TCM Premieres....

Discussion of programming on TCM.
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LostHorizons
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Re: TCM Premieres....

Post by LostHorizons »

That was a fun swashbuckler but it dragged on way too long.
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ziggy6708a
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Re: TCM Premieres....

Post by ziggy6708a »

early MON., 5-8

(times ET)

12:15
am

Sky High (1922)
58m | Drama

A government agent infiltrates a gang of Chinese immigrant smugglers and pursues their ringleader throughout the heart of the Southwestern desert.

Director
Lynn Reynolds
Cast
Tom Mix, J. Farrell Macdonald, Eva Novak

In a modern reappraisal of Sky High, reviewer Hans J. Wollstein described the film, "Diehard Western fans decried the lack of realism but audiences flocked to see this film which, more than perhaps any other, changed Mix from a popular Western star into an internationally recognized showman."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_High_(1922_film)


1:15
am

The Big Diamond Robbery (1929)
Western
65 min.

Tom Markham is the foreman of an Arizona dude ranch. He travels to the "big city" for a meeting with the ranch's owner, George Brooks, after which he will accompany Brooks' daughter Ellen back to the ranch. Brooks tells Tom about the Regent diamond, a valuable stone that Brooks has set in a ring for Ellen. Ellen's friend Rodney Stevens hears about it. Stevens, who is actually the boss of a bandit gang, has his men steal the diamond, but Tom manages to get it back. Stevens doesn't give up, though, and hatches a plan that will get him back the diamond and frame Tom for stealing it.

Director
Eugene Forde
Cast
Tom Mix, Kathryn Mcguire, Frank Beal

"a 1929 American silent Western film directed by Eugene Forde and starring Tom Mix, Kathryn McGuire and Frank Beal.[1] It was the last of five films Mix made for the FBO studios, and his last silent film. Unlike many of his westerns, it has a contemporary setting in 1920s Arizona."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Diamond_Robbery
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LostHorizons
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Re: TCM Premieres....

Post by LostHorizons »

Caught both those Tom Mix films. They were okay but not that great. I liked the Grand Canyon cinematography.
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Re: TCM Premieres....

Post by ziggy6708a »

FRI., 5-12


8:15
am (ET)

Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945)
1h 28m | Crime

A buried trauma from the past holds the key to the disappearance of a respectable married woman. Maddalena has a dual personality which leads her to forsake her husband and daughter, to flee to the house of the Seven Moons in Florence as the mistress of a jewel thief.


Director
Arthur Crabtree
Cast
Phyllis Calvert, Stewart Granger, Patricia Roc

:...Academic Sue Harper later wrote an analysis of the film, where she attributed producer R.J. Minney as being the main creative force behind it.[14] The story, which is supposed to be based on real case histories, begins with a rather explicit suggestion of interference or indecent assault on a devout, convent-educated young woman that causes her to develop split personalities. ....
The movie was very popular at the British box office, being one of the most seen films of its year.[16][17][18] In 1946 readers of the Daily Mail voted the film their third most popular British movie from 1939 to 1945......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_o ... even_Moons

:smiley_disco:
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Re: TCM Premieres....

Post by ziggy6708a »

early MON., 5-14


2:30
am (ET)

The Hit (1984)
1h 45m | Drama | TV-MA

Ten years after ratting on his old mobster friends in exchange for personal immunity, two hit men drive a hardened criminal to Paris for his execution.

Director
Stephen Frears
Cast
John Hurt, Terence Stamp, Laura del Sol and Tim Roth in his film debut. & Freddie Stuart, Ralph Brown, A J Clarke

"At review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film is certified "fresh" with an overall approval rating of 89% from 18 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10.[4] On Metacritic, The Hit has a rank of 75 out of a 100 based on nine critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hit_(1984_film)

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Re: TCM Premieres....

Post by ziggy6708a »

TUES., 5-16


8:00
pm (ET)

Spring and Port Wine (1970)
1h 41m | Adaptation

concerns the Crompton family, especially Rafe (Mason), the father, and his attempts to assert his authority in the household as his children grow up

Director
Peter Hammond
Cast
James Mason, Diana Coupland, Susan George. Arthur Lowe, Maria Mantella, Barry Mccormick

"....Bolton born playwright Bill Naughton (Alfie, The Family Way) delivers his own adaptation of his stageplay here and it rather shows; Spring and Port Wine is not the film to go to if you're after action and high drama. But, if like me you enjoy a slice of 60s kitchen sink, then there's much to enjoy here.
Mason heads up a great cast.......

see: https://letterboxd.com/film/spring-and-port-wine/

"...The Guardian called it "not really a very good film in spite of James Mason's unwavering presence" but "it's a perfectly watchable piece of North Country flannel."[9] Sight and Sound called it a "sentimental adaptation" where "the cast make what they can of a script whose sugary pathos belongs more to Victorian melodrama than to anything resembling modern times.".....

see : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_and_Port_Wine

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LostHorizons
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Re: TCM Premieres....

Post by LostHorizons »

ziggy6708a wrote: May 13th, 2023, 6:58 pm early MON., 5-14


2:30
am (ET)

The Hit (1984)
1h 45m | Drama | TV-MA

Ten years after ratting on his old mobster friends in exchange for personal immunity, two hit men drive a hardened criminal to Paris for his execution.

Director
Stephen Frears
Cast
John Hurt, Terence Stamp, Laura del Sol and Tim Roth in his film debut. & Freddie Stuart, Ralph Brown, A J Clarke

"At review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film is certified "fresh" with an overall approval rating of 89% from 18 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10.[4] On Metacritic, The Hit has a rank of 75 out of a 100 based on nine critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hit_(1984_film)

:smiley_chinrub:
This was a lot better than what I was expecting. I thought it would be a lame, cookie cutter mob movie but it is rather a movie contemplating and reflecting on the attitude people have towards death.
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Re: TCM Premieres....

Post by ziggy6708a »

SUN., 5-21

(times ET)

9:45
pm

A Chorus Line (1985)
1h 53m | Musical | TV-14
A Broadway show director puts his singers and dancers through a gruelling audition process...

Director
Richard Attenborough
Cast
Michael Douglas, Alyson Reed, Michael Blevins, Yamil Borges, Jan Gan Boyd, and Audrey Landers,

"When Richard Attenborough directed A Chorus Line (1985), starring Michael Douglas, he was taking on a legendary property. The story of dancers desperate to win spots in a chorus line began as a Broadway show that opened at the Shubert Theater on July 25, 1975. Directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett, the play featured music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban.
It was a smash hit with audiences and critics, earning twelve Tony Award nominations and nine wins. The play ran for 6,137 performances, making it the longest-running Broadway show until Cats. It also won the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. ....

Vincent Canby wrote in The New York Times that it was "a fizzless adaptation by Richard Attenborough that misses the whole point of the Broadway show -- i.e. the dancing and the dancers. Instead, the dancers become a limp Greek chorus for the dead love affair between a choreographer, Zach (a pre-Gordon Gekko Michael Douglas) and his old flame, Cassie (Alyson Reed) the star dancer."
Roger Ebert, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times disagreed. He understood that Attenborough's film "may not please purists who want a film record of what they saw on stage, but this is one of the most intelligent and compelling movie musicals in a long time - and the most grown up, since it isn't limited, as so many contemporary musicals are, to the celebration of the survival qualities of geriatric actresses." .......

see: https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/70884/a ... Id=1135254
:smiley_huh:

==================================================


2:00 TCM Imports....
am

The Color of Pomegranates (1969)
1h 19m | Biography

film is a poetic treatment of the life of 18th-century Armenian poet and troubadour Sayat-Nova.

Director
Sergei Paradjanov
Cast
Sofiko Chiaureli, Sergei Paradjanov, Melkon Alekyan , Suren Shakhbaz...

".....is a biography of the Armenian ashug Sayat-Nova (King of Song) that attempts to reveal the poet's life visually and poetically rather than literally. The film is presented with little dialogue using active tableaux which depict the poet's life in chapters: Childhood, Youth, Prince's Court (where he falls in love with a tsarina), The Monastery, The Dream, Old Age, The Angel of Death and Death.[6] There are sounds and music and occasional singing but dialogue is rare.[8] Each chapter is indicated by a title card and framed through both Sergei Parajanov's imagination and Sayat Nova's poems.
Actress Sofiko Chiaureli notably plays six roles in the film, both male and female....
It has appeared in many polls as one of the greatest films ever made[4][5] and was hailed as revolutionary by Mikhail Vartanov. The film is now regarded as a landmark in film history.....

French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard said, “In the temple of cinema there are images, light and reality. Sergei Paradjanov was the master of that temple…”

Film critic Gilbert Adair argued that "although in both style and content it gives us the impression, somehow, of predating the invention of the cinema, no historian of the medium who ignores The Color of Pomegranates can ever be taken seriously."[6]
The work ranked 84th in the 2012 Sight & Sound critics' poll of the world's greatest films[24] and appeared in another list of the greatest films by Time Out........

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Color_of_Pomegranates

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CinemaInternational
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Re: TCM Premieres....

Post by CinemaInternational »

I actually liked the movie of A Chorus Line (even though its very mid 80s looking), but those who saw it on stage really disliked the movie. Its one of those judge for yourself films.
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Re: TCM Premieres....

Post by ziggy6708a »

SAT.,6-3

(times ET)

8:00
pm

The Black Shield of Falworth (1954)
1h 39m | Adventure

Peasant Myles Falworth (Curtis) is trained for knighthood and is groomed by various nobles to defeat the evil Earl of Alban who's plotting to usurp King Henry IV's throne.

.....disappointed that the immortal, much derided line supposedly uttered by Curtis in this film, “Yonda lies da castle of my fodda”, is never actually spoken, resulting in yet another Hollywood legend ;)

Director
Rudolph Mate

Cast
Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, David Farrar

".....may not be an amazing or great film and there may be better adventure/swashbuckler films out there. It is however so much fun and it is very hard to be too hard on such a good-natured film that knows what it wants to be, who its target audience is and doesn't try to be any more than necessary. It is not a film to be taken seriously, this was something learnt from watching other early films of Curtis, and 'The Black Shield of Falworth' does very well in that respect without treating the audience/viewer like idiots or getting too silly.

Sure 'The Black Shield of Falworth' is predictable in how it's structured, what happens and the outcomes. Sure people looking for authenticity will be disappointed, with many anachronisms to be found. Sure it can get a little too campy. .."

See: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046789/re ... _=tt_ov_rt


10:00
pm

The Great Impostor (1960)
1h 52m | Adaptation

Based on the true story of a man ( Ferdinand Waldo Demara) who had a penchant for taking on false identies.

Director
Robert Mulligan
Cast
Tony Curtis, Edmond O'brien, Arthur O'connell

".... New York Times said: "...the film is not a harebrained exaggeration of the facts. But the story, enhanced by the serio-comic talents of Tony Curtis in the title role, add up to an odd-ball, but engaging, movie. ...Variety, it's been pointed out, is the spice of life, and Demara's life, as presented here, appears to be spicy beyond compare, but the record backs our adventurer fully. ...Suffice it to say that Mr. Curtis, running this gamut of adventures, seriously as well as with a wink, contributes the necessary light touch that makes palatable this derring-do based on factual data..."

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Impostor

( pretty sure I've seen this before, but maybe NOT on TCM)
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Re: TCM Premieres....

Post by dianedebuda »

I remember seeing The Great Imposter years ago as being a fun movie rather than the intense atmosphere of Catch Me If You Can, each based on a real, cameleon-type person. Have really been wanting to see this again.
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Re: TCM Premieres....

Post by ziggy6708a »

WED., 6-7

times ET


8:00
pm

Film: The Living Record of Our Memory (2021)

Archivists, curators, technicians, and filmmakers from around the world explain what film preservation is and why it is needed.
Director
Inés Toharia

Cast
Ann Adachi-Tasch, Laure Adler, Benjamin Chowkwan A...

see: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/27/movi ... eview.html

10:15
pm

The Invention of Cinema: The First Colors of .. (2022)

"...As with most innovations such as sound, special effects, and CGI, the film that popularized color is not the first color movie. It is always tricky to pinpoint the exact moment a technological advancement is born, and sometimes it is also as tricky to identify one sole creator. Which motion picture truly is the "first movie in color" can depend on the classification criteria. When talking about feature-length, narrative-driven movies like The Wizard of Oz, there's one film that stands out as the first color movie in film history. By many measures The Wizard Of Oz was an innovator, but there are a few color movies that came before.....

see: https://screenrant.com/first-color-movi ... wizard-oz/


11:30
pm

The Invention of Cinema: Cinema Finds its Voice (2022)
TV-PG
Cinema Finds Its Voice tells story of how sound was ultimately paired with images in early...

Director
Serge Bromberg, Eric Lange

"This hour-long documentary is part of series called The Invention Of Cinema, directed by Eric Lange and produced by Serge Bromberg. This entry covers the prehistory of talkies, focusing on the various competing processes for recording and, even more importantly, playing back synchronized sound along with films. Although silent film buffs, including myself, consider cinema an inherently visual medium, the key figures in the development of film always wanted to marry it to sound.
This docu considers three approaches: (1) finding ways to allow live performers (musicians, narrators, etc.) to sync what they were doing in the theater with what was playing on the screen; (2) recording sound onto discs and syncing them up with the appropriate film reels; and (3) recording sound directly onto film itself.....

see: https://letterboxd.com/film/cinema-finds-its-voice/

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Re: TCM Premieres....

Post by ziggy6708a »

WED., 6-14

times ET

1:00
pm

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (1979)
1h 44m | Comedy

A basketball team is in the bottom heading down until the team's 12-year old water boy decides that their help must come from the heavens. (astrology)
Director
Gilbert Moses
Cast
Jonathan Winters, Julius Carry Iii, Jerry Chambers
"...The film has attracted a cult following, most notably for its disco-inspired setting and soundtrack, as well as the appearances of many NBA stars (including lead actor Julius Erving) and early roles for Debbie Allen, Stockard Channing and Harry Shearer. The film also contains a cameo by longtime Pittsburgh mayor Richard Caliguiri. ...

see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fish_ ... Pittsburgh


1:00
am

A Fuller Life (2013)
1h 20m | Biography
Calling on a wide range of her father's collaborators and fellow travelers, from James Fra...
Director
Samantha Fuller
Cast
James Franco, Jennifer Beals, Joe Dante

"Friends and admirers of iconoclastic film director Sam Fuller read from his memoirs in this unconventional documentary directed by Fuller’s only child, Samantha....

"........A bunch of celebrities take turns reading from the autobiography of two-fisted newspaperman-turned-soldier-turned-director Samuel Fuller. Director Samantha Fuller (his daughter) sets his words against images from his films, making clear that one's art is the sum of one's experiences. Has any filmmaker had a more amazing life than Sam Fuller? As the great man said, "Film is like a battleground. There's love, hate, action, violence, death... in one word: emotion," and the reason this quote works is because he actually spent time on actual battlegrounds.

Great fun to hear William Friedkin, Bill Duke, and Mark Hamill (almost going Full Joker) reading Fuller's prose,....

https://letterboxd.com/film/a-fuller-life/

:smiley_huh:
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Re: TCM Premieres....

Post by ziggy6708a »

sorry for late post......but if it's 'On Demand' , I would recommend it....

Mon., 6-19


10:15
pm (ET)

Alma's Rainbow (1994)
1h 25m |

The ordered life of a sexually-repressed black woman devoted to being the "good mother" is threatened by her teenage daughter's sexual awakening and the arrival of her freespirited sister.
Director
Ayoka Chenzira
Cast
Kim Weston-moran, Victoria Platt, Mizan Nunes

"The success of the early films by Spike Lee or John Singleton should have opened the doors for more black filmmakers to get the ability to present their work to wider audiences. Unfortunately, for the most part, Spike and Singleton became wunderkind brands whose new films were events while other directors of color had their films largely relegated to the indie market. Even though independent cinema was thriving in the 90's, plenty of great films fell through the cracks. Case in point, I had somehow never even heard of ALMA'S RAINBOW ...

There's some powerful imagery in this film, particularly the black & white scenes of Rainbow's infancy which predate her memory and thus give her mother's work less value in her eyes. The film is full of color and music that should have made it stand out at the time of its release. I was lucky enough to catch it on TCM last night but it seems to occasionally bounce around on streaming channels and even recently got a blu-ray release from Kino Lorber. It would be great if Chenzira's career could get something of a jolt and even opportunities to make another feature, but that's not how the world of film tends to work these days. She's a true independent spirit so maybe she should do all she can to go independent."

See: https://letterboxd.com/film/almas-rainbow/

:smiley_clap:
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Re: TCM Premieres....

Post by ziggy6708a »

Wed., 6-21


8:00
pm (ET)

Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004)
2h 2m | Documentary

A look at Jerry Harvey and his creation, the Z Channel, the first pay cable network. The Z Channel launched in 1974 as California's first pay-TV service, showing two movies a week, and quickly became required viewing for Hollywood's elite and cinephiles alike.

Director
Xan Cassavetes
Cast
Jacqueline Bisset, Jim Jarmusch, Quentin Tarantino

"....directed by Xan Cassavetes, daughter of Hollywood director and actor John Cassavetes. It was screened out of competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.[1][2]

The documentary is about Z Channel, which was one of the first pay cable TV stations in the United States. Z Channel became famous for showing an eclectic variety of films, including foreign language, silent, documentary, director's cut, forgotten, overlooked, under-appreciated, erotic as well as mainstream films, without commercials and uncut and letterboxed when possible.[3][4]

The film also tells the story of Z Channel's programming director Jerry Harvey who was a true film lover, programming genius, and a man almost single-handedly responsible for getting many great films shown to the public. It gives insights into Harvey's constant battle with personal demons which resulted in him ending his own life and the life of his wife in a murder-suicide.[5][6]

Throughout the film a variety of footage featuring some of the films shown on the Z Channel is used. This serves to underline the diversity offered on the channel in particular its attempts to expose its American viewers to undubbed foreign language films. ...."

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_Channel ... _Obsession
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