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Now I'm extra mad they fired Millie De Chirico before Christmas. They couldn't keep her on for another two months?

dwk wrote: Thu Feb 23, 2023 2:21 am TCM is ending TCM Underground. The last TCM Underground is on February 24th.

I find it to be an odd move

FrauBlucher wrote: Thu Feb 23, 2023 10:21 pm

dwk wrote: Thu Feb 23, 2023 2:21 am TCM is ending TCM Underground. The last TCM Underground is on February 24th.

I find it to be an odd move

It looks like Plan 9 From Outer Space will be the final TCM Underground feature - appropriate, I guess.

But for a channel that tends to replay an awful lot of content, why reduce that catalog further by removing a recognizable showcase?

So they're axing it right in the middle of Drafthouse's "TCM Underground Presents" series. Brilliant.

Noir Alley will be taking a 2 month hiatus for alternative programming. March will be 31 days of Oscars and April will be dedicated to Warner Bros 100 year anniversary.

Is anyone currently watchingThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valance? It looks like the new restoration but it's a waxy mess

So is the UHD?

At the TCM Film Festival, Steven Spielberg and Paul Thomas Anderson will be announcing a ten-year partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery and the Film Foundation for film restorations. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the resulting restorations to be released by Criterion.

That’s interesting. Warner has been very aggressive in restoring their catalogues. What exactly would this partnership be targeting

Just speculating but it could be cost-cutting? Warner Brothers has a top notch in house restoration team, but now a nonprofit would be conducting the work? Given how aggressive Discovery has been on cost-cutting elsewhere in the company.

Looking for input. I was interested in creating a thread for The Golden Age of Hollywood (30s, 40s and 50s). There really isn't any thread specific to that here. So, I reached out to swo about doing that and we both agreed that there has to be a reason. My thoughts are that it should be geared not just the movies that came out of that era, but the studios themselves, the people that ran the studios and the people that worked behind the scenes.

For me it's a fascinating period in the film industry, often getting overlooked, unless you're a student of film history. If anyone has ideas on how to help get this started feel free.

I have some suggestions... Sausage type of essays after a vote. Not just of films but on lesser known filmmakers of that era, or lesser know films and stars. Example... Paul Muni (not that he was lesser known but he is less discussed) was a huge star in the 30s.

Or discussions on which was our favorite studio.

I believe this thread could lead to greater film discoveries for members. Which really is the end game.

I'd assume the primary reason there hasn't been one is it's such a broad subjec, but I'd love a master thread if for nothing else than a place to build a canon of the best books on it, whether they focus on the industry, house styles, specific studios, films or directors, etc.

I’d be happy to contribute, it’s certainly the subject I am most interested in. I’ve actually been thinking about building a list of best books on individual directors, actors, and genres, so that would fit right in too.

This sounds like a great idea.

The conversation between Domino, Ianthemovie and Fred Holywell on the Warner Archive thread about the film Storm Warning and how the Clan was depicted through that film and a couple of others films would be an excellent place for a category I proposed up thread a few posts back for a The Golden Age of Hollywood (30s, 40s and 50s) thread

senseabove, excellent idea. Building a canon of best books about that era, including the any research discovered from the critics of that time like Bosley Crowther

This is going to be a fun month on TCM. They are celebrating 100 years of Warner Bros. Here is the schedule. I like the way they categorize the days. For instance, April 20th in the evening they call it 'Great Directors at Warners' that go from Scorsese to Kubrick to Coppola

This schedule is a little difficult to navigate, but useful: Here Are All the ‘Looney Tunes’ & ‘Merrie Melodies’ Cartoons Airing During TCM’s Warner Bros. Centennial Celebration. Not all of these are listed on TCM’s own schedule.

Matt wrote: Mon Apr 03, 2023 9:32 pm This schedule is a little difficult to navigate, but useful: Here Are All the ‘Looney Tunes’ & ‘Merrie Melodies’ Cartoons Airing During TCM’s Warner Bros. Centennial Celebration. Not all of these are listed on TCM’s own schedule.

Matt, thanks for this. Awesome. I watched The Scarlet Pumpernickel last night before I went to bed. Haha.

I wonder how many of these will be on the WAC bluray coming out.

I’m pretty much parked in front of the TV for the rest of the month, so I might as well jot down some comments now and then.

Many of these Warner movies I’ve seen before, but new to me (and, as far as I can tell, never officially released on home video) was Little Big Shot, a ‘30s comedy about two small-time chiselers (Robert Armstrong and Edward Everett Horton, plus Glenda Farrell) taking care of a gangster’s orphaned child. I’m normally allergic to precocious child performers, but Sybil Jason, Warner Bros. answer to Shirley Temple, is very charming. She sings, she dances, she cries on cue, she does hilarious impressions of Greta Garbo and Mae West! The film’s a zippy 78 minutes, professionally delivered by Michael Curtiz, corny as hell, but actually very sweet.

Flirtation Walk has got to be one of the worst of Warners’ mid-30s run of musicals. Exhausted Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler chewing through pages of dialogue and singing without the benefit of snappy Dubin-Warren songs and Busby Berkeley choreography. Frank Borzage at a low point in his career working as a journeyman director, Delmer Daves grinding out studio scripts just before his big breakout with Love Affair, endless scenes of military cadets marching around—it’s just weak in every respect and feels three hours long.

The only respite is what’s maybe the first film appearance of "Aloha 'Oe" in a comparatively lavish and respectful Hawai’ian production number.

I’ve noticed that TCM, despite their parent company apparently owning all of the Warner Bros. movies they’re showing this month, is not making them all available on their Watch TCM app. For example, neither I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang nor The Life of Louis Pasteur, two Paul Muni films I was hoping to rewatch, are available. Disappointing, because many of the films I’ve wanted see have been showing very late at night or early in the morning, and I can’t possibly watch everything live.

For those that can’t get TCM, HBO Max is showing quite a number of their recent restorations of the Warner Bros. films, with the TCM restoration intros. I’m watching A Lion Is In The Streets now.

Yes, along with The Strawberry Blonde (great); Rachel, Rachel (very good); Land of the Pharaohs (big sets, but boring) and Storm Warning (haven’t seen it yet). I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is also on HBO Max and is flat-out wonderful. It’s amazing how much it packs into a 90-minute runtime and still pack a hefty punch more than 90 years(!) later. It would likely be 2 1/2 hours long if made today, and all the worse for it. Its technique is also astounding for 1932. It rivals (and could possibly beat) anything made today. I hope WAC or Criterion release it soon.

Does I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang look like it's from a recent restoration or is it using a older looking master?

It looks good, but not as great as the films in the WB 100-years remastered collection, so I’d guess it’s the older master. Likely the one used for the dvd.

I forgot to mention that Safe in Hell is in the remastered collection too. What a sordid treat that one is. Pretty sure ‘30s Wellman is my favorite Wellman.