Turner Classic Movies

[Matt]

So now Warner Bros. Discovery has decided to keep TCM with the "Studios and Streaming" half of the split-up company instead of the debt-laden "Global Networks" cable channel half. Warner Bros. Pictures leads Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy will continue to oversee the channel. This is encouraging news for the (short-term) future of the channel. I suppose Spielberg, Scorsese, and PT Anderson made their annual "save TCM" calls to Zaslav again.

[FrauBlucher]

Not sure where to put this question...

Currently on TCM's Noir Alley is The Gangster from 1947. It's a poverty row film. The studio is Allied Artists. It got me thinking, are poverty row films owned by various studios today, or is it just very random ownership and just a mish mash? Are any of these films included in Noir boxsets released by the majors even if via KLSC or other boutiques?

[domino harvey]

In this example it’s with WB, which has a couple smaller poverty row labels in its holdings. They released it via the Archives on DVD-R

[FlickeringWindow]

Not sure where to put this question...

Currently on TCM's Noir Alley is The Gangster from 1947. It's a poverty row film. The studio is Allied Artists. It got me thinking, are poverty row films owned by various studios today, or is it just very random ownership and just a mish mash? Are any of these films included in Noir boxsets released by the majors even if via KLSC or other boutiques?

From Wikipedia:

"The post-August 1946 Monogram/Allied Artists library was bought by television production company Lorimar in 1980 for $4.75 million;[20] today a majority of this library belongs to Warner Bros. Pictures (via their acquisition of Lorimar in 1989). The pre-August 1946 Monogram library was sold in 1954 to Associated Artists Productions, which itself was sold to United Artists in 1958 (it merged with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1981). The pre-1946 Monogram library was not part of the deal with Ted Turner. (The rights to many of the later films are now owned by MGM via United Artists; others, such as The Big Combo, lapsed into the public domain.) A selection of post-1938 Monogram films acquired by M&A Alexander Productions and Astor Pictures were later incorporated into Melange Pictures' library, today a part of Paramount Global-owned Paramount Pictures. Most Monogram Pictures films released before 1942 are in the public domain."

[domino harvey]

The face of the channel really leaning into the “Turner” part of TCM



(If you haven’t had the misfortune already, it’s in regards to the blowback from this monstrosity)

[Big Ben]

I'm sorry but what in the dystopian hell is this?

[swo17]

If only the technology had existed back then to back the camera up 20 feet

[FrauBlucher]

What's old becomes new and shitty

[Matt]

What's old becomes new and shitty

Now get a load of the separate company names Warner Bros. Discovery is breaking into:

Warner Bros. and Discovery

Probably paid McKinsey $45 million to come up with that one.

[CSM126]

I’m looking forward to Citizen Kane: The Sphere Experience with little AI Charles riding Rosebud all around the interior of the sphere. It’ll be a real pip.

[beamish14]

I’m looking forward to Citizen Kane: The Sphere Experience with little AI Charles riding Rosebud all around the interior of the sphere. It’ll be a real pip.

Well, according to Mr. Mankiewicz, his grandfather and ONLY his grandfather authored said film. He’s very obnoxious when it comes to rehashing that lie ad nauseum

[ryannichols7]

the worst part is how Ben refuses to let up on his AI peddling, he's literally responding to just about every tweet and defending it. not promising for more to come from TCM...

[Brian C]

Of course, even if Fleming and LeRoy were still around to do this, the concerns would still be the exact same. No one is objecting to this on the grounds that Fleming and LeRoy aren't here to oversee it! When Lucas decides he wants to release Star Wars: The AI Edition, no one's going to let him off the hook because he's doing it to his own film.

What a weirdly stupid defense of this.

[domino harvey]

Beyond all of the technological tomfoolery, apparently the film has been shortened by almost half an hour as well. Can’t wait to read Mankiewicz’s defense that actually you don’t need that third of the movie

[pistolwink]

I wouldn't be surprised to read he has investments in an AI company and/or some unacknowledged sponsorship deal with same. or maybe he's just an ass.

[CSM126]

Beyond all of the technological tomfoolery, apparently the film has been shortened by almost half an hour as well. Can’t wait to read Mankiewicz’s defense that actually you don’t need that third of the movie

Well at least it’s not the twenty minute version (with 4D effects!) they used to show at Madame Tussaud’s in Manhattan. But still pretty bad, I’m sure.

[moviefan8]

I don't understand the split and it doesn't make sense. Distribution is handled by Discovery, but the programing belongs to Warner Bros. Why not keep it whole on the Warner Bros. side like HBO.

[Matt]

I don't understand the split and it doesn't make sense. Distribution is handled by Discovery, but the programing belongs to Warner Bros. Why not keep it whole on the Warner Bros. side like HBO.

I'm not sure I understand what you don't understand. Discovery is basically going back to what it used to be, a collection of cable TV channels. There will just be more of them now—TBS, TNT, etc. Warner Bros. is also basically going back to what it used to be, a film and TV production and distribution company with a streaming service (HBO Max).

There was never really much of a union between Warner Bros. and Discovery to begin with. Discovery maintained its own TV production, cable channels, and streaming service (Discovery+) the whole time, and Warner Bros. did not really produce content for Discovery's cable channels. The whole WBD thing has basically been a way to shuffle executives around, cut a lot of jobs, and shift debt.

[FrauBlucher]

The oddest thing happened this evening. Tonight was Shirley MacLain night with her films intro'd by Mario Cantone. The first film that he and BenM led into was Terms of Endearment. As soon as it started there was an awful buzz. I thought it's not part of the film. Must be my TV or cable. So, I switched channels, it wasn't. When I went back to it a few minutes later Fort Apache was on. Ha.Talk about a screeching car into a u-turn

[Matt]

This is better than the time they were supposed to show 40 Guns and played Jewel Robbery instead. I'd much rather watch Shirley Temple and Jack Pennick than Shirley MacLaine and Jack Nicholson.

[hanshotfirst1138]

This is the one thing I brutally miss about cable.

[FrauBlucher]

Noir Alley for the rest of the year....

9/6 - He Ran All the Way (1951)
9/13 - Sudden Fear (1952)
9/20 - The Murderers are Among Us (1946)
9/27 - Berlin Express (1948)
10/4 - The Big Street (1942)
10/11 - New York Confidential (1955)
10/18 - Black Tuesday (1954)
10/25 - Southside 1-1000 (1950)
11/1 - The Great Jewel Robbery (1950)
11/8 - Blind Spot (1947)
11/15 - High and Low (1963)
11/22 - The Strip (1951)
11/29 - Postmark for Danger (1955)
12/6 - Cry of the City (1948)
12/13 - TBA
12/27 - Odd Man Out (1947)

[FrauBlucher]

TCM already announced some films for their 2026 film festival.
75th anniversaries for Alice in Wonderland, The Day the Earth Stood Still, A Place in the Sun
90th anniversary for Modern Times
and Gaslight, The Magnificent Seven and Out of the Past
No details yet if any of them are new restorations

[Lowry_Sam]

TCM already announced some films for their 2026 film festival.

75th anniversaries are fine, but 90th anniversaries should take 2nd fiddle to 100th anniversaries, which will be the case for Flesh And The Devil next year (and Metropolis in '27, hopefully that one won't be also ignored).

[FrauBlucher]

Today in honor of the Dick Van Dyke's 100th birthday, they are showing his films. Right now, Mary Poppins which is unbelievably the first time it has aired on TCM. If that is not telling how difficult Disney is for anyone to deal with I don't know what is