Give a shout-out for Joan!!! (Blondell, that is!)

[molo14]

whoops!

[HollywoodGolightly]

*If Joan Blondell ever got a day in Summer Under the Stars, this would be the perfect lineup:*

 

Audrey,

Have you ever entered the Programming Challenge? If you haven't, I think you'd do well (and also have a good time).

[molo14]

I was successful at getting all my new Blondell films on Tuesday.

 

I watched *Off the Record* last night. I thought it was an entertaining film though the focus was more on Bobby Jordan's character than either Blondell or Pat O'Brien. It was definitely fast paced and was the kind of story that probally could have stood another reel tossed in somewhere to better exploit the comic potential of the situation. As is, neither Blondell or O'Brien ever quite get to work up a full head of steam.

 

Part social commentary, part comedy, the comedy angle is slighted. It's an interesting mix that works better than you might think. The film ran around 71 minutes which is what was listed on the TCM schedule, not the 62 minutes listed on IMDB or my cable guide.

 

Joan and Pat are always fun to watch and Dead End Kids fans will like seeing Jordan in one of his solo outings, though he isn't given nearly as much chance to show off his comedic chops as he was in *A Slight Case of Murder* which was released just a few months earlier.

 

I was glad to finally get to see this. I don't think it has ever been shown on TCM before. There was some lost potential here, but Warner's loved to churn 'em out and it's never boring.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing the other Blondell films. More days like this TCM programmer!

[HollywoodGolightly]

> {quote:title=molo14 wrote:}{quote}

> I was successful at getting all my new Blondell films on Tuesday.

 

molo,

Are you still having technical problems with the forum? I've been getting a few double posts myself.

 

And glad to hear you've got all the Blondell movies, too. She's an absolute charmer!

[markbeckuaf]

Molo, I'm so glad you had a chance to grab those flix, and enjoyed OFF THE RECORD!!! I enjoyed it, but you hit the nail on the head with your description, another WB fast-paced early talkie! Loved them!

 

I also really dug watching A SLIGHT CASE OF MURDER, that film is hilarious! With a half ton of awesome character actors to boot!

[markbeckuaf]

> {quote:title=audreyforever wrote:}{quote}

> If Joan Blondell ever got a day in Summer Under the Stars, this would be the perfect lineup:

>

> 6:00- Other Men's Women '31

> 7:15- Night Nurse '31

> 8:30- Blonde Crazy '31

> 10:00- Three on a Match '32

> 11:15- Broadway Bad '33

> 12:30- Gold Diggers of 1933 '33

> 1:15- Gold Diggers of 1937 '37

> 3:00- Dames '34

> 4:45- Smarty '34

> 6:00- Footlight Parade '33

> 8:00- Big Buisness Girl '31

> 9:30- Central Park '32

> 10:45- Lawyer Man '32

> 12:00- Make Me A Star '32

> 1:30- My Past '31

> 3:00- Miss Pacific Fleet '36

> 4:15- Stage Struck '36

>

> She made so many entertaining films!

 

Audreyforever, that is a rockin' lineup!!! I say we keep on petitioning for Joan for SUTS!!! OR SOTM, why not????

[musicalnovelty]

Regarding the movie "The Perfect Specimen" (1937) with Errol Flynn and Joan Blondell:

 

Unfortunately it's currently tied up in a rights issue, and is not available for TV. But it was on years ago on TNT and in the early days of TCM. I'm sure the situation has been covered at least once before on these boards, and someone could probably do a search and find a thread about it and post the link for us to go back and read about it.

[molo14]

I did a search and this is all I could find. TCM programmer commented on *The Perfect Specimen* and *The Trial of Mary Dugan* (for that matter) way back in 2006 .

 

Here is the quote from tcmprogrammr May 17th 2006:

 

there's actually a rights problem with both "The Trial of Mary Dugan" and "The Perfect Specimen" - I'm not sure what the situation is, but for some reason they aren't available to us

 

 

 

Here is the link:

 

http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/thread.jspa?messageID=7802414

 

((The thread is interesting for a couple of reasons, plus there is someone there yammering on about Margaret O'Brien ))

[molo14]

Here is a more detailed discussion:

 

http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/thread.jspa?messageID=7846930

 

It mentions the film is subject to Supreme Court's ABEND decision. I've heard that discussed around here before as well.