*Illicit (1931): Another prime example of why we all need to settle down when we see the term "pre-code." It's not always that exciting. I thought this Archie Mayo pic with Babs Stanwyck, Ricardo Cortez, and the "I can never decide if I enjoy his work or if he annoys the hell out of me" Charles Butterworth would provide some thrills. Instead, it epitomized many of the stereotypes of early talkies, all right--only not in terms of crackling banter nor risqué subject matter, but in terms of long, drawn-out monologues and a general staginess.
Stanwyck is "in a relationship" with James Rennie and wants to just live together despite his constant pushing for marriage. That alone is an interesting gender stereotype reversal, and Babs' independent-minded, assertive (most of the time) female is a compelling character. When she buckles down and agrees to marriage, the relationship starts to fizzle.
This could be the setup for a promising romantic comedy, but the movie fizzles along with the couple's passion, and the movie is just a lot of talk, much of it not particularly interesting. You know how when you were little and watched an R-rated movie hoping to see something cool, only to find out the rating was for "frank language" or something like that? That's kind of the feeling Illicit gives. Even Ricardo Cortez seems generic in this one.
*The Great American Pastime (1956): It's a pleasant enough look at suburban life through the milieu of little league baseball, but it comes off as a lifeless attempt to sort of clone Tom Ewell's Seven Year Itch persona. The most curious aspect of this movie is the casting of the female leads: Anne Francis is wasted in a bland role as Ewell's bland wife, while Ann Miller gets to play the more vixenous (if that's not a word, I'm making it one) role as a widow/mother of one of Ewell's players who makes Francis jealous. There's even a scene of Francis is a bathtub that may be designed to make the audience why in blazes Ewell never seems to notices her. This movie should be better than it is, though I realize I may have just sold it to you by mentioning Anne Francis in a bathtub.
*Maya (1967 TV series): The pilot episode was enough for me. Adapted by Stirling Silliphant from a feature film, this adventure series featured two teenagers exploring India with the titular elephant. I'd give this another shot someday for the location shooting, and the elephant is pretty cook, but I found the first episode uninspiring. My big impression was saying over and over again, "THAT'S Jay North?"
*James Fitzpatrick's Traveltalks: Washington, D.C.: At least, I tried to watch this one, but selecting it giave me the Yellowstone episode. I thought I could outsmart Warner Instant, though, with my brilliant follow-up of selecting the Yellowstone episode. You know what I got then? The Yellowstone episode. I include this item as evidence that Warner Instant still has a lot of bugs in the system.
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Marriage Is Alive and Well (1980)/Warner Week
Welcome to Warner Week, in which I re-evaluate the newly relaunched (and apparently still in Beta) Warner Archive Instant SVOD service. later this week I'll give an overall review of WAI, but first I want to talk about something I watched on it: 1980's Lorimar TV movie Marriage Is Alive and Well.
If you ever thought, "I wish they would resurrect Love, American Style," only with Joe Namath, well, you are to be commended for a brilliant idea...except it was already done! Yes, in 1980, NBC aired this TV movie with Namath's wedding photographer linking 3 separate lighthearted stories about marriage and love.
It's funny to see a movie 35 years ago take on the institution of marriage and discuss it as if it were an endangered practice. TV movies are always a bit behind the times ("ripped from the headlines" deals notwithstanding), so it seems like the attitudes about marriage here are reacting to "free love" and women's lib" ideas from the 1970s. Characters act blasé about the idea of being married, as if it were a quaint idea...until, of course, they reaffirm their belief in matrimony, which happens in each story and pushes us back to wayyyy before the 1970s. Ultimately this has a cheeky façade but is as conservative and instutition-affirming as anything from the early days of the medium.
But enough of that talk. Why would you want to see this movie except for Broadway Joe? He is surprisingly laid back in the movie, dialing down the Joe Willie persona to play a "regular guy," but he is the only character to address the camera--he has to guide us through these stories, after all--and his TV charisma is still evident, though it's nowhere near his sports charisma. Come to think of it, he has more star power on that 1970s talk show he hosts with Dick Schaap. Still, if you watch this movie looking for Actor Joe Namath, you get plenty of him.
The best part of the film isn't the Hall of Fame quarterback, though. It's the breezy theme song that opens the movie as the camera tracks a large wedding statue as a truck takes it through the sunny streets of SoCal. Bravo to Deborah Ludwig Davis (singer) and Fred Karlin and Sheldon Harnick (songwriters) for crafting a piece of music that makes me want to get up and stroll barefoot through the park. Only there has to be a breeze running through my hair, and if I see a bird, it better be chirping at me!
As for the stories, there's Judd Hirsch reconnecting with the ex he already divorced twice (Melinda Dillon), then a young bride who fears losing her identity and immediately decides to hide the fact she is married because...eh, it seems like a good idea, I guess. She thinks things will be dullsville now that they are not just living together.
Perhaps the most fascinating of the three segments, if not the best, features Jack Albertson as elderly comic Manny Wax (!) who is dragged to court by his son when he wants to marry a much younger woman. Albertson/Wax is no Groucho Marx, even Old Groucho, and the whole story is bizarre but irresistible for Albertson's game performance in delivering one "quip" after another, even in court.
Namath has been there for all these stories, so of course he shares them with us, but here's the kicker: his own marriage, seen as a model to everyone, is on the rocks. He and Susan Sullivan are apparently growing apart. Can they pull it together? Hey, could YOU say no to Broadway Joe, even a watered-down version?
So much about this--the tone, that theme song, the lettering in the credits--suggests a light comedy with elements of drama, so it's no surprise that this was a failed TV pilot. This isn't at all the kind of thing Warner Archive Instant promotes when it touts its service. It usually talks up "the greats of Hollywood's golden age" and all that. The fact is, WAI is not Turner Classic Movies on demand. It has some movies from the classic era, but it also has an awful lot of obscure TV movies from the 1970s and 1980s. If you are into that sort of thing--and I enjoyed Marriage Is Alive and Well--you will get more value out of WAI than you might expect. But customers should know it's not all classics from the dream factory.
Here's an official preview clip that gives you a great look at Joe and a little of Judd, but sadly you will have to get the service to hear that theme song:
If you ever thought, "I wish they would resurrect Love, American Style," only with Joe Namath, well, you are to be commended for a brilliant idea...except it was already done! Yes, in 1980, NBC aired this TV movie with Namath's wedding photographer linking 3 separate lighthearted stories about marriage and love.
It's funny to see a movie 35 years ago take on the institution of marriage and discuss it as if it were an endangered practice. TV movies are always a bit behind the times ("ripped from the headlines" deals notwithstanding), so it seems like the attitudes about marriage here are reacting to "free love" and women's lib" ideas from the 1970s. Characters act blasé about the idea of being married, as if it were a quaint idea...until, of course, they reaffirm their belief in matrimony, which happens in each story and pushes us back to wayyyy before the 1970s. Ultimately this has a cheeky façade but is as conservative and instutition-affirming as anything from the early days of the medium.
But enough of that talk. Why would you want to see this movie except for Broadway Joe? He is surprisingly laid back in the movie, dialing down the Joe Willie persona to play a "regular guy," but he is the only character to address the camera--he has to guide us through these stories, after all--and his TV charisma is still evident, though it's nowhere near his sports charisma. Come to think of it, he has more star power on that 1970s talk show he hosts with Dick Schaap. Still, if you watch this movie looking for Actor Joe Namath, you get plenty of him.
The best part of the film isn't the Hall of Fame quarterback, though. It's the breezy theme song that opens the movie as the camera tracks a large wedding statue as a truck takes it through the sunny streets of SoCal. Bravo to Deborah Ludwig Davis (singer) and Fred Karlin and Sheldon Harnick (songwriters) for crafting a piece of music that makes me want to get up and stroll barefoot through the park. Only there has to be a breeze running through my hair, and if I see a bird, it better be chirping at me!
As for the stories, there's Judd Hirsch reconnecting with the ex he already divorced twice (Melinda Dillon), then a young bride who fears losing her identity and immediately decides to hide the fact she is married because...eh, it seems like a good idea, I guess. She thinks things will be dullsville now that they are not just living together.
Perhaps the most fascinating of the three segments, if not the best, features Jack Albertson as elderly comic Manny Wax (!) who is dragged to court by his son when he wants to marry a much younger woman. Albertson/Wax is no Groucho Marx, even Old Groucho, and the whole story is bizarre but irresistible for Albertson's game performance in delivering one "quip" after another, even in court.
Namath has been there for all these stories, so of course he shares them with us, but here's the kicker: his own marriage, seen as a model to everyone, is on the rocks. He and Susan Sullivan are apparently growing apart. Can they pull it together? Hey, could YOU say no to Broadway Joe, even a watered-down version?
So much about this--the tone, that theme song, the lettering in the credits--suggests a light comedy with elements of drama, so it's no surprise that this was a failed TV pilot. This isn't at all the kind of thing Warner Archive Instant promotes when it touts its service. It usually talks up "the greats of Hollywood's golden age" and all that. The fact is, WAI is not Turner Classic Movies on demand. It has some movies from the classic era, but it also has an awful lot of obscure TV movies from the 1970s and 1980s. If you are into that sort of thing--and I enjoyed Marriage Is Alive and Well--you will get more value out of WAI than you might expect. But customers should know it's not all classics from the dream factory.
Here's an official preview clip that gives you a great look at Joe and a little of Judd, but sadly you will have to get the service to hear that theme song:
Monday, November 28, 2016
Cultureshark Remembers...Florence Henderson
A lot of people are going to remember Florence Henderson, who died last week at 82, for her iconic role as mom Carol Brady. She was so much more than just The Brady Bunch, though. She was also in The Brady Brides, The Brady Bunch Variety Hour, The Bradys, A Very Brady Christmas...
OK, I'm joking. I really don't remember her from much more than Carol Brady and then for being the woman that played Carol Brady showing up on talk shows, game shows, commercials, and such. It felt like she showed up on Love Boat and Fantasy Island every year, but to me it was, hey, it's Florence Henderson of The Brady Bunch.
So what, though? I loved and hated the Bradys growing up. I don't recall ever enjoying it purely for itself on its merits. There was always some degree of, "Man, this is ridiculous," but I sure watched the heck out of The Brady Bunch as a kid, and Henderson was outstanding for what she was asked to do. She was totally corny but always likeable, sexy enough to be a sexy mom but always mom enough to not be too sexy.
I would never say that she was like a mom to me growing up (this is awkward after the way I ended that last paragraph) because I had a mom, and she watched Brady Bunch with me and mocked a lot of the same things I did. But what a TV mom Carol Brady was! I didn't watch TV for a real mom. I watched TV for a TV mom, and Florence Henderson delivered. She always said not to play ball in the house, but she was capable of putting on a silly costume and putting on a show with the best of them. I particularly liked her over-the-top concern, like when they got a trampoline and she spent the whole sequence fretting over the kids doing simple 8-inch jumps and falling on their butts.
All accounts suggest that Henderson was a delightful person off camera. She was a big part of my childhood for her work on camera, and this one does sting. R.I.P.
OK, I'm joking. I really don't remember her from much more than Carol Brady and then for being the woman that played Carol Brady showing up on talk shows, game shows, commercials, and such. It felt like she showed up on Love Boat and Fantasy Island every year, but to me it was, hey, it's Florence Henderson of The Brady Bunch.
So what, though? I loved and hated the Bradys growing up. I don't recall ever enjoying it purely for itself on its merits. There was always some degree of, "Man, this is ridiculous," but I sure watched the heck out of The Brady Bunch as a kid, and Henderson was outstanding for what she was asked to do. She was totally corny but always likeable, sexy enough to be a sexy mom but always mom enough to not be too sexy.
I would never say that she was like a mom to me growing up (this is awkward after the way I ended that last paragraph) because I had a mom, and she watched Brady Bunch with me and mocked a lot of the same things I did. But what a TV mom Carol Brady was! I didn't watch TV for a real mom. I watched TV for a TV mom, and Florence Henderson delivered. She always said not to play ball in the house, but she was capable of putting on a silly costume and putting on a show with the best of them. I particularly liked her over-the-top concern, like when they got a trampoline and she spent the whole sequence fretting over the kids doing simple 8-inch jumps and falling on their butts.
All accounts suggest that Henderson was a delightful person off camera. She was a big part of my childhood for her work on camera, and this one does sting. R.I.P.
Saturday, November 26, 2016
Streaming Video Power Rankings: Week 35
On this holiday weekend, I imagine a lot of you had a time for streaming video. Some of you may be streaming video RIGHT NOW as you read this. I have taken all of your viewings into account for this week's rankings. Oh, don't worry about how I know. I just do.
1) Netflix: I have half a mind to dock Netflix a half a dozen spots or so for trying to force me to care about its Gilmore Girls revival, but I have to acknowledge that in the social media/entertainment bubble, GG was the big story of the week, and I think it satisfied a lot of fans.
As far as engagement and pleasing its audience goes, this and the forthcoming Fuller House season are probably the kinds of shows that drive subscriptions and retain customers. I love to complain about dropping shows like Leave It to Beaver, but I have to face the facts.
But I'm still not watching Gilmore Girls, Netflix, so quit playing that damn Carole King song each time I load your channel.
2) Warner Archive Instant: My free month ends this weekend. Will I continue? I am going to make this Warner Week on the blog and share my thoughts on where WAI is right now. It rates #2 on usage this week as I try to cram as much of it down my gullet as possible before D (for decision) day next week. Movies, TV shows, film shorts...If I'm going down, I'm going down swinging.
3) Pub-D-Hub: You all know by now I give extra credit to an SVOD service that offers themed programming for an occasion, and Pub-D-Hub delivered some Thanksgiving content this week. I enjoyed a Burns and Allen installment on Thanksgiving Eve, and this weekend I plan to check out another new add, an episode of The Frances Langford-Don Ameche Show. You won't see Entertainment Weekly mention this kind of stuff, dear readers.
4) Shout! Factory TV: I have grown quite fond of these "Best of the MDA Telethon" compilations on here, though I'd like to see more old footage. I hope these continue. I was disappointed that the Turkey Day MST3K marathon was apparently web-only and not made streamable after the fact, but I still got my money's worth (free) this week.
One interesting thing I watched was the Dick Cavett Show from June 1971 featuring a debate over the Vietnam War between John Kerry and John O'Neill. Cavett dispensed with the monologue and did his best to maintain fairness and order, and the show was a fascinating, often intense snapshot of an America that was deeply divided over the issue. Even the studio audience, while mostly civil, was clearly split. Shout! has a whole category of "Politicians" in its Cavett section, but I would like to see more episodes featuring discussion of social issues, politics, etc.
5) Hulu: Hulu, you are coasting. I suppose gaining the Powerpuff Girls archives is something, though.
6) YouTube: Loving the fact that someone posted a bunch of old 1988 wrestling from Alabama this past week. My children enjoyed numerous toy videos on YT. Plus after becoming temporarily (I hope) obsessed with Glenn Frey's "Smuggler's Blues," (don't ask) I was able to hit YT and hear the song. Oh, it's irritating not to be able to see the actual video, but that's the way the Eagles roll.
(Also, see #10)
7) The CW: Expect this channel to be ranked with regularity over the coming weeks as I scramble to catch up on my "stories."
8) My Retro Flix: Added some more public domain and (ahem) maybe not so public domain movies this past week, including 1934's The Rawhide Terror, which can't possibly be as cool as the DVD cover art this channel cribbed makes it look...but I still want to find out.
9) Amazon Prime: Not a whole lot new going on last week, but Black Friday brought the site a lot of attention and possibly a lot of new eyeballs as people signed up for Prime to get access to deals.
10) PIX11: Much like our ranking of Brown Sugar last week (Come on and give us a Roku version!), we rate this based on potential. Perhaps my single favorite TV channel growing up was WPIX in New York, and the description of the channel sounds intriguing:
PIX11 News, where every story hits home. A friend to New York City since 1948 and now available on your Roku with special digital first features, holiday favorites, and exclusive peeks into the WPIX archive.
Unfortunately, all the videos are lame clips from the current news shows, and I have yet to see any holiday favorites nor what I really want to see, "exclusive peeks into the archive." As with so many Roku channels that should be muchbetter than they are, we'll have to hit YouTube to see what we really want to see. I fear this will be not just the first, but also the last time PIX11 makes the chart.
1) Netflix: I have half a mind to dock Netflix a half a dozen spots or so for trying to force me to care about its Gilmore Girls revival, but I have to acknowledge that in the social media/entertainment bubble, GG was the big story of the week, and I think it satisfied a lot of fans.
As far as engagement and pleasing its audience goes, this and the forthcoming Fuller House season are probably the kinds of shows that drive subscriptions and retain customers. I love to complain about dropping shows like Leave It to Beaver, but I have to face the facts.
But I'm still not watching Gilmore Girls, Netflix, so quit playing that damn Carole King song each time I load your channel.
2) Warner Archive Instant: My free month ends this weekend. Will I continue? I am going to make this Warner Week on the blog and share my thoughts on where WAI is right now. It rates #2 on usage this week as I try to cram as much of it down my gullet as possible before D (for decision) day next week. Movies, TV shows, film shorts...If I'm going down, I'm going down swinging.
3) Pub-D-Hub: You all know by now I give extra credit to an SVOD service that offers themed programming for an occasion, and Pub-D-Hub delivered some Thanksgiving content this week. I enjoyed a Burns and Allen installment on Thanksgiving Eve, and this weekend I plan to check out another new add, an episode of The Frances Langford-Don Ameche Show. You won't see Entertainment Weekly mention this kind of stuff, dear readers.
4) Shout! Factory TV: I have grown quite fond of these "Best of the MDA Telethon" compilations on here, though I'd like to see more old footage. I hope these continue. I was disappointed that the Turkey Day MST3K marathon was apparently web-only and not made streamable after the fact, but I still got my money's worth (free) this week.
One interesting thing I watched was the Dick Cavett Show from June 1971 featuring a debate over the Vietnam War between John Kerry and John O'Neill. Cavett dispensed with the monologue and did his best to maintain fairness and order, and the show was a fascinating, often intense snapshot of an America that was deeply divided over the issue. Even the studio audience, while mostly civil, was clearly split. Shout! has a whole category of "Politicians" in its Cavett section, but I would like to see more episodes featuring discussion of social issues, politics, etc.
5) Hulu: Hulu, you are coasting. I suppose gaining the Powerpuff Girls archives is something, though.
6) YouTube: Loving the fact that someone posted a bunch of old 1988 wrestling from Alabama this past week. My children enjoyed numerous toy videos on YT. Plus after becoming temporarily (I hope) obsessed with Glenn Frey's "Smuggler's Blues," (don't ask) I was able to hit YT and hear the song. Oh, it's irritating not to be able to see the actual video, but that's the way the Eagles roll.
(Also, see #10)
7) The CW: Expect this channel to be ranked with regularity over the coming weeks as I scramble to catch up on my "stories."
8) My Retro Flix: Added some more public domain and (ahem) maybe not so public domain movies this past week, including 1934's The Rawhide Terror, which can't possibly be as cool as the DVD cover art this channel cribbed makes it look...but I still want to find out.
9) Amazon Prime: Not a whole lot new going on last week, but Black Friday brought the site a lot of attention and possibly a lot of new eyeballs as people signed up for Prime to get access to deals.
10) PIX11: Much like our ranking of Brown Sugar last week (Come on and give us a Roku version!), we rate this based on potential. Perhaps my single favorite TV channel growing up was WPIX in New York, and the description of the channel sounds intriguing:
PIX11 News, where every story hits home. A friend to New York City since 1948 and now available on your Roku with special digital first features, holiday favorites, and exclusive peeks into the WPIX archive.
Unfortunately, all the videos are lame clips from the current news shows, and I have yet to see any holiday favorites nor what I really want to see, "exclusive peeks into the archive." As with so many Roku channels that should be muchbetter than they are, we'll have to hit YouTube to see what we really want to see. I fear this will be not just the first, but also the last time PIX11 makes the chart.
Friday, November 25, 2016
Hazel: The Early Years: Special Thaksgiving Edition!
This installment of Hazel: The Early Years is light on text because I just wrote about this episode at ClassicFlix. Please check that out! Today, though, who needs all those pesky words? Maybe you ate too much, maybe you're wiped out, maybe you just feel like looking at some screencaps today. You've come to the right place, my friends. Let's go to the Baxter household for a special Thanksgiving as we skip ahead for episode #9: "Everybody's Thankful But Us Turkeys."
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| Just a reminder that George Baxter is not just a player in the corporate law realm, but a player, period |
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| Uh...should Harold be in the room while Hazel is doing that to the turkey? |
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| The kid's a fast learner, I'll give him that |
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| Hazel Burke: Cult of Personality |
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| George is a workaholic, but he also makes time for his paper |
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| This strikes me as careless technique when wielding a sharp blade, but who am I to question Hazel? |
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| The poor Johnsons! Hazel is always willing to help the 1-percenters, though |
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| "Just DON'T do any damnable card tricks!" |
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| Mother Baxter--A classy woman, no doubt |
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| Standing by to meddle in 5, 4, 3, 2... |
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| Hazel puts everyone at ease |
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| "You'll never believe what this turkey said I did to it earlier!" |
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| "And we're thankful that Sony put the whole series out, even the fifth season, before it gave up on DVD" |
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| Inappropriate to rekindle your romance during the grace, folks |
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| Clearly Hazel is--there is no other word that does it--TICKLED to be invited to join the family at dinner |
Thursday, November 24, 2016
TV Time Bonus: Thanksgiving with the Douglas family and Johnny Squanto
If you enjoyed my ClassicFlix piece on Thanksgiving episodes, you might enjoy a closer look at a few of the episodes I discussed. Today let's spend some more time with the Douglas family on My Three Sons in season 1's "Chip's Harvest."
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| Here's a glamour shot for all you turkey lovers out there |
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| Robbie is already salivating over Bub's planned feast |
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| Steve's thoughtful expression as the boys debate the invitation Chip gave Johnny Squanto. Either that or Freddie Mac is pondering his tee time for the next morning. |
There's almost a nourish feel to the sequence when Steve visits Johnny Squanto at his old shack. Almost.
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| Even Bub can't cook a turkey without a working stove |
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| Let's just not comment on this one |
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| Here's that foxy young teacher Robbie invited to the family dinner |
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| "What are YOU looking at, buddy?" |
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| Seriously, how old is that teacher supposed to be? |
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| Squanto in full gear after saving Thanksgiving |
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| STILL a lot safer than those deep fryers |
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| A good old-fashioned feast after all. Only thing missing is the toast and the popcorn |
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