TV and Movies

[Oznell]

In the guide it's listed as both "A Night at the Movies"  and as "Merry Christmas".  But anyway, you can find it simply by turning on at 6:45 Eastern tonight.

It's a special that will have clips of all the classic Christmas movies, so if you are missing some this season, at least you can see little bursts of your favorites in this.

Unfortunately, I've seen two of this type of show in the past few years, one of which wasn't that good.  I can't remember if it was this TCM one or not!  The guide does not list who narrates it or anything, so can't really vouch for that either.

Here's hoping it's cram-packed with seasonal goodies.  If it doesn't show the final scene of "It's A Wonderful Life",  where Jimmy Stewart famously winks, and smiles the most beatific, joy-filled smile the film camera has ever seen (except maybe Cicely Tyson's) then it's not worth its salt!

[Gspgirl]

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@Oznell wrote:

In the guide it's listed as both "A Night at the Movies"  and as "Merry Christmas".  But anyway, you can find it simply by turning on at 6:45 Eastern tonight.

It's a special that will have clips of all the classic Christmas movies, so if you are missing some this season, at least you can see little bursts of your favorites in this.

Unfortunately, I've seen two of this type of show in the past few years, one of which wasn't that good.  I can't remember if it was this TCM one or not!  The guide does not list who narrates it or anything, so can't really vouch for that either.

Here's hoping it's cram-packed with seasonal goodies.  If it doesn't show the final scene of "It's A Wonderful Life",  where Jimmy Stewart famously winks, and smiles the most beatific, joy-filled smile the film camera has ever seen (except maybe Cicely Tyson's) then it's not worth its salt!

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They played this last year and about 2 weeks ago. 

[Oznell]

Oops, I'm watching now, and this IS the special I thought wasn't that good.

Underwhelming.  Looks like it was made on a shoe-string, no magic.  Extraneous, banal music playing in the background that doesn't relate in most cases to the films being discussed.

Has the look of a project done by people not thrilled and inspired by the subject they are undertaking.  Too bad.

[stevieb]

Eh... Thanks for mentioning, but I think I'll skip the snippets... 

[cimeranrose]

I had never seen this before so I decided to watch it. The parts I liked were when Robert Mitchum's daughter talked about her dad who had made "Holiday Affair." I also liked when Karolyn Grimes talked about her experiences as the little girl in "It's a Wonderful Life" and "The Bishop's Wife." It didn't surprise me to hear that Jimmy Stewart was so kind to her. She also mentioned that Samuel Goldwyn made the decision to switch Cary Grant and David Niven's roles - I remember when Robert Osborne introduced this movie once, he mentioned that Cary Grant decided he wanted to play the angel instead of the bishop and because he was such a star he got what he wanted. Robert Osborne said David Niven wasn't too happy about the switch, but he and Cary Grant remained good friends for the rest of their lives.

I wish they would have given Karolyn Grimes about 10 more minutes at the end when they showed her in one of her rooms (in her home, I assume?) where she had a lot of memorabilia from "The Bishop's Wife" and "It's a Wonderful Life." I would liked to have seen all the memorabilia she had (especially the furniture pieces), and also have her talk about what movie it was from,  how she obtained the items, memories, etc.

[Judaline]

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@cimeranrose wrote:

I had never seen this before so I decided to watch it. The parts I liked were when Robert Mitchum's daughter talked about her dad who had made "Holiday Affair." I also liked when Karolyn Grimes talked about her experiences as the little girl in "It's a Wonderful Life" and "The Bishop's Wife." It didn't surprise me to hear that Jimmy Stewart was so kind to her. She also mentioned that Samuel Goldwyn made the decision to switch Cary Grant and David Niven's roles - I remember when Robert Osborne introduced this movie once, he mentioned that Cary Grant decided he wanted to play the angel instead of the bishop and because he was such a star he got what he wanted. Robert Osborne said David Niven wasn't too happy about the switch, but he and Cary Grant remained good friends for the rest of their lives.

I wish they would have given Karolyn Grimes about 10 more minutes at the end when they showed her in one of her rooms (in her home, I assume?) where she had a lot of memorabilia from "The Bishop's Wife" and "It's a Wonderful Life." I would liked to have seen all the memorabilia she had (especially the furniture pieces), and also have her talk about what movie it was from,  how she obtained the items, memories, etc.

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From your description, I know I saw it already. I'm curious, who's telling the truth about The Bishop's Wife? Seems like Osborne said something different from what the little girl from It's a Wonderful Life (grown up, lol) said.