The TCM Ten 10/13-10/19 October 12, 2007
Posted by clydefro in : Classic Films , trackback
Between a day for biopics here and another for horror movies there, TCM isn’t making things easy for me. I’ve been on the run and hiding out, so no time to contribute on the home front. Salvation arrives next week in the form of Louis Malle and increasing birthday candles. As always, all times are EST and program days begin at 6:00 AM.
Saturday October 13
8:30 AM The Locket (Brahm, 1946) - BW-86 mins. - Director John Brahm is being semi-celebrated with a DVD set of three of his films from Fox this month. He also directed this noirish story of a bride and groom the night before their wedding. Layered in flashbacks, the groom (and the audience) learn of bride Laraine Day’s past with three men, including Robert Mitchum. Sounds lurid. A Warner Bros. property via RKO. Preceded by the infamous I Married a Communist (aka The Woman on Pier 13), also starring Day.
8:00 PM The African Queen (Huston, 1951) - C-105 mins. - The competition for most headscratchingly unavailable R1 title is thinning and Huston’s Bogie-Hepburn pairing remains firmly at the top. Paramount usually blames a lack of quality elements and the expense of restoration, but maybe they can put some of that Transformers money into this. Meanwhile, TCM icon Robert Osborne and worst..Essentials..host..ever Carrie Fisher will add their predictably brief thoughts in this week’s installment of The Essentials.
Sunday October 14
10:30 PM Footsteps in the Dark (Bacon, 1941) - BW-97 mins. - Errol Flynn as a high society mystery writer/crime solver who writes pseudonymous stories about his own family. I haven’t seen this, but it sounds intriguing and I tend to enjoy films that mix comedy and mystery. Why don’t they still make those, I wonder? Like most of Flynn’s films, this was made for Warner Bros. No DVD release yet, but maybe in their Flynn Vol. 3 or 4 set.
4:15 AM Vampyr (Dreyer, 1932) - BW-75 mins. - Image released this in R1 over nine years ago now, but the upcoming Masters of Cinema R2 DVD should be a significant improvement, using a new HD transfer. Also, Criterion apparently have their own edition planned. I’m not sure what print TCM plans to show, but it might worth tuning in or recording to find out.
Monday October 15
9:00 AM Boys’ Night Out (Gordon, 1962) - C-112 mins. - This is from the director of Pillow Talk and stars James Garner, Kim Novak, and Tony Randall. It’s a comedy about four guys, three married, who rent an apartment together and stock it with a beautiful young woman. Sounds lurid (ha!). They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore, for better or worse. Not available on DVD, released theatrically by MGM, making it controlled by Warner Bros.
Tuesday October 16
9:30 AM Disraeli (Green, 1929) - BW-87 mins. - George Arliss won an Academy Award for his portrayal of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, but I must admit that I’m a little more curious to see a very young (and blonde) Joan Bennett, who co-stars. Director Alfred E. Green was incredibly prolific, if not particularly discriminating. He has 113 directorial credits on IMDB, ranging from a silent short in 1916 up to episodic television in 1958. Disraeli isn’t on DVD, but you have to think Warner Bros. will release it at some point. If nothing else, the people who buy every major Oscar-winning film would probably pick it up.
Wednesday October 16
9:15 AM The Affairs of Martha (Dassin, 1942) - BW-67 mins. - Jules Dassin, who’d go on to bigger and better films, has said that he didn’t much care for the early MGM work he did so I can’t say how good this particular movie might be. Dassin’s involvement is really my main source of interest. It’s apparently a comedy about a servant who writes a novel about her employers. DVD rights are controlled by Warner Bros. and since I don’t see how they’d fit this in any conceivable box set, it might be sitting on their shelf for awhile.
Thursday October 18
8:00 AM The Unfaithful (Sherman, 1947) - BW-109 mins. - I’m anxious to dive into this one. Ann Sheridan stars in a film noir/melodrama co-written by David Goodis (who, as I’ve mentioned before, wrote the source novels of Dark Passage and Shoot the Piano Player). The plot sounds oddly similar to The Letter, a very good Bette Davis film directed by William Wyler. That movie is on DVD, but The Unfaithful isn’t. Both were made by Warner Bros.
1:30 AM The Fugitive (Ford, 1947) - BW-100 mins. - The last time TCM showed this, I wrote about the film and enjoyed it quite a bit. Henry Fonda stars as a persecuted priest in Mexico. John Ford was said to have considered it a favorite. I can understand why and could see it being at least one of the director’s ten best films. A new R2 DVD will be released next month, but only available in a four film set from Universal that also includes Wagon Master and two titles already released in R1 - The Informer and Mary of Scotland. Warner Bros. should control the R1 DVD rights, as the film was made for RKO.
Friday October 19
8:00 PM Mark of the Vampire (Browning, 1935) - BW-61 mins. - Tod Browning’s film was released last year in the Warner Bros. Hollywood’s Legends of Horror set last year, but it’s not available for purchase individually. Not being a big horror buff, I really enjoyed this film more than the others in the set. Bela Lugosi appears as a vampire, sort of. I can see where some might be put off by the ending, but I think that’s why I liked the film as much as I did. There are some interesting silent Lon Chaney films showing later on in the night, including The Unknown, from 1927 and co-starring Joan Crawford.
Comments»
no comments yet - be the first?