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filmlover

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Posts posted by filmlover

  1. If you look on eBay, you will find many DVDs at interesting prices of what look like American releases but are Chinese imports. Apparently, these have all been produced legitimately in connection with the studios. I can only think that the reason studios release them there and at low prices is because they are in competition with the really bad flooding of the market by pirated videos in China.

     

    Anybody else have more specific details?

  2. An interesting thought occured a few minutes ago while looking at "The Story of Dr. Wassell." I wondered which actor portrayed more real-life personalities. For example:

     

    Gary Cooper:

    Alvin York

    Lou Gehrig

    Dr. Wassell

    Marco Polo

     

    James Cagney:

    Lon Chaney, Sr.

    George M. Cohan

     

    George Arliss:

    Disraeli

    Rothschild

    Voltaire

    Cardinal Richelieu

     

    Paul Muni:

    Louis Pasteur

    Emile Zola

    Benito Juarez

     

    Edward G.Robinson:

    Dr. Erlich

    Reuter

     

    Bette Davis:

    Queen Elizabeth I

    Carlota von Hapsburg

    Catherine the Great

     

    Katherine Hepburn:

    Mary Stuart

    Queen Eleanor

     

    I can think of many more but I thought I would throw it open to you, and maybe together we can figure out which actor portrayed more real people.

  3. I am afraid kubrickbuff?s post puts me in an awkward position. If I allow the schedule that he had written, and which I have seen, to be entered into the contest, then I am guilty of allowing him to avoid ANY of the contest?s requirements and rules that were posted in the instructions in the first post of this thread. The fact that everyone else who has posted their schedules so far in the competition (five magnificent schedules) has included ALL of these requirements and rules makes me think it is not only NOT difficult but IS also part of the ?Challenge? of the Challenge. By which, I mean the following:

     

    The very first Challenge was created to give all of us the opportunity to not only put together a week?s worth of films we would like to see on TCM, but also to learn first hand what the TCM programmer goes through in planning his schedule. And when he does his schedule, he has to include spots for all of the main regular TCM features and work within certain other requirements, requirements that have been incorporated into the Challenge. This not only is part of the discipline but also gets him to show added creativity working with such.

     

    This is now the Fifth TCM Programming Challenge. And everyone who has entered schedules in the previous four Challenges over the last year has included all the requirements. That?s quite a history.

     

    Now, on the other hand, if I don?t allow it to be entered, then I get looked upon as someone who has stifled individuality of someone who thought his work was ?perfect?.

     

    Now, in the grand scheme of things, this is nothing worth writing about. But when I won the last Challenge, using the Challenge?s requirements, I was thrilled to be able to host this new Challenge. Moderating this Challenge is an enormous honor to me. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, it has befallen unto me this unplanned challenge to the Challenge.

     

    I have discussed with another respected member, a previous Challenger winner, the possibility of simplifying the requirements in the future, but that is still under discussion?for the future.

     

    Kubrickbuff has created a schedule he is proud of, a schedule that meets none of the contest?s rules and requirements. Unfortunately, it has come so early in the Challenge, it could leads others to say, ?Well, why should I have to follow anything but what I want if he didn?t have to??

     

    I think the Challenge has a great tradition, and it is a tradition I choose to uphold.

     

    (For more details on kubrickbuff's efforts, please go back to the first page of this thread and read forward.)

  4. I wasn't calling into question the race factor, really, more about the "male" factor. I just think with there only being two hosts, there is a very good possibility that they could be two males or two females. That one is male and the other not female just doesn't seem bad to me.

     

    I wasn't trying to misinterpret what you were saying, that's why I presented the sentence exactly as you wrote it.

  5. Just as long as we move away from having a white male on-screen 100% of the time when there's a host....

     

    I'm sorry, but I can't just let that pass. There are only two hosts on TCM at the present time. It just happens that they were born male and Caucasian, probably more through a collaboration of male and female parents than a TCM desire.

     

    One, Osborne, happens to be a film scholar and writes a daily column in a show business newspaper, The Hollywood Reporter.

     

    The other, Mankiewicz, has hosted a news magazine show and a satellite radio show, in addition to knowing a lot about Hollywood because he "is the grandson of writer Herman Mankiewicz and great-nephew of director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who between them wrote and directed such films as Citizen Kane (1941), All About Eve (1950), Guys and Dolls (1955), The Pride of the Yankees (1942), Dinner at Eight (1933) and Cleopatra (1963)." (from the info release by TCM upon his hiring).

     

    If TCM was hosted by twelve white males, then I could understand your objection and would readily agree...but there are only two hosts altogether. That they are both male and white isn't what I would think of as defying the laws of chance. So, when both do their jobs very well, I can't see a request to "move away from having a white male on-screen 100% of the time when there's a host."

  6. Hi, sugarpuss, welcome back. We've missed you around here!

     

    As to joining in, definitely, welcome! And anybody else who still wants to join in, too, you are also welcome. This Challenge closes on March 7th at midnight PT.

     

    (For anyone who hasn't seen the rules yet, check out the very first post in this thread by clicking on the link above).

     

    Sugarpuss, the choices of libraries to pick from has greatly increased. In addition to the WB-pre 1950, MGM-all, and RKO-all films, you now can choose any film from Columbia, J.Arthur Rank, Monogram, United Artists-post 1950, and Disney-live action only. It doesn't matter if they have not been shown on TCM before, you do not need to include them under one of the 5 Premieres you are allowed. Only films from other than the 8 studios above count as Premieres (unless, of course, the film has been previously seen on TCM, in which case it doesn't count as a Premiere, and should have "p/s" next to the title).

  7. I need to reiterate what I said last night when I read this suggestion in the other thread:

     

    Gad, when I read the suggestion of Maltin on TCM, it was just before I was heading off to bed for the night. And just as they say you shouldn't eat or watch something unsettling on TV before bedtime because you will have a bad night's sleep, such a suggestion filled me with dread. I couldn't even drop off for about half an hour, worried that such a thing might actually come to be.

     

    As you can tell, I am not a fan of Leonard Maltin. Robert Osborne is a great professional and delivers his intros and exits with style and just the right amount of ease and charm. I find Maltin's style too much in your face.

     

    I have a few DVDs that have him introducing the features on the DVD and I have to skip right by them. His whole presence upsets me and I am glad WB doesn't use him anymore. Since he is mostly on the Disney DVDs, and I get very few of those, I feel better.

     

    One of the thoughts I had last night before I was able to finally get to sleep after reading the dread suggestion of him being a replacement for RO (or him even being on TCM) was, "I didn't think anything could ever make me give up TCM, but that would do it."

     

    I post this as my opinion only, because I can't stand the man. I think it would be the worst thing to ever happen to TCM.

  8. Since the whole aspect about Maltin as possible host/co-host is taking away a bit from the original discussion, I'll start a separate thread about it, hope those of you who've given your opinions will join in.

     

    Oh, God, I hope it doesn't lead to a separate thread. I guess I hat the thought of a thread on it because it might lead to it actually happening someday. know you are in favor of it, but I can't think of anything worse happening to TCM.

     

    If a separate thread is created, I will have to reprint my thoughts below.

  9. WOW! You've only just got started with the 5th entry and the schedules are outstanding. It's gonna be one heck of a chore choosing a winner...thus far.

     

    Thanks, Mongo. Truer words were never spoken.

     

    Hey, Mongo, you should contribute a schedule. You are extremely knowledgeable and we haven't been graced with a schedule from you in any of the Challenges so far. I know many other members would love to see one from you.

     

    And as to path40a, we all owe him a great round of thanks for creating the very first TCM Challenge.

  10. ...if and when RO decides to retire, I'd be delighted to see Leonard Maltin become one of the regular hosts.

     

    Gad, when I read this, it was just before I was heading off to bed for the night. And just as they say you shouldn't eat or watch something unsettling on TV before bedtime because you will have a bad night's sleep, such a suggestion filled me with dread. I couldn't even drop off for about half an hour, worried that such a thing might actually come to be.

     

    As you can tell, I am not a fan of Leonard Maltin. Robert Osborne is a great professional and delivers his intros and exits with style and just the right amount of ease and charm. I find Maltin's style too much in your face, and as far as his expertise, well, I remember hearing somebody once questioned how he could give some film such a bad rating in one of his annual movies on TV books, and his reply was that he didn't see the film and that his staff does a number of the reviews.

     

    I have a few DVDs that have him introducing the features on the DVD and I have to skip right by them. His whole presence upsets me and I am glad WB doesn't use him anymore. Since he is mostly on the Disney DVDs, and I get very few of those, I feel better.

     

    One of the thoughts I had last night before I was able to finally get to sleep after reading the dread suggestion of him being a replacement for RO (or him even being on TCM) was, "I didn't think anything could ever make me give up TCM, but that would do it."

     

    I post this as my opinion only, because I can't stand the man. I was also surprised that his book on movies on TV became the standard because it was an imitation of a movies on TV review book by Steven H. Scheuer that was on sale for a number of years in competition with Maltin's was, and Scheuer's started his first in the mid 1950s, a decade before Maltin started his.

  11. Hi, cinemascope, while your suggestion makes sense, I am certain filmhistorian considered every possibility when composing the schedule. I say compose because each person who puts so much of themselves into creating an entire week's schedule has to come up with the right flow of film and theme in each of his or her valuations. I know from each schedule I wrote that there were so many times I wanted to include more films but had a limited amount of space and time to include so many film choice possibilities. I think it important that each person be allowed to put together the schedule they envision on TCM while working within the requirements of planning in all the regular features such as Silent Sundays, TCM Underground, etc. that are in the first page instructions.

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