I'm an old man.  Like many old men I dwell on the past.  Sometimes the not so distant past.

I am a big fan of Turner Classic Movies.  Movies made during the depression of the thirties and the great war of the 40s.  Feel good movies that made people forget their trouble and the problems of the day.   I watch them in the evening so in these troubled times of pandemics and turbulent politics I can go to bed feeling good.

No special effects.  No gratuitous violence.  No smut.  Just good people doing nice things and stories with happy endings.  Sure there are some gangster movies but they all end with the bad guys getting their just dues.   

Of course I have some contemporary favorites like Law and Order where the bad guys sometimes win and reflects modern time or where I can leave the earth for an hour with Captain Picard and crew.

But those oldies are my bedtime lullabies.

Noel

Escapade In Japan with Jon Provost, and Clint Eastwood is one of my favorites  Noel from 1957.

1 hour ago, birdguy said:

 

No special effects.  No gratuitous violence.  No smut.  Just good people doing nice things and stories with happy endings.  Sure there are some gangster movies but they all end with the bad guys getting their just dues.   

 

Noel

I can’t say that I’ve watched a lot of the old classics but I actually watched The Sound of Music for the first time last night and enjoyed, plus it gave me some sightseeing ideas for the next time I got to Austria.

Today I followed that up and watched Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, then earlier this even I saw Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Since the virus put the kibosh on my European holiday trip this Christmas, I’ve got an abundance of time off, 19 days to be exact, with essentially nothing to do. I might as well use some of the time to watch some of the classics. Maybe I’ll venture into some Bogart next and see where that takes me.

I love watching "Always". It's like a WWII movie only in reverse, as they use WWII aircraft to bomb big fires and make them into little fires.Fantastic movie!

I'm with you. I watch TCM all the time. I don't think you're living in the past. I think movies used to be much better. Today, it's mostly formulaic pablum.

Not all their movies are good, but at least they are worth watching. I'd unplug the cable if TCM wasn't available. I don't find anything else worth watching. 

I'm with the OP as well. The movies and series that's produced these days are often eye-wateringly dumb; the plot lines are hilariously obvious and stupid and the characters have about the depth of a piece of paper. Don't get me started about how "journalists" review said cultural items.

I'm also with you Noel. One of the nice things about TCM is the ability to stream on-line. Fire up P3D on one monitor and an in-flight movie from TCM on a second monitor. It doesn't get any better than that.

If I had to choose between HBO, Skinemax, Showtime, etc., etc., the ONLY one I would choose would be TCM!!

Anything with Fred Astaire !

Or Donald O'Conner!

Noel

Or Ginger Rogers  🙂...........

Now you've triggered me. First, Bachelor Mother with David Niven and Ginger Rogers for seasonal feel-good, and Swing Time has a wonderful snow scene with the loopy "A Fine Romance" duet by Dorothy Fields. Trivia: Ginger's first movie with Fred was one dance number in the, um, aviation-themed Flying Down to Rio. So, since you "opened the door" here is an inspiring song I wrote in honor of Ginger: Think vaguely Steely Dan; Donald Fagen's wistful, nasal voice. And it's true: in dire times, people flocked to movie theaters for much better fare than we get nowadays.
 

All the bankers bailed out in twenty-nine,
But none of them hit Hollywood and Vine.
When Ginger Rogers tells you that we're in the money,
You believe that girl of mine.
Nobody was blue on Black Friday you know,
When Ginger was at RK-Ohh.
She was a one-woman antidote to national depression,
Ginger doesn't let you stay very low.

CHORUS

She did it backwards and in high heels,
You can see it in the movie reels.
A personal platinum incitement to perfection,
Is how Ginger Rogers makes you feel.

Nobody could dance like Fred Astaire,
But Ginger made the famous pair.
When she let him catch up and she fell in his arms,
Every number seems like an affair.
Together they could fly without special effects,
The secret is not complex:
She was a feather-floating charmer with a megawatt smile,
He brought the style and she brought the sex.

CHORUS

It was long ago in Hollywood and--anyway,
There's no dialogue for me to say.
I can't dance like Jimmy Stewart, I'm not rich like Howard Hughes,
And I'm happily married, by the way.
So, my friend, what a fine romance,
This Art Deco gift of ele-gance.
She's just the supple one in satin of two actors long ago,
But I believe the dance.

CHORUS

 

On the other hand, Deanna Durbin ain't bad either. Very easy on the eyes........

For my money even though she ain't no glamor girl when it comes to acting and class my pick is Katherine Hepburn.

We haven't mentioned any male stars short of Donald O'Conner and Fred Astaire for dancing.  Let me add Cary Grant, Gary Cooper and Jimmy Stewart and for versatility James Cagney in roles from gangster Al Capone to song and dance man James M Cohen in Yankee Doodle Dandy.

Noel

Edited December 23, 20205 yr by birdguy

And, don't forget Tyrone Power on the guy side (and Rudolph Valentino, and Errol Flynn, and.....)