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Topic: TCM channel.

Allan Broadfield
Master Film Handler

Posts: 452
From: Bromley, Kent
Registered: Nov 2010

posted January 08, 2018 05:35 AM

Perhaps I should have headed this topic as 'The TCM channel in the UK', as I have the impression that the US version is a very different animal.
As one who scours the listings magazines for interesting and unusual film items, my main grouch about TCM in Britain is that while it shows the cream of the crop, it endlessly repeats the same material week after week.
Occasionaly i see dvd sets inspired by TCM containing subjects featuring the films of Lon Chaney and other actors that very rarely feature on the UK channel. For years they have been repeating into the ground the same old subjects, yet apparently in the US you have interesting documentaries on various subjects.
Have I got the wrong impression?

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Joe Caruso
Film God

Posts: 4105
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted January 08, 2018 10:42 AM

No, not at all - Here, films are repeated, yet they are also categorized; Noir, as example runs Sunday nights and many films are 1st-runners - Particular month/year will highlight a certain director or actor, perhaps celebrating a milestone birthday and so forth - I have written repeated requests for the same films, and certainly every one was eventually hauled out of the vault, for this I'm grateful - We do have documentaries on shorts, newreels, foreign productions and the such - Teasers, bumpers and unusual films are interspersed between some showings, making it almost a "Bijou" feel at best - I envy your BBC Channel 1, I think, as they used to air RKO shorts for a time, maybe they still do? - Cheers, Shorty

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Maurice Leakey
Film God

Posts: 5895
From: Bristol. United Kingdom
Registered: Oct 2007

posted January 08, 2018 10:48 AM

The BBC owns the rights to hundreds of RKO features which they air time and time again, usually on BBC Two.

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Maurice

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Paul Adsett
Film God

Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted January 08, 2018 02:25 PM

TCM in the USA is wonderful - no commercials! Sadly, the great Hollywood Reporter columnist Robert Osbourne, who did the intros, died last year, and will forever be missed.

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Allan Broadfield
Master Film Handler

Posts: 452
From: Bromley, Kent
Registered: Nov 2010

posted January 08, 2018 04:04 PM

I think you've confirmed that TCM is quite different across the pond.
While the BBC does run fairly regular 'classic' features, it's usually from the same group of titles.
Over the christmas period, the arts channel have run some very interesting documentaries on Chaplin, Keaton, and Laurel and Hardy, and the Talking Pictures channel runs many titles that started out as 'Quota quickies' in the thirties, films shot cheaply during the night on existing sets, to offset what the government considered a flood of American films.
Another interesting feature of the Talking pictures channel are amateur films and even package movies!

[ January 08, 2018, 05:18 PM: Message edited by: Allan Broadfield ]

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Maurice Leakey
Film God

Posts: 5895
From: Bristol. United Kingdom
Registered: Oct 2007

posted January 09, 2018 02:35 AM

Talking Pictures TV also borrow films from a well-known collector/dealer.

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Maurice

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Joe Caruso
Film God

Posts: 4105
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted January 09, 2018 09:46 AM

We occasionally have the excellent Brownlow/Gill "Hollywood", "The Unknown Chaplin" and "Buster Keaton; A Hard Act To Follow" - No doubt there will be others on Chase, Arbuckle and more - Cheers all, Shorty

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William Olson
Master Film Handler

Posts: 287
From: Poughkeepsie, NY USA
Registered: Jun 2010

posted January 10, 2018 08:27 AM

I would very much like to know if TCM has, in fact, shown the Brownlow/Gill "Hollywood". I know there are copyright issues regarding home video release. Are there no issues with broadcasting it?

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Joe Caruso
Film God

Posts: 4105
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted January 10, 2018 10:35 AM

Oh no, TCM hasn't aired them - This series was on WLIW-21 (PBS related), years ago - Fortunately, when Suncoast Video was around, I went to the local Mall and bought the VHS-set - Good thing too - Shorty

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Allan Broadfield
Master Film Handler

Posts: 452
From: Bromley, Kent
Registered: Nov 2010

posted January 12, 2018 04:18 AM

The VHS set of 'Hollywood' would have been a great buy. I recorded the series on VHS as it was first aired, but did it on LP to save on tape, which slightly compromised quality. Transfered later to DVD.

[ January 15, 2018, 11:06 AM: Message edited by: Allan Broadfield ]

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William Olson
Master Film Handler

Posts: 287
From: Poughkeepsie, NY USA
Registered: Jun 2010

posted January 12, 2018 11:53 AM

Joe Caruso, I discovered this series on public television in the 1980s. At that time, I recorded them on VHS. I still have the tapes which I also transferred to DVD. Alas, my tapes were recorded at the slowest speed and my TV reception with an antenna was fair at best. I remember SunCoast selling the VHS tapes but I passed on them. When I got my first LaserDisc player, I could have purchased the boxed set but I couldn't afford it. In retrospect, I should have bought it. Damn the cost. I'm so sorry that I didn't. This series is a definitive look at the birth of Hollywood and the movie industry in the U.S. up to the advent of sound films. The interviews with actors, directors and others who lived through it are priceless. For those of you who haven't seen it, I urge you to seek it out. I know the series was (and maybe still is) on YouTube.

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