A Paramount film you'd like to see on TCM

[Movie Collector OH]

My Dinner With Andre (1981).  (Paramount distribution channels I think)  And why not...  It would fit right in with some of the crap they have been playing overnight.  No perfunctory bedroom scenes with the half nude babe though, so that might be a let down for some.

[TopBilled]

Just now, MovieCollectorOH said:

My Dinner With Andre (1981).  (Paramount distribution channels I think)  And why not...  It would fit right in with some of the crap they have been playing overnight.  No perfunctory bedroom scenes with the half nude babe though, so that might be a let down for some.

Has it ever aired on TCM? (Since you're the expert on such things!)

[Movie Collector OH]

4 minutes ago, TopBilled said:

Has it ever aired on TCM? (Since you're the expert on such things!)

Actually it has.  I must ha' missed it.

[BingFan]

46 minutes ago, MovieCollectorOH said:

My Dinner With Andre (1981).  (Paramount distribution channels I think)  And why not...  It would fit right in with some of the crap they have been playing overnight.  No perfunctory bedroom scenes with the half nude babe though, so that might be a let down for some.

I love My Dinner With Andre, but I know it isn't everyone's cup of tea.  My wife and I saw it on the big screen when it when it was new, and while I've watched it repeatedly over the years, she thought that once was enough, noting that staring at the mostly unmoving characters on the screen gave her a stiff neck.  (She does acknowledge that it was an interesting movie, though.)  But to me, there's plenty of action -- it's just that you imagine it based on the characters' conversation, rather than seeing it on the screen.  I'd compare it to old time radio shows, which obviously had no visuals themselves but stimulated the listeners' imaginations.  I've found My Dinner With Andre fascinating every time I've seen it.  (I have a copy of Andre Gregory's new book,  This Is Not My Memoir waiting for me, and I'll read it as soon as I finish re-reading Howard Teichmann's very entertaining Smart Aleck: The Wit, World, and Life of Alexander Woollcott.)

[Polly of the Precodes]

The President Vanishes (Wellman, 1934). An adaptation of Rex Stout's book fictionalizing The Business Plot, it has some...interesting...parallels to recent political events.

[TopBilled]

None of the M:I films have ever aired on TCM.

The first one in Paramount's lucrative franchise hit screens back in 1996.

[lydecker]

Any Paramount pre-code that has not already aired on TCM.

 

[MerryPickford]

The Rat Race(1960) Dir. Robert Mulligan starring Tony Curtis and Debbie Reynolds. It's about these two roughing it in NYC in the early 60s, and Debbie Reynold plays an almost PROSTITUTE!  I swear it was shown years ago on TCM but hasn't been seen since. It's Paramount distributed. 

 

 

[Hibi]

13 hours ago, MerryPickford said:

The Rat Race(1960) Dir. Robert Mulligan starring Tony Curtis and Debbie Reynolds. It's about these two roughing it in NYC in the early 60s, and Debbie Reynold plays an almost PROSTITUTE!  I swear it was shown years ago on TCM but hasn't been seen since. It's Paramount distributed. 

 

 

Yes, was shown quite a long time ago.

[TopBilled]

This morning I featured Mary Martin on the Winter Under the Stars thread.

As I went over her filmography I noticed several Paramount musicals and comedies that seem to have just vanished off the face of the earth.

These include:

THE GREAT VICTOR HERBERT (1939) with Allan Jones

LOVE THY NEIGHBOR (1940) with Jack Benny

RHYTHM ON THE RIVER (1940) with Bing Crosby

BIRTH OF THE BLUES (1941) also with Bing Crosby

NEW YORK TOWN (1941) with Fred MacMurray

KISS THE BOYS GOODBYE (1941) with Don Ameche

STAR SPANGLED RHYTHM (1942) with various Paramount contract players

HAPPY GO LUCKY (1943) with Dick Powell

TRUE TO LIFE (1943) also with Dick Powell

[Vidor]

"The Well-Groomed Bride", just to see Ray Milland and Olivia de Havilland star together.

[TopBilled]

2 hours ago, Vidor said:

"The Well-Groomed Bride", just to see Ray Milland and Olivia de Havilland star together.

I remember seeing this one on YouTube last summer, but I didn't watch it. I just checked and it's no longer on YT, only a 20 second clip. 

The reviews on the IMDb are all over the map...some people found it super enjoyable. Others thought it was a vehicle unworthy of the stars' talents.

[JamesJazGuitar]

2 hours ago, Vidor said:

"The Well-Groomed Bride", just to see Ray Milland and Olivia de Havilland star together.

Great choice since it is a Milland and de Havilland film I haven't seen (and I seen all of Olivia's films except this one).

Made while Olivia was suing Warner Bros over her contract and winning in the milestone case that changed how contracts would be written and enforced for all actors, sport figures,  and entertainers. 

 

[TopBilled]

Per MovieCollector's database, this one hasn't aired on TCM since 2008:

[Swithin]

[Vidor]

20 hours ago, jamesjazzguitar said:

Great choice since it is a Milland and de Havilland film I haven't seen (and I seen all of Olivia's films except this one).

 

I think it's the only de Havilland film she made before her ill-advised three-year Hollywood hiatus that I haven't seen.  I still haven't seen some of her later films like "The Proud Rebel" ("Shane" ripoff, as I understand it) or "Light in the Piazza" which has been sitting on my DVR forever.

 

Watched "The Dark Mirror" on Amazon a while back.  Olivia as good twin/evil twin, that was a hoot.  She should have played more villains.  I remember reading once that she and Bette Davis were supposed to play opposite roles in "In This Our Life" but somebody lost their nerve and Olivia and Bette wind up playing their typecast good girl/bad girl parts.

[JamesJazGuitar]

1 hour ago, Vidor said:

 

I think it's the only de Havilland film she made before her ill-advised three-year Hollywood hiatus that I haven't seen.  I still haven't seen some of her later films like "The Proud Rebel" ("Shane" ripoff, as I understand it) or "Light in the Piazza" which has been sitting on my DVR forever.

 

Watched "The Dark Mirror" on Amazon a while back.  Olivia as good twin/evil twin, that was a hoot.  She should have played more villains.  I remember reading once that she and Bette Davis were supposed to play opposite roles in "In This Our Life" but somebody lost their nerve and Olivia and Bette wind up playing their typecast good girl/bad girl parts.

It was made during the time she sued and it wasn't ill-advised.    It was necessary especially after both Cagney and Davis and their legal attempts failed.  Paramount couldn't release the film until the Superior Court of CA ruled in her favor.

  It was necessary for  all actors,  athletes,  entertainers and all other employees that were under contract.   

The studio went on to lose its case in a decision considered to be such a landmark that it has been dubbed the “de Havilland law,”  Superior Court Judge Charles S. Burnell said that the actress’s contract was a form of “peonage” or illegal servitude. In a big, splashy headline, Variety, noting the ruling, declared on March 15, 1944, “De Havilland Free Agent.”

The court took away any wiggle room that employers had,” said Alan R. Friedman, partner at Fox Rothschild. “It was a decision applying to more than just Hollywood. It applied to every employee in California.”

[TopBilled]

1 hour ago, Vidor said:

I think it's the only de Havilland film she made before her ill-advised three-year Hollywood hiatus that I haven't seen. 

Don't you mean, it was made AFTER her three-year hiatus. I read somewhere that she signed with Paramount to make THE WELL-GROOMED BRIDE while she was still litigating against Warners. The case, which james mentions below, was finally resolved just two days prior to the start of filming on WELL-GROOMED BRIDE.

I also read that de Havilland was a replacement for Paulette Goddard, for whom the picture was intended. Goddard bowed out due to pregnancy.

4 minutes ago, jamesjazzguitar said:

It was made during the time she sued and it wasn't ill-advised.    It was necessary especially after both Cagney and Davis and their legal attempts failed.  Paramount couldn't release the film until the Superior Court of CA ruled in her favor.

  It was necessary for  all actors,  athletes,  entertainers and all other employees that were under contract.   

The studio went on to lose its case in a decision considered to be such a landmark that it has been dubbed the “de Havilland law,”  Superior Court Judge Charles S. Burnell said that the actress’s contract was a form of “peonage” or illegal servitude. In a big, splashy headline, Variety, noting the ruling, declared on March 15, 1944, “De Havilland Free Agent.”

The court took away any wiggle room that employers had,” said Alan R. Friedman, partner at Fox Rothschild. “It was a decision applying to more than just Hollywood. It applied to every employee in California.”

Thanks for sharing this blurb.

[Vidor]

6 minutes ago, jamesjazzguitar said:

It was made during the time she sued and it wasn't ill-advised. 

 

Sorry, I meant her *other* three year hiatus, when she went to Broadway after "The Heiress" in 1949.  Her movie career never recovered and is mostly forgettable outside of "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte".

[JamesJazGuitar]

15 minutes ago, Vidor said:

 

Sorry, I meant her *other* three year hiatus, when she went to Broadway after "The Heiress" in 1949.  Her movie career never recovered and is mostly forgettable outside of "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte".

Ok,  that makes sense.    That was a mistake,  especially after such a successful run with To Each Her Own (Oscar),  The Dark Minor (all actress like those good\evil duo role parts),  The Snake Pit (Oscar nomination and National Board of Review and NY Critics Circle, Best Actress),  and The Heiress (Oscar, Golden Globes,  NY Critics Best Actress).

Coming back after 3 years for My Cousin Rachael was a let down.    While I feel Olivia does some fine acting in the film,   Richard Burton in his first film was just too joyless.  Add a confusing did-she-did-she-not ending and yea,  she deserved something better.

 

[TopBilled]

Associated with Paramount Pictures

Alan Ladd
Claudette Colbert
Billy Wilder
Shirley Booth
Burns & Allen
Diana Lynn
Fred MacMurray

Betty Hutton
Bob Hope
Cecil B. DeMille
Clara Bow
Sonny Tufts
Dorothy Lamour
Jerry Lewis

Madeleine Carroll
William Holden
Sylvia Sidney
Eddie Bracken
Alison Skipworth
Gary Cooper

Carole Lombard
Brian Donlevy
Mae West
W.C. Fields
Joan Caulfield
Preston Sturges
Paulette Goddard

Bing Crosby
Veronica Lake
Mitchell Leisen
Martha Raye
Ray Milland
Marlene Dietrich

[darrylfxanax]

[Ray Faiola]

On 2/5/2021 at 8:42 PM, TopBilled said:

Per MovieCollector's database, this one hasn't aired on TCM since 2008:

I first saw this on NBC SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES. I was 9 and you can imagine the impact it had on me. Coincidentally, I just ran my print last week. It's a full frame print so you see the VistaVision framing cues at the beginning of each A-B section. They're scratched into the negative like crosses.

[TopBilled]

7 hours ago, Ray Faiola said:

I first saw this on NBC SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES. I was 9 and you can imagine the impact it had on me. Coincidentally, I just ran my print last week. It's a full frame print so you see the VistaVision framing cues at the beginning of each A-B section. They're scratched into the negative like crosses.

Interesting. I've never seen THE DESPERATE HOURS (1955). Though I guess I can hunt down a copy of it online.

According to MovieCollector's database, it has aired 15 times on TCM but again, not once since 2008. So it must have been shown fairly frequently in the late 90s and early 2000s. 

I am sure many viewers would appreciate seeing it again on TCM. It was Bogart's last role as a gangster.

So Ray, out of curiosity, how many full frame prints do you own? Are they all Hollywood films or do you have foreign classics as well?

[Ray Faiola]

9 hours ago, TopBilled said:

So Ray, out of curiosity, how many full frame prints do you own? Are they all Hollywood films or do you have foreign classics as well?

When I say "full frame" I mean prints that are "unmasked" for 1:85 as they were shown theatrically. Very often you see things outside the "safe" area, such as Spencer Tracy's mattress at the bottom of the set of THE MOUNTAIN.

If you mean how many features do I have on film, it's just over 2,500. Then there are a few thousand shorts, cartoons, serial chapters, tv shows and trailers. I have very few foreign films (M, NOSFERATU, CALIGARI, LAST LAUGH, POTEMKIN, DYBBUK and a few others). Quite a few British pictures.