The TCM Ten 5/10-5/16 May 9, 2008
Posted by clydefro in : Classic Films, The TCM Ten , trackbackDigging deep for some picks this week, but nonetheless a collection of interesting movies, I think. I’ve been enmeshed in DVD Times reviews (a missed attempt at The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Walk Hard, the entirety of the Warner Gangsters Collection Vol. 3). The August schedule is now up on the TCM site and looks to have several interesting obscurities, much better than July. But, obviously, it’s still May. Yes we can continue to sift through the listings for ten worthy films of interest. As always, all times are EST and program days begin at 6:00 AM.
Saturday May 10
6:00 PM Trapeze (Reed, 1956) - C-106 mins. - Burt Lancaster really was in the circus before becoming an actor, and here he gets to relive those days under the big top. Carol Reed, already a long way from The Third Man and The Fallen Idol, directed. Just a year before Sweet Smell of Success, the future Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) met his J.J. Hunsecker (Lancaster) in a totally different situation. Surprisingly, no R1 DVD of this well-regarded film. There is a disc in R2, though. It’s United Artists, meaning MGM has the rights.
Sunday May 11
7:45 AM The Catered Affair (Brooks, 1956) - BW-94 mins. - With a screenplay by Gore Vidal that was based on a Paddy Chayefsky play how can you go wrong. Richard Brooks, one of the more underappreciated and accomplished directors of his era, made this film about Debbie Reynolds marrying Rod Taylor, only to have their small wedding balloon to a less manageable event. Bette Davis and Ernest Borgnine co-star as Reynolds’ (unlikely) parents. No DVD, made for MGM. Warner Bros., with their remarkably vast library, should have the rights.
3:30 PM The Mating Season (Leisen, 1950) - BW-101 mins. - Director Mitchell Leisen struggled after his two best screenwriters, Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges, escaped to direct on their own. This is generally considered one of his best later efforts, and was co-written by Wilder’s writing partner Charles Brackett. Gene Tierney stars as the bride-to-be of John Lund (who, coincidentally, starred in Wilder’s A Foreign Affair). Lund’s mother is played by the dependable Thelma Ritter, who earned an Oscar nomination here, and she’s mistaken for a maid by Tierney. Strap yourself in for screwy hilarity, also with Miriam Hopkins. Made for Paramount, The Mating Season is yet to have a DVD release.
8:00 PM Frank Sinatra - A Man and His Music, Part II (1966) - C-50 mins. - Another installment of Sinatra’s concert specials. Daughter Nancy joins her papa on stage this time. Not on DVD in R1, but there is a release in R2.
Monday May 12
7:00 AM A Bill of Divorcement (Cukor, 1932) - BW-69 mins. - This was, believe it or not, Katharine Hepburn’s first film. For some reason, it seems like she started acting when the Lumieres set up shop. Regardless, Hepburn shares the screen with John Barrymore and Billie Burke. Barrymore is just out of spending 15 years in an asylum and Kate’s his daughter. The film was done for RKO, with Warner Bros. in control of the DVD Rights, but it remains unreleased.
11:30 AM Keeper of the Flame (Cukor, 1942) - BW-101 mins. - Right after Woman of the Year, Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn re-teamed with George Cukor for this movie, about a reporter and his subject’s widow. It’s an MGM picture, with Warner Bros. now controlling DVD rights. Is this the last of the Tracy-Hepburn pictures not on DVD?
9:30 PM The Merry Widow (Lubitsch, 1934) - BW-99 mins. - If possible, first watch the quartet of films in the Eclipse Lubitsch Musicals release. Then watch The Merry Widow. It’s not that the earlier movies need to be seen beforehand, but you can get a better feeling of Lubitsch’s progression from using musical numbers with frequency to making them seem like afterthoughts. As in The Love Parade and One Hour with You, this film stars Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald as combatant paramours. I do think I prefer The Merry Widow to the other Lubitsch musicals, but they all should be seen. MGM originally released this film, with Warner Bros. now controlling the DVD rights and not yet making good on their obligation to release it. The 1952 remake starring Lana Turner airs later this evening, at 2:15 AM.
Thursday May 15
6:45 AM Dirty Dingus Magee (Kennedy, 1970) - C-91 mins. - Frank Sinatra in a western? Indeed, a comedy no less. Sounds interesting, at least, with Burt Kennedy at the helm. Released on VHS, but not DVD, It was made for MGM, and now controlled by Warner Bros.
4:30 PM The Farmer’s Daughter (Potter, 1947) - BW-97 mins. - Loretta Young won an Oscar for playing the small town girl of the title, who goes to the city to be a nurse and ends up working for Congressman Joseph Cotten. TCM shows this with some frequency, but it’s not on DVD. RKO is listed as theatrical distributor, but it was a Selznick production and Anchor Bay put out the VHS. Your guess is as good as mine as to who now owns the DVD rights. MGM? Warner Bros.? My instinct says the former because MGM seems to have control over other Selznick titles, but who knows for sure.
Friday May 16
8:00 AM She Played with Fire (Gilliat, 1957) - BW-95 mins. - Also known as Fortune Is a Woman, this seems to be a little British murder thriller. Jack Hawkins, Arlene Dahl, Dennis Price, Christopher Lee in a small role, and the wonderfully named Violet Farebrother all show up in this story of an insurance investigator who gets roped into an ex-girlfriend’s devious schemes. Sidney Gilliat directed, produced, and worked on the screenplay. Sounds pretty good, actually. Looks to be a Columbia (Sony) release in the U.S., and no DVD yet released.
Comments»
You can get ‘Keeper of the Flame’ in the UK in the Warners Tracy/Hepburn set - not a great movie though IMO, probably the least of that pairs efforts.
I would like to see a couple of Nelson Eddy/Jeanette MacDonald films, notably Rose Marie and Maytime. They were the top box office draw in the 1930’s.