Turner Classic Movies

[Matt]

It was actually one of the less stupid and brainless Ryan Murphy series and did a good job of humanizing both women. I suspect this Bette Davis hate page is just one more of those inexplicable low-effort Facebook memes. There’s a lot of idle hatred there that needs to be focused on something. Better Bette Davis than trans kids.

[Matt]

TCM is showing a Don Knotts double feature on Saturday, Sept. 2: The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (a timeless classic) and The Love God?, an underseen and underappreciated entry in his oeuvre where he plays an ornithologist who becomes an inadvertent and reluctant Hugh Hefner type when his birding magazine, Peacock, becomes a girlie magazine under new owner Edmond O’Brien.

If you have any interest at all in the Nervous Nellie comedy stylings of Knotts, I urge you to watch this. One of my favorite entries in his filmography and in the sex comedy genre.

Also some movie called City Girl by some guy named Murnau later that night. Honestly one of his best. Might be second only to The Last Laugh for me.

[beamish14]

It was actually one of the less stupid and brainless Ryan Murphy series and did a good job of humanizing both women. I suspect this Bette Davis hate page is just one more of those inexplicable low-effort Facebook memes. There’s a lot of idle hatred there that needs to be focused on something. Better Bette Davis than trans kids.

It gave the women some depth, but that miniseries did an appalling job of depicting Robert Aldrich. He wasn’t the milquetoast loser who constantly sucked up to Jack Warner; he wanted to BE a mogul, and he sort of succeeded

[Fred Holywell]

The Love God? and City Girl are just two of some interesting premieres this month.

The full list:

Sep 2 - The Love God? (1969)
Sep 3 - City Girl (1930)
Sep 3 - Baal (1970)
Sep 5 - North Dallas Forty (1979)
Sep 5 - Semi-Tough (1977)
Sep 9 - Back Street (1932)
Sep 12 - Daddy's Gone A-Hunting (1969)
Sep 13 - I Cover the Waterfront (1933)
Sep 16 - Cry-Baby (1990)
Sep 20 - The Damned (1969)
Sep 23 - The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981)
Sep 24 - Shozo, a Cat and Two Women (1956)
Sep 24 - Wild Geese (1953)

[mizo]

The Love God? joins Man's Favorite Sport? in a rare and fascinating sub-subgenre: movies with titles that end in question marks but are not questions. These titles are always fun to say aloud, though one's head tends to involuntarily cant to one side.

Are there many others? The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? fits but, in its excessive emotion and verbosity, doesn't seem to capture the essence of this elite class of films.

[diamonds]

The Love God? joins Man's Favorite Sport? in a rare and fascinating sub-subgenre: movies with titles that end in question marks but are not questions. These titles are always fun to say aloud, though one's head tends to involuntarily cant to one side.

Are there many others? The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? fits but, in its excessive emotion and verbosity, doesn't seem to capture the essence of this elite class of films.

William A. Seiter's Nice Girl? (1941)!

[pianocrash]

The Love God? joins Man's Favorite Sport? in a rare and fascinating sub-subgenre: movies with titles that end in question marks but are not questions. These titles are always fun to say aloud, though one's head tends to involuntarily cant to one side.

Are there many others? The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? fits but, in its excessive emotion and verbosity, doesn't seem to capture the essence of this elite class of films.

William A. Seiter's Nice Girl? (1941)!

The eternal Mad Monster Party? almost fits, but I'd prefer the dream mishmash of two lesser movies becoming one, as in Getting Even...With Dad?!.

Also, most of these non-questions are actually questions, anyway (see also: Getting Any?), as long as you throw it in the blender of period-centric pop culture flutings, pickin' up what's being thrown down, etc.

[FrauBlucher]

Old Acquaintance is currently on. I can't help but think that the behind-the-scenes back story would have made a much better film

[ando]

Old Acquaintance is currently on. I can't help but think that the behind-the-scenes back story would have made a much better film

Quite. Hopkins’ character has little to no development and Davis, despite displaying patience and compassion, doesn’t have much of an arc, either.

There’s a slew of Greta Garbo flicks streaming On Demand for a spell. Be nice if I liked her, but she leaves me cold and I generally find her unsympathetic most of the time. Never felt the allure that so many continue to feel though some of the lighting/camerawork in films which are considered “Garbo classics” is obviously top drawer.

Giving Camille a shot in a few minutes. It’s got a Lionel Barrymore cameo. He’s almost always a boon to the dreariest flicks.

[ando]

Camille is fun if you're willing to buy Garbo as a 18th century courtesan, which given her celebrity/cult status in Hollywood at the time and, hence, her cinematic treatment, especially here, isn't difficult to do. In fact, it's wouldn't be a stretch to see Margueritte's (Garbo) response to the decadent world of aristocratic Paris reflecting her attitude toward Hollywood of that day; her world-weary but frivolous/mocking sense of play concealing a long-extinguished passion may have had a ring of truth in her own life. The supporting cast of character types work splendidly around her, including her leading man (5 years younger), Robert Taylor. The lightning and camerawork are hardly subtle; the sets, often flooded with lights, seem to capture every nuance of that milieu and, in doing so, often misses the interesting shadow aspects of the environment. The fact that the Paris of that day and in that world was series of stages within stages is rendered immediately but there are few elements to juxtapose the carnival save performances from the actors themselves, coming most importantly from Garbo. There are a couple of moments of silence from the movie icon, apart from the whimsy, that stay with you a while and that have undoubtedly kept the film among the highest ranked in her output.

[Matt]

Cross-posted from the Joseph Losey thread: A hell of a Dirk Bogarde triple feature on TCM Wednesday, September 27 starting with Losey’s Accident (1967), followed by Jack Clayton’s Our Mother's House (also 1967), and Basil Dearden’s Victim (1961).

[Walter Kurtz]

Garbo... Never felt the allure...

That's because Sound Garbo is a shell of the Silent Garbo. Sound GG is Not. Even. Close.

[ando]

Garbo... Never felt the allure...

That's because Sound Garbo is a shell of the Silent Garbo. Sound GG is Not. Even. Close.

Could be. Had fun watching (and listening) to her in Camille so I will backtrack a bit. I can at least appreciate the reverence now.

[hearthesilence]

When I first saw stills of Garbo, I definitely got the allure - there's an amazing silhouette that's been used for a book cover that particularly struck me. When I finally watched her films, it was the sound ones, and the deep voice kind of threw me - she just sounded tough, which isn't bad at all, but not what I imagined. Anyway, Jimmy Stewart has a great story where he knocked over Garbo when he was both a fan and an unknown actor running over to her set in hopes of catching a glimpse - when he met her again years later, after becoming a household name himself, her immediate response was "you're the asshole who knocked me over!" It was easy to hear that now-familiar voice spewing those words at Stewart.

[Walter Kurtz]

Check out Torrent or The Temptress (both 1926). And of course Flesh and the Devil (same year) with her paramour Brad Pitt I mean John Gilbert. Her looks starting fading thereafter. By sound it was time to move on. Dietrich thereafter owned her.

[ando]

When I first saw stills of Garbo, I definitely got the allure - there's an amazing silhouette that's been used for a book cover that particularly struck me. When I finally watched her films, it was the sound ones, and the deep voice kind of threw me - she just sounded tough, which isn't bad at all, but not what I imagined. Anyway, Jimmy Stewart has a great story where he knocked over Garbo when he was both a fan and an unknown actor running over to her set in hopes of catching a glimpse - when he met her again years later, after becoming a household name himself, her immediate response was "you're the asshole who knocked me over!" It was easy to hear that now-familiar voice spewing those words at Stewart.

nice. thanks.

[Randall Maysin Again]

I have what may be a big favor and big ask for the forum, at least if TCM has not yet fallen apart as of this post: what is the cheapest/best way to get Turner Classic Movies? I'd really appreciate whatever sort of brief rundown/info any of you might have. PS I'm Canadian. Thanks very much in advance for your responses!

[Matt]

Some info (from a recent “canadacordcutters” Reddit thread):

TCM was my reason for not cutting the cord for a long time. But I found a way to get TCM for $5 a month.

If Bell is your internet provider, look into the Fibe TV app. The standard package costs $14.95 per month but since they are my internet provider I get a bundle discount of $4.95 off the app per month and $10 off my internet per month (no expiry date). So the standard package is free. It comes with channels like CTV, NBC, ABC, Fox and about 30 others. The standard package does not come with TCM but you can add extra channels à la carte, including TCM. You can pick TCM from a long list of à la carte channels. Pick 5 channels for a total of only $5 per month. Now I can enjoy TCM for only $5 a month.

However, since this is just the Fibe TV app, you won’t have a PVR and therefore you can’t record shows or movies. This wasn’t an issue for me since I watch TCM movies when they air. Some of their movies are available on demand in the app but not many. This may be a deal breaker for some.

Otherwise, I think you need a cable or satellite TV subscription.

——————

For U.S. viewers (or others interested), I have researched this extensively for the U.S. because I am always looking for the best, cheapest option. Apart from sporting events on ESPN, TCM is the only cable channel I watch.

If you only want the live feed, a service like YouTube TV or Hulu +Live might be cheaper than a basic cable subscription, but perhaps only by a few dollars these days. You can generally get some on-demand TCM films with these services as well, but not everything.

If you want all of the Watch TCM on-demand films, you will need a cable or satellite subscription. In my current situation, I’m paying $68 a month (including a “broadcast surcharge” for local channels), grandfathered in to an otherwise extinct plan with 15 channels of my choice plus locals.

Subscribing to Sling TV, the cheapest “cord-cutting” option, would cost me $40/mo. for the base package (which includes ESPN), an additional $6 for the “Hollywood Extra” add-on that includes TCM, BUT: No local channels, and no on-demand TCM content at all. You would need to add a VPN service to use Sling TV (or YouTube TV or Hulu +Live) in Canada.

So currently it is “worth it” to me to continue the cable subscription to get the on-demand content (which I use regularly), but I constantly question that “worth it” part. My ultimate wish is for TCM to be available as part of or as an add-on to Max. Both the east and west coast feeds and all the on-demand content. Doesn’t seem likely though.

[Randall Maysin Again]

That's a great tip, much appreciated!! I was expecting to pay at least $30-40 / month or more. Does the Reddit thing work in Canada, do you know?

[Matt]

That was on the canadacordcutters subreddit, so it’s specifically for Canada. (I edited the post above to specify that.)

[Randall Maysin Again]

What is this Watch TCM on demand films thingummy? I suspect I'd be happy just with their "basic", or whatever, slate, at least if their library is as good as it was 12 or so years ago when I last tuned in, and I remember thinking TCM's programming was also very artful. Have these things changed much?

[Matt]

Watch TCM like a streaming service app but only for movies they’ve shown within the past 30 days or so. So there’s no “library” to speak of, but I use it to catch up on things that got played in the middle of the night or that I otherwise missed live.

Though they are now sometimes forced to do cross-promotion with Discovery programming like Shark Week or home renovation shows, I think their programming is currently as good as it’s ever been. There are always interesting things showing that I’ve never seen before.

[dwk]

If you only want the live feed, a service like YouTube TV or Hulu +Live might be cheaper than a basic cable subscription, but perhaps only by a few dollars these days. You can generally get some on-demand TCM films with these services as well, but not everything.

YouTube TV does have an unlimited DVR, but the stuff you DVR is only saved for 9 months. The other issue is since it is streaming not cable, occasionally there are some movies that are blacked out.

[FrauBlucher]

TheExtras podcast...the following is the breakdown by SanCarolina59 at bluray.com

New Extras podcast released, without George F. or WAC though, but still an interesting one, with Eddie Muller from TCM and the Film Noir Foundation on to talk about his new books, "Noir Bar" (a book of noir inspired cocktails) and his new kids book "Kid Noir: Kitty Feral and the Case of the Marshmallow Monkey". At the end of the podcast (57:40 in), Eddie and Tim Millard delve into a discussion about the future of TCM, and I've summed up that segment below since I felt it might be of interest to those on this thread:

Future of TCM:

Per Eddie Muller “the future of TCM is secure – for the time being”. It’s not that there’ll be a “trap door” that will open and take it away, it’ll just likely be reshaped and evolved in some way in the future, unavoidably as time and how stories are delivered changes, although Eddie opines that he feels that those hypothetical future changes will be positive.

Talks on Scorsese, Spielberg, and PTA’s involvement with TCM – they are deeply involved in what’s programmed on the channel and what’s happening. Eddie says it’s great, but the major considerations with the “nuts and bolts/business side” still pop up about the bottom line for TCM. The merger created lots of redundancies with WB and Discovery, and those layoffs were unfortunately part of that. Eddie says that “cooler, or rather hotter” heads prevailed, and it was quickly realized that they were messing with something people were very passionate about.

Eddie reiterates again that TCM is not going anywhere anytime soon. To add to that, Eddie says “When people say “what does that mean for the long run!” I say, “I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, but if something happens to me, don’t hold me to that!””. Basically, we can’t predict the future, and it will be different than what are used to now, and that will probably go for TCM as well. The real question is how you manage that transition into whatever the future may be.

Tim adds that they talk about physical media all the time on The Extras, and the similarities between physical media and TCM, in that they’re not dying, but they’re changing into something different than what they were.
Eddie talks about streaming/cable channels in general as like a midway at a carnival, everybody trying to get people into their tents to watch what they have to offer. “The most super passionate tent on the midway is the TCM tent”. And there’s a lot of people who want to find that tent, but with cable going away and streaming replacing it, it can be hard for them to find that tent. There’s also those out there who haven’t seen TCM before, and the issue of making sure to be able to cater to everyone, from an older fan who’ve watched from when TCM first aired, to the kid born in 2010 checking out TCM.

This then launches into a talk on age demographics and splits when it comes to older films. The TCM Festival is taken as an example, with Tim talking on how he’s surprised on the diversity of those at the festival. Eddie talks on how he gets a completely mixed audience for his Noir City festival – genders split 50/50, more young people than you’d think. Eddie wonders “if that was how I got hired at TCM – seeing this really broad cross section of people I was able to attract”. There’s also the talk on different events catering to different demographics - the cruises cater to older audiences moreso, for example, since it’s more likely an older audience can afford to go on it than a younger one, but that shouldn’t be taken as a statement that younger audiences are not interested in older films – in fact, quite the opposite. You shouldn’t take what people can and cannot afford and define that as their level of interest in something. Eddie feels that with all the upheaval and “hub-bub” around TCM earlier this year, it really boiled down to people being afraid that they wouldn’t be able to go into that “tent” anymore. And the mission of TCM is to make sure that people can find and go into that tent, no matter who they are or whatever their financial situation may be.


Also, in non-Extras related news, it looks like WB has expanded their deal with the Samuel Goldwyn Jr. Family Trust for their films - it would appear the Goldwyn films are now on MoviesAnywhere and other services for digital purchase (I believe Goldwyn themselves independent of WB had them only on iTunes and a few other services before), with WB being credited as the distributor for some of the films. Hopefully this is a positive development for WAC being able to do more from the Samuel Goldwyn library.

[FrauBlucher]

TCM Remembers