filmlover

Dimitrios, You reminded me of something I posted several months ago. Just goes to prove this argument will go on forever: "There's something I was thinking the other day that I wanted to address to everyone after reading through various threads: Someone was saying TCM should only run films that are not on DVD. Another column is devoted to films that people think TCM runs too much. Another column has people writing about films that TCM doesn't show enough. Other people said TCM should be showing all of the Fox, and Paramount, and Universal films. Some want no films made after 1955, some want more. Some want more foreign films, some want none. Some want more silent films, while others don't want any more to air. Some want no war or musical films. Some don't like westerns. Some love Oscar month while others hate it with a passion because they show more recent films. And all this leads into my point...and that is sometimes we ask TCM too many times to be all things to all people. We praise them but say get more, get more! Have we no other channels on our satellites, cable, or rabbit ears? Are there no video stores in our vicinity? Can't we just acknowledge what a great job they do and be happy with what we do get, without getting upset because they: 1. rarely show, or 2. never show, or 3. show too many times ________________ (fill in the blank with the title or star)? It's like we want this one channel to handle every single thing we want to see, with no regards to what their limits might be (budget, availability, etc.). I say cut them some slack." I see you are in Canada. I used to live there, too. Like minds at work.

MissGoddess, the item # at Costco is the same for all four box sets. It is #170330. Call your nearest store and ask them to look up that item #.

Actually, the June schedule shows the first two things for the month are a Garbo documentary, followed by The Painted Veil.

duplicate post

I have worked on the edges of the industry (interviewing TV and film actors, writing genre articles about TV and film, etc.).

As I said in the previous post, there is only one TCM. And I don't think they should change their format to include TV-movies. But you seem equally impassioned they should air this TV-movie. OKAY, LET US LOOK AT THIS "classic" YOU WANT SO BADLY AIRED. I decided to look up reviews of this TV-movie, which I would have seen when I was younger (it lurks in the back of my mind, simply because talk shot host David Hartman was its star). I figured, let's see how good this movie you want introduced in TCM to change its format. The very first review I came across was this: "The script for I Love a Mystery was based on Philips Lord's classic radio serial "The Thing That Cries in the Night," but there's nothing classic or even remotely entertaining about the derisive, patronizing treatment of the source material herein. This made-for-TV "busted pilot" gathered dust for seven years before its 1973 premiere, and not without just cause. A further note: Though Don Knotts is advertised as one of the "stars," he shows up to sputter one miserable line at the end of the film! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide Here is the very next review I found: "There was a completed television pilot for a proposed ?I Love A Mystery? series, a series that never materialized. Made in 1967, it was a camp production, influenced overmuch by the then-popular "Batman" and "The Avengers" television shows. After it had been completed, it was immediately deemed too awful for broadcast airing! The pilot was shelved, where it sat buried in the vaults for several years, before being finally released in 1973, where it infrequently appeared on late-night television. The TV movie itself was called "I LOVE A MYSTERY", and the plot was a hybrid of ?The Thing that Cries in the Night? and ?The Fear that Creeps Like A Cat?, is a terribly sad mess, and is only viewable for die-hard fans of the series (and perhaps, not even then). The pilot occasionally appeared on late-night television for several years. A full synopsis, showing every gory and wincing detail, is provided on the unofficial "I Love A Mystery" web site." I decided to take a trip over to that website, and here is what I found: "It was horrid. It was ghastly. It was gruesome and shocking. There are some things you don't see or know, because you *shouldn't* see and know them. It was the "I Love A Mystery" TV pilot/movie. Think of the worst of the "Monkees" crossed with "Our Man Flint" with a thin glaze of TV's "Batman" television series. Now, pour on top this concoction "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" and you come within smelling distance of this late 1960's made-for-TV-production. The retina bleeding colour scheme...the cochlear shredding sound...the mind-numbing plot...over the top and into the wild blue yonder acting...it was not worse than I imagined, it was worse than I possibly *could* imagine. Carlton E. Morse must be in perpetual motion in his final resting spot at this mockery of his famous radio show creation. Or he must have needed the money very badly. Even the producers of this product knew this was awful, and shelved it for several years (until 1973) before it slithered out of the vaults leaving an equally smelly slime trail. (sigh) Here's the story, with a plot that is an unholy hybrid of the more familiar ILAM stories "The Thing That Cries in the Night" and "The Fear That Creeps Like a Cat." Don't say I didn't warn you! Jack, Doc and Reggie are international detectives (at least, that's what they keep telling everyone they meet, "Hi, we're world famous detectives!) who own their own jumbo jet and flit about solving mysteries. Jack, played by Les Craven, is a Hollywood pretty boy ("...a mystery? I love it!" he chortles, smirking at the others); Reggie is played by some no-name actor who looks like a left-over Beatle, and Doc is a Texan who looks and acts like a human Mortimer Snerd (refer to your "Edgar Bergan & Charlie McCarthy" tapes to see the similarities). All three wear two-button powder blue polyester suits, each with a crest with the capital letter *A* over the left breast (I suppose that "A" stands for the jet enhanced "A-1" Agency they belong to). All three look like Frat boys dressed by Lawrence Welk. All that was missing was the bubble machine... After an initial throw-away scene introducing the characters, Jack, Doc and Reggie are seen relaxing on their jumbo jet, a cozy electric fire burning in the hearth. Through the television set on their jet, they are hired by an insurance agency to locate New York financier, Alexander Archer, worth a cool billion. As they learn from the toothy Brit on the screen, the insurance agency is out a cool million dollars if Archer is actually dead. Both Archer's partner, Randolf Cheney, and the insurance company think Archer is alive, and want the three to prove it. Head over to a hotel located in the Pacific North West, they are told, and more information will follow. So far, so good. Wincingly bad acting, horrible costumes, anachronistic updating of the A-1 Detective agency. Things quickly go down from here, alas. Bellhops pull guns. Bellhops are thwarted. A pippin of a girl wearing a telegram uniform delivers a telegram (but doesn't sing it, alas). Our trio run towards the waterfront, promptly jump on the wrong boat, and are carried out to see. Sailors thwart the boys with nets. The boys thwart the sailors. A big boat thwarts their little boat. Another little boat rescues our trio, the boat they were supposed to catch; a soft looking tippler named Job Cheney along with the boat's chauffeur, Andreas, rescues the boys. Only the rescuers from the little boat thwart the boys anyway just for the heck of it (needless to say, much thwarting occurs in this movie). Jack, Doc and Reggie, their hair as gleaming as their polyester suits, arrive finally at their destination, a mysterious uncharted island where the Phantom Castle is located. They turn the tables on their captor, Job, and grab his rifle. Then all three march inside the main hall of the Castle (where the contents of a small zoo is stuffed and mounted and draped about as furniture), and they meet the master of the castle, Randolf Cheney. Who turns out to be a lady! "Just call me Randy," she breathes to our campy heroes. Randalf Cheney (played by Ida Lupino, in a moment of suspended sanity else unvarnished greed) turns out to be Job's bitchy mother. Think of Joan Crawford from "Mommy Dearest", and swap the coat-hangers with an overly long riding crop, and you got things pretty close. After Job gets slapped by Mommy for allowing himself to be caught, our trio in polyester learn from Randolf some unpleasant facts. To their dismay, they are told that there never was any Alexander Archer, and that the whole point of the adventurous exercises the three have undergone are but the preliminary rounds of some unnamed scientific experiment that she is conducting. Jack questions the logic of all this, pointing out that a engraved pen he picked up has the initials *A.A* on them; fictional men don't engrave their initials on pens. Randy bids the three to go to their rooms, each decorated as overstuffed taxidermy museums. Doc finds as secret passage in his room, Jack finds a near naked girl in his bed, and Reggie finds just an empty room (hmm...some things don't change from the radio serial, do they, folks!). Jack discovers his girl is named Faith or Fay Cheney, Randy Cheney's daughter ("Who are you?" she asks. "Why, I'm a world famous detective!" Jack replies with a smirk). Jack learns that Faith has two other sisters, Randy's daughters; Charity (shortened Cherry), and Hope (if her name is shortened, we never hear it mentioned out loud). We have now entered a perverted version of the ILAM story, "The Thing that Cries in the Night." Doc finds one exit to his secret passage is the back of the shower in Cherry's room, the latter whom immediately begins emitting painfully loud shrieks. Doc beats a hasty retreat, after taking one long glance and a long cold shower. Meanwhile, Reggie realizes he isn't seeing any half-clothed females, and rushes over to Jack's room where he finds Jack in the company of Fay. Suddenly a baby starts crying, there is a thump outside like a body falling down stairs. They rush outside, and run into Doc at the head of the stairs. Formal introductions are exchanged for several minutes, before rushing downstairs where the unconscious body of Cherry is lying at the base of the stairs, clad only in a damp yellow towel. Jack does some peculiar first-aid/**** on Cherry while Doc dries his face and hair on her awfully short towel. The girl revives simultaneously with the arrival of Randy Cheney, who bids the three to come to her laboratory. Reluctantly, the three watch the two girls oscillate upstairs in their unmentionables, before going to the laboratory. By the way, the rest of the movie makes even *less* sense. In the lab, the boys first agree to take apart Randy to learn the whereabouts of Archer, then suddenly agree to be guinea pigs in some experiments of hers. They change their mind when she reverses her original statement that there is *no* Alexander Archer, to the line that she has Archer captive but in a cell monitored by a time-clock; if she is not free to punch the clock on a regular basis, Archer dies. Thwarted! So, they undergo some simple medical tests involving heart rate, blood pressures, and psychological testing. I found the scene where Doc is asked what the Rorschach images remind him of hysterical ( "Why, they just look like ink spots!"). The experiments over, with the boys resting in the lab, suddenly voices are heard outside the window. They look, and see Hope with the boat's chauffeur, Andreas. Hope takes her dress off revealing clothes most...uh...revealing. The chauffeur is shot. The girl faints. The boys argue as to who gets to carry her up to her room. The chauffeur's body goes missing. And Mrs. Randolf Cheney sneers and domineers. The boys decide to do some exploring of Doc's secret passage. Beyond finding many cobwebs that still don't cling to their polyester suits, Reggie finds a note in his pocket claiming to be from Alexander Archer. They also find wires leading to a time-clock in Randy's office, a time clock which Randy claims controls the life or death of Alexander Archer if it is not punched on a regular basis! Randy finds them! The boys crow their find! Randy mentions that there are *many* time clocks on her desk; which one controls life, and which will cause death? The boys sure don't know, and give up, thwarted once again! Dinner is called. Job is shot! The murder weapon is found in the flower-box. Jack reconstructs the solution to the killing by finding the black thread. He re-enacts the crime. Doc ducks, and narrowly misses the bullet. Hope rushes in, her bosom heaving. Cherry is missing! The boys find her clothing, scattered down the front stairs; shoes, stockings, dress, slip, and a size 36 C-cup; down to the furnace room they race for more hot stuff! The furnace is on full blast, flames all a-rage! Cherry is found wearing a burlap sack, tied up and gagged. They return her to her room, the walls measled with Mother Goose characters, and question her closely. No face, no legs and a red smock is what her captor wore, they learn (an easy man to spot in a police line-up!). The chauffeur's body is found in her toy box. The boys leave the two together, and head back to their rooms with pencils, graph paper and much skull sweat, eager to have a planning session and crack this case! During the planning session, Doc's bed (complete with fake grey fur) swallows him up unbeknownst to the others. The bed is seen trundling along tracks down to a secret lair that closely resembles a Roman amphitheater. The bed hoists itself upright, and Randy shoves smelling salts under Doc's nose. He wakes up, and realizes his dire predicament, for three cages attached to the amphitheater houses giant lions and lionesses (both complete with fake grey fur)! Randy hints that the *experiment* is about to begin, and experiment where Doc must face the three wild animals in hand to hand battle wearing only a loin cloth. When Doc mentions he is still wearing his impeccable polyester suit (with the A-crest on the left breast), Randy has robot arms attached to the very versatile bed undress Doc, who is reduced to giggles and his boxers. Meanwhile, Jack and Reggie have noticed Doc is missing! They round up the three girls in their baby-dolls, and go prancing about the secret passages and labyrinths of the Phantom Castle, in search of Doc. Needless to say, the three girls giggle and lead the way. They also mention that Alexander Archer is their father, which means he is the husband of Randolf Cheney! Meanwhile, Doc realizes that giggles and boxers are a poor combination, and promptly loses one of them. Randy starts doing a diabolical countdown, after first pointing out that she has also prepared an eyewitness to events, a mysterious figure garbed all in black. Jack and Reggie burst in on the scene. The girls start fighting amongst themselves. Much screaming, hair pulling and tickling begins. Chaos reigns. For starters, a cage drops in Reggie and Jack. The big cats are released. The baby starts to cry. Doc starts to sweat. Randy takes notes. The girls continue their own cat fight. Reggie short-circuits their cage door with some power leads while Randy cries foul play. The black figure watches. The lions start to pace. Reggie releases Doc, and both scamper on top of his bed. Randy rages. Jack short circuits the lions. Randy cries, "You are ruining my experiment!" The girls fall out of the amphitheater bleachers into the arena. Sudden silence descends. The lions are dead. The battle is over. Randy is captured. The girls reveal that Cherry Martin is dead (she was killed when the others fell on top of her). Job is revealed as the chauffeur's killer, and Cherry, why she killed Job! Why? Because Randy was a bad mother, and a bad wife. Jack babbles psychobabble. The figure in black is unmasked; why it's Don Knotts! Er...it's Alexander Archer! "You're a bad mother...and a bad wife!" he shouts out, bug eyed! The Case of The Fear that Creeps and Cries in the Night Like a Smelly Cat is over (I won't dignify it with the word "solved"). The boys depart for their Jumbo Jet. Reggie plays "Valse Trieste" on the Jumbo Jet's Hammond organ. Doc listens to country and western music with headphones, and Jack, why he is hearing about their next case! Only now, as their television link tells them, this is THE END. And none too soon for my sanity! Thank goodness, there wasn't a sequel!" For this, you want to alter TCM's completely rare programming vision?

Having trouble with the theater drawing section in my first post in this thread, so here it is again: This newspaper drawing appeared in the paper showing Broadway legend Katherine Cornell, rising actor Laurence Olivier and Margolo Gillmore. The drawing was by a Columbus Dispatch theater section artist. And this is how I came across this section. I bought the original drawing, and the newspaper section came with it. After the drawing was published, the artist had the three actors sign it. So, here is as it appeared n the 1939 newspaper, and then a scanned portion of the actual art:

Incredible, Chelsea! Seeing all those posters took me back to about 1970 when I was really getting a lot of great posters. Gone now, sigh. Any chance you miht be able to a direct-on shot of the mark of Zorro insert. Is that an original or rerelease? Looks gorgeous. And I love the Adam Had Four Sons. With Susan Hayward on it so breathtakingly, one forgets Ingrid Bergman was the star! Poor I.B., delegated to a small corner of her own poster.

I always have a fascination with seeing how films were advertised in the past, and I thought it might be good to start a thread showing that. If you have some interesting things you can scan here, please do so. I'll start it out with some scans of a Sunday section from a 1939 Columbus Dispatch. This first item would make you say, "Hello, Columbus". These stars were appearing in live theater there at the time. Notice that Otto Preminger is listed as a director. In the Katherine Cornell play, her costar was a young actor named Laurence Olivier. In this next, The Story of Irene and Vernon Castle" was opening and they showed comparison photos between the original couple and Astaire & Rogers. The next item, badly blown up by me is a newspaper drawing that appeared in the paper showing Cornell, Olivier and another actress. The drawing was by a Dispatch theater artist. And this is how I came across this section. I bought the original drawing, much cleaner and bigger than this copy from the newspaper, and the artist got Cornell and Olivier to sign it after it was published. It is now a prized possession of mine. The next two are listings for theaters in the area: Here's something you might find very interesting. It's a partial list of theaters in the areas and the films they were playing. Notice how often the bills were changed throughout the week! And some general publicitiy shots: There was also a lengthy piece of a columnist going out to Hollywood and his observances on different sets. I will try to type that in this thread later on. Message was edited by: filmlover

It's on at midnight of the 13th (or 14th, as the case may be). And, sorry, missed seeing Blackboard Jungle on the list because I was trying to search by Morrow's name for Twister.

Maybe I am a lone holdout, but under no circumstances would I EVER want to see a TV-movie on TCM. TCM is the ONLY place to show theatrical movies 24 hours a day. All the other channels shows combination of TV and movies. And if someone said, it is for one time only, well, that would be like cheating when you have a perfect relationship...what was there would never be the same again, and likely would be lost forever because there would always be the suspicion it could happen again. And you can't really say, " I have just noticed that on April 9th they are having a "No animals were harmed" day....really is "Made for tv movie day" such a stretch that people couldn't handle it?" All the movies in the themed animal day are still theatrical movies. Your comparison just doesn't work. It's comparing apples to oranges. Listen, why not try the Hallmark Channel? This sort of thing is right up their alley. To me, asking for TV-movies here is wrong. If they do it once, that opens the floodgates to more days later on. Also, you've had two requests to explain your comment. "Surely, with the limited topics TCM is facing..." but you haven't answered that yet.

The sequel, Mad About Men, will air in June, with anther viewing of Miranda just before it.

Some of the things that are new for the month are: Possibly several of the films with Star of the Month, Ida Lupino (several are directed by her) Mad About Men, the sequel to Miranda, with Glynis Johns Charlie Chan in the Secret Service 2 hours of shorts with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle a night with Boys in the Band and other gay-themed films (actually, it looks like a few nights) The person who missed Turnabout will be glad to know it is on again Wonder Bar with Al Jolson Gandhi

It's up. I just checked the link and it's fine. (I know you like Vic Morrow films, based on the thread, but there aren't any, so I can save you looking.)

Try clicking on your refresh button.

The June schedule is up. Ida Lupino is the Star of the Month. http://www.tcm.com/schedule/month/?cid=N&timezone=EST&oid=6/1/2007 Whoever asked about Ladies They Talk About will be happy.

It has nothing to do with if a TV-movie is bad or great. There have been plenty of wonderful TV-movies, such as "The Execution of Private Slovik" or "That Certain Summer". It's about retaining the purity of what TCM is, a theatrical movie only channel. My feeling is that adding TV-movies to its schedule would ruin it. Surely, with the limited topics TCM is facing... What limited topics is TCM facing? I don't think they are short on ideas. They are constantly adding new studio films to their schedule. They have recently found 6 films assumed lost. They premiered about 50 films never before on TCM this month and another 50 or so are planned for April. Etc.

Sorry, my initial reaction at reading the head was, "Gad, no!" TCM is theatrical movies only. Something like the "ILAM" TV-movie might show up on Universal's Sleuth Channel.

In that day of the future when one has the opportunity to go to a list of every film ever made and pick one for a night's viewing, I wonder if it will start the day when we will become blase about all films? With so much available at our fingertips, it could give us the attitude of, "Well, it's there if I ever want it."? Don't we already do that with a lot of entertainment things. "Oh, the play's on for three months? I'll see about going towards the end." If he/she ever does. I mean, we've already basically stopped going to movies and enjoying the movie theater experience. "Naw. It's three blocks to the movie. And then I have to drive. And find a parking spot. And I'd rather stay home." "So, what do you want to do?" "Nothing." Maybe it will start the day of barely watching movies at all. I thiink we are becoming lazier and lazier. Gad, people might start reading books again. (lol, if they can find someone to read to them.) And before we forget, a lot of entertainment people (whether they are actors or video store owners) have their livelihood based on our activity. Inactivity kills their income.

What kind of HD TV do you have?

I like the film, especially because of Paul Robeson, but there is one moment in this version early on in the movie that when I saw it, I went, "Whoa!" It's a section I'd even think about cutting (and I hate censorship!). When Irene Dunne (Magnolia) is doing a shuffle to "Lovin' Dat Man of Mine". Her bodily and facial gestures I found terribly offensive, and I am speaking as a Caucasian. Have any others who have seen it feel the same? I would also like to know what the initial reactions are of those who will see it for the first time. Otherwise, a very enjoyable movie.

Tricia, Turnabout is not on tonight at 10:45. It was on at 7:45 AM here on the west coast, at exactly the same time it was airiing at 10:45 ET. There is no delay in broadcasts.

See above. Message was edited by: filmlover

MissGoddess, I haven't seen them online, either, not even on Costco's website. I wonder if it is something done special for Costco. When I boght them about a few weeks ago, I saw them in the Burbank store but not in the Los Feliz Costco. Then last weekend, I did see them at the second store, so they are likely in all the Costco stores. If I can remember, I will get the Costco item number for you next time I go there and then you can call your local store first to see if they have them.

MGMWBRKO, That Lost & Found is great. So much fascinating material in there! Wonderful job! Thanks, filmlover