August 2013 on TCM - Summer Under the Stars

[MissGoddess]

I second The Long Night recommendation, Kingrat, and thank you for mentioning I Met My Love Again because I don't think I have ever seen it. Hopefully, my DVR won't let me down.

I have Mississippi Mermaid on DVD, it's a very interesting film and it reminds me a lot of Hitchcock.

[JackFavell]

WOWSA! it's great to see you all back, especially YUL.

[MissGoddess]

[mrsl]

.A very hearty WELCOME BACK. It's been a terrible couple of weeks.

Hip, Hip, Hooray

Hip, Hip, Hooray!!!

[Rita Hayworth]

I am looking forward seeing some of the Catherine Deneuve's films and I haven't decided what to record and not to record. But, I'm eagerly seeing some of her films and many of them that I haven't seen in years.

[JackFavell]

You jogged my memory. Not to create SPOILERS or anything, kingrat, but is this the one where McQueen attacks a woman and is pretty much consumed by violence in a not nice/ unheroic/ complex way? I've been trying to find that film for years now, I saw part of it once and was shocked at how invested he was in it, but I never knew the name of it. Part of the problem was I couldn't remember who played the nicer co-star, McQueen just blew him off the screen.

[CineMaven]

Ahhhhhh! Home Sweet Home!!!

Hello Everyone! Good to see the Oasis BACK where it belongs. On line and up & running.

TCM - SUMMER UNDER THE STARS:



AUGUST 2nd - I had a great time revisiting many of DORIS DAY's entertaining films, especially one of my favorites: "My Dream Is Yours." I also gained a lot more appreciation for "Calamity Jane" and Day's rousing performance in that film. It's official. There is nothing that she can't do if you give her a chance.

AUGUST 4th - During MARY BOLAND's day, I had a double whammy. Having her films on in the background, I could hear her for much of the day and really got a good whiff of what a talent she was. It honestly made me appreciate her all the more by the time "The Women" came on and what a fantastic acting job she gave to the Countess Delave. The second whammy I had was in finally trying out "Ruggles of Red Gap." The contrast to the way I normally see Charles Laughton ( "Island of Lost Souls" "Mutiny on the Bounty" "No Way Out" and whatever creepily unsettling, Caligula-like roles he fills ) and his being the butler in "...Red Gap" actually blew my mind. ( "That's the same guy??!! Why HE'S the greatest actor who's ever LIVED!!! HE'S THE GREATEST THING SINCE SLICED OLIVIER" ) I now must make sure to watch any Laughton films that TCM puts on the bill. ( And I have Mary Boland to thank for that. )

AUGUST 6th - I foolishly did not set my DVR for these two films, but semi-back to back, watching "Letters From An Unknown Woman" and "The Constant Nymph" just about did me in. It was devastating to see the two different angles for which love entered and played havoc with JOAN FONTAINE's life in these two movies. I would love to hate Louis Jourdan if he wasn't just so darned handsome. Ack! I'd say he got his just desserts, wouldn't you?

AUGUST 10th - I know she's not everyone's cuppa, but I think LANA TURNER is cool. She's earned a place in history as more than just cotton candy confection because there were plenty of blondes back then. I enjoyed watching her in "The Bad and the Beautiful" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice." ( Pssst! I kind of like it when she's actress-y too. )

AUGUST 12th - As beautiful as CATHERINE DENEUVE is, I couldn't sit all day and read subtitles. But if any one out here is enterprising enough, dvr-ing or not a scaredy cat, you've just got to see her in "The Hunger" opposite Susan Sarandon. It's sophisticated and erotic and 100 x better than "True Blood."
<< Sigh! >> Why can't all vampires be classy like her...

AUGUST 14th - I've seen many of these movies before, but how can you go wrong experiencing BETTE DAVIS? She's like visiting a dear friend.

AUGUST 15th - Well I could just listen to GREGORY PECK's voice all day. And now I'll have the chance, though the film I'm really waiting to see ( and would suggest anyone who hasn't seen it to see it ) is "The Macomber Affair."

Thanks to all you Moderators behind the scenes who worked tirelessly to get this great Message Board back on its two little feet. Withdrawal was a *****!!!

[JackFavell]

Hey Maven!

Mary Boland knocked my socks off! You'd think I might be tired of Countess by the end of the day, but I could have watched her for another straight 24 hours. Absolutely my favorite SUTS day so far. Glad she kept you company too, and really happy about your newfound appreciation of Charles Laughton. Ruggles was divine. It was almost like watching a new movie, I haven't seen it in so long.

As for Lana, you know I must be going soft because I decided that I like Lana, actress-y or no. I didn't get to watch much of her day, but I DID see her do the Follies Girl walk down the stairs at the end of Ziegfeld Girl, and thought she did a fine job in that film. I also saw her in Bad and the Beautiful (I just can't NOT watch that movie!) and realized how much guts it took to play that scene in the car. Just imagine if you had to play that scene in front of cast and crew... could you do it?

[CineMaven]

With this SUMMER UNDER THE STARS one of my missions, one of my resolutions is to see movies that I've never seen before. I've been failing miserably, falling back to old favorites...but I've lofty goals.

Hey Maven!

Mary Boland knocked my socks off! You'd think I might be tired of Countess by the end of the day, but I could have watched her for another straight 24 hours. Absolutely my favorite SUTS day so far. Glad she kept you company too, and really happy about your newfound appreciation of Charles Laughton. Ruggles was divine. It was almost like watching a new movie, I haven't seen it in so long.

Hiya Jaxxxon! There're just some movies I...just...can't...take in their entirety so it's hard for me to pick a particular favorite out of the total film. But I was getting an overview of Mary Boland that day and my senses were telling me...there's something about Mary. I'm surprised as anyone that Laughton really tugged at my heart strings when I'm using shrieking in fear from him. ( Love him in "WItness for the Prosecution." ) I'll be looking for him.

As for Lana, you know I must be going soft because I decided that I like Lana, actress-y or no. I didn't get to watch much of her day, but I DID see her do the Follies Girl walk down the stairs at the end of Ziegfeld Girl, and thought she did a fine job in that film. I also saw her in Bad and the Beautiful (I just can't NOT watch that movie!) and realized how much guts it took to play that scene in the car. Just imagine if you had to play that scene in front of cast and crew... could you do it?

Lana does no harm, for me, so I'm okay with her. My father tells me he remembers seeing "Ziefeld Girl" back when it came out. "Hedy Lamarr makes all those girls look so bad coming down the stairs," he says. Ha....dad. I really like "The Bad & the Beautiful" and how it's constructed. Three parts...Kirk backstabbing everyone so badly. Of course I relate to Lana's segment. Robert O. and Drew Barrymore agreed Lana was too old to play the ingenue she was at the beginning of her segment. Funny, I never ever EVER read Lana as being a sweet young thing in that role. I always thought she was the age that she played, and that she was a great actor's daughter who kind of got used up by Hollywood being drunk and getting bit parts. Why I never got the idea that she was supposed to be a young something and age to an older something, I'll never know.

As for her car ride through love's hell...no ma'am, I couldn't do that scene in front of camera and crew. Total abandon. No self-consciousness. << Sigh! >> Monday morning quarterbacking. I actually was impressed with the way Lana stumbly walked out of the mansion after getting creamed by Kirk Douglas. It was very real to me. Like he knocked the wind out of her.

* * *

Too bad they didn't show instead another Andre Techine film starring Deneuve, LES VOLEURS (THIEVES). Denueve plays a philosophy professor (yes, you heard that right) who's in love with the same young woman that our policeman protagonist (Daniel Auteuil, superb as usual) is also in love with. LES VOLEURS is, intentionally, a very jagged and upsetting film.

You've piqued my interest with this plot. I must look for that film.

* * *

Some of the movies airing on TCM are a special treat!...The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg (1964) is an odd little movie which connects to me in a way I can not properly describe. I feel as if I am liking it in spite of what it is.

I've got to see that movie again. I remember years ago a co-worker literally begged me to see that movie after having told him I was totally resisting the movie. The guy was pleading. So I agreed. It was playing at the Carnegie Hall Cinema ( an old retro theatre here in NY ) and I ( begrudgingly ) went to see it. I wound up really really liking the movie. But now it's been at least 30 years since I saw it that last time. Guess it's about time.

I remember little also of: The Hunger (1983) which is odd because I like very much all of the stars and Tony Scott was one of the few modern directors whose works I feel are all solid and watchable even when it is not a genre which I like. I must wonder if I watched it under adverse conditions which caused the movie to not register with me as it should have done.

I'm intrigued by what type of adverse conditions those could be. I don't really know your tastes very well, but I really think you would enjoy "The Hunger."

...I could wish very much that today's schedule could have been switched with tomorrow's because there is not a Mickey Rooney film in existence that I would ever feel sorry to miss.

Brash bombastic he could do comedy, drama, mimic any of the big M-G-M stars. He's not for everyone, but the way you expressed your disdain for him made me laugh out loud. You might just like the good ol' Americana of "The Human Comedy." Mickey's very touching in it, and doesn't mug once. But I do understand Masha, if you'd prefer to have bamboo shoots placed underneath your fingernails rather than watch The Mickster.

[JackFavell]

I also recommend The Human Comedy.

Masha, you described EXACTLY how I feel about The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. I watched again last night and felt less of the manipulation and more of the joy of revelling in that colorful melancholy. Oh, it's just so pretty! I watched particularly for Deneuve, and she was so good, pulling all sorts of real emotion out of her role in a film that could be just an exercise in style. It's easy to overlook the performances in this film, but every one of them were heartfelt and made the movie much more than it could have been. I've decided (after practically throwing the remote across the room the first time I saw it) that I love this movie, in spite of everything.