2011 TCM Festival

[Lzcutter]

It's official!! Robert O announced tonight from the stage at Graumans:

There will be a TCM Cruise leaving out of Fort Lauderdale in early December of this year. Look for an announcement with more details within the week.

It will be very different from the Film Festival. I'm not sure what that means so look for the official announcement.

And it's official, the TCM Film Festival will return next year as well!

I have pages and pages of recaps that I will begin posting later this week after I get some sleep and watch last week's Justified and Game of Thrones.

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi Lynn,

Hope you've had a great Festival time..

A cruise sounds nice and especially to a warm clime in December..
But, a 4 day cruise or even a 7 day one isn't worth all the money, time and frustration of travelling.
I hope they have a 10 or 12 or 14 day cruise - then it's worth it!!!

I will await further details; but it would be grand to cruise with you et al....

Larry

[moira finnie]

Larry, I sure hope that you will be feeling like cruising in December. I suspect that it might be designed similarly to the cruises that Siskel and Ebert once conducted, with the pair of them and guests introducing and discussing movies with guests. Sort of a "floating film festival."

Lynn, and friends, I can't wait to read your accounts of the festival, though I bet you guys need a few days to rest!

Here's today's TCM press release about this event:

Turner Classic Movies Announces First-Ever TCM Classic Cruise and the Return of the TCM Classic Film Festival

[Lzcutter]

M,

Thanks for the link to the Cruise. Kyle and I were speculating last night with David (Kingrat) and MrCutter that it would be more panel driven. Robert O made a big point of saying it would not be the TCM Film Festival on the ocean.

I'll start recapping tomorrow. I have oodles and oodles of notes but I need to get some sleep, get caught up on Justified and Games of Thrones and do my wash so I have clean clothes for work tomorrow!

This was Jon's (MrCutter) first totally immersion (all four days) into the Film Festival and he had a blast. We loved hanging out with Kyle, Kingrat, Filmlover, Suex2 (who KNOWS everyone and they KNOW her), MoraldoRubini (who has a color coordinated hat and shirt for every occasion), CineMaven and others.

Stay tuned!

[pvitari]

Just when I thought nothing could top the TCM festival, I got back to work to find the Emory University program I work for named the number one program in the country for "budding writers"!

http://www.usatodayeducate.com/staging/ ... or-writers

They only mention the English Department in the blurb but what they're really talking about is the Creative Writing Program (we're part of the English Department) and you'll see comments from some of our students at the bottom of the page. And ALL Creative Writing courses are capped at 15 students. ;)

P.S. I am the one and only staff person for Creative Writing -- not a faculty member. We do have a great faculty! Our webpage is creativewriting.emory.edu. ;)

I'll write more on the TCM festival itself once I get caught up both at home and at work. :)

[JackFavell]

Congrats, Paula!!!

[feaito]

Congratulations Paula

Great avatar Wendy. Who's the author of the beautiful and elegant painting of Mary Astor?

[JackFavell]

Rolf Armstrong. I meant to put it on my signature line, but I got sidetracked.

If you do a google image search, you'll find he painted some of the most beautiful magazine cover portraits ever.

[moira finnie]

Just when I thought nothing could top the TCM festival, I got back to work to find the Emory University program I work for named the number one program in the country for "budding writers"!

I am so happy for the recognition you and your department have received, Paula. I hope they appreciate you at Emory!

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, with Bernard Herrmann's daughter Dorothy in attendance. This was his favorite score. "It definitely wasn't Psycho," she said. Did you know that Darryl Zanuck thought about Norma Shearer for the lead role, and that screenwriter Philip Dunne wrote the script with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in mind?

I did know that they considered Shearer and Hepburn in that role, but I'm glad it was Gene Tierney instead. Did you know that Tierney had a broken foot during production? Tierney had been visiting a friend and she ran upstairs to see her friend's new baby when she was barefoot. She landed on her foot the wrong way. Eventually it was x-rayed and put in a cast. Good thing that the dresses were made extra long for those scenes when she still had the cast. Did you know that Bernard Herrmann's brilliant score was used under the 20th Century Fox logo at the beginning of the film, something that only happened a few times in Fox history?

I hope that you'll let us know if the print of The Constant Nymph was in decent shape, (the DVD-rs that are around are not so hot technically).

Did you have a chance to speak with Brownlow? Wasn't Went the Day Well? startling for a British film of that period? I loved it when I saw it, but Cavalcanti seemed to be saying something quite similar to what Powell & Pressburger were conveying in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp: that the war against the fascists was going to change the British in ways that they could not have anticipated warfare if they were going to defeat their enemies. I always wondered if Ken Follett had the mood of this movie in mind when he wrote The Eagle Has Landed?

I'm glad that you had fun!

[movieman1957]

If anyone follows TCM on Facebook there are dozens of pictures from the festival.

[moira finnie]

The print of The Constant Nymph needed some restoration, but was quite watchable. Robert Osborne said in his introduction that he had only seen the film in a pirated copy in someone's apartment years ago, and that it was very murky. This was a huge step above. Feaito had asked about the painted backdrops; they are clearly recognizable as such.

I think Fernando and I have the same murky print of The Constant Nymph--but if you can get into the mood of the thing, those painted backdrops don't matter. I thought that Alexis Smith was wonderful in this part. Boyer could have played it a bit more selfishly, since that is part of the point of his character--he doesn't mean it, but that's how he is until near the end. I thought Fontaine's performance was a warm-up for A Letter From an Unknown Woman. She was fantastic in the '40s when the times were right for her. (I don't compare Fontaine to her sister Olivia at all since I don't think they are alike as performers--and neither of them did as well as might be hoped after 1950, at least from my POV).

Thanks for the reply, King.

[feaito]

Thanks for the detailed account Kingrat and all the info on "The Constant Nymph" (1943). I like this film as much as I like "Letter from an Unknown Woman"; to me they are Joan's best. I hope it will be restored and released properly. Do you know if it was a 35 mm or 16mm print?

Alexis Smith gives an impressive performance and I iked Peter Lorre being cast against type, married to the beautiful character (Tessa's sister) played by Brenda Marshall (Bill Holden's wife in real life). Charles Coburn is a scene stealer and it was also a joy to see Dame May Whitty in the London scenes. Montagu Love as Tessa's father also gives a very fine performance IMO and sadly lovely Jean Muir (as Tessa's older sister) has little time on screen. Boyer is superb, of course.

The print of "The Devil is a Woman" must have been out of this world BTW, because the print released on DVD is gorgeous. What about "Night Flight" (1933), besides that comment about its corny lines did anyone like the film at all??...Did you know that the film is set in Argentina and Chile?? I'm waiting for this film to be released on DVD soon!! I have a terrible, terrible copy.....all white, the worst copy I've ever seen of a film along with that of "The Big Pond" (1930).

[moira finnie]

Thanks for the detailed account Kingrat and all the info on "The Constant Nymph" (1943). I like this film as much as I like "Letter from an Unknown Woman"; to me they are Joan's best. I hope it will be restored and released properly. Do you know if it was a 35 mm or 16mm print?

Alexis Smith gives an impressive performance and I iked Peter Lorre being cast against type, married to the beautiful character (Tessa's sister) played by Brenda Marshall (Bill Holden's wife in real life). Charles Coburn is a scene stealer and it was also a joy to see Dame May Whitty in the London scenes. Montagu Love as Tessa's father also gives a very fine performance IMO and sadly lovely Jean Muir (as Tessa's older sister) has little time on screen. Boyer is superb, of course.

Fernando and anyone else who saw this movie, did you have the impression that The Constant Nymph had been heavily edited? I always thought that Tessa's sisters should have had more screen time, and Peter Lorre deserved more attention too.