May 2008
Thursday May 1
9:30 AM Young Man With Ideas (Leisen, 1952) - BW-85 mins. - You could pretty well take your pick of Glenn Ford films TCM will be showing on what would have been the actor’s 92nd birthday. The Blake Edwards-directed Experiment in Terror airs at 3:00 PM and is followed by The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse at 5:15. I went with the Leisen picture because it sounds like an easygoing comedy-drama and has a swift running time. In the movie, Ford is a young family man married to Ruth Roman and practicing law in Montana. He’s encouraged to move to Los Angeles and continue as a lawyer there, facing adjustments that go along with newfound city life. It’s an MGM film, and Warner Bros. should have DVD rights.
3:45 AM Hot Millions (Till, 1968) - C-107 mins. - Peter Ustinov night! Quo Vadis leads off, then Death on the Nile, Topkapi and, finally, this little movie. Ustinov co-wrote the screenplay and picked up an Oscar nomination for his troubles. He also stars as an ex-convict who jumps right back into swindling, with Maggie Smith at his side. Karl Malden and Bob Newhart (!) round out the main cast. Not on DVD and released in theaters by MGM. Warner Bros. has thus far done an excellent job keeping it to themselves.
Friday May 2
6:00 AM Chance at Heaven (Seiter, 1934) - BW-71 mins. - Ginger Rogers and Joel McCrea? I really can’t resist, low IMDb score and all. It’s also pre-Code. McCrea is a gas station worker and, I believe, Ginger is his girlfriend until upturned society girl Marian Nixon shows up to movie-steal him away. I’ll keep my expectations low and enjoy the two leads. Looks to be an RKO production so Warner Bros. should control DVD rights.
Saturday May 3
12:15 AM The Scapegoat (Hamer, 1959) - BW-92 mins. - British director Robert Hamer’s penultimate film. He wrote the screenplay and Gore Vidal adapted Daphne du Maurier’s novel of the same name. Hamer is reunited with his Kind Hearts and Coronets scene stealer Alec Guinness, who plays a dual role. Guinness #1 is a Count who wants to kill his wife (played by Bette Davis) and then blame Guinness #2 for the murder. Released in the U.S. by MGM, the film is not on DVD. Warner Bros. should now have the rights.
Sunday May 4
8:00 PM Frank Sinatra - A Man and His Music (1966) - C-50 mins. - Let’s get this out of the way early in the month so I can avoid harping on it again. May 20 would have been Jimmy Stewart’s 100th birthday. May 14 will be the 10th anniversary of Frank Sinatra’s death. Instead of honoring Stewart all month, TCM chose to give him a single day of programming and devote a month’s worth of tributes to Sinatra. Warner Bros. has a big Sinatra promotion for several DVD releases and re-releases this month, as well. Each Sunday in May TCM is showing an entry in the singer’s television specials. They’re not on R1 DVD, but it looks like there is a release in R2. IMDb seems to list CBS as the company in control, and their DVD’s are put out by Paramount, but Warner released the R2 so maybe they own R1 rights, also. (They actually are, released by Warner Bros. in 1999.)
10:45 PM The House I Live In (LeRoy, 1945) - BW-10 mins. - This was a short film Sinatra appeared in, playing himself and singing the title song, that deals with religious tolerance. It’s very famous and was given an honorary Oscar. Mervyn LeRoy was even brought in to direct. It was made for RKO. That should mean the DVD rights are in Warner Bros.’ hands. However, Passport Video released a DVD called “Frank Sinatra Memorial” that has this short film on it.
Monday May 5
2:15 AM Age of Consent (Powell, 1969) - C-107 mins. - I know I picked this just the week before last, but I was away and missed seeing it. This is my reminder and the product of a somewhat slow week on TCM.
4:15 AM Pursuit of the Graf Spee (Powell & Pressburger, 1957) - C-114 mins. - Tonight (Cinco de Mayo) is also full of Michael Powell films, either solo or with Emeric Pressburger. The Edge of the World, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, and I Know Where I’m Going all air. The final film of theirs to air this evening is this one, which is also known as The Battle of the River Plate and was their next-to-last collaboration. Set during WWII, the film stars Peter Finch and John Gregson as German and British military counterparts, respectively. It utilizes actual war footage to recreate the story of a German ship being pursued by the British off the coast of Uruguay. It’s not on R1 DVD (Warner Bros., perhaps?), but can be had cheaply in R2 in an edition from ITV.
Tuesday May 6
6:30 PM The Little Hut (Robson, 1957) - C-90 mins. - Nothing like getting your hopes dashed because of some anonymous person denigrating a movie on IMDb. I hate giving credence to the reviews there at all, but seeing “Only one word can sum up this movie: DREADFUL!” when doing some basic research is still deflating. Maybe it is dreadful. I can’t say either way. I’m taking a chance because Mark Robson was a capable, if wildly uneven director and the film’s in color, meaning Ava Gardner is in color. The story is about three castaways shipwrecked on an island, played by Gardner, David Niven, and Stewart Granger. There has to be some value there, right? Right? MGM thought so when they made it, but Warner Bros. seem skeptical because the movie’s not yet on DVD.
Wednesday May 7
9:45 AM Sergeant York (Hawks, 1941) - BW-134 mins. - And this would have been Gary Cooper’s birthday, a fine month for Hollywood’s leading men. He’d be 107, but who’s counting. Sergeant York is readily available in a must-own edition from Warner Bros. (It’s one of my favorites.) Cooper always deserves a mention, though, and despite every film of his airing on TCM today being on DVD (7 in all), it’s worth pointing out that, to some people (me), the actor is more the embodiment of American movie star masculinity than John Wayne ever could be. The onscreen strengths of Wayne are also found in Cooper, but without the heavy baggage. He’s also the only actor besides Jimmy Stewart, to my knowledge, to star in films directed by both Billy Wilder and Ernst Lubitsch, and Cooper also worked with Frank Capra, Howard Hawks, Fritz Lang, and Anthony Mann.
Thursday May 8
2:30 AM The Crowd Roars (Hawks, 1932) - BW-70 mins. - I mentioned this back in early January when TCM showed it during their James Cagney month. I missed it then and you probably did, too. After devouring three Cagney-starrers in the Gangsters Vol. 3 set and a fourth film where he shows up to support Edward G. Robinson, I’m ready for more. A racing theme is on the channel this evening and Howard Hawks’ film apparently qualified for the field. Co-starring Joan Blondell, it’s from Warner Bros. and not on DVD.
Friday May 9
2:30 PM The Rack (Laven, 1956) - BW-100 mins. - Based on a television movie written by Rod Serling, the film stars Paul Newman as an American soldier imprisoned by the enemy during the Korean War. When he’s released, he faces criminal charges of collaborating with the enemy by way of being brainwashed. Lee Marvin has small supporting part, and the rest of the cast includes Wendell Corey, Walter Pidgeon, Edmond O’Brien, and Anne Francis. Made for MGM, it should now be a Warner Bros. property and is unavailable on DVD.
6:00 PM Lady L (Ustinov, 1965) - C-109 mins. - Really Sophia Loren’s film, but Paul Newman gets the second lead role. Loren is the lady of the title, who remembers her life of European love as an 80-year-old. Peter Ustinov directed, and the international cast is rounded out by David Niven, Marcel Dalio, and Philippe Noiret, among many others. Another film originally put out by MGM and not on DVD. Worth mentioning, the infamous trio of stupid 1930’s drug movies, Reefer Madness, Marihuana, and Cocaine Fiends, airs tonight starting at 2:00 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 (and from Warners in R1).
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 R1 DVD? (The film is available in Warner Bros. Tracy-Heburn Signature Collection in R2.)
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.
Sunday May 18
2:00 AM The Joker Is Wild (Vidor, 1957) - BW-127 mins. - Frank Sinatra plays real-life comedian Joe E. Lewis, whose vocal cords were cut by mobsters, leading him to a life of alcoholism and gambling. Mitzi Gaynor and Jeanne Crain are among Sinatra’s co-stars. With all this (manufactured) Sinatra hoopla from TCM and Warner Bros., one would think Paramount (rights holders on this film) might have seen such a time as a golden opportunity to put the movie on DVD. Ha! Not Paramount, not the studio who’d rather license out their titles to Criterion and crayon-crazy Legend Films than release anything from their back catalog.
Monday May 19
2:45 PM There Goes Kelly (Karlson, 1945) - BW-61 mins. - Not even having the required 5 votes for a rating on IMDb, Phil Karlson’s second film as director seems to be largely unseen. The TCM guide gives the plot as a “radio station page tries to solve a singer’s murder.” This was a cheapie made for Monogram Pictures and its lead actors Jackie Moran and Wanda McKay are not very well known. Karlson’s involvement is the only reason I’m including the movie here, but fans of the director who’s largely associated with low-budget film noir might want to check it out. I don’t think it’s on DVD anywhere.
8:00 PM Hobson’s Choice (Lean, 1954) - BW-108 mins. - Actor Tim Roth is guest programmer this month and chose some noticeably English-centric movies. His first choice is David Lean’s excellent film starring Charles Laughton as a widower who clings to his three daughters. The film won a BAFTA award for Best British film of 1955, but John Mills, instead of Laughton, received a Best Actor nomination. Strange omission there. With a release in R1 not yet on the table, it can be found in R2’s 9-disc David Lean Collection. Unless there’s a rights issue, MGM controls in the U.S., though Criterion released it on laserdisc.
1:30 AM Cathy Come Home (Loach, 1966) - BW-77 mins. - Roth also chose this even harder to find movie, a downbeat welfare drama from Ken Loach. Made as part of BBC’s “The Wednesday Play” television program, it’s not on DVD in R1, but the BFI did release it in R2. However, that DVD is out of print and very expensive on Amazon UK. It can also be had as part of the Ken Loach Collection Vol. 2 from Spirit Entertainment if you’re feeling spendy. Since it is a BBC property, any DVD in R1 would likely be distributed by Warner Bros. I wouldn’t hold my breath on that and anyone interested should probably make a point to catch this airing.
Tuesday May 20
8:00 AM The Mortal Storm (Borzage, 1940) - BW-100 mins. - 100 years ago on this date, little James Stewart was born. Disappointingly, not much has been made of Stewart’s centennial that I’ve seen. Universal is re-releasing six of his westerns in a box set, some with improved transfers and The Far Country with a widescreen aspect ratio. TCM is smart to devote the entire day to him, but every film in their tribute is already on R1 DVD except this one. Frank Borzage’s The Mortal Storm is almost a little secret among Stewart (and, presumably, Borzage) fans because it’s not terribly well known but is an excellent film. As with the same year’s The Shop Around the Corner, Margaret Sullavan gets top billing. The plot concerns a German family torn apart when the Third Reich comes to power in the early ’30s. MGM released the picture, and Warner Bros. control the DVD rights.
Wednesday May 21
9:45 AM The Easiest Way (Conway, 1931) - BW-74 mins. - A slew of early Robert Montgomery movies from the 1930’s are on tap today, which would have been his 104th birthday, and I don’t believe any are on DVD, at least in R1. In fact, that’s the entire daytime schedule, nine films in total. I liked the cast here and Jack Conway also directed Libeled Lady, probably not a bad rationale in singling this one out. Constance Bennett is the star of this romantic drama. She accepts the advances of Adolphe Menjou despite really loving Montgomery. Clark Gable also shows up in a supporting role. An MGM production, rights now held by Warner Bros.
Thursday May 22
5:30 PM The Big Sky (Hawks, 1952) - BW-138 mins. - I’m afraid I’ve never seen this one, directed by Howard Hawks and starring Kirk Douglas, but it surely seems ripe for a DVD release. The story looks to be set in the world of trappers and frontiersmen, but the title alone conjures up a vivid enough idea of what the film is probably about. Co-starring Dewey Martin and Arthur Hunnicutt, Oscar-nominated here, The Big Sky is available from France in an Editions Montparnasse release. TCM will apparently be showing the full version and not the edited one that was missing 20 minutes.
Friday May 23
4:30 PM He Laughed Last (Edwards, 1956) - C-77 mins. - Putting my trust in the capable hands of Blake Edwards, who wrote and directed this movie, I’m including this here despite the star being Frankie Laine, who I have nothing against personally other than the fact that I can’t imagine voluntarily watching a movie he was the lead in. I do love the mixing of comedy and gangster genres, but this was only Edwards’ second film (his first was Laine’s other lead film role) so my confidence is shaky. This was a Columbia title, isn’t on DVD, and is controlled by the sniveling region-coded monkeys at Sony.
8:00 PM How to Murder Your Wife (Quine, 1965) - C-118 mins. - Readily available on DVD from MGM, but worth mentioning all the same. Jack Lemmon certainly was the closest heir apparent to Jimmy Stewart that Hollywood ever had. He started out in comedies, showed a flair for more serious parts and then developed a somewhat bitter screen facade in the ’70s and beyond. Here he’s still funny, but with a hint of the pathos he handled so well. Playing a happily single cartoonist who marries Virna Lisi while he’s intoxicated (what a very welcome mistake), Lemmon excels as a guy who inadvertently comes under suspicion for killing his wife due to his comic strip fantasies. The screenplay was by George Axelrod, who also wrote the adaptation of The Manchurian Candidate and the original Broadway plays The Seven Year Itch and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
2:00 AM Sugar Hill (Maslansky, 1974) - C-91 mins. - A blaxploitation zombie flick. Made for American International, it’s not on DVD. I normally wouldn’t have a bit of interest, but the film stars Marki Bey, who was in Hal Ashby’s The Landlord. She only made five movies and none after 1974, though Hangup (inexplicably, directed by Henry Hathaway) also is listed for the same year. Also of interest, the guy who directed Sugar Hill, Paul Maslansky, doesn’t have any other directing credits, but did work as a producer on the “Police Academy” movies and television show. Lots of tangents running around there.
Sunday May 25
6:45 AM A Guy Named Joe (Fleming, 1943) - BW-120 mins. - This was my grandmother’s favorite film and it’s not yet on DVD. Spencer Tracy stars as a pilot killed in action who comes back as a ghost/angel seen only by fellow airman Van Johnson, now courting Irene Dunne, who had been Tracy’s girl. Steven Spielberg remade the movie as Always, but Richard Dreyfuss is no Spencer Tracy and Holly Hunter is a pretty far cry from Irene Dunne. It was made for MGM and Warner Bros. should have the rights now.
Wednesday May 28
7:00 AM The Garment Jungle (Sherman, 1957) - BW-88 mins. - Solid-sounding noirish drama starring Lee J. Cobb as a garment factory head pressured to unionize. Richard Boone co-stars as a gangster and Robert Loggia is an ethnic union baddie. Vincent Sherman, an unflashy craftsman, is credited as director, but Robert Aldrich apparently worked on the picture some, as well. It’s not on DVD and was made for Columbia.
8:30 AM Affair in Trinidad (Sherman, 1952) - BW-98 mins. - Another Sherman movie released by Columbia, this time a reuniting of Gilda’s Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth. She’s a nightclub performer whose husband is murdered. He’s the brother-in-law trying to find the killer. It’s not available yet in R1, but was put out by Sony in the UK and Spain. (A DVD Beaver review with screencaps is here.)
6:00 PM Duffy (Parrish, 1968) - C-101 mins. - I’d never even heard of this film, but several elements interested me. It was written by Donald Cammell, co-director of Performance. One of the stars of that film, James Fox, co-stars here, alongside a pair of other Jameses - Coburn and Mason. Susannah York is added to the mix for even more enticement. Coburn is the title character who is hired by Fox to hijack a boat. That’s just a bare synopsis, though. Anyone who’s seen the film, feel free to chime in. It’s not on DVD and is another Columbia release.
12:30 AM Not As a Stranger (Kramer, 1955) - BW-137 mins. - A heck of a cast, but mostly wasted in Stanley Kramer’s directorial debut. Robert Mitchum, Olivia de Havilland, Frank Sinatra, Broderick Crawford, and the lovely Gloria Grahame are on the main line. Even the supporting players are of note, with Lee Marvin, Lon Chaney, Charles Bickford, Harry Morgan, and Mae Clarke, 24 years after she tasted an unwanted grapefruit in The Public Enemy. It’s a soapy melodrama centered around Mitchum’s doctor and was made for United Artists. Not on DVD, MGM has the rights.
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