August 2011 TCM Schedule

[JackFavell]

I have to agree, this is one of the best SUTS months I've seen. I LOVE that they mixed it up, adding Ben Johnson, Gabin, Blondell, Darnell, and Veidt, as well as the big blockbuster stars like Cary, Bogie, Marlene and Crawford, who I rarely miss when they are on TCM.

I know who I'd like to see next year......

[CineMaven]

I'm checking out "Possessed" right now. The 1931 film...not Joan's later one. I forgot how pretty she was. And she had a very nice singing voice too. (Please don't tell me she was dubbed). And how young Wallace Ford looked. He was a boy.

* * * * *

Stop the presses... while watching Crawford do her thing in SADIE Mckee" I made a nice discovery:



ESTHER RALSTON She had a lovely natural quality.. a great voice and a modern look. Whoa!

[JackFavell]

Kingrat, I love the way those three VERY different acting styles work to Wyler's and the script's advantage in The Heiress....the dynamics of that movie are really fascinating. After reading about the animosity amongst the three, I always wonder whether Wyler engineered or at least fostered a little off screen competition, in order to get the performances he wanted. The movie continues to get better each time I see it.

[ChiO]

SO YOUNG, SO BAD certainly caught my eye. The title was promising enough, but add in a JD-WIP narrative, a cast of Paul Henreid, Anne Francis, Rita Moreno and Anne Jackson, and direction by Bernard Vorhaus (BURY ME DEAD and THE AMAZING MR. X) and it was a done deal. Then I saw on IMDb that the uncredited co-director was Edgar G. Ulmer! Can't miss this!

I have SCORPIO scheduled. A Cold War thriller with that director and cast certainly has potential.

Missed A LION IS IN THE STREETS. Thanks for the heads-up.

[CineMaven]

She's brassy, she's sassy, she's got a way around a line that was one of the best in the thirties. Her big cow eyes will win ya over. The one...the only...BLONDELL. Today's featured star in TCM's SUMMER UNDER THE STARS series.

...And OH MAMA!!! I just had a JACK LaRUE sighting in "LAWYER MAN" as a gunsel partnered with Allen Jenkins. Oh yeah, even without lines...<< sigh! >>

[moira finnie]

She's brassy, she's sassy, she's got a way around a line that was one of the best in the thirties. Her big cow eyes will win ya over. The one...the only...BLONDELL. Today's featured star in TCM's SUMMER UNDER THE STARS series.

...And OH MAMA!!! I just had a JACK LaRUE sighting in "LAWYER MAN" as a gunsel partnered with Allen Jenkins. Oh yeah, even without lines...<< sigh! >>

Thanks for the reminder, Cine. I wish I had remembered to record Lawyer Man, though I did catch Central Park (1932) for the first time and loved it--especially her partnering with Wallace Ford. Three of Joanie's movies that are not as well known as many but give rare glimpses of her appealing presence are in today's schedule:

He Was Her Man (1934) @ 6:30PM EDT: The last of Joan Blondell's films with James Cagney, there is a somber air to this movie, with Blondell particularly sympathetic in one of her tarnished angel roles as she begins to wonder if survival is all it's cracked up to be. She's almost ready to give up as she finds an opportunity to marry a simple fisherman (Victor Jory in a rare non-villainous role). I love her inarticulate but plaintive character but wait until you see Jimmy in the world's worst mustache--though his acting almost makes his role believable.

Sinner's Holiday (1930) @ 8PM EDT: Joan Blondell and James Cagney's first film, based on their roles in Penny Arcade, their breakthrough hit on Broadway that was purchased for the movies by Al Jolson who also promoted Blondell and Cagney's casting at Warner Brothers. Interesting for their presence, but especially for the odd mother-son relationship between Cagney and the venerable Lucille La Verne.

Stand-In (1937) @ 11PM EDT: Delicious comedy about Wall St. efficiency expert (Leslie Howard, who is great fun) and his romance with a Hollywood studio veteran (Joan Blondell). Joanie gets to play a really smart cookie in love, and Humphrey Bogart is absolutely great as a dipsomaniac director (Bogie's real life dog has a small part too). This movie deserves to be seen more.

[CineMaven]

Moira I'm sorry I'm going to miss the 6:30 & 8:00 show tonite; not home to monitor recording it. I do love Joanie's full-blown womanly look of "CRY HAVOC" and "NIGHTMARE ALLEY" (though I know the latter is not aired during this festival).
She just looks like she has a lot of life experience. And that she should be listened to.

[JackFavell]

Hey, I saw the end of Central Park, which looked great (I love Wallace Ford), and the beginning of Lawyer Man which was a hoot....William Powell even speaks Russian or something in it (and very well, I might add). I missed jack larue, darn it, but I got the entire day recorded...... up till now.

I stupidly didn't realize it was 8:00 already, and totally spaced out on switching to a new disc! I am so mad at myself for missing Sinner's Holiday!!!! I 'm giving myself a big boot in the rear.

[JackFavell]

Maven, it's funny you mentioned Esther Ralston. I just saw her in an early talkie a few weeks ago, and she really impressed me. I couldn't figure out why she didn't go further in sound films, but I guess she got a bum deal for refusing to make her way via the casting couch. I got Sadie McKee recorded, so I'll give it a look in the next week after school starts when I have some more time.

[CineMaven]

JackaaaAaay, Esther really blew my mind...she's just so modern. I read up a little about her. Apparently she was big in Silents. A shame not to have had her voice recorded in those films. She's got a great speaking voice. Apparently it wasn't the casting couch that did her in...but a man. Her husband. He talked her into demanding more money from the studio.

They said "no." And effectively ended her career. (Gee, thanx hubby!)

When I mentioned her to my movie master-maven friend Robert...he immediately knew her and counted her as one of the great beauties of the Silent era.

Man, it's been eons since I discovered someone new, on my own, to be bowled over by. (This does NOT count Valentino who Bronxie opened my eyes to OR Jack LaRue who YOU opened my eyes to. I was going to say something about "bathrobes"...but this is a different Message Board)

[JackFavell]

I know, I always love the actors I find by myself the best.

She has a thrilling voice. I was actually shocked by how really good it was, and how natural she seemed since I had never ever seen her in talkies. She could have been a big star I think, had her fortunes been different.

[CineMaven]

"...I got Sadie McKee recorded, so I'll give it a look in the next week after school starts when I have some more time."

I just want you to see Jack LaRue stuffing his face full of cake. Let me know what you think. CENTRAL PARK" was wild. Wallace Ford looked like a young boy...a lion loose in the park, and insane man loose in the park, crazy. And then when the crazy guy threw the mean guy to the lion and they showed him getting mauled...my jaw dropped.

[JackFavell]

I know! I don't know why Wally Ford holds such fascination for me.... but he does. I just don't know how he goes from goofy depression era leading man to soldier driven insane by an unseen enemy to a self sacrificing drunk to a cynical boxing back room flunkie who reads women's love magazines.

Was the crazy guy in Central Park also the crazy guy who tries to kill Mr. Deeds and then breaks down crying?

I can't WAIT to see more of Jack LaRue, even if he is stuffing his kisser full of cake. Don't even ask me how I feel about him as a priest.