johnnyweekes70

I so thoroughly disagree with censoring the past. When Huckleberry Finn was pulled off the list of books studied in high-schools or English 100, I just shook my head. How can we learn about the past propery, and how we've come to the present, if we disallow screenings of important films like The Birth of a Nation? It is absolutely crucial to any understanding of cinema to see Griffith's film, no matter its controversial content. There are elements to that film which are tender, remarkable and engaging as much as there are the elements we may find unappealing, such as the character of Gus (among others). I don't think any other film has garnered so much notoriety since (and before) its release as Griffith's film and it's important to know why. If TCM bowed to pressure from the NAACP why, then, does it still air The Jazz Singer or any other film wherein characters appear in blackface or contain otherwise racist elements? The pinnacle of this ridiculous train-of-thought-came when FMC banned Chan and Moto films, but we all know about that. Strange, but Conrad's Heart of Darkness is still studied in schools.

The Devil. Cregar in Heaven Can Wait, Huston in The Devil and Daniel Webster, and Milland in Alias Nick Beal.

divacrazed, I do think a lot of people have a misconception of the classics and simple exposure can sometimes cure this. I've written it before here but, again, since I met my wife, who has several older children than ours, I introduced the classics to them, the youngest now 10 and 12, and they absolutely love what they see. The 12-year-old boy is silly (as most boys that age) and thinks Bob Hope is far funnier than the comics today. He loves Errol Flynn films, Cagney films, almost every vintage picture I've shown him. The 10-year-old girl sat down and watched Torrent with Garbo and was enraptured. Imagine a young girl brought with today's hyperactive media enjoying a silent antique. Open-minded on their behalf of content and not outdated visuals can bring a lot of enjoyment out of the classics for a younger audience. I'm currently stacking a long-term care facility with copies of classics for the residents to enjoy, films like It's Love I'm After, Holiday, Four's a Crowd, To Be or Not to Be, light pictures I believe the residents would enjoy and not tax them too much and they're loving them, but the staff, primarily younger, who've never been exposed to these films themselves, are loving them too. It just comes down to simple exposure, I think, and I'll have to show the kids Arsenic and Old Lace. I surprised I haven't already. Johnny

George Sanders.

Michael Curtiz's brilliant The Sea Hawk, one of my absolute, all-time favourite film from Warner Bros. (or, for that matter, any studio)!

johnnyirish, Though this doesn't exactly answer your question, according to Kevin Brownlow, in his introduction to John Kobal's book Hollywood--The Years of Innocence, in October 1911, David and William Horsley leased an old roadhouse for thirty dollars a month and turned it into the Nestor Film Studio, the first picture studio in Hollywood. That's just a starting point, if you haven't already run across that. I haven't the time tonight to flip through William K. Everson's American Silent Film or Brownlow's own The Parade's Gone By---my toilet just broke and the plumber's here---but I'm sure there's some good info in those books. I wonder what California would have become had those brazen outcasts from New York (or New Jersey, in the Horsley brothers case) not set up shop. Your topic is certainly interesting and not one you'll have a hard time finding academic sources for, I'm sure. Good luck!

Although DeMille is credited with the first Hollywood hit, the aforementioned The Squaw Man, I do think Ince is a more accurate figure to cite as the first producer-director in California. He does prefigure DeMille's arrival by a little over a year by producing and directing shorts as well as pioneering the studio backlot. Selig, who prefigures both, was only a producer so that rules him out. Griffith stayed in New York until 1914. An interesting question. What's the paper about?

And let's not forget Loni Anderson as Thelma Todd. Oh, wait a minute, let's DO try to forget that.

I never heard the rumour but I think so, Mongo. There's that strong element of mystery, danger and seething sexuality in Stone's on-screen personality that was present in much of Turner's work. Too bad indeed.

Couldn't resist this one. The lovely Mae West in I'm No Angel. I believe Boogie inspired West to come up with her classic line, "Beulah, peel me a grape" because the monkey peeled his grapes before eating them. West's demand of Beulah, considering the line's origin, might not exactly be PC but it's still a darn funny line in a darn funny movie.

Hi Madge, Like the suggestion for Paltrow to play Dietrich, which I strongly disagreed with in the thread devoted to that one, all I can say about Zeta Jones playing Turner is why oh why oh why? As for Keanu Reeves, I just don't understand his stardom. I suppose he's good-looking enough, whihch entirely qualifies him to be a 'star' these day, but I suppose I'm missing something when it comes to an appreciation of his acting ability, though I really doubt it! Did you ever Duncan Regehr's Errol Flynn in the TV movie of Flynn's My Wicked, Wicked Ways? One would have figured Hollywood bio-pics would have ground to a halt after that one.

I can't remember the last time TCM ran The Bishop Murder Case or The Lady of Scandal or A Notorious Affair, part of today's Basil Rathbone line-up. Really wish I could've seen them or even the films TCM plays all the time now. I wouldn't be complaining.

Douglas Fairbanks' His Majesty, the American in 1919.

path40a, I've never seen Aqua Babies but maybe if Warners gets hard-up for a short to stick on a future DVD release of a 1955 film, like maybe Jupiter's Darling with Williams and one of my favourites, George Sanders, I can compare it with Williams' instructional video. Incidientally, for any fan of Esther Williams, the video is a wonderful treat. It includes home movie footage and clips from her champion swim days and her films as well as what you'd expect about instructing parents how to successfully teach babies how to swim. She uses her grandchildren and her children as examples. It also comes replete with a theme song, Swim Baby Swim, sung by Esther! The previews are hilarious, there's one for a Lyle Alzado exercise video as well as John Hillerman lecturing on how to be a better money manager. Classic early '80s video fare for the discriminating viewer, and an Esther Williams fan. Johnny

Hello, Ashley. I just had a conversation with my step-daughter, who's your age, about more and more younger people turning to the classics, who are turning up on these boards, because they're fed up with the stone-cold nonsense coming out today. She disagreed with me because she doesn't know anyone her age who watches the 'oldies' and thinks they're badly acted and just plain awful. Maybe you could set her straight. Welcome aboard.

Your comments about Dancing in the Dark are very in tune with what I think of the picture. I taped that film awhile back on FMC because I'm such a huge fan of William Powell but Betsy Drake always left me a little cold. I agree that without Grant's influence, Drake would probably not have attained the roles she did. Dancing in the Dark does, however, feature a terrific turn by Jean Hersholt as himself, kindy as ever, a usual polished performance from Adolphe Menjou, and Powell is great when he's shirking the landlady. Too bad, it might have been better.

And don't forget about Casanova's Big Night, also being released on September 6. I know it's silly, but I like Bob Hope and can't wait to have this film on DVD. On the 27th, Bogart fans get We're No Angels, a long-overdue release. I'm just wondering where all the money's going to come from to pay for all this stuff.

Hi Veronica, I've never seen Zero Hour but I've heard Airplane recycled exact dialogue from the film. It would probably be pretty hard to watch seriously now.

Although it has nothing to do with an Esther Williams boxed set, I saw an old video in a Thrift Shop the other day with an older Esther teaching babies how to swim. I couldn't resist the temptation to watch it (especially for a dollar) and it's a very sweet instructional video of the kind you just don't come across every day.

Deborah, Thanks for your investigation into the availability of Blood Money. I missed the Complicated Women documentary but I have the book which, apart from the film clips, is probably just as good, if not better with everything in print. I like what I've seen of Rowland Brown's work, which is only Hell's Highway. I believe he only made two other pictures, and Quick Millions, with Spencer Tracy, is another film I'd love to see. Brown's story credits are impressive, State's Attorney (one of my favourite John Barrymore films, though more from a sentimental aspect than a cinematic one), Angels with Dirty Faces, Johnny Apollo, and What Price Hollywood just a few. There's so many figures of old Hollywood like Brown who seem to have been bypassed by time in favour of the more commerical, prominent personalities. Always a shame though, at least, some people don't forget. As for Dee, I think my favourite Dee film is Souls at Sea, though that's maybe because I think she's surrounded by a magnificent cast, and it's great to watch Henry Wilcoxon as the heavy. I like Henry Wilcoxon. Johnny

Tracey, did you ever see the television remake of Witness for the Prosecution with Ralph Richardson, Beau Bridges and Deborah Kerr? Though Richardson was a very fine actor, it's hard to replace the genius of the original stars of a unique film, regardless of what some people say about it. I think Dietrich was absolutely brilliant in that film and, considering much of her (scant) '50s work was minimal, all the more impressive. Have you seen the moralistic footage shot, but never used, that was to have ended the original Scarface? Ridiculous. Or the supposed original ending of Double Indemnity where we get to see MacMurray get his due? Thank Heavens better judgment prevailed in both cases. There are so many other examples, I wonder if a thread hasn't already been devoted to that.

Tracey, I believe Dee is how you describe her in Blood Money. I'd love to see that film but I don't really like picking up films off ebay when I don't know what I'm paying for, and that's about the only place one can find this film, I think. The comparison between Little Women and Brown's film is interesting because most of what I've seen Dee in is similar, 'goodie' roles. It's great to see actresses usually cast in such roles break free and dive into debauchery.

Yes, Tracey, there are some cartoons keeping the torch burning for the old classics. My 12-year-old stepson is a big fan, courtesy of me, of the likes of Errol Flynn and James Cagney and, lately, even something like Hogan's Heroes, and when he watches The Simpsons, which I disapprove of but I'm not prove to controlling his every move, and sees Werner Klemperer turn up in Col. Klink gear, he laughs; his friends don't have a clue. It's sad, but not surprising. My little ones, 1, 2, and 3, respectively, already watch older films with me because they're really not interested in the age of a film, or even if it's in black-and-white, but whether it somehow holds their interest. My daughter, the 3-year-old, who really adores Dora the Explorer, loved DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth, because of all the ladies' costumes and the ridiculous amount of colour splashed around. I think it's marvelous that some of the cartoons on air today for children reference the classics; examples escape my memory right now because it's too late for me to really think, but hopefully those references will stick with kids when they grow up and become dissatisfied with the crap they're exposed to and want to watch decent product.

A charming story, Madge. Encounters like that with personalities like Lucille Ball are certainly few and far between. But what's that about Jack Lemmon? I love Jack Lemmon stories.

Hi Madge, I used to read these boards, too, for the longest time before I couldn't help but contribute something. This is such a unique forum---the only place on the Internet where I will spend my precious few free moments on---where some truly unique and intelligent individuals reside. And certainly don't be afraid to speak your mind about politics, sex, and religion...or even movies!