Guest Programmer #10
Watching TCM, I was interested in the “guest programmers” Robert Osborne had on: celebrities who talked about their favorites films that were in the TCM “vault” with their comments being a “wrap-around” to showing of the films They are usually on for a month or so, introducing two films a night in a weekly show. I wondered what films I would pick if I were a “guest programmer“. As a fantasy project, I decided to figure it out. I found I couldn’t have cut it off with four shows, so I wound up with ten weeks of shows. That’s too many I know but it is a fantasy-and Alec Baldwin seemed to be on there forever . I decided to post it to see if it interested anyone. You could respond by critiquing my choices or interpretations of these films and/or by telling us what films you would select if you were a TCM “guest programmer” and what you would say about them.
I didn’t list films simply because I liked them- I grew up on Errol Flynn movies but there are none here. Instead I decided to concentrate on films along a particular theme- how we viewed ourselves and the world we lived in, as reflected by Hollywood. Tinseltown did a great job of entertaining us over the years but didn’t often take a good look at the real world we lived in. The results were interesting when it did. I also wanted to look for themes that still resonate with us today. I love old movies and they are TCM’s stock in trade. I decided to limit myself to films that came out before 1960.
The video revolution of the 80’s and beyond were a Godsend to me: I was able to fill in so many blanks in my understanding of the past and see many films I’d only been able to read about before and judge them for myself. I developed the habit of renting two films at once: one is sure to be better than the other. They usually were related in some way to each other: originals and sequels or re-makes; two films by the same actor or director; two films in the same genre or which came out in the same year, etc. The TCM guest programmer typically introduces two films in a night so this seemed to fit in.
I chose 20 American films that came out from 1928-1957. I don’t know if TCM would have all of them. They all had a general relationship to each other in that they were related to my theme of how we saw ourselves through this period but I paired them up so direct comparisons could be made between films that seemed connected in some way. Some of these films can be seen on the internet, (mostly U-Tube), in their entirety. For some of them there were only clips. You may be able to find them in your video store- if you can find a video store. I’ve provided some links: if you see “Part 1”, that means that parts 2, 3, 4, etc. are also available. U-Tube will usually offer the next part so you can just click on it. If you click on the box with the arrows pointing outwards, you can get the image “full screen”. Some of them you’ve seen before and I hope my take on them will be interesting. Some you haven’t seen, at least not in their entirety. There may be a couple you‘ve never heard of.
The past is a series of presents. The present is living history we are priviledged to witness