What are you watching on WatchTCM?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by NickySee, Feb 24, 2021.

  1. geetar_await

    geetar_await I heart Linux.

    Location:
    USA
    i lost TCM when i cut the cord. oh well, there's always their website i guess.
     
    NickySee likes this.
  2. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Can you log on their website without a cable or digital pack subscription?
     
  3. geetar_await

    geetar_await I heart Linux.

    Location:
    USA
    well, guess not :( my library has a lot of classic films.
     
    NickySee likes this.
  4. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Yeah, I have quite a few older Criterion titles but almost none of the non-art house, "B Movie" extravaganza delivered by TCM. :)
     
  5. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    [​IMG]
    Ladies They Lie About (1933, Howard Bretherton, William Keighley) exp. April 4th

    A lady bank robber becomes the cell block boss after she's sent to prison. Of course. It's Stanwyck. Early Stanwyck (pre-Noir, pre-Romantic Comedy, pre-Western Stanwyck). Should be fun.
     
    Karnak likes this.
  6. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    [​IMG]
    Killer's Kiss (1955, Stanley Kubrick) expired

    I swear this WatchTCM entry barely had a 24 hour window. Nevermind. It's in the public domain and a fine version can be found here and there's (also a free) watchable copy on Youtube. The plot: When he rescues a girl from her gangster lover, a prizefighter is marked for death. The way the story is told is everything (imo). The NYC environs (including a great opening establishment shot in the old Penn Station) and an unorthodox narrative technique, including a fine fight sequence that had to have influenced Scorsese for his Raging Bull, distinguish it from the run-of-the-mill prize fighter/mob flick. Not a long feature it's, nevertheless, a fairly interesting one. WatchTCM needs to kill the 24 hour thing.
     
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2021
  7. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Back up til March 14th. Don't ask. :cool:
     
  8. Karnak

    Karnak "81, 82, 83, 84..."

    Barbara Stanwyck was certainly a versatile actress. She could lay on the sexual magnetism as well as play the wide eyed innocent. Sometimes it was a mixture of both-like in 'Remember The Night'. I am certain that it was her version of 'So Big' that made my late mother buy a copy of the Edna Ferber novel, which I still have. Mom loved that story. Yet, it's not easily available on dvd AFAIK. Whenever TCM screens that, I try to watch.
     
    rocnred and NickySee like this.
  9. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    [​IMG]
    The Subject Was Roses (1968, Ula Grosbard) exp. April 6th

    Now this is a good one. One of my favorite performances from all the leads, including a young Martin Sheen, a beautiful Patricia Neal and a crusty Jack Albertson. It's adapted from the play of the same name, both by Frank Gilroy. Must see viewing. Interesting interview with writer, Gilroy, above.
     
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2021
  10. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    >>ebay, of all places, has copies for sale. Might nab one myself. Thanks!
     
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2021
    Karnak likes this.
  11. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    [​IMG]
    I'll See You In My Dreams (1951, Michael Curtiz) exp. April 7th

    TCM's star of the month is Doris Day. The thing about Day that does it for me is the music. If music isn't central to any of her films I'm not interested. Her biggest box office successes, however, were the Rock Hudson team ups. Nonetheless, take away that voice and much of the explanation of her number 1 status as the most successful American female movie star is lost. The original TCM host, Robert Osborne, had a famous telephone interview with Day in 2014. The Curtiz film above deals with the days of Tin Pan Alley which gave Day a chance to shine doing the thing she did best.
     
    Last edited: Mar 9, 2021
  12. jjhunsecker

    jjhunsecker Senior Member

    Location:
    New York city
    Great shots of Times Square in the 1950s in this flick
     
    NickySee likes this.
  13. Karnak

    Karnak "81, 82, 83, 84..."

    Love this. Repression and regret and so much more.
     
    NickySee likes this.
  14. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    There actually is an official soundtrack to this movie...

    [​IMG] [​IMG]
    I'll See You In My Dreams: Songs from the Warner Bros. Production (1952, Columbia)

    However, I made a Spotify playlist which supplements the eight tracks with four more songs with lyrics by Gus Khan, the real-life artist Day is married to in the film. He had quite a number of hits. I've only ever seen one commercial compilation of his songs in one release; Sing Gus Song: Songs from Broadway, Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley, 1915-1941!, a revue of his work performed and recorded live in 2004 -

    [​IMG]

    If anyone is aware of anything like a Gus Kahn Songbook, please, let us know!
     
    Last edited: Mar 9, 2021
  15. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    The Times Square shooting is particularly notable but he didn’t involve it in any significant way, plot-wise (imo), say the way Hitchcock did with San Francisco (Vertigo) or Bodega Bay (The Birds). Maybe that’s unfair. It was Kubrick’s second full length feature. He would give NYC a go again with Eyes Wide Shut but the seedy West Village shots and wintertime midtown shots in that one feel like it might be any bustling metropolis. A Clockwork Orange, as I recall, felt like it might have been shot in London but specifics of locale was evidently not of concern to Kubrick, in terms of its reputed appeal. Kubrick was exploiting locale for his intension and his overall vision. There’s no doubt to locale in Killer’s Kiss. But you clearly couldn’t put any of Kubrick’s footage in Anthony Mann’s Side Street or Mackendick’s Sweet Smell of Success, for example (two great NYC Noir films of the post-war era). K never includes generic location shooting or resorts to the stock footage inserts still in use by Hollywood hacks at the time. Kiss is clearly Kubrick’s New York. WatchTCM has it back up, btw.

    [​IMG]
    exp. March 20th
     
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2021
  16. jjhunsecker

    jjhunsecker Senior Member

    Location:
    New York city
    I actually saw it as an "extra" on Criterion's blu-ray of "The Killing", Kubrick's next film
     
    NickySee likes this.
  17. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    The Killing. One of the greatest collection of losers believing in easy street ever put on film. The movie would be a 10 in my book if it wasn’t for the terrible music. God, is it awful. And yeah, I understand that in many ways The Killing is a send up of countless Noir dramas that littered the post-war era but it’s always a self-aware send up. From dialogue to character types to situational cliches Kubrick plays fast, loose and sardonic with Crime Drama conventions and has a ball while he’s doing it. But man, those trumpets!

    Anyway, thanks. Got my midnight special. :-popcorn:
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2021
    Carl Swanson likes this.
  18. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Getting around to Roses now. This 1998 interview with lead actress, Patricia Neal, just reminded me.


    An Act of Love, The Patricia Neal Story mentioned during the interview is up on The Tube.
     
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2021
  19. Carl Swanson

    Carl Swanson Senior Member

    HBO Max has a TCM "hub" with a pretty good lineup.

    EDIT: Anyone here familiar with Kanopy? Ad-free, 10 viewings per month limit, free if you have a library card at one of their connected libraries, which include Los Angeles County.

    VERY eclectic selection.
     
    zephyr25 likes this.
  20. BroJB

    BroJB Large Marge sent me.

    Location:
    New Orleans
    Watched this last night. Definitely more than a few flashes of Kubrick's nascent genius.

    Good performances from an unknown cast and New York looks amazing as captured in this film.

    Enjoyed it a great deal.
     
    NickySee likes this.
  21. BroJB

    BroJB Large Marge sent me.

    Location:
    New Orleans
    Yep, I've seen some cool things on that service. Most recently, a good doc on Suzi Quatro called Suzi Q.
     
  22. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    [​IMG]
    Diary of a Country Priest (1951, Robert Bresson) expired

    This Criterion Collection title never streamed on FilmStruck nor has it made an appearance on the Criterion Channel since the launch of that. But I caught most of Diary on the TCM channel last night and got exited about the prospect of an inspired thread entry. Most YouTube reviewers seem tongue-tied, bored, put-off and/or generally annoyed at even having to consider the film - which, in turn, put me off. The 60 second single shot above is the most articulate thing I could find. Any additional content for the uninitiated will have to remain unknown as (once again) TCM has pulled it from its On-Demand (WatchTCM) channel. If they put it back up perhaps I'll venture a review. Shame, since no other major service has (imo) one of the greatest films ever made available to stream. There is a StudioCanal version (w/English subs) streaming for anyone curious. Movies indisputably in the public domain had to have been exhibited before 1926. Another 25 years and anyone can have at it. Ha
     
    Last edited: Mar 16, 2021
  23. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Need to make a slight correction here:

    All the WatchTCM titles stream from their app via smart phone or tablet with little or no issues (not sure about Roku, Fire Stick, etc.), however they pick certain titles to block from streaming on a web browser. Just saw numerous complaints on their message board from folks wanting to view films with their PC/laptops. Either they haven't been able to view any films or, like me, find film listings with no option to Play or Add To Watchlist. I can only deduce that they are trying to prevent piracy as it seems to be happening primarily with the more prestigious titles. Can't be merely a contractual issue as the same titles stream perfectly well on my other devices. But who wants to watch a good classic on a cell phone? Oi.
     
  24. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    [​IMG]
    Make Me A Star (1932, William Beaudine)

    Think The Jerk meets A Star Is Born. It was one of the titles available to watch on my desktop today. Stuart Erwin is the jerk from the sticks dreaming of making it big in Hollywood and Joan Blondell is a working studio regular who feels sorry then ends up mentoring the hapless Erwin to success. The performance from Erwin is one of the most deadpan earnest boob trips you're likely to see - even from the likes of Harold Lloyd. The Erwin-Blondell chemistry is simultaneously off and touching. And the pace, which starts out slow and rather pathetically, just gets broader and more pathetic. But in this one instance it's a good thing. Recommended. Expires April 1st (of course).
     
    Steve Litos likes this.
  25. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    The remedy for watching WatchTCM on PC's is to download an android emulator (like Bluestacks), sign in to GooglePlay and download the WatchTCM app (login with your provider sihn in info). The resolution doesn't initially look optimal through the emulator but at least you watch all the listings with no problem.
     

Share This Page

molar-endocrine