tcm alert thread (Jun '23 - tcm alert: dead)

Not so much for plot, but for tone and feel, if you're looking for something else with a possible influence on the Coens, I highly recommend On Dangerous Ground which is coming up later in the summer.

Goldoni was the playwright's name

Just realized TCM did put up a non-PDF version of the schedule:
http://summerofdarkness.tcm.com/#/schedule

courtesy of the Nitrate Diva---Australian poster:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHe2QMfUkAEmSLD.jpg

Nightmare Alley was spectacular; unsurprised to note that the off-brand upswing at the very end was entirely studio created and forced on. Would love to double feature this with Freaks someday.
many xxps to Dow: The film presents it as Stan giving Pete the bottle of wood alcohol accidentally and believed (reasonably, as he took a slug himself and thought it was garbage) that he gave him the moonshine. So it's accidental but predestined as per the tarot reading of earlier... he didn't mean to kill him, but with this film's dark ethos, you can argue he was an instrument perhaps more willing than not to allow fate to flow through.
as per the "does he really buy this shit" question; he does seem to believe he's fully justified in his actions. he's certainly working hard to give himself the patina of good intentions but there's a cold subconscious plotting right under the surface.
i LOVED the scene with Molly and Bruno, old carny hands who've seen this act played out before, immediately recognizing, digesting and cynically moving forward with the necessary ends. no discussion, no chance for apology but a definite presumption that they must already be fucking since they're young, we're old and washed up so let's push em to be honest moral kids. which they're not! but there's presumption of circus code of ethics there.

Thanks, forks!
Yeah, early on, he says something like "I'm strange, I can't think about anybody but myself," and the way he tells it, he was dumped in a bad orphanage by his parents; he knows he doesn't fit in anyhwere, but he's eager to claw his way into some safe place, where he can eat his fill, finally. But he gets that other people seem to fit in society, and he wants to justify what he does, be an acceptable minister, with his own church of psychic healing---success in show biz, where he must know or sense that most people get that he's got some kind of gimmick---that kind of acceptance just isn't enough. So yeah I guess the con is conning himself, which may even be necessary, up to a point, but it's like the chef or chemist partaking too much of his own product. He isn't prepared for the consequences of his drive and magnetism---casting the star Tyrone Power, watching him go too far and melt down, might've been too disturbing for audiences seeking the new normal, in the aftermath of WWII; it's fairly disquieting even now.
Tonight, after the epic overdrive of Greed, a couple of Japanese thrillers I hadn't heard of, Zero Focus and Castle of Sand. I've found a few promising descriptions---anybody seem 'em?

I've seen Zero Focus, thought it was really good. I have Greed and Castle of Sand set to record.

this is the studio cut of greed, right? taping nonetheless as i never saw it.

i agree with your assessment there dow; part of the noir sensibility is that we all THINK we can figure out where we're supposed to fit in but there's no hope for mugs like us.
Power is wonderful in Nightmare alley i thought; totally believable and enmeshed in the character.

omg I've never seen "Greed"! :D

TCM is doing an insect monster marathon on June 18 with The Fly, Mothra, Them, The Wasp Woman, The Swarm and The Cosmic Monster
http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/1096952%7C1096953/Bugging-Out.html

insect monsters? Almost too-excellent summer-appropriate programming.
What did yall think of Greed?!

watched Born to Kill last night... such a by the numbers story that it's hard to recommend but some intentionally shibboleth-crying plot points (lots of "i'm getting married but we can still fuck" threads seem out of place for the late forties) keep it lively, plus good direction and some amazing acting. Lawrence Tierney in particularly believable as a sociopathic heavy; that guy is hard boiled.

Tierney was the real deal.

Wish TCM wasn't a subscription only channel here in Jersey City (Verizon).

I enjoyed Zero Focus quite a bit ... slow-paced but twisty and dreadful throughout, lots of dark black-and-white cinematography of long train rides from Tokyo to the desolate north. The plot hangs on elements that could only work in the Japan of that time: an arranged marriage, 'war orphan' ex-prostitutes, the way that family and police attitudes toward suicide create opportunities for deception and murder.

As far as I can tell, no one has a clue what the title means.

Boy that Ann Savage performance in Detour is something else!

Right? Just A+ hot crazy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1OM5-kGeDo

Schedule for tomorrow:

Friday, June 19
6:00 AM CORNERED (1945)
7:45 AM CRACK-UP (1946)
9:30 AM GILDA (1946)
11:30 AM THE BIG SLEEP (1946)
1:30 PM THE KILLERS (1946)
3:15 PM NOBODY LIVES FOREVER (1946)
5:00 PM NOCTURNE (1946)
6:30 PM CROSSFIRE (1947)
8:00 PM HOLLOW TRIUMPH (1948)
9:45 PM MYSTERY STREET (1950)
11:30 PM BORDER INCIDENT (1949)
1:15 AM THE PEOPLE AGAINST O'HARA (1951)
3:15 AM GET CARTER (1971)

Big Sleep the obvious classic

Get Carter is spectacular if you've never seen it; looking forward to gilda and taping it all
watched most of danger signal last night; it's an odd relationship anxiety film but it wasn't killing me

i watched crossfire in a jewish identity in film class in undergrad. decent noir starring Robert Mitchum that came out the same year as Gentleman's Agreement.

The novel was about a homophobic murder, so they had to cahnge it to antisemitism.

films about antisemitism in 1947 were still fairly controversial themselves

In another sign of the times, films about Catholic priests in 1947 were very uncontroversial.

yes that is true Mordy, but antigay themes were literally unfilmable since the Production Code was raised against Franklin Pangborn.

Still kind of cheesed off that Thief was removed from tonight's 3:15 slot.

I DVR'd Hollow Triumph just because the title is close to Bitter Victory. I'm sure it won't be as good, though.

Is Border Incident the Anthony Mann movie with Ricardo Montalban?

Yep!

I remember seeing part of it and thinking it was pretty good, meant to follow up later.

I can't believe I watched all 15 chapters of that Batman serial. Or that I'm going to watch the 1949 Batman serial starting next week.

I actually would've done that if they had more than 1 part up per week...

Wouldn't have been possible without a DVR.

watched Gilda, great film throughout but HAYWORTH oh my god
http://38.media.tumblr.com/b973645987e56a353c78511635b37150/tumblr_mg8ad367FO1qaeet6o1_500.gif

http://33.media.tumblr.com/2a8c19623f5fcacb175484054c43687f/tumblr_njowx9kMes1rdfgw4o1_500.gif
http://37.media.tumblr.com/560711b84b32186537673287bf058c1b/tumblr_n08f2yOq321qicfexo2_r1_500.gif
http://24.media.tumblr.com/33c33d15bea71914839d716c0dfd4258/tumblr_n08f2yOq321qicfexo3_r1_500.gif
http://37.media.tumblr.com/715d413b7bc408acafe668fc49fea03a/tumblr_n08f2yOq321qicfexo4_r1_500.gif

i liked her better before she "fixed" her hairline

http://www.demeterclarc.com/wp-content/uploads/images/2010/08/RITA-HAYWORTH-FLOWER.jpg

she's like three scoops of ice cream in a shot glass

o god i need to see that

http://thesouloftheplot.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/hairflip1_gilda.gifhttp://thesouloftheplot.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/hairflip1_gilda.gifhttp://thesouloftheplot.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/hairflip1_gilda.gif

during their marriage, Orson Welles apparently preferred amphetamines and other women.

rly can't believe i haven't seen this. Astaire too? used to be all over Fred&Ginger when i was like 10

no astaire in gilda but plenty of dopeness

first gif was just kinda the way i felt watching her

ahh but isn't that him in the gif above? gee it looks an awful lot like him

xp ohhhh ok

Different film. Is it Flying Down To Rio?

It's not Cover Girl, I don't think.

You Were Never Lovelier?

yep
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcyqCTCrpgQ

it's often remarked upon but damn astaire looks so gnomic and weird next to her
good thing he's fred astaire

but he always looked a bit gnomic and weird! i meann...
http://www.movpins.com/big/MV5BMTM2NjE2ODM5N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTA4NTIyNw/still-of-fred-astaire-and-ginger-rogers-in-the-gay-divorcee-(1934).jpg

still looks like a p cool film

sorry so big