filmlover

Mike, 1. In the past, they did run Crime Doctors on Saturdays. So they have done that. 2. Who would record them all at one time? I would. And will. 3. You said you would like to see them all but now will only probably record the first one because you don't have the DVR space. a. Since most DVRs have 100 or more hours on them, there must be some things you can eliminate? b. Why not record them all now and just watch them one per week?

Whart's wrong with being a Canadian?

The cataclysmic proof to me this morning that the world is coming to an end came with a newsstory that Scarlett Johannsen is in love with Sean Penn. Not counting she is 26 and he's 50...but we're talking about this beautiful woman being in love with Sean Penn, for crying out loud: from AOL news: "(They) were first spotted together earlier this year at a party in LA celebrating 'Black Swan.' They were then seen eating together in public with her legs draped over his lap. In early March, they jetted down to Mexico for a whirlwind daylong trip. "Scarlett is head over heals in love with Sean," a friend of the actress tells me. "She normally tries to hide away from public attention, but when she's with Sean she doesn't care." http://www.popeater.com/2011/03/28/scarlett-johansson-sean-penn-wedding/?icid=maing%7Cmain5%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk3%7C52109

This is now on my "DEFINITELY MUST BE THERE" list. I wonder if the audience will break into "I'm Spartacus!"?

Here's new from thedigitalbits.com on the new Ben-Hur release: Warner has just informed us that they'll be releasing their long-awaited Ben-Hur: 50th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition on Blu-ray and DVD this fall! The "limited and numbered" edition will be available in stores in time for the holiday shopping season - specific street date and SRP TBA. Included will be a reproduction of the personal diary that Charlton Heston kept during the production, complete with personal photos and his own sketches. There will also be a new HD documentary on Heston's experiences during the making of the film, entitled Charlton Heston & Ben-Hur: A Personal Journey, which includes home movie footage shot by his wife Lydia inside the Colosseum set. That's in addition to all of the previous DVD special features, which include audio commentary, Ben-Hur: The 1925 Silent Version, the 2005 Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema documentary, the 1994 Ben-Hur: The Making of an Epic documentary, the Ben-Hur: A Journey Through Pictures A/V presentation (featuring photos, storyboards, sketches, music and dialogue from the film), screen tests, vintage newsreels, highlights from the 1960 Academy Awards ceremony, trailers and more. You'll also get an exclusive book filled with production photos, production art and a reproduction of the original theatrical press book. The Blu-ray version will feature 2 BD-50s, while the DVD version will be a 5-disc set. And let me tell you, I've now had the chance to see before and after images of the new 6K HD restoration for Blu-ray, taken from the original 65mm camera elements, and the difference is stunning. It is uncertain at this point whether or not the silent verion will be standard definition but I wouldn't be surprised. digitalbits also mentioned that Kubrick's Lolita and Barry Lyndon on Blu-ray will be released individually, so you do not have to buy the boxset in order to get them. Also, word is The Misfits will be released on Blu on May 10th.

Tuesday, March 28, 1939

Bob Hope, Leslie Howard, and Maurice Chevalier star today on TCM

talkie, not to be negative but what about the Now Playing magazine? If it is like many magazines, it goes to press months before it sent out. They can't have a blank page for one day a month. Also, I can imagine these boards each month being flooded with, "Show this on the TBA day!" And no matter what is inserted and then discarded because of a fallen star's tribute, someone will, inevitably, regret what has then been delayed. And what do you do when more than one star dies in a month? (The old rule of "it happens in threes").

It's Monday, March 27th, 1939

> {quote:title=mcmas wrote:}{quote} > It is very frustrating to learn that scheduled programming will be preempted for a star tribute, usually showing films we have seen over and over again. Plus, the preempted programs may be something TCM hasn't shown previously, or may not show again (or for a very long time). Why doesn't TCM just use August's Summer Under the Stars to do tributes to people? They could just note on their website that they are going to do a tribute in August, since they will be showing a different star each day anyway, and NOT interrupt the scheduled programming. There would be a lot less viewers that would be upset with TCM for these changes. mcmas, I do understand you are frustrated that occasionally there is a delay in programming you did want to to see in order for there to be a tribute to a star who has died. But in the case of Elizabeth Taylor, which I guess is really bothering you, you can bet the TCM programmer had a very hard time in doing so. First off, remember, for a star of Elizabeth Taylor's magnitude, there is no way you could wait five months for SOTM. Can you imagine how her fans would react? The protests would be through the roof. It has to get on the schedule as soon as possible. Second, it has to be a 24-hour tribute. So, let's look at the schedule for April up to that point: April 1: Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds birthdays (both of whom will be at the TCM Festival) 2nd: The Essentials and evening looks at Tom Courtenay, plus this is the day Frankenstein airs, so you can imagine the protests that would garner 3rd: Rarely Seen Gems 4th: 150th anniversary of the Civil War 5th: Star of the Month: Ray Milland 6th: 150th anniversary of the Civil War 7th: TCM Guest programmer: Chita Rivera 8th: Annabella tribute 9th Elia Kazan tribute 10th: 11th: 150th anniversary of the Civil War You can see, some things definitely cannot be cancelled. > {quote:title=JonasEB wrote:}{quote} > So Dr. Zhivago, a film that has been on probably 10 or more times within the last 12 months and is readily available on video, was just on a couple of days ago, and will be on again within a week of the Tati/Chaplin cancellations, the former of which has never been on TCM to my knowledge and the latter of which hasn't aired in years...Dr. Zhivago showing #10 can't be sacrificed? Yes, you can't satisfy everyone but I highly doubt anyone would miss a cancellation of the next showing of Dr. Zhivago. > > You could even replace a Chaplin with a Chaplin: The Great Dictator has been on a great deal of times in the last half year, I think twice in prime time. They can't ditch it and put The Circus/A Day's Pleasure in its place? > > If TCM can tell people it's cancelling programming for a 24 hour tribute, they could just as easily note that they'll show the rare film on another day in place of something else. Anyone who was interested in what was being shown that Sunday would have read the notice and in particular the people aware of the Tati film being shown in April would likely keep the air date in mind and check up on it if it suddenly vanished because they probably follow the TCM schedule. > > And TCM doesn't always reschedule: Last year Solaris was cancelled for the 24 hour Tony Curtis tribute and it hasn't been scheduled again. I didn't need to watch then and I don't need to watch it now but that is the kind of film that is more likely to have been deprived of someone who needed to see it than Dr. Zhivago is. > > Sunday is the one night silent films and international fare get a guaranteed spot. I think it's only fair that if they get bumped, they should get to bump a common film on an ordinary day, they shouldn't have to wait half a year to occupy another Sunday spot that could go to another valuable movie in either category. In fact, TCM just aired The Divine Lady for 31 Days of Oscar and will air it again in May for Silent Sunday - The Circus should get its spot. It would be simple enough to replace Tati's Mr. Hulot's Holiday, the one Tati film probably everyone has seen, with the rare and lesser known Jour de Fete. Jonas, try to remember that to you and others who read this board, they MAY catch notice of a substitution...but the Now Playing magazine is already in print, and millions of people are not on this board...so you change one Tati for another or one Chaplin...maybe even mention it to the press, like they will care about a one-film substitution...but as sure as God made little green apples, those films you want air suddenly and a lot of people are going to go, "WHAT?! I've been waiting ages to see those films! And they just slipped them in?! Arggghh!" Maybe it might even be you saying that. They would be angry and wouldn't trust the schedules again. In the case of an Elizabeth Taylor or a Tony Curtis tribute, TCM can get the word out while the press is still interested in letting people know of the tribute. And not to demean silent or foreign films, but look at when they start are on the schedule (eastern time): midnight on a Sunday night/Monday morning when most people are asleep.

> {quote:title=Ascotrudgeracer wrote:}{quote} > "Let's take the kids to the movies for a life-lesson on...killing." > People go to the movies for escape, for entertainment. Children are to see cheerful moments of joy, not murder and death of a mother, for gawdsakes! > > Realities of life and death are not the stuff of cartoons. > > *Many people have hated Disney for "Bambi." There must have been discussions regarding whether or not to include that scene. Walt Disney insisted on it and he was so wrong.* Really? You have the research on these assertions? I agree that we shouldn't have had the slow-motion bullet ripping through the head and the blood splattering on the white snow suddenly -- oh, wait, that never happened. I just looked again at that scene and when Bambi and his mother are offscreen, we hear a gunshot. That's it. No dead bodies. Nothing. Just Bambi running into the thicket. Of course, I was disturbed by that scene where she came back as a zombie deer. Ascot, if you really want to worry about something, worry about the fact that this boy is growing up with the name Bambi. By the way, don't let your kids ever see "The Wizard of Oz." Dorothy murders two women in the film. (Yes, a house is considered a lethal weapon.)

> {quote:title=Ascotrudgeracer wrote:}{quote} > AS IF filmmakers haven't cut, pasted and otherwise obliterated literary works while adapting them to the screen! > Disney easily could have -- SHOULD HAVE -- omitted the killing of Bambi's mother. You know that. > I've been published in over 100 magazines and newspapers worldwide; lord knows I've come to realize once someone pays you for your creation, they can chop it up anyway they please! Wow, Frederic Werthram lives again! I've also had over 100 things published, but I saw it as a child and, outside of a nervous tick and looking around for hunters whenever anyone calls me "Dear", I came through it unscathed. By the way, speaking of chopping things up, did you know that when the prince showed up at Cinderella's house, the first stepsister's foot was too big to even get her her big toe into the slipper. So her mother gave her a knife and had her chop it off. When the prince discovered the trick, the other stepsister tried on the slipper but her foot was too big so her mother had her chop off her heel... Funny, you would think if Disney hated kids, he would have included those scenes.

TCM is having an evening devoted to Joan Crawford. Here's a unique piece form a teenage girl's comic in the mid 1940.

Sunday, March 26th, 1939: Regular articles and ads will return tomorrow, but I want to bring you some pieces from a small weekly I came across. This is from earlier in March 1939. Hmm, here's an ad for that new play mentioned above. I wonder how it will do on Broadway when it gets there? And can it help Miss Hepburn's career?

Yay, it's Saturday, March 25, 1939

A 2nd anniversary sale on the Archives runs from today through the 28th. Five select films for $50, and save $5 on select multi-disc sets. With free ground shipping. This is similar to the Black Friday sale they had. http://www.wbshop.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-WB-Site/default/Search-Show?cgid=WASINGLE&adid=0311WACAnnivEml If you order $100 worth, use the code SAVINGS. It takes $20 off your order. Don't see Don Juan on the list. : ( p.s. -- I called the contact line and they said WB pulled Don Juan from the website, but they didn't know why. Looking on the TCM shop site, it lists an April 22nd release date.

Friday, Mar. 24, 1939

Virginia Field is in today's Waterloo Bridge William Gargan appears today in Broadway Gondolier

Thursday, March 23, 1939: Interesting names in the below stage review: Sydney Greenstreet and Richard Whorf

drednm said: Warners was so dumb about her talents that they bleached her hair platinum in an effort to make her a new Harlow. Bette Davis was as far removed from Jean Harlow as one could get.

Well, cross your fingers. They are coming out with news all the time. Another western, but not John Wayne, just announced for Blu-ray is the epic The Big Country. This is going to be a WalMart exclusive, coming May 24, as well as Quigley Down Under.