The December 2013 Schedule on TCM

[JackFavell]

I think that 'the feud' is subject for conjecture at any other time, but not now. It's very hard to lose someone in your family, no matter the circumstances of your relationship with them. I would expect nothing else of Miss de Havilland but a kind word and a sorrowful heart at this time. I'm quite sure she feels the loss keenly, no matter the situation over the years, perhaps more so because of it.

Robert Osborne is a fan of both sisters... I think his love of the film The Constant Nymph has almost single-handedly brought that film back from the edge of oblivion. Mr. Osborne is not a man to take sides, and always seems most gentle, fair-minded, and loving of our favorites under all circumstances.

[moira finnie]

I understand your feeling about "her" films, Larry. Serenade (1956) ought to have been shown since it is very entertaining and not to be taken seriously (even though Mario Lanza is pretty good here, especially when he sings Verdi's "Otello"). Sarita Montiel, who was a very big star in the Spanish-speaking world, was a good, restrained counterpoint to Lanza's characterization as a down-on-his-luck singer.

Perhaps this was due to Anthony Mann's approach to the sanitized James M. Cain story, which the director tried to infuse with a mythic quality as he examined sacred and profane love --this was not entirely successful--though off-screen Montiel became Mrs. Mann after this movie. Apparently, in her role as the "profane" type, for Joan Fontaine it was a chance to be funny, with her and Vincent Price trading zingers in their scenes. Her Howard Shoup clothes are magnificent and her hauteur would cause frostbite in Mario Lanza---if he got near her. Serenade is available on DVD and shows up occasionally on TCM, usually late at night in the wee hours, which makes me think that there is someone in the TCM programming who is not a fan!

I guess I was projecting my own weariness with The Women's jungle red wittiness when it is shown twice a month of late, but I am an uncontrite philistine, I know.

A good film that many believe is among the very best of Deanna Durbin's movies is being shown tonight on TCM. She brings welcome zest and fun to her role as a hat check girl with a glorious musical flourish opposite a very welcome comic turn from (the too often intolerable) Robert Cummings, a delightfully impish Charles Laughton as a dying millionaire, and Walter Catlett as his doctor. Margaret Tallichet, who would soon retire from the hurly-burly of the silver screen to become Mrs. William Wyler, has a good role as Cummings' gold-digging fiancee and the cast is rounded out beautifully by character actors such as Leon Belasco as a fashion designer and Clara Blandick as a nurse. It's great screwball fun if you are in the mood for it:

It Started With Eve (1941) at 8pm (ET)

[Rita Hayworth]

Thanks Moira for the heads up of the Deanna Durbin Movie tonight and I thanks for the information on Ivanhoe ... I guess that I have to rewatch this movie all over again ... February 23rd is two months away and again thanks for the information here.

[JackFavell]

I guess I was projecting my own weariness with The Women's jungle red wittiness when it is shown twice a month of late, but I am an uncontrite philistine, I know.

We all have our moments, dear. I can't manage to watch Chips! The Musical even once, and it's been on quite a lot lately too.

[moira finnie]

I guess I was projecting my own weariness with The Women's jungle red wittiness when it is shown twice a month of late, but I am an uncontrite philistine, I know.

We all have our moments, dear. I can't manage to watch Chips! The Musical even once, and it's been on quite a lot lately too.

Thanks, Wen. I only watch The Women for the scenes with Marjorie Main and Virginia Weidler, if truth be told.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Donald Sutherland and Jane Fonda were having a serious affair during the filming of Klute, and it is claimed in the Patricia Bosworth biography that Sutherland knew his part was not what it could have been, but he was so smitten, he did little to increase his screen presence. I also agree with the fact that so many scenes were just too darn dark.

(Bosworth also wrote a wonderful bio of Monty Clift.)