Virginia Mayo Tribute on TCM today for her birthday

I gotta hand it to TCM..when it comes to honoring classic film stars on their birthdays, they don't hold back. The other day it was Gloria Grahame. Today it is Virginia Mayo. The actress will be honored with several films including Smart Girls Don't Talk (1948), White Heat (1949), The Girl From Jones Beach (1949), and Always Leaving Them Laughing (1949). The fun begins at 6am EST. Wish I could catch some of them but I will be at work when they are showing. For those who can though, check out her films as Virginia was an amazing actress.

Gloria Grahame Birthday Tribute on TCM today

In honor of Gloria's birthday today, TCM is honoring her with a host of her movies. Beginning at 7am eastern time and including The Big Heat (1953) with Glenn Ford and Macao (1952) with Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell. Other films include Crossfire (1947) with Mitchum again, A Woman's Secret (1949) with Maureen O'Hara and The Good Die Young (1954) with Joan Collins and Laurence Harvey. What a lineup. Happy Birthday Gloria! Wish I could catch some of these but work calls..gotta go. Hope to catch them later!

Joan Crawford night on TCM

TCM is honoring Joan Crawford tonight with five of her films. Specifically five of her films from the 60's, which happen to be my second favorite decade ever! They start the night off with the certifiable masterpiece Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962) co-starring her long time rival Bette Davis. It's a battle of the divas, grand guignol style. It starts at 8pm EST. Followed immediately by I Saw What You Did (1965) which I have never seen about teenagers who do a prank call that turns deadly. Showing next is The Caretakers (1963) co-starring Robert Stack and Polly Bergen and set in a mental hospital. Another one I haven't seen. The last film is Strait-Jacket (1964) which I have seen before and let's Joan have a field day as a recently released mental patient/axe murderer. The night concludes with a TCM original documentary entitled Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star. So looks like I will be spending a night with Joan. I know this would make my friend Jessica from Australia quite happy. On second thought I think their TCM schedule might be a little different. Oh well I know I will enjoy me some Joan. Just passing along the word to everyone  else.

My love of classic films is beyond measure

Monty

Joel McCrea night on TCM

Just a reminder that TCM is showing several of star of the month Joel McCrea's films tonight beginning at 8pm EST. Starting with the triple treat of his outings for director Preston Sturges. Up first is Sullivan's Travels, co-starring Veronica Lake. Next at 9:45 is The Palm Beach Story with Claudette Colbert. Followed at 11:30 by The More The Merrier with the irrepressible Jean Arthur. Then TCM shows a pair of films he made with Miriam Hopkins, The Richest Girl In The World and Woman Chases Man. Another classic McCrea film called Bed of Roses airs at 4:15 am and then they wrap up McCrea's first night with one of his earliest films, Kep Husbands (1931). So it will be quite the night and I for one can't wait.

The Morning Movie: HOT RODS TO HELL (1967)

 One of the many hilarious moments from Hot Rods.....

Watching TCM as I get ready for work...my usual routine. This morning they are playing the 60's camp classic Hot Rods To Hell, starring Jeanne Crain and Dana Andrews. The story is how this typical quaint family has a run-in with some hot rodders in the California desert. The hot rodders are two guys and a hot to trot girl named Gloria (played by Mimsy Farmer, who is the best thing this movie has going for it). I laughed quite a bit while watching it but I don't think they attended it to be a comedy.

Duke, Ernie and Gloria..hot rodders from hell? really?

TCM Alert: Saturday, February 4th

Three great films set in England with the backdrop of World War will air Saturday night on TCM. Two of the three films I have never seen before and look forward to. The films are A Yank in the R.A.F (1941) at 11 pm EST; Mrs. Miniver (1942) at 12:45 am EST (which is the one film I have seen) and The White Cliffs of Dover (1944) at 3:15 am EST. Looks to be a solid night of movie watching.

Be My Guest - Kim (Part 1)

Due to certain circumstances, I might have 3 guests this month or just one. Not for sure yet. When I did not know if the first people I asked was going to make it this month, I asked Kim Wilson of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die to fill in. I sent her the questions one morning and by the end of the day she had answered all 14. So Kim will have the honor of going first. And if no other guests show up, then Kim will came through for me big time. A little facts about Kim before we get started. She hails from Cincinnati, Ohio. Her interests are films, books and playing games. She has two Malti-Poos named Buffy and Carmie. And in addition to her blog 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, she also co-writes the series Two Dames Dishing with Becky of Classic Becky's Brain Food. So now onto the questions. Oh and here's a link to Kim's wonderful blog: 1001moviesblog

Me: What made you start blogging?







Kim: I started blogging at the TCM classic film union when I began my quest to see the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Then, some friends from the CFU started their own blogs—one being the Classic Film and TV Café—and I became a contributor. Once I’d built up enough posts I started my own blog.




Me: Hey I joined that as well. It's a cool place to hang out.

 

Me: Who are your favorite classic film stars? Name as many as you want.

Kim: Females in this order - Catherine Deneuve, Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Greta Garbo, and Katharine Hepburn


Males in this order: Paul Neuman, William Powell, Cary Grant, Henry Fonda, and Charles Boyer


Me: I believe you're the first person to name Catherine Deneuve as one of your faves, besides me. Cool. And you have Cary up there as well. A plus as well.

 

Me: What are some of your favorite films?

Kim: Too many to list! Tops from the 30s to the 70s:


1930s: The Thin Man, Camille, My Man Godfrey, The Awful Truth, Jezebel, Bringing Up Baby, Gone with the Wind, Ninotchka, and The Wizard of Oz

1940s: The Philadelphia Story, The Lady Eve, Now Voyager, Notorious, Spellbound, Mildred Pierce, To Be or Not To Be, The Red Shoes, and The Best Years of Our Lives


1950s: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, All About Eve, The Quiet Man, Singin’ in the Rain, The Bridge of the River Kwai, The Ten Commandments, Smiles of a Summer Night, The Earrings of Madame de…, and Gigi

1960s: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Apartment, Spartacus, Hud, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, The Producers, Dr. Strangelove, and Z


1970s: Patton, Rocky, Network, The Godfathers (Part II is the best though), and Chinatown


Me: From the 30's alone, you have some marvelous faves. I like how you broke them down by years too.

 

Me: Describe your first classic movie experience.

Kim: It would have to be watching The Wizard of Oz every year with my family. I wrote about it on my blog last year. Basically, it was a bonding experience I shared with them every year.


Me: Awesome! Well that wraps up part one of my interview with Kim. Check back in a few days as we continue with some more lively discussions.

TCM honors Irene Dunne today with a slew of her films celebrating her birthday

My second favorite actress of all time, Irene Dunne is being honored on TCM with 8 of her films today. It is Irene's birthday and TCM pulls out all the stops. Beginning at 6:45 am EST with the western Cimarron. Followed by Thirteen Women, Ann Vickers, No Other Woman, The Age Of Innocence, Stingaree, My Favorite Wife and I Remember Mama. Pretty good selections. You may wonder where Penny Serenade is...well it was on yesterday morning. Regardless this is an impressive line-up and I will be able to catch I Remember Mama. I've only seen that film once and it's been at least 10 years when I last saw it. Can't wait to see it again. So Happy Birthday Irene! And I hope classic movie lovers will get to see at least one of her films today.

Pull up a chair and watch some of Irene's best movies today on TCM

TCM celebrates Claude Rains birthday with a batch of his movies today...

TCM celebrates actor Claude Rains birthday today with loads of some of his best films. Beginning at 6 am EST with the 1936 film Anthony Adverse. Then TCM airs the family film series that began with Four Daughters, continued with Four Wives and concluded with Four Mothers. Also on tap are Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Mr. Skeffington, and Now Voyager. That is a pretty impressive line-up right there. I have actually only seen Four Daughters and Here Comes Mr. Jordan, so I now get to watch some films that I have never seen before, including Now Voyager.

Happy Birthday Teresa Wright (1918 - 2005)

Happy Birthday to Teresa Wright, one of my favorite actresses. Best known for playing nice, young women and always seemed to look on the bright side of things, no matter what. Her films include Shadow Of A Doubt, The Pride of the Yankees, The Best Years of Our Lives, Mrs. Miniver and The Little Foxes. Teresa passed away at the age of 86 of a heart attack. TCM is airing several of her movies today in honor of her birthday including The Little Foxes (on right now as I post this), Casanova Brown and Enchantment. Try to watch at least one of her films today. I plan to watch Mrs. Miniver when I get home today from work. Happy Birthday Teresa!

Winona Ryder is TCM's guest host for the week of September 19-25

While Robert Osborne is still on vacation for this month of September, actress Winona Ryder will fill in as guest host for the week of September 19-25. She is following in the footsteps of actress Illeana Douglas, grand-daughter of Melvyn Douglas who was the previous host. I can't wait to see and hear Winona and her thoughts on classic films and stars.

TCM is 17 years old today...Happy Birthday!

My favorite TV channel turns 17 today as TCM celebrates it's birthday. Easily the best channel currently on TV now, always good programming. So if you were the guest programmer today, what 4 movies would you play on TCM? I would show the comedies His Girl Friday, The Seven Year Itch, My Favorite Wife, and then one Elizabeth Taylor movie - Cat On A Hot Tin Roof.

Gone With The Wind on TCM tonight at 8pm

Just a reminder, the monumental classic film, Gone With The Wind airs tonight on TCM at 8pm, in honor of star of the month Vivien Leigh. Since GWTW is one of the few must have films that I don't own on DVD, I watch it every time TCM plays it. You can never get tired of watching this great movie. Well I know I can't.

Vivien Leigh on TCM today

Just a quick reminder that Tuesdays this month on TCM are showing Vivien Leigh films. Among the films scheduled for tonight of the 7th include Dark Journey, Sidewalks of London, Storm in a Teaccup and A Yank at Eaton. I just watched Waterloo Bridge today from a recording a few months ago and now I'm all about watching as many Leigh movies as possible. She is much more than just Scarlett O'Hara. Enjoy the photos of her below.

Be My Guest - Laura (Part 2)

Here is part 2 of my guest of the month Laura's post.

Monty: Describe the perfect way for you to watch a classic movie.

Laura: My favorite way to watch a classic movie is to see a beautiful restored print on a big screen with an appreciative audience. However, I'm not able to do that very often at this stage of my life, due to other demands on my time, and I'm extremely grateful for both Turner Classic Movies and DVDs. If you had told me when I was growing up that I could watch one of my favorite movies on TV anytime I wanted, it would have been hard for me to believe! As much as I love seeing movies in a theater, I don't think I'll ever get over my amazement at actually owning movies.

Monty: That's awesome Laura. Being able to see a restored film on the big screen would be pretty amazing. But like you said we do have TCM and DVDs to fall back on.

Monty: What is your favorite time period and why: the 20's, the 30's, the 40's, the 50's or the 60's?

Laura: I love the entire film era of roughly 1930-1960, but if I had to single out one decade it would be the '40s. The films of that decade are so diverse: there's WWII and "home front" films; the blossoming of the MGM musical (notably with MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS); Fox musicals with their remarkable Technicolor; the beginning of the film noir genre; and so much more. For the most part my favorite actors were all extremely busy -- and often at the peak of their careers -- in the '40s.

Monty: Good choiice Laura and I can understand why you chose that time period. I actually cheated on my pick and I chose 1936-1944. Part of the 30's and part of the 40's. But If I had to break down and choose one period I would go with the 30's. Just because screwball comedies were at their zenith then and it is my favorite genre.

I will continue with Laura's conversation with another post by the end of the week. I must say I have enjoyed her responses so far.

Summer Under The Stars on TCM - Julie Christie on August 2nd

TCM just kicked off it's annual Summer Under The Stars festival today with Basil Rathbone. For anyone new to this, TCM selects 31 actors and actresses for the month of August and for each day chooses a specific actor and plays nothing but their movies all day long. This is the 8th edition of this very popular theme that has continued to grow and grow. I will pick and choose at random some of the stars that will be featured this month and chose actress Julie Christie to get things started. Julie is of course most famous for her role as Lara in the classic film Doctor Zhivago. That film will be played along with Far From The Madding Crowd (1967), Billy Liar (1963), Darling (1965), Shampoo (1975), and others.

My List of TCM's Top Academy Award Films

Classic Movie Goddess Of The Week - Lana Turner Part 3

Here is my list of what I think are Lana's best films and her best work. As TCM would call them, the essentials.


ZIEGFELD GIRL (1941) Lana gives a terrific performance that actually overshadows co-stars Judy Garland and Hedy Lamarr. Not an easy feat.

IMITATION OF LIFE (1959) The scene where she lets her housekeeper's daughter have an earful after said daughter is being disrespectful towards her mom. I was like Go Lana, tell that brat off.

THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946) Woo-hoo. Lana is positively electrifying with her platinum blonde hair and always dressed in white as a wife who teams with a drifter to knock off her husband.

PEYTON PLACE (1957) Classic soaper that benefits from the presence of Ms. Turner.

THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (1952) One of Lana's best ensemble films ever, co-starring Kirk Douglas, Gloria Grahame, and Dick Powell. Lana gives a solid performance as an actress passed over by the next hot new thing.

So those are Lana's best films in my opinion and the ones you have to watch to understand how talented she really was.

TCM - Back In Form

OK, was I the only that thought TCM dropped the ball this past month. October should have been rich with horror and thriller movies. At least the week of Halloween, during prime time TCM should have scheduled more films fitting the occasion. They waited until Friday and Saturday to show them. And there choices were not that great. Where were the classics like The Innocents, The Uninvited, Horror of Dracula, I Walked With A Zombie, and others. I was extremely disappointed this Halloween season for TCM. But before I could write them off, I glanced at the November schedule. First of all Grace Kelly is the star of the month, so that right there makes up for them dropping the ball last month. But I clicked on Monday, Nov 2 schedule and it's one of the best days I have seen listed for movie watching. At 10am is the classic musical Born to Dance with tap dancing extraordinaire Eleanor Powell and a young Jimmy Stewart. That's followed by Arsenic and Old Lace. And then the main event begins at 8pm with 4 solid films: Vertigo, North By Northwest, Anatomy of a Murder, and Bunny Lake is Missing. You couldn't ask for a better day of movie watching than that. So if you have to work, I suggest setting your DVR to record TCM for most of the day.