Converting a Favorite Movie to DVD

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This movie can be found on Amazon.com

I don't know. I agree that it's very discouraging and disheartening to hear about something seemingly as ridiculous and outrageous as people not knowing who Vincent Price was...but, after all, we're movie lovers (I know I am, and I assume that at least some of you are).

Look at our experiences with movies on the one hand: at some point in time we were first introduced to movies (probably as little kids, probably via some Disney "classic" or whatever) and for awhile we only knew about what movies we were allowed to watch (or forced to watch because it's what our parents wanted). As we grew older our tastes matured a bit, our horizons broadened...if we were still interested in movies we absorbed more of them, learning little by little about the people in them and making them. Hell, there was a time when NONE of us knew who Vincent Price was. Of course, back then (at least for me) he was still alive and performing, and it didn't take very long.

But Clark Gable took a little longer. Gene Tierney (my GODDESS!) took even longer, W.C. Fields waited until the Marx Brothers reactionaries hit in the early 70's and it's only been relatively recently that I've come to realize that Lillian Gish was quite possibly the greatest American movie actress of all time (my own opinion, of course...but arguable!).

We learned these things mostly by hit-and-miss, by whether someone's films were on tv at the time, and whether enough of them would be on so that we could come to recognize the actors.

To this day there are probably a lot of once well-known actors that even we would have trouble pointing out or appreciating, simply because the films aren't shown very often. Paul Muni? Richard Dix? Heck, even Jean Harlow is on the verge of being forgotten, and who the hell was George Arliss, anyway? (As for silents, forget about it. Those had become a painfully [meaning expensively] acquired taste from the first sound years on. Somehow everyone in the world still recognizes Chaplin, but it's almost like recognizing Mickey Mouse. Everyone knows what he looked like, but how many people could describe even one of his movies to you?)

So, from that standpoint, it's understandable that kids today may not know of Vincent Price (although it's still kind of surprising, given his horror work in the 60's...have you tried mentioning titles to them? Though I still wouldn't be surprised if they didn't know any of those...).

(Quick aside: a friend of mine was once browsing in a video store and overheard a conversation between a kid and his father. The father had chosen a video and the kid was asking about it, and the father said "It's a good movie. Humphrey Bogart is in it." And the kid asked "Who?" So the father said "You know, Humphrey Bogart," to which the kid asked "Who's Humphrey Bogart?" And the father, getting exasperated, said "Oh, you know, Humphrey Bogart!" And the kid, even more exasperated, said "NO, DAD, I DON'T KNOW. Who is Humphrey Bogart???")

But, on the other hand...we (I'm speaking here for the people who grew up in the 70's or before; 50's and 60's for me) had a lot fewer choices when it came to tv entertainment. There were only a handful of channels, there was little when it came to late night viewing. All we had were the old movies. That's where we got our exposure to most of this, that's where we learned who the actors were. Sure, we went out to the show and saw "Goldfinger" or "The Exorcist," but when we got home that night we tuned in and watched an old Errol Flynn or Spencer Tracy flick. And we got to know Errol and Spencer as well as we knew Sean Connery or Linda Blair. And, by the time we were that kid's age, we certainly knew who Bogart was.

Nowadays, with the advent of cable, there are a lot more choices for people...which means that kids, if they like (and most of them do) can simply and completely tune out older stuff. Black and white films = old = not nearly as good. Unrealistic. Not nearly as action-packed. Thought-provoking = boring.

And, for you colorizers out there, I should mention that colorizing a film doesn't make it new. It just makes an old film into an old film that someone's taken crayons to. It's still an old, boring film to them. You guys are just adding to the problem, and you're probably just looking silly to the kids. Even they know crayons when they see them.

(And all of the above, of course, applies equally to films in true color. Old is old.)

Kids aren't watching old films today because they can choose not to. Kids are watching exactly what WE would have been watching back then, had we been given the choice, and we'd have been just as ignorant back then as they are today. Kids aren't watching old films today because there's no compelling reason for them to do so, and will never again be. There's a scant few of them, of course, that actually get interested in film and look into the history, but otherwise it isn't going to happen.

We had a lot of film history FORCED on us...and were all the better for it. But they can avoid it entirely, should they choose...and they do.

Eclecticism is my Gospel, but I must continue to tirelessly preach it because the easy way out is for people to limit themselves to only what they like at the moment. And they, and we, are all the poorer for having that many fewer intelligent voices in the discussion.

Vincent Price, hell. In ten years they won't even know who Robert De Niro was.

(By the way, has this turned into the ULTIMATE off-topic thread, or what? lol)

I find even though I have loved classic movies for many years there is always something 'new' out there (case in point - this movie, 'The Keys of the Kingdom'). I am ever grateful for TCM bringing these wonderful classics to us.

And, for my part, I try very hard to ensure these legends remain alive. I introduced my nieces to classic movies and they, too, were hooked. And, while some say they get 'bored' during a monochromatic film, I dare them to watch one of the classic dramas of the 40's without getting totally caught up in the wonderful acting, dialogue and finese of the picture!

And, though the original post was years ago, this classic film is available via TCM/Movies Unlimited at only $12.99! TCM is bringing so many wonderful films 'out of the vault', I'm thrilled!

http://turnerclassic.moviesunlimited.com/product.asp?sku=D52207

'There’s a name for you ladies, but it’s not used - Outside a kennel! (Crystal Allen in The Women)'