Monday, August 23, 2010

I Was Monty's Double | Uncanny Resemblance between Actor & General

I Was Monty's Double is a 1958 film that broadly follows an account by M. E. Clifton James in his book of the same name. It was directed by John Guillermin, from a screenplay adapted by Bryan Forbes.

A few months before the D-Day landings during World War II, the British government decides to launch a campaign of disinformation; spreading a rumour that the landings just might take place at a location other than Normandy. The details of the operation (actually, there were several such operations) are handed to two intelligence officers, Colonel Logan (Cecil Parker) and Major Harvey (John Mills). They are initially unable to devise such a plan - but one night, Harvey sees an actor at a London theatre, who looks just like General Bernard Montgomery.

Logan and Harvey discover that the actor is M. E. Clifton James (playing himself), a Lieutenant stationed in Leicester with the Royal Army Pay Corps and that he was a professional actor in peacetime. He is called to London, on the pretext that he is to make a test for an army film, and a plan is devised that he should tour North Africa, impersonating "Monty". Note the uncanny resemblance below!

The real Monty

The actor M. E. Clifton James (playing himself), impersonating Monty.
The intelligence officer who initially recruited James was David Niven, at that time serving as a Lieutenant-Colonel at the War Office. On some prints, the title is HELL HEAVEN OR HOBOKEN, words from a speech by the title character when he forgets the prepared text and is obliged to improvise.

Monday, August 16, 2010

The Caretakers stars Robert Stack, Joan Crawford | Watch Online Free

The Caretakers is a 1963 United Artists film starring Joan Crawford and Robert Stack in a story about a mental hospital. The screenplay was adapted by Henry F. Greenberg from a story by Hall Bartlett and Jerry Paris based on the 1959 novel The Caretakers by Dariel Telfer. The film was produced and directed by Bartlett and co-produced by Paris. The Caretakers is reminiscent of the 20th Century Fox mental hospital film The Snake Pit (1948).

Joan Crawford was on the board of directors of Pepsico and Pepsi-Cola product placements include a scene at the hospital picnic, which features a wagon dispensing the soft drink.

You can make a game out of trying to spot the plug for Pepsi.

Available to watch free online:

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Who is the mysterious TCManiac?

First, I'll tell you who I am not. I am not affiliated with TCM. I am not some superbot created by software developers. I am not being paid by TCM or anyone else to dedicate my time to tweeting. I am a real flesh and blood human being. I am a real maniac for TCM. I really do keep my TV tuned to TCM 24-7. I created the TCManiacs twitter as a result of my sincere passion for watching Turner Classic Movies.

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Well, I've been a fan of TCM since its inception. As I lay flat on my back recovering from a disabling health crisis unable to do little more than watch TV and surf the internet, I found refuge watching TCM round the clock. I soon developed an obsessive habit of keeping a browser tab open for the TCM schedule and beating Robert Osbourne's introductions to finding out facts for upcoming movies. My entire day and night became defined by the TCM line-up. At the beginning of 2009 I decided to check out twitter and lucked up on some fellow TCM fans to friend. During the 31 days Oscar I decided to dedicate a twitter just to share my TCM obsession by tweeting about every movie every day of February. I was totally overwhelmed by the number of fellow TCM maniacs that became my following. Its been a WIN WIN in everyway for me. I have had the opportunity to share fun stuff with some incredible fellow classic movie lovers and bloggers. With so many followers I became committed to maintaining the twitter schedule and finding fun stuff for upcoming TCM movies.
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