like Busby Berkeley were incredible innovators of the musical genre but that wasn't who I had in mind with my original post.
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If we had to lose silent films then I think the best thing that ever happened to the movies was the folks who figured out how to free the camera from the early shackles of sound recording when the emphasis was all on the microphone at the expense of telling the story.
Lord knows what would have happened to this great art form if the camera had stayed slave to the microphone.
Oh, and John Ford becoming a director was a real close second in my book.
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Ben,
That's a great promo. What a cool idea to promo your schedule.
Now you've got me thinking.
Hmmmm..............
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Elvis was originally cast for the Ricky Nelson part but he was drafted and the part went to Nelson.
As for Dean and Ricky singing, this was the era when movies was up against television and movies were doing everything they could think of to lure audiences into the theaters.
As for screenwriter Leigh Brackett, she has many credits to her name, including the first draft of "The Empire Strikes Back".
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Was the kind of coat he was wearing when he first came to call on Ruth normal for the teens?>>
Was it one of those long coats with a somewhat fur collar? If so, yes. Examples of that coat can be seen being worn by Harold Lloyd in silent films and in MGM musicals that try to portray that era such as "Good News".
Those type of coats were popular with young men with early cars.
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Tonight, for me, was one of the reasons I love TCM.
Started with "The High and the Mighty". I know most of you got to see this film a few weeks ago when it premiered.
But tonight was my first chance to see it in about thirty five years. I loved it. Yes, you have to forget everything you know about disaster films but that's okay. This is the grand-daddy of them all. And directed by Mr.Wings himself, William Wellman.
From the crying towel to one of Wayne's most understated performances, I loved it. Seeing Jan Sterling last night in "Ace in the Hole" (Did anyone notice that the carnivale that comes to town is the S&M Amusement Company- Gotta love Billy Wilder) and then tonight in this, made me wonder why she didn't have more of a career.
Loved Paul Fix and the guy who played the artist.
Favorite modern moment was when they cut to the guy in bed answering the phone. My first thought was "OMG, it's the original Joe Patroni!".
Next up was the The Professionals (despite losing 20 minutes because of a bad signal to DirecTV).
Location filming included the Valley of Fire State Park in Clark County, Nevada. When I was a kid growing up in Las Vegas, the film cast and crew stayed downtown at the old Mint Hotel.
Vegas Vic, the big neon cowboy atop the Pioneer Club (across the street from the Mint) used to move his arm, smoke a cigarette and bellow "Howdy Pardner" every 15 minutes.
One night, Lee Marvin and Woody Strode, well into their cups and really tired of hearing "Howdy Pardner" while trying to sleep, took matters into their own hands.
Opening their hotel windows they had a wonderful view of Vegas Vic. Marvin got out his gun (filled with blanks) and Strode his bow and arrown and they proceeded to shoot at Vegas Vic.
All hell broke loose. The next morning, Marvin and Strode went to the location and Vegas Vic from that point on, the city fathers decided, should not speak.
Lastly, The Detective Story. A great story with a great cast. Was this the inspiration for Barney Miller? I had no idea that Gerald Mohr was ever that good looking. Lee Grant was great.
Thanks TCM for a great night of programming. I know it was mainly encore programming but for me, it was first run and it was first rate!
Day, Loren & Hepburn in High Defintion
in Your Favorites
Posted
My guess is they won't look very good.>>
If someone took the time and care to transfer them properly, they should look sensational.