The VCR / DVR / Streaming Alert Thread

1895-1999
Mister Tee
Tenured Laureate
Posts: 8636
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 2:57 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

Post by Mister Tee »

I was quite surprised when I saw this just how well it worked even while completely eliding the lesbian aspect. In a certain way, it makes it seem that lesbianism is just a MacGuffin in the play; the stucture could work as well with any scandalous secret.
flipp525
Laureate
Posts: 6163
Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2003 7:44 am

Post by flipp525 »

dws1982 wrote:Overnight tonight (at 2:45 AM tomorrow morning), TCM shows These Three. This got a nomination for Bonita Granville in the very first Supporting Actress lineup. It's not on DVD, and I haven't seen it show up very often on TCM.

What a fantastic movie -- and Bonita Granville is superb in it. Marcia Mae Jones also turns in an excellent "juvenile" performance as the absolutely terrified Rosealie. I managed to track this film down in a Japanese video store for my first viewing in 2002 and it has since ended up on TCM every once in a blue moon. Fun fact: Margaret Hamilton (The Wicked Witch of the West, The Wizard of Oz) plays Agatha, the maid, and gets to deliver a whollop of a face slap at one point.

What's so great about this version is that while the slanderous lie at the heart of the story has been changed to a heterosexual one, none of the power of Hellman's play is lost in the telling; a manipulative young girl's lie still manages to destroy the lives of three innocent people.

This film was, of course, eventually re-made in 1961 with its original title and lesbian storyline intact as The Children's Hour.




Edited By flipp525 on 1250793041
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."

-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
dws1982
Emeritus
Posts: 3789
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 9:28 pm
Location: AL
Contact:

Post by dws1982 »

Overnight tonight (at 2:45 AM tomorrow morning), TCM shows These Three. This got a nomination for Bonita Granville in the very first Supporting Actress lineup. It's not on DVD, and I haven't seen it show up very often on TCM.
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19312
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Post by Big Magilla »

The Barretts of Wimpole Street, which is among the Jennfier Jones features being shown, is also missing on commercial DVD.

Though the Jones-Bill Travers-John Gielgud-Virginia McKenna version is inferior to the Norma Shearer- Fredric March-Charles "they can't censor the gleam in my eye" Laughton-Maureen O'Sullivan version, it makes for an interesting companion piece. Perhaps the Warner Archive will release them both at some point.
Damien
Laureate
Posts: 6331
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 8:43 pm
Location: New York, New York
Contact:

Post by Damien »

flipp525 wrote:
dws1982 wrote:Tomorrow on TCM at 6:00 PM, Love Letters shows. This isn't on DVD, and hasn't aired in a couple of years. Damien is a big fan. This has value for Oscar-completists, as well: Nominated for Actress (Jennifer Jones), Black and White Art Direction, Song, and Score.

I am a huge fan of this film as well. I think Jones' performance as "Singleton" might actually be my favorite of hers (although love her in The Towering Inferno!).

To appreciate Love Letters, you have to be able to respond to floridly romantic melodrama possessing an operatic display of feelings. For me, when it's done well, there are few things in cinema as emotionally satisfying.




Edited By Damien on 1250498274
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
flipp525
Laureate
Posts: 6163
Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2003 7:44 am

Post by flipp525 »

dws1982 wrote:Tomorrow on TCM at 6:00 PM, Love Letters shows. This isn't on DVD, and hasn't aired in a couple of years. Damien is a big fan. This has value for Oscar-completists, as well: Nominated for Actress (Jennifer Jones), Black and White Art Direction, Song, and Score.

I am a huge fan of this film as well. I think Jones' performance as "Singleton" might actually be my favorite of hers (although love her in The Towering Inferno!).




Edited By flipp525 on 1250460152
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."

-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
dws1982
Emeritus
Posts: 3789
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 9:28 pm
Location: AL
Contact:

Post by dws1982 »

Tomorrow on TCM at 6:00 PM, Love Letters shows. This isn't on DVD, and hasn't aired in a couple of years. Damien is a big fan. This has value for Oscar-completists, as well: Nominated for Actress (Jennifer Jones), Black and White Art Direction, Song, and Score.

I believe everything else they show (it's Jennifer Jones day), is available on DVD, although I only glanced over the list, and may have missed something.
dws1982
Emeritus
Posts: 3789
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 9:28 pm
Location: AL
Contact:

Post by dws1982 »

Nora Prentiss shows on TCM overnight at 4 AM. I know Damien is a fan, and other than the Warners Archive, this isn't available on DVD.
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19312
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Post by Big Magilla »

Reza wrote:
Have you ordered from this site? And what is the quality like?
Depends on the film. They do tell you if a film is in bad quality.

I haven't ordered a lot from them, but I did get an excellent copy of Siodmak's The Suspect from them replacing a horrid copy I got from somewhere else. They do carry a few titles you can't find anywhere else.
Mister Tee
Tenured Laureate
Posts: 8636
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 2:57 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

Post by Mister Tee »

The Original BJ wrote:
Tee, I think you mean The Patriot, the fifth Best Picture nominee that year.
Yep -- realized it overnight, and came on just now to correct myself. Should have known someone would realize it ahead of me. I remember when memory was my ally.

In my defense, The Patriot/The Valiant is relatively easy to confuse. (Seeing I've never run across either)

And of course, my expectation that The Patriot would be the most watchable of the nominees is based entirely on Lubitsch.
Reza
Laureate Emeritus
Posts: 10029
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 11:14 am
Location: Islamabad, Pakistan

Post by Reza »

Have you ordered from this site? And what is the quality like?
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19312
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Post by Big Magilla »

Duh! I thought he was referring to the five best actor nominees, but since one of them was Lewis Stone in the "lost" Patriot that wouldn't make sense.
The Original BJ
Emeritus
Posts: 4312
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2003 8:49 pm

Post by The Original BJ »

Tee, I think you mean The Patriot, the fifth Best Picture nominee that year.
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19312
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Post by Big Magilla »

Mister Tee
Tenured Laureate
Posts: 8636
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 2:57 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

Post by Mister Tee »

Big Magilla wrote:Nope, The Valiant is not lost. Creaky, but not lost.
You've seen it? Where did you find it?
Post Reply

Return to “The First Century”