May 2006 – Bette Davis

May 2006 – Bette Davis

Monday May 1 – Great Screenplays

Glenn Ford’s birthday

6:00 AM The Murder Man (1935) – give it a chance but don’t expect too much; an all new full review!

9:00 AM Small Town Girl (1936) – not bad; an all new full review!

12:15 PM Blackboard Jungle (1955)

4:15 PM The Fastest Gun Alive (1956) – best part is the end

6:00 PM Cowboy (1958) – better than I’d expected; full review!

8:00 PM Casablanca (1942)

10:00 PM Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1963)

12:00 AM Citizen Kane (1941)

2:15 AM The Graduate (1967)

4:15 AM Network (1976)

Tuesday May 2 – Race and Hollywood: Black Images in Film

6:15 AM Sullivan’s Travels (1941)

8:00 AM The Philadelphia Story (1940)

10:00 AM His Girl Friday (1940)

12:00 PM Double Indemnity (1944)

2:00 PM Sunset Boulevard (1950)

4:00 PM The Third Man (1949)

6:00 PM The Maltese Falcon (1941)

8:00 PM The Birth Of A Nation (1915) – Legendary director D.W. Griffith’s controversial epic based on Thomas Dixon Jr.’s novel The Clansman dramatizes the Civil War President Lincoln’s assassination and the subsequent formation of the Ku Klux Klan. Features a plethora of silent screen stars including Lillian Gish Mae Marsh Henry Walthall Miriam Cooper Mary Alden Ralph Lewis George Siegmann Walter Long Robert Harron Wallace Reid future directors Joseph Henabery & Elmer Clifton Josephine Crowell Spottiswoode Aitken and Donald Crisp as General Ulysses S. Grant. It was added to the National Film Registry in 1992.

11:30 PM Haunted Spooks (1920) – besides the title being a double entendre racial slur there are offensive Black stereotypes portrayed within this otherwise pretty entertaining Harold Lloyd short. His character is distraught and suicidal after losing the girl: he tries to shoot himself but the gun he finds turns out to be a water pistol; he tries to drown himself but the lake ends up being too shallow; he finds a deeper section of the lake but lands on a boat when he jumps off the bridge. When he tries to get hit by a moving car (several times) he learns it’s being driven by a lawyer who’s husband-hunting for a young lady (Mildred Davis) client of his that’s just inherited a mansion provided she can live in it for 1 year. Her greedy uncle (Wallace Howe) and his wife try to scare these newlyweds out of it so that they will get the house. Their Black servants inadvertently get involved in the plot and Lloyd’s character is scared so much that his hair grows into a huge Afro before all works out in the end.

12:15 AM Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1927) – a TCM premiere!

2:30 AM The Jazz Singer (1927)

Wednesday May 3 – Bette Davis TCM’s Star of the Month

Mary Astor’s birthday

6:00 AM Two Arabian Knights (1927) – an all new full review!

8:00 PM & 11:30 PM Stardust: The Bette Davis Story (2005) – a TCM premiere!

9:30 PM Dark Victory (1939)

2:30 AM Dangerous (1935) – full review!

Thursday May 4 – Race and Hollywood: Black Images in Film

6:45 AM 20000 Years In Sing Sing (1932) – the original!

12:15 PM The Petrified Forest (1936)

1:45 PM Three on a Match (1932) – worth the short time investment; full review!

7:00 PM Bette Davis: The Benevolent Volcano (1984) – pretty good documentary about May’s SOTM

8:00 PM Hallelujah (1929) – an all new capsule review!

10:00 PM The Green Pastures (1936) – don’t give up on this one; an all new capsule review!

2:00 AM Baby Face (1933) – Directed by Alfred Green this Darryl F. Zanuck (G Men (1935)) story features Barbara Stanwyck in the title role that of a woman whose father effectively trained her to sleep her way to the top floor by floor of a corporation. George Brent Margaret Lindsay John Wayne and Nat Pendleton (uncredited) also appear. This film was added to the National Film Registry in 2005.

3:45 AM Trader Horn (1931) – like something you’d see on Animal Planet only in B&W; full review!

Friday May 5 – Lucy & Desi

6:00 AM Freaks (1932) – strange but legendary

7:30 AM Irving Thalberg: Prince of Hollywood (2005) – excellent documentary

9:00 AM Baby Doll (1956)

11:00 AM Elia Kazan: A Directors Journey (1995) – pretty good documentary; includes a review of films by the director himself

2:30 PM Judy Garland: By Myself (2004) – outstanding insightful documentary of this tremendously talented woman who died tragically and much too young

4:30 PM Captain Blood (1935)

6:30 PM The Adventures of Errol Flynn (2005) – pretty good documentary

1:00 AM Hollywood Without Make-Up (1966) – fun!

Saturday May 6 – Costumes by Jean Louis

6:00 AM Fury (1936)

8:00 AM Johnny Eager (1942) – disappointing; an all new capsule review!

10:00 AM The Masque Of The Red Death (1964) - Produced and directed by Roger Corman with a screenplay by Charles Beaumont and R. Wright Campbell (Man of a Thousand Faces (1957)) that was based on two Edgar Allan Poe stories ("The Masque of the Red Death" and "Hop-Frog") this horror classic features Vincent Price as the tyrannical devil worshiping Prince Prospero Hazel Court as his castle-mate Juliana whom he convinces to sell her soul to become Satan’s bride Jane Asher as the pure Christian peasant girl Francesca who so captivates the prince that he takes her in protecting her from the scourge of the red death plague (which turns its victim’s faces red with dots of blood) David Weston as Francesca’s fiancé Gino Nigel Green as her father Ludovico Patrick Magee as the prince’s "friend" and lecherous guest Alfredo Skip Martin as the dwarf Hop Toad and (child actress) Verina Greenlaw as the tiny dancer Esmeralda.

12:00 PM Escape From Fort Bravo (1953) – average; full review!

2:00 PM Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

5:15 PM Zorba The Greek (1964)

8:00 PM Gilda (1946) – this week’s TCM Essential is Rita Hayworth’s signature (hair flip &) role! She’s the wife of a shady casino owner Ballin Mundson (George Macready) who’s reunited with ex-lover Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) when Farrell becomes Mundson’s right hand man. Joseph Calleia & Steven Geray (among others) also appear. Directed by Charles Vidor. Hayworth’s "Put the Blame on Mame" is #84 on AFI’s 100 Top Movie Songs of All Time.

10:00 PM Pal Joey (1957) – an all new full review!

12:00 AM Tomorrow Is Forever (1946) – good not great; full review!

2:00 AM Gambit (1966)

4:00 AM Madame X (1966) – melodramatic

Sunday May 7 – Robert Osborne’s Picks

6:00 AM Maytime (1937) – for Nelson & Eddy fans

12:00 PM Divorce American Style (1967) – ugh! Watch the first 20 minutes then turn it off.

2:00 PM I Want To Live! (1958)

4:15 PM Black Narcissus (1947) – Deborah Kerr plays a nun sent to a remote hilltop in the Himalayas to establish a convent on the site of an "ancient" brothel. She is assisted by a local Prince (Sabu) who craves an education and a handsome English government official (David Ferrer) while she struggles against the jealousy of a local beauty (Jean Simmons!) and a straying nun (Kathleen Byron). Breathtaking cinematography and color despite the dull plodding story; won Oscars for its Color Art Direction-Set Decoration and Cinematography. Flora Robson Jenny Laird and Judith Furse also appear.

6:00 PM Gilda (1946) – TCM Essential repeat; see my 5/6 comments

8:00 PM Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982) – though not a good movie it’s fun to try and identify the film noir clips used by director Carl Reiner in this comedy starring Steve Martin and Rachel Ward.

10:00 PM The Hurricane (1937) – best at the end; full review!

12:00 AM The General (1927) – the classic Civil War silent comedy starring Buster Keaton; added to the National Film Registry in 1989.

1:30 AM In Which We Serve (1942) – an all new essential capsule review!

3:30 AM Midnight Lace (1960) – decent thriller if a little overdone

Monday May 8 – Scores by Alfred Newman

6:00 AM Forever Ealing (2002) – this British studio made some great films!

7:00 AM Complicated Women (2003) – excellent look at pre-code women of film

8:00 AM Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic (Part 1) (2004) – a look at the early years of film’s legendary showman

9:00 AM Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic (Part 2) (2004) – the rest of the story including The Ten Commandments (1956)

10:00 AM Rita (2003) – pretty good as I recall

12:00 PM Men Who Made the Movies The: Raoul Walsh (1973) – worth it!

1:00 PM Hitchcock (1973) – pretty good

4:00 PM Lana Turner: A Daughter’s Memoir (2001) – pretty good also

5:30 PM Watch the Skies! (2005) – if you like sci-fi

6:30 PM Budd Boetticher "A Man Can Do That " (2005) – pretty interesting

8:00 PM How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) – Perhaps the first Marilyn Monroe film I ever saw this romantic comedy drama received an Academy Award nomination for its Color Costume Design and also stars Betty Grable (top billed) and Lauren Bacall as three models who must choose love or money.

10:00 PM The Seven Year Itch (1955) – Tom Ewell plays a married man whose wife (Evelyn Keyes) is away. His neighbor happens to be a blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe. You can guess what happens next. Also this Billy Wilder film features the famous "dress blown above her waist" scene.

12:00 AM The Wedding Night (1935) – a TCM premiere!

1:30 AM The Dark Angel (1935) – a TCM premiere!

3:30 AM The Real Glory (1939) – a TCM premiere!

Tuesday May 9 – Race and Hollywood: Black Images in Film

8:30 AM Shadow Of A Woman (1946) – simply awful; an all new full review!

8:00 PM Judge Priest (1934) – a TCM premiere!

12:30 AM The Ghost Breakers (1940) – this is the only clip I’ve seen of this comedy

2:15 AM A Day At The Races (1937) – Chico and Harpo Marx "enlist" Groucho a horse doctor to help a young woman (Maureen O’Sullivan) save a sanitarium from bankruptcy by winning a stakes race at the track. #59 on AFI’s 100 Funniest Movies list.

Wednesday May 10 – Bette Davis TCM’s Star of the Month

7:30 AM Wife vs. Secretary (1936) – Clark Gable is married to Myrna Loy and has an assistant played by Jean Harlow who is being pursued by James Stewart. Gable’s mom is played by May Robson. It’s a comedy. What else do you need to know;-)

9:00 AM Conquest (1937) – pretty average

11:00 AM Idiot’s Delight (1939) – not great; full review!

1:00 PM Edison The Man (1940) – an all new full review!

3:00 PM The Human Comedy (1943) – full review!

5:00 PM Intruder In The Dust (1949)

9:30 PM Of Human Bondage (1934)

11:00 PM Jezebel (1938)

1:00 AM The Sisters (1938) – I watched too long ago to remember too well other than that I enjoyed it. It has a fabulous cast including Bette Davis Anita Louise and Jane Bryan as the titled "sisters" with Henry Travers and Beulah Bondi as their parents. Errol Flynn Dick Foran and Alan Hale play their suitors. Lots of melodrama I do remember that including Flynn marrying Davis and taking her away (to San Francisco?) where his drinking and gallivanting lifestyle lead to tragedy for their (expected) baby. Louise marries an older gentleman Hale; Foran gets to marry Bryan who then has a baby. The cast also includes Ian Hunter Donald Crisp Patric Knowles who I think pursues Louise Lee Patrick Harry Davenport and more (like Susan Hayward uncredited). Directed by Anatole Litvak.

4:30 AM Marked Woman (1937) – an all new full review!

Thursday May 11 – Race and Hollywood: Black Images in Film

6:15 AM Kid Galahad (1937) – Directed by Michael Curtiz with a screenplay by Seton Miller (The Criminal Code (1931)) that was based on a story by Francis Wallace this above average boxing drama stars Edward G. Robinson Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart and features Wayne Morris in the title role. Jane Bryan Harry Carey and William Haade also appear. Give it a chance you may be surprised!

8:00 AM It’s Love I’m After (1937) – great cast average comedy

9:45 AM Satan Met A Lady (1936) – campy remake of the first classic version of The Maltese Falcon (1931); an all new full comparative essay!

1:45 PM Bordertown (1935) – this original is still pretty good; full review!

3:30 PM Jimmy The Gent (1934) – Davis & Cagney make it watchable

8:00 PM Imitation Of Life (1934)

10:00 PM The Littlest Rebel (1935) – a TCM premiere!

11:30 PM Show Boat (1936) – it’s hard for me to choose between this one and the 1951 version. Lots of great songs of course in both. This one has Irene Dunne who’s hard to beat as well as Allan Jones Charles Winninger Helen Morgan and Paul Robeson (who sings "Old Man River"). Directed by James Whale (Frankenstein (1931)) it was added to the National Film Registry in 1996.

Friday May 12 – Coaching Tips

Katharine Hepburn’s birthday

6:00 AM Little Women (1933)

8:00 AM Quality Street (1937) – pretty good

12:00 PM Without Love (1945) – an average Tracy-Hepburn movie

4:00 PM Suddenly Last Summer (1959)

6:00 PM Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)

8:00 PM Hoosiers (1986) – a TCM premiere! Gene Hackman gives a terrific performance in this compelling sports drama (one of the best!) based on the remarkable yet true story about a small town’s basketball team. Dennis Hopper picked up his only acting Academy Award nomination (Supporting) and its Score was also Oscar nominated. Barbara Hershey also appears as the coach’s (Hackman) love interest.

10:00 PM The Bad News Bears (1976) – hilarious sports comedy featuring Walter Matthau as a washed up pool cleaner (that drinks!) who gets hired to coach a bunch of misfit Little Leaguers whose parents think playing baseball will teach their kids some of life’s lessons. It does but not in the way in which they’d anticipated it. After assessing his losing team’s players Matthau recruits a whiz kid pitcher (Tatum O’Neal) who just happens to be the daughter of one of his ex-girlfriends and the tough motorcycle riding hoodlum (Jackie Earle Haley) that haunts the ballfield upsetting all the adults including Joyce Van Patten and Vic Morrow who coaches his son on the number one team.

12:00 AM Knute Rockne All American (1940) – the legendary story

4:30 AM My Neighbor Totoro (1993) – great for kids not bad for adults either

Saturday May 13 – Cinematography by Lucien Ballard

6:00 AM Of Human Bondage (1946) – incredibly it’s as good if not better than the original; full review!

8:00 AM Nobody Lives Forever (1946) – better than average and an all new full review!

10:00 AM Topper Takes a Trip (1938) – not very good; an all new capsule review!

2:00 PM The Princess And The Pirate (1944) – fun fluff; full review!

4:00 PM The Wind And The Lion (1975) – great cast makes this slightly above average adventure film enjoyable: Sean Connery plays an Arab that kidnaps American Candice Bergen causing an International incident and President Theodore Roosevelt (Brian Keith) & his Secretary of State (John Huston) anguish. A military solution is needed (Steve Kanaly appears as does Geoffrey Lewis). The film’s Sound and Score were Oscar nominated.

8:00 PM Ride The High Country (1962) – this week’s TCM Essential

1:45 AM The Killing (1956)

3:15 AM The Hawaiians (1970) – interesting for a while and beautifully shot; an all new full review!

Sunday May 14 – Under the Big Top

6:00 AM The Catered Affair (1956)

8:00 AM Mildred Pierce (1945)

12:00 PM Bachelor Mother (1939) – full review!

1:30 PM Imitation Of Life (1934)

3:30 PM I Remember Mama (1948)

6:00 PM Ride The High Country (1962) – TCM Essential repeat

8:00 PM Trapeze (1956) – Carol Reed directs Burt Lancaster Tony Curtis and Gina Lollobrigida in a love triangle circus drama which also features Katy Jurado and Thomas Gomez (among others).

12:00 AM The Circus (1928) – a classic Charles Chaplin silent!

2:45 AM The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

Monday May 15 – Starring Judy Garland

Joseph Cotten’s birthday

6:00 AM Citizen Kane (1941)

9:30 AM The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

11:00 AM Gaslight (1944)

1:00 PM Walk Softly Stranger (1950) – worth a look; an all new full review!

6:00 PM Touch Of Evil (1958)

8:00 PM Judy Garland: By Myself (2004) – excellent relatively new documentary about this highly talented singer actress who died too young.

10:00 PM The Harvey Girls (1946) – so so at best

12:00 AM Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

Tuesday May 16 – Race and Hollywood: Black Images in Film

Henry Fonda’s birthday

6:00 AM Welcome To Hard Times (1967) – not bad; full review!

8:00 AM Fort Apache (1948) – another super John Ford/John Wayne western (the first of his trilogy of U.S. Cavalry pictures these two made along with She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) & Rio Grande (1950)). This one also features Henry Fonda Shirley Temple and Ward Bond among others.

10:30 AM The Fugitive (1947) – this film by director John Ford stars Henry Fonda as a priest an outlawed profession in Mexico trying to survive and avoid capture while trying to serve the Christians in the country.

2:00 PM Jezebel (1938)

4:00 PM 12 Angry Men (1957)

6:00 PM My Name Is Nobody (1974) – entertaining

8:00 PM Gone With the Wind (1939)

12:00 AM Way Down South (1939) – a TCM premiere!

1:15 AM Cabin In The Sky (1943)

3:30 AM In This Our Life (1942)

Wednesday May 17 – Bette Davis TCM’s Star of the Month

6:00 AM The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934)

8:00 AM Anna Karenina (1935)

3:00 PM The Thin Man (1934)

6:15 PM Tarzan The Ape Man (1932) – the original the classic featuring Johnny Weissmuller in the title role Maureen O’Sullivan as Jane C. Aubrey Smith as her father & Neil Hamilton as her boyfriend. Directed by W.S. Van Dyke and based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel.

8:00 PM The Old Maid (1939)

10:00 PM The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) – O.K.

12:00 AM The Letter (1940)

1:45 AM All This And Heaven Too (1940)

4:15 AM Juarez (1939) – not great but still pretty good

Thursday May 18 – Race and Hollywood: Black Images in Film

6:30 AM Hollywood Canteen (1944) – unique star filled extravaganza; full review!

8:45 AM Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943) – ditto and an all new full review!

12:30 PM Bette Davis: The Benevolent Volcano (1984) – pretty good documentary

6:30 PM Stardust: The Bette Davis Story (2005) – excellent new documentary

8:00 PM Home Of The Brave (1949) – a TCM premiere!

10:00 PM Pinky (1949) – a TCM premiere!

12:00 AM Intruder In The Dust (1949)

2:00 AM Lost Boundaries (1949) – a TCM premiere!

4:00 AM Swing Time (1936)

Friday May 19 – Directed by George Marshall

1:00 PM Bombardier (1943) – O.K. full review!

2:45 PM Follow The Fleet (1936) – one of the more average Fred (Astaire) & Ginger (Rogers) films directed by Mark Sandrich. This one has Randolph Scott as one of Fred’s fellow Navy sailors romancing both Rogers’s sister (Harriet Hilliard) and a wealthy woman without strings (Astrid Allwyn). Meanwhile Fred & Ginger who used to be part of the same dance team can’t decide whether they want to be together or not. Betty Grable Russell Hicks Brooks Benedict and Lucille Ball also appear.

4:45 PM My Favorite Wife (1940)

8:00 PM The Ghost Breakers (1940) – this is the only clip I’ve seen of this comedy

9:30 PM Towed in a Hole (1932) – a TCM premiere!

10:00 PM Destry Rides Again (1939)

12:00 AM The Goldwyn Follies (1938) – below average; an all new full review!

Saturday May 20 – Dancing with the Stars: Fred Astaire vs. Gene Kelly

9:30 AM Cleopatra (1934)

12:00 PM Dark Command (1940) – O.K. full review!

2:00 PM The Seven Year Itch (1955) – Tom Ewell plays a married man whose wife (Evelyn Keyes) is away. His neighbor happens to be a blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe. You can guess what happens next. Also this Billy Wilder film features the famous "dress blown above her waist" scene.

4:00 PM Hoosiers (1986) – Gene Hackman gives a terrific performance in this compelling sports drama (one of the best!) based on the remarkable yet true story about a small town’s basketball team. Dennis Hopper picked up his only acting Academy Award nomination (Supporting) and its Score was also Oscar nominated. Barbara Hershey also appears as the coach’s (Hackman) love interest.

6:00 PM Charly (1968)

8:00 PM Top Hat (1935) – this week’s TCM Essential

10:00 PM Anchors Aweigh (1945) – better than average

12:30 AM Royal Wedding (1951) – average

2:15 AM Singin’ In The Rain (1952)

4:15 AM That’s Entertainment! (1974) – an outstanding review of MGM’s best Musicals featuring many of its stars as narrators for the countless clips shown (eventually followed by two sequels)

Sunday May 21 – Starring Rudolph Valentino

6:30 AM She Done Him Wrong (1933)

8:00 AM Ninotchka (1939)

12:00 PM The Tarnished Angels (1957) – only fair an all new capsule review!

4:00 PM Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) – Directed by Howard Hawks and featuring Marilyn Monroe’s famous "Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend" performance this slightly above average musical romantic comedy also stars Jane Russell Charles Coburn Elliot Reid and Tommy Noonan (among others).

6:00 PM Top Hat (1935) – TCM Essential repeat

8:00 PM Beyond the Rocks (1922) – a TCM premiere!

9:45 PM Moran of the Lady Letty (1922) – a TCM premiere!

11:00 PM The Young Rajah (1922) – a TCM premiere!

12:00 AM The Delicious Little Devil (1919) – a TCM premiere!

1:15 AM Stolen Moments (1920) – a TCM premiere!

3:30 AM Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse (1921) – added to the National Film Registry in 1995

Monday May 22 – Guest Programmer: Penn & Teller

8:30 AM The Affairs Of Dobie Gillis (1953) – cute B musical; full review!

11:30 AM Bachelor Mother (1939) – full review!

4:00 PM Bachelor In Paradise (1961) – not great but pleasant; an all new full review!

6:00 PM The Bachelor And The Bobby-Soxer (1947) – Sydney Sheldon (TV’s I Dream of Jeannie‘s creator) won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar on his only nomination for this love triangle comedy between a high schooler (Shirley Temple) her older sister (a judge played by Myrna Loy) and Cary Grant.

11:15 PM Freaks (1932) – an oddity that’s a classic

12:30 AM The Sunshine Boys (1975) – Neil Simon’s Oscar nominated script turned out to be just the ticket for George Burns who earned a Supporting Actor Academy Award on his only nomination in this story about a vaudeville comedy team who agree to reunite for a TV special even though they haven’t spoken for years. Walter Matthau earned a Best Actor nomination for his role as the other half of the team; Richard Benjamin plays his son the TV producer.

2:30 AM Divorce American Style (1967) – pretty bad especially after the first 20 minutes

4:30 AM Zelig (1983) – Before Forrest Gump (1994) there was this titled chameleon; this creative film’s Cinematography & Costume Design were Oscar nominated.

Tuesday May 23 – Race and Hollywood: Black Images in Film

6:00 AM On the Town (1949)

3:30 PM Wonder Man (1945) – Danny Kaye’s signature performance (?); an all new full review!

5:30 PM Here Comes the Groom (1951) – late Capra worth seeing once; full review!

11:15 PM A Patch Of Blue (1965) – full review!

1:15 AM The Member of the Wedding (1952) – a TCM premiere!

4:30 AM Edge of the City (1957)

Wednesday May 24 – Bette Davis TCM’s Star of the Month

6:00 AM June Bride (1948)

9:15 AM Made On Broadway (1933) – disappointing; an all new full review!

10:30 AM When Ladies Meet (1933) – an all new capsule review!

2:00 PM The Mystery Of Mr. X (1934) – fast moving entertainment; an all new full review!

8:00 PM Now Voyager (1942)

10:00 PM The Little Foxes (1941)

12:00 AM The Great Lie (1941)

2:00 AM Old Acquaintance (1943)

4:00 AM Watch On The Rhine (1943)

Thursday May 25 – Race and Hollywood: Black Images in Film

6:00 AM In This Our Life (1942)

7:45 AM The Man Who Came To Dinner (1942)

9:45 AM The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941) – light entertainment; an all new capsule review!

11:30 AM Stardust: The Bette Davis Story (2005) – excellent all-new documentary

1:00 PM Deception (1946) – if A Stolen Life (1946) doesn’t serve as the end point of Bette Davis’s 10+ year run of unsurpassed greatness of films then this ill-named drama certainly does. Not that Ms. Davis isn’t terrific in it especially as she matches talents with the equally able Claude Rains but the "deception" itself is as all but non-existent as the rest of the plot in this one – a love triangle which also includes Paul Heinreid. We can all be thankful that the "great Bette" was able to give us more examples of her immense talent some years later in films like the Academy Award winning Best Picture All About Eve (1950) and her characterizations in (e.g.) A Catered Affair (1956) and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).

3:00 PM The Corn Is Green (1945)

5:00 PM Winter Meeting (1948) – boring; an all new full review!

8:00 PM In The Heat Of The Night (1967)

10:00 PM Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)

12:00 AM Shaft (1971) – a TCM premiere! Watch this for Isaac Hayes’s Oscar nominated Score his Academy Award winning titled theme Song or Richard Roundtree’s career performance as the titled Black detective fighting his city’s crime mobs; a blaxploitation classic!

2:00 AM Superfly (1972) – a TCM premiere!

Friday May 26 – Memorial Day Marathon

John Wayne’s birthday

11:30 AM The Long Voyage Home (1940) – Directed by John Ford this drama gives one a sense of the kind of men who work(ed?) on ships at sea edited together from four Eugene O’Neill plays earning Dudley Nichols a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination. The film was nominated for Best Picture; its Special Effects Editing Score and Gregg Toland’s Cinematography also received nominations. The recognizable cast includes: John Wayne Thomas Mitchell Ian Hunter Barry Fitzgerald John Qualen Ward Bond Arthur Shields and J.M. Kerrigan.

1:30 PM Rio Grande (1950) – better than average Western by director John Ford with John Wayne as a post-Civil War cavalry commander charged with fighting off the Apache Indian attacks. Maureen O’Hara plays his estranged wife; Claude Jarman Jr. his new recruit son. Familiar story-lines. Ben Johnson Harry Carey Jr. Chill Wills and Victor McLaglen are in his unit.

3:30 PM The Quiet Man (1952)

8:00 PM Battleground (1949) – full review!

10:15 PM Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) – this film is really about the Marine Corps and the rigorous training that was done before the Pacific campaign of World War II could become a reality. It stars John Wayne (True Grit (1969)) who received his first Best Actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal of unyielding leadership in the person of Sergeant John M. Stryker and culminates with the famous flag raising. The film also received 3 other Oscar nominations including for Best Writing.

12:15 AM Sergeant York (1941)

3:00 AM Westfront 1918 (1930) – an all new full review!

4:45 AM A Farewell To Arms (1932) – O.K.

Saturday May 27 – Memorial Day Marathon

7:45 AM The Red Badge Of Courage (1951) – I’ve read Stephen Crane’s novel. But personally I don’t think this film rates more than 3 out of 5 stars. Audie Murphy plays the Union soldier who struggles with his own courage in the Civil War. Andy Devine Bill Mauldin and Royal Dano also star in this John Huston directed film.

9:00 AM The Real Glory (1939) – rousing yet overly familiar adventure; an all new full review!

12:30 PM Stand By for Action (1942) – average; an all new full review!

2:30 PM Torpedo Run (1958) – average; an all new full review!

4:15 PM The Fighting Seabees (1944) – average; full review!

6:00 PM Operation Crossbow (1965) – Fairly compelling "spies during war" film set near the end of World War II with George Peppard Sophia Loren Trevor Howard and John Mills. About the Allies’ efforts to destroy the V2 rocket after the V1 had done so much damage to London.

8:00 PM From Here To Eternity (1953) – this week’s TCM Essential

10:00 PM Sayonara (1957)

12:30 AM The Bridges At Toko-Ri (1954) – full review!

Sunday May 28 – Memorial Day Marathon

7:30 AM Command Decision (1948)

9:30 AM They Were Expendable (1945) – a terrific film about the surprising successes of the PT boats during World War II initially thought unworthy of any role in the conflict. Directed by John Ford and starring Robert Montgomery John Wayne Donna Reed Ward Bond Leon Ames and more; it was nominated for two Oscars Special Effects & Sound.

12:00 PM Objective Burma! (1945)

4:30 PM Wake Island (1942)

6:00 PM From Here To Eternity (1953) – TCM Essential repeat

10:00 PM Flying Tigers (1942) – average; an all new capsule review!

4:15 AM Action In The North Atlantic (1943) – better than average; full review!

Monday May 29 – Memorial Day Marathon

6:30 AM Cry Havoc (1943) – O.K.; an all new full review!

8:15 AM Bataan (1943) – solid World War II (not PC) action film named for the real battle with memorable ending featuring Robert Taylor. George Murphy Thomas Mitchell Lloyd Nolan Lee Bowman Robert Walker Desi Arnaz and Barry Nelson among others also appear.

12:00 PM The Hill (1965) – British soldiers who commit crimes such as desertion are send appropriately to a desert stockade in North Africa. Harry Andrews plays their sadistic keeper who frequently makes them run up a steep hill as punishment; Ian Bannen plays a more sympathetic guard Michael Redgrave the prison’s medical officer. Some new prisoners including Sean Connery and Ossie Davis arrive that must deal with these circumstances each in their own way. Directed by Sidney Lumet based on Ray Rigby’s play and screenplay.

2:15 PM The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)

5:00 PM In Harm’s Way (1965) – long average war drama with a familiar plot directed by Otto Preminger with an all-star cast that includes John Wayne Kirk Douglas Patricia Neal Paula Prentiss Brandon De Wilde Dana Andrews Stanley Holloway Burgess Meredith Franchot Tone Carroll O’Connor Slim Pickens George Kennedy Larry Hagman and Henry Fonda (among others). Nominated for a B&W Cinematography Academy Award.

8:00 PM The Longest Day (1962) – a TCM premiere and an all new essential capsule review!

11:15 PM Battle Of Britain (1969) – excellent story about England’s aerial fight against the relentless attacks and bombing raids made by Germany during World War II. The feats of bravery and other ways that they hung on against enormous odds to hold their own versus a much superior (in numbers at least) force are incredible. It features virtually all of the best British actors including: Laurence Olivier Michael Caine Michael Redgrave Trevor Howard Ralph Richardson Robert Shaw Edward Fox Harry Andrews Ian McShane Nigel Patrick Kenneth More Susannah York plus Canadian Christopher Plummer and more.

1:30 AM Hell is for Heroes (1962) – pretty good; full review!

3:15 AM Destination Tokyo (1943)

Tuesday May 30 – Race and Hollywood: Black Images in Film

8:00 AM Scarface (1932)

10:00 AM Bringing Up Baby (1938)

11:45 AM Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

2:00 PM To Have And Have Not (1944)

4:00 PM The Big Sleep (1946)

6:00 PM A Song Is Born (1948) – pretty good remake

8:00 PM Sounder (1972)

10:00 PM Rocky III (1982) – of the Rocky (1976) sequels this is perhaps my favorite; it adds Mr. T as Clubber Lang to the mix (also pro-wrestler Hulk Hogan) and features the Academy Award nominated Song "Eye of the Tiger".

12:00 AM Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) – a TCM premiere!

2:00 AM Get on the Bus (1996) – a TCM premiere!

4:30 AM The Joe Louis Story (1953) – pretty bad; an all new full review!

Wednesday May 31 – Bette Davis TCM’s Star of the Month

6:00 AM The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939) – average; an all new full review!

10:00 AM Adventures of Tartu (1943) aka Sabotage Agent (1943) – better than average; an all new full review!

12:00 PM The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

4:00 PM Adventures of Don Juan (1948) – average; an all new full review!

6:00 PM The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938) – only if you love Gary Cooper and/or historical fiction; an all new full review!

8:00 PM What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) – an all new capsule review!

10:30 PM Pocketful Of Miracles (1961) – though not as good as director Frank Capra’s original version of the same (Lady for a Day (1933)) this comedy remake is still slightly better than average. It stars Glenn Ford as Dave ‘the Dude’ gambler who needs help from Bette Davis’s Apple Annie who in turn needs help from the Dude when her daughter Louise (Ann-Margret) comes to town. Hope Lange Arthur O’Connell Peter Falk Thomas Mitchell Edward Everett Horton Mickey Shaughnessy Sheldon Leonard Barton MacLane John Litel Jerome Cowan Ellen Corby Jack Elam Mike Mazurki and Hayden Rorke are among those who also appear. Falk received a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination; the film’s Color Costume Design and the title Song were also Oscar nominated.

1:00 AM The Catered Affair (1956)

4:45 AM Mr. Skeffington (1944)

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