About Classic Movies

TCM Festival Plans Metropolis, A Star is Born Screenings

2009-11-24T16:05:47Z

Oh, I hope I can get to this.

In April, Turner Classic Movies is headed for Hollywood and its first annual classic film festival. They're kicking it off with a newly-restored version of A Star is Born, the 1954 George Cukor version with Judy Garland and James Mason.

They're also screening the newly restored version of Fritz Lang's silent sci-fi masterpiece, Metropolis. This is the version they discovered in Buenos Aires last year, with 30 minutes of footage that hasn't been seen in decades.

Tickets are already on sale -- a touch pricey, but it looks like a great event.

TCM Festival Plans Metropolis, A Star is Born Screenings originally appeared on About.com Classic Movies on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 16:05:47.

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Bacall Finally Gets Her Oscar

2009-11-23T11:07:22Z

With a ton of Hollywood royalty in attendance, legendary Lauren Bacall has finally received her Oscar - four months before the annual televised Academy Awards program to be sure, but many, many years overdue.

With Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Norman Jewison, Warren Beatty, George Lucas, Quentin Tarantino and many more paying homage, Bacall took home her statuette from the Governor's Award ceremony. B-movie prince Roger Corman, producer John Calley and genius cinematographer Gordon Willis were also honored.

IIn one way, it's too bad. There were probably genuine, emotional moments here that would probably have served the academy better than some of the lame schtick and over-produced musical numbers the show usually comes up with.

Nevertheless, I have high hopes for this year's show. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin will co-host. The two men who are constantly battling for the title of "Hosted More Saturday Night Live Shows than that Other Guy" award are funny, intelligent, accomplished performers. If they can't make it funny and good, no one can.

Of course, that's what I said about Jon Stewart....

Bacall at the ceremony, by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Bacall Finally Gets Her Oscar originally appeared on About.com Classic Movies on Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 11:07:22.

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What to Watch on TCM This Weekend

2009-11-19T16:17:00Z

On Friday, look for Turner Classic Movies to air The Great White Hope, the moving story of the bias that faces a victorious black boxer and his white mistress. Depressing but excellent with James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander.

Saturday, there's a jackpot of good stuff, with Burt Lancaster as a no-account drifter turned faux preacher in Elmer Gantry; the rollicking British film Tom Jones, with Albert Finney and Susannah York (a surprise Best Picture winner in 1963), and A Man for All Seasons, with Paul Scofield's acclaimed performance as Sir Thomas More

TiVo alert for early Sunday (4:45 a.m. Eastern) when They Shoot Horses, Don't They? airs, a gritty look at the dance marathon craze of the Depression era with Jane Fonda. Brighten things up later Sunday with the original Parent Trap, with Hayley Mills playing a dual role in one of her Disney outings; and polish it off with Member of the Wedding, a fine adapation of the Carson McCullers novel.

What to Watch on TCM This Weekend originally appeared on About.com Classic Movies on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 16:17:00.

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Eau de Marilyn Monreau?

2009-11-19T15:53:18Z

Okay, this is just bizarre.

A perfume company called Antiquity is engineering scents based (allegedly) on DNA drawn from celebrities, including Marilyn Monroe, Katharine Hepburn, Joan Crawford, Elvis and Albert Einstein.

Of course, the formula by which they do this is a trade secret; why anyone would want such a thing is a mystery.

It's just another odd outgrowth of the American obsession with superstars that goes far beyond their actual contributions to art (or science.)

Besides, we all know what Marilyn smelled like. Asked what she wore to bed, she famously replied: "Five drops of Chanel No.5."

By George Marks for Getty Images' Retrofile

Eau de Marilyn Monreau? originally appeared on About.com Classic Movies on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 15:53:18.

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Classics from Television's Golden Age

2009-11-17T10:58:48Z

Listen, my children:

Once, there was a golden time in the infancy of television, when there were just three channels. And even though there was a lot of dreck on the air even back then, occasionally a great piece of art would find its way onto the airwaves - TV programs as good as some of the best classic movies. Millions of Americans saw them together, and together were moved.

Okay, those days are gone, but Criterion is putting out a collection of some of those legendary teleplays, with terrific writers, superb casts and great direction. Rod Steiger in Paddy Chaefsky's Marty, Andy Griffith in No Time for Sergeants, Rod Serling's groundbreaking Patterns, Mickey Rooney as the utterly despicable Comedian, and more.

The old kinoscopes don't have the fidelity of film, but I'm sure the wizards at Criterion have made them as crisp and clean as possible.

TV has been good since, but never better.

DVD cover for 'Requiem for a Heavyweight,' also in the collection

Classics from Television's Golden Age originally appeared on About.com Classic Movies on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 10:58:48.

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What to Watch on TCM this Weekend

2009-11-12T14:35:53Z

Actually, you might want to start early. Tonight - Thursday - Turner Classic Movies has some good stuff with its featured star of the month, Grace Kelly, including Dial M for Murder, and my personal favorite of the Grace Kelly-Alfred Hitchcock collaborations, Rear Window, in which she stars with James Stewart.

Early Friday morning, you can catch Princess Grace in the delightful caper film To Catch a Thief, this time paired with Cary Grant. In the evening, catch a nice Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy pairing, Woman of the Year.

On Saturday, you can't beat James Cagney's immortal gangster flick, White Heat. Also Saturday, TCM reprises its special '1939 - Hollywood's Greatest Year,' an original documentary about that magical year for classic movies, 1939.

Sunday is somehwat uninspired, but Mogambo, a steamy love triangle with Clark Gable isn't too bad.

Enjoy!

What to Watch on TCM this Weekend originally appeared on About.com Classic Movies on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 14:35:53.

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Accessible Angels from Criterion

2009-11-12T10:53:10Z

The Criterion Collection is putting out one of its gorgeous editions of my favorite movie about angels. (No, it's not It's a Wonderful Life although that's terrific too.)

It's German director Wim Wenders' pensive, brooding, elegaic Wings of Desire, a poem of a movie that tells the story of an angel come to earth in Berlin, who falls in love with a beautiful circus performer.

Bruno Ganz is heartbreaking as the angel, and Peter Falk puts in a surprising, gentle turn as himself. To say any more would ruin this slow-moving, visually enchanting film for the first-time viewer. I never saw the American remake, City of Angels, with Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan, so I don't know how they compare. But I can recommend the German film with all my heart.

Accessible Angels from Criterion originally appeared on About.com Classic Movies on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 10:53:10.

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The Wizard of Oz in Theaters Again

2009-11-09T15:55:21Z

I'll always connect The Wizard of Oz with Thanksgiving. When I was growing up, one of the networks always ran the classic movie at Thanksgiving time. (That was back when there were just three networks, children.)

I always wanted to see it on the big screen, and for those who haven't had the pleasure, another opportunity is coming up from the folks at Fathom. On November 17th, a live, high-def simulcast of the movie will be shown in theaters around the nation - along with a taped intro from Turner Classic Movies's Robert Osborne, as well as a documentary about the making of the movie.

It's in honor of the 70th anniversary of the film, one of the magical Hollywood films of 1939, and, in my humble opinion, one every movie buff will want in an essential classic movie library.

ELO's Oz-inspired 'ruby slippers' album cover

The Wizard of Oz in Theaters Again originally appeared on About.com Classic Movies on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 15:55:21.

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What to Watch on TCM this Weekend

2009-11-06T16:36:43Z

If you're into classic stop-motion cheese (I am), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is a must on Saturday for the terrific Ray Harryhausen effects, but of course check your brain at the door. And then don't miss Take the Money and Run, the hilarious 1969 Woody Allen mockumentary. (I love it when he plays cello in a marching band. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.)

On Saturday, it's got to be The Maltese Falcon. ("If you lose a son, you can always get another, but there's only one Maltese Falcon.") In the wee small hours Monday morning, try All of Me, a sweet-natured Steve Martin-Lily Tomlin fling with some of the finest physical comedy ever committed to celluloid.

Enjoy!

What to Watch on TCM this Weekend originally appeared on About.com Classic Movies on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 16:36:43.

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Tom Snyder Interviews Alfred Hitchcock - 1973

2009-11-04T17:28:43Z

I love the stuff you can find on YouTube, like this excellent Tom Snyder interview with Alfred Hitchcock, way back in the '70s.

Love him or hate him, Snyder was a great interviewer, and this was probably one of the last times Hitch allowed himself to be interviewed at length on TV.

I love Hitchcock's lugubrious voice, his measured pace, and the way you can never tell whether he means something or he's putting you on -- like being afraid of getting a ticket from a police officer.

Fun, and insightful.

Tom Snyder Interviews Alfred Hitchcock - 1973 originally appeared on About.com Classic Movies on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 17:28:43.

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