TCM addiction
I have to make a confession: I’m a huge fan of old or small films. Movies that nobody knows about, and some movies that are classics that everyone knows.
Turner Classic Movies and the Independant Film Channel are always on, at the Bridge (the desk where I write, a corner desk with a monitor and a TV and a bucketload of crap).
I love seeing these old movies, uninterrupted, on FILM. Yeah, you know, THAT stuff.
When I win the lottery, one of the things I will do is set up a projection room wiht an actual projector. Yeah, I’ll probably have one of the new digital things, but an actual 35mm projector will be up there. And the projection booth will be a smoking area, and the projectionist will smoke and change reels and read magazines while I watch “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “The Tale of Masseur Ichi”. The th4eater will have red velvet seats with an ashtray on one side and a cupholder on the other side, and a footrest like a barber chair.
And while I’m dreaming, it will have a Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal.
When I got cable this spring, the one surprise was getting to follow TCM or AMC in the middle of the night. Much better than the colon cleanse or buy real estate with no money down infomercials. The gray/blue glow filling the living room as a 100 year old movie graces the screen.
There was a couple of silent movies that had me to the end – one about Joan of Arc, and one about the beginning of the French Revolution. It’s good to see some really oldies getting playing time, and not forgotten.
It’d be nice if Comcast had an indie movie channel. I’m probably the only straight guy on earth who goes to Chicago to the Music Box or Landmark Century to see the only Midwest screening of this or that small house or art film. At least when I went to see In the Shadow of the Moon, I had a friend. And I dragged a cousin to McNamara’s Fog of War.
So, if I’m invited to your theater, is it BYOT or will you provide one for guests?
My theater would have fresh bandersnatchii steaks in the fridge.
We have a few of these old movies recorded on our DVR – we REALLY need to get a separate DVR and get them onto a disc. Many of these old films are not on DVD yet.
We have one movie from I think ’33 or ’35 an old Perry Mason called The Case of the Curious Bride… has OUTSTANDING footage of San Francisco when they were building the golden gate bridge! The film itself is in excellent shape – yet I can’t get it on DVD… *sigh*
There are any number of movies like this that TMC shows.
I love the tales of Masseur Ichi! Never met anyone else who did.
My dad used to be a projectionist and told of the terrifying and poisonous fires that a too-hot bulb could produce.
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