MovieChat Forums > Titanic (1953) Discussion > NBC Saturday Nigh at the Movies

NBC Saturday Nigh at the Movies

posted 16 years ago by Bud_Brewster
7 replies | jump to latest

I saw this wonderful movie on NBC Saturday Night at the Movies in the 1960s. I have vivid memories of the introduction provided by actors Barry Sullivan and Clu Gulager (both dressed in tuxedos) as they told us about the great movies we'd be watching in the coming months on NBC Saturday Night at the Movies.

"Titanic" was the second movie to be shown on NBC Saturday Night at the Movies, one week after the premiere film, "How to Marry a Millionaire".

Many of the 20th Century Fox movies they showed during those first few seasons are still personal favorites of mine. Does anybody else have fond memories of this network series and the movies they presented each Saturday night?

And if “The Day the Earth Stood Still” is a favorite of yours, click on the link below and say hello to folks who feel the same way you do.
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[–] dish55 16 years ago

Yes, I remember seeing THE LONG HOT SUMMER on NBC SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES, and a few years later HEMINGWAY'S ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG MAN. Other films I remember watching with my Dad (I know they were on Saturday nights because my Dad worked nights during the week) were O. HENRY'S FULL HOUSE, RALLY 'ROUND THE FLAG BOYS and THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK.

[–] hobnob53 16 years ago

I remember The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Enemy Below among the many Fox films on NBC's Saturday Night at the Movies. In some cases, I even remember the places where they cut away for commercials!

The only bad thing was that they refused to run the CinemaScope films among them as they were shot, i.e., widescreen. Instead, they developed the infamous "pan and scan" process we all grew up watching in the 60s and 70s. (I did not see some of these films in widescreen until the 1990s or 2000s!) Did you know that various people at Fox shared a special Academy Award in 1961 for developing "a system of decompressing and recomposing CinemaScope pictures for conventional aspect ratios"? This was done in preparation for showing these movies on NBC. One award they should revoke! Thank God for letterboxing.

Of course, Titanic and many of the others weren't in 'Scope anyway, but in any case, we have some fond memories of that great NBC series.

[–] mmeade1215 16 years ago

God, I loved "Saturday Night At The Movies"! I spent Saturday nights at my grandparents' house when I was a child and we hardly ever missed one. Remember the opening credits with the camera running along a brightly-lit theater marquee? Today when there are movies running day and night on TMC, AMC, etc., we can't imagine the thrill of watching a real movie on TV instead of a half-hour show.

And I vividly remember "Titanic". I was too young to know who Barbara Stanwyck and Cifton Webb were and I had to have it explained to me by my grandmother that it was a true story. Naturally, being a litle boy, I identified with Norman and I can still recall how shocked and upset I was when he and his father actually died! I was still at an age when I automatically expected every story to have a happy ending. It was kind of like "welcome to the real world, kid".

[–] Alfriend 15 years ago

Thanks for the memories Bud. NBC Saturday Night at the Movies was the highlight of the week for me growing up. It was quite the big deal with my sister and I. It seemed like one great movie after another. Second to that for me was "Million Dollar Movie"!

[–] teaandoranges 15 years ago

God we were lucky we grew up when watching a movie on TV was a big experience! I too remember Saturday Night at the Movies usually watching it with my grandmother because my parents went out on Saturday Nights (usually to a glamourous nightclub) I imagine that's why a lot of us are old movie freaks after having seen them and having the stars explained to us by our grandparents and parents.

When you buy a dog you buy a small tragedy.

[–] Jaynrand 15 years ago

Great! I remember seeing this movie on NBC's SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES, however, Bud, I remember that it was the third presentation. The second was THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO - and during the summer they reran them in the same order....MILLIONAIRE, SNOWS, and then TITANIC!!

[–] ScopeWatcher 12 years ago

Even at that age -- maybe eight -- I preferred being taken out to a movie theatre on Saturday nights. However, I was quickly hooked on this NBC film slot if I were at home. Not only did I love the sensual photography and editing of the opening sequence (that montage of closeups of theatre marquee light bulbs!), but I developed my first sense of distinction among different studios by noticing how many of the NBC SATURDAY NIGHT features happened to be 20th Century-Fox films. And the important thing for me about that was those Saturday-night Fox telecasts slowly deepening my love of the Fox logo fanfare ... especially when extended for the CinemaScope logo.

Dawdle though I would, my parents usually trundled me off to bed about halfway through SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES. (So for years, the opening and the first half of pictures like THE BRAVADOS left me determined to see the whole thing someday!) Somehow two of the movies I remember being allowed to watch in their entirety -- to my great reward -- were THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and TITANIC. It's TITANIC which led me to this thread tonight.

On the 100th-anniversary weekend earlier this month, my wife and I ended up viewing the James Cameron film and the 1958 A NIGHT TO REMEMBER in the same day. Earlier tonight we watched the '53 Fox TITANIC (one of the DVDs which my wife chose from the large collection of a late friend of mine). Even though Negulesco's version is the least lavish and detailed of the three, I found it gratifying that my less-analytical spouse still appreciated it.

I'm sorry we saw this version last of the three. But we'll hang onto THIS disc.