The TCM Ten
A good first half of the week and a more ho-hum, standard second part. Really nothing interesting going on here elsewhere. If anyone’s wondering, the current header is taken from the film Privilege. As always, all times are EST and program days begin at 6:00 AM.
Saturday August 23 - Laurel & Hardy
Sunday August 24 - Henry Fonda
7:30 AM Let Us Live (Brahm, 1939) - BW-68 mins. - Fonda plays one of two men convicted and sentenced to death for a murder they didn’t commit. Maureen O’Sullivan and Ralph Bellamy work to catch the real killer before the sentence is carried out. I’ve enjoyed some of director John Brahm’s other work so this might be worth a look. Based on a true story, the film is not on DVD. It was made for Columbia.
2:00 AM Welcome to Hard Times (Kennedy, 1967) - C-103 mins. - I was really interested to see that E.L. Doctorow, noted author of Ragtime and other historical novels, wrote the source book for this film, which was adapted and directed by Burt Kennedy. Fonda plays a weak town mayor who allows a violent stranger to wreak havoc, struggling to maintain any sense of order as a result. The plot itself doesn’t sound particularly unique in the western genre, but Fonda excelled at this kind of role. Several well-known faces and names are in the cast, including Keenan Wynn, Aldo Ray, and Warren Oates. Looks to be a Warner Bros. title now, via MGM. It’s not on DVD.
4:00 AM Wanda Nevada (Fonda, 1979) - C-107 mins. - As of now, this is Peter Fonda’s last directed film (only his third total). He got his father to play an old prospector. It’s a small role, but TCM has used it as a welcome excuse to air the film on Henry Fonda day. Brooke Shields actually plays the title role here, a young orphan won in a poker game by star Peter Fonda. A little Paper Moon-ish, maybe? The movie’s reputation is quite poor, and probably a big reason as to why Fonda hasn’t directed since. A DVD was released in Spain, but nothing yet in R1. The original American distributor was United Artists so MGM should control home video rights.
Monday August 25 - Ingrid Bergman
6:00 AM Stromboli (Rossellini, 1950) - BW-107 mins. - The first of five straight collaborations between Bergman and director Roberto Rossellini. The scandal that erupted was perhaps the most notorious adultery-related episode to ever hit Hollywood. I’ve seen the second of their films, Europa ‘51, but not this one, and it’s been a little while since TCM aired it. Ingrid is a refugee who marries an Italian fisherman and has difficulty adjusting to the titular town and its volcano. Something to keep in mind is that TCM lists 107 minutes as the runtime, yet they only devote 105 minutes in the schedule. IMDb has a U.S. version at just 81 minutes, presumably done by Howard Hughes at RKO, though surely this will be longer than that. (I believe there’s also an Italian language version that’s shorter than the advertised 107 minutes.) I’ll probably pad the recording times a few minutes to be sure. The film may be on DVD somewhere in the world (Italy?), but I’m not sure where. It’s not been released in R1. Despite RKO originally distributing in the U.S., I believe Criterion actually will be the ones to release these Rossellini-Bergman films on DVD.
12:30 PM Rage in Heaven (Van Dyke, 1941) - BW-85 mins. - Still here? This one sounds interesting because it stars a young Ingrid and Robert Montgomery, with George Sanders in support. The plot is also intriguing - Montgomery plots to fake his own death in order to implicate his wife’s lover Sanders. I can smell the stench of mediocrity and somehow I don’t care too much. I’d still like to see it. Made for MGM, it’s not on DVD and should be controlled by Warner Bros.
3:30 AM The Yellow Rolls-Royce (Asquith, 1964) - C-123 mins. - How did Anthony Asquith, directed of films like A Cottage on Dartmoor, The Browning Version, and The V.I.P.’s, end up making this, his last film? At least it’s worth watching for an unbelievable cast that includes Bergman, Rex Harrison, Jeanne Moreau, Shirley MacLaine, George C. Scott, Omar Sharif, Alain Delon, and, wait for it, Art Carney! The gimmicky plot concerns the car of the title and three different sets of owners, focusing mostly on their heartbreak along the way. Another MGM release, not yet put onto DVD by Warner Bros.
Tuesday August 26 - Janet Leigh
2:00 AM One Is a Lonely Number (Stuart, 1972) - C-97 mins. - Golden Globe-nominated Trish Van Devere stars as a woman whose husband leaves her, causing the new divorcee to rebuild her own life. Janet Leigh and Melvyn Douglas are there in support. As an aside, Douglas is listed at 111 acting credits and his final movie was released in 1982, a year after he died. I half-expect him to pop up in everything now. One Is a Lonely Number was directed by Mel Stuart, who seemed to work mostly in nonfiction and whose name I recognized because he also did I Love My Wife starring Elliott Gould. This was yet another MGM and, now, Warner Bros. title, and is not on DVD.
Wednesday August 27 - Tony Curtis
10:15 PM Sweet Smell of Success (Mackendrick, 1957) - BW-96 mins. - Nearly all the Curtis films TCM is showing today are on DVD so I almost picked Boeing Boeing (at 5:00 PM) just because it’s not available, but then I wised up. Sweet Smell of Success is a special film and despite other movies that might be looked at as similar, there’s really nothing else like it. Curtis is such a weaselly whipping boy, and Burt Lancaster plays a character more repulsive than 90% of screen murderers. When I watched Atlantic City the other day, I was thinking about Lancaster’s performance here and how complete of a career the guy had. I still have this nagging feeling that he’s a bit underrated. And this movie is the kind you can easily watch once a year and never get tired of it. The MGM DVD is completely bare save for a trailer.
Thursday August 28 - Charlton Heston
7:30 AM The Buccaneer (Quinn, 1958) - C-120 mins. - This isn’t really something I’m interested in, but I was surprised to find it’s not easily available on DVD (and I was looking for some filler). Of note, it was the only film Anthony Quinn directed and he’s not in the cast. It was a remake of the 1938 DeMille original starring Fredric March as Jean Lafitte. Yul Brynner takes over this time and is joined by Claire Bloom, Charles Boyer, Inger Stevens and Charlton Heston as Andrew Jackson. If you like actual pirates and stories about the War of 1812, this could be your movie. It was done for and should still be owned by Paramount.
Friday August 29 - Marlon Brando
6:00 AM The Fugitive Kind (Lumet, 1960) - BW-121 mins. - Here’s a somewhat off-the-wall pick, but I’ve been interested in seeing this for awhile without actually taking the plunge. If anyone’s familiar with the film, feel free to chime in with advice. The pros, for me, are Sidney Lumet, Brando, Anna Magnani, and Joanne Woodward. However, many of those are the cons, as well, with both Brando and Magnani being inconsistently tolerable. It’s also written and adapted by Tennessee Williams, whose work I’ve never enjoyed. So I don’t know what to think, really. Drifters and lusty women in the south rarely interest me in Williams’ stories. The alternative to this broadcast is a DVD from MGM available in R1, which DVD Beaver chastised for having no supplements and not being enhanced for widescreen televisions.
August 30-September 5 (to be finished)
This weekend marks the end of TCM’s annual Summer Under the Stars, finishing up with Katharine Hepburn on Saturday and, fittingly, Spencer Tracy the day after. I like the comfort in a day full of the same actor, but there’s something to be said for variety. As always, all times are EST and program days begin at 6:00 AM.
Sunday August 31
11:30 PM A Man’s Castle (Borzage, 1933) - BW-69 mins. - I’ve heard excellent things about this film, which had been on the July schedule at one point only to be nixed before air. Spencer Tracy stars as a Deperession-era man with no job. After getting girlfriend Loretta Young pregnant (a reminder of the film’s pre-Code origin), he turns to crime. Tracy and Young really were a couple after meeting on the set (despite her being just 20 to his 33). From what I’ve read on the film and about Borzage’s delicate romanticism, it seems like a major outing. An early Columbia picture, A Man’s Castle is not on DVD. (I’m bothered by TCM’s 69 minutes of promised runtime versus the 75 in IMDb’s listing, especially since TCM originally had the latter.)
Monday September 1
8:00 PM Millions Like Us (Gilliat & Launder, 1943) - BW-103 mins. - Courtroom dramas make up the entire daytime of the channel’s schedule, leading into a tribute to the Telluride Film Festival. The Lady Vanishes screenwriters Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder made their directing debut as a team with this British wartime drama. The pair also finished up their supporting characters Charters and Caldicott, who had debuted in the Hitchcock movie and also popped up in a pair of other films. Patricia Roc stars as a woman working at an airplane factory during the war, looking for love and friendship. Gordon Jackson, Anne Crawford, and Eric Portman highlight the rest of the cast. I’m not sure who has the R1 rights, but it’s not yet released here on DVD. There is at least one version in the UK, but it seems to be out of print.
Tuesday September 2
6:00 AM The Men Who Made the Movies: King Vidor (Schickel, 1973) -55 mins. - I’m really keen on Richard Schickel’s auteur-focused series, originally airing on PBS in the ’70s and updated years later with improved clips, and TCM will be airing five episodes consecutively today. Vidor, who directed films as varied as The Crowd and Duel in the Sun, is interviewed here, as are actors Jennifer Jones and Gary Cooper. Though several of Schickel’s entries are included as supplements to Warner Bros. DVDs, this one is not. Maybe the studio will tack it on if The Crowd ever gets released. The Howard Hawks episode, available on two different DVD releases airs next and is followed by…
8:00 AM The Men Who Made the Movies: Raoul Walsh (Schickel, 1973) -55 mins. - Also not available on DVD, Schickel’s look at oft-neglected studio director Raoul Walsh, known for White Heat and High Sierra among several others, includes interview footage with the eye-patched filmmaker. The future of this special on DVD seems decidedly uncertain since most of Walsh’s major films controlled by Warner Bros. are already out. It might possibly show up on the unavailable James Cagney-Rita Hayworth film The Strawberry Blonde, assuming Warner Bros. turns its attention back to releasing in-demand catalog titles with any frequency. Episodes for Sam Fuller and William Wellman immediately follow.
Comments»
The File on Thelma Jordon is an excellent movie and long overdue on DVD. The little-seen Richard Rober is particularly good as the lusty villain.
What a great service for TCM viewers. Thanks!
I agree — was jazzed to see Tourneur’s “Nightfall” coming to TCM. Cheers!
I know Crossfire (which is playing on the 28th) is readily available on DVD. In fact, you can own it separately or on Warner’s Film Noir Vol. 2. I haven’t seen it yet but I’d like to get your opinion on it seeing as you’re a big fan of film noir. Where does this film rank in the pantheon? Or does it rank?
Crossfire has my favorite noir actors (Roberts Ryan and Mitchum) and actress (Gloria Grahame) so I can’t help but enjoy it a little. The social message agenda doesn’t play too well today, but it’s still probably an essential watch. The usual noir ingredients are mostly there, even if there’s a certain safeness in the tone and how the characters are presented. Not a lot of ambiguity really.
I do think it’s definitely worth watching, but it pales a bit in comparison to some of the harder-edged stuff.
I watched In a Lonely Place last night which I loved (first viewing). A little while later I sat down and watched Crossfire which paled in comparison. Actually I did not like it at all. The social message, as you said, does not play well today. Perhaps it did back then. It was a Best Picture nominee that year so that must tell you something about how the film’s message was taken at the time. I wasn’t very impressed with any of the performances either. Gloria Grahame, who was stunning in In a Lonely Place, was used sparingly here. Mitchum’s character was not necessary for the story. Overall, it was a mess. I also watched Detour earlier that day and that was sort of a minor mess, but still intriguing enough to pull me in.
Anyways, thanks for the recommendations. I hope to look at more soon.
I don’t think I can disagree with any of that. In a Lonely Place is one of those top 8 favorite films I was talking about in a previous post and Crossfire is going to look soggy in comparison. Crossfire just isn’t a noir I have much desire to watch again because there’s nothing interesting going on. The cast, despite Dmytryk not getting what he should from them, makes it worth seeing, but still not entirely satisfying. You’re right, it is a mess and not a good one, whereas Detour is a mess but in a good way.
Thanks. I’m definitely checking out that new documentary. I haven’t seen any commercials advertising the documentary or the pre-code films. I remember a couple months back they had a commercial advertising that Lewton doc over a period of months.
I have the new DVD for ‘The Apartment’. I am very impressed with it; cheap price, great print and a top-notch commentary.
I think next week I will be watching ‘Macbeth’, ‘Three Strangers’, and the Fuller film, ‘Underworld U.S.A.’
A few months back I asked you when you’d have your top 50 films of the seventies up and I believe you said March. Is that something near your radar at the moment? It’s my personal favorite decade and your list will probably add some more films into my queue.
The seventies are probably just behind the forties as my favorite. I’ve definitely made a point of watching some things from the decade. The list is actually not due until May so I’ve got a few more weeks. I haven’t even figured out what number one will be, but I’m sure Robert Altman will have a half dozen or so films on the list and it’ll skew heavily American.