Yesterday, I gave my wrap-up of Thursday, Day 1 at the TCM Classic Film Festival.  Today, on to Friday, the first full day at the festival.

We started the day with a beautiful digital print of King Kong (1933) at Grauman’s Chinese theater.  Leonard Maltin was on hand to introduce the film.  He pointed out that we were about to see King Kong where it had originally premiered 77 years earlier.  You can hear the full audio here:

Leonard Maltin introduces King Kong

The film, of course, was fantastic.  What they were able to accomplish in 1933 without CG is phenomenal.  Someone tell me, why do we use so much CG nowadays?

Josh and I lamented the Peter Jackson version of King Kong.  It had such potential.  I wonder why he thought it necessary to tell the story in almost 3 hours when Merian C. Cooper did the story just fine in only 90 minutes.  There’s a great film in PJ’s footage, it just needs to be cut together.  If you haven’t seen the original King Kong, rent it!

Next we went back to Club TCM at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel to hear A Conversation between Peter Bogdanovich and Leonard Maltin.  This was the highlight of the event.  As you may know if you follow this blog or my twitter account, I have recently developed an appreciation for Bogdanovich’s films – Paper Moon being my favorite – and it was fascinating to hear stories about the productions of his most popular films.

Peter Bogdanovich is one of our last living links between old and new Hollywood.  He spent hours and hours interviewing all of the great filmmakers of the 30′s and 40′s.  He wrote a book called Who the Devil Made It in which he printed his interviews with such greats as Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, and Fritz Lang.  I went home and ordered the book that night and have begun reading it.

I recorded the audio but sadly, the PA system wasn’t great in the room so it is very echo-y.  I won’t be posting it.  But you can look up Peter Bogdanovich on youtube.com and see him tell stories of these great filmmakers and see him do impressions of each of them.  He’s quite impressive.

Mr. Bogdanovich was asked about current Hollywood films.  He said that it used to be that genre films such as horror, action, sci-fi, etc… were the “B” pictures and films about people were the “A” pictures.  Most of the money in Hollywood was spent on those films.  But in the late 70′s, with the advent of the Blockbuster (Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind), there started to be a shift.  The “B” pictures became the “A” pictures.  Now all the money in Hollywood is spent on genre films and barely any money is spent on films about people.  The indie world is just about the only place making films about people.  I thought this a fascinating point.

As always, Josh and I advocate the thinking man’s genre film – such as Jaws, Star Wars, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  Unfortunately, with movies like Transformers and Clash of the Titans, all the effort is spent on the spectacle and no effort is spent on the story.  Tell me you can see a difference between Transformers and Jaws, right?  I suppose the average movie goer can’t and that’s why we’re in the mess we’re in today with brainless summer blockbusters.  (Of course, there are exceptions as in The Dark Knight.  These are the films we should be supporting.)

One final comment Mr. Bogdanovich made was his frustration with film editing today.  He said directors used to hide their presence by making their cuts invisible.  Now they call attention to it as if yelling, “Look Ma, I’m directing.”  So true.

Josh and I briefly met Leonard Maltin after the discussion.  Josh asked him if we could be expecting any more Disney Treasures.  He said no.  Apparently the current administration at Disney has no interest in the classics.  That is a terrible shame.  But Mr. Maltin was grateful for the 9 years he was able to work on the Treasures.  I’m grateful for them too.

After that, we saw The Producers (1968) back at the Grauman’s Chinese.  It was introduced by Mel Brooks.

I had never seen The Producers so I had no idea what to expect.  I was pleasantly surprised by just how funny it was.  Gene Wilder stole the show for sure.

Check out some video of Mel Brooks during the discussion before the film over at TCM.com.

Then we went over to the Egyptian and saw Casablanca (1942.) We were excited to find that Peter Bogdanovich was introducing the film along with Paul Henreid’s daughter.  Henreid played resistance leader Victor Laszlo.  Hear the audio:

Peter Bogdanovich discusses Casablanca with Paul Henreid’s daughter.

Finally, we closed the night at a 9:30 screening of Top Hat (1935), starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.  I had never seen the film before – the only scene I had seen was shown in The Green Mile – “Heaven, I’m in Heaven…”  I believe the song is called Cheek to Cheek.  I thoroughly enjoyed the film.  It’s definitely one of the best Fred and Ginger movies.

Robert Osborne, the on air host of TCM, was on hand to introduce the film.  Every time we saw him, he was always swarmed by adoring fans.  He was a rock star at this event.  Every time he introduced a film, he received a standing ovation.  Check out the audio here:

Robert Osborne introduces Top Hat

That’s it for Friday.  See our Friday tweets below:

Jeremiah:

• Going to see King Kong (1933) at the Chinese Theater in a little over an hour. Holy crap. #tcmff
• At Grauman’s Chinese Theater to see King Kong. Check out my recent post about it. #tcmff http://bit.ly/dBKKZM 9:57 AM Apr 23rd
• Overheard at Chinese. “Oh you’re a screenwriter? My grandparents’ story would make a great movie!” Never say this to a screenwriter #tcmff 10:03 AM Apr 23rd
• Cool to see @leonardmaltin introduce King Kong at the Chinese Theater. Got some cool audio to share. Kong premiered at the Chinese! #tcmff 12:07 PM Apr 23rd
• About to see a discussion between Peter Bogdanovich and @leonardmaltin. Stoked. Recently discovered Bogdanovich’s brilliance. #tcmff 12:56 PM Apr 23rd
• The highlight of the festival so far was hearing Peter Bogdanovich discuss film. #tcmff 2:19 PM Apr 23rd
• Seeing The Producers at the Chinese Theater. #tcmff Mel Brooks is supposedly here. 4:25 PM Apr 23rd
• M Brooks giving anecdotes about The Producers. #tcmff Dustin Hoffman was originally cast for a role in the film. Did The Graduate instead 5:02 PM Apr 23rd
• Really enjoyed The Producers at Grauman’s Chinese. Gene Wilder makes the film. #tcmff #tcmfest 6:40 PM Apr 23rd
• At the Egyptian to see Casablanca. Check out my recent blog post on the history of the Egyptian. http://bit.ly/aX1mFz #tcmfest #tcmff 6:42 PM Apr 23rd
• Casablanca about to start. Bogdanovich is here!!! #tcmfest #tcmff 7:07 PM Apr 23rd
• Casablanca was incredible. A dream to see on the big screen. Seeing Top Hat now. Robert Osborne is introducing it. #tcmff #tcmfest 9:33 PM Apr 23rd
• Top Hat. Estaire and Rogers were fantastic. Loved it. That’s it for day 2. Watched 4 movies today. “Heaven… I’m in heaven…” #tcmff 11:20 PM Apr 23rd

Josh:

• About to see King Kong at Grauman’s Chinese Theater. So nice! #tcmff http://twitpic.com/1hsngw 9:55 AM Apr 23rd
• King Kong was fun. Next up: @leonardmaltin and Peter Bogdanovich discuss something. I assume his career, but who knows. #tcmff 12:58 PM Apr 23rd
• Peter B on how O. Wells convinced him 2 shoot Picture Show in B&W. “B&W is an actor’s best friend. Name 1 good performance in color.” #tcmff 1:07 PM Apr 23rd
• Peter B on today’s directors: “Everybody today wants you to notice the cuts. They’re showboating. Look, ma! I’m directing!” #tcmff 1:22 PM Apr 23rd
• Not sure if this is a scoop or not, but @leonardmaltin just told me that there will be no more Disney Treasures DVDs. Sad. #tcmff 2:39 PM Apr 23rd
• Bogdanavich on the industry today: Genre films used to be the B pictures. Today that’s all they spend money on. #tcmff 3:48 PM Apr 23rd
• Grauman’s Chinese to see The Producers with Mel Brooks Q&A. #tcmff 4:29 PM Apr 23rd
• Left The Producers a little early to get in line for Casablanca at the Egyptian. One of my top 5. Endlessly rewatchable. #tcmff 6:45 PM Apr 23rd
• Bogdanavich in the house! He’s going to talk about Casablanca. I’d show up to hear him talk about dirt! #tcmff 7:08 PM Apr 23rd
• Wow. Casablanca on the big screen was amazing. Such a brilliant film. #tcmff 9:29 PM Apr 23rd
• Just saw Top Hat. My favorite Astaire-Rogers film. I want to be Fred Astaire. That guy could dance like no other. #tcmff 11:22 PM Apr 23rd