lzcutter
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Posts posted by lzcutter
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Bettye Ackerman, widow of screen actor Sam Jaffe (Gunga Din) and who co-starred as Dr. Maggie Graham on the tv show, Ben Casey, has died at age 82. She made her film debut in "Face of Fire" with James Whitmore and Cameron Mitchell
Also, Jeremy Slate who had a brief career in movies and mainly television has died at the age of 80. Slate, best known to movie audiences for his role in the cult classic "Hells Angels 69" had a long career in television as well.
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When I heard the news earlier today, I thought of Warren Beatty at the end of "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" and the lyrics of Leonard Cohen.
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HR,
Be sure to check Your Control Panel and at the bottom be sure that you have both watches and replies turned off.
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Don't you wish you were at paramount? >>
Only if I could visit the famed Paramount film vaults and take along an audio recorder so I could list all the films that are in their collection.
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<< Saturday at 1pm, sadly we have passings to report. Actor Jack Palance died on November 10 and today during a disclosure, Filmmaker Robert Altman died this morning.
Gee, I thought he died while in the hospital.
Also, I am curious where in the world it is Saturday at 1:00 pm today?
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It's amazing how multi-talented stars of the Golden Age were---they could sing, dance and act---the whole package. >>
MG,
I think one reason for that (besides their individual abilities and talent) was that the studios invested in them. A seven year contract was often seen as servitude by many but for those just starting out there were:
Voice lessons
Singing lessons
Dance lessons
Manners
Elocution to help get rid of annoying accents
Make-overs of hair, noses, wardrobe, figure anything that would distract from the overall package.
And if they were under 18, that was all in addition to their daily school.
At MGM it helped foster the feeling of family that so many stars of the 1940s and 1950s refer to in interviews.
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Imagine this:
It's 1994, TCM is just opening for business. Back then, DirecTV and Dish Network weren't as readily available as they are today. The cable business is still using videotape servers (high end, broadcast quality video such as Beta SP and higher for broadcast), AMC is still AMC. TCM is still owned by Ted Turner and the library is still owned by Ted Turner. Most of the library is on high end, broadcast quality video format.
TCM takes a big tent approach, announcing on their website that this is Turner Classic Movies showing films from the 1920s - 1990s. The programmers have a plethora of films to choose from because the high end, broadcast quality video format has been around for almost thirty years and thanks to the VHS revolution of the early 1980s, the studios have been converting their libraries to this format so that they can release their classic films to the consumer market.
TCM starts to build its viewership. Over the next few years it will cultivate a growing viewership of film buffs, classic movie lovers and nostalgia buffs but splits that audience with AMC. AMC has the better demographic and, to many, the better programming because they have access to other studios films while the TCM of this generation relies mostly on its own library.
The turn of the Century comes and in six years, everything is changing. Ted Turner sells TCM and the library to Time-Warner. The Warner Brothers library is now reunited after years of being under seperate ownership.
The digital revolution is in its beginning stages of revolutionizing the industry a mere twenty years after the last revolution. This is something quite new because previously a new broadcast format was often good for many decades, not just two.
AMC changes from American Movie Classics to Always More Commercials (thanks to the poster who coined this name, btw). This leaves many fans stunned and angry.
Over at Time-Warner and TCM they have some hard decisions to make as the new century dawns.
DVD sales take off like a race horse and for the next few years eclipse VHS sales and herald the truimph of the digital format.
The Feds and the FCC get involved in the digital format and decree by 2009 that all television and cable networks broadcast in digital and all current televisions must have a black box to convert the analog signal to digital and all new televisions must be able to broadcast a digital signal.
Added to this mix is the high definition revolution happening at the same time.
TCM, like every other network and cable station, bites the bullet and begins the migration to a digital server.
Films that were routinely run on TCM, many of them obscure titles, are now unable to be screened because of the sheer size of the Warner Studio Film Library and the need to transfer the library to a digital format. Even if WBros ran the department 24 hours a day, seven days a week it would still take more than a few years to transfer the entire library and that doesn't even account for any preservation and restoration work nor the amount of money it will cost to do this not only in film transfers but labor.
Other studios, such as Paramount and Universal are reluctant to begin transferring their classic film libraries because they don't see the return on the investment dollars.
So, product for TCM to run is not as abundant as it was just three years before.
TCM's viewership after growing in the beginning years levels off and plateaus.
TCM wants to continue airing films uncut, commercial free and in their original aspect ratio. They also want to continue producing original documentaries and Robert Osbourne's Private Screenings.
To get around the problem of not having enough studio era films on a digital format that they can broadcast, they realize that they do have post-1960 films that they can run. They also start reaching out to other studios to rent/lease films that they can add to their programming.
They have Bollywood festival and it is very successful.
They discover that when they take a big tent approach to the films they show -Films from the 1920s to the 1990s - their viewership increases.
TCM does not show commercials per se, but does hawk classic film DVDs, books, CDs, and various accessories in between films and on the website. Increased viewership, it is hoped, will translate to increased sales of these products. Increased viewership helps convince Time-Warner that Private Screenings, Original Documentaries and TCM's role in film preservation does help bring in the dollars.
So, in the end, which was the better path for TCM:
A) Remaining true to just showing films from the studio era roughly 1930-1959 and watch its viewership decline as fans realize that there are not enough films from the Warner library yet transferred to digital to make it worth watching.
Or, take the risk of the big tent approach and open the schedule up so that more film fans make TCM their favorite cable channel.Either way, the decision they made would not be a popular one with many of their viewers.
If TCM had chosen A then they likely would no longer on the air as Time-Warner would have pulled the plug on them. If Ted had not sold the channel and the library to Time-Warner, would he have had the inclination and the money to spend to convert the station and the library to digital on his own so that we could enjoy watching these films? Or would it have taken a back seat to his concern for the buffalo, the enviroment and his other causes?
By choosing B, TCM continues to broadcast uncut, commercial free films, produces episodes of Private Screenings and does a number of Original Documentaries each year. It also helps support the efforts of Warner Home Video's dedication to film preservation and restoration ensuring that the TCM/Warners Library will continue to be preserved and enjoyed in the years ahead.
Which one would you want them to choose?
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The man asked a question and I'm going to answer it, I do not expect a reply unless you have a valid argument,but I am stating facts which can be proven by looking at the Nov. 6 thru 19 schedule - two weeks - primetime - 7:00 p.m. through midnight. <<
Anne,
I wasn't responding to your opinion as much as to your request for replies that contained valid arguments. I chose 8:00 for the beginning of primetime because that is 5:00 here on the West Coast and 8:00 in ESTime.
<>
Which in the context of your post sounded as if you agreed with the 1960 cut-off date. I only posted the rest of my post in regards to the films that TCM would not be able to run if the network adhered to such an arbitrary date.
Are we really so bad off that we cannot make wry comments about TCM anymore as if it were a living, breathing, give-all, end-all God?>>
Again, I wasn't responding to your wry comments as much as to your request only for valid arguments based on your earlier post today about the number of post-1960s films being shown this month.
If somehow I offended you or you feel attacked because of my response, I apologize. I only saw my response as a differing opinion than the one you hold and I tried to do it within the parameters of your request and without attacking you personally.
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Anne,
A rather unscientific study shows a breakdown of films shown during Primetime (8:00 - 12:00 because some movies started at 11:00) shows the following for the two weeks of Nov. 6th - 19th:
Silents 3
Films made in the 1930s 13
Films made in the 1940s 21
Films made in the 1950s 10
Films made in the 1960s 6
Films made in the 1970s 5
Films made in the 1980s 3
Films made in the 1990s 1
Films made in the 2000s 1
One of the main problems I have with choosing 1960 as the cutoff date for what films to show on TCM is that the studio system was still in business (and remained in business until the mid-1970s), stars that got their start making films in the studio era were still making films, successful Broadway plays were made into musicals.
If we stuck to the 1960s cut off date, we could not see My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music (only available to TCM occasionally during Oscar Month), Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Sweet Charity to name a few.
We would not see Liberty Valance, Cheyenne Autumn, True Grit, Rooster Cogburn or John Wayne's farewell performance in The Shootist, we would not see To Kill a Mockingbird, Cape Fear, The Guns of Navarone, we would not see The Apartment or any of the Matthau/Lemmon movies, we would not see Spencer Tracy's final performance with his beloved Kate in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, nor his performance in "Inherit the Wind".
We would not have seen the trilogy of "That's Entertainment".
I have channels like Showtime, Starz, Encore, The Movie Channel and for over 15 years Mr Cutter and I had HBO. You cannot see any of the movies listed above, uncut and in their original aspect ratio except on TCM.
So, if there was to be a cut off date for films shown on TCM, who decides? I seriously doubt that any of us could put together a list of what films are classic and have it accepted by the majority of posters on this board.
Films are classics not only because of the filmmaking and acting involved but the way people react to them. What is a classic film for me is not going to be a classic film for Stoney who's classic film list is not going to include everything Mr Ranger thinks is classic, whose list won't include what Filmlover considers classic and his list probably won't include films that Jon Parker thinks are classic.
We each call the films we love classics because they touched us on some emotional level and not every film touches people on that same emotional level. Yes, there will always be the mass appeal classics that everyone agrees to but then what? Everytime the AFI comes out with a new 100 greatest films (funniest, etc) ever made, the folks on this very board fill entire threads with the films they would have chosen. A classic film is a classic film not because critics say so but because the films hold a special place in your heart.
Perhaps, the reason TCM has always taken the big tent approach to showing films is that is where the viewers are. By focusing on a small era of films from 1930-1959, there may not be the audience to support such a narrow window.
There certainly aren't enough films from those 29 years available on a digital format yet to keep the schedule changing and keep the audience interested.
And finally, we have to keep in mind we on this message board may be the very vocal group in what we like and don't like TCM doing but at the end of the day, we may be a drop in the bucket compared to the viewership numbers that prove us wrong.
If the only people watching TCM are the people who post on this board, then TCM would have been out of business years ago.
Message was edited by:
lzcutter
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Mongo and everyone else,
I looked up Nov. 26th to see about "Father of the Bride" and the evening theme is "Remake/Original" (TCM is showing both back to back) so those that like both can watch both and those that prefer one over the other can watch the one they like best.
Gotta run take one of the baby turtles to the vet!
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Rusty,
For the record, Kino has a very good reputation for their work on discs.
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Otter,
There's no reason why the forum would have to be regulated to the bottom of the pile.
We could ask that it be on the top section with the other main forums.
And for the record, I agree with you, it's not the subject, it's the participants that spin the thread out of control.
The subject is one that merits talking about and perhaps it could be done more maturely and civily if it had it's own forum where participants would be more inclined to do so.
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Pintorni,
I'm not trying to stifle the talk about the films that TCM is running. I just think it may be time for this subject to have its own forum.
All too often, this subject matter turns the thread into naming calling and worse. It's similar to what happened to the Rant thread in Hot Topics.
This subject is a perennial around here and it often turns into a lightning rod for both camps. People are very vocal about which camp they are in and that, more often than not, ultimately devolves into name calling and then the whole board suffers as the thread spins out of control and then dies only to be revived the following week and the whole cycle starts over.
That's why I think maybe if it had its own forum it wouldn't spin out of control as much.
Just my two cents.
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Well, we managed to go almost a week without rehashing this subject.
I'm starting to think this subject needs its own forum since we have been debating this topic every week for almost a year now.
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MG,
I beg you to return this weekend and see Liberty Valance on the big screen, you won't be disappointed.
The use of black and white in that film is great, the elegiac feeling that prevades the film comes through even more on the big screen and Lee Marvin as Liberty seems more evil.
Let us know what you think of both films!!
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Has anyone here seen any of these movies in theaters?>>
I have seen the majority of Ford's films on the big screen. I moved to Los Angeles almost thirty years ago when there were plenty of revival houses still in business.
Watching films on the big screen is a much different experience from watching them at home on your tv. I know many folks here have big flat screen televisions and great sound systems and given the state of many theatres I understand why more people prefer to see movies via Netflicks or the paid for movie channels.
That said, you should see these classic movies on the big screen with an audience any chance you get because they were made to be seen this way. If the films have been restored they will often take your breath away in a way that is very different from watching them at home.
I have heard that the recent restoration of The Searchers is not as good as it could be (I have not seen it yet) but don't let that deter you. Go see it on the big screen!!
What a wonderful way to start your Thanksgiving weekend!
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I saw it on its original release in the theatres but that being almost (or over) thirty years ago, I cannot remember how it ends.
I remember laughing a great deal. It was released in the era of the detective spoofs, including "Murder by Death" (also written by Neil Simon and which I remember being funnier), also The Black Bird which was an updated homage of "The Maltese Falcon" starring George Segal as Sam Spade, Jr and Lee Patrick reprising her role as Effie.
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Kyle,
Your John Ford Unarmed in your first TCM Challenge was great and now for TCM to be running the films and your title for the evening has got to be doubly rewarding!!!
I love Grapes of Wrath (and thanks to MrCutter and the Fox store, I got the DVD last Christmas and the print they used was beautiful). The Alex Theatre here in Glendale ran a 35mm print of the film a few years back and had a panel of actors and crew that was hosted by Leonard Maltin. The scene where Tom lights his cigarette in the darkened house looked so gorgeous on the big screen (it took my breath away).
After seeing the clips from the Bogdanovich documentary two weeks ago, I may ask MrCutter for "Young Mr Lincoln" for Christmas.
Congrats again on your Challenge theme and films being chosen!
And a non-Western fan who will always watch Red River is a-okay in my book.
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Innocence,
The movie is called The Conqueror and it starred John Wayne, Susan Hayworth, Pedro Armendariz and Agnes Moorehead. Dick Powell directed it.
The film is not about Howard Hughes but about a Chinese warlord and the woman he falls in love with. It is not a very good movie but is well known because the director andall four stars later died of cancer.
The film was shot in Southern Utah during the summer of 1956 when above ground testing at the Nevada Test Site was in full swing. One of the tests was larger than anticipated and a radioactive cloud was tracked all the way to the east coast.
Southern Utah was in the direct path of the cloud and a number of downwinders developed cancer over the years. One ranching family was all but wiped out financially when they and the sheep they were herding home from summer grazing got caught in the cloud.
After filming was completed on The Conqueror, the prop department had a great deal of the red soil dug up and transported back to the studio so that it could be used for filming on the soundstage and they wouldn't have to try to match the colors.
Wayne died of lung cancer, Powell, I believe, died of lung cancer, Susan Hayworth died of a brain tumor and I am not sure what types of cancer claimed Pedro A and Aggie Moorehead.
So, in a way, the story of the filming of The Conqueror is better known than the film.
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CSJ,
The screening with Hank Worden, where was it? I ask because years ago I attended a screening of The Searchers and Hank Worden spoke about the making of the film.
Was wondering if it was the same screening you were referring to.
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Most likely, TCM will tell you to contact Deepdiscount for your replacement.
It could be an entire bad run or it could be just a problem with your disc.
Either way, TCM is going to say return it to the people you bought it from.
If you had a coat with a Yves St. Laurent label that you bought at Bloomingdales, if there was a problem with the coat (torn seam, no buttons, torn pocket, etc), you would return to Bloomies for your replacement not YSL.
It's the same thing. If there was a problem with the entire run of discs, then TCM (or more likely the company that made the discs) has sent replacement copies to their vendors so Deepdiscount should be happy to replace it.
If it is just a problem with your disc, either way, Deepdiscount should be willing to replace it and send you one that works.
If you get a second disc that doesn't work then I could see you going to TCM to get the problem resolved but not until you have given Deepdiscount the chance to step up to the plate.
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Inglis,
Great story and one with a happy ending!
When I was a little girl we were preparing to move from North Las Vegas to the southwest part of Las Vegas an area called Charleston Heights. This was a big move and quite a few miles (probably, back then without the freeways and such, a good 25 miles if not a bit more).
We had a bunch of cats- Jessie, Maynard, Ladybug, Boots and Sylvester.
When it came to leave the house in North Las Vegas we could not find Ladybug. We searched and searched but could not find her. Finally, my dad said we had to go.
We drove to the new house. The next day we began unpacking and the other cats explored the new neighborhood. We were the last house on the block and there was desert next to us. That night Sylvester did not come in. We thought he was out "tomcatting" around, meeting the other cats in the neighborhood.
We didn't see him for a couple of days but we figured he was just have fun. One afternoon I was carrying some stuff into my parents room and there on the bed sleeping soundly were Ladybug and Sylvester.
I went yelling for my folks to come and see. They came running because I didn't often run through the house yelling like a wild child.
The only thing we could figure was that Sylvester went back to the old neighborhood, found Ladybug and brought her to the new house.
Cats (all animals most likely) are incredibly astute whether we realize it or not.
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Producer,
I think you misread the bit I wrote about Anastasia.
Actually, Anastasia was Bergman's comeback film. People showed up, paid their money and saw and accepted her again as an actress. She was nominated for the Oscar and won her second Academy Award. She continued to work in films and later television up until her death.
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I think part of Bergman's success was that the movie going public thought she was accessible as opposed to Garbo who on screen came off much more aloof. Bergman came across as the type of men wanted to go out with and women wanted to be friends with. She wasn't an exquisite beauty but in the right light she could look ravishingly beautiful.
I don't know that audiences would have bought Kate in Bergman's role in Casablanca because due to Kate's persona, she would have decided for herself whether or not to get on the plane with Victor and not let Bogie make the decision for her.
Bergman was more chameleon like than Hepburn, able to lose herself in roles and characters easier than Hepburn.
As for Bergman making it easier for other actors to fool around, I'm not sure. Actors have been having on-set affairs since the silent days. Loretta Young had a notorious affair with Gable on the set of "Call of the Wild" and hid the evidence, so to speak, by adopting the child that was already hers. Gable had an affair with Lana Turner which is one of the reasons that Carole Lombard was in a rush to get home from the War Bond tour.
Bergman was condemned on the floor of the Senate and her pregnancy and choice of staying with Rossellini was largely condemned by moralists all over the country.
Her exile, I don't know that self imposed is the way to describe it because she was basically told she wasn't bankable as a star by the studios who were afraid of the public backlash, happened while "The Fountainhead" was being made and her public comdenation still very fresh but that didn't stop Cooper and Neal from having a torrid affair.
When Bergman returned to Hollywood there was no guarantee that "Anastasia" would be a hit. Everyone was holding their breath as it could have gone either way.
One of the factors that gets little notice anymore is that it was the changing morals of the American public that allowed them to accept Bergman back and make "Anastasia" her comeback movie rather than the last movie she made.
American men had been to war in Europe where the morals were very different than here in the states. American women had gone to work in factories and had their lives changed by the experience.
While the 1950s is generally viewed as a stultifying era of men in gray flannel suits and housewives living lives of quiet desperation, the country was in the beginning stages of throwing off the older moral code by which Americans had lived under for more years than most could remember.
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think Americans changing attitudes toward sex and such had a much bigger impact on the "anything goes" attitude. Another factor was that the studio system was becoming obsolete adn all publicity could no longer be controlled by the studio.
So, in the end, I don't think it was Ingrid's fault for all that came after. I think she paid an extremely high price for her choices.
It could have gone the other way and probably would have had her affair with Rossellini happened before WW2.
Or, take the risk of the big tent approach and open the schedule up so that more film fans make TCM their favorite cable channel.
Noooo-o-o-o-o-o!!!
in General Discussions
Posted
Otter,
I think they do program in cycles, actually. Some times there are two months in a row, for example this September and October this year seemed weighted more towards post-1960 films.
However, November, December and January are weighted more towards studio era films even in prime time.
So, I think they do a good balancing act in the overall schedule most of the time. They don't hit it out of the park every month but most of the time they come darn close.
And who's to say what TCM programming will look like a few years from now as more of the early silents and talkies of the TCM/Warner Library are transferred to digital.
There may be a Pre-Code Festival and other highlights in our future. The size of the library is very daunting and its not like WBrothers is only concentrating on preserving the post-1960s films. Of all the studios, they are the ones doing the most to preserve their studio era films and we the viewers of TCM will benefit from that in the next few years.
So, I would say, stay tuned.