Thursday, February 19, 2009

What the Tweeple say: Pygmalian vs. My Fair Lady! Audrey Hepburn vs. Penelope Cruz?

Pygmalion (1913) is a play by George Bernard Shaw based on the Greek myth of the same name. It tells the story of Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics (based on phonetician Henry Sweet), who makes a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering that he can successfully pass off a Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, as a refined society lady by teaching her how to speak with an upper class accent and training her in etiquette. In the process, Higgins and Doolittle grow close, but she ultimately rejects his domineering ways and declares she will marry Freddy Eynsford-Hill – a young, poor, gentleman. This play is based on Pygmalion, a sculptor from Greek Mythology. The play led to a several adaptations including two Award Winning films:

Pygmalion premiered on TCM tonight with My Fair Lady following. TCM viewing tweeple had some definite opinions on both.


Worth Retweeting

TCManiacs: RT @viste_m: New blog post: Audrey Hepburn vs Penélope Cruz http://tinyurl.com/cqyfk2

What the Tweeple say: Pygmalian vs. My Fair Lady! Audrey Hepburn vs. Penelope Cruz?

Posted by Unknown at Thursday, February 19, 2009 0 comments
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Miss Bishop & Mr. Chips | Cinemas Favorite Teachers

Goodbye, Mr. Chips and Miss Bishop Two novels that tell the story of a much-loved school teachers inspire several film adaptations over the years.

Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939 film) This is the best known screen version, starring Robert Donat, Greer Garson, Terry Kilburn, John Mills and Paul Henreid. Donat won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the lead role, beating Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, and Laurence Olivier.

Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969 film) A relatively unsuccessful musical film version appeared, starring Peter O'Toole and Petula Clark. This version moved the timeline forward to Chips; career beginning in the early twentieth century and later career covering the second, rather than first, world war. While most critics deemed the songs unnecessary, both O'Toole and Clark were universally praised for their performances and the obvious chemistry between them; O'Toole was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical.


Cheers for Miss Bishop is a film based on the novel Miss Bishop by Bess Streeter Aldrich. It was directed by Tay Garnett and stars Martha Scott in the title role. The other cast members include William Gargan, Edmund Gwenn, Sterling Holloway, Dorothy Peterson, Marsha Hunt, Don Douglas, and Sidney Blackmer.

Posted by Unknown at Thursday, February 19, 2009 0 comments
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The Children's Hour | Code changes love triangle

The Children's Hour, a 1934 stage play by Lillian Hellman was made into a film directed by William Wyler. However, because of the Production Code, the story was adapted into a heterosexual love triangle, the controversial name of the play was changed and the movie eventually released as These Three. Hellman reportedly worked on the screenplay, virtually all of the play's original dialogue was kept, and she was satisfied with the result, saying the play's central theme of gossip was unaffected by the changes. In 1961 the play was adapted, with its lesbian theme intact, for the film The Children's Hour, also directed by Wyler. This version starred Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, and James Garner,


In the play, Martha Dobie shoots herself instead of hanging herself, but the film is otherwise a quite faithful adaptation, retaining much of the same dialogue found in the play and in the 1936 film version These Three.

In an interview for the documentary The Celluloid Closet (1996), MacLaine said she and Hepburn never talked about their characters' alleged homosexuality. She also claimed Wyler cut some scenes hinting at her character's love for Hepburn because of concerns about press reaction to the film.

Posted by Unknown at Thursday, February 19, 2009 0 comments
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Blackboard Jungle Starts New Genre

Blackboard Jungle was the first of what would become a popular genre: the film in which an idealistic teacher is confronted with a class of cynical teenagers, who have disengaged from conventional schooling. As so often in later films, issues of race and class lie at the heart of the dynamics. Subsequent films that exploited the theme include: To Sir, with Love (1967; starring Poitier as a black teacher in a white school), Class of 1984 (1982), The Principal (1987), Stand and Deliver (1988), Lean on Me and Dead Poets Society (both 1989), Class of 1999 (1990), Dangerous Minds (1995), The Substitute (1996), One Eight Seven (1997), Freedom Writers (2007) and Hamlet 2 (2008).




Posted by Unknown at Thursday, February 19, 2009 0 comments
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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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