Turner Classic Movies

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Matt · #776 Post by **Matt** » Sun Jul 16, 2023 11:50 am

It was actually one of the less stupid and brainless Ryan Murphy series and did a good job of humanizing both women. I suspect this Bette Davis hate page is just one more of those inexplicable low-effort Facebook memes. There’s a lot of idle hatred there that needs to be focused on something. Better Bette Davis than trans kids.

Matt · #777 Post by **Matt** » Sun Aug 27, 2023 5:04 pm

TCM is showing a Don Knotts double feature on Saturday, Sept. 2: The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (a timeless classic) and The Love God?, an underseen and underappreciated entry in his oeuvre where he plays an ornithologist who becomes an inadvertent and reluctant Hugh Hefner type when his birding magazine, Peacock, becomes a girlie magazine under new owner Edmond O’Brien.

If you have any interest at all in the Nervous Nellie comedy stylings of Knotts, I urge you to watch this. One of my favorite entries in his filmography and in the sex comedy genre.

Also some movie called City Girl by some guy named Murnau later that night. Honestly one of his best. Might be second only to The Last Laugh for me.

beamish14 · #778 Post by **beamish14** » Sun Aug 27, 2023 5:10 pm

Matt wrote: ↑
Sun Jul 16, 2023 11:50 am
It was actually one of the less stupid and brainless Ryan Murphy series and did a good job of humanizing both women. I suspect this Bette Davis hate page is just one more of those inexplicable low-effort Facebook memes. There’s a lot of idle hatred there that needs to be focused on something. Better Bette Davis than trans kids.

It gave the women some depth, but that miniseries did an appalling job of depicting Robert Aldrich. He wasn’t the milquetoast loser who constantly sucked up to Jack Warner; he wanted to BE a mogul, and he sort of succeeded

Fred Holywell · #779 Post by **Fred Holywell** » Fri Sep 01, 2023 1:26 pm

The Love God? and City Girl are just two of some interesting premieres this month.

The full list:

Sep 2 - The Love God? (1969)
Sep 3 - City Girl (1930)
Sep 3 - Baal (1970)
Sep 5 - North Dallas Forty (1979)
Sep 5 - Semi-Tough (1977)
Sep 9 - Back Street (1932)
Sep 12 - Daddy's Gone A-Hunting (1969)
Sep 13 - I Cover the Waterfront (1933)
Sep 16 - Cry-Baby (1990)
Sep 20 - The Damned (1969)
Sep 23 - The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981)
Sep 24 - Shozo, a Cat and Two Women (1956)
Sep 24 - Wild Geese (1953)

mizo · #780 Post by **mizo** » Sat Sep 02, 2023 12:32 am

The Love God? joins Man's Favorite Sport? in a rare and fascinating sub-subgenre: movies with titles that end in question marks but are not questions. These titles are always fun to say aloud, though one's head tends to involuntarily cant to one side.

Are there many others? The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? fits but, in its excessive emotion and verbosity, doesn't seem to capture the essence of this elite class of films.

diamonds · #781 Post by **diamonds** » Sat Sep 02, 2023 8:30 am

mizo wrote: ↑
Sat Sep 02, 2023 12:32 am
The Love God? joins Man's Favorite Sport? in a rare and fascinating sub-subgenre: movies with titles that end in question marks but are not questions. These titles are always fun to say aloud, though one's head tends to involuntarily cant to one side.

Are there many others? The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? fits but, in its excessive emotion and verbosity, doesn't seem to capture the essence of this elite class of films.

William A. Seiter's Nice Girl? (1941)!

pianocrash · #782 Post by **pianocrash** » Sat Sep 02, 2023 6:44 pm

diamonds wrote: ↑
Sat Sep 02, 2023 8:30 am

mizo wrote: ↑
Sat Sep 02, 2023 12:32 am
The Love God? joins Man's Favorite Sport? in a rare and fascinating sub-subgenre: movies with titles that end in question marks but are not questions. These titles are always fun to say aloud, though one's head tends to involuntarily cant to one side.

Are there many others? The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? fits but, in its excessive emotion and verbosity, doesn't seem to capture the essence of this elite class of films.
William A. Seiter's Nice Girl? (1941)!

The eternal Mad Monster Party? almost fits, but I'd prefer the dream mishmash of two lesser movies becoming one, as in Getting Even...With Dad?!.

Also, most of these non-questions are actually questions, anyway (see also: Getting Any?), as long as you throw it in the blender of period-centric pop culture flutings, pickin' up what's being thrown down, etc.

FrauBlucher · #783 Post by **FrauBlucher** » Sun Sep 17, 2023 12:34 pm

Old Acquaintance is currently on. I can't help but think that the behind-the-scenes back story would have made a much better film

ando · #784 Post by **ando** » Wed Sep 20, 2023 4:59 pm

FrauBlucher wrote: ↑
Sun Sep 17, 2023 12:34 pm
Old Acquaintance is currently on. I can't help but think that the behind-the-scenes back story would have made a much better film

Quite. Hopkins’ character has little to no development and Davis, despite displaying patience and compassion, doesn’t have much of an arc, either.

There’s a slew of Greta Garbo flicks streaming On Demand for a spell. Be nice if I liked her, but she leaves me cold and I generally find her unsympathetic most of the time. Never felt the allure that so many continue to feel though some of the lighting/camerawork in films which are considered “Garbo classics” is obviously top drawer.

Giving Camille a shot in a few minutes. It’s got a Lionel Barrymore cameo. He’s almost always a boon to the dreariest flicks.

ando · #785 Post by **ando** » Thu Sep 21, 2023 12:25 pm

Camille is fun if you're willing to buy Garbo as a 18th century courtesan, which given her celebrity/cult status in Hollywood at the time and, hence, her cinematic treatment, especially here, isn't difficult to do. In fact, it's wouldn't be a stretch to see Margueritte's (Garbo) response to the decadent world of aristocratic Paris reflecting her attitude toward Hollywood of that day; her world-weary but frivolous/mocking sense of play concealing a long-extinguished passion may have had a ring of truth in her own life. The supporting cast of character types work splendidly around her, including her leading man (5 years younger), Robert Taylor. The lightning and camerawork are hardly subtle; the sets, often flooded with lights, seem to capture every nuance of that milieu and, in doing so, often misses the interesting shadow aspects of the environment. The fact that the Paris of that day and in that world was series of stages within stages is rendered immediately but there are few elements to juxtapose the carnival save performances from the actors themselves, coming most importantly from Garbo. There are a couple of moments of silence from the movie icon, apart from the whimsy, that stay with you a while and that have undoubtedly kept the film among the highest ranked in her output.

Matt · #786 Post by **Matt** » Wed Sep 27, 2023 12:12 am

Cross-posted from the Joseph Losey thread: A hell of a Dirk Bogarde triple feature on TCM Wednesday, September 27 starting with Losey’s Accident (1967), followed by Jack Clayton’s Our Mother's House (also 1967), and Basil Dearden’s Victim (1961).

Walter Kurtz · #787 Post by **Walter Kurtz** » Wed Sep 27, 2023 1:24 am

ando wrote: ↑
Wed Sep 20, 2023 4:59 pm
Garbo... Never felt the allure...

That's because Sound Garbo is a shell of the Silent Garbo. Sound GG is Not. Even. Close.

ando · #788 Post by **ando** » Thu Sep 28, 2023 12:16 pm

Walter Kurtz wrote: ↑
Wed Sep 27, 2023 1:24 am

ando wrote: ↑
Wed Sep 20, 2023 4:59 pm
Garbo... Never felt the allure...
That's because Sound Garbo is a shell of the Silent Garbo. Sound GG is Not. Even. Close.

Could be. Had fun watching (and listening) to her in Camille so I will backtrack a bit. I can at least appreciate the reverence now.

hearthesilence · #789 Post by **hearthesilence** » Thu Sep 28, 2023 3:58 pm

When I first saw stills of Garbo, I definitely got the allure - there's an amazing silhouette that's been used for a book cover that particularly struck me. When I finally watched her films, it was the sound ones, and the deep voice kind of threw me - she just sounded tough, which isn't bad at all, but not what I imagined. Anyway, Jimmy Stewart has a great story where he knocked over Garbo when he was both a fan and an unknown actor running over to her set in hopes of catching a glimpse - when he met her again years later, after becoming a household name himself, her immediate response was "you're the asshole who knocked me over!" It was easy to hear that now-familiar voice spewing those words at Stewart.

Walter Kurtz · #790 Post by **Walter Kurtz** » Thu Sep 28, 2023 7:09 pm

Check out Torrent or The Temptress (both 1926). And of course Flesh and the Devil (same year) with her paramour Brad Pitt I mean John Gilbert. Her looks starting fading thereafter. By sound it was time to move on. Dietrich thereafter owned her.

ando · #791 Post by **ando** » Mon Oct 02, 2023 9:58 am

hearthesilence wrote: ↑
Thu Sep 28, 2023 3:58 pm
When I first saw stills of Garbo, I definitely got the allure - there's an amazing silhouette that's been used for a book cover that particularly struck me. When I finally watched her films, it was the sound ones, and the deep voice kind of threw me - she just sounded tough, which isn't bad at all, but not what I imagined. Anyway, Jimmy Stewart has a great story where he knocked over Garbo when he was both a fan and an unknown actor running over to her set in hopes of catching a glimpse - when he met her again years later, after becoming a household name himself, her immediate response was "you're the asshole who knocked me over!" It was easy to hear that now-familiar voice spewing those words at Stewart.

nice. thanks.

Randall Maysin Again · #792 Post by **Randall Maysin Again** » Fri Dec 01, 2023 6:16 pm

I have what may be a big favor and big ask for the forum, at least if TCM has not yet fallen apart as of this post: what is the cheapest/best way to get Turner Classic Movies? I'd really appreciate whatever sort of brief rundown/info any of you might have. PS I'm Canadian. Thanks very much in advance for your responses!

Matt · #793 Post by **Matt** » Sat Dec 02, 2023 12:00 am

Some info (from a recent “canadacordcutters” Reddit thread):

TCM was my reason for not cutting the cord for a long time. But I found a way to get TCM for $5 a month.

If Bell is your internet provider, look into the Fibe TV app. The standard package costs $14.95 per month but since they are my internet provider I get a bundle discount of $4.95 off the app per month and $10 off my internet per month (no expiry date). So the standard package is free. It comes with channels like CTV, NBC, ABC, Fox and about 30 others. The standard package does not come with TCM but you can add extra channels à la carte, including TCM. You can pick TCM from a long list of à la carte channels. Pick 5 channels for a total of only $5 per month. Now I can enjoy TCM for only $5 a month.

However, since this is just the Fibe TV app, you won’t have a PVR and therefore you can’t record shows or movies. This wasn’t an issue for me since I watch TCM movies when they air. Some of their movies are available on demand in the app but not many. This may be a deal breaker for some.

Otherwise, I think you need a cable or satellite TV subscription.

——————

For U.S. viewers (or others interested), I have researched this extensively for the U.S. because I am always looking for the best, cheapest option. Apart from sporting events on ESPN, TCM is the only cable channel I watch.

If you only want the live feed, a service like YouTube TV or Hulu +Live might be cheaper than a basic cable subscription, but perhaps only by a few dollars these days. You can generally get some on-demand TCM films with these services as well, but not everything.

If you want all of the Watch TCM on-demand films, you will need a cable or satellite subscription. In my current situation, I’m paying $68 a month (including a “broadcast surcharge” for local channels), grandfathered in to an otherwise extinct plan with 15 channels of my choice plus locals.

Subscribing to Sling TV, the cheapest “cord-cutting” option, would cost me $40/mo. for the base package (which includes ESPN), an additional $6 for the “Hollywood Extra” add-on that includes TCM, BUT: No local channels, and no on-demand TCM content at all. You would need to add a VPN service to use Sling TV (or YouTube TV or Hulu +Live) in Canada.

So currently it is “worth it” to me to continue the cable subscription to get the on-demand content (which I use regularly), but I constantly question that “worth it” part. My ultimate wish is for TCM to be available as part of or as an add-on to Max. Both the east and west coast feeds and all the on-demand content. Doesn’t seem likely though.

Randall Maysin Again · #794 Post by **Randall Maysin Again** » Sat Dec 02, 2023 12:06 am

That's a great tip, much appreciated!! I was expecting to pay at least $30-40 / month or more. Does the Reddit thing work in Canada, do you know?

Matt · #795 Post by **Matt** » Sat Dec 02, 2023 12:18 am

That was on the canadacordcutters subreddit, so it’s specifically for Canada. (I edited the post above to specify that.)

Randall Maysin Again · #796 Post by **Randall Maysin Again** » Sat Dec 02, 2023 12:49 am

What is this Watch TCM on demand films thingummy? I suspect I'd be happy just with their "basic", or whatever, slate, at least if their library is as good as it was 12 or so years ago when I last tuned in, and I remember thinking TCM's programming was also very artful. Have these things changed much?

Matt · #797 Post by **Matt** » Sat Dec 02, 2023 1:15 am

Watch TCM like a streaming service app but only for movies they’ve shown within the past 30 days or so. So there’s no “library” to speak of, but I use it to catch up on things that got played in the middle of the night or that I otherwise missed live.

Though they are now sometimes forced to do cross-promotion with Discovery programming like Shark Week or home renovation shows, I think their programming is currently as good as it’s ever been. There are always interesting things showing that I’ve never seen before.

dwk · #798 Post by **dwk** » Sat Dec 02, 2023 1:56 am

Matt wrote: ↑
Sat Dec 02, 2023 12:00 am
If you only want the live feed, a service like YouTube TV or Hulu +Live might be cheaper than a basic cable subscription, but perhaps only by a few dollars these days. You can generally get some on-demand TCM films with these services as well, but not everything.

YouTube TV does have an unlimited DVR, but the stuff you DVR is only saved for 9 months. The other issue is since it is streaming not cable, occasionally there are some movies that are blacked out.