VCR Alert

1927/28 through 1997
flipp525
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Post by flipp525 »

Mister Tee wrote:Flipp525, thanks for letting me know I have a later shot at Play It As it Lays.
I almost hope you forgot to tape it, Mister Tee because I just finished watching it and I was BORED OUT OF MY MIND!!! The only time I perked up at all was when I heard Tuesday Weld say "I mean I was holding all the aces but what was the game?" only because I had written that in a notebook eight years ago when I read Didion's novel.

I only wish I had that two hours back.
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."

-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Damien
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Post by Damien »

Nik wrote:Just wanted to add, I've actually had the pleasure of meeting Damien. NICEST GUY EVER. We must have drinks when I'm in NY again :D
awww, right back at you Nik
"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
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Post by Nik »

Just wanted to add, I've actually had the pleasure of meeting Damien. NICEST GUY EVER. We must have drinks when I'm in NY again :D
Damien
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Post by Damien »

Reza wrote:Damien,

Where do you keep all these films? On book shelves or inside cupboards?
Reza, the tapes are on top of and in the bookcases in my office (I've had to pile them in front of my books on the shelves). I now mainly record on DVD and haven't yet figured out where to put the discs -- right now they're in bags.
"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
Reza
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Post by Reza »

Mister Tee wrote:my wife simply can't abide silents.
Ditto!
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Post by Mister Tee »

Damien, I sent you an email. Thanks again for the offer.

I did tape Laugh Clown Laugh. Now it's a matter of finding an opportunity to watch it; my wife simply can't abide silents.

Flipp525, thanks for letting me know I have a later shot at Play It As it Lays.
Reza
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Post by Reza »

Damien wrote:
Reza wrote:Tee,

Just wondering if you ever did get to borrow Bad Girl from Damien and what you thought of the film?

No we never did make the transaction, but, Tee, the offer still holds. In fact I can email you yhe list of all the movies I have on tape and DVD (I long ago lost count but there've got to be at least 4,000, although things taped in the 80s are probably not in great shape) and you're free to borrow anything you like.
Damien,

Where do you keep all these films? On book shelves or inside cupboards?

The study in the house we are constructing will have walls full of shelves where I hope to put all my books, videos and DVDs.
Damien
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Post by Damien »

Reza wrote:Tee,

Just wondering if you ever did get to borrow Bad Girl from Damien and what you thought of the film?
No we never did make the transaction, but, Tee, the offer still holds. In fact I can email you yhe list of all the movies I have on tape and DVD (I long ago lost count but there've got to be at least 4,000, although things taped in the 80s are probably not in great shape) and you're free to borrow anything you like.
"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
Reza
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Post by Reza »

Damien wrote:
Mister Tee wrote:Damien, what a nice offer. I'm actually a few blocks north of where you imagined (75th, between West End and Riverside), but I'm happy to take you up on your offer. Let me know when/how would be easiest to arrange this.

Tee, things are a bit crazed for me right now because of family stuff, but if you send me your e-mail address at Dbona@aol.com, I'll get back in touch with you and we can arrange for you to get Bad Girl in the near future.

Tee,

Just wondering if you ever did get to borrow Bad Girl from Damien and what you thought of the film?
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Post by Big Magilla »

FYI, Laugh, Clown, Laugh, Pinky and Wake Island are all available on DVD. Laugh, Clown, Laugh is part of Warners' excellent TCM Archives Lon Chaney Collection which also inclues The Unknown and a photo reconstruction of the lost London After Midnight.

I haven't seen Play It As It Lays in ages, but I do remember being vaguely disappointed by it. The casting, though, is interesting. It includes Loretta Young's brother-in-law, Norman Foster, as an abortionist.
flipp525
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Post by flipp525 »

Damien wrote:Tee, go with Laugh, Clown, Laugh, as Sundance shoes Play It As It Lays fairly regularly.

Mister Tee, Play It As It Lays (a great book, btw...plan on TiVoing the movie tonight) replays on the Sundance channel at 6:15am tonight/this morning as well as 1:50am (4/15) and 4:50am (4/15).

FYI, Here are some other Oscar nominee/winner VCR Alerts for next month on TCM:

5/2 @ 6am, Two Arabian Knights (1927) - Winner, Best Director (Lewis Milestone)

5/18 @ 10am, Pinky (1949) - Nominated Best Actress (Jeann Crain), Best Supporting Actress (Ethel Waters, Ethel Barrymore)

5/28 @ 4:30am, Wake Island (1942) - Nominated Best Supporting Actor (William Bendix), Best Director (John Farrow), Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay (W.R. Burnett, Frank Butler)
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."

-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Damien
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Post by Damien »

Mister Tee wrote: Maddeningly, at least in NY, there's a conflict: at the same time, the Sundance Chanel is running the rarely shown Play It As It Lays, which I missed back in 1972 and have never been able to track down since. I don't expect I'd much like it -- it's always sounded like the sort of existential-despair-chic film I despised from that era -- but Tuesday Weld was, for a time that Fall, considered one of the best actress candidates, and I'd like to get a look at her perfomance. Decisions, decisions.

Tee, go with Laugh, Clown, Laugh, as Sundance shoes Play It As It Lays faitly regularly.


You're spot on in describing Play It as "existential-despair-chic," although it is very well-acted. And it probably is more interesting today than it was in 1972 because it likely stands as a real time capsule piece.
"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
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Post by Mister Tee »

This is perhaps the ultimate for true Oscar-completists: at 3:30 AM overnight tonight, TCM will be showing two Lon Chaney silents. The first -- 1928's Laugh, Clown, Laugh -- is one of the only five films ever nominated for the instantly obsolete Title Writing category.

Maddeningly, at least in NY, there's a conflict: at the same time, the Sundance Chanel is running the rarely shown Play It As It Lays, which I missed back in 1972 and have never been able to track down since. I don't expect I'd much like it -- it's always sounded like the sort of existential-despair-chic film I despised from that era -- but Tuesday Weld was, for a time that Fall, considered one of the best actress candidates, and I'd like to get a look at her perfomance. Decisions, decisions.
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Post by Mister Tee »

Okay, I watched House of Rothschild, and, while it's light-years from being an importnat film, I pretty well enjoyed it in a silly-old-movie way. Arliss is less hammy than in his two 1930-nominated films (I guess by '34 everyone had started to realize stage-to-screen required a little toning down), and the plot pays off in a pleasing way.

A few notes:

Zanuck is always touted as being the first to confront anti-semitism with Gentlemen's Agreement, but howcome no one mentions he did it a decade-plus earlier in this film? Granted, this one's set in Europe, a century prior, but it's far more specific in its attack on the prejudice than the Peck film. And this was at a time when Hitler had just come to power.

The scenes with the five Rothschild brothers figuring how they can dominate the European banking market -- is it possible the screenwriter had in mind the Hollywood studio heads?

I don't really know the history of the Rothschild family. Did they really, as the film suggests, come up with the idea of the carrier pigeon?
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Post by Damien »

Mister Tee wrote:Damien, what a nice offer. I'm actually a few blocks north of where you imagined (75th, between West End and Riverside), but I'm happy to take you up on your offer. Let me know when/how would be easiest to arrange this.
Tee, things are a bit crazed for me right now because of family stuff, but if you send me your e-mail address at Dbona@aol.com, I'll get back in touch with you and we can arrange for you to get Bad Girl in the near future.
"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
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