Saturday, June 30, 2007

What's News?

New Happenings for Classic Cinema Online
We now have a "myspace"! It's located at http://myspace.com/classiccinemaonline and is open to the public. Feel free to stop by and view the movie trailer for the weekly movie feature, which is shown on our myspace blog. If you're a myspace participant, please send us an add request, we'd love to have you as our myspace friend!

I'd like to thank Sharon R. E. Wilson, our Vice President in charge of Public Relations and Advertising, for putting together and running the myspace page. Terrific job, Sharon!

Last Week's Top 10
Attack of the Giant Leeches
Virus
Jack and the Beanstalk
Voyage To The Planet of Prehistoric Women
Long John Silver
They Call Me Trinity
Angel On My Shoulder
God's Gun
Tom and Jerry Festival
The Gun and the Pulpit

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Here's a little treat for ya...

Them!


I saw this advertised on another site and just had to post it here.

Enjoy!

Monday, June 25, 2007

Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Little Bighorn

On June 25, 1876, Lt. Col George Armstrong Custer, of the 7th Calvary was soundly defeated by the Sioux, Cheyenne, and other tribes, at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Not one to pay attention to the timing of historic events, I didn't realize how uncanny my timing was in just happening to add "The Legend of Custer" and "Sitting Bull" to the bill last week. In all sincerity, I didn't realize that we were approaching the 131st anniversary of the Battle of Little Bighorn.

Not that the movies are true to history, the accounts that I've read about The Battle of Little Bighorn and Sitting Bull all describe Chief Sitting Bull as being an all out warrior, not willing to make peace with the white man. And why the heck should he have, with officers like Custer leading men into needless battle against the Sioux and others?

From what I've read about Custer, he comes across as having been a highly prejudicial and arrogant bigot, quick to wreak his nastiness on whom he deemed as "savages", and
the movies seem to have no problem portraying Custer in such a light.

I thoroughly enjoyed both movies, myself, despite that they weren't completely accurate. Then again, they don't have to be, they're entertainment with a historical twist, weaving a fantasy into reality.

Sitting Bull (1954)

What if there was this tall, good looking and well meaning yet often demoted Army officer, Major Robert 'Bob' Parrish (played by Dale Robertson), who not only follows his orders, but stands up for the Indians and the US and Indian treaties against a lying, conniving renegade Lt Col. Custer (Douglas Kennedy), who has been demoted a time or two himself? Would Major Parrish face a firing squad for doing the right thing?

Since no good movie is without it's romantic sub-plot, let's add Kathy Howell (Mary Murphy), the General's spoiled daughter who seems more concerned about a man's rank and what he can give her than she is about the heart and soul of the man himself. In light of her fiance's repeated demotions, she does make one good point to him about her future's possibilities, though, when she tells him, "A woman want's to be proud of her husband. The way you've been going, why I'd be a barracks hag all my life!"

Will she discover true love by the end of the movie? (Do zebras change their stripes?)

And, since no romantic sub-plot is good without it's love triangle, let's introduce the handsome and famous Charles Wentworth (William Hopper), a reporter/war correspondant who happens to have the social status that Kathy is attracted to.

It's apparent in some scenes that Kathy is trying to bait her ex-fiance by being overtly affectionate with Charles in front of him, knowing that he's watching. (I guess she's trying to make him jealous, but she's the one who broke up with him because he wasn't good enough for her, so what's her problem?! If he's not good enough for, why is she trying to rub his face in her new relationship?)

I like the interaction between the ex fiance and the current fiance, and I liked the gentlemanly attitudes they both presented. I can't help but wonder if these scenes were written with the help of a woman, since their gentlemanly behavior was unreal, even for the time period in which this movie was written. (I'd love to see men act like that in real life! I'd be like melted butter all over the floor!)

As the movie gets down to business, Custer is ordered to accompany Major Parrish, who has orders directly from President Ulysses S. Grant (John Hamilton) to meet with Chief Sitting Bull concerning issues surrounding a peace treaty. Chief Sitting Bull is expecting a visit from the President, and Lt. Col Custer is supposed to be paving the President's way so that the meeting can take place, but Custer has plans of his own to attack and kill off the Indians.

As Sitting Bull awaits the arrival of the President, the nation he presides over grows restless for war against the white man for the ill treatment of their people. The only thing holding them back is the word of Sitting Bull, who wants to maintain peace at least until after his meeting with the President. When some of Custer's men shoot down a couple of Indian Scouts on order from Custer, Sitting Bull goes ahead and declares war against Custer and his men, killing off every one of them.

Meanwhile, in an effort to maintain a standard of peace and uphold the treaties, Major Parrish finds his way to Sitting Bull and advises him that Custer's actions were not of the President's intentions and leads them to safety because he knew another Army troop would soon avenge the deaths of Custer and his men by attacking the Indians. Major Parrish is later found guilty of Treason and placed before a firing squad for having done so.

Historically, the only survivor of the Battle of Little Big Horn was a horse named Comanche, who was owned by Captain Myles Walter Keogh. In the scene where Major Parrish and his "sidekick" Sam ride into the area where Custer and his men lie dead, you see a lone horse standing there among the dead. There is no mention of the horse nor credence given, but I think it's safe to assume that the horse in the scene represents Comanche, who was never ridden again after the battle and was retired to a stable in Ft Riley, Kansas. When the horse died a natural death, it's body was mounted and put on display at the University of Kansas.

I thought Sitting Bull was a good movie, despite some of it's apparent historical inaccuracies. It was entertaining enough to watch and enjoy, yet raised questions that made me want to look into history and learn a few things. It's a story, and while based on an actual historic event, it is fictional yet still serves to honor the history of the Battle of Little Big Horn.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Welcome To A New Week!

This weeks new additions, by request for films featuring specific actors, are Great Guy, starring James Cagney (My apologies, it's not a gangster movie), and West of the Divide and Texas Terror, starring John Wayne.

Last Week's 10 Most Viewed Films
Attack of the Giant Leeches
Virus
Jack and the Beanstalk
They Call Me Trinity
Long John Silver
Voyage To The Planet of Prehistoric Women
God's Gun
Angel On My Shoulder
The Gun and the Pulpit
Tom and Jerry Festival

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Last Week's Top 10

It's an interesting race this past week between Jack and the Beanstalk and Virus. These two completely different types of productions in just about every way you can imagine are neck in neck for first place with only about 100 views difference.

Here is this last week's Top 10 movies watched at Classic Cinema Online:
Jack and the Beanstalk
Virus
Attack of the Giant Leeches
Long John Silver
God's Gun
Voyage To The Planet of Prehistoric Women
They Call Me Trinity
Tom and Jerry Festival
Angel On My Shoulder
Gone with the West

Classic Cinema Online is giving birth already!

I've been doing some hard thinking about some of the content I have on this site, and you know, with a name like, "Classic Cinema Online", I really should dedicate it exclusively to cinematic productions, but I've put content on here that isn't cinematic because it's still so entertaining.

I've really felt kind of guilty for this, so to appease my conscience and get it to shut the heck up -- you know, that little voice inside can get SO annoying! -- I've created yet another blog exclusively for the media content that doesn't belong on Classic Cinema Online.

So, because of this, you'll find that some of your favorite movies and cartoons are being moved from Classic Cinema Online to Classic TV, because those movies and cartoons were made for tv.

Additionally, remember those banned cartoons I was showing on the new classic retro site that I already took down because it just wasn't working out? (In all honestly, I just wasn't satisfied with the way it looked! Yes, I admit it, I'm a typical female who changes her mind often. lol!) They'll be on there, too.

Be forwarned -- I'm still not 100% satisfied with the Classic TV site, so it may go through a few more changes before I get it just the way I like it. I did that with this site before I finally got it to look the way I liked it, for now. Eventually something on here might change, too, like our ugly forum. I'm really trying hard not to look at it because it's so ugly. UGH! I might just take it down and let you all use the shoutbox for a while, since no one is using it anyway. I see some of you have signed up but no one has actually posted anything on there yet. I know it's ugly, but I promise it won't hurt a bit! And it's free, too!

SOANYWAYS that's it in a nutshell. Enjoy the new site! The link is in the menu bar on the right.

OKAY-OKAY, for those of you who are reading this via RSS reader, here's that link: http://classictv.blogspot.com

Go on and visit it and enjoy the heck outta yourselves! :D

Friday, June 15, 2007

Here's a little treat for you. . .


METROPOLIS (1927)


Editors Note: If you have trouble viewing this movie, you may need to download the divx player which you can do by clicking here. Also, you may need to click the play arrow twice, once to start the download and once to play the movie once it starts buffering. I apologize to dial-up users, this movie may be difficult or impossible to watch if you're using dial-up.


Undoubtedly the best sci-fi movie ever made! To call this classic silent a sci-fi treasure would definitely be an understatement.

Enjoy!

Sunday, June 10, 2007

A Romantic Little Tidbit

They just don't make 'em like THIS anymore!

Saturday, June 9, 2007

TOO FUNNY!!!

I went to pull the Google reports to check the most popular movies for last week and found that last week -3337 movies were watched last week.

Huh??!

This on top of the +1500 viewers. I'm really wondering how, on Earth, we managed to end up with MINUS 3337 viewers? LMAO!

Any ideas, anyone? (How'd THAT happen???) lol...

LAST WEEKS TOP 10
(according to our stat counter)

The Gun and the Pulpit
Virus
Gone With The West
Tom & Jerry Festival
Hells House
They Call Me Trinity
The Day The Earth Stood Still

The Memphis Belle
Dancing Pirate
The Fury of Hercules

Sunday, June 3, 2007

This Week's Top 10

Our Top 10 Movies for last week were:

The Battle of Russia, Part 1 & Part 2
The Memphis Belle
Virus
Voyage To The Planet of Prehistoric Women
Long John Silver
Tom & Jerry Festival
They Call Me Trinity
Jack and the Beanstalk
The Gun and the Pulpit
God's Gun

Our Top 10 all time favorites to date are:
Long John Silver
Tom & Jerry Festival
The Gun and the Pulpit
Jack and the Beanstalk
Angel on my Shoulder
Girl From Monterrey
Virus
Voyage To The Planet of Prehistoric Women
The Memphis Belle
God's Gun

Interestingly enough, "They Call Me Trinity" was uploaded to Google last week before being shown on Classic Cinema Online, and already it's in Classic Cinema Online's top 10.