lzcutter
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Posts posted by lzcutter
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> Do tell us how you discovered this gem of information, and also, if you knew it, why you did not share it on this thread last June.
MsW,
MGMWBRKO used to post here regularly. As noted, they are a TCM Staffer.
As to why they didn't share the news last June, TCM rarely divulges that information so many months in advance likely because negotiations for films and such had to be worked out.
There would likely have been numerous posts about having to wait so long and if TCM had to change those plans because certain films weren't available, the hue and cry would have been enormous.
I hope we all understand that TCM is under no obligation to inform us of programming decisions in advance. They do so because they value us as customers and fans.
Let's celebrate that Joel is getting his place in the sun!
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Chief,
I am over the moon with the news! As I learned the first time around with *Graves*, when making requests, a little faith in TCM can go a long way.
It took longer than some may have wanted but I never lost hope.
Joel McCrea as SOTM is coming our way!
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A thousand thank you's to the staff of TCM and all you McCrea fans!
Looks like Joel McCrea is SOTM in May. That's less than 90 days away!
Again my thanks to all involved, especially TCM!
Looking forward to it!
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The *California Design 1930s-1960s* exhibit at the LA County Art Museum is terrific. It includes furniture, jewelry, leisure wear (with pieces designed by Adrian and other Hollywood designers on display), Dick Van Dyke's Avanti and much more.
Definitely worth checking out.
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> With a show of hands who would choose to sit through five hours of a French Silent film (Three Intermissions) presented with a full Symphonic Orchestra playing a newly commissioned score live?
Chief,
See me raising my hand! I've had my tix for the first screening since last July and am really looking forward to it. I hear the Paramount Theater in Oakland (where the screening is) is a wonderful old movie palace. I've got friends going to the screening as well so the intermissions and dinner break should be fun!
I saw *Napoleon* back in the early 1980s when it was shown at the Shrine with a live orchestra. It blew me away and with the addition of Kevin Brownlow introducing the film and Carl Davis, who wrote the new score, leading the orchestra, this should be even more awesome.
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> There is a one year moritorium for all new Warner Archive remasters. TCM can't access the new master until 1 full year after the new version has been available through the Warner Archive Collection. This is madated by Warner Home Video. That is why TCM continues to run the old masters.
MGM,
If ever a post cried out to become a stickey so that the information was accessible every time the Warner Archive vs TCM debate comes up, it is this one.
Thanks so much!
ps- It's great to see posting here again.
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> And sip rich dry red Californian wine.
Gnarly Head winery in Lodi makes a great Zin (not a white zin but the real thing) and it's affordable.
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*Porgy and Bess* is tied up in rights issues. The Gershwin estate is not happy with the film and has kept the film under wraps for many years. It has been screened in the occasional special theatrical setting but is not available from an official studio release.
Bootlegs, however, are out there.
As they say, buyer beware.
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> WELL, IF THE LIST IS CORRECT, GARBO HAS NOT BEEN STAR OF THE MONTH FOR 7 YEARS!
> IT IS TIME FOR HER RETURN!
She's been SOTM three times which is more than anyone else. There are stars like Joel McCrea who still haven't been spotlighted as a SOTM.
Don't actors like McCrea deserve their moment in the sun before Garbo is honored a fourth time?
Edited by: lzcutter because verbs are important
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*Patton* has been steady rotation on both the Retroplex and Multiplex channels the last few months as well as Fox's own FMC.
*Cheyenne Autumn* has been in rotation on the Encore Western channel lately.
*One-Eyed Jacks*, for some reason, seems to be a difficult film to obtain.
While *Pollyanna* has been on TCM in the past, *Bullwhip Griffin* hasn't and may have something to do with Disney. I don't know if either film has aired on ABC's Family network.
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> Could the expense of making those "lead-in" cards really be more expensive than creating a web site to provide that information?
The cost for the microsites (they also do one for SUTS) comes out of a different budget and could be a partnership, so to speak, between the Web Dept. and the Marketing Dept.
One of the differences between the On-Air Promo Dept and the On-line/Web dept. is that, from my understanding from the panel discussions at the Film Festivals, the web department has a larger staff that includes the other Turner channels.
As the work is done on desktop computers, it doesn't tie up editing stations/edit bays.
Also, the microsites are used as advertising and can also be shared so you find them on sites from bloggers as well as used as advertising on sites such as the LA Times, LA Observed and others so that helps drive people not only to the microsite but the main TCM site as well and that helps offset the cost of their creation.
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> Anyone know why ?
It looks like TCM is changing it up a bit for April by having all of Day's (the SOTM) films in one week.
They have their Film Festival celebration with films that tie-into the programming that takes place at the Festival in Hollywood the second week of April.
That is followed by a Spring Break theme the week after the Film Festival.
Throughout the month, various actors are spotlighted as well.
Here's the rest of the list from my post of a year and a half ago:
Dec. 2010: Mickey Rooney
Jan. 2011: Peter Sellers
Feb. 2011: 31 Days of Oscar
March 2011: Jean Harlow
April 2011: Ray Milland
May 2011: Esther Williams
June 2011: Jean Simmons
July 2011: Singing Cowboys
August 2011: SUTS
Sept. 2011: Kirk Douglas
October 2011: Buster Keaton
Nov. 2011: Battle of the Blondes
Dec. 2011: William Powell
January 2012: Angela Lansbury
February 2012: 31 Days of Oscar
March 2012: Karl Malden
April 2012: Doris Day
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> While the "material" cost of this short digital promo may be small, the time and labor necessary to create these items would likely be the biggest expense.
Chief,
In addition to the time and labor factor, it would also tie up an editing station/bay for days so that the editor could put together those 348 title info cards. That, in turn, would impact the prep and editing of materials for the months after "31 Days".
Being involved in something very similar at the moment, I can truthfully say it takes much longer to edit and format the material for "digital release" than people often realize.
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helen,
We have the framed one sheet from the film. It hangs in MrCutter's office. In one of his previous lives, he was the on-line editor for NBC Nightly news (west coast) and he says the newsroom stuff is pretty darn accurate.
We haven't seen the movie in quite some time but we both like it a great deal.
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MGM,
Thanks for the heads up on the new book about RKO. I know the author, Richard Jewell (he was my favorite teacher when I was in college) and have his previous book on the studio, *The RKO Story*.
Looking forward to reading this one!
REDHarlow,
There are other books on the studio history such as *Here's Looking at You, Kid* (The Warners Bros studio), one on Columbia Studio as well as Paramount and MGM. There is a new book devoted to the MGM backlot, *Hollywood's Greatest Backlot* that was written by a couple of studio archivists and is filled with lots of pictures and history.
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> was always a fan of "Run for Your Life"
Roy,
Me, too. One of the most romantic roles he had was in Bogdanovich's *They All Laughed* where he romances Audrey Hepburn.
He was great!
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Off the top of my head,
Myrna Loy is very stylish in the original *The Thin Man*.
Ingrid Bergman is very stylish in *Casablanca* and *Notorious*
Joan Crawford in *Mildred Pierce*
Kate Hepburn in *The Philadelphia Story*
Roz Russell in *His Girl Friday*
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> For all I know, the people who work for AFI may know little about film history, know little about the difference between a great film and a not so great film, and possibly uses popular cultural references to help them make decisions, i.e., looking up the IMDB top 250 vote getters in helping them place more than 90 post 1990 films on their nomination list
The films are chosen by people who work in films or with films- directors, cinematographers, etc, as well as film historians, critics, those in film restoration. They don't necessarily work for the AFI but share a love of film.
Again, for the sake of the conversation, shouldn't it be less about the voting behind how the AFI chooses the films and whether or not it is flawed and more about the reasoning of why you (or anyone else) feels that other films should be considered rather than those that made the list.
Again, the value of this list or any list is more about the conversation it sparks about the films and less about the selection process.
And for the record, as much as I love *Gone With the Wind* (and I have loved the film for over 50 years, it was one of the earliest classic films I had the opportunity to see on the big screen when I was much, much, much younger), I think *The Godfather* is the better film.
But, that's my personal opinion and yours may be just the opposite. Doesn't make either of us right or wrong. Doesn't make either of us idiots.
It makes us human. And the conversation about our choices is much more appealing, to me at least, than the selection process that the AFI uses and whether or not their system is flawed.
Their choices are just the jumping off point to watch the films and talk about them and to talk about how each of us feels about them and defend those choices without worry of name calling.
That's always been one of the major appeals of posting here, the ability to talk about why we (the universal we) love the films we do without being judged just because we disagree.
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> My only beef is with the people who were chosen to select films for nomination for the AFI. That is where my comment about the baby boomers was meant for. I was not trying to say that all baby boomers are idiots. Just the folks who were chosen to select these films listed above.
Rey,
Again, I must disagree. They have different opinions than you do about which movies should be on the list. That doesn't make them idiots. Are there people out there (and here at TCM City) who believe *The Godfather* is a better film than *Gone With the Wind* ? Yeah, of course there are. Were some of those real world people chosen by the AFI to participate in choosing the list of 100 films? If the list is any indication, yes. But to call them idiots because you don't agree with them doesn't really advance the conversation.
No one is ever going to agree 100% or even 50% with every film on the AFI's Top 100 anymore than they are going to agree with their lists of actors, actresses or genre films.
But, the value of those lists isn't in the lists or the rankings themselves but the fact that they get people talking about these films, actors, etc and that in turn gets them to watch the films.
It's one thing to disagree with the list and get a lively discussion going around that. It's another thing to just call them idiots. All that does is close off the discussion. And that benefits no one.
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> Plus, I would assume that a great many of their members who are allowed to nominate films were all born after 1945 or so. These are the so-called baby boomers. They may have careers in Hollywood, but many may have no clue about what constitutes really well made films from before 1950 or 1960.
Rey,
I don't want to argue but as a baby boomer who lived through the 1960s and 1970s as a film buff, consider this:
Classic films were being rediscovered in the 1960s and 1970s. In the era before home video, revival houses had double bills of classic films. These theaters could be found not only in major cities but mid-size and small cities. We had one in Las Vegas (in a casino, no less) that specialized in only MGM films.
No matter what one may think of the auteur theory (and I'm not an adovocate), that theory brought John Ford, Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock and other directors back into the spotlight and revived interest in their careers and the films they made. Classic era directors found themselves invited to college campuses and film societies around the country.
Actors from Humphrey Bogart to the Marx Brothers were being rediscovered on college campuses and film societies. That rediscovery blossomed out to the larger culture.
Autobiographies and biographies of classic films stars and directors were being published.
Classic film stars were on Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, Dick Cavett and Mike Douglas talking about their careers.
PBS was airing "The Men Who Made the Movies" which brought the directors involved from the well-known Hitchcock, Minnelli and Capra to the lesser known but just as worthy Wild Bill Wellman, King Vidor and Raoul Walsh.
Kevin Brownlow published *The Parade's Gone By* that included interviews with the men and women who made silent films and inspired an entire generation of archivists and those interested in film restoration. His series, *Hollywood*, ran on PBS in the late 1970s and garnered further inspiration by the next generation.
In that pre-home video era, local and national broadcast channels supplemented their fare with classic movies. From the afternoon movie to the late night movie, classic films were all over the dial and not just in the major markets. There are a number of threads here at TCM City that attest to that. From NYC to Los Angeles and smaller markets in between, classic films could be seen at any time of the day or night.
We went to the movies on a regular basis and in the 1970s watched as Hollywood entered a second golden age that produced a number of films with themes that resonated with the times and culture we were experiencing. It was a brief renaissance that lasted a little more than ten years between the death of the Code (and the installation of the Ratings board) and the birth of the Hollywood summer blockbuster.
I doubt that I am the only baby boomer who experienced all of the above and love pre-1960s films as much as I love post-1960s films and knows that good films have always been made, regardless of the year or the decade.
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King,
What a great twist. I may put together a schedule (no votes allowed) just because of the twist.
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> Please let us have Robert Taylor as Star of the Month
Robert Taylor was SOTM (for his second time) about two years ago, April 2010.
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Wolfie,
There hasn't been anything officially announced by TCM yet but I read about it being a possibility (and it makes perfect sense) in one of the threads about the April schedule.
Also, it was noted (in a thread or two) by a couple of the folks who went on the Cruise in December that they got to see the interview and were told it was coming to the channel this spring.
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WJ,
It looks like it is scheduled to air the week of this year's Film Festival.
Last-Minute Suggestions for Films
in General Discussion
Posted
> I also have a fascination with the Matte Painting "technology" and would love to see an interesting presentation on the use of that technique some day.
Chief,
One of the best matte painters was Peter Ellenshaw (Albert Whitlock was another). Ellenshaw's son, Harrison, is a terrific speaker, especially when talking about his father and the work he did on films.
He would be great for a Club TCM presentation.