The TCM Ten 9/8-9/14 September 7, 2007
Posted by clydefro in : Classic Films , trackback
So far, so good. Here’s this week’s installment of ten things to watch on Turner Classic Movies in the U.S. All times are EST and program days begin at 6:00 AM.
Saturday September 8
11:30 PM The Picture of Dorian Gray (Lewin, 1945) - BW & C-111 mins. - Probably one of the more popular unreleased DVD titles at this point (rights controlled by Warner Bros.), Oscar Wilde’s story of the man who only ages in a painting was adapted quite well here by Albert Lewin, who also directed. I watched this several years ago so my memory is hazy but I can remember the abrupt bursts of color really stood out, as did Angela Lansbury’s Academy Award-nominated performance.
3:15 AM Lady Windemere’s Fan (Lubitsch, 1925) - BW-89 mins. - Oscar Wilde night continues with a Lubitsch silent starring Ronald Colman. Maybe not one of the director’s absolute best silent films, but probably in the upper echelon. And it’s hard to fault any silents being shown on television, much less one by Lubitsch. Available on R1 DVD in the “More Treasures from the American Film Archives” set released by Image. EDIT: TCM have apparently altered their schedule and are no longer showing Lady Windemere’s Fan as originally scheduled.
Sunday September 9
2:00 AM I, Vitelloni (Fellini, 1953) - BW-107 mins. - Criterion released a nice DVD of this so it’s easily available, but lots of people don’t want to pay twenty or thirty dollars for something they don’t know much about it and/or might be intimidated by an Italian language film directed by someone with the reputation of Fellini. The truth is that it’s a great little movie and probably Fellini’s easiest to enjoy if you’re not very familiar with his work. The film tells the story of five friends in a small coastal town and their adjustments to adulthood, for better or worse. For the night owls, Chaplin’s Modern Times follows at four.
Monday September 10
7:15 AM The Set-Up (Wise, 1949) - BW-73 mins. - This would have been Robert Wise’s 93rd birthday and I think The Set-Up, a gritty as they come boxing movie starring Robert Ryan, is his best film. The director made it to 91 before passing away two years ago this week and TCM will play nine of his films in a row to start their day. This one is on DVD, and in the first WB Film Noir set, but I think it’s good enough to still deserve a mention. It’s kind of hard to imagine that the same guy who made this also did things as diverse as The Sound of Music, The Sand Pebbles, and The Day the Earth Stood Still. A couple of his westerns, both unreleased on DVD and controlled by Warners, are playing later in the day - Blood on the Moon at 11:15 AM and Tribute to a Bad Man at 4:30 PM. The former stars Robert Mitchum and the latter has James Cagney. Both should be worth a look as well.
8:00 PM Some Came Running (Minnelli, 1958) - C-137 mins. - Two weeks in a row I’ve picked a Sinatra film. This is one of his (and Dean Martin’s) very best. It’s also the picture where Shirley MacLaine got her Rat Pack membership card. I have to think the DVD will be released soon from Warner Bros. It’s starting to look conspicuously absent with each new box set announcement from the studio.
3:30 AM The Harder They Fall (Robson, 1956) - BW-109 mins. - Based on a novel from Budd Schulberg, this was Bogart’s last film. He plays a defeated sportswriter hired by Rod Steiger’s boxing promoter to play publicist for a new fighter. Also starring Jan Sterling, the film was released on DVD by Sony, but then inexplicably taken out of print a couple of years ago when the studio discontinued several titles, including California Split and Bonjour Tristesse.
Thursday September 13
4:00 PM The Unsuspected (Curtiz, 1947) - BW-104 mins. - Claude Rains with a starring role, alongside Audrey Totter, in an interesting little noir about a radio crime series producer who commits the “perfect crime” and then uses the case on his show. Never seen it, but sounds interesting and those two actors sell it for me. Made by Warner Bros. and unreleased on DVD.
8:00 PM Private Screenings: Norman Jewison (2007) - C-60 mins. - The debut of a new entry in TCM’s original series where host Robert Osborne sits down with a notable figure of film to discuss their career. I think maybe Jewison is sometimes regarded as a lightweight director and not terribly appreciated. Still, all things considered, he’s had a pretty nice run. There’s some dreck in there (Bogus, really?), but In the Heat of the Night remains one of my favorites no matter how many times I see it. If you remove “Windmills of Your Mind” from The Thomas Crown Affair then I love that one too and I’m a big fan of The Hurricane also. Hal Ashby, a director I’m quite fond of, edited five of Jewison’s films from the ’60s and Jewison helped him out by producing Ashby’s debut The Landlord, in 1970.
Friday September 14
12:15 PM The Shining Hour (Borzage, 1938) - BW-77 mins. - Joan Crawford, Melvyn Douglas, and Margaret Sullavan star, with support from Robert Young and Hattie McDaniel. Here’s what I know: Borzage is terribly absent on DVD and this film’s screenplay was co-written by the poet Ogden Nash. Here’s what I don’t know: whether the movie is any good. The only way to find out is watch and see for yourself. EDIT: TCM has bumped this showing in favor of a tribute to the recently deceased Jane Wyman.
6:30 PM Nightfall (Tourneur, 1956) - BW-78 mins. - I’ll definitely be watching this one, a film with so many things going for it and a stellar reputation to boot. First and foremost, it’s based on a story by David Goodis, who wrote the source novels for the films Dark Passage and Truffaut’s Shoot the Piano Player. The director was Jacques Tourneur, an RKO veteran of the Val Lewton pictures and Out of the Past. Plus it features Anne Bancroft in her film debut. That’s all I need to know. I’m in. Never released on DVD or (I believe) VHS, with rights controlled by Sony, who are too busy releasing Ghost Rider and Spider-Man 1, 2, and 3 on Blu-Ray to be bothered with this kind of film. EDIT: TCM has also taken this showing off their schedule to make room for a slate of Jane Wyman films.
Comments»
“The Unsuspected” is definitely well worth a look, and your final choice “Nightfall” has been on my radar for a while. Hopefully TCM’s print will be good.
I have to ask, too: how the heck did you manage to get Mr Hayden (from Crime Wave, right?) to fit your title banner? Very cool. Damn my technical ineptitude …
Thanks, I’m looking forward to those two. With ol’ Sterling up there (in Crime Wave), I used VLC player to make a snapshot from the DVD, enlarged it slightly and then cropped it to the point it would fit in the banner. I can imagine there’d be some better way of doing it, but that’s all I know how to do. The hardest part is deciding what to crop so that it doesn’t exceed 140 pixels high.
I hate replying to myself, but I thought it was worth mentioning that Nightfall has been taken off TCM’s Friday schedule in lieu of an all-day tribute to Jane Wyman. Disappointing, but I can’t exactly begrudge TCM paying their respects.